The Other Side

Drip, drip—

In the silent hospital room, the only sound was the dripping of fluid in the IV tube.

The man reclining in the hospital bed, his head wrapped in bandages, was very weak. His pale violet eyes swept over everyone in the room, and he coughed softly twice before speaking. "I really don't know who it was, but... I'm sure it wasn't Lu Changfeng."

Xu Shenzheng frowned. "Before you passed out, you said it was him."

"Because that's what my memories told me at the time." Wen Wenyu tapped his head. "But I'm clearheaded now. That person wasn't very skilled. They altered my memories, covering their own face with Lu Changfeng's, but I noticed."

Wen Wenyu looked at the man leaning against the wall, his tone sincere. "Consultant Luo, does this count as making amends for my crime?"

Luo Ningsang leaned against the wall, rubbing his pistol, and said nothing.

Lin Xinluo leaned close to his ear. "Xiaoyan also said something wasn't right."

Xu Shenzheng refused, displeased. "You revealed Xiao Yu's location and got him kidnapped, and you still want to make amends? At most, you're cooperating with the police bureau. Withholding information is a serious crime."

"I know, so I only want one thing."

"If I can get the victim's forgiveness, Consultant Luo, can you let me off?"

Luo Ningsang said nothing and walked straight out of the hospital room.

Wen Wenyu's voice came from behind him. "Your boss agreed. Are you still going to keep watching me?"

Xu Shenzheng kicked the chair and swore.

Lin Xinluo followed Luo Ningsang into the hallway. Looking at the incoming call flashing repeatedly on his phone screen, she asked, "Aren't you going to answer?"

Luo Ningsang ignored it. "Have you checked all the Bai Family's properties?"

"There's no activity, but there are too many people at the Bai Family's old residence. Our people can't get in."

"What about Lu Xianchang?"

"He went to find Lu Changfeng."

Luo Ningsang leaned against the wall, tapping his fingers against the handrail. Ignoring the flashing incoming call, he looked at a long-unused contact. His fingertip moved, but he swiped past it, stopping on a number made up of garbled characters below.

It was answered after only a few rings.

Neither of them spoke.

The person on the other end was the first to break the silence.

"Brother Luo, what made you think of calling me?"

There was nostalgia in the young man's voice.

"Do you need a favor? Otherwise, I can't think of a reason you'd contact me."

"Yeah."

The young man, who had expected to be mocked, froze.

"I need access to 'Skynet.'"

"Huh? You're asking me? Why don't you go ask your clean superior?"

"Xiaoyuan."

The young man covered his forehead and ruffled his hair in irritation. A bitter feeling welled up in his heart, and the pain of being stabbed in the back seemed as fresh as yesterday.

"How do you have the nerve to call me that?!"

"Help me, Xiaoyuan."

A helpless, lost voice came through the earpiece. Xiaoyuan showed nothing on his face, but his fingers had already gone to the keyboard on instinct.

Why are you so damn pathetic?

Xiaoyuan laughed in anger at himself.

All it took was one sentence from the other end, and he was rushing to help.

"I really owe you, don't I?"

Beep, beep—

With the call cut off by the other party, Luo Ningsang returned to the stern Consultant Luo. The vulnerability he had shown just now was gone in a flash.

Xiaoyuan worked quickly.

He bundled up the hacked surveillance footage from Xingwu Street, along with access to the cameras at the Bai Family's old residence, and sent it all to Luo Ningsang.

"Let's go."

Lin Xinluo called Xu Shenzheng over.

Luo Ningsang stared at the footage on his phone and sent out deployment orders at once.

"Surround the Bai Family."

Whoosh—

Rain poured down.

Ancheng Police Department.

Watching the call disconnect automatically yet again, the man in police uniform, who was over fifty, had veins bulging on his forehead. He slammed his palm down, leaving a crack across the phone screen—a clear sign of his fury.

"What the hell is he trying to do?! He's completely lawless! Does he think the police bureau is his own home?! He deploys people whenever he wants? No written report, no verbal report. Does he even have any regard for me as the bureau chief?"

"Isn't it obvious?" A woman in casual clothes reclined across from him.

Director Zhang pounded the table again. "What are you making sarcastic remarks for? Have you finished investigating your case?!"

"Director Zhang, all your people have been called away. Do you think mine would be spared? You give me far too much credit." Feng Zijin kept her eyes closed and showed no mercy.

Feng Zijin, captain of the criminal investigation detachment.

With nothing to do at the moment, she could only tease the powerless old man who had connections.

"You!"

"What about me? Am I wrong? If you're so capable, call all your people back."

"I'm the bureau chief!"

"Oh."

Zhang Pushan slammed the door on his way out.

Feng Zijin swung her leg leisurely and took out her phone, planning to play a tense and thrilling fair 5v5 competitive mobile game. Her Angela had been performing quite well lately.

Bang—

Thinking Director Zhang had come back, Feng Zijin looked up impatiently, only to see a logistics team member panting in a panic. "Captain... Captain Feng! 'Skynet' has been breached!"

Screech.

The chair legs scraped sharply against the floor.

"What?!" Feng Zijin forgot about the game and strode out. "Have you found out who it was?"

The person swallowed. "There's no need to investigate. The signature he left is easy to recognize."

Almost instantly, Feng Zijin remembered the teenage hacker prodigy who had stirred up the entire internet a few years ago.

Codename: Suyuan.

"Put together a report. This isn't something we can handle." Feng Zijin rubbed the spot between her brows.

How many peaceful years had it even been?

"Oh, okay." The person left the room.

Feng Zijin sat back down.

Her ranked match had just started.

And outside in the long hallway, a message flashed across a cracked phone screen.

—This is big enough, isn't it?

Satisfaction flashed in Zhang Pushan's gloomy eyes.

—It will do, but it would be even better if you could add fuel to the fire and make sure he can never recover.

The reply came quickly.

—As you wish.

Breathing fresh air again, Shen Yu gulped it down as though he had come back to life. The feeling of being on the brink of death had left him deeply uncomfortable, and a dark storm gathered in his eyes.

His eyes moved.

Still held in Bai Xiaofan's arms, Shen Yu saw the fountain pen clipped to his chest.

Bai Xiaofan's foxlike eyes curved with exceptional satisfaction. He reached out and brushed the hair clinging to Shen Yu's forehead back behind his head, as carefully as if he were handling a beloved toy.

Then he searched for the fallen ribbon, intending to cover Shen Yu's eyes with it again.

Bai Xiaofan planned to carry him out to find a doctor, but he didn't want anyone else to see Shen Yu's eyes, especially now that a mist of tears made them look even more alluring and pitiful.

The instant he turned his head—

Shen Yu, who had been gathering his strength for a long time, reached up and yanked out the fountain pen. Its cap caught on the pocket, and a downward tug exposed the sharp nib.

He drove it toward Bai Xiaofan's heart.

Pfft—

It sank halfway in before his wrist was seized.

But blood seeped through the white coat, reflected in Shen Yu's pale blue eyes like a candle flame being lit.

Thump, thump.

All Shen Yu could hear was the pounding of his heart. For a moment, he had only one thought.

Kill him.

Kill him, quickly.

Bai Xiaofan's mouth was moving, but Shen Yu couldn't hear him, nor did he want to.

Perhaps the thought in his mind was too strong, or perhaps his adrenaline was surging, but he felt sensation gradually returning to his body, and his head grew clearer.

"What am I going to do with you, Xiao Yu...?" Bai Xiaofan was neither angry nor annoyed. He casually tossed the fountain pen aside. "I really, really like you. Even when you're like this, I can't get angry..."

Before he could finish, Shen Yu, his strength restored, pushed him aside.

Shen Yu sprang away, his eyes bright. He grabbed a glass bottle from a shelf and smashed it, then picked up a large shard and gripped it in his palm. Even when it cut him and blood flowed freely, he didn't let go.

Bai Xiaofan looked up into a pair of bright, unknowing eyes filled with murderous, bloodthirsty intent. What kind of eyes were they? It was as though an unknowing, unfeeling youth had finally discovered something that interested him, and, in his excitement and astonishment, his first choice was to offer up a blood-red corpse before continuing without pause in pursuit of the next.

At the thought, Bai Xiaofan could barely hide his excitement.

He dodged Shen Yu's slashing attacks. "Xiao Yu, this side of you fascinates me even more. What am I going to do?"

Receiving no answer, Bai Xiaofan blocked Shen Yu's arm with one hand and gazed dazedly at the person before him who wanted to take his life. "I really want to be with you forever and ever."

Shen Yu's movements grew faster and faster, as though he had only just remembered how to fight. Bit by bit, he began to overpower Bai Xiaofan. The glass shard clenched in his hand cut deeper and deeper, but he seemed unable to feel the pain.

Only increasingly heavy panting remained in the laboratory.

An alarm suddenly sounded, and a dazzling red light flashed through the white laboratory, making it dizzying to look at.

Bai Xiaofan was caught off guard for a moment.

Shen Yu had already pinned his head down. With the glass shard in his other hand, he lightly sliced it across Bai Xiaofan's neck.

It wasn't until he felt a coolness at his neck and reached up to touch it that his hand came away covered in blood.

Only then did he belatedly realize what had happened.

Pain suddenly shot through his neck. Unable to speak, he desperately clutched the wound that was still bleeding, his head tilted back like a dying goose.

He watched a bloodthirsty light emerge in the blue-haired youth's eyes, along with endless contempt for him. He watched him extend the tip of his tongue and lightly lick the blood flowing into the web between his thumb and forefinger...

Then Shen Yu froze.

The constantly sweeping red light passed over Shen Yu's pale profile. He lowered his head, concealing his expression.

Blood dripped from his palm.

Shen Yu suddenly remembered that Wen Wenyu had actually said something else to him at the milk tea shop.

"I believe another self lies hidden in everyone's heart."

"People have two sides: good and bad, positive and negative, yin and yang. Wherever there's a bright side, there must be a corresponding dark side."

"For example, beneath a person's well-behaved, sensible and obedient exterior, there must be a sinister, gloomy and mad... other side."

"Am I right, Shen Yu?"

Those words rang out almost as though they were being spoken right beside Shen Yu's ear.

How had he answered back then?

Shen Yu lifted his foot and stepped on Bai Xiaofan, who had already fallen to the floor. He raised the glass shard in his hand once more, aiming at his chest, where blood was still seeping out.

Bang—

The door was smashed open.

Only Bai Xiaofan had access to this laboratory.

He remembered.

He had said:

Knowing too much will get you killed.

Pfft.

The shard sank into his chest.