Aunt Wang described Chen Xiangli as a simple and kind woman. The Chen family was also in the white affairs business, but Chen Xiangli’s several brothers were good-for-nothings. After her father fell seriously ill and lost his ability to work, the Chen family’s workshop could no longer stay open.

The Tan family’s business was on the rise at the time. Tan Fabin would occasionally help out his fellow villagers. Seeing the Chen family’s hardship, he let Chen Xiangli and her brothers work in his workshop, and also sold the Tan family’s products at the Chen family’s place.

Over time, Chen Xiangli and Tan Fabin developed feelings for each other. Chen Xiangli wanted to get married early. In her eyes, marriage meant stability, and she could better assist Tan Fabin with his work. But Tan Fabin was completely focused on his career and said he would only consider marriage after he turned thirty.

Although Chen Xiangli had no official status, she still fully supported Tan Fabin’s career. When Tan Fabin went to other regions for promotions, she managed the workshop in an orderly manner. Tan Fabin was passionate about spreading funeral culture and spent most of his time at home making products, with very little time for Chen Xiangli. In Aunt Wang’s memory, Chen Xiangli never complained.

Tan Fabin’s murder was a huge blow to her. She cried all day and fell seriously ill. Later, her brothers all urged her to marry someone quickly, but she refused and instead joined Shen Wei in searching for the killer.

As she got older and remained single, some nasty rumors began to circulate in the county, calling her a jinx who brought misfortune. They said she had caused her father’s death, her brothers were all worthless—one sick, one foolish—and when she dated an outstanding man, she jinxed him to death before they could even get married.

She couldn’t continue living in the county. When Shen Wei went to the city to do business, she followed. It was said that she initially did odd jobs at Shen Wei’s stall and later became a hospital caregiver through someone’s introduction.

Ling Lie left the Tan family’s old courtyard and chatted with others who were cooling off and playing cards, asking about Tan Fabin, Shen Wei, and Chen Xiangli. People’s opinions of Shen and Chen were mostly the same: they were loyal and righteous, but unlucky and a bit foolish, sacrificing their whole lives for a deceased person.

Ling Lie bought a quarter of a watermelon from a street vendor, had it cut into pieces, and pondered as he ate. Everyone praised Chen Xiangli and Shen Wei. The case file mentioned them but didn’t investigate them in depth. The reason for Shen Wei was understandable; he wasn’t even in Feng’an County at the time of the crime, making it almost impossible for him to be the perpetrator. As for Chen Xiangli, it seemed it was because she just didn’t look like a suspect. She was deeply in love with Tan Fabin, so what reason would she have to kill him?

But—

Wei Zhiyong had investigated time and again, turning the entire Feng’an County upside down, yet still couldn’t find the killer. So, working backward, was it possible the killer was hidden right from the start in a place the police had ruled out?

Shen Wei and Chen Xiangli. If Chen Xiangli and Tan Fabin had married smoothly, they would have been brother-in-law and sister-in-law. Seventeen years after Tan Fabin’s murder, one was a caregiver at the Third Hospital, and the other sold lunch boxes. From a criminal perspective, perhaps their relationship wasn’t the “mutual support” that Aunt Wang understood it to be.

Ling Lie sorted out this thread in his mind, planning to focus on investigating Shen and Chen after returning to Feng City. Just as he was about to finish the last piece of watermelon, he caught a glimpse of a tall figure in his peripheral vision.

Ji Chenjiao walked over with a cold face. “Eating alone?”

Ling Lie looked at the watermelon in his hand, feeling wronged. He and Ji Chenjiao had split up; he was investigating the victim of the first case, while Ji Chenjiao was investigating the victim of the second case, Bi Jiang. The weather was too hot, and he was just eating watermelon to cool off, like buying a bottle of mineral water. How did that become eating alone?

Did he have to call and inform Ji Chenjiao to come eat too?

What was the difference between that and schoolgirls going to the restroom together after class?

After hearing his explanation, Ji Chenjiao’s brow tightened. He said to the vendor, “Cut this half for me.”

That small half was what was left after Ling Lie’s portion had been cut. The vendor was in the middle of cutting another watermelon. Ling Lie handed his own piece to Ji Chenjiao. “Here, so you can’t say I’m stingy.”

Ji Chenjiao looked at him, then at the watermelon. The watermelon was cut into a triangle, with a sharp tip. Ji Chenjiao didn’t take it but lowered his head and bit off the tip.

Ling Lie was speechless.

Just then, the vendor finished cutting the watermelon into four pieces. Ji Chenjiao picked one up and started eating.

Ling Lie looked at the watermelon in his hand with its tip bitten off, then suddenly laughed and nonchalantly ate the rest of it.

Of the four pieces Ji Chenjiao bought, two ended up in Ling Lie’s stomach. After they finished, they found a shady spot to exchange clues and ideas.

The Bi family and the Tan family were two streets apart. The Bi family’s location was more remote, next to a county road and a river. In terms of difficulty, it would have been easier for the killer to enter the Bi residence, commit the crime, and escape afterward.

But after so many years, when people talked about Bi Jiang, they still couldn’t say who would have harmed him. When it came to the killer in the Tan Fabin case, people had plenty of ideas: revenge, jealousy, blocking someone’s path to wealth…

But Bi Jiang was too ordinary. It seemed he wasn’t worth anyone’s effort, let alone being killed in the same manner as Tan Fabin.

No one from the Bi family lived in Feng’an County anymore either. But unlike the Tan family, shortly after the incident, the Bi family received two compensation payments, one from the government and one from a charity organization. They used this money to leave the place of their sorrow and went south to do business, and it was said they never returned.

Neighbors said that the Bi family initially didn’t want to leave, but they were somewhat superstitious. They had someone do a reading, who said that their ancestors’ graves in Feng’an County were not properly buried, which was why generations of their family were mediocre and down on their luck, and in this generation, a great calamity had finally struck.

Fearing further misfortune, and since they had money in hand, the Bi family decided to leave their hometown.

Ling Lie had also heard about the compensation from Aunt Wang and Brother Zhou. Because the only relative on Tan Fabin’s household registration was Shen Wei, the compensation was given to him. Shen Wei combined the money with the inheritance to fund the hunt for the killer, and it was quickly spent.

It was precisely because of how the two families used the compensation money differently that people mostly praised Shen Wei and belittled the Bi family, calling them heartless and profiting from the dead.

Ji Chenjiao said, “Don’t you think Shen Wei’s actions are even stranger?”

Ling Lie stated his plan to investigate Shen Wei and Chen Xiangli. “People only see that Shen Wei spent all the money chasing the killer, but only he knows where the money actually went.”

Because the crime scenes were identical, the police investigated the two cases jointly, desperately searching for similarities between the two victims. The traditional investigation of personal relationships was exhaustive. However, there was one thing the police knew but were unable to investigate—

“From the age of seventeen to twenty-one, Bi Jiang worked in Country L in the mining industry,” Ji Chenjiao said. “He went abroad, Tan Fabin didn’t. The missing four years in his entire social network are from his time working in Country L. What did he encounter? What enemies did he make? Could they have sought revenge? No one knows.”

“The conditions back then certainly didn’t allow for an investigation in Country L,” Ling Lie said, cupping his chin. “Another reason is that since it was a joint investigation, clues that didn’t fit the pattern of consistency would be a waste of time to pursue. Tan Fabin had never been to Country L, so the possibility that the killer made an enemy of Bi Jiang in Country L is very low.”

Ji Chenjiao: “Do you still believe these two cases were definitely committed by the same killer?”

Ling Lie dropped his hand and shook his head. “Maybe, or maybe it was a copycat. If it’s a copycat, then we need to start an investigation into the Country L lead.”

Ji Chenjiao: “So, there are two main lines of thought now—investigate Shen Wei and Chen Xiangli, and investigate Bi Jiang’s experience in Country L.” As he spoke, Ji Chenjiao pressed his temples. “The latter would at least require finding Bi Jiang’s family, finding out where exactly he worked in Country L, which agency sent him, and then investigating the people he knew there… It’s too difficult.”

Ling Lie: “There are times when even you fear difficulty?”

Ji Chenjiao raised an eyebrow. “I’m stating an objective fact.”

Ling Lie: “Besides these two lines, I also want to eliminate one key point.”

“Hm?”

“The paper houses.”

From the time of the crime to when they reviewed the case files, the paper houses were an element that could not be ignored. Both victims were white affairs craftsmen, and both died in paper houses they made themselves. What did this mean? It was precisely because of this strongly suggestive paper house that it was a consistent thread throughout the investigation. Wei Zhiyong firmly believed that the killer must be expressing something through the paper houses and the white affairs.

“Uncle Wei was a police officer handpicked by the Special Operations Team. If even someone of his ability couldn’t find a breakthrough from the paper houses, then I can only think of one possibility.” Ling Lie’s gaze was unusually firm. “The paper houses were just a trap set by the killer. The police fell into a pattern of conventional thinking, believing it was useful to the case. The truth is, its only use was to mislead the police.”

Ji Chenjiao pondered for a moment and agreed.

Ling Lie, however, suddenly stared off into the distance, lost in thought. Ji Chenjiao walked a few steps, then turned back, seeing that Ling Lie hadn’t followed. He walked back. “What are you thinking about?”

Ling Lie’s expression was slightly unnatural. “Just now when you mentioned Country L, I thought of someone.”

“Who?”

“Yu Qin.”

Ji Chenjiao was somewhat surprised. “Your adoptive mother?”

Ling Lie said, “To be precise, I played the role of her biological son.”

Yu Qin’s biological son, Yu Ge, went missing at the age of five. Yu Qin was sick with longing. The Yu family used all their connections but failed to find him. Yu Qin’s older brother, Yu Qianming, brought the then-named Xia Xiaodou to the Yu family and told Yu Qin that this was Yu Ge.

At that time, DNA technology was virtually non-existent in the country. Yu Qianming brought back a forged DNA test from abroad, proving that Xia Xiaodou was Yu Ge.

Yu Qin wept with joy. A’dou, who had wandered from the border, was transformed into the young master of a wealthy family.

But Ling Lie knew from the beginning that he was not.

In their later interactions, he vaguely discovered that Yu Qin also knew he wasn’t the real Yu Ge. But what he didn’t understand was why, when DNA technology matured later, Yu Qin was unwilling to do a test herself.

Their mother-son relationship was never close; it seemed they were just putting on a show for Yu Qianming. The older Ling Lie grew, the more mysterious he found Yu Qin to be. But until he left the Yu family, he never knew the truths and falsehoods behind this wealthy family.

“Yu Qin gave birth to Yu Ge in Country L. It seems no one in the Yu family knows who Yu Ge’s father is,” Ling Lie said. “Yu Qin was sent to study in Country L in her teens. When Yu Ge was over three years old, she brought him back. A year later, Yu Ge disappeared.”

Ji Chenjiao said, “Why would the Yu family send their daughter to study in Country L? That’s too unusual.”

Ling Lie said, “When I was still with the Yu family, I never thought about whether it was normal or not. But just now when you mentioned Country L, I thought of this and it also feels wrong.”

Country L is not a developed country. Its economy is backward, it lacks a complete education system, and its society is unstable, with rampant gangs and mercenaries. It’s common for people like Bi Jiang to go there to work, trading their lives for money, earning a lot. But for Yu Qin to study abroad normally, she should not have gone to Country L under any circumstances.

After some discussion, Ji Chenjiao said, “The waters of wealthy families run deep. That Director Yu on TV recently, was that the Yu Qianming who forged your DNA test?”

Financial news had reported that the head of the Yu Group was critically ill and hospitalized. At the time, Ji Chenjiao had only glanced at it and didn’t have a deep impression.

“That’s him.” In Ling Lie’s memory, he had spent more time with Yu Qianming than with Yu Qin. Yu Qianming had the cunning of a businessman but was relatively kind to the younger generation of the family. Using him to deceive Yu Qin seemed to be an attempt to soothe her grief. At that time, Yu Qin was mentally unstable, and his “return” seemed to have given her a psychological anchor.

The topic seemed to have strayed far from the case itself, but in the subsequent discussion, Ji Chenjiao’s mind wandered several times because he kept feeling that he had heard the name Yu Ge before—not from Ling Lie last time, but much, much earlier.

The twilight sun was like a hazy veil, obscuring the woman’s face. She sat on a swing, holding a babbling child in her arms. The child reached out, trying to grab a lock of her hair that fell onto her chest. She smiled and offered her index finger to the child, who grabbed it and wouldn’t let go.

She gently called the child’s name. The daylight fell into the child’s eyes, like gold.

The sunset was brief, but the magnificent evening glow was eternal. The woman and child swung together. She held the child with one hand and firmly gripped the rope with the other. The swing’s arc was small, but the hem of her purple dress still fluttered, like a piece of the evening glow had fallen into the courtyard.

Ji Chenjiao knew that child was him. But like every dream where he was called by a name, he couldn’t hear clearly what the woman was saying. It was as if a spell had been cast on that name; he could only hear it in his dreams but couldn’t bring it out.

The dream changed in an instant. The gentle woman disappeared, and he was grown up, wearing black combat gear, his face covered in camouflage paint. A faceless teammate called his name, the sound seeming to dissipate in the strong wind and smoke. He carried out all the missions under that name, but he knew clearly it was not his name.

The surrounding fog grew thicker. He squatted down, holding his head, and pounded it with his hands. The fog enveloped him, as if trying to pull him back to before he was born.

He was deprived of his name. He was not Ji Chenjiao, not Xia Chengshi. Then who was he? Who was he supposed to be?

In the chaotic dream, he was drenched in cold sweat. He suddenly struggled awake, his rapid breathing echoing in the simple standard room of the small county’s guesthouse.

Before he had fully returned from the dream, the lamp between the two beds was turned on. He immediately looked towards the light. Ling Lie’s hair was disheveled, and he was propped up, bathed in the orange glow. “Had a nightmare?”

Ji Chenjiao smoothed his fringe, got out of bed, and drank some water. After a large glass of cool water, his emotions finally stabilized.

Dreaming of being called a strange, inaudible name wasn’t exactly a nightmare in the telling. Only those who had personally experienced such a dream would feel its twisted horror.

Ling Lie sat cross-legged on the bed. “What did you dream about that scared you so much? Tell me and scare me too.”

Ji Chenjiao felt no sleepiness at all and decided to tell Ling Lie about the dream where he had no name but was indeed called another name.

Ling Lie threw a towel blanket over his head and shone his phone’s flashlight up at his face from below.

Ji Chenjiao was speechless.

Ling Lie: “This master will now decipher your dream for you.”

Ji Chenjiao had been in a heavy mood, a weight pressing on his chest, but seeing Ling Lie’s antics, he suddenly felt much lighter, and the corners of his lips curled up slightly.

“Dreaming it once in a while is one thing, but if you keep dreaming it, it means—” Ling Lie paused midway. Ji Chenjiao waited for his next words, but he extended his right hand, his fingers curling upwards.

Ji Chenjiao: “?”

Ling Lie curled his fingers again. Ji Chenjiao thought he was telling him to come closer for some “the ghosts and gods can’t hear” whisper, so he walked over and bent down. After a few seconds, Ling Lie still didn’t speak.

Ji Chenjiao slapped his paw. “What are you playing at?”

“Tsk! You, calling yourself Xia Chengshi, how can you be so impious!” Ling Lie rubbed his paw and complained, “The master is deciphering your dream, and you don’t know how to show respect to the master? You even hit the master’s hand? You still want the master to reveal heavenly secrets to you? What big dream are you dreaming?”

So he wanted money. Ji Chenjiao picked up his phone. “I’ll transfer it to you?”

Ling Lie frowned again. “We masters don’t understand high-tech. We want paper money!”

Where was he supposed to find paper money these days! Ji Chenjiao finally found a one-yuan coin in his bag and placed it in Ling Lie’s palm. “Here, it’s the thought that counts.”

Although it was only one yuan, Ling Lie happily accepted it. “It’s because you are a fated one that the master is only charging this much.”

Ji Chenjiao: “The master talks a lot of nonsense.”

“Do you want to hear the master’s dream interpretation or not?”

“…I’ll listen. Master, please speak.”

Ling Lie said with an air of profound wisdom, “It means the name you dreamed of was originally your name, it’s just hidden in your subconscious, and you can’t remember it.”

Ji Chenjiao was startled, but quickly shook his head. “I’ve never had amnesia.”

Ling Lie narrowed his eyes. In the not-so-bright light, he really did have the air of a master. “But everyone’s infant and toddler years are without memory.”

Ji Chenjiao frowned. “Are you saying it was my name before I came to the Linglanxiang Orphanage?”

Ling Lie asked, “Do you remember anything from before the orphanage?”

Ji Chenjiao fell silent. The gentle woman in his dream seemed to be smiling gently at him from across a long, old time.

“I don’t remember.”

Ji Chenjiao thought of the woman’s clothes in the dream and the courtyard with the large swing. If that was a projection of his subconscious, and had truly existed, was he born into a particularly wealthy family? Then did the evil he often felt in his blood as a youth also originate from this family?

Ji Chenjiao pressed his temples. He didn’t want to trace his origins; thinking about these things made him agitated.

“What about you?” He decisively changed the subject to Ling Lie. “What’s your earliest memory?”

A snow-covered scene appeared in Ling Lie’s mind. The place where he was born, beyond the border, even more north than the north, had few warm days in a year, let alone scorching heat. As far as the eye could see, there was only snow, and snow stained red with blood.

“A’xue always fought with me over my sister, saying she was his sister. But for us little chicks, who didn’t even know who our parents were, how could we distinguish who were real siblings?” Ling Lie smiled. “But I was generous. I gave my sister to him.”

This wasn’t the first time Ling Lie had mentioned A’xue. Ji Chenjiao’s throat felt vaguely dry. “And him now?”

“He’s probably dead. He was the most timid and weakest little chick. When the instructor told us to kill chickens and ducks, he didn’t dare. I had to help him.” Ling Lie’s tone carried a hint of regret and guilt. “In a place like that, he couldn’t have survived. I promised to take him with me when the weather got better, but I fell that day, and the whole plan was ruined.”

Ji Chenjiao said, “Does ‘Chen Jin’ still exist?”

Ling Lie lay horizontally, his head and shoulders hanging off the edge of the bed. In his field of vision, Ji Chenjiao was upside down.

“It was taken down by foreign police, mainly from Country E. ‘Chen Jin’ basically never developed within our country. Country E fought them for many years. If they had acted earlier, A’xue would have still been a child and might have been saved. But after sixteen, he would have definitely become a mercenary.”

This wasn’t a lighthearted topic, but since Ji Chenjiao had brought it up, he felt he should say something.

“I’m not sad.” Ling Lie rolled over and sat up, comforting Ji Chenjiao instead. “It’s all just fate. Falling from the mountain was my fate, having her belly cut open was my sister’s fate, and staying there was A’xue’s fate. It’s just that sometimes I feel regret.”

“Regret?”

“If only I hadn’t recklessly gone to scout the mountain that day. If I had waited peacefully for winter to pass, I could have escaped with A’xue.”

After a moment of silence, Ling Lie yawned. “The master wants to sleep.”

Ji Chenjiao turned off the light. In the darkness, he said, “Go to sleep.”

At that moment, it was four in the morning.

The largest funeral home in Feng City was called Yangzongba Funeral Home. Its liveliness rivaled that of the Third Hospital, especially in the early morning every day. Even with all the furnaces running, families still had to wait in line for over three hours to say their final goodbyes to their deceased loved ones.

At four in the morning, the cremator Xiao Wang got off work. As usual, he returned to the rest area, changed his clothes, took a shower, wanting to get back to his dorm to sleep before dawn.

There were two areas to the left and right of the furnace section. The left was very lively, with waiting families. The right was much quieter, adjacent to the funeral home’s own cemetery. The cemetery was planted with green pines and shrouded in smoke, but there were no more plots to sell, so people usually didn’t go to the right. Only the workers would pass by on their way to and from work.

Walking on the slope to the right at night was quite scary. The lights were ghastly white, and paper money drifted over from the left. But having been a cremator for several years, Xiao Wang was used to it, only thinking about getting to sleep quickly.

Suddenly, his peripheral vision caught a black shadow by the roadside, and he couldn’t help but stop. When he saw clearly that it was a long, bag-like object, even an experienced cremator like him was startled.

That bag was the most common thing in a crematorium—wasn’t it a body bag!

Having been in this line of work for a long time, Xiao Wang and his colleagues received education on respecting the deceased every year. They treated not only the body itself but also the body bag with respect and handled it properly. Which newcomer had thrown a body bag in a place like this? If a family member saw it, they would surely cause a scene and call the TV station!

Xiao Wang cautiously approached, only to find something was wrong. It didn’t seem to be just a body bag; there was something bulging inside!

Xiao Wang tentatively pulled open the zipper of the body bag. He had done this action countless times, but this time, his hand was trembling.

Inside the body bag, a pair of bulging eyes stared grimly at Xiao Wang. Xiao Wang screamed on the spot and dropped his phone several times while trying to make a call.

The most common thing in a funeral home is a body. But for any body to be cremated, it requires a death certificate and a cremation permit, with strict rules and no room for loopholes. And this body, the cremators could tell at a glance, was not a normal death—he had been strangled.

Someone had killed a person and dumped the body at the funeral home