The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

He could hear the sound of shifting dirt.

The person’s companion hurriedly tried to stop them. “Chen-Gē, stop digging. If the police find us, we’re screwed!”

“Like hell we’re screwed! If those lazy-ass cops dare to come here, I’ll fucking shoot’em!” The extremely drunk person roared out, his voice echoing through the small street and somewhat attracting the attention of nearby residents.

But after noticing the noisy people were on the shadier side, they just locked themselves in their own homes, not daring to say anything.

And the ruckus was getting louder and louder.

“There’s something fishy about this. Let’s hurry up and leave here first,” Yu Yin said as he tugged at Chu Jin He, who still wanted to listen more. “Those people don’t have anything to do with Chen Yong Hao’s death.”

“But there must be some kind of problem…” Chu Jin He resisted slightly, clearly not wanting to leave.

“Let’s just go. Can’t you tell that they’re crazy drunk?” Yu Yin yanked at the other person a few more times to start pulling him back along the rear well as he paid close attention to the ones making a larger and larger commotion in front.

Just as they took their first step, something flew straight at them from the front yard. It smashed onto the ground right next to Yu Yin’s feet, shattering into a pile of shards.

Upon closer inspection, the thing that had been tossed at them was a small potted plant.

“Hurry up!” Yu Yin dragged Chu Jin He away, and without caring about whether or not they would be discovered, broke into a run.

Just as they escaped the perimeter of the house, one of the people just happened to walk to the backyard to see if they had broken anything just now, and was instead just in time to see the two figures run into the darkness in panic. He immediately opened his mouth to shout from the top of his lungs, “Fuck! Someone heard us just now!”

The pattering sounds coming from behind them were obvious enough for Yu Yin to know they were being chased, even without looking back. He began to run faster, no longer caring if Chu Jin He was able to keep up or not, staggeringly charging straight towards Chen Yong Hao’s home.

Only the yellow light from the streetlamps could be seen on the dark street.

They ran so hard that they could practically hear their own heartbeat continually getting louder.

Before they had gotten very far though, Yu Yin heard the heavy sound of footsteps from behind them. But oddly enough, it didn’t belong to those people that were chasing after them. Those people were still further behind, while this sound was practically right behind them.

The footsteps weren’t his, nor Chu Jin He’s. Rather, it was the pitter-pattering sound of someone quickly running with slippers.

Whose footsteps were those?

The two of them did not turn around to look, knowing that this wasn’t a good time to do so, and continued to race for their lives. As soon as they saw the door of the Chen home, they immediately charged straight in, slammed the door shut, and turned off the lights. The two of them were gasping for breath, but didn’t dare to make any sounds as they secretly peeked outside from the room’s window.

Those people managed to also reach the vicinity a few seconds later. With clubs and such in their hands, they slowed their steps and began to survey the area.

“Get your asses out here!” One of the people shouted out. He knocked his club against the ground noisily. “If you don’t come out now, you’re dead the moment we find you!”

We’ll die if we come out now too!

As Yu Yin inwardly thought this, he cautiously flipped his phone open to quickly send a text message.

Seeing that nobody appeared, the people outside began to bang their clubs around. The other terrified residents didn’t dare open their doors either as the loud thuds echoed across the entire street.

“Weird, why hasn’t anyone called the police?” Yu Yin asked in confusion as he shut his phone.

Typically speaking, wouldn’t someone have reported this to the police ages ago?

“The people here are all poor and are afraid of angering these kinds of people. If they called the cops, those guys would definitely come back and stir up more trouble. So nobody dares,” Chu Jin He answered quietly.

I see.

Yu Yin frowned and groaned to himself.

Soon, the racket arrived on their door. The string of thuds rang through the entire hall, and it felt as if the floor boards were vibrating along with it.

Yu Yin tightly clutched his ears, trying his best to block out the noise. But the following second, he was immediately dumbfounded.

He saw someone standing in front of the door. It was not Chu Jin He.

Amidst the darkness, the shattered skull was glistening with liquid. “It” let out a strange sound before slowly turning its seemingly soft, boneless head so that its grey eyes locked straight onto Yu Yin.

He wasn’t sure if that thing was grinning or not, but the corners of its mouth were definitely tilted up at a strange angle. It then passed through the door to go outside. Half a minute later, Yu Yin heard a new voice come from the other side.

“Hell! You finally had the guts to come out!”

Chu Jin He, who was standing next to Yu Yin, turned to give him an odd look when he heard this.

Yu Yin simply shrugged, indicating that he didn’t know what was going on either.

A bunch of noises could be heard outside as the people likely surrounded the doorway to block it off. “Motherfucker, why were you eavesdropping earlier!” The person shouted again in an extremely vicious tone that spread through the entire house.

When Yu Yin looked through the crack, he could see the crowd of people surrounding a person.

On the other hand, when Chu Jin He looked out, all he saw was the group shouting out at empty air for some bizarre reason.

Are they just beyond drunk?

Then, Yu Yin slowly and quietly pulled him towards the back of the room.

As the angry voices outside grew louder and louder, the two of them hid at the far end of the living room and watched the figures outside the window brandish the clubs in their hands and start to swing out blows with a series of bangs.

A few seconds later, the other party noticed something off.

“Why, why can’t I hit him…” Someone sobered up a bit from their drunken stupor and dropped their club with a thud.

“Your vision is fucked up!” Another person spat out a string of curses and persisted on with violently waving around their club.

A strange, heavy thud of collision rang out. Instead of a hoot of victory, a different cry followed: “Ghost! It’s a ghost!”

It was silent for a whole three seconds outside.

In the blink of an eye, a tremendous noise burst out from the other side of the walls, and the door of the Chen residence shook violently before being forcefully opened with a crash as a mass of people miserably tumbled in.

Just as he had seen on the street under the lamplight earlier, Yu Yin saw “it” standing at the entrance. Its grey eyes glinted with a strange light, fixated on the people on the ground. Its head was half caved in, as if it had been beaten in, and the split portion of its skull was gushing out blood. The unidentifiable, pale-colored liquid dripped down its entire face and onto the ground.

Completely oblivious as to why these people had crashed inside, Chu Jin He only saw them shout out “Ghost!” in empty air, unable to see anything. “…Is it Yong Hao?”

He could only think of the person that had left this house.

“It’s, it’s just a ghost, what’s there to be scared of!” The extremely drunk guy cried out and suddenly pulled out an amulet of unknown origin from his pocket.

Almost instantly, Yu Yin saw the figure at the entrance suddenly vanish into thin air.

The entire living room fell silent.

***

A while passed after the threatening thing disappeared, and the people that had originally tumbled to the ground shakily stood back up. There was no lack of obscene language and triumphant hooting between them, as they clearly had assumed it was their victory.

Then, as if switching channels on a television, they instantly fell quiet again.

“…Isn’t this the home of that Chen guy?” Someone recognised the layout of the house.

“Damn, I think so.”

Their haughtiness instantly vanished, and the group began to slowly retreat.

“What are you scared of! Don’t forget that all-purpose Daoist talisman the temple master gave us last time! Who’s afraid of ghosts?” The person that had pulled out the amulet earlier cursed out in annoyance and flipped the nearby coffee table.

“Ye-yeah, nothing to be scared of.” Someone immediately snapped out of it and added, “Actually, that Chen guy still owes me interest. Maybe we should flip through his home while we’re here to see if there’s anything of worth to bring with us?”

Contrary to expectations, these people’s greed had peaked after being frightened out of their wits.

“After all, we’ve been on the run lately, and owe some money so cash has been tight.”

“Then hurry up and start searching! Cut the bullshit!”

Yu Yin frowned upon hearing this. Immediately afterwards, sounds of rummaging around loudly traveled through the living room as the people tossed tables and chairs, emptying cabinets and drawers to dump everything out, and even pushing over boxes of accumulated junk.

“Stop!” Before Yu Yin could stop him, he watched the extremely furious Chu Jin He rush out heroically with a shout.

Immediately, everyone ceased their movements.

And they instantly recognised him.

“Isn’t that the guy that eavesdropped on us last time?” The gangsters stopped what they were doing and surrounded him. “How nice, you’ve come seeking your own death, huh?”

Seeing that the situation was about to reach an irreversible point, Yu Yin also walked straight out. “You guys should hurry up and leave. I just called the police; if you don’t want to get caught, scram!” He pulled Chu Jin He backwards with furrowed brows.

“And where did you come from, brat? You guys must be together, right?” The drunkard from before had at this point mostly sobered up, and he reached out to grab Yu Yin’s hair.

Yu Yin felt a sudden pain from his scalp, and he intuitively swatted the hands away with all his strength. “If you want to talk, then just talk. What are you getting all touchy for?”

“You just fucking said you called the cops, didn’t you?” The person’s eyes suddenly glinted murderously, and he raised his club high in the air, prepared to swing down. “Fuck, you dared to­­­­­—”

“What are you doing over there!”

A sudden shout caused the club to freeze in midair before it was swung down.

Yu Yin, who had been prepared to counter, also froze in place. He looked behind the hoodlums and saw a person that really should not have been there at all.

Standing at the doorway was Teng Qi. He frigidly surveyed the gangsters and stated, “The Chen family’s money has already been paid out, yet you still have the audacity to stir up trouble here?” His tone was hard and ice-cold as it pierced through their bodies.

The leader of the gangsters glared hatefully at Yu Yin before lowering his club and walking over with a vulgar smile. “Isn’t this the extremely generous and skillful Mr. Teng? Haha…we still have interest that needs to be cleared…”

“The portion that was owed to you guys was cleared long ago, and you officially agreed to stop disturbing their home. Are you sure you want to break the rules?” Teng Qi said in a low voice.

“That’s not what was agreed on. You know, that Chen guy owed us so much money that the interest reached sky-high amounts. There’s no way that measly amount of cash could be enough.” He then glanced at Teng Qi with malicious intentions. “Mr. Teng, it looks like you have quite the profit too!” As he said this, he unexpectedly lurched to grab at the work bag Teng Qi was carrying.

“Watch out!” Yu Yin charged over to grab onto the person about to swing down his club. Seeing the situation going awry, the other hoodlums immediately closed in to attack.

Teng Qi tossed his work bag at Chu Jin He, who was standing on the side, and surprisingly shifted straight into a fighting stance. Not long after, he beat up all the gangsters until they were collapsed on the ground and wailing in pain. “What did you think you could do while drunk to the point where you can barely stand properly?” He coldly snorted as he loosened his collar.

Yu Yin and Chu Jin He could only gape in astonishment at the scene before them.

Teng Qi turned and saw their dumbfounded expressions. With a helpless grin, he asked, “Did I frighten you? My apologies. Being in this line of work, it’s best to at least know basic self-defense…although it’s also a personal hobby of mine.”

“Ah, oh.” Yu Yin finally returned to his senses and nodded.

“Teng-dàgē, what are you doing here?” Chu Jin He hurriedly asked with the bag still in his hands.

Teng Qi smiled faintly. “You haven’t been picking up your phone recently, so I was afraid you had gone and done something reckless. I also wanted to light some incense for Yong Hao. I had not imagined that we would just happen to bump into each other.”

Yu Yin stared at him, suddenly feeling as if it wasn’t as coincidental as he claimed.

“Hm? Officer Yu?” Teng Qi looked at him, suddenly asking in an equally puzzled tone.

Chu Jin He immediately spun to face him. “You’re also…” A cop?

“I’ll explain to you later,” Yu Yin hurriedly interrupted Chu Jin He.

As he felt a headache coming on, Yu Yin saw from the corner of his eye the gangster that Teng Qi had knocked down just now. As they were questioning each other, the hoodlum behind Teng Qi pulled out something from his clothes…

“Watch out!”

The sound of a gunshot shattered the rare moment of peace and quiet.

***

The noise faded. The bullet had not hit anyone.

It had instead buried itself into the roof.

“Are you trying to seek death? Opening fire in front of me?” Yu Xia had charged forward and kicked the person with the gun. Before the other person even reacted, the gun was also kicked away from his hands, and he was being held down against the ground. “Which hand did you shoot with just now? I swear I’ll break it!”

“Un­-uncle, you would have to write a report if you broke the criminal’s hand,” Yu Yin reminded him of this fact as he let out a huge breath of relief.

Police sirens could be heard outside the alley. It was clear that they had just rushed over.

Yu Xia shot him a warning glance before letting go as a colleague rushed over from behind to escort the people away. “The text you sent me asking to save you was just referring to this?” He pulled out gloves and picked up the gun from the ground, thinking that its serial number looked extremely familiar.

“What else could it be? If you had come just a second later, we would’ve all been killed,” Yu Yin shot back, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

“Oh, please. You didn’t even give a clear address, plus you were standing in an alley. The fact that I even found you at all is already very lucky!” Spontaneously receiving a text to ask him for help on a passing road…he had only managed to find this alley by asking someone to track it down!

After staring blankly for a moment, Teng Qi walked over in slight confusion. “Officer Yu.”

Yu Xia looked at him and rubbed his chin as he asked in a suspicious tone, “Who are you?” He had never seen this person before.

Teng Qi couldn’t help but pause in bewilderment from being asked this question. Aside from the lack of glasses, he was pretty sure this was the person he was acquainted with…

“Teng-dàgē, this is another Officer Yu. They are a pair of twins.” Chu Jin He, who already knew this, quickly chimed in with an explanation.

“Oh, you are someone from the case that Tong is responsible for. My name is Yu Xia, not Yu Tong.” After hearing the youth say those words, Yu Xia struck his palm with his fist, immediately realising the identity of the person before him. That’s right, I heard that the person related to the suicide case went by the surname Teng. So it’s this guy, huh.

“Why are the three of you randomly gathering here for no reason?” One was his family’s son, one was a current house guest, while the other was a related witness. He really couldn’t figure out why they would be holding some kind of party in such a remote place.

“This is Chen Yong Hao’s home.” Yu Yin pulled his uncle off to one side and then said in a lowered voice so that the other two couldn’t hear, “Ah He and I were called here by that thing. Mr. Teng came to light incense.” Although the funeral hall was already taken down.

Yu Xia nodded, quickly catching on to the situation.

He then turned to face the other two. “Sorry, but I’ll have to trouble you guys to come back with me to give a statement regarding your encounter with those guys from earlier,” he said while waving the short gun in his hand.

“That is fine.” Teng Qi displayed his usual cooperativeness. “It is my pleasure to meet you, Mr. Yu.”

Seeing as the situation had already progressed to this point, Chu Jin He could only nod as well.

Thus, the group of people were taken away.

Upon their return, since Yu Yin was familiar with everyone at the station and knew the procedures well, he took advantage of the spare time he had while Yu Xia was questioning the gangsters to hide in his uncle’s office space to take a quick rest.

Perhaps due to the fact that the police station had a more oppressive aura, after accidentally falling asleep, he wasn’t interrupted by any random things.

During his dazed sleep, his mind suddenly became abnormally clear for some reason.

He dreamed of that night when he had bumped into Chen Yong Hao. That guy was chasing after him for a long while in that same excited manner.

It was so clear that it was as if he was re-living the moment.

Then, he felt like he remembered a vital clue.

Yu Yin woke up in shock. When he looked at the clock in the dark office, it was already very late at night.

When he walked out of the resting room, there were still several police officers taking turns interrogating the gangsters they had brought back. Teng Qi and Chu Jin He were nowhere to be seen, but Yu Xia was sitting at an empty table off to the side and flipping through some reports.

“Uncle.” Yu Yin yawned and walked over to sit next to him.

Yu Xia glanced at him and snorted, “You’re awake? Only your statement is left now. Go look for Xiao Lin later.”

“Oh…”

“I’ve already let Chu Jin He and Teng Qi go first. I just sent the gun out for an urgent comparison, and the results are already out.” Yu Xia closed the booklet of papers he had been flipping through and whistled in an unexpectedly good mood. “It’s the same as the weapon that went missing in the case I’m on.”

Yu Yin knew that Yu Xia’s most recent case was the one involving two deaths, with the criminals having fled.

“That coincidental?” The same gun?

“It’s just that coincidental. The trajectory was identical, and there were also witnesses that saw those people there that day.” Yu Xia looked over at the still ongoing interrogation and stood up to take two bottles of fruit juice out of the small fridge nearby, tossing one of them at his family’s son. “If the other evidence matches up, I’ll be done here.” It was pretty much a gift dropped from the heavens. He had been searching everywhere without a single lead, but now everything had come together with a single capture.

Yu Xia suddenly felt like it was perhaps due to God feeling pity on him for not being able to sleep recently, and thus giving him this great present to let him quickly catch up on rest.

Yu Yin swung the bottle of juice in his hand, unable to smile at the news.

Chen Yong Hao had called them to that place.

Chu Jin He had also been guided to provoke those people.

Was this really as simple as just helping them solve a case?

No, Yu Yin felt that something wasn’t quite right. It shouldn’t that simple. Something else is missing.

Wait, don’t those people also know Chen Yong Hao?

“Uncle, could you help me ask them about something?”

***

By the time he had obediently given his statement and returned home, the sky had already started to lighten up.

Yu Yin parked his motorbike and opened the front door.

It was 6 AM. As usual, he could hear the sounds of someone preparing breakfast in the kitchen. As soon as Yu Tong heard someone open the door, he poked his head out and saw his son there.

“Xia called me and told me about everything. Go and wash your face first. After you finish breakfast, call your school to request a leave of absence and stay at home to make up some rest.” After saying this, he went back to busying up in the kitchen.

Yu Yin tossed his bag and collapsed onto the sofa with a crash.

Forget washing his face, even crawling back up at this point was impossible.

In his exhaustion and half-asleep state, Yu Yin caught a glimpse of the little fellow by the name of Shaodi Yu slowly walking over while carrying a thick book. Perhaps after seeing Yu Yin’s state or seeing that his usual spot was taken, Xiao Yu momentarily paused for a few seconds before sitting down on the armchair instead to turn on the television.

The TV volume was lowered significantly, and Yu Yin couldn’t really hear it.

After a while passed, he felt someone cover him with a thin blanket.

Yu turned off the TV and glanced at the sleeping Yu Yin before putting down his book and quietly walking over to the kitchen.

“Xiao Yu, did Ah Yin fall asleep outside?” Yu Tong asked the person walking in, as there hadn’t been any sounds of Yu Yin returning to his room. The latter nodded. “I’ve told that boy to not sleep in the living room every time, but he never listens.” Going to his own bedroom was only a few steps more.

Yu raised a finger to signal for Yu Tong to lower his voice. He then carefully walked out carrying the breakfast to the dining room.

Soon afterwards, a noise came from the stairs.

The person coming down was Chu Jin He, who had also been unable to sleep through the night. After washing himself up, he stood outside the kitchen, unsure of what to say.

“Is something the matter? Otherwise, we’re about to start eating.” Yu Tong smiled at him and turned off the stove before adding some spices onto the steaming soup.

“Um…I heard from Teng-dàgē that you’re investigating Yong Hao’s matter.”

After returning last night, he had talked with Teng Qi for a while, thus learning about the multiple police investigations the past few days. “I’m sorry, I thought this whole time that you guys would just drop it.” He had really believed that the police would close the case like that and bring it carelessly to an end.

Yu Tong simply kept his smile. “What is there to be sorry about? It’s not a big deal. If there really is something wrong with the case, then we should be investigating it.” He brought the pot of soup out of the kitchen, with Chu Jin He following behind. “If there aren’t any issues, the facts will quickly come to light. Until then, I’ll have to ask you to please be patient a while longer.”

Chu Jin He looked at the person in front of him and unconsciously nodded in response.

“Alright. Ah Yin is already dead asleep, so I think we should just start eating without him.” Yu Tong warmly offered, as he had no plans to awaken his completely exhausted son.

“That’s right, um…” Chu Jin He hurriedly started his sentence, but paused for a moment to think about his words before continuing, “Since those hoodlums were already caught by Mr. Yu, I think I should be out of the woods now. So I plan on moving back to my own place.” He felt that staying here was weird. Although comfortable, it wasn’t his own home after all.

“That’s fine. If you need anything, feel free to let us know, and we will be happy to help.”

Chu Jin He nodded, and didn’t continue the topic any further.

***

By the time Yu Yin had woken up, it was pretty much afternoon already.

The living room fan was on. Aside from the noise it generated, nothing else could be heard.

He rubbed his slightly pained head and sat up while checking his watch. It was ten minutes to one in the afternoon. After looking around, he noticed some of the dishes that had been left on the dining table covered in plastic wrap, perhaps waiting on him to wake up before putting them away.

He thought: What should I do this afternoon…

Just as he was putting the food into the microwave and pondering this question, Yu Yin’s phone began to go off again.

Without much thought, he directly answered the phone.

There was no sound from the other end aside from the wind blowing through an empty space.

Yu Yin furrowed his brows and immediately cut the call. Just as he expected, the notification of an incoming text could be heard just a few seconds later.

When he opened the message to read it, he discovered that it was an address.

“You want me to go here?” He arched a brow. Going with his dad was fairly easy, but it could be hard to mingle in if he went alone, especially after yesterday. The other party probably knew he wasn’t a cop now.

The address written was that of the loans company.

Just as he was about to call Yu Tong to discuss it, a second text arrived. This one was even simpler. It was a time: 10:00 PM.

Meaning it wanted him to sneak in at night?

Yu Yin felt somewhat defeated.

“Can we just discuss this for a moment? The case is about to end anyways, all you have to do is watch from the sidelines as we catch the culprit. This is an illegal break-in, you know.” The case was clearly about to be resolved, yet it still wanted him to do a criminal act. If he was caught, he would definitely get beaten to death by his dad and uncle.

As soon as he said this, he immediately got a text. It was the same time repeated.

Within ten seconds, he got another one.

And then a third one, and a fourth one….

Yu Yin was starting to get annoyed. He turned off the power of his phone. “You’re really annoying. Just what exactly are you trying to do?” From the beginning up until now, it had just been causing boatloads of trouble. They were very obviously about to smoothly finish the investigation, yet it was still playing around with him.

He tossed his phone to one side, and as he took his food out from the microwave, Yu Yin heard a noise that was definitely impossible…a text notification.

Enough is enough. You think that kind of paranormal activity would scare me?

He had even seen faces on his computer screen before!

The texts just didn’t stop coming.

“Alright, I’ll go and take a look, okay?” After being annoyed by the incessant rings for nearly five minutes, Yu Yin shouted out at the empty air in frustration.

Strangely enough, the phone really did go quiet.

He rolled his eyes in annoyance. He had really never met such a troublesome ghost before!

Yu Yin carried the heated food over to the living room and turned on the TV to closely watch the news channel. They were already reporting that the police had broken the armed confrontation case and such. It looked like that would be today’s headline.

The ones being locked up were the criminals he had seen from yesterday. They had probably been escorted after completing the interrogation. There were quite a few officers bringing them onto the police cars, and quite a few meddlesome people were watching in from a distance.

This wasn’t anything odd, but rather, it was an extremely normal occurrence.

The reporters chased after the policemen to interview them. Just when everything was progressing as naturally as it should, the camera angle shifted slightly. Yu Yin narrowed his eyes as he saw a familiar face appear from within the crowd.

“Ding Wei Han?” What is he doing there?

I doubt he just happens to be paying a visit to a client?

Because the camera was filming the criminals being forced onto the police cars, it remained fixated in that direction. Yu Yin was naturally able to clearly see the unrelated person closely watching the people being sent away with a focused expression.

Don’t tell me he recognises those gangsters?

Actually, that wasn’t really impossible. Just earlier, Teng Qi’s attitude had made it seem that he knew those people as well. They had probably bumped into each other due to their work.

But he didn’t think that Teng Qi would have especially gone to see those people being sent away.

What relationship do those people have?

Why did those gangsters maliciously flip through Chen Yong Hao’s things last night after knowing they were in his home?

Yu Yin’s thoughts went in a full circle. He suddenly remembered that Chen Yong Hao’s case had originally been Ding Wei Han’s, but it had later changed to Teng Qi’s responsibility for some reason. Then the matter with the ones demanding repayments had been settled.

What other connections are there?

In that moment, Yu Yin’s eye suddenly twitched.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that this specified location at the specified time tonight would be the crucial point.