Ji Xu raised an eyebrow and asked, “What’s inconvenient?”
“Everything is inconvenient,” Cheng Yue said, pretending to be an experienced person. He nodded sagely and analyzed, “For example, if you two are kissing, I’d be right there, and it would be awkward for her. Even if you just hold hands, it’s still inappropriate with me, a minor, present. So, it’s better to just leave me outside and let me take a taxi back.”
“Alright,” Ji Xu smiled.
“Just take care of yourself and stop worrying about me.”
“Why shouldn’t I worry about you? Isn’t it my responsibility?” Cheng Yue said, smiling and leaning back in the seat.
After a moment, he asked, “Is Auntie pretty?”
“Don’t call others ‘Auntie’ when you meet them,” Ji Xu replied.
“What should I call her then?” Cheng Yue wondered if he had gotten the hierarchy wrong.
“Call her ‘sister’,” Ji Xu said as he slowed the car after entering the residential area.
“Why?” Cheng Yue peered out the window, looking at the surroundings of the neighborhood.
“Because calling her ‘Auntie’ will upset her,” Ji Xu explained simply. After parking the car, he led Cheng Yue out and up to Mu Jia’s floor.
Mu Jia lived on the 12th floor, but the elevator stopped at the 5th floor.
When the elevator doors opened, a man in a low-brimmed baseball cap and all-black clothing, with a black mask and white wrist wraps used for boxing, stepped inside.
Ji Xu instinctively shielded Cheng Yue behind him.
Cheng Yue carefully peeked over Ji Xu’s shoulder at the man in the baseball cap and found him a bit strange.
It was hot outside, but this man was dressed entirely in black, with a black mask and white wrist wraps. What was even stranger was the way he looked at them.
When Cheng Yue accidentally made eye contact with the man, he immediately shrank back behind Ji Xu and swallowed nervously.
The man’s gaze was quite frightening.
As the elevator continued to rise, the man didn’t press any floor buttons.
This meant that the man was going to the same floor as them.
Ji Xu frowned, sensing something unusual. His subconscious told him that this man was definitely suspicious.
When the elevator reached the 12th floor and the doors opened, Ji Xu led Cheng Yue out first but moved slowly, keeping an ear out for any sounds behind them.
When the elevator doors closed again and the elevator descended, the man never stepped out.
Cheng Yue glanced back at the closed elevator doors, relieved, and sighed as he slumped his back. “That guy is a bit weird. He’s not some kind of murderer, is he?”
Ji Xu stared at the closed elevator doors for a moment, trying to recall the man’s features. Unfortunately, the man’s baseball cap was pulled low and he wore a mask, leaving only his narrow, slitted eyes in memory.
Seeing that he couldn’t recall much, Ji Xu led Cheng Yue to Mu Jia’s door.
As they approached, they were hit by a strong stench of blood.
Cheng Yue, who usually didn’t pay attention to where he was stepping, was pulled back by Ji Xu just as he was about to step forward.
Looking down, Cheng Yue felt nauseated.
The ground was covered with skinned, bloodied dead rats, exposed and gruesome.
There were at least a dozen of them. Cheng Yue wrinkled his nose and covered it.
Ji Xu pulled Cheng Yue behind him and called Mu Jia.
Three minutes later, the heavy security door opened from the inside.
Mu Jia, looking pale and disheveled, wearing a loose home outfit with a lollipop in her mouth, welcomed them in.
“This is my nephew,” Ji Xu introduced Cheng Yue.
“Hello, sister,” Cheng Yue said as he followed Ji Xu into the house.
“Hello, brother,” Mu Jia greeted back, adjusting her hair. After leading them to the sofa, she poured two glasses of water and flopped down on the couch looking dejected.
“When did you find the blood and rats outside? Did you see anyone?” Ji Xu asked directly.
“Everything was there this afternoon,” Mu Jia said with a raspy voice, still sucking on the lollipop. “Last night, someone called my phone, knocked on my door, and left several threatening letters.”
Mu Jia bent down, retrieved the letters from a drawer, and threw them on the table. “These are all the threatening letters I’ve received. They’ve been coming more frequently lately.”
Ji Xu picked up one of the letters, glanced at it, and his face darkened. “When did you start receiving these letters?”
“About two weeks ago,” Mu Jia suddenly smiled. “I hadn’t mentioned it to you because I didn’t think it was necessary, but look at this letter.”
Cheng Yue followed Mu Jia’s gaze and noticed that this letter looked much cleaner and neater compared to the others, which were all hastily written.
However, the words on this letter were more direct and dangerous than any of the others.
Ji Xu read the letter once and suddenly smiled—a cold, sardonic smile that only comes from extreme anger.
“They’re using the videos and photos of those kids as threats. If they lose this lawsuit, they’ll definitely go all out,” Mu Jia said wearily.
“I…”
“What are they using to negotiate with us?” Ji Xu carefully folded the letter and put it back in the envelope. “We’ve been working around the clock not to negotiate with them. Have you seen the person who’s sending these letters and throwing dead rats?”
“No, he was wearing a hat and a mask,” Mu Jia said.
“I even got video footage from the property management, but the person was so well-hidden that he avoided all the surveillance angles.”
“Black baseball cap, with four English letters on it, a plain black mask? Tall and thin? With a white band wrapped around his right wrist?” Ji Xu began to recall the man they encountered in the elevator.
Mu Jia’s eyes widened with surprise at each characteristic Ji Xu described.
“How do you know?”
Ji Xu’s face darkened immediately with the confirmation.
That man in the elevator was definitely the same one.
The man had recognized him and had not followed them.
Moreover, the group must have known about Ji Xu’s arrival, making it harder to catch the man now.
“Did you see his face clearly?” Mu Jia asked urgently.
Ji Xu shook his head, frowning. If they had basic information about this man, many of their current issues could be resolved by following the clues. But the letter and the faceless man had trapped them in a dead end.
The atmosphere in the room dropped to freezing point as they both realized the seriousness of the situation.
“This is probably what the man looks like,” Cheng Yue said, turning a pencil in his hand, blowing off the eraser shavings from the paper, and proudly showing a sketch he made.
Ji Xu was stunned by the detailed sketch of the person on the paper.
“He looks like Kaito Kuroba,” Cheng Yue added.
“You saw his face?” Ji Xu took the paper, looking incredulously at the clear and detailed eyes, nose, and mouth in the sketch.
“No,” Cheng Yue shook his head, then confidently smiled, “But I saw his eyes and a little bit of his nose. Our teacher used to test us like this. It’s very simple, and I can guarantee it’s about 80% similar to that man.”
Ji Xu suddenly remembered that Cheng Yue had studied at a famous art school in the U.S., as Tang Jing had mentioned.
He asked, “Do you know how to draw?”
“Oh, I didn’t tell you that?” Cheng Yue said, slightly embarrassed, rubbing his nose. “I major in oil painting and do dancing as a side job.”
“Stop the side job,” Ji Xu said, taking out his phone and snapping a picture of the sketch to quickly send it to Tang Jing.
Tang Jing had several friends in the city police.
The man’s gaze was not something ordinary; if he had committed a crime, it would be traceable.
Ji Xu was confident that the man had definitely committed a crime.
The needed wind (assist) finally came from Cheng Yue.
The next morning, Tang Jing replied that the man had indeed committed a crime and had been released from prison half a month ago.
Ji Xu and the police pursued the lead and, after at least three days of investigation, finally captured the man in an abandoned factory.
The next steps—interrogation and investigation—were now the police’s domain.
That day, after Ji Xu and Tang Jing got off work early, Ji Xu first drove to the bakery to pick up the pre-ordered cake.
Today was Cheng Yue’s 17th birthday.
Tang Jing, holding the cake, was very pleased.
“This time, it’s really thanks to Cheng Yue! Tonight, I’ll make sure to have a lively celebration for him.”
“Don’t serve alcohol, don’t invite too many people. It’s best if there’s more food and the party ends before 10 PM. He has to go to class tomorrow,” Ji Xu said as he drove towards the school, listing out strict conditions.
“……”
Tang Jing was momentarily at a loss, then sighed, “Brother, I really admire you! Do you even know what ‘lively’ means? Check the dictionary if you need to! With these requirements, my birthday party could turn into a Silent Hill meet-up.”
Ji Xu frowned and thought for a moment, “Alright… before 10:30 PM, no later.”
Tang Jing: “……”
What to do when wanting to curse.
Cheng Yue, just after school and waiting at the school gate for Ji Xu to pick him up, received a call.
He looked at the unfamiliar number and, remembering being pressured for debt recently, hesitated until the call was almost automatically disconnected before answering.
“Hello, is this the son of Ms. Ke Miao?”
The warm female voice on the other end left Cheng Yue stunned, not because of the voice’s pleasantness, but because she had mentioned his mother’s name.
Hearing his mother’s name again made Cheng Yue feel like his brain was going to explode.
“Hello, are you there?” The woman on the phone asked again.
Cheng Yue came back to his senses and quickly responded.
“Ms. Ke Miao ordered a limited edition Kawasaki motorcycle for her son, intending to give him a surprise today. Our staff has been trying to contact Ms. Ke Miao since this morning, but unfortunately, we couldn’t reach her for some reasons.”
The apologetic voice continued, “Because it’s quite late, we were afraid of missing Ms. Ke Miao’s specified date. We couldn’t pull up the information in time to contact you. If we’ve disrupted Ms. Ke Miao’s surprise for you, we sincerely apologize. We’ll relay the message to Ms. Ke Miao.”
Cheng Yue felt like his whole body was frozen. His hand holding the phone trembled uncontrollably.
He finally managed to steady himself, but his throat felt choked, and he couldn’t make a sound.
“Hello? Hello?” The caller couldn’t hear any response.
“Address…” Cheng Yue strained his voice, his eyes turning red as he finally managed to say the word.
