After a long silence, Ren Yi said again, “What about the basement? Is there anything we overlooked down there?”
“The only exit from the basement is the garage door. After the incident, the garage door was closed. If the murderer wanted to leave through the basement, he would have needed a remote control to open the garage door from inside and then close it from outside.” Gong Yingxian showed them a photograph. “These are my father’s keys.”
The photograph showed a set of keys that had already been blackened by smoke, but the oval shape of the remote control could still be made out.
“Captain Ren’s theory is currently the most likely possibility,” Qiu Yan said thoughtfully. “Unless…”
“Unless what?” Ren Yi asked without looking up, his gaze still moving between the model and the photographs.
Qiu Yan exchanged a glance with Gong Yingxian. Gong Yingxian gave a slight shake of his head, and she said, “Nothing. It’s not realistic.”
“Sometimes an unrealistic theory can turn out to be reality. You might as well say it so we can discuss it together,” Ren Yi said. “I also think my own theory is rather unrealistic. At the very least, there isn’t enough evidence to support it. I hope we can find more reliable evidence from these limited materials.”
Qiu Yan pursed her lips. “I was only wondering about the possibility that someone familiar with the family committed the crime. If so, perhaps the murderer had a chance to duplicate the keys, the remote control, and so on. But suspicious people were investigated at the very beginning of the case, and they were all eventually ruled out.”
“You said there might have been an insider among the people involved back then. If so, it’s not necessarily impossible that someone familiar with the family was involved. It’s just that after so many years, it’ll probably be difficult to find anything by investigating now.”
“The biggest problem with this case is that they concluded it was suicide from the very beginning,” Gong Yingxian said. “In 1967, there was a famous serial murder case in the United States. Because several of the first victims discovered were found near Black Rock Mountain, the media gave the murderer the nickname ‘The Black Rock Mountain Demon.’ As a result, it subconsciously suggested the same idea to everyone. A huge amount of manpower and resources was spent investigating around Black Rock Mountain, causing investigators to overlook similar cases in other places. In the end, they discovered that this had merely been one part of the murderer’s journey.”
Qiu Yan nodded. “Whether there was an insider back then or not, the murderer first disguised this incident as a suicide, creating a preconceived impression in the minds of the investigators. The media also helped push that conclusion. The subsequent evidence repeatedly seemed to prove that suicide was the most likely explanation. Under those circumstances, it’s very easy for people to be misled.”
“I think we still need to find the people who were involved back then and question them about the details.” Gong Yingxian looked at the materials in front of him. “We’ve already dug about as much as we can out of these things.”
“But how do we keep it confidential?” Qiu Yan frowned. “The moment we start investigating what happened back then, we’ll expose ourselves.”
“We can only do it under the guise of investigating the Bright God Cult. We’ll say that the two people we arrested confessed to some things that were connected to the old case.”
Qiu Yan said, “All right, but this still needs to remain confidential. You can’t participate directly either. We can’t determine how much connection the people involved back then have to the case. If you go, you’ll definitely expose yourself. I’ll have Cai Qiang arrange it.”
“Understood.” Gong Yingxian said, “I also want Little Tan to investigate the financial assets those people had back then.”
“Keep it discreet.” Qiu Yan yawned. “Let’s stop here for today. We’ll go over these materials more carefully. Maybe we’ll find some new clues. But right now, investigating Purple Flame can obviously give us more. So we need to put most of our energy into this organization.”
Both of them nodded in agreement. Purple Flame had already become the key to every case.
“I’m going to get some sleep. We’ll go to the substation together tomorrow morning.”
“Go ahead. Uncle Sheng prepared the incense you like.” Gong Yingxian said gratefully, “Sister Yan, thanks for your hard work.”
Qiu Yan blinked. “What’s there to thank me for? You two should get some rest early too.”
“Then I’m going back to the brigade.” Ren Yi immediately followed Qiu Yan. He didn’t want to be alone with Gong Yingxian right now.
“You stay.”
Gong Yingxian’s voice came from behind him.
Ren Yi stopped in his tracks.
Qiu Yan looked back at the two of them, gave them a helpless smile, and turned to leave.
Ren Yi turned around, his expression calm. “Is there something else?”
For a moment, even Gong Yingxian didn’t know why he had called Ren Yi back. He had simply seen how desperately Ren Yi wanted to avoid him, and anger had flared in his heart. He said unhappily, “It’s already after two. Why are you going back to the brigade?”
“After two isn’t that late.”
“Stay here and rest. I’ll have someone take you back when it’s daylight.”
Ren Yi knew it was difficult to get a taxi from here. If Gong Yingxian insisted on not letting him leave, there really wasn’t much he could do.
“Then I’ll go get some rest.”
“Wait.” Gong Yingxian quietly pressed his lips together, trying to conceal the sudden embarrassment that had risen in him. “The thing you promised me… when?”
Ren Yi took a deep breath and said quietly, “Are you serious?”
Gong Yingxian snapped angrily, “Do you think I’m joking with you?”
Ren Yi shrugged and deliberately tried to sound relaxed. “I think you’re making this request out of some kind of… desire for revenge. Or curiosity? Or maybe it’s like how you’re afraid of fire. Your doctor used fire for desensitization therapy, and you suddenly got the idea of using this method to treat your homophobia? I don’t know. Anyway, I don’t think you really want to do this.”
“You even know what I’m thinking?” Gong Yingxian’s tone was full of sarcasm.
“At least I know you’re straight, and that you’ve got psychological trauma. Fine, I’ll assume you’re just curious. I was curious when I first hit puberty too. Normal boys try all kinds of ways to satisfy their curiosity during adolescence—reading books, watching porn, dating early, discussing it with friends. You never had any of those experiences. You don’t socialize with people. In this respect, you’re at least ten years less mature than the rest of us. I understand why you want to explore this now, but do you really think I’m a suitable person for that?”
As Ren Yi said these words, his heart was aching terribly.
It wasn’t that he didn’t want to have sex with Gong Yingxian. Who wouldn’t want to completely surrender themselves to the person they loved? He was simply afraid.
If it succeeded, he was afraid that it would be his irresponsible guidance that led Gong Yingxian down a path he had never been meant to take.
If it failed, he was afraid of seeing an even deeper, more naked disgust in Gong Yingxian’s eyes.
Just imagining Gong Yingxian pushing him away when he became aroused and saying that he was “disgusting” was something he absolutely could not bear.
Gong Yingxian narrowed his eyes at Ren Yi, suppressing his anger. “Do you think I don’t know that I should find a woman? But for me, getting used to a stranger approaching me is harder than anything else. You cheated, in a way, by using your identity as my friend to make me get used to you. The physical contact we’ve had before has already gone beyond the level of intimacy I’ve ever had with anyone else. Why would I go farther afield when I can choose what’s closest to me?”
Ren Yi tried to hide the stabbing pain in his heart with a smile, but he couldn’t smile at all.
Not only could he not smile, he didn’t even know how to respond to Gong Yingxian’s words, which felt like thousands of arrows piercing straight through his heart.
Gong Yingxian looked at Ren Yi’s obviously wounded and humiliated expression. He felt both reluctant to hurt him and strangely satisfied, even though he himself couldn’t understand this contradictory and twisted state of mind.
Ren Yi gave a slight nod.
Suddenly, he thought, Fuck it. Whatever.
“All right. Since you put it that way, it looks like you’re not going to give up easily. Then let’s test it. Let’s test whether you really want to do this—or whether you even can.”
Gong Yingxian looked straight at him. “How do we test it?”
Ren Yi walked over.
Gong Yingxian tried to stand up from the chair, but Ren Yi pressed a hand against his shoulder, forcing him back down.
Ren Yi bent over, bracing both hands against the armrests of the chair. Then he slowly moved closer to Gong Yingxian, until the tips of their noses were almost touching, until they were close enough to exchange each other’s breath.
As Ren Yi’s face gradually drew closer and larger before him, Gong Yingxian could see his own reflection in those clear eyes. His heart began pounding uncontrollably.
Ren Yi took a deep breath and released his emotions.
The feelings he had suppressed for so long toward Gong Yingxian were finally exposed to the light in this moment, all of them engraved in Ren Yi’s eyes. His gaze moved affectionately over Gong Yingxian’s face before finally lowering to his lips.
Softly, he said, “Do you know what happens between a man and another man?”
“…I know.”
“How do you know?”
Ren Yi reached out and gently brushed the pad of his thumb across Gong Yingxian’s lower lip.
“I absorb knowledge regardless of whether I like it or not.”
Ren Yi’s long eyelashes appeared enlarged before Gong Yingxian’s eyes, lifting and falling like little fans stirring up a seductive spring breeze that blew straight into his heart. And the small mole on Ren Yi’s nose was like a tiny black hole, secretly sucking away his soul.
“Then can you imagine yourself with me?”
Ren Yi moved closer again, rubbing the tip of his nose lightly against Gong Yingxian’s.
Gong Yingxian gripped the armrests tightly with both hands. His heart was beating so fast it seemed as though it might burst out of his chest. His blood was boiling, his whole body feverishly hot.
He had never been this nervous before.
Ren Yi’s temperature, Ren Yi’s gaze, Ren Yi’s scent, Ren Yi’s voice, everything about Ren Yi was completely invading his nerves, leaving him dizzy again and again.
For the first time in his life, he understood what it meant to be completely lost in passion.
Ren Yi gave a low laugh.
“Do you dare?”
Gong Yingxian’s Adam’s apple moved up and down, and a thin layer of sweat appeared on his forehead. He felt embarrassed by his own reaction.
It practically proved what Ren Yi had said—he was shy and inexperienced, like a boy of barely ten.
This was so humiliating!
Ren Yi moved closer again.
Less than a finger’s width remained between their lips.
His eyes filled with affection, and he said softly, “Yingxian, I’m going to kiss you.”
As Ren Yi moved closer, Gong Yingxian’s body instinctively leaned backward.
It wasn’t avoidance. It was probably something like the nervousness one feels when returning to their hometown after being away for a long time. The more desperately he wanted it, the more panicked and flustered he became when it was actually about to happen.
Eventually, Gong Yingxian’s back pressed against the chair.
There was nowhere left for him to retreat.
And as Gong Yingxian retreated, the firelight in Ren Yi’s eyes gradually went out. He returned to his usual self and gave a faint smile.
“See? You can’t accept it at all.”
He started to straighten up.
Gong Yingxian grabbed his hand and held it down, staring at him intensely.
Ren Yi forcefully pulled his hand away and gritted his teeth.
“Don’t you understand? This isn’t what you want. You can’t even handle kissing me, let alone anything more intimate. I really don’t understand what you’re trying to prove by forcing yourself like this. Stop messing around!”
With that, he turned and strode away.
Gong Yingxian’s expression twisted slightly.
A surge of hot blood rushed straight to his head.
He shot up from the chair, took several quick steps after Ren Yi, grabbed him by the shoulder, and spun him around.
His other hand caught Ren Yi’s narrow jaw.
Then he lowered his head and kissed him fiercely.
The world came to a standstill.