“What do you want to ask?” Xiao Fen leaned against the table and said. “I was sleeping last night. I didn’t do anything.”
He was a model citizen, after all.
Chief Inspector Ulysses placed a fingerprint button on the table.
Xiao Fen picked it up and took a look. Under the bright light, circle after circle of ridges was clearly visible.
It was a fingerprint.
“This was accidentally torn off by Inspector Fang during his struggle with that thug last night. After clearing the scene, I went back for another look and spotted this,” Ulysses said. “Do you think it’s yours?”
He thought…?
“No,” Xiao Fen said. He stroked the fingerprint button and wiped the print off it.
Now there was no evidence left.
“Good.” Ulysses took the fingerprint button back and toyed with it in his hand. “Tomorrow, Jiang Kangsheng’s trial verdict will come out. If it were yours, you’d be in trouble. For pulling something like that, it’d be at least a month in solitary. By then, you wouldn’t be able to help with Jiang’s case, and the other guests would’ve escaped long ago.”
“He’ll be fine.” Though Jiang Kangsheng had chosen his words carefully with a hint of uncertainty, the fact that he could say it proved that mixing the two poisons to create an antagonistic effect was a viable experimental path.
“I believe he’ll be fine too—as long as new evidence doesn’t show up in court, and you have enough sources to keep helping him analyze things instead of rotting in solitary.”
“I’m a bit curious.” Xiao Fen looked puzzled. Inspector Fang had targeted him at every turn before, so why was he helping now?
“Dr. Jiang was framed,” Ulysses said firmly. He opened his palm to reveal a crushed fingerprint button, like a piece of smashed candy. “I’m doing what I think is right.”
That grip strength…
Xiao Fen was a little shocked. Ulysses’s wrist strength was no less than Fang Si Ting’s. Last night, he’d held back on power and speed while sparring with him.
One against two, handling two people on his level plus Mikhail of unknown strength—it had been an unimaginably perilous fight last night.
Too bad he hadn’t gone all out.
Xiao Fen felt a bit regretful.
“Now, there’s nothing left.” Ulysses smiled. “Nothing to stop you from doing what you want.”
“Thanks.” He sighed. “I didn’t expect you to do something like this.”
“Compared to rigidly following the rules, I believe more firmly in true justice.”
“Are you talking about Inspector Fang?” Xiao Fen asked.
Mr. Black Cat could be like that sometimes—stubborn and inflexible, no bending.
His stomach still hurt today, too.
“Have you noticed?” Ulysses said. “His abilities don’t match yours. One day, he’ll drag you down.”
“Then who could match me?” Xiao Fen teased.
“No one.” Ulysses smiled gently. “Humans begin in solitude and end in solitude. Only solitude is the best companion.”
【We’re done for. The solo stan joined the show.】
【From the way he looked at him before, I thought he was just a little fan crushing on Brother Fen. Turns out he’s a solo stan.】
【What did we CP fans ever do to you?】
【I was just about to say he was a good guy for secretly helping Brother Fen, but now he’s trying to break up my CP. Can’t tolerate that.】
“There’s no flaw in that logic. Some paths can only be walked alone, after all.” Xiao Fen laughed heartily and walked to the door. “Anything else, Chief Inspector Ulysses?”
Compared to the initial hostility, Ulysses clearly sensed that Xiao Fen’s attitude toward him had improved a lot after this.
He lifted his chin, signaling for him to go ahead.
“You can head back anytime.”
“Thanks.” Xiao Fen tilted his head and nodded to him, expressing his gratitude once more.
————
On the way back to the cafeteria, he thought of the injury on his stomach and how he wasn’t suited to go to the infirmary. A dull sense of loss settled in his heart.
Before, Fang Si Ting had taken even a tiny scabbed-over wound seriously.
Now, he couldn’t even catch a glimpse of the man.
Only then did he realize that he’d once been on someone’s mind.
The feeling was so unfamiliar, yet a little wondrous.
But he only dwelled on it for a few seconds. He was used to fending for himself, and being cared for felt awkward. It was better this way—no restraints at all.
He made it back to the cafeteria without incident and continued eating his breakfast.
“What did the vice squad officers ask you?” Ou Yu asked worriedly.
“Just stuff like whether I’d been bullied in prison.” Xiao Fen made up a couple of lines on the spot. He had a rough idea of their ulterior motives now.
Without him explaining, Jin Q and his crew already assumed he’d ratted out the contraband channels in private. Their gazes toward him grew even more hostile.
The yard time ban hadn’t been lifted yet, so after eating, they could only return to the dorms. Prisoners assigned to factory work had more freedom of movement.
Xiao Fen had just sat on his bed when he felt something hard under the blanket.
He lifted it and found four or five bottles of medicine there—anti-inflammatory for bruises, treatments for sprains and scrapes. The packaging had been torn off to save him the trouble of disposing of it.
It was obvious who had brought them.
Ou Yu poked his head over. “Tch, too awkward to show his face, but the caring intent got through.”
“What are you saying? This is looking out for your fellow inmates—it’s our duty.”
Xiao Fen couldn’t suppress the grin tugging at his lips. After applying the medicine, he hid the leftovers on the inner side of the bed frame, covered by the mattress.
“I don’t see him caring for me like that,” Ou Yu teased.
Were bedmates going to this extent now?
“Want some too?”
“…Why would I treat a problem I don’t have?”
Xiao Fen lay on the bed laughing his head off.
————
By lunchtime, they overheard prisoners from the factory side gossiping too. Apparently, five or six guys under Jin Q had been thrown in solitary, and one of the factory’s vice squad officer overseers had been called away and never came back.
This definitely wasn’t Xiao Fen’s doing. He’d only learned from Yevgeny’s offhand mention that it involved Jin Q—he hadn’t had time to investigate the entire supply chain.
But Bruce had used his questioning session, plus separating and grilling a few potentially involved guys, to create a prisoner’s dilemma. Mutual suspicion led to them easily coughing up the list of inmates and vice squad officers smuggling contraband. Bruce had them punished swiftly.
Everyone connected got solitary time, and requests to extend their sentences were submitted to the court.
【Even P Country’s supposedly strictest prison has this kind of thing going on. Imagine the rest.】
【Why does society tolerate these scumbags? A lot of them are murderers, utterly devoid of humanity. They don’t care about sentence length—instead, they find their kind here, get three squares and a bed, live carefree, and all they do is burn taxpayer money without benefiting society at all.】
A bunch of P Country netizens vented their dissatisfaction and confusion over the abolition of the death penalty.
【Don’t forget, out there they risk getting their heads blown off. In prison, you guarantee their safety. They ought to live to 99 to make it worth the cushy life.】 Foreign netizens piled on with the mockery.
P Country netizens broke even harder.
Naturally, Jin Q’s crew chalked it all up to Xiao Fen.
That evening, they huddled for a little meeting to plot their move. Jin Q said, “He has backup. That H Country guy knows kung fu—tough to deal with. But the one called Matthew looks dim-witted. Easy to handle. We’ll persuade him to be our inside man first, then gang up on him.”
As he mentioned Matthew, a blurry shadow flashed in Jin Q’s mind. For a moment, he couldn’t recall what he looked like. It was as if countless wriggling maggots formed his face and body, mosaicked yet vividly pulsing in the details.
Like a lone beating heart. Like the peeling wall beside Room 6278. Like a bloated body magnified hundreds of times, maggots writhing and gnawing inside.
“Do you guys even know what he looks like?” Jin Q asked. It felt like he had an impression, but also not.
The others recalled.
“His skin’s super pale. He’s mixed-race, tall and skinny. Definitely a girl.”
Jin Q: “No way.”
“He’s in prison but still so resilient, heart turned toward the light. Really touching.” Another sighed.
“What are you all talking about?” Jin Q was baffled.
“Matthew, duh. Didn’t you tell us to discuss Matthew?” a underling said. “I love baby Matthew the most. He’s so pretty.”
“He’s Xiao Fen’s. I love them both so much. Gotta protect him.”
“I’ll be the head fan of those two.”
Everyone spoke so sincerely, expressions and mannerisms perfectly normal—too normal.
No excited fervor in their affection, no sarcastic bitterness.
A thread of eerie absurdity rose in Jin Q’s mind.
How could normal people’s thoughts leap like that? Their behavior was flawless, as if it were the most natural thing.
“They’re two grown men. What are you on about, male or female?” As Jin Q spoke, his gaze gradually calmed. “Actually, whatever. As long as they’re good, what’s a little sacrifice from others? Just a few in solitary—not like they’re dead.”
“They committed their own crimes. What does it have to do with Xiao Fen? Sure, they’re our brothers, but we gotta be reasonable. Xiao Fen’s had it rough enough.”
“Their love is truly moving.”
In Xiao Fen’s room.
“Matthew, how’s the learning progress?”
“I’ve been thinking about some TV shows ‘I’ watched before lately.” Matthew recalled earnestly. “Pretty interesting.”
“Don’t tell me it’s some trash.” The guy was too unreliable; Xiao Fen wasn’t reassured.
————
Outside the prison, Jiang Kangsheng’s case was postponed. After new evidence was added, the trial proceeded, and the result hit major news outlets the next day.
Xiao Fen went to the library to read. This time, he actually read—staying cooped up longer would’ve turned him into a mindless machine.
He’d just flipped a few pages when a shadow fell beside him.
Fang Si Ting crossed his legs, eyes scanning the surroundings, and slid a news report across.
Xiao Fen picked it up. The top story was Jiang Kangsheng’s courtroom acquittal, with the usual sensational headline.
The rest detailed the back-and-forth of the case. The trial itself was a formality; the outcome was set. The news faithfully recorded the evidence each side provided during off-court interrogations over those few days.
In just three short days, the reversals kept coming.
First, Jiang’s lawyer leaked to the media that helpful netizens had provided support. In one day, they’d formed an international research group online. Not only did they confirm the antagonistic effect of the two poisons together, but also the approximate dosage and delay time. This proved Professor Felimon did have time to commit the crime—it wasn’t just a 5-to-10-minute poisoning window. Jiang didn’t have exclusivity, and Felimon had opportunity too.
The lawyer displayed the netizens’ test reports on camera, then showed the vice squad’s search results: Professor Felimon had bought 89 pots of aconite flowers online—the raw material for aconitine—plus over a hundred wild pufferfish.
Enough quantity to extract lethal toxins.
Professor Felimon watched the livestream. That very afternoon after his purchase records were exposed, he held a press conference to refute: he’d bought the aconite flowers to donate to a nearby church.
Per medieval tradition, aconite flowers resembled monks’ hooded robes, so they were often planted in monasteries or churches. As a devout believer, it wasn’t odd for him.
But Jiang’s lawyer had anticipated this and interviewed the pastor from Felimon’s regular church ahead of time. Within two hours, a video confirmed he’d donated them—but soon after, the flowers died from unknown causes, and Professor Felimon dug them up.
What he did with them afterward went without saying.
Public opinion turned squarely on Felimon.
Professor Felimon posted confidently on Brain Book, claiming the flowers had all died. Out of kindness, he’d dug them up and thrown them away.
In other words, no evidence.
But he got slapped down the next day.
Jiang Kangsheng’s lawyer cheerfully produced proof. Thanks to the omnipresent nosy H Country netizens and Felimon’s guilty conscience, he’d dug up the aconite flowers already buried in his backyard again that very midnight after his Brain Book post—before he could move the plant remains. He got reported and caught red-handed.
Because not much time had passed, no professional inspection was needed to determine that the roots of these plant stalks—partially decomposed by microorganisms—had all disappeared uniformly. The residue in the dug-up pits, after analysis, was precisely the remaining roots after chemical extraction of aconitine.
If he hadn’t been guilty and dug them up, it would have been fine, but once he did, it confirmed everything directly.
The rest was inconsequential evidence, like the mud on the soles of a pair of shoes from Joey’s house matching the residue on the bottom of the black plastic bag, which also matched the soil in the grove.
Thus, Jiang Kangsheng was released without charge right there in court.
As for which of the two had killed Claude, that would be handled through the new interrogation and prosecution process.
“Previously, that blood test took so many days, but this time checking the mud composition on Joey’s shoe soles was so fast,” Xiao Fen remarked with a sigh.
“The head of the testing agency handling this case knows me, so I asked him to expedite it,” Fang Si Ting said. “The results came straight from the instruments, with a notary present.”
【This case blew up so big—I remember P Country’s largest and most authoritative testing agency was in charge, right?】
【Yeah, and Inspector Fang knows their boss? That’s kinda wild.】
Xiao Fen didn’t know about that and felt nothing in particular.
“I also asked around at the N City Investigation Bureau about the medicine you mentioned,” Fang Si Ting continued. “Claude didn’t usually take any meds, but the waiter at the restaurant entrance on the night of the incident confirmed he was a regular who always tipped generously—he remembered him well. Right before leaving, Professor Felimon pulled a capsule from his bag and gave it to him, saying it was a sobering-up pill. He took it and then went home.”
He gave every word serious thought and carried it out resolutely.
“His suspicion is mounting,” Xiao Fen said with a laugh. In truth, it was basically confirmed that Felimon was the culprit. He didn’t care about the jury’s opinions or the professor’s motive for the murder.
He had completed the task Inspector Tang had entrusted to him.
Fang Si Ting gathered the scattered materials on the table.
Xiao Fen watched him, suddenly at a loss for words.
An invisible, intangible barrier seemed to have formed between them.
“How’s your injury?”
“It’s fine, no big deal. You?” Fang Si Ting glanced at him.
Xiao Fen endured the pain as he stretched out, clasping his hands behind his head. “Completely fine.”
“Tough guy.”
The two exchanged a smile involuntarily, then quickly looked away.
“I’m heading out.”
“Mm.”
Fang Si Ting slipped away quietly once more.
Xiao Fen kept holding the book but couldn’t read a single word.
What had happened between them?
He could sense that Fang Si Ting had no intention of growing distant, yet he wasn’t as warm as before.
Their relationship seemed to stop at bedmates—more familiar than strangers or colleagues, but not quite close friends. They went about their days as usual and lent a hand when needed.
That was it.
Bedmates, huh?
If so, then their current dynamic was perfectly normal.
Xiao Fen mulled this over in his mind, yet it left him feeling a bit down, though he couldn’t say why.
He realized he wasn’t great at sustaining long-term relationships.
Like before, when he’d jumped off the cliff and vanished—he’d notified Fang Si Ting and Ou Yu so they’d know what was up and not worry. But then other matters cropped up, and he’d forget to follow up, going months without contact.
Half a year had passed since he’d met Fang Si Ting, and reflecting on it now, it felt surprisingly long—far beyond what he’d ever imagined.
Lost in these scattered thoughts, two people sat down across from him.
One was the famous suspense novelist Joey, the other Elijah.
Elijah lifted his gaze from his book and smiled at him.
Xiao Fen glanced around. He hadn’t taken the previous seat. Why had this guy followed him?
“I’m here for you.” He held up his book, his pallid fingers—devoid of any color—flipping a page rapidly, though he wasn’t reading.
“What’s the matter?”
“Can you help us?” Elijah’s face paled further, his ink-green eyes staring intently at him. “In that prison brawl last time, the one who should’ve died was me.”
