"Screech, creeeak...!"
Before the three SUVs had even come to a complete stop, Ren Ye pushed open his door and rushed out, charging toward the Police Station with panic written across his face.
Only then did Huang Wei get out with more than a dozen New Year's Watchers, hurrying up the steps after him.
"Bang!"
Ren Ye shoved the glass door open roughly, breathing hard through his mouth and nose. His eyes swept the Police Station lobby, and only when he spotted Ren Qingning did he finally let out a breath of relief.
At the entrance to the corridor, Ren Qingning sat on a bench, fiercely grilling a New Year's Watcher. "What exactly does your organization have my brother doing? This is supposed to be a harmonious society! What kind of case would make criminals think of kidnapping me?! Don't lie to me... or I'll record you on my phone."
The young New Year's Watcher felt as though his head was about to split. This girl was anything but easy to fool. She kept demanding answers about Ren Ye's current "job" and threatening to start livestreaming at the drop of a hat.
"Smack!"
As she spoke, a pair of large, warm hands caught her slender arms. She looked up and saw the face of her ex-con brother.
"Are you all right?" Ren Ye demanded, his face pale.
Ren Qingning froze for a moment, resentment filling her eyes. "Are you all right? What on earth are you doing?!"
Ren Ye didn't answer. He quickly looked his sister over, his gaze finally settling on the wound at her waist. "...You're hurt?"
"I'm fine. It's just a scratch." Ren Qingning didn't whine or act pitiful. She simply grabbed her brother's arm and pulled him aside.
The siblings faced each other. Guilt and lingering fear filled Ren Ye's eyes, along with a trace of apprehension.
"What exactly is your job?" Ren Qingning asked softly. "If this hadn't happened today, I wouldn't even have known the police were following me."
"I..." Ren Ye frowned slightly, left with no choice but to lie. "It's still about what happened at the border. There's a case that hasn't been closed. I can't go into the details."
Instead of getting angry, Ren Qingning asked him very seriously, "Will... will you be in a lot of danger? Can we choose not to do it?"
Ren Ye fell silent for a long while. "How about we go to the hospital and get you checked?"
At that answer, Ren Qingning stopped pressing him. She gently loosened the gauze around her waist, revealing the wound, which had already stopped bleeding. "Look. I'm tough. I'm fine."
While they were talking, Huang Wei, who had just visited the station chief's office, strode out. "Ren Ye, come with me for a moment."
"Qingning is still here," Ren Ye reminded him gravely.
Huang Wei nodded firmly. "I've just spoken to the chief. I'll have someone take her back to headquarters right away."
"Go back to headquarters with them first," Ren Ye told his sister. "I'll be back soon."
"Then stay safe, okay?" Ren Qingning nodded slightly without trying to stop him.
Tongren Road, Fight to the End Card Room.
With his backside still stinging, Old Yin stood at a second-floor window, holding his phone in his right hand. "Mm-hmm. Yes. All right, I understand, boss...!"
The call soon ended.
Old Yin immediately opened a Player Chat Group and found that, sure enough, it was full of new messages.
"Have you heard? A few Chaos Faction players fought the New Year's Watchers over by University Town."
"Chaos Faction players are all rabid dogs and rotten bastards. They should all die!"
"To the guy above: read my lips. Fuck your mom!"
"Keep it friendly. Anyone who starts swearing gets kicked immediately."
"I heard things got pretty wild over at University Town. Two friends of mine both sensed intense star source fluctuations."
"...!"
Old Yin quickly scrolled through more than a hundred messages and couldn't help remarking, "Heh. That little pretty boy really is fierce. He actually dared to snatch someone right under the New Year's Watchers' noses."
An apartment on the outskirts of the city.
"Whoosh!"
The toilet flushed. Ren Daguo stepped out of the bathroom, looking dazed as he muttered, "I have to plant the setup well in advance. That's how you get that sense of subtle clues running through everything, how you make people's scalps tingle when they read it..."
At the dining table in the living room, his editor, Old Xu, ate a burger while rubbing his still-bruised eye socket. "...Come blow on this for me, then put some ointment on it. It hurts like hell."
"Mm, writing it that way works. It has impact." Ren Daguo walked to the table with a vacant expression, ideas surging through his mind. Unconsciously, he picked up the cola bottle into which Old Xu had tossed two cigarette butts, tipped back his head, and took a drink.
"Holy shit!"
Old Xu froze, then shouted, "What are you doing? Drinking cigarette juice?!"
"Huh?"
The shout snapped Ren Daguo out of his thoughts. He wiped his mouth, finding a cigarette butt, soaked in cola until it had fallen apart, stuck at the corner of his lips. "Fuck, why didn't you warn me?! I was wondering why this cola tasted like Liqun."
"...If I hadn't warned you, you'd probably have eaten shit." Old Xu covered his eye socket and rolled his eyes. "Well? Have you figured it out?"
"Let me look at the storylines I saved on my phone and sort them out. Be quiet." Ren Daguo wiped his mouth haphazardly, sat down, and picked up his phone.
His dad was a hardworking flop of a writer. He was in the habit of recording things on his phone, whether he was taking a dump, eating, or at a gathering. Whenever inspiration struck, he would jot it down in his phone's notepad.
The screen lit up. The battery indicator was already down to its lowest level, but his dad's mind was elsewhere, and he didn't notice.
"Beep!"
A notification from his messaging app flashed, and he casually tapped it open.
Under the light, his dad's slightly vacant eyes slowly filled with bewilderment as he stared at his phone, then surprise. Finally, his brow furrowed, and a fleeting flash of anger crossed his eyes.
"We're running out of time. I'm seriously about to lose my mind...!" Old Xu rubbed his face. "Here, let me have some cigarette juice too, perk myself up. Hurry up, hurry up...!"
His dad slowly put down his phone, turned toward his editor, and loosened his collar. "The air conditioner in this lousy place is broken again. It keeps blowing hot air. Let's go downstairs..."
In a dimly lit stretch of Shantytown near University Town.
When Ren Ye, Huang Wei, and the others arrived at the Second Crime Scene, their expressions were all extremely grim.
Skinny Monkey's body hung suspended, his arms broken and his chest ripped open, his own heart clenched between his teeth.
Not far away, Fat Dragon's body lay on the ground, already completely stiff, surrounded by black filth. His severed head still had its teeth sunk into his own torn neck. His death was gruesome and bizarre.
Ren Ye had already learned from Huang Wei that these two were the men who had tried to kidnap his sister. Yet when he saw this horrifying, ritualistic murder scene, he felt no satisfaction at their fate, only greater fear and unease.
"Who... who killed them?" Coming back to himself, Ren Ye turned to Gu Nian and asked.
"They were already dead when I arrived. I didn't see the killer," Gu Nian replied in a clear voice, laying out her reasoning. "But judging by the scene and the star source fluctuations I sensed, these two were practically helpless against the killer. The fight was also over very quickly. And the words the killer left on the ground are strange...!"
Ren Ye and Huang Wei looked beneath Skinny Monkey's feet.
"Player friends who've come from far away, you've pissed me off. Don't any of you leave!"
Standing under the light, Gu Nian frowned slightly as she analyzed the situation. "Look. Ren Ye's sister was kidnapped outside the Police Station. Then we arrived in time and forced these two Chaos Faction players to flee. Following that logic, the killer knew we New Year's Watchers were nearby. Yet he not only killed them but also left those words on the ground. Do you think... that message was only meant for their accomplices?"
Ren Ye turned to her. "You're right. The fight produced star source fluctuations. The killer must have known the New Year's Watchers would be the first to arrive here, and that we'd see those words too."
"Is this some kind of goodwill gesture?" Huang Wei interjected, following their reasoning. "He's telling us he has no ill will toward the New Year's Watchers, and that these two simply pissed him off?"
"Right." Ren Ye nodded. "Two possibilities. First, he already had a grudge against this gang of Chaos Faction players. The killings were revenge, and the message was to tell the New Year's Watchers he meant us no harm. Second, he killed them because my sister was kidnapped, since the two incidents happened so close together. But apart from the New Year's Watchers, I don't know any other players, let alone have relatives like that. It's very unlikely."
"No, you do know other players." Gu Nian reacted instantly, reminding him, "The players in the Qingliang Prefecture Star Gate! Could a teammate from your faction be protecting you in secret?!"
Ren Ye considered it briefly. "That's possible too. Though it's still very unlikely. I don't think I revealed my real-world identity inside the Star Gate."
At that, everyone fell silent for a moment before Gu Nian added, "Oh, right. Judging by these two men's star source fluctuations and supernatural abilities, they should be the ones who murdered that couple."
"Were they from the Bell Society?" Ren Ye asked, his voice trembling.
"...I just sent a message to our superiors. They're verifying it now," Gu Nian replied. "But personally, I'd say they were very likely members of the Bell Society."
Hearing that, Ren Ye immediately walked aside, pulled out his phone, and dialed his dad's number.
"Beep, beep...!"
"Hello. The number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later."
The automated voice came through the earpiece, and the call ended.
"Fuck."
This habit of his dad's was so annoying. Whenever he was working, he either didn't answer his phone or switched it off.
He turned to Huang Wei and immediately asked, "How are things on my dad's end?"
Huang Wei looked at him and replied calmly, "I sent a second group over on our way here. They should all be there by now. What do you think... should we bring him back to headquarters too? It would be safer."
At those words, Ren Ye found himself torn.
He was actually somewhat reluctant to have the New Year's Watchers put his dad under their control too. His dad would certainly worry about him, and might even get frightened.
What kind of case required even his family to be guarded around the clock?
But when Ren Ye looked up again at Skinny Monkey's gruesome corpse, he decided to take Huang Wei's advice.
"Notify the guys keeping watch over there. Have them find my dad, then call me. I'll explain it to him," Ren Ye replied with a frown. "Bring him to headquarters for a couple of days."
"All right." Huang Wei immediately took out his phone and notified the New Year's Watchers guarding his dad.
Late that night, a little after nine.
Two New Year's Watchers entered the apartment building and knocked on the door of the apartment where his dad and the editor were staying.
"Knock, knock...!"
They knocked more than a dozen times, but there was no response from inside.
One of the New Year's Watchers called softly, "Mr. Ren, are you there? We're friends of Ren Ye..."
Ten seconds later, there was still no sound from inside.
"Smack!"
One of the New Year's Watchers struck the door near the lock with his palm. There was a crack as the lock mechanism broke, and the door creaked open.
The two stepped inside, one after the other. They glanced around the apartment and instantly froze.
Before you continue