Zhuang Ningyu said with a blank expression: “Just about…”
Brother Jie’s full name was Li Jie. Although he had already left Yin Bar, as long as the rule zone hadn’t disappeared, as a monster, his “life” would still continue according to normal logic in this world. Zhuang Ningyu had his contact information on his phone; the two had added each other as friends on the day of his farewell party. However, adding someone as a friend didn’t necessarily mean they would contact each other. Judging from Li Jie’s voice, he was quite surprised that Zhuang Ningyu would take the initiative to call him.
“You’re looking for me for something?”
“This afternoon, You Zong and the Boss had a disagreement over the anniversary party,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “The Boss insists on not inviting You Zong, even to the point of closing the entire VIP section in advance. But I… I really need to earn money quickly. I don’t know what to do for a moment. I thought about resigning, but I feel it wasn’t easy to get into Yin Bar, so I took the liberty of making this call.”
“Did you hear some gossip and think I have a special relationship with You Zong?” A somewhat helpless laugh came from the other end of the phone. “That’s false. I can’t help you with this. But if you’re in urgent need of money, you can go directly to the Boss. He’s very fond of you right now, he’ll lend it to you.”
Yi Ke’s lips curled slightly. Zhuang Ningyu also felt that “very fond of you right now” sounded a bit off, so he asked bluntly: “Fond of me?”
“Don’t misunderstand. He’s fond of your ability to continuously make money for him. He won’t mistreat his money tree,” Li Jie said. “As long as you go along with the Boss’s wishes, he’s actually quite easy to talk to and generous. The argument with me that day was unexpected.”
Zhuang Ningyu took the opportunity to ask him the reason for the argument, but Li Jie said he wasn’t clear on it. In his view, people coming and going was a common occurrence. He had already mentioned his intention to resign to the Boss long ago. Although the other’s expression wasn’t great at the time, he hadn’t said much. According to a normal person’s logic, wasn’t that tacit approval? Who would have known that when he formally submitted his resignation letter according to HR regulations, what he got was a torrent of scolding, with cups and vases smashed all over the floor.
Li Jie said: “I was also emotional at the time and argued back a bit. I couldn’t figure out what he was so frantic about. But now, combined with what you’ve said, it probably wasn’t about the resignation letter in the first place. I was just too unlucky and happened to walk right into the line of fire when he was fighting with You Zong.”
Yi Ke had chatted with A’Lin earlier. The other had just gathered some news, saying that Li Jie was raised by his maternal grandfather in the countryside. Now his grandfather was old and in poor health, needing surgery in the city. However, getting an appointment with a specialist at Huayin Hospital was difficult, and even scalpers said they couldn’t help. Last week, it was through You Hong’s private connections that they finally managed to invite a “flying knife doctor” (a visiting specialist) and completed the hospital admission procedures.
Li Jie was very grateful to You Hong, so he wasn’t very willing to answer Zhuang Ningyu’s slightly overstepping questions about her. Zhuang Ningyu keenly sensed his resistance and explained apologetically: “I’m sorry. I just think that if the conflict between the Boss and You Zong can be resolved, there would be no need to close the VIP section. The way things are now, it’s not just me; the other colleagues are also very anxious.”
“The Boss is a businessman, and so is You Zong. Businesspeople shouldn’t have a problem with money. The VIP section definitely won’t be closed forever. You don’t need to be too anxious. Making money at Yin Bar is still very easy.” Li Jie comforted him a bit, then added, “My family member is going into surgery tomorrow morning. I have to stay with them tonight, so I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Sorry to bother you. Thanks, Brother Jie.”
The call was disconnected. Yi Ke asked: “Is it really not related to him?”
“Li Jie’s reason for leaving is reasonable, but he’s clearly very protective of You Hong, so what he says may not be entirely credible.” Zhuang Ningyu opened his phone. Li Jie was also one of the victims of the Yin Bar poisoning and arson case. However, in the police files, there was no mention that he had actually resigned beforehand. In addition, the investigation team had sent over the latest compiled information on You Hong. As her son You Tu had said, You Hong was indeed a genuine powerhouse of a woman. In her early years, she was a renowned top surgeon at Huayin Hospital. Later, she went into business on her own and quickly built Jincheng Star Beauty into an industry leader. Such a knowledgeable, well-connected, and experienced businesswoman, no matter how you looked at it, seemed to have no reason to be superficially captivated by a man’s good looks.
Yi Ke continued to browse the information page. You Hong was one of the earliest investors in Yin Bar. Because the bar’s business was good, she had also made a lot of money in the past two years. From a business perspective, there were no problems.
“Let’s ask You Tu again,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “He’s the only one who is close to You Hong’s life.”
Yi Ke nodded and filled out an application form to send to his colleagues in the investigation team.
That night, because there was no business, the promoters went back to the dorm early. Zhuang Ningyu leaned against the second-floor railing, quietly watching the men and women still screaming excitedly on the dance floor—young, beautiful, every face a masterpiece sculpted by the creator. The god of beauty crowned them with flowers of joy, but the god of death followed closely behind, quietly spreading his giant black robe, waiting to drink the rolling tears that welled up in their eyes. The world was like a log lying in a pond, half vibrant, half decaying.
“What are you thinking about?” Yi Ke stood beside him.
“There was once a widely circulated photo online, of a carnival night at Yin Bar before the incident. The scene was similar to now,” Zhuang Ningyu retracted his gaze. “The photo’s name was ‘The God of Beauty Lingers in the Realm of Ultimate Bliss’.” A dazzling world composed of champagne, red wine, and diamonds was hailed as the most bizarre paradise before the incident, and after the incident, it was reinterpreted as the devil’s tomb. But in any case, this scene indeed possessed a vibrant beauty that struck the soul, worthy of making time linger.
“Who took the photo?”
“Tong Yishuai. He loved photography and often took photos for guests for free. He has good taste.”
That was probably also why he was so picky about this year’s anniversary poster, still dissatisfied after numerous revisions. There were no people on the poster for the anniversary five years ago; it was temporarily unclear if that was because they hadn’t found a suitable model. Mentioning this, Yi Ke tried calling Wen Yue again, but it still showed that she was out of the service area. He asked, puzzled: “Does it take this long to shoot a poster?”
“It’s hard to say. After all, Tong Yishuai is a perfectionist. I heard that for the first version of the poster, he changed the position of the rose branch alone more than thirty times,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “The fact that no new recruitment poster has appeared outside the rule zone means that Wen Yue is qualified. She will show up sooner or later.”
Before getting off work, the bartender, stretching his sore muscles, called out to a girl who was running past like a gust of wind: “Xiao Tian!”
“Hey!” Tian Luxin braked to a stop. “Have you seen Zhuang… I mean, have you seen Xiao Yu and Brother Yi?”
“They went back to the dorm. There’s no business in the VIP section again tonight. Staying here just means pointless socializing.” The bartender mixed her a sleep-inducing cocktail. “They all looked listless, but you look pretty excited.”
“Because my job application was successful.” Tian Luxin sat on a high stool. “The supervisor agreed to let me be in charge of the daily cleaning of the dorm and office areas from now on.”
The bartender’s face was full of incomprehension. You’re young, lively, and beautiful, how could you be so passionate about cleaning? Did you really come to Yin Bar just to sweep floors?
Tian Luxin cleared her throat: “Ahem, it’s not like I love sweeping floors. But I’m different from them. I don’t like clubbing, and I don’t like being an internet celebrity. The reason I applied was purely for the high salary and the brainless work.”
“Good!” The bartender gave her a thumbs-up. “Clear-headed and not vain. This drink is on me, my treat to you!”
While perfunctorily responding to him, Tian Luxin sent a message to the “Yin Bar Rule Zone” three-person group chat and quickly received a short praise from Yi Ke—Well done.
Tian Luxin: Where’s Captain Zhuang?
Yi Ke: Showering.
Ten minutes later.
Zhuang Ningyu: I’m showering in my own dorm.
Five minutes later.
Tian Luxin: Roger that.
What was there to “roger that” about! Zhuang Ningyu began to be thankful that he only required very little sleep, otherwise he would sooner or later have a nervous breakdown because of these two characters.
He pulled out his chair to work. On the desk were several neatly placed printouts, which were the victim list of the bar incident and the social media accounts corresponding to each victim, just sent by the investigation team. For the anniversary five years ago, most of the invitees were internet celebrities, so when Tong Yishuai announced the guest list, he did so by tagging them in batches. It wasn’t difficult to find this information.
At the bottom of the file, there was a separate note—After multiple verifications, there is currently no direct evidence to show that Zhao Jiaxue was on the party invitation list.
His phone buzzed. It was a message from Yi Ke: Asleep yet?
Zhuang Ningyu stood up and went directly to open the door. As expected, the other person was standing at the entrance. He looked like he had just showered, his hair not yet dry, wearing a set of loungewear with the collar slightly open. The strong scent of perfume was gone, replaced by the scent of night wind roses in a summer garden.
Zhuang Ningyu stepped aside to let him in. “Finished reading the materials?”
“Finished.” Yi Ke walked over to the dining cabinet like he owned the place and poured himself a glass of water. “Zhao Jiaxue wasn’t Yin Bar’s target customer.”
Zhuang Ningyu agreed with his view. Although his own mother kept emphasizing that “the young girl is very pretty,” pretty in the eyes of an elder didn’t equate to pretty in the eyes of Tong Yishuai. Zhao Jiaxue had the plain, pretty looks of a good girl, the kind you wouldn’t be able to find in a crowd, a far cry from the dazzling beauty that Yin Bar typically pursued. As for financial conditions, the Zhao family was only moderately well-off, not capable of raising a hedonistic, money-squandering nightclub regular.
The best friend who took Zhao Jiaxue to the hospital that night was named Song Guan. They were high school classmates and very close. The investigation team had already spoken with this girl. She stated that back then, she would often help out at the convenience store opened by her aunt, and Yin Bar was not far from diagonally across the street from the store.
The investigator asked: “Why did Zhao Jiaxue go to the anniversary doll party that day?”
Song Guan shook her head: “I don’t know. I actually found it strange too. They invited all the big internet celebrities. Logically, it should have had nothing to do with us. That night, I happened to be stocking shelves in the store when I suddenly got a call for help from Xiao Xue. She said she was near the convenience store. At the time, I could hear that her mood wasn’t right, and her voice was off.”
“Was Zhao Jiaxue drunk at the time?”
“She seemed to smell a little of alcohol, maybe she had a drink. I only remember her dress was covered in water stains, and she was in a sorry state, but she definitely wasn’t completely drunk. Her account was very clear. The moment she saw me, she said she was having an allergic reaction because she drank a mango cocktail and told me to be sure to explain it clearly to the doctor.”
The hospital wasn’t far from the bar. After handing Zhao Jiaxue over to the doctors and her family and confirming everything was safe, Song Guan went home. It was only the next day that she saw the news about the fire at Yin Bar. She was terrified at the time, and her first reaction was to message her best friend. But Zhao Jiaxue replied a long time later. A few days after that, Auntie Zhao Huifen called, saying very carefully that Jiaxue was greatly traumatized by the news photos and asked her to please never mention the matter again.
Song Guan said: “Xiao Xue was hospitalized for a long time that time. When she was discharged, I happened to be doing an internship at a company in Jiangcheng. I didn’t know if her psychological wound had healed, and I didn’t dare to ask. We only chatted occasionally about other things. Later, her family moved to Yangcheng, and we contacted each other less and less.”
The two had a brief conversation once in between, initiated by Zhao Jiaxue to pay Song Guan back some money.
The investigator asked: “Pay back money?”
Song Guan nodded: “That was before the bar incident. One time, Xiao Xue said she wanted to buy something, but she didn’t have enough money, so she borrowed three thousand yuan from me. Later, she got sick and was hospitalized, and she sounded so miserable that I didn’t mention it again, thinking we could talk about it later. It wasn’t a huge amount of money anyway.”
“What did she want to buy?”
“…Probably a luxury item. She was really into shopping around that time—clothes, bags, makeup, that sort of thing. One time when we were shopping, she fell in love with a Tiffany diamond necklace in a mall window. It cost tens of thousands, quite expensive.”
“Did she buy it in the end?”
“I don’t know. She didn’t tell me.”
If she had really bought a necklace she loved but didn’t share it with her best friend, it sounded a bit unreasonable. After talking with Song Guan, the investigation team asked their colleagues in Yangcheng to assist in interviewing Zhao Jiaxue’s mother, Zhao Huifen. She had just gotten off work at the time and was very resistant to the staff who suddenly appeared before her, stating bluntly that she did not want to recall the events of that year again.
“My daughter has finally moved on from the psychological trauma. She had nothing to do with that bar, so why are you looking for her again?”
“Ms. Zhao, we understand how you feel, but please try to cooperate with our work.” The investigator was very patient. “Back then, Zhao Jiaxue went to the bar voluntarily without an invitation, and she left safely on her own before the tragedy occurred. She was the only survivor that night. Based on this point alone, we must ask her clearly.”
Zhao Huifen was at a loss for words. After a moment of silence, she took a step back and sighed softly: “About what happened back then, although I haven’t talked about it in detail with my daughter, as a mother, I can guess some of it.”
There was a coffee shop not far away. The investigator ordered two hot drinks. Zhao Huifen held the cup, her eyes reddening from the steam. She said: “My daughter has been introverted since she was young. When she had free time, she would just read books and not go out. I was always encouraging her to go out more, to be more social. So when I first found out she went to play at Yin Bar with her friends, I was very happy. Around that time, her personality became much more extroverted. She learned how to do makeup, loved buying clothes and bags, and she became more and more beautiful.”
“Which friends did she go to the bar with?”
“I don’t know their names. She said they were people her age she met while out having fun.”
Ever since she made new friends, her daughter had become more and more lively, cheerful, enthusiastic, and fond of beauty. She was also more active at work. Seeing all these positive changes, Zhao Huifen naturally didn’t interfere much and often took her shopping.
“It was only later that her spending started to get a little out of control. As for the reason, firstly, Yin Bar was a high-consumption place, and secondly… I guess she was probably in love.”
“With whom?”
“I don’t know. Maybe a guy she met at the bar. I didn’t get a chance to ask before that incident happened.”
Zhao Jiaxue was traumatized, becoming listless and dazed. She didn’t have many friends, and among the people who came to visit her in the hospital, there were no boys of a similar age. Perhaps they had broken up, perhaps it was over before it began, perhaps he was already on the victim list, or perhaps it was all just an elder’s speculation and there was no such person. At that time, Zhao Huifen’s mind was completely occupied with her daughter’s health. As for other things, she naturally had no energy to ask more.
“Then among the people who came to visit, were there any new friends she met at the bar, for example, someone exceptionally good-looking?”
“No, they were all her old friends. As for the new friends, eighty percent of them were probably… in that case… sigh.”
Zhao Huifen sighed deeply.
This was all the information the investigation team had sent so far.
After coming into contact with Yin Bar, Zhao Jiaxue began to pay attention to her appearance, and her money was no longer enough. Yi Ke propped his head up with one hand: “Combining this with her behavior on the night of the anniversary party, I guess Zhao Jiaxue was most likely in a relationship, or to be more precise, she fell for a handsome guy. This person was either an employee of the bar or a regular customer.”
Zhuang Ningyu continued his train of thought: “When Zhao Jiaxue went to the party, she dressed herself up beautifully according to the doll theme. But as we all know, only those with an invitation can enter Yin Bar’s parties. Therefore, she must have known how to get in without being invited.”
“And she did indeed enter the party scene, otherwise she wouldn’t have had the chance to drink that mango cocktail.” Yi Ke tried to sort out all the clues. “Song Guan picked up Zhao Jiaxue at the convenience store entrance. At that time, the other party was already showing obvious allergic reactions, but there was no one with her.”
A severe allergic reaction can be fatal. It’s impossible that Zhao Jiaxue didn’t know this. The normal first reaction would definitely be to ask for help from those around her, but Zhao Jiaxue chose to leave the bar alone and go to the nearby convenience store to find Song Guan.
“Two possibilities,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “First, no one in the bar was willing to help her, but the probability of this is very low, as it’s a matter of life and death. Second, no one in the bar knew about it. Zhao Jiaxue chose to hide it. After realizing she had come into contact with the allergen, she immediately left the bar.”
“So, could she have… had a failed confession that night?” Yi Ke speculated. “She fell for someone, wanted to confess during the anniversary party, but it didn’t work out. So she drank to drown her sorrows, accidentally drank the mango cocktail, and then, out of a delicate sense of pride and stubbornness, refused to let the person involved and the onlookers see her in a sorry state? Anyway, her best friend was just across the street from the bar at the time, just a few steps away.”
“Perhaps, but for the specific situation, we still have to wait for the investigation team’s report,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “Although I also don’t believe Zhao Jiaxue had the ability to orchestrate this tragedy that shocked the nation, before the evidence is clear, any possibility is possible.”
Yi Ke nodded: “Understood.”
He was nestled in the single sofa, seemingly with no intention of leaving. His long legs were crossed, and he continued to flip through the documents idly: “This Wen Ling, she’s Wen Yue’s older sister, right? Her personal social media account is ALICE·WEN… The content posted before the incident, there are only these three posts?”
One was a trending hand-gesture dance video, and two were food sharing posts. They looked unremarkable, which was why after being tagged by Yin Bar’s official account, many netizens went to her page to leave comments and ask for photos, wanting to see how beautiful she really was.
“Shortly after the case occurred, Wen Ling’s family deleted this account. These are the pages restored by the technical department.” Zhuang Ningyu glanced at the time. “By the way, the investigation team has approved our application and replied that they will arrange a call with You Tu as soon as possible. If there’s nothing else, that’s all for tonight.”
Yi Ke stretched lazily: “Oh.”
Zhuang Ningyu ignored the man’s slow movement, which seemed to be in 0.5x speed, and picked up his phone, wanting to see if there were any new messages—
Fu Han: How have you been lately?
Before Zhuang Ningyu could feel any emotion, Yi Ke had already propped his head on his shoulder. The phone vibrated again, and a new photo popped up on the screen. It was a picture of a book’s inner page, with a line scrawled in pen: “I hope you let my heart be intoxicated by empty fantasies.”
Yi Ke: “…”
What filth!
Zhuang Ningyu felt his life was very hard, having to deal with this kind of long-distance dispute in the middle of the night. He really wanted to ignore Yi Ke, but he just couldn’t, because the other currently looked like a miserable exile who had been robbed of all his possessions and was now standing barefoot in the snow, both tragic enough to be on the verge of suicide, and filled with a surging resentment vowing to kill the whole world.
The room fell into a suffocating, eerie, velvety silence, as if it truly hid some unspeakable secret.
The wrongly accused Zhuang Ningyu let out a breath: “It’s getting late, you should go back… Hey!”
Yi Ke wrapped his arms around his waist, in the same position as last night, only this time he wasn’t burying his face in his chest, but resting his chin on the other’s shoulder. Zhuang Ningyu was pushed by him and sat down in the beanbag chair, his whole body falling back without support. He looked at the downlight on the ceiling, his heart full of despair, once again returning to that familiar, strange state of being both speechless and wanting to die.
Yi Ke sniffed.
Zhuang Ningyu didn’t want to try to persuade him anymore tonight. He wanted to hold his head and cry with him.
Yi Ke suppressed the upward curl of his lips and continued to tighten his arms until he had the person completely encircled in his embrace. The tip of his nose touched a soft, clean white neck that smelled of roses after a bath. The deeper into the collar, the stronger the fragrance.
Zhuang Ningyu said with a blank expression: “That’s enough.”
Yi Ke turned a deaf ear, rubbing against his ear pitifully: “I’ll help you block him.”
Zhuang Ningyu clenched his fist.
And the next moment, he felt a lightness on him. Yi Ke was standing straight in front of the sofa, hands in his pockets, as if nothing had happened: “I’ll be going back then. Good night.”
The moment he sensed he was really about to get hit, he immediately ran. It had to be said, this puppy’s A+ agility on his physical test chart was definitely not fake.
Zhuang Ningyu waved his hand listlessly, his action embodying the word “scram.” Yi Ke closed the door behind him, his movement so light that it didn’t even trigger the motion-sensor light in the hallway. After the sound of the lock clicking, the surroundings fell into darkness. The shadow concealed all his expressions, only a hint of coldness with a touch of disdain was revealed in his long, narrow eyes.
Yi Ke took out his phone. With one hand, he swiped open his own door, and with the other, he casually dialed a number.
The call was connected quickly. The man on the other end didn’t seem surprised by this late-night call. He said: “I haven’t congratulated you yet on your successful entry into the Order Maintenance Department.”
Yi Ke ignored his pleasantries and said bluntly: “Stay away from him from now on.”
Fu Han was noncommittal about this: “Fair competition.”
Yi Ke let out a laugh: “You’re thinking too much, Fu. I won’t give you even the slightest chance for fair competition.”
