TRA V1C4

This was…a long chapter. Also, not sure about you guys, but when I first saw the title, I was expecting the victim be someone else lol.

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Chapter 4: The Fourth Deceased

This was a high-grade apartment building in the downtown area. The lounge had a wide view, with a white marble floor that was bright and clean. It was nothing like those third-rate residences with dim and narrow corridors that gave others the image of slum-housing no matter how tidied up it was. In addition, a single look was enough for one to know that this place was where wealthy and respectable people lived.

Tch, this apartment must be ridiculously expensive.

The deliveryman, Ah Lang, couldn’t stop licking his lips as he surveyed left and right, envy filling his suntanned face.

Of course, he did not forget his duty. He had come to deliver goods to one of the owners here – to deliver a deep freezer.

The deep freezer could not be called large in size, but it definitely was not small. It could store a hundred kilograms of pork and beef without an issue. This type [of freezer] was typically used for commercial purposes, such as selling frozen treats in the summertime and the like. He seriously could not understand what a normal household would purchase such a large deep freezer for. Under normal circumstances, wasn’t a refrigerator enough?

It really is hard to guess what rich people think.

Ah Lang carefully walked step by step to the elevator doors with the deep freezer in his arms. He wiped the sweat from his face and pulled out the delivery slip from his pocket to look at it.

Eleventh floor, Block A, Room 1102, Qin Ni.

A woman’s name, sounds pretty nice. He couldn’t help but let out a quiet whistle.

At this moment, the elevator arrived with a ding. The narrow space just barely fit the crammed-in deep freezer. Ah Lang inwardly rejoiced about not having to carry the deep freezer up eleven floors. Honestly speaking, this thing is still quite heavy.

Following the doorplates, he carried the goods all the way down [the corridor] to the tightly closed door. Only after ringing the doorbell for a long time did someone belatedly open the door. It was a beautiful woman wearing an elegant, casual, long dress, though she had a thick, cumbersome scarf wrapped around multiple times around her neck. She blankly stared at Ah Lang, her somewhat pale face enshrouded with a decaying air. This made her look exactly like a withering rose.

“Hello, I am here to deliver the deep freezer.” Ah Lang pointed to the object behind him.

Qin Ni glanced at it and said, “Okay, you can just leave it there.”

“Um, our company’s service includes delivery and installation. Do you…”

“Thank you, there is no need.”

“But, young miss, this thing is quite heavy. It takes a lot of strength to move it. If it’s convenient, it’s best if you let me move it in for you.” Ah Lang smiled warmly. He was usually very cordial when confronting beautiful women.

Qin Ni hesitated for a moment before answering, “Alright, then help me move it in.”

Thus, Ah Lang immediately lifted the deep freezer without another word and stepped through the front entrance.

“Put it here?”

“Just set it up there.” Qin Ni pointed to a corner of the living room.

Ah Lang placed the deep freezer down and he nimbly removed the outer packaging. After locating a power outlet, he began to install the equipment.

As he operated with practiced movements, he began to strike up a conversation with the female owner out of habit.

“Do you and your family all enjoy eating ice cream?”

“Ah? What?”

“Oh, I mean, what did you buy such a large deep freezer for?”

Qin Ni furrowed her brows without making a sound.

“Or perhaps you plan on starting a business of selling frozen treats?”

“…”

“But summer is already over, and the weather is getting colder. I’m afraid there won’t be much business.”

“…”

Qin Ni did not say a single word, silently standing off to the side the entire time.

Ah Lang felt like he might have said too much. He awkwardly smiled and asked, “Um, may I ask if you have a screwdriver?”

“Wait a moment, I’ll go get it.”

Qin Ni turned to walk into the storage room, leaving Ah Lang alone in the living room.

He gazed left and right, curiously scanning the luxuriously adorned house until he inadvertently caught sight of a little boy standing in front of a half-open bedroom door. Caught off guard, he nearly jumped in shock.

The boy silently stood there, two bright and clear eyes locked unmovingly onto the stranger in his home.

“Erm…was that your mommy?” Ah Lang pointed his chin in the direction of the storage room.

The boy nodded, then slowly walked out from the shadows to reveal a lovable, cute baby-face.

Ah Lang couldn’t help but reach out to pet the boy’s hair as he teasingly commented, “Little one, the deep freezer will be filled with your favourite ice cream, alright?”

The boy looked at him and unexpectedly shook his head.

“Oh, you don’t like eating ice cream? Then what do you want to store in the deep freezer?”

The boy blinked his eyes and slowly said, “Daddy.”

“Hm? What?” Ah Lang froze.

“Mommy said, the deep freezer is to store Daddy.”

As the boy sweetly said this, his lips parted to reveal an innocent, guiltless smile. However, hidden behind that pure smile were two rows of glinting, sharp canines.

Ah Lang immediately jumped back in fright, falling to the ground on his butt. He stared in shock at the boy in front of him as he stammered out a cry, “Holy—! Mon-monster…monster! Monster!”

“Xiao Bao!” A furious roar rang out.

Qin Ni came out from the storage room with a screwdriver in hand. However, before she could say another word, she saw her own son already open his mouth full of teeth to bite down onto the deliveryman’s throat.

The incisive, snow-white teeth stabbed into the flesh like iron nails. With a chomp, they instantly pierced through the throat.

“Ah-ahhhh…”

Ah Lang’s mouth was wide open in terror as he used brute force to shove the boy away. He then staggered up from the ground and turned to flee towards the front entrance as he tried his best to shout for help. However, all that came out from his throat was a muffled gurgling.

Immediately, the fragrant blood gushed up. He clutched his throat that had been ripped open as he threw up large amounts of blood. His eyes widened, as if trying his utmost to express something, but his consciousness gradually left.

Finally, he leaned against the wall and slowly slid down to end up seated in an abnormal posture, convulsing continuously until he no longer moved again…

Clang.

The screwdriver fell from Qin Ni’s hands as she blankly stared unmovingly, stupefied from the sight she had just witnessed.

The boy stuck his small tongue out to lick the blood next to his lips. He turned to face his mother and softly commented with his young voice, “Mommy, he’s not as yummy as Daddy.”

The rustling autumn breeze stirred the white gauze curtains as it blew in from the outside. Qin Ni suddenly felt her entire body grow cold, to the point where she could not stop shivering. As she trembled, she covered her face and collapsed onto her knees. However, she was no longer able to cry a single tear.

Hua Xia had previously claimed this was the mermaid’s curse. However, Qin Ni was more inclined to believe that this was retribution. This was the most painful price that could possibly be paid for her greedy desires.

What in the world happened during that trip out to sea eight years ago?

When Ye Xiao tossed this hard-to-solve riddle at Su Mu, the two of them were walking side-by-side along a mountain road covered in dead leaves. This path led straight to the waist of the mountain where an old villa rested.

This secluded location was the hidden residence of Professor Yu Zhi De, a place they had gone through much difficulty to inquire about.

According to their investigation, there had been a total of six students that had gone out to sea with Yu Zhi De that year. Now, three of them were already dead, and among the three still alive, one called Zhu Nan had gone missing. A week prior, Su Mu had even visited the family, only to end up empty-handed.

“Do you think Zhu Nan might have been abducted rather than gone missing?” Ye Xiao tilted his head as he suggested this scenario from a criminal investigator’s perspective. However, this suggestion was quickly rejected by Su Mu.

“No. Based on what Zhu Nan’s mother said, Zhu Nan had left something similar to a suicide note before disappearing. However, the note did not mention anything, not even a reason. It only said that he was terrified and wanted to hide alone so that he wouldn’t see any people again, with the hopes that his family and friends would not search for him. If he was fortunate enough to stay alive, he would have returned home on his own.”

“Er, meaning he went into hiding by himself?”

“Yes.”

“How long as he been missing?”

“Over three months.”

“Over three months?” Ye Xiao was dumbstruck for a moment. “Even earlier than when the first suicide case at the restaurant occurred?”

“Yes. That is why, if this truly is a series of cases, then the first problematic person is not Ouyang Shuo, but rather Zhu Nan.”

“Tsk, what is going on with these people? There have been suicides, there have been disappearances…and that woman named Qin Ni that acts so strangely. Each one of them seems to be purposely avoiding something…”

Ye Xiao furiously scratched his head as he looked up to gaze at the azure sky. However, his sight was blocked by a falling leaf dancing through the air. He narrowed his eyes and took a long, slow breath. After a while, he slowly said, “Hey, Su Mu, I think we might have overlooked a matter.”

Su Mu slowly walked forwards without looking back.

Ye Xiao continued, “If we disregard the missing Zhu Nan for the time being, there’s actually another common point between the deaths of Ouyang Shuo, Wei Jin Ping, and Hua Xia aside from suicide.”

Su Mu’s feet did not stop. With his hands in his pockets, he flatly stated two words, “Eating people.”

Ye Xiao stopped, his eyes blinking wide as he asked in astonishment, “What? So you actually thought of this a while ago?”

Su Mu did not speak.

Ye Xiao stared at Su Mu’s silent back with a strong urge to run over and kick him.

“Bastard, if you thought of it long ago, why didn’t you tell me?”

“Currently, everything is only conjecture. What meaning would there be in telling you?”

“You…” Ye Xiao rolled his eyes.

However, that was true. At the moment, they did not have any evidence. These were mere hypotheses. Those three suicide cases ultimately involved eating people, whether it was eating their own hands or consuming their wife’s corpse.

But how did they become that way?

“Oi, do you think that they got some type of virus? Or a strange kind of illness?”

Ye Xiao caught up to Su Mu walking in front of him, then lowered his voice to suggest, “Like a man-eating inclination.”

Su Mu glanced at him wordlessly.

Ye Xiao grabbed his arm and excitedly exclaimed, “Hey, I’m not just blurting out crazy nonsense. I’ve really seen similar reports before! Regardless of what species, any creature might eat its own kind under conditions of extreme hunger, including humans. There are even some aborigines in Africa that have preserved their cannibalistic tribes, who are usually called man-eating clans. Their civilisation is quite behind, so they have no other means of supporting themselves aside from hunting to fill their stomachs. And they discovered that, compared to the fierce beasts in the jungle, the unarmed and defenceless humans were easier to hunt. As a result, they began to gradually leave the jungle and travel to the edges of the city. Moving stealthily in the dark of the night, they focus on attacking lone pedestrians to bring back to the tribe and divide the food among the clansmen.”

After saying all this in one breath, Ye Xiao fell deep into his own imagination.

Su Mu gave a cold chuckle and replied in a fed-up tone, “Then you mean to say that Ouyang Shuo, Wei Jin Ping, and Hua Xia are originally from Africa’s cannibalistic tribes?”

“Uh…” Ye Xiao was speechless for a moment before he laughed and said, “I was just suggesting a possibility!”

Su Mu shot him a sideways glance and silently continued advancing forwards alone.

Ye Xiao chased after him again, tugging on Su Mu’s sleeve as he said, “Hey, this is a serious question this time. Do you think there are mermaids in this world?”

Su Mu footsteps came to a sharp halt as he turned to look at Ye Xiao.

“Er, fine, fine.” Ye Xiao smiled bitterly and raised both hands in surrender as he conceded, “I brought up another laughable question. Just pretend I didn’t say anything; don’t criticise me.”

Su Mu studied him with a somewhat complicated expression. A few seconds later, he faintly muttered as if talking to himself, “The world you see is not necessarily the real world.”

After these words, he spun around to stride away, leaving behind the very confused Ye Xiao to stand there dumbstruck.

“Uh…what-what did you just say? What does that mean?”

Ye Xiao hastily asked further. Right as he began to start running, he suddenly heard a beep-beep sound of a car horn behind him. He looked back to see a brown, compact, old-fashioned car slowly drive over on the path.

“Officer Ye, what a coincidence!” The car window slowly rolled down to reveal a delicate face. Yu Xiao Yu sat in the driver’s seat with a smile as she greeted him.

“Doctor Yu?” Ye Xiao was taken back as he asked in astonishment, “It really is such a coincidence. Why are you here?”

“I live here. See, my home is that right in front there. For that matter, what are you guys here for? This place is remote; there usually aren’t many people that pass through.”

Yu Xiao Yu smiled sweetly and cast a sideways look at Ye Xiao as she commented, “Could it be that you are here to look for my father?”

“Your father?”

Ye Xiao blinked. Before he could inquire further, Su Mu cut in from next to him. “Yu Zhi De is your father?” His tone was very harsh, as if he was interrogating a criminal. However, the other party did not pay it any mind.

“Yes, he’s my father.” Yu Xiao Yu flashed a bright and beautiful smile and raised her chin as she said, “I’m guessing you came here to find him. Come on, get in the car. The road in front is difficult to walk; I can just bring you both while I’m at it.”

“What a coincidence, so Professor Yu is actually your father! Meeting by chance is better than making an arrangement, huh. In that case, we won’t hold back.”

Ye Xiao chuckled and pulled at Su Mu, who was nailed motionless to the ground. After opening the back door, the two entered the small, old-fashioned car together.

The road in front was indeed a bit steep. The car shook quite a bit.

Throughout the entire trip, Su Mu never said a word. On the other hand, Ye Xiao curiously asked, “Doctor Yu, just now, you said you guessed that we were looking for your father. Why is that?”

Yu Xiao Yu smiled, skilfully driving as she replied, “Our home is the only one in front. Plus, there isn’t any scenery around here, and you aren’t here for sightseeing. If you were not here to look for my father, what would you be here for? Besides, you two aren’t the first ones.”

“Oh? A lot of people come to find your father?”

“Not a lot, but there are always two or three every year; who knows where they hear the address from? They travel from all over the world to come here just to discuss some complex academic questions. You know, my father was once a bit famous in this circle.”

“Haha, Doctor Yu is being modest. How could he just be a bit famous? Professor Yu was an influential figure in the field of biology.”

“You overpraise. However, my father has already been retired for many years and no longer does any academic research. Ah, right, what did you two police officers come searching for my father for? Don’t tell me it’s for some scientific issue?”

Yu Xiao Yu inquisitively looked at Ye Xiao from the rearview mirror.

Ye Xiao scratched his head. As he was contemplating how to respond, Su Mu interrupted their conversation to point at an ivy-covered two-story villa concealed among the trees. “Is that your home?”

Yu Xiao Yu retracted her gaze to nod and reply, “Ah, yes, that’s my home.”

The word “home” typically made one feel a sense of warmth bud from their hearts. However, in that exact moment, Qin Ni’s home only seemed to feel colder and colder.

The newly purchased deep freezer was properly operating in the corner of the living room. A large amount of misty, cold air drifted out from top vent of the deep freezer, making the originally not very warm room turn threateningly chilly.

She was busy in the vast, brightly lit kitchen. There was a large, white lump of flesh on the countertop. Her blank eyes stared at the pile of dead meat in front of her and the corners of her lips tilted upwards slightly to materialise a hint of a wan smile. In any case, this was not the first time anymore. She had long since grown numb.

Qin Ni calmly rolled up her sleeves, put on her apron, and picked up the sharpened knife she had already prepared. Taking a deep breath, she made a practiced, fluid incision.

All she heard was a quiet spurt as a large amount of blood gushed out from the white body and flesh.

It had already been a long time since she had held a surgical blade. Back when she had been in school, she would always dissect various small animals in lab. Truthfully, she quite enjoyed the feeling of slicing through skin with a sharp blade, the sense of freeness when cutting through the layers of fat. Many females could not endure this, even shaking and crying with the surgical blade in hand. Only she was happy like this; moreover, her work was very outstanding. Perhaps this was why the professor had chosen her that year.

There had been a total of six students on that trip to sea that time. She had been the only female.

Qin Ni lowered her head and smoothly cut the large chunk of flesh into small pieces, then tossed the removed bones into the bucket next to her before dividing the small chunks of meat up into Ziploc bags.

She did all of this methodically, even quietly humming an unknown song in her throat. Because she knew that this would make her appear as if she felt the same pleasure as she had before.

However, when she finished cutting the last piece of meat, she discovered clear fluid dripping down and quickly mixing together with the thick plasma covering the countertop.

In the end, still cried, cried to the point where tears were pouring down her face. From fear.

“Mommy.”

A sweet call came from behind.

Qin Ni returned to her senses and hurriedly wiped her tears away with the back of her hands. She turned around and shoved a bag of bloody flesh into her son’s tiny hands. “Go, put this in the living room deep freezer.”

The boy standing at the kitchen doorway blinked his eyes and asked, “Put it together with Daddy?”

“Yes.”

“That way, Daddy and mister won’t go bad, and Xiao Bao and Mommy can eat for a very long time, right?”

Qin Ni stared blankly at her son’s innocent face. After a long while, she nodded and answered, “Yes.”

The boy beamed happily to reveal a mouthful of fierce, sharp teeth. Then with the pieces of meat in hand, he skipped away.

Qin Ni weakly leaned against the wall, letting out a deep sigh as she lowered her head to stare at her hands and body covered in blood. Then she tiredly dragged her feet step by step over to the bathroom.

She stood in front of the sink, spacing out at the her in the mirror.

The face still looked beautiful and young, despite being deathly pale, despite being stained with blood.

Eternal youth. Wasn’t this what she had wanted at the time?

She stood there in a daze for a while before abruptly laughing in mockery at the mirror.

Amidst the shaky laughs, she slowly lifted her hands to peel away the scarf loop by loop from her neck. As the amount of cloth decreased, her bare skin was gradually exposed to the air. But concealed underneath that thick scarf was not the delicate, white, beautiful neck that one would imagine.

The first thing that met the eye were layers of scales.

Indeed, there was no mistake: scales. Thick dark-green scales like a layer of sturdy metal armour had fought to grow out from every pore of the skin, tightly covering her neck. It was like a lizard’s body, disgusting and ugly.

It wasn’t as though Qin Ni had never considered possible solutions. She had even used a razor blade to forcibly carve out the very first scale from her neck out of terror. However, as time had passed, a large amount of bright green blood had flowed out instead, as well as the intense pain from cutting through skin. Since that moment on, she had realised that these scales were not some additional feature, but a part of her body.

She had felt fear, she had felt dread. Yet she had been powerless from beginning to end. She had only been able to watch on helplessly as a second scale had appeared on her neck, then a third, until her entire neck had been covered with them. Then, like a virus, they had begun to gradually spread out towards the shoulders and chest.

Perhaps it would not be long before these scales would cover body completely so that she would never be able to go out in public anymore. She would turn into a so-called “monster”, just like the son she had given birth to.

She was already on the brink of insanity. However, she still desired to stay alive. She refused to die tragically like Ouyang Shuo and Wei Jin Ping. That was why, when she had discovered that she was no longer able to eat properly, she had forced herself to eat her first piece of human flesh.

And the origin of that flesh had been her ex-husband’s arm…

Qin Ni, Ouyang Shuo, Wei Jin Ping, Hua Xia, Zhu Nan, Xu Yi Feng.

These six were the students that had gone out to sea to conduct research with Yu Zhi De that year. However, when Ye Xiao mentioned that three of these people had died, this famed professor over fifty years old did not express any significant surprise. He simply opened his mouth in blank astonishment for a few seconds, then removed his glasses and said quite regretfully, “Ah, is that so. That truly is a great pity. Back then, they were all very outstanding students. I hadn’t imagined they would suddenly die in their prime.”

Naturally, Ye Xiao had concealed the oddities of these three deaths, simply stating that they had committed suicide.

Yu Zhi De sat on the sofa across. He possessed a stature with a bit of weight. His hair was white, his face kind. The clothing he wore from head to toe was neat and appropriate. In his hand was a cup of fragrant tea that Yu Xiao Yu had just brewed. The dignified and refined manner of a professor he held gave him a very gentlemanly look.

He warmly smiled and asked, “Did you two officers come visit today for this matter? I’m very sorry, but I’m afraid I cannot provide any clues. These three students have not contacted me for a long time now. I do not know why they would commit suicide either. Perhaps their pressure at work was too great.”

“I heard that these three once went out to sea together with you?”

“Yes, that was many years ago. At the time, we had gone out to conduct a research project.”

“Oh? What was it related to?”

Ye Xiao curiously studied Yu Zhi De. His intuition told him that this question might be the critical point of the entire matter. However, the other party remained silent for a moment before chuckling and giving an ambiguous, evasive answer. “My apologies, Mr. Officer, but this counts as classified research. Forgive me for being unable to provide information.”

“Classified research?” Ye Xiao blinked.

“Yes. Just like classified business. Once the biological research and development is successful, we can apply for a patent.”

Yu Zhi De’s smile was warm as he slowly sipped his fragrant tea. However, Ye Xiao could not dispel the feeling that something unsightly was stirring in the man’s mind behind his amiable smile.

At this moment, Su Mu quietly spoke up from his nearby seat.

“I’m sure that Professor Yu must be deeply attached to biological research?”

In response to this superficial question, Yu Zhi De merely chuckled and perfunctorily replied, “Just some research.”

Su Mu crossed his legs, switching his sitting posture as he calmly asked, “In that case, I wonder if Professor Yu has any views regarding unknown life forms?”

“Unknown life forms?” Yu Zhi De pushed his glasses up, his gaze behind his lenses seemingly changing.

The corner of Su Mu’s lips hooked upwards slightly. He picked up his cup to take a light sip of tea as he evenly commented, “This greatly diverse world is monstrous and multicoloured, and human knowledge is extremely limited. I believe that, in some corners of this planet, there definitely exist many life forms we do not yet know of. For example, deer with human torsos, humans that hatch from eggs, or the unicorns of legends and…mermaids of fairy tales.”

Mermaids? Ye Xiao was taken aback. He shifted his line of sight and was shocked to see Su Mu mysteriously pull out something from his pocket. He lowered his voice as he said, “Professor Yu, I’ll be open with you: actually, the reason I came to visit here this time was not for official business, but for a personal request.”

“Oh, a personal request?”

Yu Zhi De voiced this question in confusion, but his eyes were already drawn by the object in Su Mu’s hands. Even Yu Xiao Yu, who was sitting on the side, couldn’t help but curiously stick her head over.

It was a soft, black handkerchief that looked to be wrapped around in many layers around some important item.

As Su Mu opened it layer by layer, everyone saw that it was a dark, inconspicuous-looking, oval object.

“What is that?” Ye Xiao came closer and blinked curiously. Just as he was about to reach out and grab it, he was forcefully swatted away by Su Mu with a whack.

“Don’t randomly touch it.”

“Tch, is it some kind of treasure? So strange!” Ye Xiao quietly mumbled to himself as he shook his hurting hand.

Su Mu did not pay any attention to him. Instead, he carefully held out the object in the handkerchief in front of Yu Zhi De and said quite earnestly, “Professor Yu, I actually came this time to request for you to appraise this item.”

The instant Yu Zhi De saw the object enclosed, he was clearly shocked. Yu Xiao Yu’s face also paled. Father and daughter exchanged a look with each other and fell into an unplanned silence.

Su Mu quietly observed them.

After a long while, Yu Zhi De finally came back around as he asked in a low voice, “I wonder where Officer Su obtained this item from?”

Su Mu smiled and replied, “Honestly speaking, I found this among my grandfather’s remnants.”

“Your grandfather?”

“Yes, my grandfather was once a sailor.”

When Yu Zhi De heard the word “sailor”, his expression turned heavier. He stared at the dark-brown unknown object for a moment, then unconsciously reached out in attempt to take it and get a closer look. However, just before he could touch it, Su Mu suddenly drew back his hand and calmly re-wrapped the item to place it back in his pocket.

“Professor Yu, I wonder if you think it is the same thing that I think it is?”

Su Mu looked up. Although his handsome face had a faint smile, his sharp gaze penetrated straight through the other’s eyes, making their heart turn cold.

Yu Zhi De lightly coughed twice as he picked up his already cold tea and took a sip. He chuckled and cautiously asked, “What kind of answer does Officer Su hope to obtain?”

Su Mu quietly hummed to himself, then slowly responded, “I simply want to know if you think this type of thing truly exists.”

Yu Zhi De laughed coldly and answered, “The world is full of extraordinary things. However, as a scholar in biological research, I can only follow the basic principle to seek truth from facts. I only believe what I see.”

Su Mu wordlessly looked at him with a raised brow but did not say anything further.

At this point, the bizarre conversation came to an end. Ye Xiao glanced at Yu Zhi De, then at his own partner. He hesitated for a moment, seemingly wanting to ask something. However, upon closer thought, he ultimately decided to swallow his question back.

When they left the Yu family villa, it was almost evening. The glow from the sunset in the west lit the entire sky up with a deep red, creating a magnificent sight as one looked out from the waist of the mountain. The chilly, late autumn breeze blew the fallen leaves up to dance through the red maple forest with a whoosh. The scene outside the windows on both sides swiftly receded.

Yu Xiao Yu was driving to drop Ye Xiao and Su Mu off at the nearest bus station. Neither party really spoke throughout the entire journey. For some reason, the atmosphere in the car was a bit too oppressive, as if every person was silently pondering different things to themselves.

When they were nearly at the bus station, Yu Xiao Yu abruptly asked, “Officer Ye, do you think that everything in this world has significance and worth to its existence?”

Ye Xiao was stunned for a second, but he immediately replied without a second thought, “I believe so.”

“What about those evildoers that can commit any imaginable crime? Or those that are mentally handicapped and cannot even recognise themselves? And those that are set to live in suffering for their entire lives? Is there really any meaning in them living on this world? Wouldn’t it be better if they completely disappeared?”

The chain of questions was almost aggressive. Ye Xiao couldn’t help but turn his head to study the side of Yu Xiao Yu’s face. Her expression was somewhat emotional, her white face flushed slightly. Even the car she was driving unknowingly sped up.

After a brief moment of silence, Ye Xiao suddenly chuckled and calmly said, “Doctor Yu, I can’t say any general truth that’s too profound. I just believe that even a nameless wildflower on the side of the street has value in its existence. Those evildoers you mentioned weren’t born wicked beyond redemption. And those mentally retarded people you talk about are living people, just like everyone else; they have parents, just like everyone else. No one has the qualifications to strip others of their right to exist as a result of one’s own superiority.  As for those that would live their entire lives in suffering…haha, that depends on each individual. If they can find the meaning of their life, then they will gladly endure the hardships no matter how painful or tormenting it is.”

Yu Xiao Yu went quiet, a thin layer of melancholy covering her delicate and pretty face. She kept her eyes locked on the road in front of her, as if slowly chewing over these words. After a while, she apologised, “Sorry for saying some strange things and embarrassing myself in front of you. It was just a random comment.”

Ye Xiao looked at her and flashed her a meaningful smile, but did not say a word.

It was not long until Yu Xiao Yu dropped them off at the nearest bus station.

Ye Xiao watched the car leave them behind in the dust. He scratched his head and spun around, only to see that Su Mu had gone over to insert a coin into an automatic vending machine. He laughed, “Heh, I can’t tell anything from your appearance at all! You usually act so silent, so I never imagined that you would make up lies without even a draft. Pfft, one really can’t judge a book by its cover!”

Su Mu glanced at him with the same emotionless face.

Ye Xiao chuckled winked as he evilly said, “That thing you said you found in your whatever grandfather’s remnants…I clearly saw you pick it up from inside Doctor Yu’s car earlier.”

With a clang, two soda cans fell down into the opening slot of the automatic vending machine.

Su Mu bent down to pick them up, then surprisingly tossed one can at Ye Xiao.

“Then should I be thanking you for not only not exposing me, but also playing alongside the act?”

He coldly spoke, his tone mocking.

Ye Xiao did not mind at all. He was still cheerful as he pulled open the tab. Taking a swig, he said, “Oh yeah, what exactly was that thing?”

“I don’t know either.”

“What? You don’t know either?” Ye Xiao couldn’t help but smack his lips. “Yet you managed to calmly keep that card up your sleeve? Tsk, you don’t even need to be a criminal investigator. You can just go and become an actor instead.”

Su Mu took a sip of the soda and leaned against the signpost as he replied, “I knew for certain that Yu Zhi De would never tell me what it is, so I merely wanted to observe his reaction.”

“Hehe, his expression was indeed quite brilliant. Looks like that object is extremely important. But what in the world is it? It seems a bit like an animal’s scales.”

“Yes, and it reeks of the ocean.”

“Pfft, no wonder you made up that pack of lies about your grandfather being a past sailor. Quite a stretch.” Ye Xiao then downed several gulps of soda as he thought to himself and said, “But that Doctor Yu seems to know something too.”

Su Mu shot him a look and implicated, “It’s best you don’t get too close to that doctor.”

Ye Xiao was stunned for a moment, immediately choking on his drink. As he coughed, he broke out into a laugh. “Pfft…cough, cough, cough…Please, don’t tell me she’s caught your fancy? If so, just say it straight. I definitely won’t fight against you!”

Su Mu frowned and replied, “According to my investigation, Yu Zhi De is fifty-three years old this year. He never married. Where did a daughter come from?”

“Eh, perhaps she was adopted?”

“I checked, there are no adoption records.”

“Wait, you checked? Why did you check? You…since when have you suspected there’s an issue with Yu Xiao Yu?”

“Since you stayed at the hospital.”

“What?”

“Intuition.”

“…Er, what were the results of the investigation?”

Su Mu downed the entire of the soda all at once. After a few seconds’ pause, he met Ye Xiao’s eyes and answered, “I couldn’t find that person.”

“Couldn’t find? What does that mean?”

“No background, no history, not even a birth record from a hospital. All her files start from her work at the D-University affiliated hospital. And when she entered this hospital for her job, she had gotten in by introduction from Yu Zhi De’s private connections.”

“How-how could that be?” Ye Xiao was shocked. “Based on what you’re saying, it’s like her entire person suddenly materialised out of thin air one day…that can’t be possible, right?”

“I find it unimaginable as well, but it is the reality.” Su Mu took a deep breath and slowly stated, “The feeling she gives me is that she is not a person belonging to this world…”

A cold wind blew past. Ye Xiao instinctively shuddered, suddenly feeling a bit cold.

This entire incident was like diving into a deep fog. The more they looked into it, the more incomprehensible it became.

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