To keep Gong Fei Lan from feeling sad, they did exactly as they had promised and ate every last bit of everything. Ren Yi even took a few photos of the pastries, which had been knocked into a complete mess, and sent them to Gong Yingxian with the caption: Thank you for the hospitality, Dr. Gong.
The next day, Ren Yi still steeled himself and shamelessly went to Hongwu Precinct, but he really couldn’t think of anything he could give Gong Yingxian, so he went empty-handed.
Before going, Ren Yi had specifically contacted Tan Haochun to confirm that Gong Yingxian was at the precinct, but when he arrived, Gong Yingxian wasn’t at his desk.
Tan Haochun happened to be passing by. When he saw Ren Yi, he hurried over. “Captain Ren, Dr. Gong isn’t here? That’s strange. He was just here.”
Ren Yi thought, Could Gong Yingxian be deliberately avoiding me? But he didn’t even know I was coming.
“I’ll ask around for you.” Tan Haochun went over to chat with a colleague.
Before long, he came back. “Dr. Gong just went to the training range to practice shooting. I’ll take you there. You’ve never seen our shooting range, have you?”
“Let’s go. I really haven’t.”
The two of them chatted as they walked. Tan Haochun was still thinking about the bounty placed on them on the dark web, so he asked Ren Yi whether he had been safe recently.
“Don’t worry. Nothing’s happened.”
“That’s good. It looks like there’s been some progress on the Wanyuan Community case.”
“Really? Then I’ll ask him about it in a bit.”
Tan Haochun unconsciously lowered his voice. “Dr. Gong seems to have been in a really bad mood these past two days. Captain Ren, you’d better be careful.”
Ren Yi smiled. “Careful of what? He doesn’t eat people.”
“But when he’s being especially serious, he’s actually kind of scary.” Tan Haochun rubbed his nose. “I feel like he’s not even a real person. He seems like someone out of an anime—good-looking and incredibly capable. And that presence of his… Anyway, I’m kind of afraid of him.”
Ren Yi thought that Gong Yingxian’s appearance really was intimidating. Who would have thought that underneath it all, he could be so childish and willful? Thinking of those innocent pastries, Ren Yi couldn’t help laughing helplessly. “You’re a police officer, for crying out loud. Why are you afraid of him?” After saying it, he inexplicably felt a little guilty. Actually, he himself would unconsciously do whatever Gong Yingxian told him to do…
“I’m a police officer, sure, but I work in an office. Do I look like someone who goes out to catch criminals? I hate exercise the most.” At that, Tan Haochun sighed and said worriedly, “What am I going to do about this year’s firearms and physical fitness assessments?”
“You have assessments too?”
“Of course. Even though I don’t work in the field, I still have to pass the assessments.” Tan Haochun said enviously, “I wish I were as capable as Dr. Gong. He’s ranked first in every assessment, both academic and physical.”
“…He’s that good?”
“Yeah. Back then, he got into the police academy ranked first, and graduated ranked first too. Then he got his PhD from MIT at twenty-two. He’s a genuine genius. There’s definitely a reason everyone gives Dr. Gong some leeway even though he’s so antisocial.”
Ren Yi inexplicably felt proud. Gong Yingxian really was the most outstanding person he’d ever known. And someone like that was also righteous and responsible—how could anyone not admire him?
Although, admittedly, his temper really was awful…
As they talked, Tan Haochun led Ren Yi into a gym. At this hour, only two or three people were running. As they walked farther inside, Tan Haochun reminded him, “The gunshots are going to be pretty loud in a moment. Don’t be scared.”
Ren Yi laughed. “I used to be in the armed police.”
Tan Haochun slapped his forehead. “I forgot.” He pushed open a thick soundproof door and brought him into the firearms training room.
Gong Yingxian was standing with his back to them inside one of the shooting stalls, firing at a target. Since he was wearing earmuffs, he was completely unaware that they had arrived.
After the weather turned colder, Gong Yingxian had started wearing suit jackets, so he had moved his holster from his ankle to his body. At that moment, over his snow-white shirt, he wore a pure-black shoulder holster with straps running over both shoulders and crossing at the center. As Gong Yingxian raised his arms, the straps outlined the clear, powerful lines of his shoulder blades, making his broad back and narrow waist unmistakable. One leg was planted firmly to stabilize his stance, accentuating the taut curve of his buttocks and his impossibly long legs. He looked just like a secret agent in a movie—dangerous and sexy.
Ren Yi’s face suddenly burned red.
“Captain Ren, what’s wrong?” Tan Haochun asked curiously. “Your face is so red. Is it too stuffy in here?”
Ren Yi felt as guilty as a thief caught red-handed. He looked around, futilely trying to find somewhere to hide. “Ah… it is a little. Isn’t the air conditioning on?” Ren Yi pretended to wipe away his sweat, but his eyes still couldn’t help sneaking glances at Gong Yingxian’s back.
“It doesn’t feel hot either. I’ll turn on the ventilation.” Tan Haochun went to the door to find the central air-conditioning panel.
Ren Yi took several deep breaths to calm himself down while inwardly cursing himself a few times.
Tan Haochun finished adjusting the air conditioning and came back. Taking advantage of the moment when Gong Yingxian was changing magazines, he called out, “Gong…”
Unexpectedly, Gong Yingxian changed magazines so quickly that before Tan Haochun could finish calling him, his hand had already dropped and risen again, and he continued firing at the target.
With his 5.2 vision, Ren Yi could tell from a distance that every bullet had hit the bull’s-eye. His own shooting scores back then had been pretty good too, but to reach this level, there had been only a handful of people in the entire school who could do it.
Finally, after he finished firing one magazine, Tan Haochun quickly called out, “Dr. Gong!”
Gong Yingxian finally heard him. He turned around and froze when he saw the two of them. He frowned slightly, lowered his gun, and removed his shooting glasses and earmuffs—the three items were all placed together on a white cloth.
“Dr. Gong, Captain Ren is here to see you,” Tan Haochun said with a smile. “Why did you suddenly come practice shooting?”
“The assessment is coming up. I wanted to get familiar with it again.” Gong Yingxian glanced at Ren Yi and said expressionlessly.
Ren Yi awkwardly greeted him. “Hi.”
Gong Yingxian stared coldly at Ren Yi without saying anything.
Tan Haochun sensed that something was off between the two of them and tactfully said, “I’ll leave you two to talk. I’m going back to work.”
After Tan Haochun left, Ren Yi smiled helplessly. “I came today to apologize to you. I’m sorry. I was impulsive last time.”
Gong Yingxian folded his arms across his chest, lifting his chin slightly without saying a word.
“At the time… I never thought you were a coward because you’re afraid of fire. I told you, everyone has something they’re afraid of. Other than fire, it seems like you’re not afraid of anything. You’re already incredibly brave. I was just worried about you at the time.”
Gong Yingxian’s expression softened slightly. “You really know you were wrong?”
“Mm. Don’t be angry anymore, okay?” Ren Yi unconsciously softened his voice as he coaxed him.
“It took you five days to figure that out?”
Ren Yi gave a dry laugh, and a little flame of irritation rose in his chest, but he still gritted his teeth and swallowed it down.
Gong Yingxian gave a soft snort and glared at him. “I went out of my way to help you, and you still dared to curse at me. You really don’t appreciate kindness.”
“Yes, I was wrong.” Ren Yi could only smile apologetically.
Gong Yingxian rolled his eyes at him and said coldly, “What are you afraid of?”
“Huh?” Ren Yi didn’t react for a moment.
“You said everyone has something they’re afraid of. What are you afraid of?”
“This… this is personal.”
Gong Yingxian ordered, “Tell me. If you do, I’ll consider forgiving you.”
Ren Yi scratched his hair, somewhat embarrassed, and mumbled, “Ghosts.”
“What?” Gong Yingxian hadn’t heard him at all.
“Ghosts.” Ren Yi gave up trying to hide it and said loudly.
Gong Yingxian burst out laughing. He quickly covered it up, but Ren Yi still saw it.
Gong Yingxian gave a snort through his nose. “Fine. I can’t be bothered to hold it against you.”
Ren Yi breathed a sigh of relief. “Then… you’ll still come to my house on Saturday, right?”
“If I don’t go, Uncle Sheng will nag me for ages.” Gong Yingxian spoke in a tone that made it sound as though he were doing it under protest.
The gloom that had weighed on Ren Yi for several days instantly vanished. He said happily, “Then we’ll stick to the original plan.”
“Mm. By the way, why wasn’t the address you sent me the place where you live?”
“Oh, that’s my family’s old house. My dad is sick, so it’s not very convenient.”
Gong Yingxian frowned. “What illness?”
“Dementia.” Ren Yi said it calmly. He had hesitated over whether to tell Gong Yingxian about the connection between him and his father, Old Ren, but Gong Yingxian had been so young back then that he probably didn’t remember. Deliberately bringing it up would make it seem as though he were asking for credit, which didn’t feel right. Besides, he didn’t want Gong Yingxian to dredge up those cruel memories, so he decided not to tell him.
“My family has a private hospital that we have a controlling stake in. I can have your father added to a public welfare program so he can receive free medical treatment.”
Ren Yi smiled. “Thank you, but there’s no need. My dad has medical insurance and subsidies, so it doesn’t cost much.”
Gong Yingxian nodded. “If you ever need anything in the future, just tell me.”
Ren Yi’s heart warmed. He had never been willing to trouble other people, much less accept such a significant gift, but he was still deeply touched. He smiled and gave Gong Yingxian an OK sign. “Oh, right. I also wanted to ask about the progress on the case.”
“Let’s talk outside.” Gong Yingxian put away his shooting glasses and earmuffs, returned the gun to its holster, and led Ren Yi out of the training room.
Along the way, Ren Yi couldn’t help sneaking glances at Gong Yingxian’s upper body, strapped into the shoulder holster. His heart felt as though a little claw were gently scratching at it, leaving him unbearably itchy.
“Do you want to play with guns?” Gong Yingxian asked.
Ren Yi jumped. “Huh?”
“You’ve been looking at my gun.”
Ren Yi stammered, “Uh, yeah. I haven’t touched a gun since I graduated from college.”
“I have a paintball gun at home that has the same feel as a real gun. You can come play with it next time,” Gong Yingxian said. “This one isn’t an option.”
Ren Yi laughed. “I know.”
Gong Yingxian brought Ren Yi back to his desk and handed him a stack of documents. “We’ve found quite a few clues. There are surveillance recordings as well as eyewitnesses. We can now confirm that the person wearing the hood was the arsonist.”
Ren Yi flipped through the documents. There were numerous surveillance-camera images, and the suspect had also been captured outside the residential complex.
“We pulled all the surveillance footage from the roads around this area. Based on his route, walking speed, and timing, we’ve determined that he probably took a bus and got off at the Shuangyang Road bus stop. Then we pulled the recordings from every bus that stopped there during that time period and found him on Bus No. 15. He boarded on Xianfu Road.”
“Xianfu Road? That’s not far from where Zhou Chuan burned the car.”
“Right. But when we searched the cameras around Xianfu Road for him, we only managed to track him for half a block. There aren’t many cameras there, so we can only estimate the general area. The auxiliary officers are still looking for clues around there.”
Ren Yi nodded. “It’s too difficult to find someone based on this alone. Can we confirm now that he’s connected to the car-burning case?”
“I’ve already made up my mind that he is, but we don’t have enough evidence.” Gong Yingxian frowned. “And we’ve already found the suspect who burned the car.”
“Who?”
Gong Yingxian turned to the next page of the documents.
Ren Yi had seen the person in the photograph before. It was Peng Fei, the man who had been dragged to the precinct by the wife of the victim from 2209 and lived in 2212.
“Yes. His build matches the black-clad man we saw, and he has a motive.”
“At the same time, he has no alibi for the night the car was burned. He lives alone. He says he was sleeping at home, but no one can verify that.”
“Where is he living now?”
“His house is being renovated, so he’s staying at a friend’s place. This man is very smart. None of his answers have any holes. Xiao Tan hacked into his computer and phone, but still didn’t find any useful information.”
“If he goes on the dark web, he definitely wouldn’t use his own computer or phone.” Ren Yi flipped through the documents as he spoke. “If we can catch one person now, we can pull the other one out too.”
“Exactly. Peng Fei appeared very calm because when I interrogated him, I never mentioned the car-burning case. He thought I was questioning him only about the 2209 arson case.”
Ren Yi asked in confusion, “Why didn’t you ask him about the car-burning case?”
“I’m waiting.” Gong Yingxian gave a cold laugh. “I’m waiting until Zhou Chuan can be discharged from the hospital. I’m going to arrange for them to meet. No matter how good Peng Fei is at pretending, he won’t be able to hide that momentary look of surprise and panic.”