YBCB2: V7 Prologue + C1

I do not remember how to post. At least I still know how to translate.

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Prologue

“It’s class time, what are you doing here?”

He slowly looked up from where he sat on the swing to see an unfamiliar person.

“Are you a student from the elementary school nearby?”

He shook his head.

“Don’t tell me you’re pretending to be sick and skipping? Huh, education is too basic these days….Wait, are these your books? How impressive….Hm? You’ll give these to me?”

“Oh right, what’s your name? I’m ____.”

… … …

“How is it weird? It doesn’t sound bad at least.”

“If you don’t like your classes at your current school, how about I teach you? Though I’m part of the senior high…It’s fine? Alright, that’s set then. Come find me after school and I’ll teach you.”

“It’s a promise.”

***

Sob…sniff, sniff, sniff…

She wiped her tears as she walked down the dark corridor. Despite her mental preparation and expecting the possibility of failure, the unconcealable, earth-shattering disappointment still swallowed her when the reality was in front of her eyes.

How could she not be upset?

Sob, sob, sob… She fell to her knees by the side of the road and began to bawl out loud.

No one in this world had ever cared about her anyways. Even if she sought for the tiniest amount of comfort, she would never receive any kindness.

“It’s lost…” She just wanted to know, yet it was so difficult.

On the brink of sinking into anguish and despair, a blinding beam of light suddenly cut through the vacant street in the middle of the night. Having already gotten used to the darkness, she was momentarily unable to adjust and hurriedly covered her eyes. Then, there was the abrupt screech of brakes.

When the motorcycle went still, a shocked curse rang out—

“Holy shit! I thought I’d seen a fucking ghost!”

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Chapter One

The school basketball court was filled with shouts, the sounds of the ball bouncing, and running footsteps.

The dark shadows on the ground followed their owners dashing back and forth without end as two intense games progressed under the bright sun.

“Pass here, pass here!”

“Zhi Yuan, block it, block it!”

During the fierce bullfight on the court, the teammates resting off the court were happily chatting while hydrating. Some small groups of girls would let out occasional cheers, while others were scrolling through their phones in disinterest while waiting for the boys to finish their game.

He looked up at the old banyan tree that was blocking the sunlight above and tugged his cap down while his gaze shifted back to the basketball court.

“Change players.” After a successful 3-pointer, the ongoing game was declared as ended, and the people on the sidelines began to switch out their teams.

One of the boys that had scored the most points pulled his clothes up to wipe his face, laughing with his teammates while leaving the court. He played with a copper coin in his hand as he passed over the central lawn and the tall bronze statue of a dancer, seemingly planning to go find a vending machine and buy a cold beverage.

The person under the banyan tree shifted his gaze away and closed his eyes to rest. He would move elsewhere after ten minutes and continue on with his original task.

However, just a few minutes later, the peaceful atmosphere was disrupted.

“Eh~ I think I’ve seen you around for the past two or three weekends. Are you a student from this school?”

He opened his eyes when he heard the voice that had shouted on the court earlier, and saw the drink-buying boy standing in front of him with a friendly grin. There were two sports drinks in his hands, with one of the cans being offered over.

“You can drink this. It’s super hot today, isn’t it…”

“I’m not a girl, thank you very much.” Yan Dong Feng interrupted the small talk with narrowed eyes.

“Eh!” The boy stared blankly at the male tone of voice, slightly taken aback. “Sorry, sorry, but you can still have this. You look like you’re really feeling the heat.”

Dong Feng was silent for a moment before accepting the beverage and giving his thanks.

With a beaming grin, the boy plopped down on the empty spot next to him. “I’m Lin Zhi Yuan, a third-year in senior high. Do you attend our school? I don’t think I’ve seen you here before.” As he spoke, he stared curiously at Dong Feng’s hair. I remember our school has hair policies…

“I used to.”

“Oh! Nice to meet you, Senior!” Lin Zhi Yuan took a swig of his drink. Seeing that Dong Feng appeared to have no interest in chatting, he decided to speak first. “Which graduating class was Senior from? If you’re searching for teachers, you’d probably only be able to find them during normal hours. I always see you on weekends.” Their group would usually come to play basketball on Saturday and Sunday afternoons after lunch, or run out during the 5-10 minutes after classes, so he was pretty sure he had only seen Dong Feng around on Saturdays and Sundays.

Because of the long hair and slim figure, he had taken note of Dong Feng, thinking he was a female student from another class.

While quite a few girls would come around during games with very clear motives, there weren’t many that would appear at set times and stay at a distance. During their break last weekend, some of his friends had joked about coming over to check Dong Feng out. Fortunately, no one had made a move back then.

“…From junior high, ten years ago.” Dong Feng lowered his head to take a small sip of the icy drink as he responded flatly.

Lin Zhi Yuan nearly spat out his drink as he hurriedly whipped his head around and coughed, “I see.” And here he had thought Dong Feng was an upperclassman that had recently started university…

“Your friends are calling you.”

Lin Zhi Yuan looked towards the court to see that some of his companions were indeed shouting for him. There were also some dribbling the ball to urge him to go down and play another game. “I’ll head over then. If Senior is still here later, you can join us for a meal.”

Dong Feng did not nod nor reply. He merely watched as the grinning senior high student bounded back to join the game, and barely caught the words of others asking how things went.

Either way, the result definitely won’t be what those hotblooded kids want, hmph.

He sat for a few more minutes before leaving the spot under the tree with the beverage in hand.

…The heat really makes me want to kill someone.

As the weather didn’t seem to have cooled down, Dong Feng silently wiped his face and began to move towards the school gates at a tortoise pace.

I’ve been hiding out the entire morning; those guys must’ve given up by now.

Dong Feng checked the time and calculated his travel time. If he headed home now, he should be able to avoid the super annoying people asking about him and giving him food. With this, he felt relieved enough to move towards the bus station.

Despite being a day off, the school had quite a few students coming in and out. Aside from the ones that had come to play sports or meet for clubs, those that lived nearby had arranged to meet friends outside the school before heading out together. He changed out of the student uniform, though his neat facial features could not conceal his youthful aura.

Most kids these days probably don’t worry much about the outside world. At most, they probably just think about graduating, dating, what teacher is annoying, or finding some excuse to sneak out and have fun. Even though Dong Feng had never particularly hung out with others at that age, he knew that these things were more or less unavoidable.

Thinking about it more, he had never given any excuse for leaving home back then, nor had he said anything when going out. In the end, it was fine as long as he came back. His family members weren’t reprimanding, giving him plenty of freedom.

 

“Do you think that online friend will really treat us to a meal? Based on the Internet, the restaurant looks a bit pricey~”

“Don’t worry, if he said he’ll treat us, then he will. You don’t need to think about it.”

“Haha, true~”

Dong Feng turned his head to see a few girls giggling to each other behind him on the left with phones in their hands while discussing something. It didn’t seem like they needed to take the bus, and were simply playing around behind him. They’re clearly waiting for their alleged “online friend” to pick them up.

“Hey, that girl in front is so thin.”

“Oh, she really is…”

This time, Dong Feng couldn’t be bothered to explain that he was not a girl. He took a step forwards to raise a hand and flag the bus. But before he could do so, a speeding Wolf motorbike sharply braked next to him. The rider clothed in a tee-shirt and shorts coolly removed their helmet and shook their hair to reveal a beautiful girl’s face that Dong Feng had seen several times.

“Aren’t you Ah Yin’s half-starved friend? What are you doing here?” Having spotted him from a distance, Xiao Hai brightly grinned. “What a coincidence, I just happened to be around here for business. Want me to give you a ride later? This place is pretty far from your home.”

“No need.” Dong Feng shook his head.

“Save the courtesy, Ah Yin’s friends are my…my friends. I remember that you’re Prosecutor Li’s junior too, so we’re basically all family. Come on, we’ll grab dinner along the way, my treat.” Xiao Hai turned off the engine and glanced around before smoothly pulling the bike into a parking spot.

Dong Feng had the slight urge to respond with something along the lines of “what family”, but he swallowed the words. Just then, he spotted the bus that he had been planning on taking whizz past him without stopping. The exhaust wafted into his face before the bus vanished at the end of the road.

“…”

As he was considering flagging a taxi to leave immediately, Xiao Hai had swiftly finished parking her bike and walked over while swinging her keys to directly grab his shoulder. “Since you happen to be here, I don’t need to go ask Xiao Yu to help. Your head is good too, isn’t it? Help me out a bit first. I’ll be a good host after and treat you to some good food.”

Dong Feng was unable to break free as he was pulled forwards by a tyrannical force that a girl should not have possessed. “I…”

“Considering how hot it is, eating something sour and spicy wouldn’t be bad. But you look like you have a bad stomach, so it’s better not to eat anything sour, spicy, or cold. I know a place with mild food, I’ll bring you there to eat. Then I’ll treat you to a drink at my shop.” Xiao Hai quickly planned out the restaurant to visit, then whipped out her phone to send a message for a friend at the place to save two seats.

“I don’t need…”

“I ordered something that doesn’t have oil. You eat sweet stuff, right? Their sweet soups taste great.” As Xiao Hai spoke, she stuffed her phone into her back pocket and began to wave across the street.

Only then did Dong Feng realise he had been half-dragged back to the senior high front entrance that he had just been at.

A girl waved back at them from in front of the guard office.

***

“My name is Shu Xing Yu.”

The girl who had arranged to meet with Xiao Hai at the entrance stood in front of the guard office and awkwardly introduced herself, “Um…Miss Xiao Hai is…is helping…”

The girl’s voice became increasingly quieter, the end of her sentence dying in her throat.

For a few seconds, Dong Feng peered at the girl who was entirely different from Xiao Hai, and then turned to look at the other girl in slight confusion. The high school student in front of him was clearly introverted. Not only was her clothes properly meeting school expectations, but her hair was not dyed or permed at all, clean and tidy. Her gaze was afraid of meeting his eyes directly, instead locked onto the ground as she anxiously clutched the corner of her clothes. It was very difficult to connect her with someone as fierce as Xiao Hai.

“This is a new friend I made recently. Because there’s a bit of trouble, I’m helping.” Xiao Hai blinked and patted Dong Feng on the shoulder. “I was originally going to bring her to Xiao Yu today, but I unexpectedly ran into you.”

“…So the help you were referring to was this?” Dong Feng studied the obedient high school student. He had no idea what help they would need; this type of person couldn’t have possibly attracted any complicated trouble.

Xiao Hai scratched her face as she and the girl exchanged a look. “It’s a long story. Why don’t we go sit nearby and talk, it’s hot enough—”

“Senior!”

A somewhat familiar voice interrupted Xiao Hai’s words, reminding Dong Feng of the other annoying fellow. I really should have shaken off everyone without hesitation and gone straight home after all.

Lin Zhi Yuan and a group of students from the basketball games had just stepped out from the door. They had originally been in lively discussion, but Lin Zhi Yuan had suddenly caught sight of Dong Feng still at school and immediately ran over to greet him. “You really are still here. Does Senior want to join us to grab ice cream? We’ll go eat after.”

“Senior?” This time it was Xiao Hai appraising Dong Feng in confusion. “You’re a student here?” No wonder, I was wondering why he would suddenly run to a place this far, and right next to a school. I assumed it was a work thing, since I heard he did wood carvings. Since Xiao Hai was clumsy with her hands, she could never make something that intricate. She had always respected those who could create such beautiful products, similar to how she thought of that woman who could cook, Tang Yu Yao.

“…” Dong Feng was starting to believe the superstition of having to check a horoscope before leaving the house. He hadn’t imagined that going outside would give him just as much trouble as staying holed up at home.

“Senior said he used to be in the junior high division here,” Lin Zhi Yuan easily answered Xiao Hai’s question while simultaneously noticing the girl cowering behind Xiao Hai. “Huh, aren’t you a second year…”

“You guys know each other?” Xiao Hai pulled the girl out from behind her.

“N-No…we don’t…” Shu Xing Yu’s head could not drop any lower.

“I think I see you often in the teachers’ room. Aren’t you in charge of cleaning the offices? The potted Japanese lilies on the cabinet there were on the verge of death, but you guys ended up growing them beautifully, and some of the teachers even praised how tidy you guys had left the place.” Lin Zhi Yuan titled his head as he confirmed he was not mistaken, and said, “What a coincidence. Ah, why don’t you all come too? It’s so hot, let’s go grab ice cream together.”

“Your friends are calling you.” Dong Feng expressionlessly glanced at the group of friends calling out from behind. “We can eat another day.” He could tell without even looking that this girl had no desire to go, and was clearly beyond terrified.

“Sure, that’s fine.” Lin Zhi Yuan shrugged and patted the girl. “Then Senior, I’ll ask her how to contact you alright?”

“Do whatever you want.” He would rather die than give this young girl a way to contact him.

Shu Xing Yu shrank away to hide back behind Xiao Hai.

Lin Zhi Yuan said good-bye and then jogged back to the group of friends to join their noisy chattering and leave.

“So you were a student at this school too? That makes things easier.” Once the children left, Xiao Hai grinned evilly as she laid an arm around Dong Feng’s shoulders. “Helping is only natural then. Help your cute junior and do a good deed.”

“…” Dong Feng felt like he had no room to reject, so he simply let himself be forcibly dragged in the opposite direction to sit and grab drinks.

After walking for a while, they chose a slightly pricey coffee shop. It was a tidy, comforting little place with a small blackboard containing a handwritten menu hanging outside the door. The beautiful words written in chalk included today’s special, with a small flower drawn next to it, giving the place a likeable ambience. The chimes rang out gently when they entered through the door, and the atmosphere and cooler temperature inside quickly relaxed them. A neatly dressed waiter immediately came to welcome them.

For some reason, Dong Feng froze for a minute after opening the door. Xiao Hai reacted faster and had the waiter lead them to a quieter spot before randomly ordering some snacks.

“So what exactly is going on?” Dong Feng noticed that the girl was still very anxious, seemingly not daring to speak. As a result, he simply asked Xiao Hai, not wanting to waste any time.

“Well, I only just recently met her too. The situation is like this…”

 

According to Xiao Hai’s words, two weeks ago, she had nearly crashed into the girl squatting by the road when Xiao Hai had been heading home in the early morning after dealing with some business.

She had originally thought the girl was a runaway, and had planned to ignore her. However, the way the girl had been dressed did not make her seem to be the type that would loaf around, nor was she carrying any bags. After inquiring, Xiao Hai found out that the girl had run to school to search for something while her family was asleep.

“I wanted to find something my older sister left…” Shu Xing Yu released her grip on her clothes and pulled out a scenic postcard from her bag’s side pocket, passing it over to Dong Feng across from her. Just then, the waiter came to bring their snacks and drinks and the two nearly hit each other. After the girl hurriedly apologised, she continued, “My sister was a student of our school seven years ago…”

Dong Feng flipped the postcard over and furrowed his brows. It was a very normal scenic postcard with a photo of Tansui Old Street. There was a postmark and a recipient, sender, and address. The old-fashioned handwriting included a few simple and short words asking about the Mid-Autumn Festival. On the blank space in the edge, there were a few sentences written in a different blue ink.

The recipient was “Shu Xing Yu”, the sender was “Tang Ji Song”.

The beautiful blue-inked handwriting said: The heart is buried where the sword is held.

“My sister…my sister passed away seven years ago because of her poor health. But she was a very kind person. When I was little, she would take good care of me with her soft and gentle voice. She was great with people and academics as well…I found this wedged in her diary when I was cleaning the storage this past new year…Because I was afraid my mother would be upset, I just–just called a few numbers in my sister’s diary to find some of her old friends…” The girl lowered her head, gripping her glass as she powered through, “I found three of her classmates…they said everyone in the class had received similar words, but they found it a long time ago by searching all together before their graduation…It seems like my sister hid a bunch of things around the school the year she passed as a graduation gift to their class…”

“Did they all receive this type of postcard?” From careful examination of the postmark, it was indeed from seven or eight years ago without mistake, with no sign of alteration. Dong Feng figured it would be good to ask. If this was true, it would be a bit strange, as this type of postcard seemed a bit more personal. Theoretically, one would not give such a thing to classmates, let alone the entire class.

“No no, it seems like only I got one like this. Her classmates all got small cards. At the time, my sister had given the written cards to their teacher, asking the teacher to pass it on to everyone after.” Shu Xing Yu paused for a moment to rub her eyes. “I asked her classmates and they said they didn’t have this postcard, so I figured it would still be in school, and might be something she had left for me or our parents…but it’s been seven years, and I’m the only one that couldn’t find anything…”

“The school has changed quite a bit these past few years, so it’s normal to not find anything. Just give up on searching.” Dong Feng returned the postcard and immediately concluded, “Besides, it’s not necessarily something for you guys. If it was for family, it would’ve been directly given to save time.”

“Sigh, you don’t need to dump a bucket of cold water over her.” Xiao Hai rolled her eyes at Dong Feng as she chewed on some cake. After inquiring about all this that night, she had accompanied this girl in her search whenever she was free over the past two weeks. However, they had no trails, and as someone that was the worst at using her brain, she had found this riddle beyond frustrating.

Dong Feng shrugged. Right as he was about to leave, he spotted the girl suddenly blink hard and her tears began to pour downwards, causing him to freeze.

“I know, I know…sob…”

Xiao Hai hurriedly swallowed her cake, nearly choking as she rushed to pat the girl’s head in comfort.

As this had nothing to do with him, Dong Feng clicked his tongue and prepared to turn away and leave. However, he caught sight of their waiter, who silently handed him a pack of tissues.

“…” He could only sit back down and shove the large pack of tissues towards Xiao Hai. “Did you guys find any clues?”

Xiao Hai ripped out a few tissues to press them against the girl’s face. Then she scratched her head and answered with slight vexation, “No. I ran to a bunch of different places with her, including the fine arts club and any paintings, but didn’t see any swordholding. We couldn’t find shit, who knows what she was writing about.”

“The diary and computer my sister left behind might have something…” Shu Xing Yu carefully chimed in, wiping her eyes and nose as she quietly said, “The main processor is still in storage…”

“In that case, why not go and see yourself?” Dong Feng was slightly annoyed that help would be asked for even such a simple task, and his tone was naturally not very amiable. “It’s at your home, isn’t it? If you want to find it so badly, you should have sorted through everything first.”

“That’s…” Shu Xing Yu twisted the tissues in her hands as she dropped her gaze. “My mother forbids me from going through my sister’s things…though I’ve secretly stolen the hard disk and opened it before…but many things are locked…”

“Why don’t I send some of my guys that are good with computers to try looking at it?” Xiao Hai pulled out her phone to contact someone.

“Please don’t, my mother will definitely flip out.” Shu Xing Yu quickly stopped Xiao Hai with an anxious rejection. “My family is very strict. I can’t even bring classmates with me, so I beg you not to seek out others.”

“Is the hard disk still good?” Dong Feng’s eyes coldly glanced at them as he rubbed his forehead, convinced that this was all sorts of troublesome.

“Mhm. Even though it’s very old, it shouldn’t be broken. I was a bit surprised that it could be read normally.” Shu Xing Yu nodded and met Dong Feng’s eyes to say while gesturing, “It might be because my mother stored it really well, but it wasn’t the least bit damaged! While my parents weren’t home, I copied all the files over, though most of them were locked. I was going to ask some online friends to try unlocking them.”

“…You’re quite animated when you talk about this hard disk.”

Shu Xing Yu flushed bright red at Dong Feng’s words and immediately dropped her head again.

“By the way, do you know the sender of the postcard?” This was Dong Feng’s last question.

“No, but I think they were a friend that my sister met online. I recall that they had exchanged addresses because they had been close. I don’t remember much anymore, but it seems like that person continued sending letters afterwards. I don’t know anything else though, and my parents refuse to tell me. I secretly searched for the address once, but it’s an uninhabited house now. When I asked around nearby, people said it’s been empty for a long time now.” Shu Xing Yu had tried asking her parents when she had been investigating possible trails, but had just ended up being scolded so badly that she never dared to bring it up again.

Dong Feng sighed and stood from his seat. “Let’s go.”

“I didn’t think that little Dong Feng would be so direct.” Xiao Hai immediately downed the rest of her drink with a grin as she passed some bills to the waiter.

“I want to resolve this troublesome matter as quickly as possible and go home. And don’t call me little.” Dong Feng turned his head to inform Xiao Hai:

“I’m older than you.”

***

“Ehhh, we were bailed on.”

Yan Si stood before the tightly shut front door with the belief that he was a great person for coming to visit with a large box of healthy cake. He shook his head with faint remorse, “That’s how life is. Don’t ever call him in advance or you’ll give him a chance to run away. It’s such a pity to Chef Yang’s meticulous scheme—meticulous work~”

He had gotten the day off for once, and out of goodwill, had gone to bug Yang De Cheng into making something delicious before calling Dong Feng out of impulse. Unfortunately, the resident of this home had used this as a chance to flee.

Yan Si resolved to hunt down this particular resident more swiftly next time with a breakfast assault that the target couldn’t possibly defend against.

“I think it’s pretty normal to run away after receiving a call from Yan-dàgē…” Yu Yin muttered under his breath. He had come by to drop something off and hadn’t expected to bump into a particularly annoying person.

“Hm? Student that was ganged up on, am I not a very nice and friendly person?”

“You’re very friendly.” Friendly to the point where it feels like I can see nine tails waving behind you… Yu Yin coughed, “Since Dong Feng isn’t home, I’ll just head back home.”

“I’ll go with you then.” Yan Si was well aware that if he went to his former roommate’s office, he’d be kicked out, so he acutely grasped onto another form of amusement. “A box of ash walnut cakes.”

“Why does Yan-dàgē make it sound like a done deal…” It wasn’t that Yu Yin did not welcome him to come over, but he felt like…he had to point out “it’s my home, you know”. “And what the hell do you mean by ash?!”

“Grinding the walnuts into a powder.” Tch, Yang De Cheng really goes through such painstaking labours for the sake of having that brat eat more. Sometimes, Yan Si honestly felt like his friend was the type that loved seeking challenges, particularly when it was related to food. Using whatever means to make someone unknowingly eat something was a bit terrifying in one respect…because if he was ever in a bad mood, who knew what he could make someone eat?

“No one would eat it if you described it like that.” Yu Yin shook his head in exasperation. Right as he was about to retort further, he suddenly heard a faint sound. “…”

“What’s wrong? Have you found yourself absolutely floored by walnut powder?” Yan Si magnanimously held out the box of cake. “It’s okay, you still have a chance to admit you were wrong. I’m sure the walnuts that are wise beyond age would forgive you.”

“You’re the one who should be begging the walnuts for forgiveness,” Yu Yin reflexively retorted before turning his head. Indeed, there was noise coming from behind the locked door. But with Dong Feng out, there logically couldn’t be anyone inside making sounds. ‘…Did you hear that?”

Yan Si nodded, having heard it as well.

If Yan Si heard it too, then it can’t be a ghost. Yu Yin quietly moved up to the door and craned his head to listen more carefully…There really was noise inside. While the person was moving very cautiously, Dong Feng’s floor was typically covered in lime and clay shards; no matter how carefully one moved, they would inevitably generate crackling sounds.

Yan Si leaned against the doorframe to silently tap at his phone, sending a few messages to his former roommate and the currently working Yu Xia.

As if having noticed the people outside, the noise abruptly died out. It felt like both sides of the door had come to a deadlock.

“Whoever’s in there, listen up. You’ve already been surrounded, so just obediently drop any weapons and come out in surrender.” Now that he had checked in with the officers that were in charge of guarding them, they were rushing over per Yu Xia’s orders and Yan Si naturally did not hold back as he directly knocked on the door. “Don’t bother resisting, it’s pointless. You can’t escape.”

Yu Yin was momentarily dumbstruck by how Yan Si had simply shouted at the other party.

The house was dead silent without another peep.

Soon, the officers guarding outside arrived and contacted the landlord to unlock the door.

Just then, Yu Yin and the others heard a loud crash inside—as though someone had pushed over a display shelf. There were the thuds of many sculptures falling onto the floor, followed by the shattering of glass and a woman’s shrill scream.

In the blink of an eye, what followed was the sound of something heavy falling down hard from the stairwell outside the complex.

Yu Yin hadn’t even registered what had happened in the chaos before the door automatically unlocked with a click.

“One of you should run and check downstairs.” Yan Si turned to say to the officers as he pushed the door open. That last noise had clearly been someone falling from the stairs.

An officer immediately called for support as he dashed downstairs, while the other officer followed them inside the house.

It was a disastrous mess inside. As expected, several shelves had been overturned; the small metal rack next to the front entrance and the two larger racks on both sides of the living room had not been spared. Various sculptures were scattered across the floor, most of them broken, and some so shattered that it was impossible to tell their original appearance.

What a shame, was the first thought that flashed through Yu Yin’s mind, since he quite liked coming over to enjoy the handiwork…though that obviously excluded the ones done in the likeness of criminals; he had no idea why there was a whole section of them. He shifted his focus over to where the last disturbance had come from—two windows directly across the front door. Not only was the glass smashed, but even the window frames had been forcefully broken. The force of the impact was evidently great.

The three of them naturally walked over towards the windows, avoiding the shelves and craftwork spilled on the floor that blocked the windows. When they finally managed to pass through the mess and look outside, they were not surprised to see a woman lying on the ground below. Her limbs were bent unnaturally, and there were still some stray shards of glass on her body. A blown-out window frame lay next to her. The back of the woman’s head that had struck the ground was completely burst open, large amounts of blood and other unidentifiable liquids gushing out. As the other officer reached the area, people walking by also began to scream in horror.

“Why’s it so noisy?”

“Don’t come in here!” Yan Si shouted at the young married couple from next door, stopping them at the doorway. “Don’t touch anything, just stand right where you are.” As he spoke, he and Yu Yin began retreat back out the way they had come.

“Did something happen?” The husband glanced at Yan Si’s and Yu Yin’s faces before bluntly asking the question.

“Oh, it was likely a thief that accidentally fell down.” Yan Si noticed that the other residents had begun flocking over to their floor, so he had the officers go clear away the crowds.

“Ai Ai, you should go home first.” The man with a cool, mature aura – Zhang Lin – patted his wife’s head and surveyed the house doubtfully. “Dong Feng’s place shouldn’t have much worth stealing…um, Ai Ai and I previously came by to give him some snacks. He’s fine, right?”

“Fortunately, he’s not home.” Yan Si shrugged. When he was about to tell the man to go home, the officer nearby suddenly strode over and quietly said something to him. “Mn, got it.”

“Is something wrong?” Yu Yin stared at the messy home, imagining how Dong Feng would explode later while inwardly grateful that the other had gone out today. But when exactly did the thief break in? He and Yan Si had arrived one after another, and with how long they had been chatting, they had been around for at least half an hour.

“That’s something Boss will have to confirm later when he gets here.” Yan Si smiled at Zhang Lin, “Young friend, you should leave now. The police will go over to ask you and your wife some questions later.”

“Alright, thanks for the hard work.” Zhang Lin turned to go back to his own unit.

Yu Yin scratched his head as he heard the distant sirens, uncertain if he would end up getting beaten again. But it wasn’t really his fault that he’d run into all this while trying to visit Dong Feng.

Cough, cough…

Yu Yin automatically looked up, intuitively following the source of the noise and staring into the empty home.

The faint coughing dissipated in the air and did not return, as though it had merely been a figment of his imagination.

“What’s up? Did a ghost just rapidly take form?” Yan Si openly asked.

“Take form, my ass,” Yu Yin shot back. As he was starting to move away to wait, he was abruptly made aware that Yan Si’s cursed words had become true.

—A woman covered in blood stood by the window, her crimson eyes glaring hatefully at them.

“…Fuck.” That was all Yu Yin could utter.

“Where, where? Where is it?” Yan Si excitedly scanned the crime scene. I think this is the first time I’ve been struck with such a fresh crime scene still full of life!

“…” Yu Yin was speechless as he watched the bloody figure disappear next to the window. That hatred—bare and exposed hatred—was definitely the prelude of a malicious ghost with unresolved grievance. It’d better not be that they fell because they were freaked out by the guy next to me…if it’s targeting Yan Si because of that, I’m definitely going to stay far away.

Yan Si grabbed Yu Yin by the shoulder and turned them towards the cleared out stairwell.

“Don’t worry, there’s no thief that would put so much effort into smashing up someone’s home after hearing they’re surrounded, only to jump off a building out of fright.”

“There’s probably also not many people that would intentionally startle a thief prematurely.”

Yu Xia had abandoned his work and rushed over to the crime scene immediately after receiving the call. He felt like he had been dealing with many cases involving “long-distance falls” recently, and as he glanced upwards, he began to feel restless.

“Of course there is, I’m right in front of you, am I not.” Yan Si flashed a victorious V-sign with his fingers from where he stood outside the yellow tape.

Yu Yin was crouching nearby, and he rolled his eyes at a certain reckless person.

“Are you two sure that you haven’t seen the deceased before?” Yu Xia re-covered the body with the white cloth and walked over to the yellow tape with a frown.

“Nope. But if you’re not against it, Boss, you should try summoning the soul back here. It’s pretty accurate – I personally guarantee that it would increase your case-solving rate by 80%,” Yan Si pushed the great master next to him while sincerely presenting this suggestion.

Yu Xia was seriously going to rip through the tape and beat someone up.

“Uncle, the media, the media!” Yu Yin hurriedly stopped the man while glancing at the reporters that were curiously watching from outside. His only consolation was that he spotted Li Zi Hong arrive as well. This would at least reduce the mischief-making from the forensic investigator next to him.

Upon arriving, Li Zi Hong only spared a glance at Yan Si standing outside before striding over and directly asking Yu Xia, “What’s so urgent?” He had been requested to rush over midway through his tasks, so he had put everything down to head over immediately.

Yu Xia did not reply, simply waving him over and lifting the cloth to gesture at the deceased’s tilted head.

Despite being covered in blood, Li Zi Hong could see the tattoo-like mark on the left side of the victim’s neck – a very familiar mark. He knew exactly why Yu Xia had urgently summoned him. “…”

“The testimonies from the neighbours were identical to what Ah Si said; this woman seemed to have snuck into Dong Feng’s home, and for unknown reasons, smashed the window and fell from there.” While Dong Feng’s place was not that high up, the deceased had landed head-first with bizarre precision on a slightly split tile that had made the impact so severe. Yu Xia tilted his head in thought as he asked, “I just called Dong Feng and he said he didn’t recognise the deceased in the photo I sent. Have you seen her before?”

Li Zi Hong studied the person’s face and confidently shook his head. “I’ve never seen any friend like this around Dong Feng.”

“Then it’s very likely that this is…” A warning to them.

Yu Xia had not forgotten what had happened when Yu Yin and the other children had gone on their trip. Since the other party had specifically attacked Yu Yin there, they could naturally infiltrate the rest of them and wait for other opportunities.

It seemed that they had hidden inside when Dong Feng had left in the morning, planning on attacking when he returned home. However, after Yan Si and Yu Yin had found out, they had jumped from the building for unknown reasons.

Li Zi Hong remained bent down next to the deceased. After a moment, he spotted something off and reached out to turn the body’s head, only to end up getting cut.

“Careful, there’s still glass shards everywhere.” There was a large amount of broken glass on the corpse and in the surroundings from when it had crashed through the window. Yu Xia saw that it had only torn Li Zi Hong’s glove, fortunately not actually injuring him, and tossed a new pair of gloves over.

“There’s something wrong with the body…Ah Si, come here for a moment.” Li Zi Hong changed his gloves and shot a glare at the troublemaker loitering around outside.

“Eh~ But Wu Tong is almost here~”

“Come here. Right now.” These were the only words Li Zi Hong uttered in response.

Yan Si had no choice but to obediently accept the equipment the officers passed to him before stepping into the scene.

After checking the areas Li Zi Hong pointed out, he clicked his tongue. “Great Prosecutor, your eyes have gotten so sharp recently. You should leave some work for the rest of us too.”

“So?” Li Zi Hong ignored the meaningless comment.

“Ding ding, you’ve found the answer to the riddle. This young and new member of the Violent Death Club was not alive when she fell~” Yan Si lowered his voice so that only the three of them could hear his next words, “She was killed first, then was revived to become a fresh zombie, then smashed through the glass while screaming grahhhhgh~ I recommend you guys shoot her head first to prevent her from leaping up and biting someone.”

Aside from the extraneous nonsense, Li Zi Hong received confirmation that his conclusion was correct. When he looked up at Yu Xia, he saw that the latter did not seem surprised, having probably also suspected this after seeing the corpse.

The situation was entirely different if the body had been alive rather than dead when falling. As the corpse was mostly intact this time, they could easily detect the signs.

If it was a dead body that had fallen from the building, there was only one possibility.

And there was no way it was a jumping zombie like Yan Si had claimed.

“There’s definitely an accomplice nearby still. Tell everyone to stay alert.”

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