Song Zang steadied himself and kept his face carefully composed, betraying nothing.
His intuition had indeed been right.
Special division of a major-crimes unit, expert at solving serial murders, Song Zang did not buy any of it. He truly could not see much sense of justice in Xu Qing.
This handsome, languid, tall man looked less like a genius detective and more like Ted Bundy.
Who knew how many victims he might have dismembered and stuffed into the trunk of that understated, elegant black sedan?
Song Zang was very glad he had forced Yin Chen to come out ahead of time and brought him along, giving himself some backup.
He did not want to face this kind of… twisted, dangerous character alone again.
After all, he had Yin Chen now. Of course he had to learn how to keep his distance from other varieties of psychopath.
The little white snake around his wrist raised its head and hissed. A sinister ghost-blue flame suddenly flared at the tip of its cold tail, hot enough to scorch.
Yin Chen really did seem furious.
The sight of him angrily catching fire made him look a little like a creature from a video game.
Extremely, extremely cute.
Song Zang’s heart softened. He struggled to suppress the curve of his lips and lowered his eyes to stroke the little snake’s head soothingly.
Then he raised his gaze. His cold eyes swept across Xu Qing’s face before drifting away again without the slightest ripple.
“I’m Song Zang. I have a boyfriend.”
Song Zang made his lack of interest perfectly clear. He did not even want to meet Xu Qing’s eyes and instead looked toward Yang Mei, who was wailing inside the interrogation room.
Xu Qing still had his head tilted. A mocking curve touched his lips as he mused, “Chen Jing Sheng? Good stamina, nice build, lots of muscle… no. You wouldn’t like a thick, bulky type. You prefer someone who looks like me, don’t you?”
“I have a boyfriend,” Song Zang repeated calmly.
“Mm, all right. Who is your boyfriend? Let me kill him, okay? Then he won’t be able to compete with me.”
Xu Qing made the outrageous suggestion with a half-smile, his lazy drawl carrying undisguised arrogance.
Song Zang listened in speechless silence while pressing down hard on Yin Chen, who was twisting violently around his wrist and trying to bite the strange man to death with a single venomous strike.
Poor Yin Chen. But there was no helping it. Song Zang would have to let him stay angry for a while longer… Xu Qing could not die yet.
Song Zang thought for a moment and decided to say a little more of what Yin Chen would like to hear.
Without taking his eyes off Yang Mei’s strange, deranged smile, he said, “My boyfriend and I have a very good relationship. I like him very much. If you say anything else insulting him, I’ll refuse to communicate with you again.
“As a public servant, making remarks like that inside a police station gives me reason to question your professional ethics, mental state, and actual ability to do your job.”
Song Zang’s words showed no mercy, but Xu Qing was not angry.
“Reasonable and well-founded. My mistake.”
His smile did not change. He leisurely turned around and leaned sideways against the glass window, facing Song Zang directly.
Without sparing Yang Mei so much as a glance, Xu Qing stared straight at Song Zang and coaxed in a warm voice, “What did that woman do? If it’s related to a serial murder case, I can give you free consultation. How about letting me be your private detective?”
Since he had finally brought up something useful, Song Zang naturally had no intention of being polite.
“She and her husband run a food stall outside Happiness Community and sell breakfast made from human flesh. What do you think?”
Xu Qing’s lips curved. His gaze seemed to brush lightly across Song Zang’s reddened wrist as he said at an unhurried pace, “There’s a serious problem with the death list from the molten-steel explosion. A lot of those people may have died long ago.
“They were ground into fine mince, wrapped in fillings, and sold to passing strangers who knew nothing… After being digested by stomach acid and flushed into the sewers, they all met the same end. No evidence, no remains.”
Song Zang paused. “You mean the molten-steel explosion wasn’t an accident, but a way to cover up the truth behind a large number of murders? Then who was the killer?”
“What a problem. I don’t know either.” Xu Qing deliberately looked troubled. “Hire me. I’ll investigate for you.”
Song Zang neither agreed nor refused.
Playing with the scorching little snake, he simply changed the subject and continued openly extracting information. “Yang Mei says she gave birth before, but the medical records the police retrieved show that she was never pregnant and only has a psychiatric history of pseudocyesis. What do you think?”
Xu Qing tilted his head slightly, his tone meaningful. “I think she truly was pregnant. The child she gave birth to was forcibly stolen, and facts that should have been perfectly clear were deliberately turned upside down.
“With psychiatry and obstetrics both testifying against her, no one would ever believe what she says. After all, doctors are the authorities. Doctors are always supposed to be right.”
“…That’s a very dark theory,” Song Zang said softly, though he did not immediately dismiss the possibility.
“A man suffering from unrequited love naturally has a dark heart.” Xu Qing stepped closer with a half-smile, continuing to market himself. “How about letting me be your side piece? I’ll become cheerful and sunny.”
How vulgar!
Song Zang fell silent for a moment, ignored Xu Qing’s deeply affectionate stare, and lowered his eyes. “Then why would a senior doctor at a top-tier tertiary hospital deliberately harm Yang Mei and falsify her medical records? If the child was stolen, was it part of a child-trafficking ring, or was there some other purpose?”
“I’ll investigate. As long as you agree to let me be your lover.”
“Private detective is fine. Lover isn’t. If you don’t want to tell me, forget it. I’ll investigate myself.” Song Zang rejected him firmly and decisively, then turned to leave.
Xu Qing’s smile deepened. He suddenly grabbed the collar of Song Zang’s coat and shoved the cold, indifferent Song Zang against the window, caging him between his arms.
If gentle temptation with benefits did not work, threat was the only road left.
“But Song Zang, who exactly are you? You have no authority to enter the criminal investigation captain’s office, and no authority to access the police internal network. You’re not a public employee. Who gave you permission to listen in on the interrogation of a criminal suspect?”
A long, cold-white hand pressed against the bulletproof glass. With only a little force, thin cracks silently spread through it in an eerie web. The hand was only inches from Song Zang’s throat and could lock around it lethally at any moment.
The hem of Xu Qing’s black coat swayed. A cold □□ handgun gave a faint clink beneath it and quietly pressed against Song Zang’s waist, rubbing against him with deliberate ambiguity.
Elio’s Notes: The source contains two separate two-character gaps marked “□□” in this chapter. Both are preserved exactly rather than guessed from context.
Xu Qing lowered his head and leaned close. Malicious light flowed through his narrow eyes, and his red lips brushed near Song Zang’s ear as if he were flirting. “I have the authority to arrest you on the spot. I can also shoot you dead right here. Song Zang, which do you choose?”
Puchi.
An exquisite little dagger suddenly plunged into Xu Qing’s chest. Song Zang struck viciously, burying almost the entire hilt between his ribs.
A low, muffled groan escaped the man. He pressed his lips together as if unable to believe what had happened, froze in place, and was immediately shoved away by Song Zang.
Song Zang straightened his wrinkled cuff and curved his lips faintly. “Talk properly.”
His light camel-colored coat made Song Zang look quiet, soft, pale, and harmless, but it could not suppress the nasty temperament hidden beneath his mask.
It had been so long since he stabbed a living person’s heart. The sensation was exquisite.
“…Mm. I’ll speak properly. Thank you for disciplining me.”
At the same time, sensing the strange rush of excitement surging through Song Zang, Yin Chen, who had been relatively calm, suddenly felt anger rise inside him.
Why did Song Zang like stabbing other people’s hearts with knives instead of stabbing his first?
His heart could be pierced hundreds or thousands of times and could even be taken out and kneaded in Song Zang’s hands. Why was Song Zang paying attention to someone else?
Completely unreasonable fury seized his brain, charging through every restraint of reason and every force trying to hold him back, scorching and extreme. Then, in the next instant, countless broken fragments suddenly flashed through Yin Chen’s violently churning mind.
He saw an old man dressed like a chancellor from ancient times. He heard a familiar, revoltingly cold voice.
“What you love, the Collective will take away. What you hate, the Collective will deliver to you. Everything you possess, the Collective will reproduce. Split Body 01, across the long river of history and time, you have never been unique.”
There was no context before it and no explanation after it, but Yin Chen hardly needed to think. From that fragmentary threat, he seized the true key point at once.
Someone wanted to take Song Zang away from him.
Not one person. An endless stream of people, people from every world, anyone who met the conditions.
They all wanted to steal Song Zang. They would never give up. Until the Collective achieved its objective, it would never stop. There would be no end.
Yin Chen raised his scarlet vertical pupils. His sinister gaze swept coldly across Xu Qing’s face, which resembled his own, the black shirt soaked with blood, and the faintly visible contours of his tight waist and abdomen…
Ridiculous, Yin Chen thought. His relationship with Song Zang was the most special one. Unique, one of a kind in the world. No one could replace it, and no one could reproduce it.
But Song Zang did not know any of this.
Yin Chen could not remember many things, but he understood Song Zang better than anyone. With a single look, he could tell that even if they had already had a physical relationship, even if they had kissed and embraced and spent nights tangled together… but, but, but!
Song Zang still had not remembered where Yin Chen came from. Song Zang still did not know the special past they once shared.
Whether they liked each other or not was, in Yin Chen’s eyes, actually irrelevant. The bond between them had never been the sort of shallow human feeling people tossed casually from their mouths.
Song Zang could only belong to him. Even if he died, he could only die by Yin Chen’s hand. Only that would complete the cycle from beginning to end. Only that was the accounting Song Zang owed him.
But Song Zang did not know any of this.
Yin Chen angrily tightened his tail. His fangs pierced Song Zang’s delicate skin, and he ruthlessly bit down again. His damp, flushed forked tongue pressed tightly against the bite, rubbing and licking, pinning the supple, beautiful vein beneath it as he continuously sucked.
Fresh, hot blood was like nectar and honey, soothing Yin Chen’s uncontrollable violent mood. He wasted not a single drop, unwilling even to let it be exposed to the air before his blood-red tongue curled it all into his mouth for slow savoring.
He was furious and did not particularly want to speak to Song Zang directly, so he might as well drink some blood and make himself feel better.
Abruptly bitten open at the wrist, Song Zang’s heavy breathing paused. The exhilaration he felt from personally stabbing someone with a knife abruptly stopped, then became even stronger.
Song Zang did not quite understand why Yin Chen had suddenly done something so erotic… but he liked it very much.
Especially here in a police station radiating upright authority. Letting Yin Chen do something so intimate and improper gave him the thrill of secretly having an affair behind the whole world’s back.
The trace of displeasure Xu Qing had caused him was completely thrown from his mind.
Smiling, Song Zang brutally yanked the wet dagger free and casually tossed it into the trash bin in Lin Yao’s office.
Xu Qing gave another hoarse, suppressed groan. Looking somewhat dazed, he pressed hard over the wound in his chest while fresh blood seeped between his pale, well-shaped fingers and slid downward. He followed Song Zang closely step by step.
It was almost as though he were deliberately showing weakness, exposing a vulnerable throat to tempt Song Zang.
Song Zang raised his eyes. His gaze swept over Xu Qing’s bloodless lips, but all his attention remained captured by Yin Chen’s cold fangs.
Completely unmoved, he leisurely offered terms. “Do you want to die right now, or wait until I’ve used you for everything you’re worth and die afterward?”
Being treated like garbage by Song Zang did not seem to upset Xu Qing in the slightest. Perhaps because he had recognized that Song Zang was far from ordinary, all his coercion and temptation instantly lost their meaning.
Xu Qing stopped wasting words. His eyes were deep and black as something viscous, and they settled almost imperceptibly on Song Zang’s wrist. “Fine. I’ll be your private detective.”
The two did not exchange another word. Song Zang sat in a chair playing with his phone, remotely directing Xiao Xiao Xiao’s improvisation.
Xu Qing fetched a medical kit, removed his shirt in front of him, and stitched his own wound with five sutures.
He deliberately did not change out of the blood-soaked black shirt afterward. It clung wetly to the contours of his chest, making the □□ intention painfully obvious.
That earned Song Zang another bite from Yin Chen, neither too hard nor too light. It felt rather nice.
＊
The human-meat breakfast case was serious, so the police did not dare delay. The two doctors were quickly summoned to the station.
Chen Jing Sheng printed out their information and handed it to Song Zang first, while also casting Xu Qing a puzzled glance.
“Captain Xu, what happened to you…?” Chen Jing Sheng asked cautiously, his tone carrying a thread of vigilance.
After all, the fresh metallic smell on Xu Qing was extremely obvious. Anyone with a little experience could tell that someone nearby had lost a great deal of blood.
“He’s my free detective. Ignore him.”
Song Zang tugged at the corner of his lips with a half-smile. The teasing look in his eyes successfully stopped Chen Jing Sheng’s imagination in its tracks, and when Chen Jing Sheng looked at Xu Qing again, his gaze had turned silently sympathetic.
The police background investigations were extremely thorough.
Guo Jian Chun, director of obstetrics and gynecology at Xinjiang City Third People’s Hospital, was fifty-eight this year.
She had already retired but had been rehired by the hospital. She was a plump, prosperous-looking woman. During an employee health examination several years ago, Guo Jian Chun had been diagnosed with early-stage type 2 diabetes. Ever since then, she had spent large sums every month buying metformin, clearly coming from a well-off household.
The doctor who had diagnosed Yang Mei’s pseudocyesis was named He Tao and was fifty-five this year.
Although he was not yet old enough to retire, He Tao had left the hospital long ago.
One night on his way home, He Tao had been secretly followed by a former patient, surrounded, and beaten until both legs were permanently disabled. From then on, he could only move with the help of a wheelchair.
He Tao did not immediately report the assault. Instead, he quietly resigned from his formal post and switched to online psychological counseling from home, disappearing from public view.
Compared with the round, prosperous Guo Jian Chun, He Tao looked exceptionally old and gaunt.
After receiving the police call, he had actually pushed his wheelchair onto a public bus and come alone. Now he sat outside the detention room with his head lowered, gaze drifting evasively, unable to bring himself to look at Yang Mei.
A doctor being retaliated against and beaten into disability by a patient should ordinarily have been an incident society condemned strongly. But judging by He Tao’s strange reaction now… his medical career did not seem entirely clear-conscienced.
“No wonder he didn’t report it.” Song Zang raised a brow.
Xu Qing leaned against the doorway and tilted his head with a soft laugh. “Psychiatrists are all liars. They’re best at manipulating people’s minds, suppressing and humiliating innocent people. They drive patients into mental collapse, then put on righteous faces and extract profit from them.”
Song Zang looked at Xu Qing in confusion. Remembering that Xu Qing had once been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia, he became thoughtful. It seemed this man had suffered an unhappy childhood too.
“Xu Qing, the fact that you were treated unjustly doesn’t mean every psychiatrist is evil.”
“But I’m so pitiful,” Xu Qing said quietly.
That sounded like a request for comfort, which meant Song Zang was absolutely not the right person to answer.
Song Zang quietly lowered his head and met Yin Chen’s sinister vertical pupils. He ignored Xu Qing. Their brief exchange ended there.
The two doctors and Yang Mei were separated by the detention room’s iron bars. It was safe.
Yang Mei’s emotions had stabilized slightly, but both hands were still firmly cuffed to either side of the table. No matter what she did, she could not hurt anyone.
Compared with the visibly guilty psychiatrist, Director Guo Jian Chun was not only self-righteous but downright overbearing.
She carried an exquisite crocodile-leather handbag, smoothed the loose hair at her temples, and naturally displayed the expensive jade bangle on her wrist and the gleaming gold ring on her hand.
Noticing Yang Mei’s suddenly tense stare, Guo Jian Chun sneered. “I remember you, Yang Mei. What an extravagant daughter-in-law with ambitions higher than the sky.
“A woman like you, relying on being pregnant to spend all day throwing tantrums in the ward, beating and cursing your mother-in-law and husband and causing trouble everywhere… Now that you don’t have a son to raise your status, life must be hard, right? Can’t survive anymore? A hen that can’t lay eggs. Hah.”
“Ahhhhh! Die, die, die! Go die! Die!”
Yang Mei instantly broke down screaming, hysterically shaking the table and chair bolted in place until they clanged violently.
She was not the only one stunned. Everyone present was dumbfounded by what they had just heard.
Looking only at Guo Jian Chun’s smooth, rounded face and her dignified, prosperous appearance, no one would have expected such vicious, cutting words to come out of her mouth.
A junior officer hurried over to keep order. At the computer, Chen Jing Sheng cleared his throat, picked up two new stacks of documents, and walked to Song Zang.
Leaning close, he said in a low voice, “I found more. There’s a lot wrong with Guo Jian Chun. Her husband is extremely wealthy, basically one of Xinjiang City’s old-money families. Guo Jian Chun has been with him since high school. He was supporting her financially. He even paid her medical-school tuition.”
“During university she took two years off and gave birth to two daughters. Later she had twin sons in one pregnancy, and only then did he marry her into the family. The schooling and career progress she lost by having children were all made up after her husband pulled a few strings.”
No wonder Guo Jian Chun’s résumé looked so immaculate and her promotions had gone so smoothly. They had been rewards for giving birth to sons.
Song Zang flipped through the documents with interest and discovered that, despite marrying into wealth, Guo Jian Chun had still worked extraordinarily hard. Even while pregnant, she had continued going to work with a swollen belly.
Not only that, she went on to give birth to another son roughly every five years until she naturally reached menopause.
To outsiders, Guo Jian Chun was a leading obstetrician who had personally given birth to so many sons without ever suffering a medical accident. She remained healthy and energetic… Naturally she enjoyed tremendous prestige at the hospital and was extremely popular with pregnant patients.
The more perfect it looked, the more suspicious it became.
Chen Jing Sheng did not expose anything in front of them. He returned to his seat naturally and tapped the table. “He Tao, lift your head. Do you still stand by your diagnosis of pseudocyesis from back then?”
“…Yes. Pseudocyesis is a physiological phenomenon caused by psychological factors, self-suggestion, and similar mechanisms. Patients may display pregnancy symptoms such as nausea, perceived fetal movement, and abdominal swelling. When obstetrics asked me to consult on the case, I carefully reviewed Ms. Yang’s ultrasound. I can state responsibly that she was not pregnant at the time.”
He Tao did not raise his head. He kept staring downward and delivered the long explanation in one continuous breath, sounding as though he had prepared it long ago without stumbling once.
But Chen Jing Sheng also had to admit it was a reasonable explanation. The gynecological ultrasound record contained no evidence of a fetus, which did indeed count as the strongest basis for He Tao’s diagnosis.
Guo Jian Chun’s expression did not change from beginning to end. She lounged loosely in her chair and rolled her eyes several times at the deranged Yang Mei, her mockery unmistakable.
She truly did uphold deeply traditional patriarchal ideas. She truly did despise Yang Mei. And even in front of the police, she felt not the slightest shame about either fact.
Xu Qing swept Guo Jian Chun with a half-smile, then imitated Chen Jing Sheng by bending slightly and trying to speak beside Song Zang’s ear… only for Song Zang to dodge him outright.
He did not mind. Instead, he turned to Chen Jing Sheng and slowly lowered his voice. “Bring in every son Guo Jian Chun gave birth to and conduct emergency paternity testing immediately. I suspect none of those children are biologically hers.”
Chen Jing Sheng had clearly reached the same thought. His lips flattened, and he nodded solemnly.
As a police officer, he needed clear evidence. The players did not. The moment they found any suspicious thread, the important thing was to follow it outward as quickly as possible and keep exploring.
“Brother Song, I can handle the rest myself. Xiao Xi… I’m worried about her.”
Holding the documents in one hand, Song Zang rose to his feet. With a light hook of his left hand, he casually lifted the black handgun hidden beneath Xu Qing’s coat.
He tossed it into Chen Jing Sheng’s arms, exchanged a knowing look with him, and said softly, “I’m going back now.”
Xu Qing’s breathing grew heavier for an instant before returning to normal. He accepted the thick stack of papers and invited warmly, “Ride in my car. I’ll take you?”
Song Zang paused. He had no idea what Xu Qing was getting excited about and could only toy with the little snake while giving an indifferent nod. “Fine.”
As special talent assigned to a confidential division, Xu Qing was always driven around by an assigned driver and carried quite a bit of status.
That was exactly why Officer Sun’s expression became so strange when he saw Xu Qing walking half a step behind Song Zang, holding the documents with that subtle smile.
Song Zang had worn a mask the entire time. Officer Sun secretly studied him for a long while and realized he had absolutely no idea who this young man with absurdly delicate eyes was.
Good god, the longer he looked, the harder it became to breathe. He was fucking beautiful, almost too beautiful to be alive.
When had Anning Police Station gotten someone like this? Impossible. Absolutely impossible!
But no matter how many questions Officer Sun had, if Xu Qing did not speak, he did not dare either.
Following habit, he opened the rear door for Xu Qing, giving him the seat behind the driver, the safest position in the car.
Song Zang had no intention of sitting beside Xu Qing at all. He took the front passenger seat instead, lest Yin Chen get so furious he lost his mind and simply burned the car and everyone in it.
There was no strange odor inside the sedan, only a faint orange-peel essential-oil fragrance that soothed the nerves. Song Zang fastened his seat belt and rapidly swept his gaze over the surroundings.
There was a gun in the locked glove compartment, another hidden in the storage box behind the gearshift, and even a grenade tucked into the driver’s-side compartment. Xu Qing truly was… brazenly, comprehensively armed.
“To Happiness Community.”
Xu Qing propped his head against the window and stared at Song Zang without blinking through the rearview mirror. Sick obsession churned in his dark phoenix eyes, along with a trace of confusion even he could not explain.
Song Zang knew perfectly well what he was confused about. A favored genius suddenly falling madly in love with a random stranger for no reason at all was the sort of irrational situation that would naturally make anyone question themselves.
But who told him to be one of the Boss characters, and one connected to Yin Chen’s secrets?
If Xu Qing had refused to cooperate, that dagger would not merely have pierced his heart. It would have gone through his soft, vulnerable temple, the large living tendons and arteries at the front of his neck, and every other lethal point that could kill him quickly.
The little snake in his palm suddenly quieted down a little and gently licked the nearly invisible bite marks on Song Zang’s wrist, leaving behind a pleasant, tingling itch.
Baby is so cute… Song Zang threw the bloody images out of his head and lost himself in playing with the snake.
The car fell silent. Song Zang was in an excellent mood, while Xu Qing became less satisfied by the second.
Realizing that Song Zang’s attention had completely shifted away from him, Xu Qing narrowed his eyes.
He tapped the window with one knuckle and suddenly said meaningfully, “Song Zang, are you happy? I don’t believe you are.”
Song Zang paused. “What do you mean?”
“No one in Happiness Community is happy.”