The woman’s fingers were slender and soft, and Yin Feng found them pleasant. He obediently straightened up but kept his arms on the back of her chair, realizing he quite enjoyed this feeling.

“Their leader…” Yin Feng said, “What he passes on to them isn’t evil, but ‘goodness.’ He tells them what they’re doing is right, perhaps even tells them this is how they atone. He tells them that through this ‘punishment of evil,’ they can heal their spiritual wounds. Everything he gives them appears positive, virtuous, and beautiful. That’s why we see these people living peacefully together in one house. That’s why they’re so loyal to the organization, so determined, so willing to die without regret. They believe ‘he’ has healed them, when in fact they’ve been led down an even more twisted path.”

You Mingxu played with the empty teacup between her fingers: “‘He’?”

Any group must have a leader. But this organization’s leader had been completely untraceable before. You couldn’t even imagine what he looked like. But now, with six members dead, the criminal profilers’ conclusions and Yin Feng’s analysis, that ‘he’ was beginning to take shape.

You Mingxu thought of the person You Yingjun had mentioned before—he’d said he felt someone watching him, threatening him, making him feel oppressed and frightened. Could it have been Wei Lan, who had been lurking around him? But seeing how Yin Feng had handled Wei Lan, she didn’t believe Wei Lan could have such power over Yin Feng.

Could it be ‘him’?

Had Yin Feng sensed his presence? Had their paths crossed?

Yin Feng sat back down across from her, seemingly sensing her doubts, and said, “I have some analysis about that leader too.”

“Go on.”

“Second.” His tone was flat.

You Mingxu hadn’t caught his meaning and frowned, but he’d already changed course: “He can’t be very young. Judging from the age range of people around him and his influence over these mature criminals, he must be between 30 and 50.”

You Mingxu thought about this and agreed. Age represented maturity in experience and thought structure. A young person could be a criminal genius, but to understand the psychological state and life experiences of people like Gu Tiancheng and Xiang Rong, let alone brainwash and influence them, would require someone with considerable life experience.

“The second point, he harbors extreme hatred for the guilty and must have suffered severe injustice and setbacks. Lost something most precious in life.”

You Mingxu nodded. It made sense.

“Third point, he distrusts the judicial system and police. But judging from how the organization’s members have always treated the police, they don’t hate them.”

You Mingxu considered this—indeed true. All their actions were conducted in secret, and the six guilty people they’d killed before were made to look like suicides or accidents, clearly trying to avoid police suspicion.

“Fourth point, he’s very intelligent, particularly skilled at manipulating others’ psychology and emotions. He’s also wealthy.”

“Mm.”

At this point, Yin Feng suddenly smiled and said, “Fifth, why do you think he targeted me? Why expend so much effort on me?”

You Mingxu didn’t meet his eyes, instead looking at the buttons on his shirt, the clear lines of his neck, and his fair jaw.

“Why?” she asked.

“Don’t his actions seem familiar?” Yin Feng said.

You Mingxu raised her eyes to look at him.

His lips held a faint smile, but his eyes were still.

You Mingxu’s heart trembled violently as she realized what he meant. Seeing her expression, he knew she’d understood. He took a sip of tea and said, “He’s doing the same thing as me, yet different.”

Tu Ya, Old Nine, Xiao Yan, Champion… each had been guilty once, and each had harbored good intentions before being crushed by life. It was Yin Feng who helped them regain confidence, Yin Feng who “collected” each of them, keeping them by his side, preventing them from committing more crimes. So although these people around him still carried an air of wickedness, walking the grey areas of the law, Yin Feng had captured their hearts—he was the shackle standing between them and crime.

“Why… why do you do this?” You Mingxu blurted out, a question she’d wanted to ask for a long time.

Yin Feng looked at her quietly and said, “Perhaps because I hope to live by the principle: abstain from all evil, practice all good.”

You Mingxu couldn’t quite describe her feelings—such a profound statement coming from Yin Feng’s mouth. He usually seemed to live coldly and willfully, but when he said this, you felt that if he said it was so, then it was so.

After a moment of silence, Yin Feng spoke first: “So when he targeted me, did those things to me, it wasn’t because he’d chosen me, as we originally thought. It was because he was comparing, competing with me.”

You Mingxu froze.

Yin Feng gave a cold laugh and said, “Comparing whose beliefs were truth. Comparing who could truly bring forgiveness and rebirth to the guilty. And what’s the best way to test this? By using me as verification, destroying me, harming me. If I couldn’t withstand it and became guilty myself, then they would have achieved their most important step. Once the door to crime opens, it can’t be closed. Then, they could guide me to become a ‘punisher.’ That’s why when they thought I had ‘killed’ you, they were so eager to show their hand because this was what ‘he’ had always wanted to see.”

You Mingxu pondered for a moment. Though this type of “competition” seemed bizarre, it had a strange persuasiveness.

It fits the logic of a psychopath.

“Your methods do have similarities,” You Mingxu said.

“Yes.” Yin Feng rotated the teacup lid, producing a delicate clicking sound. “In this vast universe, among all life’s possibilities, I ended up on the same path as him. It’s as if… he and I have the same blood flowing through our veins.”

You Mingxu felt something in her heart jump at his words and remained silent. He just quietly watched her. After a while, he suddenly smiled and changed the subject: “That’s enough case analysis. Tired after a full day’s work? Want to take a walk downstairs with me?”

But You Mingxu didn’t answer. Instead, she picked up the teapot and refilled her cup, then his. He watched her movements.

She smiled slightly and said, “Let’s return to this incident. So from the beginning, you planned the trap for Wei Lan. That girl you embraced was just to provoke me, create conflict…”

Yin Feng interrupted: “When did I embrace anyone?”

You Mingxu didn’t dwell on this question, continuing: “Those words you said to me before, were they also part of the plan, pre-arranged?”

Her expression remained neutral, but Yin Feng stared into her eyes, asking: “Which words?”

You Mingxu’s face didn’t change at all: “Your words about wanting to return to my side.”

Yin Feng fell silent for a moment, slowly leaning back in his chair, not looking at her but staring at the teapot between them on the table, saying: “That was indeed planned, laying the groundwork to provoke you later. But it was also true.”

You Mingxu said nothing.

The room fell extremely quiet. Only the sound of wind outside and distant birdsong could be heard.

Then You Mingxu heard Yin Feng say: “I’ve waited several days—why haven’t you asked me if those two reports were real? You Mingxu, I was born this way. I can live well, and successfully, but no one has ever truly felt my heart, and I can’t feel others either. In the past, my relationships with women were always brief. None of them could make my heart flutter or make me feel safe. Being with them was just for the company, though I found it extremely tedious.

Over the years, I’ve endured long periods of loneliness, always restraining some impulse I didn’t even understand myself. I tried my utmost to stop myself from moving toward it. The result of long-term mental suppression, under their persecution, was that I became You Yingjun. You Yingjun was my last desperate escape, both from them and from something deep inside myself.

But now, I’m back. I don’t know what we went through during that time, but those innate, overwhelmingly uncontrollable, extremely unstable desires suddenly became concrete.

My desire is you.

So I want you to know what kind of person I am. Can you accept someone like me? Are you willing to try being with me?”