The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

He submerged himself under the water.

The voices of a man and a woman quarrelling intertwined with each other to form a spider web.

Even the quietest space could not shake them away.

The noises were like a curse that echoed through every possible place.

It might have been beautiful in the past.

Wisps of smoke curling through the peaceful room, before slowly worming out of the narrow window and dispersing through the water pipes.

The nauseating, suffocating, dizzying, and sweet, unctuous scent diffusing through every inch of skin, infiltrating into the veins and saturating the cells through the blood.

If you do not love me, then why look for me?

Howls, bangs on the door, the strong stench of blood.

Locked in from the outside so that the door could not possibly be opened again, as if sealing him off from all perception.

He laid still under the water.

Everything…should be alright like this…

It was actually raining that day.

Very briefly, which was something that would occur occasionally during that season.

“This is the place. Something definitely happened last night; there was loud arguing and bloodcurdling screams. In the end, I never even saw the residents leave.”

Agitated by the constant sounds of arguing, the neighbour had dragged over the local police in the drizzling rain while quietly grumbling about how they would often beat up children and women. There were sometimes even terrifying noises coming from that place, causing the nearby residents to feel uneasy. However, this time was an exception: after the miserable cries last night, the entire home had been unusually quiet the entire day, which they all felt was even stranger.

“Mr. Officer, hurry up and open the door to check what’s wrong.”

The police officer stood alone in front of the house’s door, faintly smelling a strange odour. He frowned as he also felt that something was wrong. After knocking a few times without any response, he inspected the windows.

They were all locked, leaving not even the slightest crack. There was a towel or some other kind of cloth underneath the door, seemingly purposely placed there by the owner to block off the crack from the inside.

The main point that the officer found abnormal was the fact that all the lights inside were on.

Since it was the afternoon, it was pretty bright outside. However, he could see all the lights on through the glass windows, as well as a bloody handprint stuck on one of the windows that was already beginning to change in colour.

“Open up! Open the door right now!” The officer forcefully banged the door. With a bad feeling, he immediately reported to the headquarters, then broke the door open with brute force along with the aid of a few neighbours.

Instantly, a strong, dizzying and nauseating stench assailed their senses—

The smell of gasoline mixed together with the reek of blood.

A man walked out, dripping wet. An abnormal, sinister grin formed on his bloodstained face.

He opened his mouth to reveal yellowed teeth and said, “Good-bye.”

And in the next second, a great, raging fire engulfed the man’s body.

***

“Bleurgh—”

Yu Xia coldly looked at the third person who walked out to vomit within five minutes of being inside.

“Anyone that’s just going to puke, get the hell out of here!” He looked at the others trying their best to continue standing inside despite how extremely green their faces were. Finally, after he let out a frustrated roar, a few other people raced out with their hands clapped over their mouths. The sounds of vomiting were soon heard from outside.

He stepped onto the floor covered in dark scarlet.

“Sigh, such a truly tragic scene.” A person that was not part of their support team crossed the yellow tape and walked in. After placing a hat on, he circled around the burn marks on the ground to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with his brother. “The bureau chief just ordered for us to keep this matter from the media; it’s too bloody.”

Yu Xia nodded, his gaze shifting onto his brother, whose complexion remained unchanged.

The nearest thing to them was a hand, only a single hand.

There were splatters all around the incision of the severed limb. The blood had long since hardened, like the splotches covering the floor.

He surveyed the area to search for his colleagues, but most had run out to vomit and were not of much use. Thus, he focused back onto the scene.

There were a few house knives that had been abandoned on the ground, bent into unusual shapes. They were covered with bloodstains. The bodies that were so-called “human” were lying all over the house, twisted at odd angles. There were men, women, and even youths that were likely children. However, because most of the corpses were destroyed or missing parts, it was impossible to determine exactly how many people there were at first glance.

“Boss, the person who self-immolated that we sent to the hospital already died.” The shout came from outside from an officer still rubbing his mouth. However, when he glanced back in at the devastating house, he paled once more and turned his face away.

If they had not witnessed it first-hand, they would truly have had difficulty imagining such a terrifying means of death.

Men, women, and children alike had their bloodstained faces frozen in expressions of severe horror from their dying moments. The wide, round eyes and mouths twisted to cry out in anguish made it look as if the muscles were so taut that they were about to break through the skin. The dilated pores were completely blocked off with blood that was already starting to dry up.

A carved-out heart that had long since stopped beating had been dug out and discarded, or hacked out wildly by a knife. The once beautiful female body was now hanging off a smashed sofa in a very unnatural posture. Her internal organs had been yanked out from her abdomen, pooling around on the ground, wrapped around the lower half of her body.

A boy that had attempted to flee up the stairs had gotten his foot severed from the ankle. The Achilles tendon on the back of his other foot had been almost minced. The only intact hand was tightly gripped onto the staircase railing. The fear etched onto his face was as if he was still feeling that final pain before being dragged into hell.

The youngest child seemed not even in junior high yet. She wore an adorable Western-styled dress dyed in blood, half her head askew at an angle.

Nearly everything inside the house had been smashed into smithereens, leaving practically nothing intact. Even the pillars had been cracked by an excessively powerful force.

And the person that might have brought all this about had just hours ago burned himself to death right in front of the local police and residents.

“Ah—”

“Jiu Shen, get in here this instant!” Without even turning around, Yu Xia coldly shouted out at the investigation officer to stop him from turning around and fleeing. “Haven’t you seen more terrifying things before?”

Jiu Shen was pushed over by the colleague next to him. With a reluctant expression, Jiu Shen hugged his work case in fear as he stiffly turned back around. “Can, can I be in charge of the outside today? Ah Liu is better at this kind of thing…” He just could not deal with anything that over-exceeded his comprehension level, especially abnormal homicide cases like this. The sight of the victims’ frightful faces made him feel…as if he could sense their emotions too. I really can’t do this.

“Jiu Shen will just go join the others in the outside group today. We’ve brought plenty of helping hands. Just leave the inside of the house to us.” Ah Liu hurriedly walked past Jiu Shen to survey the area, rushing other investigation officers inside to collect the evidence before Yu Xia could raise any questions.

This was an extremely shocking incident to anyone’s ears.

As a means to maintain order, the police set up blinds to block off all of the doors and windows. It was a rare measure to prevent the citizens and media from peeping on the scene inside.

“Xia, come and look at this.”

Yu Tong was crouched down with Ah Liu in front of the bathroom next to the living room, using a gloved hand to lightly knock on a somewhat deformed door. He called the other person currently surveying the room and said, “It’s tightly locked.”

The instant they had walked inside [the home], they had discovered that the bathroom had many additional locks outside it. Some were carefully installed by hand, while others had been set up randomly in a rough manner. It was instantly clear that the locks had not all been installed at the same time.

“The vent has been completely destroyed. Based on the angle, it seems like it was broken in by a kick from someone standing on our side; there are still a few footprints on the door.” Ah Liu gestured at the abnormal state of the door, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. “There seems to be the sound of water…inside? Is someone in there?!” The second sentence was shouted out as he banged heavily on the door.

This time, even Yu Xia heard the sound despite standing off to the side.

The faint rush of running water was coming out from behind the warped door. It was a constant noise, echoing as it flowed into a drainage hole.

“Is somebody inside? Don’t worry, this is the police. Everything is fine now.” Yu Tong tried to soften his voice as he lightly knocked on the door. “We’re going to open the locks now, don’t be afraid…”

Before he could even finish, Yu Tong suddenly felt himself being dragged backwards. Both he and Ah Liu ended up stumbling off to the other side.

“Get out of the way!”

The words were extremely late considering how fast the movement was. The loud bang drew the attention of all the police and analysis staff, as well as the prosecutor who had just arrived…and they were met with the sight of a door that had been sent flying towards the toilet.

“Boss…Didn’t we agree to not damage the scene…” Jiu Shen wailed out in grief.

The door and all of its locks were knocked inside. It let out a final whine before sliding down to the ground next to the toilet and falling silent.

Yu Xia ignored the horrified expressions and gazes of everyone present after sending the door flying, and stepped inside the bathroom.

The first thing he noticed was how dark it was. The small window for air had a black piece of insulative material covering the iron bars outside it, and with no lights on as well, the room was pretty much pitch-black.

A faint sound came from below Yu Xia’s feet. He glanced down to see that the entire bathroom [floor] was covered with water. The source was coming out from an overflowing bathtub on the side, and the sound of more water running could be heard from behind the shower curtain covering half of the space.

“Who’s there!”

With a whoosh, the blue, flower-patterned shower curtain was forcefully yanked down.

For a second, Yu Xia thought he was looking at a new corpse —

There was a person submerged in the brimming bathtub. It was hard to discern the appearance in the dark bathroom, but the silhouette did not look large. This meant that the person was likely not yet an adult.

Yu Tong turned on the lights as he walked in from behind.

The instant the bathroom was flooded with light, they could see that it was a boy immersed in the slightly larger than normal tub.

“…Bring a towel or something over.” Yu Xia turned the faucet off and walked across the soaked floor, slowly bending down over the rim of the rub.

The moment his hand touched the water, it was suddenly caught by a hand. Then, a pair of violet eyes abruptly snapped open, peering at him through the water with a faint suspicion.

This was the first time Yu Xia had ever experienced a situation like this at a crime scene.

“He’s still alive! Hurry up and carry him out!” Yu Tong’s voice shocked his stunned brother out of his daze. “There’s a survivor in here, quickly call the ambulance!”

Together, they lifted the boy out from the bathtub. Several officers brought over an endless supply of towels they had borrowed from the neighbours, and the towels were wrapped around the sole survivor that was as cold as a corpse.

Sirens filled the air around them.

The expressionless boy never loosened his grip, watching the scene as if it did not involve him. As other officers carefully pulled him out, his violet eyes landed on the faces of Yu Xia and Yu Tong.

“The ambulance is outside, but…” The rescue workers rushing in might damage the scene.

The police officer did not complete his sentence.

Without much thought, Yu Xia lifted the boy wrapped in large towels with one fell swoop and began to run outside. He did not forget to use the towel to cover the head in order to prevent the reports from capturing any photos.

“His temperature has dropped dangerously low, we need to bring him to the hospital immediately.”

After exchanging a few words with the rescue workers, Yu Xia turned around to call someone over and have them follow to the hospital. But in the blink of an eye, he immediately discovered that his wrist was still being tightly clutched in someone else’s grasp.

The unusually ice-cold hand was stubbornly holding on, refusing to let go. The weak fingers were exerting so much strength that they were nearly digging into his skin.

“Officer Yu?” One of the familiar faces in the rescue team showed a complicated expression.

“…I’ll go with you guys to the hospital.”

That was the beginning of it all.

He ended his peaceful slumber by opening his eyes.

The peaceful space was so silent that even dust falling might have seemed loud.

The faint glow coming through his window curtains formed a long, bright line on the ground. It crawled up the wall and onto the small table, illuminating the objects on top.

A cellphone, books, and a picture frame.

There was a photo from the summer when they had gone to the southern district, one when they had bought balloons on the street market over New Year’s, and one from not long ago, when the residents of the house had gathered everyone together for a huge hotpot party during the holidays in the cold weather.

Because there was only one picture frame, he had multiple photos stuffed in the back of the frame, rotating through them every now and then.

The time on his cellphone advanced a minute, and there seemed to be the sound of footsteps in the hallway outside the door. They were so faint that he could barely hear them. It was someone who woke up every morning at the crack of dawn, walking past all the other bedrooms and going downstairs to prepare everyone for the day.

Five minutes left.

He shut his eyes and returned to the darkness.

He was no longer waking from the ice-cold water, no longer falling asleep amidst rackets. The air did not have any unusually sweet scents, and he no longer felt emotions swell up in his chest, on the verge of bursting out at any moment.

The semi-open window only carried the smell of plants, as there were flowers planted outside every person’s window.

He lightly breathed in the cool air, then suddenly tossed the blanket away from his body. The almost penetrating chill quickly banished all sleepiness from his mind without a trace.

“…Achoo…”

As expected, he sneezed.

After stretching out his muscles, he left the soft bed and picked up the half-completed book on his table. He carefully pushed his bedroom door open and walked out to the hallway. He could still hear the usual sounds of breathing from the still sleeping residents’ bedrooms in the shared space.

He walked across the somewhat chilly floorboards to descend down the staircase. The instant he arrived outside the kitchen, he smelled a pleasant aroma.

“Huh? Xiao Yu? Didn’t I say not to wake up so early in the winter? And you didn’t even grab a sweater; be careful not to catch a cold.” The owner of the house was currently preparing food in the kitchen as usual. He paused slightly to glance over, and then took off the thin sweater he was wearing and helped put it on the other person. The clothing was still slightly warm. “I’m almost done, just wait there for another minute.”

A minute later, he was carrying a hot cup in his two hands towards the living room, his book under his armpit.

The liquid that swayed as he walked gave off a comforting smell. The drink often changed: sometimes it was the scent of warm milk, sometimes of cocoa, and sometimes of milk tea…or the soup with beautiful golden specks that he was holding today.

The other two that did not wake up so early probably had not experienced many chances to try this special morning drink.

The house owner that prepared breakfast for everyone would always first give him a cup of something for energy before starting to make the food. Because it was too hot in the summer, he would typically end up getting a cup of specially mixed fruit iced tea, something that the other two never got. Even the soup and drinks for breakfast were not the same.

He sat down on the living room sofa, switched on the TV, and hopped through a few channels before stopping at the news channel.

As usual, the screen was reporting various news, mostly the morning newsflash, such as some fire that had broken out the previous night, or some robbery that had occurred. Sometimes it was another joyrider mowing down people, or another incident of coercement with violence.

The number of incidents increased day-by-day.

He still remembered Yu Yin grumbling once about how his dad and uncle had never been so pressed with work a few years ago. Yet with the changing times and transformations of society, them working overtime was already a normal matter now.

The children of the new generation were difficult to teach, and they would excessively question any kind of teaching. Gradually, the declining circumstances corroded through the originally somewhat unstable society, increasing the [police’s] work more and more.

If one flipped through all the case files, one would discover how criminals were just constantly coming up with new ideas each time.

And in order to satisfy modern mankind, who was already growing numb to this all, the media was growing in toxicity. With all these influences, even mere kindergartners could now easily say something like “I’ll beat you to death” at school, or find it amusing as they kicked around weak little creatures. Yet the adults that had already shown such actions to these children still held onto weaving unachievable dreams [for the children].

It was the collapse of social order.

The light from the TV was reflected onto Yu’s face as he half-shut his eyes in slight confusion.

“Watching that kind of stuff so early in the morning will give you indigestion.” Someone who had unknowingly entered the living room stretched our their hand to change the television channel to a comedy show.

Yu raised his head up to see Yu Yin, who had woken at some point. Yu Yin then yawned as he scratched his head and staggered into the kitchen to grab a drink.

Following that was the morning breakfast time that happened at nearly the same time every day.

Yu Tong, the person with the highest position in the household, believed that the most important thing every day was breakfast. Unless there was some truly disastrous situation, Yu Tong would always arrange a sumptuous breakfast on the table at the same time every day, even if he had worked through the entire night prior.

As for what was considered a disastrous situation, there was one that this household had just experienced not long ago.

Back then, Yu Xia had been so heavily injured that he had taken this entire time to finally recover enough and return to work…However, even while on leave, he had gone off running after criminals. Even his boss could not hold him back, despite trying to stop it. Yu Xia would still end up pursuing and painfully dragging down a snatch theft while he was strolling around the streets, or teaching some lecher a lesson, or turning over a bank robbery gang.

When adding all of it up, Yu Xia had captured a grand total of seven criminals from different cases of various sizes during his break. It was a truly amazing feat.

Yu Xia, who had officially started going back to work, also yawned as he turned the TV channel back to the news and strolled into the dining room.

“I’m going to spend the night outside over the weekend.” Yu Yin grabbed some food, more or less fully awake now as he said, “Ah Fang and the guys want to take a trip down to Changhua, and I want to go with them to check up on the situation.”

“The hospital over here can’t do anything?” Yu Tong looked at his son with furrowed brows.

“Not really. I heard from Ah Fang that it still continues to worsen. If Ah Fang hadn’t seen him run into an electric pole, they wouldn’t have even found out. Seriously…” Yu Yin shook his head. Feeling great responsibility for this all, he sighed and said, “This one was introduced by Xiao Hai. But I heard it’s not a hospital, I have no idea what it is.”

“I’ve asked a few colleagues to help scout out some hospitals outside the county too. If it really doesn’t work, you can go try those.”

“Ok.”

Yu just quietly listened in on the conversation without chiming in, just as usual.

Then, everyone began to prepare for work and class.

“Ah Si will come over and pick you up later. Don’t run about.” Before heading out, Yu Tong stood in front of the door, accepting the work bag Yu passed over, and patting Yu’s head.

Finally, the house fell quiet.

He stood in the entrance hall and stared at the shut door. Then, he quietly opened his mouth:

“Hope everyone has a safe trip…”

***

That world was always noisy.

Or perhaps a very long time ago, they had once been as perfect as the Yu household.

He remembered a few remaining fragments from before the noisiness had started. His parents had been fairly loving, while his older siblings were all influential figures in school. They had earned multiple academic awards when young, and even acted as the school’s representatives in competitions.

His father and mother had often said that because their children were not only beautiful, but also intelligent, they had inherited the best possible traits, making the parents proud.

It was a happy family.

It had truly been so before.

Up until light purple began to materialise in his black eyes, the colour gradually darkening and changing. And with it, his father’s doubts grew.

“Is this really my child?”

The adult pointed at him, asking this question in an unhappy tone.

“These kinds of eyes show up in our family every few generations. I have no idea why either.” The female was somewhat anxious, wanting the man to believe her.

Consequently, the conflicts gradually started.

The man’s affection to the children began to grow biased. At around the same time, his family had stood bail for someone implicated, and had been turned away from most jobs. After paying a great sum of money, they had struggled with just everyday life. Fortunately, they had just barely managed to hold on after finding some odd jobs.

“Is this really my child?”

The drunken tone was pointed at him. It carried intense suspicion linked with rebuke. “Why is this child so cold and detached? Is he sick? Does he have mental issues? Or is it that he looks down on me?”

As a porcelain plate smashed down in front of him, his gaze at the man remained apathetic. The cauliflower that felt at his feet slowly turned cold. His siblings all dragged him to hide into a room, away from the loud roars and shouts outside.

It was after entering senior high when injuries began appearing on the woman’s body.

“That isn’t my child!”

After throwing an alcohol bottle at the entrance hall, the man dragged him into the dark and freezing bathroom and locked him inside.

He thought that if the basement hadn’t been filled with piles of junk back then, or if the man had planned to lock him in there forever without opening the door again, he would just disappear alone in the darkness.

Then, one day, a faint, sickly sweet smell came from nowhere, wafting through the air amidst the darkness.

At first, he thought the matter had taken a turn for the better. There was now a different scent replacing the air usually reeking of alcohol, a scent that offered some comfort and warmth that even allowed him to temporarily forget the pain from staying in that ice-cold space.

For a few days, the man seemed to have completely changed personas. He was suddenly extremely gentle to everyone, using money from his salary that he had finally managed to increase to bring everyone out for great meals, watching movies, and even buy new clothes for each family member.

Then, a shrine was set up inside the house.

He had read before in books that believing in a religion could change some people’s actions, and that man had indeed seemed to be repenting over the past days. The man’s treatment towards the family was now extremely gentle, and would no longer drag him into the narrow and crammed space for no reason.

The strange guests that paid a visit to their home had instructed the man on how to give worship to the gods by lighting the scented incense sticks. They also urged him to introduce others to come listen to their company lectures.

At that time, their family might have actually returned to its former state.

He had felt a little happiness inside his heart, and he had spent a period of time learning how to do the housework from the woman in attempt to keep the man happy. This was because he was naturally not good at expressing his emotions, unlike his siblings that could very openly speak and play around.

It was as if someone had closed a window on his body, setting his responsive ability to the lowest point possible.

So he felt that perhaps he could do something to make up for this deficiency.

He remembered that abnormal day extremely clearly. The woman had woken up early to bring him out to the market. Her soft smile had gotten the vegetable sellers and butchers to give her more discounts, and after she had bought a great amount of fresh ingredients, the two of them had gone home to the kitchen to start preparing a plentiful dinner. The man came home from work and lit the incense, the strong scent filling the entire house. In the beginning, he would only light one stick, but it had somehow increased to seven or eight. The scent was now so strong that it was a bit terrifying.

Then, the man grabbed his face and glared into his violet eyes. And the man’s face twisted together.

“You all lied to me!”

The food that covered the table was swept off, crashing down onto the ground, shattering the bowls and plates into indiscernible pieces. The man grabbed the glass shards and left multiple bleeding cuts on the woman’s body. His siblings were frightened out of their wits, and dragged him with them as they ran over to a neighbour’s family to beg for help. Eventually, the local police were called over.

From that point on, his home began transforming into a nightmare.

“Ah Yin!”

As Yu Yin stepped into the school, rushing to his first class with a chocolate bar in his mouth that he had grabbed from home, he was stopped in the hallway. He then saw Ah Guan running over towards him from the distance. “What’s up? Skipping class again and need me to write down your name? The professor’s gotten his eye on me recently, since I’ve skipped class myself too many times. I was already given a warning.” Because of all the incidents that had happened recently, he had ended up skipping classes for a week straight, and his lack of attendance had been so bad that even his professors that usually covered for him could no longer continue letting it go. They had straightforwardly told him that he would get failed if he skipped up to two more classes, and that he would have to make up for his previous times with homework.

“That’s not it.” Ah Guan broke off a piece of the chocolate bar in his friend’s mouth and swallowed it. “Did you hear the news? Everyone’s saying that Yi Tai might defer his studies.”

Yu Yin froze. “Don’t joke around.”

He had found out belatedly that Yi Tai had completed his school credits at a terrifying speed, and had somehow completed all the credits with off-the-charts results during his first and second years. That was why he had so many free periods in the later half [of school]. Yu Yin had always wondered whether the other was also constantly skipping classes like him, but instead found out about this information that had nearly made him vomit blood.

Yi Tai, who was infamous for never studying for tests, was still in the top three ranks, and he had maintained it this whole time.

Yu Yin had asked Ah Fang about it, the latter of which said he did not know how it had happened either. Yi Tai had personally claimed that the questions were all guessed, as were his answers. However, the guesses always resulted with very high scores. As for some of the more critical short-answer questions and essay questions, he would be able to write down responses after casually flipping through the book before the exam.

Yu Yin believed that there were definitely many people that wanted to stuff this guy in a bag and vent their anger on him, especially those model students that studied to the point where their brain fluids leaked out from their mouths.

There were truly some frustrating people in this world.

“It’s true, I heard other people this morning saying that he had been called into the office to chat with the teachers for a very long time. Apparently they heard he was really deferring from his studies…Ah Yin, do you know what’s going on?” Ah Guan pushed at his friend, begging for gossip.

“I’m not sure, you should go ask Ah Fang. I’m not that close to Yi Tai.” This was the truth. Up until now, he still had not figured out what exactly was up with Yi Tai, who was someone completely beyond his scope.

“Who would have the guts to ask Ah Fang? I’m not looking to die yet.” Ah Guan shrugged and leaned on Yu Yin’s shoulders as they walked into the classroom. “But a lot of people are spreading the word now, who knows what happened.”

Yi Tai played a subtle, but very crucial role on this school campus, since his group had also resolved the recent commotion with the high school across. The issue of outsiders entering the grounds had also been resolved by them. He would even get requested often to help with people’s private matters. The sudden declaration now to leave the school clearly implicated the start of something bigger stirring up secretly.

“Anyways, we’ll find out once it’s all confirmed. No point in guessing around at this point.” Yu Yin pushed Ah Gun away and playfully swatted at him while shifting the topic.

He thought back to the conversation from breakfast.

He could not help but feel a weight fall on him. Although he had not imagined that getting through the ordeal would have been easy, he had never imagined that it would harm others…

“Weird, why is there a kid here?” Ah Guan stopped fooling around, and his reaction drew Yu Yin’s attention. Following Ah Guan’s line of sight, Yu Yin saw what appeared to be an elementary school child currently running around the stone steps next to the mostly empty pavilion. It was obvious that the child was playing hopscotch on the steps.

“I don’t think the elementary school has vacation today?” Yu Yin found it strange. He studied the child a distance away and quickly realised that the child…a young girl, was wearing ragged clothing, and her hands and feet were extremely dirty. It looked as if she had not bathed in days. Her waist-length hair was completely knotted together as well, and it incited a slight reaction of disgust. “I’ll go over and take a look. You head to the classroom first.”

“Class starts in five minutes!” Ah Guan patted Yu Yin’s shoulder, not much interested in the odd child, and turned around to go chat inside the classroom.

Yu Yin stayed still for a moment to watch the girl, but could not tell much from this distance. He sighed and carefully began to approach the child.

…He sometimes really did feel he was too meddlesome.

The girl soon noticed his movement. Her originally playful steps stopped, and her shoeless, pitch-black feet stood on the step, her dirty little face warily watching him.

“Do you want a chocolate bar?” He pulled out the snack from his pocket and shook the half-full box of sweets, stopping a few steps away from the girl and sitting down on the stone seat next to the flower garden.

The girl with knotted hair blinked her black eyes and swallowed her saliva.

No matter when or where, children always had pretty low resistance to snacks, a fact that Yu Yin had confirmed ages ago. So Yu Yin, who had often watched officers lure young children over, would subconsciously carry snacks around sometimes. Although occasionally, he just ate them himself.

They stood in a deadlock for less than a minute.

Tempted by the chocolate bar, the child slowly approached him, her gaze focused on the half-filled box of snacks.

As she neared Yu Yin, he noticed that even her fingernails were black, let alone her feet. There was a monstrous odor coming from her messy hair, and he couldn’t help but furrow his brows. “You don’t have to go to class today?” He broke off a piece of chocolate to pass to her, which was instantly snatched over by the other without any suspicion.

She shook her head and quickly gulped down the chocolate, lifting her head to look at the box again a few seconds later. “…Āyí said I didn’t need to go…I don’t have money.”

The soft, child-like voice weakly drifted through the air, accompanied by the sound of stomach growls.

“How long has it been since you last ate?” Yu Yin just gave the entire box to the girl, having heard the grumbling. He resisted the foul odor coming from his body and let the child drop her guard and come sit next to him. Now that they were next to each other, he could see that the girl was extremely skinny, and she was so dirty that she looked as if she had rolled around in the mud. Her clothing was ill-fitting too, as if someone had given her clothes that they could no longer wear. As she ate, she continuously scratched at her body, causing dead skin or something else to drop onto the ground.

“I ate potatoes last night.” The girl quickly finished the whole box of chocolates. She flipped the empty box over to confirm that there really wasn’t anything left, before hugging the still fragrant box as if cherishing it.

“Did you eat rice?” Ate potatoes?

The girl shook her head.

“Dàgēgē is really hungry, and was just thinking of getting breakfast. Do you want to come with me? Or else Dàgēgē will eat by himself and feel very lonely.” Yu Yin rubbed the exceptionally oily and filthy hair as he asked her in a gentle tone, “There are some very pretty Dàzǐzǐ nearby too. You can play with them after eating. What do you think?”

The girl stared at him for a long time, as if processing what coming over to eat together meant. She then stepped on one foot with the other and shyly answered, “I really want to eat…but Āyí will get mad…”

“Don’t worry, Dàgēgē will get someone else to talk to Āyí. Or do you have a home phone number? I can give your family a call.” Yu Yin fished out his cellphone and sent a text to his friend first.

“It’s better if you don’t tell Āyí, Āyí will get very angry,” the girl hurriedly said as she grabbed Yu Yin’s hand.

Seeing how fearful of the Āyí she spoke up she seemed, Yu Yin began to wonder if he should first call some local officers that he knew around the area later, to see if they could find the girl’s family and figure out their situation.

The girl in front of him looked as if she had nobody taking care of her, and perhaps had suffered from abandonment.

Such problems often occurred in the world these days. The adults that gave birth to the second generation did not actually want to carry out their duties, and a few would just casually abandon the children after being unable to take on the responsibility, or simply ignore them and let them fend for themselves until an elder or other relative picked up the mess. Or sometimes, a social worker would end up making arrangements.

Yu Yin had seen many such children at the station before.

There were even some parents that would end up fighting at the station just to keep the child away from them.

If they did not love the children, why give birth to them in the first place?

If unable to take care of the children, why have them come to this world just to gradually crumble?

He sometimes felt that there were people out there that were just too irresponsible.

“Then Dàgēgē won’t tell Āyí. Dàgēgē will bring you to eat first, then we can go play at Dàzǐzǐ’s house later, okay?” After seeing a shy smile form on the girl’s dirty face, Yu Yin put his phone away and stood up, wrapping his hand around the other small, dirt-covered one. “Oh right, Dàgēgē’s name is Yu Yin, you can call me Ah Yin-Gēgē. What should I call you?”

The girl clutched his fingers tightly and smiled. “Shuang Shuang, Mama calls me Shuang Shuang.”

“Ok, then Shuang Shuang, will you join Ah Yin-Gēgē to go and eat?”

“Ok!” The girl nodded and hugged his arm.

Mm, definitely skipping class.

He truly hoped that he would not get failed from class this semester.

***

“So you brought this step-child to my place?”

Li Lin Yue had originally been planning on sleeping in until noon, but had been called awake midway. She stood at the doorway dressed in only a flimsy shirt while looking at the older and younger pair standing there. The smile on her face did not seem to reach her eyes as she tossed a sideways glance at the dirty thing in front of her. “How long has it been since she took a bath? She’s pretty filthy. You’ll have to carry her to the bathroom, don’t let her walk across my floors.”

“Don’t be so petty, at worst I’ll just help you mop the floors.” Although Yu Yin said this, he still picked up the rather hefty little girl to enter his friend’s residence. Fortunately, all of the adults at this damned woman’s place had gone to work, since running over without warning was quite strange as it was. “I’ll have to trouble you to help wash her up then. I’ll go out and see if I can buy any kid’s clothes around here.” There was a chance he could find some in the nearby markets right now.

“No need, when you texted me about dropping by, I went and asked my neighbours for some old clothes they didn’t want. My neighbour’s kid just started elementary, so the clothes hadn’t gotten tossed yet.” Li Lin Yue waved her hand as she led them through the house and casually switched on the bathroom lights. She had known from the beginning that this would be trouble ever since she received the text earlier in the morning to borrow her bathroom to bathe a child, an elementary school girl no less.

“Thanks.”

After spending some time to eat a second breakfast with the girl, Yu Yin had tried his best to trick her over to this place. The girl in his arms seemed extremely uneasy, and it was clear to see that Li Lin Yue’s home, which was both foreign as well as excessively tidy and clean, scared her. “In a bit, this pretty Dàzǐzǐ is going to get you all fresh and washed up. After your bath, we’ll give you a change of clothes too, alright? Be good.”

The pitch-black eyes stared at Yu Yin for a long while. Finally, Shuang Shuang nodded.

After turning on the lights, Li Lin Yue opened the bathtub faucet to start filling the tub. She danced back out with a bashful expression. “Oh wow, I’m so embarrassed right now. I had no idea I was a pretty Zǐzǐ, ~Dàgēgē~.”

“Shut it.” Yu Yin’s face instantly darkened.

“Men who are good at coaxing children will end up being good dads in the future, you know.” Li Lin Yu continued to mock her best friend and snickered to herself.

“…It’s because I’ve seen it too often. It’s not a crime to know a few tricks.” Yu Yin bitterly smiled in reply, having unconsciously learned how to coax children after frequently watching social workers and police officers do it.

“Oh, no need to act modest. Our school seems to have a childcare-related department, why not transfer over there and try it out? Maybe you were born with the skills to become a kindergarten teacher, Ah Yin-dàgēgē~” There was a cutesy tone to her words as the pretty university student grabbed at the friend she had grown up with and gave him a dubious smile.

“Get out of here and go check on the water.” Yu Yin pushed her back into the bathroom and shot his female excuse of a friend a glare as she was distracted by the bathtub.

“How funny, Ah Yin-dàgēgē can get embarrassed?” This time, Li Lin Yue really did laugh out loud. Before he could hit her, she quickly pulled the girl inside the bathroom as well and slammed the door shut.

Yu Yin, who nearly got struck by the door, let out a curse.

Then, the moment he blinked, he suddenly saw a person’s silhouette appear behind him in his blurry reflection from the door.

Before he could even register it, the figure instantly vanished like an illusion. Yu Yin touched the door, confused.

Li Lin Yue’s bathroom door was the standard, milky-white door made of plastics. Although it was very glossy, it was not at the level where one could see reflections off it.

He had probably mistaken the traces of a shadow.

…I’m not getting spots in my vision, am I?

The door was instantly yanked open again.

Steam and sweet-smelling bubbles wafted out as Li Lin Yue stuck her head out. “Are you just going to stand there and stare? There’s cakes and fruits in the fridge, go cut some for us to eat when we come out later.”

“You think I’m here to—”

Before he could say something foul, the door nearly slammed onto his face again.

Yu Yin touched the dust on his nose and scratched his head. Since he had come to request a favour from her, he couldn’t exactly rebuke her, so he went ahead to prepare the snacks.

He had known Li Lin Yue for a very long time now. Even the adults in both their families had met up several times. Their relationship was not a romantic one, but purely one of best friends. Li Lin Yue would occasionally drop by his place as she pleased, just like how he went in and out of her home as if it were his. Thus, Yu Yin often thought of his female friend whenever he needed help.

As they both grew older, they had exercised some more restraint due to their gender differences. But before senior high, they had still been close enough friends to fool around in mud and filth together.

Their relationship had stayed this way for a very long time now, and was never romantic.

Yu Yin retrieved the cake and fruits and placed them on the counter before bending down to rummage for a knife and plates.

The instant he straightened back up, he really did see something out of the corner of his eye.

A woman was standing on the other side of the kitchen.

Her ash-grey face was absolutely blank, her eyes so turbid that it was impossible to see the pupils. She wore an office suit that included a white blouse, a grey blazer, and a skirt. There was some kind of design on her blazer that did not appear to be made of high quality, and it was covered in dark red stains.

The woman silently stood there for a few seconds before gradually fading away.

Yu Yin froze, completely motionless.

The face he had seen just now had absolutely no connection to the residents in this house, and he did not believe any of them would kill someone and bury the body or anything of the like. Moreover, ignoring the rate at which the figure had disappeared, it did not seem to be linked to this place in any way.

According to his experience, it had probably been brought in from somewhere outside.

Yu Yin slowly put the knife down. He kept one hand pressed down on it to make sure it wouldn’t suddenly fly up and stab him, while his other hand pulled out his cellphone to call a certain person.

“Hello? Jiu Shen-Gē, have there recently been any cases involving the death of an officer worker over there?”

An anguished wail immediately came from the other end of the line.

***

His household had always been harmonious and happy.

Even after his mother had died, his father had still taken care of him very well, just as before. His uncle had later moved in out of concern, and had treated him like his own child…by often disciplining him.

That uncle had been just like a second father to him, especially since his uncle and father shared the same face. Thus, since junior high, he would often openly call his uncle his “Second Dad”, although his uncle remained unmarried.

His father would often jokingly say that he was not like his father, but rather more similar to his uncle in terms of personality. Although he was not as violent as his uncle, their impulsive nature and his involvement various matters were exactly the same. And his rare attentiveness made him similar to his late mother.

Although an outsider might think their family slightly odd, it was warmer than any other household. It was to the point where he had once felt the misplaced desire to prevent any person from robbing this feeling away, like his mother had been taken from them. He did not want to lose anything more, which was why he had been exceptionally rejecting of the child that had been brought into their family.

Even though he had later realised that it wasn’t possibly to truly reject the other, he still maintained a faint hope, a desire for the other person not to take his family away from him. And so he tried his best to play the part of a good older brother.

Just as his father had once said, in order to not lose anything, more had to be gained.

Gaining another family member could increase the amount of warmth he felt, filling the regret and loneliness of losing his mother. Thus, he had truly treated the new sibling as a true younger brother. But perhaps the other did not feel the same, or only regarded their home as a temporary refuge.

Losing something they had once possessed in such an excessively bloody and cruel way was devastating, even to him who had only heard of it.

He was not sure if he could truly take the position of a brother in the other’s heart. However, he hoped that the other would accept him as a true brother, so that they could remember this was a place to return to during times of difficulty and suffering.

Just like the family that his two fathers had built for him.

Yu Yin watched the girl currently burying her head into the cake to gulp it down.

After Li Lin Yue’s two-hour struggle in the bathroom, they were finally able to break through the outer layer and see the girl’s true face. Truthfully, her appearance was not what Yu Yin had been expecting. To use Li Lin Yue’s words:

She was clearly a cute little loli!

Aside from being extremely thin, the girl was so adorable that it gave anyone the urge to just pinch her cheeks.

She had pale-white skin and large, dark eyes. Although her face was a bit gaunt, her facial features were all extremely attractive and well-proportioned. Her hair was soft and fluffy after being washed and combed, and it fell naturally to her waist with a slight curl. After being tied up into simple pigtails, her cuteness skyrocketed.

Li Lin Yue, who had completely fallen for the adorableness, had grabbed her wallet and rushed out to buy a small, Western-style dress. After capturing the girl, she had dressed her up so that the girl ended up looking exactly like a stunning Lolita doll.

“This pretty Dàzǐzǐ was completely mistaken about Ah Yin-dàgēgē. Clearly, you actually carefully chose this step-kid, and a high-quality one at that. Despite knowing you for so long, I never knew until now that you secretly had such a hobby!” Li Lin Yue sighed in admiration as she played with the little girl’s hair and then took a photo.

“What do you mean I had such a hobby! I picked her up, you know!” Yu Yin had just explained the backstory once already. He picked up the cake plate with the strong urge to toss the remaining half of the cream cake at the face of the girl in front of him. However, worried about accidentally hitting the little girl as well, he could only restrain himself.

Li Lin Yue shot her friend a look after glancing at the girl eating ravenously. The two friends then walked out one after the other to the kitchen on the other side of the hallway.

“Seriously though, what do you really plan on doing with this girl? Report her to a social worker?” Li Lin Yue’s tone reversed completely from the earlier joking. With her arms now crossed, she asked this question with a rare grimness.

“Social worker?” Yu Yin paused, uncertain as to why she had suddenly brought this up.

Li Lin Yue lowered her voice and told him of the shock she had just gotten in the bathroom earlier. “That Shuang Shuang has a bunch of scars on her body, and not just bumps either. Some are what look very much like different-sized burn marks left by cigarette butts, while others are bruises and traces of having been beaten. It’s quite serious. No matter how you look at it, she’s definitely being abused. However, it’s all on her body only; the areas that are more exposed like her arms and legs don’t have anything. I think it’s intentional.”

She had visited the Family Support Society before, so she was not unfamiliar with children sporting scars from domestic abuse.

“Are you certain?” Although Yu Yin was somewhat astonished at his female friend’s words, he had also gotten a vague feeling that the truth would be something like this.

After all, a child that fully experienced love and care would not be running around randomly outside like a homeless kid.

At her age, she should have been studying and playing around with other kids her age at school.

She had previously mentioned an “Āyí”; it seemed that this “Āyí” was very likely the person she was under the care of, and, just like often seen in TV dramas, this “Āyí” did not treat her well in the slightest. Aside from giving her the bare minimum amount of food to survive, they had left her alone to fend for herself.

“I’m absolutely sure. Or do you want to strip the little loli yourself to check?”

“…Fuck you.” Yu Yin obviously was not going to take off a little girl’s clothes. He frowned slightly as he went through a few possible solutions in his head. “I’ll call the police first, or else we’ll end up being called kidnappers. While I’m at it, I’ll ask for the police to directly contact a social worker.” The ways of the world weren’t always the best. Although he had washed and fed the girl out of good will, bringing her back without permission could lead to huge trouble later. Thus, he felt that he still had to report it first to make it safer from both sides.

“I think that’s best to. You…”

Just as Li Lin Yue was about to say something more, she subconsciously turned around and abruptly saw the subject of their discussion standing at the kitchen entrance, completely silent. The girl’s expressionless stare pointed at them startled Li Lin Yue, the words she had been about to voice now stuck in her throat.

Yu Yin was also caught off guard, unsure of how long the girl had been standing there and listening.

“…Done eating. Shuang Shuang brought the plate over to wash.” The girl suddenly broke out into a wide, adorable smile as she raised her hands to show them the little plate that had been wiped clean of all food.

“Eh, no need to be so polite. You can just leave it there. Or do you still want some more cake? Dàzǐzǐ still has a lot more at home.” Li Lin Yue swallowed hard, and smiled in a friendly manner at the young girl.

The girl looked up and thought this over for a moment. “Can it be taken home? Shuang Shuang wants to bring some back for Daddy and Āyí to eat, the cake is really, really yummy…”

“Sure, I’ll just grab one for you.” Li Lin Yu turned to open the refrigerator and scanned over the numerous dessert boxes that had been stuffed inside. She then reached out to smoothly grab a long piece of strawberry cake and helped the girl pack it into a paper bag.

Yu Yin looked inside the refrigerator as well. He knew that most of them had probably been free gifts Li Lin Yue had gotten while she had been baiting guys.

The girl took the offered cake. With an exceptionally happy smile, she ran over to grab Yu Yin’s hand and asked, “Shuang Shuang wants to go home now. Can Dàgēgē bring me back to school…? Daddy will be worried…”

Yu Yin exchanged a glance with Li Lin Yue before nodding. “Is your home near the school? Do you want me to just bring you home directly?”

The girl quickly shook her head furiously. “Shuang Shuang can just go home alone. Daddy doesn’t like other people.”

It seemed like this girl’s family likely did have some issues.

As Yu Yin mentally noted to inform the police of this, he thanked his friend and started to lead the girl out.

The moment he opened the front door, all he saw in front him was a pair of ash-grey eyes staring straight at him.

The woman wearing an office suit only existed for a mere two seconds before immediately vanishing into thin air, so quickly that Yu Yin did not even have the time to feel frightened.

Yu Yin stared at the empty space outside, unsure of what to even think. He then took the little girl’s hand and began to walk towards where his motorbike had been parked outside.

So, what in the world is that ghost exactly?