CH 63

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Huang Jin raised his head weakly. He saw an exceptionally organized group of thoughts.

Those thoughts were neatly arranged and rotated precisely to form a perfect black ball, looking like a mysterious machine that surpassed the current era. Based on the outermost thoughts of that person, he was probably here to help.

On the indoor surveillance cameras, there was another scene.

The visitor was a tall and thin middle-aged man who was wearing a gray shirt. His thin shoulders reminded people of weathered cliffs. There were no wrinkles on the man’s collar and attached was an outdated old tie. On his chest was an ID badge with the name “Li Nian” written on it.

He took a seat opposite Huang Jin, separated by a table full of wastepaper and a tablet with a cracked screen.

“Li Nian.” The person’s self-introduction was direct.

Huang Jin turned his bloodshot eyes and looked at Li Nian in silence.

“You’re not a cultivator, and you have no special abilities.” Huang Jin spoke without any anger in his tone. “I don’t want to chat with people right now.”

“Thinking aimlessly will yield no results. I have seen the materials you submitted, and it’s no different from gambling,” Professor Li commented unceremoniously.

Huang Jin didn’t respond. He seemed to have lost even the strength to be angry. He only knew how to write and draw mechanically.

“Swish.”

Professor Li tore away his draft paper.

“You fucking—”

“Don’t rely too much on your own abilities. If you can do stupid things like fake surrendering for her, then she must be quite special to you.”

Li Nian’s tone was firm, as always. He clasped his hands and unconsciously rubbed the wedding ring on his hand.

“Aside from the messy thoughts you see, tell me the three most vivid fragments you have of her.”

The most vivid fragments?

Huang Jin grabbed a draft paper close at hand and unconsciously squeezed it into a ball. There was a terrifying persuasion in Li Nian’s words—this person was obviously sure of what he was doing and was convinced that he was right.

Before Huang Jin’s mouth had time to refute, his tired brain had already begun to function.

The most vivid fragments…

The first clip was probably the day he stepped into the bar.

At first, Huang Jin didn’t have much interest in Ding Lizi, but there was free food at the concert, and he needed it.

So he took the flier to the small bar.

The bar was crowded with people. All kinds of thoughts surged frantically, converging into a sea of chaos around him. Huang Jin found a secluded corner, grabbed a bottle of beer, and drank slowly.

Under the spotlight, the man on stage was affectionately singing a love song. The thoughts on his body were wrapped in mud, quickly surrounded by “so many beautiful women” and “which one shall I get today”.

Huang Jin looked away, disinterested.

Then Ding Lizi came on with her dazzling tornado of thoughts.

Ding Lizi’s voice wasn’t too high. She hugged her guitar and sang as she played it. Her singing was clean and full of emotion. Supposedly, she had written the song herself.

However, the audience cared more about her so-called “weird, sick eyes” than the singing. The audience buzzed non-stop among the endless sound of clicking as they took pictures. From time to time, dirty or curious thoughts flooded the stage, washing away like a tide.

Huang Jin stared at the thought tornado.

Happy melodies and lyrics resounded in them as fierce feelings enveloped them. Ding Lizi sang as hard as she could, as if this was the most important concert in the world.

Why are you working so hard?

After singing her song, Ding Lizi showed a big smile. She waved her hand vigorously at the audience as if she were greeting someone.

“Mr. Good Guy, are you listening—?”

Huang Jin put down his empty bottle of beer and silently left the bar.

……

The second fragment.

Huang Jin was sorting out his mother’s items. There were many braille textbooks among them. He stared at them for a while, thinking of someone who might need them.

With luck, these can be exchanged for a few bottles of beer, he thought.

Ding Lizi was happy.

“I don’t even know where to buy these. Many second-hand products on the internet are so expensive,” she happily said. “Thank you. You helped me a lot!”

In the tornado of thoughts, she began to repeat “good guy, good guy, good guy” again and again. Huang Jin found it quite ridiculous—he was wearing human skin on his face while his back was sunken, giving him an ambiguous vibe, yet there was actually a day that someone would refer to him as a “good guy”.

It seemed that Ms. Ding’s heart was as blind as her eyes.

The two had a drink in the corner of the bar.

When the waiter served them snacks, Huang Jin reflexively adjusted the position of Ding Lizi’s cup. After taking care of his mother for so many years, some reactions had become habits.

His movements weren’t graceful; they were rough but natural.

Ding Lizi was taken aback for a moment but said nothing.

Under the dim light of the bar, Huang Jin slowly read the rotating thought tornado. It was still all those boring and trivial scenes mixed with the weak echo of “good guy”.

“Rent has increased by another 80 again”, “He’s a good guy”, “Can I still get my pay from customer service?”, “He’s a good guy”, “Business at the bar hasn’t been good recently”, “I have to find another job again next month”…

He didn’t know why, but the impression of a “good guy” made Huang Jin a little irritable.

“Actually, I can make some trinkets that can help you change your fortune.” Huang Jin used his most familiar technique. “Your life isn’t going well now. You just need to move a little luck from the future—”

“No need,” Ding Lizi said with a smile.

“I know my situation isn’t good, and it’s difficult to see how it gets any better in the future.” Her tone was relaxed. “It’s useless.”

Huang Jin’s hand holding his glass froze for a moment. In an instant he seemed to see another self.

“Then why are you so…” desperate?

The smile in Ding Lizi’s voice was sad for a moment. “People have to live. Even if I’m struggling and drowning, I still want to look my best.”

This time, she spoke from the heart.

“Let’s not talk about this. I’m having the luckiest moment of my life. Cheers—”

Perhaps he was drunk. Huang Jin knocked his glass onto the table as he thought about it in a daze.

“Are you stupid?” he said. “Luckiest? Just for a few books?”

“No,” she responded with a smile. “Because I met a good guy.”

It was “Mr. Good Guy” again. This time, she said it directly. Huang Jing put down his glass silently, and his irritability became even stronger.

“I wonder if Mr. Good Guy still has more braille books.” Huang Jin lowered his eyes. Ding Lizi’s thoughts were jumping around the table. “If you do, can you wait until I save up enough money…”

“I still have a lot,” he blurted out. “How about this. I won’t charge you money. You can teach me how to play the guitar instead.”

After he said this, he regretted it. It seemed he had given up a good opportunity to make money.

The thought tornado stagnated for a moment, then turned happily. “Okay!”

……

The third fragment.

“Look, this is a video of my niece. Isn’t she cute?”

“Why do you always show me these?” This person couldn’t see. She could only hear at most.

“Because you don’t seem very happy all the time,” Ding Lizi said. “Aren’t we friends? I also want to help.”

“It’s useless showing me this. My eyes aren’t good either.”

Huang Jin fiddled with the guitar in his arms and didn’t look at Ding Lizi’s phone.

“I have a genetic disease. I can’t see people clearly. I can only recognize faces in photos.” He told her the truth.

Besides, Ding Lizi didn’t have many friends to gossip to—she was running around desperately to make a living and didn’t have much social time. Even their meetings were essentially lessons linked to remuneration.

“You can only recognize faces in photos?” Ding Lizi took a deep breath.

Huang Jin didn’t look up. “Nn.”

He didn’t know why, but as they got along, he gradually didn’t want to see Ding Lizi’s thoughts.

Especially those about himself.

Ding Lizi didn’t inquire further. She quickly grabbed Huang Jin’s phone and jerkily pulled up the camera app. She slipped behind Huang Jin—

“Click!”

Huang Jin had never seen such a bad photo.

The angle was strangely poor, the figures looked deformed, and the lighting was fuzzy. In the background of a simple private room of a bar, with uncollected trash scattered on the ground, Ding Lizi smiled a bit exaggeratedly. Half her face had simply disappeared from the edge of the photo.

They look stupid.

“I look like this. Remember,” she happily said. “It’s a pity I can’t see you.”

Huang Jin: “……”

His thumb stopped on the delete button, but in the end he didn’t press it. After a few seconds, he took back his phone and didn’t comment on it. “Continue to teach me how to play the guitar.”

Today, she taught him a new song. The melody was so soft and warm that it made him tingle as if he were being scalded.

“Help me play it. I want to concentrate on writing the lyrics.” Ding Lizi smiled embarrassedly. “When the song is finished, I’ll give it to a very good friend.”

Huang Jin paused. “Very good friend?”

He suddenly hated this song even more.

“I’ll tell you next time!” Ding Lizi smiled. “Learn to play the song first, and I’ll try to sing as you play next time.”

After speaking, she hummed the melody again, as if trying to figure out the appropriate lyrics.

A gentle tornado swept across Huang Jin’s feet.

Learning guitar wasn’t a big deal. Huang Jin wasn’t interested in music, but he would wipe down the guitar, then clean up the messy sofa under it and then the dirty floor.

Finally, the entire room.

Guitar lessons had become an anchor point that was neither light nor heavy—because of this wonderful chain, he could tolerate a song he didn’t like. With it, he was at least willing to live until the next day.

But they didn’t have a “next time” anymore.

When Huang Jin came to the bar with his guitar on his back, the news of “Ding Lizi’s resignation” hit head-on.

Huang Jin returned to his residence. He sorted out the braille books that he had wrapped up neatly. He rubbed the book in confusion and called Ding Lizi.

The phone was off. The phone was off. The phone was off.

He walked out the door in silence, returned to the street where they first met, and called Ding Lizi again.

The phone was still off.

Huang Jin exited the call interface and clicked on the photo album. In the empty photo album, there was only a single botched photo.

Ding Lizi didn’t have many things except a guitar in a backpack, so she could leave without leaving any traces. She had no close friends, so no one would care about her leaving.

…Does no one care? Huang Jin took a deep breath and closed his eyes.

He took a taxi and went to Haigu’s Public Security Bureau.

……

Two weeks later, Huang Jin dripped the accidentally obtained blood into a mortar to make human fragrance, then took out Lu Guangzu’s demon painted skin from the drawer.

He called the police, and they had recorded the case, but Huang Jin knew they wouldn’t treat it as an urgent one.

If the culprit personally provoked and made the case known to everyone in the metaphysical world, would things be different?

Huang Jin thought that he must be crazy. They were just friends who met in passing. Why was he doing this?

To this day, he still didn’t have an answer.

“Maybe I’m just…”

At this moment, opposite Li Nian, Huang Jin’s eyes gradually turned red.

“Maybe I’m just curious about the unfinished song.”

Professor Li didn’t say much. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time, then he made a phone call, and a brand-new guitar was delivered.

Huang Jin looked at it blankly.

Professor Li dialed a certain number, put it on speaker, and set it in front of Huang Jin.

“Ms. Ding is a very interesting person,” he said softly. “Maybe she’s also thinking about the same thing. Let me listen to that song.”

“Impossible!” Huang Jin blurted out. “She must be in pain now…”

Halfway through speaking, he suddenly fell silent.

[Even if I’m struggling and drowning, I still want to look my best.]

It wasn’t the first time she had tasted pain.

Perhaps that friend was indeed very important to her. At least it could alleviate her despair a little.

Under the gaze of Professor Li, Huang Jin picked up the guitar with trembling hands and started to jerkily play it.

She only taught him once, and his memory was already thin, so he could only play it intermittently.

The out-of-tune melody resounded through the earpiece in the interior of the room on a certain floor. In the darkness, countless displays on the big bed flickered non-stop, reflecting constantly changing images.

“Continue.” There was a voice coming from the earpiece.

Huang Jin closed his eyes.

He seemed to be sitting on the stage of that small bar, and she was by his side. Her singing was clean and full of emotion. In the darkness, something huge stood quietly under the stage, listening carefully.

Huang Jin knew himself well.

For example, he didn’t like the world. For example, he had never been a good person… For example, he actually liked this song very much.

His life was a mess and full of refutations. He failed to escape the dark vortex and was still an invisible mouse in the gutter, but it didn’t matter.

At this moment, he was performing the most important performance in the world.

His fingers were cut by the guitar strings, and blood dripped down. From trembling to stable, from jerky to proficient.

…This was a very gentle and firm melody.

“So, that’s it. No wonder. Her thinking, has been, in a loop.”

A weird voice sighed.

“She is here. Singing.”

From misalignment to coincidence, the sound of the guitar flowed continuously like warm water. It repeated over and over again, gently scouring the broken space.

“Thinking, positioning is completed. Synchronous calculation, turned on.”

That weird voice came from the phone again.

“Shangguang District, Fanhua Street, Scrap Yard, West Side Warehouse.”

Huang Jin didn’t stop playing. He didn’t look up, and his body trembled slightly.

“…Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She’s here, singing solemnly.” The voice on the other side replied.

“She’s thinking, she’s late.”

“She’s thinking, this is a song, for, Mr. Good Guy.”

……

“The case report already came out. So fast,” Yin Ren muttered.

In the evening of the next day, Yin Ren sat at the dining table. When the email of the case report came, he was writing the work report from yesterday with a bitter face. Zhong Chengshuo was wearing the apron that had “Dangerous Person” printed on it and was serving chicken salad on the table.

“All the remaining victims were found. They were hidden by Bai Yongji in a warehouse in Shangguang District. The warehouse was completely concealed.”

When it was discovered, one of the guitars was still playing on its own; playing a weak but beautiful melody.

The report said that Shian had determined a treatment plan. With the help of professionals, the victims were expected to be restored to their original state. However, taking into account the physical and mental health of the victim, the memory of their experience would be erased.

Except for Bai Yongji, no one died.

Bai Yongji was turned upside down by the police and Shian. He used his media work to reach out to all the victims, and his modus operandi was extremely proficient. In the aftermath, his plan to try to frame the “accomplice” and swallow the contaminant was exposed.

“This guy did formal psychological counseling. At the time, the counselor asked him to come into contact with more positive people.”

Yin Ren clicked his tongue. This Mr. Bai’s way of thinking was truly unique.

Later, Bai Yongji came into contact with Lu Guangzu and learned about the existence of “Sunken Society”. He obviously didn’t turn to any police friend for help but met with them in earnest.

It was just that he thought that wishing for a perfect killing technique was more “stress-free” than wishing to rescue the project.

Considering the harsh nature of the case, the Haigu police specifically contacted the police of Country X, where Bai Yongji had studied, to determine whether there had been a similar disappearance.

Huang Jin was detained by Shian because of Lu Guangzu’s murder case and was waiting for a follow-up investigation. After obtaining Yin Ren’s permission, Lu Tanfei rushed to Shian to accompany Lu Yuanyuan.

Everything seemed to be settled, except…

“Bai Yongji’s weird ability as well as the mysterious sniper weren’t reported by Shian.”

Yin Ren turned to the last page and raised his head suspiciously.

“Most likely, that exceeds our viewing rights.” Great King Yama untied his apron with a calm face.

“Oh.” Yin Ren glanced at Dog Thing that had entered the trash can for a second time—it was sent back to Shian when it was picked up. Zhong Chengshuo had even mixed potassium permanganate into the cleaned water.

The phone had been hanging at 1% battery life for the entire day.

“The salad isn’t enough, so I’ll go out and buy something.” Yin Ren stood up and tried to escape the rest of the work.

“Go ahead.” Zhong Chengshuo picked up a piece of chicken breast covered in vinaigrette and chewed slowly.

This man knew the identity of Yin Ren was a dangerous evil being, yet he made an earth-shattering confession, but his attitude towards him didn’t change—as usual, Zhong Chengshuo even remembered to prepare him a bottle of hot sauce.

On the contrary, this made Yin Ren a little uncomfortable.

At one point, he even wanted to make a personal debut in front of Zhong Chengshuo. However, Great King Yama was used to seeing big storms, so this little trick probably wouldn’t scare him.

Lord Ghost King turned the hot sauce bottle melancholy while glancing at Zhong Chengshuo, who was eating in a gentle manner, from the corner of his eyes.

“I’m going to destroy the world,” he said.

“Go ahead. Make sure to come back before 11,” Zhong Chengshuo replied calmly.

Yin Ren: “Oh.”

Ignoring the security personnel who were following to “guard” him, Yin Ren staggered to the cold noodle stall. Seeing his regular customer, the stall boss had already started working with his hands. “Two of the usual?”

“Just one,” Yin Ren said listlessly. “I have a bad appetite today.”

“What’s the matter? Are you in a bad mood? Your wife didn’t like the stewed pears two days ago?” The old man yelled.

The stone that was lifted the day before yesterday landed on his foot again, causing Yin Ren to choke. It seemed too late to correct the old man’s thoughts now.

“I didn’t buy it.” Yin Ren faintly stared at the cold chicken noodles. “And they kicked me out.”

The uncle’s face was full of empathy. “Young man, it doesn’t matter if you quarrel at the head or the end of the bed! You look so handsome that your wife can’t bear it!”

After the cold noodles were in hand, Yin Ren thought for a few seconds. This time, he dragged two Shian tails with him and entered the soup shop. The stewed pears on the menu picture were crystal clear and tempting. Yin Ren sniffed carefully and didn’t smell any spoilage.

The ingredients were good, so this shop was an honest store.

Zhong Chengshuo wouldn’t worry about it, though. Not to mention bringing back food or not, even if Yin Ren threw his head everywhere around the living room, Zhong Chengshuo would only tell him to pay attention to hygiene. The identity of him as an evil being that was supposed to be a “deterrent” seemed to be an odd positive point for that person.

Realizing this, Yin Ren became a little sullen.

“Two servings of stewed pears,” Lord Ghost King listlessly ordered. “Put less rock sugar and more fungus in one serving.”

In the aroma of stewed food that filled the room, Yin Ren poked Dog Thing and began to type quietly—between Zhong Chengshuo’s incomprehensible brain circuit and the enemy with unknown strange powers, he suddenly felt the latter was easier to deal with.

[Details on the sniper?]

[Siren: I don’t know!!!] It was obviously still angry with its treatment.

Yin Ren didn’t have the mind to care about it: [Is it an “Evil Spirit” defined by humans?]

[Siren: No!!!]

Yin Ren continued patiently. [According to your definition, what’s the strength of the sniper?]

Dog Thing was silent, longer than usual.

[Siren: Medium.] It replied after a long time.

[Siren: An “Evil Spirit” is no match for it at all.]

[Siren: Never make an enemy of it.]

Kinky Thoughts:

This marks the end of this arc. Summary below.

With the previous case just solved, a new case emerged. Lu Guangzu admitted to being a serial killer, turned himself in to the police, and said he has hidden 7 bodies and wants the police to find them. Since he’s part of the Nightwalkers, Shian became involved, and the case was assigned to Yin Ren’s and Zhong Chengshuo’s unit. Lu Guangzu had intentionally provoked both the Nightwalkers, with specific mention of King Yama, and Shian during his confession.

To dig out more information Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo visited the ghost market, a market for the Nightwalkers. There, Yin Ren discovered a similar smell that he had smelled on Lu Guangzu. After investigating, he found that the smell came from “human fragrance”, a kind of cream that can mask someone’s smell to make them smell like whoever they wanted.

In the process of his investigation, Yin Ren stumbled upon an auction house and won a bid for a “human chair”. It turned out the human chair was one of the victims of the self-confessed serial killer. Using some special technique, they had merged a human perfectly with a chair while still keeping the human alive.

Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo found this suspicious and further interrogated Lu Guangzu. Demanding to speak with Yin Ren alone, Lu Guangzu wanted to cut a deal with him. It turned out that Lu Guangzu wasn’t him at all, but Huang Jin disguised himself as Lu Guangzu with demon-painted skin.

Huang Jin had a unique ability to read people’s thoughts and was able to uncover the true identities of Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo. Hoping to use this as leverage, he wanted them to solve the serial killer case because one of the victims was a friend of his.

However, things backfired when he discovered just how powerful those two truly are.

After knowing the truth, Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo decided to become “accomplices”. Through a series of actions, they led Shian to discover Huang Jin’s disguise while also leading them onto the right track for finding the true culprit.

To lure out the true culprit, they devised a plan by chatting with him using the online chat room the Nightwalkers use. Zhong Chengshuo pretended to be someone who was also interested in his work and wanted to know more about his “preservation” technique.

Things came to a head when Yin Ren got kidnapped by the true culprit, which turned out to be Bai Yongji. Bai Yongji revealed that he was a struggling artist and couldn’t make beautiful works of art. Through Lu Guangzu, he was able to get in touch with Sunken Society who gave him a “lucky coin”. This coin was contaminated with Evil Force and allowed him to merge humans and materials together. However, everything came at a price.

Taking advantage of Huang Jin’s confession, he wanted to pin all the blame on him and hope to get Shian involved so they would deal with Sunken Society, allowing him to keep his lucky coin without any repercussions.

However, with Yin Ren’s and Zhong Chengshuo’s meddling, he had to revise his plan, so he lured out his “like-minded accomplice” in order to pin everything on Zhong Chengshuo and act out a script of him being a person who was forced into this by the “true culprit”, which was why he kidnapped Yin Ren.

Bai Yongji didn’t expect, though, that Yin Ren was actually that powerful and was easily captured. In his desperation, he swallowed the lucky coin, became corrupted by its Evil Force, and turned into a human that possessed special abilities, which Shian labeled as a class under Chiron.

Before Bai Yongji had a chance to escape, he was shot and killed by an unknown sniper. Yin Ren and Zhong Chengshuo managed to escape and once again fooled Shian with their silly antics.

Thanks to Huang Jin’s abilities, they were able to locate the other victims, and the case came to a close.

Other things to note: Zhong Chengshuo finally realized that what he was feeling for Yin Ren wasn’t some kind of curse but that he actually liked him, and he confessed to him while also dumping him at the same time.