The moment the answer was spoken, the fist that had been clenched and ready to strike—gaining strength to land a heavy blow—suddenly turned into a bubble shaped like a fist. It landed on his body, but before any pain could be felt, it shattered into illusory, ethereal streams of light.
The heavy heart, though eased for a fleeting moment, felt just as adrift, floating amidst the dissipating light.
Ji Xun watched as Huo Ranyin held his posture for a moment before his spine slowly slumped. He curled up, shrinking into the hospital waiting chair. The shadow of a tree branch passed through the window, gently covering him; it seemed as if even the great tree standing on the street cast a glance of pity his way.
However, pity seemed to be an emotion that had no place belonging to Huo Ranyin. Before Ji Xun could walk over, the fragility refracted by the shadows had already been extinguished within Huo Ranyin’s face, which was as hard as cold, grey jade.
“There is one more way.”
Ji Xun looked at Huo Ranyin.
“It’s been twenty-seven years. All sorts of clues have been lost, but if I want to know who my father is, there is still one way…”
Huo Ranyin looked back directly at Ji Xun. His gaze was like two unsheathed, blood-stained blades. Such sharp knives—stained with the blood of enemies, and stained with his own.
“Me.”
“I am the greatest piece of evidence from that case.”
Ji Xun was struck with shock for a moment.
“Why would you think that?” Ji Xun demanded.
“Someone in the U.S. created a game where people upload their DNA to a website to trace their paternal lineage. Police have even used this method to crack cold cases that had been unsolved for years and bring criminals to justice…” Huo Ranyin replied, ignoring the question.
“Answer my question first,” Ji Xun interrupted.
“It is a fact. I am the evidence. It is not up for discussion, nor is it refutable.”
Huo Ranyin looked impatient and continued.
“But it’s different here than abroad. Domestically, only the police departments share access to the criminal database. So, to complete this plan, one only needs to go through the procedure within the police station. It isn’t difficult.”
The faster Huo Ranyin spoke, the more chilling the sharp edge of his words became. He was not just forcing others to make up their minds; he was forcing himself.
“Hmm,” Ji Xun said. “And how are you going to describe this to the bureau? To get them to run this procedure? Are you going to write in the report: ‘My mother was gang-raped, I don’t know who my father is, and I want to use the police system to investigate my paternal lineage to find my real father’? That would certainly be quite moving.”
“Ji Xun—”
Ji Xun saw Huo Ranyin’s pupils constrict rapidly. He had provoked him, and in response, the invisible blades in the other man’s gaze came rushing toward him.
This was the result Ji Xun wanted.
Huo Ranyin was suggesting one solution—one of the solutions—to his mother’s case.
But there must be another way, another way that wasn’t this cruel—a way that wasn’t so brutal to Huo Ranyin… a way to know the truth.
What was it?
Why did Wen Chenghu actually die?
The relationships between these characters were wound too tightly, but besides character relationships, there had to be other forms of logical deduction.
Think, think fast.
There must be a way to find the slip-up of the criminal, a piece of evidence that could lead to a conviction!
“Leave your case to me,” Ji Xun said with unrefutable authority. “Don’t forget our agreement: in your case, I am the one who finds the truth. Besides, Huo Ranyin, calm down. In your current state, are you even capable of investigating?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?” Huo Ranyin sneered.
“Then what are you investigating? Searching for your biological father?” Ji Xun asked.
“Of course not, I am investigating the ‘corpse hidden in the womb’ case—” Huo Ranyin stopped abruptly.
“Right, you are investigating the ‘corpse hidden in the womb’ case.” Ji Xun followed up with lightning speed. “And now, to investigate this case, you decided to use police resources to check your paternal Y-chromosome—”
“Don’t you think…”
The person exerting pressure was now Ji Xun.
Huo Ranyin’s gaze was like a knife; Ji Xun’s words were like a knife.
There are many ways to get along; there are many ways to be in love.
“Are you confusing the priorities due to your own emotions?”
After a long while, Huo Ranyin turned his head, avoiding Ji Xun’s gaze.
He closed his eyes, and a wave of dizziness rushed to his head.
Perhaps it wasn’t dizziness, but a layer of fog.
He was walking in the mist, yet in the mist, he had glimpsed the shadowy phantom of the truth. Thus, in an instant, his composure was shattered. But when the truth’s phantom faded, losing its seductive light, everything became empty and vacant again…
“My way of investigating is different from yours. I don’t follow the evidence; I follow intuition and logic.”
In the emptiness, a hand reached out.
Ji Xun extended his hand, holding a hotel room card.
“…What do you mean?” Huo Ranyin frowned.
“Wen Chenghu was missing something.”
Perhaps Ji Xun was right; his mind was not clear, and the meaning of those words swirled in his head without him grasping it.
Ji Xun didn’t wait for him; he continued.
“Keys.”
Just one word, and it was as if Huo Ranyin had been struck by a bolt of enlightenment; his mind cleared instantly.
“Everyone has a place to live, and if you have a home, you should have keys,” Ji Xun paced to the hospital entrance, tapping his finger on the door lock. “Even if Wen Chenghu was about to leave for another city, he still had to sleep, still had to live in a house. His younger brother only lived with him for a short time. In the final moments when he was preparing to leave Qin City to develop in another city, it is highly likely he was living alone. Since he was living alone, how could Wen Chenghu not carry keys? But during the autopsy, the only thing in his pocket was a Tamagotchi. Where did his keys go?”
“Taken by the murderer,” Huo Ranyin whispered.
But if the murderer took Wen Chenghu’s house keys without entering the house—otherwise, when the police visited for the investigation back then, it would have been impossible to miss—then, based on this assumption, the murderer didn’t take the keys to enter the house, but to…
“Daye Temple is not in the city center. How did Wen Chenghu get there back then?”
“…He drove.” Huo Ranyin said.
“Correct. He had a car. A solitary car parked at the foot of the mountain—it’s very suspicious. So, after murdering Wen Chenghu, the killer drove his car away. I think the killer…”
Ji Xun closed his eyes and opened them again.
Frame by frame, the images began to form; string by string, the logic re-integrated.
His eyes were shining, full of the brilliance of wisdom:
“Cars are not easy things to dispose of, especially if one wants to do it without alerting Wen Chenghu’s family or the police who might come knocking. I think, instead of selling it or sinking it into the sea, it is more likely that the killer chose to…”
“Drive the vehicle back to underneath Wen Chenghu’s house and pretend that nothing ever happened! As long as we find this car, as long as the car is still there, this case will definitely be solved!”
To find the car, the first step was to contact the deceased’s family. Ji Xun dialed Wen Chengbao’s number. As the call connected, Ji Xun heard his own rapid heartbeat overlaid on the long, waiting tone, like a symphony of anxiety.
Twenty years.
This car could have undergone so many reasonable changes in ownership over such a long time.
Whether it was sold, gifted, or scrapped… it would all be natural.
But this car was the only breakthrough he could think of for this case.
Is the car still there?
The call was finally answered, and Wen Chengbao’s voice came through: “Hello—”
“This is Ji Xun,” Ji Xun said rapidly. “Your brother, Wen Chenghu, did he have a car he used for transport back then?”
“Yeah, a small truck, a car he used for hauling goods and running errands.”
“Then—” Ji Xun was surprised by his own nervousness; he stammered for a moment before finishing the sentence. “Is that car still there?”
Huo Ranyin walked over.
On the thin phone, Ji Xun listened to the front, and Huo Ranyin listened to the back. They listened to Wen Chengbao’s voice, traveling through the current.
“Yeah, it’s been kept at our old family home. I wanted to sell it, but then I saw a photo inside the car and couldn’t bear to part with it, so I kept it as a memento! Why? Does the police need to see it? If so, I’ll take you there…”
The call ended.
Ji Xun’s highly concentrated spirit suddenly relaxed. Even though he hadn’t done anything physically demanding, he felt as if he had run several hundred-meter sprints in a short period. This was too much for a body that hadn’t exercised in a long time. He instantly slumped onto the hospital bench like a liquid cat, unable to move.
Until a hand reached over, brushing the messy hair from his forehead.
Huo Ranyin sat in the seat next to Ji Xun, looking down intently: “Your head is running a bit hot.”
Ji Xun: “Brain overclocking.”
Huo Ranyin: “Should I get you an ice pack?”
“No ice pack,” Ji Xun said. “I want a little snack.”
A milk candy was handed to Ji Xun.
On the blue and white wrapper, there was a White Rabbit. The wrapper was twisted open, and the candy was fed into Ji Xun’s mouth. He took another one from his pocket and ate it himself.
“How’s the taste?” Ji Xun chewed his candy, raising an eyebrow at the one in Huo Ranyin’s mouth.
“Too sweet,” Huo Ranyin snorted softly.
“Huo Ranyin,” Ji Xun called him again.
“What?” Huo Ranyin was already calling Zhao Wu. The car was the most likely crime scene to find evidence. It was impossible for only him and Ji Xun to go; he had to call Zhao Wu and bring professional equipment to conduct a thorough search from top to bottom.
“Blank-slate reasoning is something I’m better at. I told you I could bring the truth to you—”
Ji Xun raised his hand, his index and thumb pressed together, and made a clean, sharp, cool gesture from his temple.
“How about that? Was I bluffing?”
Huo Ranyin looked back. The madness and isolation hidden within him finally faded in that moment.
He smiled slightly.
“I believe you.”
The clue was sent to the police station, and Zhao Wu, who had been tearing his hair out over the case, was overjoyed. He immediately gathered a team, took Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin, and followed Wen Chengbao to their old home in Xia Zhu County.
As soon as they entered the courtyard, they saw a small truck. Although it was covered in an inch-thick layer of dust from head to toe, it was preserved in its entirety.
The only remaining clue was laid out before them. Everyone surrounded the car, stroking it with their eyes up and down—if the car had feelings, it would have been shivering uncontrollably.
Ji Xun was, of course, one of those observing closely.
Through the dusty window, he saw a tiger doll hanging on the rearview mirror; the tiger doll was holding a photo of Wen Chenghu in its arms.
Looking at the passenger seat, there was also a cute dinosaur doll, and besides that, an Ultraman figurine stuffed near the side.
Forensic experts soon put on shoe covers and gloves and entered the car. They were quite lucky; it didn’t take long before they discovered a drop of blood in the corner of the driver’s seat.
This might be Wen Chenghu’s blood.
Wen Chenghu died from blunt force trauma to the skull and was castrated after death. The killer likely got Wen Chenghu’s blood on himself during the murder and subsequently transferred it to the car while driving it.
Besides this drop of blood, all hair and skin debris in the vehicle were collected one by one by the forensic team into evidence bags, prepared to be taken back to the station for DNA testing.
After the examination, it would be time for the standard investigative procedures.
First, compare the DNA detected by the police with the internal criminal database for confirmation, then interview every relative and friend associated with Wen Chenghu one by one to determine if they had a motive and opportunity to commit the crime.
