The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

Through the blurriness, Yu Yin seemed to hear someone talking on the phone.

It sounded like Xiao Hai was shouting something like someone or another had woken up, and it was followed by others cheering that they would have to celebrate today with champagne…The voices were very distant, as if they were coming from behind a door or wall. He could not hear them clearly.

He flipped over and gradually began to wake up.

There did not seem to be anyone else present in the room. There was just a dim, yellow lamp left inside. Extremely loud, heavens-shaking music was playing outside, and some sound effects from what he guessed might have been a video game. There were also some other sounds mixed in, like people shouting as they played around, quite a few in number. It was like the outside was filled with people.

The club had probably opened for business. He had slept through the entire afternoon.

He slowly sat up, unable to shake off his dream just now. He couldn’t say for certain that the person he had seen was Jiu Shen…The [things in the] dream had been distinct, very similar to the things he had been seeing recently. But when he had seen them just now, a certain familiar investigation officer had been much too close to them, to the point where Yu Yin had been somewhat afraid. As a result, he had called out to stop the other person. However, the person had then vanished a second later.

His eyelid twitched as he had the feeling that something had happened.

The more Yu Yin thought about it, the more worried he became. He fumbled around for the cellphone, but belatedly realised that the phone Ah Fang had given him did not have other phone numbers. He only remembered the numbers of his dad, uncle, and the police station, since he was typically dependent on his phone’s speed dial ability. Now that his cellphone was not with him, he actually did not have a way to immediately contact the person he wanted to reach.

After calling the station, another acquaintance told Yu Yin that Jiu Shen had seemingly skipped work today without applying for vacation. This made Yu Yin even more frantic. He immediately hung up and called Yu Xia. For some reason, Yu Xia did not pick up even after multiple rings. When Yu Yin checked the time, he saw that it was already past seven in the evening.

“What the hell…” As the unexplainable unease in him gradually grew, he shut the cellphone. After taking a few gulps of water, he stood up to open the door. The instant he did, he saw Xiao Hai sitting on a barstool next to the entrance. When she noticed him walk out, she immediately spun around to face him.

“Oh? You slept long enough. Do you wanna eat anything?” She passed over the silver plate she was holding, which had various half-eaten snacks, high-calorie foods that a girl would normally avoid. “My brother and that Mr. Teng guy are playing video games in the office.” He rebuked me earlier, but who’s the one that’s been playing games for the last four hours now?

“I’m going out for a bit.” As Yu Yin glanced around at the large reception area full of people dancing and enjoying themselves, he could not help but raise his voice a bit to prevent the music from completely drowning him out.

“You. Can. Not.” Xiao Hai’s voice was at least twice as loud. “Try again tomorrow morning!”

“I have something extremely urgent to do!”

Xiao Hai’s response was the middle finger. With no desire to have a shouting contest with him, she instead called over two men that might have been servers or hired thugs, and had them drag Yu Yin back into the room. “Just be quiet.” Those were the girl’s last three words before she slammed the door shut.

Yu Yin, who had been tossed back into the room, immediately tumbled forwards to bang on the locked door. “You guys are illegally confining me—”

“So damn noisy!” A shout came back from outside. That person then heavily kicked the door, the noise so loud it echoed through the room. “You’d better fucking behave for me! Otherwise, I’ll break your limbs and send you back to the hospital tomorrow!”

It took Yu Yin less than a second to realise the truth: this girl would definitely not let him out.

Of course, it wasn’t like he could call the police over to raid this night club and free him…He glanced around, but there weren’t any windows he could escape from. The walls were all covered in decorations or sound equipment. There was also an air conditioning vent—

He knew how to escape.

Half an hour later, Yu Yin successfully managed to follow through his theory and was standing in the small alley next to the night club.

The instant he left the club, he saw the multiple green-eyed silhouettes standing along the streetlights, seemingly having been waiting there for him this whole time. It might have been only because he was wearing the necklace Fang Yi Xun had given him that they did not get any closer.

Despite that, he could still smell that burnt odour of rotting flesh even while they stood there. The nauseating stench did not fade as it was carried over by the wind.

Yu Yin pinched the bridge of his nose, although it was not enough to eliminate the smell. After a few dry heaves, he straightened up and saw a child standing next to the street. Unlike before, the child’s body was covered in filthy bruises, burns, bumps, and he could even see imprints of a clothes hanger…the originally adorable face was swollen black and blue, festering horribly.

The small finger pointed in a direction.

It was the way to the hospital.

***

Yu Xia opened the door to the ward.

From the large room came the mechanical whirring of machines. The instant the officer dozing off inside heard the sound [of entry], he immediately opened his eyes. “Boss.”

Yu Xia put a finger up to his mouth to shush him, then gestured for his colleague to walk outside first as he put down the cloth bag he was holding.

“Excuse me, what is that?” The other person in the room voiced.

“Fish soup, bought from outside.” Yu Xia tugged at his hair and gave the stranger a look of disdain. “Could I trouble you to go out first? It’s extremely inconvenient for unrelated people to listen in while the police is speaking.”

“You should fucking—”

“Ah Zhong.” The person lying in bed suddenly snapped his eyes open. Although his voice was very faint, it was enough to cause the young adult currently raising a fist to immediately drop it. “Go out first.”

“Ugh…” The young adult called Ah Zhong slumped his shoulders over. After shooting Yu Xia a vicious glare, he walked out, then very rudely slammed the door shut.

After staring at the door for a moment, Yu Xia sat down on the chair nearby. “Mr. Jiang.”

As soon as Yu Xia had heard the news of Jiang Zheng Hong waking, he had immediately run over here from the other side without even bringing the records he had just finished writing back to the station. Only after sitting down did he suddenly realise that he had not even drunk a single sip of water today.

“There are a few beverages in the refrigerators that Ah Zhong bought. Please feel free to take any.” Jiang Zheng Hong pressed down on the bandages around his body, taking in a deep breath and half-closing his eyes. He had only just woken up – although the most critical period had passed, his strength had not recovered in a mere one and a half hours. Even speaking a few sentences was exhausting.

Yu Xia allowed the other to rest a bit, and went ahead to open the refrigerator. He retrieved some spring water and returned to his seat. “Did you see the shooter’s face?”

Jiang Zheng Hong shook his head and furrowed his brows in deep thought as he recalled back to the incident that day. “…It was a man wearing a safety helmet, dark sunglasses, and a face mask. He was probably around the 170s in height…When he knocked…I was tricked into opening the door…I thought it was you guys coming back…”

As Yu Xia listened to the disjointed words, he realised that this appearance description seemed to be the same as the one that had attacked Jiu Shen. “So this is the second time you’ve seen this person before?”

“Mm.” Jiang Zheng Hong contemplated a bit more before tilting his head to look at Yu Xia with slight uncertainty. “Voice…was very similar to the person on the roof…but with the face mask…”

“I recorded a few more people’s voices, could you listen to them?”

When the injured patient nodded, Yu Xia took out the recording device he was carrying and turned it on.

There were only three voices on it, and they only spoke short sentences so it did not take long [to play them]. After listening, Jiang Zheng Hong knit his brows together and said, “It’s not them either.”

“You’re certain?” Yu Xia froze, originally thinking that they would have been able to reach a conclusion. He continued to stare at the person whose eyes were shut once again.

“Mm…one of those seems to belong to the officer that quickly arrived at the rooftop that day. I recognise his voice. The other two were also officers at the scene back then…wait…” Jiang Zheng Hong’s eyes flew open, having caught that something was off the more he spoke. Why had this person given him police officers’ voices to verify? “Don’t tell me you…”

Yu Xia shook his head and put the device away. “We aren’t sure yet.”

He had originally thought that the culprit would be identified like this. But unexpectedly, it was not the case…which was odd. He had clearly recorded that person’s voice. Had Jiang Zheng Hong actually misheard?

“That’s right, you said that you only opened the door that day because the other person showed something.” Yu Xia raised his head to look at Jiang Zheng Hong again. Having thought over this many times, Yu Xia had only reached a single answer. “Did he show a police badge?”

Jiang Zheng Hong nodded.

Although Yu Xia had expected this response, his heart still sank a bit upon hearing it.

“I will not tell anyone else.” Jiang Zheng Hong’s feeble voice grew even weaker as he indicated his cooperation. He closed his eyes to rest once more.

“…Is Tang Zheng Wei related to the reason why you don’t want to deal with the police?”

The wounded person lying in bed did not move at all, expressing no signs of surprise, as if having expected to be asked this question. “How much do you know?”

“Why did you pretend to be Tang Zheng Wei and steal things? Those female products in your home don’t belong to your girlfriend, right? You don’t seem to be the type that would have a girlfriend at all, so there’s no reason for those items to be in your house. Moreover, you don’t have a single photo of a woman in your residence.” Yu Xia paused. Just earlier, he had gotten someone at the station to gather information about this person’s previous identity. Knowing all this, Yu Xia slowly said, “Tang Zheng Wei stole food and living necessities, yet you stole from a typical household. Was there a reason to specially do that? You don’t seem to be someone lacking in anything…If it was just an impulse…”

It did not really seem like an impulse. Judging from the fact that he was pretending to be Tang Zheng Wei, there must have been a reason.

“If he disappeared…those debt collectors would go looking for his parents. No matter how I tried to hide them, it would be no use…” Jiang Zheng Hong was now completely exhausted, and he did not bother trying to continue hiding anything. He openly stated, “I’m sure you have dealt with cases involving violent demands for repayment before, so you should know what kind of trash those people were. I had already promised my brother to take good care of his family. That was why I made that decision. You guys already have some of those people. As long as Zheng Wei continued appearing, it would be enough.”

“…” Yu Xia did not express any opinion, having more or less figured out the situation. “Where is the real Tang Zheng Wei?” If Jiang Zheng Hong had made such a decision, where had the other person gone?

Jiang Zheng Hong did not answer. He simply turned his face away, refusing to continue talking.

As a result, Yu Xia went straight to asking his final question. “You said that one of these people arrived at the rooftop very quickly that day. Do you remember how quickly?” Yu Xia asked while lifting the recording device.

“Less than two minutes after the people fell down, I heard the other officer shout on top, ‘Quickly call an ambulance’.”

After finishing the interrogation, Yu Xia walked out of the room and carefully closed the door.

When he turned around, he saw that an old married couple had joined the patrolling officer and the young adult from earlier.

“They said they know Mr. Jiang, and came over to see him after hearing the news. I’ve already explained that he cannot have visitors at the moment, but…” The officer cautiously watched his superior’s expression with a slightly awkward expression.

Yu Xia shifted his focus onto the young adult standing next to them. “Are they Tang Zheng Wei’s parents?”

The young adult could not be bothered to speak, and simply nodded indifferently.

“Mr. Police Officer, please, we beg of you, Zheng Hong is like our other son. Please let us see him, just a moment is enough. We won’t take long, five minutes is all we need. Or even just a peek would be fine.” The wife continuously pleaded him as she frequently glanced back at the door. “I beg of you—”

“Please do not spend any more than ten minutes.” Yu Xia gave the other officer a look. As the couple bowed to him in thanks, he waved his hand in dismissal and turned to walk towards the emergency staircase. He wanted to go look at the other building.

The words Jiang Zheng Hong had just told him were running through his mind.

The innocent witness that had been dragged into the incident probably did not understand just how important that conversation had been.

Yu Xia narrowed his eyes at the recording device in his hands.

***

“Have you still not gotten into contact with Jiu Shen?”

Yan Si casually asked from the driver’s seat while they waited at a red light, having noticed the person next to him once again hang up the call.

Li Zi Hong shook his head. “The station said that he did not go to work today, and we have not been able to find him through calls. I just asked our group to search around for Jiu Shen, as well as transfer the surveillance video from last night over to me.”

He had originally arranged to meet with Jiu Shen at the investigation group’s quarters, but because he had been so exhausted, he had slept through the entire night after lying down. As a result, he had missed the arranged time, and after calling over, Jiu Shen had already been unreachable.

“Hmph, the people at your workplace were too evil. They actually turned off the alarm and forced me to oversleep in the end too,” Yan Si grumbled. He did not know who had turned off his cellphone and the lights, causing them to both to sleep until the next day…Alright, I admit that we were really tired after continuously rushing through cases, but I still feel like I was tricked!

“It was with good intent.” Although Li Zi Hong was not too happy about it either, he was not unreasonable to the point of blaming another person’s goodwill. Although this had given rise to complications, he could not criticize them harshly.

“I say that we just lock the door next time to make sure this kind of stuff doesn’t happen again.”

Just earlier, they had received news of Jiang Zheng Hong waking. Since they still could not contact Jiu Shen after multiple tries, they decided to first head towards the hospital to handle the matter with the witness.

“We’ll see.”

They soon entered the hospital’s parking lot.

Perhaps due to there being less visitors in the evening, there was nobody in the parking lot aside from the police, and a person that was hurriedly walking towards their car after visiting a friend or family member.

It was absolutely silent.

“Weird, isn’t it a bit too quiet today?” Yan Si glanced at the clock in his car. It wasn’t actually that late, only slightly past seven. As someone who often went in and out of places like this, Yan Si found it odd. However, since today wasn’t a holiday or anything, he did not pay it much mind either.

Li Zi Hong reflexively scanned the parking lot, and his gaze landed on a certain black recreational vehicle in the corner.

“Let’s go…what are you looking at?” After parking the car, Yan Si was just about to walk out before noticing something off with his friend. Before he could even figure out what was going on, his companion was already running towards that corner.

The car was a locally produced, black vehicle that could not be any more ordinary. It seemed somewhat aged, and there was nothing particularly noteworthy about it. Although its parked location was unusually isolated, it may have simply been because there had been too many cars parked during the daytime.

As a result, Yan Si did not notice any abnormalities that would require them to specially run over such a distance just to check it.

“Its trunk is open.” Li Zi Hong had seen the trunk lid floating up from the distance. He circled around to walk to the back end of the car. “There was something silver…look at this.” He gently opened the lid and drew out the object that had drawn his attention—

“Handcuffs?” This time, Yan Si was stunned too. “Holy crap, how bold are people these days to be playing SM in their car trunks – I’m joking, alright. Look, there’s blood on it.” As his friend moved to whack him with the work bag, Yan Si hurriedly changed his words mid-sentence. Then, he pointed at the place on the handcuff that was stained with blood.

“It appears to be fairly recent. And there is also…” Li Zi Hong took out a handkerchief to grab the handcuff. He narrowed his eyes as he analysed, “What looks like skin. A person was handcuffed in the trunk, and probably forced their hand out to cause this. The iron rod on the trunk seems slightly deformed, so they must have used a decent amount of power. That is also precisely why the trunk cannot be shut completely…”

Li Zi Hong put down the things he was holding and turned on the light for the trunk, which revealed the other mottled bloodstains in the areas near the handcuffs. There was also a trail of blood coming out from the trunk that ended about a few footsteps away, headed towards the direction of the hospital’s emergency staircase.

“SM would not put people in this bad of a state. It may be an incident; call the police.” Li Zi Hong bent over the trunk to continue searching. However, he did not discover anything that could help identify the victim. There was nothing inside, not even basic cleaning and maintenance tools. This just made him more certain that the matter was a complicated one.

After reporting the case, Yan Si glanced over at his friend, who was currently taking photos with his phone. “Shall we go in and look?” He asked as he pointed at the emergency exit. Since they were already in the hospital, the person definitely would have been taken in by a doctor or nurse upon entering. Since the bloodstains had not completely dried yet, it was possible that they would be lucky enough to immediately catch up to the person.

“Let’s go.” With the same thoughts, Li Zi Hong re-closed the trunk as closely as possible.

Right after they left, another car slowly drove into the parking lot. Its window rolled down, and the person inside looked at a certain black vehicle.

A few seconds later, a sneer formed on the persons’ face.

Li Zi Hong and Yan Si, who had obviously not seen this scene, entered the staircase one after another. As they passed through the first and second floors, they saw a few more drops of blood.

“How odd, it seems like this person had a specific destination in mind. A typical person fleeing would not go up to the second floor. If they wanted to be treated, they would run straight to a doctor first…” Although Yan Si was not an expert in deduction, he could still come to this conclusion after seeing the direction of the bloodstains.

“Wait, listen…”

Li Zi Hong grabbed Yan Si by the shoulder and turned to glance towards the direction they had just come from.

There was the sound of footsteps. He was not certain when it had first appeared, but it seemed as if someone was standing on their tiptoes to quietly follow them up the stairs. However, when he listened more closely, he found that it did not seem to be how a normal person walked. The footsteps were too rhythmic, the volume too even, and it was as if the pace and the weight of the steps never changed.

“Who’s there!” Li Zi Hong shouted downwards. He exchanged a look with his friend next to him, who had likewise not seen any sign nor shadow of a person, and they both looked down at the lower level.

There was no response.

The sound slowly approached them, yet they did not see any silhouette. They could only guess the other party was getting closer and closer based on sound alone.

Even as the footsteps passed between them and began to walk through the dim corner of the corridor, they did not see any signs of life.

“Stop right there!” When Yan Si came back to his senses, he realised that the two of them had just let that thing simply walk past. Before the other “person” could leave, he shouted out to stop it.

The footsteps actually did come to a stop.

“Shouldn’t you at least apologise for passing through someone?!”

This time, Li Zi Hong really wanted to whack his friend in the head with his heavy work bag.

“Man, every time I hear the student that was ganged up on talk about these things, I find it so mysterious and…” Yan Si’s words slowly came to a halt.

Under the flickering stairwell lights, he saw a person standing in the corner. As they turned their head around, a pale and expressionless face was revealed, although half was already swallowed by the darkness. The head turned back around, and the blurry figure slowly vanished into the darkness.

The footsteps that had approached them earlier faded into the distance.

They did not know how much time passed.

“Did you see that…just now…?” Li Zi Hong was the first to speak amidst his similar shock to the person next to him. That face had been too familiar; he had just seen it two days ago. He subconsciously grabbed his arms and discovered that a fear had creeped up from deep inside.

“So it wasn’t my eyes playing tricks on me…?” Yan Si, who had been just as frightened, took two steps forward in attempt to give chase. However, he soon discovered that the noise had disappeared off into some other floor without him knowing.

In that second, all that came to his mind were the words that Yu Yin often said: that the most terrifying thing to see was a person he knew.

Yan Si’s entire body was covered in goosebumps now.

“Let’s call first and see.” This was the first time Li Zi Hong had ever witnessed such a thing in his years of cases. He swallowed hard and took out his cellphone. The phone was immediately swiped over by the friend next to him, who used speed dial to directly call the owner of the face they had seen just now.

The ringing went on for a long time without anyone picking up.

“Hurry up and answer the phone!” Yan Si re-dialled several times with the urge to curse. However, the line still did not connect, and the only thing that came from the other end was the repeating, unceasing rings.

Yan Si put down the phone as he was transferred to voicemail once more, the phone screen displaying a name and number they both knew.

“This is bad; let’s contact Xiao Yu first and see if they’re together,” Li Zi Hong hurriedly urged. Under normal circumstances, the two brothers should be together at the moment.

Maybe there is just something wrong with the cellphone…That was what he hoped.

“Mm.” Just as Yan Si was about to dial the other cellphone number, he discovered that the number he had tried just earlier was now calling back. Without even thinking, he immediately accepted the call and began to scold, “Are you trying to scare us to death?! We called you so many times and you didn’t answer. We just saw something damn crazy, you know? We thought something happened to you! Where are you right now anyways—”

After immediately firing off a ton of angry rambling, Yan Si paused slightly, and discovered that there was no sound coming from the other end.

Based on his knowledge of the phone’s owner, even before the scolding was finished, they would have responded by now in some way.

“What’s wrong?” Li Zi Hong noticed Yan Si instantly quiet down, and he reached out to try retrieving his cellphone back.

Yan SI shook his head and swatted the hand away. Another dozen or so seconds passed, but there was still no voice from the opposite party. “…Who is this?”

There was no noise, not even the sound of someone breathing. All he could hear was the empty echo of wind blowing.

Then, someone on the other end let out a soft, cold chuckle. Afterwards, the line was cut.

Yan Si put down the cellphone.

The name “Yu Yin” on the phone display slowly disappeared.

***

His hand hurt.

The burning pain was ceaseless, and honestly all he wanted to do was find a corner to cry in for a few seconds. However, the words he had heard from inside the car prevented him from doing so.

Amidst his dizziness, he had barely heard the news about Jiang Zheng Hong waking. After the driver stopped the car, Jiu Shen waited until he had confirmed the other had truly left. Then, he slowly opened the car trunk lid and discovered that he had arrived at a hospital. Very afraid that their witness would get harmed again, Jiu Shen hardened his self-sacrificing resolve, and exerted a great amount of effort to finally pull his hand out of the damned handcuff. In the process, a layer of skin was ripped off, leaving a sight so bloody that it scared himself.

“Damn it, if only I had a contortion ability…” The pain was so great that it jolted him completely awake, then caused him to nearly pass out again. He wiped away the tears and snot on his clothes, then noticed that the jacket wrapped around his hand was also stained with blood. He could not feel anymore wronged than he did right now. “Once I get back, I’ll have to ask if Boss is able to…” Shaolin disciples should all have that ability, right? They always look so cool on TV, dislocating a joint to completely retreat without injury. He also wanted to be able to do so; at least that way, escaping wouldn’t be painful to the point that he wanted to kill himself.

As Jiu Shen forced himself to think of more positive things instead of how much his injury hurt, he began to walk up the stairs. He was afraid of bumping into that person in the elevator, and he was also worried that the doctors and nurses might get in his way. All he wanted to do was confirm the witness’s safety first.

Only after going straight up to the special ward and seeing his police colleague standing on guard did he finally let out a breath of relief. When the other officer saw Jiu Shen, his eyes immediately widened.

“Jiu Shen? How did you get into such a state! So many people were looking for you today, where exactly did you run off to?! Nurse—” The officer hurriedly shouted at the nurse station, shocked at the sight of Jiu Shen’s bloody hand and red eyes.

“I’ll tell you later. Did Boss and Ah Yi come over already?” Jiu Shen saw the nurse immediately scramble over and grab his hand. After struggling a bit, he finally stopped moving around after seeing several pairs of eyes glint darkly at him glaringly.

Once the clothes wrapped around the hand were pulled off, the other officer saw the mutilated hand and frowned. “Boss already went to the cafeteria with Xiao Ke. He barely ate at all today, so I had Xiao He drag him over to eat when I started my shift. Ah Yi just left less than two minutes ago. Did something happen?”

“Did he say where he was going?!”

“Eh…he said he would go see Tong, but he was acting a bit strange just now. Boss already ordered for nobody to go in there except for those with Mr. Jiang right now, and a few others, so I tried to stop Ah Yi. But he didn’t seem too happy, and said he had to go see Tong and just left. I was just wondering if I should contact Boss to figure out what was going on…Oi! Jiu Shen!” Before the officer had even finished speaking, he heard the nurses disinfecting his colleague’s injury let out a cry of alarm as Jiu Shen used his still bleeding hand to push them away and run off.

“Call Boss and tell him to come back now!”

Jiu Shen shouted back to his colleague, now feeling exceptionally terrified.

He now remembered what that person had said that night he had been attacked.

That person had another target aside from Jiang Zheng Hong.

After running to the special ward in the other building, Jiu Shen saw that the officer who should have been standing on guard there was nowhere to be seen. The corridor was completely empty, and the door of the room was half closed. The nurses had seemingly not noticed anything and were busy with their own work inside the nurse station.

On the surface, there did not seem to be anything wrong.

He carefully neared the door and pushed it open completely, instantly hearing the whirring of machines. After confirming there was nobody around, he slid into the room and turned on the lamp.

The injured patient was lying in bed. The IV drip and other objects all showed no trace of having been moved.

After seeing all this, Jiu Shen finally felt a sense of relief wash over him. It seemed like the other person had not yet entered this ward. He walked over to look at his colleague that had already been released from the ICU. Under the hospital’s appropriate care, the patient was no longer in critical danger. However, the body wrapped in tightly bound bandages and plasters would likely take a very long time to recover. That high school student-looking face was also covered with many wounds…

“Why couldn’t you just obediently stay in there?”

The sound of a gun being cocked rang out from behind Jiu Shen’s head, accompanied by a voice that he could not be more familiar with. The scene had come straight out of a movie to unfold next to him. “I was going to let you go once things blew over. I didn’t plan on killing you if you had just properly cooperated…”

Jiu Shen took a deep breath as his body stiffened, and he slowly turned around to look at his co-worker pointing a gun at him. “Is it really you? Ah Yi.”

He saw a pair of feet in the bathroom behind Liao Yi Ma, belonging to the officer that should have been standing outside. The feet did not move; Jiu Shen was not sure if the person was still alive or not.

“I just came to confirm exactly who he is: Ah Xia or Ah Tong.” Liao Yi Ma shifted the gun, forcing Jiu Shen to retreat into a corner. “That morning, the one leading the siege was definitely Ah Xia, but…when I asked the other one to change clothes on the spot, he had Ah Xia’s scars that had been left over from capturing criminals over the years, so the one that morning should have been Tong…”

“Is that question very important?” Jiu Shen continued to retreat until his back touched the wall. He watched Liao Yi Ma open the thin blankets from the bed and use his other hand to rip open the injured patient’s clothing lapel. Aside from the bandages and some ointments, there were almost no scars on the smooth skin.

“The leg injury Tong got from the car accident several years ago left a very large scar, which would hurt anytime he ran for too long or did any vigorous exercise. That was why he had been transferred to the administrative group,” Liao Yi Ma murmured as he pulled the top back on, before turning to pull the person’s pants up. Just around the knee area was an old cut that stretched straight from right above the knee down to the calf, seemingly confirming the description he had just voiced. After gently readjusting the person’s clothes and putting the blanket back on, he turned around to face the investigation officer, whose hand was still dripping blood. “This question is extremely important to me. I just wanted to confirm if the one I had harmed was my friend or not. No matter what, the last person I’d want to drag in is Yu Xia.”

“If you didn’t want to drag Yu Xia in, then why would you push him down!” Jiu Shen’s hands curled into fists. He had the strong urge to punch the other person first. “It doesn’t matter if it’s Boss or Tong, why would you do such a thing!”

“It was an accident, I didn’t want things to happen like this either.” Liao Yi Ma glared directly at Jiu Shen, his voice unconsciously growing louder. “What was I supposed to do! It’s not like I wanted things to end up this way either. Do you know how terrified I was when I saw you pick up that lens? After this deal was over, I was going to withdraw and ask to resign as well. I didn’t care about how they’d threaten me anymore. I’ve known Ah Xia for so many years now, so I just wanted to make sure he was still alive and well!”

“Haven’t I known you for years too? Yet you still used a knife to cut my neck! And you even stuffed me into your stinky and suffocating trunk! I even saw a ghost! Did you not need to check if I had become a corpse too, you bastard! In any case, I’ve been your colleague for two or three years as well! Don’t go around giving people obvious bias!”

As Jiu Shen recalled all the crazy things that had happened to him, he threw all caution to the wind and continued to let out his anger. “Liao Yi Ma! Do you know what you’re doing? This isn’t as simple as just skipping out on a hotel bill or going out to drink at a party. Why are you trying to kill somebody! You can’t go back that way, you know? It’s not just a major mistake you can sign away by resigning!”

Liao Yi Ma had originally been a great co-worker that Jiu Shen often talked and laughed with. But now he had become the greatest threat.

Jiu Shen began to wonder if the snacks Liao Yi Ma had brought them two days ago had been poisoned. Maybe after eating them for three days straight, the entire station would reach their endgame, and all get buried together.

“I know exactly what I’m doing. There isn’t much time left. If you want to stay alive, you’d best be a bit more cooperative. I don’t want to end up harming all of you.” Liao Yi Ma paused, and as if trying to earn Jiu Shen’s trust, slowly lowered his gun and put it back into its holster. “You are also a target, so you should hurry and leave this place with me as soon as possible. Or else you…”

“What are you guys doing here!”

They were suddenly interrupted by the door being slammed open and a question being voiced.

Yu Yin was standing at the doorway. His scanning eyes landed onto the officer lying in the bathroom first before he finally turned to look at them. “Ah Yi-Gē?”

Liao Yi Ma immediately withdrew his gun once more and pointed it at Yu Yin standing outside the door.

“Come in and shut the door behind you.”

“Is that okay?”

The question shattered the dead silence in the room.

Jiu Shen rotated his wrist and nodded. Although it was still painful to the point where he wanted to run headstraight into a wall, it was at least marginally better.

After finding some ready-to-use ointments and bandages, Liao Yi Ma had tossed them at Yu Yin for him to help Jiu Shen temporarily wrap his injury.

Although uncertain of what the other person was thinking about, Jiu Shen could see that he seemed to be evading certain matters. “Ah Yi…is it because of money?”

Liao Yi Ma glanced at him. After a moment of hesitation, he nodded. “A while ago, my wife’s family ran into trouble and needed a large sum of money. I got it this time, and although I know this way isn’t right, I didn’t have any other choices. I’ve already written my letter of resignation, and I was going to leave as soon as this matter passed…”

“When Tong fell from the building, you were next to him, right?” Jiu Shen looked at his still somewhat amiable co-worker and carefully asked, “There was blood in your watch, the one that belonged to Boss. The analysis report has already been issued, so I can confirm that you were at the scene that time; right next to him, for that matter. Why did you have to push him down?”

“I didn’t push him!” Liao Yi Ma grabbed at his hair anxiously, his voice increasing in volume again. “I really didn’t. By the time I saw it, he had already fallen down. I just grabbed at his hand…but the blood was slippery…he immediately fell down. I really tried hard already…” He spoke as if re-living that scene, while pacing back and forth.

“The one to fire the gun was a police officer.” Yu Yin interrupted Liao Yi Ma from his seat off to the side. He coldly stared at the person pointing a gun at them. “I found a witness. She’s already passed on, but she said that she saw a police officer open fire.” He recalled that the grandmother had definitely said that it was because of an officer firing a gun that they had fallen and been pushed down.

Yu Yin had the vague feeling that the reason the grandmother had been ill-at-ease after returning home was because she saw what she should not have seen: an officer firing at another officer, and even pushing the person down. This was something that would cause her whole family to be in trouble if she spoke out about it, which was why she had not dared to report the incident. This was also why she had left carrying these words that could not be spoken.

“Then did she see if the person firing was me?!” The other person immediately retorted, shooting Yu Yin a glare as he said, “She’s already dead, so even if she saw something, it can no longer be counted. Moreover, she didn’t see the entire thing.”

“She is already dead, so you can say whatever you like.” Yu Yin shrugged. As he looked at the man he had known for quite long now, all he felt was hatred and resentfulness. “How could you do such a thing?” He knew this person, who had joined the force at the same time as his uncle, and who often visited their home.

“I’m sorry.”

As Liao Yi Ma looked back at the youth he had essentially seen grow up, he only said these two words.

“If apologies were of any use, crimes wouldn’t exist in this world.”

An ice-cold voice suddenly came from behind the now opened door. Just as Liao Yi Ma turned around, Yu Xia quickly appeared at his side and grabbed his wrist and twisted it backwards. The wrist made an abnormal sound, and the gun instantly echoed back as it dropped to the ground.

Liao Yi Ma fell down onto his knees, clutching his broken wrist with an expression twisted in pain.

“Stay there and properly repent.” Yu Xia shot his colleague a look, then lifted up the gun to empty out all of its bullets and stowed it away. “Ah Yin! Didn’t I tell you not to run around these places just because you have nothing to do!”

“Rather than talking about that…why don’t we call a doctor over first? Jiu Shen-Gē seems to be injured pretty badly.” Yu Yin subconsciously covered his head and cowered back, hurriedly pushing the other person out as a shield.

“You two are really…” Yu Xia shook his head. He went over to inspect the bathroom, and after confirming that the officer inside was still breathing and just unconscious, he turned around to deal with his other co-worker. Just then, Liao Yi Ma suddenly leapt up from where he had been kneeling on the ground, and shoved him away to race outside. “Freeze!” Yu Xia ran after him, and just happened to spot Li Zi Hong and Yan Si coming out of the emergency staircase. “Catch him!”

“Huh?” Yan Si was taken aback for a moment. All he saw was a somewhat familiar face fiercely charge past him. Before he could even reach out to grab the person, he and his friend next to him were given a strong push, and the person continued to flee down the stairs.

“He’s an accomplice!”

Yu Xia shouted at them as he flew past them too, and continued down to give chase.

“Accom—” Before Yan Si even finished repeating the word, he exchanged glances with Li Zi Hong and the two of them also turned to run down the stairs.

A loud clamour rang out from each level.

Several curious patients stuck their heads out, but before they could even see anything, they were forced back inside their rooms by the nurses.

Compared to the disturbance outside, Yu Yin and Jiu Shen stood alone inside the ward. They gave each other a look, then both turned their heads away.

Jiu Shen walked into the bathroom to check on the other officer’s condition, and discovered that Liao Yi Ma had not done anything serious to the person. The officer had just been knocked unconscious.

“Wow, what’s going on outside?”

He raised his head to see Jian Jin Quan standing at the doorway.

“Boss ran out to chase after Ah Yi…What are you doing here?” Jiu Shen stood up, looking in confusion at the person that should have been on duty.

“I wanted to come take a look, but I heard all kinds of noise while coming out of the elevator. What’s wrong with Ah Yi?” The person replied as he lifted up the fruit basket in his hands.

“It’s a complicated story. Why are you walking strangely?” Jiu Shen noticed the other person seemingly dragging his foot as they walked back into the room. Jiu Shen entered first, and just happened to see Yu Yin turn around.

In that moment, Yu Yin froze in shock.

He saw the mass of flesh that should have been below the apartment building now clinging tightly onto Jian Jin Quan’s leg, being dragged along as the person walked.

At the same time, he realised that its target that day in the elevator had not been them; its target had been above them.

“Jiu Shen-Gē! Get down!”

Due to Yu Yin’s shout, Jiu Shen dropped down to the ground before he realised what was happening. Almost simultaneously, a gunshot brushed past his shoulder and ricocheted off the cabinet next to him.

Jian Jin Quan had shot at him.

“I can’t do anything about it since my leg is injured.”

He smiled and pulled out a gun from the fruit basket. It wasn’t the standard police-issued pistol.

It was the missing murder weapon.