章 47: Chapter 47
At 7:30 p.m., Yan Su and Zhen Ai stood by the roadside waiting for Eva. They had initially planned to go home and cook, but Eva had called to ask Zhen Ai to join her for dinner.
So, the two stood quietly, with their backs to the brightly lit amusement park, gazing at the serene, tree-lined boulevard in the spring night, like two trees silently keeping each other company.
At one point, the taller of the two trees turned his head, looking at the other, and noticed she was spacing out again, as she often did. Her face, as usual, was pale and calm—no, it seemed even calmer this time.
Suddenly, he had the strange feeling that although she was standing beside him, she had drifted into her own world. Without thinking, he felt the need to wake her up: "Zhen Ai!"
She remained quiet for a few seconds before finally responding with an "oh," slowly coming back to her senses.
This time, he didn't tease her for being slow to react. Instead, he unconsciously lowered his voice, speaking as softly as the spring night breeze, "What are you thinking about?"
Zhen Ai brushed back her long hair that had been blown loose by the wind and replied, "I was thinking about how Daisy said they kicked Lin Xing's medicine bottle until Lin Xing actually stopped breathing."
Yan Su looked at her for a moment, then glanced at the ornate streetlamp across the road, his expression indifferent. "What's there to think about?"
"I don't believe Daisy is that kind of person," she said, instinctively clenching the phone number in her hand and smiling slightly.
And you're not that kind of person either!
Yan Su silently watched Zhen Ai. Beneath her tough and indifferent exterior, wasn't her heart actually soft and pure?
The streetlight reflected in his eyes, casting shimmering waves like stars, and he said, "They were actually good students, not numb. But people are influenced by group behavior. When you're in the midst of it without realizing it, it becomes terrifying. It's easy to stay true to yourself alone, but together, it's very hard."
"Professor Hill once told me about two cases.
"In one, someone was about to jump off a building, and a large crowd had gathered below to watch. One person shouted, 'Jump!' and the others, having lost their senses, joined in, also shouting 'Jump!' But were they all bad people? No. In their daily lives, they were law-abiding and kind. When they thought back on it afterward, they couldn't understand why they had acted so cruelly, like demons."
The scene flashed in Zhen Ai's mind, and she instinctively shrank back a little.
"In the other case, a person dropped four million yuan in cash, and the wind scattered it. One passerby shouted, 'Let's help her gather the money!' In the end, every bill was returned to its owner, not a single one missing."
Zhen Ai sighed. "That day, it just took one person kicking the medicine bottle, and the others followed like they were under a spell."
Yan Su's expression was unreadable. "But I've always believed that if, on that day, someone had said, 'Let's take Lin Xing to the hospital,' the others would have helped."
Zhen Ai paused, surprised. Deep down, he still believed in the fundamental goodness of people.
She lowered her head and looked at their shadows on the ground. The streetlights behind them stretched their shadows long, "his" and "hers" overlapping, leaning on each other. She took a light breath. "Yan Su!"
"Mm?"
She didn't look at him, stubbornly keeping her gaze fixed on the two shadows intertwined on the ground. "If I killed someone and committed arson, would you still think I'm a good person?"
"I wouldn't let you kill anyone or commit arson." Yan Su answered without a second thought, his tone firm and resolute. "I would stop you from the start."
Zhen Ai hadn't expected that answer and was momentarily stunned.
"Killing someone is really just killing your own conscience. If you do it too many times, you'll forget who you are. I think you're great as you are now. I don't want you to kill her."
Yan Su turned his head to her, his long lashes casting deep shadows in his eyes as he looked at her. There was no disdain, no blame—only deep concern.
"Zhen Ai, if you ever feel lost, talk to me."
He promised, "I'll help you. Anytime."
Zhen Ai's heart was struck hard, as if something warm and powerful had collided with it, both comforting and painful. Ever since she was young, she had only known how to respond to violence with violence. It was only in recent years that she had begun to realize the distortion of her mindset. But even so, when provoked, she still didn't know how to handle it and would resort to the only way she knew.
After killing Zhao He last time, she felt nauseous for a week. Yet this time, she had so easily pulled a gun on Harvey.
Yan Su was right. Killing could become an addictive habit, making her forget who she was.
That was something she had always hated. She wasn't supposed to turn into this.
She looked at Yan Su's calm face, and her heart suddenly filled with gratitude. "Mm, thank you."
Yan Su glanced at her and could tell she understood. A strange pain surfaced in his heart.
He really wanted to know what kind of experiences had made her the way she was now—half angel, half demon. And what was it that still triggered her deepest fears?
She wouldn't point a gun at someone unless she was utterly terrified. Yet even in her fear, she had instinctively protected Daisy.
Thinking about the dark labyrinth from not long ago, where she had hidden from him, walking alone through the night and danger, step by step, stubborn and resolute, his heart felt like it was sinking underwater, suffocating.
He didn't know what this unprecedented feeling was called.
With all these thoughts swirling in his mind, he raised his hand and patted her on the shoulder.
Both of them remained silent, lost in their own thoughts.
After a while, Zhen Ai suddenly remembered something, her heart softening. She touched her cheek and turned to him. "Yan Su!"
"Mm?" he responded lazily.
"When you were in school, were you often isolated and bullied?" Her voice was soft, but as she asked, her chest tightened with a dull ache.
He lowered his head, his handsome profile freezing for a moment. Then he answered casually, "Can't you think of something more productive? That's such a boring question."
Zhen Ai smiled faintly and didn't ask again.
There was no need to ask. Growing up, he had always been younger and smarter than his peers. Isolation and bullying were inevitable. For him, there were never any true peers. Only he knew the pain and loneliness that came with it.
But thankfully, he still grew up to be like this—calm and unshaken by fortune or disaster, viewing everything with detachment, yet still possessing a clear and pure heart.
How fortunate!
As she thought this, Eva's car arrived.
Eva poked her head out and frowned when she saw Yan Su. "Why are you here too?"
Yan Su ignored her and simply opened the door, getting into the car with Zhen Ai. "I'm hungry."
Eva glanced at Yan Su through the rearview mirror, her brows furrowing tightly as she cleared her throat. "I'm meeting some friends for dinner. I wanted to take Ai with me."
Zhen Ai's eyes shifted—was she implying that she only wanted to take her?
Yan Su looked up and gave Eva a calm glance. "If you don't take me, I won't let Zhen Ai go with you." His tone was light, but it carried the petulance of a child.
Eva: "...Zhen Ai isn't under your control."
Zhen Ai felt a slight headache and tried to negotiate with Eva: "Why not let Yan Su come along?"
Eva: "Only if he promises not to talk too much."
Just as Zhen Ai was about to agree, Yan Su frowned and, clearly dissatisfied, interjected: "I have never talked too much. Every word I say has meaning."
Eva shook her head and lightly responded: "Right, just nonsense, nonsense."
Yan Su pressed his lips together, visibly displeased. After a moment of silence, he said, "You're not having dinner with a friend, you're going on a date, and you want Zhen Ai's opinion on the guy. Hmph!"
Zhen Ai sat up straight in silence, thinking to herself, *This probably counts as talking too much...*
Eva coldly denied: "Nonsense!"
"You always say that when I'm right. No creativity at all." Yan Su scoffed and then solemnly defended his reasoning.
"From the time we started waiting, you've checked the time at least four times, which means you care. You're texting instead of calling, because texting avoids direct awkwardness. And even if you like him... Officer Diaz," Yan Su glanced disapprovingly at Eva's sparkly V-neck mini-dress, frowning like an old scholar, "isn't your outfit a bit too revealing? From a man's perspective, I don't like it."
Eva's face darkened, and she abruptly started the car, driving off at full speed. Zhen Ai quickly grabbed the handle and closed her eyes in silence, *Couldn't you wait until we were out of the car to say that?*
#
Eva's date was Danny Lin, a Chinese-American forensic pathologist who had been pursuing her. Their first meeting was peculiar—love at first sight.
One day, Eva and her assistants were moving a body. They got into the elevator, but her assistants had to run to the restroom, leaving Eva alone in the elevator with the corpses. Unable to carry all the bodies by herself, she spread out her arms and legs into a crooked cross, letting the dead bodies lean on her. Standing with her back to the elevator door, she absentmindedly started rapping to herself.
Danny Lin happened to walk by, hearing someone singing. When he turned to look, the sight of a line of corpses almost scared the soul out of him. But as a newly minted forensic expert, he wasn't too rattled.
What he did next, however, left Eva speechless and Zhen Ai thinking it was oddly cute.
He walked up and asked the row of bodies, "Uh, who brought you here?"
It wasn't until after he spoke that he realized they obviously wouldn't respond.
The singing stopped, and from behind the row of corpses, Eva raised her head in exasperation, glaring at him with disdain: "Why did you give up on treatment?"
That one look was enough to make Danny Lin fall head over heels. He happily helped carry a body and followed Eva and her assistants.
As they sat talking at the table, the waiter kept bringing out dishes and refilling wine glasses, overhearing parts of their conversation. With a pale face, he thought to himself, *This guy really doesn't know how to talk. What a waste of a nice dinner.*
But when the food arrived, none of the four—two men and two women—showed any discomfort. Calm and composed, they continued discussing corpses and love while sipping wine and eating meat.
The waiter was baffled, feeling like the world had gone mad.
Zhen Ai listened to Danny Lin and praised him for that cute comment, wondering how he had even thought to ask the corpses, "Who brought you here?"
Yan Su sat silently, not saying a word.
Yan Su and Danny Lin were seated on one side of the table, while Zhen Ai and Eva sat opposite them. Yan Su lifted his eyes slightly and saw Zhen Ai smiling warmly at Danny Lin.
Zhen Ai rarely smiled. As Owen had once said, she looked beautiful when she smiled... But it wasn't for him.
Lowering his gaze, Yan Su furrowed his brow. How could she find such a silly thing adorable?
He quietly fiddled with his knife and fork for a moment before putting them down, taking a small sip from his wine glass. In the few seconds he spent sipping, his other hand discreetly slipped into his pocket, his thumb flying across his phone's screen.
While texting, he continued to drink his wine slowly, his eyes burning as they fixed on her.
Sensing his gaze, Zhen Ai glanced back at him, only to feel that his eyes, behind the glass, held an unusual intensity, as if tinged with a bit of dissatisfaction. She thought for a moment, assuming he was still sulking over his argument with Eva. Just then, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She took it out and found a text from Yan Su.
Her first thought was that it was strange. They'd just been making eye contact, hadn't they? When had he had time to send a message? Could it be a glitch?
But when she opened it...
"What's so funny about something so dumb and illogical? のののの"
...That tone, who else could it be?
Zhen Ai looked up, speechless, at Yan Su. He seemed a bit smug, the darkness on his face easing slightly. Zhen Ai was confused, and a second later, her phone buzzed again with another message:
"Oh, in case your dumb brain needs an explanation, the symbols are Isaac's 'shit.'" So, the random string of characters in the previous message was his parrot's droppings...
Zhen Ai replied with one word, put her phone away, and continued chatting with Eva.
Yan Su's phone buzzed. He looked down:
"Childish :P"
She called him childish? And even sent a tongue-out emoji mocking him?
Yan Su's face stiffened, clearly displeased. *How can she be so dense? Doesn't she see how childish Danny Lin is? He was talking to corpses for crying out loud! So childish!*
For the rest of the evening, Yan Su didn't say another word.
Zhen Ai was baffled by him. He was truly upset, seriously!
Halfway through the dinner, Eva excused herself to the restroom. She lightly kicked Zhen Ai's foot under the table, and Zhen Ai followed, still a bit puzzled.
Across the table, Yan Su frowned slightly. Studies show yawning is contagious, but there's no research saying going to the bathroom is. Why do girls always go to the restroom in groups? It's strange.
No wonder the women's restroom is always so crowded.
As Zhen Ai left, she casually said to Yan Su, "Watch my bag."
Yan Su nodded absentmindedly: "Okay."
Once the two women had left, Danny Lin let out a long sigh of relief, hurriedly grabbing a napkin to wipe the sweat from his neck.
Yan Su glanced at him swiftly and oddly, then turned to look at Zhen Ai's bag, saying, "It's not hot in here." After a moment's pause, he asked seriously, "Do you have high blood pressure?"
Danny Lin: "...No."
Yan Su: "Oh, high blood sugar?"
Danny Lin: "...I'm only 29."
Yan Su continued to stare at Zhen Ai's empty seat without blinking: "Age only affects the probability, but it's not a necessary condition for high blood sugar or high blood pressure. Some cases are congenital. Oh, right, you're a doctor, you should know better than me."
Danny Lin: ...What was I going to say again?
Danny Lin racked his brain, originally having something to say but now completely thrown off by Yan Su's questioning. All he could manage was: "Uh, I'm sweating because I'm nervous."
Eva: "Zhen Ai is not your responsibility."
Zhen Ai felt a bit overwhelmed and suggested, "Why not let Yan Su come along?"
Eva: "Only if he promises not to run his mouth."
Zhen Ai was about to agree when Yan Su frowned and protested, "I never say meaningless things. Every word I say has significance."
Eva shook her head lightly, dismissing him. "See? Nonsense, nonsense."
Yan Su pursed his lips, clearly unhappy. After a brief silence, he said, "It's not just dinner with a friend, it's a date. You even wanted Zhen Ai's opinion on the guy. Hmph!"
Zhen Ai sat up straight, thinking, *Uh, this sounds a lot like running your mouth...*
Eva coldly denied, "Nonsense!"
"Every time I hit the nail on the head, you say that. Try being more original," Yan Su retorted, then seriously continued, "You've checked the time at least four times since we sat down—you care about it. You're texting instead of calling because it's less awkward. But even if you like him... Officer Diaz," Yan Su glanced at Eva's sequined V-neck mini dress with a scholarly frown, "aren't you dressed a bit too revealing? As a man, I don't like it."
Eva's face darkened, and she suddenly sped off in the car. Zhen Ai quickly grabbed onto the handle, silently closing her eyes. *Couldn't you have waited until we got out of the car?*
#
Eva's date was a Chinese forensic pathologist named Danny Lin. He had been the one pursuing her, and their meeting had been quite peculiar—love at first sight.
That day, Eva and her assistants were carrying corpses into the elevator. Just as they got in, her assistants hurried off to the restroom, leaving Eva alone with a group of bodies. She couldn't hold them all, so she spread out her arms and legs, forming a crooked cross while the bodies leaned against her. She was standing with her back to the elevator doors, casually humming a rap tune.
Danny Lin happened to pass by, hearing the singing, and turned his head—nearly jumping out of his skin at the sight of the row of corpses. Luckily, he was a newly minted forensic pathologist, so he wasn't too scared.
Then, he did something that left Eva speechless but Zhen Ai found endearing.
He walked up to the corpses and said, "Um, who brought you all here?"
It wasn't until after he asked that he realized, of course, they wouldn't respond.
The singing stopped, and from behind the row of bodies, Eva, still in her cross-shaped position, looked up at him, utterly speechless. She gave him a contemptuous glare. "Why did you give up on treatment?"
That single glare, and Danny Lin was smitten. Grinning from ear to ear, he immediately offered to help carry a body alongside Eva and her assistants.
While they were chatting at the dinner table, the waiter kept serving food and pouring wine, overhearing bits of their conversation with a pale face, thinking, *This guy really doesn't know how to talk. Such a nice dinner is going to waste.*
But as the dishes were brought out, none of the four—men or women—showed the slightest discomfort. They all calmly continued discussing corpses and love while sipping wine and eating meat.
The waiter was utterly confused. *The world has gone mad.*
Zhen Ai complimented Danny Lin, saying how cute it was when he asked the corpses, "Who brought you out?"
Yan Su remained silent.
Yan Su and Danny Lin sat on one side of the table, while Zhen Ai and Eva sat opposite. Yan Su looked up slightly and saw Zhen Ai smiling, her eyes curved as she gazed at Danny Lin beside him.
Zhen Ai rarely smiled. As Owen once said, her smile was beautiful... but it wasn't meant for him.
Yan Su lowered his gaze, frowning slightly. *How could she find such silly behavior cute?*
Silently, he continued cutting his food. At one point, he set his knife down, took a small sip of wine, and with his other hand, stealthily reached into his pocket, unlocking his phone and typing quickly.
As he typed, he took another slow sip of wine, all the while watching Zhen Ai intently.
Zhen Ai sensed his gaze and met his eyes. Through the glass of his wine, his stare seemed unusually intense, almost disapproving. She thought for a moment, assuming he was still sulking over his spat with Eva. Just then, her phone buzzed in her pocket.
She pulled it out and saw a message from Yan Su.
Her first reaction was confusion. *We were just looking at each other, weren't we? When did he send this? Did he somehow send it to the wrong number?*
But when she opened it...
"What's so funny about something so stupid and illogical? のののの"
*...Only he could send a message like this.*
Zhen Ai looked up, speechless. He seemed a bit smug, the gloom on his face lifting slightly. She couldn't understand. The next moment, another message popped up on her phone:
"Oh, by the way, for your silly little brain, those symbols are Isaac's 'shit.'"
*So, that string of symbols in the last message... was supposed to be his parrot's droppings?*
Zhen Ai responded with a single word, put her phone away, and continued chatting with Eva.
Yan Su's phone buzzed. He glanced down to see:
"Childish :P"
*Childish? And a tongue emoji?*
Yan Su's face tightened in displeasure. *How could she be so dumb? Doesn't she realize that the childish one is Danny Lin? He was the one who talked to corpses! That's way more childish!*
For the rest of the time, Yan Su didn't say a word.
Zhen Ai was baffled by him. *He's seriously upset—really!*
Halfway through, Eva excused herself to go to the restroom, giving Zhen Ai a light kick under the table. Zhen Ai, confused, followed her up.
Across the table, Yan Su frowned slightly. There was research showing that yawning was contagious, but there was nothing about going to the bathroom being contagious. Why did women always go to the restroom in groups? So strange.
*No wonder there's always a line for the women's restroom.*
As Zhen Ai left, she casually told Yan Su, "Watch my bag."
Yan Su nodded woodenly. "Okay."
As soon as the two women left, Danny Lin let out a long sigh, hastily grabbing a napkin to wipe the sweat from his neck.
Yan Su shot him a quick, puzzled glance before staring at Zhen Ai's bag. "It's not hot in here," he said after a pause. Then, after another brief silence, he asked seriously, "Do you have high blood pressure?"
Danny Lin: "...No."
Yan Su: "Oh. High blood sugar?"
Danny Lin: "...I'm only 29."
Yan Su continued to stare blankly at the empty seat where Zhen Ai had been sitting. "Age is only a factor; it's not a necessary condition for high blood pressure or high blood sugar. Some of it is genetic. But, oh, right, you're a doctor. You should know better than me."
Danny Lin: *...What was I trying to say again?*
Danny Lin racked his brain, already nervous, and now completely lost by Yan Su's questions. After a long pause, he finally said, "Uh, I was sweating because I was nervous."
Yan Su blinked, biting his lip in slight frustration. "I forgot again to analyze from the perspective of social relationships and interpersonal interaction."
Danny Lin: ...
"But," Yan Su continued, sounding puzzled, "why were you nervous? That doesn't make sense."
Danny Lin shifted uncomfortably, gulping down a large mouthful of wine before sitting up straight and proper. "I really like Eva. I'm afraid she won't like me."
Yan Su didn't move a muscle and replied simply, "She likes you."
Danny Lin blinked, his eyes lighting up. "Did she tell you?"
"No."
The light in Danny Lin's eyes dimmed.
Yan Su still didn't look at him, stubbornly keeping his focus on Zhen Ai's bag like a loyal little dog. "Today, she's wearing light purple, her lucky color, and she has on her lucky bracelet. That shows she cares about this date. Although, as a materialist, I personally don't believe in lucky items."
"...Anyway."
"She rested her elbows on the table with her head tilted at a 30-degree angle while talking to you. That's the most flattering angle; she wanted to attract you. Later, she tied her hair up because she thinks her neck is pretty, also to attract you. Plus, in psychology, the chin, neck, and collarbone are all considered erogenous zones."
There was a pause. "Uh, forget I said that last part."
Danny Lin was stunned, his earlier nervousness completely gone.
The waiters nearby had been eavesdropping, their eyes full of admiration for Yan Su. *This guy's a walking guide to dating!*
Yan Su mulled over his thoughts, then cautiously asked, "How do you know you like her?"
The question made Danny Lin nervous again. Was Yan Su, as Eva's close friend, doubting him? Trembling, he asked, "What do you mean?"
Yan Su looked confused. "Do you have difficulty understanding that sentence? Or were there any obscure words in it?"
It had only taken three minutes of conversation for Danny Lin to realize Yan Su
was not a normal person. With a resigned sigh, he said, "Of course I know I like her. I want to see her every day, hold her hand, hug her, kiss her, sleep with her. I want to do things with her, like watch movies, eat together, talk about things we enjoy and our work..."
Yan Su frowned, deep in thought. He had seen Zhen Ai almost every day recently. Yesterday, they'd been apart for ten hours, and he had thought about her. He had held her hand, hugged her, slept with her. They had gone to the amusement park together, watched movies, eaten, and talked about many things—fairytales, candy, work, and killers.
Hmm, he had even carried her on his back, which was one more thing than what Danny Lin had said.
Satisfied, Yan Su stopped talking, and dutifully continued watching Zhen Ai's bag.
Danny Lin kept talking until he realized Yan Su had stopped listening and was staring into space. Curious, he asked, "Um, what have you been staring at this whole time?"
"I'm watching Ai's bag for her," Yan Su said seriously, his gaze fixated on the small beige purse as if trying to uncover some hidden secret. After a long pause, he added, disapprovingly, "Didn't you hear her say that just now? Your awareness of your surroundings is poor."
*Who's really the one lacking awareness here?*
Danny Lin was on the verge of tears: *Eva, come back soon!*
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