Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 26

Chapter 26: I Can Grant Any Request

Cohabitation?

Qin Luo choked on the question.

A stuffy, burning sensation in her heart.

She looked away from the screen, pushed off with her toes, and her chair swiveled to face Shen Yiyi.

“Why are you asking that?”

Shen Yiyi placed the paper cup on the table, not meeting Qin Luo’s gaze. “I want to know.”

Ambiguity hit a firewall. If it broke through, it would burn to ashes. If it didn’t, it would just land and burn dry grass. Adults loved to play games in the open.

Ambiguity was effortless, not mentally taxing. Occasionally, a small financial loss could even lead to a string of sweet grapes.

Qin Luo hadn’t understood Liu Jia before.

She had thought, how can this sister have the energy to flirt with people after working overtime until dawn, and still be able to do it after two rounds of drinking…

Now she understood a little. This act of pretending to be clueless, of feigning resistance while secretly welcoming it, would squeeze one’s heart, and the rush of blood would make one always feel young.

Qin Luo rested her hand on the table and gave the chair’s wheels another push.

She smoothly glided to Shen Yiyi’s chair, looked at her turned-away profile, and asked with a smile, “Why do you want to know that?”

Shen Yiyi’s throat was still sore from crying. She cleared her throat. “To understand your past life.”

Shen Yiyi didn’t dare to turn her head. Qin Luo was too close, as if only that white camisole separated them.

It wasn’t that she had never seen a woman in a camisole.

Summer and winter were the peak seasons for homicides. The female victims in all kinds of cases wore all sorts of clothes.

Female victims in white camisoles could appear at the scenes of car accidents, hangings, and cliff falls. She had even cut open these people, sawed their skulls, and stitched their severed limbs.

In her profession, people were sometimes the same as corpses, just a bloody mess of flesh.

But tonight was different.

The Qin Luo in front of her was only wearing a camisole, her legs crossed on the ergonomic chair. Her hot pants were wide open due to her sitting position, the fabric pushed up to the base of her thighs. Her hand was resting on her ankle, completely relaxed as she surveyed her.

Her fingertips had been touched by the warmth of her lips, and her mind was not just filled with memories of the past.

But… Qin Luo wasn’t fair-skinned at sixteen or seventeen, was she?!

Shen Yiyi remembered that Qin Luo was just thin back then.

And because Qin Luo was tall and her facial expression was always tense, she looked thin and dull. From a distance, she looked like a soft stalk of straw, the kind that was too much trouble to even use as kindling.

She also used to wrap herself up back then.

Especially in the winter. Maybe thin people were afraid of the cold. Qin Luo would wear four layers inside and outside her school uniform, and wrap a scarf around her neck and tuck it into her clothes. But even so, she didn’t look bulky, and it actually suited her delicate face.

Because she was nearsighted and her family hadn’t gotten her glasses, she would always squint to see people. But later, she felt it was impolite, so she got into the habit of avoiding eye contact.

But Shen Yiyi thought Qin Luo’s eyes were beautiful, gentle and refined, not empty, just a little timid.

She didn’t know where Qin Luo’s timidity came from, nor where it had gone now.

She only remembered that on the way home from school, they would pass a pool hall, with a KTV right next to it. Every time Qin Luo saw the young hooligans with cigarettes dangling from their mouths, she would habitually shrink her neck into her clothes, her eyes timid.

It was as if she would immediately disappear into the crowd if she just hunched her shoulders. No one would be able to see her. It was as if Qin Luo were even hiding from her.

So it really wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t recognized Qin Luo at the elevator.

The difference was night and day. How could she dare to recognize her?

Not to mention that she was a little plumper now, wearing a tank top, with a healthy narrow waist and perky hips, and there was even a lighter on the table.

“You want to understand my past life…”

Qin Luo leaned back in her chair and pretended to think for a moment. “If it’s just as a normal friend, then should I tell you that I haven’t lived with anyone?”

Why did she answer with a rhetorical question?

Shen Yiyi turned back with a muffled sound and looked at Qin Luo’s glasses.

Now, Qin Luo’s eyes were soft and resilient. Looking at her was like looking at a late summer day, the densest halo of light in the world, pouring over in a single second, a single frame. If you weren’t careful, you could easily be pierced and soaked through.

Shen Yiyi’s heart burned with a sour heat. She didn’t know if it was because of Qin Luo’s answer or because of their eye contact.

Shen Yiyi looked away, her gaze falling on the scar on Qin Luo’s shoulder. “I don’t understand. Be more direct.”

“To be direct, I have.”

Lived with someone…

Well, it was no big deal to have lived with someone.

Qin Luo had left her letters, and she could also leave someone else’s lighter.

She was a writer. Creation required her to experience a mix of joy and sorrow, love and hate. Otherwise, how could she write a vivid story? If she didn’t believe it herself, how could she convince others to read it?

But she couldn’t imagine how Qin Luo and her cohabitant had loved. Perhaps it was an intense love, a brief loss of self, just as they could squeeze into one room and share one blanket in the middle of winter and summer.

Qin Luo used to wear her clothes and sleep in her bed. Now, would Qin Luo also wear someone else’s clothes and sleep in someone else’s—

Shen Yiyi smiled.

This was a scene she hadn’t been able to imagine at eighteen, about the future Qin Luo.

She had only been able to see the past.

Her phone happened to ring at that moment. The group chat messages suddenly started popping up. Shen Yiyi didn’t have to look to know that the sound was from the case group chat.

Shen Yiyi couldn’t ignore it. She also really needed something to distract her.

So she forced a smile at Qin Luo. “I need to check on work.”

Qin Luo didn’t move, just watched Shen Yiyi lower her head to reply to the messages.

Lin Puping was @-ing Ting is Ting not Ting @Yi in the group chat: Director Shen, when will those identification reports be signed, when will they be filed, who will be responsible for getting the reports into the case file, and Captain Li, what’s the latest you can get them?

Shen Yiyi frowned. She rarely didn’t want to reply to work messages.

Maybe it was because she had had such a good cry in Qin Luo’s arms today. Once her nerves softened, her consciousness became sluggish.

Three hundred and sixty-five days a year, she was either on the night shift, the morning shift, on her way to a scene for an examination, or on her way to an autopsy. She was tired of it. Today, she just wanted to rest, to ask questions.

She wanted to know if Qin Luo had been doing well in the sixteen years without her.

Shen Yiyi: [@Pingfanren, I’ve confirmed the weapon identification. It won’t be too late to sign it tomorrow morning when I get to the office. You give it to @Ting is Ting not Ting and have him draft the pre-trial report based on this chain of evidence. Don’t keep asking me the same thing over and over. Can’t you let a person rest!!!!!]

Typing this line made Shen Yiyi’s throat hurt. It was as if she had already shouted at someone. She rarely used so many exclamation points when talking to colleagues.

She couldn’t turn off notifications for the department group chat, but Shen Yiyi reached out and muted her phone.

When she looked up again, Qin Luo was still watching her.

Shen Yiyi had to say, “Sorry, it’s work. I have to reply.”

“Do you have any other questions now?”

Qin Luo’s face was calm. She blinked. “Or is there anything else you want to know?”

Shen Yiyi observed the frankness and naturalness on Qin Luo’s face. Although criminal psychology was her specialty, she couldn’t tell if Qin Luo was lying to her.

After all, they had been missing for sixteen years. There was no effective evidence to trace back to for the time being.

Shen Yiyi remained silent, leaning back in her chair and fiddling with her hands.

Seeing that Shen Yiyi’s budding curiosity had fizzled out, Qin Luo looked back at the digital clock with satisfaction.

It was twelve o’clock, very late.

Qin Luo leaned toward Shen Yiyi and lifted her chin with her hand. She held her chin firmly in her palm.

A cutie in the palm of her hand.

Qin Luo’s fingers touched the side of her dejected face, her fingertips lightly brushing against the corner of her lips. “It’s twelve o’clock. You should go to sleep. You have work tomorrow.”

Shen Yiyi was stunned. She felt sick.

She silently gave her body a medical diagnosis:

“Aphonia.”

She had lost her voice due to illness, vocal cord damage, or psychological factors.

Or maybe “receptive aphasia.”

She felt that her ability to receive and analyze language was impaired at this moment. Her expression had been taken over by the writer. She could only understand simple everyday language, but not other languages. Her replies could only be simple actions.

For example: blinking, nodding, shaking her head, “mm,” or “oh.”

“Mm.”

“Do you need to take another shower before bed?” Qin Luo was reluctant to let go, but she still pulled back.

Shen Yiyi shook her head. “No need.”

“Then you go brush your teeth and go to sleep?” Qin Luo pushed up her glasses. “I’ll go find you some toiletries.”

Shen Yiyi’s throat was itchy. She had no intention of getting up yet. She picked up the disposable water cup and licked a sip of water. “What about you?”

“I’m looking at your notes. You’ve done them so meticulously. I have to take a good look, right?” Qin Luo smiled and stood up, preparing to find a toothbrush for Shen Yiyi.

Shen Yiyi put down the cup and followed behind her. “So you have to write very late every day?”

Qin Luo replied, “Yes, sometimes when I have inspiration, I’ll stay up all night. Sometimes when I can’t write, I’ll go to bed early.”

Shen Yiyi asked quickly, “Are you also in charge of Logos?”

“Liu Jia is in charge of most of it.”

Shen Yiyi leaned against the doorframe, watching Qin Luo bend down to look for disposable travel supplies in the cabinet. “When did you move to Shanghai?”

Qin Luo stood up and handed her the toothbrush. “Five years ago.”

Shen Yiyi took it and continued, “Liu Jia also lives in this complex.”

Qin Luo put her hands on her hips and frowned. “How do you know?”

Shen Yiyi didn’t answer, looking down at the toothbrush in her hand and slowly unwrapping it. “No one has lived with you. You lied to me.”

? Qin Luo squinted.

Damn it. How can she be so observant about this kind of thing?

“You can’t just throw the word ‘lie’ around.” Qin Luo found it amusing. “Why do you think I would lie to you about something like this? Do I look like I need to lie to you?”

…

That was true. She had known Qin Luo for so long, and Qin Luo had never hidden anything from her. She was not the type to test people. She would always treat people with sincerity. It was only she who had used deceptive means to make her sad and heartbroken.

But why did she feel like she had been deceived?

It was as if someone had confiscated her alcohol spray. She couldn’t disinfect her dirty self now.

Shen Yiyi didn’t speak and quickly brushed her teeth.

Qin Luo stood at the door, waiting for her to finish. They walked into the bedroom in silence.

“Where do you want to sleep?”

Qin Luo stood behind Shen Yiyi and said softly, “Or, like back then, do you have to sleep in the spot far from the door?”

It seemed she had a second half to that sentence.

Sleep in the spot far from the door, and hug her from behind.

Shen Yiyi unconsciously straightened her back. “Either is fine.”

Qin Luo pointed to the pillow inside. “In case you’ve forgotten what I was like in the past, let me help you remember.”

Qin Luo leaned close to Shen Yiyi’s ear.

She wasn’t being ambiguous, just open and natural. “With me, you come first. I’ll grant any request you have.”