The Yu Brothers’ Case Book

As a result, they returned to their starting point.

After tidying up a bit and taking a short rest at the hotel first, it was nearly noon by the time they arrived at the pension.

Since it was lunchtime, they could faintly smell the aroma of food upon stepping into the front lobby, although it was uncertain whether it had been brought in by tourists or if the scent was coming from the attached restaurant.

There were a bit more people than usual.

Yu Xia couldn’t care less about how many people were present though. He walked to the front counter and told the pension staff member, “I’m looking for your bosses!”

Likely due to the fact that his expression was too terrifying, the worker at the front counter immediately nodded and stuttered an affirmation before scurrying off to make the internal call.

It was a rare instance where Yu Yin and Xiao Yu could leave the front desk’s matters to someone else, and with no plans to interfere, the two of them walked over in a practiced manner to sit in a less crowded space on the side. They bought some drinks and waited for the show to unfold.

After a while, the staff member repeatedly apologised to Yu Xia, and said with a cloudy expression that the owner couple had just stepped out; it might take a while for them to come back. He then suggested for Yu Xia to please sit outside and wait for a moment.

While waiting, Xiao Yu once again went to study the large painting on the wall, constantly circling back and forth around it. Yu Yin did not pay much mind to his actions, and instead took out the photo they had found underneath the painting before.

But when he focused on it, he started slightly. At first, he figured he had seen incorrectly, but after shoving the photo right in front of his face to examine it closely a few more times, Yu Yin finally confirmed that he had not been mistaken at all.

In the old photo, behind the villa’s front door and right behind the girl, was a blurry silhouette. Without looking closely, there was no way it would be spotted.

It’s probably a youth around my age?

Yu Yin wasn’t absolutely sure since he wasn’t an expert at this kind of thing; he could only make a general guess. He took out his cellphone and snapped a picture of the photo to send to Jiu Shen’s phone. He just was not certain if the other person would help.

After doing all this, he inspected the photo once more. There were also old marks on the figure, so it was evident that it had not appeared later, but rather had been there since the beginning.

So who is the person in the picture?

“Mr. Guest! I apologise, but you could you please not do that!”

While Yu Yin was still pondering what the thing in the photo was, he was suddenly startled by the sound of a disturbance. He turned to see a server and Xiao Yu wrapped up in some kind of dispute, and the former was slowly pulling the latter away from the painting.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Yin quickly dashed over and grabbed the server.

“Are you two together? Could you please ask your friend not to damage the public property inside our shop? That painting was an item the boss had specially gone down to the eastern district to buy; it’s apparently not cheap.” The server pointed at the painting hanging on the wall, and although he was still polite, his tone was not very happy.

Yu Yin turned to look at the person whose expression seemed a bit off. “What did you do?”

Xiao Yu seemed to be somewhat absent-minded, his focus concentrated entirely on the painting. He did not directly reply to Yu Yin’s question.

“He wanted to tear down our painting just now,” the server answered in an upset tone, mistaking the other’s silence as a sign of a guilty conscience. The server then continued, “May I request for you to please not do anything like that again…”

Before he finished speaking, a loud noise rang out from behind him.

“Did you encounter something?” Yu Xia had at some point started to touch the painting, completely ignored the other person’s criticisms, and he pushed at the frame that was only set in place on the top.

“What are you all making a ruckus for?”

Before Yu Xia could tear the painting down, a voice suddenly floated in from outside. Then, the owner couple that they had been waiting for a long time to arrive walked in, one behind the other.

The instant the server saw his bosses return, he hurriedly explained the situation.

The male owner forcefully shoved the server off to the side with an extremely unsightly expression. “Officer Yu, there’s no need for us to stay here 24/7 just to meet with the faces of the police. What has needed to be said has been spoken already. Aren’t you police supposed to be searching for those missing students? What are you now trying to do over here again?” His tone was forceful, and even the server that had wanted to lodge a complaint was frightened and began to shrink backwards with a lowered head. “Do you know how many family members of those students have been calling us dozens of times every day to hold us responsible because of you all? And some even come to stir up trouble, staying nearby and threatening us by coming over to cause a ruckus every day during mealtimes. Do you think we no longer need our business? Aren’t you supposed to be the one giving proper explanations to those family members?”

The atmosphere inside the front lobby instantly turned stifling. The other customers that had originally been laughingly booking rooms were also frightened, with all gazes turned to their direction and nobody daring to say a word.

“I obviously came here because I have some questions I wanted to ask you.” Yu Xia narrowed his eyes, ignoring the other person’s unfriendly attitude and rage as he had faced much worse situations before. “I wanted to clarify if anything has ever happened with that villa, whether it was before or after construction.”

Seeing as her husband was already somewhat furious, the wife hurriedly smiled and answered, “That area of land is very clean. There haven’t been any problems either before or after the construction. We’ve already told the police this; if you need to, you are welcome to go back and check the previous written accounts.”

“Alright.” Yu Xia nodded, seeing that with the current circumstances, it was unlikely he could get any useful answers. After a moment’s thought, he brought up another question. “Is there anything special behind the painting?”

“A wall!” The boss furiously plowed forwards and grabbed the painting to forcefully yank at it, causing the entire painting to respond by falling. The servers nearby were all shocked, and hurriedly ran over to support the drawing before it completely collapsed on the ground.

Behind the painting was indeed just a wall; there was nothing else to be seen.

Yu Yin glanced at Xiao Yu, who seemed to really want to say something. He opened his mouth several times but did not speak a word.

Having already made such an uproar, questioning other matters could possibly just make things uglier.

Yu Xia eyed everyone present in the lobby and could only temporarily restrain his doubts. “Please excuse us for disturbing you. Actually, we just came to inform you that we have already found one of the missing students, but he is severely wounded and currently unable to speak. At that time, I also saw a ‘person’ wearing a mask and a thick coat. If either of you two have any ideas regarding these items, please contact me immediately.”

He did not miss the fact that upon the mention of the mask, the couple simultaneously stiffened, seemingly thinking of something.

“In addition, regarding the fire fifteen years ago, I wanted to confirm with you if twenty-one people were buried at the time? And if there were any other survivors?” Yu Xia had actually just brought it up casually, but the minute he voiced the question, the male owner standing in front of him abruptly grabbed him by the collar. Almost reflexively, Yu Xia smoothly grabbed the other’s hand to restrain it and folded it behind the owner’s back.

“Why the fuck are you gossiping about fifteen years ago again! Everyone’s already dead! I’m the only one left!” The boss really roared this time, ignoring the pain from his hand.

Yu Xia loosened his grip on the other. “Thank you for your cooperation. If I have any questions, I will come looking for you two again.”

“Get out my sight this instant!”

***

After Yu Xia was driven out, Yu Yin didn’t dare to stay any longer either and he dragged Xiao Yu out with him to chase after his uncle.

“Uncle, are you okay?” Yu Yin quickly asked as he followed behind his uncle. He had actually been somewhat scared of the pension owner’s fierce backlash.

“Used to it.” Yu Xia, who was frequently caught between fights, paid no mind to it and waved his hand in dismissal. Being grabbed by the collar was a very trivial matter. “It just feels like his reaction was over the top, who knows what shameful deeds he’s done?”

Just a few short sentences had incited such a violent upset; he wasn’t sure where exactly the problem lay.

“Oh right, Xiao Yu, why do you always go fiddle with that painting every time? Is there an issue with it?” Yu Yin had thought this extremely strange, and he turned to face the person he had grabbed outside with him. If Yu Yin had not pulled Xiao Yu out, it was possible that the latter would not have wanted to leave by himself for whatever reason.

Xiao Yu tilted his head in thought with a slight furrow of his brows. He then pointed at his own nose.

“You smelled something? Did the painting expire?”

Yu Xia slammed a fist down onto his head.

“That hurts a ton! Uncle, why did you hit me!” Yu Yin immediately protested at being hit for no reason.

“I don’t know why, it was just automatic.” Yu Xia shrugged without any intent of self-reflection. The expression on his face clearly said: “Or if you have the guts, just try hitting back.”

Yu Yin obviously was not brave enough to strike back, so he could only rub his nose as a sign of admitting his weakness.

“Wait…a smell?” Yu Yin suddenly froze and automatically reached out to grab Xiao Yu by the shoulders. This guy only knows one kind of scent, and that thing was definitely not a gelatin dessert or pudding. “You smelled the scent of that incense?”

Xiao Yu carefully nodded. Actually, he had confirmed it several times already, and felt that he was likely not mistaken.

“Incense?” Yu Xia also stopped in his tracks. “Are you talking about the incense made from drugs?” They’re still trying to trace that thing’s origin. Who would’ve thought it had infiltrated even to this kind of place? Now the search range is a lot wider.

But this perhaps provided a possible explanation for the boss’s unstable mood, explosive anger, and aggressive attacks.

Regardless of whether it was Xiao Yu’s family, the fourth floor resident, or possibly those high school students, inhaling the incense to a certain extent caused each and every one of them to act in similar ways.

However, they had not seen any kind of shrine inside the pension, and the boss did not carry tools for smoking. He didn’t really seem like a drug addict.

“Was that scent only on the painting?” Yu Xia once again asked in uncertainty.

Xiao Yu nodded once more. He had not sensed the scent anywhere else, which was why he had been so attached to the painting.

“That’s weird, don’t tell me the seller was planning on developing a type of paint?” Yu Yin voiced his thought. It wasn’t exactly impossible, since in the past, people had mixed paper with drugs. Making it into a paint wouldn’t make it the first such drug either, although it was rarely seen.

Yu Xia thought it over as well, but he could not figure out a possible reason either.

Their discussion was interrupted as Yu Yin’s cellphone began to vibrate. He opened it to see a file and a reply.

Jiu Shen had sent back the photo from earlier. The figure was now magnified and cleaned up so that it was extremely clear. Although still relatively blurry, he could more or less distinguish its appearance.

It seems like it really isn’t a paranormal photo, or else Jiu Shen would definitely not reply so quickly.

“What is that?” Yu Xia walked over to look at the photo on Yu Yin’s phone.

“Oh, we found it under that painting.” Yu Yin passed over the original photo to Yu Xia. For some reason, the more Yu Yin stared at the person in the photo, the more he felt like the silhouette seemed familiar, as if he had seen it elsewhere before.

“This person is very similar to the glove puppeteer’s son.” After studying the phone for a while, Yu Xia unexpectedly burst out with these words, “It was in the photocopy of the information you gave me. Although the age seems off, they feel somewhat alike.”

Upon hearing this, Yu Yin began to see the slight resemblance too.

Xiao Yu quickly pulled out the photocopied material from his backpack. They then took a photo of the person printed on the paper and sent it to Jiu Shen.

Less than ten minutes later, the cellphone rang again.

This time it wasn’t a file, but the other person directly calling him.

Yu Yin quickly picked up.

“Ah Yin! Are you trying to mess with me again? What exactly was that thing you sent me just now that seemed almost like a paranormal photo!” The other end immediately dumped a string of words on him.

So he originally was scared by it. Yu Yin silently thought this to himself and changed the phone to speaker mode. “Sorry about that, I just figured it would be faster if Jiu Shen-Gē looked at it. And it shouldn’t be a paranormal photo, right?” Or else you would’ve turned off your phone rather than help me analyse it.

“Of course it’s not!” The other huffed in reply. “I helped you transfer it to the computer to take a look. It should definitely be a person. I’m thinking that because the house was on the darker side, they were captured into the photo without anyone noticing. It’s not a reflection nor was it edited in; there really was someone inside. Also, I helped you compare it with the second photo you sent, but I only did a brief analysis. It looks like it should be the same person, but the person inside the house is slightly older. Perhaps the photo was taken after the second photo. That’s all for now.”

“Got it.” As Yu Yin listened, he could faintly sense that there was something fishy about this matter.

“Oh right, don’t tell Boss that I helped you with this…”

“Ah!” Yu Yin gulped, having been unable to stop the other’s usual request in time. Actually, he now felt the urge to flee for his life.

Yu Xia, who clearly heard these words, glared at the phone and slowly said, “Who did you say not to tell?” So these guys actually communicate in private frequently?

The other end was silent for three seconds.

“Boss?” The voice called out extremely cautiously.

“Aren’t you at work right now? Are you that free?” Yu Xia answered in reply.

“Ahhhh—sorry, I’ll immediately get back to work!” The line cut off with a click without even a chance to exchange farewells. It was obvious the person on the other side was in a panic.

All that came to Yu Yin’s head was that he would definitely be scolded by the other for not first mentioning that his uncle was next to him.

Yu Xia turned back to look at his family’s son and said in a slightly intimidating tone, “You two usually do this?” He was referring to his own colleague helping out with matters.

“Eh, not really. Don’t think about it too much, Uncle. Besides, most of my private requests to Jiu Shen-Gē for help are rejected.” Yu Yin quickly changed the topic and brought the photo back up onto his phone. “According to what Jiu Shen-Gē just said, if the photo was taken after the fire, why did this person not show up on the list of the deceased?”

They exchanged a glance, their hypothesis from before now more or less confirmed.

“Twenty, not twenty-one,” Yu Xia said.

“Then…” Do we go dig up the grave now?

Yu Yin really wanted to ask this, but he had a feeling that there was something wrong, so he swallowed his words back down.

So in the end, the twenty-first coffin back then was…?

“I’ll go around nearby and see if I can find the person that handled these matters that year. You two head back and rest first. Don’t run off by yourselves again,” Yu Xia sternly told Yu Yin while checking the time.

“Eh, we’ll just go over and check in with the hospital then.”

Thus, they split off to head in separate directions.

***

Yu Yin actually wanted to go back to the hospital in the first place, to see if Yi Tai had awoken yet. After walking a bit, he noticed that starting from earlier, Xiao Yu had been sticking very closely behind him for some reason, even going as far as to grab onto his clothes.

“Is something wrong?” It’s not a toilet emergency right?

Xiao Yu shook his head and furrowed his brows as he looked straight behind him.

Yu Yin followed Xiao Yu’s line of sight to finally see it…at some point, a small girl had appeared behind Xiao Yu, following them while tightly gripping onto his clothing.

The girl seemed quite young, likely around seven or eight years old. Her face was a purplish white, but if one looked closely, her appearance was pretty cute. She lifted her small face to stare at them with grey eyes that were unnaturally foggy.

Yu Yin was momentarily stunned.

It wasn’t because it was “that kind of thing”, but because he had just seen the girl in the photo. The worker had said she was the owner’s daughter, who should be recuperating in Hualien.

Since she had appeared here in such a manner, Yu Yin could no longer believe she was “recuperating”; rather, she was likely “resting” in some place.

The thing stood opposite of him.

Then, the young girl let out a giggle. She loosened her grip on Xiao Yu’s clothes and turned to run back in the direction of the pension.

Yu Yin watched with wide eyes as the girl disappeared off into the distance. He massaged his slightly numbed head, unable to come up with any words for a while. He then turned to look at Xiao Yu. “How long has it been following?”

Xiao Yu thought this over for a bit before turning back to point at the pension.

“It’s been following behind us since we left?”

When Yu Yin saw the person in front of him nod, his head began to hurt. It seemed he really couldn’t see sometimes, having not known for so long…But why did it follow us out?

“Let’s go over and take another look later.” Yu Yin originally wanted to turn around and head over immediately to investigate what exactly was over there. But when he realised he could possibly be strangled to death by the owner, he decided to wait until later.

After all, they had not indicated their relationship with his uncle just now. The other party should not know of it; at most, they would probably assume it as a coincidence. For the time being, they would likely not come looking for Yu Yin and Xiao Yu to stir up trouble.

Taking this into account, the two decided to first get back onto the scooter to go towards the direction of the hospital.

Halfway there, Yu Yin suddenly recalled another matter. He turned the vehicle to head towards a more populated part of the city, soon arriving at an incense shop next to the street.

“The pension owner? Nope, never seen him buy around here aside from during Chinese New Year or other festivals. But his workers have come to buy before, several hundred dollars worth at once. Over here, it’s just our place and a few places across the street that sell. Our incense here is finely made. Do you have any interest in buying some, student?”

Yu Yin backed out of the incense shop and went to ask a few other shops nearby, getting pretty much the same answers from all of them.

As the afternoon passed, the number of people flooding the city streets gradually increased.

Although they were meant to be touring the night market, the streets had been opened already, and tides of people continuously poured in. Both locals and tourists mixed together as they walked around, stopping before various street vendors.

Yu Yin realised that despite bringing Xiao Yu here, he had not let him explore outside yet. Moreover, Xiao Yu seemed to be interested in the street vendors, constantly shooting glances around. Yu Yin sighed and led him to squeeze into the human tide. “If we get separated, just give a call and we’ll meet at the entrance.” With this, he shoved a few bills into Xiao Yu’s hands.

This kind of place was actually something Yu Yin visited pretty often. After making friends with certain people, he would go out and play at night even more frequently. Sometimes, he would just head out to stroll around outside after work. At first, it had just been because he did not want to return to an empty home, but it later turned into a habit.

Ever since Xiao Yu had joined their family, the frequency of Yu Yin’s night outings had decreased. When Yu Yin snapped out of his reverie, he realised that Xiao Yu had indeed wandered off. The person who had originally been behind him had probably raced off to some unknown place, or perhaps had seen something he had never seen before.

Yu Yin did not have much interest in walking down the streets at the moment, so he bought a drink and found a random place to sit.

But when he began to drink, he discovered something was wrong.

The crowds of people around him had at some point started to drop in number, and their movements seemed to slow down. It was as if he was watching a film on his computer set at slower speed.

The ground underneath his feet began to turn cold.

A certain person slowly walked out from the crowd and turned around to slowly wave a hand at him.

Because there was some distance between them, Yu Yin could not really tell who it was.He stared at the silhouette with the feeling that it likely belonged to one of his missing classmates.

He put down his drink and followed after the person.

At first, the person maintained the distance, continuously waving as if urging him not to stop following. After a while, the person disappeared. When he turned around, he saw another person standing in a different direction.

“Yi Lin?” This time, Yu Yin could clearly see the other’s face. Because they were still somewhat far apart, he felt that it was unrealistic. However, Yu Yin still walked behind her the entire time.

Soon after, the figure changed to another person’s.

He felt as if he was constantly being led in circles by these people, but he could not just ignore them and walk away. Instead, he could only persist and continue chasing after them.

Yu Yin did not know how long he walked like this.

He could vaguely sense himself striding back and forth inside the night market until the peddlers on the side very slowly lit up their lamps. A dim, yellow glow appeared before each street stall, floating around with the breeze.

There was the roaring sound of an electricity generator.

The last one to appear before him was Ah Guan. This time, the other person was closer to him, just a few steps away.

Ah Guan waved at him twice, before turning the corner and walking out of the night market.

After walking for some distance, a somewhat short, dirt wall appeared before him. Ah Guan directly flipped over it, then made a few beckoning gestures at him.

Just as he was about to flip over the wall as well, two small bodies suddenly leapt out from the other side and jumped onto the wall. They continuously shook their hands and heads as they blocked his way.

Yu Yin recognised the pair of children from the fourth floor.

“Move aside.” He heard his own voice, but was not sure if he had actually spoken since the voice floated out from far away, as if an echo. “I have to go.”

He did not know exactly why he had to go.

The children stood in their place, persistently shaking their heads.

Yu Yin felt a surge of irritation and stretched out a hand to shoo the two children away. But the instant he reached his hand out, he instantly felt someone grab onto his wrist with great strength. The sharp pain immediately travelled from his hand to his brain.

In the next second, Yu Yin woke up.

He discovered that he wasn’t standing in a night market at all, not was there a dirt wall in front of him. When he clearly saw where he was standing, he immediately broke out into a cold sweat.

Around him were wooden framed walls, and he was standing before the window of a certain room in the villa, just about to step out the window. The two children from earlier had already vanished, let alone the others that had summoned him here. None of them were in sight.

He turned around to look at the person that had stopped him.

Yi Tai was gripping his hand, shaking his head as he panted heavily, seemingly having run over here.

“You can’t.”

Those were his words.

***

The two of them sat down on the ground.

Yu Yin’s entire body was covered in sweat from the scare, while Yi Tai next to him was clutching his wounds, his brows furrowed seemingly from pain.

After a long while, Yu Yin finally recovered from his shock and instinctively glanced outside the window. The sky had already darkened; he wondered what time it was.

The only thing he say for certain was that it had been a very long time since he had left the night market, and it was very possible he had walked all the way over to here.

“Are you alright?” After a moment passed, Yi Tai raised his head to look at Yu Yin.

Yu Yin quickly nodded and shifted his gaze downwards. The other person’s hand still had an IV needle. A single glance was enough to tell he had secretly escaped from the hospital. He had randomly put on a jacket he had grabbed somewhere to put over his hospital clothes, without any time to change into anything else.

“You…” Yu Yin paused, unsure of where to start asking from.

“Just woke up. The instant I walked over here, I saw you charge inside, so I followed you up,” Yi Tai continued by himself. After a slow breath, he stood up and reached down to pull Yu Yin up from the ground.

Yu Yin noticed that he did not have much strength, very likely due to being injured, and quickly scrambled to crawl up by himself. He then grabbed onto the other person’s shoulders. “Exactly what is going on in this place! What actually happened to you guys here!”

Since Yi Tai’s expression did not show any abnormalities, unlike Li Lin Yue’s state, he was definitely clear-headed.

Yi Tai shook his head and told him, “I’m not too certain either. Let’s leave here first before talking.”

After being reminded of this, Yu Yin finally remembered that there was something very wrong with this house. He quickly supported Yi Tai down the stairs to leave.

The entire house was absolutely quiet. Even their footsteps could barely be heard, as if every step they took on the stairs or in the hallways had its sound absorbed by the space, leaving nothing behind.

But fortunately, there did not appear to be anything chasing after them this time.

Once they walked out of the front door, Yu Yin finally relaxed a bit.

He abruptly turned around to see that the villa was still dark, without a shadow or any noise. It just peacefully stood in its place; there was nothing else visible.

They slowly retreated out into the yard.

“Look.” Yi Tai quietly spoke as he pointed at the villa door.

Yu Yin followed the direction of his finger and saw that the front door of the villa amidst the darkness had been slowly opened once more. A bizarre, black thing peaked its head from the crack, its green gaze locking onto them for a moment, before silently shrinking back inside.

The villa shut itself once more.

When Yu Yin thought back to the situation from earlier, he started to shiver. He seemed to have seen this pattern before, and he suddenly understood why Li Lin Yue had stubbornly insisted on coming here.

It was very possible that the twenty deceased people had begun to look for substitute bodies.

Yu Yin then felt something heavy weighing down on him. He turned his head to discover that Yi Tai had fallen back unconscious, and his body was starting to burn up. His injuries had likely become inflamed.

Just as he was about to carry the person over his shoulders and bring him to pension to request for aid, a hazy light appeared on the small path connecting to the field outside. It slowly began to approach them from a distance.

Once the light finally stopped to shine in front of him and he could clearly see what had come over, Yu Yin let out a breath of relief and waved at the other party.

“Uncle, Xiao Yu! Over here!”