Chapter 14

“Is that really the Best Actress, Snow Weng? Didn’t she disappear? Is this some kind of publicity stunt for her new film?”

“Oh my god, she shaved her head... If this is for a new movie, that’s a huge sacrifice!”

Amid the excited murmurs and exclamations, the camera quickly shifted from Shen Chuyi and Bai Shizhou toward the crowd reacting in shock.

Shen Chuyi and Bai Shizhou looked simultaneously and immediately spotted the source of everyone’s alarm—a rough-quality video playing on the large screen of the mall diagonally opposite.

In the video, a woman was tied to a chair by her hands and feet, blood smeared across her body and face, her hair shaved into a messy buzz cut. She trembled and cried facing the camera: “I... I am actress Snow Weng. I must confess my crimes to the public... I abused my influence to suppress new actors... I used underhanded means to climb the ranks and steal opportunities meant for newcomers. I lured new actors into drinking parties, got them drunk, and handed them over to powerful officials’ beds...”

She looked as if coerced, glancing fearfully toward the opposite side, sobbing repeatedly: “It was me who coerced them; I colluded with the officials to force new actors to comply. They were innocent and forced... It was all my fault and the officials’...”

“Bao Xiao.” Bai Shizhou suddenly became alert, stepping aside to instruct Bao Xiao to rush to the playback room of the opposite mall. He also ordered the staff of the live focus news broadcast to cut the feed. “This might not be a stunt.”

“Yes.” Bao Xiao responded immediately and dashed out with a team.

“It really doesn’t look like a stunt. Her wounds are still bleeding; it’s not makeup effects.” Shen Chuyi was about to follow Bao Xiao but was stopped by Bai Shizhou.

“You’re injured. Don’t go.” Bai Shizhou gently grabbed Shen Chuyi’s uninjured arm.

Shen Chuyi wanted to say something, but the fearful cries of Snow Weng came from the screen behind: “Help me!”

Then the footage abruptly vanished, and the mall’s big screen returned to the previously playing commercial.

※※

The sky, which had just cleared, darkened again near evening.

Shen Chuyi was assigned to wait at the Special Crimes Department for the operation. Her injury wasn’t severe, but she had accidentally torn the wound a bit last night. This morning at the hospital, the doctor exaggeratedly suspended her entire left arm to reinforce it and prevent further injury.

Bored, she replayed the video of Snow Weng several times, trying to find clues, but her thoughts were a mess. One case had just closed, and before she could receive her bonus, another had emerged. Would Bai Shizhou withhold her bonus temporarily? Maybe give it after the second case was solved?

That wouldn’t do. She was a fraud always ready to vanish. If she was exposed tomorrow, it would all have been for nothing—a wasted shot, a pointless struggle, a vain dream of living an upright life.

Fresh fruit slices sent by other officers lay nearby. She wore the new clothes Bao Xiao had bought for her early that morning. Even the usually haughty Bai Shizhou treated her politely...

But all this was based on the fact that she was Shen Yulan, impersonating the real Shen Yulan.

Anxiety crept in. Her fingers unconsciously pressed the keyboard, repeatedly slowing down the video in the virtual screen... Suddenly, amid the slowed background audio of Snow Weng, she noticed a moment of muted sound.

Only three seconds of silence, right in the middle of Snow Weng’s words: “It was me who colluded with the officials to coerce new actors...”

Because it was so brief, it was undetectable during normal playback, seeming only like a video glitch.

Why was there such a short silence?

Before she could figure it out, all the personnel from the Special Crimes Department returned in a flurry.

Turning around, she actually saw Si Kang entering with An Jia Shu. Si Kang wore a black turtleneck sweater under his uniform, clearly to hide bite marks on his neck. She hadn’t meant to leave so many marks on him—it was his own request last night.

She had no mood to dwell on last night, just glanced at Si Kang, then stood and asked Bai Shizhou and Bao Xiao: “So, Snow Weng really is missing?”

“Yes. Reported missing two days ago.” Bai Shizhou answered as he led the team into the conference room.

Si Kang watched her closely, his gaze piercing as she followed Bai Shizhou, step by step.

Since entering, she had only glanced at him coldly, as if nothing had happened. How could she pretend nothing had happened? She had marked him!

Si Kang followed with a cold face. Bao Xiao even asked: “Detective Shen, didn’t you take a sick day for him? Is he better now?”

Detective Shen didn’t even look at him, taking the files from An Jia Shu.

“I’m fine, no need for leave.” Si Kang stared at her and replied coldly, his voice loud.

Detective Shen seemed not to hear, frowning and saying, “She really is missing...”

※※

“It’s been two days since the missing person report was filed.” An Jia Shu projected the case file obtained from the police department onto the virtual screen. “The report came from the local police in Yahaishi. Snow Weng’s agent reported that she went missing while filming a new movie by the seaside in Yahaishi.”

Bao Xiao also reported the information they and Bai Shizhou had gathered from the mall and Snow Weng’s family.

The mall staff didn’t know when the commercial video was tampered with. A segment of “Snow Weng’s confession” was inserted. The playback room’s manager and those who handled the commercial footage had all been sent for statements and investigation.

Snow Weng had no family; her closest person was Zhao Ming, her agent who had supported her career for over a decade.

Zhao Ming was still cooperating with the local police in Yahaishi to find Snow Weng.

“Is the Special Crimes Department going to intervene in this missing and kidnapping case?” Shen Chuyi asked, remembering that the department usually handled major crimes like the previous serial killer case.

“Cases like this usually don’t require Special Crimes involvement,” Bai Shizhou said, looking at her. “But the confession video appeared on official news broadcasts, clearly chosen deliberately by the kidnappers. I have orders from the cabinet; they want you to lead the investigation.”

Bao Xiao exchanged a glance with An Jia Shu, implying: I guessed right, they really want to make Detective Shen the second ‘criminal slayer.’

Shen Chuyi was a little surprised. “But I’m just an intern detective. I can only be an assistant, right?”

Bai Shizhou took out a file folder and placed it by her side. “I was supposed to give this to you during the interview today.”

Shen Chuyi opened the folder and saw a police badge and a temporary gun permit inside.

She pulled out the badge. It bore a photo of Shen Yulan, likely taken directly from a graduation picture—wearing a shirt, hair tied in a neat ponytail, eyes bright and spirited.

The badge read: Special Crimes Department Officer Shen Yulan.

“Officer Shen Yulan, stand up.” Bai Shizhou said beside her.

Shen Chuyi looked up at him and was pulled to her feet by Bao Xiao.

Bai Shizhou was a head taller than her. Looking into her eyes, there was more than just coldness and arrogance. “From today, you officially become a member of the Special Crimes Department. This is your sidearm.”

He raised his hand.

Shen Chuyi looked down to see a gun holstered, identical to the one An Jia Shu carried.

Bai Shizhou bent down and personally fastened the holster to her belt, saying, “You have a temporary gun permit. There’s only one bullet in the gun. After this case, you’ll need to take a test to get a permanent permit.”

He tightened the holster and straightened her newly issued police cap, which for now bore no badge. “The case is urgent; your badge will be officially granted only after the case is solved.”

Shen Chuyi gazed at him, fingers lightly tracing the holster. She was really becoming a police officer—a formal member of the Special Crimes Department.

This was what she had dreamed of five years ago, and also what she had given up on five years ago.

After all the twists and turns, she had achieved her ideal by stealing someone else’s life.

To be honest, she felt a bit sad but was ashamed of feeling sentimental, so she lowered her head and smiled faintly. Then she looked up with a playful grin and asked Bai Shizhou, “Can I get my first-class merit bonus now?”

This time Bai Shizhou didn’t frown because he smelled another scent on Detective Shen besides shampoo, buttered bread, and new clothes.

It was a sharp, nasal scent like mustard.

Few knew Bai Shizhou’s ability: besides pheromone suppression, his sense of smell was extremely acute, able to detect emotions at close range.

Was she sad?

Wanting the bonus so badly? Short on money?

Bai Shizhou was puzzled. He remembered that after Detective Shen’s parents died, she inherited a considerable sum, but she seemed to be in need of money.

※※

Meanwhile, in F City, the sky was heavy with clouds.

Zhang Dian stepped out of the principal’s office at one of F City’s key high schools. The principal greeted him warmly, lamenting, “It’s really a pity about Shen Yi. Professor Zhang, when you mentioned her, I remembered the student. She was admitted from the welfare home with top scores, the only one to enter the honors class. Her grades were always excellent—top marks in almost every major exam...”

The evening study bell rang across the campus.

Zhang Dian glanced down the corridor, watching the students flood the teaching building like schools of fish. The sky was dark with clouds, and beyond the playground lay a street of bright neon-lit casinos.

Before she turned nineteen, Miss Little Goat had attended this school. Did she squeeze in with these ordinary ‘fish,’ making friends, attending classes?

“She was the only student from our school to enter Julu Academy that year. She scored full marks on the supernatural ability assessment,” the principal continued. “I remember her well—not just because she studied hard but she was a troublemaker, often caught by teachers near the casino street. But because of her grades, teachers often turned a blind eye. Such a pity, no one expected she’d have an accident so young... Had she not, she’d probably have graduated from Julu Academy by now and maybe become an excellent detective like you, Professor Zhang.”

Zhang Dian smiled and said nothing. He stopped before a door and asked the principal, “You said her belongings were stored in the school’s storage room after she passed away. May I take a look?”

The principal was momentarily taken aback, realizing they had stopped at the storage room door. “Of course, of course.”

He called the custodian to open the storage room and led Zhang Dian inside.

The air was thick with dust and the scent of old things. Zhang Dian stopped before a small storage locker. The custodian opened one compartment: “She didn’t have many belongings.”

Inside the small locker lay an old backpack.

Before Zhang Dian reached out, his tentacles emerged in the dim light, eagerly wriggling into the old backpack.

Fortunately, ordinary people couldn’t see his supernatural abilities.

But they were noisy, rummaging through the backpack, chattering—

“One pen.”

“A tattered book.”

“A hair tie, that’s Little Goat’s hair tie, but it doesn’t smell like her.”

“What’s this? I can’t see clearly—is it a man’s photo?”

A photo?

Zhang Dian reached in with a gloved hand and pulled out the so-called “photo,” revealing a Julu Academy admissions booklet. The pages displayed photos of outstanding students from past years, including himself.

Curiously, behind his photo, Bai Shizhou’s photo was circled in red pen, with an ugly pair of glasses drawn on it.

Was this drawn by the nineteen-year-old Little Goat? Why single out Bai Shizhou?

The tentacles clamored—

“She must have hated him.”

“But Little Goat drew heart-shaped glasses.”

“A heart means she liked him. She liked Bai Shizhou.”

Too noisy.

Zhang Dian used his psychic power to push all the tentacles back and looked at the ugly glasses on the booklet, not feeling it resembled a heart shape.

Maybe she didn’t draw it.

But why did she only mark Bai Shizhou and no one else?

He disliked having a third party interfere in their game.