“You and Han Feng seem quite close?” You Yingjun suddenly asked.

“Mm, we studied together before and worked on cases together. Old friends,” You Mingxu replied.

Yin Feng poked at the pork trotters in his bowl with his chopsticks. “So what do you… what do you… think of him?”

You Mingxu glanced up at him, then picked up a hot slice of lettuce stem and ate it before answering, “He’s quite good.”

Yin Feng fell silent. You could almost feel his entire being tense up like a beautiful bow, his aura slightly taut.

You Mingxu listened to the bubbling sounds from the pot and the gentle clink of chopsticks against plates before saying, “His child is only three years old, and he’s always out working cases. It’s not easy for his wife either.”

A large, tender pork trotter was placed on her plate. You Mingxu looked up to see his brightly beaming face: “Detective You works hard on cases too. Eat more, put on some weight.”

You Mingxu couldn’t help but smile, though immediately felt annoyed at herself afterward. What was she explaining earlier? Just as she was about to say something harsh to regain her mental balance, she saw Yin Feng arranging some bones with his chopsticks into… what shape was that?

Seeing her watching, he proudly pushed it toward her: “Ah Xu, look, doesn’t this look like a pig’s head?”

You Mingxu: “…”

It did. It did.

“Things are progressing well with Fan Jia,” You Mingxu said while eating. “Over the past five days, she’s borrowed another 20,000 yuan through Apple Bro, claiming urgent family needs. At this rate, her interest and late fees are doubling. She’s pretending not to know, and Apple Bro hasn’t made his move yet. They’re getting along well, and Apple Bro is showing ambiguous care towards her. Fan Jia is going along with it, letting him think she’s blindly getting in deeper.”

Yin Feng pondered for a moment before asking, “Apple Bro towards Fan Jia?”

You Mingxu smiled slightly: “Whether it’s genuine or fake, I believe Apple Bro has some interest in Fan Jia.”

Yin Feng’s eyes flickered with amusement: “Oh, good.”

They both thought the same thing: if they could find traces of sexual crimes, it would bring them one step closer to Liu Yisha’s death.

Their eyes met briefly through the rising white steam from the hotpot, each understanding the other’s thoughts.

Yin Feng’s mouth curved up – he loved being in perfect sync with Ah Xu!

You Mingxu froze. Damn, why was she in sync with him again!

Just as Yin Feng wanted to say something more to please her, he suddenly felt something “boom” in his head, like a lightning strike. His vision went black, and he slid from his chair onto the floor.

He heard You Mingxu shouting, “Yin Feng, what’s wrong? Yin Feng!” But he couldn’t see anything. His mind was bombarded with fragmented images: lots of blood, severed limbs… a car speeding forward, crashing… and someone laughing, laughing very calmly and silently.

Yin Feng clutched his head and began to moan, his body curling up on the ground. You Mingxu had already rushed over, holding him in her arms, urgently asking, “What’s wrong? Where are you uncomfortable? Your head?” While pulling out her phone to call an ambulance.

“Boom” – another shock, as if long-frozen ice was beginning to crack. Yin Feng’s entire body trembled like sifting chaff. He saw more images: a hand holding a pen, crossing out criminal records one by one, and a very, very familiar voice saying, “They shouldn’t exist in this world. Including you, Yin Feng. Because you all are… you all are…”

He let out a howl, tears falling. In his haze, he saw a pair of eyes, familiar yet unplaceable. Those eyes were sorrowful yet calm, full of pity. They were a man’s eyes, just gazing deeply at him. And in Yin Feng’s heart, suddenly surged enormous grief, unwillingness, and even defiance.

“Brother… brother…” he mumbled these words.

You Mingxu’s eyes widened. Brother? She knew most of Yin Feng’s background – his biological brother Yin Chen was twelve years older but had died over a decade ago.

But seeing his dazed, tear-streaked face, veins bulging on his forehead in agony, You Mingxu felt her heart breaking. She held him tighter, looking at that pained face in her arms, not knowing what to do, only able to press her face close against his.

“Yin Feng, Yin Feng… You Yingjun, You Yingjun, calm down, calm down, I’m here, I’m here!”

The ambulance sirens gradually approached from below, but the person in her arms had stopped struggling. You Mingxu looked down to see his eyes tightly closed, brows furrowed, breathing short – he had passed out.

—

To maintain the facade, Fan Jia was staying in an apartment building not far from where the two victims had lived. That night, she was curled up on her small bed playing games, while Xu Mengshan sat on the nearby sofa. He had been protecting her closely these past few days, just in case.

After playing for a while, Fan Jia asked without looking up, “Why did you volunteer to protect me? Don’t you usually find this kind of work boring?”

Xu Mengshan was still going through case files when he answered, “Sister You need to oversee everything. After her, who has the second-highest combat ability?”

Fan Jia said, “Doesn’t Captain Han have several capable people under him too?”

Xu Mengshan replied flatly, “Does he have time to look after you? Besides, are you close with them?”

Fan Jia fell silent, then after a while chuckled to herself. She looked up at the serious-faced man and thought: He looks refined, but his mouth is too savage. Though he is reliable when it counts. With him around, there’s no need to be nervous.

Just then, Xu Mengshan looked up and met her gaze.

They stared at each other for several seconds before he spoke: “Raise your thighs any higher and I’ll see your underwear. Just so you know, I won’t take responsibility. Also, your legs are a bit thick.”

Fan Jia: “…Get lost!”

As they were bickering, her phone rang with a text message.

Fan Jia picked it up, leaned against the headboard, and read with a smile: “Fan Jia (ID: X), hello, you borrowed 30,000 yuan from our company. This period’s interest and late fees amount to 1,922 yuan, please pay by this Wednesday! Legal responsibility will be pursued for overdue payments! Tsk, 30,000 yuan, nearly 2,000 in interest in less than two weeks, and it’ll keep doubling – truly shameless.”

She forwarded this message to the special case team’s group chat; everything was proceeding according to plan.

Xu Mengshan said, “Aren’t you going to find your Apple Bro and pull all the tricks – crying, making a scene, threatening suicide?”

Fan Jia replied, “Of course I will. Who else can save me from this predicament but him? Let me work up the right emotions first. Hey, what if he develops real feelings for me and reforms for my sake? Then we couldn’t continue investigating the case. It would all be because of my overwhelming charm.”

Xu Mengshan sneered: “In your dreams.”

Fan Jia didn’t know why, but his sinister smile made her feel like she’d scored a point. After working up her emotions, she called Apple Bro.

By now they had confirmed that Apple Bro’s real name was Chen Zhaoci – quite a proper-sounding name, which he had shared with Fan Jia. After graduating from Huaicheng University three years ago, he initially worked a regular company job but quickly quit to join the campus loan business. Who knows how many university students he had dragged down? According to the initial police investigation, during Chen Zhaoci’s university years, campus loans were rampant, and he had been a borrower himself. After graduation, he became one of the outstanding perpetrators among the harassers.