You Ming Xu stood outside the internet café, basking in the gentle winter afternoon sun.

Even on a workday, numerous teenagers and young adults were inside gaming, separated from the outside world by dark-tinted glass.

This was the place where You Ming Xu had first found Li Bi Ran, bringing Yin Feng along.

It was also where Li Bi Ran and Liu Ru Yu had met, gotten acquainted, and built enough trust to initiate their exchange of murders.

If that’s where the story began, that’s where the hidden truth should be unearthed. You Ming Xu walked inside.

Nothing seemed to have changed in the months since her last visit. As she passed rows of computers, her gaze unconsciously drifted to the corner where Li Bi Ran used to lie on the couch. The couch had since been removed.

“What are you looking at? No gaming allowed.”

“Oh…”

The soft, aggrieved voice from that day seemed to still linger in her ears. You Ming Xu’s expression remained neutral as she approached the counter. A young man slouched behind it, looking listless.

You Ming Xu leaned over and asked with a smile, “Hey handsome, where’s your boss?”

Seeing an attractive woman, the young man’s tone softened, “Not here. Did you need something?”

“Oh, your boss and I are from the same hometown. He helped me out a few days ago. I just got back from out of town and wanted to treat him to a meal,” You Ming Xu said.

“Don’t you have his phone number?” the young man asked.

Though You Ming Xu had it from the case records, she replied without missing a beat, “I tried calling, but couldn’t get through.” She wasn’t worried about the young man contacting Xiang Rong—if he did, Xiang Rong would remember who she was. She was just here to probe around casually.

“Oh, well, I’m not sure then. The boss gets busy sometimes and his phone becomes unreachable. We can’t contact him either,” the young man answered.

“Oh?” You Ming Xu smiled.

“The boss went out of town and said there was some family matter. Try calling him again later, or you could leave your name and contact info, and I’ll let him know when I get the chance.”

“No need,” You Ming Xu said lazily. “When treating someone to a meal, one should take the initiative. I’ll come back another time.”

As she walked out of the internet café, her mind flashed back to the witness statements she’d read in the case files these past few days:

The first time she and Yin Feng had come to question Xiang Rong, he’d said: “That boy was a regular here, he was gaming with friends just yesterday.”

The second time, when Xu Meng Shan came at her request to ask for surveillance footage from a few days prior, Xiang Rong had volunteered: “Someone else just came asking for the footage too. Another kid, surnamed Liu or Chen, always came gaming with Li Bi Ran. Left just before you arrived.”

It hadn’t seemed significant then, but now, combining Officer Gu Tian Cheng’s words and Yin Feng’s “Godfather” theory, Xiang Rong’s statements seemed suspicious. Usually, internet café owners preferred to avoid involvement when police came asking questions. Yet he had voluntarily mentioned Li Bi Ran’s “friend” twice, making one wonder if he knew something more and was deliberately trying to guide or hint at something to the police.

After all, it was at this internet café where Yin Feng had discovered the overlapping patterns in Li Bi Ran and Liu Ru Yu’s exchange murders.

Xu Meng Shan had also uncovered a previously overlooked detail in the case files.

Another factor that helped Li Bi Ran and Liu Ru Yu form their alliance was that they came from the same place—Taoling Village in Chen Xi County. They might even have played together as children.

The clever Xu Meng Shan had suddenly thought to check Xiang Rong’s hometown and discovered that he too was from that village. Moreover, until eight years ago, his family had lived in that rural area before moving to Xiang City.

Now that was interesting.

Could the connection between these three people predate their meetings at the Internet café?

However, before finding more concrete evidence, You Ming Xu didn’t want to rashly question Li Bi Ran and Liu Ru Yu. Firstly, the two teenagers hadn’t revealed anything about this aspect before, so asking again might prove futile. Secondly, for some reason, You Ming Xu felt this case required more caution to avoid alerting any suspects.

As soon as she left the Internet café, she received a call from Xu Meng Shan. “I’ve arrived at Taoling Village,” he said. “Xiang Rong’s house is still here, though it looks abandoned. I’m about to check it out.”

“Be careful,” You Ming Xu said. “He might have returned to Taoling Village.”

“Got it.”

“I’m going to check out his place in Xiang City and see if I can find anything. Let’s meet tonight.”

“If Old Ding asks, cover for me,” Xu Meng Shan said.

“Of course,” You Ming Xu replied. Word was that higher-ups would reinvestigate Gu Tian Cheng’s lead, but there hadn’t been any movement or assignments given to them yet. After all, it was difficult to justify a major reinvestigation of two closed cases based solely on Gu Tian Cheng’s words. You Ming Xu suspected the higher-ups were focusing more on capturing Gu Tian Cheng, which was understandable. But how could she and Xu Meng Shan sit still? As accomplished detectives, learning that their solved cases might have hidden depths was like an itch they couldn’t scratch—they wanted everything revealed in a single night.

Moreover, You Ming Xu’s whole demeanor around the police station had been noticeably gloomy. Ding Xiong Wei had also heard rumors about Yin Feng’s recovery and moving back home. Seeing the usually ever-present famous writer suddenly disappear, everyone could guess something had happened between them. With no other cases pending, if You Ming Xu wanted to pour her energy into this case, Xu Meng Shan, as her brother-in-arms, naturally followed without question. Even Ding Xiong Wei turned a blind eye. In his view, his subordinates were like young tigers with excess energy—better to let them exhaust themselves investigating cases than mope over relationship troubles.

—

Xiang Rong’s home was in a quiet subdivision on the outskirts of Xiang City. Being a newly developed area, the subdivision was sparsely populated with a low occupancy rate.

You Ming Xu stood outside the building for a while before deciding to scout the location.

Xiang Rong lived on the ground floor in a modest building with a small garden in front. The curtains were drawn tight.

You Ming Xu knew that Xiang Rong had divorced his wife years ago, and his son had died in a drowning accident several years back—he now lived alone. Since he was supposedly out of town, the house would be empty. Without hesitation, after checking that no one was around and noting the security cameras, she climbed over the garden wall.

For a detective, petty breaking was child’s play. One glance revealed an open ventilation window high up in the kitchen, just large enough for her to squeeze through. She quickly scaled the wall and began working her way through the window.

A thought flashed through her mind: if Yin Feng were here, they wouldn’t need to climb through windows—he’d have the front door open with two pokes of a wire.

Her climbing motion faltered slightly—why was she thinking about that jerk again?

So what if she couldn’t pick locks? She could still get in!