Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 53

There were too many reasons that could change a person.

An accident, a conversation, a book, or even a smile could offset the established trajectory of life, but this didn’t mean that these subtle events were enough to completely change a person.

People were inherently stubborn creatures. Not only that, but they were also particularly gregarious, so they crowded in herds and were easily excited.

Lin Chen was sitting at the end of the lecture hall while Professor Fu was teaching in front of the podium.

The sound of a megaphone came from outside the window. As the building of the psychology department was high, when it reached the upper floors, it was no longer clear.

Lin Chen watched as his shidi was chatting with the students while casually listening to the sound floating from outside.

“I hope you can provide all the information possible to the police so they can find the missing student, Jiang Liu, as soon as possible…”

The voice in the megaphone was impassioned and was constantly soliciting students and teachers in the surrounding areas.

Lin Chen roughly understood. This seemed to be a search organized by the Yongchuan University student council after learning of Jiang Liu’s disappearance.

He couldn’t help but look out the window.

It just so happened that they were between classes. Many students had just finished class. Several people who looked like student officers were distributing leaflets. The square slowly became crowded as more students started to gather, and the officers became more spirited as their voices got louder.

Lin Chen frowned. Mobilizing the students and teachers to find Jiang Liu was, of course, a quick and effective means, but with Yongchuan University already on edge, coupled with this missing girl, he was afraid it would only cause more waves. He took out his phone and texted Xing Conglian.

[Did you contact the student council and ask for their help in finding Jiang Liu?]

[No. What happened?]

[At student square, the officers of the student council are handing out flyers.]

Outside the campus gate, Xing Conglian retracted his phone and looked at the telephone pole in front of him.

At some point, “missing person” posters had been posted around Yongchuan University.

The poster had a picture of Jiang Liu and underneath it was a heartfelt message that the entire school was looking forward to Jiang Liu’s safe return and if she were to see this message, she should please return to campus as soon as possible.

Just as Xing Conglian frowned and was reading the poster, a girl in a light purple dress stood in front of the school’s bulletin board, reading the same poster with a smile.

The girl was dressed exquisitely and had on light purple eyeshadow and dark red lipstick, which were bright and beautiful, as if her lips were glowing.

A group of boys holding textbooks passed behind her. One of the boys couldn’t help but look at the girl, then paused his footsteps.

If he wasn’t mistaken, this should be the person on the missing person poster.

In the classroom of the psychology department, Lin Chen was leaning against the window, looking down at what was happening in the square.

At this moment, his phone suddenly vibrated.

Lin Chen glanced at the screen and saw it was Xing Conglian. He walked out of the classroom and picked up the phone, but what came from the other end was Xing Conglian’s anxious voice.

“Jiang Liu has appeared.” Xing Conglian was panting heavily, as if he were running.

“Where?”

“A student said just now that they saw her at the entrance to cafeteria No. 3.”

“Did they say which direction she was heading to?”

“They said she went up school building No. 3.”

Lin Chen was taken aback when he heard this. He looked up at the classroom number and saw that it was 3609. If his memory was correct, the teaching building where he was now was No. 3.

“What’s wrong? What happened?”

On the other end of the line, Xing Conglian seemed to notice his brief pause and asked with concern.

“If I’m not wrong, I’m afraid Jiang Liu should be on the roof of the building now…”

Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding…

Unluckily, the bell for class rang.

Lin Chen couldn’t help but look at the ceiling.

Suddenly, there was a muffled noise outside the building, as if it was the sound of a heavy object landing. Lin Chen only felt his scalp go numb. He quickly rushed into the classroom. There were already a good number of students peeking out the window.

Lin Chen covered a student’s eyes and dragged the boy back to his seat. “Don’t be too curious,” he whispered in the boy’s ear.

Fu Hao moved quickly and had already retracted his gaze from below. He brushed the curtains and said to the students, “Everyone by the windows, close the curtains!”

“Fu Ge, you don’t want to leave us with any psychological scars? Did someone just commit suicide outside?” Taking advantage of this moment, a mischievous boy tried to secretly open the curtain to look out.

“Why are you saying so much nonsense? If you ask again, I will fail you immediately, and you will be forbidden to retake the course!” Fu Hao’s attitude was tough.

Seeing his shidi was controlling the scene, Lin Chen nodded at him, gripped his phone, and rushed out of the classroom.

However, before he reached the door, there was another muffled noise outside the building. Under the teaching building, students’ shouts and screams tumbled up like a tidal wave.

Lin Chen called Xing Conglian’s phone, but was met with a busy signal. He clenched the phone, turned around, and ran to the top floor.

The iron gate on the rooftop was half open. The original iron chain was hanging loose on the door. Lin Chen slammed the iron gate open and rushed through. As far as he could see, there was a dazzling blue sky without a single cloud, and the scorching sun made the corners of people’s eyes sting.

On the edge of the rooftop, there was a long-haired beauty sitting there.

She was wearing a white blouse and black skirt, and her long hair was tucked behind one ear.

Lin Chen looked at her back and walked slowly towards the edge of the rooftop. Just before he got close, the girl looked like she had eyes on the back of her head and snapped back.

“Shixiong, farewell. You must refuel*!”

*(加油) A ubiquitous Chinese expression of encouragement and support, which derives from the Chinese term jiayou. There’s really no direct translation for it.

The girl smiled softly and sweetly as she finished her last sentence.

Lin Chen didn’t even have the chance to speak. In an instant, he only felt the tinging of his eardrums, and his heart turned extremely cold.

A few steps away from him, a weak and slightly opened palm quickly disappeared from the top of the rooftop!

The sound of a heavy object landing was heard and was followed by screams.

With a bang, the rooftop iron gate was kicked open again.

Xing Conglian grabbed the door frame and was panting for breath, but on the rooftop, there was only Lin Chen by himself.

The sky was blue, and the spring breeze was warm. The subtle wind brushed Lin Chen’s black hair and blew up his clothes.

Xing Conglian walked to the edge of the rooftop and stood still at an arm’s length from Lin Chen.

Lin Chen stood still in place. He didn’t even take two steps forward as he looked down at the three students who had fallen.

“It’s not your fault,” Xing Conglian put his hand on Lin Chen’s shoulder and said with relief. To his surprise, he felt no trembling in his palm. Lin Chen stood very firmly, and his voice was still calm.

“You don’t have to comfort me.” Lin Chen showed a self-deprecating smile. “It’s an extremely delicate arrangement. The first and second suicides distracted my attention. If I had rushed to the rooftop as soon as I received the call, I could have saved her.”

Xing Conglian’s hand that was about to pull out a cigarette stopped midair. He turned to put his hands on Lin Chen’s shoulders and pulled Lin Chen towards him.

He bowed slightly, pressing his hand down, and looked into Lin Chen’s dark eyes, as if he were gazing at the depths of his soul.

“Self-blame and sadness don’t suit you. The rest of the police force will be here soon. Let’s go downstairs first.

——

The student activity square wasn’t as hidden as the grove. In addition, the activities of the officers of the student council had attracted a lot of students. For a while, more people from teaching building No. 3 came out and surrounded the outside of the scene.

Many students covered their faces but peeked through their fingers to catch sight of the pools of blood on the ground and the people lying in them.

Lin Chen followed Xing Conglian downstairs. Perhaps it was because he had run too quickly back then that he felt his limbs gradually warm up.

Because the police had been searching for Jiang Liu around campus, they came quickly. A cordon was hastily set up, and Jiang Chao’s men began to drive away the onlookers, but no one rushed to touch the three motionless students.

Lin Chen stood on the flower stand at the outermost part of the crowd, staring coldly at the cruel scene that looked like hell.

Xu Haozhen, Jiang Liu, and an unknown boy were lying in a pool of blood. Red, white, black, purple, and other various colors mixed into a mass. The original screams had gradually weakened into whispers, which were more piercing than the screams.

Jiang Liu fell into a small pond by the square. The water there was extremely shallow—just a thin layer. The bottom of the pond had pebbles of different sizes. There were originally several aquatic duckweed floating in the pond, but they were now smashed to pieces by the falling girl.

The blood slowly seeped away.

An ambulance came whistling in. A doctor trickled through the water and checked the girl’s pupils and pulse, then subconsciously shook his head.

Two nurses carried the girl on a stretcher and sent her into the ambulance.

Everyone present knew very well that the three students who jumped from such a high-rise building had almost no possibility of survival.

The doctors and nurses present seemed to be there just to complete the final procedure.

Lin Chen took a deep breath. The smell of mint tobacco gradually came to the tip of his nose.

He turned around. At some point, Xing Conglian was standing behind him and had naturally placed his hand on his shoulder.

If there was really someone in the world who could keep a straight face in front of Mount Tai collapsing before them, Xing Conglian was that person.

The mixed-race young man was holding a cigarette as he spoke in a calm tone. “Another three. What do these three represent? Some kind of obsessive-compulsive disorder*?”

*A mental and behavioral disorder in which an individual has intrusive thoughts and/or feels the need to perform certain routines repeatedly to the extent where it induces distress or impairs general function.

Lin Chen could hardly believe his ears. When most people faced a sudden accident, even if they didn’t panic, there would still be a brief blankness, but Xing Conglian kept moving forward without any panic from beginning to end. Lin Chen suddenly remembered what he told him. ‘It’s not your fault.’

How tough were this man’s nerves that he would start to comfort others first and foremost?

“No matter what it’s related to, this is an important clue.” Perhaps it was because of the steady hand on his shoulder, or maybe it was the smell that was too reassuring, but it made Lin Chen speak slowly.

“What clue?”

“I don’t know.”

Lin Chen answered honestly. The clues they currently had were pitifully few, so it was impossible for him to analyze the reason behind this number.

It was another three people who committed suicide together. Anyone would think that the number must have a very important meaning, but he really couldn’t say what it represented.

Was it an obsessive-compulsive disorder?

From Xing Conglian’s point of view, it could be one angle. Getting three people to die together could represent a kind of coercive behavior, but if he were to analyze it this way, it would only bring more endless problems.

What caused this kind of obsessive-compulsive behavior? What did it mean? And what was the story behind it?

Why did these children commit suicide, and would there be more?

Questions came flooding in, and Lin Chen felt a splitting headache coming again.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

With such a heavy topic in this arc, I just want to say if you’re struggling with mental health, please reach out to someone. Know that you are not alone. 

Here are some resources:
SPRC
AFSP
Yellow Ribbon
Call 988 / Text ‘Help’ to 741741

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 52

The sorrow of powerlessness wasn’t comprehensible to outsiders.

In fact, Lin Chen had too many questions to ask Xing Conglian. For example, why did the municipal authorities and the police force participate in the investigation of an international massacre case, or what kind of massacre could leave such a heavy shadow on Wang Chao to this day? In the end, the questions would boil down to two simple ones: who was he, and who exactly were you?

However, he didn’t ask for anything, just as Xing Conglian had always done for him.

Early the next morning, Lin Chen was awakened by a scream.

“Ahhhhhhh!!!”

Wang Chao had woken up at some point and was lying on the carpet, staring at the furnishings of the room, full of shock.

Lin Chen walked up to the teenager barefoot, reached out his hand, and felt his forehead. Fortunately, it wasn’t hot.

It wasn’t until his cold fingertips touched Wang Chao’s forehead that the teenager shuddered and came back to his senses. “Grand hotel. Shit, grand hotel!”

Lin Chen pinched Wang Chao’s soft face and asked, “How are you?”

“So luxurious, so luxurious, so luxurious!” Wang Chao jumped up and ran to the window. He opened the floor-to-ceiling curtains, but the curtains remained motionless.

“Oh, oh. It’s electric!” The boy began to rummage through the room, looking for the remote control.

Lin Chen stood with his arms at his sides while Xing Conglian was scratching his head as he walked out of the second bedroom. He asked bleary-eyed, “What’s wrong with that little brat.”

“Probably sympathetic nerve activity disorder caused by the self-healing process of childhood trauma?”

Xing Conglian: “……”

“Captain, have you finally become a rich man?!”

Wang Chao finally found the remote control. When he looked back, he saw Xing Conglian as he pressed the switch excitedly.

The curtains slowly moved away from both sides, revealing the waterfront outside. Under the sunrise, the mist was like a veil shielding the sparking water.

Xing Conglian yawned as he smacked the back of Wang Chao’s head. “Nonsense. Laozi has always been rich, okay!”

“Then can I order breakfast? A big lobster!”

The boy didn’t seem to realize he had been smacked. Before Xing Conglian could even agree, Wang Chao threw himself on the coffee table and began to search for the breakfast menu.

Naturally, Australian lobster wasn’t served at breakfast.

However, a big, fluffy croissant and delicious chicken mushroom soup could still soothe the stomach as well as a wounded heart.

Wang Chao ordered all the food on the menu and three kinds of drinks, then began to devote himself to eating. Lin Chen made himself a cup of black tea and sat beside him.

The morning light was good as it shone on the boy’s satisfied smile.

Xing Conglian ate two pieces of toast. As if recalling something, he suddenly asked, “Have you thought about finding someone to replace you?”

Wang Chao had just stuffed his mouth full of bacon. He could only look blankly at Xing Conglian and didn’t respond for a moment.

“I heard that BlackJack is very famous. How about him?”

“Fuck, that moron can’t even type properly, okay?!” The boy swallowed the food abruptly as he gave an angry reply.

“Didn’t you say that if it’s about the deep web, you won’t check it?”

“When did I say that?”

“Yesterday, during dinner.”

“But A’Chen has healed me!”

“Wow, so powerful…”

“Okay, okay, Captain, stop talking nonsense. How can you be rest assured if the case is handed over to an idiot like BJ?” Little comrade Wang Chao waved his hand, bit into a croissant, and rushed to the front of the computer. “I’m going to start working. Isn’t it just a shitty video!”

Xing Conglian shrugged but saw Lin Chen looking at him with an intriguing gaze.

“That was a bluff,” Consultant Lin took a sip of tea and said in a low voice.

“Boys have to be spurred on occasionally. How can they think about giving up when they encounter a small problem?” Captain Xing spoke righteously.

Just like the baguette that was eaten clean or the creamy soup that left no traces at the bottom of the bowl, yesterday’s gloom seemed to have been thoroughly swallowed up.

At the end of breakfast, Lin Chen received a call from Fu Hao asking him to meet at the school office.

“Shixiong, come early. Ah, remember to get me an egg scallion pancake at the entrance of school!”

“Have you found all the files?”

“Of course!”

Lin Chen could almost imagine Fu Hao patting his chest at the end of the line, pretending to be relaxed.

“But why did you wait to call me until now?”

Fu Hao’s tone wasn’t right, so Lin Chen thought for a bit and inquired deeper.

“It was too late yesterday!”

After Fu Hao finished speaking, he hung up.

Lin Chen put down his teacup. Usually when people lie, they tend to become chatty, but his shidi was a bit special.

Sure enough, when children grew up, they all had their own little secrets…

Then, as a democratic parent, he certainly couldn’t ask for everything.

Lin Chen raised his eyes and said, “Then let’s call Xu Haozhen.”

“Why?”

“To watch the video together.”

——

Yongchuan University maintained a good custom of recording the self-introduction of freshmen. Although it was for archiving records, it was mainly used for scientific research tracking.

When the sample size was large enough, these freshman admission data could not only represent the general characteristics of a certain generation of students, but it could also be used as a starting point for longitudinal research to observe those college students who started as a blank canvas to see what they would look like four years, ten years, or even decades later.

The initiator of this research was Mr. Su Anzhi, the president of Yongchuan University and Lin Chen’s mentor, which was why Lin Chen first thought of checking the freshman’s files after encountering the issue with Wang Shishi.

Xing Conglian went with Vice-Captain Jiang to search for Jiang Lu, the missing girl in the video, while Lin Chen went to Professor Fu’s office alone.

Lin Chen had to admit, although Professor Fu delayed for an entire night, the information he found was very complete.

Among them, not only were there the freshman self-introduction videos, but there were also medical examination records, and even mental health results at the time of admission.

Lin Chen opened the files related to Wang Shishi, Xu Haozhen, and Jiang Lu, pulled out a MMPI*, and arranged them on the table in turn.

*Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory is a standardized psychometric test of adult personality and pathology. Psychologists and other mental health professionals use various versions to help develop treatment plans, assist in diagnosis, help answer legal questions, screen job candidates, or as part of therapeutic assessment procedures.

At this moment, someone opened the wooden door of the office.

A girl wearing a white shirt, a black sheepskin skirt, and small high heels with her long hair draped over one shoulder entered. She was dressed simply, giving her an intellectual feel, and had on light makeup, which made her look brighter and more beautiful than a few days before.

Lin Chen looked up at Xu Haozhen, who had already stretched out her hand.

“Shixiong Lin Chen, hello. We meet again.”

A hand that resembled jade, shaped like a scallion, hung in front of his eyes. There was a slender silver chain on her wrist, but there were no traces of nail polish on those round nail petals.

“Don’t be so polite. I came here specially for you.” Lin Chen didn’t shake hands with the girl but pointed to the seat beside him, signaling for her to sit down.

Xu Haozhen felt a bit flustered. After all, a girl like her had never been treated so rudely by a boy in a long time.

It seemed that people like Lin Chen were more straightforward than Xu Haozhen had imagined. He ignored Professor Fu, who was frowning across from him, turned on the office computer, and clicked on the video file marked “Xu Haozhen”.

A stumbling female voice preceded the picture and came out through the audio.

“He… Hello everyone. My name is Xu Haozhen… Graduated from Fuxing No. 3 High School…”

Admissions were in September of every year, but the girl in the video was wearing a thick, long-sleeved jacket. Her complexion was yellowish, and her bangs almost completely covered her eyes. If it weren’t for the label Xu Haozhen on the file name, Lin Chen couldn’t believe that the girl who didn’t dare to look directly at the audience would be the same person as the intellectual beauty sitting beside him.

“…I hope to find like-minded good friends in college.”

The self-introduction was short. When the girl finished, she quickly fled off the stage.

Xu Haozhen kept staring at the screen with burning eyes. There were no hints of embarrassment or shame in her expression. When the screen turned completely black, she shifted her gaze to Lin Chen’s face.

“What is shixiong’s intention in showing this to me?” The girl’s voice was cool, but from her tone, there seemed to be hints of anger.

“Do you know Wang Shishi?” Lin Chen asked, then clicked on another video labeled “Wang Shishi”.

The video unfolded on the screen. In it, Wang Shishi slightly bowed her head. Her voice was so low that it was almost inaudible. She was wearing an ankle-length white dress and a shoddy chiffon shirt. She looked like how Xu Haozhen was many years ago, timid and afraid.

Lin Chen glanced across the screen and turned to Xu Haozhen.

“Do you know Wang Shishi?” he asked again.

“I… am very happy to be admitted to Yongchuan University… and become… classmates with everyone…”

The volume was adjusted to the max, yet Wang Shishi’s voice only came out intermittently.

Xu Haozhen didn’t answer.

“Did you know that she and Jiang Liu made a sex tape?”

Lin Chen’s question was straightforward and sudden, yet such a question didn’t make Xu Haozhen fluster. She straightened up her hair, looked at Lin Chen respectfully, and said with a light smile, “I know Wang Shishi.”

Hearing Xu Haozhen’s answer, Lin Chen’s expression froze, as if the person sitting opposite wasn’t a beautiful woman but a stone that was about to be weathered.

“Wang Shishi and I have both participated in the literature club. Because I’m a shijie, Wang Shishi often sticks to me. Jiang Liu is an officer of the student council and used to be my subordinate. All three of us know each other.”

“Wang Shishi is a very good girl. She’s very beautiful and has many admirers, so she’s often ostracized by the other girls in her dorm. However, she’s a very upright girl and would never mess with the relationships of others.”

Lin Chen listened quietly. He was so close to the girl that he could almost see the shape of the other’s pupil and the anger in them.

“Shixiong, is it because you found out about my relationship with Wang Shishi that you doubted me, right?” The girl straightened up and spoke with a kind of condescending pride. “I know them, but I also know hundreds of others in this school.”

“I don’t know what videos they have made. I don’t believe Wang Shishi and Jiang Liu would do such a thing. Moreover, I have never made such a video. Shixiong, you should know that your question just now is the biggest insult to girls,” Xu Haozhen said.

“You talk too much,” Lin Chen said seriously. “I didn’t ask you those questions. You just needed to answer whether you were aware of the tape and whether you knew them.”

“I have answered your questions. I don’t know about the tape, but I know them.”

Xu Haozhen responded back sharply, as if she were a dart and Lin Chen was her target.

Lin Chen looked at the girl’s face, which was like jade, and nodded. He turned off Wang Shishi’s self-introduction, clicked on Xu Haozhen’s video again, and began to watch it solemnly.

“Shixiong, I’m leaving.” Xu Haozhen got up and turned to leave. When she reached the door, she suddenly turned her head. The corners of her lips curled up slightly, and her tone changed.

“Goodbye, shixiong,” she said with a smile.

Looking at the girl’s flower-like smile that flashed away, Lin Chen had a bad feeling in his heart.

She came and went like the wind. Facing those caustic and insensitive questions, she still behaved appropriately, making it impossible to pick out the slightest mistake.

After Xu Haozhen left, Fu Hao hurriedly rushed to him. “Shixiong, you’re too fierce. That’s just a little shimei!”

“I know.”

Lin Chen pressed the pause button. In the video, the youthful Xu Haozhen of several years ago bowed her head with darting eyes. She looked completely different from the beautiful woman who was still confident and proud in the face of such acrimonious questions just now.

“You were so rude just now.”

“Do you think that college can really change a person so perfectly?”

Could a college education and small-scale social interaction really make the timid gradually bold and even an ugly duckling into a golden phoenix?

Lin Chen whispered, as if he were asking Fu Hao and also as if muttering to himself.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Fake it until you make is what I always say.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 51

If everyone had an unknown side, then Lin Chen had never seen the current side of Wang Chao.

The young man was aggressive as he slammed the door in the interrogation when he rushed out and walked towards Captain Jiang and unceremoniously asked, “Where’s Wang Shishi’s laptop?”

Captain Jiang was taken aback by his roar and was left a little dumbfounded. “Oh, I don’t know if there is…”

“What do you mean you don’t know if Wang Shishi has a laptop?” Wang Chao narrowed his round, grape-like eyes, as if he were about to get angry. “Bring me the list of the deceased’s belongings. I’ll find it myself.”

After all, it was inappropriate to be unscrupulously angry in someone else’s territory.

Lin Chen gently pushed away the two police officers who were blocking him and walked over and pressed down the little comrade’s head and asked softly, “What’s wrong?”

The boy’s delicate lips pursed tightly, but he didn’t brush away the hand on his head.

“Here, here. The list is here.” Ma Han’s quickly handed over the folder.

Wang Chao didn’t speak. He flipped through the pages, and then his expression became uglier.

“Why is there no laptop? Shouldn’t the laptop be the most important physical evidence of items belonging to the deceased, huh?” Wang Chao asked.

No one present could answer this question. In fact, if Wang Chao hadn’t specifically mentioned it, no one would have considered this question. For a while, the atmosphere was extremely cold.

“There really is no laptop.”

“But the victim’s mother clearly said she found it on her daughter’s laptop!”

Lin Chen stared at the pale face of the young man, and petted the back of his head again, stroking his thin black hair.

When Wang Chao was halfway through speaking, he stopped abruptly. He clenched the white paper, crumpling it in his hands, turned his head around, and sat down. “Forget it. I’ll do it myself.”

Xing Conglian stayed in the interrogation room for a long time.

When he went out again, there seemed to be no trace of the previous quarrel in the office.

His technician’s hands were flying as if they were in a fierce struggle with data.

Lin Chen was carrying a glass of water and leaned against the window close to Wang Chao, looking as if he was aimlessly distracted, but also as if he was guarding someone.

It was gradually getting dark now. The streetlights outside gradually lit up.

Lin Chen saw Xing Conglian coming out and glanced at him. The two of them walked out of the office at the same time.

They stood near a huge, green-leafed potted plant in the corner of the office. Xing Conglian took out a lighter, lit a cigarette, and asked in a low voice, “Is that little brat causing trouble?”

“Just now, because of Wang Shishi’s laptop, he almost got into a quarrel with people in the Second Division.” Lin Chen took a sip of water, then asked, “What happened in the interrogation room?”

“It probably some childhood trauma.” Xing Conglian puffed out a ring of smoke as he spoke casually.

It must be a really big trauma that could make a sunny boy with 5 stresses and 4 beauties* become restless and gloomy. Lin Chen stroked his buckle gently. What Xing Conglian said was like a prevarication. He knew it clearly, but he said it so casually that it prevented people from inquiring further. Lin Chen raised his eyebrows and didn’t ask any more.

*Content of ideology education and publicity activities promoted in China in the early 1980’s. 3 loves were later added. The 5 stresses are: decorum, manner, hygiene, discipline, and morals. The 4 beauties are: mind, language, behavior, and the environment. The ideology was an attempt to move away from the chaos of the Cultural Revolution era and maintain the legitimacy of the Chinese Communist Party.

“Don’t worry too much about it,” Xing Conglian added.

Lin Chen didn’t respond.

Xing Conglian rubbed his nose. He knew Lin Chen understood he wasn’t answering the question seriously, but there were some things that couldn’t be explained in just a few words. If they couldn’t be explained clearly, it was best not to speak about them.

So, Xing Conglian could only change the subject. “Where’s Professor Fu? Is there no news yet?”

“He said he got caught up in something and couldn’t make it today.”

“Well that’s fine. By the way, ask him to get Jiang Liu’s admission introduction as well…”

“Why?”

“Based on listening to Wang Shishi’s mother, your psychological statistics are quite reasonable.” Xing Conglian held the cigarette and remembered that in the interrogation room just now, the woman used an arrogant tone when mentioning her dead daughter.

Well-behaved, sensible, obedient, filial… Too many words of praise, all of which could be applied to Wang Shishi. The daughter that Mrs. Wang was describing was like a puppet produced by a typical authoritarian family. She was obedient and cowardly, and she never knew what resistance was.

How could a girl like that dare deviate from the rules, create a sex tape, and then commit suicide?

“It should be so.” Listening to what Xing Conglian said, Lin Chen wasn’t too surprised. “But Jiang Liu…”

“I’ve already sent someone to look for her,” Xing Conglian hurriedly replied.

Suddenly, there was a scream in the office.

“Ah!!!”

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian hurriedly rushed into the room, only to see Wang Chao had taken off his cap at some point. At this moment, he was holding his head with both hands and roared, “Why is the internet speed so slow!”

Everyone in the office looked at each other, lost for words.

Wang Chao was like a cross between a piece of porcelain marked “handle with care” and a little dragon that could spit fire at any moment.

Xing Conglian walked over, picked up the police uniform on the armrest of a chair, and said to him, “Let’s go. I’m taking you to get something good to eat.”

——

Yongchuan wasn’t Hongjing, so Xing Conglian wasn’t familiar with it.

In the end, they settled on eating at the restaurant inside the Cohen May hotel.

Little comrade Wang Chao was a person who had seen the world, so of course he wouldn’t bat an eye just because there was a whole tray of sashimi and king crab.

Lin Chen brought a full cup of coffee and placed it in front of the young boy, who didn’t even raise his head, still immersed in his endless image retrieval program.

Lin Chen pushed the coffee over and said very gently, “Drink it.”

“I’m still young, so I can’t drink too much coffee!”

“Caffeine can stimulate dopamine secretion, which can make you feel happier,” Lin Chen said very seriously.

Wang Chao hit return a few times and finally raised his head. He said very movingly, “A’Chen, you’re so kind to me.”

Captain Xing had just returned with a plate of pan-fried yellow croaker. When he heard this, he didn’t hesitate and put the plate in front of Wang Chao.

Seeing the tech genius was finally willing to engage with people, Captain Xing couldn’t help but ask, “What, you haven’t found the original video yet?”

“Boss, do you know what trying to find a needle in a haystack means? It’s not about searching for a few pictures. This is searching for dynamic videos through static pictures. You need to use Image2Play technology. It’s very difficult, okay?”

Xing Conglian rubbed the stubbles on his chin as he murmured, “Do we have to watch all the recent videos?”

“Don’t knowingly break the law, alright, Captain!” Wang Chao abruptly took a sip of his coffee. “I have finished programming, and now I have to wait for the search results.”

Seeing that the boy’s eyes were bloodshot and his expression was rarely solemn, Xing Conglian thought for a while before asking, “Do you think it’s necessary to find the original video?”

“I’m more worried that if I can’t find it, it’ll become more troublesome.”

Xing Conglian raised his eyes sharply and paused his hand that was holding the chopsticks.

Mrs. Wang made it clear that she only saw the video on the internet and couldn’t download it, so she could only take screenshots.

Then, if even Wang Chao couldn’t find the original video, there was only one possibility left—a possibility that would cause the degree of trouble in this entire case to exponentially increase.

“If I really can’t find it… I don’t want to investigate such a case anymore. You can find someone else,” Wang Chao said.

The dialogue between Xing Conglian and Wang Chao was very short and cryptic. It was as if they were talking in secret codes that ended with the young man’s prophecy.

Lin Chen didn’t know what had happened in the past, but he knew that the young man could still joke in the face of robbers and timebombs, but something in the online world could discourage him.

After eating, Wang Chao’s gaze never left the laptop screen again. He didn’t even have an interest in the executive suite that Xing Conglian had booked.

The young man found a suitable place on the carpet and sat down cross-legged. The carpet with the canary and rose pattern was soft and plush, and there were bright crystal lights around. Outside the window was the vast night sky, but Wang Chao was guarding the laptop on the coffee table like a sculpture.

When Lin Chen got up in the middle of the night, Wang Chao still maintained the same posture, staring at the computer screen in the dark.

Apparently, the search results weren’t good.

Lin Chen thought about it, put on his slippers, found a blanket in the room, and covered the teenager. He then sat down on the carpet by his side.

“Still can’t find it?” Lin Chen asked.

The young man’s face looked extremely pale as he shook his head mechanically.

“How?”

“There are two possibilities. First, this video wasn’t uploaded to the internet at all. It was only spread privately, and Wang Shishi’s mother is lying.”

“What about the second one?”

“A’Chen, have you heard of the dark web?”

Lin Chen thought that this word really didn’t sound so simple.

“A little bit.” As Lin Chen spoke, he took out a cushion from the sofa and let the teenager lean on it.

Perhaps it was because of the soft blanket, or maybe it was Lin Chen’s gentle voice, but Wang Chao suddenly felt a wave of tiredness hitting him. He leaned on the cushion and slowly said, “If a video can’t be searched on the surface network, there’s also a possibility that this video is deliberately hidden deep in the network and can only be viewed through special means.”

“What do you mean?”

“The online world we usually come into contact with is just the tip of the iceberg. All websites that can be captured by search engines are called surface web, but in the deep sea under the iceberg, there is a broader and darker online world. In that world, there are no police, no laws, no regulations, and it is filled with countless drugs, pornography, arms trading, smuggling, organ trading, human trafficking… Isn’t it laughable? We invented a new technology that allows users to connect to the internet without revealing their identities to the server, so police around the world can only look like idiots as they watch countless criminal transactions happen right under their noses. But there’s no way. We can’t find their IP address!”

The more he spoke, the angrier Wang Chao became. At the end, he even slammed his fist on the floor.

Fortunately, the carpet was thick. Lin Chen held down the boy’s hand and stopped him from further self-harm. “Then, please tell me, if that video really appeared on the dark web, what does it mean?”

“What does it mean? The deep web* has some serious videos that violate the laws of all countries. A 3P is nothing but a fart. It can only mean that a group of stupid college students discovered a whole new world online and couldn’t help but get high and accidently lost their lives!”

*Clarity: I’m not sure if this is intentional, but the author is using two different terms here. What Wang Chao said before was describing the dark web, but what he’s saying now is the deep web. These two are different things that I’ll explain in my Kinky Thoughts.

“You’re too extreme,” Lin Chen said lightly.

“A’Chen, have you ever seen an extremely evil world? Everything is bad and dark—a kind of world without any light.”

“I really want to tell you a story, but after thinking about it, I can only say that I seem to have never seen it before.”

“Have you never seen someone who is so bad that it’s inexplicable?”

Looking at the young man’s gaze, Lin Chen was silent for a long time before he finally spoke. “I have.”

“How can a person be broken like that?” Lin Chen wasn’t sure what Wang Chao was recalling, but when he responded, his lips trembled slightly.

“Whether there’s absolute evil in this world is not a philosophical question. You can look at this question from a more idealistic perspective.”

“I don’t understand…”

The boy’s eyes were wet, and he looked very confused. Lin Chen stretched out his hand and covered his eyes.

“As long as your heart is bright, the world will never be dark.” Lin Chen spoke slowly, and his voice was extremely gentle. Before he finished speaking, the sound of the teenager’s sweet snoring was heard.

Lin Chen turned his head around and saw Xing Conglian standing behind him for who knew how long.

“Once, we traced a massacre case. The murderer used the dark web to broadcast the entire killing live…” The mixed-race young man bent down and tucked the teenager in. “Wang Chao was responsible for locating the specific address, but in the end, we were powerless.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

The deep web/invisible web/hidden web are parts of the World Wide Web whose contents aren’t index by standard web search-engines. This is in contrast to the “surface web”, which is accessible to anyone using the Internet.

The dark web is the World Wide Web content that exists on darknets: overlay networks that use the Internet but require specific software, configurations, or authorization to access. Through the dark web, private computer networks can communicate and conduct business anonymously without divulging identifying information, such as a user’s location. The dark web forms a small part of the deep web, the part of the Web not indexed by web search engines, although sometimes the term deep web is mistakenly used to refer specifically to the dark web.

I am unsure if the author had mistakenly confused the two as she uses two different terms, but I’m guessing it’s intentional because deep web was specifically written in English.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 50

“Professor Fu…” Lin Chen raised his head and looked at Fu Hao.

Fu Hao trembled when he was called. “Shixiong, if you have any orders, just say them. I get flustered when you call me like that!”

“I need to ask Professor Fu for a little favor…” Lin Chen paused, but didn’t give Fu Hao time to think. “I remember that when freshmen enter the school, they will record a self-introduction, and it’s kept on file. I want to ask Professor Fu to look for Wang Shishi’s and Xu Haozhen’s introduction video.”

When Fu Hao heard this, he looked as if he had been struck by lightning. He turned to Lin Chen and gave him a look that said, “Shixiong, why do you treat me so cruelly?”

Xing Conglian saw it in his eyes. Although he didn’t know how difficult it would be to get the files, he still mourned for Professor Fu in his heart.

Lin Chen touched Fu Hao’s head and said, “Good.”

Professor Fu couldn’t give out the slightest resistance and could only resignedly walk away.

While looking at his back, Xing Conglian found it amusing. “Why does it look like he’s on his way to a heroic death?”

“The one who manages the admission files for the freshmen is a shijie* who acts quite interesting around Fu Hao.”

*Basically the same as shixiong but for an older/higher rank woman.

“So is Professor Fu going to sell his soul?” Xing Conglian lowered his head slightly, looked at Consultant Lin’s unmoving face, and smiled.

“No such thing.”

Thinking about the two food stall owners near the school who were married, Xing Conglian said with some emotion, “So you’re really a matchmaker.”

“He’s quite happy about it. Don’t worry.”

“Why did you suddenly think of looking at the admission file?”

“There are some problems I can’t figure out.” Lin Chen shook his head. He then asked Xing Conglian, “What kind of girl do you think Wang Shishi is?”

“She, ah, I feel is quite complicated.”

“Yes, it’s not only complicated but also contradictory.” Lin Chen paused and said, “I have analyzed Wang Shishi’s dorm. The bed was neat, and her personal belongings were placed in an orderly manner, giving people the sense that she’s very independent. At the same time, she’s working part time to earn money and loves her little brother. It can be seen that she’s filial and hardworking. Would such a person make a sex tape and behave so boldly and wildly?”

“Is it contradictory? There are many sides to everyone, no? If they are humans, they always have something to hide, and inadvertently, those things will get expose.”

Lin Chen took a deep look at Xing Conglian, then said, “Looking at it from another angle, if you just look at Wang Shishi’s mother, what kind of person do you think her daughter is?”

Thinking about Wang Shishi’s strong-willed and unyielding mother, Xing Conglian felt a headache coming. “With such a fierce mother, the daughter is either particularly deviant or an obedient, cowardly girl.” After he finished speaking, he suddenly discovered that Wang Shishi was simply the perfect combination of these two types.

“Isn’t it weird?” Lin Chen thought for a while, then said, “Wang Shishi grew up in a typical authoritarian family. From a statistical point of view, most children from such families are obedient, cowardly, and lack self-confidence. There are some extremes who will become indifferent, cruel, and extremely aggressive…”

“But Wang Shishi doesn’t seem to match…”

“Yes, there must be a deep reason behind any abnormal sample that deviates from the norm.”

“What about Xu Haozhen? Is this matter related to her?” Xing Conglian keenly remembered the little shimei, whom Lin Chen had taken special notice of because of her nail polish.

“I can’t say for the time being, but Xu Haozhen looked very playful and outgoing, like a beautiful socialite. I don’t mean that in a derogatory way. Such a person should have strong opinions, so why would she be too embarrassed to refuse to put on nail polish that wasn’t suitable for her? Although I may be taking the bull by the horns, this looks too contradictory and unreasonable.”

“So that’s why you asked Fu Hao to get their self-introduction video because you want to see what they originally were like?”

“Yes, I want to see what they looked like when they were still a blank piece of paper.”

——

Naturally, Professor Fu couldn’t hear this conversation in the archives.

The dehumidifier hummed softly. There were neither fierce shijies nor lovable shimeis. There was actually no one in the large archive room.

The curtains were half drawn, and the room was dim. As Fu Hao walked deeper into the two rows of data shelves, suddenly the door creaked shut. He hurriedly turned around but saw no figures. There was only the sound of leather boots hitting the floor over and over again.

“Wang Shijie?” Fu Hao tentatively shouted but got no response.

Fu Hao looked around. There were iron shelves on both sides, and he didn’t have anything to take advantage of.

He hesitated for a moment as the sounds of footsteps closed in. Through the bottom of the information cabinet, he could vaguely see that the visitor was wearing a pair of black calfskin boots, with smoky gray trousers. Their clothes were well-made, and their steps were unhurried.

Fu Hao took a deep breath. The other party had already walked to the bookshelf away from him. He could now clearly see the corner of the black cashmere sweater they were wearing.

He went through all the names of his colleagues in his mind but couldn’t match anyone who would wear such an outfit. The tension in his heart became stronger. “Who are you?”

There was no answer.

The next moment, the man moved again. The side of his face flashed, causing Fu Hao’s heart to thump heavily. He suddenly turned his head and saw a handsome and elegant face.

Silky, soft hair, amber eyes that were a bit elongated, and at the end of those eyes were slightly curled, like he was smiling, but his gaze held an indescribable iciness.

Fuck me. A psychopath…

Countless swears were stuck in his chest. Fu Hao looked at the visitor as if he were a ghost. His body reacted faster than his mind. Without saying a word, he turned around and ran away.

However, before he could reach the door, a warm, soft male voice came from behind him.

“Walk out that door, and I will break your legs.”

Shit…

——

The traffic in the big cities was always too congested. When Lin Chen and Xing Conglian returned to the police station, a young man wearing a black cap was already sitting in the conference room of the Second Division Criminal Unit, receiving the praise and worship of the entire department.

As soon as Xing Conglian pushed the door open, he heard a very dissatisfied voice from the office.

Wang Chao was holding a cola-flavored lollipop as he pointed his finger at the strong-willed little policeman in front of him and said very unhappily, “Captain, don’t you know it’s tacky to joke around with our names?”

“It’s not my fault!” Comrade Ma Han said helplessly*.

*Clarity: Again, it’s referring to their names as homonyms of the two constables who serves Justice Bao.

“Why are you so fast?” Xing Conglian looked at the time and saw that it had been only three hours since he made the call.

“Oh, I hitchhiked from the highway and zoomed over.”

“Didn’t I tell you to take the high-speed train?” Xing Conglian said as he walked up to Wang Chao.

“No way! You said that money is for me!”

Xing Conglian ruffled the boy’s furry head, leaned close to the screen of his laptop, and found that Wang Chao was dragging the explicit photos that Wang Shishi’s mother had “handed in” and putting them on a timeline.

“What are you doing?”

“Making an MV.” Wang Chao laughed. “It will move.”

Xing Conglian slapped him on the back of the head. “Did you find out what I wanted you to check on?”

“It’s a trivial matter.” Wang Chao gripped his lollipop and beckoned Ma Han, who presented them with a personal file with both hands.

Xing Conglian frowned slightly as he took the file.

Sure enough, the other girl in the video was also a student at Yongchuan University.

Jiang Liu, female, 20 years old. A top student in the Department of Biology at Yongchuan University.

Xing Conglian glanced at the file and handed it to Lin Chen, then looked at Wang Chao. Before he had the chance to speak, Wang Chao had already spoken for him.

“I’ve already checked it. They use fingerprint scanners to punch in at Yongchuan University. This chick didn’t go back to the dorms last night and didn’t go to class today. There’s no record of her on her ID or bank card. In other words, she didn’t seem to open a room with anyone.”

Xing Conglian was about to speak again when Wang Chao continued, “This chick, Jiang Liu, has no intersection with Cheng Weiwei. After all, their ages are a bit too far apart. However, she and Wang Shishi were both officers in the student union of the literary and arts department and had organized the National Day Ball together.” After Wang Chao finished speaking, he spread his hands, indicating this was all he could do.

Xing Conglian nodded and saw Jiang Chao walking down the hallway from a distance.

As soon as he saw Xing Conglian, Vice Captain Jiang seemed as if he had caught a lifeline and started yelling from a distance, “Lao Xing, when will you interrogate Wang Shishi’s fierce mother? She’s already starting to ask for compensation from our police department for emotional damage!”

“Hey handsome, is there anything else I can do for you?” Wang Chao interjected.

“Come with me to make a statement,” Xing Conglian said.

Wang Chao was somewhat flattered.

After all, Lao Xing is telling him to go make a statement together and not A’Chen. Did this mean that he was going to finally move from a technician to a real criminal investigator post?!

In the interrogation room, a woman with messy hair and a fierce aura was sitting behind the table with her arms crossed.

Wang Chao followed Xing Conglian through the sliding door and was met with the woman’s glare. His legs softened a bit on the spot, but Xing Conglian acted like everything was fine. He dragged a chair and sat opposite the extremely fierce woman. Naturally, there wasn’t a third chair in the interrogation room, so Wang Chao had to awkwardly stand…

“Mrs. Wang, I hope you can hand over the original video, and we’ll strive for leniency.” Xing Conglian got straight to the point.

“Captain Xing, are you kidding me? Your policeman detained me here for more than three hours for no reason, and now you’re saying you’ll give me leniency?” The woman crossed her legs and pointed her toe, looking extremely haughty and cold.

“Mrs. Wang, I think you may not realize the current overall situation…” Xing Conglian said as he reached out and pointed to Wang Chao. “This is Yongchuan’s Network Information Security Officer Wang. He was appointed by his superiors to investigate the pornographic products in your hand.”

When Wang Chao was suddenly named, he hurriedly stood up straight. He looked at the Captain, who was sitting upright, and then at the arrogant woman. He quickly understood the situation. Ah, the boss brought him in to put on a farce…

“Yes, madam. Recently, we’ve been focusing on typical cases, and yours is quite representative. According to Article 8 of Chapter III of China’s Internet Video Security Regulations, we will impose a 15-day detention and a fine of 10,000 yuan.” Wang Chao began to spout off bullshit solemnly.

“Are you kidding me? I’m just here to assist in the investigation. I’ve never spread any pornographic products. You can’t arrest me!” Mrs. Wang still looked like a calm and relaxed barrister, but there was a hint of light panic in her voice.

“Of course, the severity of this penalty is mainly determined by the number of videos you spread and how many people viewed them, but you must first provide the original video before we can judge.”

“I… I don’t have the original video…”

Xing Conglian leaned forward abruptly. His tone changed harshly. “Mrs. Wang, please don’t think the IQ of the police is low. The photos you took are obviously screenshots of a video. Now, you’re telling me you don’t have the original video? Do you think this will clear you of the crime?”

“But I really don’t have it. I secretly saw it on Shishi’s laptop when she was taking a shower,” Mrs. Wang said. She suddenly remembered something and raised her voice. “Ah, the laptop. You can look for that video on Shishi’s laptop.”

“You mean to tell me you had time to see that video and take screenshots one by one, but you didn’t have time to save the entire thing?” Xing Conglian asked coldly.

“The video isn’t on her laptop. It’s on the internet. I can’t copy it. It’s an English website.”

“What kind of website?” Wang Chao asked quickly when he heard her reply.

“It’s all in English. The page is black, and it looks weird and scary.”

“Is there a url?”

“It can’t be copied. It’s very long…”

“Does the beginning start with www?”

“It doesn’t seem to be… I don’t remember.”

The face of the little policeman on the opposite side was livid. The more Mrs. Wang spoke, the more guilty she felt.

Wang Chao rarely became serious. He grabbed Xing Conglian’s notebook, tore a page, and, together with a pen, pushed it in front of the woman. “Draw the website and try to include as much detail as possible.”

Xing Conglian didn’t expect this either. He originally just brought Wang Chao as a prop to fool her, but looking at the young man’s current appearance, it seemed he had found an incredible clue.

Mrs. Wang quickly finished sketching the webpage. Since it was so long ago, there weren’t many details she could recall.

When Wang Chao glanced at the paper, he flew out the door in a rush.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 49

When Lin Chen and Xing Conglian were busy at the girls’ dorm, a storm was brewing in the principal’s office.

At the top of the bookshelf, the green leaves of the chlorophytum drooped lightly. There was a cup of boiling water on the table.

The old man in a simple shirt was sitting in front of the window with his glasses hanging on the tip of his nose. He held a pen in his hand and was looking down at a student’s paper.

In front of the old man was a senior. The boy was covered in cold sweat, as if he were extremely nervous. The boy came to ask for guidance on his graduation thesis but didn’t expect to run into a high-level struggle in school.

The vice principal and a well-dressed middle-aged man were standing behind him. The two of them looked gloomy, as if they were enduring something, but the principal didn’t seem to care about them. He was solemnly reading the boy’s thesis, as if the affair that just happened wasn’t as important as the words on the paper.

“Principal, I’m afraid it’s not good to keep Mr. Chen waiting for too long.” Finally, Vice President Xu, who couldn’t bear it anymore, broke the heavy atmosphere in the room.

The boy gulped and looked around, pretending as if he didn’t hear anything.

“Oh… What does he want?” The old man didn’t even raise his head. He turned to the last page of the paper as he replied gently.

“Principal Su, is it your intention to let Lin Chen enter the school to investigate?” The butler, standing at the side with his hands in his pockets, took an imposing step forward.

“Oh, that.” The old man pushed up his glasses and didn’t go on. He looked up and handed the annotated paper back to the boy, then said, “The topic can be more refined. The research scope is still too big… There are two translation errors in the abstract. I have already marked it. You have to go back and carefully check the exact usage, and the explanation needs to be more concise…”

The boy lowered his head and looked at his densely marked thesis. He had an indescribable feeling in his heart. He thought that the principal reviewing his thesis was just doing it as a formality. How could a top leader of the university have the time to advise the graduation thesis of young undergraduates? But he didn’t expect the old man would take it seriously, be extremely meticulous in his guidance, and be patient from beginning to end as he pointed out all the flaws in his paper. Even the punctuation errors were carefully marked. This rigor made the senior dare not to be slack at all.

“There’s nothing wrong with the data collection. You’ve done it with great care, but for the analysis of the variance here, you need to do multiple comparison tests…”

As the old man kept talking, Chen Ping’s face became uglier. As the chief butler of an elite family, he had never suffered such cold treatment.

“Principal Su, are you not going to answer my question?” Chen Ping asked again.

“Please wait a moment.” After the old man finished speaking, he continued to lower his head and explain the thesis to the student.

“Su Anzhi, what are your intentions?!”

“I can’t let my students wait. I’ll have to trouble you for a moment of patience,” the old man said politely.

Hearing this, Chen Ping couldn’t bear it anymore and suddenly raised his voice. “Su Anzhi, who do you think you are? Who are you to ignore the board of directors’ resolution and let Lin Chen into the school? Our Chen family has already taken a stand and forbid Lin Chen to set foot onto Yongchuan University ever again!”

“These are probably all the issues. Go back and change them, then show them to me at 1 on Friday afternoon.” After the old man finished speaking, he nodded to the student and signaled that he could leave.

Hearing this, the boy glanced at Chen Ping. There was no disgust in his eyes, only indifference. He bowed solemnly to the principal and turned to leave.

“I’m the president of Yongchuan University.” The old man took off his glasses, hung them on the chest pocket of his shirt, and responded seriously. “In this school, I am the only one who can make decisions on behalf of the board of directors.”

“What do you mean by that? You’re protecting Lin Chen while not even putting the Chen family in your eyes!” Chen Ping slammed on the table fiercely.

“My students can protect themselves,” the old man said disapprovingly.

The old man’s attitude was surprisingly tough, not buying into the Chen family’s account at all. Chen Ping suddenly realized he didn’t have a sense of propriety, and there was no alternative. In the end, he could only stretch out his fingers and lay down some harsh words. “Su Anzhi, when the board of directors meets this year, be warned. The Chen family will be the first to impeach you!”

Accompanied by these fierce threats came three knocks at the door.

Knock, knock, knock…

The sound was very soft and gentle, but each note seemed to be a knock at Chen Ping’s heart, which made him even more furious. Who was so brazen that they would dare knock while he was having his throes?

He turned his head suddenly and couldn’t help but stagnate his breathing. He saw a good-looking young man standing at the door.

The young man was wearing smoky gray pants and a black cashmere turtleneck sweater. The cuffs on his sweater were pulled to the elbows, revealing his fair wrists. He was holding a dinner plate in his hand with two clear cups on it. The liquid inside shook gently. The young man raised his eyes and glanced at the room with a smile. His hair color was light, his eyes were amber, and his skin was excessively pale. Against the background of the black turtleneck, his smile was elegant and gentle like the spring breeze.

After the young man knocked on the door, he didn’t speak. He just walked in with the dinner plate and sat down in the seat next to the old man. He didn’t put down the dinner plate and handed one of the cups to the old man.

The old man acted as if he had seen a treasure. Regardless of the people around him, he raised his cup and took a big sip.

Chen Ping, who was watching in a daze, only then reacted. He wanted to speak, but the young man raised his head slightly and glanced at him with a smile at the corner of his eyes. “Butler Chen, there’s something wrong with what you just said.”

Hearing this, Chen Ping only found it funny. He didn’t want to quarrel anymore, but now that someone had provoked him, he was naturally happy to say a few more harsh words to vent his anger.

“Impeachment is a procedure used to criminally prosecute senior government officials who violate the law and commit crimes. I’m afraid the board of directors of Yongchuan University doesn’t have such power.”

Chen Ping thought he had heard it wrong. He was actually corrected. Was someone so idle that he had nothing better to do than correct incorrect word usage?

“Ha, so what? Without the Chen family’s vote, after the board of directors meeting in June, your teacher will be demoted from his principal position.”

“You’re wrong again.” The young man was still smiling, bringing in an even greater spring breeze. “He’s not my teacher.”

“Who the hell are you?!”

After Cheng Ping asked, he instantly regretted it. He sensed he had probably stepped into another trap.

“Guess?” The young man asked with a smile.

Chen Ping felt so uncomfortable that he wanted to vomit blood. This feeling was too stifling. It was as if he used all his strength to make a move, but the other party didn’t respond and just lightly stabbed back. It hurt and caused an itchiness that felt suffocating.

Chen Ping took a deep breath, flicked his sleeves, turned around, and was about to leave, but the voice of the young man that was still lingering in his soul sounded again.

“I’m just trying to understand what Butler Chen meant, so I thought about it for you. If the Chen family wants to successfully ‘impeach’ the president using the board of directors, they need to first get more than half the seats on the board, which is equivalent to 26 billion yuan. But you also know that absolute control of Yongchuan University has always been in the hands of that family, so even if the Chen family could afford it, I’m not so sure that family would be willing to sell their shares…”

The young man crossed his legs and supported his chin with one hand. His tone was quite worried. Su Lao couldn’t help but laugh out loud when he heard this, then burped from the carbonated drink.

“You!”

Chen Ping turned his head abruptly. Only then did he realize the drink in the slender cup turned out to be Coke…

The old man and the young man in front of him had been mocking him the entire time!

“Just you wait!”

Despite having a finger pointed at his forehead, the young man didn’t seem angry. He took a sip of the drink in his cup, smiled, then nodded, and didn’t say anything else but, “See you again.”

Chen Ping’s chest was hurting badly. He resolutely turned around and left, fearing that if he stayed any longer, he would have a heart attack from all the anger.

Looking at the distant backs of the butler and the vice principal, Su Lao put down his cup, raised his face, and turned to the educated young man next to him. “You bastard. You’re not half as filial as Lin Chen. You didn’t even want to come back to see me on my 60^th birthday!”

“Of course.” The young man smiled. He raised his glass and lightly clinked it with Su Lao’s glass. “Not only am I inadequate at filial piety, but I’m also not as good at causing trouble like him.”

At this time, Mr. Chen, who was extremely irritated, held his chest and could only wallow in his anger.

——

Mr. Lin, who was still on campus, didn’t know that he was being talked about.

He had just finished visiting the girls’ dorm with Captain Xing. When they left, he had an old book in his hand.

Captain Xing rubbed his ear. Girls were probably the most talkative creatures in the world. With the addition of a hyper-talkative dorm manager, he only felt dizzy from the tinnitus. Recalling what the girls said just now, it was too much and too complicated, making things almost completely incomprehensible.

“Any luck?” He thought for a while and could only ask Lin Chen.

Hearing this, Lin Chen stuffed a book with a tattered cover into Xing Conglian’s hand.

Xing Conglian was taken aback. He looked down at the cover and found it was a book of “Discrete Mathematics”. The version of the book wasn’t old, but the reason it was worn was because it had been looked through many times. Thinking about this, he opened the book and found that on the title page, there was a name written.

“Xu… Haozhen?” As Xing Conglian read the name, he seemed to feel that it sounded familiar.

But before he could recall the name, he was patted heavily on the shoulder. Professor Fu’s voice came from behind him. “Lao Xing, are you thinking about our shimei?”

Only then did Xing Conglian remember that Xu Haozhen was the girl who was at Lin Chen’s reunion. He turned his head and saw Professor Fu’s face, which still looked sleepy. He was probably just woken up by phone, and his expression held some reluctance.

“Why is your shimei’s book in the possession of the deceased?”

“What deceased?” Fu Hao rubbed his face, thinking he was hearing things.

“Something has happened at the school.” Lin Chen grabbed Fu Hao and succinctly relayed the case of what happened earlier this morning.

As Fu Hao listened, his mouth opened wider and wider. He didn’t expect that such a big thing would transpire while he was sleeping.

“So… you found Xu Haozhen’s book on Wang Shishi’s bed. Does this mean that the two of them know each other?” Fu Hao’s gaze fell on Xing Conglian’s hands. He thought for a while and looked at Lin Chen in disbelief. “Shixiong… Didn’t you say that there was something strange with Shimei Xu earlier? Why?”

“At first, I thought she was just a little weird.”

“Why? Just because she admired you and wanted to meet you?”

“No. It’s because of her nail polish.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Under what circumstances would a girl choose to apply nail polish that isn’t suitable for her?”

“Isn’t that a matter of opinions? You may not think it’s suitable, but she might like it very much?” Fu Hao couldn’t help retorting.

Lin Chen recalled that when he shook hands with Xu Haozhen, the girl deliberately retracted her fingertips. “She knew it wasn’t suitable. She didn’t like it and was extremely mindful about it.”

“Maybe she’s just experimenting with colors?”

“Do you need all ten fingers to test colors?”

“Someone forced her to paint it?”                                                                  

“It’s only compulsory to ask someone to paint their nails.”

Lin Chen’s tone was faint. Fu Hao hurriedly shrank his fingers. “You mean, whoever picked it out for her or wanted her to paint that color, she was too embarrassed to refuse? For example, if shixiong wanted to borrow a shirt from me, I would be too embarrassed to refuse… But shixiong, why are you struggling with this nail polish problem? Aren’t you just splitting hairs?”

When Fu Hao opened his mouth, no one could stop that chatterbox. Hearing this, Lin Chen’s eyelids suddenly lifted, as if he thought of something key.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 48

More onlookers had started to gather around the entrance of Yongchuan University.

When Xing Conglian heard what Wang Shishi’s mother had said, his expression turned cold, and he turned to look at the campus security. The security guards looked at each other as if they were clueless about it.

“Do you have the specific photos you can provide to the police?”

“I have it!”

Wang Shishi’s mother was extremely prepared. She took out a stack of photos from her arms.

When Xing Conglian was about to take the photo, the woman slanted her hand and held the photo high as she shouted loudly, “Those so-called top students at Yongchuan University wantonly spread the photos of my daughter, and the school did nothing to stop them, forcing her to commit suicide!”

Hearing these words, Xing Conglian quickly took a step forward and blocked the woman and the photo she was holding from the reporters’ cameras that would rip apart the girl’s last fig leaf*.

*(遮羞布) Metaphor for something used to hide shame. Basically, her last sense of dignity.

“Please give me the photo,” he said.

Wang Shishi’s mother also didn’t expect the police’s attitude to be so tough. She raised her head and stared at the policeman in front of her and said, “Why? Does the police want to protect the school as well?”

Xing Conglian lowered his head and stared at the woman in front of him. His eyes became extremely cold.

In this world, how could a mother who loved her daughter make such a scene at the school when her daughter’s bones weren’t even cold yet and, on top of that, try to publicize her daughter’s nude photos in front of the public’s eyes? All she wanted to do was take this opportunity to use the media to blow things up, then use the power of public opinion to blackmail the school and drain every last drop of her daughter’s blood.

With this in mind, his eyes narrowed slightly. There was a deep and cold feeling behind them. “This has nothing to do with protecting any parties. It only has to do with whether the law has been broken. If you do not hand over those photos, I will arrest you for the crime of spreading obscene articles.”

“You!” The woman only said one word, but she couldn’t go on.

She could obviously say a lot more, such as accusing the police of abusing their powers or accusing the police of bullying a weak woman like her; both legally and morally, she had a lot to say… But at the moment, she suddenly realized that every word the policeman said wasn’t a bluff. He would really handcuff her in full view of the public.

As a lawyer, given the situation, being handcuffed by the police could be considered a glorious thing, but the policeman in front of her was too solemn. She even smelled an unusual indomitability in his attitude, which made her unable to resist. She trembled almost uncontrollably while her hands subconsciously handed over the thick stack of photos.

Xing Conglian lowered his head and took the photos with both hands, seeing the pale face of a young girl in them. He said gently, “Thank you for your trust. The police will do their best to investigate this matter.”

When he finished speaking, he didn’t look at the woman’s face again, but submitted the photos to Jiang Chao.

When the woman saw Xing Conglian turn around, she clenched her fist tightly. He had threatened the dissemination of obscene articles, so she could no longer use these photos even if given the chance. How could a police officer do this to the family of the deceased?!

Without being able to use these photos in the future, media reporters wouldn’t pay much attention to her daughter’s death, and she would lose the best bargaining chip to put pressure on the school.

Despite things blowing up like this, she no longer had the chance to make trouble again. No matter what, she had to take a stand. She didn’t know where she got the courage from, but she glared at Xing Conglian’s back and said coldly, ” Ha, I knew it. You won’t even give the family of the deceased a statement!”

“What do you want us to say?” Xing Conglian turned around and asked.

His eyes were sharp, and his words were like a knife. The woman was forced to turn her head and only dared stare at the old man that was standing by the door as she shouted, “This kind of thing happened at the school. My daughter was forced to kill herself. Isn’t this the school management’s negligence? Are you going to leave this matter unresolved?”

“If something like this happens at the school, our school certainly has an inescapable responsibility…” At that moment, the old man who had been standing to the side spoke.

“If you’re responsible, then say it!” The woman was overjoyed. The school had admitted fault, so she could make as many demands as she wanted. But before she could speak, the old man in front of her suddenly stood up.

“As the head of this school, on behalf of the university, I apologize to you,” the old man said as he bent down. It was a standard 90-degree bow that was done with great solemnity.

Cameras started flashing everywhere.

Lin Chen was sitting in the car as he looked at the bent back of his teacher in the center of the crowd. His hand clenched the door handle with such force that his joints bulged, exposing blue veins.

“Principal!”

“Teacher Su!”

The teachers, students, and employees of Yongchuan University who were watching felt pained. They shouted one after another. Xu Guoqing hurriedly went to help the old man, but the old man forcefully refused.

The woman didn’t expect such a simple and sincere apology from Yongchuan University. She seemed to have lost her reason to continue to make trouble, but at this point, there was no turning back. She could only continue to be tough. “Can an apology solve the problem?”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian retracted his gaze from the police car that was parked on the side of the road. He glanced at the surrounding teachers and students, then said to the woman in front of him, “Since the principal is also here, you can mention any request you have. The police can also help you bear witness.”

His voice was low but clear as it suppressed the countless noisy voices in the area.

For a while, there was silence all around. Everyone’s eyes once again focused on the woman dressed in mourning clothes. The reporters leaned their microphones forward, as if waiting for her to speak.

The woman’s heart trembled as she looked at all the burning eyes focused on her. She silently cursed the policeman 10,000 times in her heart. What do you mean request? What do you mean bear witness? The policeman obviously knew she wanted compensation, but by forcing her to speak in public, how could she directly ask for money?

She took two steps back. She stroked her forehead and whispered, “I’m tired… I want to go to an office to talk.”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian didn’t speak but just glanced at the old man.

Principal Su received the signal and said very humbly, “Mother Wang, if you have any requests, please tell this old man now. If we can do it, we’ll try our best, but if you mention it afterwards…”

The meaning was, after this village, there would be no shop*.

*Idiom meaning that if you miss this opportunity, you won’t come across it again.

The woman’s heart was crossed. She said directly, “I demand 10 million from Yongchuan University.”

After she finished speaking, she didn’t care about the harsh voices that filled the air and she stubbornly met the gaze of the policeman just now.

Her daughter was dead, so she rightfully needed to be compensated!

However, the moment she raised her head, she saw the policeman’s eyes. In the gaze that swept towards her, there was no ridicule, no mockery, not even contempt. It was transcendent calm, as high as a mountain and as deep as a sea, that could take one’s breath away.

So it turned out she really wanted money!

Although everyone knew it, her daughter’s bones weren’t even cold yet, but her mother was already demanding 10 million from the school in public. This was something that “shameless” could no longer be used to describe. This was simply eating meat buns made of human flesh, and the mother who was eating it was using the blood of her own daughter.

The reporters continued to take pictures, but all they could feel was sick for a while. They silently removed the originally prepared story from their hearts and replaced it with such titles as “The bones of the weak daughter have not yet gone cold, but the cruel mother is already asking for 10 million in compensation”.

The situation suddenly reversed.

“The family of the deceased has filed a claim for compensation, so Principal Su, how do you intend to respond?” Xing Conglian was expressionless, still maintaining his businesslike attitude.

“Well, we still have to wait for the results of the police investigation.” Mr. Su bowed, then said, “But 10 million in compensation would be hard to comply to.”

When Wang Shishi’s mother heard this, her brows suddenly raised, and she turned around to make trouble.

But before she could speak, Xing Conglian bowed slightly and asked the old man, “So if the family of the deceased continues to protest at the entrance of the school, what should I do?”

The old man glanced at Xing Conglian as if to say, ‘Why are you asking such a stupid question?’. “It’s happening right now. Does it matter?”

Hearing this, both the onlookers, reporters present, school teachers and students, and even Wang Shishi’s mother herself were shocked.

Xing Conglian was taken aback for a moment before he asked, “Won’t it affect the education at the school?”

“Do they have such free time?” the old man asked rhetorically.

Xing Conglian thought, ‘It’s truly Lin Chen’s teacher.’ He really didn’t play cards according to common sense.

“What do you mean?”

“In school, you have to concentrate on studying. Does this matter have anything to do with them? Can you even be considered a Yongchuan University student if you can’t even read a book with a little bit of wind blowing grass around?” The old man’s voice was a bit loud, and his tone was stern. He seemed as if he was angry with Xing Conglian. After he spoke, he shook his hand angrily and left.

Xing Conglian felt simply wronged, but he knew that this wasn’t so much an answer to his question as it was addressing the teachers and students at the school. The old man’s meaning was simple: You’re part of Yongchuan University. You need to be tough and unshakable.

He didn’t know if it was because of the old man’s words that played a role or the woman’s naked threat that was too disgusting, but all eyes from the Yongchuan students who were looking at this farce had changed from initial surprise and curiosity, to calm indifference. Indeed, they were students from a famous school favored by the heavens. How could they waste their time on such nefarious dramatics? They found the whole thing quite comical. Those who wanted to act could act, but they certainly didn’t have the time to accompany them through that mess.

Thinking like this, the students gathered at the entrance began to follow the principal’s lead and dispersed in twos and threes. Even the surrounding onlookers felt that it was too shameless to look at this anymore and scattered one after another.

The initially good situation was about to collapse. Seeing this scene, the woman’s face turned red and green, which was quite a sight to see.

She didn’t expect that Yongchuan University wasn’t afraid of losing face, so her attitude remained tough. She couldn’t believe that the policeman in front of her was so powerful that her best trick, trying to use the photos, was so easily beaten. She was forced to hand them over and was silenced on the spot. Finally, he induced the university to take a stand, thereby crushing her dirty means. It was unfortunate that this policeman wasn’t a politician!

“Very well! Wait until you receive the lawyer’s letter!” The woman stretched out her hand and pointed them at Xing Conglian, the old man, and Vice Principal Xu, who were present. Her veiled threat pressed on each of them.

Xing Conglian smiled. “I’ll give you the address later, so you know where to send it to… But before that, we still need your cooperation in the investigation.”

His voice was polite, but when it fell on the woman’s ears, it sounded harsh.

“Why should I cooperate with the investigation? Did I do something wrong? Do you arrest people casually?!” she said angrily. “I have the right not to cooperate!””

“Because now, the owner of these photos that are in my hands is you, Mrs. Wang, according to the ‘Public Security Punishment Law’, those who spread obscene materials, if the circumstances are lighter, are subjected to detention of not more than five days or a fine of not more than 500 yuan… Of course, I know you’re providing the police with important clues to solve the case, so I hope you can follow me back to the police station to make a statement…”

The milder his voice, the less merciful the meaning of his words.

This sentence was like saying, “Either you are deliberately spreading pornographic photos and I will arrest you for it, or you’re kindly providing clues to the police, so please follow me back to the police station so we can interview you for more information…”

The woman raised her head, only to feel that the handsome policeman in front of her was a terrifying demon. She felt so suffocated that she was left completely speechless.

——

Xing Conglian took the photos and returned to the police car.

Lin Chen was still sitting in the back seat. Looking at Xing Conglian’s handsome face, which was as sharp as a knife, he was left speechless.

Acting as if nothing had happened, Xing Conglian naturally divided the photos in half and handed them to Lin Chen. “What do you think about these photos? Did Wang Shishi really commit suicide because she couldn’t bear it?”

Hearing his words, Lin Chen suddenly woke up as if from a dream and looked down at the photos.

In the photo, Wang Shishi was naked and entangled with two other people. One of the people in bed was Li Sa, but oddly enough, the other wasn’t Cheng Weiwei.

“These photos are video screenshots?”

“Whatever they are, we can just ask Wang Shishi’s old lady.” Jiang Chao had sent someone to escort Wang Shishi’s mother to the police station. When he heard Lin Chen say this, he slammed the door of the car and shook Xing Conglian’s hands excitedly. “Lao Xing, you’re so bold today. You dared to threaten the deceased’s mother for spreading pornographic photos. You sure got guts!”

When Xing Conglian heard this, he showed a surprised expression. “After all, this is Yongchuan. If something happens, Captain Jiang will have to bear it,” he said.

Jiang Chao’s back went cold, and he quickly changed the subject. “Are there any clues in these photos?”

“These photos seem to have been taken from a video… I don’t know if the photos are original or if they’ve been photoshopped.”

“Damn it. Everyone in the technical department of our division has been recruited to handle a large-scale internet fraud case, so there’s no spare technician available!”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian felt Lin Chen glancing at him with a strange gaze.

Well, it was true that the living treasures needed to be paired up*.

*Clarity: In reference to my previous explanation regarding their names. Ma Hao and Wang Chao (the one who serves Justice Bao) are usually seen in pairs.

“Our technician may be free…” Xing Conglian said.

——

Spring in Hongjing was a grand scene full of warmth.

In the newly renovated Yanjia Lane, there were parasols erected by vendors on both sides. Under a big black umbrella at the entrance to the alley, there was a young man wearing a cap.

The young man had a female calico cat in his lap. He was petting the cat’s head with one hand while holding his phone tightly with the other. He was focused on the screen, as if he were playing an interesting game, and couldn’t relax for even a moment, when suddenly, his phone vibrated.

The young man looked at the caller ID and unhappily pressed the answer button.

“Hey handsome. I’m currently on vacation. Give me 1,000 yuan to my Love Nikki* account first before you talk to me.”

*Referring to the game Love Nikki-Dress UP Queen

Xing Conglian was sitting in the backseat of the police car as he listened to the soft voice of Wang Chao coming from his phone.

“When did you start playing this kind of game?” He frowned, put down his phone, and clicked on his bank account app.

“I suddenly discovered a game that lets you dress up a beautiful girl. It’s very interesting! So cute, so cute, so cute!” Wang Chao said excitedly. Before he could continue, he suddenly heard a notification sound on his phone. He put down his phone and looked at it. The text message showed him that he had received a transfer of 1,000 yuan.

“Damn, Captain, what’s wrong with you? You’re making this humble servant terrified!”

“Your vacation has been cancelled. Take the money and book a ticket to Yongchuan, and report to the Second Division police station.”

“Captain, did something big happen? Is my A’Chen okay?”

“The Yongchuan police have a case that needs our assistance.” Hearing this, Xing Conglian glanced at Lin Chen, who was sitting next to him, and said, “I have some photos here. I need you to judge whether they have been photoshopped. In addition, search online for videos related to the contents of the photos. Everything has been sent to your email.”

“Oh…”

Under the black umbrella, the young man was already one step ahead as he opened the email. He clicked on the pictures attached to it and looked at them in huge scale. He suddenly shouted excitedly, “Fuck Captain, have you finally transferred to the yellow* division? This case is so heavy this time!”

*Slang referring to vulgar, usually pornographic, things.

Perhaps it was because Wang Shishi’s mother made a fuss at the school that Xing Conglian didn’t gossip with Wang Chao as usual. He said to the person on the other line very solemnly, “Two of the people in the photo have died, and the identity of the remaining one is unknown. I have marked them out. Compare them to the database.”

“Oh… Is it a murder?” When Wang Chao heard this, he quickly swiped through the photos on the screen and said, “If I tell you now that these photos are originals and they are screenshots from a video, do I still have to go to Yongchuan?”

“No. Then I guess the lakeview suite and the buffet of a five-star hotel will be enjoyed by A’Chen and myself alone.” After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he was about to hang up.

“Wait for me!” There was a scream coming from the earpiece.

Lin Chen was used to the jumpy Wang Chao, while Jiang Chao, who had been listening on the side, could hardly close his mouth. “So powerful. He knows it was the original picture just by looking at it?”

“He has a lot of experience in this area.” After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he glanced at Lin Chen and asked, “What’s wrong? You haven’t said anything this whole time.”

“It’s weird…” Lin Chen said lightly.

Extremely strange, bizarre, weird…

These words weren’t enough to describe the case in front of them. If this was a screenshot of a video, from the angle of filming, there should be a fourth person present who recorded the video. If Wang Chao was right, these photos, both in terms of content and shooting angle, were too heavy.

The Wang Shishi in the photo wasn’t as quiet and peaceful as she looked when she died. On that purple double bed, with curling eyes, she looked wild and sexy, but could passionate sex turn a girl into a completely different look?

“What’s so weird?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Do you really think it was because of the spread of these photos at school that made her commit suicide out of shame?”

“I don’t know.” Xing Conglian paused, then said, “But I heard that college girls’ dorms never seem to be able to hide secrets.”

——

Yongchuan University had two dormitory areas, one old and one new.

The College of Science, where Wang Shishi attended, happened to be in the old area.

It was lunch break, but there was almost no one in the corridors of the girls’ dorm. Only a broken incandescent light was flashing non-stop.

When the dorm auntie opened the door on the third floor of the dorm, several girls who were talking in low voices were all startled.

“The police are here and want to ask you something.”

The dorm auntie was full of vigor. Lin Chen and Xing Conglian glanced at each other. It seemed that the students in the entire building probably anticipated their arrival.

The room was long and narrow, with four bunk beds and eight desks. Girls’ clothing and supplies were strewn all over the table, making the space look even more crowded.

Even an experienced police officer like Xing Conglian felt a bit helpless in the face of such a chaotic dorm.

“Look at this room. You’re girls, not dirty people. This place is so messy, all of you girls won’t be able to get married in the future!” The dorm auntie reprimanded the girls with a sharp voice. For a while, the cramped dorm suddenly became a scene of flying chickens and dogs jumping*.

*(鸡飞狗跳) Idiom used to describe panic and chaos.

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian.

“Auntie, please wait a moment. I have a few questions to ask you.” The captain of the police criminal division stood at the door and tacitly pulled the auntie aside as he said this, attracting the attention of everyone in the dorm.

“Oh, if you have questions, just ask.” The dorm auntie knocked on the table and said to the girls present. “There’s been a big incident at your dorm. You all better sober up and tell the police everything. Don’t hide anything!”

“You should have heard about Wang Shishi. In your impression, what do you think of that girl?” Xing Conglian asked the dorm auntie.

“She’s very pretty. There were many people chasing her.” The auntie sighed with regret. “Several times at night, people would shout her name outside the dorm to confess their love.”

“What about you guys? Why do you think of Wang Shishi?” Xing Conglian turned his head and looked at Wang Shishi’s roommates.

Several girls stopped talking. They had obviously learned about the news of Wang Shishi’s mother making a scene at the school, and they didn’t dare to speak.

Xing Conglian dragged a chair and sat down in front of the girls.

“We’re not here to arrest anyone. We just want to understand the situation…” Xing Conglian said as he swept his gaze across the girls in front of him. When his gaze fell on one of them, his voice became softer. “I think you also heard what Wang Shishi’s mother said just now. Is what she said true? Did you spread rumors behind her back, forcing her to commit suicide?”

“We don’t know anything!” One of the girls spoke abruptly. Her face was flushed, and she looked aggrieved.

“We… We really haven’t bullied her!” Another girl finally couldn’t help but join in. “Her mother is a psychopath!”

“She… She’s actually pretty nice, but we’re not really familiar with her!”

“But you live in the same dorm. How can you not be familiar with her?” Xing Conglian asked.

“She works part time to pay for her tuition, and she leaves early and returns late every day. Except for class, she spends the rest of her time working part-time.”

“Yes, yes. It seems her family didn’t give her a single penny for her tuition, so she has to earn enough money to buy clothes and toys for her brother!”

“But I think she kind of looks down on us. Whenever she comes back, she never talks to us.”

“It’s like she lives in her own world.”

“But she wasn’t like this before. She used to go to breakfast with us…”

“Yes, she used to dress in rags. I think she was too embarrassed and didn’t talk to us because of that, but then she suddenly became like an angel and was extremely cold.”

A rush of chatter surged. Lin Chen walked to the corner of the dorm where the last bunk bed was. The bottom bunk was full of various boxes. When he looked at the top bunk, he became slightly surprised.

It was a bed that could almost be described as untarnished. Snow-white sheets were hung down slightly, the goose-yellow blanket was folded squarely, and the bedside was neatly arranged with a stack of books. Some of them were slightly worn, showing signs they had been flipped through many times.

Looking at the words Wang Shishi on the nameplate by the bed, Lin Chen took off his shoes, climbed onto the bed, and pulled out a tattered book.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 47

Lin Chen didn’t expect that what he said casually would become prophetic.

Before Captain Jiang came back from the director’s office, the person who came looking for him had already found the duty room first.

The round-faced little policeman with a flushed face opened the door and shouted, “Boss, Boss, not good. Wang Shishi’s mother has led a group of people to make trouble at the school. Campus security can’t hold them off anymore. We have to go quickly.”

Lin Chen was still sitting on the bed, studying the autopsy report with the forensic pathologist. Hearing this, the forensic pathologist looked at the door and said loudly, “Ma Han, can you not be so jumpy all the time? What’s the matter? Speak slowly!”

Lin Chen turned his head and looked at Xing Conglian in disbelief. “Ma Han, what’s his relationship with your Wang Chao*?”

*Clarity: Their names are homophones for Wang Chao (王朝) and Ma Han (馬漢), two of the four constables who serve Justice Bao. They are often paired together and would perform investigations and arrest together. If you see one, the other is nearby, which is why Lin Chen says this.

“They’re both living treasures*.” Xing Conglian straightened the document on his lap and laughed.

*Term used to refer to a funny/quirky person (has both positive and negative connotations depending on how it’s used).

That was quite an apt summary…

Comrade Ma Han said, “Can’t slow down. Can’t slow down. People will die if I slow down. The reporters are coming. Where is our boss!”

“Laozi is here!”

Hearing this, Ma Han turned his head stiffly and saw Vice Captain Jiang holding a cigarette in one hand and resting on the doorframe with his other, giving him a look of “Why are you looking for me?”

Ma Han wisely clung to Jiang Chao and shouted, “Boss, something’s happening at Yongchuan University. The mother of the deceased has called reporters and said that it was a school teacher and classmate who killed her daughter. She wants the school to give an explanation. Her technique seems very professional. She seems to have a background dealing with medical malpractice. So scary!”

“Wang Shishi’s parents are both lawyers,” Lin Chen said.

“Fuck, isn’t that more terrifying than medical malpractice*?!” Jiang Shao understood. He broke away from the little policeman and said to Xing Conglian, “Lao Xing, let’s go!”

*Clarity: The term they’re using is Yi Nao, the organized disturbance of hospitals or medical staff, usually to obtain compensation for actual or perceived medical malpractice.

Xing Conglian nodded, put on his uniform, and stood up quickly. When he fastened the last buckle, Lin Chen had already gotten out of bed and finished tying his shoelaces.

“Do you think that our department is more normal?” Xing Conglian asked.

After thinking for a bit, Lin Chen replied, “Yes.”

——

Yongchuan University, main entrance.

Under the towering white marble plaque, two groups of people were facing off.

One of them was wearing navy blue uniforms, which were those of the school security guards, while the remaining group of people, all dressed in mourning attire, were holding banners and photos while scattering paper money all over the ground.

Their crying shook the sky.

Xu Guoqing, the vice principal of administration, stood in the sun as he felt a surging headache.

If, when he saw Lin Chen earlier was equivalent to a bit troublesome, then this woman now truly made him understand what difficulty was.

In fact, it wasn’t like he never encountered parents coming to make trouble. After all, with a school this big, there would always be accidents, and when something happened to their children, the parents would come and make trouble. Frankly, it wasn’t just about the money.

However, Wang Shishi’s mother was different. This woman, from the beginning, had never put money in her eyes. She wanted justice, and she wanted the school to give her justice.

The woman looked aggrieved as she knelt on the ground. Her hair was messy, and her eyes were flushed as she was holding a photo frame in her hands. She didn’t cry; she just sat there silently, which made people feel distressed.

Above her head was a white marble archway built when Yongchuan University was established, with the words “Peaceful and Calm” written on it. The woman was sitting under the word “Peaceful”. The weather was good, and the sun was shining brightly, but the shadow from the stone plaque shrouded her, which made the picture she was holding quite shocking.

After the two groups, the reporters’ cameras were aimed at the woman. Their shutter kept flashing. They were thinking about how to write a press release to make this even more sensational.

Xu Guoqing cleared his throat. “Wang Shishi’s mother, you’re causing trouble like this, which affects the normal order of school life. Don’t you know that this is illegal?”

Wang Shishi’s mother suddenly raised her head and snapped back, “Illegal? Let me tell you, I gave you a living daughter, and now she’s dead in this school, and you dare talk to me about the laws of Yongchuan University?”

As she spoke, her tone was sharp, as if she was in a courtroom. Xu Guoqing was left speechless as more pedestrians gathered around to watch.

Not only newspaper reporters but even TV reporters came. The videographer, who was carrying a camera on his shoulder, ran out of the car towards Wang Shishi’s mother to take a 360-degree shot.

Xu Guoqing’s tone could only soften. “Then what do you want? If you want justice, then you have to give the police time to investigate. What is the problem? Whether Wang Shishi committed suicide or it was a homicide, our school can only listen to the police…”

“My daughter committed suicide because of all the teachers and students in this school!” Wang Shishi’s mother stood up from the ground and held her daughter’s portrait with her left hand as she pointed to the words “Yongchuan University” above the school gate with her right hand. “It’s such a pity that this famous school that’s been around for hundreds of years is full of filthy things!”

Her back was straight, giving her a graceful appearance. When she accused the school, her posture was heroic and fearless, like a sculpture. The sound of shutters in the area incessantly started snapping again.

At this moment, the school gate, which had been closed this whole time, suddenly opened, and someone walked through.

It was an old man wearing reading glasses and an ordinary shirt. He walked up to Wang Shishi’s mother with his hands behind his back, raised his glasses, and asked, “What’s going on?”

His tone was gentle and soft, as if the old man were asking a young child why he was crying on the side of the road.

Wang Shishi’s mother took a breath but found that when facing the old man, she couldn’t raise her voice. She moved her eyes slightly and glanced at Xu Guoqing, only to see that Vice Principal Xu was also quite surprised by the old man’s appearance, so she asked, “Who are you?”

“I’m an old teacher of Yongchuan University.” The old man turned around, walked to the security guards, patted the captain of the security guards on the waist, and then said, “What are you doing here, blocking the entrance?”

Hearing this, the security captain bent down and said respectfully, “Principal, why are you here?”

“Well, I heard that there are a lot of people at the school’s entrance, so I came to take a look,” the old man said with a smile.

Hearing what the captain said, if this was neither Principal Zhang nor Principal Li, then the old man in front of her must be the president of Yongchuan University.

“Su Anzhi. You are Su Anzhi!” Wang Shishi’s mother thought for a moment before raising her voice and pointing her finger at the old man’s back. “You’re finally out.”

“Ah… It’s me, it’s me.” The old man turned around again and calmly faced the woman’s finger that was pointing straight at his face.

When Lin Chen arrived, he saw such a scene.

His teacher was standing in the middle of the crowd, being pointed at by a middle-aged woman, surrounded by flashing lights, with a cameraman filming the entire thing.

Jiang Chao stopped the car.

He opened the door and was about to get out when Xing Conglian held him back.

“In this situation, it’s not suitable for you to come forward,” Xing Conglian said.

Hearing this, Lin Chen glanced at the old man standing in front of the school, then turned his head and stared at the face of the mixed-race young man.

Lin Chen’s face was solemn, and there was even a little hint of nervousness. This was something that Xing Conglian had never seen before. He looked at the old man standing with his back to the door and knew in his heart. That old man was the “old man” who Lin Chen and Fu Hao always mention and was being pointed and yelled at by, unsurprisingly, Wang Shishi’s mother.

“Don’t worry. Leave it to me.” He patted Lin Chen on the shoulder and got out of the car.

The arrival of the police was like water droplets falling into a pan of hot oil or fire falling on dry wood—the entrance to the school exploded instantly.

Reporters had long heard that three corpses were dug up under a tree by the lake at Yongchuan University. The school had strict access control, so reporters were prohibited from entering the campus to investigate. The police spokesman was tight-lipped, so they were worried about finding more information on the story. Now, with a police car here, and seeing that the car’s license plate belonged to Captain Jiang of the Second Division, all the reporters quickly turned their cameras and pointed them at the two policemen who got out of the car.

“What’s going on? Why are so many people surrounding the entrance to a school, an important place for education? Everyone needs to show a little respect, yeah?” Jiang Chao was naturally a veteran at this. He didn’t ask for any reason but feigned ignorance and questioned why so many people were at the school’s entrance. He started raising his hand to drive people away.

“Captain Jiang, Captain Jiang, can you tell us about the case?”

“Has there been significant progress in the investigation?”

“May I ask if the three dead people found were murdered or committed suicide?”

“The mother of the deceased Wang Shishi just revealed to us that the murderer is in the school. Is the murderer one of the school’s teachers or a student?”

Jiang Chao glanced at the reporters surrounding him and hooked his hand mysteriously. “Come on, I’ll tell you.”

When the reporters heard this, they all surrounded Jiang Chao.

“You can quote me on this as this came from our police spokesman, ‘This case is currently being fully investigated and it’s inconvenient to disclose any relevant information.’”

After Jiang Chao finished speaking, regardless of the reaction from the reporters, his face sank, and he moved towards Wang Shishi’s mother. Xing Conglian didn’t say a word and followed him.

Wang Shishi’s mother, who was naturally capable and well-organized, didn’t confront Jiang Chao but shouted at the old man in front of her, “Why, you even called the police. All the teachers and students in your school forced my daughter to her death, and now you want to silence me?”

Jiang Chao stood behind Wang Shishi’s mother, but the other party didn’t look at him. He could handle things with ease in front of reporters, but he was a bit helpless in front of such a tough woman.

Xing Conglian glanced at Jiang Chao and took a step forward. “If you have any questions, you can come to the police station.”

Hearing this, Wang Shishi’s mother turned around and looked up and down at Xing Conglian.

Before she could speak, Xing Conglian said again, “If you have any key evidence in your hand, I hope you can show it without hesitation so the police can solve this case quickly.”

His tone was calm, and the area gradually quieted down. The reporters’ cameras were once again aimed at Wang Shishi’s mother.

Humans were prone to gossip, so even the eyes of the passersby were full of eagerness, as if they were saying, “Take out the evidence.”

Xing Conglian’s words floated lightly, pushing Wang Shishi’s mother to the front of the stage again.

With the gaze of passersby, it made the atmosphere uncomfortable.

The woman gritted her teeth, as if she had made up some determination, as her tone was decisive. “My daughter committed suicide because she was forced to by the school!”

“Oh, what evidence do you have?” Xing Conglian continued to ask.

“I…I…” The woman stopped talking. Her face was flushed. She finally wailed out, “Those monsters in the school leaked lewd pictures of my daughter, which is why she committed suicide from the unbearable humiliation!”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 46

In the room, there was a light sound of paper flipping.

Lin Chen turned around and saw that the bedside was dim. Xing Conglian was sitting in the shadows by a tiny light. He didn’t seem to be asleep, as he was looking through something.

There was another person in the room. Jiang Chao sat on the chair next to him. His brows were locked tightly.

Lin Chen pushed off the blanket and sat up.

“Awake?”

Xing Conglian’s eyes swept over, but it was too dark, so Lin Chen couldn’t see his expression clearly.

“What time is it?”

“Just after noon.”

Hearing this, Lin Chen calculated carefully. He had only slept for less than an hour and a half, so Xing Conglian probably slept for an even shorter time.

Looking at Jiang Chao’s appearance, it seemed he had discovered important clues that he had disturbed their sleep.

“What happened?” Lin Chen asked.

“Captain Jiang has already found the identities of the three victims.”

“So fast.”

“The fingerprints of one of the dead were in the police database. The other two were a student and an employee of Yongchuan University, so the results came back pretty quick.” Xing Conglian divided the information in his hands into two pieces and handed it to Lin Chen. “Take a look.”

Lin Chen was a little surprised. After all, this was a case under the jurisdiction of a different police department. From a procedural perspective, they weren’t in a position to intervene, and Xing Conglian wasn’t an ignorant person. Looking at Jiang Chao, it seemed that they really needed their help.

Why?

Lin Chen lowered his head. His gaze fell on the two pages in front of him as he began to read.

There were three victims in this case. What he was holding was the information of two of them.

Li Sa, male, 28 years old. An only child. He left his hometown to work after graduating from high school. He was a painter in the logistics department of Yongchuan University.

Wang Shishi, female, 19 years old. A mathematics student at Yongchuan University. She’s the eldest daughter in the family. Has a 10-year-old younger brother. Wang Shishi comes from an upper-class background, as both her parents were lawyers.

Judging from personal data alone, Li Sa and Wang Shishi, regarding both age and social class, were too far apart. The boy was too ordinary and had a plain background, while the girl was like jade. How did two such people intersect, and what was the reason that led them to be buried under the banyan tree?

Thinking of this, Lin Chen gently pinched the corner of the paper, turned his head, and looked at Xing Conglian’s hand.

So what about the third victim?

“You just said the third victim’s fingerprints are in the police database. Whose is it?”  Chen asked.

It was very strange for Xing Conglian to specifically mention that the fingerprints were in the police database and not in the citizen files.

“It belongs to the last victim,” Jiang Chao replied.

Lin Chen remembered the last body exhumed under the tree. It seemed to be a woman about 40 years old. He asked, “Why were her fingerprints registered?”

“Because of a robbery,” Jiang Chao said.

Xing Conglian’s gaze paused slightly, as if he had seen something incredible. He looked up at Jiang Chao and said, in a surprised tone, “Cheng Weiwei… Yaqin Jewelry?”

“Correct.”

“What’s the matter?” Lin Chen asked.

“I seem to have seen this name somewhere!” As Xing Conglian spoke, he handed Lin Chen the identity information of the last victim and turned to the file folder related to Yang Dianfeng’s case that he had brought from Hongjing.

Lin Chen lowered his head. The woman in the photo, who looked extremely capable, was wearing a professional suit. Her hair was curled, and her eyebrows were quite charming.

Cheng Weiwei, female, 38 years old. Graduate of Anyang College. Assistant to the general manager of Yaqin Jewelry. Her parents are ordinary retired workers.

Lin Chen placed the information about the three deceased people side by side in front of him. Sure enough, Cheng Weiwei and Li Sa were very different from Wang Shishi.

He took out a copy of the material from the file bag attached to it, raised his head, and asked Jiang Chao, “The 723 Mega Highway Robbery?”

“Yeah, do you know about it too, Lao Xing?” Jiang Chao sniffled. “Last year’s unsolvable case. Ah, if we can’t solve it before the end of the year, everyone in the bureau will have their bonuses deducted. Is this not a hard life or what?”

Naturally, Xing Conglian ignored Jiang Chao’s complaints. He quickly scanned the file and, sure enough, saw the words “Cheng Weiwei”.

On July 23, Yaqin Jewelry purchased a batch of loose diamonds worth nearly 100 million yuan from South Africa and appointed Falcon Security Co. to escort the shipment. The general manager of Yaqin Jewelry and his assistant, together with two security personnel, took a flight from Johannesburg, South Africa, to Yongchuan City in the early morning of July 23. They arrived in Yongchuan at 10 p.m. on the 23rd.

Falco Security Co. sent two special bulletproof vehicles and eight security personnel to pick up the goods and was responsible for transporting them to Yaqin Jewelry headquarters. However, the security vehicle was robbed on the national highway.

Nine people in the car were unfortunately killed, and the loose diamonds worth nearly 100 million yuan disappeared. Except for one person, who was lucky enough to escape.

That person was Cheng Weiwei.

“Nine people died, and only Cheng Weiwei survived. Haven’t you ever doubted her?” Xing Conglian asked Jiang Chao while handing the file to Lin Chen.

“Lao Xing, what do you mean by this? Of course we can, but in regards to how the police handle a case, talk is talk, but everything needs evidence!” Jiang Chao picked up a bottle of mineral water from his lap and took a sip. “Wheel warfare*, ten rounds of interrogation, but she refused to relent. We checked all her communication records and contacts, and even turned her house upside down three times, but found no clues! What can we do? We had to let her go!”

*Military term referring to taking turns fighting against the enemy or adopting roundabout tactics to exhaust the other side physically and mentally.

“Did she say why the robbers didn’t kill her?” Lin Chen asked suddenly.

“She said it was because she was a woman that the robbers spared her…”

“How chivalrous,” Xing Conglian sneered.

“This reason is not enough for you to let her go so easily,” Lin Chen said.

“Ah, of course, but did you know that in the two cars, the other nine people who were dead, their bodies were smooshed as if they had gone through a sieve, but she was completely unscathed. When the police arrived, she was sitting in the blood-soaked car without saying a word.” Jiang Chao gritted his teeth and said, “In the first few days, we couldn’t get her to pry open her mouth at all. Later, when she did speak, she said she didn’t know why the robbers didn’t touch her. If she was an inside agent, then why was she alive? It would be better if they had beaten her half dead so there wouldn’t be any suspicion.” Jiang Chao slapped his thigh. “I mean, look, it really makes no fucking sense!”

“Then did you send someone to follow her later,” Xing Conglian asked.

“What do you think? I followed her for three months but didn’t find any clues. Later, even laozi felt that this bitch was innocent!” Jiang Chao said this angrily and took another sip of water. Perhaps it was the effect of the cool water that calmed him down a little. He suddenly looked at Xing Conglian in a daze and said, “Hey, you took stuff out of your folder. This isn’t related to Yang Dianfeng’s case, is it?”

Xing Conglian raised his head, and there was a rare helplessness in his eyes. “Unfortunately, it does.”

“The vehicles of Falcon Security Co. aren’t equipped with the highway safety warning system that has issues, right?” Jiang Chao opened his mouth wide, as if his chin was about to fall off.

Lin Chen glanced at the file and said, “Not only are they installed on the vehicles, but after investigating the system, it was found that on July 23^rd, the driving records of the two bulletproof vehicles Falcon Security Co. was driving were modified.”

“Fuck, doesn’t this mean…”

“There is no proof of death,” Lin Chen said coldly.

In the room, there was an unbearable silence again.

Jiang Chao gripped the bottle of mineral water, causing it to make a teeth-shattering sound. “So, Cheng Weiwei, was she murdered…” Jiang Chao paused, as if looking for the right words. “Because you guys are here… so…”

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian looked at each other.

“We can’t rule out this possibility,” Lin Chen said.

Hearing this, Captain Jiang, who was originally depressed, suddenly became happy. “Then, wouldn’t it be possible to investigate these cases in parallel?” He suddenly jumped up, took a few steps, and opened the door. He turned around and rushed to the two people by the bed and said, “You’re not allowed to leave! This is what you caused. I will report to the director right away. Do you hear me? Don’t move until I come back!”

After he finished speaking, he flew away, leaving the two people in the room looking at each other.

“We can’t leave?” Lin Chen asked.

“I’m afraid so.”

“But the reason is too far-fetched. How can we cause this much trouble?”

“Captain Jiang is easily excitable.” Xing Conglian paused and asked, “But do you think this reason is really far-fetched? I mean… The relationship between Cheng Weiwei’s death and our bringing the file to Yongchuan.”

“It’s hard to say.” Lin Chen shook his head. “First of all, it still depends on the cause of death. If it’s murder…”

“No need to look.”

A voice sounded from the door, interrupting Lin Chen’s words.

Lin Chen raised his eyes and saw the forensic pathologist they had met earlier standing at the doorway, holding a small stack of reports.

“It’s not murder.”

“What do you mean?” Lin Chen asked.

“Soil particles were detected in the bronchi and lungs of the three deceased. At the same time, there were no sleeping pills, hallucinogens, or tranquilizers detected in their bodies. Except for hand injuries, they didn’t have any trauma, no head injuries, no binding traces, and even their skin wasn’t scratched…” The forensic pathologist slowly walked into the room and looked down at Lin Chen. “In other words, the three of them were buried in the grave while they were conscious, and…”

“Didn’t struggle,” Lin Chen said lightly.

“Correct.” The forensic pathologist handed over the autopsy report and said, “They were buried alive.”

This was obviously concluded, but Lin Chen’s heart had no joy.

If Cheng Weiwei, Li Sa, and Wang Shishi were buried while they were conscious and they didn’t have any signs of struggles, this showed that the three of them did this voluntarily.

Thinking of the quiet and content expressions on their faces, even Lin Chen felt a chill down his spine.

Under what circumstances could three people allow themselves to lie willingly in a cold and wet grave, covered with layers of soil, until they suffocated to death?

Why did these three dead people of different ages, classes, and family backgrounds die together? Was Cheng Weiwei’s death really related to the grand theft robbery that took place a few months ago?

“I suddenly feel…” Lin Chen raised his head and looked at Xing Conglian.

“Hmm?”

“Earlier when you told me to get some sleep, was it because you already knew that we wouldn’t get any tonight?”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 45

Since he didn’t find the third body under the tree, it indicated that he didn’t know about the matter, so the suspicion on him had naturally eased.

It was just that, although this may be the case, the worries in Lin Chen’s heart weren’t even half alleviated.

Under the banyan tree, the scene of busy work stagnated again.

Not only Jiang Chao, who was captain of the team, but every officer present felt their scalp go numb. Three corpses were found under one tree at the same time. What did this mean?

This showed that they most likely encountered a major criminal case.

Two police officers squatted down and began to assist the forensic pathologist in cleaning up the soil layer covering the third body. Jiang Chao ordered the rest to start a carpet search of the woods around the lake. If there were any traces of soil being loosened, excavation would begin immediately.

After arranging the task, he looked at Lin Chen again. His eyes turned slightly, and then he gulped. “I say, Lao Xing, you’re not in a hurry to go home today, right? Why not stay for a few more days?” He took Xing Conglian’s hand and handed him a cigarette. He suddenly felt that it was a blessing that the old man had filed the complaint just now. Otherwise, how could he get the opportunity to ask these two to go back with him and assist with the investigation?

——

The news of a major case on the campus of Yongchuan University quickly spread back to the police force like wings.

Therefore, when Lin Chen was “brought back” to the police station, he found that the entire office was looking at him strangely. If he could describe what this “strange” feeling was, it probably resembled enthusiasm or eagerness?

Lin Chen suddenly couldn’t figure out the situation.

His hand was tightly held by Vice Captain Jiang, while Vice Captain Jiang’s other hand was hooked on the shoulder of Xing Conglian. It felt like Vice Captain Jiang’s entire being didn’t want to let either of them go.

There were signs that Jiang Chao’s office had obviously been tidied up. There was a new trash bag in the trash can, and there were still some water stains left over on the floor.

In front of the desk, two seats, the kind with soft brackets, were specially placed. On the table were two cups of freshly brewed tea. The tea leaves looked new and green, and the water was clear and had a pleasant aroma.

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian, trying to get some hints from the other party, but Xing Conglian didn’t seem to care. He sat down at the desk in a big way, grabbed the teacup, and took a sip.

“Consultant Lin, please sit down. Please sit down.”

Lin Chen was hesitant, but Jiang Chao hurriedly pressed him to the other chair and stuffed the hot teacup into his hand.

They were obviously brought back to the police station as “suspects” to assist in the investigation, but now they were treated as guests. Wasn’t this kind of treatment a bit wrong?

At this moment, there was a knock on the office door.

A little policeman that looked dignified and strong poked his head in and said to Jiang Chao, “Deputy Jiang, Deputy Jiang, the Boss let you go!”

“Let me go where!” Jiang Chao slammed the table fiercely. “Didn’t you see Captain Xing and Consultant Lin here?”

Before Jiang Chao could finish speaking, a deep voice came from outside the door. “Deputy Jiang, you seem to have a lot of authority recently.”

During the conversation, a middle-aged man pushed the door in. The visitor was a burly man with silver stars shining on his shoulders. He was of the same rank as Inspector Huang. In other words, the visitor was the Director of Yongchuan Police Second Division, Jiang Chao’s immediate boss, and the Boss that the little policeman was referring to.

“Boss Zheng, Boss Zheng. Sorry, sorry, sorry. You see, I’m really too busy!” As soon as he saw his boss, Jiang Chao hurriedly nodded his head, admitting his mistake and apologizing. However, the middle-aged man didn’t look at him, and instead his gaze fell on Xing Conglian.

Following the middle-aged man’s gaze, Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian again, only to see that Xing Conglian was still sitting upright and didn’t even bother to look back, as if he was unaware of the middle-aged man’s arrival, or perhaps he was deliberately ignoring him?

Lin Chen’s doubts started to deepen.

Seeing this situation, the middle-aged man gritted his teeth and pretended to look at Xing Conglian in surprise before shouting loudly, “Isn’t this Captain Xing? Why are you here?”

It wasn’t until this moment that Xing Conglian finally reacted. He stood up, turned his head, and saluted the middle-aged man expressionlessly, then said, “Hello, Boss Zheng.”

“Xiao Jiang, how come you didn’t tell me that Captain Xing is here!” The middle-aged man took a step forward and shook Xing Conglian’s hand exaggeratedly. “It’s been so long since I last saw you. Too long, Lao Xing!” As he spoke, he turned his head and said to Jiang Chao, “Hurry up. Go to the cafeteria and order a few good dishes so we can treat Captain Xing at noon!”

“No need.” Xing Conglian spoke faintly. As he spoke, he took his hand back and presented a document folder with both hands. “I’m just here to hand over some documents in Yang Dianfeng’s case. The relevant information about the case is here. Also, it is requested that Director Zheng check it.”

Lin Chen turned his head.

Xing Conglian’s attitude was too businesslike. Not only did he not mention the Yongchuan University case, he also urged the Yongchuan police to hand over the case as soon as possible, which didn’t seem to fit his usual style.

Sure enough, after hearing what Xing Conglian said, Director Zheng was so embarrassed that he couldn’t speak. Jiang Chao hurriedly saved the scene. “Eh, Lao Xing, what’s the rush? Don’t you think something big just happened? I really don’t have spare hands!” Jiang Chao said, but he didn’t take the documents from Xing Conglian’s hands.

“Then please send one of your subordinates?” Xing Conglian raised his eyes and looked at the director, who was rather calm, collected, and uncondescending.

The attitude was obvious at this point. Director Zheng, of course, understood very well why Xing Conglian was angry. However, it was under his orders to have Hongjing’s psychology consultant brought back, so he couldn’t apologize.

In fact, when Jiang Chao quietly called him and told him that the suspect who was asked to be brought back to the police station by the Chen family’s butler was the one who rescued Fang Zhiming’s daughter in the Hongjing Highway case, he had long wanted to drag that old man Chen Ping out and beat him to a pulp. What a fucking joke! To take Lin Chen back to the police station as a suspect—even if he wasn’t afraid of quarrelling with Lao Xing, he was certainly afraid that Fang Zhiming’s ghost in heaven would come and haunt him.

“Lao Xing, as you can see, this is a really big case that just happened. We really can’t spare the manpower. Just take consultant Lin to the cafeteria and eat at ease!” Director Zheng said, while shaking Xing Conglian’s hand again.

“Please take it as soon as possible so that Consultant Lin and I can leave.” Xing Conglian emphasized again.

“Hey, Lao Xing, don’t be like this!”

“Sorry. After all, Consultant Lin didn’t come to Yongchuan for business. We were just wandering around, yet we were brought into the police station as suspects. If we stay for too long, I’m afraid it would be easy to provoke criticism, right?”

Hearing what Xing Conglian said, Lin Chen realized that the real reason Xing Conglian was being uncharacteristically tough was because he was standing up for him.

However, he had experienced too many trivial things like this and felt they didn’t really matter, so why should Xing Conglian care so much?

As Lin Chen was puzzled, Director Zheng finally realized from the solemn expression on Xing Conglian’s face was due to today’s matter. If he didn’t make a definite statement regarding today’s event, things wouldn’t be good.

So Director Zheng let go of the hand that was shaking Xing Conglian’s hand and turned to face Lin Chen.

Lin Chen was surprised by this.

“Consultant Lin, I’m really sorry. Today is indeed a misunderstanding. I hope you don’t take it personally!”

The middle-aged man’s tone was sincere, and after he spoke, he bowed slightly to Lin Chen and apologized.

Seeing as this was the director apologizing, Lin Chen felt a bit awkward. He wanted to turn around and return the sincerity, but Xing Conglian’s hand pressed on his shoulder.

From the force of the hand, Lin Chen understood what Xing Conglian meant. He shouldn’t give way. This was what it was supposed to be, and he could afford it.

Now that the other party had apologized, naturally, Xing Conglian let go of his cold shoulder.

When Director Zheng stood upright again, Xing Conglian retracted the document folder and said to Jiang Chao, “Since Captain Jiang is busy, Consultant Lin and I haven’t slept all night. I want to take a break first. When you’re free, come and call us?”

“Eh, why are you leaving?!” When Jian Chao heard this, his face instantly became aggrieved.

“We’re not leaving. If it’s convenient, we’ll rest in the duty room.” After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he looked at Lin Chen.

Looking at Xing Conglian’s deep eyes, Lin Chen had no choice but to nod. He felt that the atmosphere of the entire Yongchuan Branch was a bit strange.

For example, the director personally apologized to him, and on the way to the duty room, someone stuffed some candies in his hand.

The light in the duty room was dim. In the small room, there were two simple bunk beds.

Only when Lin Chen saw the bed did he feel sleepy. He wasn’t a neat freak, so since he was sleepy, he should sleep. He put the candies on the bedside table, took off his shoes, and climbed into bed.

Xing Conglian didn’t get on the bed. He sat in a chair with his feet on another chair, looking very casual.

“Yongchuan police seem reluctant to hand over Yang Dianfeng’s case to you. Why?” Thinking about what happened in the office just now, Xing Conglian only used the document folder to force Director Zheng to bow his head. Lin Chen thought about it for a while and then asked this question.

“Actually, it has nothing to do with the files.” Xing Conglian took off his police uniform, covered his body with it, and then turned his head to look at Lin Chen. “It’s just about you.”

“Huh?” Lin Chen was slightly surprised to hear this answer.

“What do you think about the Yongchuan University case?” Xing Conglian ignored Lin Chen’s response.

“It’s complicated,” Lin Chen replied.

“Can you be specific?”

“Do you think it’s shocking to find three overlapping courses under a banyan tree?” Lin Chen asked.

“Very.”

“Then what was your first reaction when you saw the body buried on campus?”

“Ordinary homicide.” Xing Conglian spoke truthfully.

“What does it mean when a shocking story begins with a bland narrative?”

“Someone wants the effect of twists and turns?” Xing Conglian suddenly understood what Lin Chen was going for. Even if three people under that tree were willing to be buried alive, there must have been someone to personally cover them with the last handful of soil.

“They did do it,” Lin Chen said quietly, but when he was finished, he also understood what Xing Conglian meant. “You mean Captain Jiang and the others?”

“They probably really want to keep you to help with the investigation.” Xing Conglian spoke helplessly.

“I don’t understand. I don’t seem to be that important.” Truth be told, the director had apologized to Lin Chen personally because he wanted him to assist in the investigation. Even if Holmes* were here, it would be difficult for him to enjoy this kind of treatment.

*Sherlock Holmes, a fictional detective created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Referring to himself as a “consulting detective” in the stories, Holmes is known for his proficiency with observation, deduction, forensic science, and logical reasoning that borders on the fantastic, which he employs when investigating cases for a wide variety of clients, including Scotland Yard.

After hearing Lin Chen’s words, Xing Conglian’s gaze suddenly softened. He looked at the candies that Lin Chen had set aside and said softly, “Because Fang Zhiming worked here for ten years before he was transferred to the narcotics department. The people here, including Director Zheng himself, were all his colleagues.”

“You uncovered the corner of a dark truth. You saved their colleague from dying in vain, and also saved his daughter. This is why you’re important to them.”

The Chen family may be able to put pressure on the police, but no matter how much pressure they put on them, it couldn’t beat what Lin Chen had done.

In this world, money could buy countless submissive eyes and hypocritical flattery, but it would never buy true respect.

Lin Chen finally understood. “You know about this, so… you asked Director Zheng to apologize?”

“How can I ask such a thing?” Xing Conglian laughed dumbfoundedly. “You think Director Zheng went downstairs in person just to scold Captain Jiang? He knew he had ordered you to be arrested and came to make amends with you, but he just didn’t have the opportunity.”

“So, just now, it was all acting?”

“Yes, it’s a characteristic of Yongchuan’s Second Division.”

Lin Chen leaned on the bed and felt that the atmosphere of this police station was indeed a bit bizarre.

“Not used to it?” Looking at the person leaning on the bed in contemplation, Xing Conglian suddenly spoke.

Lin Chen thought for a while and nodded.

“Just get used to it slowly in the future.” After he finished speaking, he turned off the micro-light at the bedside. “Take a good rest. They won’t go easy on us later.”

The heavy curtains were carefully drawn up, and there was almost no light in the room.

The sound of even breathing soon came to his ears. Lin Chen stretched out his hand, picked up a candy from the bedside table, and peeled off the wrapper.

The sound of Xing Conglian’s breathing gradually became long.

Lin Chen put the candy in his mouth and sucked on it.

Truthfully, you didn’t have to do this, but still… Thank you very much…

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Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 44

What was more terrifying than the discovery of a corpse was finding out it had been buried alive. What was more frightening than this was finding a second corpse underneath said corpse.

Lin Chen stood beside Xing Conglian, feeling that everyone was giving him a strange look.

Under the banyan tree, the body of a painter had been put into a bag. A black zipper gently closed, covering the last traces of his face.

The sun had risen higher at this point, but the lake breeze got colder.

Lin Chen gathered his clothes together, walked to the edge of the mound, and looked in.

In the deep pit, under the place where Li Sa had been lying, there was another corpse of a girl. She was very young and beautiful.

The girl was wearing a long white dress. She had long black hair and a quiet face, like a well-behaved doll. Although her dress was dirty and her face was covered in soil, her expression was warm and content, as if she were drinking a cup of hot cocoa in a dessert shop in winter.

Thinking of this, Lin Chen’s gaze followed the girl’s arm and moved upwards.

Sure enough, the girl’s hands also overlapped on her chest. Her original fair and delicate hands were also chapped and caked with blood and dirt.

“How did you know that there were still more people down there?”

There was a cold question coming from behind him. Lin Chen retracted his gaze and looked back.

Mr. Forensic Pathologist was standing far away from him, clenching his fist, obviously deliberately trying to keep calm.

“Because I used to be a student here.”

“That has nothing to do with you knowing there was another corpse underneath!”

“No, because I’m a student here, I know a lot of things about this school.” Lin Chen paused, trying to find a more suitable wording to explain his uncertain foresight. “This banyan tree has a very rustic name. It’s called the Lovers Tree. It’s always surrounded by strange legends. Rumors has it that as long as two people who love each other lie under the tree, hand in hand, and make a wish, they can grow old and never be separated until they die.”

Most of the legends were absurd and bizarre. When Lin Chen first heard them, he thought it was strange. At any rate, they were all students with a formal education. Why would anyone believe in this kind of plot device that wouldn’t even be used in a third-rate romance novel?

But it wasn’t until one day, when the old man took his hand and mysteriously told him the legend about the Lovers Tree, that he discovered the legend was, of course, made up by the older generation to deceive the young.

But according to the current situation, it seemed that someone had turned the legend into a reality.

“So, you thought there was still a corpse under there just because of a campus legend? What’s the relationship between this girl and the painter? Two lovers?” The forensic pathologist asked hesitantly. Even he didn’t believe it himself. Why would a little angel-like girl fall in love with such an extremely ordinary painter? This love just didn’t seem to make sense.

“I’m not an immortal, so how can I know such an answer*?” The question was a little too over the top, so Lin Chen really couldn’t answer it.

 *Clarity: The term the pathologist is using to describe the girl is [tianxian] (天仙) which is normally used to describe beautiful women (because their beauty is like that of angels/immortals). It uses [xian] (仙) which refers to immortal/gods/fairies ect. This is why Lin Chen responded like this.

“Oh! So it was purely a guess that you thought someone was down there?” Jiang Chao pulled back the forensic pathologist carelessly as he asked his question.

“Well, it’s not wrong to say that. After all, I didn’t bury the person, so I can only guess.” Lin Chen felt a bit helpless. He found that if he didn’t explain this problem clearly now, he would be regarded as being deceptive*, so he took two steps back, left the pit, and looked at the soil under the banyan tree. “First of all, this is a corpse. The burial site is on the university campus. This shows that no matter who buried Li Sa, they had no intention of hiding it. This means that this place itself is very meaningful.”

*The term being used here is god stick (or magician wand) (神棍). It refers to someone who’s a deceitful liar. || In this context, Lin Chen is basically saying, if he doesn’t explain it well, he’ll be viewed as a huckster/fraudster; either that, or he had godly abilities to somehow predict that there was a corpse beneath a corpse.

“That makes sense. Go on.”

“Although the same place has different meanings for different people, the most famous meaning of this banyan tree is the legend I just told. Of course, the legends of lovers holding hands until death do they part made me wonder if this case had anything to do with lovers dying in martyrdom…” As Lin Chen spoke, he stared at the ground under his feet. “However, under the banyan tree, there’s only soil near Li Sa’s body. There are signs it has been flipped. Anyone who has surveyed the scene will subconsciously conclude that there’s only one body here.”

“Yeah, so tell me quickly, why you thought there was another body buried beneath the corpse! Between the two corpses, there’s a thick layer of soil. If you didn’t ask us to dig deeper, we wouldn’t have found anything underneath.”

“Because of Li Sa’s hands.”

“What about his hands?”

“Li Sa’s hands were very worn out, which shows that he dug up this tomb with his own hands. I guess the reason is probably to bury his lover.”

Lin Chen’s voice was a little low. At the end of his sentence, it was almost so soft that it was barely audible.

The police officer by the tree silently put down the shovel in his hands. Jiang Chao looked at the girl with more sympathy. Everyone around the tree was silent, and no one spoke—or rather, they didn’t know what to say.

At this moment, a crisp sound broke through the quiet and low atmosphere.

Someone was clapping. The applause rang out again at a very low frequency.

Lin Chen turned his head and saw two people walking towards them through the sparse trees.

The man in the lead had a full head of white hair. He was wearing a close-fitting black suit with a bow tie around his neck and a dark red handkerchief in the front pocket lapel, giving off a noble and elegant temperament. It was the butler.

“Truly deserving to be a Yongchuan University graduate. The most famous psychology graduate in a decade. Making up stories one after another.” The man’s tone was as condescending as ever.

Lin Chen looked at him and almost lamented his luck once again.

Although he was reminded by Xing Conglian that he had to be careful everywhere when he stepped into Yongchuan—after all, this was the territory of the Chen family—he didn’t expect he would meet the butler of the Chen family again in this way at Yongchuan University.

They moved so quickly that he was unprepared…

“Hello, Mr. Butler.” He bowed slightly and greeted the man, then raised his head and bowed to the person left of Chen Ping. “Vice Principal Xu, it’s been a long time since I saw you.”

Chen Ping lowered his eyes and looked down at the young man in front of him.

Previously, his subordinates reported to him that Lin Chen had set food in Yongchuan University again, so he immediately came to the school, but when he arrived, he heard that there had been a murder, which only made him furious!

In layman’s terms: Lin Chen, you fucking did this on purpose. Why does something always happen anywhere you go?!

Although he was in an irritable mood, Chen Ping had to maintain the pride that a butler of an elite family should have, so when he saw Lin Chen, he had to restrain himself from taunting him.

Yet Lin Chen was still polite and unassuming, neither humble nor overbearing. In fact, every time he drove Lin Chen away and pressed the young man to take a menial job, he always responded with the same calmness.

Many times, Chen Ping felt that Lin Chen didn’t care about his predicament of being expelled by the North and South families, let alone whether he cared if he was sleeping in a small bungalow or a basement. The key issue was that, deep down, Lin Chen didn’t seem to care about them at all.

Why?! Why doesn’t he care?!

The more Chen Ping thought about it, the angrier he became. He angrily said to the police officer on the scene, “There’s been a murder at Yongchuan University, and this is how you investigate?”

Jiang Chao looked at the aggressive old man who was yelling, his voice hoarse.

“Mr. Butler, do you have any comments on the police investigation?”

It was a lazy voice that had a slight sarcasm in its tone. Chen Peng felt he had heard this voice somewhere before. He followed the sound and saw the policeman who had protected Lin Chen at Hongjing Experimental Primary School last time.

“If you have any opinions, you can go to the bureau and raise them. After all, this is the scene of a crime. If you go in and out at will, it’ll cause trouble for our forensic team.” Vice Captain Jiang, who was still in a state of shock, finally spoke up.

Jiang Chao instantly regained his senses, turned his head to glare at the two uninvited guests, and shouted, “Who are you? Casually entering the crime scene… Xiao Chen, Xiao Chen, remove those people!”

Chen Ping sneered, “This is the vice president of Yongchuan University. For such a big thing to happen in the school, are the police not letting our school understand the situation?”

“There’s no problem understanding the situation, but irrelevant people are not allowed to enter the crime scene. Please forgive me,” Xing Conglian said.

“This is Yongchuan. It seems that it’s not your jurisdiction, Captain Xing. Besides, isn’t he an irrelevant person as well?” Cheng Ping spoke while pointing at Lin Chen.

“But I’m a policeman, and Mr. Lin Chen is our consultant for the Hongjing Police Department. Of course, compared to you, we’re still slightly more qualified to stand here,” Xing Conglian said very politely with a smile on his face, but the meaning in his words was quite disrespectful.

Looking at that young man’s smiling face, Chen Ping realized he was being led into a pit…

“Very well… Very well!” Chen Ping sneered. He took out his phone and called someone. “Is this Director Liu? I’m Chen Ping. I’m at Yongchuan University… Yes, something happened at the school. I want to trouble you…”

“Something happened at the scene.” Chen Ping’s gaze swept across the faces of Lin Chen, Xing Conglian, and the policeman who wanted to kick him out. Then he turned around and walked out of the woods. He walked very slowly, as if deliberately to let everyone present hear what he was saying. “Someone found a second body that was impossible to find. We suspect that person is suspicious and is involved in a major crime… but your subordinates seem to be protecting him… I want to ask you, what the hell is going on?”

They didn’t know what the person on the other end of the line said, but Chen Ping’s tone eased. “Alright, then I’ll trouble you…”

He hung up after he finished and stood still outside the cordon, looking at the people inside.

Jiang Chao looked around, feeling as if the grove seemed to echo the old man’s cold, hard voice. “Was that a complaint to our director?” he asked Xing Conglian.

“It seems so?” Xing Conglian smiled helplessly.

Almost the next second, Jiang Chao’s phone rang.

Xing Conglian could hear the scolding coming from the other end of the line. The voice echoed loudly from the microphone of Jiang Chao’s phone in the distance.

Jiang Chao hung up the phone and looked at Xing Conglian with an embarrassing expression, like an eggplant beaten by frost*.

*Term used to describe someone as wilted/listless/low-spirited. It derives from how eggplants can’t withstand frost and tend to wilt in the cold.

Xing Conglian was very understanding. He went over and patted Jiang Chao on the shoulder and asked, “Hey, need our assistance with the investigation?”

Jiang Chao nodded heavily and leaned into Xing Conglian’s ear and whispered, “Ah, it’s fine. Our boss is probably just pretending to put on a show for the old man.” After he finished speaking, Jiang Chao rushed to where the butler was standing, trying to appease him.

When Jiang Chao returned, he had a difficult expression, as if he didn’t know what to say. “Lao Xing, I’m really sorry. I have to trouble you and Mr. Lin to come back with us!”

When the police officers at the scene heard this, they were immediately displeased.

“What are you doing? Have you finished collecting evidence? Did you finish the autopsy? Hurry up and get to work!” Jiang Chao shouted.

Because of Jiang Chao’s urging, the police officers resumed their operation.

Due to the pit under the banyan tree being too deep, two police officers, under the command of the forensic pathologist, were needed to remove the girl’s body.

Ling Chen and Xing Conglian walked together. Seeing Lin Chen frown, Xing Conglian couldn’t help but comfort him. He whispered, “It’s not your fault.”

The girl’s body was slowly taken out.

Suddenly, something under the corpse that was buried in the soil attracted the attention of the forensic doctor again.

He knelt carefully on the edge of the pit, gently poking the layer of soil with his hand, and exposed a red cloth!

“It seems… It seems that there’s another person below…” He raised his head and shouted at the two people who were talking not far away.

Hearing this, Xing Conglian finally showed a shocked expression on his face.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian with the same expression as he muttered, “My suspicion seems to have cleared up a bit?”

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Kinky Thoughts:

WTF is this? Some kind of Russian doll burial?

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