Though destitute, Yin Chen’s mind remained sharp—how else could he have gathered such a large sum of money before, even if his luck had been poor? He soon noticed something strange about this woman.

Though she worked in that profession, he never saw her bring men home. Of course, sometimes he would see her heavily made up, dressed provocatively. On such nights, he would stand on his balcony, coldly watching as she stumbled upstairs, drunk from accompanying who knows who.

But the next day, when he brought fresh apples to her door with his usual cold expression, he would find her clear-eyed and gentle, utterly different from the chaotic woman of the previous night. She would take an apple, bite into it lightly, and say, “Thank you, little Chen.” When he left her place, he often found himself holding a bottle of milk she had given him.

The Yin Chen of that time didn’t know that it was precisely because his build and age didn’t match the killer’s profile that Yu Ruixue treated him with such tolerance. To the 31-year-old Yu Ruixue, the twenty-something Yin Chen was just a homeless child.

But he didn’t want her to see him as a child.

During that period, he began following her, intentionally or not. He was penniless, having once gone two days without a drop of water. Perhaps driven by some mix of revenge and roguishness, he started freeloading meals at her place. But after eating, he would silently grab cleaning supplies and scrub her entire home inside and out. And whenever he managed to get money from somewhere, he would dump it all at her place. Yu Ruixue would look at him with that helpless adult-looking-at-a-child expression and finally say, “I’ll save it for you.”

But this money she kept for him, he never had the chance to reclaim.

Yu Ruixue, working undercover alone in Xiangcheng, was also lonely. As a single mother, even though she shared life-and-death situations with her colleagues, she wasn’t particularly close to anyone. And Yin Chen—beautiful, frail, seemingly covered in thorns—filled some void in her heart. Truthfully, she had her motives: lurking in the slums where the killer might appear, having someone like Yin Chen around meant fewer unnecessary harassments and less suspicion. As for the neighborhood gossip about them, she didn’t care at all.

Yin Chen seemed not to care either, calling her “Sister Yu.” Occasionally when some foolish man tried to harass Yu Ruixue, the tall Yin Chen, having regained some flesh, would step forward with his gloomy face, making many back away.

So these two strangers became like brother and sister, looking after each other.

Once, during some casual conversation, Yin Chen asked offhandedly, “Do you have a boyfriend?”

Yu Ruixue answered calmly, “I’m married.”

Yin Chen: “Oh. How come I’ve never seen your husband?”

Yu Ruixue didn’t answer his question directly, instead saying, “I even have a child, a little girl. She’s seven this year, just not with me right now.”

Speaking of her child, Yu Ruixue’s face showed unprecedented tenderness, as if it was the most beautiful thing in the world. Somehow, Yin Chen silently noted this. She had a child, a girl, seven years old.

…

So Yin Feng was right. You Mingxu could never truly replace her, nor was she his best choice.

He wasn’t even sure if, when the moment came, he could bring himself to kill her child.

She represented his only gentleness toward this world.

As his thoughts cleared, Yin Chen realized his distraction and mentally jolted himself alert. Looking at Yin Feng in the rearview mirror, he still appeared paralyzed and unchanged, showing no signs of deliberately drawing him into conversation. Yin Chen snorted inwardly but stopped dwelling on the past, his cold eyes focusing on the thick darkness ahead.

After a while, Yin Feng spoke again: “Brother, do you hate our parents?”

Yin Chen laughed slightly and said, “Do you?”

“I do.”

Yin Chen didn’t answer.

“This is our fate,” Yin Feng murmured, as if to himself.

Yin Chen snorted a laugh: “You believe in fate?”

“I believe in it, but I don’t accept it.”

Yin Chen remained silent for a moment, not responding.

After a while, Yin Chen asked, “Aren’t you worried about your situation at all?”

Yin Feng answered, “I got what I sought. What’s there to worry about?”

Yin Chen sneered: “You’re certainly devoted to her.”

Yin Feng said, “Just like you with Yu Ruixue. Even after twenty years, even for a lifetime, my heart won’t change. She’s irreplaceable.”

Yin Chen fell silent again.

Now he was certain Yin Feng was doing this deliberately. This kid had always been crafty. He could strike ruthlessly while maintaining a calm facade, and even now, unable to move in his captor’s hands, he wouldn’t truly submit.

He had studied psychology under Fan Shuhua for a time. He knew that after the collapse of the Punishers, his psychological fluctuations and emotional instability were normal. And Yin Feng mentioning Yu Ruixue again made his thoughts waver. The pain of unfulfilled desire, the love and hatred of youth, and that final image of her lying on the stretcher face covered with a white cloth, body bloodstained—it all seemed right before his eyes. Yin Chen suddenly felt his throat constrict; those distant feelings originally faded to nothing, could still be so sharp and clear in his heart. He steadied himself and shouted, “Shut up. One more word and I’ll break your legs first. How interesting would it be to crawl before my eyes forever?”

Yin Feng obediently fell silent.

The car plunged into stillness.

Only Yin Feng’s deep, sharp eyes, hidden from Yin Chen’s view, remained thoughtful.

So on this destined turbulent night, one car, two brothers—one the butcher, one willingly the meat—each lost in thought, drove forward in silence for a long time.

So long that even Yin Feng’s mind wandered slightly, wondering: Yin Chen was near madness, ready to destroy everything at any moment. Perhaps he would never see You Mingxu again in this life?

But this gloomy thought passed quickly. His mind turned to the moment of their exchange, to her frost-and-snow gaze, to that tear at the corner of her eye. He knew she would come, definitely find him. All he had to do was believe and wait.

Wait for her return, wait for daybreak, and trust in the police’s abilities. Even… his lips curved unconsciously, waiting for that woman’s explosion, like before, showing her mighty power, sweeping away all demons for Yu Yingjun, bringing him back to safety, where fear and sorrow would never exist again.