“Get in first,” Shi Ting said. “We can talk at the Bureau.”

With Murong present, Yan Qing had no need of Shi Ting’s help getting into the car, though there was still no avoiding having to share the back seat with him.

It had been over a week since they last saw each other — that time they had parted ways in Taishan County. In a hazy sort of way, it felt as though a great deal of time had passed.

“Is this about the water demon incident?” Yan Qing went straight to the point. “I saw it in the newspaper.”

She didn’t yet know the full details of the case, and hadn’t seen the body, so she couldn’t classify it as a homicide just yet.

“Do you believe in water demons too?”

Yan Qing shook her head. “It’s most likely a murder and dismemberment case.”

“This case is proving difficult. Only a portion of the body has been recovered, which doesn’t give us enough information to identify the victim.” Shi Ting neither confirmed nor denied. “That is precisely why I hoped to ask for Miss Yan’s assistance — to see if she might uncover something useful.”

“I’ll do my best.” Yan Qing’s voice was calm, but inwardly she was buzzing with excitement like she had been injected with a surge of energy.

She loved all manner of challenges, and once drawn into them, she found them impossible to resist. But in front of others, she had to maintain a composed and unbothered expression, especially around someone like Shi Ting, who would be quick to notice any chink in her armor.

Because of the Liao He water demon case, the entire Military Police Bureau was in a state of busy activity.

When Yan Qing and Shi Ting walked in together, nearly every pair of eyes in the room snapped toward them.

Setting aside the fact that Yan Qing was strikingly beautiful to begin with, the Bureau was essentially an entirely male environment — the only women who ever came through its doors were either people filing reports or bodies on slabs. The sudden appearance of a beautiful young woman out of nowhere had the effect of a beam of pure white moonlight flooding the entire universe at once.

The abrupt silence that fell left Yan Qing mildly flustered. She cast Shi Ting a helpless sideways glance.

Shi Ting wore his usual cold expression. His voice carried a heavy undercurrent of warning. “Case solved already? No one has any work to do?”

At that, everyone snapped their gazes away and went back to their respective tasks.

The moment Shi Ting stepped out of the main office, however, the room erupted.

“Who is that beauty? She actually walked in side by side with our Director.”

“What’s the big deal? She’s probably just filing a report.” A newly posted officer was completely in the dark.

The senior officer let out a knowing chuckle, wearing a mysterious expression as though he had seen everything there was to see. “You don’t know yet, do you? Our Director is famously indifferent to women. Besides — when has it ever been his job to personally receive someone filing a report?”

“She’s certainly good-looking, but why is she in a wheelchair? She’s not disabled, is she? What a shame if so.”

“All right, all right, back to work. Looking for more cases to deal with, are you?” The senior officer gave the new recruit a light smack on the head. “Keep it up and I’ll send you to fish for body parts in the Liao He.”

The mention of the Liao He case made the young officer shudder involuntarily. He hadn’t been posted to the Bureau long, and this was his first time encountering anything like it. One glance at the remains had nearly made him sick on the spot, and he was still having nightmares.

A body like that was genuinely horrifying. Anyone who saw it would feel their stomach turn.

To Yan Qing, however, this was simply work — a voiceless individual waiting for someone to uncover the injustice done to them.

When she arrived at the autopsy room, E’Yuan was still hunched over the body, examining it with a magnifying glass. He only straightened up when he heard footsteps, his gaze falling on Yan Qing as she came in.

Yan Qing ignored the undisguised disdain in his eyes and wheeled herself up to the autopsy table.

“Is this the only piece recovered?” she asked, frowning slightly.

“They’ve been dredging for two days,” Shi Ting said. “No other discoveries.”

The Liao He was broad, its currents swift. Trying to recover body parts from it was like searching for a needle in the ocean.

—