“I heard the killer is only an 18-year-old high school student?”
“And his academic performance is usually excellent, is that true?”
“……”
At the entrance of the General Police Bureau, a crowd of reporters had gathered just as dawn broke.
Holding cameras, they blocked the entrance so tightly that not even water could trickle through. Flashes blinked frantically. These people had incredibly wide networks for gathering information; before the news of the true culprit’s arrest could even be officially announced, they were already here staking out the place.
Because the victims in this case were all students, the public heat surrounding it had remained consistently high. But what no one expected was that the killer would also be a high school student!
A high schooler committing a crime—especially when that high schooler happened to be the number one student in the entire city.
The topic exploded instantly.
Some media outlets had prepared materials in advance. After looking into Shen Xinghe’s city-wide ranking, they were shocked to find that in the entire Huanan City, only a handful of people scored higher than him. His score placed him in the top three during every single city-wide standardized examination.
The criminal investigators walked briskly past the media, moving forward along the narrow path the reporters parted for them.
Once they passed, the media’s lenses focused on the final two figures walking out of the General Bureau side by side.
Xie Lin was dressed in white today. The white coat didn’t make him look any more innocent or pure; he still looked like a playboy who had come to deceive young girls. Following the cameras, he stopped in front of the closest media representative and offered a slight smile. “Excuse me, please make way. My assistant has a fear of germs; he doesn’t like people getting too close to him.”
Chi Qing was dressed entirely in black. It hadn’t been cold when they stepped out, so he wore a black hoodie. His eyes were slightly narrowed with drowsiness, but even though he looked drained of energy, he still managed to avoid everyone on both sides with precise accuracy.
After getting into the car, Xie Lin asked, “Very sleepy?”
Chi Qing replied, “Not really, just had nothing to do.”
Shen Xinghe had confessed voluntarily.
They hadn’t even reached the stage of figuring out how to get him to confess, nor had they finalized a strategy before the case simply came to an end.
Before Shen Xinghe was taken away, he had paused by Chi Qing’s side for half a second. He lowered his gaze and looked at the black gloves on Chi Qing’s hands.
As someone who had indirectly clashed with Chi Qing and Xie Lin on the internet, he remembered the black gloves that had flashed briefly in the news. Thus, as he brushed past Chi Qing, he murmured, “I lost.”
Although Shen Xinghe himself admitted he lost, they hadn’t actually done much in this case. The two most critical flaws were created by Shen Xinghe himself.
It was Shen Xinghe who went to a meeting he shouldn’t have attended. In the end, it was he who failed to conceal his own heartbeat when facing the polygraph.
At this moment, the outside was completely gridlocked by reporters. Shen Xinghe sat inside the detention room, where a dense iron mesh blocked out the scenery outside. Two beams of light filtered through the gaps in the mesh, and Shen Xinghe stared at that fleeting light for a long time.
He remembered the photograph of sunlight that Xiao Lan had taken for him.
He used to stare at that photograph for a very long time in the dark of night.
Upon returning to the local police station.
Ji Mingrui slumped weakly at his workstation, utterly exhausted by the high-intensity work over this past period.
He dozed off on his desk for a bit, but when he saw Wu Zhibin coming out of the office carrying a kettle of water, he abruptly sat up straight.
Wu Zhibin glanced at him and said, “What’s the matter? Hurry up and use this time to catch some shut-eye. There probably won’t be time later.”
Ji Mingrui hadn’t sat up straight because he was caught napping.
He had simply remembered something upon seeing Wu Zhibin: their Brother Bin seemed to be gradually stepping away from participating in these cases.
Ji Mingrui said tentatively, “Brother Bin… you didn’t really lead us much this time…”
Wu Zhibin indeed hadn’t participated much in the case.
But these kids didn’t know the reason behind it, nor could they be allowed to know.
This student case had caused many people to link it to the kidnapping case that had shaken the entire city back then.
Ten years had passed since that case. Many people no longer remembered it, and many had never heard of it, so various media outlets used this opportunity to aggressively sensationalize it.
A few days ago, when the Chief called him over, a webpage was open on the computer screen. On it was a trending news article.
“Do you know why I called you here?” The Chief crossed his hands, looking at him with a calm gaze.
The office doors and windows were tightly shut, and the blinds were pulled down, covering everything completely.
Wu Zhibin said, “I have a rough guess.”
The Chief said meaningfully, “Xie Lin’s ‘assistant’—from the very first glance, I found him familiar.”
Wu Zhibin did not speak.
Understanding dawned in the Chief’s mind, confirming his suspicion. “You knew all along. He was one of the only two surviving children from back then.”
The office fell into a long silence.
No one would have expected that the children who survived that case a decade ago would become two criminal consultants who repeatedly cracked major cases ten years later.
Wu Zhibin finally said, “I bear responsibility for this matter, but I trust them.”
He hadn’t mentioned any of these words to Ji Mingrui. Leaning on his crutch, he had just laughed it off and said, “If I don’t step aside, how can I give you youngsters a chance to show your skills? It’s nothing, just an old ailment. If I go out on missions with this leg again, it’ll be ruined. The doctor has warned me several times.”
This part was true, too.
Wu Zhibin was getting older, and his body couldn’t quite handle the injuries and ailments anymore.
He went back into his office, closed the door, and sat in front of his computer for a long time. Eventually, he opened a bookmarked webpage. Looking at how the old case from back then was being dragged up again because of Shen Xinghe, his right eyelid twitched uncontrollably.
Outside the window, a mass of dark clouds silently gathered.
The sky, which had been bright for days, was swallowed by surging shades of ink-gray.
The weather was turning overcast.
While everyone else was worrying about whether they had brought an umbrella or how they would get off work because of the sudden gloom, Chi Qing was the only one sitting in the car enjoying a rare moment of good mood.
It was about to rain.
If he went out, which umbrella should he bring?
Chi Qing was just thinking about the pile of transparent umbrellas at his house when he suddenly heard Xie Lin cough from beside him, reminding him: “The case is closed.”
Chi Qing: “Mm.”
Taking advantage of the red light, Xie Lin turned his head to look at him. “A ‘mhm’ is all I get?”
Chi Qing: “What you just said was a declarative sentence, and it didn’t contain any valuable information requiring a response. What else am I supposed to say?”
Xie Lin: “……”
The car quickly drove into the underground garage. As the two took the elevator upstairs, Xie Lin reminded him again: “This case is finished.”
Chi Qing: “You already said that.”
Chi Qing was clearly growing impatient upon hearing it a second time, finding it utterly incomprehensible. “Why do you have to repeat the same nonsense twice?”
Xie Lin: “…………”
Because both of them had been incredibly busy these past few days tracking down the Shen Xinghe on the other side of the internet, their time at home had drastically decreased. Consequently, every time they returned home, the cat that still lacked a name acted exceptionally affectionate toward them.
Even Xie Lin, who was usually unloved by it, had his trouser legs rubbed against.
Though right after rubbing, it immediately ran eight hundred meters away from him.
For once, Chi Qing didn’t call it “Hey.” Continuing the name Yu Lan had given it, he called out expressionlessly, “Little Star?”
The cat crouched on the floor. It seemed to remember that girl who couldn’t speak, tilting its head and letting out a “meow” in response.
Chi Qing looked at it. “Though this name isn’t great… it’ll do.”
By the time Chi Qing came out of the shower, Xie Lin had already fed the cat and cleaned the balcony.
Chi Qing walked into the bedroom while drying his hair. The room was dark as the lights weren’t on yet. However, the moment he stepped inside, he recalled a very important matter that he had ruthlessly forgotten.
The cause of that matter lay in this very room.
On this very bed.
He suddenly realized what Xie Lin meant by repeatedly mentioning the words “solving the case” just now.
“……”
The tips of Chi Qing’s ears turned a very subtle shade of red. He thought to himself, what on earth did I say back then?
Sitting at the edge of the bed, he used the mental speed he typically reserved for analyzing case details to evaluate the current situation.
How could he make Xie Lin forget that sentence?
Chi Qing thought through all the options but couldn’t find a single method.
Unless it was murder.
……
After all, once a person is dead, all memories disappear.
On the other side, Xie Lin had absolutely no idea what kind of thoughts were swirling inside Chi Qing’s head. After showering, he went over to Chi Qing’s room to sleep as usual. The moment he pushed the door open, Chi Qing was sitting by the edge of the bed, his deep, dark pupils staring right at him.
That gaze looked as if it were asking him: How do you want to die tonight?
Then again, Xie Lin wasn’t exactly a normal person either. Leaning against the doorway with his cuffs rolled up, he could still manage a slight smile facing the pitch-black room. “Can I sleep here tonight?”
Although Chi Qing had given a promise before, Xie Lin hadn’t intended to force him.
The two of them proceeded just like before; at most, Xie Lin couldn’t resist kissing him. The man’s hot kisses fell upon Chi Qing’s slightly cool lips, traveling all the way down before finally stopping at the side of Chi Qing’s neck.
Xie Lin’s hand slipped in beneath the hem of his shirt.
They had tried this many times, so Xie Lin knew exactly where Chi Qing’s threshold lay. When Chi Qing’s body couldn’t help but stiffen slightly, Xie Lin pulled his hand out from under the shirt. He left a soft press of his damp lips against the corner of Chi Qing’s mouth, just about to say, “Let’s sleep.”
Xie Lin was leaning over Chi Qing, his elbows propped beside him. Before he could pull away, Chi Qing suddenly reached up and grabbed the collar of the man’s shirt.
This action forced Xie Lin to lean down again, abruptly closing the distance between them.
Chi Qing’s hand gripping the collar did not let go.
The shirt Xie Lin was wearing wasn’t fully buttoned to begin with. After all their tossing and turning just now, a few buttons had already come undone, exposing a large area of his collarbone, and further down, the faint outline of his abs could be seen.
Xie Lin’s voice dropped a bit lower: “What are you doing?”
Chi Qing slowly closed his eyes, then opened them again.
His hand released the collar and traced all the way down the faint gap right in the center, only stopping when it touched the first button.
Chi Qing: “I said before that we’d wait until the case was over. I keep my word.”
As he spoke, his pale hand rested on that button. With his fingers intertwining, he undid the button in a couple of swift movements.
When the final button was also undone by him, Chi Qing looked up into Xie Lin’s eyes and said, “Go ahead and try.”
