"Officer, don't worry. Whatever you ask, if I know the answer, I'll tell you everything. I won't hold anything back."
The dyed-hair man sounded utterly sincere. He was practically ready to thump his chest to guarantee it.
"Tell us everything, hold nothing back?"
Meng Jixi smiled. "Then why wouldn't you even tell us your name just now?"
"...Wasn't that because of my childhood trauma?"
The dyed-hair man scratched his head. "I—"
He shut his mouth.
The server brought over the coffee and pastries they had ordered.
After the server left, the dyed-hair man picked up his coffee and took a sip.
The bitter taste spread across his tongue.
It seemed to cool his mind a little, too.
"My name is Yu Hai."
The dyed-hair man set down his cup and introduced himself.
"Like I said earlier, I met Wei online..."
Before Meng Jixi could ask anything else, the dyed-hair man went on of his own accord.
He knew he wasn't going home today unless he explained the situation clearly.
"It was on a..."
The dyed-hair man paused, then asked, "Do you know he likes eating birds?"
"We know."
Meng Jixi nodded.
He had a few suspicions. "Do you like eating birds, too?"
Were they... bird-meat enthusiasts?
"I'm not as fond of them as he is."
The dyed-hair man shook his head. "I mostly ate them when I was a kid."
"When I was little, I lived with my grandma in the countryside."
"Later, I moved to the city to go to school."
"Back in the countryside, I caught plenty of birds."
"Not just birds, either. I caught lots of fish, shrimp, cicadas..."
"I even caught wild rabbits."
"I know a bit about birds and what they taste like."
"We met on a forum where people discussed things like that."