Longer chapter this time ?
Translated by: TaffyGirl13
Chapter Three
For a long time, neither of them voiced their opinions.
Yu Tong slowly put his phone away before shrugging and giving a smile. “I personally don’t think it seems like a prank, although phone numbers can be tampered with. Anyways, putting that aside; I’m going to head over to the place where Student Chen jumped. Do you want to come along as well?”
“Ah, I’ll go.” I’ve skipped today’s cla.s.s already anyways. Although I don’t know what I would do over there either.
Yu Tong flipped through the files as he quickly led the way out of the resting area and back onto the elevator. “According to these, Student Chen’s jumping location was a loans company. After checking the security cameras, it was confirmed that he had indeed entered the building that day. After staying in the reception area for around fifteen minutes or so, he left to enter the elevator. Soon afterwards, his unexpected jumping was relayed.”
“Did the people at the reception not find anything odd?” As the elevator descended, Yu Yin asked in a puzzled tone, “What I mean is, you can typically sense something off about suicidal people. Seeing as he chose this loans company, he probably should have given the people there a different feeling when he entered, right?”
“Oh, that’s written here.” Yu Tong flipped to the second page and quickly skimmed it. “The young receptionist said that when Student Chen walked in, he was quite happy, and didn’t give off any feeling that could be a.s.sociated with suicide. He even bought some drinks to treat them.”
“Drinks?”
A suicidal person would be in a good enough mood to treat the loans company to drinks?
The elevator let out a ding and opened its doors. The s.p.a.ce outside was dimly lit, and they could hear the rumble of cars. After walking for a bit, they arrived at the large, underground parking lot.
“That’s right. Moreover, he treated the entire foreign affairs group to drinks. Specifically, to bubble milk tea, no less than twenty cups. He bought them at a somewhat more expensive drinks shop nearby, not the kind where you can buy a cup of black tea for just five or ten yuan.” Yu Tong glanced back at the detailed report in his hands once more before putting it back into its bag. He then pulled out his car keys as they stopped at the section closest to the exit. “The investigation report says that a single drink costs thirty yuan.”
Yu Yin fell silent. Such an action was indeed a bit strange, but it seemed more like...
“Seems like he was treating people as if he had won the lottery.” That’s it, that’s what it seems like. Yu Yin suddenly recalled the actions of the deceased from that night. “I remember back during the first time I b.u.mped into him, he had just won a lottery prize!”
“Lottery prize?” Yu Tong froze just as he was about to open the car door and turned around. “Wait, did you just say he won a lottery prize? Do you know how much?”
“Eh? I don’t know that, but I figure it must be several thousand, or maybe something like ten thousand or so.” A typical student would be pretty happy with that amount of money for several days.
Yu Tong furrowed his brows and looked at his son standing on the other side of the car. “...In that case, he doesn’t have any reason to commit suicide. Typically speaking, someone that unexpectedly won a prize or experienced anything else exciting the day before that would even lead them to treat people to drinks would not suddenly commit suicide.”
The question is, how much money was it?
“Dad, did you guys find his winning lottery ticket or a relatively large amount of cash around his body?” Since only a short day had pa.s.sed in between, Yu Yin guessed some of his possible actions. “Or did he make any deposits to his bank account?”
“None at all. There wasn’t anything like a lottery ticket found on the body either. There were only his wallet and his cellphone. Inside the wallet was just a five hundred yuan bill and a few coins. There weren’t any vouchers or deposit forms on him either.” The more he thought about it, the stranger it was. Yu Tong opened the car doors and they both got in. “The officer in charge did a general check on his bank records and didn’t notice any unusual sums either. That’s why they concluded that he had likely wanted to die as a result of the pressure from his excessive debt.”
However, he had just won a lottery prize the night before, and was even relaxed enough to go out and invite people to drinks the next day. There’s clearly no sign of being under such a large pressure...
Unless something happened after treating the others, something that was enough for him to immediately think of committing suicide.
Based on what happened, there’s no other possibility aside from his riches unexpectedly vanishing all of a sudden, such as having been stolen or noticing that he hadn’t actually won the prize at all, and as a result, his mood changed so drastically that he instantly felt the shadow of death.
But he suddenly committed suicide immediately following his entry to the loans company and offering everyone drinks. It’s not possible for a robbery to have been set up.
Yu Tong thought the straight road was now a mess.
All he was certain of now was that there was truly something wrong with this case.
If what Yu Yin said about winning a lottery prize is true, then there’s no way this person would be under that kind of pressure to kill himself. Adding onto that the comments from the deceased’s friends and relatives...
“Dad!”
Just as Yu Tong was deep in his own thoughts, Yu Yin suddenly tapped his shoulder from the side, bringing him back to his senses. “Weren’t you going to head over to the loans company?”
“Oh, yes.” Yu Tong checked the time. It wasn’t long before rush hour, so Yu Tong decided not to waste any more time. He could think about it more after arriving at the location first.
The car’s engine immediately started, and a slight vibration reverberated from underneath. Yu Yin pulled on his seat belt and then pulled down the car window.
Perhaps he had imagined it, but as the car was turning the corner, he seemed to see a humanoid figure standing where the car had just been parked and looking in their direction. As the car continued to move forward, it disappeared in the intersection of light and shadow.
“Weird...” Did I imagine it?
Yu Yin rubbed his eyes. Nothing was reflected in the rearview mirrors.
“What’s wrong?” Yu Tong noticed his actions as they were turning around, and asked distractedly.
“Nothing, probably just me mistaking something.” Yu Yin turned around. His intuition said it had just been his eyes playing tricks on him. “That’s right, that loans company is in the western district; what is it called?”
“Mm...if I remember correctly, it should be called Zhong’s Capable Aid Co., established around seven years ago. It has developed to mainly focus on combining incurred debts. It has many commissioners specialised in a.s.sisting those in debt to transfer loans to their own company. However, because it’s a private business, they still have to coordinate with banks and such for the most part.” Yu Tong watched the road as he voiced the information he remembered. “Student Chen’s family transferred their debt over about half a year ago. Prior to that, they had taken loans from three banks. The main issue was that their father had borrowed money from an underground money farm, a high total sum of over ten million yuan...obviously, it ended up being with compounded interest, and some staff from Zhong’s Capable Aid Co. helped them settle the matter with the underground money farm, transferring the entire debt to their own company.”
“Wow...a debt of over ten million yuan...this company’s supporter must be even better than a treasury, to be able to deal with that kind of debt from an underground money farm.” From Yu Yin’s knowledge, being able to cleanly end something with an underground money farm was extremely difficult, especially when the loans got increasingly shadier.
“In the beginning, the father only borrowed around three million from the money farm, but it later turned into over ten million. I’m sure you can see just how powerful their background supporter is.” The trickiest part of money farms was how quick and heavy the interests were. Yu Tong, who often dealt with paperwork related to this, knew this fact well from his experience. “We’ve already looked into it; the money was borrowed nearly three years ago, and the original interest was even higher, but this loans company managed to keep it under control. The loans company likely doesn’t have a good-hearted background, but it did do something helpful in this case.”
Yu Yin decided not to dwell on how powerful the loans company was, and instead thought of another matter. “Who was the personnel responsible for Chen Yong Hao’s family then?”
Yu Tong took out a business card from his bag and pa.s.sed it over to his son before replying, “Teng Qi. He returned from studying overseas just half a year ago. As soon as he joined the company, he became a commissioner, and his first case was conglomerating Student Chen’s family debt. In the past half a year or so, he’s also moved onto gathering dozens more cases of all magnitudes. His performance is currently ranked number three in the company.”
“His name is quite bizarre.” Yu Yin stared at the two characters printed on the business card. He couldn’t help but think of another person with a very odd name, a person who just so happened to be living in his home as his younger brother.
Yu Tong only chuckled in response.
After all, the world was a big place; no name was a rarity, regardless of how strange it seemed.
***
It was still afternoon, during work hours. By avoiding some roads with traffic jams, Yu Tong managed to arrive at their destination in less than twenty minutes.
The company was in a fairly small office building. The complex had a total of seven floors, with a water tower on the top level. There were some open-s.p.a.ced residences and some shops flanking either side down for a large stretch of the road.
Yu Tong drove the car into the parking s.p.a.ce and turned off the engine. “Student Chen jumped off from the top of the seventh floor.” He pointed at the company entrance and told Yu Yin, “He fell outside of the main entrance and died after landing, having instantly shattered his skull. Before the ambulances had even arrived, he had already pa.s.sed.”
The company entrance had already been thoroughly cleaned up; there were no traces to be seen of having been the spot where a fatal incident had occurred the previous day.
“Does this entire building belong to the company?” Yu Yin asked in astonishment as he looked up at the large sign that covered the entire building.
“Mhm. It seems that the first two floors are retail sales and a reception hall for receiving unresolved cases. The third to fifth floors are all rooms for the commissioners to receive people, while the sixth floor is the director’s office.” Yu Tong locked the car doors after getting off. He continued, “That day, Student Chen was heading towards the commissioner’s area on the fifth floor. Because Teng Qi seemed to have been temporarily out of office, the receptionist invited him to wait in the reception hall.”
After giving a general explanation, Yu Tong led Yu Yin into the loans company.
The gla.s.s door automatically opened to the guests, and they were immediately faced with a whoosh of frigid air that was cold enough to send shivers down one’s spine.
Upon seeing them enter, the young lady at the front desk immediately stood up. “Welcome, how may I serve you?”
“My name is Yu Tong. I called just now to looking for Teng Qi - Mister Teng,” Yu Tong told her after identifying himself.
“Ah, I am aware. Mister Teng specifically informed me. Please walk straight to the elevators and go up to the fifth floor. The young lady on that floor will bring you to Mister Teng’s exact location,” the receptionist politely said with a business-like smile.
The two looked in the direction she indicated, and indeed noticed the elevators straight ahead. A few steps away from the elevators was a staircase as well, with a lit Emergency Exit sign hanging above it.
“Thank you.”
Yu Tong walked to the elevator and looked up. The surveillance cameras were right above the elevator, so that anyone going in would be clearly caught on tape.
While waiting for the elevator to come down, Yu Yin glanced around. From here, he could also clearly see outside the entrance, especially since it used automatic doors made entirely of gla.s.s, allowing for a completely un.o.bstructed view of outside.
After the elevator arrived, they reached the fifth level in a matter of seconds.
Most likely because the commissioners were mostly all out, there weren’t as many people on the fifth floor as they had imagined. The first thing they saw upon exiting the elevator were several rooms. Most of them were separated by gla.s.s panels or cleverly designed screens so that they weren’t able to see each other’s private businesses.
“Welcome. Mister Teng is already waiting for you.” As soon as she saw them walk out, a young woman originally at the front counter welcomed them. She very courteously led them to one of the rooms next to the windows. After circling around the gla.s.s panel, they saw an average sized room. It had a large office desk on one side, with two small sofas and a short coffee table on the other. It clearly appeared to be a room specifically designed to accommodate guests.
On top of the desk was a LCD screen and several flipped open books. A person was sitting at the desk, and behind him was a large gla.s.s wall. One could see the scenery of a small park and land bridge behind the wall, and the lighting that filled the entire room was extremely good.
“Mister Teng, here is the guest you spoke of,” the receptionist lady respectfully said. She then circled around the gla.s.s wall and left Yu Tong and Yu Yin in the room.
Yu Yin carefully surveyed the male now standing behind the table. He seemed fairly young; probably in his twenties still, around Yan Si’s age. However, he gave off a more oppressive feeling, as opposed to Yan Si’s influential one.
It wasn’t the awe-inspiring type of oppression, but rather more like an automatic, imposing manner that seemed to press down on others.
He was a fairly stylish and good-looking young man, with a cold expression and neatly trimmed hair. His exquisite, full-piece, black suit further strengthened his boldness.
But what Yu Yin found slightly surprising was that this person’s eyes were blue, as if he had mixed blood.
“I thought only one police officer would be coming.” The person smiled, significantly toning down his oppressive aura by making him seem more intimate. “Please sit here. I a.s.sume both of you drink black tea? Or perhaps coffee?”
“No need to go through any particular trouble. My apologies for bothering you while you are working,” Yu Tong replied in a just as polite manner.
“It’s fine. I already heard a general explanation from the other police officer over the phone. If the family member isn’t willing to close the case before further investigation, I would be happy to cooperate.” With this proper reply, the man retrieved some water from the small water dispenser on the side to soak two cups of instant black tea. “Although embarra.s.sing, I will have to request for you two to put up with this for now. The young miss that is best at making tea on the fifth floor unexpectedly took today off, so I can only shamefully offer the two of you this instant drink.”
“Thank you.” Yu Yin accepted the cup of tea and immediately gave his thanks as he surveyed the person in front of him.
How to describe him...he looks very clean; there’s nothing strange on him, nor does he have any weird airs.
The man—Teng Qi—sat down on the sofa across from them with a faint smile maintained on his face. He showed absolutely no hint of impatience. “Then, where would Officer Yu like to start asking from?”
Yu Tong took out his files and flipped through them a bit before stopping. “May I ask you why you were temporarily out that day? It wasn’t lunchtime when Student Chen jumped, and it was already confirmed by your coworkers that you hadn’t made any arrangements with clients that would require you to step out.”
“Mm...I’m sure that your files say the same thing, but I just happened to receive a phone call from my boss that day: an invitation to go out for afternoon tea with his friend and deal with another case at the same time. If you ask my boss and that friend, they should also be able to confirm I am not lying. I’ve pa.s.sed a copy of the other case to your colleague for them to look over. There shouldn’t be any problems with this.”
That was indeed the case. Yu Tong looked at the notes on the file that confirmed everything Teng Qi had just said was the truth.
“May I ask who the person that received Student Chen that day was?” Yu Tong asked, having noticed that this was not covered in the records he had.
“It was a commissioner, also from the fifth level. He had previously fought to take Yong Hao’s case, but Yong Hao ultimately decided to have me take charge...ah, pardon me, I have over-spoken. This colleague is a main member of our company, ranked number two. His name is Ding Wei Han. He just happened to go out today to meet with a client, so you two might not be able to meet him,” Teng Qi answered in a direct manner. He then said, “Speaking of which, there’s something that slightly bothers me.”
“What would that be?” Yu Tong immediately looked up at him.
“Yong Hao invited everyone from the fifth floor and retail sales to drinks that day. Because I wasn’t there, he gave me a call, telling me that he would wait for my return. He sounded very excited, as if something good had happened to him. I figured that there must have been a reason for him to be that happy, so I ended my afternoon tea very early. I hadn’t imagined that upon returning, the police had already drawn up the tape around the bottom of the building to seal it off.”
“Why didn’t you say this before?” Yu Yin immediately blurted out, before realising he had acted on impulse. “Sorry, please continue.”
But, if you had told the police that, they might have inspected the site more carefully.
“Because I was a bit shocked, I didn’t think much of it at the time. I only just now recalled that it was slightly odd,” Teng Qi obediently answered. He explained with a faint smile, “Although it may not be of any help, would you two like to go up to the rooftop and look around?”
“That would be good too. I’ll have to trouble you then.”
With this, the two adults immediately stood up.
Seeing this, Yu Yin also followed to stand. But just as he straightened himself up, a sudden dizziness filled his brain entirely, and all he could hear was a slight buzzing sound around him. His vision suddenly went black as his knees went weak, causing him to stumble.
“Ah Yin!” The person by his side suddenly reached a hand out.
Unable to respond immediately, Yu Yin waited for the dizziness to gradually pa.s.s. As his vision slowly returned, he saw the person holding him was Yu Tong, with an expression filled with concern. “Are you alright? What happened all of a sudden?”
“Is it anemia? Or did you not sleep well last night? Would you like to go lie down over there to rest a bit?” Teng Qi asked with a slight frown. He quickly circled over to help and touched Yu Yin’s forehead with his palm.
Yu Yin’s head was still spinning, and he slightly shook his head. Although feeling slightly better, he still couldn’t stand properly. He opened his mouth, but only after several tries was he able to finally stutter out, “Should—should be fine...” His ears were still buzzing, so all other sounds were extremely faint and hard to discern.
It was as if a gust of empty wind was rushing back and forth in his ears.
“I think we should first bring him over to the resting area. There’s a small bed there where he can lie down for a bit.” Teng Qi quickly pressed a number on his desk phone. “Miss Qu, could I request for you to arrange a bed and some thin blankets in the resting area? There’s a gentleman here that isn’t feeling well and needs to rest for a bit.”
“Sorry for troubling you,” Yu Tong hurriedly apologised.
“Not at all. Let’s first bring him over there to rest; his face has already become extremely pale.”
Yu Yin struggled hard to focus on their words as his mind was in disarray. He felt the two people, one on either side of him, support him as they moved outside. Their destination wasn’t far; in less than a minute, they placed him down somewhere soft.
“Ah Yin, rest here for a moment. If you really don’t feel well, I’ll bring you to the hospital later.” Yu Tong covered a thin blanket over his body as he said this in a deeply worried tone.
“It’s fine...will be better after lying down for a bit...” Yu Yin painfully closed his eyes. The air that filled the room was extremely cold, to the point where he was almost shivering.
He couldn’t even muster any strength in his fingers.
“Officer Yu, let him rest here for a bit. I’ll ask the young miss here to help watch over him. I will bring you to the rooftop to look at the site first, and if he still hasn’t gotten any better by the time we return back down, I will bring you two to a nearby hospital.”
Yu Yin could vaguely hear Teng Qi’s voice.
“Mm...alright.”
Yu Tong’s voice was slightly hesitant, as if he didn’t think moving Yu Yin right now was a very good idea either. The voice then neared his ear. “Ah Yin, I’ll take a quick look upstairs first. You just rest here; we’ll return quickly.”
Yu Yin slightly opened his eyes and nodded.
Although still hesitant, work was also important. Thus, Yu Tong reluctantly walked away.
Yu Yin closed his eyes again as he listened to the two footsteps slowly disappear from the room.
Then, the surroundings became silent once more.
***
All strength left his body.
Yu Yin lay on the bed with his eyes shut. He was powerless to the point where even opening his eyes was exhausting. The bout of dizziness made him feel as all his energy had been drained by something, forcing him to lie down, unable to make the slightest movement.
This feeling was extremely hard to bear, and it made him feel like a slab of pork on a chopping block.
That’s right, when was the last time I felt like dead meat?
But just then, he realised that the dizziness and everything else that had filled his brain suddenly disappeared. He could no longer hear the buzzing noise, and his entire body suddenly became incomparably refreshed. There was just the problem of being unable to summon enough strength to even lift his fingers left.
He then thought of a previous instance where he had been in such a situation. Back then, a very long time ago, he had been paralysed in his sleep by a ghost...
But it’s currently broad daylight!
There’s literally no reason to paralyse me now!
Yu Yin wanted to struggle, but the more he tried to, the more strength was sapped. He was like a leaking bucket as all his energy, including the blood flowing through his body, seemed to be drained out.
He furiously wanted to curse out.
As he wrestled with his body, Yu Yin vaguely heard someone seemingly walk over. Although he couldn’t hear the sound of footsteps, he could sense their presence.
At first, he thought it was the young miss from the company, but he soon tossed this notion. The person walking over didn’t make a single noise; there was no way it could be the young woman wearing heels.
The person’s movements were very slow as they neared him. However, he couldn’t even open his eyes to look over and see who it was.
The other person simply circled his small bed a few times, before finally stopping by his feet. At the same time, Yu Yin sensed a numbing chill from his feet under the blanket.
The situation remained like this for a while, probably a bit under twenty minutes, before the other person suddenly began to move. However, they were no longer walking, but rather climbing onto the small bed. He could clearly feel the bed sink down slightly where the feet were.
...If I was a girl, this would probably be a good time to suspect if the other person wants to rape me.
Just as Yu Yin was distracted by this random side thought, the sinking feeling abruptly disappeared. It wasn’t that the person had gotten off the bed; rather, it was as if they had just evaporated into the air and disappeared.
But whatever it is, it must have walked away, right?
Yu Yin let out a sigh of relief. He then discovered that his strength seemed to be slowly recovering. He flickered his eyelids open. His surroundings were not the bright colors of a lit room; instead, it was as if he was in the darkness with no lights.
It was pitch-black; all he could see was a faint, weak glow.
It’s nighttime already?
Yu Yin shut his eyes and waited until his condition improved before slowly opening his eyes.
The thing that met his eyes was not the ceiling, but a pair of legs.
A pair of legs wearing jeans.
He could only stare blankly in shock.
A person was standing above his stomach.
This person wasn’t standing on top of his actual skin, but was floating in mid-air about five centimeters above his body.
In that instant, Yu Yin felt as if he had forgotten how to breathe. The air around him was freezing, yet he could not stop the cold sweat coming from his body.
The person standing there was surrounded by a bright glow, contrasting the dark room, making it impossible for Yu Yin to even pretend he was mistaken.
The person looked down at him. Its blood-covered face was pale to the point where he could see the veins underneath. Most bizarre was the large hole in its skull, which exposed something that Yu Yin really didn’t want to think too much about.
“It” just looked at him like this.
And Yu Yin was unable to shift his gaze or close his eyes.
Although he didn’t feel any malicious intent from the person, its cold aura made his body numb and shiver with cold. His mind was tense and a continuous stream of cold sweat fell from his forehead. Since he couldn’t turn away, he was forced to look straight at the meeting gaze.
Yu Yin knew this person.
He really did. However, he had only been acquainted with their appearance before jumping to their death, not the current, horrifying appearance.
A long time seemed to pa.s.s, to the point where Yu Yin felt as if he would suffocate to death as his head suddenly began to grow dizzy once more. In his daze, he unconsciously closed his eyes slowly. However, that frightful image remained burned in his skull.
The dizziness made him feel drained again, and he could no longer feel the bed he was lying on, as if he could fall at any moment. His body was filled with fear, since it didn’t seem like he was on a bed, but rather on the edge of a tall precipice.
It was as if he was lying down in mid-air, and only a very small s.p.a.ce was supporting his body weight, a thin thread that could snap in an instant.
Someone lightly blew on his face.
It was cold, very cold, like a piece of ice brushing across his face.
In that moment, Yu Yin sensed someone nearing him again, and slowly reaching out their hand as if about to pull him down from his only support.
He wanted to fight against it...
With all his might, he opened his mouth, but no sound came out. All he sensed was the hand getting closer and closer to him before slowly pressing down on his shoulder.
In that second, as if a pair of pliers cut all his restrictions, Yu Yin’s energy was completely restored. Before he had even managed to open his eyes, he subconsciously brushed away at the hands on his body. “Don’t touch me!” He roared out as forcefully as possible amidst his exhaustion, as if he had just barely escaped the gates of h.e.l.l.
Suddenly, he opened his eyes to the bright s.p.a.ce surrounding him: the resting room.
A complete stranger was standing several steps away from the bed, having clearly jumped back in fright by his shout.
Yu Yin focused his gaze on the name tag the stranger wore: “Ding Wei Han”. The other person stared at him blankly, unsure of how to react.
As Yu Yin hurriedly shifted his gaze to the person, he froze in shock.
Past the stranger’s shoulder, he saw the clock hanging on the wall of the resting room. From the moment he had first entered here until now, only five minutes had elapsed.
And in that instant, Yu Yin’s mind went blank.