Chapter 34

Nostalgia anyone?

-Helli

Right beside his table was a lonely man sitting by himself, enjoying a cup of wine with his back facing Gu Yan. Hearing that, his actions stopped, and he slowly stood up. He turned around and revealed a beautifully sculpted face, his heterochromic eyes concealing a desolate emotion that seemed to seep right into the marrow of one’s bones. It was Qin Yao.

Dressed in a black windbreaker, the contrast of it with Qin Yao’s pallid skin exuded a coldness that was even icier than Gu Yan’s. He placed his wine bottle down on the table and took a seat opposite of Gu Yan.

“It was a coincidence the first time, but what about the second?”Gu Yan raised his eyes to place his apathetic gaze on the man in front of him.

Qin Yao reached out to pour Gu Yan a cup of wine and refilled his own cup as well, before slowly speaking,”It’s not a coincidence this time.”

Gu Yan narrowed his eyes,”Not going to act anymore?”

Qin Yao did not respond to him. He lifted up his cup and motioned to him. He gazed at Gu Yan and spoke with a cool voice,”Please.”

Gu Yan lowered his eyes down to the cup placed in front of him. The transparent liquid within the cup exuded a faint, mellow aroma. He paused for a moment, but then he lifted the cup and downed it in one go! The spirit went down his throat like a blade of ice, causing a string of pain to go down as if he were being cut! The wine that was mixed in with spiritual energy felt like it was grinding his flesh up from the inside out as it passed into his organs!

Gu Yan put down his cup and smiled,”That was a fine wine.”

Qin Yao scrutinized every chance of his facial features. After a while, he chuckled softly,”I brewed this wine myself, it has a lot of benefits longevity and keeps people fit and healthy.”

Gu Yan wiped the corner of his mouth, he had no comments.

Naturally, the spiritual wined brewed by a cultivator at the ascension stage was precious and hard to find. For benefits a human could get out of it was not so simple as merely longevity and physical health. If a normal person had a cup of it, they may even end up stepping onto the path of immortality if they were lucky.

But……For a demon, this type of spiritual wine was no more than poison that could erode them from within.

Spiritual wine has the ability to wash away the impurities from a person’s body and clean their meridians to enhance their bodies. But when it came to the body of a demonic being, the very opposite would happen. The bodies of demons were created by the agglomeration of impurities, and the only power within their bodies was black energy, the very thing spiritual energy strives to eliminate!

If this was any other demonic being, then they would not have been able to consume this cup of wine without revealing themselves.

Qin Yao put down his cup and finally stopped urging him to drink more. Instead, he asked Gu Yan:”Do you know why I’ve come to see you?”

Gu Yan revealed a sarcastic smile:”Definitely not because you’re a fan of mine.”

Qin Yao’s face showed no hints of embarrassment of his lie being seen through. He looked into Gu Yan’s eyes,”I came today because I have several questions I would like to ask you.”

“Oh?”Gu Yan raised a brow.

“It’s about Sun Jie’s case, and there are several points I’m suspicious about. I hope you can give me an answer.”Qin Yao showed a serious expression, and his speech was stable without any undulations.

“And why should I cooperate with you?”Gu Yan smiled.

Qin Yao did not seem the least bit surprised. He took out some documents from his coat pocket and placed them in front of Gu Yan. Bluntly, he spoke:”I’ve forgotten to introduce myself, I’m actually a policeman.”

“……”

Gu Yan picked up the documents on the table and looked through them carefully, and even raised his head to look at Qin Yao halfway through, seemingly trying to ascertain whether the person within the photos matched with the appearance of the person before him. After a while, he put down the documents and spoke with his voice still absent of care, there was no such thing within it as the usual tension one would get when speaking with the police,”Mr.Policeman, it’s better for you to speak to my lawyer instead about such matters.”

Qin Yao’s eyes turned slightly colder.

“What……You’re a public servant for the people, so shouldn’t you be following the rules? If you have any questions you’d like me to answer, then you can contact me through the proper channels. What’s the difference between you and the paparazzi if you’re going to stalk me like this?”Gu Yan sneered, and raised a brow,”Moreover, you’ve made me very unhappy in this way. And since I’m unhappy, there’s nothing I want to say to you.”

Qin Yao stared at Gu Yan and pursed his lips. His chin stiffened, seeming as if he were suppressing his anger.

“What, you’re angry? For you to come out of nowhere so mysteriously to sully my name with a suicide case, did you expect me to welcome you with open arms? I’m a public figure and your actions are going to have a huge impact on my reputation.”Gu Yan did not try to evade Qin Yao’s eyes at all,”And besides, I was with you when the suicide happened, Mr. Policeman, are you going to deny that?”

“Or should I say, you have some unspeakable ulterior motives towards me, so you’d like to sully my name even under the presence of such ironclad evidence?”

“Regardless, I’ve already got countless scandals on my back, and a few more lice hopping around aren’t going to bother me. But if you insist on this, then I’ll definitely sue you to the very end.”

Qin Yao was silent for a moment and the look in his eyes deepened. Slowly, he began to speak,”That is not my intention.”

“Then please forgive me for my limited comprehensive ability, I really don’t know what you’re trying to say.”Gu Yan leaned back slightly and spoke casually.

“I just wanted to know more about what you think of Sun Jie. I would like to provide a basis for our investigation based on what you know, and possibly figure out if there were any other suspects present.”Qin Yao’s voice was stiff,”There are many points for suspicion on his death.”

Gu Yan curled up the corners of his lips, revealing a provocative smile:”Is this how you ‘request’ for someone’s cooperation?”

Qin Yao looked coldly at Gu Yan, and the coldness in his eyes seemed close to forming ice crystals in reality.

Gu Yan shook his head faintly and smiled:”Has nobody ever complained about your attitude when doing things? It’s truly a miracle you’re able to keep your job till now……”

“However……”Gu Yan could see that Qin Yao’s patience was already reaching its peak, and suddenly turned the topic around:”You’re in luck, my mood has suddenly improved and I have no qualms telling you how I feel about Sun Jie.”

Gu Yan stood up and leaned forward, shrouding the light like a shadow. His eyes dropped down to look at Qin Yao and spat out each word with ruthless coldness:”I think it’s great that he’s dead.”

Qin Yao’s eyes sharpened.

“I thought about it after that, and I understood. The most foolish thing I could do is feeling sad over a person who betrayed me.”Gu Yan revealed a crusl emile,”It’s fortunate he’s dead. If not, I would’ve made him plead for it!”

Qin Yao looked firmly at Gu Yan, seemingly trying to distinguish between the truth and falsehood within his words.

“I remember you telling me you’ve already forgiven him.”Said Qin Yao after a short moment of silence.

“That’s right.”Gu Yan smiled plainly and spoke in a profound tone,”I forgave him because he’s dead, is is hard to understand the reason why? Of course I’m not going to waste my time on a dead person who betrayed me, there’s no worth in doing that.”

“You asked me what I think of him, and I’ve told you now, is there anything else you’d like to ask?”Gu yan looked calmly at Qin Yao.

“Do you still know if there’s anybody who was in conflict with him usually?”Qin Yao asked in a routine manner.

“Don’t know. We’re actually not that clear about each other in terms of the circle of people we’re usually around, we just go out for some fun every so ften.”Gu Yan sneered,”Illogical, right? But other than myself……I really don’t know much about other people.”

Qin Yao was slightly silent.

“Anything else? I can still answer a few more of your questions since I’m still in a good mood.”Gu Yan raised a brow impatiently.

After a few seconds, Qin Yao said:”Nothing else.”

“Alright then, I just so happen to have a question for you.”Gu Yan suddenly said.

A look of surprise flashed past Qin Yao’s eyes and he spoke in a stern voice,”What do you want to ask?”

“When did you start taking note of me, and why are you suspicious of me?”Gu Yan’s eyes were slightly icy,”Don’t tell me it’s because of Sun Jie, cause that wasn’t the first time we’ve met.”

Qin Yao looked deeply at Gu Yan,”You don’t know?”

Gu Yan scoffed and asked him back:”Why would I know?”

“Then forget it.”Qin Yao chuckled softly and the coldness dissipated a little from his body. He casually sipped on his own cup of wine,”Maybe I’ve made a mistake.”

When he put down his cup, he seemed to have recalled something, and asked almost casually,”Do you know who Hong Qing is?”

Gu Yan paused for a moment, he really did not know who that was. Even though the confusion in his eyes had went by in just a flash, Qin Yao had still caught a glimpse of it.

Qin Yao looked away silently. Even though he still appeared to be icy cool, it still seemed like he was fully relaxed now. That oppressive feeling he gave out was now gone. He stood up and smiled,”I might have remembered it wrongly, and I’ve offended you a fair bit earlier. Let me settle the bill for your meal.”

“You came over inexplicably to point fingers at me under suspicion, and now you’re going just like that? Do I look like such an easy target?”Gu Yan scoffed and stood up as well, showing an appearance of ‘I won’t let you leave if you don’t explain yourself’.

Qin Yao frowned,”And what would you like to do?”

“You at least owe me an apology, don’t you?”Gu Yan looked coldly at him.

“I’m sorry.”Qin Yao apologized without hesitation, and kept a straight face throughout,”I can go now, right?”

“……What, you’re trying to scurry off with just a single apology?!”Gu Yan seemed to be even angrier now as he reached out to grab Qin Yao’s collar, shouting fiercely at him,”Don’t even think about it!”

Qin Yao looked into Gu Yan’s eyes, and said after a short moment:”Someone’s taking a photo of him.”

Gu Yan had a start, and released him by reflex before quickly looking left and right, only to find that all the customers had their eyes on their food, nobody was paying attention to them at all. And he finally figured out that he had been fooled by Qin Yao.

He looked angrily at Qin Yao only to see Qin Yao’s cool and casual figure slipping out and disappearing into the crowd in the streets in just the blink of an eye.

Gu Yan sat himself back down and the anger and displeasure disappeared from his eyes without a trace. He had been pretty smug recently as a star, but how could he not feel the least bit angry from being accused and pointed fingers at? It was only normal for him to be furious. But he did not intend to seriously put his hands on Qin Yao so he let go readily and allowed Qin Yao to leave.

He reached out for his chopsticks and tasted the food. Mm, a bit cold, but still palatable.

…………………………

Qin Yao moved through the crowd in a slow trot, but his eyes showed that he was in thought.

He did not seem to be too hurried or too slow in his steps but was able to reach quite a far distance in just the blink of an eye. Finally, he arrived at a small, inconspicuous building.

Qin Yao went directly into the deepest room on the third floor. The walls of the room were covered with various photos, newspaper snippings, and whatnot, and there were even some notes and drawings of his own that created a large clue map. Various tragedies were covered as well as news, people, so on and so forth. If you looked closely, you could even find Brother Qing, Hong Qing, and Sun Jie within……And all the arrows pointed towards Gu Yan with a large question mark scrawled in with red marker. While next to Gu Yan was pictures of Xu Jun, and Zhu Huan Wei.

Song Yun Zheng, the director of the city bureau was seated inside. His face appeared to be haggard and there was an ashtray in front of him filled with cigarette butts. Seeing Qin Yao’s entry, he quickly stood up,”Mr. Qin, you’re here.”