YBCB2: V3C6

Sorry in advance for the long post, but I wanted to give a reminder that most of my translations for both season 1 and season 2 use unofficial raws that may not be 100% accurate. This is not because I am unwilling to purchase the books and support the author (I have bought multiple), but because the novel uses traditional Chinese, which I am not as proficient at translating. As a result, I use an unofficial source that I can convert into simplified Chinese for translation. From what I can tell, usually my alternative source just has typos that are easy for me to guess, or has a few random words missing so it should not pose any major issues, but I cannot know for certain. The reason I’m bringing this up is for a few reasons:

1. I noticed that, although my alternative source for raws was very good for the older season 1 of YBCB, it is definitely more flawed for season 2. This became especially obvious with the upcoming V4, when I compared it with the official book.
2. I do have the official books for s2 V4-V9 (I actually have both physical version and e-book version of V9 lmao), and can vouch for those. However, I do not intend to purchase official books of all the previous volumes from either season to cross-check the raws now that I’ve already finished/started translations of these volumes. It would take much too long to do so. As I did not notice any glaring errors for these volumes (like I did in V4), I think it is likely fine. But I did want to reiterate that this is a possible gap(?) in my translations that I will not be addressing.
3. Of course, I encourage everyone to support the author and purchase the original books if possible! If you live overseas and do not want to pay for international shipping, all 8+9 volumes from both seasons of YBCB are available in e-book format! If you would like guidance, feel free to message me on Discord and I will be happy to help :)

Tl;dr Friendly reminder that while I own some of the official books (second half of s2), I translated most of YBCB so far using an unofficial source due to the unfamiliar format of the official books. As a result, there may have been occasional inaccuracies in the raw source I used, which might have led to minor errors in translation as well (this refers to all of s1 and s2 thus far). However, there is no concern about missing entire events or critical lines; the mistakes are normally typos and occasional random missing words in a sentence. But rest assured, for all subsequent volumes (after this one), I do have the official books. Also, please buy the books to support the author if you can!

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Chapter Six

He knew that it didn’t matter if he continued living like this.

Just as some had mocked, children would end up just like their parents.

It would pass if he simply survived. It would be fine as long as he made sure the other person ended up worse than him.

A bug crushed under a foot would die sooner or later. After taking a step outside, he would never again have to consider those by his side.

A human. A human that would always be alone.

However, he did not understand why he had the impulse to look backwards.

Glancing back would require another price to pay, an exchange that would inflict pain that could be felt deep into one’s bones. This could not be a more inevitable and right truth.

When he opened his palms, they were blood-red.

When he closed his hands, they were ice-cold.

Whenever one turned around in regret, there was always the thought of why one had come to this point.

Why would there always come a time when one had to turn back?

***

“What are you trying to do?”

Yu Yin anxiously asked after starting his motorcycle and leaving the small residential area per Dong Feng’s instructions.

Despite having stayed out of the conversation earlier, he had also sensed the danger in the atmosphere, practically at the point of mutual hostility.

“You didn’t notice at all?” Dong Feng sighed as he glanced backwards.

“Notice what?” Yu Yin’s head was filled with question marks.

“I’ll tell you later. Search around and see if you can find any patrols nearby first.”

“There’s one right in front of us.”

As soon as Yu Yin said this, he passed by it and immediately heard sirens behind. Before he could figure out what was going on, he was stopped by the police.

An officer he did not recognise pointed at his license plate.

Yu Yin looked down in confusion and belatedly realised that his own license plate had at some point been scratched all over. There were even bloodstains everywhere on it, making it hard to discern the license plate number. He was dumbstruck as he stared at it.

“ID.” The officer reached a hand out towards him, eyes locked onto their bloodstained clothes.

Yu Yin really wanted to shout, “What the hell is going on”. When he turned his head, he spotted Dong Feng crouched next to the police car on his phone calling someone unknown.

Another patrol officer’s phone went off. After speaking a few words on the line, he walked over to them.

Yu Yin was completely lost as he watched the officers talk with each other. Before any explanation was given, the face of the officer that had just demanded for his ID suddenly turned grave and handcuffed Yu Yin before pointing at the police car. “Get on.”

“What’s going on? Does a scratched-up license plate really warrant all this…” Yu Yin’s mind was blank as he watched with stunned eyes while he was dragged on with handcuffs. He then saw Dong Feng being restrained the same way as another officer forced them into the backseat. Had they unknowingly offended the road patrol without realising?

Crap, I wonder if I’ll get killed by Uncle later.

“Cut the chat. If I tell you to get on, then just get on. There’s no need to keep talking!” The officer sharply reprimanded while pressing him down into the seat. Then, the officers took their own seats as well.

With this strange atmosphere, the police car began to move forwards, its sirens blaring.

***

Nobody spoke for the entire ride. The officers wore taut faces while Dong Feng kept his head turned to gaze out the window. Only Yu Yin had absolutely no clue what was happening.

They were then forced into inspection bureau with surprisingly no resistance. Not a single person approached them to ask what had occurred. Instead, they were simply allowed to enter directly.

Finally, they were released from their handcuffs at Li Zi Hong’s office.

Yu Yin was unable to comprehend the situation the entire time. Just as he was about to ask Dong Feng, he heard noise outside. It was probably some polite, surface-level exchange. After seeing the officers off, Li Zi Hong walked in. “Are you two alright?” His eyes fell onto their bloody clothing.

“I’m fine, I just think there’s a slight issue with my brain’s reception ability.” Yu Yin felt like he might have been seized by aliens; his memories were somewhat fragmented.

“Dong Feng called and requested for the both of you to get arrested.” Li Zi Hong removed his jacket. When he had received the call, he had just finished a court session, and had rushed back here without a delay.

“We were being followed,” Dong Feng huffed in response. He fretfully withdrew into a corner, seriously convinced that today was a terrible day.

“Who?”

“That…would probably be Kang Zhe Chang.” Yu Yin suddenly understood Dong Feng’s intentions. He awkwardly scratched his face and continued, “We just came out from his home.”

“…” Li Zi Hong was silent for a moment. He rubbed his forehead and said, “Wait here for a moment. I will ask Officer Yu to come by.”

“Can I run away first?” Yu Yin had a feeling that what followed would likely be a fierce beating.

“No. If you go out now, he will follow you home.” Dong Feng bent down in the corner, pulling out a bent carving blade to make marks on the floor.

“You used the carving knife to scratch my license plate.” When Yu Yin saw the suspicious weapon appear, he immediately recalled that when they had been eavesdropping outside, the other person had indeed been down on the ground. Yu Yin had not paid any attention to what Dong Feng had been doing on the ground, assuming that the other had simply been resting.

“Would you rather have requested for a kitchen knife from that place?”

“The kitchen knife isn’t the question, ahhhh—!” Yu Yin felt like he might lose his mind at this rate. “The question is why you had to scratch up my license plate!”

“So annoying.” Dong Feng ended the conversation, ignoring the anguished cry next to him and instead focusing on carving out the floor.

Li Zi Hong requested for someone to bring in food and clothes and had them wash up in the bathroom and change clothing. He then began to look over other case files.

At some point in the middle, Yu Yin had decided to open a drink and place it in front of Dong Feng as if in worship. The only thing missing was clapping his hands together in prayer.

He might actually be tired. After borrowing a PSP to play, Yu Yin shot a glance at Dong Feng to see the latter taking a few sips of the drink, then continue cutting the floor. Yu Yin had no clue what kind of grudge Dong Feng had on the floor…Doesn’t that count as damaging public property? Since the owner of the office did not try to stop it, Yu Yin could not be bothered to speak up either.

They continued to do their own things like this. About an hour later, Yu Xia hurriedly appeared. Unexpectedly, Yu was also behind him.

Finally, Fish Jerky leapt in with a bark.

***

“Why is Fish Jerky here?”

Yu Yin stared at the dog that should have already been taken by its owner yet was instead circling around him in this place. He had starting to wonder what exactly was with today – so many things had changed much too quickly.

Yu warily glanced at the corner, then typed something on his cellphone and passed it to Yu Yin. The overall content was that Yu had bumped into Ye Huan En outside the library. After playing with the dog for a bit, the owner had suddenly received a call and said something had come up without warning, so he had left the dog with Yu and gone out. Thus, Yu had called Yu Yin, but the latter had not answered, so he had called Yu Xia to pick him up.

“You called my phone?” Yu Yin had not received any calls today. He doubtfully took out his own mobile and discovered that it had been switched to silent mode, and there were indeed several missed calls indicated on the screen. “Ah…sorry, sorry.” He had probably changed it while eavesdropping on Yu Xia’s conversation earlier.

“Ah Yin, has your skin started itching after having nothing better to do?” Yu Xia had rushed over after receiving the notification and was feeling his fists start to itch.

“In this world, one must—” Yu Yin darted behind Li Zi Hong’s seat to escape from calamity and quickly changed the topic. “Let’s discuss the main topic first, work is important!” As he spoke, he turned to look at the corner where the God of Earth – no, Dong Feng – was.

“Why did you two go to Kang Zhe Chang’s residence?” Li Zi Hong coughed and closed the case file in his hands as he sternly asked, “What happened?”

“In short, we went there because of a summons from a mysterious space.” Fish Jerky trotted over. Yu Yin patted the dog as he bitterly smiled and stated a joke that was not the least bit funny, “Song Hui Chun wanted me to go over.”

Yu Xia frowned. “Bastard! Didn’t I tell you to call us first if something was wrong?!”

“I didn’t think there was anything wrong, I was just going to go home after checking out the house.” Yu Yin shrank back and hurriedly darted behind the dog, afraid his uncle would really go crazy to the point where even the prosecutor would be unable to stop him.

Yu walked over and knelt down to pet Fish Jerky.

“What did you encounter inside?” Li Zi Hong asked again as he looked at Dong Feng in the corner.

“Aside from the ghost, I didn’t think there was anything…”

Yu Yin also shifted his gaze towards Dong Feng as he briefly described the various circumstances and situations that had occurred after entering the house, as well as the conversation Dong Feng had exchanged with Kang Zhe Chang.

“There’s an issue with Kang Zhe Chang,” Yu Xia immediately concluded.

“Yes, we must find a reason to search his house,” Li Zi Hong agreed.

“…What part makes you think there’s an issue?” Aside from the Dong Feng’s talk with Kang Zhe Chang, Yu Yin remained out of the loop.

“The house.” Dong Feng quietly voiced from the floor in the corner. “All the décor and expensive furniture indicated the owner has a strong tendency to flaunt, but there was nothing else inside the house.”

“You two saw that the painting was very clean, which indicates that the inner walls were recently repainted. This means the décor may have been taken off because of the re-painting for whatever reason. Based on the value of the furniture, the décor would definitely not be cheap either. Yet the house owner had it moved away, which means there was a reason he had no choice but to remove it.” Yu Xia crossed his arms and stated, “In addition, that reason is what’s making him avoid contact with the police. Despite this, he let you two inside, which shows that he was waiting for someone that was not the police. Moreover, this person needed some type of cover-up so that they would not catch the suspicions of the police.”

“The biggest issue is this.” A small pill packet materialised in Dong Feng’s hands. He tossed it for Yu Xia to catch. “Their first-aid kit had too many things.”

“Isn’t it a good thing to have a complete first-aid kit?” Yu Yin was flabbergasted by everything. He had not noticed anything unusual about the house at all.

“Is the first-aid kit in your home filled with items like narcotics, analgesics, and sutures? Is it supposed to be a first-aid kit or an operating table?” Dong Feng crossly retorted. He then let out a sigh. “That person isn’t simple.”

“Despite the destroyed license plate, they are still wary of Yu Xia. A quick search would soon result in them discovering Ah Yin’s identity…Go arrange for some people to watch your home.” Li Zi Hong took the small bag and asked the person that had brought it back, “This has Kang Zhe Chang’s fingerprints?”

“Yeah.” Dong Feng stopped using his carving knife and shifted away from the corner.

At this point, they finally noticed that a face had been cut out into the floor. It was a perfect rendition of Kang Zhe Chang’s face.

“We will investigate Kang Zhe Chang’s background as well as his wife’s pregnancy records. You should all head…” Just as Yu Xia was about to tell them to return home first as usual, he suddenly stopped and thought for a moment before stating, “Go to the station first today.” He and Yu Tong were both busy. Even if the police force was stationed around their house, it was still risky. It was better to have them stay here in that case.

“I’m going home.” Dong Feng stood and placed the cup on the desk.

“Wait, it’s too dangerous,” Li Zi Hong quickly objected.

“It’s nothing. Even if I died, it would be over in a second.” Dong Feng chewed on his lip and finally changed his words under everyone’s strong gazes of disagreement and concern. “Don’t worry, they won’t be able to follow me.” As long as he was more cunning than them, they would quickly lose track of him, then turn back here to locate Yu Yin’s whereabouts.

In comparison, Yu Yin was the bigger target as someone whose identity could easily be found.

Seeing how he seems so used to meddling, I really wonder how he’s been avoiding the perpetrators’ various attacks and revenge. Can ghosts protect people too?

Dong Feng briefly eyed the dog next to the brothers before pushing Li Zi Hong out of the way. “Don’t come bother me again.” He was really getting annoyed by this group.

Since the other person was so determined and Li Zi Hong had no way of forcibly restraining the former, he could only request for two officers to protect Dong Feng on the way out until he got onto a taxi and left.

Yu Xia called the station to have Xiao Wu and the others check Kang Zhe Chang’s wife’s medical records. After hanging up, he pondered to himself for a moment before turning towards Yu Yin. “Was going into the house your idea or Dong Feng’s?”

“Um, the ghost’s idea.” Yu Yin carefully replied, “So I just wanted to go in and take a quick peek, since the ghost wanted me to go over.” He was certain that if he did not follow the ghost, he would continue receiving various disturbances.

…I’ve honestly gotten so used to this kind of thing that it hurts.

“Was using that kind of method to go inside your idea or Dong Feng’s?”

Yu Xia furrowed his brows as he asked another question.

“Dong Feng’s.”

“Then, was the one directing the conversation Kang Zhe Chang or Dong Feng?”

Li Zi Hong also joined the questioning.

“Dong Feng.” Yu Yin responded truthfully and stared at the two adults in suspicion. “Is there something wrong?” He was feeling apologetic towards Dong Feng, since this matter originally had been unrelated to this person, yet the other seemed to have been dragged into it now.

“Not really.” Li Zi Hong shook his head and exchanged a look with Yu Xia. It seemed like Dong Feng had known long before entering the house that there was a problem inside. In order to avoid the possibility of getting harmed immediately, he had used this strange method to make it impossible for Kang Zhe Chang to grasp their situation.

“You two were there before I even arrived, weren’t you!” Yu Xia pulled hard on Yu Yin’s cheek. They had definitely witnessed his talk with that girl for Dong Feng to have noticed something was wrong. “Just try and eavesdrop again and see what happens!”

“Owwwww….it hurts—!” Yu Yin cradled his face that now felt as if the skin had been twisted off, on the verge of tears from the pain.

“You don’t feel fear no matter how many times it hurts!” Yu Xia angrily retorted, shooting another fierce glare. “The car is parked in the basement, go get ready.” Because he had needed to bring the dog, he had driven Yu Tong’s car over.

“Be careful.”

Li Zi Hong could not help but state this worriedly as he watched the three family members that did not appear to feel any tension at all.

“Kang Zhe Chang’s wife has records of having given birth.”

Xiao Wu handed over the requested files to Yu Xia while eying the large dog sitting upright next to him. “The record is from an obstetrics clinic. The birth was four months ago…Boss, does your dog bite humans?”

“Why would my dog bite humans?” Yu Xia coldly glared at his colleague. “Also, it was left with me by someone else.” For some reason, the dog refused to stay with Yu Yin and the others playing video games in the break room, instead following him back and forth inside the station, impossible to shoo away.

I feel like anything by Yu Xia’s side would be explosively ferocious…Xiao Wu obviously did not dare to speak these words so he quickly shifted his gaze. “His wife’s name is Huang Xing Zhi. She had monthly prenatal examinations done.”

“What a coincidence for it to also be four months ago…” He recalled that the owner of the beauty salon had definitely stated the baby had been close to being born four months prior.

Yu Xia contemplated this over. “Take photos of Huang Xing Zhi and Song Chun Hun over to that obstetrics clinic and ask the doctor which one they recognise. Bring back the birth records while you’re at it.”

Xiao Wu immediately gave a note of affirmation and went to work.

Yu Xia led Fish Jerky back to leave it in the break room, sternly warning Yu Yin and Yu to properly watch the dog. He then turned around and continued to his next objective.

Unexpectedly, the moment he stepped out into the hallway, he spotted the headache-inducing person appear before him once again.

“Is your unit always this idle?” Wang Ke Zhi flatly commented as he looked at Yu Xia, his first words already unfriendly.

“It seems like you are more lax, walking back and forth around here all day despite being responsible for the administrative work,” Yu Xia eyed the folder of files in the person’s hands as he replied with a foul complexion, having already built up a stomach full of anger from today.

Wang Ke Zhi gave a cold snort and brushed past him to leave.

Yu Xia felt like he had seen that specific folder before but could not recall where at the exact moment. Suddenly, he spotted Wang Ke Zhi’s figure leaving the building, only to appear outside the window.

Wang Ke Zhi had walked out in a straight line and stopped outside the front entrance where there was somebody waiting. Yu Xia could not clearly see the other person’s face from his position, especially since they intentionally wore a peaked cap to cover half their face. The two talked for a moment. Wang Ke Zhi then pulled out something from the folder to show the other person before returning it back in place. After exchanging a few more words, they turned to go separate ways.

Yu Xia noticed that the hat-wearing person’s gait was somewhat abnormal.

Standing next to the window, he kept his eyes locked onto Wang Ke Zhi as the latter returned into the station. Yu Xia furrowed his brows in thought for a moment, but still could not remember the reason why.

He shook his head; he could think about it later after he finished the current matter at hand. As he began to continue walking over to the analytical group, a flurry of running footsteps came from behind.

“Ah, great, you’re still here, Boss.” It was one of his coworkers from his group. “We just received a report that someone identified the second body, even providing its name and address. When we checked the files, we discovered that not only does he look identical to that clay sculpture, he has a criminal record too.”

“Who gave the report?”

“Don’t know, they used a public phone and called our side directly.” The teammate was also somewhat suspicious and shrugged. “Qiu Shi Jun. He’s been imprisoned multiple times for drugs, theft, and inflicting bodily harm according to the records. The last time he was released from prison was a year ago. At the time, he had been sentenced for six months after beating his girlfriend that had been living together with him. The file records say he had been living in the northern district since release.”

“Go request for an investigation and contact the officer watching this person.” There were always officers on watch for these types of cases. Yu Xia then froze as he suddenly remembered where he had seen that folder in Wang Ke Zhi’s hands before. That had been the data folder sent out for individual inquiries containing the photo of the clay sculpture made of the corpse’s head. However, it should not have been sent over to the inspector’s office.

Why did Wang Ke Zhi bring that out?

Something furry bounded over.

Yu Xia’s eyes shifted downwards to see Fish Jerky appear by his feet once more.

“Sorry, sorry, the dog ran out again…holy shit!”

Yu Yin frantically ran out after the dog only to come to a sharp halt and stare in shock at the window behind Yu Xia.

It was clearly not nighttime, but the window behind Yu Xia was pitch-dark, an extreme contrast to the other bright windows in the hallway.

Crimson blood slowly poured down outside the window, the droplets drawing out a strange design.

“What are you doing?” Yu Xia saw the person abruptly stiffen, but when he turned around, he did not see anything.

Yu Yin was not sure whether or not to tell Yu Xia as his eyes remained locked onto the black window. He saw something struggle to crawl up from below, like a deformed insect. The bones jutting out scraped across the window, making an ear-piercing screech.

“What’s that sound?” A few officers passing by came to an unplanned stop at the same time to survey their surroundings.

Yu Xia tilted his head slightly and spotted the glass from the window next to him shake unnaturally. Next to him, Fish Jerky’s fur stood up and bristled as it let out a low growl at the window.

“Uncle, slowly get away from there.” Yu Yin gulpged as his gaze was fixed on the shadow sprawled across the opposite side of the window.

“Which one is it?” Hearing the unceasing, abnormal sounds, Yu Xia did not need to use any brain cells to know what had appeared.

“It might be the second—” Before Yu Yin could finish speaking, a heavy bang cut him off. Everyone in the corridor jolted in fright in unison.

Then a second noise followed. It sounded as if someone was banging heavily on the outside of the window. The only sound in the [otherwise] silent space were the loud thuds against the window.

Yu Yin stared at the darkness outside. He had no idea what they wanted to do, and before he could come up with any ideas, the mass abruptly jumped down with a whoosh and vanished completely.

The darkness then receded and the window returned to its original state.

“Did you hear that just now…”

Whispers spread through the hallway.

Yu Xia moved his hand off the gun at his waist and fiercely glared at Yu Yin before grabbing him by the collar and taking hold of Fish Jerky, pulling both back into the break room. “Stay here, don’t move.”

Yu Xia seriously warned both dog and person once again as he pointed at the floor. Sensing the murderous aura, Fish Jerky immediately sat still. “If the dog runs out again, I’ll beat you.” The second sentence was directed at Yu Yin.

“If the ghost runs out you beat me, if the dog runs out you also beat me. I strongly protest, this is unfair!” Yu Yin felt a faint anguish, seriously convinced he might as well run away himself.

“Yes, there’s one more missing. If Xiao Yu runs out, I’ll beat you too.”

Right after this declaration, Yu Xia ignored the protests in response and slammed the door open to leave.

***

“The ways of the world really are unfair.”

Yu Yin stared at the door for a bit before silently turned his head to see Yu was, simply put, looking as if he was rejoicing in Yu Yin’s misfortune. “There’s no reason to hit the oldest and not the youngest. How come just because I’m older, I get hit even when the dog runs out?”

Yu took out an empty notebook and wrote some words in it before flipping it to show him: “Because you’re older.”

“How many times have I told you to speak with your mouth, not write…and not type either.” Before the other person could whip out their cellphone, he was stopped by Yu Yin, who then bent down to look at Fish Jerky still sitting on the floor. “I’m already pitiful enough…”

Fish Jerky licked him in reply.

“Sigh…Oh yeah, Xiao Yu, do you know why Uncle and Li-dàgē were asking those questions just now? About who used what method and who led whatever.” While Yu Yin was not as smart as them, his instincts sensed there was something with that exchange.

Yu glanced at him and closed out the game in his hands before moving the notebook to the desk to start writing.

Yu Yin really wanted to correct him again, but since he was afraid that Yu would not even bother writing if he spoke up, he meekly went over to take a look. “That person knew there was an issue with the house from the beginning…Oh, Dong Feng? So those two were asking me because they also knew Dong Feng had believed there was a problem with the house from the start?”

Yu rolled his eyes at the sole person that did not understand and continued to write in the notebook.

“Using this kind of method to investigate…if there wasn’t anything strange, they would’ve assumed from the surveillance footage that we were pulling a prank or trying to swindle them and would have ignored us or even reported to the police. It was because there was a problem that they let us inside, and this was an action that would only be done on the premise of there being something odd with the house…How profound.” Yu Yin scratched his face and thought about this for a moment. In short, it was just a specific type of method. “How did he know there was an issue with the house?” He remembered what the two of them of them had overheard, but based on the license plate’s condition, Dong Feng had likely started destroying it not long after they started eavesdropping.

Dong Feng had probably made preparations in advance so that the opposite party would not be able to look up their license plate no matter if they went inside the residence or not.

Yu sighed and wrote some words in larger font: “Do you carry your student ID around with you when you’re cleaning at work?”

“Ah, so that’s what it was!” It finally dawned on Yu Yin.

He would usually place his backpack in a locker at his part-time job; there was no way he would carry his student ID around with him. If he carried it, it would be in a card holder or wallet. However, Lin Zi Lei kept her student ID on her person rather than in a card holder – the single student ID card had been in her pocket.

Thinking about this, it was indeed somewhat odd.

“It would be great if Fish Jerky could capture criminals, like being able to run out and catch someone after sniffing some object. That would make things so much simpler.” Yu Yin rubbed the dog’s cheeks and recalled another matter. “Weird, where’s Chicken Jerky?” He remembered that the owner had clearly said he wanted to place both pets under their care.

Yu provided the answer, saying that the cat would wander outside during the day and only return at night.

It was no wonder that Ye Huan En had mentioned the cat could go home by itself previously. It had likely gone home from the friend’s place before. However, the dog had mysteriously gotten onto a bus, which was how it had gotten lost so far away.

If only the dog could catch the criminals.

“What are…you thinking?”

A quite voice came from in front of him. Yu Yin looked up to see violet eyes staring straight at him. “Nothing, I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

Yu shook his head, not believing these words at all. Yu Yin had too strong of a track record. He’s probably thinking how great it would be if the criminals from both these cases could be seized.

“Oh right, speaking of strange, I…”

Before Yu Yin could tell Yu about the insight he had observed in the past few days, he abruptly cut off.

He felt the floor seem to vibrate.

The light trembling began to turn more violent, causing the chairs and desk inside the office to make unnerving noises. The lights began to flicker on and off as well.

Yu grabbed the dog and backed up into a corner. The cup on the desk fell off and crashed next to his feet, the shatter echoing out before the drink began to spread across [the ground].

Between the intersection of darkness and light, Yu Yin saw a large mass sprawled on the desk. It was like some type of mutant, with bones propping itself up on the table as the ripped apart flesh immediately sank downwards.

Then, with a pop, the light instantly went out and the break room door opened.

When Yu Yin stuck his head out of the room, he knew that something was wrong.

The officers outside had not seemed to sense any earthquake. None of them were panicked in the slightest. Despite the tremors being so great just now, nothing had fallen nor had it caused any disturbance.

“Was there an earthquake just now?” Yu Yin quickly asked an officer passing by.

“No.” The officer he was acquainted with smiled and patted Yu Yin’s head. “Were you ordered by Boss not to leave the break room again? You have to listen more, Ah Yin. You used to get shut in all the time when you were little so that you could be a good kid. Even back when you were tiny, you would get punished by Boss with Chinese workbooks, and ended up crying and asking for us to secretly help you write it. How nostalgic.”

“…Thanks.” Sometimes, the fact that those around him had known him since he was a kid could be annoying too.

When he turned back around towards the office, the lights had already gone back to normal. Yu, who had been standing behind, raised a brow. “…Chinese?”

“I once threw an egg at a damn brat that was bullying a girl from the class next-door. In the end, I was caught by Uncle and locked up, punished with copying texts.”

He had not known any sense as a kid. After seeing people protest on TV by throwing eggs, he had tossed one at a fellow student. In the end, the teacher had called his parent.

There had been nobody home at the time, so for the sake of disciplining him nearby, Yu Xia would most often force Yu Yin to self-reflect in the break room. This was how he came to know many of the officers.

In the end, even now that he was grown up, many of them would often talk about his dark past when they had nothing to do, which would make Yu Yin feel endless regret.

As expected, one cannot learn about life from TV. That egg had costed him to spend a Saturday copying texts fifty times. Examples in society are really terrible.

Having no desire to make any comment, Yu blankly stared at the person that had thrown an egg at someone as a child.

“Anyways, the past has passed. Let’s go back to thinking about what just happened.” Yu Yin struck a palm with his fist, resolutely tossing his dark history into the back of his mind. But before he could start discussing the previous events with Yu, he suddenly stepped on something.

When he glanced down, he saw that there were piles of dirt on his feet, identical to the one he had passed onto Jiu Shen before. However, there was much more here, covering his shoes entirely. There were even small mounds full of dark red bloodstains.

The ground began to shake once again.

In that instant, Yu Yin abruptly realised what the other party wanted to do.

They desperately needed to do something.

It was extremely urgent.

Unlike Song Hui Chun, they would fight to do it even if they had to crawl, even if they no longer had a human-like form.

“Xiao Yu, let’s talk…”

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