He was afraid that Xi Yu would get angry and then scold him for being unrestrained.
Lu Zhixing gripped the steering wheel, completely unaware of the complicated thoughts in Xi Yu’s heart.
Xi Yu was only looking at his own hand, wondering why it felt itchy.
As for being angry, he wasn’t angry at all.
Although Xi Yu had spent so many years in the mortal world, joking around with Old Dog and the others, he was completely helpless against the enthusiasm of the aunties.
Lu Zhixing had just been helping him out of that situation. How could he possibly be angry?
Wouldn’t that be repaying kindness with ingratitude?
Xi Yu tugged at it for a long while without success, so he simply licked the back of his hand.
Lu Zhixing caught sight of it from the corner of his eye, and the hand gripping the steering wheel instantly tightened.
Xi Yu’s scarlet tongue landed on the exact spot Lu Zhixing had just kissed.
Lu Zhixing’s Adam’s apple bobbed. His entire body began to grow feverish, and he asked hoarsely, “Why are you licking it?”
“Disinfecting it.”
Lu Zhixing was silent for two seconds. “Don’t lick things randomly next time. It’s not good if bacteria get into your stomach.”
Xi Yu didn’t care much. “It’s fine. My body is healthy.”
Lu Zhixing said nothing more.
If he didn’t know what his shizun was like, he really might have misunderstood.
Misunderstood that his shizun was seducing him—
by using the tip of his tongue to lick the spot he had kissed.
Lu Zhixing suddenly thought of a popular anime from before, where the two male protagonists supported each other and fought against heavenly tribulations together.
The two of them had no romantic storyline, yet unexpectedly attracted a huge number of CP fans and became extremely popular for quite some time.
Some netizens would ship them and jokingly say that the straight male director had gone too far.
Just like Xi Yu.
Xi Yu was too open and straightforward. It was Lu Zhixing who was dirty-minded.
An innocent little action from Xi Yu had stirred up a tremendous storm in his heart.
Lu Zhixing took a deep breath.
He couldn’t go on like this. He couldn’t.
Lu Zhixing’s thoughts were a mess, while Xi Yu knew nothing about them. He was seriously scrolling through his phone.
Because this matter had already made it onto the trending searches.
Someone had taken photographs in the afternoon.
Photographs of Zhang Ping and Zhao Qi’s father by the river.
Among them, the discussion surrounding Zhang Ping was even greater.
Six of the nine photographs were of Zhang Ping. He was kneeling on the ground, his eyes vacant, his expression desperate and pained.
The comments were almost overwhelmingly sympathetic toward him.
【I’m the deceased woman’s husband’s coworker. He suddenly left during the meeting today. I never expected something like this to have happened. The couple had a really good relationship and had never even had a serious argument. We were all envious of them. Fate really plays cruel tricks on people.】
【Seeing Zhang Ping makes me believe in love again.】
【May she rest in peace. She wouldn’t bear to see you this heartbroken from heaven.】
【Why do ruthless men prosper while devoted men have to suffer this kind of blow?!】
……
Xi Yu scrolled from top to bottom. Of course, there were conspiracy theories too.
【We don’t know the whole story, so I won’t comment. The most tragic one is the elderly parent having to bury their child.】
【Leaving a pregnant woman at home, having the pregnant woman go to the river in the middle of the night, and it happens to be a blind spot with no surveillance. I won’t say too much, but I just feel that none of this makes sense.】
【There are people from the insurance company in the photos, right? Until I see who the insurance beneficiary is, I don’t want to say too much.】
The rest were mostly expressions of sympathy and condolences.
Xi Yu stopped reading, turned off his phone, and said to Lu Zhixing, “Go to the Rongcheng Police Station.”
Lu Zhixing immediately turned the steering wheel and made a U-turn without asking a single question.
At the entrance of the police station, Xi Yu pushed the door open and walked inside.
“Is there something I can help you with?”
Xi Yu said, “Hello, I’d like to see Zhang Meng.”
“Please wait a moment. May I ask who you are?”
“Just tell him the surname is Xi. He’ll know.”
While the receptionist was making the call, Xi Yu turned his head and noticed that Lu Zhixing’s collar had flipped outward slightly. He casually reached over and straightened it for him.
Lu Zhixing was looking at his phone when he suddenly felt a cool touch against his neck. He looked up and saw Xi Yu using one hand to straighten his collar, while with the other, Xi Yu waved toward the man walking over.
The man wore a green shirt and had a cigarette dangling from his mouth. His features were quite handsome, but there were dark circles under his eyes, making him look as though he had been up all night for a long time.
“Officer Zhang—”
Xi Yu greeted him, but his smile lasted less than three seconds before he saw the man walk past him toward the entrance and urgently ask the receptionist, “Where is he? Are you sure his surname is Xi?”
Chapter 26: Slight Do
Xi Yu: “……”
He had forgotten to change his face.
The receptionist was also completely confused and pointed at Xi Yu. “He’s right here. He said his surname is Xi.”
Zhang Meng frowned and looked at Xi Yu twice before telling the receptionist, “I don’t know him.”
Zhang Meng looked at Xi Yu again and asked irritably, “Who the hell are you? If you have something to say, just say it. This is a police station, not somewhere you can come and see whoever you want.”
“Next time someone comes looking for me, ask what it’s about first. I’ve been awake for three days and just fell asleep for two damn minutes. You got my hopes up for nothing.”
After firing off a string of complaints, Zhang Meng turned around and walked away.
Xi Yu folded his arms and looked at his back before slowly saying, “Officer Zhang, are you wearing pink-dotted leopard-print underwear today?”
“Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”
Zhang Meng’s footsteps abruptly stopped. His face filled with horror. He hurried over to Xi Yu in a few strides and reached out to cover his mouth.
Lu Zhixing’s eyes turned cold. He grabbed Zhang Meng by the collar.
“Don’t put your hands on him.”
Zhang Meng wasn’t weak when it came to physical strength, but under Lu Zhixing’s grip, he was actually unable to move.
Xi Yu’s eyes curved with amusement. “That counts as assaulting a police officer, right?”
The receptionist beside them had already gone into alert mode.
Zhang Meng stared at Xi Yu. After two seconds, he finally asked uncertainly, “Xi… Xi Yu?”
Lu Zhixing released him.
Xi Yu nodded.
“Holy shit, did you get plastic surgery?”
Xi Yu had no way to explain it, so he brushed it off. “A little do. About forty percent.”
Once Zhang Meng recognized him, he waved toward the receptionist and brought them into his office.
As soon as the office door closed, Zhang Meng burst into tears despite his panda eyes.
“You heartless bastard! You didn’t even give me a phone number. Do you know what I’ve been going through all this time?!”
When Lu Zhixing heard the words heartless bastard, he casually glanced at Xi Yu, the corners of his lips pressing down slightly.
One day in Heaven was one year in the mortal world.
Xi Yu had been reborn for twenty years, which amounted to only twenty days for him inside the illusion.
Yet in those twenty days, Xi Yu had gotten to know so many people.
So many that it annoyed him.
Seeing how familiar the two of them were with each other, wisps of killing intent rose from the depths of Lu Zhixing’s heart. Black mist spread along his meridians. He bit his lip, tasting a trace of sweetness mixed with blood on the tip of his tongue, and only then slowly suppressed the spread of his demonic qi.
Xi Yu didn’t notice Lu Zhixing’s brief abnormality. Zhang Meng had pressed him into a chair, and the pile of cases before him made his head ache.
Zhang Meng seemed to have caught hold of a lifesaving straw.
“There is a perfect crime here. I really can’t find any clues. Help me calculate it.”
Zhang Meng was a materialist and had never believed in things like metaphysics.
But a year ago, he met Xi Yu.
There had been a serial murder case last year. He had followed it for a month but couldn’t find a single clue.
The murderer even taunted them several times, leaving the name of the next victim behind each time.
Zhang Meng had been cursed out by his superiors. Every time, he tried desperately to protect the victims, only to watch them die right before his eyes.
That period had been the darkest time of his life.
The final victim had been dismembered, and beside the body was written the name of his teammate’s daughter.
Zhang Meng finally couldn’t hold on any longer. After drinking some alcohol, he wandered drunkenly onto an overpass, where he happened to see Xi Yu setting up a fortune-telling stall.
Five yuan per reading.
At the time, Zhang Meng was drowning in severe self-doubt. Without knowing what possessed him, he actually pulled out five yuan and asked Xi Yu to calculate his fortune.
In the end, for five yuan, he got a portrait that looked practically like a ghost, with only a scar on the eyebrow standing out unusually clearly.
Zhang Meng decided to treat a dead horse as though it were still alive and followed the clue of that scar. In the end, he found the security guard at his own residential complex and finally solved the case.
Later, Zhang Meng brought several other cases to him—cases that were close to the statute of limitations, where if the culprits weren’t found soon, they could no longer be punished.
Xi Yu could always give him the most crucial clues and locate where the murderer was hiding.
Once or twice could be coincidence, but after so many times, it couldn’t be.
Zhang Meng finally believed that the end of science was metaphysics.
He didn’t completely rely on Xi Yu, either. He could handle many cases himself. But last month, because he had repeatedly performed outstandingly, his superiors gave him a three-year-old unsolved case from the capital. He couldn’t find a lead, so he went looking for Xi Yu.
Only to find that the man was gone!!!
Xi Yu’s appearance today was no different from a pie falling from the sky.
He placed the case in front of Xi Yu.
Xi Yu closed it.
“I came to find you today because I wanted to ask about Zhao Qi.”
Zhang Meng thought for a moment. “The girl who fell into the water yesterday afternoon? That’s an ordinary case. It doesn’t fall under me. She accidentally fell into the water. Why are you asking about her?”
“No.”
“What do you mean, no?”
Xi Yu crossed his long legs, lightly tapping his fingertip against the tabletop.
“It wasn’t an accident. It was murder.”
Zhang Meng bit down on his cigarette without lighting it. Upon hearing this, he lowered his head and lit it, then got up and walked out.
Not long afterward, he returned with a document and handed it to Xi Yu.
Xi Yu flipped through it as Zhang Meng explained from the side, “This girl had a huge insurance policy. The insurance company required an autopsy. It was confirmed that she drowned underwater. You say she was murdered—who do you suspect? Her husband?”
“There are indeed many people online saying that her husband killed her to defraud the insurance company, but that’s impossible.”
Xi Yu waited for him to continue.
“Zhao Qi’s insurance beneficiary was her father, not Zhang Ping. Even if he killed Zhao Qi, he couldn’t get the money.”
“As for her father, that’s even less likely. He’s in the hospital right now. The blow was too great, and he can’t be discharged. He’s barely conscious. A person in that condition killing his own daughter for insurance money? It doesn’t make sense.”
Before Xi Yu could respond, Lu Zhixing, who was sitting on the sofa nearby, turned his head and asked,
“If Zhao Qi’s father were to die, who would inherit his estate?”