The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

“Early this morning, there was an accident in the central downtown area. The victim, a 47-year old named Lin Yu Da that worked as a driver for a taxi company, was scalded by the hot steam from his car. The incident was reportedly due to…”

Yu was sleeping.

The luckiest kid in the world was currently asleep next to Yu Yin.

Yu Yin, who was already feeling his mental state start to crumble, had the strong urge to punch the other boy so that Yu could wake up and also get a taste of being unable to sleep.

“Ah Yin, here, drink something warm.” Yu Tong, who had also yet to sleep for the night, walked into the room and passed a bowl of freshly cooked soup to Yu Yin. He then pulled out a thin blanket to cover Yu, who was resting on the sofa, and sat down on another side. “I just received a call from the hospital. Xia said that driver has multiple burns, but is not in critical danger, so you don’t have to worry.” Yu Tong glanced at the points he had jotted down in his notebook as he reported this news.

Multiple burns…

Yu Yin stared at the bowl of soup in his hands as he began to think about how everything had seemingly become abnormal ever since he had first caught sight of the leopard cat at the parking lot yesterday. Everyone he had encountered had suffered an accident.

I can’t be bringing all this bad luck, right?

Probably not. He could not remember receiving any declining fortunes that could have possibly caused him to bring misfortune onto others.

“Xia said you saw a leopard cat?” Yu Tong saw the TV shift to broadcasting morning exercises for children, and turned the power off. He then switched on the stereo system so that a tranquil, crystalline music calmly began to play, which automatically had a relaxing effect.

“Mm, and I saw it before that driver got scalded too.” Yu Yin rubbed his face. After staying awake for an entire night and repeatedly encountering accidents, he was starting to feel jittery from the strain and tiredness, putting him in a poor mood. He felt like all he had done today was go in and out of the hospital, and left with only unfathomable confusion and extreme exhaustion.

“Leopard cats are very rare nowadays. The closest mountain is an hour drive away. I think when the holiday comes around and your uncle has a break, we can all go take a walk out there to put you more at ease.” Yu Tong flipped through his notebook and wrote this proposal down.

“Ok.”

Time slowly passed.

After taking a sip of the warm soup and recovering some energy, he turned to look at Yu, who was lying down sound asleep next to him. He then recalled another question he had wanted to ask. “Oh yeah, what happened to Yu’s family?”

“Ah…that incident…” Yu Tong was clearly somewhat hesitant. “That incident is still classified, and has not been exposed to the media yet. Don’t go around publicising it.”

“Oi, I’m your son, you know!” Yu Yin rolled his eyes as he huffed without any anger behind his tone.

“Mm, alright.” Yu Tong nodded and slowly said, “Actually, Xiao Yu was involved in a homicide case. The perpetrator…was his biological father. By the time we received the report and rushed to the scene, all we saw were the victims murdered by his father alone; there were four from his family including his mother, two older sisters, and one older brother. In addition, there were also members of a visiting family, resulting in a total of nine deaths. They had all died from having their chests ripped open and their organs pulled out, so they immediately died on the spot. After murdering everyone, his father poured gasoline over himself. When the police broke through the door, he had already lit the gasoline and turned into a ball of flames. By the time we extinguished the fire and sent him to the hospital, he had already lost all signs of life.”

Yu Yin stared with wide eyes. Although he had often heard of homicide cases from his two guardians during [discussions at] mealtimes, it was extremely rare for one to be this cruel. Just hearing about it made his skin crawl.

“After the police cleared the scene, they discovered Xiao Yu locked inside the bathroom next to the living room. There had even been multiple additional chains and locks outside the door that were confirmed to have his parents’ fingerprints. There was a small, partially-open vent from the ventilation shaft underneath the bathroom door that was half damaged, with traces of being struck. As a result, it was reckoned that Yu had likely witnessed the entire crime. However, we could not get any answers from him, so your uncle and I decided to bring him home after discussing it together.”

After hearing the general story all in one sitting, Yu Yin could not help but feel sympathy for the child he had just spurned earlier, who was now in deep sleep. He truly believed that he had been acting as a petty, jealous idiot. “Then…did you figure anything out?”

He did not understand; why would a father so cruelly kill so many people, refusing to even let his own wife and children go?

“We currently do not know the cause. However, after analysis, it was discovered that Xiao Yu’s parents had symptoms of long-term drug addiction, despite no drugs being found in his home. The type of drug could not be determined after testing either, so it should be a new type. This might have been a tragedy brought about by a flare-up from the drug addiction.” Yu Tong flipped through his notebook as he continued to say, “There isn’t anything else. The police are still investigating at the moment. If they discover any new questionable points, they will continue pursuing those further until the case is broken.”

“Mm…” Yu Yin kept his gaze on the person in deep sleep as he could not help but fall quiet.

Just as the two of them were silently thinking to themselves, a melody rang out.

Yu Tong stood up to answer his phone.

Yu Yin finished drinking all of the soup in his bowl. Just as he was about to grab some clothes and shower, he noticed some movement next to him. Yu, who had been sleeping so deeply before, was rubbing his eyes as he sat up and hazily looked at Yu Yin.

“You’re awake? Go and shower first, you can go to the room for more sleep after.” Now that he had heard about the boy’s tragic experience, Yu Yin could not help but loosen up. There was not as much annoyance anymore — in fact, Yu Yin felt pity towards the boy.

Yu obediently nodded and stood up. He pulled the blanket away and glanced around.

“The first room on the right when you go up to the second floor is yours. The second room is mine. Dad’s and Uncle’s rooms are on the opposite side. You can go ahead and grab my clothes to wear, although they’ll be a bit big.” While his new younger brother was nearly eighteen and practically an adult, the boy was skinny enough to be a size smaller than him.

Yu nodded and went ahead upstairs to the second room for clothes.

Soon after Yu entered the bathroom, Yu Tong walked back out. “Your uncle went to go investigate the cause behind the steam shooting out from the car, so he’ll have to report back to the station later and might not come home today. I’ll go and drop off some things for him at the scene and then head straight to work. You should consider staying home from school today to rest.” After stating these things, Yu Tong entered the kitchen to fish out a bento box.

“Uncle is going to where the taxi accident happened?” Yu Yin raised an eyebrow.

“He said that since you were sitting in the taxi, he would tag along his colleagues to quickly circle around the area along the way and see if they could find the cause. It shouldn’t take long,” Yu Tong quickly replied as he began to pack the bento box.

Yu Yin watched his father’s actions, his mind whirring into action. “Dad, are you going to the scene to deliver food to Uncle?”

“Mm, or else he won’t have eaten anything from last night up until now. It just happens to be on the way to work anyways, so I’ll drop it off.” Yu Tong quickly wrapped the bento box as he replied.

“Then, can I go with you too?”

“Ah?”

***

“Why are you tagging along again?!”

Yu Xia, who was currently inspecting the scene with his colleagues, caught sight of two little demons that had followed him once more. He bluntly stated in annoyance, “Didn’t someone say they hadn’t slept all night? Yet you ran back here again. Run back to sleep this instant. Don’t get in the way!”

“What’s wrong with coming to see the car? I’m still young, so I have plenty more energy than an old man even after pulling an all-nighter or two,” Yu Yin retorted back to his uncle. Yu, who had also insisted on coming along, was still rubbing his eyes behind Yu Yin, having fallen asleep for a while on Yu Tong’s car just now. He was the perfect image of someone struggling to chase the sleepiness away.

Yu Xia shot them a withering look. Most of his colleagues recognised Yu Yin after working together with the twins, so they let him be as long as he did not make things difficult for them, allowing the two youths to observe on the side.

They were the main subjects involved in the incident anyways, so there were no strict restrictions placed on them.

“How’s the investigation going?” Yu Tong gave the bento box in his hand over to his younger brother, then passed out the drinks he had bought along the way to the other investigating co-workers. He was immediately greeted with his colleagues’ words of gratitude.

Compared to the demon-like Yu Xia, Yu Tong was evidently the more loved and respected twin.

“Seems like it’s just an accident. The vapour erupted from excessive heat, nothing unusual.” Yu Xia shrugged with the feeling that his trip here had been unnecessary on his part. He would have been better off going back to the office to nap for a few minutes more instead.

“It was indeed an accident.” After Yu Tong accepted the investigation report his coworker passed over and flipped through it, he instantly agreed. After all, the eruption of steam could not have been manipulated. No matter how they looked, it was clearly just an accident, and the case could soon be closed.

Ignoring the adults’ discussion, Yu Yin went ahead and circled around the car to get a look himself.

Since he had seen the leopard cat appear next to the car back then, he had the feeling that there was something wrong.

As the day progressed, the crowds in the downtown area gradually grew. Most stopped to check out the scene, leaving after finding nothing interesting to watch. A few meddlesome residents came to ask a few questions, only walking away after hearing that it was an accident.

Yu also followed behind as Yu Yin walked in a circle around the car.

Yu Yin was not sure if it was due to a change in heart or because he had nothing better to do after being unable to find any clues, but he subconsciously turned to ask Yu, “You didn’t see a cat yesterday, did you?”

The owner of violet eyes paused for a moment, then shook his head.

As expected, nobody else could see that cat.

While Yu Yin was circling the car for a third time, he suddenly noticed that the trunk of the taxi was only partially closed. There was nothing in the pitch-black darkness behind the open crack.

“Wang-shū, did you guys check the trunk just now?” Yu Yin pulled on a pair of gloves and slightly opened the lid. There was nothing inside aside from what appeared to be feather dusters and other cleaning items for the car. It was an extremely normal trunk without any suspicious points.

“Nope. The accident was caused by the front of the car, so we only inspected the hood,” replied the investigation officer Yu Yin was acquainted with.

It wasn’t opened?

Then doesn’t that mean it’s been open since last night?

I clearly remember the taxi driver Dàshū only inspecting the front hood last night. I didn’t see him open the back…

“Weird, did Dàshū forget to close it?” Since Yu Yin did not see anything unusual, he casually shut the trunk.

Just as he was shifting his attention elsewhere, a strange pair of eyes suddenly materialised right as he was closing it, coldly glaring at him.

“!”

For a moment, Yu Yin thought it was just his imagination. As the heavy lid of the trunk swung down to cover the eyes, a pair of pale-white hands suddenly took their place, stretching out from inside and grabbing onto Yu Yin’s hand to drag it in.

“Ah Yin! Watch out!” The investigation officer noticed something was wrong and immediately shouted out, but he could not rush over in time.

With a thud, the lid fell down and made an odd noise.

Yu Yin jumped from the instant pain. However, it was not as intense as he had expected.

The lid was still barely open. When he looked towards the crack, he saw a book stuck in between. The amount of force the lid had fallen down was evident from the fact that the whole corner of the book had bent up.

The book was Yu’s. He was even staring longingly at the bent corners before he turned to look at Yu Yin.

“Ah Yin, are you alright?” Yu Xia was the first to race over, shoving the lid back up with a single sweep. “How could you be so careless? Did you break your finger?” The opened lid revealed the same sight as before — there was nothing inside, let alone eyes or hands. Yu Yin retracted his hand that now sported a bloody scratch on the finger. Luckily, the book had been tossed in time. Otherwise, he would probably be on his way to the hospital to reattach his finger right now.

“Thank you, Xiao Yu.” Yu Tong had also rushed over urgently. He noticed the deformed book and patted Yu.

Yu’s face remained void of expression as he took the book back, somewhat regretfully stroking the marks of destruction.

“How did it happen?” Yu Xia ripped off Yu Yin’s glove to inspect the wound with a frown. He then borrowed a tissue from his nearby colleague to press it against the injury.

“My hand slipped probably, I guess I just didn’t notice.” Yu Yin shrugged in reply, but his eyes remained locked onto the bizarre trunk.

“By the way, Uncle, could you ask Wang-shū and the others to also examine the trunk while they’re at it?”

“The trunk?”

“Eh…I can’t really say why, but it’s not like checking it out will hurt. Please?” The pair of eyes just now really bothered Yu Yin. Now matter how he thought about it, they seemed to belong to a girl. The hands that had appeared later were the same. Although they had only grabbed onto him for a second, he could recall them very clearly because he had been so shocked.

Those hands had been a bit small.

Ice-cold, and not as rough as a boy’s.

Yu Xia sharply studied Yu Yin for a moment. In the end, he still turned to shout at his colleagues that were currently putting their tools away. “Ah Wang, could you also check the trunk?”

The people all stopped to give him puzzled looks, yet they quickly jumped into action.

“We’ll handle the rest here. You should go to the hospital and get your injury bandaged first. It would be bad if you end up with a bacterial infection later.” Yu Tong flagged down a taxi passing by, then took out a few paper bills and handed them to Yu. “Xiao Yu, bring Ah Yin to the hospital and don’t let him run away. Got it?”

Yu nodded, then blinked his eyes at Yu Yin.

“Oi! I’m an adult, alright!”

A shout of protest came from a certain someone.

***

Yu Yin suddenly felt as if he had some karmic ties with the hospital these past two days.

The taxi that had been called over brought them to the hospital they had stayed at with Ah Guan last night, which was his intention anyways. If he had to go to the hospital to dress the wound, might as well go check on how Ah Guan was doing now.

Since the cut was still bleeding, the taxi driver brought them directly to the emergency area.

“Just be good and wait for me here. Don’t run around.” The boy did not respond when Yu Yin gave this command to wait outside the door as they entered the emergency area. Then, Yu Yin followed the nurse inside to the room.

Yu simply stood motionless, watching Yu Yin leave.

Why so I feel like I suddenly had a little attendant?

Yu Yin suppressed the urge to sigh as he was pushed onto a chair by the nurse and was given some anti-inflammatory shots and an anesthetic. Soon after, a doctor appeared and began to swiftly help stitch the wound without a word.

Because Yu Yin had been given an anesthetic, there was no pain at all, just an indescribably odd sensation.

“Remember to come back tomorrow and the day after for follow-up. The stitches can be removed in about a week,” the doctor instructed after quickly treating the injury. He then prescribed some painkillers, and asked Yu Yin to wait outside.

When Yu Yin walked outside the room, he saw that Yu actually was obediently standing in the exact same spot waiting for him.

“I’m going to go check on Ah Guan, the person that was in the car accident yesterday. Do you want to go and buy some food for yourself first, or do you want to wait outside?” Yu Yin asked while pointing his finger that was now wrapped like a mummy. Since Yu Yin was not going anywhere fun, he did not particularly want someone to follow him.

Yu shook his head.

“You want to go see Ah Guan too?”

A nod.

“You really love following others!”

…No response.

Yu Yin tilted his head back and let out a helpless sigh. He could only concede… “Whatever, you can follow if you want. Just don’t get lost.”

After asking around, Yu Yin quickly learned that since being delivered last night, Ah Guan was still in the observation ward and was not allowed any visitors. He followed the head nurse from last night to a glass wall, where he could see his good friend who now had multiple tubes sticking out from him.

“Student Chen will be undergoing a second surgery soon. However, he’s currently doing quite well. If he does not worsen, he should be able to recover. It’s just up to fate now,” the head nurse said next to him. She sighed and said, “It’s such a pity that someone so young could get into such a severe car accident. We still haven’t been able to contact his parents…”

Yu Yin naturally knew Ah Guan’s family situation. His parents loved going out to gamble and enjoy themselves, and would even sometimes disappear without a trace for over half a month before returning home. This was an extremely normal occurrence. Ah Guan typically used his wages from his part-time job to support himself, or his parents would occasionally return and hand him a few thousand yuan.

That was just how it was.

As a result, Ah Guan liked to play around outside, and sometimes would even spend the night out instead of returning home, or find a random place to hole up in. Yu Yin had never seen his friend express any desire to go home. Their group of friends all knew this, but did not ever question it while they were all out enjoying themselves.

Of course, Ah Guan’s parents were likely having fun somewhere unknown, just as usual.

Yu Yin used his own part-time job wages to cover the basic treatment cost first, then asked the head nurse about some details of what had happened after Ah Guan had first been sent to the hospital. Finally, he left the observation ward.

When Yu Yin walked outside, he saw Yu still sitting in the corridor waiting for him. However, there were now five or six more people as well. They were mostly youths around Yu Yin’s own age, none of which appeared to have the best intentions. All of them sported dyed hair of various bizarre colours that ranged from blonde, to green, to red. Some of them wore brand-name clothing, which made them stick out like a sore thumb in the hospital hallway.

Yu Yin recognised these people.

They were Ah Guan’s co-workers from his part-time job. Ah Guan had introduced them before, but they had not gotten along very well, and had never kept in contact again after the first encounter. If I recall correctly, the leader’s name is…

“Aren’t you Ah Guan’s friend, Yu Yin?” A youth with bright blonde hair walked over and spoke in a tone that was not very friendly. “I’m his superior at his work, Wang Hong. We’ve met once before.”

That’s right, Wang Hong. Yu Yin did not remember the names of the others, since there was no point in expending the effort to remember the names of all these random people that had nothing in common with him.

“May I ask if you needed something?” Yu Yin watched Yu stand up and walk behind him, seemingly expressing dislike towards this group of people.

However, Yu was not the only one. Several people passing by also avoided them, and a few nurses were attentively watching them, as if afraid they would cause trouble in the hospital.

“I came today because I saw the news of Ah Guan getting into a car accident on TV and wanted to check on him. Did you already go see Ah Guan? I asked those damned nurses, but they wouldn’t tell me the number to his room!” Wang Hong sneered as he shot a glare towards one of the nurses passing by. The other person immediately sped up and fled.

Yu Yin raised an eyebrow. If he were a nurse, he probably would not want to tell this group standing in front of him either. Actually, he probably would have even called the police to escort them outside. “Ah Guan is in observation right now and cannot have visitors. You probably cannot see him until after his surgery is over.”

“I see.” Wang Hong crossed his arms, his brows knit together in thought. “Then I’ll come and find him after he wakes.”

“Is there something you need to tell him?” Yu Yin did not mention the fact that Ah Guan’s situation was not very optimistic. However, he found the other person’s sudden visit to the hospital somewhat suspicious.

“Not at all,” came the sharp rejection. Then, seemingly realising he had overreacted, Wang Hong slowly added, “Since his sudden hospitalisation affects our shifts, I just came to check on the situation and see if he should be suspended from work or if we should find someone to replace him. Then I can talk to the owner.”

“Oh.”

Yu Yin thought back. He seemed to remember Ah Guan mentioning that he worked at an arcade centre.

“Contact me if Ah Guan wakes up. This is my cellphone number.” Wang Hong passed over a business card with his name and the game centre printed on it, as well as a mobile number underneath.

“Our shop is close by. Feel free to call if the situation changes too, and I can come over immediately.”

“Alright.” Yu Yin accepted the card, and after quickly eyeing it, placed it inside his wallet.

Wang Hong gave him a wave [of farewell], then he and his group turned to walk towards the elevators.

Just as they were about to leave, a thought flashed through Yu Yin’s head as he stared at Wang Hong’s back. “Wang-dàgē, wait…”

Wang Hong spun around with a dubious expression. “What?”

“Do you know someone named Jing?”

Wang Hong gave a violent start the instant he heard the question. A moment passed before he finally spat out with a sneer, “Never even heard of the name!”

Then, he immediately turned around and left.

Yu Yin watched the group leave as a sense of uneasiness formed in his heart.

At that moment, he heard a meow.

***

By the time they left the hospital, it was nearly noon.

Yu Yin checked his watch to see that it was around 11:30 or so.

“Let’s go eat first, then we can go home and make up some sleep,” he said as he placed a hand on Yu’s shoulder. They then found a Japanese restaurant nearby.

Since it was almost noon, there were quite a few people in the restaurant. The entire first floor was occupied, and the waiters running about called them to go up to the less crowded second floor.

After taking their seats, Yu Yin passed over the order form to Yu after marking a seafood set for himself.

Yu studied the menu for a bit before choosing the exact same thing, then allowed the waiter to take the order form away.

Japanese music softly played through the restaurant, and the extremely charming songs echoed through the air.

Yu Yin took out a notebook to jot down Wang Hong’s name and phone number. He then wrote Ah Guan’s name and began to hypothesise what secrets the two of them might be sharing.

Wang Hong’s reaction today had been extremely odd. Yu Yin had the feeling that the “Jing” Ah Guan had mentioned was someone Wang Hong also knew, or else the latter would not have rejected the notion so urgently. A typical person would have been confused by a stranger’s name. And based on the great amount of shock, Wang Hong had likely not been expecting to be asked about this person.

Yu Yin flipped the business card over to see the game centre’s address printed on the back. It was quite close to this area, around a five minute walk or so. It made sense that the other person had said he could arrive immediately if notified of any problems.

It did not take long for the two seafood sets to arrive. The delicious aroma instantly triggered his appetite, and Yu Yin suddenly realised how hungry he actually was.

“Thanks for the meal!” He happily declared while splitting his bamboo chopsticks.

Yu eyed him from across the table, then gently separated his own chopsticks before slowly and unhurriedly eating his food.

“Oh, right, I still haven’t thanked you for today.” Yu Yin stretched out his finger that was now wrapped like a mummy and waved it in front of Yu, successfully drawing the boy’s attention. “Thank you for saving my hand. I’ll buy you a new copy of the destroyed book in return.” If the trunk really had slammed down on his hand, having it excessively wrapped would not have been the only result. Rather, it probably would have broken completely and would instead be waiting for it get fixed.

Yu shook his head and reached over to pick up the pen on the table. He neatly wrote in the notebook: “It’s fine, I already finished reading.”

Yu Yin scratched his head, now feeling abashed. “Don’t say that, I originally wanted to apologise to you as well. How about this then? Before we go home, we can drop by the bookstore and you can look around for any books you want to buy. I’ll get you one as an apology. Is that okay?” He had noticed that the book had not been from his house, nor belonged to his father or uncle. He could not help but feel a bit ashamed for damaging someone else’s book, so he refused to let it go.

Yu stared at him for a moment before tilting his head in thought. Eventually, he nodded

Just as the ambiance between them was gradually lightening up, the cellphone placed on the table suddenly began to ring loudly. Yu Yin held the spoon in his mouth as he picked the phone up. Yu Xia’s voice immediately came from the other end.

After listening for a while, Yu Yin frowned.

“The trunk of the taxi tested positive for large amounts of blood?”