YBCB: V5C8

The reason for the ominous feeling is revealed…and the suspense deepens.

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Chapter Eight

Yu Xia yawned.

“Xia, why don’t you go sleep first?” Yu Tong suggested when he walked in with breakfast and saw his brother rubbing his eyes. It wasn’t just Yu Xia; their nearby coworkers that had all worked through the night sported extremely tired expressions.

“I’ll take a 30 minute nap later.” Yu Xia chewed on a chocolate bar he had stolen from Jiu Shen as he studied the computer screen. It was currently displaying the autopsy report Yan Si had sent.

“If really necessary, I can help go for you today.” Yu Tong glanced at the student uniform off to the side as he distributed the breakfast to their other colleagues.

“Nah, I was finally able to get some information yesterday. Those students are really up to no good at all; they’re apparently selling things.” Yu Xia paused and thought back to what had happened last night. “I suspect they are selling drugs.”

“We sent the cigarette butt for analysis. There was definitely a reaction to a drug, and they are analysing the composition right now.” Yu Tong swiftly swiped the snack from his twin’s hand despite the protests, instead shoving a rice ball into his hands. “I heard Ah Yin was also there last night.”

“We didn’t see each other. His friend recognised me, so he helped block me from Ah Yin. It was the one called Yi Tai that’s currently still being interrogated for the investigation, so I owe him one now. What did that car owner say?” Yu Xia shut off the computer and turned around to start his breakfast.

“The car owner denies he was the one driving at the time. More accurately speaking, his car went missing, so he was of course very angry, and went around piercing the tires of other nearby cars. Because he was acting so ostentatiously, all the stores in the area remembered it, and confirmed his alibi.” Yu Tong thought back to Jiu Shen’s information and added, “Jiu Shen did not find anything else particularly useful. It was clear that the car thief knew exactly how to protect himself. The strange part is that the car seemed to be carrying something — there were many small cardboard boxes. Jiu Shen’s group will be sampling from those cardboard boxes.”

“Cardboard boxes…” Although Yu Xia did not think the cardboard boxes had any relation, he still noted this matter down in his mind.

“The car owner also has a criminal record, including animal abuse, disturbing the neighbours, and haphazard driving. He was also seized once a few years ago for possessing drugs. They found two pills on him that he claimed to be cold medication, but we later tested it to have the same components as a type of injectable drug—”

“Selling them?” Yu Xia knit his brows together.

“There is no evidence for that. He was also using it himself.” Yu Tong picked up the data folder next to him and flipped through it. “So his sentence was not very heavy, and after paying the combined fines, he quickly got released.”

“Hmph.” After Yu Xia finished eating, he tossed the empty bag into the trash can and massaged his shoulder as he stood up. For some reason, his shoulder had been hurting ever since coming back last night. “I’m going to lie down for a bit, wake me up in a bit.” He then walked directly into the resting room.

After Yu Xia left, Yu Tong sat back down in front of his own computer. He immediately discovered there was something that did not belong to him under the monitor.

It was a folded envelope.

He recalled that the anonymous letters sent in the past all had this kind of envelope as well. But when he flipped this one over, there were neither words nor a name written. Puzzled, Yu Tong opened the unsealed envelope and saw that there was not a letter inside. Instead, there were just bits of dirt and some blades of grass.

His brother wouldn’t be bored enough to dump these kinds of random things inside as prank. His coworkers would not be carefree or leisurely enough to do such a thing either.

So who does this belong to?

“It’s pretty energetic outside,” Jiu Shen interrupted. He had arrived at some point while Yu Tong was deep in thought and was leaning on top of the cubicle divider next to the computer. He also seemed extremely exhausted. “The car owner is shouting all over the place. He said that since his car was destroyed, he needs to call his insurance representative over.”

“Xia went to the resting room, so don’t let them bring their uproar over there. Otherwise, that car owner will turn into a casualty.” Yu Tong knew just how explosive of a temper a certain person had when they did not get enough sleep. Yu Tong then noticed a folder in his colleague’s hands. “What is that?”

“Oh, samples of the car owner’s fingerprints. The driver did not leave any traces behind; the driver’s seat was just filled with the car owner’s fingerprints. However, we found a bunch of hair of varying lengths that we need to slowly analyse.” Jiu Shen yawned and added, “That car owner is extremely uncooperative. He doesn’t answer any questions, and just keeps shouting about how expensive his car is. So annoying; if I won the lottery, I would really want to buy a Ferrari just to run over him.”

Yu Tong smiled slightly, but did not particularly express an opinion.

“And the other room is completely silent.” Although Jiu Shen had come to hang around and take a break, he simultaneously brought up the completely different situation on the other side. “The two people that Ah Yin knows refuse to say anything. Nothing has come out of questioning them.”

Yu Tong recalled Yu Xia had mentioned just now that one of them had recognised him. That also means…

“Are they still in interrogation?”

“No, they seem to be taking a break.” Jiu Shen shook his head and straightened himself up. “I’m going back to tidy up things and then get myself home to sleep. Bye…”

Once Jiu Shen left, Yu Tong stood up and walked towards the room the two university students were in.

The instant he walked out into the hallway, he really did hear hooting come from the other side.  Since the officers were all tired after being tormented the entire night, they changed hands with the day shift for them to try continuing to placate the car owner.

When he turned to the other side, it was the exact opposite: dead silence.

It was slightly past seven in the morning. When he stepped inside the quiet room, the two people that had been resting with closed eyes instantly opened their eyes in alarm.

“Um…Yi Tai?” Yu Tong looked down at the birth name written on the case file, but chose instead to call him by the name others addressed him as.

“Ah Yin’s father.” Yi Tai also knew who the other person was. His gaze remained locked onto Yu Tong.

“Yes, thank you very much for your help last night after you recognised my twin brother.” With this simple explanation, Yu Tong glanced outside to nod at his colleague for the latter to shut the door. “You seem to be refusing to answer any questions?”

The male university student with a clean and tidy appearance picked up the cup filled with water from the table and swirled it around. “There is no need to answer them. If I want to say something, I will say it.”

“OK, then I will not ask you those questions you do not wish to answer, and you do not need to respond to anything you do not want to tell us.” After seeing the other person nod in response, Yu Tong continued, “I wanted to ask you: Who was your opponent in the fight? In other words, the leader of the high school student that got killed by the car?”

“Big Camel. He was the one that transferred over last semester and kicked off the original leader.”

“His birth name is…?”

Yi Tai smiled and looked down at the data file Yu Tong was holding. “You can simply look it up.”

Yu Tong nodded, knowing that the other did not want to say. “You know what we are looking for in the school.”

“I am not completely certain, but I think the other Officer Yu will likely find it soon. Big Camel is currently severely lacking in people. He lost three of the ones he could use, another one was just killed by a car crash, while another does not seem to listen to him, so he will want to absorb new people soon.” He shot a glance at Ah Fang, who was about to fall asleep next to him. “My friend seems very tired, could you let him rest first?”

Yu Tong gestured for his coworker outside to bring Ah Fang out. After closing the door, Yu Tong continued his questions. “Do you know why those three people went missing?”

Yi Tai tilted his head to think this over for a moment before shaking his head. “I don’t really know, but the fourth girl…I know that she used to play with dogs nearby.”

“Dogs?”

“We have been keeping watch on that white car for a long time now, since he has nearly run over students several times already. He stops over in the residential area. A while ago, a stray dog gave birth to six puppies nearby. That girl would often go to that area to feed the puppies there. Ah Fang and the others were afraid that car would hit her, so they paid close attention for a period of time.” Yi Tai shrugged and narrowed his eyes. “However, those dogs were later killed by an air gun, likely by the one who drives that white car.”

Often go to that area?

Yu Tong found this information very hard to ignore. “Was she there during the days before she disappeared as well?”

“After the dogs were killed, she walked around near the area for a few days still. But we never saw her again afterwards.” Yi Tai paused before explaining, “Those killed dogs were dumped into a large trash can at school by the white car owner that same day.”

“Hm…in that case, what was she still going over there for?” Yu Tong softly murmured this to himself, so the person across from him did not respond. “I more or less understand, thank you.”

“No need.”

They were silent for a while. Just as the person across from him was about to yawn, Yu Tong suddenly brought up his creeping suspicion. “Although this is a personal question, I wanted to ask: no matter how I look at you, I cannot see you as the type of child to mess with criminals. Why are you the boss of Ah Yin’s school?”

He had assumed his question would not be answered, but unexpectedly, Yi Tai smiled. “You are mistaken. Actually, I am not really a boss; at least, I don’t have the power to command others like Big Camel does. I simply help others deal with some matters, so many people often come looking to me for help.”

“That includes the brawl?”

“Undeniably. In my eyes, it is not any different.”

Yu Tong studied the university student sitting across from him. He knew that the boy would never feel guilt for hitting someone; the police had already encountered too many adults and children like that.

These kinds of people would just continue to increase in number, mostly developing towards bad directions.

Although he did not think Yi Tai currently had any ill intents or desire to walk the wrong path, Yu Tong was still worried. He felt there would eventually be a day when he would come across this person again in some major incident.

Yu Tong wholeheartedly prayed such a day would never come.

“Finally, there’s one more matter: was the reason you had me send your friend out earlier because you did not want him to be interrogated, or was it was because you know even more and wanted to try using it as a condition to exchange for his protection?” From the beginning, Yu Tong had felt something was fishy. He instinctively knew that Yi Tai was not a simple person, but he did not express it.

Yi Tai’s smile widened.

“Who knows?”

***

When he returned home, the phone was ringing non-stop.

Yu Yin, who had just barely kept himself from sleeping through school the entire afternoon today, kicked off his shoes and quickly ran to pick up the phone in the living room. “Hello, this is the Yu residence.”

The voice on the other line was fuzzy at first, but it gradually grew clearer. “May I ask if this is where Shaodi Yu lives?”

“He isn’t here right now. May I ask who this is?” Yu Yin found the voice a bit out of place, since very few people called the house to look for Yu. Most of Yu’s friends used cellphone to contact him, and would not really call the family home phone.

“May I ask if you are…?”

“I’m his older brother. Are you his classmate?” Why does the voice sound so old?

“Oh, pardon for the disturbance, this is his teacher speaking. He did not come to school today, was he not feeling well?” After identifying herself, the teacher said, “He did not attend class today, but his backpack is at his seat. His classmates said that he went to the health office for bandaging recently, so I was a bit worried about his physical health. I thought perhaps his injury worsened, so I wanted to call and ask.”

Yu Yin’s mind went blank.

“You said he didn’t go to school today?” There’s something wrong. Yu Yin suddenly tensed as he thought about it more closely. He had definitely not seen Xiao Yu once since their argument, but he had assumed Yu had been going to school by himself like usual.

Although Yu did not speak, Yu Yin could sense that Xiao Yu really loved studying, so there was no reason to abandon school at all.

Wait, I definitely saw Xiao Yu carrying his backpack during the argument, and he typically never goes anywhere without it. It wouldn’t make sense for him to leave his backpack at school if he didn’t go.

“Yes, so I assumed he was resting at home…is he not there?” Having noticed the surprise in Yu Yin’s tone, the teacher’s voice also became a bit anxious.

“…I’m heading over to the school this instant.”

Yu Yin hung up the receiver and suddenly felt attacked by a chill. He tried to convince himself that his Dad might have brought Xiao Yu out; after all, if he really was not feeling well, he would need to see a doctor. Since Yu Yin had been asleep all morning today, he would not have noticed.

That’s probably it.

So no need to overthink it…

But this notion was completely shattered after he called Yu Tong.

“I came back home around five in the morning, but you two seemed to both be asleep, so I did not wake either of you,” Yu Tong’s voice said from the other end.

“You only put out one portion of breakfast?”

“Mm, Xiao Yu seems to like making his own breakfast more; he doesn’t eat much take-out. He told me before that there was no need to buy him any, since he was afraid of it going to waste, so I did not buy him a portion.”

“…”

“Ah Yin, did something happen?” Yu Tong had noticed something wrong since the beginning. Although Ah Yin usually liked playing around, he wouldn’t be bored enough to call just to ask about breakfast.

“Xiao Yu…is probably not with you,” Yu Yin affirmed.

“He’s gone missing?”

Yu Yin opened his mouth and heard his throat make a few indistinct noises. “His teacher just called to say that he didn’t go to school today. I have a feeling that he did not come home last night either.” Only now had he remembered that no matter how late it was, he would always see Xiao Yu sitting in the living room watching TV, waiting for the door. Xiao Yu rarely went up to sleep first.

There was some noise on the other end. Then, Yu Tong said, “Go to school now and figure out the exact situation. I’ll immediately find someone to go over as well.”

After hanging up, Yu Yin quickly raced up to the second floor to open the door to Xiao Yu’s room. There actually was not anything special inside. But based on the room’s condition, it was clear that nobody had slept inside last night.

After shutting the door again, Yu Yin felt his fingers go numb. There was a voice in his heart that was impossible to ignore.

He was afraid Xiao Yu had become “the fifth one”.

After the last body was found, they had all immediately realised that the missing people had not run away from home. Moreover, these people that had disappeared had also had their lives taken. Although the other three still had not been located, this conclusion was pretty much a given now.

Yu Yin quickly jumped down the stairs and walked into the living room to grab his things. Because he was so immersed in his own thoughts, Yu Yin did not notice anything strange at all. By the time he finally heard a sound, he simultaneously saw something small smash into the living room window.

A massive bang erupted from the balcony as the entire glass sheet shattered. The shards shot outwards and cut through the curtains, landing all over the ground.

Yu Yin’s first reaction was to flip behind the sofa to take shelter, but his arms were still cut by the glass pieces, causing him to let out a pained cry. A few seconds later, footsteps followed. He immediately stood up and saw several males with sharp gazes and scowls on their faces standing outside the walls, making provocative gestures at him. Once their stone-throwing actions activated the security system, the four or five people ran away in panic.

Yu Yin blankly looked around at the horrible aftermath of the living room due to the shattered glass. He then noticed two large rocks on the floor. Actually, correction — cement bricks. The kind of bricks that only construction areas would have were now lying on his floor, and had also smashed the now fallen window.

Yu Yin noticed there were words written in marker on one of the cement bricks.

Since he was afraid of accidentally messing up the surroundings further, he maintained a distance away. However, he could clearly see the horribly written words: “Hand over the item.”

Item?

Security quickly arrived after being alerted by the system, and he then called the police.

When an officer Yu Yin was acquainted with arrived, he handed the house over to them. He was more concerned about Xiao Yu, who had not come home the entire night, than those escapees he knew had fled after breaking the house.

But what item were they after?

Yu Yin glanced over at the living room and caught sight of the place he had hit the long, black drawstring bag.

He suddenly thought that perhaps the item that had been left in his care was not as simple as a mere doll.

“Ah Yin, do you need me to contact Yu Xia or Yu Tong?” The officer Yu Yin knew asked this question as Yu Yin grabbed a safety helmet and started walking out.

“Help me contact Dad, I’m going to drop by the school. Also, I think I’m being targeted by the high school students from the brawl, so it would be best if you could check if those guys are nearby this area.” Yu Yin bid farewell and swiped some sheets of toilet paper to roughly wipe the blood off his hands. With a nod at the officer, he stepped outside his house.

There was still another brick lying in his yard. It was clear to see how prepared the perpetrators had been to break into his house.

Typically with incidents that were more minor, he would look for Ah Fang’s group and ask them if they knew who the other party was. But at the moment, he could only temporarily ignore the situation first.

Yu Yin started his motorbike and looked up at the gradually darkening sky. The houses along the street had all turned on their lights already. He prayed that Xiao Yu had only run over to the library and had been so immersed in reading that he had forgotten to come home, rather than being unable to come home.

As all the families were starting to eat dinner, the motorcycle tail lights turned around the corner and vanished.

***

Because of the house being broken into, Yu Yin arrived at the school over an hour later than he was supposed to.

Yu Yin entered the high school building that currently had evening classes right now. Having already been here several times, Yu Yin quickly located the teacher’s office and instantly saw the class teacher waiting for him.

“I apologise, I ran into some trouble on the way here.” Yu Yin nodded at the teacher before walking straight in. “My name is Yu Yin, I am Xiao Yu’s older brother.”

The teacher stood up to say some polite formalities, before bending down to pick up a small backpack placed nearby. Yu Yin immediately knew it belonged to Yu; before he had started attending school, he would always have that bag on him while following Yu Yin around. “He placed this in the classroom. His classmates were afraid it would go missing, so they brought it over to me.”

Yu Yin thanked the teacher before opening the bag to see that not only were the notebook Yu wrote in and his textbooks still there, even his wallet and other daily items were not missing. It did not seem like he had planned on going out for long.

“I will ask my father’s side to find him as quickly as possible,” Yu Yin told the teacher as he clutched the bag.

“Mm…because the school is already troubled by missing students, the director just asked me to request for you all to search on a low profile.” The teacher had an uneasy expression, with a strong feeling of opposition against this suggestion. “However, I hope that you can find him soon. Since we lost the previous student, none of us want to lose another excellent student with great future prospects.”

“Alright.”

Yu Yin did not have any intention of talking too much with this teacher he had just met, and with the backpack in his hands, he quickly left the office.

He found a stairwell that was more obscure and flipped the backpack upside down to dump out all of its contents, hoping to find something that could help him locate where Xiao Yu had disappeared.

However, aside from the things he had just seen, there was nothing that stood out aside from the notebook and textbook.

“Inside the inner pocket.”

A faint voice rang out from behind Yu Yin. He furrowed his brows and immediately rummaged around inside the bag and felt something hard. He pulled open a zipper and pulled out a utility knife that had dried bloodstains on the blade.

He sized it up briefly before turning around to first look at Fang Yi Xun, who was standing behind him with an extremely stormy expression. Her typical smile had disappeared, instead replaced with faint anger and despondence. “Why are you here?” It was night right now — no matter how one looked at it, a day student loitering around at school without evening self-study was very odd.

“I came searching for Big Camel. His damned group captured my senior, so I’m seeking them out to make them hand her over.” Fang Yi Xun had a very unsettling expression on her face. “I just came from my senior’s house; her family said she’s already been missing for days and that they had already contacted the police. Her room also had traces of having been ransacked.

“A sixth missing person?” Yu Yin immediately connected it to another incident.

“No, it has no relation to the disappearances. I just asked around, and Big Camel’s sidekicks recently captured my senior. It’s definitely related to them.” Fang Yi Xun raised her arm and calmly stated, “They have completely pissed me off now.”

Yu Yin stared at the girl’s hand in fright, suddenly noticing that her clenched fist had torn flesh and bloodstains on it. He really did not want to know how she had been asking around just now.

“Also, why did you say it was the sixth?” Fang Yi Xun realised and spoke up, “If you add my senior, she should be the fifth person.”

“Xiao Yu is missing.” As soon as Yu Yin said this, he saw the girl’s eyes narrow.

“Weird…he shouldn’t have been targeted…” Fang Yi Xun chewed her fingernails as she voiced her suspicions, “We were still together last night. My friend originally wanted to drive him home, but he said he could just take a cab, so we just walked together to the outside of the school.”

“Did you see him get on the car?” Yu Yin quickly asked.

Fang Yi Xun shook her head. After Teng Qi had notified the police last night, they had quickly left the area to avoid getting wrapped up in the mess. Because she had been in a rush to talk to Teng Qi about other things, the two of them had just walked with Xiao Yu up to the street before leaving in their own car first.

“What exactly have you two been up to recently?” Yu Yin locked his gaze onto her with the sudden feeling that this girl definitely had a direct relationship with Xiao Yu’s unusual behaviour.

The girl glanced back at Yu Yin in annoyance and she sneered, “It has nothing to do with you guys, nor does Xiao Yu want to get you all involved. He constantly says he doesn’t care about you guys, but he’s actually wanted to help the entire time. So don’t make him any more worried.”

“What do you mean by that?!” Yu Yin froze.

Fang Yi Xun shrugged and did not respond.

Yu Yin’s heart was swarming with questions as he looked down at the utility knife in his hand. He was now entirely confused. But even so, he had sensed some issues after the girl had several times done unreasonable things repeatedly in an unusual manner. “Back then, you weren’t actually afraid of that thing in the building complex, right?”

Although she had showed fright and had even screamed back when they had entered the building complex, she had not displayed any other typical reaction, like her legs going soft. She had even come looking for them after.

This made him recall another person that was just as strange.

“Did you think you were the only one in the entire world that could see weird things?” Fang Yi Xun shot back a question in response. She turned to look at him and said, “Ah Yu’s Gēgē is too stupid. Even I felt helpless, since trying to give you guys hints was just a waste of time. We’re closer to him in relationship and other matters compared to you — a brother in name only — who simply appeared midway.”

She was laying all her cards out on the table.

Even Yu Yin could hear the attack behind her words.

“Where did you come from?”

Fang Yi Xun smirked, and without answering, turned and left.

As Yu Yin watched her figure vanish into the darkness, he sensed chills run over his entire body. It felt as if he had just heard something that he should not have.

He could not dismiss the huge suspicion even after he left the high school.

Yu Yin placed the backpack onto the seat of the motorcycle as he debated whether to drop by the police station first or go home first…he still needed to return to his mess of a home and get someone to reinstall the windows.

Just as he was about to set out, he heard a low sobbing noise.

A shadow missing half its head brushed against him and ran past, quickly disappearing in the small residential area nearby.

He wondered, If Xiao Yu’s disappearance is really related to those other four, maybe I can find him through her.

Without any further thought, he followed in pursuit.

***

When Yu Xia woke up, the first thing he saw was Yan Si’s large face.

So he automatically punched the other person.

“Damn it, Boss, are you trying to murder me?” Yan Si protested as he just barely dodged the fist and avoided being beaten up like a lowly dog.

Yu Xia sat up and let out a muffled groan as he felt pain flare from his shoulder.

Yan Si took two steps back. “Boss, did you not notice getting brushed by that car yesterday?” He raised his hand to show the medical kit hanging from his grasp.

Yu Xia turned to glance out the window and noticed the already darkening sky. “I slept for the entire day?” He had originally only planned on napping for half an hour before heading over to Big Camel’s.

“Oh, although the injury isn’t serious, it got inflamed and you had a bit of a fever, so I helped give you some painkillers. Perhaps that made it easier for you to sleep.” Yan Si did not have the guts to admit that he had actually given something sleep-inducing. He coughed twice and said, “Don’t worry, there’s nothing really going on over at the high school right now. The others are still watching that bunch of kids, so it won’t be a big deal missing one day.”

Yu Xia narrowed his eyes and glanced at his shoulder. It had already been bandaged. He figured it had probably been his brother that had noticed something was wrong when he was about to wake the other up.

“It’ll be fine after a few days’ rest. You probably got hit while dodging the car. It was pretty swollen, but it had improved quite a bit by the second redressing just now.” Yan Si patted his medical kit, feeling extremely proud of his own treatment.

Yu Xia stood up to grab the jacket he had tossed off to one side. “I’m heading over to the high school first.”

“Oh, uh…” Yan Si thought it over briefly before deciding to not tell him about Xiao Yu’s disappearance.

“What?” Yu Xia reflexively asked, having noticed Yan Si stop midway.

“Nothing really. Anyways, Boss, wearing a high school uniform really suits you. I think after this ends, you might as well keep it as a memento, and you can even wear it to events—”

Yu Xia’s response was a punch straight to the abdomen.

As a certain person who loved crossing the line was bent over, Yu Xia left the resting room with a feeling of satisfaction as he heard the wails of pain behind him.

Upon leaving the station quarters, Yu Xia flagged down a cab. He then used his cellphone to call Kai Lun, who he figured was with Big Camel.

“Where did you go? Big Camel has been flipping out all day.”

“None of my damn business,” Yu Xia answered flippantly as he leaned back against his seat.

“It is none of your damn business. Seems his sales partner suddenly went missing. Why didn’t you come today?” Kai Lun idly made small talk with an equally indifferent tone.

“I’m going over now.” Yu Xia did not want to chat with him too much, so he directly hung up before the other could answer.

For some reason, he felt like something was fishy. Now that he thought about it more closely, why had Ah Si gone over to their place?

Because someone had just died a day ago, Yan Si should theoretically have scrammed back to his own office. And usually, even when he did get injured, Tong would just drag him to get it treated or treat it himself as opposed to randomly abandoning him in the resting room.

It doesn’t make sense.

Had something happened while he was asleep?

He would have to give Ah Si a good beating first and get the answer from him.

As Yu Xia absentmindedly pondered whether or not to ask the cab driver to turn around so that he could actually carry out the plan, the roof of the school gradually came into sight. Thus, he decided he would first do what was closer to him, and deal with the other matters later after he went back.

When he got out of the car, the sky outside was completely dark.

Because the group fight yesterday had even resulted in a death, the amount of patrol cars nearby was more than usual. Yu Xia figured that the upper levels had probably let out their anger on them if they knew what they were playing with.

Deciding it was unlikely that Big Camel and the others would continue staying in their first hideout, he directly started walking the opposite way.

As he expected, he heard He Wang Hong’s voice as he neared the house. When he stepped inside, he only saw Kai Lun, who was on his laptop as usual, and Ah Wang, who was on the phone with someone. His tone of voice sounded a bit odd.

“Did you get injured?” Kai Lun asked without even lifting his head.

“I’m fine.” Yu Xia glanced at He Wang Hong before asking, “Where’s Big Camel?”

Kai Lun finally lifted his gaze and powered down his computer. “There was a major issue with the source of his goods, so he just left to handle it. You guys really gave us some trouble this time.”

Yu Xia furrowed his brows, unsure of what exactly those words meant. “Trouble?”

Before He Wang Hong finished speaking on the phone, Kai Lun turned and shot a kick at Yu Xia’s face. Nearly simultaneously, Yu Xia blocked it.

Kai Lun’s movements were too accurate, too perfected, as if he had been trained. It was not at the level the kids in this kind of place should have. This made Yu Xia think of how he typically attacked others as well, although Yu Xia personally preferred to strike intuitively.

He Wang Hong was so shocked that he forgot to speak back into his phone as his jaw nearly dropped off. Kai Lun ignored him, however, and spun to kick Yu Xia once more. This time, Yu Xia jumped back to dodge. But just as he was about to retaliate, he discovered that the other person had already reverted stances with no intention of continuing the attack.

“You guys have given us major trouble.” Kai Lun was still smiling, but the expression he wore clearly displayed his terrible mood.

Just based on these two actions alone, a thought materialised in Yu Xia’s mind, one that even he found hard to believe. He was now certain that Kai Lun was out of place here, and it explained why his age did not seem like a high school student’s, but slightly older instead.

When he studied Kai Lun’s face more closely, he suddenly realised why he had thought this person felt familiar before.

“What, what’s going on?” After being utterly terrified, He Wang Hong finally remembered how to speak as he directed this question to his unmoving companions.

Kai Lun glared at him to make him shut up. He then turned back to face Yu Xia. “My older brother’s name is Wang Shi Kai.”

This confirmed Yu Xia’s thoughts. He knew that the officer who had died in the line of duty had family members, and he had undoubtedly seen this person seated at the banquet seats of the funeral. He had been very young back then, not long after Yu Xia had first entered the world of the police.

This was someone else that had come to spy, someone that had already been here for half a semester longer than him.

“Who is your target?” He knit his brows together at Kai Lun, now completely understanding why he had sensed something off about the other person.

“The owner of the white car. We were looking for the guy behind him, but now we’re screwed.” Kai Lun shrugged and said, “Looks like we can only hand it over to you guys now as we think of another way.”

After confirming Kai Lun’s identity, Yu Xia had another question. “You recognised me from the beginning?”

Kai Lun chuckled. “No, I only just thought of it yesterday. I’ve only met a person in their thirties with a damned baby face only once, but as soon as an inkling crossed my mind, I figured it out.”

In that second, Yu Xia was really tempted to smash his fist into the other’s despicable face.

“What exactly are you two talking about?” He Wang Hong was completely lost as he looked at the two of them talking about incomprehensible topics.

“If you don’t understand, then just shut up,” Kai Lun barked. He shot one more glance at Yu Xia before walking back to his original spot to turn on his laptop and continue playing games.

Knowing that neither of them wanted to reveal their identities at the moment, Yu Xia did not respond to He Wang Hong’s question either.

He Wang Hong shot supercilious looks at both of them, but only got a snub in response. He finished his call and put away his cellphone. “Big Camel is going to go looking for people these next two days. Acting all mysterious…every time he collects the goods, he always goes by himself. He doesn’t trust even us…”

“How’s An He’s family?” Yu Xia asked as he looked at He Wang Hong, who typically was responsible for communications.

“They’re fine. If anything, his old man is probably relieved. An He frequently got caught by the police, and had also injured people many times. Although I don’t think it’s anything big, his dad cut ties with him ages ago.” He Wang Hong said, “Adults always take things too seriously.”

“You guys are probably the ones who go too wild. Before I joined, I heard your group constantly mobbed others to teach them lessons,” Kai Lun criticised as he eyed He Wang Hong.

“Let me clarify first, I haven’t touched anyone for a very long time now,” He Wang Hong immediately shot back.

“Oh? You probably only changed after those three disappeared.”

Yu Xia noticed that Kai Lun seemed to be helping him ask questions. “An He often said you guys used to block off people and do this and that. How come you guys stopped afterwards?”

He Wang Hong was slightly hesitant, but since he believed in Big Camel’s followers, he slowly answered, “You just don’t understand…at first, I just thought hitting around was fun. After all, there’s nothing bad about venting a bit. But Yin Yin and the others really went way too far before…I swear I tried to stop them, but they had smoked too much that day so they just kept hitting…”

“And so it became fatal?” Yu Xia expressionlessly interrupted He Wang Hong’s words.

“When we left, that guy was still alive,” He Wang Hong instantly retorted. Because he probably felt uneasy about the whole thing, he added, “Moreover, it was near his home. Who knew his family members wouldn’t go looking for him, or that he couldn’t crawl back home himself?”

“You—”

Yu Xia was truly unable to hold back any longer. But just as he was about to say something, he was interrupted. Big Camel, who had just been said to not come back today, walked in with a dark expression. There was a cowering boy following behind him.

“Where’s that girl, Yin Yin?”

His tone of voice was extremely vicious, as if he would directly strangle her neck if Yin Yin was there.

“Yin Yin? Haven’t seen her since everyone left yesterday.” He Wang Hong was puzzled as he replied, “I thought she was with you guys.”

“That woman stole my money.” It was evident that Big Camel was beyond furious. “She was supposed to help me pass the money I got from selling the goods to the delivery person last night, but she didn’t. That woman took my money and disappeared.”

“No way, Yin Yin would never do something like that. She would die without you,” He Wang Hong voiced his doubts.

“Then tell me, where is that woman?”

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