The video call connected. Ji Chenjiao froze; on the screen was a ball of soot, with only the eyes remaining as bright as before.

Ling Lie waved. “Hello there, Xia Chengshi!”

Ji Chenjiao asked, “Did you go roll around in a cesspit, Xia Little D… Xia Little Pig?”

People working here rarely wore clean clothes or kept themselves clean. If there wasn’t dirt on their head or body, they wouldn’t blend into the workforce at all. Ling Lie had come back with a head full of ideas and hadn’t had time to clean himself up, burying his head in organizing clues immediately. Now, adjusting the camera and taking a look—whoa, he really did look like he’d rolled in a cesspit!

“Your husband works hard out there, and you, the wife living in luxury at home, don’t even know how to feel sorry for him. Instead, you attack your husband’s appearance,” Ling Lie said. “You, as a wife, are truly not virtuous.”

Ji Chenjiao: “…”

Ling Lie: “Der, what does the wife want with me?”

Ji Chenjiao actually der-ed (zoned out) for a second. What was he looking for Ling Lie for again?

Seeing Ji Chenjiao staring blankly at the phone, Ling Lie burst into laughter.

Ji Chenjiao shouted, “Be serious!”

This scoundrel, interrupting like that had scrambled his train of thought. He wanted to analyze the case with Ling Lie, but now his head was full of der.

“Ling Lie.”

“Huh?”

“You bad der.”

“…”

On Ji Chenjiao’s end, the screen suddenly went black with a swish.

…What, after returning to the Special Action Team, he even learned how to hack phones?

Ling Lie’s voice came through: “Physical hack! I’m going to wash my face. Ugh, so dirty!”

Ling Lie’s phone was placed face down on the table. Ji Chenjiao could only see darkness, but he could hear the commotion Ling Lie was making. The water in the bathroom was rushing; Ling Lie seemed to be scrubbing vigorously. After a while, footsteps approached, accompanied by the rustling sound of fabric friction.

The feeling of the person being right there but invisible made Ji Chenjiao’s heart itch. He shouted impatiently, “Not done yet?”

“What’s the rush?” Ling Lie said as he picked up the phone.

A body so white it seemed to glow filled the screen.

Ji Chenjiao: Mmh…

Ling Lie wasn’t wearing a shirt. A wet towel was draped over his neck. The camera was pointed below his chin and above his V-line. Ji Chenjiao saw everything clearly from the other end of the network.

“Cough…” Ji Chenjiao said, “You’re quite good with camera angles.”

“Master level, you could say.” Ling Lie’s chest heaved slightly as he spoke. “Come on, let’s exchange intel.”

Staring at that chest, Ji Chenjiao was slightly distracted. He spoke for a while about Jin Liuyun’s origins, background, and his suspicions about the man.

But the latter part of his thoughts came out in fragments. On one hand, he wasn’t sure about it himself; on the other, the view in the camera was too distracting.

A few minutes later, he finally couldn’t hold back. “Teacher Ling, have mercy. Move the camera up. If you want to seduce me, come back and do it. Let’s finish this shift properly first.”

Ling Lie moved the camera with a grin. “Alrighty!”

But as soon as the camera adjusted, Ji Chenjiao jumped up reflexively. Appearing on the screen was a bright green ghost face!

Ling Lie smiled reservedly to keep the face mask from cracking, his chest heaving even more intensely. “Captain Ji, what kind of dirty things are you thinking about all day? Did I show you my chest on purpose? I just applied a face mask and was afraid of scaring you.”

Ji Chenjiao took a tactical sip of water. “Why haven’t I seen you use one before?”

“Xiarong City isn’t dry, but Country L is. Stay a few more days and I’ll turn into a mummy,” Ling Lie said, smiling ambiguously. “Besides…”

“Besides?”

“Before, I was a pitiful single dog. Now I have a boyfriend.”

Ji Chenjiao choked on his water, coughing for a long time before finally stopping. He tactically changed the subject. “This Jin Liuyun person, do you think there’s something wrong with him?”

Ling Lie took the phone to the bathroom. Amidst the sound of rinsing off the mask, Ji Chenjiao gradually calmed down. “There are some things I can’t explain clearly at the station, leading Brother Liang and the others to think Jin Liuyun isn’t a big problem and that I’m overthinking it.”

“You aren’t overthinking it. I was there when the photos were taken that day.” Ling Lie flicked the water off his hands, used a corner of the towel to wipe his face, and applied some local moisturizer. “We were deceived by his age and kindness. Think about it carefully; him lining up to take photos was abnormal to begin with. He took so many photos for us, but kept a solo photo of you. What he wanted might have just been that solo shot.”

Ji Chenjiao’s chest felt tight. The truth was almost pressing against his face, but he was very unwilling to think about it in detail. Jin Liuyun’s attention toward him was extraordinary. He was an exceptionally mysterious person, carrying a certain dangerous aura, yet Jin Liuyun seemed to bear him no malice—only a strange, unskilled concern.

If, just in case, this person was…

Ling Lie finished cleaning himself up, sat down, and looked serious. “Little Ji, do you think he’s related to your birth?”

Ji Chenjiao frowned. He had made this video call precisely because he wanted Ling Lie to give him an answer. But when Ling Lie said it directly, his heart felt heavily empty for a moment. His body seemed to turn cold instantly. The blood that usually flowed without presence seemed to suddenly gain a life of its own; every rush provoked a chill. His blood vessels seemed to turn into foreign pipes inserted into him, injecting coolant, making him shiver from the cold.

Ling Lie keenly perceived his emotions. “Is it very painful?”

Ji Chenjiao wanted to turn off the camera.

But Ling Lie said, “Don’t turn it off. Let me look at you.”

Separated by half the globe, they looked at each other on the small screen. Ji Chenjiao said, “I told you, when I was little, I always felt like a bad person, that I had bad blood in my veins. I often had thoughts of doing evil; these were all ‘gifts’ from my parents.”

“So I was prepared long ago. My biological mother, or father—one of them isn’t a good person in the legal sense. Especially after the Yu Corporation case was solved, I felt more and more that my biological father must be a villain who ‘accomplished something’ in Country L.”

“But you are a good detective,” Ling Lie said in a relaxed tone. “Just like me.”

He rested his cheek on his hand, looking somewhat lazy. This acted like buoyancy, lifting Ji Chenjiao up a little.

Ji Chenjiao sighed. “Thank you.”

“No need to be so polite with your boyfriend,” Ling Lie said. “Little Ji, you’re in a bad mood. I don’t know if I should let you know about the situation over here.”

Ji Chenjiao straightened his expression. “I can overcome it.” He paused, then added, “Anyway, no matter what, you’ll stay with me, right?”

Ling Lie smiled. “Of course.”

Perhaps it was psychological, but Ji Chenjiao felt Ling Lie’s smile was particularly gentle.

That buoyancy lifted him a little more.

Ling Lie said, “I’m sending you a few photos. See who you think of.”

He sent photos of sculptures from hotels and shopping malls. While Ji Chenjiao looked at the photos, Ling Lie watched Ji Chenjiao. Traces of clenched jaw muscles appeared lightly on Ji Chenjiao’s cheeks, and his lip line grew tighter and tighter.

“Yu Qin. These are sculptures of Yu Qin?”

“That’s what I think too. It’s Yu Qin in her twenties.”

Ling Lie recounted how he found the sculptures, the ceasefire among Country L’s gangs, and the general situation of “Jasmine Tea.” He added, “The level of ‘Jasmine Tea’ members I can access right now is very low. No one can say the true identity of the sculpture, only thinking she might be someone the boss admired in his youth.”

Ji Chenjiao closed the images and took a deep breath. “Are there many of these sculptures in Salingauke City?”

Ling Lie said, “You thought of that point too. Yes, many, but they are in places ordinary people can’t enter.”

Ji Chenjiao asked again, “Are the sculptures all in the twenty-something age range?”

“Maybe some thirty-somethings, but definitely not many,” Ling Lie said. “From my preliminary understanding, gang warfare in Country L ceased on a large scale five years ago. Salingauke City started concentrated construction the year before last. The sculptures first appeared at the end of last year. ‘Jasmine Tea,’ or rather Wonder, is displaying the sculptures so blatantly, yet people don’t know her identity and can only guess Wonder admired her. I thought of a possibility.”

Ji Chenjiao said, “Yu Qin has been dead for many years, likely passing away around age thirty. And not many people know about the relationship between Wonder and Yu Qin. Or perhaps they had no relationship at all?”

Ling Lie felt the idea that had been forming was disrupted by Ji Chenjiao. He had originally deduced that Wonder was the father of the child Yu Qin repeatedly concealed, and that Yu Qin’s disappearance was her abandoning her cold original family to join “Jasmine Tea.” But Ji Chenjiao’s thoughts clearly diverged from his.

“The man with Yu Qin back then was another man. This man is…” Ji Chenjiao spoke with some difficulty, “is my father, and is related to ‘Jasmine Tea,’ perhaps an important figure in the gang? Wonder met Yu Qin because of this and coveted her. Yu Qin died at thirty because of some incident… No.”

As he spoke, Ji Chenjiao covered his forehead. The clues contradicted each other, and his thinking became even more chaotic.

“You suspect Jin Liuyun might be your father. Aside from the unusual concern he shows for you, there’s also the bloodline response only you two can sense, right? When you met Yu Qin back then, you had absolutely no such feeling because she wasn’t your mother at all.”

Ling Lie propped his phone to the side and stood up to pace. “But if we continue deducing based on Jin Liuyun being your father, the reality in Country L contradicts it. Jin Liuyun is still alive, returned to China to orchestrate Xing Yongdan’s death, and is a key member of ‘Jasmine Tea.’ Yet while he was still in Country L, Wonder made sculptures of Yu Qin with great fanfare, and rumors among the lower ranks say the sculpture is Wonder’s lover.”

Ji Chenjiao pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand and wrote on paper with the other. “Yes, and there’s the key figure, Xing Yongdan. Wonder is the boss of ‘Jasmine Tea.’ Xing Yongdan was an important figure in the organization who fled back to China years ago. Jin Liuyun is also a high-level executive who completed the murder of Xing Yongdan…”

Suddenly, he stopped writing and looked at the timeline on the paper.

Ling Lie asked, “What’s wrong?”

“The time Xing Yongdan fled Country L overlaps with the time of Yu Qin’s death,” Ji Chenjiao said. “Assuming our deduction is correct and Yu Qin indeed died before thirty.”

Both sides fell silent for a moment. Ling Lie returned to his seat. “Then, assuming Xing Yongdan is related to Yu Qin’s death, it seems to make sense that ‘Jasmine Tea’ would want his head even after so many years. Also, ‘Floating Light’ tracking Xing Yongdan basically coincides with the appearance of Yu Qin’s sculptures in Salingauke City.”

Ji Chenjiao closed his eyes, his brow furrowed tight. “Wait, there’s still a problem. When we investigated the Rongmei case, you actively sought out Xing Yongdan.”

Ling Lie said, “Correct. He had some fame among occultists.”

“He and Tu Wang provided us with important clues to solve the case. He knew we were investigating the Yu family!” Ji Chenjiao said. “Given his nature of hiding for decades, he should have been running away as fast as possible. Furthermore, Shaman had plastic surgery to look like Yu Qin. If he was related to Yu Qin’s death, what would he think? Wouldn’t he be afraid?”

Ling Lie leaned back in his chair, folding his arms. “True. He changed his name, didn’t return to Jinxiang Village, and hid in a big city. The Duan family loathed occultists, so he became an occultist. Everything he did was to avoid being found by the Duan family in Country L. Yet he dared to help us investigate the Yu family and didn’t have any strange reactions…”

Ji Chenjiao said, “He wasn’t panicked at all. Was a fake Yu Qin not worth his panic? I can think of two possibilities. First, he had nothing to do with Yu Qin’s death; he was killed for another reason. Second, he knew more than we guessed, and that extra knowledge meant he felt no fluctuation upon seeing the fake Yu Qin.”

Ling Lie: “Then what could that extra knowledge be?”

Ji Chenjiao couldn’t give an answer at this moment.

Ling Lie suddenly bumped his head against the table with a thud. Ji Chenjiao hurriedly asked, “What are you doing?”

“The relationship between Wonder, Xing Yongdan, and Jin Liuyun is so complicated,” Ling Lie said. “Especially this Jin Liuyun—where did he pop out from? He is the most contradictory point.”

Ji Chenjiao’s feelings toward Jin Liuyun were the most complex; this man fit his profile of the father in the mist.

“There’s a rule in ‘Jasmine Tea’: the middle and high levels almost all have the surname Duan,” Ling Lie said. “Because ‘Duan’ represents glory in their hearts. Changing your name here isn’t a loss of dignity; everyone wants to be named Duan. Why isn’t Jin Liuyun named Duan?”

Ji Chenjiao said, “You suspect his identity is faked? We checked; the identity of Jin Liuyun does exist.”

Ling Lie said, “‘Jasmine Tea’ cooperates deeply with ‘Floating Light.’ Faking an identity is something ‘Floating Light’ can do. If Jin Liuyun’s identity is fake, then who might the real him be?”

Ji Chenjiao fell silent.

Ling Lie said, “Your clues, plus my clues… Little Ji, don’t tell me you don’t have an answer in your heart.”

“I…”

“If Jin Liuyun’s real identity is Wonder, which is Duan Wande, then many suspicious points seem to have a reasonable explanation.”

Ji Chenjiao tilted his head back, looking at the bright ceiling. After a moment, he laughed self-deprecatingly. “Just how many unreliable parents must I have?”

Ling Lie leaned into the camera. “But your boyfriend is consistently reliable.”

Ji Chenjiao stared at Ling Lie’s face, which looked a bit comical due to excessive magnification. After a long while, he smiled wearily. “I will continue to track Jin Liuyun.”

Ling Lie said, “I’ll continue investigating ‘Jasmine Tea’ too.”

Ji Chenjiao shook his head. “No need to go deeper. The important clues are in hand. Come back as soon as possible.”

But Ling Lie said, “No rush. If Jin Liuyun is indeed Wonder, and the boss is in our hands, what is there to fear?”

Speaking of this, Ji Chenjiao raised another question. “If killing Xing Yongdan was one of the missions, what other mission does Jin Liuyun have? On the surface, he’s a merchant from Country O, bringing four attendants, claiming to travel the country while looking for business opportunities, but he shows no obvious inclination to invest in anything. If I were him, I would leave the country immediately after completing the mission.”

Ling Lie said, “Hiss… he doesn’t want you to catch him, does he?”

Ji Chenjiao: “You’re overthinking it.”

“What else has he not completed?” Ling Lie said while thinking. “Maybe this will become our chance to catch his flaw?”

It was already late at night in Xiarong City. After chatting a bit longer, Ling Lie urged Ji Chenjiao to go to sleep. Before hanging up the video call, he asked, “Where’s the ring I gave you? Where did you lose it?”

Ji Chenjiao looked down; there was no ring on his finger.

“It’s here.” Ji Chenjiao hooked a finger around his neck; the ring was hanging at the bottom of a necklace.

Ling Lie smiled. “Good boy.”

Ji Chenjiao was speechless. Was the phrase “good boy” meant to describe him?

“I wasn’t checking if you were wearing the ring,” Ling Lie said. “I was reminding you that no matter what you experienced before, or what family you come from, you are mine now.”

Ji Chenjiao’s eyes curved upward. After a moment, he nodded. “I know.”

---

The investigation into Xing Yongdan’s case was still ongoing, and the Major Crimes Unit had not removed their sights from Jin Liuyun. He continued to stay at the Yurong Yongge Hotel, occasionally going out for a stroll, not looking much like a returning merchant seeking business opportunities.

However, he seemed completely unafraid of and unopposed to contact with the police, nor was he in a hurry to leave. Did he really have nothing to do with the case, or did he have absolute confidence?

Since there was a possibility his identity was faked, Ji Chenjiao arranged for people to check again. This time, they found his entry information was complete. He hadn’t entered through Xiarong City, but through his hometown, Huahai City.

In the evening, Jin Liuyun took a walk in the park not far from the hotel. There were quite a few people of similar age on the walking path. The weather was cold; he wore slightly more than others and walked at a leisurely pace.

Ji Chenjiao watched him from a distance. After half an hour, Jin Liuyun turned around. His gaze met Ji Chenjiao’s, showing no surprise. “Officer Ji, good afternoon.”