Chapter 4: 4 Chapter 03

◎A Double-Standard Detective◎

“Yao…” Xia Xun’s voice caught in her throat. She ran up to Xu Jinyao and said cautiously, “I’m sorry about what happened just now. I, I really didn’t mean to attack you, I just…”

Xu Jinyao looked at her expressionlessly. “Mistook me for someone else?”

Xia Xun didn’t answer the question, asking instead, “Can you tell me your name?”

Xu Jinyao’s brow furrowed slightly, her gaze purely analytical. After a moment of silence, she said, “Xu Jinyao.”

“Which Xu? Which Jin? Which Yao?” Xia Xun asked rapidly. As soon as the questions left her mouth, she pulled a small notebook from her trouser pocket and held out a finger-length ballpoint pen, unable to hide her eagerness. “Sorry, could you write it down for me?”

Xu Jinyao didn’t take it immediately. Instead, she looked at Du Chang, who had followed them over. The meaning in her eyes was obvious: Are you sure she can help?

Du Chang gave an awkward chuckle and sighed inwardly. Here we go again.

Xu Jinyao, being new, didn’t know. Xia Xun’s behavior was connected to a major case from twelve years ago. He couldn’t explain it all in a moment, so he simply took the notebook and pen, pulling Xia Xun aside.

Du Chang whispered to her, “She’s not the person you’re looking for.”

Xia Xun retracted her gaze, as if she hadn’t heard him, and urged in a low voice, “Just write her name down for me to see.”

Du Chang held the pen, unmoving, the tip hovering above the paper.

Before Du Chang had discovered her work as a Private Investigator, he had first learned that she was a victim in that case, the only Survivor. Following the clues, he found the good friend who had boarded the Cruise Ship with her back then.

That good friend’s name was Xu Jinyao.

Xia Xun had witnessed the explosion and sinking of the ship with her own eyes. Du Chang had also lost his best friend in that same explosion. The lack of a body, the inability to lay his friend to rest, had always been a thorn in his heart. Whenever he remembered, he would lie awake all night.

So he could understand Xia Xun’s actions.

He knew what she was clinging to.

No body meant the person might still be alive, but… it was an explosion.

An explosion powerful enough to shatter a massive Cruise Ship into pieces in an instant. Everyone knew, deep down, that no one could have survived.

“Write it!” Xia Xun’s voice pulled Du Chang from his memories.

He sighed heavily and shoved the notebook and pen back into her hands. “The name is the same, but before today, she had never been to Lan City.”

A light flickered in Xia Xun’s eyes, then died. “Then why did you call her Captain Xu just now?”

“She’s our new Captain.”

“So what you’re saying is…” Xia Xun paused. “This Captain Xu will be working in Lan City from now on?”

Du Chang frowned deeply. “Why can’t you get this through your head?”

Xia Xun pocketed the notebook and pen, her face piling on smiles again. “Thank you, Officer Du.”

Du Chang: “?”

In the blink of an eye, Xia Xun was already walking behind Xu Jinyao.

They walked a short distance apart towards the Crime Scene. She stared at that hauntingly familiar silhouette for a long time, increasingly feeling like everything tonight was a dream.

The streetlights were old and broken, the Alley dimly lit. She pinched the back of her hand again and again, repeatedly confirming this was not a dream.

After a long moment, she shoved her reddened hand into her pocket, quickened her pace to catch up, and stepped in front of Xu Jinyao. Smiling, she said apologetically, “I did indeed mistake you for someone else.”

Xu Jinyao’s expression remained cold. “It’s fine. Just make sure you see clearly before you claim someone next time.”

Xia Xun nodded with a smile. “Mhm.”

–

The Crime Scene was already cordoned off with police tape. Two Men stood outside the line.

At the front of the group, Xu Jinyao showed her badge. Only then did the two make way, handing over gloves and shoe covers. Seeing Du Chang at the rear, they greeted him: “Captain Du.”

Du Chang was stopped by the two. He had to briefly introduce Xu Jinyao’s identity, which immediately caused a stir.

“Working non-stop for so long, and she starts again right after landing?”

“Yeah.” Du Chang was surprised himself.

According to the Police Chief, the new Captain had already been working a case without rest for days even before boarding the plane. An ordinary person would have collapsed long ago. Yet she could continue working as if nothing had happened, showing no signs of fatigue whatsoever.

He no longer had any doubts about the authenticity of her files. Such achievements were truly beyond an ordinary person’s reach.

“And who’s the one following behind?” another Police Officer asked.

Du Chang frowned, made a silencing gesture with his hand, then shook his head.

The two were taken aback. They mirrored the gesture, nodding rapidly. “Got it, got it.”

Du Chang had no idea what they thought they “got,” but it got him through the moment for now. As they spoke, he had already put on his gloves and shoe covers and lifted the tape to enter the scene.

He walked over just in time to hear Xu Jinyao speaking.

“You were tailing the deceased?”

The question was directed at Xia Xun.

Du Chang had asked the same question, but Xia Xun had only claimed coincidence, stubbornly refusing to admit to stalking.

Just as he expected to hear the same answer, Xia Xun nodded and said, “Yeah.”

Du Chang thought to himself, So she has two faces, huh?

What surprised him even more was that not only did Xia Xun have two faces, but in front of Xu Jinyao, she was practically an open book.

She answered everything she was asked.

Xu Jinyao asked, “Why were you following only the third victim? Did you know him?”

Xia Xun replied, “We didn’t know each other. I was following him just because someone asked me to investigate if he was having an affair.”

Xu Jinyao remembered the personal information of the third victim. It indeed mentioned he had a wife of many years and a daughter born out of wedlock, who should be… in high school by now.

She didn’t need to ask further to guess who that “someone” was.

“And you found out?”

Xia Xun shook her head. “No. He seemed to know I was investigating him, so he often avoided me.”

“Why did you help that person investigate him?”

“For money.”

“Money?” In just a few short questions, Xu Jinyao had already pieced together the answer. “You’re a Private Investigator?”

Xia Xun nodded. “Yes.”

Du Chang sighed inwardly. Great, now I have no choice but to arrest her.

Xu Jinyao gave a cold laugh. “Didn’t you know Private Investigators have no right to conduct investigations?”

“I knew.”

“So you knowingly broke the law?”

“Mhm.”

Xu Jinyao let out another cold laugh, this time provoked by Xia Xun’s sheer audacity.

After a moment of silence, Xu Jinyao’s gaze remained icy. “It seems your assistance ends here. Miss Xia, regarding you Assaulting a Police Officer, I won’t pursue it for now. After all, you weren’t intentional, you just mistook me for someone else…”

“As for you knowingly breaking the law by working as a Private Investigator, I’ll also pretend I didn’t see it this time, to save police resources. But this chance is a one-time offer, cherish it. You can go back now. Remember to keep your phone on 24/7 during this period. If you recall any other clues later during the investigation, I hope you will be as candid as you were today.”

Xu Jinyao’s matter-of-fact, official tone was unsettling to Xia Xun.

Her claim of mistaking her was a mere temporary measure. She didn’t believe there could be two people in this world so alike, nor did she believe that two people so alike would have the exact same name.

She wanted to stay.

She had to figure out whether the person standing before her right now was her Yaoyao. If she was, why was she pretending not to know her?

The first step to staying was making herself useful.

Xia Xun reached out to block her path and stepped in front of her again. “I really didn’t find evidence of Huo Zhi having an affair, but I did find out about a Bar he frequently visited.”

Du Chang exclaimed, “A Bar?”

Xu Jinyao halted. “Get to the point.”

Her patience for listening to her ex-girlfriend ramble was wearing thin. Holding back from physically acting was already draining her last reserves.

“The point is…” Xia Xun paused, the corner of her mouth lifting. “The first two victims also visited this Bar that Huo Zhi went to.”

Du Chang frowned deeply. “How do you know?”

Before Xia Xun could answer, he remembered the case analysis causing a huge commotion online recently. Could it be…

Xia Xun smiled. “Information spreads so easily online these days. What can really be kept secret, right?”

As expected.

Du Chang knew those reporters would cause trouble sooner or later. They’d been told not to disclose case details, so they just guided public opinion online randomly. The power of netizens was formidable. In less than a month, the deceased’s life experiences had almost entirely been dug up.

He knew someone like Xia Xun was best at sifting out the most useful piece from dense information.

He just hadn’t expected that the person who’d been threatening to jump out of his car not long ago would now be so cooperative.

“That Bar, I can take you there.” Xia Xun looked at Xu Jinyao, her expression earnest and serious. “Trust me, there’s definitely something wrong with that place.”

A Bar?

Xu Jinyao didn’t understand why a bar had suddenly appeared in the conversation. If the place was truly that suspicious, why was there no record of it in the case files? Such a lead should have been uncovered during the canvassing and investigation phase. After all this time, not a single hint of it had been found?

Or was it that a civilian like her had the ability to unearth clues even the police had missed?

“Just give me the address. I’ll send someone to check it out.” Xu Jinyao took out her phone, opened the map, and handed it over.

Xia Xun glanced at it but didn’t take it. She added, “The location is very hidden, hard for an outsider to find. Giving you the address won’t help much.”

Such nerve.

Du Chang was sweating on her behalf.

Xu Jinyao had lost count of how many cold laughs she’d given tonight. It seemed from the moment she laid eyes on Xia Xun, no matter what the other party said, she only wanted to sneer coldly.

She stared at Xia Xun icily, doing her best to suppress the disgust from showing on her face, and repeated, word by word: “The address.”

Xia Xun sighed and obediently typed in the address.

Xu Jinyao took the phone back and looked. She was speechless. “A Parking Lot?”

Xia Xun nodded seriously. “I only know this entrance. But exactly how to get in from there is hard to explain in a few words, so…”

Xu Jinyao cut her off expressionlessly. “So you can’t leave right now. You have to guide us there. Otherwise, if we go by ourselves, we might alert the enemy?”

Xia Xun held back a smile, her mouth tight. “Mhm, that’s the idea.”

Xu Jinyao: “…”

–

The rolling metal door clattered upward, and Xia Xun walked straight into the shop.

She knew her own shop well, able to navigate it with her eyes closed. But for Xu Jinyao and Du Chang, it was a challenge. She hadn’t walked far when she heard a “Bang!” from behind, followed by the sound of books hitting the floor.

Du Chang: “You could at least turn on a light.”

Only then did Xia Xun remember to switch on the lights.

The lights came on, their dim yellow glow illuminating the space.

Xu Jinyao picked up the books she’d knocked over and placed them back on the table. A single glance swept across the entire store.

The Bookstore was very small, a rectangular layout. Bookshelves lined the walls on both sides, each row packed tightly with books. In the middle was a long wooden table, stacks of books piled high upon it.

Before the lights were on, Xu Jinyao had thought the dusty smell permeating the air came from the walls. After the lights were on, she realized it actually emanated from those old books.

It didn’t feel like a bookstore at all. It felt more like a study that hadn’t been cleaned in years. Every book bore the marks of age; just looking at them evoked a sense of a bygone era.

“Cough… cough!” Du Chang pressed his nose with the back of his hand and asked Xia Xun, “How long has it been since you cleaned this place?”

Xia Xun smiled and continued walking upstairs, her voice drifting down from afar. “You’ll get used to it. Come on up.”

Xu Jinyao followed her upstairs.

Xia Xun had already opened the door on the second floor and stood waiting. As soon as Xu Jinyao entered, she closed the door behind her.

Du Chang, outside the door, was stunned. “What are you doing?”

Xia Xun smiled and tapped twice on the hollow iron door. “Here, see for yourself.”

See?

See what…

Du Chang’s eyes shifted to the spot she was tapping—a sign hung on the door, reading eight red characters: “No Entry Without Permission. Consequences Are Yours.”

When he looked up again, Xia Xun was smiling as she closed the inner security door. “Officer Du, if you’re tired, just wait in the car. We’ll be out soon.”

Du Chang: “…You could have said so earlier.”

Inside the room, Xu Jinyao got straight to the point. “Didn’t you say we needed to change to go to the bar?”

Xia Xun turned around.

The small wall lamp cast a soft glow. In a daze, she felt again as if the person before her was an illusion.

Xu Jinyao’s voice came again: “Why did you lock him out?”

Not an illusion.

Xia Xun smiled and answered, “My clothes are too youthful for him. He wouldn’t suit them. So for the Bar… just the two of us should go.”

Xu Jinyao thought of Du Chang’s head full of finely streaked white hair and agreed that she had a point.

Five minutes later, Xu Jinyao came out wearing a patterned blouse, elastic-waist pants, and flip-flops. She couldn’t help asking, “Do you have some misunderstanding about the word ‘youthful’?”