YBCB2: V7C6

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

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Chapter Six

Early morning the next day before the sun was even up, Yu Yin’s ringing phone woke him up from his dream.

He groggily felt around his nightstand for his phone and saw that it was only a bit past five in the morning. The flashing screen had Xiao Hai’s name. He had no idea why she was calling him at this time.

Right as he was about to answer, the ringing stopped as Xiao Hai ended the call on her end.

Yu Yin scratched his head while sitting up with a yawn. Before he could call the girl back, he suddenly spotted a mass of shadows resting next to his bed, and its crimson eyes slowly looked up at him. He was instantly shocked awake, but the shadows disappeared with a whoosh before he could react.

“…” He wasn’t sure how to feel about his bedroom becoming a popular tourist spot for the shadow world.

He decided to just get up first. When he walked out of the room, he found that the guest room was quiet, which meant Dong Feng was likely sleeping. There were already sounds of breakfast being prepared downstairs, probably from Yu, the early-riser. But when he went down, he was a bit surprised to see Yu Xia lying on the living room sofa. There was no knowing when Yu Xia had come home, but a folder was on his body while he was deep asleep.

When Yu heard the noise, he peeked out of kitchen and gestured for Yu Yin to stay quiet.

“Did Dad also come home?” Yu Yin asked in a low voice as he entered the kitchen.

Yu nodded and pointed upstairs.

It appeared that they had gotten back not long ago.

His guardians had been abnormally busy these days. They would sometimes not be home for two or three days in a row, probably because of that organisation. Yu Yin watched the news daily, and it was always just some inconspicuous things like another reported communal gambling, or youths causing trouble at night by renting hotels to party or whatever…things that would be easily forgotten. But the strange organisation’s presence was hidden behind them, while some actions were so subtle they weren’t even presented in the news.

Yu Yin knew that Dong Feng had helped break through a few passwords, so many names on the list had been marked off. However, there was no knowing how long it would take to clean them all up.

Yu Yin took a seat at the kitchen table and decided to send Xiao Hai a text.

When Yu walked over to pour him some juice, Xiao Hai sent a reply.

I just saw what you sent last night.

Was dealing with idiots the entire night, no time to check my phone.

Don’t know which area they came from.

Did you guys find the treasure?

I’ll call you when I have time.

“Looks like Xiao Hai is pretty busy.”

After some thought, he decided not to disturb her with a response. If Xiao Hai hadn’t immediately called back and instead sent a rare text, she likely could not speak right now. Yu Yin refused to contemplate what scary circumstances were preventing her from speaking, so he finished his juice and stood to return to his bedroom to do stuff.

When he stepped out of the kitchen, he immediately saw the black thing lying on his stairs, and he fell silent for a moment.

“You…”

He only managed to start his sentence before the black object was viciously dragged up the stairs like he had seen in the abandoned house.

When he quickly reached the stairs, he saw the black thing upside down in the middle of the stairwell. After a pause, some force above it dragged it further upwards.

Seeing it again, it really did not align with the bloodstains Yan Si had seen…

“Why are you just standing there!”

Yu YIn was startled by the voice behind him. He whipped his head around to see Yu Xia standing there, radiating a dark aura.

“Er…”

“Is there something on the stairs?” Yu Xia had barely slept an hour after returning home, only to open his eyes to spot his child standing at the end of the stairs, peering intensely at something that clearly indicated he was staring at the face of something that should not exist.

“I’m still waiting for it to show its true form,” Yu Yin honestly answered.

“…”

“Sorry, but I really can’t tell what it is yet,” Yu Yin hurriedly added before a fist could be thrown at him, then skittered off to the side in fear. “By the way, about that abandoned house…”

“It was human blood in the bathtub; the exact test results won’t be out for a while though. Also, the next time you guys want to go hunting for ‘treasure’ like that, let me know first,” Yu Xia darkly glared at his child as he spoke in a flat tone. He had lost count how many times he had said these words before, and it always ended up being ignored.

“I-I’ll try.” Yu YIn felt chills go down his spine as he frantically nodded. He then thought of something else, “Also, I didn’t see only one that night…”

“Hm? Were there a lot?” Yu Xia furrowed his brows.

“There were at least five shadows in the abandoned house. I couldn’t see the number very clearly, but I’m certain they were dragged upstairs…I think they wanted to particularly emphasise the fact that they were dragged up.” According to convention, re-enacting a scene for him usually meant that it was either very important or the very last moments of their life.

In other words, it was what they really wanted him to know, wanted them to find.

This was what Yu Yin had believed since the start.

Yu Xia massaged the back of his sore neck contemplatively, then tossed the folder he was holding at Yu Yin. “Actually, the group in charge of this case just sent this over.” Because it wasn’t their area, the information had been passed to them through personal connections. “They tried the computer inside and found retrievable information. These are some of the image files from there.”

Yu Yin opened the folder and found many printed photos, most of which were of young girls. Some wore uniforms, some were half-naked. It was obvious that most had been taken in their own homes, with different rooms in the background. There were also a few where the background was a corner of the abandoned house’s second floor.

After going through a few photos, Yu YIn found the suspicious ones.

He had seen before the types of photos people exchanged with each other on the internet with various amounts of clothing, but some of the photos mixed inside had the girls lying on the floor or the bed of the second story with unusual expressions. Rather than the type of expression one would usually have while taking pictures, it was abnormally blank…To be precise, they were either expressionless or stiff-faced, with their limbs hanging down or placed next to their bodies at strange angles.

“These…” No matter how he looked, Yu Yin felt like these girls were extremely unnatural. He could practically see the girls’ pupils dilated under the flash, and somewhat bloodshot as well.

“Ah Si and the police over there all believe they died of asphyxiation. They’ve confirmed that at least three are dead, and are currently investigating their identities with the photos.” Yu Xia paused for a moment before continuing, “We suspect they’re young girls that were scammed by internet friends online. The computer had a large amount of chat records, with quite a few mentions of ‘compensated dating’ or offering lodging to those running away from home.”

Realisation dawned on Yu Yin as he finally understood what the reason for being dragged upstairs was.

After some of the girls had been killed on the second floor, they had for some reason been dragged up to the third floor as their final location…but why not the first floor? Had the perpetrator been concerned that nearby residents would see something from the ground level?

He looked up to see the shadows standing on the staircase again.

Like a dissipating fog, the dark black gradually faded into colour, revealing bloodless, pale skin and the final trace of horror on their faces in their last moments, mirroring the photos in Yu Yin’s hand. Finally, the figures retreated, vanishing in thin air.

Just as they had lost their lives, without a trace.

***

“So that house really was a genuine crime scene, then.”

It was a bit past eight in the morning when Dong Feng finally woke up from his long slumber and was forcibly brought into the kitchen. He stirred his bowl of congee while listening to Yu Yin’s run-down. Although he had noticed the house’s internal arrangement back then and had guessed its use, he had been hoping that his conjecture had been wrong or wasn’t in the right direction after knowing there were ghosts inside.

“Mhm, the police also seem to be investigating the homeowner. But apparently this Zeng person disappeared seven years ago for unknown reasons. The house had been passed down to him from his deceased parents, and he has no siblings. He never came into contact with his relatives in the city and he was an unsociable person that seemingly shut himself at home all the time.”  Yu Yin had exchanged contact information with Yan Si’s local friend and secretly received some reports.

But! I have no idea how that bastard Yan Si introduced me to his friend, because he called me ‘great master’ in our first exchange! 

When Yu Yin had seen this form of address in the text, he had instantly felt a vein pop out of his forehead.

“What’s Yu doing?” Dong Feng noticed that there was a certain smell coming from the kitchen. When he turned to take a look, he saw Yu sitting next to the oven playing with his tablet, completely ignoring the two of them.

“Oh, apparently he’s baking a cake. We’ll have guests later.” The aroma of old-fashioned cake made it hard to wait. Yu had cracked a bunch of eggs early in the morning, so aside from their visitors, he was likely planning on giving some cake to their guardians at the police station while they were working in the afternoon as a form of appreciation. Yu Yin began to contemplate whether their first source of customers should be the police in the future.

“Isn’t it just Fang Xiao Hai,” Dong Feng snorted. She was one of the few people that would always bring her own desserts, so there wasn’t any need to go through so much effort.

“No, no, Xiao Hai hasn’t answered me yet. It’s the two kids that are coming over first. I heard Shu Xing Yu called in sick this morning to rush over here after getting a message from Xiao Hai.” Actually, Yu Yin was still waiting for Xiao Hai to call back. He wasn’t sure if she had forgotten about it or not, but she had never responded.

“…Who’s the second one?” Dong Feng had a bad feeling.

“Lin Zhi Yuan. He was very worried about you last night, so he asked me for my contact. He said that everyone who’s already gotten into college has just been chilling, so he’s skipping class to come over.” There are quite a few truly nice kids these days. Yu Yin was pretty moved by this fact, and he was starting to think he should help push the young chick in his own home to properly make friends.

“…Why did you exchange contact info with him.” Can these people get any more annoying?

“He asked with good intentions,” Yu Yin shrugged with a smile.

“…”

Dong Feng debated whether to find an excuse to flee the moment he finished his congee, but the Goddess of Fate seemed to mock him because the doorbell rang just then. The first one to arrive had of course been the person he wanted to see the least.

Lin Zhi Yuan had arrived first despite the early morning, and was led inside by Yu Yin.

 

“Pardon my intrusion~”

Lin Zhi Yuan was in his uniform when he strode into the house and brightly greeted them. He passed a cardboard box to Yu Yin and said, “I couldn’t find anything good to buy this morning, so I hope you like deep-fried mantou.”

“What kind of student skips classes.” Dong Feng shot a judging look at the guy who had come to create more trouble for some reason. He was convinced that the student was an unnecessary extra.

“I must confess, I actually just really like Senior’s face, so I’m particularly interested in your matters.” Lin Zhi Yuan ignored the murderous glare being shot at him as he directly took the seat next to Dong Feng. “Shu Xing Yu’s situation bothers me too. Plus with what happened to you guys last night, I ended up asking her directly…She’s actually quite easy to chat with online, probably because there’s no face-to-face. She was able to eliminate her awkwardness and tell me about the treasure hunt. It’s honestly very intriguing. You guys have been on a modern treasure hunt all this time, huh. I wonder what her sister left behind.”

“…” Dong Feng was starting to feel a headache. He had originally planned to quickly resolve Shu Xing Yu’s annoying situation, but in the end another random thing had come sticking its head in.

“We think it’s buried beneath the sculpture you showed us from the place you brought us last night.” Yu Yin opened the deep-fried mantous and brought over the cakes that Yu had just finished baking. He poured out a pot of tea to place next to them too. “But it’s already been more than seven years. Who knows if the thing is still there. We were just thinking of trying to contact their former homeroom teacher to see if they can come back to the school and help us retrieve the item.”

After all, they were outsiders. Shu Xing Yu couldn’t possibly bring some people unrelated to the school in to dig up the campus lawn. They would definitely be kicked out.

“I thought the teacher couldn’t be contacted? “Lin Zhi Yuan had heard about the phone number being invalid.

“We can find them by their name. If they’re a teacher, they should be recorded on a school website no matter where they’re teaching.” Yu Yin had been planning to search up the teacher today as well. “Plus with how widespread the internet is nowadays, he can’t have really just disappeared. We should be able to find some kind of connection.”

“I see.” Lin Zhi Yuan nodded to express his understanding.

After chatting for a brief moment longer, Shu Xing Yu arrived.

The girl had arrived alone this time and was even more anxious than last time. She was so stiff that she repeatedly bumped into the pot of fruit tea on the table, unable to calm down. Only after she finished listening to Yu Yin’s rundown did she finally go quiet and still.

Yu Yin noticed that the girl’s eyes were a bit red-rimmed and didn’t want to potentially disturb her emotional state, so he and Yu focused on eating their cakes.

After Dong Feng yawned for the nth time, Shu Xing Yu finally tugged at her hair in embarrassment and lifted her head. “I understand…thank you everyone for your help…Really, thank you very much…Even if we can’t find the teacher and can’t dig it up, it’s fine now…”

“Didn’t you really want to know what hidden treasure your sister left?” Yu Yin was a bit surprised by her response.

“Mhm, I really do…Because I’m completely helpless by myself, I wanted to at least find where the last thing she left behind even if it wasn’t meant for me…but of course finding it would make me happier…” Shu Xing Yu picked up her tea and looked down at the rippling surface of the liquid. “My academics are average, and I don’t have friends in school…I haven’t met any good people online either, and I can’t make my mom and dad happy no matter what I do…I…I just want to be able to do this at least…”

“In reality, you were still unable to do it. You needed help from—” Before Dong Feng could finish, Yu YIn covered his mouth.

“S-Sorry…” Shu Xing Yu’s voice went even quieter.

“The sculpture being swapped out wasn’t planned. If the sculpture was still there, you guys wouldn’t be calling it a dancer holding a stick, and you would have figured out the answer to the riddle immediately.” Shu Xing Ling’s hints hadn’t been difficult at all. Yu Yin believed that if anyone back then saw it, they would quickly understand like Ji Ya Xuan had. That was why all of the classmates had found theirs at the time.

“Mm…yeah…but I want to thank you all nonetheless.” Shu Xing Yu put down her cup to scramble to her feet. But because of her sudden movement, she hit the table and nearly spilled the cup of tea. After frantically grabbing it to hold it in place, she clumsily retracted her hands and earnestly bowed at the waist. “Really, thank you so much, and thank you too, Senior Zhi Yuan.”

“No need, I had fun chatting with you. It would be great if you were as lively in real life as you are online. You know about so many things,” Lin Zhi Yuan replied with a smile.

“Uh…um…” Shu Xing Ling covered her flushed face as she bowed her head and shrank back down to her seat.

“Plus you shouldn’t mind so much. With more people, you can succeed in doing things you couldn’t do alone. There’s nothing to apologise for, that’s how friends should be working together.” Yu Yin had changed his theme right before the imminent death of finishing his graduation exhibit, causing his entire group to follow him into the deepest parts of hell. But in the end, they had still succeeded. This experience had made him genuinely feel the importance of having friends’ willing support—aside from the fact that he had been forced to empty his wallet treating them to a meal afterwards.

“Mhm. I’m really so grateful.”

Shu Xing Yu smiled faintly, then covered her face again.

“You’re actually quite cute when you smile. You should do it more,” Lin Zhi Yuan commented.

The words immediately made Shu Xing Yu knock over her tea cup for real.

 

After seeing the boy and girl off, Yu Yin returned to the living room.

“Not telling them about the internet addict?” Finding out about this matter through the treasure hunt had been outside expectations, so Yu Yin had been wondering whether they should let Shu Xing Yu know about it.

“Have you ever considered why Shu Xing Yu’s parents strictly forbid her from touching her sister’s things?” Dong Feng asked as he exchanged a look with Yu.

“You mean…” Normally, such a thing wouldn’t be specifically prohibited, right? Plus, Shu Xing Yu had mentioned that her household was very strict, and that she wasn’t allowed to go out as she pleased…Yu Yin came to a realisation now that Dong Feng mentioned it. “Her parents have probably known about it for a while?”

“Perhaps. At the very least, based on Shu Xing Ling’s situation, the older sister wasn’t that well-behaved at the time.” In summary, despite Shu Xing Ling’s poor health, she had been free to interact with friends and even share her address with internet friends. It was obvious how much freedom the parents had allowed. Even if one said that the parents were a bit more forgiving to the ill child, it wouldn’t be to the extent where the younger sister Shu Xing Yu would be under such tight control. Moreover, it was evident that the parents were not focused on Shu Xing Yu’s grades, but her exact whereabouts.

“That’s bizarre.” If the parents knew that the Zeng person was an internet addict, they might have been the reason that this was the only postcard left. Any other remaining items must have been discarded. Yu Yin considered all of this before asking, “The younger sister said that the diaries had been ripped out. Could that also have been…”

“That can be confirmed later.” Dong Feng heard noise from the stairs, so he ended the discussion there.

Yu Yin looked behind to see Yu Xia coming down the stairs after little sleep. He hurriedly moved aside so that he wasn’t blocking the entryway, then watched his uncle read the messages on his phone. “Uncle, you’ll die from overwork at that rate~”

Yu Xia shot a glare at the annoying brat and collapsed on the sofa. “If I really did kick the bucket, you guys would be a third responsible.” Think about who’s increasing my work outside of my actual work. 

“Gah…” Yu Yin felt a small prick in his conscience.

“The deceased found in Dong Feng’s home was already verified by a relative. The girl was a runaway, and the parents had no idea what she was doing—or rather, the parents did not care what she was doing. Although the possibility of her having any connection to you has already been eliminated, it’s best for you to continue staying here for the next few days. If you need anything, I’ll have someone grab it for you.” Yu Xia rubbed the back of his neck as he flatly added, “It’s fine if you guys want to go looking for the treasure, just don’t go on your own and don’t purposely shake off my people.”

He had already received multiple reports of Dong Feng suddenly disappearing. The officers following him would often be under pressure because they had the most troublesome target of the group; the second worst was that bastard Yan [Si].

“…” Dong Feng pretended not to hear the comment and turned to grab the tablet Yu had placed on the chair. Yu had been searching for Shu Xing Ling’s old teacher, leaving the browser page on a list of people with the same name while going to grab the second batch of baked cakes to let them cool.

“By the way, did Xiang Zhen Rong contact you in the past two days?”

Dong Feng froze, then looked back at Yu Xia, unsure of the reason for the sudden question. “No…?” While they had occasionally spoken to each other after he had returned from the trip, the exchanges were not frequent.

“What about Zhen Rong-gē? If it’s about the bike gang, do you want me to ask Ah Guan?” Yu Yin had vaguely known of Zhen Rong’s identity at the guesthouse back then, but because no one had mentioned it around him, Yu Yin had never probed further. It was strange for the name to suddenly be mentioned like this.

“No, it’s nothing.” Yu Xia shook his head and did not elaborate further.

Right as Yu Yin was about to ask more about it, his phone went off. When he checked, he saw that the call was from Xiao Hai, so he walked out to the hallway to answer.

After seeing Yu Yin leave, Dong Feng furrowed his brows and asked, “Lost contact?”

“No, it’s just that when he called to report back last week, he said he might not be able to call much for the time being and would switch to texts only; then in the last two days, the messages also decreased. But he’s still been sending replies.” Despite Zhen Rong’s relatively young age, he was very capable. It was because of this fact that Yu Xia had agreed to the suggestion of handing off everything to him after initially reaching out to him for support. With that organisation’s non-stop actions recently, Yu Xia had started considering whether to call Zhen Rong back first, but Zhen Rong himself had wanted to continue his investigation, saying that he had already come into contact with some of the organisation’s officials and did not want to waste all that time in vain.

“…Zhen Rong-gē’s girlfriend should be giving birth soon too.” Dong Feng felt mixed emotions as he recalled what Zhen Rong had said to him a while ago.

After the guesthouse incident, Xiang Zhen Rong had called him several times. In one of those calls, he had said that if the child was born, Dong Feng had to come visit; then the topic had shifted to baby showers and how either a boy or a girl would be great.

There was no doubt that he would give his girlfriend a great marriage ceremony after everything was over.

“We’ve dispatched people to protect his girlfriend. She’s very understanding of Xiang Zhen Rong’s job.” That was what being a family member of a police officer was like. Yu Xia remembered the scenes of his sister-in-law waiting in trepidation at the door every day. After the brat had been born, he would see the woman waiting with the baby in her arms; after the child had grown a bit older, she would be playing with the child at the door, still waiting for them to come home.

Although Yu Tong had told her not to, she had continued waiting with the child at the door to welcome them home with a smile every day until her death.

Yu Xia had personally never regretted choosing this career, but sometimes while disciplining criminals that had defiled his family, he would think about how things would be if he and his brother had graduated from university like normal and found an average, stable job. Would things have been better than they are now if we just worked nine-to-five and came home at the same time in the evenings to spend time with the family, and happily have family vacations during holidays every year?

“Judging by your face, you’re thinking about Yu Yin and his parents.”

Dong Feng’s sudden words made Yu Xia snap out of his thoughts to look at the boy. “You’re quite good at deciphering expressions.”

“…Do you not find people scary? It’s terrifying if you can’t guess what others are thinking,” Dong Feng involuntarily asked in response.

“Not at all.” Yu Xia usually would just knock people out with a single punch. He couldn’t care less what their faces were like; if a criminal had the guts to try running away, he would just hit them.

“…” Dong Feng realised that he had been stupid for trying to communicate with this person that spoke with their fists.

“Plus, you don’t need to do that in my home. Just remember that, regardless of what you run into outside or what you experienced in the past.” Yu Xia met the gaze of the child that was around Yu Yin’s age and earnestly emphasised, “The people here are the least likely in the entire world to ever hurt you. That will never change no matter what.”

“…Mn.”

***

Yu Yin walked out to the front entrance, listening to the muffled chatting in the living room while answering the call.

Xiao Hai’s energetic voice soon came from the other end of the line. “Fucking hell, I thought I wouldn’t be able to call until noon.”

Yu Yin was taken aback by the conversation starting with cursing, and it took him a full two seconds before he managed to respond. “…Weren’t you trying to maintain your temper?”

“I just spent the past 24 hours beating up weirdass kids, my temper blew up ages ago! It’ll only come back the day after tomorrow!”

“What.” Yu Yin shook his head in faint amusement as he sat on the floor next to the shoe rack. “Are you alright?”

“What? Did I say I wasn’t? I just dislocated something and I’ve already pushed it back into place, so it’s all OK! I made sure to shove the one that caused it into the gutter! Then he was gurgling just like his friends!”

“What does gurgling mean?” Yu Yin was completely lost.

“Idiot! Don’t you know how full gutters are? If you push someone down into one, they—”

“Sorry, I was wrong. So what exactly did you want to tell me?” Yu Yin did not particularly want to hear the descriptive aftermath, so he hurriedly interrupted the tale of humans becoming best friends with cockroaches and switched the topic back.

“Oh, just about how weird yesterday was. I felt like these people were all targeting me specifically. After I closed the shop yesterday, I was originally going home to sleep, but ended up getting ganged up on instead…Anyone that has the balls to come at me like that is either dead or not even born yet. Anyways, I had my underlings get rid of them, but ended up with a second batch in front of my house.”

“Why did they attack you twice in a row?” Yu Yin agreed that the events really were abnormal. “Have you offended anyone recently?”

“Which one are you asking about?”

“…Please continue.” I shouldn’t be asking that question to someone like her. 

“Anyways, I wrecked them just the same. One of them was a brat that had a tattoo like the ones that Mr. Cop has been found recently. I tied them up and they should be arriving at your place soon…”

Before Yu Yin could tell her there was no need for this type of human delivery, Yu Yin found his hand empty as his phone was taken away from behind. When he whirled around, he saw Yu Tong speak into his cellphone, and he could hear Xiao Hai’s astonished cries in reply. She was probably even more shocked by this than when she had been ambushed.

“Dad?” When did he get here! 

Yu Tong patted his son’s shoulder and continued to chat with Xiao Hai.

It seemed like they might be talking for a while as he heard something like sending the person to the station instead. Yu Yin decided to stand and walk back to the kitchen instead. As both of his guardians were awake and it was still early, he wanted to quickly help Yu prepare some food. It would be great if they could all eat brunch together.

 

He had only gone a few steps before he heard quiet coughing come out of nowhere.

Just like the previous times, the sound came from thin air, neither too close nor too far.

He scanned the surroundings but did not see anything. But now that he had already confirmed who the person was, Yu Yin did not want to let this opportunity slip away. He went down the hallway and passed the living room, then saw Yu in the kitchen, so he decided to go upstairs to his own bedroom.

Cough, cough…

As expected, it followed him up.

“Are you…Teacher An?”

The light in the room shifted in response. Despite it being daytime, it suddenly felt like the light coming in from the window darkened.

“I’m Dong Feng’s current friend. If possible, there’s a few things I want to help him figure out—”

Before he could finish speaking, the shut door creaked strangely after clicking open.

A pool of blood formed through the crack under the door, stuck to the floor unmovingly like stagnant water. A pungent stench reeked from the dark colour.

As though welcoming him, the door slowly opened wide.

The light around him instantly disappeared, leaving only a faint glow coming from behind the door. It was so weak that it seemed on the verge of burning out.

Yu Yin swallowed hard; he knew what was behind the door, and that it would be clearer than last time.

A chair appeared behind the quietly swinging door. Just as before, it bore the weight of a female body. Although it was mostly blocked by the hair and the back of the chair, he could see the pink dress and pale feet at the bottom.

The limp head was hanging upside down over the back of the chair after the neck had been sliced open.

Through the blood-matted black hair, Yu Yin noticed for the first time that the woman’s hands were tied behind the chair using red rope, with the remaining ball of rope casually abandoned in the pool of blood.

The large amount of blood covered the floor like a carpet.

The woman’s facial features were mostly round, pitch-black holes, including the eyes, nose, and mouth. They were so deep as though eroded by bugs, making it impossible to see her original true face.

This scene froze like a photo, as though time had stopped at that moment.

And Yu Yin could only stand there, unable to move and with a limited line of sight. As Yan Si had said, there was a snack and cups of tea placed tidily on the table, seemingly untouched. There were no signs of fighting or struggling either.

Cough, cough…

The low voice rang out next to him.

“Could you please…”

“What are you doing!”

The sudden voice shattered the darkness and everything behind the door immediately dissipated. Yu Yin was shocked to discover that he was standing outside in the hallway, facing the door of his bedroom.

He looked backwards to see Dong Feng standing at the entrance of the staircase with an ashen complexion.

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