At these words, every police officer present looked up. You Mingxu immediately asked, “What did Xu Jiayuan say then?”

Jiang Mingxuan’s voice grew quieter: “Xu Jiayuan said… he would hack Liu Ruoyu to death too.”

Seeing the officers’ silence, Jiang Mingxuan added, “That was… just angry talk, right? People say things they don’t mean—who goes around hacking people? Besides, a few days later, they were fine again. They even went to the city together to play games and eat. And tonight, Liu Ruoyu was with us the whole time, and didn’t go anywhere.”

The officers all frowned.

Yin Feng, who had been silent for a long while, suddenly spoke up: “When Xu Jiayuan bullied Liu Ruoyu, what did you and Liu Ping do?”

All the officers immediately turned to look at this rumored VIP. However, seeing that You Mingxu hadn’t even raised an eyebrow, seemingly approving his question, they quietly waited for the answer.

Jiang Mingxuan lowered his head: “We… didn’t do anything.”

Yin Feng pursed his lips, his expression unusually serious: “Did you not stop it, or did you not participate in the bullying?”

Jiang Mingxuan suddenly became flustered, saying, “That… that wasn’t bullying! It was all just joking around, just jokes. He’s young, we were just teasing him…”

Yin Feng shook his head, his gaze cold: “Because he’s young, you can freely mock him, order him around, and threaten him? Why do adults forgive themselves so easily when bullying children? Is it just because only with children can adults like you feel powerful?”

No one spoke, and Jiang Mingxuan had no response. You Mingxu looked at Yin Feng—he was angry, his face slightly flushed, but his gaze sharp and penetrating. For a moment, he didn’t seem particularly foolish at all.

—

Dawn was breaking in the east.

You Mingxu walked down from the rural residence to get some fresh air. The villagers who had gathered to watch the excitement had dispersed, probably gone home to catch up on sleep. The town’s streets were quiet. The chaos that came with urbanization and the influx of migrants had yet to begin its daily performance. The long street had temporarily regained some of its peaceful rural character.

Her mind was quiet, yet she felt stifled. In their jurisdiction, four people and two children had died in just a few days. Initially, both cases had seemed ordinary, with clear investigative directions, but upon investigation, they’d hit dead ends.

The Xie Huifang family case was now at a standstill. They couldn’t find any clear revenge motive or suspects, and robbery had been ruled out. She agreed with Yin Feng’s reasoning: either they’d missed something and the killer was among those already investigated, or it was a mentally unstable stranger who killed Xie Huifang to vent their anger.

As for this current case, though they’d hoped for a quick resolution—any experienced investigator would judge the killer was likely someone familiar with the victim—the first round of investigation showed that everyone close to the deceased had alibis. The surveillance footage and neighbor testimonies had just come in, with a camera directly facing the building’s entrance. The three roommates hadn’t left all night, confirmed by neighbors. The murder site was just a wasteland, with no surveillance cameras nearby, and they hadn’t found any valuable evidence yet.

The police could only expand their search and scope of suspicion to find the perpetrator.

You Mingxu let out a heavy sigh and walked back to the building where the incident occurred.

As daylight grew stronger, the group headed downstairs. The three roommates would be taken to the station for detailed questioning. You Mingxu looked at each of them—all wore identical expressions: dejected, silent, tense. Nothing unusual stood out. Her gaze fell on Liu Ruoyu; after this incident, his “underage worker” status would certainly end. Colleagues had contacted his family, but no relatives had yet indicated they would come from their hometown to collect him.

Yin Feng walked at the back of the group. As soon as he came downstairs, he spotted You Mingxu and ran over, saying, “Where did you go? I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“Came down for some air.”

“Why didn’t you take me?”

“Weren’t you busy having fun?”

Yin Feng scratched his head, remembering how engrossed he’d been earlier, not even noticing when she’d gone downstairs. This made his heart sink.

“I didn’t mean to ignore you!” he immediately said, keeping pace with her steps like a bee chasing a flower, “I just got caught up in thinking for a moment, I won’t do that again.”

You Mingxu thought to herself: I wish you would. But she couldn’t say that aloud—if she did, a certain handsome one would sulk again. She smiled faintly and said, “Isn’t investigating cases interesting?”

Yin Feng’s mouth curved up: “Not bad.”

She suddenly said: “I think you’ll probably recover your memories soon, congratulations.”

Yin Feng’s steps faltered. Biting his lip, he watched her continue walking ahead without looking back, feeling inexplicably hurt. He caught up and said with feigned indifference: “Heh… too bad I can’t even remember what I ate this morning! How could I possibly recover my memories?”

However, in response to his forceful statement, You Mingxu only smiled faintly, neither confirming nor denying. Yin Feng suddenly felt as if she could easily see through all his thoughts. He wanted to resist but couldn’t escape her grasp. He pouted, thinking: A-Xu is too mean! Like a big bad wolf, always… always toying with his sincere feelings!

Angry about this, after returning to the police station, Yin Feng barely acknowledged You Mingxu. But You Mingxu had no time to deal with him anyway—the group of detectives was exhausted. After briefly summarizing the initial case findings and letting other colleagues continue the investigation, they all fell asleep at their desks.

An hour of sleep was an hour of sleep. Nobody was made of iron.

You Mingxu pulled out a folding chair from her office corner and laid it flat on the ground, immediately falling asleep. Yin Feng, not participating in their casework, rested in the same meeting room as before. Through the window, he watched You Mingxu lying on the ground. She looked most docile when sleeping, her body always tightly curled, her long hair falling, like a little girl. A few slim, white fingers peeked out from her sleeve—Yin Feng stared at that hand for a while, suddenly no longer angry about her teasing earlier. He felt proud of himself for being able to process his anger without her having to apologize.

Then his eyes darted around, and he turned in his chair, mimicking You Mingxu’s exact position before closing his eyes.

When everyone woke up, it was already past lunchtime. They were all starving, with intense casework awaiting them in the afternoon. You Mingxu waved her hand decisively: “Let’s go eat something good outside, Dutch treat.”