"Why didn't you say so earlier?"
Old Liu glared at Chen Nian.
"Why would I say anything if I wasn't a hundred percent sure?"
Chen Nian sighed again, looking even paler and weaker.
"Besides, I thought you knew."
"..."
Old Liu's face visibly flushed red. After a long moment, he tossed his cigarette butt away.
"So what do we do now?"
"I'm thinking."
Chen Nian frowned in thought.Yan Jing's parting words echoed in his mind. He muttered, "He said the killer is deeply envious of him, and will definitely..."
"Definitely what?"
"Strike again?"
"But does that guy even have a chance to?"
With his and Old Master Liu's strength, neither would flinch at facing the killer in a one-on-one fight. Now that Yan Jing had been taken away, whose identity could the killer possibly assume to find an opening?
Listening to Chen Nian mutter, Old Liu's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Right, that guy will definitely strike again. Shouldn't we just wait for him to come to us?"
Chen Nian shook his head.
"He already knows how strong we both are. He probably won't risk forcing a move and will likely just wait for this whole thing to blow over."
"Who said anything about the two of us?"
Old Liu looked at Mantou, who was standing to the side with anxious, red-rimmed eyes. His meaning was self-evident.
It suddenly dawned on Chen Nian.
True. If the killer really was deeply envious of Yan Jing, his next target would undoubtedly be this mentally disabled girl.
But after thinking about it, he shook his head again.
"From what Yi Ji said, it didn't sound like he wanted us to use her as bait. It sounded more like he was begging us to keep her safe."
Old Liu hesitated at that.
"Using a little girl as bait does seem—"
"Misters... could... I please ask... you... to teach me... how to save... Yi... Ji..."
Mantou spoke up, her eyes bright red. It took Old Liu and Chen Nian a moment to process what she had said.
Misters.
The term was indeed rarely used in their everyday lives.
But they quickly realized it was probably the most respectful title the girl could scrounge up from her mind.
She might have read it in a book or overheard someone use it at a stall, and was now using it to beg for their help.
Mantou's voice trembled. She struggled to enunciate every single word. Her brain condition severely impaired her speech, making it look as if talking required every ounce of her strength.
"I... I... can help... you, Grandpa... sell... sell eggs..."
"Could I bother... you, Grandpa... to teach me... how to save... Yi... Ji... thank... thank you..."
"From now on... I will help you sell... eggs... every day..."
She bent at the waist, trying to bow.
Such a motion was a heavy burden for her. Her uncontrollable body simply couldn't manage a proper ninety-degree bow.
Still, she bowed to the two of them, over and over.
In her not-so-bright mind, this was the only thing she could do.
Even driven to this point, her first thought hadn't been to beg the two of them to save Yi Ji, but to ask them to teach her how to do it herself.
"Alright, this old man agrees!"
Old Liu slammed his hand on the square table, his white hair trembling violently from the force.
Chen Nian rubbed his forehead. What kind of hot-blooded senior citizen drama was this?
"You old coot—"
"Look at the girl yourself. Look at her and tell me you have the heart to refuse?"
Old Liu pointed at Mantou's brown eyes, where tears were currently swirling.
Even though Old Liu had already agreed, she didn't stop bowing. Instead, she bowed even faster, practically sobbing uncontrollably.
"Thank you... thank you... really... thank you so much... sorry... for bothering you..."
Chen Nian sighed.
"I have nothing to say."
"Let's just hope you don't end up regretting this."
He looked at Mantou and slowly said, "Let's get one thing straight. There is a way to save Yi Ji, but what Old Liu and I are actually worried about is you. This method might be a bit dangerous for you. Are you willing?"
"Wil... willing!"
Mantou nodded emphatically.
"I... I can... do... anything!!"
"Then it's settled."
Chen Nian pulled his collar back up, hiding his face.
"The Order Management Bureau has a twenty-four-hour safe detention policy. The plan is set for tomorrow morning. From now on, none of the three of us are to act alone."
"That guy dared to touch one of ours. He really should pay the price."
...
'I hope the three of them can safely make it to tomorrow.'
Yan Jing thought from within the Order Management Bureau.
He had already found the killer's flaw. Given a little more time, he was highly confident he could uncover the guy's identity.
As long as they could wait safely and peacefully until tomorrow, everything would be fine.
He trusted that Chen Nian had caught the meaning behind his final words. There shouldn't be any major issues.
He was currently sitting in a room painted white on three sides. Across from him sat two officers in Order Management Bureau uniforms, separated by an iron grating.
Behind them, four rules of the Order Management Bureau were written on a simple blackboard.
1. Any entity entering the Bureau will automatically be protected by the Bureau for twenty-four hours. Violent means are prohibited.
2. Evidence is required for arrests, interrogations, convictions, and punishments.
3. Maintaining order is the priority in all matters.
4. The Order of the Order Management Bureau supersedes any other Order.
Four clear, easy-to-understand rules. Yan Jing almost wanted to stand up and applaud, but unfortunately, his hands and feet were shackled.
"Do you know why we brought you here?"
It was the male officer across from him who spoke.
"I heard from that commanding officer that it was because of a murder case."
Yan Jing replied unhurriedly.
"At five o'clock this morning, Rotten Vegetable Village resident Liu Shuangfeng was found dead near her home. Do you have any thoughts on this?"
"No thoughts."
"Someone witnessed you having a conflict with Liu Shuangfeng in the market the day before yesterday. Do you admit this?"
"I admit it."
"What were you doing around two o'clock this morning?"
"I was probably sleeping."
"..."
Outside the white room, the frosty-faced woman was watching Yan Jing's conversation with the two officers through a one-way mirror. Their voices broadcasted from an extremely battered, handheld megaphone nearby.
It was a megaphone imbued with weird energy. In this Domain, the use of electronics was severely restricted. Unless an item contained weird energy, it was practically impossible to operate.
A woman's red lips grew on the front of the megaphone, constantly mimicking their conversation in a bizarre pitch and occasionally letting out a few eerie giggles.
"I haven't spotted any flaws."
The callow Youth beside her spoke up.
"There's no way to be sure if it's him."
After speaking, he noticed the woman stayed silent. He glanced around, and seeing no one else, whispered, "Boss, the director deliberately gave you this cross-Domain case. It's obvious he doesn't want you to get promoted."
"Normally, we can't even leave Rotten Vegetable Village. We can only ask for clues from the branch bureaus over at Solitude Lane and Sleepland, and what did they give us? Nothing but useless leads."
"The old director must think you're rising up the ranks too fast and is purposely suppressing you. If you ask me, it's possible the bureau even let that killer loose on purpose."
"Otherwise, how could a killer with no background evade capture for so long—"
"Are you done?"
The woman glanced down at the callow Youth. That tiny gesture instantly made him feel as if he had plunged into an ice cellar.
The woman generally never looked her subordinates directly in the eye.
The next second, the woman's arm transformed directly into a black blade. Without a hint of hesitation, she struck. The Youth's right arm fell to the floor, blood spraying across the one-way mirror.
"Openly discussing your superiors. Penalty: one arm."
The woman's voice carried no emotion.
"If you cry out, I'll take the other."
Hearing this, the Youth bit his lower lip in agony, desperately forcing his screams back down his throat as sweat drenched his face.
He knew the woman's strength had already reached the Second Stage, but he hadn't expected her mastery of the Order Management Bureau's Order Body-Forging Technique to be so flawless.
That knife-hand strike just now belonged to the seventh stance of the Body-Forging Art: Palm Technique. Both the angle and the force had perfectly met the requirements, and thus its power had been amplified.
Her hand had even turned into a literal blade.
This was the Order Management Bureau's own Order system. The more compliant and the closer to perfection one was, the greater their power.
Within the Bureau, "Order" was closer to discipline.
The callow Youth hurriedly fished bandages from his pocket, reattaching his severed right arm to his body exactly as taught in Body-Forging Technique: Emergency Medicine.
After finishing, he felt the granulation tissue growing beneath the bandages and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, he specialized in the medical path, and since he reattached it quickly, it should heal in a week or two.
From start to finish, the woman beside him kept her attention entirely on Yan Jing inside the room. She spoke slowly, "Notify the people inside to switch to Plan B."
With that, she turned on her heel and left.
"Understood."
...
...
"Did something spray onto the glass?"
Yan Jing pointed at the glass nearby. Even though it was a one-way mirror, a dark red shadow could still be seen staining the other side.
"...Just answer the questions seriously."
The Order officers across from him had adopted a much better attitude toward Yan Jing than when they first started, simply because they realized he followed the rules perfectly.
They liked people who followed the rules.
"Yes, Sir."
Yan Jing answered.
"I confirm that I did not lay a hand on Grandma Liu Shuangfeng. At that time yesterday, I was sleeping."
"Moreover, I don't harbor much resentment toward Grandma Liu Shuangfeng. As for her stealing my stall space, I already got back at her by pranking her."
"I have finished answering, Sir."
"Have you seen this photo before?"
The officer pulled out a photo. It depicted the corpses of several inner world residents who had died a few months ago. It was a clue sent over from the Dream Township Branch Bureau.
"...Never seen it, Sir."
The officers nodded.
They were supposed to end the interrogation there, but they seemed to receive some kind of signal from the tooth-like earpieces in their ears. They then said to Yan Jing, "Your interrogation is essentially over. According to the rules, you have the right to make one request of us, and we will do our best to accommodate it."
Yan Jing hadn't expected such a stroke of good luck. Suppressing his inward joy, he calmly replied, "Sir, I'd like to look at the list of vacant market stalls from yesterday afternoon to see who wasn't at their stall at that time."
"Permitted."
The two officers exchanged a look, and both wrote down "Good" in the notebooks they held.
In Plan B, if the interrogatee actively asked about case-related clues, it could alleviate some of the suspicion placed upon them.
They just didn't know why he wanted to see yesterday afternoon's records.
After handing the list to Yan Jing, the two officers prepared to leave directly.
Before leaving, one of the officers reminded him, "Do not cause trouble, otherwise you will be thrown in solitary confinement for twelve hours without food or water."
'There's such a rule?'
Yan Jing lifted his head from the list and promised the officers, "Please rest assured, Sirs!"
At five o'clock in the morning.
Because he spent the middle of the night screaming and shouting in the interrogation room, Yan Jing was thrown into solitary confinement.