The midday sun blazed directly overhead, and the shrill chorus of cicadas outside was deafening.
Despite it being the height of a sweltering summer, the three people inside the room—excluding Yin Chen—felt a deepening chill. Beads of sweat broke out involuntarily on their backs, turning piercingly cold whenever a breeze drifted through the window.
Yao Qingluan pried open a gap between the fingers Su Mo had used to cover her eyes, peering cautiously behind him. “So… Zhao Xingjian lived with a corpse that turned into a skeleton for who knows how long?” Still reeling from the shock, her voice sounded mechanical.
“Or perhaps, this skeleton was placed here by someone else.”
Because Yin Chen was by his side, Ye Linghan’s reaction wasn’t particularly visceral. When it came to matters of life and death, no one held more authority than Yin Chen.
Yin Chen stood diagonally behind Ye Linghan with one hand in his pocket, while the other arm circled Ye Linghan’s waist, shielding him close to his side.
Regardless of the circumstances, they needed to determine the identity of the remains and how they ended up here.
“No wonder the ivy roots here are so lush; they were nourished by a human skeleton,” Ye Linghan murmured.
However, discovering something so sudden and visually explosive in a residential building posed a significant obstacle to their investigation.
Su Mo struggled to steady his nerves, complaining with a woeful expression, “Why couldn’t the barrier have blinded me so I wouldn’t have to see something this intense?”
Acting as Ye Linghan’s human backrest, Yin Chen glanced sideways at Su Mo and teased, “You’re a Blood Hunter; how can you be so timid?”
“What does being a Blood Hunter have to do with it? This is my first time experiencing this!” Su Mo snapped back indignantly. He turned, caught sight of the skeleton, winced, and instinctively shuddered before planting his hands on his hips to argue his point with Yin Chen.
Yao Qingluan nodded in agreement beside him.
“Have you two never investigated a case like this before?” Ye Linghan asked, sounding skeptical.
“No! The Investigation Department was only recently established. Where would we have gotten the experience?”
“Then why were you acting so tough at the start?” Ye Linghan recalled Su Mo’s stern expression during their first meeting and felt a surge of irritation. He had thought Su Mo was a battle-hardened veteran leader of the Blood Hunters, but it turned out he was a complete novice.
Su Mo explained defensively, “In this world, your identity is whatever you give yourself. If I didn’t act cold and fierce, how would I intimidate the suspects?”
Ye Linghan pressed a hand to his forehead and laughed bitterly.
Now that the clues were beginning to unravel thread by thread, they had no idea what would happen next. Ye Linghan gestured toward the skeleton with his chin. “Can we get the police to help cordoning off the scene?”
With only three people in the Investigation Department, they were stretched too thin to handle everything.
Su Mo shrugged and shook his head. “Unlikely. Since the case was assigned to us, they won’t interfere. We’re on our own, though they’ll help if we need forensic evidence tested.”
Ye Linghan sighed; it seemed they really were left to their own devices.
Suppressing their discomfort and upholding their professional ethics, they photographed and recorded the position of every bone before bagging them for lab testing.
The process was arduous. For some unknown reason, parts of the bones had been crushed into small fragments, making the collection process time-consuming.
Three people made the work more efficient. Since Yin Chen was an outsider, it wasn’t appropriate for him to participate, but he provided “logistical funding” by ordering afternoon tea so they could replenish their energy.
While Su Mo and Yao Qingluan finished up the collection in the living room, Ye Linghan went into the other rooms alone to search for more clues.
He first went to the bedroom. Like the rest of the apartment, it was sparsely furnished with only a bed, a desk, and a wooden wardrobe. Due to the damp air and poor environment, the bedding was covered in mold; even through his mask, he could smell a fishy stench.
Yin Chen followed Ye Linghan into the bedroom and stood behind him.
“Do you know much about Zhao Xingjian?” Ye Linghan asked without turning around, his focus entirely on searching for clues.
Yin Chen leaned against the doorframe with his arms crossed. The height of the room felt somewhat oppressive to him, and the doorframe was even lower, forcing him to bend one leg to lean comfortably.
“I haven’t looked into him,” Yin Chen said in a low, flat tone. “I only know he was my brother’s driver—and a backup one at that.”
“So, he wouldn’t have been by the Second Young Master’s side all the time?”
“Mm.”
If he were just a backup, how could he have gained access to the company’s confidential files?
Ye Linghan suddenly turned around. “Do you think the Second Young Master killed him and then framed someone else?” His eyes were bright, clearly excited by this sudden theory.
Yin Chen raised an eyebrow. “Cases require evidence. This is just your speculation.”
He wasn’t trying to dampen Ye Linghan’s enthusiasm; he just didn’t want him to be disappointed if the truth turned out otherwise.
“Fair point.” Ye Linghan wasn’t one to dwell on trifles. Agreeing with Yin Chen, he stopped talking and simply noted the theory in his mind as a potential direction for the investigation.
Ye Linghan thought for a moment and asked again, “Don’t you guys do background checks when hiring? Like his life history?”
Even for a normal company interview, one’s background was scrutinized before being offered a trial. Surely the Yin family was even stricter. Furthermore, based on his two encounters with Zhao Xingjian, the man was clearly of poor character. A leopard doesn’t change its spots; if he were naturally like this, he wouldn’t have hidden it well.
Yin Chen shrugged. “I wouldn’t know. Yin Ste selected the staff, not me.”
That made sense. Yin Chen was only helping to find the man and had incidentally assisted them; he likely didn’t know the finer details of the hiring process.
Yao Qingluan had previously checked part of the bedroom, but because Ye Linghan had experienced a minor incident earlier, she hadn’t finished. He began to re-examine the space.
In Zhao Xingjian’s wardrobe, there were a few pieces of cheap, unattractive clothing. Ye Linghan laid them out on the bed and searched every pocket thoroughly.
When he reached the second work jacket, his fingertips brushed against something. He pulled out the lining and found a small scrap of fabric stuck between his finger and the cloth of the pocket.
What is this? Ye Linghan wondered. He picked up the slightly faded, reddish scrap. Looking closely, it had two layers: the top was a mesh lace, and the second layer was a fabric softer than ordinary clothing.
He couldn’t tell where it came from, but his initial judgment was that it didn’t belong here.
Regardless, I’ll take it back. He placed it in an evidence bag.
Besides that, he found a photo frame wrapped in old red cloth in the bottom drawer of the wardrobe. The photo showed three people. The youth in the middle looked young and shared a strong resemblance to Zhao Xingjian. He guessed it was a family portrait.
As he finished his search and turned toward the door, he locked eyes with Yin Chen.
Why is he so free today? Doesn’t he have to go back to work? Unlike his usual routine of leaving early and returning late, he seemed so relaxed now that he didn’t look like a CEO at all.
“Young Master, aren’t you leaving yet?” Ye Linghan asked with a smile.
During the entire search, Yin Chen had stood silently by the door, simply watching him.
Yin Chen’s eyebrow arched. “You want me to leave that badly?”
Ye Linghan was momentarily speechless. He certainly didn’t want him to leave; he felt a strange sense of security when this man was around. But he couldn’t just say that.
“Uh… I’m just afraid of holding up your work,” Ye Linghan replied.
“Consider it a holiday.”
An employee who doesn’t want to be the boss isn’t good. Seeing Yin Chen’s carefree attitude, Ye Linghan secretly vowed that one day he would also be a boss, experiencing a life where he always had money to spend and could take a holiday whenever he pleased.
It was late at night by the time the three of them returned to the Investigation Department. Sorting and bagging the bones at Zhao Xingjian’s house had taken quite a while.
There was no helping it; with only three people in the entire department, this was as efficient as they could get.
Yin Chen had parted ways with them upon leaving the apartment.
Just as Ye Linghan stepped through the door of the department, his phone rang. The timing was perfect.
The number was unfamiliar. Ye Linghan hesitated before answering. “Hello?”
“Is this Mr. Ye?” the caller asked.
“Yes, speaking.”
Su Mo and Yao Qingluan turned to look at him curiously. Ye Linghan mouthed to them, Go inside first, and pointed to the interior office.
Su Mo understood and pulled Yao Qingluan away.
“I am the owner of Yunyang Private Kitchen. Mr. Yin asked me to deliver a meal to you. I’m downstairs now.”
So Yin Chen had ordered food for them.
Ye Linghan thanked him and went downstairs to collect the delivery. He placed the exquisitely packaged bags on the table and called the others. “Come and eat!”
The aroma hit them before they even saw the food. Even if they had been full, the scent was enough to stir an appetite. Despite having eaten some snacks earlier, the physical toll of the work had left them drained. The private meal Yin Chen ordered was a godsend.
Ye Linghan took a photo of the spread and sent it to Yin Chen with the message: Thank you for the dinner.
Beside him, Yao Qingluan hovered with her bowl, inching toward Ye Linghan. She tilted her head to look at the upward curve of his lips. “Ooh, look at that. Who sent this dinner? Someone can’t even hide their smile.”
From their first meeting, she had felt the relationship between these two was unusual. Their behavior didn’t involve the typical “push and pull” of a crush, yet they were neither close nor distant. Since she didn’t dare tease Yin Chen to his face, she could only mess with Ye Linghan.
Ye Linghan had just sent the message and felt his smile widening. He tried to force it down, but since Yao Qingluan had already caught him, he reached out as if to snatch her food container. “You don’t even know who sent it, and you dare to eat it? Give it back.”
Yao Qingluan dodged backward, clutching the container tightly. “No way!” She ducked behind Su Mo. “Brother, Xiao Ye is bullying me!”
Su Mo pressed a hand to his forehead, caught between laughter and exasperation. Yao Qingluan was great, but her gossiping streak was too strong. He was worried she might accidentally offend Yin Chen or damage their reputations, so he spoke up.
“A-Luan, you’re eating his food; keep your mouth shut and dial back the gossip.”
However, Ye Linghan saw an opening and teased back, “And what about you two? Calling him ‘Brother’ this and ‘Brother’ that—is this some kind of roleplay between a little couple?”
He had intended to tease Yao Qingluan, but he didn’t expect the girl to be so thin-skinned. She immediately lost her composure.
“Don’t talk nonsense! It’s nothing like that!”
She didn’t claim they were siblings, but she didn’t say they weren’t a couple either. The nature of their relationship became clearer through her reaction.
“Alright, alright, whatever you say,” Ye Linghan said with a mischievous grin.
Yao Qingluan stood huffily beside Su Mo, trying to argue her case.
Ye Linghan glanced at Su Mo and saw a smile in the man’s eyes—a youthful, undisguised gaze fixed entirely on Yao Qingluan. Realizing that pushing the topic further might be awkward, Ye Linghan mercifully let them off the hook.
After dinner, Su Mo gathered them around the computer. “I especially applied for the computer to be linked to the police database. This will make it easier for us to check identities.”
“That is much more convenient. We should have done this ages ago,” Ye Linghan remarked.
Su Mo shot him a look. “You think it’s that simple?” He scrolled through the database, searching for Zhao Xingjian’s name. “The maximum duration for each authorization is one week. After a week, we have to reapply. So…”
Su Mo turned back to Ye Linghan with a cryptic smile. “Little Intern, this task will be yours from now on.”
He patted Ye Linghan on the shoulder for encouragement.