Long in the Planning

"Weren't we going home?"

Shen Yu stared at the large characters spelling out "Bright Insight Private Detective Agency" before him, the corner of his eye twitching slightly as he questioned the three people standing behind him.

Lin Xinluo instantly joined Shen Yu's camp, staring aggressively at Xu Shenzheng and Lu Xianchang as they gazed at the sky. "Exactly. Weren't we going to the boss's place? Why did you drive us here?"

Lu Xianchang also turned his spearhead on the driver. "Speak up, Xu Shenzheng! What's the meaning of this?"

Xu Shenzheng: "..."

Sometimes he really wanted to rip that mouth of his to shreds.

What was he supposed to say?

That the boss had been busy every day, running between cooking, handling matters, and visiting the hospital, and despite making up the whole story, he hadn't prepared the house? There wasn't even a single piece of Shen Yu's clothing there, yet they'd supposedly depended on each other to survive, with the boss raising him?

That they'd only remembered halfway there and hurried back to sort it out?

And that little bastard Lu Yanjin had run off so fast, following the captain.

In the end, Xu Shenzheng alone had to bear it all.

Xu Shenzheng held it in for ages. "Um... Xiao Yu's health isn't good. There's plenty of yang energy and righteous energy here, so it's a good place to recuperate. That's why I stepped on the gas and came here."

Lu Xianchang slapped a hand over his face. He couldn't understand how Xu Shenzheng's brain worked. How could he come up with something like that?

"Oh, then let's go in and have a look." Shen Yu had noticed two people turning around and running off on the way. Putting that together with the change in destination and their original destination, he could make a fairly good guess that something had gone wrong at Luo Ningsang's home.

And the problem was most likely related to him.

Otherwise, they couldn't still be joking around here.

And if it was related to him, then it had to be that made-up story.

Shen Yu closed his eyes.

It had been half a month, and they still hadn't managed to set up signs that he'd lived there?

The three of them froze when they heard Shen Yu's response.

How had he accepted it so calmly?!

"What's wrong? Why are you all staring at me?" Shen Yu touched his face in puzzlement. "Is there something dirty on it?"

"No."

Lin Xinluo pushed him inside, still finding it somewhat hard to believe. She touched Shen Yu's forehead.

He didn't have a fever, either.

He'd actually believed it just like that?

Xu Shenzheng looked deeply moved. "He must have seen the difficulty I was in and gone along with it. That's my little brother for you!"

Lu Xianchang corrected him. "...He's the boss's little brother."

"I've unilaterally claimed him as my little brother."

Xu Shenzheng angrily stepped on his foot. "Xiao Yu, wait for me~"

Lu Xianchang's face twisted, and he bared his teeth. "Xu Shenzheng!"

The agency's interior wasn't particularly large. It occupied a building, but only the bottom two floors belonged to the agency. Above them was a large terrace, and above that were residential apartments. The Ancheng Police Department was just across the street, so whenever they had a problem, they could step outside and find someone to help.

Being one second late counted as a failed order.

"Sister Luoluo!"

The receptionist first greeted Lin Xinluo, then turned his attention to the blue-haired young man sitting in a wheelchair before him. The young man was looking around, and his sapphire-blue eyes were especially captivating, like those of an immortal who had wandered into the mortal world by mistake.

His gaze drawn to him, he asked, "And this is?"

"The boss's little brother, Shen Yu."

Lin Xinluo introduced him openly.

Shen Yu raised a hand in a polite greeting.

"Hello."

Looking at the boy, Liu Wenzhang felt he was very well-behaved and sensible, the kind of person who easily inspired affection. Not to mention Shen Yu's features, as delicate as a porcelain doll's, and the air of frailty that clung to him after his recent discharge from the hospital, making him all the more pitiful.

Liu Wenzhang couldn't resist keeping the two of them for a few more words, asking after Shen Yu with concern throughout the conversation.

Shen Yu thought he was meddling a little too much.

After answering a few questions, Lin Xinluo noticed Shen Yu's impatience and pushed him into their private office. There was no one inside. Ordinarily, only the five of them worked there, along with a forensic doctor who was away on a business trip.

Lin Xinluo found an unused computer and placed it in front of him. "Want to play something?"

Shen Yu shook his head.

Lin Xinluo hadn't spent much time with him and didn't know what to do for the moment. Just then, Xu Shenzheng and Lu Xianchang came upstairs, and she grabbed them and earnestly asked about Shen Yu's preferences, what he usually did, and what they needed to watch out for.

While the three whispered among themselves, Shen Yu noticed the documents on the desk. They were new, freshly printed, and still warm.

It was a brutal torture-murder case.

The Bright Insight Private Detective Agency had a cooperative relationship with the Police Bureau.

When the bureau generally had too much on its hands, it would ask them for help.

This case was one of those.

In the early hours of last night, the killer had chopped off the victim's limbs, thrown out his internal organs, and even gouged out his eyeballs and placed them to one side. The case had been reported that morning by a homeless man who was in the habit of rummaging through trash cans. He had smelled blood and looked inside out of curiosity, only to see the scene and report it in terror.

The victim's name was Jiang Lian, a student in Class 2 of the third year at Ancheng No. 7 High School. His grades were excellent, and if he had taken the college entrance examination, he would most likely have gotten into a top-tier university.

The next page contained high-definition, uncensored photographs of the crime scene.

The written description was nowhere near as striking as the scene itself. The chest had been torn open, and the organs inside had been removed one by one and placed to the side. However, the killer clearly couldn't have paid much attention in school; otherwise, after taking them out, he wouldn't have been unable to put them back the way they belonged. At a glance, the arrangement looked quite similar, but a closer look revealed that the killer had placed the intestines backward, the stomach was in the wrong position, and the spleen wasn't supposed to be that close to the surface.

Shen Yu also noticed a transparent gift box scattered across the floor in a corner, with a teddy bear covered in blood tossed onto the ground.

But this method... he had the distinct feeling he'd seen it before. He seemed to have seen it somewhere... Where was it?

Before he could figure it out, a somewhat exaggerated voice interrupted him.

"Whoa, that's the boss's little brother for you. You don't even feel like throwing up when you look at such bloody, uncensored pictures?" Xu Shenzheng leaned in behind him, using Shen Yu's hands to look through the documents.

His train of thought interrupted, Shen Yu was somewhat annoyed and began picking at his words. "...Wasn't I like this before? Why are you so surprised?"

Xu Shenzheng rubbed his nose. "Haha, of course you were. I just wanted to praise you."

Lu Xianchang shoved aside the useless man who was always teetering on the brink of giving them away and spoke gently. "Xiao Yu, are you interested in this case?"

"A little." Shen Yu had expected him to snatch the documents away.

Lin Xinluo pulled a small credential from a desk drawer. "Then would you like to try working on the case with us?"

Shen Yu took it. Written at the top were the words:

—Case consultant.

It had his headshot and name on it.

After turning it over in their minds, Luo Ningsang and the others still felt it was too dangerous to let him go out on his own and safer to keep him under their noses. So they had decided to first test how receptive Shen Yu would be to this after losing his memory.

Holding the credential, which had been prepared long ago, Shen Yu could think of only four words.

Long in the planning.

The house not being ready, the place being full of yang energy—even the documents had been placed right at his hand.

But... he really was somewhat interested in the case.

The method truly looked familiar to him.

Finding the real killer would also give the deceased some measure of justice.

So the kindhearted Shen Yu thought.

"Okay."

At that moment, Luo Ningsang, who really had forgotten and was now buying things in bulk and tidying the house, sneezed.

"Achoo! Who's talking about me?"

Lu Yanjin carried bags big and small. "Not me."

"Maybe my little brother's thinking about me." The thought gave Luo Ningsang more energy for the work.

Lu Yanjin: "...As long as you're happy, Captain."