Chapter 79.2: Layers of the Game (2)

"You’ve never experienced my dad beating someone with his belt—man, he was intense. When I watched Bruce Lee movies as a kid, every time Bruce swung his nunchucks, I imagined it was my dad."

"Focus on the files."

Li Zhuiyuan handed over his half of the documents to Tan Wenbin.

As Wenbin glanced at the personal info of a witness and swallowed two soup dumplings, Li Zhuiyuan leaned back in his chair, fingers softly tracing the tabletop.

"Wait—bro, I spent a whole day and night getting this file, and you finished reading it just like that?"

"Yeah."

"No wonder my dad used to say you should’ve been a homicide detective."

Li Zhuiyuan closed his eyes, letting the case file reorganize itself in his mind.

Zhao Junfeng had insulted and murdered Qiu Minmin late at night in a campus toilet.

There were three eyewitnesses—one male and two females—Wu Xinhui, Liu Xinya, and Zhu Hongyu.

The three of them had been rehearsing a dance play with Qiu Minmin in an empty lecture hall. Midway, Qiu Minmin went to the bathroom. She didn’t return for a long time, so the others went to look for her—only to see Zhao Junfeng rushing out of the toilet in a panic.

The two girls went in and found Qiu Minmin’s body.

After the incident, the school’s security and student council pursued Zhao Junfeng. They spotted him near West Lake—the same lake where Wenbin had jogged his first night. Zhao Junfeng injured several students and fled the campus.

The police then got involved. They found Zhao Junfeng again near General’s Mountain. The student council was mobilized for a search. During the standoff, Zhao Junfeng took Wu Xinhui hostage with a knife. Police fired, rescuing Wu Xinhui. Zhao Junfeng was shot and fell into the river.

It took three days to retrieve his body.

With three witnesses, plus Zhao’s resistance and flight, the case was quickly closed.

Li Zhuiyuan asked, “Is the student council this active at college?”

Tan Wenbin finished the last sip of his soy milk and nodded. “Seems like it. They recruit after the semester starts. But Liang Bro told me not to waste time on that.”

“Oh?”

“He said the student council is the cradle of toxic bureaucracy in China. A few top dogs get to cozy up to faculty and enjoy petty power trips. Everyone else just hauls tables and runs errands.”

“The file says Wu Xinhui was the council president that year.”

“Yeah, I saw that.”

“And Zhao Junfeng was pursuing Qiu Minmin. He once lit candles outside the girls’ dorm to confess, but she rejected him.”

“Little Yuan Bro, if I read this file on my own, I’d say nothing’s off. But now that Qiu Minmin’s turned into a Dead Sinker, something's definitely fishy in this case.”

“Mhm.”

“So are we going to investigate the three witnesses? We’ll need Liang Bro for that. He wasn’t at school back then, but he’s got connections and can dig around.”

“Also maybe talk to the officer who fired the shot, get some firsthand details.”

“No need.” Li Zhuiyuan shook his head. “We’re not detectives. No reason to follow protocol.”

Then he told Wenbin what he’d learned at the General’s Temple the day before.

“You mean we’re going to move directly on Ran Qiuping?”

“Not just her. Also the two fellow Corpse Retrievers at the temple.”

“Then we’ll need to wait for Runsheng to heal up. From your description, Yin Meng and I probably can’t take on that old Corpse Retriever.”

“But I don’t want to wait too long. The longer we drag this out, the more risks arise.” Li Zhuiyuan glanced at the "dorm warding" he’d set up. “Just because you can’t win in a fair fight doesn’t mean you have to fight fair.”

“Ah, right.” Wenbin got the message. “Then we don’t need to worry about winning.”

Just then, Wenbin’s pager buzzed. He ran out to return the call, then quickly came back.

“Little Yuan Bro, Liang Bro says he and Luo Gong are coming back tonight. They invited us to dinner at Lijing Restaurant downtown at seven. You in?”

“Yeah. It’s not like we’re striking tonight. I still need to sketch out the formation…”

“But you draw fast.”

“Then you guys have to memorize it.”

“Oh, true. Especially Yin Meng—her brain’s hopeless.”

“Take a rest. You didn’t sleep last night.”

“I’m good.”

“You’ll need to be sharp tonight. Life, school, Dead Sinkers—we don’t need to abandon any of them. We can pace ourselves.”

“Alright, I get it.”

Wenbin understood what Little Yuan meant. Luo Gong had only officially taken in Liangliang and Little Yuan. He hadn’t accepted Wenbin yet. If he wanted to earn Luo Gong’s favor, it would ease his academic path too.

At the very least, he wouldn’t be stuck prepping for finals alone at school while the others followed Luo Gong on fieldwork in other provinces.

Wenbin went to sleep. Li Zhuiyuan sat at the desk and drew two formation drafts.

If the Qi Clan ancestors knew their imperial tomb-guarding techniques were being simplified for back-alley fights, they’d probably claw their way out of their coffins in fury.

But makeshift formations had major drawbacks—short duration, and more importantly, no distinction between friend and foe.

That’s why Wenbin and Yin Meng needed to memorize the positional map. Otherwise, when the fight broke out, they'd end up suffering the same backlash as the enemy—what would be the point of the formation then?

After finishing the drafts, Li Zhuiyuan drew a positioning chart. Then, to help them remember it, he started composing a rhyming mnemonic.

In this aspect, Runsheng had always been the most cooperative.

There was another, more direct option: “borrowing” the Dead Sinker under the General’s statue. But that was too risky. Until its identity was confirmed, Li Zhuiyuan didn’t dare harness its power.

If that set off a chain reaction, Heaven would come knocking for settlement.

By noon, Wenbin woke up.

“Little Yuan Bro, how long did I sleep?”

“A few hours. You could sleep a bit more.”

“No need, I snuck in a few naps last night. I’m good.” Wenbin climbed down from the bed. “I’ll head to the shop, grab some food, and check on Sun Hongxia.”

“She can be released.”

“Huh? What if she reports us for illegal detention?”

“Then we tell the cops she stole money from our shop. Beat her to the punch.”

“Nice angle.” Wenbin thought about it and found no flaws.

“She won’t call the police. If she were going to, she would’ve the first time she saw a ghost.” Li Zhuiyuan tapped his forehead. “She may look normal, but her mind’s cracked.”

“Oh, I see.”

“And tell her—there might be hidden truths behind her son’s case.”

“You’re still kind, Little Yuan Bro.”

Li Zhuiyuan: “…”

After Wenbin left, Li Zhuiyuan poured himself a cup of hot water from the thermos. As he blew on it, he murmured to himself:

“She’s going to lose her mind.”

In the shop basement, Wenbin unlocked the door and saw Sun Hongxia still bound. Xiao Hei was in the room, watching her.

Sun Hongxia looked utterly lifeless. After Wenbin untied her, she numbly went to the bathroom, then came out to eat and drink. When she was done, she knelt beside the bed, quietly waiting to be tied up and gagged again.

“You’re free to go.”

Sun Hongxia looked up at him in disbelief.

“We’ve looked into it. There might be hidden truths in your son’s case.”

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