The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

His home was in a small residential community. There were three main buildings, each twelve stories high with every floor hosting two residences. It was located in a cheaper area.

He was lazily sprawled across his work table with absolutely no desire to move. It was not yet late enough in the morning for him to be completely awake. He had not even put away the carving knife next to his face. Although the silver glint of the blade shone straight at his face, he truly did not want to budge.

With a sigh, he pushed himself up from the desk when he heard his water begin to boil so that he could cook instant noodles for breakfast. Honestly speaking, he could have fried himself an egg or some potatoes, but that was too troublesome.

Just as he was weighing the option of going out to buy some snacks and vitamins so that he would not even have to boil water anymore, his doorbell suddenly rang.

He reluctantly dragged his feet over to open the door. As it swung open, he saw a face he really did not want to see, and almost instantly slammed the door shut without hesitation. But the door was immediately pushed open again by person on the other side.

He wordlessly stared at the unwelcomed visitor. Finally, he scratched his face and shrugged, helplessly letting the other person in. “Prosecutor Li, I don’t think I’ve done anything recently that would require you to visit my home, have I?”

It had already been a very, very long time since he had dealt with the police.

“You have not.” The visitor’s replies were just as simple as he remembered.

“That dead person’s bones that Yan Si had shouldn’t have any relation to me.” He kicked aside the chisel and carving knife that had fallen onto the ground, then pushed a chair over from the wall. “From that incident that erupted all over the news, I mean.”

“They do not.” The visitor surveyed the living room. There was basically nothing inside aside from two work tables filled with various objects, a computer emitting a strange noise, a half-destroyed sofa abandoned in the corner, and two chairs. The most conspicuous objects in the living room were the plasters covering the floor: there were some of humans, animals, and other bizarre creatures the visitor could not recognise.

He plopped down onto the messy floor, pulling aside the cutting tool that had been lying on the wooden floor right next to where he sat. “Did the neighbours complain about the noise?”

“From my knowledge, your soundproofing was installed extremely well, so that has not happened either.” The visitor still shook their head.

“Did an alien commit a huge crime?” He tilted his head in confusion as he continued asking, “So you need me to make a composite sculpture?”

“No.”

“Then why have you come looking for me? I haven’t done anything at all recently.”

The visitor let out a soft sigh. “You were an outstanding junior in the past.”

“Oh, here to reminisce. Good thing you didn’t bring that bastard Yan Si, or else I might’ve actually nailed him to the floor.” He yawned and slowly crawled up to open the refrigerator that only contained multiple bottles of mineral spring water. He casually tossed one at the other person.

The visitor caught the water. He wordlessly glanced at the bottle, then turned his gaze back onto the large pile of empty bottles in the corner of the living room. “This kind of lifestyle is extremely unhealthy.”

“Healthy…is that a word invented by humans?” He chuckled. “Healthy as in the health of the body? Having to periodically supplement it with things that people acknowledge can maintain their peak condition? Who decided that? If humans were deemed to be no-good existences in this world from the beginning, unhealthy to other life forms, then humans aren’t any different from bacteria. Equivalently, it doesn’t really matter what one eats as long as they can just maintain the basic amount of energy required to live.”

“You have not changed at all.” The visitor sighed.

“On the other hand, Senior has some more white hairs. You must have quite a number of cases.” He grabbed his instant noodles and sat down cross-legged on the floor to start eating by himself.

“You should have also seen the report regarding Lai Chang An.” The visitor glanced at the computer screen that was rapidly playing various news reports.

“Honestly, if it took them all this time to catch him, the police are really lacking.” He pointed his chopsticks at the visitor wearing a well-ironed suit and stated, “A failure.”

“…Why did you choose to defer your studies in the end?” The visitor had never understood this.

“Because I didn’t want to study anymore.” He gave the same answer he had given many years ago. “Is it that pity for the top-rank of the year? So what if I ranked first for two years in a row? It’s not like I’ll be first for the rest of my life. With so many people contesting, how could I always stay number one? What good is trapping your life into a single rank? And why bother serving strangers after graduating? If the words I read at school are not any different from what read out of school, it doesn’t matter where I am because it’s all the same.”

“I still do not understand.”

“Senior Li, you’re a good person. If you could also buy me some food next time you come, I’ll think you’re an even better person.”

The visitor knew he was being kicked out, so he stood up. “The reason I introduced you to this residence was because there are many restaurants nearby. At the very least, you will not starve to death in your home.”

“Good Samaritan, just worry about yourself.” He put his empty bowl down and lay down on the dust-covered floor, watching the visitor now walking to the door. “That person you guys are chasing right now is just playing around. If he’s playing, then he’ll naturally attack the weakest prey.”

“If you could tell me your scope of knowledge, I would be extremely grateful.”

He smirked.

“I am not equivalent to the police.”

“You went looking for that mental case again?”

It was Sunday afternoon. Yan Si was packing up some unused objects as he voiced these offensive words.

Li Zi Hong directly shot him a withering look from where he stood.

“I told you ages ago, that guy would never say anything. He might even be planning to secretly get revenge on you for that time you arrested him and made him stay there for a while.” Yan Si glanced at his former roommate that seemed to love rebuking others. “But I’m surprised he’s still alive. I thought he would’ve shrivelled up into a mummy ages ago.”

“He is skinnier.” Li Zi Hong had also considered the possibility of the other person soon drying up.

“Yan-dàgē, who are you guys talking about?” Yu Yin walked in just in time to hear the last exchange. “You guys know a mummy? Is it a new case?” Why had he not heard of any mummy cases recently?

“Student that was ganged up on, knowing mummies technically does fall into my expertise, but knowing animated corpses should be your specialty. Have you considered training one to become a competent assistant in the future?” Yan Si tossed the boxes of destroyed objects together. The bastard that had tried to kill him last time had broken quite a few things. Putting aside the fact that the entire lock needed to be replaced, there were still the damaged tables, chairs, and carpet. Recently, he had been forced to fix and tidy up things whenever he had spare time.

However, everyone else had urged him to just hurry up and get a new home.

“What kind of assistant would an animated corpse be?” Yu Yin huffed in exasperation. He had come to help out.

“Don’t you think that compared to training a ghost, training an animated corpse would be even more impressive? At least, everyone would be able to see it,” Yan Si continued to reply earnestly.

Yu Yin took a deep breath to keep himself from strangling the other person. “…So what mummy were you guys talking about earlier?”

“Oh, one of Prosecutor Li’s juniors.” Yan Si pointed at his friend. “A few years ago, he was tossed in jail for a bit. After that, he would often move around, and seems to be in the neighbouring county now. My old roommate here occasionally goes to see him. That guy’s greatest shortcoming is making himself live like a refugee.”

“…Your school is really quite enigmatic.” That was all Yu Yin could think after hearing this. There had previously been that Lai Chang An, and now here was another junior with a bad record. How do I say it? It’s to be expected from a school with someone like Yan Si.

“Student that was ganged up on, saying it like that isn’t quite fair. Doesn’t your school have people that can communicate with spirits and mysterious psychics that are even more acute to spirits than those that can communicate with them?” Yan Si shot a look at the boy who he couldn’t believe was brazen enough to judge others. “In addition, one insists that he can’t actually communicate with spirits, while the other insists that his intuition is simply accurate. Exactly how is that any better than us?”

“…I apologise, please continue.”

“Anyways, our junior brother is a person who deludes himself into thinking he can live on just water and vitamins.” Yan Si scratched his head as he said, “Great Prosecutor, don’t tell me his home only had water this time too?”

“When I went, he was eating instant noodles.” Li Zi Hong thought back and added, “Perhaps the last thing you did really infuriated him. He’s still thinking about how much he wants you to get killed.”

“Considering how many people want me to get killed, they would have to start lining up.” Yan Si ignored his two friends who did not attempt to hide their expressions clearly saying: So you actually knew it too. He shrugged indifferently as he continued, “Can’t be helped; I’m just that good with people. Besides, with that noncommittal attitude of his, there’s no way he could really murder me.”

“So exactly what kind of person is he?” Of these two people’s classmates, Yu Yin only recognised the kind Yang De Cheng and Lai Chang An’s bunch from the previous incident. However, these were all Yan Si’s classmates. He rarely heard Li Zi Hong voluntarily talk about his own schoolmates.

“Someone very amusing.” Yan Si pointed a thumb up. “He drove his neighbours crazy before! Like, to the point where they had to be dragged to a psychiatric hospital after.” Yu Yin decided to turn towards the prosecutor instead in order to hear the truth.

Li Zi Hong seriously pondered over the question for a moment before opening his mouth to reply, “I guess he is someone that is a much darker version of Yan Si yet is more intelligent than either of us.”

“Oi, oi! How rude can you get! Comparing me with that guy, and with such a description too!” Yan Si instantly protested.

“If you had not chosen to walk this path, would you not be the same right now?” Li Zi Hong had contemplated this multiple times before. If the friend in front of him had not chosen the white path, how terrifyingly black would his path have been? Would he have become a murderer? Or perhaps an untouchable, hidden criminal?

“No way.” Yan Si instantly replied without hesitation. While Li Zi Hong felt slight relief, Yan Si continued, “I would make sure I eat my fill before harming someone, so I’d be on a completely different level from that mummy.”

“…” Li Zi Hong was silent.

So exactly what kind of person is he???

Someone that was classified as amusing by Yan Si and described this way by Li Zi Hong…Yu Yin suddenly found this alleged mummy a bit terrifying.

He eyed Yan Si. Several times darker than Yan Si…

Yu Yin attempted to mentally piece together an image of an extremely dark version of Yan Si, but the result was something that he instantly had to mosaic. The more he thought about it, the more horrifying it was, so he decided to give up.

“Student that was ganged up on, what is with that look on your face?” Yan Si stared at the multiple expressions flashing past on Yu Yin’s face and snorted, “It isn’t good to think so much about R18 things.”

“Who’s thinking of R18 things like you?” Yu Yin shot back with a withering look. “Anyways, Dad wanted me to ask you if you went to look at the house?”

“My house is perfectly fine.” As soon as Yan Si ended this conversation, he turned to face two menacing glares.

“Didn’t you agree to go look at the houses?” Li Zi Hong’s expression had fallen.

“I thought it over for quite a while, but it doesn’t make a difference no matter where I move. Why go through the trouble?” Yan Si shrugged. “Plus, that guy’s injury won’t be healed completely for another one or two months. Even if it was, he won’t necessarily risk coming after me again now that everyone’s watching for him. In any case, it’s also trusting your police force.”

Li Zi Hong coldly stared at his friend.

Yu Yin also faced the sitting duck that was oblivious to danger. “Yan-dàgē, have you gotten tired of living?”

“Of course not. My life is quite enjoyable…Ok, ok, I’ll go take a look when I’m free.” Yan Si checked the time and hurriedly began to push the other two outside before they could say anything else. “Shoo, shoo, shoo. One of you has to go pick up Xiao Yu, and one of you has an arrangement to inspect something with Jiu Shen-xiǎodì, right? Don’t waste anymore time, hurry and go do whatever you’re supposed to be doing.”

“Yan-dàgē…”

“You…”

“I said, hurry up and scram!”

It was a rare and peaceful holiday.

Nothing had happened since the morning. The two police adults were also properly on break instead of accepting any unexpected summons.

Yu had gone to the library early in the morning.

Yu Yin checked his watch. It was almost the time they had decided to go out and grab lunch together.

As he waited on his motorbike, he surveyed the new library. It was large and had just recently finished construction. The architecture style was beautiful, and Yu had looked forward to it quite a bit while the building had been built. Recently, people would often come by to take photos [of the building]. It was also very spacious inside, and there were even some exhibition areas staged as well. It was really not bad at all.

“…” But Yu is taking way too long.

He had already been five minutes late when he’d parted with Yan Si, yet there was still no Yu in sight. It was now nearly twenty-five minutes later. Don’t tell me he lost track of time and is still upstairs reading?

After waiting under the blistering sun for another five minutes, Yu Yin finally began to lose patience since Xiao Yu had a record of running around by himself without Yu Yin knowing as he waited. Thus, after some thought, Yu Yin decided to just lock the bike and go in to search.

He soon found his target, who actually was not very far inside.

Only a few steps into the library campus, he instantly saw Yu crouched next to the street, something black and hairy-looking next to him. “What are you doing over there!” You were right here, yet you couldn’t just come out and give me a heads-up? I was stuck tanning outside for nearly half an hour!

Yu, who had bent down under the shade of a tree, turned his head to look at Yu Yin. Then he pointed at the pile in front of him.

Only after walking closer did Yu Yin realise that it was a person with extremely long and messy hair, wearing all black clothes. It was no wonder that at first glance, it had just looked like a pile of black hair. The “person” appeared to be a girl. Her face was relatively delicate and pretty, although her skin was extremely pale. She had a delicate and extremely slim frame, to the point where it was somewhat abnormal, as her bones clearly jutted out. She was collapsed on the ground, and Yu was currently passing her a water kettle.

Honestly, if this had been at night, he would have seriously thought this person was a ghost.

“Heatstroke?” Getting heatstroke while wearing heat-absorbent black clothing on such a hot day with loose hair like that wasn’t surprising. Yu Yin also crouched down so that the three of them formed a circle. Several people walking by sped up quickly to leave the area.

Yu shrugged, indicating that he was uncertain as well.

“Do you live nearby?” Yu Yin asked the pile of hair. He then noticed that she had multiple wounds on their arms, both new and old. They appeared to be scars inflicted by a blade in addition to various bruises. It was very likely a result of domestic violence or something similar.

The other person gave him a wary glance before shaking her head with difficulty.

“…Hungry?” He clearly heard the rumbling sound coming from her stomach.

This time, she did not even bother to move her head, simply turning her face instead, as if gazing at something.

Having spent a lot of time with someone pretending to be mute before, Yu Yin was pretty experienced, so he also followed the line of sight that landed perfectly on a small apartment not too far away. “Why don’t I carry you over? Is that place your home….” It would be a perfect chance to confirm if there was domestic violence as well, then also help call the police.

The bundle of hair shifted, actually crawling onto Yu Yin’s back. Yu raised a brow at this, but after a moment of silence, helped stabilize her position before picking up the water kettle.

Now that Yu Yin was actually carrying her, he discovered that she was truly too light, to the extent where she seriously only seemed to be a bunch of bones. It gave him an uncomfortable feeling.

For some reason, he recalled the little girl Shuang Shuang and her expression whenever she saw food.

…Regardless, it’s best I bring her back first.

While carrying a skeleton did not require too much effort, walking for a distance like that was still tiring, especially under the afternoon sun. By the time they finally neared the building, Yu Yin was already covered in sweat.

Likely since it was a holiday, there were quite a few people and cars along the road. However, nobody came to help; most simply rushed past with a glance.

“Do you want to come eat with us later? You seem like you’ve been hungry for a while. Does your family not have any food to eat?” Yu Yin asked in a tone as soft as he could make it as he attempted to chat with the bones on his back.

All that answered him was silence.

Yu Yin and Yu exchanged a look with each other. With lack of better option, he could only change the subject. “Are you a student from around here? High school or university?”

Still dead silence.

If it weren’t for the fact that she was still breathing, Yu Yin seriously would have thought she had already died on his back…Perhaps carrying her straight to an IV drip would be better. The hard, brittle bones knocking together were even starting to make his back hurt.

Right before they reached the apartment, as Yu Yin was about to place the person down and ask two more questions, someone suddenly grabbed his shoulder from behind.

“What…”

Bang—

His words were broken off by a loud noise.

It was an extremely heavy sound, as if an object weighing quite a few kilograms had fiercely smashed down from the air above and crashed into the ground without any resistance. The sound still seemed to echo in his ears.

Soon after came the stench of blood.

Then came the belated screams of alarm.

“Someone jumped off the building—”

A female corpse lay in the area sealed off by the police.

Nobody had witnessed her jump down. By the time she was noticed, she had already collided into the ground, her body instantly pressed into pulp from the impact. The limbs under the long sleeves and pants were completely twisted.

The head still carrying half a beautiful face had burst open entirely, the brain fluids spurting out a far distance, and its original shape no longer intact. The blossoms of blood that had blasted out surrounding the body.

The police that had rushed over found an eyeball that had been sent flying out onto a small tree nearby.

The apartment building had a total of fifteen levels, which did not eliminate the possibility that the deceased had jumped off from the roof. It was most likely that the head or upper torso had landed first for the dead body to be in such a tragic state.

Yu Yin stood off on one side while being interrogated on what he had witnessed. About an hour later, the inspection officers finally arrived to examine the body.

A period of time had passed by the time he left the interrogation area. At around the same time, Yu also ran back to his side. Yu Yin scanned the area and found that girl also crouching outside the apartment. An officer had kindly offered her cookies and tea to her, probably since her extremely skinny appearance was truly too frightening.

“What floor do you live on?” Yu Yin dragged over the somewhat unhappy Yu with him as he went and asked warmly, “Do you want me to bring you up?” He had noted earlier while being questioned that the police had not figured anything out about her before handing over the food for her to eat.

She tilted her head slightly to look at him, then shook her head.

Yu Yin resisted the urge to say that if she continued crouched on the ground like this, people would really think they were seeing a ghost in broad daylight. Instead, he coughed and asked, “Then do you want to come with us to eat first?”

She still shook her head.

Yu tugged at Yu Yin’s side.

“Eh…alright. Then we’ll take our leave first. You’ll be fine heading home by yourself?” Actually, Yu Yin also felt like she did not really seem to want to follow them anywhere. Her only objective appeared to be the apartment. Based on his experience, it would be best to just let her go back by herself first.

As expected, she nodded this time.

Yu Yin thought it over for a moment, then decided to let her go. After talking with the officers, he and Yu left the scene that was already garnering more and more media.

Just as he was about to turn around to check if that girl looked regretful [about them leaving], the noisy surroundings instantly quieted, as if someone pressed a mute button. Everything instantly disappeared, even the basic sound of footsteps.

He heard a soft sound of crying.

Suppressed, the sobs sporadic.

An ice-cold wind mysteriously blew past, and it felt as if something slid past his legs before blowing open the white cloth covering the corpse lying on the ground.

He watched as the cloth was slowly pulled up by the corner to reveal a bloody and badly damaged, incomplete face pointed straight at him. It was also where the sobbing that nobody else could hear came from.

Then, he suddenly snapped out of it.

Yu Yin took a deep breath. His head was spinning, and when he wiped his face he discovered that he had broken out into a cold sweat. When he turned back around, the white cloth on the body remained untouched, still covering the deceased. The scarlet blood had spread to leave quite a few stains on the white colour, the cloth and flesh all mixed together.

He shook his head in attempt to shake off the abnormal feeling only to feel a grip around his arm tighten. Yu, who had been standing next to him this whole time, was looking at him with a slightly panicked expression.

“I’m fine, let’s just go eat.” He strained to pull up a smile, struggling to regather energy amidst his faint dizziness. It was best to get away from this suicide site first.

From his past dealings, he knew that ghosts at the scenes of fatal cases were all extremely fierce. Putting murder cases aside, suicide cases were not actually much better…To be more accurate, they carried strong resentment. Most people that committed suicide bore an unspeakable injustice. While it was rare to encounter these, Yu Yin’s intuition told him that it would be safer not to provoke anything.

When it came to suicides, most of what Yu Yin knew came from rumours spreading on the streets from his classmates, how they would always repeat the actions leading to their death until their pre-destined lifespan came to an end.

However, what he had seen in the past actually wasn’t like that.

The people that committed suicide, the subsequent ghosts…were even more lamentable than what those who could not see them thought.

“Wait.”

A weak voice interrupted Yu Yin’s ruminations, so faint that the voice was extremely quiet. He paused as he realised that it seemed to be directed at them. When he turned around, he was not surprised to see that the girl with the hair had shakily stood up, her pale face turned towards them.

Just as he was about to ask her if she needed any help, two kids suddenly bumped into Yu Yin. Then a bunch of chaotic reporters rushed past to interview the residents and officers. By the time he had stabilised himself from the disorder, the girl was nowhere in sight.

“Weird.” Yu Yin grabbed Yu and ran back to where she had been sitting, but she had truly disappeared. “…Forget it, let’s go.” She had probably run after seeing the reporters and not wanting to stir any trouble.

He turned to walk back towards the direction they had come from.

The stuttered sobs continued behind him.

***

“The deceased was a student that resided on the fourteenth level.”

At around 4:18 PM, the female surnamed Tan had jumped from her own residence on the fourteenth floor. The initial inspection revealed the inside of the female university student’s home to be neat and tidy. A pair of indoor slippers had been placed outside on the balcony. There was no suicide note, no traces of infiltration. It was suspected to be a suicide caused by depression.

Yan Si, who had been called out, partially flipped open the white cloth to squint at the corpse that was a complete mess from the fall. “Tsk, she was so pretty originally; why use such a method to commit suicide? A young woman is [as beautiful as] a flower. Why turn herself into tofu so young?”

Li Zi Hong directly struck the forensic investigator next to him, having already warned his friend not to blab nonsense to a deceased person at the scene of a crime multiple times. However, Yan Si’s habit remained unchanged. “There doesn’t seem to be anything suspicious.”

“She was still alive when she jumped.” Yan Si lifted the body’s arm, feeling the state of the broken bones and then checking the blood-soaked fingers. “No traces of having fought or struggled either. We should be able to testify after bringing it back for an examination.” By the way, I’m on break today…resting at home. Why call me out here for no reason! Plus the call wasn’t even for me, but this guy next to me!

“Mm.” Similarly not finding anything suspicious, Li Zi Hong nodded and stood up. He had heard the officers receive the news this morning. If the family members arriving later did not have any objects, the case could be closed.

He glanced at the corpse being cleared away, then raised his head to gaze at the tall building splitting the air. Who knew what the deceased had been thinking while falling?

“Oh, you owe me a meal.” Yan Si stood up and stretched to loosen his limbs that had stiffened a bit from crouching for a while. He looked up as well as he said, “Also, I just overheard your little cops mention that this deceased student’s grades suddenly dropped this past half a year, unable to keep up with the school’s pace. She’s probably another case of suicide from academic pressure.”

He just found it extremely odd. It wasn’t like academic pressure was a problem. Even if one got zeros on all their exams, there should still be another walkable path in life. One could just look at his fellow schoolmate currently doing well with a restaurant business. School grades did not represent perfect lives. If they had the courage to jump, why not use that courage to face the choice of another path?

Yan Si shrugged.

Li Zi Hong retracted his gaze. After a few seconds of silence, he informed his friend of something he had heard privately from another officer, which had given him mixed feelings. “Ah Yin and Xiao Yu apparently were the first witnesses at the scene.”

“…” Yan Si blankly stared at his former roommate. “Another jump from a miscarriage of justice?” Didn’t something like that just happen not long ago? Are these people jumping to beat each other for some prize? Is this one running for second place?!

“No, apparently they really were passing by. They did not stay around for very long and left as soon as they gave gave their testimonies. I read through them and there did not seem to be any issues.” This was why Li Zi Hong had been somewhat confused. While this place was indeed not far from the library, which he and Yan Si had known Yu Yin would meet Yu at, the officers had told him this: they had left on foot.

Why had Yu Yin walked over to this building?

There were no restaurants or shops around this building, nor any bookstores that would draw their attention.

However, there were no other problems with the records. They had truly said they were just passing by.

Yan Si looked at his friend that was internally questioning all this, then patted Li Zi Hong’s shoulder in pity. “Since I’m a good person, I guess I’ll keep you company.” Yan Si was on break today anyways.

Typically speaking, if this were just a normal case of a jump suicide, the case could be closed after the family members arrived to identify the body and confirm that the situation was likely.

However, as friends that had dealt with many cases related to Yu Yin, they believed that a suicide case that Yu Yin passed through would be abnormal, even if the case seemed 100% normal on the outside.

Yan Si could put it this way: Yu Xia and the others should keep a close watch on their children so that they didn’t wander for no reason, or else it easily created pressure for others.

Just like the bloody example currently right next to him.

“…Alright.” Li Zi Hong finally nodded.

“Start from the neighbours first?”

“Ok.”

“The deceased’s communications were simple. They were renting a room in this building with two other schoolmates. There was nothing unusual.”

It was evening. While various media outlets were broadcasting on the news about yet another jump suicide that had occurred, Yu Xia was currently sitting at home watching the news while receiving faxes and reading out the contents to his brother next to him. “The two roommates of the deceased usually worked part-time during the day, only arriving back at home around eleven at night. There were no abnormalities related to school or family. They usually all gathered together to chat while eating. The situation of the deceased being unable to keep up with her studies only started around a semester or so ago.”

“Huh? Then is there anything wrong?” Yu Tong walked over from where he was currently cleaning things up on his rare day off. He took the confidential fax containing text and pictures that appeared to be simplified notes from the scene.

“Doesn’t look like there are any. The neighbouring residents consist of a single female and a young married couple. When the incident occurred, the female was doing yoga; the wife of the married couple was preparing dinner while the husband was helping to air the laundry. When the deceased jumped, the husband just happened to witness it at nearly the same time the residents below also saw her fall from above.” Yu Xia stared at the strange expressions on the faces of the neighbours being shown on the news and scratched his face. “There doesn’t seem to be anything unusual. The deceased was also working a part-time job to pay the rent and had no issues financially. It should be an actual suicide resulting from academic pressure.”

“Then why did Prosecutor Li unofficially send this to you?” Yu Tong finished glancing over the entire contents of the papers, also feeling that there were not problems.

“…Your beloved son passed by.” Yu Xia felt his fists itch with the strong urge to pay a visit to the person making others feel uneasy. “So Prosecutor Li went around himself, but did not discover anything. He said he wanted to send it over to us for a look, and that he might just be overthinking things.”

“…” Yu Tong wordlessly stared at his brother.

“He’s really just asking for a beating. I’ve already told him several times not to run around for no reason, and now he’s even managed to get involved with a jumping case.” The last few pages had a few photos of the testimonies from the deceased’s classmate. The deceased’s part-time job had also been questioned, but there was nothing particularly strange. Most just brought up the fact that she had seemed down because of her falling scores. Some of the closer students had said that recently, they had invited her to play together and watching some movies, but they felt she had been listless. However, they had not imagined such an event would happen.

Yu Xia tilted his head in thought before flipping the paper around. “If I really had to say something was odd, it’s not like there’s nothing.”

“What is it?”

“The place the deceased rented was about twenty minutes by car away from her home. However, her rented place was quite a distance away from school, also twenty minutes. She was a local.” Yu Xia sat down on the floor and displayed all the papers out, re-inspecting them with a hand propped under his chin. “Her roommates said she went home every weekend. Sometimes, she would go back home to eat after classes before returning to the apartment. She would occasionally also spend the night at home.”

“It doesn’t seem like she moved out because of a fight with her family then.” Yu Tong sat down across from his brother and took the notes regarding the personal background. After skimming through them and not finding any other major issue, it did seem that the location of the rented apartment was a bit strange. “Should we run by her family home tomorrow?”

Yu Xia snorted. “I think we’re the ones overthinking now.” The fact that Yu Yin simply passing by could make them so wound up was truly an amazing feat.

“Is that a no?”

“Tch.”

As Yu Xia furrowed his brows, about to look once more for any problems, the sound of the front door unlocking rang through the house. He turned around to see the subject of their discussion just earlier pushing the door open.

As the twins had a tacit agreement to no longer discuss cases too much at home, they quickly tidied up the papers on the ground and stood up just in time to see Yu Yin and Yu walk in one after another to take off their shoes at the front entrance. They were carrying a box of desserts from some unknown shop, as they often did.

“We’ll be eating soon, so you should put the desserts in the fridge for now,” Yu Tong lightly informed them as usual. Yu stowed his shoes away before quickly running into the kitchen with the box of desserts and carefully storing them inside. When Yu Tong turned to ask his older son about the suicide case, he frowned slightly when he noticed that Yu Yin seemed somewhat spaced out and listless, which was strange. “What’s wrong?”

Yu Yin, who was still sitting at the front entrance, crawled up and tiredly walked a few steps before shaking his head. He glanced over at Yu Xia, who was just about to raise a fist. “Nothing, just a bit tired for some reason…Uncle, if you’re going to hit me, do it tomorrow. I’m going to go sleep for a bit.”

“Are you really alright?” Yu Tong asked once again, still worried.

“Mm, don’t worry. I’m always fine even when I get possessed all the time. It’s probably just the heat from today getting to me. I’ll be better after I sleep.” For some reason, Yu Yin had suddenly felt a powerful exhaustion hit him the instant he returned home. He felt that it was possibly the effect of witnessing the body from the suicide first-hand, but he did not think there were any issues.

“Get possessed— just hurry along to bed.” Yu Tong exasperatedly watched his child climb up the stairs, feeling somewhat helpless.

The world that Yu Yin saw was not the same one they could see. When it came to this aspect, he was virtually unable to help even as the father.

Yu Xia crossed his arms, raising a brow at the child asking for a beating before turning to face his brother standing next to him. “What do you think are the chances that he’s pretending to avoid getting beaten?”

“Zero. Let him properly get some rest; don’t disturb him. It can wait until after he sleeps,” Yu Tong warned. He then turned to see Yu walk out from the kitchen. “Was Ah Yin that tired outside earlier?”

“Did it only start after coming home?”

“Mm.” Yu nodded, then quietly said, “When he parked, said he was very tired.” However, Yu Yin had still been talking and laughing when they had eaten the desserts together before that, with absolutely no indications of any sort of exhaustion.

Yu Tong frowned as he shifted his gaze back towards the stairs. “Just let him rest first.”

Whatever the case, they could ask more once Yu Yin was sufficiently rested.