The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

This series is truly an amazing and emotional roller coaster ride, and I strongly recommend it to anyone that loves mystery and family-oriented stories! Note that this is the first of three seasons (ie. series). You can read more details about this project by clicking the Index button below.

This chapter was brought to you by the power of the Google Docs app and an iPhone 8 xD I had forgotten how much slower translating on a phone was…but hey, it helped pass some time while I didn’t have my laptop!

TL/N: For clarification, here is how I’ve decided to translate some major names/nicknames:

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The leopard cat, also known as Prionailurus bengalensis.

The frequency of leopard cat sightings was extremely low nowadays. In addition, leopard cats were much more aggressive than house cats, so the typical person would not raise one in their home.

Consequently, very few people knew that leopard cats were actually…

In the middle of the night, the loud noise coming from an extremely large group of scooters shook a quiet street on the outskirts of Taichung.

Because this road connected directly to the mountain path on the outskirts, there were neither cars nor people in the late night hour. There were also no residents to disturb.

Several people, both male and female, were racing down the street on various types of scooters. The flickering lights illuminated the mountain path unexpectedly well. The cacophony of rumbling noises was imposing and somewhat alarming.

“Where is this deserted, natural landscape you were talking about?!”

Amidst the thunderous noise came several questioning shouts atop the moving vehicles.

“We’ll arrive soon! Almost there!”

A few minutes later, the scooter leading the group turned out of the mountain path, accelerating around a small road to cut onto a flat, pitch-black area.

“You call this a beautiful, natural landscape?”

After getting a glimpse at the completely dark and indistinguishable mountain before them, someone in the group of scooters voiced their mutually shared thoughts, “You’re scamming us, aren’t you!”

“You all said yourselves that you wanted to find an uninhabited area that had never been developed so that you could grill some meat against some natural scenery. I think this place matches pretty well,” the leading rider responded with a chuckle.

“Zhuang Xiao Wei! With all this grass here, how could we grill anything? Let’s see you try.” Everyone began to complain.

“It’ll be fine after some tidying up—”

“Cut the bullshit. Guys, let’s beat him up now and go look for another barbeque place after.”

“Agreed!”

“News flash: Today at three in the morning, a female headless corpse was discovered in Taichung City. According to the on-site investigation…”

At six in the morning, the morning news report sounded out from one of the homes lined up in Central City Garden Villas.

This was a noise that came from every household each morning; after flipping through several channels—beauty, aerobic exercises, cartoons, etc.—it finally returned to the news channel that continued to report the news flash that had been interrupted just earlier.

Someone stood behind the kitchen counter between the living room and the kitchen, switching on the stove with a click. The sloshing of the oil being poured into the frying pan soon followed, and then the knock of an egg being cracked open. Finally, there was the sizzling of the oil at high temperature, and the scent of the fried egg’s edges slowly getting scorched.

Once the oven’s timer was up, it let out a ding. The door opened, and out wafted the sweet aroma of bread.

Just as the person occupied in the kitchen was about to turn around and place the bread onto a dish, someone’s indignant protest rang out—

“As if I agree!”

It was six in the morning. There was a residence with the signplate “Yu” on its door, located in the higher-priced area surrounding the downtown district. And coming from this home so early in the morning were the sounds of a family dispute.

However, it was currently one-sided, as the other person completely ignored the upset protests and continued with his work. “Ah Yin, your dad and uncle have already made the decision. You should also know how your uncle will punish you if you say you disagree now.” The man with a youthful face and short, cropped hair flicked his hand, smoothly flipping the beautifully golden fried egg in the pan. Its landing position would have earned it a full score, the sizzling of the oil still continuing.

“It’s a decision you two made all by yourselves! If you’re going to bring someone home to live here, shouldn’t you at least have let me know?!” Yu Yin, the only child of the Yu household, was currently protesting loudly to defend his territory first thing in the morning. He pointed at the unknown child on the living room sofa and complained resentfully, “At the very least, I’m also a member of this family. Making such a decision by yourselves is extremely disrespectful, you know!”

Yu Yin, second-year university student. Currently studying at the School of Design in the city’s Lidong University of Science & Technology. Loves to play around and make new friends, especially female friends. Has such good relations that pretty much everybody in the casual cliques within a fifty kilometre radius knew of him—But that’s not important!

With a head of messy, brown hair, he had gotten out of bed this morning to brush his teeth and wash his face, then headed to the dining room to wait for breakfast as usual. But the moment he left his room and went downstairs to the living room, there was a fleeting second where he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him.

A boy he did not recognise…who definitely did not look like he was of age yet. The boy was sitting in the living room and flipping through some demonic-looking, untranslated text that Yu Yin could not read. The boy did not respond to anything Yu Yin said, so the latter decided to charge straight into the kitchen. After voicing his question, it turned out that the little imp was actually a child that his guardians had adopted.

He instantly blew up on the spot.

“Picking up a boy out of nowhere and bringing him home to adopt—isn’t that going too far?!” If they had picked up something else and brought it back to temporarily stay, he would have just ignored it. But in only a single day he was forced to suddenly agree to raising a little demon. It was really too merciless! The more Yu Yin thought about it, the worse the fury rising in his gut became. He just felt as if they did not even consider his feelings properly, having decided on something without telling him first.

The person in the kitchen continued his work after an unnoticed glance at the other person. “It isn’t actually as major as you think. Because Xiao Yu is involved with a particularly unique case, the city’s hospice and foster homes don’t dare to take him in. So your uncle and I decided to bring him back with us after discussing the matter. Typically, adopted children can independently choose where they want to stay once they become of age. Xiao Yu will be turning eighteen by the end of this year, and once he becomes an adult he can decide his own future. There’s no need to worry so much.” Yu Tong—who looked more he was 18 despite actually being 38 this year, and having a son already in university—completely ignored the fact that his biological son was hopping around angrily. He let out a relaxed sigh, having long since grown accustomed to his son’s tendency to stamp his feet in frustration at the smallest things, and did not take it to heart. “Also, it’s best you lower your voice a bit. Your uncle didn’t come home to sleep until five this morning because he was investigating a smuggling the entire night. If you wake him up, he’ll…”

“Smuggling? Since when has that been part of his job?” Yu Yin knit his brows together as he reached over to pass a plate to his father.

“I heard that an investigation of a homicide case resulted in intercepting a drug deal. As a result, your uncle’s group contacted the drug trafficking group to collaborate on the case. I don’t know too much either, since it isn’t within the scope of my responsibilities.” Yu Tong set out the breakfast plates, as well as some blanched vegetables and table fruit. “He hasn’t been sleeping much these past few days, and was finally able to come back and rest for a moment this morning, so don’t be too loud.”

Terrified of the fierce lion currently sleeping inside, Yu Yin really did lower his voice. However, the anger behind it did not lessen in the slightest. “Who cares? You guys take care of that golden watermelon ¹ —whatever his name is—by yourselves. As if I care!”

Yu Tong’s shoulders slumped down helplessly as he opened his mouth to correct, “His name is Shaodi Yu. Don’t just call him a random name.”

“Shaodi Yu? A foreigner?” He had not gotten a close look at the little demon’s appearance earlier, since the boy had his head lowered while reading. As a result, Yu Yin had only glimpsed the head of black hair and not the face. “There are still people with the surname Shao these days?” He can’t be an illegal immigrant, right? I’ll have to force him to sing the national anthem and flag-raising anthem later!

“His surname isn’t Shao, it’s Shaodi. It seems his family is passed down from some clan, but there weren’t many details about it on the files, so it is what it is. Also, don’t even think about asking him if he can sing the national anthem. He has an ID, and is definitely Taiwanese,” Yu Tong warned, having seen through the ideas that had flashed through his son’s head. He then picked up a thick stew he had just finished cooking and shouted out, “Yu, could you come help me bring this stew out?”

As soon as he said this, the pattering of footsteps followed. A few seconds later, the boy who had just been called a watermelon earlier appeared at the kitchen entryway, head tilted as he observed the other two.

Now that he looked closely, Yu Yin discovered that the child he had been rejecting did possess Asian features, in addition to a head of glossy, black hair. However, those eyes were…

Actually violet-coloured!

Is he really a native? Or maybe he’s using those cornea colour-changing lenses that have been trending recently?

As he silently stared at the other boy, Yu Yin felt the strong urge to figure out whether that eye colour was actually natural or not.

“Oh right, Ah Yin, Xiao Yu cannot speak. You’ll have to be a bit more lenient on him.” Yu Tong passed the stew to the boy while smiling at his son and saying, “This is an order from your dad.”

Yu Yin immediately snapped out of his shocked daze at the violet eyes, and he made another face to continue expressing his great discontent. “Like that has any damn thing to do with me.” He could let go of the fact that they had adopted this imp without discussing it with him, but there was absolutely no way he would help take care of the boy.

To prove his horrible mood, Yu Yin abandoned the breakfast that had just been laid out, turning to swing up his backpack and walk out the door. The two people left standing in the kitchen faced each other.

After a moment, Yu Tong was the first to break the awkward silence. “I apologise, Ah Yin is just an impulsive person. Xiao Yu, I hope you aren’t shocked; he truly does not bear any ill intent.”

The violet eyes stared at him, and the youth slowly nodded.

Yu Tong reached out to rub the youth’s head. “Don’t worry, I believe you’ll soon be able to overcome your barrier and be able to speak again.”

The boy simply gazed back quietly for a while. Then, he turned around with the stew in his hands.

Yu Tong let out a sigh and stretched his sore waist.

“Alright, I’ll have to work hard today too!”

I’m dying of hunger!

Dad, you idiot! And Uncle, you even bigger idiot!

With a stomach full of anger so early in the morning, Yu Yin had raced his beloved motorbike to school. The first thing he did upon arriving was head to the dining hall to look for some food. Carrying a plate of food that neither looked nor smelled good in any way, he kicked aside his chair to toss the plate onto the table. He then plopped down onto the chair in a fuming rage. The clatter attracted the glances of all the surrounding students that had woken earlier to forage for food.

“What are you looking at!” Yu Yin yanked at his messy hair as he venomously spat out these words, accompanied by a glare that forced all the gazes to shift away.

Majority of the people around him were acquainted with him. Noticing that he was in a bad mood, they did not try to approach him for a chat, simply turning their heads to continue back to eating.

Sometimes, it was best not to stupidly try to kill yourself with an enraged person.

“Did you eat something bad to be this riled up so early in the morning?” Lin Yue mimicked him by tossing her plate down onto his table as well. She spoke with a coquettish tone as she pulled out a chair and automatically sat down across from him. “Mr. Yu, how rare to see you eating breakfast at the dining hall. Doesn’t your dad supposedly preparing a loving breakfast for you to eat your fill before coming to school? Why so miserably join us to eat a quick meal with the rest of us today?”

Everyone knew that the father of student Yu Yin was extremely skilled in housework, to the point where Yu Yin would often annoyingly pick at the student dining hall food. Moreover, he was super fortunate to get breakfast in his warm home every morning. There was a period of time when all the dorming students had been deathly envious of him.

It was rare to see him without having had a warm breakfast, so they naturally had to tease him about it while they had the chance. Who knew how long it would take for such a thing to happen again?

Yu Yin glared at the unwelcome guest across from him and snorted coldly, “None of your damnbusiness.”

“Oho, so vicious. I’m asking out of good will because I’m worried about you, you know.” Li Lin Yue stirred her coffee with a small spoon. She possessed a beautiful face that made everyone in the dining hall look on in envy. She had been voted as the school flower for a second time this year. With an intoxicatingly gorgeous smile, she kicked her feet out and delicately said in a voice that made the male student sitting next to her melt into a puddle, “What, did you have a fight with your dad?”

Yu Yin had known her for a long time now, so he knew what her personality was like and was not deceived by her voice. He growled, “I’m supposed to be an older brother now!” His tone was harsh, very much so, to the point where everyone else felt as if he lacked any tact towards the fairer sex. They had the urge to charge up and teach him a lesson so that he knew that he should be lovingly protecting such a beauty.

“Oh? Your dad and uncle are having a baby?” Li Lin Yue asked in a nonchalant tone. Her question instantly made the boy across her spit out the first mouthful of juice he had been preparing to swallow.

“Like hell they’re having a baby!” What kind of bullshit is that?!

How could Dad and Uncle have a baby! Even if you’re sleeptalking in broad daylight, that kind of joke should never be made!

Li Lin Yue squinted at him and answered in a voice that was 200% puzzled, “How else would you become an older brother? Don’t BL novels always have plots with male-male couples having babies…Although realistically speaking that isn’t really possible, that was naturally my first thought when you said you were going to become an older brother.” She innocently fluttered her eyelashes as she shrugged to gesture, “It’s your fault for not being clear.”

“Did your brain rot from reading too many novels?!” Yu Yin shot her a loathing expression. “Also, my dad and uncle are twin brothers. Even if they wanted babies, they wouldn’t be the ones giving birth. What have you been trying to read?Fantasy or horror novels that include plot elements like cell division?” Male-male couples having children? What kind of myth is that?!

Beauty Li shrugged, casually asking in reply, “Who knows if it’s possible or not…not like I’ve tested it.” Before Yu Yin struck down on her head, she immediately took advantage of the proper timing to change the subject. “Shouldn’t you be happy about becoming an older brother? Why are you so sullenly eating breakfast at the school dining hall this morning?”

She had been suspicious after seeing him arrive alone with a chilling aura behind him and a dark gloom on his face, as if he was a lonely old man eating food from the kitchen once it had gone cold. As a result, she had come over to ask him with good intentions. If it had been anyone else, she would never had bothered.

“It’s not like he’s my biological brother, what’s there to be happy about?” Yu Yin picked up the bread on his plate and angrily stuffed it into his mouth. Recalling the matter from earlier rekindled the rage in his heart. “My dad and uncle agreed to who-knows-what and ended up bringing a little high school demon home to stay, without giving me any warning whatsoever.” Ugh, this bread is so dry it’s disgusting. Is it cheap stuff or is it leftover from yesterday?

“It’s not like you bought that home. They can bring back anyone they want to live there. What’s there to be angry about?” Li Lin Yue gave him a look; she felt like he was just making a big deal out of nothing. “Plus, your dad and uncle are public workers. Haven’t they often brought people back with them? You should be used to it by now.” As she said this, she casually patted him on the shoulder.

Hearing this, Yu Yin also began to feel that something was a bit unusual. “They did often bring people back to stay with us in the past, but they’ve never adopted anyone. Plus, for some reason…the little demon they want to adopt feels a bit weird to me.” He recalled those violet eyes that had not carried any sort of emotion. Wouldn’t a normal person have at least been fired up after being pointed at and blown up on? Why did that imp show no response whatsoever?

“Weird?” Li Lin Yue questioned as she took a sip of her hot beverage.

Yu Yin nodded. “Like a strong feeling of yin.”

A brilliant smile materialised on Li Lin Yu’s face as she laughed and began to eat the french fries in her hands. “It’s not like you’ve never seen things filled with yin before. Don’t tell me you’re scared, King of Sporadic Sight?”

Yu Yin frowned and snorted, “Don’t call me that. Who would want to see those kinds of things anyways? It’s such a pain!”

Li Lin Yue covered her mouth and snickered to herself.

Yu Yin possessed yin-yang eyes.

Since getting into a car accident many years ago, Yu Yin’s previously ordinary life had become much less ordinary. Actually, he normally explained to his friends that his “yin-yang eyes” were more like “sporadic sight”.

Because unlike typical “yin-yang eyes”, he would occasionally go for an entire month without seeing any ghosts, while other times he would suddenly discover half a face in the toilet while in the middle of relieving himself. Or sometimes, he would wake up in the dead of the night to see a pair of feet suspended outside his window. After these instances continued to occur one after another, his original disturbed reaction had by now transformed into a numb and jaded one.

Basically, if he saw it, he would pretend that he hadn’t, and would act as if he had just seen someone filming a movie instead. That way, it would not tyrannize him as much. This was the mindset that Yu Yin stuck faithfully to.

“Ah Yin, do you want to go to Fengjia to hang out?” After class, one of his party friends appeared by his desk as Yu Yin was about to gather his things. “Apparently a new KTV place over there opened up a few days ago and they’re having a 30% discount right now!”

“For real? How come I didn’t know?” Yu Yin, who would often go out, could not recall having heard of any news regarding a new shop opening.

“It’s true. It just opened in the alley. They didn’t advertise it much; if Ying Zai from next door hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known either.” Party friend A, Ah Guan, patted his chest and said, “Plus I secretly ran over and checked it out yesterday. There really is a new shop. I just didn’t go in to check it out yet. How about it, wanna go?”

“Duh! Of course I’m going. Let’s grab some others while we’re at it.” Yu Yin happily pulled out his cellphone to send out a string of texts, spreading the word to all their other brothers that they hung out with. “Let’s go, let’s go. I already told the others, we should head out now!” His mood was extremely foul today, so going out to chill would allow him to vent all his anger.

“Awesome! Let’s go!”

Yu Yin stuffed a random textbook into his backpack and swung it on, resting his arm around his party friend’s shoulders as they headed straight towards the parking lot.

But Yu Yin froze as they neared the school gates.

Noticing him stop and seeing his expression, Ah Guan also came to a halt as he gave a puzzled look at his friend. “What’s wrong?”

He followed Yu Yin’s line of sight to see a youth standing next to the university campus gates. The boy did not look like a university student, and was standing next to the guard station, seemingly waiting for someone.

“Your friend?” He studied Yu Yin, then shifted his gaze back at the youth standing in front of the guard post.

Weird, how come I’ve never seen Yu Yin with this kind of friend before?

“Nope.” When Yu Yin saw that annoying golden watermelon had appeared at his school, his mood that had just calmed down somewhat instantly dropped again. He really wanted to just walk past and pretend the boy was a stranger he had never seen before.

And that was exactly what he did.

When Yu Yin began to walk forwards, he did not bother to turn his head and spare the boy a glance, despite knowing that his new brother’s violet eyes were staring straight at him. Instead, Yu Yin strode past the guard post to continue outside.

They brushed past each other in a mere two seconds.

The violet-eyed boy did not call out to him, nor move in any way. He simply stood still and stared at Yu Yin quietly as they passed by each other.

Ah Guan sensed something was off. He quickly caught up and glanced back while walking behind. “Ah Yin, do you really not know him? That kid keeps staring at you though?” Even using violet-coloured contact lenses, how cool. Kids these days are really OP.

“I don’t know, no idea at all. Who would know an imp like that?” Yu Yin was filled with fury, knowing that his dad must have been the one to ask the boy to come. The rage filled Yu Yin’s head as he spat out his reply.

His dad had asked the boy to come? Too bad, Yu Yin was going to ignore him.

He wanted his dad and uncle to know that he was against it.

Seeing how harsh the response was, Ah Guan did not dare to continue the conversation despite finding the situation odd.

After exiting the campus gates, Yu Yin quickly began to stride towards the parking lot without looking back. He was actually afraid that if he stopped, he would cave in and turn to glance at the little brat, so he walked straight past resolutely. If he was going to rebel, he would have to see it through, or else the adults would turn a blind eye.

With a huff, he located his beloved vehicle that he had earned from his part-time job wages. Finally, he could relax a bit. He fished out the keys from his bag to unlock the vehicle, while Ah Guan, who had followed behind, quickly went through the same actions.

Just as Yu Yin was taking out his helmet, he suddenly heard the sound of a cat.

It was very faint, like the cry of a kitten.

However, it was not quite like a kitten’s soft mews either. It felt a bit sharper, yet also somewhat mournful, and his head automatically began to ache.

It was an extremely discomforting sound.

“What’s wrong, Ah Yin?” Ah Guan asked after putting on his own helmet and turning to see Yu Yin seemingly staring off into space.

“Did you hear the sound of a cat?” Yu Yin narrowed his eyes as he concentrated on trying to capture the faint cry.

Ah Guan glanced around and shook his head. “Didn’t hear anything. You’re just imagining it!” He half-jokingly clapped a hand on Yu Yin’s shoulder.

Then, Ah Guan started his motorcycle’s engine, the intense rumbling immediately echoing out.

The weak cat cries were instantly swallowed.

“I really heard it, I’m serious.” Yu Yin felt that the sound had been extremely sudden. He glanced around once more to see if there was a little cat hiding underneath any of the cars. However, after searching around, he did not end up spotting even a trace of a cat’s tail, and thus decided to give up.

Perhaps he had actually misheard it.

“Who cares if there’s a cat or not? Let’s go, or else we’ll be the last ones there, and that’ll be super embarrassing!” Ah Guan slammed on his accelerator, causing the decently priced motorcycle to instantly speed out.

“Ah Guan, drive a bit slower! It’s rush hour right now!” Yu Yin instantly started his own bike to chase after the end of his friend’s vehicle that had just charged out of the parking lot.

The sound of a cat rang out once more.

Yu Yin’s eyes suddenly widened behind the transparent visor of his helmet. It was as if all the sounds around him had suddenly gone silent. All he could hear was the sound of the wind, and the mournful meows of a kitten.

Where exactly is that sound coming from?

A red bus suddenly zoomed past him, and Yu Yin automatically slowed down without realising it. In that second, he saw it— the scene around him warped together as he saw a large cat sitting on the back of Ah Guan’s motorcycle that was a distance ahead.

It did not seem to be a pet cat, but rather a wild one. It was also over twice the size of a typical wild cat, and its appearance was not quite the same…

The cat was currently meowing at him.

Yu Yin instantly gripped his brakes, and the motorcycle abruptly crashed into the iron bars along the sidewalk next to the university campus. He skidded a distance, nearly falling off. Fortunately, he reacted quickly enough to immediately stabilise the bike, preventing any serious mishaps.

Just as he was rejoicing about the fact that he had avoided getting into any accidents, an even louder noise came from behind him. The screeching of the breaks split the horizon as a silver car slid straight past him, barely swiping his backpack, and then slamming into the red bus ahead in an extremely bizarre way. The bus was sent into a forwards flip from the enormous impact of the collision.

Like this, he could only watch helplessly as his good friend Ah Guan could not evade the car in time, and was sent tumbling through the air after the overturned red bus collided into him. His helmet-protected body flew a long distance before crashing into a nearby electric pole. Like a puppet with its supporting strings snapped, he fell onto the ground with a series of abnormal noises.

Because the force of the impact was so great, the entire electric pole shook a few times, and seemed to bend a few degrees.

It was currently rush hour, when everyone was getting off work and school. The people walking along the sidewalk and the cars driving on the streets all stopped, the clamour instantly filling Yu Yin’s ears.

The female student closest to the electric pole let out a piercing scream. Her white dress was splattered with scarlet blossoms of blood, the little specks looking like a bunch of gorgeous, red flowers in full bloom.

Ah Guan had collapsed onto the ground after crashing into the pole, the blood gushing out like an open faucet, spreading out like a crimson net.

“Someone got run over!”

“Hurry up and call an ambulance!”

Everything fell into chaos. Some students covered their faces and left, not daring to look, while other nosy-bodies gathered around to join in on the ruckus.

The scream momentarily broke Yu Yin from his shocked stupor, and he quickly yanked out his keys with a curse before tossing his helmet off to one side. More and more people were flooding around Ah Yuan, yet nobody was actually checking his condition.

The cars on the street impassively began to move once more, and he could only impatiently hop from foot to foot at the traffic light.

When he raised his head, he saw a familiar figure standing across the walkway.

The person who had become his younger brother just today was expressionlessly staring at him through the passing cars. The white face had flecks of blood on it, while the unusual cat was sitting near his feet.

“Bastard! Hurry up and go see how Ah Guan is!” Yu Yin was so furious that he openly shouted at Shaodi Yu in anger from across the street, “Don’t just stand there! Go, now!”

The violet eyes gazed back at him, seemingly unable to comprehend why Yu Yin was so angry.

“Go check on Ah Guan, quickly!”

Then, Yu quickly tunneled through the crowd.

Yu Yin rubbed his face and discovered that at some point, his forehead had already broken out into a cold sweat.

The red light lit up, and he swiftly ran across the crosswalk.

Today really could not be any damn worse!

All he could see was his friend lying on the ground amidst the blood. In his daze, the ruckus around him seemed unreal. He vaguely heard the sound of cop cars and some news reporters doing a broadcast cover…

^{1. Golden watermelon = Xiǎoyù xīguā (小玉西瓜). The first part sounds like Xiao Yu’s nickname (小聿), so Yu Yin calls him this random type of golden watermelon. ↑}