Chapter 34

Officer Zhou thought I went to do what?

Zhou Hui didn’t dare meet her eyes, because she had indeed lied.

Yu Bai stared at her for a long moment before suddenly letting out a soft chuckle. “Are you scared? Afraid I’ll abuse my authority or settle a personal score?”

Zhou Hui finally looked up and saw that the depths of Yu Bai’s eyes had darkened further, holding not the slightest hint of amusement.

Zhou Hui froze. Yu Bai let out a faint sigh, leaned forward, and gently patted her shoulder. In a low voice, she said, “Relax. I’m not so idle as to do that.”

Zhou Hui still said nothing.

She thought of Jiang Tong. Because of a single tip-off call, Yu Bai had broken two of his fingers without hesitation. Zhou Hui could almost picture what fate would befall Yan Mingchang if he fell into her hands.

She frowned ever so faintly. Yu Bai understood the reason for her silence—from that very first lie, Yu Bai had seen right through her attitude.

“It’s okay.” Yu Bai lowered her eyelids, concealing all emotion. When she leaned back against the pillow and raised her gaze again, her expression was once more its usual calm mask. “I won’t push you. If you don’t want to say, then don’t.”

Zhou Hui bit her lip before finally speaking. “You’re angry.”

“No…”

“Don’t answer so quickly. That wasn’t a question.” Zhou Hui looked earnestly into her eyes and said, “I’m sorry.”

“…”

Yu Bai wanted nothing more than to ignore everyone. She simply closed her eyes.

What sort of apology was this?

She could investigate Yan Mingchang Company’s accounts on her own—she wasn’t at the point where she needed police channels for that. The Police Bureau’s procedures were convoluted and tedious; getting even a scrap of information took ages and left one drowsy from boredom. But lately, too many unforeseen events had thrown her plans into disarray.

She needed to send Zhou Hui away soon. Having her around made too many things inconvenient. She’d already wasted far too much time. After all this commotion, it was time to get down to real business.

She opened her eyes and turned her head, only to find Zhou Hui frowning intently at her. Startled, she tapped the tabletop and flashed a smile. “Officer Zhou, gotten your fill of staring?”

Zhou Hui blinked, pulling her gaze away as words hovered on the tip of her tongue.

“What do you want to say?”

Zhou Hui held back, and held back some more, until she could hold back no longer. Her eyes fixed on the red marks still lingering on Yu Bai’s wrist. “You… where did you go yesterday afternoon?”

“?” Yu Bai was utterly baffled by the abrupt shift in topic. Then she noticed where Zhou Hui’s gaze had landed.

Yu Bai: “…”

She frowned, thoroughly perplexed. What on earth was Zhou Hui thinking about all day?

But Yu Bai was plainly a woman of the world, not one to be rattled by such notions.

She rotated her wrist lightly and shot Zhou Hui an ambiguously flirtatious glance, barely suppressing the smile tugging at her lips. “What does Officer Zhou think I went to do?”

It was a little provocative.

Zhou Hui’s throat tightened. Suddenly, she couldn’t get a word out.

Yu Bai sat up in bed, propping herself on one arm against the headboard. With a half-smile, she met Zhou Hui’s eyes. “Now I’m starting to wonder.”

“Wonder what?”

The amusement in Yu Bai’s eyes deepened. “Are you really such a blank slate?”

Zhou Hui hesitated. “I…”

Yu Bai had no interest in the answer. She waved a hand with a laugh. “All right, all right. I don’t want to hear your romantic history. I’m just… curious about how your mind works in certain areas.”

She held her hand right in front of Zhou Hui, her smile now fully unveiled. Leaning close to Zhou Hui’s ear, she murmured softly, “What did you imagine, hmm?”

Zhou Hui could still hold her composure under Yu Bai’s gaze, but her thoughts were a tangled mess.

Yu Bai had no intention of letting her off that easily. She swayed gently, her fingertips brushing Zhou Hui’s arm in fleeting touches. In a soft voice, she said, “Bondage? Confinement? Or did you think… I have some peculiar little kink?”

Her rhythm was impeccable, each word separated by just enough pause to let Zhou Hui fully absorb it.

Zhou Hui’s breath caught. Uncertain light flickered in her eyes as her hand trembled and closed around Yu Bai’s cool fingertips.

Yu Bai’s own fingertips quivered in response. Instinctively, she tried to pull away. Sensing the motion, Zhou Hui gripped tighter and held on.

Obvious panic flashed in Yu Bai’s eyes. “Zhou Hui, you…”

Zhou Hui drew in a deep breath, tilted her head back slightly, and squeezed her eyes shut for a moment. Her lashes fluttered like a dragonfly’s wings. Then she exhaled long and slow, releasing Yu Bai’s hand.

“I’m going to take out the trash.”

Yu Bai froze in place. She lowered her head to glance at the fingertip still held in Zhou Hui’s grasp, then brought it to her nose and inhaled its scent carefully. Zhou Hui’s cool aura clung to her skin.

Her breath caught. Yu Bai suddenly realized what she was doing, and every nerve in her body tensed up in an instant.

Panting softly, she lowered her fist. Even her breathing trembled a little.

A profound self-loathing surged up from the depths of her heart. She drew in a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. By the time Zhou Hui finished emptying the trash and pushed the door open, Yu Bai had already schooled her features into an almost indifferent mask.

Zhou Hui didn’t bring up their earlier exchange again.

The two of them spent the next three days coexisting peacefully in the hospital, each tending to their own tasks without any further unusual “incidents.”

That peace held until the evening of the third day, when Yu Bai’s phone rang.

Zhou Hui was sitting on the edge of the bed at the time, intently peeling an apple with her head bowed. She had gotten halfway through, and the peel was still perfectly intact.

Yu Bai leaned against the headboard, quietly turning the pages of her book.

The sudden ring shattered the tranquility. Zhou Hui’s hand jerked, sending the apple peel tumbling into the trash bin before her.

Yu Bai glanced down at the screen. She closed her book, picked up the phone, straightened the jacket draped over her hospital gown, slid out of bed, and slipped on her slippers. She gave Zhou Hui a small smile. “I’ll step out to take this.”

Once Yu Bai had pushed through the door and gone, Zhou Hui slowly turned her head. Who could be calling that required Yu Bai to step away like that?

She had caught a glimpse of the screen herself—a string of digits, no contact name.

She didn’t dwell on it, though. She turned back and resumed peeling her apple.

Yu Bai carried her phone all the way to the stairwell. She scanned her surroundings warily before finally hitting accept. “Hello, David.”

A man’s voice crackled through from the other end. “Sister Yu, we’ve got the guy. You free to come out now? He’s at the Alice Club.”

Yu Bai frowned. “Why’d you take him there?”

“The bastard wouldn’t play nice, so the boys downstairs broke a couple of his ribs. Can’t exactly deliver him to you in that state.” David chuckled. “You’re planning to buy out the Alice Club anyway. It’s all our people in there—no big deal, right?”

Yu Bai checked her watch. “Fine. Sit on him for a bit. I’ll be there in twenty.” She paused, then added, “Tell your guys to ease up. Don’t kill him. I need him in one piece to hand back over to the cops later. Nothing too messy.”

“Got it, Sister Yu. You can count on us!” David’s laugh came out sly as a fox.

Yu Bai hung up and stole a glance back toward the ward door. Zhou Hui had her back to it, absorbed in whatever she was doing.

Remembering how Zhou Hui had blown up her phone with a dozen calls straight in a row just to track her down once before, Yu Bai didn’t hesitate. She added the number to her blacklist, then slipped away on silent feet. Downstairs, she flagged a taxi. “Alice Club,” she told the driver.

The man eyed her hospital gown and hesitated for a beat before pulling away from the curb.

Yu Bai dialed another number. The moment it connected, she barked into it: “Get me a room at the hotel across from Alice Club. Nothing too high up. And bring a change of clothes. You’ve got fifteen minutes.”

From the rearview mirror, the driver caught sight of Yu Bai—and an inexplicable chill gripped him. He whipped his head forward and focused on the road.

The taxi pulled up outside the hotel opposite the Alice Club.

Yu Bai had barely stepped out when the bodyguards were there waiting. One held the door open for her. “Madam, room’s on the seventh floor—719.”

“Mm.”

Room 719 was a suite. Yu Bai went straight to the window and nudged the curtain aside just enough for a clear view of the Alice Club’s front entrance. She ducked into the bedroom to change, then emerged and addressed the bodyguards. “You two stay here and keep eyes on Alice. Report anything off to me right away. The rest of you—with me.”

“David, I’m here.” Yu Bai made the call as she stepped out of the elevator, her voice low and even.

“I’ll meet you at the door.”

“No need. Back entrance. Less eyes.”

David paused. “Got it.”

Yu Bai slipped in through the Alice Club’s rear door, and David was there to meet her at once. “Sister Yu, he’s in the basement.”

He cut straight to what she needed to hear—no filler.

A sharper chill settled in Yu Bai’s eyes. Her voice dropped even lower as she uttered a single word: “Lead.”

The Alice Club’s basement had originally been an indoor shooting range. A couple of years back, the public security bureau had shut it down for failing to meet code. The approval paperwork filed when it opened had involved shady channels too. The whole mess made reopening impossible, and it stayed dark not long after.

The underground shooting range had simply been left idle like this, neither cleared out nor repurposed for any other business. It felt very much like they intended to reopen it someday.

High heels clicked “clack-clack” against the iron stairs leading down to the basement. The door swung open, unleashing a wave of damp, musty air that hadn’t circulated in years, accompanied by a man’s raw, gut-wrenching howl.

“Aaaahhh—”

Yu Bai felt a flicker of irritation and immediately furrowed her brow. “Didn’t you say you’d broken two of his ribs? How does he still have this much fight in him?”

David let out a wry chuckle. “Sister Yu, please cut him some slack. Little Sun was even louder when he first got here. This is downright docile by comparison.”

Yu Bai didn’t bother arguing the point with him. She stepped into the cavernous basement, where the dim lights flickered uncertainly. At the far end, a human-shaped target stood out starkly against the bright yellow backdrop wall, making her vaguely uneasy. Frowning, she traced the source of the screams.

A man lay sprawled on the shooting range’s gray brick floor, his cries echoing nonstop from his throat.

Several men stood over him, baseball bats in hand, delivering occasional sharp blows.

Yu Bai approached at a measured pace and halted in front of him. She narrowed her eyes slowly. “Look up.”

The man caught sight of a pair of high heels appearing abruptly before him. His gaze traveled upward, landing on Yu Bai’s face. His eyes widened in bewilderment.

A cold smile tugged at Yu Bai’s lips as she met his dazed stare. Still locking eyes with him, she addressed the men nearby. “Hand it over.”

She hefted the baseball bat, tossing it lightly once or twice in her grip, then said in a low voice, “All of you, out.”

“Madam, if it’s just you…”

David cut him off at once and ushered the group toward the exit. “Sister Yu, call if you need me. I’ll be right outside the door.”

“Mm.” Yu Bai acknowledged him with a murmur.

Once they had all gone, she crouched down before the man. She used the bat to tilt his chin up, forcing his gaze to hers, and smiled. “You really don’t remember?”

His eyes remained vacant. Truth be told, he had no recollection of this woman at all. He was certain that if someone like Yu Bai had ever stood before him even once, he never would have forgotten her.

“Alright then,” Yu Bai said, pursing her lips in a patient smile, as if she were more than happy to indulge this game. “Let me jog your memory.”

Very softly, she uttered two words: “Ji Shen.”

The man’s pupils dilated in an instant. He scrutinized Yu Bai’s face, and terror flooded his features. “You—you’re…”