Seeing Crime Scenes in My Sleep

Liang Huka shot to his feet, fuming. He was ready to take some men to Du Xueqing’s house and teach her a good lesson.

"Liang Huka? What are you doing here?" Zhang Xiaoru looked at him, then at the scarf on the floor, and covered her mouth in surprise.

"Liang Huka, why do you have Xueqing’s scarf? I remember she said she was hand-knitting it for her online boyfriend."

Liang Huka looked at Zhang Xiaoru skeptically. "You’re saying Du Xueqing knitted this herself?"

Zhang Xiaoru swallowed. "Y-yes, that’s right. I even taught her how to stitch the letter on."

Zhang Xiaoru gasped, covering her mouth. "Don’t tell me... you’re Xueqing’s online boyfriend?"

Zhang Xiaoru’s heart hammered against her ribs. ’Xueqing, you’ve gone way too far this time!’

Liang Huka skeptically picked up the scarf. He took out his phone and held it out to her. "Then tell me, why are they identical?"

"It’s Xueqing’s first time knitting a scarf. She was worried it wouldn’t turn out well, so she followed an online pattern. What’s wrong with that?"

Zhang Xiaoru feigned a confused look at Liang Huka, but inwardly, she was panicking.

"I see. Thank you, Student Zhang. Here’s ten thousand yuan for your trouble. Don’t mention this to Xueqing."

"O-okay." Zhang Xiaoru took the money and bolted, patting her chest in fright once she was outside.

She quickly pulled out her phone and sent a message to Du Xueqing.

’It’s a good thing I was eavesdropping outside,’ she thought. ’Otherwise...’

Zhang Xiaoru looked at the money in her hand, then turned and went to find the manager to quit her job.

The next day, Du Xueqing read the message from Zhang Xiaoru, and her heart skipped a beat.

But luckily, she was prepared. She had already taken a photo that included identical balls of yarn and knitting needles.

After posting it to her social media, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She didn’t block anyone from this post; it had to be completely public for Liang Huka to believe her.

Sure enough, comments from her classmates soon flooded in, asking if she was dating someone. She replied with a shy emoji, which was as good as a confession.

Once that was done, she fell back onto her bed and started scrolling through Jiang Shuran’s social media feed. She had to use the winter break to make Liang Huka’s feelings for her grow stronger.

That way, she could deal with Jiang Shuran when the new semester began.

...

Jiang Li woke up to a message from Lu Xingye. Su Mei was dead.

Jiang Li glanced at the photo of the body before closing the message. ’Du Xueqing can’t be *that* stupid.’

She got up to eat. Yu Huannian had been feeding her well lately, so she’d gained a little weight, but she also felt much more energetic.

After her meal, Jiang Li lay back in a chair to bask in the sun. Nearby, Miao Anji was playing his Bone Flute, training his Gu Worms.

When he saw Jiang Li looking over, he immediately put on a show. The worms formed ranks, executed encirclements, practiced lunging attacks, frontal assaults, and sneak attacks. To top it all off, they performed a dance for her.

Jiang Li’s mouth twitched. ’He’s certainly creative.’ Dancing bugs, however, were... a uniquely bizarre sight.

Miao Anji beamed, his grin stretching from ear to ear.

RING RING RING~

Jiang Li answered the call from Wu Ming. "Jiang Li, your brother got nabbed again! I swear, are these people blind?

I know your brother has a bit of a stone face, but does every single criminal who sees him have to try and make him their boss?

I’m at my wit’s end. I’m sending you the location, hurry!"

Wu Ming stood with her hands on her hips. ’Are these people blind?’

The last few times it happened, people just tried to recruit Yu Huannian into their gangs. But today, they had just arrived at the mountain when a group of guys kidnapped him. They looked at him like a scattered platoon finding their general.

Seven or eight guys showed up in a van. Yu Huannian only went with them because he was afraid they’d grab her too.

Jiang Li got up and slung her bag over her shoulder. "Xiao Ji, let’s go find Wu Ming and the others."

"Okay."

As soon as Miao Anji said that, the worms in front of him seemed to sigh in relief. They scrambled frantically to hide on his body. ’If we had to keep dancing, our legs would’ve snapped!’

Jiang Li drove, heading with Miao Anji toward the address Wu Ming had sent.

The moment the car stopped at the foot of the mountain, they saw Wu Ming squatting by the roadside, sulking.

Seeing her, Wu Ming jumped to her feet. "Jiang Li, you’re finally here! They kidnapped Xiao Nian! They said they’re taking him to go fight and take over some turf."

Jiang Li rubbed her nose. "Take over some turf? What new gang is this? Do you know where they went?"

Wu Ming nodded and showed Jiang Li her phone’s chat screen. "I do. He can still message me. It’s totally absurd."

Jiang Li glanced at the screen, then took out her own phone to message Yu Huannian.

"Xiao Nian, are you really okay?"

Yu Huannian replied quickly. "I’m fine, Sis. I just beat up some of their guys a couple of days ago. They followed me up the mountain today and said they want me to be their leader and help them get their turf back."

Yu Huannian glanced at the men in the van before looking back down at his phone. If he weren’t worried they might go after Wu Ming, he would’ve made a run for it already.

"Do you know where they’re taking you to get this turf back?"

"They said they keep losing fights and are tired of being pushed around."

"Stay safe and play it by ear."

Jiang Li called Lu Xingye. "Hello, Officer Lu..."

"COUGH, COUGH, COUGH... Jiang Li, what’s wrong? Where are you?" Lu Xingye choked on a sip of water. He set his cup down and stood up, heading outside.

"Ah, it’s not me. It’s Xiao Nian."

Lu Xingye paused mid-stride to listen to her explanation.

"Xiao Nian was taken by some guys. They want him to help them get their turf back..."

"Ahem, can you ask..." Lu Xingye trailed off, then after a moment of silence, stated, "You can still contact Xiao Nian."

"Yeah."

The corner of Lu Xingye’s mouth twitched. He cleared his throat. "Okay, first, ask them for the exact location. We’ll head over once you have it. You all stay safe."

"Okay."

Jiang Li hung up and sent a message to Yu Huannian, wondering if the kidnappers would actually reveal the location.

Yu Huannian read Jiang Li’s message, then looked up at the men in front of him and said with a perfectly straight face, "Where is it? I need to call my guys."

The eyes of the men next to him instantly lit up. They knew they’d picked the right guy.

’He’s not just a beast himself, he can call for backup too!’

"Brother Yu, how many guys you got?" the man on his right asked, practically fawning over him.

Yu Huannian paused for a second. "As many as we need." ’The station has plenty of officers,’ he thought. ’And if that’s not enough, I can call in other precincts.’

The whole group gasped.

’Holy crap! As many as we need!’

"Brother Yu, the spot is on the street behind the South District. Do you have a lot of guys coming? I’m worried it might be too small for them to maneuver."

"It’s fine. They’ll probably bring guns. If there’s no room on the ground, there are always the rooftops."

HISS!

"B-Brother Yu... your connections are seriously heavy."

Yu Huannian nodded. "They’re decent."

Yu Huannian lowered his head and sent the location to Jiang Li, who immediately forwarded it to Lu Xingye, telling him to get some officers in position ahead of time.

Jiang Li, Wu Ming, and the others also hurried over.

That night, on a backstreet in the South District, two gangs faced off, armed with knives and baseball bats.

"You ain’t shit! I’m tellin’ you, this is the day you die!"