Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 20

Knowing that Lin Chen was at the rest stop and couldn’t leave, Xing Conglian wasn’t in a rush. He knew very well the ingenuity of his friend, so Lin Chen must have known that he was already exposed.

It would be quite interesting to watch a man, who was usually known for his calmness, become extremely anxious.

On the north side of Heping Road, the traffic police stopped a school bus from presumably turning onto Changping Avenue going northbound.

When Xing Conglian arrived, the school bus driver was arguing with the traffic police who had stopped him.

“Sir, you haven’t broken any laws. The police just want to ask you some questions.” The traffic police officer stood by the school bus and tried to patiently persuade.

“Students are trying to get to class!” The school bus driver slammed on the steering wheel.

Xing Conglian circled around the bright yellow school bus.

The students on the bus had already gotten out so they could inspect it. The boys and girls were all wearing private school uniforms and standing in twos and threes on the side of the road.

The girls wore sailor skirts that came to their knees. When the wind blew, it revealed the lines of their youthful, energetic legs; the boys, without the slightest air of arrogance, were quietly waiting to be questioned, despite the delay.

“Fengjing* Private School?” Xing Conglian set his gaze on the school emblem composed of a golden maple leaf and silver laurels on the left side of the school bus.

*Maple [Feng] (枫) View [Jing] (景). This is why the school’s emblem is a maple leaf.

“It’s the city’s famous private school that offers courses from kindergarten to high school. The tuition fees are quite high!” Wang Chao pointed to a little girl with a mushroom head on the side of the road. The little girl was also wearing a navy blue school uniform skirt and was being held by a tall boy.

“For such a young child, her parents are comfortable letting her go to school by herself?” Xing Conglian couldn’t help but click his tongue.

“In Fengjing, kindergarteners are picked up and dropped off one-on-one by special senior students, so how could it be unsafe?” Hearing this question, the manager of the transportation company that was standing to the side couldn’t help but speak up.

“Do you have children going to Fengjing?”

“My youngest brother. He’s a high schooler.”

“Must be rich, huh?”

Hearing what Xing Conglian said, Yang Dianfeng gave him a meaningful smile and replied, “After all, the quality of education is good, so it’s only right to spend more money. If Captain Xing also wants to send his children to it, I can introduce you to the principal.”

“We criminal investigators are very poor and can’t afford such tuition.”

While chatting with Yang Dianfeng, Xing Conglian suddenly noticed the police officer who was assisting in handling the scene had pulled something out of a girl’s schoolbag.

The police officer sealed the items in the evidence bag and handed them to Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian glanced at the contents of the bag and walked up to the female student. “Young lady…” As soon as he opened his mouth, Wang Chao kicked him in the sides.

“Classmate, you said this thing isn’t yours?” He quickly changed his tone and held up the evidence bag in front of the female student. Inside was the tablet computer that was taken away by the teenage hijacker not long ago.

The girl nodded. “When I packed my schoolbag this morning, I didn’t have this thing.”

“Then you have never touched it?”

The girl’s eyes were clear. “You can check for fingerprints.”

“Makes sense.” Xing Conglian rubbed the stubble on his chin.

“My schoolbag has always been on me today. Unless someone put it on me when I was walking to the bus stop, but that’s not very likely.” The girl looked at her schoolbag, which was securely fastened by an iron clasp.

“Makes sense.” Xing Conglian continued to rub his stubbles. “What time did you leave the house?”

“7:35.”

“Where do you live?”

“Ruoshui Street.”

“Oh?” Xing Conglian looked at the girl but didn’t ask any other questions.

“Well, uncle, can I go now?” After she spoke, she started walking in the direction of the school bus.

“Interesting.” Xing Conglian stared at the girl’s ponytail as he said it aloud to himself.

Wang Chao found it unbearable. “Captain, quickly give me the tablet and hurry up and go to the rest stop and find A’Chen, please!”

The captain of the police criminal division, who was about to catch a turtle in a jar*, ignored the pleas of his subordinate. He handed over the tablet in a leisurely manner and waited to the side with his arms folded.

*(瓮中捉鳖) Idiom referring to a sure catch.

Wang Chao looked at Xing Conglian’s happy face and had to swallow his anger and resigned himself to work.

He quickly connected the tablet to his laptop and tapped out a bunch of dazzling codes.

A complex red path was outlined on the map, showing the specific location of the tablet after it was stolen by the hijacker.

The cobweb-like road map was completely confusing, but Wang Chao seemed to suddenly realize something. He took out his phone and entered two locations.

“What the hell…” Wang Chao looked at the phone, then at the road map on the computer. He subconsciously shouted at Xing Conglian, “Captain, there’s a problem with the GPS on this computer. This is simply impossible!”

Hearing this, the general manager of Tu’an changed his expression. “Mr. Police Officer, this on-board system is the latest equipment from our company. It’s impossible for there to be any problems!”

“Look, I just did a simple calculation using my phone navigation app. From the Shifang section of the Honjing Highway to our current location, it’s a total of 165 kilometers. That would take more than two hours to drive.” As Wang Chao spoke, he flashed his phone to Yang Dianfeng, then tapped on the estimated time in the upper right corner of the phone. “But look, it’s just 8:00. It’s only been an hour and a half since the bus was robbed, and his driving path is complicated. How can it be possible to get from there to here in such a short time.”

“Maybe he took a shortcut. Can’t you analyze these paths? Shouldn’t there be clues?”

Wang Chao wanted to refute, but after thinking about it, Xing Conglian could have a point, so he brought up the map of the surrounding area of Honjing and began to study it carefully.

Xing Conglian looked at the entire map. The roads were densely packed like blood vessels inside a human body.

“The young lady just said she went out at 7:35. She was pretty sure that this tablet wasn’t in her schoolbag before that, so focus on studying where our lovely tablet passed through and how that tablet got into that young lady’s school bag during the magical time between 7:25 to 8:00.”

Wang Chao’s eyes lit up. He started to retrieve the data according to what Xing Conglian said, but soon became depressed.

“Manager Yang, to be honest, there’s still a problem with your system.” The technician looked frustrated. “Why doesn’t your GPS system have a ‘location-time’ record?”

“What do you mean?” Xing Conglian asked.

“The system only records the location and driving path of the machine, but it doesn’t record when it passes through these places.”

Yang Dianfeng spread his hands helplessly. “For us, we only need the GPS to control and monitor the driving path of the vehicle. I’m sorry.”

“We’ll have to combine this with surveillance to investigate. I’ll ask the school bus driver to show us his daily driving map for you to compare with.” Xing Conglian was also a bit disappointed. He patted Wang Chao on the shoulder as if to soothe him.

“But it doesn’t make sense, Captain!” Wang Chao rubbed his hands together. “Even if the comparison is made, what can it prove by knowing how it got into that young lady’s schoolbag?”

“Prove what?” Xing Conglian’s tone became a little cold. “Prove that a criminal has the ability to do something that we usually can’t do? Prove that we’ve been taken for a ride by him? Prove that we don’t know what his purpose is yet? What proof do you need?”

After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he didn’t even look at Wang Chao and walked towards the driver.

Wang Chao looked at the back of his boss and felt that after the autumn full of torrential rain and blood, his captain seemed to be quietly undergoing some changes, but it was hard to say what the difference was.

“Captain Xing, please wait a moment.”

Before having walked two steps, Xing Conglian was stopped by Yang Dianfeng.

“I have the latest map of Hongjing in paper form.” Yang Dianfeng ran to his car, took out a map from the glove compartment, and trotted over to deliver it. “Let him draw directly on the map so you can see it clearly.”

The school bus driver found that the captain of the criminal division had a bad look on his face, so he surprisingly cooperated. He marked his daily route on the map and clearly marked each stop he made. Xing Conglian glanced at the map and then gave it to Wang Chao.

Wang Chao compared the route on the map and compiled the driving path on the computer. A simple and clear path in yellow began to overlap with the red route recorded by the tablet system.

“What the hell?” Looking at the map, Xing Conglian couldn’t help but repeat what Wang Chao had just said.

Because the earliest overlap between the two routes was at the entrance of Fengjing, and after that, the red and yellow lines separated and overlapped many times, which was completely baffling.

“If there was a matching timeline, this would be much easier,” Wang Chao said exasperatedly.

“I’ll go around this section of the road again.” Xing Conglian pointed to the school bus route.

“I’ll go with you,” Yang Dianfeng said with a smile.

Outside the car window, the road signs kept changing. Yang Dianfeng was sitting in the front passenger seat and saw that while Xing Conglian was looking at the map, he didn’t make a wrong turn.

“Captain Xing has a good memory.” The handsome bus company manager leaned against the window and propped up his chin with one hand, letting the spring breeze blow into his hair.

Xing Conglian took out a cigarette and didn’t bother responding.

Xing Conglian stopped the car at the intersection close to Fengjing. It was currently school hours. The boys and girls got off the bus from a place outside the intersection and walked past the school gate.

Yang Dianfeng followed Xing Conglian briskly along the tree-lined street full of camphor trees.

Xing Conglian walked slowly with his hands in his pockets.

The chilly spring breeze was loud as it passed him, but he moved without hesitation.

“What are you thinking?” Yang Dianfeng finally couldn’t help but ask.

“Once, a friend of mine told me that if there’s something I don’t understand, just feel it.” Xing Conglian closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

“Then, do you feel anything?”

The captain of the police force opened his eyes and didn’t answer.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

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Chapter 19

“No fucking way!”

Wang Chao slammed on the pause button at the end of the video and froze the picture on the hijacking boy who was blowing a kiss.

The young and talkative technician exclaimed excitedly, so unsurprisingly, he received a blow from the captain.

“Do you think this is funny?” Xing Conglian asked as he looked at the young boy in the video.

“Hijacking, in order to steal candy. This is ingenious, perhaps too ingenious…” Wang Chao chattered on, only to realize that the surrounding atmosphere was wrong. He raised his head, only to find that Xing Conglian’s face was livid. “Captain, are you serious? Lighten up. No one was hurt, so it’s all cool, right?”

“No one was hurt? Fortunately, no one was hurt!” Xing Conglian grabbed the mouse and dragged the progress bar. The screen stopped at the moment the young boy raised his gun to shoot. “Did you even think that if he accidently missed and caused the bullet to rebound, it’s likely that it could kill someone?!”

On the screen, the young boy’s hand that was holding the gun was very stable, like a rock.

Such a posture would never appear on an uninitiated teenager, so he was not just some ordinary teenager.

The passenger inside the bus may not have noticed it, but from the time the young boy raised his gun, his eyes never once left the security camera.

He was watching the surveillance; watching those who were monitoring him.

Wang Chao was admonished so hard that he didn’t dare argue, so he pretended to drink tea. Because he was inattentive, he accidentally drank the entire cup in one gulp.

Fortunately, the avatar in the lower right corner of the computer began to flash, saving his life. Wang Chao quickly clicked on the dialogue box and the latest picture popped up from the police investigating the scene.

In the photo was a bullet just found from the hijacked bus.

Xing Conglian leaned down and glanced at the photo. “It’s another 9mm revolver again?”

As he spoke, he brought up the video and zoomed in on the gun the teenager was holding.

“It must be the same one.” Wang Chao gritted his teeth. “This case is also very strange. Is there anything wrong with that little brat? Do you really don’t want to ask an expert to look at this?” He asked tentatively.

Since Lin Chen’s disappearance, Professor Fu Hao, the original psychological consultant for the police force, chose to return to his alma mater, Yongchuan University, to teach because he couldn’t stand the blow. The post of psychological consultant had become vacant. In order to fill the vacancy, the higher-ups had appointed an expert who was rumored to be a rising star in criminal psychology to the Hongjing Police Department for the Criminal Division.

When Xing Conglian heard this, he immediately glared at Wang Chao. “You mean go see that afro head who asked me to go see a doctor when he saw me?”

“He said that I’m hyperactive, but I didn’t know what that meant at the time.” Wang Chao slapped the table, becoming furious. “Later, I went home and checked it. Guess what, he said that I have ‘ADHD*’. How could laozi have ADHD?”

*Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. A neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by excessive amounts of inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity that are pervasive, impairing in multiple contexts, and otherwise age-inappropriate.

As Wang Chao spoke, he leaned back in his chair angrily while twirling a pen with one hand and patting Xing Conglian on the shoulder with the other. A handful of ash fell from Xing Conglian’s shoulder. Wang Chao rubbed the soot and asked, “You’ve gone to A’Chen’s tomb again?”

“Can you focus on badmouthing others?” Xing Conglian stood up embarrassedly and quickly patted off the ash in Wang Chao’s hand.

It had been a long time since Lin Chen fell into the river; so long that it seemed as if he had never appeared in the city in the first place. Xing Conglian would occasionally go and sit in front of Lin Chen’s grave when he was feeling lost.

And this serial robbery case was particularly bizarre, even more mysterious than Feng Peilin’s case. An armed robber that specializes in robbing buses on the highway. He was agile and had received professional shooting training. He could often take control of a bus within thirty seconds, but the funny thing was, he was willing to take huge risks to hijack a bus, but all he asked for was candy.

The young man was so gorgeous like Skittles that the media started to call him the “Candy Bandit”. Children loved him, girls admired him, and even the business of Tu’an Transportation Corporation improved because of this hijacker, so this whole thing looked like some kind of game being played by a special interest group.

Xing Conglian felt uneasy. He couldn’t tell where this anxiety was coming from. He felt like they were playing a game of defusing a bomb. If they cut the wrong wire, the bomb would immediately explode.

His hands were covered with water stains from the cup holding iced tea. He rubbed his face with the hand covered in ice water and got ready to leave.

It was also a coincidence that his vision became blurred by the water stains, and at that time, his mind wasn’t even on Lin Chen, but his eyes inadvertently swung past the computer screen. He saw a person sitting in the backseat of the bus, and his heart started to pound uncontrollably.

The man sitting in the aisle was wearing a black cap and looked like he was sleeping soundly, but Xing Conglian knew very well he wasn’t asleep.

Just before the boy reached into his pocket to get his gun, the man raised his head and looked at the teenager’s back.

This was a very slight action, but also extremely meaningful.

Even if it was only a 0.1 second precognition, it was still precognition.

So whether it was a coincidence or not, it didn’t matter, because that person’s face was far too familiar to Xing Conglian.

He was so familiar with it that even through the low-resolution black and white surveillance video, even if he was shown just a pair of eyes, Xing Conglian would be able to recognize them.

That was Lin Chen.

Xing Conglian pressed the back button again and again then pause the screen. With white pale fingers, he drew a circle on the screen, circling a face.

Wang Chao stared at the video for a while, then asked, “Captain, are you saying there are accomplices of that little bastard in the car?”

“That’s Lin Chen!”

Wang Chao was stunned. He hurriedly took a screenshot and enlarged the picture. Even with the pixel particles enlarged to the size of a thumb’s fingernail, he couldn’t connect the person in the picture with Lin Chen.

He could only turn his head solemnly and stared at Xing Conglian’s eyes and said solemnly, “Captain, honestly, I think the expert may be right. You should go to the hospital and get checked out.”

Xing Conglian smacked Wang Chao on the head with a fierce slap, leaving the technical nerd holding his head in pain and crying without tears.

—

No matter how many times the people at the police station watched the video, the teenage hijacker that flew into the vast reed was destined to disappear. The rescued passengers were sent to the nearest rest stop canteen for food and to wait to be interviewed.

The air at the canteen was a bit greasy and the temperature was still low.

Most of the passengers were sitting on the side near the floor-to-ceiling windows, letting the warm sunlight bake their bodies. They talked among each other and didn’t seem panicked despite having experienced the hijacking just now.

On the edge of the crowd, in a somewhat dark corner, a young man was removing the scarf around his neck. He put it around an old woman who was dragging her heavy luggage next to him.

The old lady seemed very happy to have such a good-looking young man sit next to her. She touched the scarf around her neck and smiled, then took out an orange from the bag she was carrying and stuffed it into the young man’s hand.

The orange was cold.

If Wang Chao was present, he would definitely kneel and swallow back his previous words.

It was indeed Lin Chen, the one who had fallen into the rushing river with Feng Peilin, and the Lin Chen, whose body was never found.

Lin Chen touched the cold orange and looked in the direction of the exit a little inadvertently.

For the first time, he discovered that his life wasn’t very good.

Since he lied to people in order to cheat death so he could escape, including friends who cared about him, he was afraid to see those friends again whom he had deceived.

Maybe one day, he would meet his friend in the vast sea of people. This was one of the scenarios he made for their reunion.

However, in those scenarios, it didn’t include a robber who got on a bus and hijacked it right under said friend’s jurisdiction.

The setting was too outrageous and tricky.

Fate, really, was too relentless.

—

While one was lamenting fate, there was a certain police captain of the police criminal division who had been sad for more than half a year.

“Tell the guys at the scene to tell all the passengers in the bus to have a good rest at the rest stop. The police will arrange vehicles in a unified manner and send everyone off. Remember, before I arrive, let, no one, go.” Xing Conglian hooked the corners of his mouth and emphasized each word of the last sentence.

When he finished speaking, he turned his head to leave. As he reached for the door, someone opened it first and walked in.

The visitor seemed to be a business elite. He was wearing a camel windbreaker that was knee length and a smoky gray rhombic scarf around his neck.

After shaking hands with Xing Conglian, the other party took out a gold business card from his pocket and handed it to him with both hands: [Yang Dianfeng, General Manager of Tu’an Transportation Corporation]

Because of the series of bus hijackings, Xing Conglian had many dealings with the public relations of Tu’an Transportation Corporation. These groups of incompetent businessmen weren’t very cooperative with their investigation, so Xing Conglian put away the business card and sat on his desk impatiently. He lit a cigarette and stuffed it into his mouth. “Something wrong, Mr. Yang?”

“Regarding the cases on the Hongjing highway, we ask that you please pay more attention, won’t you, captain?”

Hearing his business-like tone, Xing Conglian took a puff from his cigarette and blew out a smoke ring. “Aren’t you quite happy?”

“Why would Captain Xing say that?”

“What a strange bus thief. He’s worth his weight in prime-time advertising.”

“Captain Xing believes that the serial robbery is the work of our company?”

The scarf Yang Dianfeng was wearing had a small trademark on it. It was a limited-edition scarf from a high-end specialty store. The scarf alone was worth half a year of his salary.

“No such thing,” Xing Conglian replied absent-mindedly.

“Captain Xing might think this is a game played by our company to boost business, but in fact, it’s not worthwhile to take such a big risk just to increase market share by a few percentages.”

“Manager Yang came all the way here just to say this?”

“Actually, I’m here to provide a clue to Captain Yang.” Yang Dianfeng took out a silver laptop from his handbag. “All the buses in our company are equipped with an autonomous call-for-help system based on GIS¹ and MEMS accelerometers². The on-board computer on the robbed A7645 bus was taken away by the robber today, but the bus signal remained.”

¹Geographical information system is a type of database containing geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with software tools for managing, analyzing, and visualizing those data.
²Used to measure linear motion, either movement, shock, or vibration, but without a fixed reference. They measure the linear acceleration of whatever they are attached to.

Wang Chao got up abruptly. He grabbed Yang Dianfeng’s laptop and tapped on it for a while, then suddenly said, “Captain, the direction is north of Heping Road, heading southbound.”

Yang Dianfeng crossed his arms and leaned back into his chair, raising his eyebrows at Xing Conglian with a smile.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 18

Fate was a two-way journey.

***

The early spring in Honjing was still very cold.

At least after the sting, the rain was also abundant. The clouds outlined a vivid scene between heaven and earth, full of lush foliage that was about to bloom.

The sound of bicycle bells jingled from everywhere, as if it was a small bell to wake up insects, as they passed by countless flower stands lined up on the side of the road displaying creamy yellow carnations or lavender orchids that pedestrians could buy for a fraction of the cost.

Xing Conglian parked his car on the side of the road, got out, and stopped under a sycamore tree.

There was a flower stand there. The young flower girl, wearing a fleece hat, blushed when she saw him. She smiled sweetly at him when he gave her ten yuan and handed him a bouquet of lilies like usual.

The lilies carried the fragrance of dew. He ruffled the girl’s shaggy hair, then turned around and walked deep into the street full of flower stands.

At the end of the street was a hidden cemetery. As he got closer, the fragrance of flowers gradually faded, replaced by the smell of incense.

The cemetery wasn’t on the outskirts of a beautiful mountain but close to a large river with a bridge named Taiqian.

More than half a year had passed since Lin Chen fell from that bridge.

The lake gurgled as the water covered the pebbles on shore as Xing Conglian walked through the scattered tombstones. He stopped and put down the bouquet of lilies in front of the tombstone closest to the lake shore.

There wasn’t a picture on the tombstone. The name was painted in red ink. Perhaps because there was too much oil in the paint when the words were painted, there were small ink stains leaking from the edges of the characters that looked like tentacles belonging to some kind of insect.

He casually sat down cross-legged in front of the tombstone, then lit a cigarette and let the fire burn out the smoke, little by little.

That day, after Lin Chen and Feng Peilin fell off the bridge, they searched high and low but could only find Feng Peilin’s body.

For three days and nights, without sleep, he experienced for the first time going from full hope to crashing into despair.

Until now, he sometimes remembered Lin Chen’s face when he fell into the river.

He had seen the faces of many people before they died, but he had never seen anyone as calm and collected as Lin Chen. It was as if he was going out for breakfast, or as calm as the autumn leaves that were about to fall from the branches.

He often wondered if Lin Chen was dead. After all, they didn’t find any corpses. Perhaps one day, Lin Chen would appear in front of this makeshift tomb, pick up the lilies in front of his tombstone, and lightly smell them.

Therefore, Xing Conglian liked to come here often, especially when he had nothing to do. He would sit here in a daze.

This gave him some comfort.

He sat in front of Lin Chen’s grave and looked around aimlessly.

At that moment, his cellphone began to vibrate.

“Captain, he’s appeared again,” the caller said.

“In the Shifang section of the Hongjing Highway…”

“There were no casualties.”

Xing Conglian hung up the phone and stared at the tombstone. He took a deep puff from his cigarette, then threw it on the ground and stomped out the spark with his heel.

—

The Hongjing Police Criminal Division was no different from the way it was after Lin Chen left.

In the office, most of the police officers had already left, leaving only a technician watching videos behind.

Xing Conglian grabbed the iced lemon tea from Wang Chao’s hand and took a sip. It was so cold that it made his teeth chatter.

“Captain, although you don’t mind, I do. Can you please buy your own drink?” Wang Chao snatched the iced tea back with one hand and turned the mouth of the cup in disgust, while his other hand never left the mouse.

“How is the situation or the kid?”

“See for yourself,” Wang Chao said as he clicked play on the video.

It was an edited video recording of a passenger bus for eight minutes on the highway.

It was just after six in the morning. The stars and moon had just faded. Both sides of the highway were full of soft reeds. When a bus sped past, the reeds near the roadside would sway like waves.

There were a lot of people on the bus. Because it was so packed, water vapors from people’s breaths condensed into mist on the bus’s window. Most of the passengers had their eyes closed as the atmosphere seemed to be full of drowsiness.

On the seat by the window, a woman with a child tore open the packaging for a lollipop. The little girl took the cantaloupe milk-flavored candy and licked it.

Suddenly, a huge road sign with white characters on a green background appeared outside the window. The bus was going so fast that the road sign only flashed momentarily, leaving behind only the afterimage of the large font in people’s eyes.

This road sign seemed to have activated a peculiar spell. The mist outside the window seemed to penetrate into the car all at once. The surveillance screen began to shake violently, and the video became blurry. The curtains flew up and all the passengers leaned to the left.

Only when a loud sound pierced their eardrums did the driver slam on the brakes. The screeching sound of the emergency brake combined with the booming sounds of the horn was deafening.

The candy in the little girl’s hand fell to the ground. The surface of the milky yellow lollipop was stained with dirt and dust from the floor as it kept rolling towards the back row.

After the bus stopped in a temporary parking zone, all the passengers woke up as if from a dream. They hurriedly looked around. After a while, they found that there seemed to be no other vehicles around.

The road was empty, horribly empty.

They subconsciously turned to the driver. Several young, strong people stood up from the back rows. As if they were in danger, they tried to rush out.

However, everyone was stunned when they saw a gun, which was pointed at the driver’s head.

Somehow, someone had reached the driver’s seat first.

It was a very young boy, wearing a sooty cashmere scarf. The scarf covered his mouth and nose, revealing only slightly raised eyes that were like moist glass and gave people the urge to want to kiss it.

They all watched as the boy leaned close to the driver’s ear. It seemed like he was saying something.

Now, this was a legal society with strict gun control. Most people had never seen a handgun with their own eyes let alone encountered a loaded one on a highway robbery.

After waiting for dozens of seconds, the hijacker didn’t seem to make any movements, causing the passenger to begin to whisper.

The mother put her arms around her child and patted her lightly. The men stood up vigilantly. The atmosphere in the bus gradually became turbulent. The bold young people began to walk up the aisle, trying to get closer to the cab.

The hijacker’s eyes narrowed slightly, as if smiling.

In the next moment, the gun went off.

It was a real gunshot, like a firecracker exploding or the sound of a tire popping. It slightly shook the mist that had piled up on the side of the road.

Everyone’s first reaction was to close their eyes and cover their ears.

At the same time, the bullet grazed the driver’s forehead and shattered the car window on the side of the cab. Glass shards fell all over the floor. The driver gritted his teeth and shrank into a ball, trembling all over.

The passengers, who had been holding on to luck, suddenly realized that the young boy with the gun was a serious hijacker.

The car instantly became silent.

However, the young boy standing in the front of the bus simply smiled. His eyes curved into a beautiful arc. He stretched out his arms and jumped on the panel of the bus as he put down the gun in his hand.

Was the vicious hijacker about to speak?

Was he going to say something like, “Hand over all your money or I’ll kill you” or “If you don’t want a bullet in your brain, put all your valuables in the bag”?

Some of the passengers had already taken off their gold watches, but then they heard a strange thing.

“Ladies and gentlemen, take out all your candies, but not anything citrus-flavored. I don’t like them!”

The young boy said this as if this was all just a game. He was tossing the gun in his hand from his left hand to his right hand when suddenly he stretched out his hand and pointed the barrel at the driver who was planning to act. “I said, please don’t move.”

His soft voice invaded every passenger’s ear like warm water.

Everyone thought they had heard wrong. They looked around in confusion, as they didn’t know what to expect.

“Hurry up. I’m not joking around.” The young man sat on the panel again and laughed. He was wearing light blue jeans and had on a pair of bright yellow Nike shoes. His feet were dangling in the air, swaying gently left and right.

Just when all the passengers were still immersed in unknown confusion, a resounding “boom” sounded. The boy had pulled the trigger again.

This time, the bullet flew straight to the front of the bus. The windshield exploded with a “bang” and cold air burst in from the outside.

The wind blew up the boy’s jet-black and soft hair and made the driver’s face as cold as gold foil.

As if by magic, the young boy pulled out a maroon velvet hat from his jacket pocket and thoughtfully put it on the driver.

But in the next second, he pointed his gun at a restless middle-aged man in the front row who was about to pull out his phone and coldly said, “Hurry up!”

The middle-aged man trembled as he took out half a roll of Halls from his pocket and handed it over.

The young man accepted the candy with satisfaction. He took one out with one hand and popped it in his mouth, then stuffed the candy wrapper into his pocket.

When a leader acted, naturally, it would drive a group of followers. White cold candies, lemon drops, pink bubble gum, and a plethora of colorful candies fell into the pockets of the young boy one after another. One passenger even handed over a box full of golden Ferrero. The young boy looked at the chocolate in disgust and refused.

Eight minutes later, all the candy on the bus was swept away.

The on-board pager of the bus would come on from time to time. Red dots on the pager kept flashing. The teenager started to get annoyed. He turned off the tablet-sized pager and took it off the shelf.

“I wish you all a pleasant journey.”

After he finished speaking, he jumped onto the front-most console of the bus and blew everyone a kiss.

The next moment, they saw him jump out the broken front window without hesitation, rolled onto the highway and scampered down it as if he was flying into the vast reed forest like an egret returning home.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 17

Around dinner time, citizens of Hongjing unexpectedly found that the promotional ad for the tourism festival that had been showing on TV for most of the month had changed to a new style.

Accompanied by the sound of the zither, the TV screen gradually brightened, and an emerald-colored river slowly came into view. Several small ducks were playing in it. They shook their heads as if they were in a hurry to return home.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven…”

A tender voice of a child overpowered the crisp sound of the zither. An old man was holding his grandson, who appeared at the stone arch bridge. The little boy’s footsteps were unsteady as he counted each of his steps excitedly.

The camera moved to the other side of the small bridge, capturing a traveler with a backpack standing by the bridge. He froze for a moment, then read out the couplets on the stone pillars of the bridge. “In spring, the flowing water is green. In autumn, the sunset at the ferry is red.”

The traveler’s voice sounded almost ethereal, giving those who heard it a warm, pleasant feeling.

The traveler started to move away, and the camera followed his footprints to an open river that was surging.

The camera then zoomed across the river and finally landed on the words “Taiqian Bridge”.

The soundtrack stopped abruptly, and the pretty face of a female anchor appeared.

“We interrupt this broadcast for an emergency announcement. A vicious murder occurred on the 10^th of this month in the city. The suspect is Feng Peilin. Male. 37 years old. The police remind everyone that this person is extremely dangerous. If you see this person, please contact the police immediately.”

Following the female anchor’s solemn voice, a photo of Feng Peilin appeared at the top left of the screen. He had the corners of his mouth crook, as if mocking something.

This was obviously a trap Lin Chen had set up to catch Feng Peilin.

In this regard, Lin Chen’s explanation was that any prison had a “psychological belonging point”. Just like when people go shopping, they would subconsciously choose the most convenient place, so the suspect would commit crimes in places that could make them feel at ease or have special significance.

The crimes committed by Feng Peilin were all in an area within a 1.5-kilometer radius of the school he worked at as the center. The Taiqian Bridge happened to be in this area as well.

What was even better was that the river under the bridge was full of water, which represented the initial surge of life, which was related to the intention of the sand table.

To appease the suspect’s obsession with the number seven, the short ad featured seven little ducks and a child counting to seven, which would elicit a sense of familiarity with Feng Peilin.

Finally, the Taiqian* Bridge was also seven strokes. In Feng Peilin’s subconscious, he would think this place was very calming.

*Writing out the characters [Taiqian] (太千) is seven strokes.

If the tranquil short film could evoke Feng Peilin’s fond memories, then the subsequent interruption was to let Feng Peilin know that the police were looking for him, which would force him to act faster.

Under the dual combination of unconscious memory and external pressure, he would definitely choose to go to the Taiqian Bridge.

Staring at Feng Peilin’s pale yet handsome face, someone raised the remote control and turned off the TV.

The screen became dark. There was only a table lamp that still exuded warm light. In another place there was also a spot that was bright.

That was the reflection from the top of someone’s head.

“Inspector Huang, why did you suddenly think of finding an old man like me to have tea with?” In the director’s office, the Chief of Police was holding a teacup in his hand as he took big sips from it. He didn’t bother to mention anything about the promotional ad just now.

Huang Ze sat opposite the old director. He smiled and poured himself a cup of tea, then gently pushed it in front of the old director. “I’m here this time mainly to talk to you.”

The old director couldn’t help but take a deep breath. He closed his eyes, as if he was enjoying the fragrance of the tea, and acted as if he hadn’t heard anything at all.

However, Huang Ze didn’t get angry at this response. He sat there and waited, and such a wait represented respect.

The time passed so long that the fragrance in the room no longer smelled like tea, and the old man couldn’t hold his breath forever. “Young Master Huang, you’re too polite, much too polite.”

The old director took the teacup and drank it all in one go. He acted so casually, as if the tea he drank was no different than the tea served on the side of the road.

“This is as it should be.” Huang Ze filled the old director’s teacup again. “Friends from other families wanted to ask you, Uncle Shi, what exactly are your intentions?” Huang Ze didn’t even give the old man time to breathe. He was straightforward. “Without your acquiescence, Lin Chen couldn’t participate in the investigation of this case. What exactly are your intentions?”

The fact that Huang Ze asked “What exactly are your intentions” twice was, in and of itself, quite interesting.

A person of Huang Ze’s stature rarely needed to express his emotions and position through emphatic statements, but he asked the same question twice in a row.

This signified to the old man that he was annoyed, and of course, the reason was because of Lin Chen.

Lin Chen was a small person who had no background or backing. He could be easily squished, like killing an ant. The only reason he was still alive was because if you hated someone, it was best to watch their dreams shatter and have them kneel and beg for mercy like the ant they were.

In the past two years, Lin Chen had lived a very hard life.

Until a few days ago, he had reappeared in their sights again, and insisted on intervening in this case with an unyielding attitude. If there was no acquiescence from the old man, no matter how much the police captain trusted Lin Chen, it would be impossible for a small dorm manager like him to express key opinions for the investigation, let alone with just a few words, convince the TV station to produce a commercial within three hours so they could trap Feng Peilin.

Therefore, the main purpose of Huang Ze’s trip was to ask the old man behind all this: What exactly was his intentions?

For an old man like him that could prevent Chen Dong from taking action and have Huang Ze himself appear in person, it meant he himself had some status. His surname was Wu, the Wu that was part of the elite four families, Zhou, Wu, Chen, and Huang.

“Didn’t you and Xiao Lin get along quite well before?” Director Wu narrowed his eyes as he tried to dodge the question.

“Uncle Shi, this isn’t funny. Among the people who died that night, my own sister was one of them. No matter what, Lin Chen and I can’t return to the past.” Huang Ze’s expression turned gloomy as he responded bluntly to the old man’s question.

“Well, if you can’t be good friends, how about just regular friends?”

“I won’t be friends with a murderer.”

“Subjective. That’s subjective…”

“Is there a problem with what I said? There have been discrepancies between his confession and the on-site investigation. He has never cleared himself of suspicion so far.”

Hearing what he said, Director Wu could only sigh helplessly.

“Uncle Shi, pardon me, but what exactly are you planning?” Huang Ze continued to ask persistently.

“Xiao Lin told me this case is very dangerous.”

“So you agreed. Aren’t you afraid he’ll kill more people?”

“He said that when this case is resolved, he’ll leave.”

……

Sunday, September 14^th.

The typhoon had just passed, but the looming clouds hadn’t yet completely dissipated.

The sky was bright, dotting the streets with sporadic lights in the morning fog.

There were twice as many stalls selling breakfast under Taiqian Bridge as usual.

The sixth floor of a building adjacent to the bridge was temporarily requisitioned. Xing Conglian and Fu Hao were there, watching the pedestrians on Taiqian Bridge closely through their black binoculars.

After waiting all night, all the police officers on the scene were sleepy.

Lin Chen slept soundly in an armchair as if he didn’t care about Feng Peilin’s arrest.

“Captain, we’ve been watching all night and Feng Peilin hasn’t shown up. Is that psychologist legit?”

At nearly 6:30, there was still no suspicious person. Xing Conglian pressed his headset tightly, not wanting the sound coming from it to leak out. However, Lin Chen still heard it. He glanced at the clock on the wall and sat up slowly, then said, “Let me go to the bridge.”

“No. It’s too dangerous.”

“You have deployed so many police forces. What danger will I be in?” Lin Chen asked rhetorically.

“If you show up, then won’t he know it’s a trap, so he won’t get on the bridge?”

“Do you think a trap has any meaning to a person who’s looking for death?”

Xing Conglian had to admit that Lin Chen always had the ability to make people speechless.

Under the watchful eyes of all the police officers in the room, Xing Conglian had to wave his hand and give in to Lin Chen’s request.

Lin Chen was wearing a clean white shirt. As he walked on the bridge, he put his hand on the white marbled rail. The wind was blowing in his face as the waters of the river surged underneath.

In the distance was a dark-colored roof, like the back of a giant beast, that stretched across the city’s center.

It was gradually getting brighter as dawn approached, and the number of pedestrians and vehicles coming and going on the bridge steadily increased.

There were parents riding their mopeds to send their children off to school and vendors on tricycles pulling their carts with difficulty across the bridge. An old man with a cane slowly walked to the top.

Xing Conglian held his binoculars and scanned the people on the bridge. He felt that his heart was beating very fast.

“Lao Fu, I think there is something wrong.”

Xing Conglian couldn’t explain how he felt. From identifying the suspect to arresting him, everything was moving so fast that he didn’t have the time to process it. He felt something was amiss and he was sure that something was wrong, but he couldn’t grasp the key problem.

“Lao Xing, shixiong is also a person who’s been through many battles. He can take care of himself.”

Before Fu Hao could finish, Xing Conglian’s cellphone suddenly rang. The frenzied piano sound made everyone feel uneasy.

“Captain, there’s a problem. I don’t know if it’s convenient to talk now.” Wang Chao was in front of a computer. He was chewing on his pencil as he pressed the pause button.

“What is it?”

“There seems to be something wrong with A’Chen’s* reasoning. Didn’t he say that Feng Peilin watched Yu Yanqing commit suicide? Going by procedure, I wanted to find out where Feng Peilin was during that time and discovered that while Yu Yanqing was committing suicide, Feng Peilin went to visit his mother’s grave. There was a photo captured of him at the highway tollbooth. This didn’t seem important, but I felt I needed to report it to you…”

*When (阿) is used in front of a name, it usually indicates affection and closeness when addressing someone, but in this case, Wang Chao is using it as a more casual way to address Lin Chen, like a nickname for him.

While Wang Chao was babbling endlessly on the other end of the line, Xing Conglian hung up abruptly. His heart sank as he finally realized what was wrong.

Lin Chen was such a meticulous person, while Feng Peilin was an obsessive-compulsive person.

Lin Chen’s reasoning about the steps of death training was only four steps, which Yu Yanqing also strictly followed. Then, since Feng Peilin wanted to commit suicide, he should also perform these four steps instead of the five steps that Lin Chen told him.

Get close to the body → Observe a murder → Kill with your own hands → Observe and help Yu Yanqing commit suicide → Commit suicide

So what if the step of “Observe and help Yu Yanqing commit suicide” was itself invented by Lin Chen?

On the bridge, the old man with a cane stopped not far from Lin Chen. As if perceiving something, the young man in the white shirt turned his head.

“In less than 30 seconds, the nearest police officer will rush up to arrest you,” he said to the old man.

“For a messenger, 30 seconds is enough!” The old man said excitedly.

“Say it.”

“He said you will accompany me in death, won’t you?”

“Nonsense.”

A police officer in plainclothes closest to the top of the bridge began to run wildly.

Xing Conglian felt as if he had been hit by a hammer and his head was about to explode.

If the entire death training process returned to its previous four steps, then there wasn’t a homicide that was “missed” by the police like Lin Chen said!

This meant Feng Peilin hadn’t killed anyone yet!

Then Lin Chen, being on the bridge, was the best prey. He wanted to kill Lin Chen and then commit suicide!

Lin Chen had already figured out Feng Peilin’s purpose!

He was tired and wanted to end everything. Instead of trapping Feng Peilin with the commercial, it was actually sending a message to him, telling him that he would wait for him there!

Xing Conglian thought of the worst possibility.

On the bridge, the old man threw away his cane and suddenly rushed towards Lin Chen as fast as lightning.

He pressed Lin Chen on the railing of the bridge and chanted devoutly, “He just wanted to ask you, in this world of sand, in this confrontation between the small and grand, which side will you stand on?”

The bridge railing suddenly broke.

“Lin Chen!” Xing Conglian’s roar resounded through the sky.

---

The author has something to say:

“One Sand” is over.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of the first arc.

Now the question remains, is Huang Ze a past flame or a past friend? Based on the clues so far, it seems that Lin Chen did something that inadvertently got the kids from the elite families killed, one of them being Huang Ze’s sister.

Man all the tea drinking in that room and all I can think about is, rather than drinking all that tea old man, why don’t you actually spill it.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 16

Xing Conglian thought, ‘Three years.’

For three years, Feng Peilin watched Lin Chen.

Whether rain or shine, Feng Peilin always sat quietly in front of this window, looking at the young man who was even quieter than him and worked in the dorms opposite here.

He probably watched Lin Chen reading and writing or Lin Chen talking with children.

Xing Conglian couldn’t help but shiver at the thought of this.

He returned to the police station with the book and the letter, with a handful of sand in hand.

The raw pleasantries were over, and the atmosphere was cold and collected.

Lin Chen slept lightly in a chair, covered by a police uniform.

The police uniform had silver stars sparkling on it. Inspector Huang was sitting next to him in just a white shirt. His legs were crossed as he flipped through the documents in his hand while holding a glass of warm water in his other hand.

Xing Conglian was stunned. There were so many chairs in the room, yet Huang Ze chose to sit next to Lin Chen.

Inspector Huang sat so naturally that it was as if he deserved to sit there.

Xing Conglian became unhappy.

Fu Hao had just walked around from behind Xing Conglian. When he saw the situation in the office, he hurriedly pulled the person that was frozen at the door into the room.

Lin Chen had just opened his eyes.

Seeing them return, he stood up and smoothly hung the clothes that covered him on the armrest and didn’t look at Huang Ze.

“I have a fever and need some antipyretics.”

Lin Chen’s tone was weak, but his request was blunt. His desire to leave the police station was all too obvious and unconcealed.

Huang Ze chuckled and put down the notebook.

Just when Xing Conglian thought Huang Ze was going to say something like, “Personal matters are forbidden during official business hours”, he instead heard, “Remember to buy aspirin. He’s allergic to most antibiotics.”

This made Xing Conglian even more angry.

……

Perhaps it was because the typhoon was about to make a landfall and the city was shrouded in the eye of the storm, but the rain had stopped.

Lin Chen’s footsteps were weak, but he still insisted on walking. Xing Conglian couldn’t convince him, so he had to walk by his side, while Fu Hao walked at the end feeling guilty.

The sound of their footsteps fell on the bluestone slab that was still wet from rain, kicking and stamping, sticky and greasy.

Although the questions in Xing Conglian’s heart were rolling up into a snowball, such as what was the relationship between Huang Ze and Lin Chen, and why did Huang Ze’s attitude towards him made a 180-degree turn, Xing Conglian didn’t ask about this kind of idle gossip. He took out the evidence bag from his arms and handed it to Lin Chen. “Feng Peilin left you a book and a letter with a handful of sand. What’s the relationship between you and him?”

Lin Chen was a little taken aback.

But for some reason, the astonishment wasn’t because Feng Peilin left him something, but because Xing Conglian didn’t ask him any questions related to Huang Ze.

In this world, there were too many people who loved to inquire about the privacy of others, and few could hold back their curiosity that was bubbling inside their hearts.

Lin Chen raised his head and looked at Xing Conglian and said sincerely, “Thank you.”

Xing Conglian shook his head and continued, “Looking out from the window of his desk, I can see your room.”

When Lin Chen heard this, he stood still for a moment.

“He’s watching me?”

“Should be.”

Because of the high fever, the fragments in his mind floated like a montage. The white sand in the sandbox, the eerie market, snow-white sheets, bright red bloodstains; these images were switching frame by frame, making a confusing jumble.

A long time had passed that it was enough to return all the pictures back to the very beginning and long enough that the raindrops on the eaves had all fallen off.

Lin Chen stuffed the evidence bag back into Xing Conglian’s hands and took a few steps.

Xing Conglian looked at Lin Chen’s back and narrowed his eyes slightly. Lin Chen’s appearance showed he was obviously thinking about something but didn’t want to say it.

Helpless, he could only speak to Lin Chen’s back. Although he didn’t want to, he had to pretend to be aggressive. “Yu Yanqing wrote to you, while Feng Peilin watched you every day. I can’t ask about your past, but you must be clear about everything that’s related to this case.”

His words were so straightforward that Lin Chen’s footsteps naturally paused. “What does Captain Xing need me to make clear?”

Lin Chen turned around and faced him.

“Do you know Feng Peilin?”

“No?”

“Then why did he leave this letter for you? What exactly does the white sand in the letter mean?”

“Simple. It’s because I have a sandbox in my room, and he wanted me to know that all the analysis I had done was nothing more than what he wanted me to see. He’s provoking me.”

“Why does he want to provoke you?”

“I don’t know?”

“You don’t know?” Xing Conglian was speechless. “For more than three years, he has been peeping on you every day, planning murders and provoking you, yet you don’t know why?”

Xing Conglian’s words were mocking. He was ready for Lin Chen to respond unceremoniously, yet Lin Chen turned around slightly and a smile appeared on his face.

It wasn’t one of mockery or a sneer, like if he was angry, but a very simple smile, as if the question Xing Conglian just asked was extremely interesting.

“Captain Xing, you may not know this, but in this world, whether they are psychopaths or high-IQ criminals, there are very, many, that want to provoke me. If I care about the motives behind every time this happens, then I should just stop living.”

This was a reasonable statement, and it left Xing Conglian dumbfounded.

“Why?” Was all he could say.

“Because I was once really, really famous.”

This was a proud statement, but coming from Lin Chen’s mouth, there was no boastful implication. Instead, it was more like an honest declaration, so much so that Xing Conglian found it cute.

If he was an ordinary person, he would probably have laughed out loud when he heard such a statement, but Xing Conglian was extraordinary, so he nodded and said solemnly, “I would guess so, seeing as I’ve never met anyone as smart as you.”

Xing Conglian’s eyes were beautiful. When he lowered it to stare at Lin Chen, it felt as if those lake-green eyes were as deep as the sea.

After all, this was a man with foreign blood, which gave him a special complementary racial advantage.

Lin Chen’s face unexpectedly blushed.

It was quite embarrassing. After all, for the first half, his tone was sharp, as if he was about to get into an argument with Xing Conglian, but then it was shortly followed by him blushing due to being praised. He was obviously too unfocused.

However, since it was he who brought up the topic, he could only blame himself. Lin Chen coughed lightly and asked, “Time is short. I think Feng Peilin is probably going to commit suicide.”

“Yu Yanqing committed suicide, and now Feng Peilin is doing the same?”

“Yu Yanqing is just a chess piece controlled by Feng Peilin. He’s probably just used her to perfect his ideas.”

“What idea?”

“People can overcome fear of death through training related to it. This was our previous inference.” Lin Chen paused, then said, “And the reason why I think Yu Yanqing isn’t the murderer is because she didn’t have sufficient motivation to commit the crime.”

“But Feng Peilin does?”

“Yes. Men have an oedipal complex*. If I’m not mistaken, Feng Peilin should have grown up in a single-parent home, single-handedly raised by his mother, Feng Xuejuan. As you know, children’s distortions are often inseparable from their family. If I didn’t guess wrong, Feng Xuejuan was probably extremely controlling and probably made her son act according to her will…”

*Concept in psychoanalytic theory introduced by Sigmund Freud. It is a purportedly universal phase in the life of a young boy in which he hates his father and wishes to have sex with his mother. These wishes may be unconscious.

“Speaking of which, one of the teachers at the school told me that Feng Peilin would call his mother every time at the prescribed time. This was probably at Feng Xuejuan’s behest?”

Lin Chen nodded. “Such control will lead to two results.”

“What results?”

“First, extreme rebellion. Second, extreme obedience. He regards his mother as a God and respects her words as if he respects God’s will.”

Xing Conglian couldn’t help shuddering.

Without waiting for Xing Conglian to indicate that this was too heavy, Lin Chen went on to ask, “If you were Feng Peilin and the tragic state of your Goddess fell and splattered to the ground into a pool of blood and was seen by others, what would you think?”

Although he wanted to vomit, Xing Conglian had to admit that if he was Feng Peilin and his mother, whom he revered as a God, died tragically in front of others, it would indeed give rise to the urge to kill.

“Even if Feng Peilin wanted to kill all the unrelated people who witnessed his mother’s death, why did he use Yu Yanqing and why design such meticulous steps to overcome death?”

“Of course it’s because he’s afraid of death.” Lin Chen gave Xing Conglian a look as if to say, “What an idiotic question”.

“Feng Peilin is having fun playing with the dead, yet he’s still afraid of death?”

“To be precise, Feng Peilin’s mother, Feng Xuejuan, is afraid of death,” After speaking so much, Lin Chen’s voice became hoarse, and the volume gradually got lighter. “Do you remember the ward Yu Yanqing was assigned to clean? It was the oncology department. Feng Xuejuan has stomach cancer, which is one of the most excruciatingly painful diseases, so much so that she committed suicide because she couldn’t stand it, but even more so because she couldn’t stand the thought of having to slowly die while experiencing it…”

“So he’s actually using Yu Yanqing to study how to make people feel less pain when facing death?” Xing Conglian responded quickly.

“It seems as if his research was successful,” Fu Hao couldn’t help but interject. “Yu Yanqing did commit suicide, willingly.”

“So what about Feng Peilin?” Xing Conglian asked.

“All his research is so he can face death calmly.” Lin Chen cast his gaze into the distance. “We previously thought that Yu Yanqing’s death training had four steps. Getting close to a corpse, observing a murder, killing someone with your own hands, and committing suicide, but if we change this to Feng Peilin, there’s a fifth step.”

“Get close to a corpse, observe a murder, kill with your own hands, help and watch Yu Yanqing commit suicide, then commit suicide?” Xing Conglian blurted out.

After speaking out, he felt there was a problem with this. “Who did Feng Peilin kill?”

“Check to see if there are any homicides missed by the police,” Lin Chen said indifferently.

If Lin Chen wanted you to believe in something, you would.

Of course, Xing Conglian trusted Lin Chen, so he quickly took out his cellphone and called Wang Chao. He asked him to investigate all homicides in recent days that had been missed and to check all surveillance videos where Feng Peilin might have appeared.

Then, he called the traffic division of the police department and asked them to set up city-wide blockades and hunt down Feng Peilin.

After a few phone calls, Xing Conglian fell behind them but was surprised to find Lin Chen was by his side and instead it was Fu Hao who had absent-mindedly walked in front of him.

Seeing that he had finally hung up the phone, Lin Chen asked, “How is it?”

“It’s like looking for a needle in a haystack. With the recent festival drawing in tourists, our forces are already limited. We need more time.”

“Actually, you don’t need to be so troublesome.” As if he had made up his mind about something, Lin Chen suddenly raised his head and said, “I can make him appear. You just need to decide the location.”

His voice was weak but terribly serious.

Much later on, Xing Conglian would reminisce about how if he could have discovered Lin Chen’s abnormality at that time, perhaps there wouldn’t be so many stories afterwards.

Unfortunately, Lin Chen didn’t give him such a chance to react.

“If you don’t believe me, let’s do an experiment. I want to eat at Tian Xing Ju at noon. Your treat,” Lin Chen whispered to Xing Conglian as he glanced at Fu Hao’s back. He then quickly walked to a small shop on the side of the road, went to the counter, and bought six planet cups for a yuan.

When Xing Conglian reached for the planet cups that Lin Chen handed over, he froze. He didn’t understand what Lin Chen wanted to do.

But then he saw Lin Chen take two quick steps to catch up to Fu Hao. He stuffed the remaining five planet cups into Fu Hao’s hands.

“Huh, shixiong?” Fu Hao looked at the small snacks in his hand in surprise.

“You’ve performed well recently, so this is a reward for you.”

Lin Chen blinked innocently. Seeing such a vivid expression on Lin Chen’s face, Fu Hao suddenly came to a realization.

“Don’t be like this, shixiong. You’re going to make me cry. I miss the old man too,” Fu Hao said as he tore open a planet cup. “How many did you buy for a yuan?”

“Six,” Lin Chen said, with a rare smile on his face. It was subtle, but under the sun, it made him look gorgeous.

Xing Conglian looked at them in a daze from behind. He couldn’t help but hook Fu Hao’s neck, leaned over, and asked, “Who is this old man? What’s with this stunt?”

“The old man is our mentor. He likes shixiong the most. Every time we write a good thesis, he would buy us planet cups as a reward, but the owner of the snack shop at our school bullies him because he’s old. Every time the old man would buy them, he would give him only five. The old man always thought he was taking advantage of the shopkeeper, but in fact, it was actually six for a yuan.” Fu Hao spoke with a smile on his face.

Lin Chen was still smiling, and the atmosphere had turned calm and relaxed. “Where do you want to go eat later?” he asked, seemingly inadvertently.

“Tian Xing Ju,” Fu Hao replied quickly.

His answer was easy, but when Xing Conglian heard this, he felt like he had been struck by lightning. He looked at Lin Chen in disbelief, poked Professor Fu’s head, and opened his mouth.

Lin Chen seemed to read his mind. He turned around and pointed to the bus stop they had just passed by. On the billboard of the station was a photo of a Chinese Restaurant. On the plaque of the restaurant were three ostentatious large characters: “Tian Xing Ju”.

“Our mentor is a loyal supporter of Tian Xing Ju. Every time we meet him, he always wants to eat there.”

“So you deliberately reminded Fu Hao of the old man just now?”

“I took the planet cups and dropped the hint to make Fu Hao remember our mentor. In addition, Fu Hao had just glanced at the advertisement for Tian Xing Ju. Subconsciously, this made him think of our mentor. When I asked him where he wanted to eat, with the advertisement for Tian Xing Ju still in place, it was the easiest thing for his mind to extract, so that was his first reaction.” Lin Chen was afraid that Xing Conglian wouldn’t understand, so he explained it to him seriously.

“You want to use this method to set a trap for Feng Peilin?” Xing Conglian express with doubt. “Would he really fall for it?”

“Trust me.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Oedipus Complex is named after Oedipus. Freud expanded this concept further by saying boys experience castration anxiety while girls experience penis envy. This theory is not supported by empirical evidence, so take it with a grain of salt as to how it applies to this novel.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 15

The rain outside was getting stronger. The wind blew the branches and leaves, battering them up against the window, creating desperately knocking sounds. Zhang Xiaolong stopped at the right moment.

Dozens of eyes in the room converged on Lin Chen again.

Those eyes were filled with doubts and consternation, as if questioning why Lin Chen could easily speculate on the relationship between Yu Yanqing and Feng Peilin, making it look as if he was the actual suspect, which only added more awkwardness to the air.

Lin Chen closed his eyes lightly, unmoved.

Fu Hao became angry. He gritted his teeth and tried to speak up but was held back by Xing Conglian.

“It looks like I have to invite Mr. Feng over for a cup of tea, don’t you think so, political commissar?” Xing Conglian scratched his beard and tried to pull everyone’s attention away from Lin Chen.

The political commissar’s face was flushed, but he still pretended to be calm. After a moment of contemplation, he replied, “Yes, Lao Xing.”

Xing Conglian stood up, creating a grating sound with his chair. He subconsciously looked towards Lin Chen’s direction and wanted to take him with him, but Lin Chen still had his eyes closed.

Huang Ze had put away his notebook. He raised his cold face at a slight angle and said, “Captain Xing, it doesn’t seem good to let unrelated people participate in solving the case.”

“Mr. Lin has played a key role in the investigation of this case. How can he be considered unrelated?”

After listening to Xing Conglian’s response, Huang Ze flipped through his notebook, as if to find some records, then raised his head and asked, “It seems that Professor Fu is the psychology specialist for the police force here, no?”

Xing Conglian was speechless for a moment. He wanted to argue back but saw Lin Chen open his eyes slightly, looked at him, and shook his head.

Fu Hao hurriedly grabbed Xing Conglian and said, “Go, go Lao Xing. We need to arrest someone!”

……

The camphor on the side of the road was blown wildly by the wind as a jeep sped by. Fu Hao was silent. The only sound inside was Xing Conglian stepping on the gas, which made the atmosphere of the car gloomy and anxious.

When they stopped at a red light, Xing Conglian turned his head and said coldly, “Why don’t you explain?”

“Explain what?” Fu Hao said.

“Lin Chen is your shixiong, an expert among experts. Why didn’t you speak up?”

“That’s Huang Ze. If my shixiong doesn’t want to speak up, I can’t force it!” Xing Conglian’s attitude was so rough that it made Fu Hao a little angry, so he shouted his response back.

“What about Huang Ze? Too scared to speak up because he’s there?”

“Huang Ze is shixiong’s—!”

Fu Hao was about to blurt it out, but when he saw the look on Xing Conglian’s face, he suddenly realized that Xing Conglian was fishing for information. “Lao Xing, you old dog!”

Fu Hao bared his teeth in anger.

“Come on, tell me. What happened between Huang Ze and Lin Chen. And what’s going on with that person surnamed Chen…” Xing Conglian clicked his tongue as he locked the car. “If you don’t make it clear now, don’t think about getting out.”

When men gossiped, it was indeed more troublesome than women, because they were extremely persistent and had the means.

Fu Hao looked at the traffic light that had changed to green and felt the tense atmosphere he created just now was gone.

“Lao Xing, why are you so persistent…” Fu Hao said helplessly. His tone returned to calmness. “Even if you live a bit out of touch with the world, you must know that powerful families still exist in the world, and they are very rich. If you have money, that means you have power. It’s difficult for ordinary people to touch these people, but once you come into contact, you must be careful. This isn’t some kind of novel, but a more bizarre reality than fiction.”

“What do you mean?”

“From north to south, the aristocratic families, Zhou, Wu, Chen, and Huang.” Fu Hao’s eyes looked straight ahead as he spoke softly.

The sound of rain outside the car was loud, matching the noise made from the car’s engine. Fu Hao didn’t speak, and neither did Xing Conglian.

After a long time, the unshaven man parked his car on the side of the road and pulled on the handbrake. “Okay, then what?”

His tone was casual, so light, it was as if he didn’t care.

Fu Hao was speechless. He thought his words would give enough caution, but Xing Conglian didn’t even seem to take it to heart.

“Can you be serious here? These four families are involved in many industries and are extremely rich, okay?”

“So they have money, but they’re not spending it on me. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Then, why does it concern you?”

“Zhou, Wu… that Huang guy, how the hell did Lin Chen offend them? This has something to do with me.”

Fu Hao thought, ‘That’s my shixiong’s business and has nothing to do with you.’

“Can’t say.” He responded after thinking for a bit and shaking his head.

“Why?”

The school gate of the city’s Experimental Primary School was close at hand. Strong winds had blown branches all over the ground, creating a bleak scene in front of them.

Looking at such a scene could make anyone’s mood depressed.

“Because it can’t be said. Someone has issued a gag order.”

“How boring.”

Xing Conglian took out a cigarette and put it in his mouth. He prepared to open the door to get out of the car.

As soon as he took one step out, he heard the person behind him ask, “Lao Xing, do you think humans are all created equal and that everyone’s life is worth the same?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Then is a thief’s life compared to a child’s life, or your life compared to Feng Peilin’s life, both worth the same?”

In this world, there were many questions that were difficult to answer and could leave many people speechless.

At the police station, in the room, there were only two people left.

The female police officer who originally wanted to stay and tidy up was driven out of the room by the parachuted inspector before she could even move a chair.

Lin Chen felt someone handing him a glass of water that had just the right temperature—about 40 degrees.

The only person who could maintain an accurate temperature of the water they drank was Huang Ze.

Knowing that it was Huang Ze, he retracted his fingers from the paper cup, causing just the warm water to spill on the ground, splashing everywhere. Some even got on Huang Ze’s trousers.

Following the spilled water, Huang Ze laughed. “You’re sick.”

Lin Chen felt a little dizzy. There was a tinge of burning on his face before a cold hand was pressed to his forehead. That was followed by a smiling voice. “High fever. 39.5 degrees.”

His smile was ambiguous, and his movements were intimate. He was different from the cold-faced inspector just now as his face had softened, leaving only the pair of slender phoenix eyes that still looked sharp and so cold that they could freeze water.

“Huang Ze, it’s tiring for you to be like this.” Lin Chen didn’t push away Huang Ze’s hand. It would look too pretentious, so instead he turned his head slightly and closed his eyes.

Huang Ze squatted down in front of him, put his hands around the armchairs, and almost encircled Lin Chen. He then asked, “How have you been these past three years?”

“If I had a good life, you would’ve picked me up by now and wouldn’t look so relieved, no?”

“I feel sorry for you,” Huang Ze said as he leaned forward again. The distance between them was so close that Lin Chen could feel the other’s cold breath.

Inside the car, in front of the school.

The wind seemed to carry the salty scent of the ocean. Fu Hao slowly took in a deep breath then spoke to Xing Conglian. “Let’s take an example. Suppose there are 20 children who, for some reason, were left to play alone on the railroad tracks. Among them, 4 of them are children of rich families. They are smart and elites of the industry. They advised other children that although it seems abandoned here, there may be trains passing by on the railroad tracks where they were, so they should go to another track that was abandoned as it’s much safer there. However, the remaining 16 children, for some reason, didn’t listen to this advice. So, the 4 smart kids walked alone to the abandoned tracks. As a result, a train came. If at this time you have the opportunity to stand by the switcher of the tracks, you can choose to let the train turn to the abandoned tracks and sacrifice 4 children in order to save more, or, if you don’t, more children will die.” Fu Hao looked at Xing Conglian’s back and smiled with difficulty. “Well, if you encountered such a thing, what would you do?*”

*See Kinky Thoughts.

Xing Conglian’s hair was wet from the rain. The half of his body that was sticking out of the car door was also soaked. He maintained this posture, frozen like a stone sculpture, as if he was lost in thought.

Finally, he took out his lighter and flicked it, but it didn’t light.

“I can’t answer this question.” With a fwip, the flames finally lit. He put the lighter close to his cigarette and held it there for a long time before it finally lit. He took a puff and exhaled, then said, “But I definitely admire someone who could make such a choice.”

While waiting for a response, Huang Ze looked at Lin Chen’s chapped lips. He thought if Lin Chen responded to him, he would get him another glass of water and force him to drink it.

“Not all questions in the world have answers.” Lin Chen stared into his eyes as his tone softened. “Not all answers can be distinguished between right and wrong.”

Huang Ze stood up abruptly. If he wasn’t still at the police station that was being so closely monitored, he would have grabbed Lin Chen by the neck by now.

Xing Conglian was smart. Of course, he knew the story that Fu Hao told wasn’t purely hypothetical. It was very likely that something similar to this had happened.

And because it was real, it was very heavy.

Any questions that tortured human nature were, by definition, heavy.

……

Because of the suspension of classes, there weren’t any students at the schools and few faculty members.

The class bell rang as usual as Xing Conglian extinguished his cigarette and followed school security to Feng Peilin’s office.

The big office was empty. Xing Conglian glanced over and, based on the desks full of textbooks and teaching aids, he recognized which desk belonged to Feng Peilin’s from a glance.

This was due to the fact that, of all the desks, there was only one that was very clean, with nothing on it but a book.

Xing Conglian put on his gloves, walked to the window, and picked up the book.

He opened the cover and saw a sentence written on the title page:

[A man who has not passed through the inferno of his passions has never overcome them. – Jung*]

*Carl Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist and psychoanalyst who founded analytical psychology. Jung’s work has been influential in the fields of psychiatry, anthropology, archaeology, literature, philosophy, psychology, and religious studies.

The font was beautiful. Each stroke was delicate, as if the person who was writing it was serious, but Xing Conglian could sense the ridicule from this seriousness.

Even without Lin Chen, he could imagine the posture of the writer sitting by the window, with the corner of his mouth slightly raised, while he wrote down this line.

Xing Conglian was expressionless as he turned the pages of the book. At this moment, a letter suddenly fell out.

The envelope was white, clean, and immaculate. It wasn’t sealed. Xing Conglian turned the envelope upside down and gently shook it, causing a handful of delicate white sand to sprinkle out. Other than that, there was nothing.

If the words written on the title page were a mockery, the content inside this envelop was a naked provocation.

The security guard brought a female teacher who wore her hair in a ponytail to Xing Conglian’s side and said, “Captain Xing, this is Teacher Xu, who works in the same office as Teacher Feng.”

“Oh, good.” Xing Conglian handed the book and envelope to Fu Hao and sat down with the female teacher.

“I would like to ask you a few questions about Teacher Feng.”

The female teacher frowned and pursed her lips tightly. She was nervous.

“How does Teacher Feng treat his students?”

“He’s very good to his students. The Chinese teacher is very personable and elegant, so the students like him.”

“What is Mr. Feng’s family situation? Do you know it?”

“Mr. Feng isn’t married, and because of this, he’s quite popular with the female students.”

“In regards to Mr. Feng’s words and actions, has there been anything about him that makes you think it’s a little off?” Xing Conglian asked.

“To say something is off…” The female teacher wrinkled her brows together, as if trying to remember something. “Teacher Feng would every day call his mother at a fixed time. Sometimes when he’s in class, when that time comes, he would run to the corridor and call her.”

The son was about 35–40 years old. The mother was about 65 years old and was extremely strict with her son.

Xing Conglian suddenly remembered Lin Chen’s inference and couldn’t help but look at Fu Hao.

“What else?” he continued to ask.

“And…” The teacher rubbed her nose before continuing, “Teacher Feng sometimes doesn’t pay much attention to people. He likes to sit by the window, alone, and in a daze.”

“Like this?”

Xing Conglian moved the chair to the side, sat down on Feng Peilin’s desk, and looked out the window.

Then, he froze.

Seeing Xing Conglian petrified in front of the window, not saying anything for a long time, Fu Hao couldn’t help but nudge him. “What’s the matter, Lao Xing?”

“Feng Peilin is looking at Lin Chen…”

Xing Conglian pulled Fu Hao to a position that aligned with his own line of sight as he spoke.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

What Fu Hao was talking about is similar to the trolley problem. It is an ethical dilemma where you’re presented with a problem of whether to sacrifice one person to save a larger number.

There is a runaway trolley barreling down the tracks. Ahead, on the tracks, there are five people tied up and unable to move. The trolley is headed straight for them. You are standing some distance off in the train yard, next to a lever. If you pull this lever, the trolley will switch to a different set of tracks. However, you notice that there is one person on the side track. You have two (and only two) options:

1. Do nothing, in which case the trolley will kill the five people on the main track.
2. Pull the lever, diverting the trolley onto the side track where it will kill one person.

Which is the more ethical option? Or, more simply: What is the right thing to do?

—

My train of thoughts went two ways here… Either Huang Ze is Lin Chen’s old flame, or based on the story Fu Hao told, Lin Chen probably made some kind of decision that inadvertently killed the kids of the four elite families, thus causing Huang Ze to bear a terrible grudge against him… Or both actually.

Also, does Feng Peilin also have a thing for Lin Chen? It would be funny if all these cases revolved around people having the hots for him.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 14

With a hospital bed number, their goal was much easier to find.

Lin Chen was sitting by the hospital bed. On it lay an old man wearing an oxygen mask. He looked extremely weak and seemed to be running out of time.

Fu Hao squatted behind Lin Chen and whispered, “Shixiong, how did you know what kind of man Yu Yanqing met at the hospital?”

“It’s simple. In addition to relatives and friends, those who can change a person are the ones that they’re in love with. As we know, love can make people do crazy things.”

When Xing Conglian stepped into the room, he happened to hear this.

He quickly stepped towards the bedside and asked, “Where did this man come from?”

“Shixiong seemed to have found a suspicious person. Yu Yanqing might have a boyfriend in the hospital.”

Hearing Fu Hao’s cautious statement, Xing Conglian frowned. “But in Yu Yanqing’s profile, it didn’t show she had a boyfriend in the past.”

Xing Conglian was rarely anxious. After all, there was information missing in the investigation, and this was an important clue that could lead to solving the case. This was truly inept on their part.

“Their relationship seems to be secretive. I had to use a special method to inquire about it,” Lin Chen said calmly, as if to comfort Xing Conglian.

“Then we are now?”

“Waiting for someone.”

As if in response to Lin Chen’s words, an extremely vigilant female voice came from the door of the ward. “Are you family members of the patient? I haven’t seen you before.”

A small nurse was standing there holding a white tray.

Xing Conglian took out his credential and flashed his golden badge, which only made the little nurse’s expression more nervous.

He gently invited the nurse to the bedside.

Lin Chen looked up and asked, “Has something happened to this hospital bed recently?”

The nurse’s face flushed. She hurriedly took a step back and tried to leave, but Xing Conglian blocked the doorway.

“Will this hospital not let you speak about it?” Lin Chen put his hand on top of the old man’s hand and turned around. “We have our way of finding out in the end, but we hope that with your help, we can shorten the investigation time.”

Lin Chen spoke sincerely, and because of that, the nurse found it hard to refuse.

The little nurse stammered for a while, her face turning red, before she could speak coherently. “The previous patient on this bed… jumped to their death on August 10^th.”

“What was the patient’s name?”

“Feng Xuejuan.”

Xing Conglian quickly took out his phone and called the technician.

……

The chief of security at the hospital quickly arrived. When he heard that the police were going to seize the video of Feng Xuejuan jumping off the building on August 10^th, his face instantly turned grim.

Originally, because of the corpses in the morgue, the outpatient volume of the city’s hospital had shrunk considerably. If a serial killer was involved with the hospital, this could ruin their reputation.

However, Xing Conglian was unrelenting, and, in the end, the security chief had to take them to the surveillance room.

The hospital security personnel were still retrieving the video. A young technician sat in a swivel chair, raised the brim of his cap, and quickly slid over to push people away.

He glanced at the file format, quickly searched for the file, finding the right time, and pulled up the scene that captured Feng Xuejuan jumping off the building.

A thin woman in a hospital gown leapt out the window and could be seen falling down like a kite that broke off from its string.

However, because of the reflection, the window of the ward was so white that it was impossible to see specifically inside the room.

Fu Hao could only lament regretfully.

Xing Conglian clicked his tongue as he walked to the window and looked out.

The hospital had installed perfect surveillance that covered almost all public spaces. He looked around, and his gaze finally fell on a camera mounted on the courtyard wall.

“What number is that camera?”

He stretched out his hand and pointed to the rotating camera on the wall.

The security chief glanced at the direction of Xing Conglian’s finger, moved his fat body, and ran to the filing cabinet to look through some documents.

Wang Chao raised his eyes, looked at the monitor, and quickly searched for the number.

His fingers tapped the keyboard furiously. Then the screen went dark and quickly lit up again with an unexpected scene greeting them.

The black and white pixels squeezed together. On the screen, the dead old man of Chunshui Street was sitting on a bench basking in the sun.

“It’s him!” Fu Hao’s hand clicked on a young man who had his back to the camera.

Wang Chao hurriedly pulled up the surveillance on the other side and slowed the video down. Eventually, the face of the young man standing on the pavement became clear. It was the young man who died in the park!

Ten seconds later, Yu Yanqing also appeared on the screen. She stood under a tree not far away from Feng Xuejuan’s body, which was still lying in a pool of blood, and was still twitching slightly.

Silence filled the surveillance room.

Everyone could only feel chills take over their bodies, as if they had been pushed into a walk-in cooler.

Suddenly, a burst of piano music sounded from indoors. The music was so chaotic that it made everyone tremble, bringing them back to their senses.

Xing Conglian connected the call. On the other end of the line, the director’s voice was curt.

“Someone’s coming. Get back!”

Xing Conglian knew the old director too well.

While the old man was abrasive and chattered a lot, there were few things that really made him anxious. Recently, the only thing that could give this old man a headache was the young man sitting in front of the monitor.

He glanced at Lin Chen, subconsciously seeing Lin Chen look back at him, as if he knew exactly what was said on the phone.

……

Outside the police station, someone was waiting.

The man wasn’t waiting in the warm office but under the wet eaves. The rain wetted his epaulets, causing the three-silver star on them to shine brighter.

Lin Chen was sitting in the car when he saw this person in the distance. He unbuckled his seatbelt, but his hand was stopped by Xing Conglian.

He knew that Xing Conglian was worried about him and was grateful for his concern.

“It’s an acquaintance. Don’t worry,” he reassured. Then he resolutely removed Xing Conglian’s hand.

Lin Chen opened the car door and got out without an umbrella and soon reached the eaves of the police station. He hadn’t seen the man standing opposite him in three years. He seemed to have lost a lot of weight, giving him a sharper temperament, like a sword that was about to be unsheathed; the blade, cold and impersonal.

Lin Chen gave him a rare smile, leaned over and bowed. “Inspector Huang. I haven’t seen you for a long time. How are you?”

“I heard that you’re being restless again, so I came to take a look.”

Those same words, coming from anyone’s mouth, would hold the same meaning, cold.

Lin Chen didn’t intend to just take it. He raised his head and looked at the man in front of him. “Huang Ze, you’re too idle.”

Xing Conglian was approaching with his jingling car keys in hand just in time to hear Lin Chen’s response.

How many people had jumped out to find trouble in just three days since they started investigating this case together? Yet Lin Chen’s response to them was more interesting than ever.

He couldn’t help but grin, resisting the urge to laugh out loud. The man in front of Lin Chen had silver stars shining on his shoulders, indicating he was at least two and a half ranks higher than him.

They belonged to the same system, so of course he knew who Inspector Huang Ze was. Rumors naming him the Star of the Police Force and the Messenger of Justice had been used constantly by reporters. Huang Ze also came from a deep family background. Because of that, there was no need for him to accept bribes, so he was honest and upright. He was also mysterious and unpredictable*. The main point, though, was that he was extremely good-looking, and his speed of promotion was something no one could match.

*(神鬼莫测) Idiom describing someone extremely mysterious that even ghosts and gods couldn’t measure. Comes from Three Kingdoms.

Xing Conglian walked up to Huang Ze and saluted. Before he could speak, he saw the other party return a salute and said, “You’re Captain Xing? I’ve been ordered to come and supervise your handling of this case.”

As it turned out, they were targeted by Inspector Huang. No wonder why the old director was so anxious.

However, Huang Ze’s tone was respectful and his demeanor so modest that no one could find any fault with it; though his words actually meant, “I’m here to keep an eye on you, so you best behave”, coming out of Huang Ze’s mouth, it was flawless.

“We have just found an important clue. Inspector Huang, if it’s not too much trouble, could you please give us some advice?” Xing Conglian asked with a smile.

While Xing Conglian was polite, Huang Ze wasn’t. He didn’t even bother to pay attention to him and instead turned around and took the lead in walking into the police station, leaving Lin Chen and Xing Conglian to follow behind.

The policewoman, Zhang Xiaolong, was nervously placing teacups in the office that was filled with a group of top police officers who were gathered around a desk. She was carrying the teapot in her left hand, hurriedly pouring boiling water into it.

When she heard someone walk in, she turned around so quickly she almost burnt herself.

“Xiaolong, be careful.” Xing Conglian laughed.

Lin Chen didn’t speak. He found a chair in a corner and sat down. Surprisingly, Huang Ze ignored the seat that was obviously vacated for him, and instead sat beside Lin Chen. He took out a palm-sized leather notebook and tapped on his ballpoint pen twice, indicating that he was just here to listen.

Xing Conglian stood at the table and glanced at the two of them, feeling the atmosphere getting weird.

He clicked his tongue as Fu Hao and Wang Chao came in. When he walked into the office, Professor Fu couldn’t help but rub his eyes when he saw the person sitting next to Lin Chen. He stared so fiercely that his eyes almost popped out.

He winked his eyes at Lin Chen desperately, which made Lin Chen close his eyes as if he didn’t notice anything.

Because of the arrival of several people, the originally noisy office suddenly became quiet.

Lin Chen leaned back on the chair and watched as people took their seats one by one. The sound of chairs being pulled out filled the room.

Xing Conglian was the last to pull out his chair and sit down. The political commissar* cleared his throat and said, “There has been a breakthrough in our investigation of the September 10^th murder case. Captain Xing will go over it in more detail.” His tone was professional. It was clear this was aimed at the newly arrived inspector.

*They are supervisory officers responsible for political education (ideology) and organizing of the unit to which they are assigned, with the intention of ensuring political control of the military. In China, the political commissar is largely responsible for administrative tasks such as public relations and counseling, and mainly serves as second-in-command.

“According to Mr. Lin’s analysis, we have a suspect traced to Feng Xuejuan’s son being involved in this case…”

Before Xing Conglian could finish, the political commissar interrupted, “Lao Xing, like I said so many times, you’re being too arbitrary. We’re looking for evidence when handling this case!” The police commissar slapped the table lightly and started to criticize. “Just because Feng Peilin’s mother, Feng Xuejuan, committed suicide, do you think Feng Peilin is a murderer? What about Yu Yanqing? From the physical evidence we collected, she is the prime suspect for committing all these crimes. You can’t judge a case because of unrelated people’s speculations.”

As if pushed by someone, Lin Chen reluctantly opened his eyes and found that everyone gathered around the table, besides the secretary who was recording the meeting in her notebook, were all looking at him while holding stacks of documents in their hands.

The air conditioner buzzed, bringing out cool air that lowered the temperature of the office.

Lin Chen raised his eyes slightly. He didn’t get angry because of the police commissar’s biting words. After all, he knew better than anyone else that all inferences based on psychoanalysis couldn’t be used as tangible evidence.

“We need an expert.” The political commissar knocked on the table. “But not everyone can be called an expert.”

This was a heavy statement. Xing Conglian wanted to refute, but Lin Chen was quicker to speak up, “What do you need?”

“Can you prove that Yu Yanqing knew Feng Peilin?” Among the silence, Huang Ze suddenly spoke up.

“You two are lovers, right?”

Lin Chen didn’t look at Huang Ze but instead stared inexplicably at the political commissar as he retorted.

“What did you say?”

“You and that girl—you’re very close, right? Although no one in the office knows, you often would secretly go on dates after work.” Lin Chen pointed to the female secretary who was recording the meeting.

Whispers erupted from the office. The female secretary buried her head while the face of the political commissar darkened, showing an embarrassed look.

“Find a shot of Yu Yanqing and Feng Peilin appearing in it at the same time.” Lin Chen spoke calmly. He turned his head to the young technician who was operating the laptop as his elbow involuntarily propped up on the armrest to support his head.

Wang Chao smiled and hurriedly pulled up a shot. After pressing enter, he turned the laptop around and showed it to the crowd.

On the screen, Yu Yanqing was holding a mop and was bent over as she passed by Feng Peilin. Yu Yanqing secretly glanced at Feng Peilin as he moved out of the way.

“That’s it.”

Lin Chen looked at the secretary gently.

The secretary’s head had buried her head even lower, but her eyes couldn’t help but look at her secret lover. It showed the look of shyness, admiration, with a touch of sweetness, which was the exact look on the girl inside the screen.

“Lao Jiang, you even hid this from me!” Xing Conglian laughed while pounding the table. For the first time, he witnessed the steel-faced political commissar of their unit deflate. It was truly worth the price of admission.

“Alright, alright. Don’t make fun of Xiao Chen.” The political commissar waved his hand quickly. “The case… Focus on the case!”

Outside the office came the sound of heels clicking. Zhang Xiaolong took a stack of documents and ran into the office. Her face was pale as she looked around, a bit frightened.

“What’s wrong, Xiaolong?” Xing Conglian asked.

“You just asked me to check on Feng Peilin. The information shows that Feng Peilin and Yu Yanqing do know each other. Not only are they acquainted, but they are also very familiar.”

“How so?”

Zhang Xiaolong subconsciously looked at Lin Chen as she spoke. She bit her lip and continued, “Feng Peilin used to be Yu Yanqing’s Chinese teacher, and he’s now a teacher working at the city’s Experimental Primary School.”

When he heard this, Lin Chen felt as if he had been struck by lightning and looked at the policewoman, who was still talking in a daze.

“Because of family reasons, Yu Yanqing went to work after junior high. At that time, Feng Peilin was her Chinese teacher. Three years ago, Feng Peilin came to teach at the city’s Experimental Primary School…”

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 13

From easy to difficult, repeat the practice…

This was the learning method that humans had mastered over nearly 10,000 years of evolution, so learning to overcome was also learning.

“You mean, Yu Yanqing did all this to overcome her fear of death?”

Fu Hao came early with breakfast. Before he had time to put down the warm milk and bread, he heard the important dramatization from Xing Conglian.

“Shixiong, do you have any new clues?”

“Have you heard of systematic desensitization?” Captain Xing sat on the table and asked smugly.

Fu Hao hurriedly put down the plastic bag and ignored him. Instead, he leaned towards Lin Chen and asked, “Systematic desensitization?”

Despite being completely ignored, Xing Conglian didn’t get angry. Instead, he rushed to explain to Fu Hao, “Yes, Yu Yanqing should be using systematic desensitization to ease her fear of death…”

“You, shut up.” Fu Hao glared at Xing Conglian, then asked Lin Chen, “Shixiong, what’s going on?”

“The intent in these cases is closely related to death. They show a gradually magnifying sense of fear. This was the conclusion we had drawn before.” Lin Chen coughed lightly. His tone wasn’t as easy-going as Xing Conglian’s. “But we always lacked a clue that connected everything. It was little fatty that gave us this important hint.”

Fu Hao saw Lin Chen glance at the child sitting on the bench playing with his fingers before saying, “We’re deducing that Yu Yanqing committed these crimes as part of systematic desensitization to allow herself to overcome her fear of death. The entire process should be divided into four steps. First, she approached a corpse, fantasized about death, and then slowly did relaxation training to adapt to the distance from the corpse. That’s why there were traces of someone sleeping under the bed of the hospital morgue and why the corpse was dressed up, as a way to show respect to the dead.”

Lin Chen paused, as if thinking. “Then, it was to watch a brutal murder scene and observe the reactions of others to death. This was followed by killing a person with your own hands, watching him die, and adapting to the process of life fading. This may be the reason why the young man was killed while exercising in the park.”

Fu Hao started feeling a chill as he listened. His lips quivered slightly as he asked softly, “In the end, was it suicide?”

“It was.”

Fu Hao took a deep inhale and felt his teeth chatter and a chill on his cheeks.

“Then, is this case closed?” he asked tremblingly.

Yu Yanqing killed someone, left a suicide note, and committed suicide. Everything was laid out perfectly.

Lin Chen sat on the cold, hard wooden bench and ran his finger along the brim of the cup while tapping it subconsciously, as if he didn’t hear Fu Hao’s question.

“It seems to be the case.” Xing Conglian rubbed his fluffy beard and paused, then said, “But I feel that something is off.”

It was like a terrifying fog. They had gone to great lengths to walk through it, and in the end, touched a high wall—a towering, lofty, wall.

Lin Chen wanted to say the same thing, but he also felt that something was missing.

“I want to take a look at Yu Yanqing’s profile again.” Lin Chen stopped tapping on the cup.

About half an hour later, a young, chattering technician stood at the door holding a laptop. He wore a black cap that had water dripping from its brim, and his eyes were sparkling. When he saw Xing Conglian, his tone was quite plaintive. “Oh Typhoon God, it wasn’t easy to find a ride!”

Xing Conglian bit his cigarette and gestured for the young technician to sit down and get to work.

Wang Chao picked a position close to Lin Chen’s side. While turning on his laptop, he said to Lin Chen, “Mr. Lin, do you play LoL? If you don’t, I can teach you.”

Xing Conglian smacked Wang Chao on the head with his backhand. “Quickly. Yu Yanqing’s information.”

“Let me tell you, this is a bit overkill.” Wang Chao’s fingers tapped rapidly on the keyboard. After a while, a detailed profile was revealed. “These things you’re telling me to do, even a xiao long bao could do.” He adjusted the information, put the mouse in Lin Chen’s hand, and leaned back in the chair.

Yu Yanqing’s life had been organized in great detail. From where she lived when she was a child, to which elementary school she attended, to her most recent medical insurance records, they were all there.

Lin Chen read them quickly. From beginning to end, it took less than five minutes. He released the mouse and frowned.

Xing Conglian leaned in and asked, “Read it all?”

“Yes.”

“What’s wrong?”

“There isn’t anything wrong.”

Yu Yanqing was a very ordinary girl.

She was born in a small town. After nine years of compulsory education, she went to work. She worked as a waitress and a factory worker. Later, she entered the “Good Family” labor company and worked as a gardener, maintaining the city’s No. 3 Primary School’s landscape. In order to make extra money, she worked as a part-time cleaner in the hospital on weekends.

Her resume was simple and clean. It was no different than millions of other country girls her age. The only difference was that, at such a beautiful age, she decided to end her life and the lives of others in the cruelest way.

Given the short period of time, there had to be a powerful event that pushed her away from her flat trajectory.

However, he didn’t see anything in Yu Yanqing’s information.

After thinking about it for a while, Lin Chen finally said, “Are her parents still alive?”

“Yes,” Wang Chao nodded.

“Were there any old people that passed away while she was young?”

“Yes.”

“Strange.”

Yu Yanqing’s experience was plain. Both her parents were still alive. What exactly did she experience before to make her become so obsessed with death?

“Could it be she encountered something in the hospital that triggered this?” Xing Conglian asked in a low voice, sounding unusually mysterious.

……

The hospital was where it all started, and they had now returned to trace the source.

Lin Chen got out of Xing Conglian’s jeep. He looked up at the hospital sign as an ambulance stopped beside him.

The car door opened and a medical staff member carrying a stretcher came out. On the stretcher lay an old man, followed by his son and daughter, who were crying so much their eyes were swollen.

Xing Conglian had pushed open the door only to see Lin Chen still looking back at the middle-aged siblings.

“What?” he asked.

“You know, each of us have experienced this kind of moment. However, when normal people face the departure of their loved ones, they will feel sad and pain, but they won’t have a sense of fear of death. While Yu Yanqing was here, she must’ve witnessed some kind of special death.”

Xing Conglian rubbed his beard and put his hand on the glass door.

A moment later, Lin Chen looked up, and his expression quickly condensed. “The first letter I received was on July 13^th. Since then, I’ve received a letter every week. The first time the well-dressed corpse appeared in the hospital was September 7^th.” He paused, then continued, “So, between this period, how many patients died in this hospital, including those who died on the floors Yu Yanqing was responsible for cleaning? Also, please check on who Yu Yanqing has been in close contact with.”

Xing Conglian nodded and was about to go to the security department to inquire, but when he took two steps, he heard Lin Chen say from behind him, “The date of death should be Wednesday. The patient probably stayed on the seventh floor in the seventh ward.”

“Why?”

Xing Conglian suddenly felt idiotic for asking. July 13^th and September 7^th were both on a Wednesday. Yu Yanqing had written him a letter every week, and even the time interval between the appearance of the dressed-up corpse was exactly seven days.

They originally thought this might be just the process of the murderer’s crime, but now it seemed there was a deeper psychological reason.

Looking at Xing Conglian’s back as he walked away, Fu Hao stood beside Lin Chen and asked solemnly, “Shixiong, do you have any guesses as to whether it’s a simple murder case or…”

He wanted Lin Chen to answer him, but Lin Chen remained silent. Instead, he raised his head and gazed at the snow-white walls of the hospital. His eyes followed the glass curtain wall and climbed to a very high floor.

“Let’s go to the seventh floor and take a look,” Lin Chen said.

Fu Hao let out a long sigh. Of course, he knew what kind of rigorous person his shixiong was. If Lin Chen didn’t want to say it, it would remain a secret until he did.

The moment the elevator door opened, the word “Oncology” in scarlet came into view.

At that moment, things started to click for Fu Hao as well.

Lin Chen coughed twice and walked to the end.

The oncology ward was unusually quiet. Occasionally, there were some elderly people walking around slowly while leaning on the railings.

At that moment, a nurse walked past with an old man. Lin Chen remembered that he seemed to have seen this person a few days ago, so he walked up and patted the nurse on the shoulder.

The nurse looked at him strangely. Before he could speak, Lin Chen bluntly asked, “Hello, I would like to ask, do you know someone named Yu Yanqing?”

The other party nodded and said in a disdainful tone, “What’s wrong with her?”

“She’s dead.”

The nurse’s eyes widened in disbelief.

“Suicide,” Lin Chen continued. “I’m not suspecting you. I just want to know if there was anyone close to her that worked in the hospital.”

The nurse’s face changed drastically. “It’s not me! I didn’t kill her!”

Lin Chen thought, ‘Of course it’s not you. You didn’t even know she died. How could you possibly kill her?’

It was only at that moment that he suddenly realized that it wasn’t necessarily what Yu Yanqing experienced that caused her to do those things. Perhaps their initial direction was wrong from the start.

So, if it wasn’t Yu Yanqing, who could make her do these things?

Lin Chen frowned slightly while thinking of possibilities.

“I know it’s not you.” His voice was calm. “I didn’t mean to inquire about the relationship between you and Yu Yanqing. This is your privacy.” He spoke softly while in his mind a model of a sand table appeared, slowly sketching the “possibility”. “I want you to recall whether you have ever seen a pair of mother and son. The son should be between 35-40 and the mother about 65. The mother was quite strict with her son that you thought it was vile for a woman to be so domineering at that age.”

The interpretation of the sand table was itself a kind of arbitrary imagination. Lin Chen connected what he felt when he visited the scene of death many times. It was a strong confrontation between external order and internal chaos. It was confusing, lonely, and he felt helpless. “I think you would have a strong impression of that son. He was so obedient to his mother that you thought it was like a child not yet weaned.” He changed his tone, speaking more slowly. “But he was so gentlemanly and well-behaved that you could even consider him charming.”

The nurse suddenly looked up, as if remembering something.

“Who is it?”

“The son of a patient who used to stay in bed number 3, ward 7. Yanqing used to clean that area.”

“What was wrong with the mother?”

“Stomach cancer, particularly torturous.” The nurse wasn’t evasive in responding.

“Did… she commit suicide?”

The nurse was shocked, but still nodded.

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 12

That night, a typhoon brought heavy rain. The rain pattered on the roof, creating a heavy sound like a jackhammer.

Lin Chen was lying on a wooden bed while Xing Conglian slept on the floor.

No matter how calm he was, after experiencing so many unsettling things in the past few days, it was inevitable he would get insomnia, especially after just a near-death experience, and the heavy rain didn’t help either.

Lin Chen opened his eyes and looked at the ceiling. He couldn’t sleep.

He thought of Yu Yanqing. There were too many painful things in this world that would make a person want to die, but there weren’t many things that could make someone want to die so desperately.

He thought of Xing Conglian. There were too many people in the world who easily trusted others, but there were few who would take a stranger, whom they had just met two days prior, to their home.

It could be he trusted him, but it was probably something deeper than trust—absolute, transcendent confidence.

Lin Chen turned to his side and looked at the person sleeping on the floor.

In the early morning, it wasn’t the violent wind that banged on the wooden door of Unit 6 on Yanjia Lane, but a pair of chubby, tender hands.

Xing Conglian alertly opened his eyes. Lin Chen was soundly asleep on the bed. He got up and tiptoed to open the door. He was greeted with a little fatty that was no taller than his waist.

To the right and left of the little fatty were two adults looking a bit embarrassed.

“I’m sorry to disturb you. Our brat said he’s looking for Lin Chen, but when we went to the dorms, Mr. Lin was no longer there…” the little fatty’s father said tentatively.

“You came here looking for Lin Chen?” Xing Conglian lowered his head and looked at the child beside his leg. “How did you know that Lin Chen was with me?”

Before he could even finish, he felt a warm feeling around his leg. The little fatty had wrapped himself tightly around his leg like a koala hugging a tree.

The child’s parents became even more embarrassed. They tried pulling the little fatty back, but the child refused to let go.

“We inquired about him at the school, and they told us that Mr. Lin seemed to have left with a police officer named Xing. That brat then told us to come here…”

When Lin Chen opened his eyes, the scene he saw was Xing Conglian dragging one leg in from outside with a giant sandbag tied to it.

Lin Chen sat up from bed and saw a little fatty clinging to Xing Conglian while looking at him eagerly.

Recalling the previous lesson he taught the little fatty about playing cute and being coquettish, he was left speechless for a while.

“It’s a very effective method. Correct target but too extreme.” He said this to the little fatty, but before he could finish, the little fatty had thrown off his shoes and climbed onto the bed like a monkey and clung to his neck.

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian. Captain Xing had blocked the door, “leaving” the two parents in the room.

The little fatty buried his face in the crook of Lin Chen’s neck and pointed sullenly at himself. “Water.”

Lin Chen seemed to realize something and pulled the child away. “The biggest obstacle is caring too much about your mental disorder.”

Seeing her son clinging on to others and refusing to let go, the little fatty’s mother took two steps forward and tried to pull her son away while muttering, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. My son… I didn’t make it very clear. He’s a bit…” She spoke while pointing to her head. “Sometimes we don’t understand what he’s talking about…”

“What do you mean?” Lin Chen raised his head and looked directly at the mother with cold eyes.

The woman was startled by this. She averted her gaze and looked to her husband for help.

Before the husband could speak, Lin Chen said, “Have you always felt he’s inarticulate, so you can’t understand what he’s saying? You think that he’s mentally handicapped, so you feel ashamed of being seen with him in public, right?” Lin Chen hugged the child and put him aside. “I don’t know how you are parents, but since your son can go to elementary school normally, you should have confidence in his intelligence. Secondly, have you ever thought that, rather than being mentally handicapped, your son actually possesses exceptional intelligence?”

Xing Conglian had never seen Lin Chen so angry. Listening to the words coming out of his mouth, Xing Conglian wanted to light a candle for the two parents in front of him.

“You’re saying… he’s a genius?”

The mother’s face suddenly flushed. Her tone no longer held the previous embarrassment and shame.

“I’ve given him a Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children* test and the result clearly proves it.”

*Individually administered intelligence test for children between age 6 and 16. It generates an IQ score that represents a child’s general intellectual ability.

“Then can you teach us how to educate him normally?”

Lin Chen looked down at the little fatty next to him and ignored the boy’s mother’s question, but instead asked him, “What happened? Tell me slowly…”

“Grandma… Afraid of water.” The little fatty tugged at the corners of Lin Chen’s clothes, showing signs of anxiety.

Lin Chen frowned. He seemed a little confused at such obvious keyword hints.

The little fatty pointed hard at himself and at the door again, trying to drag Lin Chen out.

“You’re saying your grandmother is afraid of water, so you want me to treat your grandmother?” Lin Chen asked tentatively.

The little fatty suddenly nodded.

Lin Chen’s mind started to turn. He suddenly raised his head and addressed the two parents, “Has his grandmother recently been bitten by a dog?”

The little fatty’s father scratched his head, looked at his wife, and said, “Mom didn’t seem to have mentioned this before?”

“Did he pull on his grandmother and pretend to bite her in front of you guys?” Lin Chen asked again.

“How did you know?”

“Take your mother to the hospital right away!”

On the deserted road, Xing Conglian hastily drove his jeep. Along the way, Lin Chen fastened his seatbelt in the front passenger seat and sat back without saying a word.

Through the rearview mirror, Xing Conglian looked at the two parents hugging their child in the backseat. He finally couldn’t stand it and wanted to ease the tension, so he spoke up. “Why did the little fatty come to you when his grandmother was bitten by a dog…”

“Because his parents can’t understand what he wants to express…” Lin Chen sat upright. The two parents in the back once again showed an embarrassed expression. Although he was angry, he still patiently explained it to Xing Conglian. “The little fatty is afraid of water. I once taught him how to treat this psychological disorder. He came to me because he wanted me to help treat his grandmother…”

“Hydrophobia?”

“Yes.”

“Ah, we mortals really can’t understand the communication between you geniuses…” Xing Conglian lamented.

“You’re saying my son has hydrophobia? He has indeed been afraid of water since he was a child, but he seems much better recently…” One of the parents in the back seat commented.

“Fear of water is fear of water. Hydrophobia is hydrophobia. The latter, though, is also an alias for rabies*. I’m afraid little fatty knew that his grandma was bitten by a dog, but you guys couldn’t understand what he was trying to say, so he simply came to Lin Chen,” Xing Conglian explained.

*Clarity: Fear of water is [pa shui] (怕水), while the specific name for hydrophobia is [kong shui zheng] (恐水症) which is also used for rabies. This entire conversation is very nuanced based on the words they are using and also explains why the parents couldn’t understand what the little fatty was trying to tell them.

Originally, the man was skeptical. Now, when he heard that his mother could have been bitten by a dog and hadn’t gotten a rabies shot, he suddenly became anxious. He hurriedly grabbed the front seat and said to Xing Conglian, “Can you please hurry?”

When they arrived at the little fatty’s house, the old lady was carrying her tai chi sword and was about to head to the park to exercise.

Seeing her son and daughter-in-law rushing over nervously asking whether she was bitten by a dog, she waved her hand dismissively, indicating it was a trivial matter and she didn’t get sick from it and didn’t want to delay her exercise.

The little fatty’s father handed off the little fatty to Lin Chen, and then ran into the garage with his wife while carrying his mother on his back and said, “Mr. Lin, I’m sorry to trouble you. Please take care of my son.”

The little fatty looked in the direction of his parents’ departure with a worried face. Lin Chen took the child’s chubby hands, ruffled his hair, and said in his rarely gentle voice, “You did a good job. Your grandma will be fine.”

“He’s only 7 years old and is already so smart. He must be a genius.”

In order to prevent minors from inhaling second-hand smoke, Xing Conglian held an unlit cigarette in his mouth, making his speech muffled.

Lin Chen took the child’s hand and walked to Xing Conglian.

“His IQ is four standard deviations higher than his normal peers, about 160. He’s not ‘so smart’, but very smart.”

“It’s a pity that this kid is being raised by this family. His parents are holding a genius but raising him like an idiot,” Xing Conglian said to Lin Chen flatteringly.

“At least they are tolerant of him, which isn’t bad.” Lin Chen paused, looked at the little fatty’s big eyes, and said, “Because of this, you will now have a very calm and stable childhood.”

His parents wouldn’t force the little fatty to engage in endless studying. He could grow up like an ordinary child, which was the most important thing.

“Then why did you just tell his parents just now?”

“Because it was the right time.”

Xing Conglian didn’t understand the meaning behind what Lin Chen said. He wanted to ask but saw the little fatty looking up at Lin Chen, like an adult, and nodded solemnly.

Seeing this, Captain Xing had no choice but to hold back his inquiry. “Truly a superhuman kid. At such a young age, he had already found a psychologist to help treat him…” The crucial point was that he managed to select the right person.

“Yes, it’s really scary. The first time he sneaked into my sandbox room, I thought he just came to steal toys, but he actually was able to point out that it was a ‘sandplay game’,” Lin Chen said while shaking his head.

“That is scary.”

“He can even express his symptoms correctly, which shows he wanted to overcome his psychological disorder…”

“He said he was afraid of water. Did you cure him?” Xing Conglian was really tempted to repeat his lamenting again. The communication between geniuses was truly something not understandable by ordinary people. “Then if I’m afraid of something, is it possible to go to you…” he said shamelessly.

“What are you afraid of?”

“This…”

“In fact, no matter what you’re afraid of, you can use systematic desensitization* to slowly get in tune with the source of your anxiety. Then you can slowly overcome it. But that’s simple to say. In the end, you’ll need perseverance and patience.”

*Behavior therapy developed by psychiatrist Joseph Wolpe. It is used when a phobia or anxiety disorder is maintained by classical conditioning. The goal of the therapy is for the individual to learn how to cope with and overcome their fear in each level of an exposure hierarchy. The process of systematic desensitization occurs in three steps. The first step is to identify the hierarchy of fears. The second step is to learn relaxation or coping techniques. Finally, the individual uses these techniques to manage their fear during a situation from the hierarchy. The third step is repeated for each level of the hierarchy, starting from the least fear-inducing situation.

“Like if you’re afraid of water, you slowly approach the water?”

Lin Chen nodded. “If you’re afraid of water, first walk to a relatively safe environment where you can see the water and try to relax. It would be uncomfortable at first, but gradually you’ll begin to adapt to the distance. The task in the future is to slowly shorten this distance while maintaining a relaxed, meditative state.”

“No wonder he stayed on my bed so desperately for so long that time. Because he could see the river on my bed…”

As Xing Conglian said this, he suddenly paused and subconsciously looked at Lin Chen.

At the same time, Lin Chen was also looking at him; his pitch-black eyes seemed to be glowing.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

I suspect that the little fatty is autistic on some level. It’s been theorized that geniuses like Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein could have been autistic.

Just a note, while they call him “little fatty” (小胖墩), it isn’t used in a mean, bullying way, but more like a cute nickname to address a kid (due to his chubbiness).

---

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

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

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

---

Chapter 11

There was a saying: The most reasonable is also the most unreasonable.

In terms of performance, Yu Yanqing had appeared outside the scenes of three crimes and left a letter that could be considered a suicide note, then committed suicide. At the same time, in the room where she committed suicide, they found evidence that indirectly proved she was involved in the Chunshui Street incident.

This was the logical conclusion.

But because it was perfect, it was unreasonable.

“But the problem is that you have no evidence to prove that Yu Yanqing was too afraid of death to commit suicide, since she’s already dead,” Xing Conglian said.

“Though I have no evidence, I’m pretty sure she committed suicide.” Lin Chen folded the letter in his hand. “I’m just curious to know how she overcame her instincts and used a knife to slash her own throat.” Lin Chen was silent for a moment, as if searching for the right wording. “People are always afraid of death, both physically and mentally. They have extremely complex self-protection mechanisms. This is why it’s not easy to overcome human nature and break that barrier, unless there’s a strong motivation behind it.”

“Wanting to die isn’t easy?” Xing Conglian was baffled. “But what you said, I suddenly thought… Just now, the forensic doctor said there’s a problem with the wounds on Yu Yanqing’s body.”

“What?”

“How deep the wounds are varied. There are some old and new. She should have started self-harm very early. The earlier spots were small wounds in places that weren’t dangerous. Then the wounds slowly expanded to her wrists, chest, and neck…” Xing Conglian paused. “Finally, she slit her throat with a knife, but at that time, she didn’t die immediately. She still struggled until she stabbed the knife into her heart.”

When Xing Conglian finished, he snuck a peek at Lin Chen.

Lin Chen had just lowered his head, so Xing Conglian was unable to see his expression clearly.

There was an unbearable silence in the room. The sky was slowly darkening again. Finally, Xing Conglian couldn’t take it anymore and spoke up.

“What does this mean?” he asked.

Lin Chen began to clean up the piles of letters on the floor and stuffed them all back into their envelopes. “It means she was determined to die—her will and attitude were steadfast. This is rarely seen.”

Lin Chen’s answer was dry and straightforward. Any person who witnessed that scene would come to the same conclusion.

Many people committed suicide because it was too painful to live, and they had no love in their life. On the other hand, Yu Yanqing seemed to love the feeling of death.

It would make perfect sense for her to lie under a corpse and kill people because of her fondness for death.

But all these points return to one word.

Why?

Xing Conglian wiped his face. He couldn’t answer this question.

“What does it feel like when a person dies?” Lin Chen asked after he took a deep breath.

“Do you want to try?”

Looking at Lin Chen’s troubled face, Xing Conglian gave him a smile.

……

Since ancient times, there was always a taboo around death.

It was too scary, too horrible. It represented the end of life, but occasionally, it also emitted a charming hue that enticed people to come closer.

Lin Chen followed Xing Conglian and stood on the side of the road as the evening streetlights started to flicker on.

At this time, the wind wasn’t strong, but the rain was pouring, which made the streetlight cast a faint halo.

Coinciding with rush hour, the intersection was full of traffic. Vehicles were wrapped in rain, whistling past them as human voices, horns, engines, and countless other sounds mixed together, making their scalp numb.

“Are you ready?” Xing Conglian asked.

Before Lin Chen could react, he was yanked by the hand and was pulled into traffic.

As soon as the corner of his coat crossed the traffic light, he stepped back and ran to the side of the car. However, Xing Conglian’s strength was so great that he couldn’t break free. He could only be mercilessly dragged forward.

His shoulder hurt, but he didn’t stop running. Every step was like walking on the edge of death. He had just passed through one traffic lane when in the next lane over, a car had rushed up. The roar in his ears was so loud it could tear his eardrums. The sound of the wind was piercing, and it felt like there were large hands pushing them into the abyss.

Leaping over the meridian, Lin Chen almost crashed into a row of small pine trees.

Xing Conglian stood in the bike lane, panting for breath while still holding his hand tightly.

Behind the two of them were many drivers that kept honking their horns. The closest car to the two of them was an Audi. The driver had lowered his window and was cursing at them.

“Baby*, how are you feeling?” Xing Conglian joked. He didn’t seem to have any fear.

*Baby/babe/darling/sweetie ect. [Baobei] (宝贝) Generally, this is used as a term of endearment to someone you love, but Xing Conglian is using this in a joking manner (as they are not together at this point).

Lin Chen withdrew his hand and looked up at Xing Conglian. “I now finally believe in one thing…”

“What?”

“You really do have foreign blood in you.”

As a descendent of a combative race, Xing Conglian was, of course, rough and thick-skinned. Even though he was careful, Lin Chen was still inevitably injured. His left leg was bruised and there was already a dark purple spot forming on his waist. He also felt unsteady and couldn’t maintain his balance.

When the two returned to the school, Yu Yanqing’s body had already been transported away. Fu Hao was also summoned to the scene.

Learning that Xing Conglian had taken Lin Chen on a suicide attempt, Professor Fu took a few steps forward, jumped up and smacked Captain Xing on the head.

Captain Xing was left dumbfounded as Professor Fu ignored him after the beating and went to grab Lin Chen’s hand and examine him carefully, acting like a worried grandmother. “Shixiong, you need to stay away from this kind of person in the future…”

“Just because he wants to die, you shouldn’t follow…”

“Do you want to go to the hospital first? You should stay at my place tonight. In case your injuries become inflamed, I can take care of you…”

“Don’t you live in the school dorm?” Hearing Professor Fu’s words, Xing Conglian couldn’t help but expose the proletariat.

“It’s a single dorm!”

“But your shixiong has to move, and your small dorm can’t fit your shixiong’s big sand table.”

Fu Hao was a simple person. He didn’t realize this problem and instead yelled at Xing Conglian. “Your house is very small too!”

Xing Conglian smiled. “But my family has many houses.”

“Where is your house?”

“Yanjia Lane.”

As an academic, Professor Fu was disgusted by this kind of conversation that stunk of money. However, though cultured as he was, he couldn’t argue with this hooligan… because Captain Xian was the one with the car.

When Xing Conglian parked the jeep at the entrance of Yanjia Lane, the matter was set in stone.

In front of them were houses with whitewashed walls along the old street. Captain Xing, who was sitting in the driver’s seat, said to Lin Chen, “Pick one. Where do you want to live?”

Fu Hao was drinking water in the back seat. When he heard what Xing Conglian said, he squeezed the bottle of mineral water and resisted the urge to spit out what he had just drunk.

“You sound like you own this entire street,” Fu Hao sneered.

“I thought this area was pretty good, so I bought it,” Xing Conglian said casually. It was so straightforward that it left Fu Hao speechless.

Taking advantage of the gap between Xing Conglian going to the trunk to unload the luggage, Fu Hao quickly grabbed Lin Chen and whispered, “Shixiong, let me tell you, men love to save face. You’re a blunt person, so try not to tear down Captain Xing.”

Lin Chen nodded solemnly, expressing his understanding.

As expected, although Xing Conglian stated he bought all of Yanjia Lane, in actuality, he moved Lin Chen’s luggage to his old house, Unit 6.

The reason was also quite apt. “The other houses haven’t been cleaned and it’s more convenient to discuss the case if we live together.”

Lin Chen and Fu Hao turned to look at each other and nodded to express their understanding.

It was night now. The old house didn’t have much lightning. Xing Conglian set up a table lamp on the eight immortals table* and brought out three bowls of braise beef noodle soup.

*Traditional Chinese square table with the length of each side that fits two people, so it can seat up to eight. It looks something like this.

Fu Hao remained silent as he slurped slowly on the noodles.

Xing Conglian also pulled out some sausages from a drawer and divided it up for each person, giving generous portions.

Lin Chen tore open the plastic bag and took a bite without showing any signs of disgust.

Unable to stand it any longer, Fu Hao slapped on the table abruptly, causing the plastic fork in his hand to break in half. “Lao Xing, do you know how grisly and bloody that murder scene we had to witness today was, yet you’re giving us braised beef and sausage to eat?”

“Professor Fu, don’t put it like that. It’s just meat. It’s not like the body was dismembered or anything…” Xing Conglian tried to comfort him.

In the end, Fu Hao still lost his appetite.

The rain had started again. For a while, there was only the sound of crisp falling rain hitting the roof of the old house.

Fu Hao propped up his head and looked at Lin Chen’s face while solemnly drinking his soup, then suddenly said, “Shixiong, I don’t get it. Since Yu Yanqing had a crush on you and written so many letters to you, why did she just suddenly commit suicide?” He sniffled. “Wouldn’t it make more sense for her to kill you then commit suicide?”

“What did you say?” Lin Chen suddenly put down the bowl of noodles and looked at Fu Hao seriously.

Professor Fu didn’t know if he had said something wrong. He blinked innocently and repeated, “I said, wouldn’t it make more sense for her to kill you then commit suicide…”

Lin Chen looked at Xing Gonglian and said, “There’s a problem.”

Xing Conglian nodded and thought, ‘Of course there’s a problem.’

But under Lin Chen’s burning gaze, he held back and could only squeak out a, “Huh?”

“If this case was committed by the same person, no matter how chaotic it is, there must be an intrinsic order. I have never understood what the intrinsic order of these cases is.” Lin Chen paused and said to Xing Conglian, “Please find me a pen.”

Paper and pen were quickly brought. Lin Chen pushed away the bowl of noodles and said to Fu Hao, “Repeat the order of the cases.”

Fu Hao blurted out, “First, a deceased patient was found in a hospital morgue neatly dressed. Then, the body of an old man appeared in a shop on Chuncai Street. Following that, a young man in the park fell from the still rings. Finally, Yu Yanqing committed suicide….”

As Fu Hao spoke, Lin Chen wrote. Finally, several keywords appeared on the paper.

[Corpse → Presentation of corpse → Murder → Suicide]

These keywords were connected by arrows to form a circle.

Xing Conglian looked at the words written by Lin Chen and almost felt that he was on the cusp of the entire case but was missing the most crucial link.

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Kinky Thoughts:

Happy Halloween. What better way than a release of a novel like this. I have also decided to release my newest project a little early given the theme. For those interested a modern-day supernatural genre, you can check out my newest project from one of my favorite authors: Evil As Humans. The prologue has been released.

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