“We checked the license plate. It’s forged; we couldn’t trace the owner. The vehicle model is also very old, looking like an imported car. In short, there hasn’t been a sales record of this model in recent years…”
After returning, Chi Qing had just taken a shower when Ji Mingrui called to update him and Xie Lin on the investigation. Chi Qing was sitting in Xie Lin’s living room, suppressing his impatience and trying his best to listen. Halfway through, a sudden buzzing rang in his ears.
He raised a hand to press his ear. When he let go, the sound gradually faded. The distorted noise slowly disappeared, leaving only Ji Mingrui’s endless chattering on the other end of the line.
Ji Mingrui continued, “And the owner, I don’t think he looks like a local. He might be from the southwest border…”
This was interspersed with Xie Lin’s responses. “I don’t think he’s a local either. He was wearing a mask, and the information we could glean from that glance into the car was limited.”
Ji Mingrui scoffed. “Limited is an understatement. I watched the surveillance footage; it was a matter of life and death for you guys—”
Just remembering he was masked was impressive enough. Anyone else would have completely blanked out from the shock.
However, as soon as he finished speaking, he heard Xie Lin methodically state, “Based on his seated height in the driver’s seat, his estimated height is around 178 cm. He used his left hand to steer, so he’s highly likely to be left-handed.”
Ji Mingrui was speechless. Did he really call this information limited?!
They had stared at the blurry footage for ages, only making out an untraceable black van, a fake plate with no owner, and a black hood that revealed absolutely nothing. By comparison, they were the ones with limited information! Ji Mingrui really wanted to hang up right then.
He never expected to re-experience that frustrating feeling from his school days after entering society: when the top student and the failing student both say they did poorly on a test, but the final scores are still worlds apart.
Chi Qing wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. He realized that less than a week had passed since the last date circled on his calendar. It seemed the alcohol content in liqueur chocolates was different from traditional liquor. The sugar-liquor syrup in the chocolate didn’t affect him as severely as real alcohol, and the chocolate itself was tiny. The alcohol ratio inside couldn’t compare to a sip taken at a bar.
“What’s wrong?” Chi Qing had only zoned out for two or three minutes when Xie Lin turned his head to ask.
Ji Mingrui thought this was directed at him and replied, “Nothing, I’m not hurt. I’ll adjust my mindset to face all this and accept the disparities between people—”
“…Wait,” Xie Lin interrupted. “Sorry, I wasn’t asking you.”
“……?”
“I’m asking my assistant.”
“……”
“If you have nothing else to say, you can hang up now.”
Xie Lin glanced at Chi Qing again as he spoke, raising a hand to touch Chi Qing’s forehead to check his temperature. “He looks a bit unwell, and talking on the phone with you is severely delaying me from pouring my assistant a glass of water.”
Ji Mingrui was completely speechless.
Chi Qing only snapped back to reality after Xie Lin hung up. He hadn’t even subconsciously dodged backward; he didn’t realize that his second loss of control had made him not only used to Xie Lin’s touch, but almost accustomed to it. “I don’t have a fever.”
Xie Lin only withdrew his hand after confirming his temperature was normal.
Chi Qing avoided the topic and returned to the main point: “You didn’t tell them about the SD card?”
“Speaking of that card, I checked it before you came. It requires a password, and cracking it might take some time.” Xie Lin took the card out of his overcoat pocket. The black card lay quietly in his palm. “As for why I didn’t tell them… If I hand the card over, how is the killer supposed to find me?”
Chi Qing had felt something was off while standing in the short guy’s hallway earlier. Now, he finally understood.
Xie Lin blatantly walking out of the short guy’s house with the card was clearly a show for the other party, silently setting bait: The item is with me now.
The unspoken second half of that sentence was: Come and kill me if you dare.
In reality, Xie Lin’s approach was the most likely to track down the killer out of all their options. Of course, correspondingly, it was also the most dangerous.
Xie Lin’s “reinstatement” as a consultant wasn’t public knowledge. The masked man couldn’t trace Xie Lin’s connection to the police station, let alone suspect that Xie Lin already knew his specific mission. All he could see was that the SD card had now transferred to another person. Therefore, he would definitely come looking for him.
The SD card was just a guess anyway. If it were handed over to the police, would the masked man still take the risk? The answer was obvious; he would definitely give up.
Chi Qing thought he would sleep more soundly tonight than the past few days now that he had recovered from his loss of control. However, after returning home, he lay in bed for ages, opening his eyes in the silent night.
The wall clock pointed to 12.
At midnight, Chi Qing got up to pour water in the kitchen. Holding the glass, he started putting himself in the other’s shoes: If he were the masked man, how would he kill Xie Lin? But there were simply too many ways to kill a person without leaving a trace.
So Chi Qing went back to pondering why he was suffering from insomnia tonight, and found he had no answer.
Thus, at 12:30 AM, Ji Mingrui was jolted awake from his dreams by a call from Chi Qing, only to hear Chi Qing say he couldn’t sleep and didn’t know why. “Bro, how am I supposed to know why you can’t sleep? You must be in shock from today. After all, that car crash was absolutely terrifying.”
Ji Mingrui heard Chi Qing say in all seriousness, “I’m not.”
Chi Qing repeated, “Not in shock.”
“…” Ji Mingrui rolled over. “Then what are you thinking about? How do you not know why you’re having insomnia?”
After a long while, right as Ji Mingrui was about to fall back asleep, he faintly heard Chi Qing reply, “Thinking about how to kill someone.”
“…What did you say?”
“Nothing.” No matter how slow Chi Qing’s reactions were, he knew that sounded incredibly creepy. He rephrased it. “Just thinking about what kind of danger a certain someone might encounter.”
Ji Mingrui was too sleepy to think straight. He didn’t process it, nor did he dwell on who that “certain someone” was, bluntly saying: “Then aren’t you just worried about him?”
“Worried?”
“Yes, worried… Ugh, I’m dead tired. If you don’t understand, go check a dictionary.”
Chi Qing rarely experienced emotions normally. The word ‘worry’ practically didn’t exist in his dictionary. So right now, he was worried about that psycho surnamed Xie living across the hall?
This conclusion was truly unexpected. Chi Qing stood in the kitchen for a long time, holding his glass.
The next morning, Xie Lin changed his clothes and prepared to head out. Before leaving, he called Wu Zhi. “Did you look into what I asked you to check last night?”
Wu Zhi replied, “Boss, even though my family is in e-commerce, asking me to find a programmer who can crack codes in the middle of the night is asking too much of me.”
Xie Lin sighed. “What kind of Crown Prince of the Wu Group are you?”
“Crown prince my ass, I’ve never even been to the company,” Wu Zhi continued. “If I stood in the office, no one would even recognize me…” He paused, hearing the sound of keys jingling. “You’re heading out?”
“Yeah.”
“Alone?” Wu Zhi asked. “Why didn’t you call that assistant of yours?”
Xie Lin wanted to say it was too dangerous, but the words morphed before they left his mouth: “It’s… inconvenient for him.”
Wu Zhi complained, “Ever since you got an assistant, I can’t even get ahold of you. Why are you two always together anyway? It’s like you’re dragging a little wife around. How long has it been since we hung out? After this is over, you have to buy me a drink.”
The moment Xie Lin heard the word “drink,” he thought of a certain someone who couldn’t handle his liquor. He chuckled before saying, “Sure.”
Then Xie Lin hung up, pulled the door open, and ran right into the aforementioned assistant who couldn’t handle his liquor at the elevator entrance.
Chi Qing was wearing black gloves. The temperature had dropped today, and the forecast showed possible rain. He had put on a jacket over his sweater, but because of his slender frame, the two layers didn’t look bulky on him. He held an umbrella in his gloved hand. Seeing Xie Lin open the door, he lifted his eyelids slightly and gave a rare greeting, his timing so perfect it seemed premeditated.
Chi Qing’s lips parted slightly as he spat out a single word: “Morning.”
Xie Lin had intentionally left early, not expecting to still bump into Chi Qing. “…Morning. What a coincidence.”
Inside the elevator. Neither of them pressed a floor button first.
Xie Lin: “You…”
Chi Qing: “You first.”
Xie Lin couldn’t figure out what he was up to and pressed B1. Chi Qing watched him press the button and made no move to press another.
Xie Lin asked, “You’re going to the underground garage too?”
Chi Qing glanced at him. “Is there a complex rule saying I can’t?”
You can… but you don’t even have a car. Are you just taking a morning stroll in the garage? Xie Lin didn’t voice this thought.
Ding. The elevator doors opened.
Chi Qing carried his umbrella and followed behind Xie Lin the whole way. Xie Lin pressed his thumb against the car key button. After he hit unlock, Chi Qing pulled open the rear car door and slid in with extreme naturalness, as if it had been agreed upon, leaving the “driver” standing outside alone.
Xie Lin was speechless.
He didn’t want Chi Qing too involved in this matter. No one could say what kind of tricks the other party would pull; it could even be said that the moment they stepped out the door, unknown dangers were already waiting in the dark. No one could foresee what situations would unfold. Xie Lin dared to risk himself, but he couldn’t drag Chi Qing into danger with him.
Because of that “worry” he still hadn’t figured out, Chi Qing hadn’t slept well last night. He got into the car planning to catch up on sleep, but before he could close his eyes, the rear door was pulled open.
Xie Lin leaned in, propping one hand against the door frame, drastically closing the distance between them. The man was only wearing a black dress shirt under his overcoat, sans tie. As he leaned down, the already loose collar fell open further. Xie Lin normally smiled no matter what he was saying, but looking at him right now, there wasn’t a hint of a smile in his eyes. His brown irises stared straight at him, his tone carrying a rare, oppressive weight: “Do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
Do you know how dangerous it is? Do you know we’re up against a desperado? Do you know…
Just as Xie Lin was about to say “Get out,” Chi Qing calmly met his eyes: “I know.”
The words Xie Lin wanted to say halted on his lips.
Chi Qing looked away, his fingers resting on the umbrella fabric. “Consider me unlucky. I must have committed murder and arson in my past life to end up as your assistant in this one.”
