Early the next morning, Bai Ci woke up early, unable to sleep. She glanced over at Su Xiao's bed; the blanket was folded exactly as it had been before she went to sleep—Su Xiao hadn't returned last night.
Where had she gone?
A faint sense of foreboding rose in Bai Ci's heart. Her hand instinctively reached to touch the ring on her middle finger, feeling its cold metal.
Lead-gray daylight filtered through the dusty windows of the apartment. The sound of the ocean waves still carried that eerie, layered quality, wrapping around the wind and seeping into every crack.
Bai Ci took her notebook and went to find Lin Wenyu to finalize their plan of action. Their assumptions from last night had been a bit too conservative; now, they might have to consider excluding those two entirely from their future moves.
“Morning, Bai Ci.” Having just woken up, Lin Wenyu lacked her usual cold demeanor. Her eyes were still unfocused and dazed, and her short hair was sticking up in all directions.
“Morning. Looks like you haven't washed up yet,” Bai Ci teased with a smile as she stepped into the room.
“Oh, right...” Lin Wenyu blinked, finally registering her words. “Ah, no! My cool big sister persona! Wait a minute!”
Watching Lin Wenyu rush into the bathroom to get ready, Bai Ci was surprised, but not overly so.
During their previous interactions, Lin Wenyu had occasionally let slip details that didn't match his cold persona. It was only because he was half-asleep just now that he hadn't had time to put on his disguise, exposing a glimpse of his true nature.
Right then, a sudden knock sounded at the door. The rhythm was brisk and forceful, lacking the sluggishness typical of the apartment's residents, and instead carrying an air of official, businesslike pressure.
A visit at this hour—was it the investigators?
“Come in,” Bai Ci called out. She casually slipped her notebook into her backpack and stood up to open the door.
The moment she opened the door, two tall figures in black blocked the doorway. Leading them was the investigator named Chen, the one with the scar on his brow bone, followed by the young, bespectacled investigator. Both held notebooks, their expressions even more serious than the previous night. As their eyes swept across the room, there was a clear, scrutinizing look in their gaze, suggesting this was no mere routine inquiry.
“Miss Lin, is it? Sorry to bother you.” Investigator Chen's voice was deep. Without any unnecessary pleasantries, he walked straight into the room. “We have some details we need to verify with you again.”
“She's not Miss Lin, I am.” Lin Wenyu stepped out of the bathroom right on cue. He was back in the long hair and leather jacket look from when Bai Ci had first met him—impressive that he had managed to put on a full face of makeup in such a short time.
“My last name is Bai. I'm her colleague,” Bai Ci followed up, introducing herself.
“We're here for a routine inquiry. We hope you will answer truthfully,” Investigator Chen corrected himself.
“Please, Captain Chen. We'll definitely cooperate with the investigation.” Bai Ci motioned for Lin Wenyu to bring over two chairs. She keenly noticed that the investigators' eyes kept lingering on the two of them with a faint, underlying suspicion. This was definitely more than just a simple verification of information.
The two investigators stood on either side of the door, forming an invisible blockade.
Captain Chen familiarly pulled up a chair and sat at the desk, while the bespectacled investigator flipped open his notebook and spoke first, firing off questions in rapid succession. “Last night, you said you had just moved into the apartment. May I ask exactly when you checked in? And why were you near the crime scene so late at night?”
Bai Ci replied calmly, “We checked in the afternoon before last. Last night, we heard a scream and went downstairs to check. It was purely an instinctive reaction. Many residents in the apartment did the same; we just wanted to see what was happening to put our minds at ease.”
“Is that so?” Captain Chen looked up, his sharp gaze locking onto Bai Ci. “But we learned from the property manager that ever since you checked in, you've been asking around about a missing young girl named Lele, and you've been searching all over the apartment's surroundings. Miss Bai, Miss Lin, who exactly are you?”
As soon as these words were uttered, the atmosphere in the room instantly grew tense.
Bai Ci's heart skipped a beat. She immediately sensed that something was wrong. The investigator's phrasing was clearly accusatory, far beyond a simple probe. They had obviously been marked as prime suspects.
Lin Wenyu's expression also changed instantly, his cold facade cracking. He instinctively started to speak, but Bai Ci stopped him with a warning glance.
Instead of panicking, Bai Ci put on an expression of helpless resignation and said frankly, “Since you've already found out, Captain Chen, I won't hide it. We are indeed investigating Lele's disappearance. We were hired by Lele's mother, Du Min.”
Though it didn't seem like the investigators had actually figured that part out; they had likely just treated them as suspects.
As she spoke, Bai Ci pulled out a detective agency business card and the entrustment agreement from her backpack, sliding them over to Captain Chen. “These are my credentials and our agency's contract. Du Min couldn't find her daughter and had nowhere else to turn, so she hired us to investigate privately, hoping to find any lead.”
Things had reached a point where there was no use keeping secrets from the Bureau of Investigation. Doing so would only invite unnecessary trouble.
Captain Chen picked up the card and the agreement, examining them closely before handing them to the bespectacled investigator beside him.
The bespectacled investigator fiddled with a device using the information on the card. After confirming something, he showed the screen to Captain Chen. The two exchanged a look, their expressions growing somewhat complex—as if they had discovered some secret but found it inconvenient to speak of it openly.
Captain Chen remained silent for a few seconds. He pushed the card and agreement back, closed his notebook, and spoke in a slightly softened tone, though it still carried a warning: “I understand you're investigating under a contract. However, a homicide just occurred in this apartment, and the Bureau of Investigation has already stepped in. I expect you to stop your private inquiries to avoid tampering with the scene or interfering with our investigation. If you find any clues, report them directly to us.”
Bai Ci caught the unusual shift in his expression, and her suspicions deepened. Seizing the opportunity, she pressed, “Captain Chen, the property manager finding out about our investigation into Lele probably wasn't a coincidence, was it? Did someone deliberately tip him off?”
Her tone was certain as her gaze locked onto Captain Chen. “It was the other girl sharing our apartment, wasn't it?”
Captain Chen was silent for a moment. He didn't answer directly, but his silent acquiescence spoke volumes.
Bai Ci understood immediately, piecing together the cause and effect in an instant. To monopolize the clues and boost her own instance evaluation, Su Xiao had deliberately leaked their investigation to the property manager. Once the manager's suspicion was raised, he informed the investigators. This, in turn, led to the investigators targeting them with this inquiry, attempting to use official pressure to stop them from digging deeper.
“What a fantastic, backstabbing idiot of a colleague,” Bai Ci muttered under her breath, labeling Su Xiao's betrayal before forcing an apologetic smile. “I'm sorry you had to witness such ugly office politics. We've caused you unnecessary trouble.”
Captain Chen didn't comment on her remark. He simply stood up, gave his subordinate a look, and said in a businesslike tone, “Our inquiry is concluded. Remember my words: do not take any further action on your own.”
With that, he turned and left with his subordinate. The door clicked shut behind them, leaving the room in silence.
Only when the investigators' footsteps completely faded down the hallway did Lin Wenyu finally drop his cold facade. He leaped up, running a hand through his hair. His cool, aloof voice instantly became animated and rapid-fire. “Holy crap! So she was the one stabbing us in the back? What the hell is that brat Su Xiao playing at? It's not like we did anything to her!”
Rate on N.U.
