Volume 2 Chapter 6

Volume 2 Chapter 6

Translated by: TaffyGirl13

Chapter Six

“The first one to report Ye Xiao Xiang’s disappearance was her cla.s.s academic advisor.”

It was the next morning. Yu Tong, who hadn’t come home the previous night, was currently preparing breakfast for everyone as he answered Yu Yin’s question. “Didn’t I tell you that from the start? The one that had reported the case was a teacher, saying that the child hadn’t been to cla.s.s in a while. Since they couldn’t connect with the parents, they made several calls to the police. Later, the police also paid a visit to the home several times but could not locate anyone. Eventually, they started reaching out to connect with friends and other relatives for the search.”

“And n.o.body had been found up until this day?” Yu Yin asked in bewilderment as he pa.s.sed over some seasonings.

“No, they were found later.” Yu Tong glanced at his son and continued, “A friend said that the girl’s mother seemed to have run away with another man. Because the father wasn’t in a good mood afterwards, he brought the child out to distract them from their worries.”

“But didn’t the body found yesterday belong to the girl?”

Yesterday afternoon had been chaotic with all the media and whatnot coming to the complex. Any resident spotted was immediately surrounded and questioned for information. It was to the point where he and Yu had been forced to leave from a hidden side door. Afterwards, Yan Si had called in the evening to confirm that the body was indeed Ye Xiao Xiang’s. After Ye Li Sheng had gone up, he’d quickly identified his daughter, and the body was currently being held by coroners in preparation for determining the cause of death.

“The father said that not long after they had gone out to uplift their moods, the child fell sick, so they went home for her to rest. However, a few days prior, his child suddenly went missing. In his panic, he searched all over the place for her, even thinking that the child’s mother might have taken the child away. Just as he was planning on trying to contact the mother’s side, you two told him of the body.” The thick soup in the pot was now boiling. Yu Tong sprinkled some pepper in and set a timer before turning off the gas. “The investigators at the scene of the crime suspect the small child had secretly run into the water tower to play and got into an accident.”

As expected, the first impression is that it was an accident.

Yu Yin brought the soup out to the dining table and stood there blankly for a long time, trying to figure out what exactly was off about the situation.

After the elevator had stopped at the seventh floor...they had been welcomed by the sight of the potted plants and the shoe cabinet.

Just while he was pondering all this, he suddenly heard a sound from behind. When he turned around, he happened to see Yu, who had just woken up and was standing at the foot of the staircase, rubbing his eyes. “Morning. Go wash your face and then come eat.”

Yu, who had started to doze off again, started and lightly clapped his own cheeks to keep himself awake. He then began to walk over to Yu Yin, instead of heading to the bathroom.

“What’s up?” Yu Yin naturally asked after seeing Yu stare at him for a while.

A notebook was pa.s.sed to him.

Confused, Yu Yin flipped the notebook open. The first thing he saw was a picture of the scene outside the seventh floor residence yesterday. Even the positions of the shoe cabinet and such had been clearly marked. “You were doing this kind of thing last night?” As Yu Yin lifted his head, he happened to see the other person’s swaying figure walk off towards the bathroom.

So Yu also thinks there’s something weird about what was outside that door?

Yu Yin’s eyes stayed locked onto the drawing in the notebook as he pulled out a chair to sit down.

There was a shoe cabinet outside the door. The outer side had a woman’s shoes, the inner side had a man’s shoes, and the top had a child’s shoes. There didn’t seem to be any issues there.

There were also the potted plants, but there was nothing else aside from that.

“What are you looking at?” Yu Tong suddenly asked as he walked over carrying the rest of the prepared breakfast.

Startled, Yu Yin immediately shut the notebook. “Nothing, just looking at Yu’s notes. He seems to have a tendency of ripping out any dialogues recorded inside.” The notebook had become extremely thin, even though he could clearly remember it having many pages in the beginning.

“That’s right, every time Xiao Yu fills a page with writing, he rips it out and stores it away somewhere. I’m not sure why either.” After placing a plate on the table, Yu Tong sat in the chair opposite of Yu Yin. “Your uncle won’t be home until late tonight, so you two should just make something yourselves for lunch or go out to buy it. Don’t run around randomly outside.”

“Oh, ok.” Yu Yin scratched his head and put the notebook down next to him.

“Oh right, what did you two run over to Yan Si’s place for yesterday? Because he ended up leaving with the forensics team, he forgot to say farewell to you.” Yu Tong asked as he looked at his son across from him.

“Ah, I forgot about that too.” Yu Yin had just left immediately without saying anything after eating yesterday. He struck the palm of his hand in realization as he recalled, “Yan Si either gives off a sinister appearance, or has an aura that frightens away ghosts, so I had originally wanted to leave Yu in his presence that afternoon. I hadn’t expected the plan to completely fall to pieces like it did.” He’d discovered that Yan Si was extremely difficult to be plagued by ghosts, to the point where his room was completely wiped clean after being haunted. There must be a reason for this.

It was just like his dad and his uncle. However, the two of them were definitely the type with oppressive auras.

A typical person’s home would become extremely dirty and held in detainment after being haunted. But his home and Yan Si’s home were not in such a condition; instead, their homes remained just as clean as before the haunting. This meant that the owner had a certain characteristic that kept those things from daring to leave any marks behind.

This was also what the person that had given him the amulet a long time ago had taught him to look out for.

“What’s wrong with Yu?” Yu Tong narrowed his eyes, noticing the unspoken implication.

“He seems to have been marked by Ye Xiao Xiang. Dad, don’t you remember back when I had the same thing, and then you brought me to someone to get the mark removed?” That was back when he hadn’t known to not look at these things randomly and had ended up tangled with the all sorts of things he’d see.

“I remember. The master back then had also said to not go near water alone before it was dealt with.” Yu Tong furrowed his brows as he recalled this matter that he could never forget.

“That’s right, then...ah!” Yu Yin abruptly stood up and immediately pushed his chair aside as he rushed towards the bathroom.

He’d forgotten about not being able to go near water!

Moreover, Ye Xiao Xiang had a bad track record of following him into the bathroom to hara.s.s him!

The bathroom door was obviously locked. Yu Yin hurriedly knocked in panic. “Yu! Open the door! Quickly!” He continued to bang furiously on the door for a long while without a reply. This made him more anxious.

“Yu! Hurry up and open the door!”

Don’t...don’t tell me something really happened?!

“Use this.” Yu Tong handed over a master key that he had grabbed from the living room.

Yu Yin immediately inserted it into the keyhole and quickly turned it.

Please, don’t let it be...

The moment the door opened, Yu Yin completely froze. For a few seconds, his mind went completely blank, absolutely unable to react.

The person that he’d thought had been a.s.sa.s.sinated by a ghost was perfectly fine.

Moreover, he had fallen asleep while sitting on the toilet!

“Shao Di Yu!!”

He could hear his own veins pop.

“You dared to fall asleep on the toilet!”

Yu was immediately shocked awake, and he blinked his violet eyes at Yu Yin.

“You scared me to death! Watch out or else I’ll give you a beating!”

Immediately after saying these words, Yu Yin dropped a fist on the head of the person that had managed to fall into deep sleep in the bathroom. nove(l)bi(n.)com

You say that, but then immediately beat me up...

Yu held his head and miserably retreated to the side.

“Alright, alright. Since everything is fine, we should just go eat first.” Yu Tong dragged his son out with a smile. “Xiao Yu, quickly finish washing yourself up and come join us.” He then closed the bathroom door.

The noisy bathroom immediately fell into silence once the door closed again.

Yu was now completely awake as he innocently rubbed his head. He then turned towards the sink to start washing his face and teeth.

The moment he turned around, he seemed to see something flash in the mirror.

“...?”

***

Sat.u.r.day, the day that all students begin to relax and prepare to have fun.

Even Yu Yin, despite being hung up by a ton of matters, was no exception.

But because his dad had specifically warned him before leaving to absolutely not wander around, and he had to strictly watch out for that little devil who had been marked by the water ghost, he was forced to reject at least five or six phone invitations from his friends that morning.

“Don’t scare him, my younger brother isn’t as fearless as my uncle is.” Yu Yin tossed over the order slip that Yu had pa.s.sed back over, and then quickly took out some bills from his wallet and placed them on the counter. “Help me settle the bill first. We still want to go upstairs and destroy the desserts section here.”

“Say that after you actually manage to destroy them, you sly ghost!” The bartender gave back the receipt and change with a laugh, and quickly asked the part-time student nearby carrying a drinks menu to go and work.

“We won’t trouble you any further then and go upstairs to eat.” Yu Yin bid farewell with a smile before dragging Yu up the staircase.

Yu had a strange expression on his face as he followed behind.

“That person just now is called Zuo Ah Jie. He mixes c.o.c.ktails and beverages, and is one of the bosses of this restaurant. This place was originally a collaboration between three people; the other two are the chef and patisserie. All three of them know our family very well. I’ll make sure to introduce you to the others when there’s a chance.” Yu Yin was in extremely good spirits as he led Yu up the white-floored staircase and chose a spot near the window.

Yu sat down in the seat across and looked around at the second floor’s decorations.

It had a different ambiance compared to the first floor that was packed with customers. Perhaps because it wasn’t quite opening time for the second floor yet, it was extremely quiet all around, with n.o.body else present. There were only a few people busy stacking up the display counter with freshly made desserts, in preparation for the customers that would be coming in later.

Most likely, the people had received a notification from downstairs that they were coming, as the customers that had appeared on the second floor before opening time didn’t get questioned about whether they’d accidentally wandered to the wrong place.

Before waiting for very long, maybe 10 minutes later, a uniformed staff came over carrying some delicate dishes that were even still steaming. Moreover, the uniformed member was followed by a familiar face.

“Aiyah, Ah Yin, you’ve come by to eat here too!” A cute voice broke the quiet surroundings, causing Yu Yin to subconsciously roll his eyes.

The one walking towards them was his cla.s.smate, the one that was allegedly the school flower with a lot of suitors, named Li Lin Yue.

“What did you come up here for?” Yu Yin grumpily asked the other person before noticing there was someone else next to her.

“To eat of course. It’s completely full downstairs. My boyfriend’s friend just happens to know the boss here pretty well, so we asked him to arrange a spot for us up here.” Li Lin Yue hugged the tall and exceedingly handsome male next to her side and smiled, “Anyways...who’s the one next to you...?”

“My younger brother!” Yu Yin answered and spun the chopsticks in his hand before wrapping some spaghetti around them.

“Oh, the one that prevented you from eating breakfast.” Li Lin Yu, who loved to pick at others’ wounds, ignored the dirty glance the other shot her as she smiled without restraint.

Yu Yin really wanted to tell her something like “cut the blabber and scram off to one side to eat your food”, but since her boyfriend was also present, he didn’t voice his thoughts. He stared at the male for a bit before shifting his gaze onto Li Lin Yue’s rhythmically tapping feet. “You changed your shoes again,” he casually changed the topic.

“Oh, you noticed.” Li Lin Yue flashed the new, golden sandals on her feet and grabbed her boyfriend’s hand to lead him to the empty table nearby. “My boyfriend just gifted them to me.”

“Why buy so many shoes? It’s not like you’re an octopus,” Yu Yin absentmindedly commented while cutting apart some chicken cutlet.

“Don’t you know? A woman can’t leave home without having at least three pairs of shoes. Beautiful shoes are a woman’s life.” Li Lin Yue hummed as she rotated her feet to show off the pretty pair of sandals.

“Cloth shoes are enough to go out...wait.” Yu Yin narrowed his eyes and put his knife and fork down. “Let me ask you something. If shoes are that important to a woman, that would mean you would bring them with you if you left home, right?”

“Of course you’d bring as much as you own. It doesn’t matter if they’re shoes you typically wear, or ones for playing outside, or ones for dates, it’s very annoying to not have the shoes you like by your side. Even for traveling, you would at least bring the shoes you typically wear all the time,” Li Lin Yue replied with her eyebrows arched as if to say “you clearly don’t have any common sense”.

“Then that means you would at least bring the pair of shoes in the shoe cabinet with you?”

“As if, anyone would definitely bring all the shoes in the shoe cabinet with them.”

When Yu Yin heard this, he suddenly felt the skin on his scalp go numb.

If one would supposedly bring all their shoes with them just to leave home, then they’d definitely bring things that would dress them up if running away with a lover.

But the shoe cabinet outside the Ye household was extremely well-organised; clearly filled perfectly without a single pair missing. In other words, the female of the Ye household hadn’t left wearing any shoes.

Then, how exactly had she fled with her lover?

Ye Xiao Xiang’s shoes that had been placed on the top level of the shoe cabinet are the same.

Does that mean she had walked up to the rooftop barefoot?

A subtle sound suddenly came from across him.

Yu Yin returned to his senses and noticed that Yu had put his utensils down and stood up, looking around.

“Are you looking for the bathroom?” The other nodded, and Yu Yin pointed his finger towards the walkway on the right. “If you keep walking down there, you’ll see a corner to turn around. The bathroom is there.”

Yu nodded and began to walk in that direction.

“Excuse me, I’ll also be going to the bathroom,” Li Lin Yue’s boyfriend said. After giving an apologetic smile, he also walked away.

Yu Yin looked at his retreating figure for a while before turning to switch his gaze onto his cla.s.smate. “How did you meet him?” He knit his brows together. The male just now really was...

“I met him on the street. He said that if I agree to be his girlfriend for today, he’d buy me shoes. Since it wasn’t like he was asking me to go to bed with him, I figured I’d let him buy whatever he wanted.” Li Lin Yue shrugged, already accustomed to such people.

“You’re fine with that too? Careful, you’ll end up getting dragged off and raped like that,” Yu Yin rolled his eyes. He was eternally dumbfounded by the way she formed relationships.

“Don’t worry, I’m really good at judging situations. Moreover, I didn’t give him any information...speaking of which, can you help me safeguard my wallet and return it to me on Monday? I’m afraid that guy might use an opportunity to secretly look at my ID.” As she said this, she really did toss her wallet at Yu Yin, leaving only two large bills for herself.

“d.a.m.n, watch out or I’ll use your credentials to swipe your cards everywhere.”

“I believe you wouldn’t do such a thing.” Li Lin Yue moved aside to let the server place her food down and cheerfully smiled, “I wouldn’t dare say that about anyone else, but having known you for so long, I can confidently trust that you wouldn’t do such a thing.”

“Hmph.” Yu Yin turned away, not bothering to continue the dispute with her. However, he still stuffed her wallet into his own bag.

“Thanks~” Li Yin Yue sweetly smiled, before suddenly moving next to him and asking, “Did you see something just now?” She’d noticed that her cla.s.smate’s expression had momentarily changed earlier.

“I didn’t see it very clearly, I just saw the figure of a baby flash next to his shoulder.” Yu Yin bit into his chicken cutlet as he said, “Don’t forget that I have sporadic sight, unlike an actual master’s.” His eyes seemed to choose what they wanted to see, it wasn’t as convenient as being able to see everything.

“Hmph, I just knew that someone who randomly hits on people couldn’t be any good.” She indignantly bit into her pork ribs as she began to contemplate the matter. “I’ll shake that guy off after I finish eating my fill.”

“Sigh...” Yu Yin had no desire to get involved with the other’s relationship situation, and simply swallowed his last piece of meat. Only then did he start to stir his half cold soup.

Speaking of which, why is Yu spending so long in in the bathroom?

Don’t tell me he’s going number two?

He checked his watch; it was about 12:30.

“Weird, why is he taking so long in the bathroom?” Li Yin Yue bit the food off her chopsticks as she clearly wondering the same thing as Yu Yin. She swung her feet in the air as she spoke her thought out loud, “Do men take that long of a time to take a p.i.s.s?”

Yu Yin rolled his eyes at her and snorted, “I really want that guy who paid a tribute to see your true face. He’d probably flee immediately, no need for you to shake him off.”

“I was just thinking about using that method to shake him off, my good bro,” Li Yin Yue openly smiled in delight.

“I can’t stand you!”

Just as Yu Yin placed his spoon down to go check on the situation in the bathroom, a sharp cry suddenly came from that direction.

“Yu!” Without a moment of hesitation, Yu Yin immediately sprinted towards the bathroom.

The walkway wasn’t long. As soon as he turned the corner, he saw the dessert section’s server had fallen to the ground next to the bathroom, his jaw wide open in terror as his gaze remained locked on thw inside.

Yu Yin walked over the server to look into the bathroom. For a long while, he was unable to speak.

The entire bathroom was a mess. The tap from the sink had either been forcefully wrenched off or had fallen off by itself, as it was currently on the floor. Water was gushing out from the pipes.

The mirror near the sink inside was completely smashed. The male that had paid tribute with a pair of shoes was collapsed on the water-covered floor, his entire body covered in wounds. Fresh blood was spilling out and washing away with the wet ground.

Yu was the only one standing inside, staring in astonishment at the person on the ground from terror or something else. He then slowly turned to face Yu Yin, and in a blink of an eye, raced over to him and grabbed his hand to flee together.

Yu Yin noticed Yu’s wrist had small bruises all around it. They didn’t look as if they belonged to a man, as they were extremely small, about the size of a small child’s palm.

The server that had been sitting ono the ground outside the bathroom finally returned to his senses, and he began to shout from the top of his lungs:

“Quickly call the police!”