Chapter 738: Old City District
Inside the large door was a dim, chaotic underground space.
The underground arcade wasn't small in size. Including the haphazardly arranged booths, it covered at least three hundred square meters. However, with all the thugs dyed in different hair colors everywhere, combined with the dim lighting and strange layout, it created the illusion of extreme crowding upon entry.
Lin Ye led Ephesus and Susie into the arcade. They looked completely out of place here, with many thugs staring at them with odd expressions.
"...Shouldn't we be running out of here?"
Susie nervously tightened her grip on Ephesus's left hand. She felt the unfriendliness in the eyes of the people around them.
"Don't panic. We'll leave once we find Simon."
Lin Ye deliberately raised his voice.
A thug with silver-white hair turned his head to glance at Lin Ye. The cheap hair dye made him look absolutely terrible.
Lin Ye was scanning everyone's expressions around him, and he naturally noticed the change in the man's demeanor.
The silver-haired thug saw the middle school students behind Lin Ye. He instinctively took a step back, wanting to escape from here, but the only exit was conveniently blocked by Lin Ye.
Lin Ye walked straight toward the silver-haired thug. Just as the guy tried to bolt sideways, Lin Ye kicked his shin just as he was about to push off.
The silver-haired thug crashed to the ground. It was a hard fall, almost knocking out his front teeth.
Before he could get up, Lin Ye planted his right foot on the guy's spine, pinning him down.
"Where's Simon?"
Since there were middle school students watching, Lin Ye was much gentler with his movements than usual.
"Help! This bastard is starting trouble here!"
The silver-haired thug screamed for help, and the surrounding thugs gathered around.
"Answer my question."
Lin Ye grabbed the silver-haired thug's right hand and performed a dislocation maneuver on his elbow joint.
"Ahhh! It hurts! My arm is broken! Help!"
The silver-haired thug was clearly panicked. He stopped struggling, afraid to move.
"Answer my question."
Lin Ye shook the guy's forearm, his tone eerily calm.
"I don't know! Simon is missing! A lot of people are looking for him!"
The silver-haired thug cried out.
"I've already called the cops! Who the hell are you? Do you know what happens when you stir up trouble in my place?"
The arcade owner stormed out from the back room with his men, glaring fiercely at Lin Ye.
"I'm their teacher. I came here to find a student named Simon. You'd better have called the cops, because then we can have a nice chat about middle school students hanging around arcades."
Lin Ye pressed down hard on the silver-haired thug's back, completely ignoring the pig-slaughter-like screams beneath his foot.
"You're a teacher?"
The arcade owner looked at Lin Ye with suspicion. Only after seeing Ephesus and Susie did he reluctantly believe Lin Ye's claim.
"I didn't bring my teaching ID. You can come with me to the school."
Lin Ye casually reset the silver-haired thug's forearm, then switched to the other arm.
"Ahhhh! I'll talk! I'll say anything! Simon might be hiding in an apartment in the old city district! His girlfriend lives there!"
The silver-haired thug let out a agonized wail.
"Write the address down on paper."
Lin Ye reset the thug's arm, then lifted his left foot off the guy.
Ephesus took out paper and pen from her backpack and shoved them into the thug's hand.
The thug barely scribbled down the address on the paper. Lin Ye pocketed it and led Ephesus and Susie out of the underground arcade.
"...You're not really a detective, are you?"
Back above ground, Susie looked at Lin Ye with a complicated expression.
"I've worked a lot of jobs. Detective is just one of them."
Lin Ye hailed a taxi and handed the address slip to the driver.
"The old city district? Are you sure you want to go there? That place is way more chaotic than here."
The driver frowned in warning.
"I'm sure. You won't take us there?"
Lin Ye prepared to find another taxi.
"I will, but you gotta add ten bucks."
The driver answered bluntly.
"Fine."
Lin Ye sat in the passenger seat, while Ephesus and Susie took the back.
The taxi weaved through the city, and before long, they entered a street that looked dirty and run-down.
"Ahead is the apartment you're looking for... That's not a good place."
The driver originally didn't want to waste words with Lin Ye, but seeing the two young girls in the backseat, he couldn't help but offer a warning.
"Thanks for the heads-up. Keep the change."
Lin Ye pulled a hundred-yuan bill from the arcade owner's wallet and placed it in the driver's hand.
The driver parked by the roadside near the old apartment building. The three got out. Lin Ye led the way, while Ephesus and Susie both looked a bit nervous.
"Will Little Black be in the apartment?"
Ephesus tugged on Lin Ye's sleeve and asked.
"I don't know."
Lin Ye quickly found room 309 on the third floor of the apartment building. He turned the doorknob and found the door wasn't locked.
As he opened the door, a thick smell of blood wafted out from the crack.
"You two better close your eyes."
Lin Ye pushed the door open. The first thing that met his eyes was a large expanse of dark red bloodstains and a corpse reduced to only the upper half of its skeletal frame.
Bits of flesh and teeth marks remained on the bones, looking like spare ribs that hadn't been gnawed clean.
Lin Ye stepped into the apartment very cautiously. It was a cramped room with just one bedroom and one bathroom. He carefully inspected every corner before retreating back to the hallway.
Ephesus and Susie stared blankly at Lin Ye. They were just middle school students looking for a cat; they never imagined they'd encounter something like this.
"Little Black isn't inside. That's a female corpse. Time of death was yesterday afternoon. It's very likely Simon's girlfriend. The amount of blood left in the room exceeds a normal person's total blood volume. More than one person died here. Most of the bodies were taken away by the perpetrator, leaving only this one gnawed chunk of corpse."
Lin Ye closed the apartment door. He hadn't expected a cat-finding job to lead to this.
"...Shouldn't we call the police?"
Susie seemed to snap back to reality. She smelled the lingering blood in the air and covered her mouth tightly.
"If you want to end the commission, I can take you home. But I don't recommend you do that."
Although he didn't know what connection the body inside had to that black cat, Lin Ye felt they were already caught up in some incident. It was too late to back out now.
"I want to find Little Black."
Ephesus looked at Lin Ye with unwavering determination.
"Then we'll continue investigating this incident. I found some clues inside just now..."
Lin Ye suddenly fell silent. Heavy footsteps echoed from the stairs not far away.