Bai Yin: A Thoroughly Useless Good-for-Nothing

Bai Yin perceptively dragged both half-dead men in front of Shen Yu. After drawing a vial of blood from Lu Yanjin, he stood up and took the pistol a man in black handed him.

Bai Xiaofan removed the hand covering Shen Yu's eyes and rested it on his shoulder instead. Like a devil whispering in his ear, he said, "Choose."

By then, however, Shen Yu had calmed down somewhat.

He rapidly replayed the day's events in his mind, finally settling on Wen Wenyu's pale violet eyes, which seemed to have everything under control.

"I choose Lu Yanjin to live."

Bai Xiaofan, who had expected him to struggle with the choice, froze.

"I didn't expect you to be a coldhearted one too, Xiao Yu. Just like me." Bai Xiaofan licked his lips, his interest in Shen Yu rising to another level.

To his surprise, Shen Yu ignored him and urged Bai Yin, who was holding the pistol, "Shoot. You wouldn't disobey your master's orders, would you? Or... is he one of yours?"

Bai Yin's hand froze in place. He couldn't bring himself to pull the trigger, but he couldn't refuse either.

Bai Xiaofan chuckled softly. "You figured it out?"

Having confirmed his suspicion, Shen Yu breathed a sigh of relief. Since he couldn't break free anyway, he relaxed and leaned against Bai Xiaofan.

Why not lean on him?

He was tired of standing.

"First, only people in our circle knew where my brother had arranged to meet this psychological counselor. None of them could have leaked it to you, so naturally, that narrows the suspicion down to him."

"Of course, you could also say you had a hacker break into his phone and saw their chat history, then set a trap here."

Shen Yu lazily began reviewing what had happened.

"But that makes even less sense. How did you know he was the psychological counselor my brother hired? Lu Xianchang personally set up layers of firewalls on all our phones. Any intrusion would be detected immediately."

"So there's zero chance you got the information from us."

"But you knew. Unless Wen Wenyu was yours from the start, there's no explaining it."

Bai Xiaofan accepted the criticism readily. His hand wandered again, circling the young man's waist as he played with his fair fingers. "Mm, I really didn't notice that. You're so clever, Xiao Yu."

"And then there's you." Shen Yu looked at Bai Yin, who still had no idea what was going on. "A thoroughly useless good-for-nothing."

Bai Yin: "???"

"We ordered through the call station, yet you knew who wanted what as soon as you came in. Wasn't it obvious you were watching us? And after you went out, you just stood by the door without even disguising your footsteps. It was like you were afraid we wouldn't know you were still there, watching us from the doorway! And most importantly, that camera. Have you ever seen a private room with a camera mounted above the door? Right under the door was a complete blind spot. Wasn't its purpose a little too obvious?"

Shen Yu rattled off the flaws as they occurred to him.

"And Wen Wenyu, whose arms and legs were weak, who obviously had a frail constitution, could break free of the hypnosis just like Lu Yanjin? He even deliberately revealed that my brother had hired a psychological counselor for me!"

"And... mmph..."

Shen Yu's mouth was covered. Looking at the hands of his watch, Bai Xiaofan said gently, "Xiao Yu, are you trying to stall for time with all this nonsense? I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

He murmured almost directly into his ear.

"Sleep for a while first."

Sensing something was wrong, Shen Yu lifted his foot and stomped down hard. Bai Xiaofan loosened his grip for an instant in pain, and Shen Yu seized the chance to break free, only for his wrist to be caught and pulled back the next second.

Shen Yu swung back and punched Bai Xiaofan in the bridge of the nose. Bai Xiaofan let go in pain.

But Shen Yu had barely taken a few steps before Bai Yin and his men pinned him down and brought him back. Bai Xiaofan grabbed his hair and pulled his head up, exposing his vulnerable neck. Ignoring Shen Yu's struggles, Bai Xiaofan injected a syringe of anesthetic into it. The cold liquid made Shen Yu shudder.

Soon, though, his eyelids grew heavy, his struggles weakened, and his hands fell limply to his sides. He slumped bonelessly into Bai Xiaofan's arms.

Shen Yu's last thought before losing consciousness was...

Luo Ningsang is useless too! He still hasn't found me after all this time!

Bai Xiaofan scooped him up in his arms.

Bai Yin eagerly scurried over, only to receive a look of disdain.

"You stay and take care of things," Bai Xiaofan said casually. "If you make this many mistakes again, you can go back and be remade along with Bai Jin."

"Yes, yes, Master!" Cold sweat streamed down Bai Yin's face.

Only after Bai Xiaofan's vehicle disappeared did he turn his attention to the two men lying on the floor. He kicked Wen Wenyu, who was still playing dead.

"Get up."

"They saw through you, so what are you still pretending for?"

Bai Yin was irritated.

Wen Wenyu opened his pale violet eyes and slowly climbed to his feet. "That's because you're useless. If not for your unspeakably crude methods, how could I possibly have been exposed?"

"What? I did everything the way you told me to. Doesn't that mean you're even more useless?" Bai Yin laughed in anger and crouched down to poke him in the chest.

"I didn't tell you to spy on us, or take it upon yourself to move the camera, much less show off by using my pocket watch to hypnotize them." Wen Wenyu took out a clean handkerchief and wiped the blood from the side of his face, then paused. He held out his hand. "Give me back my pocket watch."

Bai Yin rolled his eyes and tossed it into his arms.

"Just stick to playing with your potions," Wen Wenyu said as his final assessment.

Having gotten nowhere, Bai Yin went over to the unconscious Lu Yanjin and stepped on him twice. Getting no reaction, he said, "I'm taking this guy, all right? With him, I can take my potions to the next level."

"No."

Bai Yin's smile froze on his face. "I'm only telling you to show you respect. Do you really think a pretty boy who joined halfway through can compare to me?"

Wen Wenyu chuckled. "I don't know whether I can compare to you, but I do know I'm your master's 'honored guest,' not a dog wagging its tail and begging for mercy."

It was practically an insult to Bai Yin's face. His chest heaved, and he was clearly furious.

Wen Wenyu gave him no chance to speak. "Now cooperate with me. We're going to give the police department a big gift."

"To do that, I need this man."

Bai Yin gritted his teeth and drew several more vials of blood from Lu Yanjin before saying, "Go on, then. What do you need me to do?"

Blood still covered Wen Wenyu's face. He tilted his head, looking thoroughly provocative. "I liked you better when you were defiant and unruly just now."

Bai Yin turned to leave.

"This man saw Bai Xiaofan's face. I have a way to replace it with someone else's. Add to that the personal testimony of an innocent passerby who was attacked and caught up in this—the psychological counselor Consultant Luo personally invited."

Wen Wenyu smiled gently.

"Tell me, who should take the fall?"

Bai Yin stopped in his tracks and praised him sincerely.

"Ruthless."

"You flatter me."

"So what do I do?"

"Once I've changed his memories, give me a blow, then just dump me somewhere." Wen Wenyu thought for a moment and added, "Remember to stay out of sight of the cameras."

Bai Yin: "..."

Still... now I have a perfectly good excuse to get back at him.

Bai Yin put up with the other man looking down on his intelligence. "Fine."

The sky gradually darkened.

An officer conducting a search swept his flashlight down a deep alley. He caught a fleeting glimpse of someone lying there, their head covered in blood, and jumped. "Holy crap!"

"What is it?" the person beside him asked.

"There's a body!" The officer rushed over. "Two of them?... Wait, isn't this Brother Lu?"

Looking at Lu Yanjin's deathly pale face, the officer swallowed and shakily placed a hand against the side of his neck. Feeling a faint pulse, he was overcome with indescribable joy. "He's alive! Notify Consultant Luo, quick!"

Wen Wenyu was sent to the hospital as well.

He regained some consciousness during the bumpy ride, grabbed an officer's hand, and managed to say, "...It was Lu Changfeng."

Then he sank back into a deep coma.

Rain poured down.

Luo Ningsang had already stormed up to the Bai family's front gate, demanding to see Bai Xiaofan by name.

Starting from Xingwu Street, every surveillance camera on the streets in the direction the van had gone had been hacked. Lu Xianchang was working urgently to restore them.

Luo Ningsang slapped the table. Unwilling to search blindly like a headless fly, and with a suspect... or rather, someone he was certain was responsible, he had chosen to go straight to the man's home base.

As long as the man refused to come out and see him,

then he had to be the one who took Xiao Yu.

But instead of Bai Xiaofan, what he got was the last thing Wen Wenyu had said before passing out, sent to his phone.

Lu Changfeng?

The eldest son of the Lu family, the designated heir to the Lu Group, had no grudge against Xiao Yu. How could he possibly have kidnapped him?

"Where's Bai Xiaofan?" Luo Ningsang radiated hostility. A contact was displayed on his screen, his fingertip hovering just above it, a fraction away from making the call.

Butler Bai bowed slightly. "The young master is at a meeting at the group, Detective Luo."

"It's been three hours. Is this meeting of his never going to end? Or is he hiding because he doesn't dare come out and see me?"

"I can call and ask for you, though the young master generally won't answer."

Luo Ningsang received another message saying Lu Yanjin had woken up. He stood. "Tell Bai Xiaofan that if he dares touch a hair on Xiao Yu's head..."

Luo Ningsang switched off his phone and rose from the sofa. Heavy rain pattered outside, and a flash of white light suddenly illuminated his expressionless face, most of it hidden in shadow.

"I'll take his life myself."

His words rang out almost at the same time as the deafening thunder, yet somehow remained perfectly clear.

He was like a demon from hell come to claim a life.

Butler Bai kept his head lowered. "Detective Luo, does that count as a threat?"

Luo Ningsang slammed the door behind him in irritation. "You can call the police."

Only after Luo Ningsang's figure disappeared into the shadows did Bai Xiaofan slowly emerge from behind the door.

Butler Bai bowed his head respectfully. "Young master."

Bai Xiaofan plopped down on the sofa, pulled a pack of cigarettes from a drawer under the coffee table, tore it open, and put one in his mouth. Butler Bai stepped forward at just the right moment to light it.

White smoke slowly spilled from his lips and dispersed with his breath. As it drifted over his face, he stared straight at Luo Ningsang's retreating figure and suddenly grinned.

"How interesting. A madman who insists on hiding inside a detective's skin."

Butler Bai listened in silence.

Bai Xiaofan spoke. "Do you know why I didn't come down just now?"

Butler Bai shook his head.

Bai Xiaofan flicked the ash from his cigarette and touched the bloodstreak on his face that had yet to heal.

"If I'd really appeared in front of him, he would have shot me first."

Butler Bai recalled Luo Ningsang's gloomy face and had no doubt about it. If he hadn't known Bai Xiaofan was upstairs, he would have wanted to run himself.

He had been afraid Luo Ningsang would lose patience, give up on his future, and shoot him.

Bai Xiaofan looked thoughtful. "Shen Yu... why didn't I notice how attractive he was before?"

The two of them had even been classmates.

His strongest impression was that Shen Yu was very beautiful and had stumbled upon his secret.

"But it doesn't matter... I have plenty of time to figure it all out."

When Lu Yanjin woke again, he felt weak all over. His consciousness abruptly reconnected after the blackout. His face was as pale as a sheet of paper, his lips completely bloodless. "...Xiao Yu, don't go with him."

Seeing this, Lin Xinluo, who had been keeping watch by his bed, hurried over and waved a hand in front of his eyes. Only when she saw him react clearly did she shout, "Doctor!"

"Xiao Yan, how are you feeling? Are you uncomfortable? Are you thirsty? I'll pour you some water!" Lin Xinluo picked up the warm water she had prepared and brought it to his lips.

But Lu Yanjin pushed it away. His dark eyes were full of stubbornness, his throat tight, and his voice as dry and rough as sandpaper. Every word came with difficulty, yet he persisted in asking.

"...Where's Xiao Yu?"

Lin Xinluo tried to steer the conversation away. "Have some water first, then we can talk slowly, all right?"

Lu Yanjin lowered his eyes. He already understood. "...It's my fault. I lost Xiao Yu."

Lin Xinluo knew that nothing she said could change what had already happened. She knew plenty of comforting words, but none of them worked on Lu Yanjin.

His eyes always seemed to look straight into a person's heart, making it impossible to even think of lying to him.

"...It's not your fault."

"The ones at fault are the people coveting Xiao Yu."

Those were Lin Xinluo's true feelings.

"And if you really want to make amends, then get better quickly. Come find Xiao Yu with us and bring him back."

Lin Xinluo brought the water to his lips again. Lu Yanjin seemed to take her words to heart and drank a mouthful.

Xie Shuyang pushed the door open and came in. "You were discharged just fine this morning, and by the afternoon you'd lost him?! And you landed yourself in the hospital too? I remember you being a legitimate agency, right? You haven't been getting up to anything else behind my back, have you?"

Lin Xinluo set the cup down on the bedside cabinet, neither gently nor forcefully, but it made a loud noise. "Doctor Xie, check on him first."

Xie Shuyang wasn't intimidated. Instead, he continued chattering as he examined Lu Yanjin. "Severe blood loss and a heavy blow to the back of the head, but he's in pretty good physical condition. Give him some fluids and keep him under observation for a day. If there's no risk of a concussion, he can be discharged tomorrow."

Before leaving, he added, "...Bring that child back soon. He needs to take his medicine on time."

Silence returned to the ward.

Lin Xinluo sent word to Luo Ningsang, while Lu Yanjin reached out and caught her sleeve. "I saw who took Xiao Yu away."

"Lu Changfeng?" The name Lin Xinluo uttered made Lu Yanjin's eyes widen.