The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

He could sense that lump’s malice.

“Stand up and go wait over on that side. It’ll be your turn soon.” Jian Jin Quan pointed the gun at Jiu Shen with a smile on his face as he gestured for them to stand behind while he locked the room’s door.

Yu Yin eyed the pile of mutilated flesh as he felt the temperature of the air quickly drop. The sweet and unctuous scent of blood mixed with the stench of a rotting corpse began to fill the entire room. Jian Jin Quan did not appear to smell any of it as he kept his gun’s aim on them while walking to the bed.

“Honestly, this wasted too much of my time. Yu Xia is pretty shrewd when he does things. If it weren’t for Ah Yi acting first, I probably wouldn’t have been able to get in so easily.” Jian Jin Quan looked down at the youthful face sleeping deeply in the bed. He yanked off the IV drip and pushed away some of the racks blocking the way, the loud clatters echoing as they were sent off to one side.

“What are you doing!” Yu Yin charged forwards with fists brandished, about to throw a punch at the other person. However, he was quickly caught by Jiu Shen and dragged behind Jiu Shen’s back.

“So it really is Tong…?” The gun-wielder studied the injured patient for a long while to confirm their identity, before pressing the gun against the patient’s chest. “Although that day was an accident, he saw everything. Don’t worry, soon the both of you will follow him over too.”

“You’re the one that pushed him down?” In that moment, Jiu Shen suddenly knew what they had overlooked. They had never been able to expose Liao Yi Ma because Yu Xia and Li Zi Hong had noticed a discrepancy in timing that caused certain points to not quite match up. However, now he knew how it had really worked. “Ah Yi went to buy clothes for you, am I right? You called him and told him to. No wonder he suddenly decided to buy some for Boss as well; it’s because had had already known what the situation was.”

“That’s right, he was even considerate enough to buy sanitary napkins as well. The military instructor had mentioned in the past that such a thing could be used to stop heavy bleeding when one didn’t have proper tools. Who would’ve thought that he’d remember that?” Jian Jin Quan pulled up his pants to reveal the properly bandaged calf underneath. He looked at the other two with a slight trace of glee as he said, “That Jiang Zheng Hong guy has pretty fast reflexes to actually leave a scratch on me. I was originally planning on fleeing from the neighbouring apartment, but thanks for him, I had to change it to going down by elevator. It was quite risky.”

“That means you want to kill Jiang-dàgē too? Why?” Yu Yin did not tear his eyes away from his family member being held at gunpoint, feeling both fury and panic. Aside from that thing on the person’s feet, there was nothing else to be seen in the ward.

“It’s simple. If anyone identifies me, then I’m done playing around with them. Why else would I be here right now to slaughter you all?” Jian Jin Quan flicked his hand out to place a cigarette inside his mouth. After lighting it, he took a deep breath in. The ice-cold air inside the room was soon permeated with a different layer of smell.

“Achoo!” The instant Jiu Shen caught a whiff, he immediately began to sneeze non-stop.

“You’re allergic to this, aren’t you? Ah Yi said that you were constantly sneezing when he was smoking too.” Jian Jin Quan shot him a look and chuckled. “Once you get used to it, you’ll realise that it’s really amazing. Can’t live without it. Ah Yi also said at first that he didn’t need it, but now he still uses it all the same.”

“You know those are drugs, don’t you!” Jiu Shen pinched the bridge of his nose as he eyed the thin white smoke coming out from the tip of the cigarette. As he thought of this matter, he hurriedly said, “It’s the same origin as the thing we’ve been chasing down from that case. You’ve taken part in it, so you should also know what happened to those people!”

“Don’t worry, I know. But this thing…” Jian Jin Quan inhaled deeply once more, his expression changing into one of infatuation, like a child obsessed with a plaything. He smiled and continued, “Is really hard to refuse. All we have to do is sell them a bit of our intelligence, and we can get a ton of it plus a large sum of money. How could I reject…”

“So you’ve been trading goods with them? The ones we seized?” Jiu Shen studied his colleague who was now acting slightly oddly. “Shouldn’t they have another manufacturing site or manufacturer to have as large of a bulk that they did?” When they had gone to search the scene, they had discovered just how much finished product the group had possessed. It was possible that this had not been their only location.

“I have no clue. I directly negotiate with their boss. The ones you guys caught were just some small fries. The real traders weren’t even touched.” Jian Jin Quan snuffed out the smoke, then tossed the still lit cigarette stick backwards. “Since we’ve been co-workers for a while, I’ll tell you this: there are two branches to the ones making the drug. The secondary products are a result of the group splitting off in attempt to monopolise [the market]. Although they have more advanced raw materials, they aren’t familiar with the formulation process, and can only make something similar. The ones actually making it are the ones that sold it to the Shaodi family.”

“Thank you very much for your intelligence.”

The same instant the cigarette fell to the ground, the person lying in bed abruptly snapped his eyes open. Before Jian Jin Quan could even react and pull the trigger, the muzzle of the gun was instantly pressed down into the corner of the bed, like a thunderclap that was so fast that one could not cover their ears in time. With a bang, the gun was fired, the bullet shooting through the mattress.

“Boss!” Jiu Shen shouted out as he hurriedly pushed Yu Yin under the table.

“Take it!” “Yu Xia” took out the recording device under the pillow and tossed it to the nearby investigation officer. He flipped out of the bed and sent a punch flying straight at Jian Jin Quan’s nose. “Did you think I’d forget who pushed me down?!”

Jian Jin Quan staggered backwards in pain while clutching his bleeding nose. The hand holding the gun was trembling from the pain. With eyes widened in astonishment, he stared at the person sitting up on the bed. “You, you…Yu Tong…? No, you’re…”

As the other person was reeling in confusion and shock, the person covered in bandages and plasters gave a wan smile that carried a hint of amusement. “That’s right, which one am I? Look, am I not Yu Tong? But maybe you think I’m Yu Xia now?”

“No, it was clearly you that time…you’re Yu Tong…that’s right, he has an old injury so there’s no way he could chase after someone up and down the stairs. I was nearly tricked by you…” Jian Jin Quan muttered to himself, as if trying to calm himself down. He then continued to walk backwards step by step and unlocked the door. “All of you should just go to hell!”

At nearly the same time, the person sitting on the bed flipped the mattress off and held it up in front of all three of them. Immediately afterwards, the mattress made noise as it was struck several times. Before the sound of gunshots faded, Jian Jin Quan turned and fled out from the ward.

“You go to hell!”

The person pushed the mattress away with the intent of giving chase. However, he let out a groan and fell back down to his knees while clutching his shoulder.

“Boss…are you really Boss? Your wound opened up.” Jiu Shen began to panic as he watched the blood seep through the bandages on the injured person, and he frantically swatted at the nurse bell a few times.

“Report back to the headquarters this instant and have them send people over.” The patient grabbed Jiu Shen’s collar and stood up unsteadily. Then, he finally remembered another person. “Where’s Ah Yin?”

Jiu Shen turned around as well, the words “Isn’t he right there” forming on his lips. However, when he saw the empty space underneath the table, he could only stare at it blankly.

“That damn brat!”

***

He could smell the strong stench of the corpse.

The entire way up the emergency stairwell, the steps were covered in blood or some other kind of fluids, as if pointing him towards his target.

“Ugh…” Yu Yin held his nose as he staggered up the stairs, following after those things. He could faintly hear other commotion and police sirens as well.

He could tell from the steps in the stairway that those things were never far behind, including the two children. They were just afraid of the object hanging around his neck, not daring to get close.

The sound of frantic footsteps quickly grew further and further away from him.

Without even thinking, Yu Yin yanked the strange amulet off and tossed it to the side. “Go stop him, quickly!”

Instantly, he saw two small shadows side-by-side leap up at extremely fast speeds. After a few bangs, he heard a muffled groan come from above, and the footsteps really did slow down.

He chased after the other party all the way up to the hospital rooftop. When he flung the metal door open, he saw the dark night sky outside, dotted with a few lights and nearly invisible stars. The person standing on the rooftop seemed to be waiting for him, casually leaning against the wall, his head turned to the outside as he muttered something to himself.

Yu Yin could barely hear words like “Exactly who is he” and “It should be Tong”.

The person was confused.

It was possible that the drug combined with the sudden unexpected situation had caused the person to become somewhat deranged.

“Are you and Liao Yi Ma accomplices? Was it you two that pushed them down that time?” Yu Yin carefully walked forwards with the two children biting his shoulders, his eyes never leaving the mound of flesh at the person’s feet. He came to a stop a certain distance away to avoid provoking the other person and lead to a mishap.

The moment he stepped onto the rooftop, the shadows all around began to slither over and gather together. Over a dozen shadows stood around the wall with red grins of mirth on their faces, as if enjoying some kind of show.

“That time, Ah Yi wanted to save him.” Jian Jin Quan turned around with a smile. He lit another cigarette, the red glow standing out even more amidst the night backdrop. “I had clearly told that idiot to let me go up first to say something. But in the end, some screw in his head must’ve gone loose because he went up at the wrong time, causing the boss leading that bunch of numbskulls to think we were setting them up. The guy tried to flee by himself, but was stopped by Yu Tong. I didn’t actually want to kill him either. When the guy was being chased, he tossed the gun in my direction to get me to shoot. I didn’t expect for him to stand behind Yu Tong…after firing, his head was burst open and he fell down too…”

“Back then, his first instinct was to rush over and save the person, and you just simply went ahead and pushed him down as well. Liao Yi Ma arrived later and tried to grab him, but it was already too late. Am I right?” Yu Yin had more or less guessed what the situation had been that day. He coldly continued, “I can’t believe you would do such a thing. Regardless of whether it’s Dad or Uncle, you’ve known them for so long now. I’m pretty sure they treated you well too.”

“Your thinking is too simplistic. The only thing that treats people well in this world is money. In our profession, it’s a struggle to get by, and we act as the people’s caregivers, all for what? The citizens don’t cooperate. As long as they have the support of the elected legislators, we, the people’s caregivers, have to bow our heads and apologise for being at fault even if they committed murder, flouted the law, or if they broke their speedometer speeding and crashed into police cars today. When all they need is a connection, this job has completely lost meaning. With only a mere few thousand yuan, we continuouslyend up being abused by those above us and screwed over by those under us, and in the end, the law and order can’t do shit. What’s the point of working then…only a fool like Yu Xia would stubbornly reject this. If there’s money to grab and benefits to gain, why make life difficult for yourself?” An odd smile unfolded on Jian Jin Quan’s face as he looked at Yu Yin and said, “Don’t tell me you’ve never driven through a red light, oversped, or evaded the traffic police before. Everyone always says it’s trivial, so the police also become insignificant. If we catch them, we get fought against by their peers one after another. If we don’t catch them, they say that the police aren’t doing their work. That’s all it is…what a rotten job.”

“What you’re referring to is a minority, not the whole picture.”

“If it was just a minority, then why hasn’t someone like Yu Xia gotten promoted to a crazy high level ages ago? Why instead is he still just a low-level captain of a small team? Why does our bureau chief constantly get stomach ulcers, and why are the superiors always coming at us! Listen, this society is already rotten to the core. Parents don’t teach their children, law enforcement can’t truly enforce the law. It’s beyond saving; everything will fall to ruin in a few more years. In the future, murder and rape will not be guilty of crime!” Jian Jin Quan raised his gun and fired it next to Yu Yin’s feet, forcing him to take a step back. “I don’t even know why I wanted to defend the law and order of society in the first place. It’s so much less stressful now that I have this money and don’t have to deal with much else…Put your hands behind your head! Go over there!”

Yu Yin glared at the other person, but still complied by placing his hands behind his head and slowly walking over to the crenelated parapet wall as he was pressured to.

“At least my uncle has never betrayed his own conscience. My dad hasn’t either, and neither have Jiu Shen-Gē, Li-dàgē, or the others. They continue to do their work, unlike you, who just tries to think of more bad things to do after being exposed, for the sake of justifying lies. You’re the same as those other people you’re talking about, another rotten person that’s just filled with resentment.” The instant he finished speaking, he suddenly felt a burst of pain from his forehead. His vision instantly blurred and went dark as he collapsed against the wall.

“You can say whatever you want, but I’m still going to brave the risks and keep going, starting from you.” Jian Jin Quan’s eyes were red with anger as he dragged Yu Yin up from the ground and began to push him over the wall. “Next will be Jiang Zheng Hong, Yu Xia, Jiu Shen, and all those other people you said continue to do their work. I’ll bring them all down to keep you company!”

As Yu Yin struggled to fight back, he caught a glimpse of the space beyond the wall. It was as if he was once again standing on the wall of the pension back in the summer. Countless humanoid shadows stood outside, their green eyes looking up at him from below, waiting for him.

“Bastard—” Likely as a result of his fury, Yu Yin forced his body to turn around so that his back was pressed against the wall. He reached out to grab Jian Jin Quan by the neck in attempt to twist the other person down too.

“Go to hell!” Jian Jin Quan raised his hand, about to press the trigger on the gun pointed at Yu Yin’s head.

The gunshot echoed—

But the bullet did not hit Yu Yin’s body. As the bang rang out, Jian Jin Quan was thrown off to the side as someone rammed into him with great force, causing the gun to fly off in the other direction. It spun several times on the ground before hitting the corner of the wall and stopping.

Jiu Shen sat up from atop Jian Jin Quan’s body. He attempted to stand back up several times but repeatedly fell back down to the ground, panting hard. He saw that his originally dirty clothing now sported a red spot about the size of a coin where his abdomen was. Like a cheap dye, it then continued to spread outwards.

Jian Jin Quan was momentarily unable to crawl back up either from where he had fallen onto the ground. The same color appeared at the back of his head as he struggled over and over as well, causing him to spit out a string of curses.

Yu Yin had tumbled down to the corner of the wall. He really wanted to go help Jiu Shen up and quickly call the doctors over. However, he was completely unable to move. It was as if his limbs had all been nailed in place, and he could not even make a sound.

A charred hand gripped his neck. He was surrounded by shadows everywhere, their crimson mouths emitting the stench of burnt [flesh] as their green eyes all locked onto him.

The black, twisted fingers gradually sank into his skin, causing a drop of blood to fall.

He refused, absolutely refused, to meet his end like this. Even if it was because he had been too meddlesome, he was unwilling for this conclusion. He had not done anything wrong, nor did he have any regrets. If it happened again, he would still do the same. But there was no way he would ever sympathise with those things again.

The cellphone that belonged to Ah Fang suddenly began to play music.

The scorched corpse standing in front of him shuddered. As if attracted by something, it slowly stretched out one hand to grab the cellphone from Yu Yin’s body.

The instant the line connected, Yu Yin heard a very familiar voice clearly being transmitted from the other end—

“You’re out.”

Yi Tai’s voice was still inconceivably calm, as if talking about the other party having been accidentally knocked out from a game.

But it was clear that his game was not an easy one.

The moment his words fell into place, nearly all the shadows let out anguished screams, including the one standing in front of Yu Yin. He could even see the red mouth filled with terror.

Then, with a loud boom, a great fire appeared out of nowhere in the middle of the burnt corpse. Its eyes, nose, mouth, and even its already warped skin were engulfed in flames. Within a few short seconds, the powerful blaze swallowed the shadow without leaving any traces of of ash.

He sat there, watching the scene that seemed to come from a comical horror movie. The black figures that had originally surrounded him instantly scattered, dashing off like mice in all directions. However, no matter how they tried, they were unable to dodge the fires spurting out from their bodies. He did not move as he watched the scorched bodies let out mournful wails as they rolled around on the ground, trying to fight back. In the end, even the last finger combusted completely.

In the blink of an eye, all that remained in the space was the smell of something burning.

After the fires faded, he saw Jiu Shen lying on the ground, gasping hard as he continued to attempt to stand up only to fall back down. The scarlet blood was now all around him. Eventually, his strength was exhausted, and he was no longer able to crawl back up.

The police sirens outside the hospital filled the air.

Unable to calm down so quickly, Yu Yin’s fingers were shaking as he picked up the cellphone on the ground. Then, he heard the rumbling of flames coming from the other end. There was absolutely no way that the fire on that side was as simple of a scale as merely burning some gold paper. “Yi Tai…?”

“Didn’t I tell you to stay with Xiao Hai?” An exhausted voice came from over the phone, collected, yet with a hint of complaint. “I am very tired, I’ll tell you everything later.”

“Wait—”

Before Yu Yin could even speak, all he could hear was the constant beeping from the line being cut. He sighed, and carefully stowed the phone away before unsteadily getting up to help support Jiu Shen. “Jiu Shen-Gē, bear with it just a bit longer. The doctors will arrive soon.” He could hear the clamour of people running up. There were quite a few of them; they had likely all rushed over after hearing the gunshot.

“I’ve never fallen to this point like today…ever in my life…Hurts so much…” Jiu Shen cracked a smile at him, and then coughed out a spurt of blood.

“Relax, I know. But this stuff is…” Jian Jin Quan took another hard drag on a cigarette, a drunken smile appearing on his face like the expression of a child absorbed by a toy. Meanwhile, Yu Yin was trying his best to press down on the bleeding hole, very afraid that the doctors would not make it in time despite being so close by.

Jiu Shen chuckled, and was just about to tell Yu Yin not to worry so much, that he wouldn’t die from something like this. However, his eyes suddenly widened instead. “Ah Yin! Watch out—”

Before Yu Yin could even respond to the warning, he felt a burst of plain explode from the back of his head. His body was suddenly hauled upwards with a brute strength that dragged him across the ground and flung him over to the wall.

He could see that Jian Jin Quan had already lost rationale. The large smile on his face was sinister and warped, a look that Yu Yin had seen plenty of times in the past. There was a mess of crimson blood on Jian Jin Quan’s face that made him seem like an otherworldly creature in the darkness of the night. “Follow me to hell!”

Yu Yin did not have any chance to resist. All he felt was his body suddenly soar through the air as he was pushed over the wall. In that moment, all he could do was subconsciously reach out his arms to grab at the surface. After crashing into the face of the wall, he realised in shock that he was already hanging in mid-air. He could see the night view dozens of floors below his feet, as well as the crowd of police cars with flashing red and blue sirens that had surrounded the hospital.

Li Zi Hong and Yan Si arrived without warning and instantly rushed over in unison to hold Jian Jin Quan down on the ground before he could make his next move.

“Ah Yin! Don’t let go!” Yan Si could sense Jian Jin Quan exerting a great amount of strength to break free, so he had no choice but to continue pressing back with full force. He knew that the moment he let this person go, it was very possible that it would result in endangering someone’s life. “Just hold on for ten seconds!”

“Why don’t you come and try—”

He instantly fell silent.

The two children were crouched on top of the wall with malevolent sneers on their rotting faces.

Although they spoke very slowly, he could hear it without mistake.

­Aren’t you-about to die-why not-come down-and stay with us—?

In a split second, he finally realised why those two children had been following him this whole time.

Tiny, half rotten fingers reached out to grab his hands gripping the wall. The ice-cold touch seemed to directly force itself through his consciousness as each child began to pry the fingers of a different hand off.

“Go away—!” He was furious.

He really should not have trusted them.

Then, a hand passed through the child’s blurring finger and grabbed his left wrist. “Damn brat! Don’t let go!”

Yu Xia’s face appeared in his vision, along with a healthy paleness and an expression of clearly wanting to beat him up as it held onto his hand. Then, another face like Yu Xia’s appeared on the other side to hold onto Yu Yin’s right hand.

“Ah Yin, come up.”

Yu Tong’s smile appeared on the face of the person that had been pretending to be Yu Xia the past few days.

“Ok…” Yu Yin was about to pull himself up. But the moment he exerted strength, he suddenly discovered an even greater force had grabbed onto his feet, forcing him to stumble and slide down several more centimeters.

Yu Tong and Yu Xia simultaneously sensed the abnormality and hurriedly reached down to keep hold on him.

Yu Yin slowly lowered his head to see the two children pulling at his feet with grins on their faces.

So lonely-come with us-Dàgēgē-hurry up and die—

“Enough is enough!” Yu Yin felt himself on the brink of being driven mad. He kicked downwards, but was unable to shake off the things on his feet.

Yu Tong and Yu Xia exchanged a look with each other, and they both immediately pulled upwards with greater strength. Although they were able to pull Yu Yin up slightly, there was a monstrous force dragging him down was well, like something that desperately had sunk its teeth into him and refused to let go.

“Gun…Shoot at it…” Yu Xia ground out, having experienced this before.

Yu Yin felt as if his legs were about to get ripped off. He kicked another two times, still unable to shake them off. A few seconds later, he felt his body begin to slowly get pulled out at an unusual angle. Any outsider looking at him would definitely think he was currently floating in the air.

Someone tossed a gun over, but before Yu Tong could fire it, a shriek suddenly rang out through the air. Everyone on the rooftop looked up in shock towards their direction.

Yu Yin instantly felt the grip on his feet release itself. As he lost the equilibrium, he heavily collided into the wall. He was also extremely confused, with absolutely no idea what had just happened.

Then, a third hand reached down from between Yu Tong and Yu Xia to grab onto Yu Yin’s collar and his clothes. “Fuck! Do you guys think hanging around here is fun? Hurry and pull him up already!” When he looked up, he saw Xiao Hai’s indignant face.

Then, Yu Yin smiled.

However, his smile did not last long.

The instant he was pulled up and his feet touched the ground, Xiao Hai slapped him hard across the face, nearly sending him flying outwards again. “Fuck! You’re still laughing? Kneel down this instant! Didn’t I, your damn superior, tell you not to run around! What the hell were you running around for? This is the first fucking time I’ve seen someone as stupid as you. I told you to obediently stay put, yet you go and jump off a building. My brother was furious at me because of you! I bet you’re getting your revenge on me because my stick of incense pierced through your past ancestor’s memorial tablet or something, right—”

For some reason, Yu Yin really did obey to her words, and immediately went down on his knees to listen to her scolding. Perhaps due to the young girl’s aura and her string of dirty words, all the doctors and police present were so shocked that they could only stare blankly as she continued to shout angrily. The doctor that had originally been performing emergency first-aid on Jiu Shen was so frightened that he could not even bring himself to pick up the tool he had dropped.

This continued for at least two minutes until Yu Tong finally came to his senses and pulled her away with a forced smile before she could welcome Yu Yin’s head with her high-heeled boots.

“Fucking hell, who are you two! It’s already this late, little boys should be sleeping instead of running around the streets!”

All the police officers in the area immediately stopped breathing, not daring to even move.

Yu Tong was still smiling, although the force with which he was gripping the other person’s hand increased slightly, causing a slight pain that forced Xiao Hai to angrily shout out for him to stop. “Young girl, this ‘Police-Shūshu’ is that stupid Ah Yin’s father. The other one is his uncle.”

He figured that the reason Yu Xia hadn’t already charged over was because he did not hit ordinary females.

“His…father?” Xiao Hai finally stopped struggling and slowly turned around to look at the beaming Yu Tong, as well as the tyrannical and murderous Yu Xia. “Like hell! You guys look more like his younger brothers!”

Yu Yin covered his face as he began to shed tears in a corner.

Upon noticing the extremely unusual expressions all the other officers wore, Xiao Hai blinked and paused for a few seconds before finally asking, “…Biological?”

“I have a household register.” Yu Tong’s smile was still as affable as ever.

Yan Si, who was resting nearby, was finally unable to restrain himself from breaking out into laughter. He was chortling so hard that he nearly began to roll around on the ground. Then, Yu Xia kicked him with the anger he could not release, causing Yan Si to die off to one side.

Once Yu Tong let go, Xiao Hai immediately retreated several steps. “Ahaha, everything is just a misunderstanding. I, your superior-uh, I was sent over for support by a friend. If there’s nothing wrong, I’ll just head back to work then, Mister Cop, since it’s no longer any of my business. Good luck with the case.”

Yu Tong clapped a hand on her shoulder with an extremely amiable smile on his face. “Please go over there to record a testimony.”

“…Fuck.”

Xiao Hai’s expression twisted as she was led away by an officer.

Yu Tong turned and went over to crouch down in front of his son. He gently patted Yu Yin’s head and said, “Ah Yin, sorry for giving you so much trouble recently…”

Yu Yin glared hard at Yu Tong and Yu Xia. But after seeing that both were fine, he finally said while choking slightly with emotion, “You guys suck! Don’t just scare people for no reason…” He had really been scared to death by them, especially when he had not yet figured out who was who.

Although he had vaguely gotten the feeling that the one injured had not been his father, their actions had been different, which had filled his head with doubts. Since the hospital records had written Yu Tong’s name as well, he had been completely confused.

“Xia broke three bones and suffered dislocations. After the surgery, he still had a cerebral concussion. In addition to the various other injuries and the gunshot wound, he hasn’t been very awake up until today. Although he was slightly conscious, he wasn’t able to speak.” Yu Tong helplessly sighed as he glanced over at his brother who had collapsed off to the side and was being treated by a doctor.

What kind of person could still jump up and beat someone up with such heavy injuries…the doctor clearly said it would take another week to leave the bed and move around…

“But what about the old injuries on you and Uncle?” Yu Yin pointed at the aged scars that he was also very familiar with, his head still full of questions.

“That’s all thanks to me!” Yan Si rolled over happily from the side and pulled Yu Tong’s clothes up to grab at the scar and—directly pulled it off.” “I have a junior that’s very skilled at stage makeup; she’s at the level of a great master, actually!” If it wasn’t because of the special circumstances this time, he probably would not have been able to meet up with his junior that was rarely in the country.

Yu Yin resentfully glared at Yan Si, who had probably known the truth since the beginning, before shooting him the middle finger.

Yu Tong coughed lightly and explained, “Back then, Xia grabbed at several of the neighbours’ walls and canopies and received quite a bit of cushion. When he fell down, he crashed into the roof of a car instead of directly colliding into the ground, so most of the impact was absorbed by the car. As a result, his injuries were unexpectedly not life-threatening. Even the doctors said he was extremely fortunate.”

“So the martial arts expert really cannot be compared to us common people.” Yan Si commented on the side. He was promptly kicked from behind by Yu Xia.

“As for me…” Yu Tong lifted the leg of his pants to reveal the leg that had been wrapped with a flexible binding. “I can still sprint occasionally.” This had been a temporary support that Yan Si had helped him prepare that could let him get by for a period of time, enough to mislead others.

Jian Jin Quan, who had been seized off to the side, stared at them in disbelief. “Impossible…how could you have Boss’s skill…” He had been watching their interactions these past few days, including the wrestling over of Liao Yi Ma’s gun. Only Yu Xia could do such a thing!

They had found it strange from the very beginning, but after observing for a while, assumed that they had just been mistaken. They hadn’t thought that they had still been tricked in the end.

He could not believe it. How could they replace each other so well?

“Who did you think was the one that Yu Xia typically practiced with?”

Yu Tong’s smile was accompanied by a bone-chilling, cold air that all his surrounding colleagues could feel.

How, how sinister…too sinister…

“Since when did you guys start suspecting me?” That was his final question.

Yu Xia had prepared a recording device by the pillow, so it was very possible that Jiu Shen had been baiting him back then. They must have also suspected him along with Liao Yi Ma…or else why would Yu Xia have suddenly woken up like that? To be more accurate, he had woken before that, and had simply been waiting for me.

If Yu Xia wasn’t completely conscious before, and could not say that it was me, why did they try to catch me?

“From the beginning.” Yu Xia said with a bitter smile as he looked at Jian Jin Quan. “The analysis group’s test results indicated that the wireless had never malfunctioned. If it had not been broken, that meant there must have been an issue with the two people.”

Jian Jin Quan broke out into loud laughter.

After that, the curtain to the chain of incidents was finally closed.

***

The case was completely controlled by the police.

The media only reported several insignificant matters, and only a select few knew of the incident, as the information was not spread out anywhere. Although the reporters knew that the police were keeping it a secret internally, they still continued persisting on attempting to count out the information using connections, since they had no other way of finding out the details.

Of course, this wasn’t within their particular police group’s responsibility scope.

Yu Xia had at least two months of work leave he could use. He was currently lying in bed inside a hospital ward, flipping through the TV channels to watch the news, as the crime rate was not going to drop while they were staying at the hospital.

“Boss, can we watch something else?”

Jiu Shen, who had been unfortunate enough to end up in the same ward, had already been forced to watch the news for three days straight. They had watched over 100 channels, both from cable and wireless platforms. On the verge of tears, he begged, “Please give me cartoons, just cartoons…Discovery channel will work to…please I beg of you to stop watching work…” We’re hospitalised right now, it’s fine to temporarily disconnect from work-related things, right?

I want to watch cartoons…I still don’t know how the Zanpakuto Rebellion arc [in Bleach] ended…

Ugh, if I use my own money, my own expense, can I stay in a single room? I’m not really used to staying in a double…

Yu Xia shot him a fierce, murderous glare, instantly turning Jiu Shen into stone. Then, he turned his head away to continue watching the news.

As Jiu Shen sorrowfully turned on the PSP he had borrowed from a certain prosecutor, the door to the room was gently opened. Yan Si let go of the doorknob and walked inside. “Yo, we came to visit.” He stepped to the side to allow Yu Yin also enter from behind.

“Uncle, Jiu Shen-Gē.” Yu Yin had actually come [to the hospital] to get stiches removed. He placed the snack box he was holding down on the bedside table.

“Where’s Xiao Yu?” Jiu Shen asked curiously, noticing the other person was missing.

“Staying with the great prosecutor,” Yan Si replied with a chuckle. He then pulled over a seat without being prompted and continued, “My former roommate took today off to bring Xiao Yu to the bookstore. Have you guys heard of any progress?”

Yu Xia looked at him. “He still hasn’t given any answers?”

Liao Yi Ma and Jian Jin Quan had been taken into custody at the same time that day to be interrogated by the bureau chief and upper levels. Yu Tong and the others that were related to the case were providing support.

Liao Yi Ma had admitted that the reports they had given that day had been fabricated. At the very beginning, Jian Jin Quan had gone up to warn their target. Since Liao Yi Ma had borrowed Yu Xia’s watch, he had miscalculated the time; he had thought that Yu Xia’s watch was set to be faster, so he had pushed the needle forwards. However, the watch that Yu Xia had lent him that day had already been adjusted, so his timing had been wrong.

When he arrived at the sixth floor to warn the target, they had thought they were being tricked, and ended up fighting with Jian Jin Quan. Liao Yi Ma had been pushed down during the scuffle, smashing the watch and causing the glass lens to fall under the sofa. They had been unable to find it, and the news over the wireless of Yu Xia coming up had also alarmed them.

The extremely panicked target went straight to the rooftop to flee, abandoning both Jian Jin Quan and Liao Yi Ma on the sixth floor while they raced up using the emergency staircase. There, they bumped into Yu Xia, and the two of them both ran up to the rooftop.

Jian Jin Quan had followed after them. Since Liao Yi Ma had not been able to find the glass lens, he had torn down the poster in a moment of desperation, hoping to divert the police’s attention first and secretly locate the object later.

Soon afterwards, he had heard the sound of a gunshot above. By the time he had run up, the only thing he saw was Jian Jin Quan pushing them off. Liao Yi Ma had not had any chance to save them.

“I was extremely nervous the day you said you were collecting the uniforms, since my clothing had Ah Xia’s blood on it. As a result, I replaced it with an identical set,” Liao Yi Ma confessed. “From start to finish, I never planned on hurting Ah Xia or Jiu Shen.”

He had just been in need of a large sum of money.

His wife’s family had gotten into an accident and needed a bunch of money to be saved. After telling his partner, Jian Jin Quan, the latter had told him that if the former just helped out a few times, he could get enough money.

As a result, Liao Yi Ma had written a letter of resignation. However, he had never imagined things to end up like this.

“He had wanted to warn Jiu Shen ever since he heard that Jiu Shen had been attacked. However, because you all had already suspected him, he could only privately go look for Jiu Shen. But when he arrived to the balcony at the set time, Jian Jin Quan knocked him out, since Jian Jin Quan thought the motive was to close Jiu Shen’s mouth.” Yan Si glanced over at the investigation officer preparing to tear open the snacks box, and shrugged before continuing, “Originally, Jian Jin Quan wanted to get rid of Jiu Shen. Ah Yi asked to deal with it, and he was planning on bringing you out of the way for a day to shake Jian Jin Quan off and hide you away in a hotel for a bit. But in the end, you ran off by yourself.”

Jiu Shen subconsciously rubbed the injury on his neck. He had absolutely no desire to figure out how he was supposed to have been gotten rid of. “I really did misplace my blame on him then…” But did you have to stuff me in the trunk! Any person would get scared and run away like that!

“The reason he had rushed to the hospital was likely because he had also known Jiang Zheng Hong had woken up, and was afraid of Jian Jin Quan harming him.” Yu Xia still had a certain level of understanding of the colleague that he had worked with for so many years. “Hmph, if it were me, I would’ve figured out what they were trying to do ages ago.”

Although Yu Tong had replaced him for work, they were not the same person after all. There were just some matters that would end up differently if someone else did them.

“Maybe, but I don’t think you could’ve stopped Jian Jin Quan…Basically, his mental state is a mess right now as a result of overstimulation, and he still cannot be questioned properly. I suspect its an effect of that thing. The violent tendencies fall perfectly in line with the warning signs of long-term addiction. It’s very likely that this [drug] had been the reason behind him committing murder.” Yan Si had analysed all of the commonalities between the drugs that had passed through their hands. Everyone that had come into contact with that scent had all exhibited the same behaviour, including Yu’s family, the people from the fourth floor of the complex, the people at the pension, and even from those involved in the earliest leopard cat incident.

They suspected that this drug had already infiltrated everything. It was possible that most cases of violence were involved with it, and the police had merely never noticed.

“Xiao Yu said that the one selling the incense is Wang Hong’s dad.” As Yu Yin quietly said this, everyone’s gazes instantly shifted onto him.

“Wang Hong’s arcade centre…didn’t its AC have it? You guys should go look into it, he’s already gone back.”

Yu Yin did not know what that person was thinking, but he did get the feeling that—

Maybe everything will finally come to an end soon.

“He will never get away.”

Yu Xia coldly broke the silence of the room to make this declaration. “Never.”

“Of course he won’t get away. There’s no way we would let him.” Jiu Shen lifted his chin up, a smile on his face.

Because that was their job.

Yu Xia looked at his family’s child and turned off the television currently reporting the news of some floating corpse discovered somewhere. “Ah Yin, I don’t want to say too much but…if you think that dying is easy and you can just play around with your life as you please without telling anyone else…just try it again and see what I do to you next time.”

He had heard some things from his conversations with others after the incident had ended, which had made him somewhat angry.

This was the first time Yu Yin had ever felt that the baby face showed a maturity that far surpassed anyone else’s. “I know, I’m sorry.”

“Student that was ganged up on, life is precious, you know. Even if you’re on the verge of death, there’s always a way to settle things. People need to live more proactively, nobody can say everything on their mind. And there’s the special Dr. Yan line that is always open for you to call.” Yan Si playfully winked at him. “Twenty yuan per minute. I’ll be waiting for you~”

“…Over my dead body.”

“Since I’m on the more generous side, I only need fifteen yuan,” Jiu Shen interjected, drawn to the idea of earning money quickly.

“Both of you should just go eat shit.”

Yu Yin resolved to erase both their numbers from his cellphone. Who knew if the next time he called them, he’d end up being charged some kind of international fee?

“Sigh, so petty.”

A certain forensic investigator and investigation officer exchanged a look with each other and broke out into laughter.

Yu Xia switched the TV back on as he took a bite of cake and reclined back down. After some more thought, he pressed a button on the remote and changed the channel.

“Ah, Kamen Rider!”

Jiu Shen was ecstatic.

“I met Tang Zheng Wei in high school.”

A week later, after most of the matters had been resolved, Jiang Zheng Hong had someone push his wheelchair into the double ward that Yu Xia and Jiu Shen shared, to state his recollection.

Li Zi Hong and Yu Tong had also found the time to be present. “At first, we really wondered if we were twins. But after multiple checks with various sources, we later confirmed that we truly were not. We were just strangers that coincidentally happened to look very alike…but we still treated each other as brothers. We stayed together from graduation up until we started working, so everyone also assumed we were blood-related brothers.

“Zheng Wei was a very impulsive, extremely straightforward type of person. He saw that my company’s boss was very bad, so he dragged me to the club I currently work in. However, he had gotten into drugs, and owed an enormous debt. There was a long period of time when no matter how I tried to persuade him, he refused to quit. His temper grew more explosive, and even began to show violent tendencies. He was very afraid of doing something to his parents, so he stayed at my place. When he roamed around outside, he would steal some things to eat and use, and repeatedly evade the debt collectors. That day, he was spacing out when crossing the street, and was hit head-on by a car. At the time, he didn’t feel anything abnormal, but after returning home, he started vomiting blood and convulsing without end. Before he died, he finally woke up once and asked for me to take good care of his parents under all costs…The robbery cases following that were as you all had already guessed.”

The statement was short; it sounded like he had actually only said the main points. However, it was plenty clear.

“…Where is the body?” Li Zi Hong crossed his arms and asked.

“When I reached out to his parents, they agreed to have me contact someone I knew to cremate him. The ashes are in my ceiling, as well as the cigarettes and drugs he had been using at the time. I knew that there would eventually be a day where these things would still have to be reported to the police.”

“Strange.” Yu Tong looked at the other person that just spoke. “After you were shot, we searched your residence, including the ceiling. However, we did not find anything, let alone an item large enough to contain ashes.”

Jiang Zheng Hong tilted his head in thought. Finally, he sighed and said somewhat helplessly, “Zheng Wei has an extreme hatred for the police. I think that if you went again this time, you would probably find it.”

Half believing and half doubting these words, Yu Tong called for some people to go over.

About half an hour later, their colleagues from the station reported back that a jar of ashes, a few cigarettes, and some drugs had been found in the ceiling boards, just as Jiang Zheng Hong had described.

“We will have to continue requesting for your cooperation on this matter,” Li Zi Hong coolly stated.

“I just ask for the protection of his parents. I can tell you everything else, including what kinds of people currently possess those things out there and all the information that I privately investigated myself. We just need to find the source…and then account for those who died.”Jiang Zheng Hong glanced around the people inside the room, the only ones he could trust. “Aside from you all. I will not divulge my intelligence to anyone else. That is all I have to say.”

“Alright, I’ll accept the case,” Li Zi Hong straightforwardly answered the other person. “Once Yu Xia is recovered from his injuries, I will hand it over to them to continue the investigation.”

“Thank you.”

Like that, Jiang Zheng Hong took his leave.

Li Zi Hong turned to look at the still hospitalised Jiu Shen and Yu Xia, the corner of his mouth faintly curving upwards. “I will also have to ask for you two to continue your hard work after you are released from the hospital.”

He was not someone that stood on the frontlines, so that was all he could say.

“Of course, isn’t that our job?” Yu Xia waved his hand in dismissal, shooing the busy person away to return to their work.

The visitors in the large double room all disappeared in a flash, and the space suddenly turned quiet.

“The both of you are still suffering from gunshot wounds, so you will need to stay at least another two weeks before it can be decided if you will be released or not.” Yu Tong took out a high-quality apple that his co-workers had brought over, using a fruit knife to perfectly remove the thin peel.

Yu Xia and Jiu Shen had originally wanted to leave the hospital ahead of time. However, since they were very afraid of being stabbed by the knife, they both fell silent, not daring to speak a word.

“Oh right, Jiu Shen, when did you discover I wasn’t Xia?” Yu Tong casually asked as he split the apple slices into two portions. Aside from Yan Si, who had seen their medical records in the very beginning, Yu Tong had noticed that Jiu Shen had been the second person to see through them.

“Oh, I guess you could say from the very beginning…? When I didn’t want to go into the unscientific apartment and you held me by the neck, I saw one of the contact lenses in your eyes. Although you took them off later, Boss would never use those. He once said that he’d rather be completely blind than stick those onto his corneas.” Jiu Shen smiled awkwardly and scratched his head.

“Huh, as expected from someone in the investigation group.”

The three of them broke out into laughter.

For the time being, the curtain to this event had been dropped.

***

The next time Yu Yin saw Yi Tai was a month later.

A few days after the case had been resolved, Fang Yi Xun had come looking for him and said something along the lines of since the image of death was gone, he could relax for now, but he could not mess around again. Then, she had turned and left, without forgetting to toss that strange amulet at him and ordering for him to never take it off.

At the time, Xiao Yu did not say anything either. The two of them lived together in harmony; on the surface, everything appeared to be as smooth as usual.

After his university classes ended, he went over towards the library, waving at Xiao Yu who was waiting for him there. Ever since those shadows and little children had disappeared, Yu Yin had suddenly been completely unable to see anything again. Even when he did, it was only once in a while. He had returned to his usual sporadic vision.

“Afternoon tea…” Xiao Yu stood outside the library. He handed over a leaflet for a new desserts place that had just opened nearby, which offered all-you-can-eat puddings and cakes. The brothers had stuck this leaflet containing a discount coupon on their refrigerator for a long time now, and they had finally arranged to go over and eat there after classes today.

“We’ll eat our fill. Let’s go!” Just as they were about to head out, Yu Yin saw Yi Tai and Ah Fang walk out from the other side of the school gates off in the distance. “Wait for me!” He quickly shouted at them.

He had not seen this person at all since that day, simply hearing from Ah Fang that Yi Tai was still attending some classes, although skipping them most of the time.

“This time…I really need to thank you guys.”

He had later found out through the news that a large fire had broken out in the southern district, and someone had stolen away the bones and dried corpses from the mortuary. By the time the locals had discovered this, the bodies had all been stuffed onto the black stage and burned away by the fire. Because of the large amount of flammable objects and gasoline left behind on the scene, the blaze had burned for an entire day and night. They dug up the area after the fire subsided, but the corpses had not even left any ashes behind. There was absolutely nothing there aside from the traces of the destroyed stage.

Up until now, the local police still had not found the perpetrator, nor the reason behind the act.

Yu Yin and Yi Tai shared a tacit mutual understanding.

“It’s nothing major, no need for thanks.” Yi Tai faintly smiled as he said, “As I said before, it’s just proper reciprocation.”

Ah Fang let out a hollowed laugh, seemingly very familiar with the statement.

“Xiao Yu and I are about to go out and eat. Do you guys want to join us? It’ll be my treat, as a token of my thanks.” Yu Yin smiled at them gratefully, “And I still owe Xiao Hai a meal too. She said she wants to eat at Jogoya Japanese Seafood.” So expensive…

“Then we will go ahead and take you on the offer. You two can grab your car first, let’s meet later at the school gates.” Yi Tai easily accepted the invitation and suggested a meet-up location.

“Ok!” Yu Yin happily ran back.

Xiao Yu had been watching them from the distance. The corners of his lips tilted upwards as he bent over slightly to bow at the two standing by the gate.

When Yu Yin ran off, Ah Fang turned to look at his friend, and they continued their steps from before they had been stopped. “Watch out for the stairs ahead.”

“Mm.”

Behind them, Yu Yin and Xiao Yu were walking together towards the parking lot. “This place is pretty good, they don’t have restricted mealtimes. But 400 per person is really a bit pricey…remember to bring an empty stomach to get your money’s worth…”

A black recreational car was watching everything from outside the school.

Only after the two groups of students had each disappeared from his line of sight did he slowly close the window, cutting off the fresh air coming inside.

Sensing the change in the air from the backseat, the driver swallowed hard and smoothly drove the car out to the road. His job was to simply provide transport, not to pay attention to what his master wanted to do. As a result, he did not hear the words the person in the backseat was currently murmuring.

Even if the voice was exceptionally loud in the quiet space.

“It’s still not over…just you wait and see.”