Chapter 60

The weekend arrived in no time. Yan Tuo, carrying a small case of beer, rang the doorbell of Xu Qingru’s apartment.

The door swung open to reveal the mild-mannered director of the Identification Center. He wore a casual apron, as if he’d just been busy in the kitchen.

But the moment Yan Tuo stepped in, Xu Qingru grabbed a handheld scanner from the shoe cabinet in the entryway and waved it up and down over his body.

Yan Tuo stiffened for an instant, then forced a casual laugh. “What, now even coming over for dinner at your place requires passing a security check?”

Before he could come up with a plan, a familiar voice called from inside. “Tuozi, why are you so late? Hurry up—the crawfish is getting cold.”

He didn’t need to turn his head to know who it was. Who else could it be but that scumbag childhood friend of his, Hua Hongqing?

It looked like he had no choice but to go inside.

Xu Qingru set the scanner aside and smoothly plucked the phone from Yan Tuo’s hand, powering it off with a grin. “Come on in and sit. Hongqing’s been waiting so long he’s already started eating.”

From the entryway, Hua Hongqing called out to the two of them. “Uncle Xu, did you come up with a new recipe? These crawfish pack quite the alcoholic punch.”

The head chef replied, “Tasty?”

Hua Hongqing slurped on his fingers and nodded vigorously. “Delicious.”

Yan Tuo sighed inwardly and set down the case of beer. He gave the place a quick once-over.

The apartment hadn’t changed much—a spacious four-bedroom, one-living-room layout spanning over a hundred square meters, decorated in a neat new-Chinese style that carried a subtle air of scholarly refinement.

He strode over to the dining area in two steps, pushed open the window, then turned back and slapped the crawfish right out of Hua Hongqing’s hand. “Don’t eat it.”

Xu Qingru watched him with a beaming smile, utterly unafraid of any tricks. They were on the eighteenth floor—even with the window open, no one was jumping out of that.

As for the food, Hua Hongqing had already eaten several. Yan Tuo wasn’t going anywhere now. With his personality, he’d have no choice but to hold back.

Ignoring his glowering childhood friend, Yan Tuo pulled out a chair at the table and sat down. He stretched out his long legs in a relaxed sprawl and asked leisurely, “Where did I give myself away?”

Xu Qingru answered without hesitation. “The fact that you, for the first time in over a decade, proactively suggested dinner—and on the very day after nearly getting sniped to death?”

Yan Tuo stared deeply at the man across from him, his gaze fierce as a charging army. Xu Qingru fell silent, his own expression gradually darkening. The two locked eyes in a silent battle of wills, neither willing to make the first move.

Hua Hongqing, who was starting to feel a bit dizzy, muttered from the side, “What are you two even talking about? Am I drunk or something? I don’t get a word of it.”

He let out a silly chuckle. “Uncle Xu, this isn’t spicy crawfish—it’s drunken shrimp, right? Heh heh.”

Concern overriding caution, the man whose weakness was now in enemy hands spoke first. “What did you feed him? I’m the one who showed up at your door anyway. Go after me if you want—why drag an innocent person into this?”

Xu Qingru laughed again and explained, “Just an oral anesthetic. He’ll be temporarily immobilized, but otherwise fine. As for why I called him here? Isn’t it obvious?

Who knows what kind of stunt you’d pull? I needed some insurance. Without leverage like this, against the three-time provincial police hand-to-hand combat champion? If you decided to go all out, I’d be helpless. I’m scared of you, you see!”

Yan Tuo wondered if he’d caught his little boyfriend’s squinting-smile phobia. The grin behind those gold-rimmed glasses sent chills crawling over his skin—not from fear, but disgust.

How had he never realized before just how twisted this man could be? He felt zero guilt or remorse for such a heinous act and could smile so naturally while committing it.

“Even with this baggage in tow, I can still take you down!” With that, Yan Tuo drew back his legs, muscles tensing visibly as he coiled to strike.

There wasn’t a trace of fear on Xu Qingru’s face. He reached into the deep pocket of his apron and pulled out a gun, gesturing lazily toward Hua Hongqing. “I know you’re wearing a bulletproof vest. But before you get to me, how many shots do you think your paralyzed buddy here can take?”

Hua Hongqing slumped in his chair. Not only was his body going numb, but his thoughts were slowing too. Only now did he vaguely piece it together—this meal that Xu Qingru had suddenly invited him to wasn’t anything good. He was just a tool to keep Yan Tuo in check. He instantly went as quiet as a mouse.

Yan Tuo ground his teeth but made no further threatening moves. Instead, he shifted to casual chitchat. “Uncle Xu, I never imagined you’d hate my dad that much. If you really wanted to take him out quietly, it’d have been easy for you. Why bring in three bumbling idiots who only screw things up and drag my mom into it too?”

At the mention of that, Xu Qingru’s emotions finally stirred. His expression twisted through several changes before he spat out bitterly, “You’re… you’re right. It was my miscalculation. I should have handled it myself. But I was too young back then. I was afraid of slipping up and having your mom hate me forever. I wanted to use proxies so I could stay completely clean. Who knew those three… idiots, morons, bastards would fuck up and kill Chengshu instead?”

After venting in one breath, he added in a placating tone, as if seeking forgiveness, “Don’t worry—the three of them didn’t get away. I settled the score right then and there. And whatever they wanted? They didn’t take a single cent out the door with them.”

Yan Tuo let out a mocking laugh. “Right, you’re M, after all. You’d only been working a year or two back then, but you pulled it off flawlessly. Killed them, covered your tracks so well no one suspected a thing. They ruled it a falling-out over the loot, case closed smooth as silk. No wonder you earned that mentor title and got hailed as some kind of god by all those admirers.”

With the sarcasm delivered, Yan Tuo straightened his spine, his hands clenching into fists on the tabletop.

“But Uncle Xu! Just because people call you a god, does that make you one? Don’t you have a conscience? All these years, have you never dreamed of my dad and mom? What about Grandpa—making a white-haired man bury his black-haired child—and you still have the nerve to show up at his birthdays every year? How dare you?”

With a resounding “thud,” his fist slammed onto the table, sending several crawfish shells scattering to the floor.

Who could truly become a god? Someone who cast aside all humanity, joy, and sorrow? And even if such a being existed, it certainly wasn’t the gray-faced middle-aged man sitting before him.

Xu Qingru’s hand trembled slightly on the gun. He couldn’t muster even a sliver of a smile anymore. His lips parted and closed several times, but no words came out.

After a long moment, he let out a deep sigh from the bottom of his lungs. “Tuozi, I told you not to chase this case anymore. Why won’t you ever listen? I let you go once, twice, but you still won’t let me be.

I really don’t want to hurt you. Chengshu… Chengshu would rather throw herself in front of a knife for a dying man than live happily with me. That’s punishment enough to grind away the rest of my life in hell. If I lose you too, then in the next life, or the one after, I wouldn’t dare face the old man.

I’m truly grateful to him. Can’t you let this father-son bond stand? Don’t make him sad anymore?”

Yan Tuo trembled slightly with fury at the sheer absurdity of it all, but he forced himself to stay calm and pressed on. “Who do you think is making him sad? If he knew the kid he took in out of pity was a devil in human skin—not only a killer himself, but the one who murdered his daughter and son-in-law, then turned into M, stirring up crime on dark web forums with his teachings—what do you think his righteous, evil-hating nature would make him do? Would he regret not strangling you as a baby?

All these years, how many dozens, hundreds of killers have you mentored? What exactly do you get out of it?”

Xu Qingru showed no surprise at the accusations, but he grew furious at Yan Tuo’s lack of understanding. “How could someone born with a silver spoon like you ever comprehend the suffering of us from the bottom? My dad at least died in the line of duty, gave his life for the country, right? But one living, breathing life ended up worth less than five thousand bucks—and that woman took every cent.

Do you know what it’s like to nibble on half a steamed bun all day just to survive? Do you know the feeling of starving so bad you chug cold water nonstop until you puke? You don’t know a thing! Your mom treated you like the apple of her eye. After you and your dad came along, she barely had time to talk to me. I’d confessed to her long before—asked her to wait for me. Why wouldn’t she?”

Yan Tuo shot back sharply. “Plenty of people had miserable childhoods, but that doesn’t turn them all into monsters like you. You only suffered for a few months anyway. Once Grandpa Yu took you in, everyone treated you like blood family. Is that any excuse to covet another man’s wife?

A confession? Mom was fifteen years older than you—who wouldn’t think it was a joke? Even if you were serious, did you think confessing made her yours? She’d been married to my dad for years by then. I was already ten or so. What was there left to let go of? Why wait until that moment to strike?”

Xu Qingru roared in utter agony. “Because I never wanted things to come to this!”

He seemed to plunge into painful memories then. He closed his eyes and took a long while to steady himself before explaining unwillingly. “When they first started dating, I wasn’t optimistic at all. Yan Zhen, that spoiled rich kid—saved by a female cop after a street pickpocket? And suddenly he’s pursuing her. How much of that was real?

By the time they got married, I still wasn’t sold. Five months of courtship and a shotgun wedding? Probably just a heat-of-the-moment thing that’d fizzle out soon enough.

And then you were born… I still held out hope. One a corporate president, the other a cop—their statuses worlds apart, both too busy to even show their faces. Even with a kid to tie them together, it wouldn’t end well.”

“I waited and waited, patiently holding on, until there were rumors in society about lifting the two-child policy, and those two actually started discussing adding another family member then, preferably a girl. I… I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. The person I’d guarded for who knows how long—why should Yan Zhen get him so easily? He… he…”

Yan Tuo’s calmness at this moment could almost be called ruthless. Expressionless, he picked up the thread: “He had to die! So you used M’s name to stir up greed and instructed those three security guards to kidnap and murder?”

“Yes, it was all me. But I’ve already paid the price—lost the only person I’ve ever loved in my life.”

After answering, Xu Qingru seemed to regain some rationality and asked puzzledly, “You’ve gone to all this trouble to coax a confession out of me with words—what’s the point? Hua Hongqing was just someone I called on a whim; he’s useless here. You don’t have any electronic devices on you either, so what can you do to me? Or have you gotten so used to being a cop that you have to get it all on record properly?”

Finally drawing out the words he wanted, Yan Tuo felt some relief in his heart. He explained while issuing an order: “Because divine eyes watch all, retribution is clear, and evil must be severely punished. Yiyi, you can go. Hand the stuff to Li Zhong.”

Xu Qingru jolted in shock, immediately looking around. The not-so-large restaurant clearly had no other figures; who exactly was Yan Tuo talking to?

After a long while with no movement anywhere, Yan Tuo immediately understood his boyfriend’s state of mind, his tone turning stern: “The truth matters more than me. He can’t do anything to me either—did you hear that? Leave now.”

From behind the decorative curtain by the windowsill suddenly emerged a white fluffball, wearing a black apron like a bellyband, with a circular police listening device embedded in the center, rhythmically flashing faint red dots to show it was active.

Bai Yiyi fixed Yan Tuo with a steady gaze, then without hesitation spread his wings in a sharp motion and soared into the night.

Xu Qingru’s face changed drastically. He rushed to the window and peered out, immediately disengaging the safety on his gun, but in the vast night sky, where could he find the figure of a tiny goldfinch?