The atmosphere today was even tenser than usual. A-Bing unfolded the paper slip in front of him, glanced at it once, and hurriedly stuffed it into his pants pocket.

He looked up, only to see A-Meng opposite him staring at him gloomily. That gaze didn’t look human at all; his hair immediately stood on end. But soon, he comforted himself like chanting a spell—don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous, don’t be nervous!

He gradually calmed down, knowing that in A-Meng’s eyes, he surely didn’t look human right now either.

Swallowing his saliva, he scanned the surroundings with his peripheral vision. In the dimly lit cave, the shadows of the rocks looked like evil spirits. The exit was blocked. Only by completing today’s “game” was there a possibility of getting out alive.

Today’s “game” was: reveal your teammate’s shameful stain from ten years ago.

His teammate was A-Meng sitting opposite him. In yesterday’s “game,” they had joined forces to win.

Come to think of it, the group that lost didn’t seem to have been seen since last night.

He and A-Meng had a better rapport than typical teammates; they didn’t just meet after coming here. They were classmates in middle school. Although they weren’t close, they had been classmates for three years.

A-Bing calmed himself and began to think about what A-Meng had done back then.

His memory of A-Meng wasn’t very clear. He vaguely remembered a face full of freckles, flat features, glasses, and downturned lips. Even when she smiled, there wasn’t much joy in it. Their class was a liberal arts class with many pretty girls who were good at dressing up. Boys didn’t bother discussing an ugly duckling like A-Meng.

But the current A-Meng looked like she had undergone plastic surgery. Even with glasses, her face was much more refined. When they first met the other day, A-Bing even regretted not reuniting a few years earlier.

If they hadn’t reunited in this hellhole, he might have pursued A-Meng.

But fantasies stopped there. Yesterday, A-Meng was a teammate; today, she was an enemy. He racked his brains, searching his memories—what bad things had A-Meng done?

Right!

A-Bing excitedly remembered that during his sophomore year of high school, there was a movement in society to boycott goods from a certain country. He had participated and almost smashed a store selling that country’s brands.

Almost everyone in the class went; everyone expressed their support for the motherland in their own way. The few who didn’t go made excuses like “family matters” or “spiritual support.” Only A-Meng not only didn’t go but also made sarcastic remarks.

“You are ignorant. Does smashing a store make you capable? Do you really love your country? Are you afraid you’re just being used as tools? Are you just wanting to vent? Your quality is this low, so the average social quality is also low!”

Thinking of this, A-Bing’s eyes gleamed. He wrote furiously, quickly drafting his speech.

In this round, he would definitely win!

While A-Bing was writing madly, A-Meng also recalled the “good deeds” A-Bing had done—those boys in class were full of hormones but lacked the guts to act. Their favorite daily activity was leering at girls. At night in the dorm, a group of them would hold “color conferences” (dirty talk sessions).

Many girls in the school were the subjects of their fantasies, even the female interns just assigned to the school weren’t spared. The obscenity of their words already had the style of greasy middle-aged men.

If you asked how she knew, it was because her deskmate was one of them. He didn’t treat her like a girl and brazenly shared the content of the color conferences with her. It was said that A-Bing was the main speaker, and his literary talent was quite exuberant.

A-Meng snorted coldly and began to write.

Soon, a commotion erupted in the cave. Both A-Bing and A-Meng looked over; it seemed someone had started fighting. People wearing masks immediately went over to suppress it. A few minutes later, there was no movement from over there.

A-Bing felt a chill.

The masked people returned and collected the densely written papers. Those papers looked like criminal records; at first glance, one would think the people described had committed heinous crimes worthy of dying a hundred and eighty times.

A-Bing glanced at A-Meng. Her confident look felt like a stab. He quickly recalled—did A-Meng have something on him? What did A-Meng know? But it shouldn’t be! He was honest and well-behaved in high school, his grades were decent, he never fought, never cheated. What stain could he have?

After the masked people took the papers, they invited each group onto a crude stage for a debate.

They attacked each other with their stains. As long as one is human, mistakes and slips of the tongue are inevitable, so the stains were endless.

It was almost his turn. A-Bing grew increasingly nervous, his palms sweaty, cheering himself on over and over.

A-Bing and A-Meng went on stage. After listening to the masked man read out the stains A-Meng wrote, A-Bing was so shocked his tongue couldn’t move properly. The people below whispered; he couldn’t hear anything clearly, feeling everyone was sentencing him to death!

But… but this was too absurd!

He shouted loudly, “We were just having dorm talks! Have you never observed girls or fantasized about them?!”

He was so agitated he spoke without filtering, pointing at A-Meng and cursing, “Are you jealous that no one fantasized about you back then? You’re slandering me! This isn’t a stain at all!”

The masked man signaled him to be quiet and then read out the stains he wrote. A-Meng’s reaction was identical to his. “I was young and ignorant back then; are you labeling me for this too? How am I not patriotic? I donate money to poverty-stricken areas every year! Wherever there’s a disaster, I donate money and goods, and I’ve even been there myself!”

The two argued fiercely. Both admitted what the other wrote was true but insisted it was immature behavior from their youth and absolutely shouldn’t be a death-sentence-worthy stain!

The masked man didn’t announce the winner on the spot, saying there were too many papers and they needed further discussion to reach a result.

The cave quieted down. Everyone was exhausted, their backs soaked with cold sweat. No one knew what awaited them when the results came out.

Suddenly, a rumbling sound came from the direction of the cave entrance. Several masked people pushed in a cart covered with a plastic sheet.

One masked man said, “You’ve worked hard today. We prepared watermelon for everyone.”

A-Bing found it extremely bizarre. Where could there be watermelon in this season?

The masked man lifted the plastic sheet. There really were watermelons on the cart.

But the more A-Bing looked, the more wrong it felt. The watermelon seemed to have been cut open and put back together; the crooked seam in the middle was particularly obvious.

“Who will come up and cut the watermelon for everyone?” The masked man smiled.

Everyone saw the abnormality of the watermelon and kept quiet out of fear.

“No one? Not being helpful is a stain,” the masked man said chillingly.

Even so, no one dared to step forward.

The masked man’s gaze swept over the crowd of dark heads and landed on A-Bing’s face. A-Bing’s heart beat rapidly, almost fainting.

“You performed well just now.” The masked man picked up a knife. “You cut it.”

A-Bing was unwilling a ten thousand times over, but in a place like this, nothing was his choice. He slowly stepped forward. Because his steps were too slow, he was urged by the masked man several times. Trembling, he took the knife and pressed one hand on the watermelon.

Logically, with such a long seam, the watermelon should split open at a touch, but it didn’t. Was something inside jamming it?

A-Bing didn’t dare think carefully. The masked man was right beside him; he had to cut quickly.

The cave was quiet enough to hear everyone’s breathing. A-Bing gritted his teeth and cut down hard along the seam.

The knife hit something and got stuck.

A-Bing’s scalp went numb. The feeling transmitted from the blade was extremely unfamiliar, yet strangely familiar.

At this moment, red seeped out from the green rind. At first glance, it looked like watermelon juice, but where would there be such thick watermelon juice!

The rind finally split to both sides. Inside wasn’t melon flesh, but clearly a head with eyes wide open!

A-Bing was too scared to make a sound. The knife clattered to the ground, and he fell too. Losing support, the head rolled off the cart, landing right by his leg.

“Ah—ah—ah—” A-Bing screamed, his voice breaking, filled with terror and despair.

He saw clearly; that head belonged to the person who lost to him and A-Meng yesterday!

Some people covered their mouths, some started vomiting. The masked man picked up the head, put it back on the rind, and said calmly, “Eh, is this something worth making a fuss about? Don’t you all like eating melon? Mine is a fine melon.”

Xiarong City Bureau, Major Crimes Unit.

Shen Qi was eating the croissants An Xun brought. An Xun only bought ten in total, and Shen Qi ate five by himself.

An Xun looked at the empty bag with heartache and patted Shen Qi’s head. “Could you at least be polite with me?”

Shen Qi hugged his head, showing no embarrassment from eating someone else’s food. “You brought them, yet you won’t let me eat. Are you human?”

An Xun choked for a moment. “Please don’t imitate Brother Lie at the drop of a hat; you don’t have that temperament.”

“Hey!” Mentioning Ling Lie, Shen Qi got excited, grabbing An Xun’s hair. “Don’t think I don’t know why you run to our office every day.”

An Xun broke free and started stammering, “I-I come to see if there’s work needing me!”

“Come on, like I don’t know your little thoughts. You just want to observe my two brothers!”

“…”

Shen Qi spoke earnestly, “Don’t praise me for being smart, because I want to observe too.”

As they chatted, Ling Lie and Ji Chenjiao walked in one after another. Ling Lie seemed to have wind-fire wheels on his feet, zooming in, swiping An Xun’s last croissant, and throwing a milk candy each to him and Shen Qi.

Ji Chenjiao’s pace was much steadier, holding a cup of coffee in his hand.

Since the two appeared, Shen Qi and An Xun instantly quieted down, their gazes glued and untearable.

An Xun whispered, “I think…”

Shen Qi whispered, “What do you think?”

An Xun: “Your two brothers have achieved fruition.”

Shen Qi: “Great minds think alike.”

An Xun frowned: “Brother Lie’s physical fitness is really good.”

Shen Qi pondered for a moment. “My other brother seems not quite up to par.”

Ji Chenjiao didn’t hear the whisperings in the corner, but he felt someone was badmouthing him. His first reaction was Ling Lie, but turning around to look, Ling Lie was communicating something with Xi Wan, looking quite serious.

Ji Chenjiao put down the work at hand and walked over to investigate what they were discussing.

“Boss is here too,” Xi Wan greeted.

Hearing the name “Xu Jiang,” Ji Chenjiao asked, “What happened to Xu Jiang?”

Ling Lie said, “Suspended.”

Ji Chenjiao frowned. “Suspended? What reason?”

Although the Major Crimes Unit had some unpleasantness with the Procuratorate’s Internal Affairs Division, Ji Chenjiao understood Xu Jiang somewhat. He did things strictly by the book, exceptionally strict with others and himself. Whoever he investigated, he treated as an enemy; if there was a problem, he would latch on and not let go.

According to Xu Jiang’s nature, he definitely wouldn’t have let Ling Lie off easily for the previous incident. But the Special Action Team intervened. After weighing various factors, Internal Affairs suspended the investigation and restrictions on Ling Lie. However, Ji Chenjiao heard Xu Jiang was still keeping an eye on Ling Lie and the Major Crimes Unit privately.

“Did Xu Jiang offend someone?”

Xi Wan shook her head. “Heard someone reported him for discriminating against female classmates and short male classmates when he was in school.”

Ji Chenjiao didn’t understand. “Just a report? Verified? Even if it’s true, there are no issues with his work, and if his current conduct is fine, this shouldn’t warrant suspension, right?”

“Sigh, it’s a long story,” Xi Wan said. “I heard Old Zhou talking about it yesterday when he came back.”

Xi Wan’s husband was named Zhou Xiaofeng, a prosecutor who interacted frequently with Internal Affairs. Before being transferred to Internal Affairs, Xu Jiang was also an experienced prosecutor. Reportedly, Xu Jiang’s suspension caused quite a stir within the Procuratorate.

Recently, Internal Affairs wanted to cooperate with the Public Opinion Department to do some activities online to get closer to the masses. Similar activities existed in the Criminal Investigation Detachment and SWAT Detachment; some good-looking male and female officers were often pulled to take photos and make videos to educate society on daily work.

Of course, such activities didn’t fall to the Major Crimes Unit or SWAT elite teams, the true core forces. As the “face” of the City Bureau, Ji Chenjiao had never officially appeared on camera.

Internal Affairs had different ideas from Criminal Investigation. From the start, they planned to let the elites of the team make an appearance. Xu Jiang was unpopular, but his work performance over the years was impeccable, so the leaders talked to him, hoping he would go on.

Xu Jiang was originally very unwilling, but since it was work, he could only accept it. Once accepted, he gave it his all.

He was an iron-faced tough guy, the type who was ruthless and talked little. He was even more serious in front of the camera, but his steadfast working manner, through editing and filter effects, unexpectedly had a kind of “gap moe” (cute clumsiness).

This contrast brought unexpected effects. People became fans one after another, and Inspector Xu’s memes were flying everywhere.

Internal Affairs’ promotional goal was achieved, which was a good thing. But fame brings trouble. In recent days, someone exposed online that Xu Jiang had low moral character, looked down on and bullied male classmates weaker than him since childhood, and despised women. That such a person could become an inspector was a misfortune for the entire society.

Instantly, the fans all noticed Xu Jiang’s past misdeeds, crying out disappointment, “house collapse” (scandal), and “rollover” (failure). Retweets were countless, demanding an explanation from Internal Affairs.

[Who let Xu Jiang into the Internal Affairs team? This person must also be strictly investigated!]

[So vicious since childhood; what trash are our taxes raising?]

[Don’t say he’s a temp worker, ha. You guys blew the trumpet for “Annual Excellent Inspector” yourselves!]

Ji Chenjiao knew very well how strictly Internal Affairs checked team members’ conduct and ideology. If Xu Jiang had problems, he would have been investigated by Internal Affairs long ago.

Xi Wan sighed. “Internal Affairs is in a tough spot now too. The deputy captain is almost sick from being scolded by the masses, so they can only suspend Xu Jiang’s work temporarily. Sigh, who knows when he can be reinstated.”

Ling Lie said, “How old is Xu Jiang this year again?”

Xi Wan said, “Same age as Old Zhou, thirty-five.”

“A thirty-five-year-old excellent inspector got taken down because he bullied male and female classmates in high school—and it’s not even certain if it’s true.” Ling Lie huffed. “Ridiculous.”

Xi Wan also felt it was a pity. “Old Zhou and the others found out that ‘bullying’ is actually an exaggeration. Xu Jiang was tall and big in his teens, good at sports, and fierce in fights, so he was elected class monitor and sports committee member. You know at that age, many little boys are naughty, and only the sports committee member can handle them. Xu Jiang might have yelled at or hit them for discipline. He never raised a hand against girls. Some girls had poor discipline and dated early; Xu Jiang had a heavy sense of responsibility and scolded them.”

To explain this in detail would be endless. In short, Xu Jiang insisted he never bullied anyone. Everything he did back then was due to the responsibilities of being monitor and sports committee member. He might have gone overboard and indeed hit disobedient boys, but it was absolutely not bullying.

But no matter how he explained to his superiors, they had their own difficulties. With the public uproar like that, how could they answer without suspending him temporarily?

“People all have gray sides, but now it seems people are increasingly intolerant of flaws in a person.” Xi Wan was somewhat melancholy, but no matter how she thought about it, this problem seemed unsolvable.

Ultimately, this was Internal Affairs’ business; the Major Crimes Unit had no standing to interfere. Ji Chenjiao was glad that when the Public Opinion Department approached Xie Qing back then, Xie Qing had said the Major Crimes Unit would not accept any publicity. As for the Special Action Team where Ling Lie belonged, that was an even more mysterious place not to be approached casually.

Thinking of the Special Action Team, Ji Chenjiao’s nerves tightened slightly.

Currently, all leads regarding “Floating Light” had been aggregated to the Special Action Team. He and Ling Lie went to the capital to assist in the investigation and just returned to Xiarong City this week.

“Floating Light” had vanished without a trace, completely untraceable in Xiarong City. The three “Feng Shui Fish” who died due to Yu Qianming hiring killers—Yong Huihao, Luo Manchai, Tang Qi—had their true causes of death confirmed not to be superstition. Except for Luo Manchai, the other two very likely had deeper involvements with “Floating Light.”

Police discovered that part of “Floating Light’s” domestic activities involved serving large enterprises to obtain massive funds and operational convenience, mastering the secrets of these enterprises to become their true masters when the time was right.

Decision-makers shrewd enough to discover “Floating Light’s” true intentions, like Yu Qianming and Sha Man, were few. For instance, the Fu family’s Zhui Ting Group only considered “Floating Light” a knife in their hand, unaware that the knife was already quietly pressed against the group’s back.

Based on the enterprise lead, the Special Action Team launched a nationwide investigation, focusing on northern enterprises. They had found multiple leads, identifying three large enterprises with relationships to “Floating Light” similar to the Yu Group and Zhui Ting Group, with another dozen lacking sufficient evidence.

This data was shocking. “Floating Light” had developed to this extent domestically. If “Grey Peacock” Bo Lingxue hadn’t insisted on taking revenge on Sha Man, the police might not have noticed their existence for another year or two. And by then, the situation would be harder to control.

The Special Action Team arrested a large number of senior executives from the involved enterprises. They admitted to transactions with “Floating Light” but couldn’t provide more leads. Information exchange and fund transfers were done on “Floating Light’s” own dark web. “Grey Peacock” was very cunning; once withdrawn, it was difficult for the police to track them starting from the enterprises.

In the past few months, the serial murders of entrepreneurs and the “Snow Child” cases appearing in the north were basically solved in this large-scale operation. Various enterprises hired killers for their own interests, with “Floating Light” acting as both executor and beneficiary.

To continue investigating “Floating Light” and flush out “Grey Peacock,” they had to crack “Floating Light’s” dark web. This became the biggest difficulty in the operation.

The dark web was hard to eliminate because it spanned the globe, with countless users providing it with nourishment. Not to mention the police of a single country, even joint operations by multi-national police forces often only cut off the surface.

Just like the organization “Sunken Gold” had long disappeared, but “Sunken Gold’s” dark web put on the skin of “Floating Light,” continuing to exist after lying dormant.

Currently, influenced by objective conditions, “Floating Light” hadn’t threatened multi-national interests yet. Our police couldn’t organize another large-scale joint operation like the one that exterminated “Sunken Gold” last time.

So although helpless, they could only let “Floating Light’s” dark web continue to exist for now, guarding strictly from other aspects to control “Floating Light’s” domestic spread.

There were optimistic voices in the Special Action Team, believing that since “Floating Light” caused such chaos and its purpose had been exposed among large enterprises, not only the enterprises controlled by the police but also those still hiding well would definitely terminate cooperation with “Floating Light.” Losing its way to make money and knowing it was being watched, “Floating Light” might retreat overseas dejectedly, achieving no “accomplishments” in the short term.

Ling Lie, however, laughed in the face of the optimists. “Naive. Does the battle in Xiarong City count as our victory? Bo Lingxue judged Sha Man and Yu Qianming’s actions with perfect clarity, dared to take me to Jade Face Sighing Song, and sent me back to Chaoxia County, remaining calm throughout. Are you sure this isn’t provocation but retreat? ‘Floating Light’ isn’t lying low to avoid the edge this time; they have a bigger plan.”

At the meeting, elites expressed their opinions. Shen Xun’s thoughts aligned with Ling Lie’s—”Floating Light” must be brewing something.

This was also why Ling Lie and Ji Chenjiao had to return to Xiarong City. Perhaps there were breakthrough points on Yong Huihao and Tang Qi. The leads currently held by the police were too few; none could be let go.

Ji Chenjiao shifted his attention from Xu Jiang’s plight to the arduous task of the Major Crimes Unit. After chatting with Xi Wan, Ling Lie came over to him and saw Bo Lingxue’s photo on his screen.

Ling Lie raised an eyebrow and sat on the edge of the desk.

Bo Lingxue was a very special existence for both of them—he was Ling Lie’s childhood friend A-Xue, and Ji Chenjiao’s old acquaintance Yan Xi, who was both mentor and friend.

Ji Chenjiao stared at the screen, his gaze somewhat cold. Ling Lie knew what he was thinking; Yan Xi’s appearance was a deception from start to finish. No one wants to be deceived, especially since Ning Xiechen’s life or death was still uncertain in “Floating Light’s” hands.

No one wanted to eliminate “Floating Light” more than Ji Chenjiao. He was the current captain of the Major Crimes Unit; he wanted to rescue the former captain, his mentor.

The police’s understanding of “Floating Light” wasn’t deep yet. Much information was brought out by Ling Lie, and part of it might be Bo Lingxue’s lies.

It was known that “Floating Light’s” true boss was “Black Peacock,” and “Grey Peacock” Bo Lingxue was his domestic spokesperson. But according to Ling Lie’s deduction, “Grey Peacock” and “Black Peacock” were the same person.

Ling Lie lifted his right foot, tapping his instep against Ji Chenjiao’s calf.

Ji Chenjiao snapped out of his contemplation and looked up to meet Ling Lie’s eyes. Ling Lie was wearing the new winter clothes he picked out, shedding his past tacky style, dressed up like a little star by him.

The murky air accumulated in Ji Chenjiao’s chest dissipated a bit. “Hm?”

Ling Lie: “What are you thinking about so intently?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “I’m thinking, if Bo Lingxue isn’t ‘Black Peacock,’ who could ‘Black Peacock’ be?”