The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

Yu Tong and Yan Si arrived very quickly.

Without first interrogating what they had gone off to do again, the two directly went looking for the doctor responsible. Upon verifying their identities, the doctor had let them enter to see the situation and collect evidence.

Yu Yin and Yu sat in the chairs out in the hallway. They were surprised to discover that Dong Feng had surprisingly not come together for whatever reason.

“Do you want a drink?” Yu Yin coughed a bit. His throat felt somewhat strange as he forced his voice out to ask this question to Yu next to him. The latter shook his head, violet eyes looking at him with slight concern. “It’s fine, probably from swallowing that smoke.” He had not noticed during the heat of the moment, but now that he had relaxed a bit, he felt that it likely had been irritated [by the smoke]. It did not affect him much though, and it would likely recover soon.

Yu Yin patted Yu’s shoulder and stood to look for a vending machine or a hospital convenience store nearby.

Since that apartment had been filled with junk and he had been running with Li Zi Hong on his back, his clothes were dirty and even sported some bloodstains. Thus, he ended up capturing a few sidelong glances from people. He could only ignore the curious gazes.

He quickly found a convenience store in the lobby. There was also a small coffee shop next to it. After some thought, he walked into the convenience store to buy some spring water and such.

With the items in hand, he lifted his head in front of the drinks shelf and was nearly scared to death, having had no time to raise his guard. He automatically lurched backwards and bumped into the drinks shelf with a bang.

Those bare skeletons had suddenly appeared before him once again. Moreover, there were three this time, male and female…he had been influenced by Dong Feng and had first checked the person’s lower half before looking up.

He coughed a few times and caught a glimpse of the store workers shooting odd looks toward him. He could only steel himself and stick close to the shelf to circle around the skeletons from the side and slowly walk towards the front counter. However, from the corner of his eyes, he discovered that the skeletons were unfortunately following him, walking in a very abnormal manner, the bones dropping dirt and dried weeds as they moved.

He had originally assumed that was also another phantom image, but immediately discovered that it was not, as the store worker behind the counter was also stunned. After staring blankly at the dirt that had appeared on levelled floor, they took out a smartphone—

Yu Yin was not sure if he should let the other person take a photo, but he let it happen anyways. He even unconsciously stood in a less conspicuous spot.

When the skeletons saw him stop, they also halted. Those deep, dark holes all turned towards him, immediately giving him goosebumps all over.

Everything exploded the instant the store worker pressured the shutter button.

As if startled by something, the skeletons whipped their skulls around, and a strange hissing sound leaked out from the gaps between their bones. The next second, all the skeletons vanished. Yu Yin spotted a black shadow reflected in the refrigerator’s glass.

The cellphone in the store worker’s hand instantly exploded, both the screen and the parts inside it. Then the refrigerator’s glass, followed by the lights. As the people around the convenience store were given a great shock, the entire lounge went silent; the only sound that remained were the staff’s pained cries as the explosions spread.

A few nurses rushed in to help perform emergency first-aid on the staff.

In that instant, Yu Yin confirmed it, and understood.

There were two batches of ghosts this time.

The ones that were seeking help, and the ones that held intense malice towards them. That was why there were situations of both asking for support and threatening them. The important part was that the malice was more powerful. As long as the other party made any move, they would launch an attack.

“Quick, leave this place. It’s too dangerous.”

A few security guards pulled him off to the side, and the convenience store was sectioned off.

If he had not seen incorrectly, then that black, crimson-eyed one was the same as the one from the fire, as well as the one he had constantly seen these past two days…then was this ghost targeting them, or did it have some special relation?

It felt as if it was aimed at them, but it had appeared around the same time as the skeletons. Perhaps they had some connection?

However, the skeletons had only found him because of the materials from Yi Tai. Did that mean the black one was also linked to this?

It did not seem quite right, not quite connectable. When they had found Li Zi Hong, that black one had clearly attacked Li Zi Hong, and seemed to have been around for some time already. If it had found them because of Yi Tai’s materials, there was no reason for it to have attached itself to Li Zi Hong, who had been abducted several days earlier.

There had to be some kind of relationship; they just needed to find it.

He purchased a bottle of water from the adjacent coffee shop before walking back to the corridor to slowly wait.

After a while, Yu Tong stepped out first and sat down next to them. “Although I really want to ask in more detail, I must rush back to the scene to look into the situation. Jiu Shen and Xiao Wu will come over later. You two are responsible for keeping watch on Yan Si; don’t let him leave the hospital.”

“What’s wrong with Yan-dàgē?” Yu Yin noticed that when Yan Si had arrived earlier, the latter had even greeted the doctor, who had likely been a senior or junior from school or a related friend…the number of people Yan Si knew was truly abnormally high.

“Hm…using your uncle’s words, ‘if you let him run back now, the suspect might end up severely injured, if not dead.’” Yu Tong seriously did not want to consider how many methods a certain forensic investigator had to discipline a person to death.

“…Understood.” Yu Yin felt a chill shoot through his spine as he glanced at the tightly shut doors. “Is Li-dàgē still alright?”

“Not sure; he was long overdue for being sent to the hospital. However, the gun wound is the more fortunate part; it was confirmed that the bullet did not cause any extremely critical harm. It seemed to have struck something else first, which reduced its momentum.” What Yu Tong did not say was that the doctor had informed them that there seemed to have been someone that had wiped and performed basic medical treatment to it at a regular time daily, which had been why it had not been horridly infected. It was not that much better though, and that was not even mentioning the blunt injury on the head. There was still no clear conclusion on what impact it would have. “You two be careful.”

“Ok.”

***

“Safely sent to the hospital, currently being rescued.”

Yu Xia hung up the cellphone and turned to look at Dong Feng. The latter was currently having a glaring contest with the suspect next to them.

“I’m protecting him.” Zheng Zhong Hui spoke in a low voice, his tone extremely resentful as he kept his eyes on the boy in front of him. “Just like before. You guys destroyed it…destroyed everything…I had finally managed to shake them off…”

“Given the current circumstances, it seems more like you’ve been slowly killing him.” Yu Xia pulled a chair over to sit next to Dong Feng. After blowing up and leaving the interrogation room to calm down for a while, their suspect had decided to speak on their own initiative now. “Prosecutor Li should not have any enmity with you.”

“I’m protecting him,” the man repeated. Then he stated unhappily, “If it weren’t for you guys, we would still be very safe at the moment.”

“From what standpoint are you protecting him?” Yu Xia opened the case file in his hands and glanced at the organised records inside. “According to your surveillance tapes, I believe you’ve already been following Prosecutor Li for a while, even stopping at his workplace and his residence for long periods of time. To us, you’re the more dangerous person. That’s not even mentioning those clippings that were taken from your home.”

“…”

Dong Feng thought to himself for a bit before tilting his head towards Yu Xia. “Could I talk to him alone for a moment? Although it’s against protocol…”

“He has an aggressive nature.” This was why Yu Xia was sitting here.

“How many seconds does it take for you to run a hundred metres?”

“About ten seconds, why?”

“What kind of speed…alright, in that case, you can wait outside the door. If he jumps up and attacks me, you should be able to arrive immediately with that distance.”

Yu Xia narrowed his eyes. “Is this necessary?”

“Perhaps not. I just want to chat with him.”

“…If there’s any danger, I will immediately come over.”

Dong Feng watched Yu Xia walk out the door before turning his head to look at the tall male that harboured an intense hostility towards him. Thus, he adjusted his posture, leisurely shifting his weight on his right side. “You should be able to tell that I am not an officer, nor do I represent the police.”

Zheng Zhong Hui clenched his fists. Even though the other person was now a distance away outside the door, they were still a threat. He had experienced first-hand earlier that the young man standing outside with a child’s face was not someone easy to deal with.

“On an additional note, Mr. Officer outside is older than you think he is.” Dong Feng picked up a cup from the table and fiddled with it as he noted the other’s gaze. Then, he pushed the other cup over. “Relax, you’ll have plenty of chances to kill me, as long as you don’t end up being killed by me first.”

“…” The man was not interested in taking the cup. His eyes remained locked onto the boy. “You guys don’t have evidence. I can leave at any time.”

“Are you that certain there is no evidence?”

“You definitely do not have video proof. If you want to say that the burned apartment has something to do with me, then you’ll have to find evidence first. My clippings collection is just my personal interest; is there a rule that says I cannot worship a prosecutor?”

Dong Feng noticed that this man’s temperament while saying these things was much more cautious, unlike the explosiveness or repetitiveness from before. If this was the mentality now, then he might completely deny everything that had happened during that ‘protection’ period. Dong Feng chewed on the edge of his cup and stretched out a finger. “How about this? I’ll change to something we can both talk about. Right now, the reality is that you nearly killed a heavily injured person. Even if he did not die from his wounds, he would have been burnt to death today. If it weren’t for our people getting there quickly enough, all that would have been left of him would be a pile of ashes.”

“I’m protecting him. You guys don’t know anything!”

Dong Feng’s expression did not change as he faced the once again irritated man. His palms felt the coldness of the inorganic material [of the cup]. “Oi, do you not understand? Right now, it’s you that took our person from us. This is extremely important to many people, so you have no right to get mad, got it? You’d best curb your anger and have a proper chat with me in these five minutes. Or you can spend the last five minutes of your life like this.” Dong Feng glanced at the door and smirked. “It’s impossible for you to make me breath my last before the police arrives. But I can guarantee that when you die, the officer at the door won’t even know what happened in here. Of course, once you die, you’ll never know what happened to those two people.”

Zheng Zhong Hui stared into those deep eyes silently for a few seconds before reaching out to grab the cup. “I really was protecting him. There’s no way I would harm him.”

“According to my knowledge, my sen—Prosecutor Li has never had any intersection with you.” Despite saying this, Dong Feng knew that Li Zi Hong must have known this person somehow, or else they would not have met up face-to-face in those three days.

“He has, it’s just that nobody knows.” Zheng Zhong Hui took in a deep breath. “They must have also found this out, which was why they wanted to burn him to death.”

“What relationship does he have with you?”

“I’m his older brother.”

In that instant, the lights inside the room suddenly flickered and completely burned out.

It was clearly daytime, yet in that second, the entire room sank into complete darkness once the light disappeared.

Dong Feng raised his hand and was unable to see even his own fingers.

Then, he heard a warm breath behind him, as well as an eerily ice-cold voice unlike before—

“You’re wrong, we do have a way to kill you within five minutes.”

Yu Xia entered the room the instant the lights went out.

As soon he stepped inside, he noticed something was wrong. It was too dark inside, unlike how a usual blackout would be. After all, there were still lights outside. For a space that had windows, it was unlikely that it would be this dark without any light at all.

Despite being unable to see anything, the sounds he could hear were enough for him to determine how to act.

Thus, he accurately restrained the tall man that had already pounced. Before the other person could strangle the child, Yu Xia forcefully bent the man’s arms behind their back and pressed their body down onto the ground in the darkness.

The light inside the room was instantly restored.

The still intact lights flickered a few times before turning back on.

The instant Yu Xia saw the man he was restraining on the ground still struggling against him, he unhesitatingly knocked the other person out in the head with a thud. Like this, they could not resist for the time being. Then, he saw Dong Feng, who had crashed down onto the floor with the chair. “Are you alright?”

Dong Feng slowly crawled up and exhaled as he pressed down on his aching ribs, shaking his head. “I’m fine.”

Seeing that the other really appeared to be alright, Yu Xia finally relaxed a bit. He then discovered that the person being restrained had started moving again, so he directly sent another punch at their head. “Behave!”

“You were also wrong. I really can do what I said.” Dong Feng dropped these words and automatically turned to leave the room.

Only after the younger one left did Yu Xia discover that there was a bloody cut on Zheng Zhong Hui’s neck, practically on the carotid artery. However, it was not deep, merely a flesh wound. It was also slightly coloured, and when Yu Xia looked off to the side, he saw a dropped fountain pen there. When the two had fallen and gotten tangled together, the tip of the pen had likely made that cut.

“Stand up.”

When he pulled the man up from the ground, he discovered that the person visibly a size taller and wider than him was faintly trembling and mumbling strangely—

“It wasn’t me…it wasn’t me…”

***

When Yan Si left, it was already quite a long time afterwards.

After the entire day, the exhausted Yu Yin had curled up in a chair and fallen asleep while waiting, and was woken up by a push from Yu reading next to him. Yu Yin rubbed his eyes and stretched his sore joints as he stood to face a certain forensic investigator that was completely unreadable at the moment. “How’s Li-dàgē?”

“He’ll be transferred into a ward later. It’s still unknown when he will wake. These next few days will be more dangerous.” Yan Si could not be bothered to go into detail. He, as a spectator, turned to look at the surgeon that had walked out behind him. “If he doesn’t wake, I’ll just have to destroy this guy’s reputation first.”

“Oi, oi, I already rushed over as quickly as I could after I received the call while on vacation. Is that something to say to a friend that was forced to immediately go to work?” The middle-aged male threw a kick at Yan Si from behind before even taking off his mask. “I didn’t think that I’d see Xiao Li being sent here. Is your work that dangerous?”

“It’s probably because he was being abused for three days by a fickle witch first that an originally not critical [state] turned critical.” Yan Si shrugged as he took the folder being passed to him and flipped through it. “Cerebral concussion…he shouldn’t turn dumber right…he’s already stupid enough.”

“And here I thought you’d ask about those bruises.” The doctor glanced at Yu Yin and Yu and took off his surgical mask. “These two are…”

“With us.” Yan Si pulled out photos and gave them over.

They were the photos that had been taking at the scene. Since Yu Yin had been in a rush to run out from the fire, he had not realised it was so serious. Now that he was holding the pictures, he was shocked to discover the large number of bruises on Li Zi Hong’s body, all black and purple in colour. Most were on the limbs, though there were several on the back as well. However, this wasn’t the main point. The most bizarre part was that these bruises were all in the shape of hands, densely packed together from gripping Li Zi Hong’s hands and feet. It was impossible not to shudder from the site.

“As soon as we cut off the clothes, it shocked the nurses and our team. Exactly what type of incident is this?” The doctor had also been speechless by these marks for a few seconds at the time. He let out a sigh and said, “Some of the areas were bleeding pretty heavily. Luckily, they’re all recoverable.”

“This really brings to mind the first time I met the student that was ganged up on long ago.” Yan Si looked at Yu Yin while recalling that glorious year.

The doctor had the urge to punch the other person after hearing this evasive answer. “Have you contacted Xiao Li’s parents?” Although he really did not want to jinx his acquaintance, the current circumstances undoubtedly required relatives to be present and sign some necessary documents.

“We did, but they’re not in the country and it will take them some time to hand things over and rush back. They asked me to help take care of things first.” Yan Si was very familiar with the other’s parents. He took the photos back and returned them to the doctor along with the folder. “So I’ll have to stay in your ward for the time being. No need to feel too grateful for my payment.”

“…Do whatever you want. You owe me this time.” The doctor checked the time, then bid farewell to Yu Yin and Yu before hurrying off to do other things.

Yu Yin had no idea what the other person’s identity was, but he seemed to hear the nurse refer to the male as Director, so the position was likely not low, which was somewhat relieving. He then abruptly recalled Yu Tong’s words. “Yan-dàgē, you’ll be here the whole time, right?” Sounds like there’s no need to worry about him running back to the police station?

Yan Si, who was just contemplating the matter, turned to look towards the two children with a raised brow. “Does using that way of asking mean that you really don’t want me to leave here, student that was ganged up on?”

“Uh…I was just confirming.” Yu Yin hurriedly shook his head. “Do you need us to get you some luggage and a change of clean clothes or something?” He and Yu really needed to change out of their filthy clothes too.

“That works too. I’ll have to trouble you then. My old roommate’s clothes are in the second bottom drawer in my dresser.” Yan Si fished out his keys gave them to Yu Yin before chuckling coldly, “Also, I won’t immediately go chop up that suspect. You can tell Tong and Boss they don’t need to worry.”

“…” Was my behaviour that obvious? Yu Yin rubbed his face, uncertain of how he had exposed himself.

“It wasn’t that guy who attacked my old roommate. My old roommate’s injuries are very similar to his, which means the two were attacked at the same time. I won’t count that against him. However, as for dealing with him with regards to wasting three days and allowing the injuries to worsen, and the payback for being shot, I’ll do it privately in my own time once the incident is over. So all of you can relax for now.” He had noticed from the beginning that his great prosecutor’s injuries had been from physical blows. Moreover, the wounds were the same appearance as the ones on that bastard suspect’s, with similar extent as well. The weapons used were identical. The reason that these were more serious was likely because that idiot had stupidly blocked some fatal attacks.

Yan Si mentally gauged the best approximate time to settle this account later.

Yu Yin felt as if the forensic investigator in front of him had instantly turned dark. He coughed and decided to feign ignorance. It wasn’t like the other’s private retribution had anything to do with him; he had already completed the task his father had given him.

He quietly instructed Yu to stay here and help, and to notify him immediately if anything happened. Then, Yu Yin searched through his pockets for his remaining money. He planned to head back first to prepare clothes and grab his bike. In the end, it really had ended up being inconvenient to not have ridden his bike out at first. I seriously shouldn’t have hitched a ride from Uncle out of laziness this morning…maybe it’s about time to test for a driver’s license.

At the topic of driving, Yu Yin recalled a certain matter that he had never confirmed. He turned back towards Yu. “Xiao Yu, can you drive?” During the last time when Dong Feng had used that terrifying driving method, he had definitely mentioned that the two used the same means to drive.

Yu tilted his head back in response, and after some thought, shook his had.

“Weird, then Dong Feng…”

“What happened with that brat Dong Feng?” Yan Si leaned on the two children’s shoulders and asked in interest.

Yu Yin told the Yan Si about the driving incident from last time and noticed a strange expression form on the forensic investigator’s face. For some reason, he suddenly felt a bit apologetic towards Dong Feng.

“Oh, that? If he says that he might be able to fly a plane next time, you’d better buy some insurance before you go, the more you buy, the better.” Yan Si smirked evilly as he patted the heads of the children that had mistakenly boarded the vehicle. “Xiao Dong-zai just copies what he’s seen before. It might have been from a book or a film or watching someone next to him. He’ll memorise every step of the procedure, but there will be gaps in the actual operations.”

Yu Yin, who had already experienced this point, immediately understood where the horrifying driving skills had come from.

“Though of course, some may be true too. In any case, just don’t believe everything.” Yan Si let go of them and smiled back in response.

“…”

After leaving the hallway, Yu Yin spotted a little girl running back and forth. Before she could catch up to him, he shifted his line of sight away first.

Then he heard noise from the emergency room again.

A nurse wheeling an uncle in his fifties passed by just then. The latter glanced at him before leaving.

When Yu Yin stepped out of the hospital, he looked down at the keys in his hand and sighed.

“Good luck.”

***

“Zheng Zhong Hui and Prosecutor Li do not have any relationship.”

Yu Xia placed his lunchbox down on the table as he looked at the information that he had just received on his cellphone. “I asked Ah Si to contact Prosecutor Li’s parents. They are extremely certain that he does not have any estranged brothers. They also supplied the hospital where he was born for us to investigate; the hospital’s side also affirmed this fact.”

“I figured as much too.” From where he was holed up in a corner, Dong Feng checked the clock on the wall. It was already late night. Not long ago, the maintenance workers had just spent a while to change out the lights. While replacing them, they had asked the other officers in there had been a gas explosion for the lights to have all broken like that.

“However, I had someone ask his prison inmates, who said that while Zheng Zhong Hui had been imprisoned, he would often speaking of an outstanding younger brother and about how he would eventually go back for the two to live together.” Yu Xia passed his cellphone over to the child and said, “There are at least two other similar claims. They also said that while in prison, he would diligently gather some clippings, though he would not explain them when asked.”

“He’s adopted, isn’t it?” Dong Feng read the words on the screen before looking up.

“He was found at the foot of a mountain in the eastern district at age eight. Back then, due to severe shock and losing his memories due to injury, they could not get any information about his original family, so they left him in the care of a local organisation while they reported a missing child. However, nobody came to identify him. When he around fourteen or fifteen, he was adopted by a married couple living in the southern district. The organisation’s records from that time had written that he had run away several instances for five to seven days at a time. However, it was because of this that he had rescued a lost couple in the mountains one day, which resulted in his adoption.” Yu Xia had already requested for his friend to help clarify this further and was waiting for a response.

“If he lost his memories, then why does he believe my senior is his younger brother…”

“It’s not clear. His adopted parents do not have other children either, since it was impossible for them to give birth. That’s why they took him in.” Yu Xia took out some chips and drinks that had been specially bought and shook them before tossing them at the child nested in the corner. “You intentionally let him attack you back then, didn’t you.” Dong Feng had later explained everything the two had discussed, so there was no need to dodge the question.

“…Otherwise, would he still be cuffed there for you to continue investigating?” There was not sufficient reason for them detain him; Dong Feng had simply delayed things a bit. He opened the drink bottle and furrowed his brows as he slowly drank the contents.

“You can also tell that both he and Prosecutor Li were the side being attacked, right?” Yu Xia reopened the photos that the hospital had sent over and wrote his report as he chewed on his extremely late dinner. Gu Wen Ying did not run over here often, so she had requested for him to send her [information] as soon as there were any changes on their end. As a result, he needed to spend some time to write and deliver a short report.

“So it’s better for him to stay detained here too. He’s their true objective. My senior was likely just dragged in.” When the drink entered his stomach, Dong Feng felt a surge of nausea rise. He forcefully took a deep breath and slowly crawled over to grab water to drink.

“Is it alright not to go to the hospital?” Yu Xia asked as he watched the child getting a cup of water. He knew that the only reason the child was here was because of Li Zi Hong. But now that they had found the person, Dong Feng had rejected leaving together, which Yu Xia had found a bit surprising.

“Mn, it’s fine.” Dong Feng swallowed the water to suppress the nausea and thought to himself for a moment. “Is that Zheng person calm now?”

“Seems calm, though he keeps talking to himself now. It’s hard to tell what the meaning behind his words are, and he won’t respond at all.” Yu Xia stopped his work as he contemplated whether to notify Gu Wen Ying about this matter as well. Their suspect appeared to have some type of mental illness, which complicated things. They would need to send him for a psychological evaluation too.

“Can I stay next to him?”

Yu Xia narrowed his eyes at the entirely serious child. “Do you actually want to kill yourself?”

“I won’t provoke him anymore. I just want to hear what he’s saying. You can send someone with me.” Dong Feng picked up the two cups and said, “If possible, I want to ask the origins of the other two. He’s tired out after the day as well, so his exhausted mind and body might end up unexpectedly providing the information we’re looking for.”

Yu Xia naturally knew this too. He was silent for a moment before saying, “I’ll go over later. Don’t intentionally anger him again.” With this, he opened the door and shouted for someone with nothing to do to come over and help.

Since the case was still being handled in secret and the suspect had an aggressive nature, he had been locked in another room for interrogation. This would prevent unrelated people from seeing him.

When Dong Feng entered, Zheng Zhong Hui was cradling his head, his body all curled up as he ceaselessly muttered words that the others could not hear clearly.

Dong Feng placed his drink on the table and removed his hair tie. He tugged at his slightly long hair before crouching down in front of the faintly trembling man to carefully listen to the words being spoken. After a while, he finally heard some of the words being repeated.

“It wasn’t me…that wasn’t me…”

“No…it was that person…”

“It wasn’t me…”

As Dong Feng listened to the constantly repeating mutters, he reached out to touch the other person’s arm. Seemingly receiving a great shock, Zheng Zhong Hui violently shot back, his back hitting the wall. His face was filled with horror and panic, different from the malice from before. He then glanced back and forth as he curled into the far corner of the chair and hugged his head once more.

“It wasn’t me…”

Dong Feng shifted position with him and tried to ask, “Then who was it?”

Zheng Zhong Hui’s murmurs instantly stopped, his body stiffening as if his source of energy had just been cut off. After a few seconds of silence, his eyes slowly peaked out from between his fingers to peep out. “It was that person…”

“That person did it?”

As soon as he said these words, Dong Feng’s vision went black. The man that was curled in the chair suddenly lunged towards Dong Feng with open palms. The officer on the side immediately rushed over, but Dong Feng raised his arms to stop the other’s actions. Then, the male that had one hand cuffed tightly hugged him, as if clutching onto a piece of driftwood, so strongly and tightly that Dong Feng’s bones hurt.

“’That person’ did ‘that thing’?” Dong Feng endured the pain and the urge to throw up from extreme disgust, trying his best to continue speaking in a normal tone.

“No, no…it was me…no…it was that person…”

“Did you do it?”

“It wasn’t me…it wasn’t me…it was them…it was him…”

“Did ‘everyone’ do it?” As soon as he asked this, Dong Feng suddenly felt his body gripped even more rightly, to the point where he struggled to even breathe. Thus, he began to struggle, and the officer on the side instantly reached out to separate them upon seeing the bad situation.

However, Zheng Zhong Hui was exerting a great amount of strength, as if his whole life depended on it. The veins underneath his skin began to bulge, his eyes contracting from his stirred emotions.

The officer shouted, immediately drawing over others passing by. A few of them yanked Zheng Zhong Hui’s hand away. As soon as there was an opening, Dong Feng immediately wriggled out, crashing onto the ground.

Having lost “something”, Zheng Zhong Hui went motionless, completely stopping. Several of the officers had no idea what had happened so they warily separated the two so that there was a distance between them.

After taking in a few deep breaths and coughing, Dong Feng felt his throat in great pain as well as overall exhaustion, making him unable to stand up for the time being. Then he heard an officer say, “Behave”, and he reflexively turned his head to see the restrained Zheng Zhong Hui moving again, struggling to reach out from around those officers.

Then, the large palm touched his head.

Accurately speaking, it touched his hair.

“Please believe me…”

Through the gap between the officers, he saw a terrified gaze. “Believe what?”

“I’ve committed murder.”

***

After Yu Yin returned home to grab his motorbike and some other items, he arrived at Yan Si’s residence late in the night.

The luxurious villa next door was probably holding a gathering, as there appeared to be traces left of the activity. The lights were also shining brightly, and he could faintly hear quite a few people going back and forth outside the surrounding walls.

When Yu Yin opened the door and entered, he found that the landlord had left a large box of things outside the front entrance, with a paper stuck onto it. It mostly just said that they had held a party today, but they had thought it was a pity that Yan Si could not attend, so they had prepared this box for him. In addition, the cooked food would have to be thrown away by tomorrow evening so that he would not get an upset stomach.

Yu Yin wordlessly stared at the next-door residence before giving a call to Yan Si as he moved the box inside. Then Yan Si agreed to let him open it and take a look, which resulted in him to become even more speechless. There were multiple large boxes of cooked food in the box, wrapped in insulated bags that still felt a bit warm to the touch. There were also some alcohol bottles stuck inside that did not look cheap, as well as some confetti poppers…Although he had heard that the landlord next-door had a refreshing personality, this seemed a bit too refreshing.

Yan Si told him he could either eat everything there or bring it to the hospital as a midnight snack. Thus, Yu Yin decided to just pack it up together with the clothes. Of course, he left the alcohol on the table for the homeowner to deal with upon personally returning.

Yan Si’s house was very clean and tidy, not much different from when he had first moved in. The living room had a few video games and a computer, as well as some books and some strange, unidentifiable ornaments…Yu Yin saw a bizarrely warped, handmade frog, or something like a mutated frog. He subsequently decided that he would withhold any opinions on the décor.

He fished out a luggage and packed several pairs of clean clothing before suddenly sensing the light turn dark. It did not completely go out, but rather dimmed significantly. The previously brightly illuminated room now lost a majority of its light, and some areas even seemed dark, reflecting some unusual shadows.

A black figure slowly stretched out from behind him. Even though the light source was clearly not moving, the shadow seemed to extend further and further until it far surpassed his position and extended to the wall. The humanoid form had been pulled into an abnormally long shape; even a part of the head had turned pointed.

“…Let me first give this warning to ‘you’ or ‘you guys’: If you dare to explode this house up, I will definitely do everything I can to oppose you.” What a joke, if this place blows up, I’ll be the first to die. He could not afford to offend either Yan Si or the landlord, so he would definitely make sure to take down these trouble-making ghosts with him.

Yu Yin did not know if it understood his words, but the shadow really did stay still without any sign of movement.

At some unknown point, the glow outside the window had also vanished entirely. The place next door had definitely been bustling with liveliness just earlier, yet there was no longer any sound or light. The outside was an impenetrable black, and peaceful to the point where there was no noise at all. It was so quiet that Yu Yin felt like his breathing was the sole sound in this space.

The lights inside the room were still dim and were now turning darker.

The abnormal humanoid figure remained in the same spot, facing against him.

Yu Yin swallowed hard and cautiously zipped up the luggage. When he picked up the packed things and walked into the living room, he came to the sudden realisation that something wasn’t right.

The living room TV was on, though the display was a mess of pixels from loss of signal. It seemed to have been muted, as there was no sound, just constantly flickering light.

Then, a cold wind mixed with dirt and leaves blew in from somewhere, clattering the frames of the tightly locked windows.

Yu Yin unconsciously fell into a slight daze. His head became a bit dizzy as the wind blew past, but he didn’t feel unwell either. It was just a faint lightheadedness without any other abnormalities.

Regardless, he sat down and faced the blank TV, subconsciously waiting for something.

He waited, and continued waiting, waiting until the moment when both needles on the clock struck together. Just like that day, the day they had assumed was completely ordinary.

Someone outside knocked on the door.

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

It was a female voice.

“Ex-cuse-me-sorry for the disturbance. We’re lost, can you help us?”

It was a male voice.

“We aren’t bad people.”

It was another male voice.

Then he stood up, walking as if he was being pulled away slowly to the front entrance. He reached out to gently unlock the door.

Almost instantly, Yu Yin returned to his senses. Before he could even wipe away the cold sweat on his forehead, he forcefully slammed shut the door that had already been opened a sliver.

A single glimpse had been enough. He had seen an extremely large number of figures in the darkness outside the door, the enormous and elongated shadows growing larger and swaying outside the door. He had no idea how many there were.

Yu Yin securely shut the door and made sure to lock it properly. He then pressed against the door with all his strength, his heart racing.

He heard the knocking sound repeat once again.

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

It was a female voice.

“Can you open the door?”

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

The door began to shake, as if countless hands were striking the other side. The densely packed knocks sounded out endlessly

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

He suddenly felt like the air had become very thin. It was as if someone was clutching his throat; it was so difficult to breathe.

“Can you open the door?”

Yu Yin fished out his cellphone from his pocket as he kept one hand grasped around his own throat, which seemed to have someone gripping it harder and tighter. He was nearly to the point of being unable to breathe. He had no idea what he had taken his cellphone out for either, but as soon as he did, he randomly pressed a number. Before the call was answered, he fell onto his knees, and he could not hear any voice coming from the other end of the line.

“Save me…” He weakly uttered towards the cellphone as he collapsed on the ground.

The door was pushed open a crack.

Static could be heard from the TV in the living room.

A black head peeked in from the crack of the door.

“Excuse me, is anyone home?”

It was at this point when his consciousness finally cut out.