CH 12

“It’s very simple. Since there are no clues to prove that she left, she may still be here.”

Facing this sentence that seemed reasonable but was actually complete bullshit, Liang Shan was speechless. The room fell into silence, and even the flies all over the apartment seemed a bit quieter.

Half a minute later, Liang Shan said, “You just got here first thing today and haven’t had dinner, right? Let’s go. I’ll take you to hotpot and get rid of this rotting smell.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “I just said…”

Liang Shan: “Can you eat spicy food?”

“I just…”

“If you can eat spicy food, I know a delicious restaurant nearby. My treat.”

Seeing that Liang Shan wasn’t responding, Zhong Chengshuo lowered his eyes and looked a little aggrieved.

Yin Ren sympathized with his new partner, but there were more important things right now…

“I especially like spicy food,” Yin Ren said solemnly.

“That’s good.” Liang Shen then looked at Zhong Chengshuo and said, “The problem Xiao Zhong just described will not be clear for a while. We can talk about it while we eat.”

Zhong Chengshuo: “Okay, but I don’t like spicy food.”

Liang Shan: “……”

—-

The hotpot restaurant wasn’t a high-end place. The decorations were simple, making it quite homey. Since everyone had a strong stench on them, Liang Shan booked a private room. It could be seen that he was a regular customer at this place. The boss quickly put the pot on and gave them three complementary bowls of shaved ice.

The mandarin duck pot had a tangy aroma that steamed out of the pot as it boiled.

The three of them had a paper menu in their hands, ready to order. The waitress shook her head symbolically, like she wanted to look at Yin Ren a few more times but ended up not being able to stay in the room due to the horrible stench.

“Choose what you like and, uh, send it to the front desk.” She retched as she spoke and quickly fled the booth as if she were fleeing from something.

Liang Shan gave a painful look. “Remember, after this kind of scene, you have to eat hotpot. Otherwise, the smell will just stick with you and frighten everyone in the streets… Xiao Yin, Xiao Yin, take it easy. Portions here are family size!”

Yin Ren stopped ticking the menu and showed a look of disappointment—his eyes were glowing. He had checked off almost all the meat items on the menu and even specially ordered two portions of brains. Zhong Chengshuo was more polite. In addition to two plates of lean meat, he only ordered a vegetable platter and soy milk.

When the meat was put into the pot, the thin and tender slices rolled in the heated oil. Fresh shrimp and fish balls were added and floated to the top. With the addition of vegetables that complimented the red soup, it created a dazzling sight that simply whetted their appetite. The thick noodles that had absorbed the soup looked crystal clear as they were set on top of fried rice. Taking out a piece of meat and lightly dipping it in sauce, after taking a bite, the delicious flavor exploded on the tip of their tongues.

A ladle was stirring the tips of their chopsticks to and fro as the white mist of the pot became so thick that it made it hard to see clearly.

Liang Zhan opened a can of beer and spoke somewhat emotionally. “Oh, I can’t even remember the last time I brought newcomers here…”

There were traces of nostalgia in his voice, which was quite intriguing.

Yin Ren’s mouth gave a muffled response. His head was buried in the food. He could, of course, grow an extra mouth or even another head to talk to them, but Liang Shan and Zhong Chengshuo were unlikely to approve.

Zhong Chengshuo was sitting upright. He wanted to return to the topic. “Mr. Liang, I just…”

Liang Shan hung his head despondently and said, “Alright, let’s get down to business.”

Yin Ren raised his eyes and cooperated by slowing down his eating.

“There have been a few cases that are like what Xiao Zhong spoke about. Phenomenon C-B4 ‘gap’.”

“For instance, you take a familiar road and car, but you end up in a place you haven’t seen before. Or you stay in a place with many people, leave for a while, and when you come back, half of them are gone… We call this kind of situation ‘entering the gap’. From the eyes of others, the person who entered the gap has indeed disappeared.” Liang Shan glanced at Zhong Chengshuo. “It can be understood as straying into a different dimensional gap. Think of it like that.”

Zhong Chengshuo turned his head and put down his chopsticks.

“The cause of the ‘gap’ is unknown, and the location of its appearance is relatively fixed. It’ll grow and die on its own. In the early stages of the gap, ordinary people will be able to come back soon after entering it. When it grows old enough, it will be like a fork in the road that makes people ‘unable to come back’. At present, there is only one growing gap in Haigu, and it’s under the control of Shian.”

Liang Shan raised the slotted ladle, intending to fish out some meat, but only got a handful of spices.

He faintly glanced at Yin Ren, who was chewing happily and had ordered two more plates of lamb.

“In short, the ‘gap’ is a very dangerous phenomenon. There’s a large flow of people in the Fanghua Apartments. If the ‘gap’ appeared nearby, it’s impossible for Shian not to notice it.”

Zhong Chengshuo nodded and reached out with his chopsticks to pick up some potatoes.

Liang Shan learned quickly and used a ladle to scoop up some vegetables. “In short, you can be at ease*. If there really is a ‘gap’, that’ll be handled by Minister Fu or Director Li.”

*Put your heard in your belly (把心放在肚子里).

“I understand.”

“Don’t be too stressed. There’s still time to investigate tomorrow. Rest early after eating. I’ll pick you up at the hotel tomorrow morning.

Zhong Chengshuo used his chopsticks to break the potato in half. “Hotel?”

“Yes. I booked a double room for you. Don’t worry, Shian will reimburse you for everything.”

“No need. I have a home in Haigu,” Zhong Chengshuo said earnestly.

“I know that you and your parents live in the Xizhao District. That’s about a two-hour drive away. Why bother with that? Do you have pets at home or something?”

“No, but…”

“Then it’s settled. When you go on missions in the future, having a partner is standard, so it’s better to get used to it earlier.”

Zhong Chengshuo was silent. He lowered his head and started cooking the mushrooms.

When the conversation came to a stop, Liang Shan suddenly realized that there seemed to be someone who had been surprisingly quiet during this meal…

Yin Ren was chewing on a crispy piece of meat. There were five empty Coke cans stacked next to him. The atmosphere around him was so warm and blissful that it made it unbearable for people to disturb.

“I’ll order a few more servings of meat. What else do you want to eat?” Liang Shan stood up and shook his head.

Yin Ren: “The ‘gap’ you mentioned…”

“What do you want to eat?!”

“No, I just think what Zhong Ge said makes sense. There’s still a possibility that ‘she didn’t leave’.” Yin Ren swallowed his food then continued, “Since you said that the cause of the gap is unknown, that means you don’t know much about it.”

“What I said…”

“Then don’t rush to a conclusion. There’s always an exception to everything.” Yin Ren smiled, which was reflected on the pile of Coke cans.

Liang Shan subconsciously wanted to refute, but there was a subtle authority in the other person’s words that compelled him to swallow back his words. Zhong Chengshuo gave Yin Ren a moving look and pushed the bottle of soy milk over.

Yin Ren smiled happily and quickly started sweeping the next round of servings. Liang Shan had just placed another order for additional servings, and he watched as they all went into Yin Ren’s stomach.

Liang Shan: “……”

Forget it.

The rest of their conversation wasn’t fruitful. Liang Shan just picked a few interesting stories about the police station. As it was getting late and the three of them were full of food and drink, they soon left.

The hotel that Liang Shan booked for them was close to the hotpot restaurant. It was just a regular, average hotel.

The room was quite spacious, was cleaned thoroughly, and had a light fragrance in it. There were two single beds with snow-white sheets on them, and the air conditioner was blowing cool air.

Yin Ren stood by the door silently with two ice-cold Cokes in hand…

Before he even had the chance to imprint his figure on the bed, he was whisked out by Zhong Chengshuo, who was carrying a large bag. After sending them to the entrance, Zhong Chengshuo started to frantically… clean.

In his left hand was disinfectant spray, and his right hand had alcohol wipes. He was working hard, wiping down and disinfecting every nook and cranny of the hotel room. He even wiped down the shower and then hung two disposal towers in the bathroom.

“One tip, don’t use the kettle to boil water to drink.” After he finished cleaning, Zhong Chengshuo took off his glasses and wiped the sweat from his forehead.

Yin Ren: “…Okay.”

He wouldn’t use it anyway, but was this the normal practice of modern people? Why did he have the feeling that it wasn’t?

Looking at this scene, if Zhong Chengshuo knew what kind of environment he had been sealed in before, it wouldn’t be a hotpot cooking meat, but Zhong Chengshuo boiling him in alcohol.

“Okay, I’ll take a shower first. You can choose which bed you want.”

Zhong Chengshuo didn’t see through the strange thoughts his new partner was having. He walked into the bathroom, and the sound of water was soon heard.

Yin Ren took out his cellphone and, in a race against time, began studying the mysterious thing that was in front of him.

He quickly discovered the input function, but he couldn’t understand all these weird, twisted, ghostly characters on the keyboard. Fortunately, after a few minutes, Yin Ren was able to pull up a handwritten input.

When he clicked on the web browser, he was suddenly exposed to a whole new world.

As a pragmatic Evil Spirit, Yin Ren quickly decided on the first search topic…

Lord Ghost King poked the screen carefully and wrote down the words “How to use a cellphone to call for help”.

The result he got was a sea of text. Just as he was about to explore them, the phone suddenly emitted a sharp, loud alarm. Yin Ren’s hair exploded, and he almost threw his phone away.

The emergency alarm sounded urgent, and the sound was so loud that it almost pierced his eardrums. The noise was giving Yin Ren a headache. He grabbed the phone and rushed to the bathroom, where he knocked on the door.

“Zhong Ge, I can’t turn this sound off…”

Before Yin Ren finished speaking, his knock cracked the fragile door open.

Perhaps he had too high an expectation for this era, thinking that the frosted glass would be as hard as wood; before Yin Ren could knock a second time, the frosted glass door shattered, spilling fine fragments all over the floor.

Luckily, Zhong Chengshuo was standing a distance away from it, and he wasn’t injured.

Unluckily, the incident happened so suddenly that Zhong Chengshuo didn’t have time to dodge. He was washing his hair and just happened to be facing Yin Ren.

Yin Ren originally thought that their bodies were both male, so there shouldn’t be any kind of awkwardness, but Zhong Chengshuo didn’t seem to be in line with that thought—his expression stiffened, and he quickly turned around, putting his back towards him.

However, Yin Ren had seen everything.

He didn’t understand why Zhong Chengshuo had such a great reaction. In every sense, that body was quite good.

Without clothes covering him, Zhong Chengshuo’s smooth body was completely exposed. His limbs were slender, and his abdomen was tight. His body was just right; not too burly and quite elegant.

A very healthy and beautiful human body.

If he had to pick out a flaw, it was probably the scar.

From the collarbone to his lower abdomen, there was a huge scar that cut across Zhong Chengshuo’s chest and abdomen. It curved around and branched at the bottom, barley forming the “人*” character. To Yin Ren, the scar looked like a poisonous worm that had entrenched itself in his body.

*Human. Take note, because this (人) character is also in the title of the novel and specifically replaced the god/deity (神) character in the idiom (凶神恶煞) which I’ve explained in chapter 1 of my Kinky Thoughts.

Yin Ren suddenly realized something. Most mortals find scars unattractive and are used to covering them up. Perhaps Zhong Chengshuo also thought like this, so it was best if he didn’t poke at people’s insecurities.

Among the blaring sound of the alarm on the phone, Yin Ren shouted, “Oh, the quality of this door is too poor!”

After the culprit brought up the complaint first*, Yin Ren felt that he was being unfair to the hotel. He lowered his voice and pushed the glass aside with his slippers. “Forget it. I’ll pay for it. Does Shian provide a salary advance?”

*(恶人先告状) Idiom referring to bad/unreasonable people who preemptively tell or distort the facts. || In this context, Yin Ren is saying it’s not his fault that the glass door broke because the quality is too fragile (and not because of his inhuman strength).

There were still shampoo suds on Zhong Chengshuo’s head. While facing the corner, he spoke with some fatigue in his voice. “…Why are you looking for me?”

“I can’t turn off the alarm on this phone.”

“Press the top power button three times.”

“Oh, oh.”

“…We’ll talk about this later. I’ll take care of the glass. You go out first.”

Yin Ren knew that he was in the wrong. He resentfully went back to bed. When Zhong Chengshuo came out again, he had changed into the same Shian uniform Yin Ren was wearing, but his shirt was long-sleeved. He didn’t have his glasses on as he stared at Yin Ren with a pair of eyes that looked like a black hole.

“I’ll talk to Mr. Liang about the broken door and see what he wants to do with it.”

What followed was a ten-second silent staring contest.

Zhong Chengshuo had “don’t ask” written all over his face, while Yin Ren had “I won’t ask” written on his face. Through this weird tacit understanding, Yin Ren was the first to laugh out loud, and even the corner of Zhong Chengshuo’s mouth was slightly bent.

“I have cleaned up all the glass on the floor. You can use the bathroom now.” Zhong Chengshuo began to unpack the pile of shopping bags.

When Yin Ren came out after taking a shower, he found a piece of cake on the small bedside table. The cake was square, with a yellowish coating of whipped cream that covered it, and a tiny red wine-stained cherry nestled in the middle.

It exuded a wonderful, sweet aroma that tickled people’s emotions.

Zhong Chengshuo was leaning against the head of the bed. He was still wearing his long-sleeved shirt and was reading on his cellphone.

Yin Ren was overjoyed. “Is this for me?”

“Nn, it’s from a famous cake shop nearby. This was a limited-time item, and my family likes it very much.”

“You’re not going to eat it?”

Yin Ren was certain there was no cake scent on Zhong Chengshuo’s body, and there was no cake on his bedside table; only a bright red apple.

Zhong Chengshuo continued reading as he said, “No. Don’t touch the cake in the fridge. That’s for my parents. If you like it, you can buy it yourself tomorrow—I just contacted Mr. Liang. Considering your situation, Shian will give you an advance of two months’ salary.”

“Really?!”

“But I have to be there when you use it.”

Yin Ren’s action of digging into the cake stiffened. Did this mean that they had to be partners for more than two months? What about his dreams of being a slacker?!

Fortunately, the cake was delicious, and after a mouthful of whip cream, Yin Ren’s sorrow was transformed into confetti. Immediately after, he realized a subtle problem.

“Zhong Ge…”

“Hmm?”

“Did that girl raise something?”

Zhong Chengshuo put down his phone. “I don’t think so. It’s written in her information that her neighbor hasn’t heard any strange noises recently. There’s also no animal hair or pet supplies in her apartment.”

“She bought something she didn’t like to eat and didn’t give it away. I suspect she’s raising something.” Yin Ren held the cake with a solemn expression. “Maybe the thing she’s raising doesn’t have hair and doesn’t need other supplies.”

There were many evil things that didn’t shed hair and didn’t like to eat out of a food bowl. Yin Ren was quite familiar with this.

Zhong Chengshuo: “…”

Zhong Chengshuo: “…Maybe.”

He looked at the cake on the plate, and then at Yin Blade with a complicated expression.

He didn’t quite want to pursue how Comrade Yin Ren had this flash of inspiration.

The author has something to say:

*Laughs to death*. Why do you think you’re going to be partners for more than two months? I’m giving you a partner for a lifetime. √

Xiao Zhong felt miserable being looked at.

Xiao Yin: What a healthy human being! (Relieved)

Perhaps Fruit Knife’s passive skill was activated (?