Participating in the Case

Yu Xing was unaware of what had happened between Zhao Mou and Zhao Yijiu, and even less aware that Zhao Mou had given a poisoned chalice.

After replying to Zhao Mou, he opened Zhu Yan's message and expressed his great interest in the case.

Not long after, Zhu Yan called and briefly explained the current situation to him.

"You already know about this case? Okay, the deceased was from our reading club." Zhu Yan's first sentence was interrupted by Yu Xing.

"You joined the reading club?" Yu Xing remembered that Zhu Yan wasn't a member of the reading club when she went to the school anniversary celebration last time.

"There are so many clubs, what's wrong with adding a few more?" Zhu Yan said. "Reading more is good for your physical and mental health. Besides, the reading club's activity room is right across from the bartending club. I'm doing this for the sake of the task you gave me."

The bartending club, the same club King Jue Wang Jue, the strategist, belonged to—all the previous excuses were bullshit, but Yu Xing could believe that Zhu Yan was spying on Wang Jue for a mission.

Yu Xing realized she knew too little about the case. "So, what's your opinion of her?"

"The deceased was the vice president of the reading club, named Liu Lingling. I didn't know her very well, but I knew that she had a bad reputation. Apparently, she cheated on her boyfriend and he found out, and they had a big fight during a club activity once."

"So, her boyfriend knew about her cheating." Yu Xing lowered her eyes, recalling what Hua Subai had said—that the girl was being secretly followed by her boyfriend when she passed the flower shop. "What's her boyfriend's name?"

Regardless of the circumstances, the boy who followed Liu Lingling last night certainly didn't have any friendly intentions.

Zhu Yan said, "Wang Guanshi is a junior. They're both juniors, and they've been together since their freshman year."

"She does love reading, but that doesn't conflict with her personality. She's someone who really loves material things, you know? She's the kind of person who likes anything that's valuable."

Unbeknownst to Yu Xing, she had already picked up a pen and was sketching a portrait of the girl on a piece of draft paper. "Go on."

"Her relationship with her boyfriend was actually quite good before, but in the last month or two, she had a falling out with someone rich. I still need to investigate the specifics. The Criminal Investigation Detachment doesn't have a definitive conclusion yet; everyone is investigating—surveillance footage, interviews, and questioning Wang Guanshi."

Yu Xing paused, her pen poised.

There was some background noise on Zhu Yan's Zhu Yan, as if someone had approached her. She seemed to have moved to a different spot with her phone. Once it quieted down again, Zhu Yan said, "I'm at the station now. After I was injured last time, Han Jiang officially made me a police consultant. I guess I've finally moved from the underground to the surface."

"I know that." Yu Xing had also been secretly watching Zhu Yan, but his attention was diverted to another direction. "You just said that the police only summoned Wang Guanshi?"

Zhu Yan hesitated for a moment. "Well... there are some other people who might be involved in the case, but Wang Guanshi can't provide an alibi, so he's been listed as a prime suspect."

"Where is her rich lover?" Yu Xing quickly drew a portrait of Liu Lingling. Liu Lingling was wearing the same outfit he had seen last night. Yu Xing tried his best to recreate it from memory, and even drew some of the patterns on it.

"They haven't found him. No matter how much Liu Lingling and Wang Guanshi before, Liu Lingling never revealed this person's identity, as if she was willing to protect him at all costs." Zhu Yan raised her voice slightly, "You suspect her death was caused by her lover? Then you'll first have to prove that Liu Lingling had contact with him that night..."

"I'm pretty sure." Yu Xing's lips curled into a smile as she added a few strokes to the paper. "She was dressed head-to-toe in designer clothes that night, about to meet her lover. But since you didn't mention that, it seems the police couldn't extract any drugs from Liu Lingling's body."

He finished the painting, held it upright, and his eyes were devoid of emotion.

In the picture, Liu Lingling's posture perfectly recreates how she stood there last night, but Yu Xing is more concerned about is the expression on Liu Lingling's face after he drew it from memory.

Is it anticipation, perfunctory attitude, fear, or numbness?

Neither.

All the details that had been missed in a fleeting glance now came to light. Yu Xing carefully observed the painting and felt more and more that Liu Lingling's emotions at that time were actually very strange.

That strange look in her eyes was so vivid that it made Yu Xing silent for a long time. Zhu Yan on the phone had to say "hello, hello, hello" several times before she brought him back to his senses. "How did you know she was wearing designer brands that night? Her body was found almost naked, and even the only piece of clothing was confirmed to be our school's, their department's uniform, which couldn't provide any information at all... Did you see it using special methods?"

"... Haven't the police checked the surveillance footage on the street in front of my apartment yet?" Yu Xing found it a bit unbelievable. In his memory, the Criminal Investigation Detachment led by Han Jiang shouldn't be this slow.

"Ah, I didn't know. I haven't noticed their progress in reviewing the surveillance footage." Zhu Yan said, then immediately realized, "No way, you saw the deceased yesterday?"

"That's right." Yu Xing thought for a moment, then smiled, "If you need, I can testify."

"... Since you've put it that way, as a key witness in this case, you should definitely be here," Zhu Yan said, her voice lower. "But haven't you always been working behind the scenes? Why are you willing to step into the police's sights now?"

"This matter..." Yu Xing hesitated for once.

He had remained behind the scenes because he didn't know how long it would take for him to enter the deduction Yugi and find the Lingren.

If this process takes a very long time, then he will not be able to leave behind enough clues in this information age for future generations to discover his true identity.

But now, it's not necessary.

He's close to his goal, and once he achieves it, he probably won't stay in this world for long. There's no need for him to hide anything and plan for the future.

But it's not a good idea to say these words to Zhu Yan; who knows what Zhu Yan would think if she heard them?

"I'll explain later. Anyway, I can go to the police station as a witness and provide clues." Yu Xing took a picture of the painting and sent it to Zhu Yan. "Take a look."

At that moment, Zhu Yan was in Han Jiang's office.

Han Jiang went out, leaving her alone. As the branch captain's office, this place wouldn't be easily entered or exited, making it a good spot to make a phone call.

Zhu Yan squinted at the message Yu Xing had sent, and her breath hitched.

Although there was no color in the drawing, Zhu Yan could tell just by looking at the lines that it was Liu Lingling, whom she saw at every club activity.

Liu Lingling's expression was the kind that would send chills down your spine if you looked closely. That's why Yu Xing really saw Liu Lingling at a crucial moment yesterday.

But... how am I supposed to explain Yu Xing's existence to Han Jiang?

She had previously concealed the person behind her very well. If she were to rashly expose Yu Xing to Han Jiang, given Han Jiang's keen perception, he would definitely suspect how she discovered this potential eyewitness.

When the investigation continues, her relationship with Yu Xing will naturally be exposed.

Just as Zhu Yan was pondering this, the door behind her opened.

Zhu Yan turned around, holding her phone, and greeted him with a smile, "Captain Han, you're back?"

Han Jiang straightened his shirt, which had become slightly wrinkled from the field visit, and his gaze happened to catch the moment when Zhu Yan's phone call was hung up.

His eyes flickered almost imperceptibly. "Um, who... were you talking to on the phone?"

"A friend." Zhu Yan naturally, as if she had just been chatting with a friend.

"Really?" Han Jiang wasn't so easily fooled. He had become so familiar with Zhu Yan that he had a deeper understanding of her expressions than most people.

"It's fake." Zhu Yan knew immediately that Han Jiang had probably overheard some conversations outside the door and saw through her trick of deliberately greeting Yu Xing to hang up the phone.

Thinking of Yu Xing's attitude, Zhu Yan glanced at Han Jiang's expression. "You seem to be in a good mood. Why don't you tell me first, what good thing happened?"

"During the interrogation, Wang Guanshi mentioned that he followed Liu Lingling last night. He wasn't willing to talk about it before, ha." Han Jiang unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt to let some air in. "He mentioned Mingchao Road, and after reviewing the surveillance footage, we found that all the cameras on Mingchao Road were affected by some unknown factor last night; the screens went black."

"So, you can actually be certain that there's an important clue on Mingchao Road." Zhu Yan smiled. "Wang Guanshi should remember what Liu Lingling's clothes looked like, right?"

"It was too dark, and he was afraid of being discovered, so he kept his distance and said he couldn't see clearly." Han Jiang wiped his face. "However, having a range is good news."

"That's certainly something to be happy about, but let me tell you something that might make you even happier."

Han Jiang raised an eyebrow, looking at the girl who had taken off her down jacket and draped it over the back of his office chair, yet still wore a thick sweater as if she were cold despite the air conditioning being on. "If you put it that way, I'm actually kind of looking forward to it. What is it?"

"Didn't you always suspect I had someone backing me?" Zhu Yan retorted, then waved her phone. "The person behind me is willing to provide some clues. He witnessed Liu Lingling appearing on Mingchao Road and remembered her clothes at the time."

Han Jiang was momentarily unsure whether to be surprised that such an important clue had been delivered to his door, or surprised that the person behind Zhu Yan had suddenly shown up.

"Where is he?" Han Jiang asked hastily, as if afraid the other party might change their mind.

"He'll be here in an hour," Zhu Yan relayed after seeing the message Yu Xing had sent her.

Han Jiang knew that if Zhu Yan really had someone behind her, that person had already helped their police force a lot and couldn't be an enemy.

"Then please ask him to come to my office in an hour."

"Captain Han!"

Before Han Jiang could finish speaking, the door wasn't fully closed, and an officer knocked, his eyes gleaming with excitement. "The forensic team has made a new discovery at the scene! They want you to come over. Oh, the consultant's here too, why don't we come together?"

Han Jiang was initially delighted. "That's wonderful."

Then he remembered what he hadn't finished saying earlier.

He looked at Zhu Yan, hesitated for a moment, but his trust in Zhu Yan ultimately prevailed over his suspicion of the person behind it all. "Then, let him go to the scene directly as well."

An hour later, Yu Xing arrived at the scene according to the location sent by Zhu Yan.

He was wearing a black down jacket, still with his favorite fur collar, holding his unfinished lunch in one hand and his phone in the other, his mask pulled down to his chin.

Under the gossipy gaze of the taxi driver, he got out of the car and walked towards a small alley blocked by police tape.

The deduction he made in the tomb did not consume real time; he went in in the morning and came out in the same time, so it was just past noon. In fact, the police had only been involved in the case for less than twelve hours.

He surveyed the alley from a distance; it was dirty, chaotic, and dilapidated, the kind of buildings that looked like they could be demolished at any moment.

This place is a forty-minute drive from Yu Xing's apartment. He saw Liu Lingling on Mingchao Road, but Liu Lingling's body was found in this nameless, outskirts of the city. This is truly a strange thing.

The police cordon clearly separated the crime scene from the surrounding area. Police officers in uniform were working inside the cordon. The body had been removed, but evidence collection at the scene was still underway.

Few people pass by here; the only ones who occasionally peek out out of curiosity are the residents on both sides of the alley.

Yu Xing's arrival initially went unnoticed until he, with the last piece of food in his mouth, magically produced two cups of milk tea and attempted to push aside the police tape. Only then did the nearest police officer hurriedly stop him. "Unauthorized personnel are not allowed in!"

Perhaps because he appeared too relaxed, the young policeman didn't even consider him a suspicious person.

A little distance away, Han Jiang, who was listening to his colleagues from the trace evidence department talking, suddenly turned his head. On his way here, he had asked Zhu Yan a lot about "the person behind it all," but this time Zhu Yan seemed determined to keep quiet and insisted that he find the answers himself.

Seeing that the person had such a great deterrent and controlling influence in Zhu Yan's mind, Han Jiang thought that he would be Zhu Yan's teacher or elder.

So when he saw the young man standing calmly by the cordon, who had been stopped and was now drinking a cup of milk tea, he was momentarily stunned.

He waved to the officers, "Take these things for testing first, I have some things to take care of."

Han Jiang walked with uncertain steps past the young police officer who was urging the young man to leave quickly, staring at him for a long time. "You are...?"

"Captain Han, I've heard so much about you." Yu Xing smiled, and that face—which seemed out of place here but belonged on the big screen, stunning an entire era—was instantly imprinted in Han Jiang's mind, bringing a kind of alarm bell to the air. "Captain Han was the one who called me here, so why won't you let me in?"

He waved the milk tea bag in his hand. "If it's inconvenient for me, an outsider, to go in, could you please do me a favor and give the milk tea to Zhu Yan? She just told me she wanted some."

For some reason, Han Jiang sensed a certain elusiveness and danger emanating from this man, the kind only found in the most extreme criminals. Just as he had never imagined that Zhu Yan's mastermind was so young, he had never expected that he would perceive criminal traits in this man at first glance.

But Yu Xing undoubtedly proved his identity.

"Zhu Yan asked you to bring it, you should give it to her yourself, otherwise she'll probably be disappointed. How can an old man like me compare to a boyfriend?" Clearly, Han Jiang was treating Yu Xing Zhu Yan as the boyfriend that Zhu Yan had never mentioned, because he couldn't think of any other reason besides a boyfriend-girlfriend relationship that would make Zhu Yan trust this person to such an extent.

Yu Xing shrugged. "He's not my boyfriend."

As he spoke, he successfully lifted the police tape and entered the area of the case.

Han Jiang forced a fairly natural smile, "What's your name?"