You Mingxu turned and pushed open a door nearby.
She pressed the light switch on the wall, but it didn’t turn on—it was broken. This appeared to be a storage room, no more than three or four square meters, dim and cluttered with several storage racks and corners piled high with items. On the opposite wall, there was a window, outside of which was pitch black, save for a faint glimmer of starlight.
The two of them used flashlights to inspect the area carefully.
You Mingxu first walked to the window, immediately spotting the street below and the building opposite where they had hidden during the day. She glanced at the window, noting a layer of dust on it with no signs of having been opened. An inexplicable tension tightened her chest as she said, "Later, have someone come check for fingerprints here."
Yin Feng held his flashlight wide-eyed, scanning the surroundings while rummaging through the clutter in the room.
You Mingxu asked, "What are you looking for?"
He replied, "Who knows what I might find? Just giving it a try."
Ignoring him, You Mingxu crouched down, meticulously searching for footprints. However, the storage room had a concrete floor, leaving no discernible traces. She lay flat on the ground, her face close to the floor, following the beam of her flashlight inch by inch. Suddenly, she froze: near the windowsill, there was a very small, dark brown stain and a shoe print pattern less than two centimeters long.
"Yin Feng!" she called out.
Yin Feng turned and saw the goddess of his heart lying on the floor, her rounded buttocks pointed toward him, her legs straight and slender.
The intense frustration he had felt earlier from her hints, her rejection, and her indifference suddenly vanished.
He touched his face, approached the upturned rear, and lay down beside her. Their heads close together, they both stared at the floor.
"Is it blood?" she asked.
He leaned in, his straight nose almost touching the small stain, and sniffed hard. "It’s blood."
Huddled together, You Mingxu was almost cheek-to-cheek with him. In the dim light, the sharp lines of his profile stood out, yet his behavior was like that of a loyal police dog.
You Mingxu couldn’t help but laugh. Pulling him up, she said, "The bloodstain looks fairly fresh. Whose blood could it be?"
"Assuming it’s related to the case, because if we assume it’s unrelated, then it’s meaningless," Yin Feng retorted, echoing her earlier words. He added, "If it’s Fan Jia’s blood, it’s too little—did she prick her finger? Maybe it’s Zhou Rongfeng’s blood, transferred to her shoe sole. She really was here."
You Mingxu called the forensics team, instructing them to come immediately.
After hanging up, she noticed Yin Feng lying by the storage rack, his face pressed to the floor again. He was wearing jeans and a jacket that day, unzipped, revealing his narrow waist. Though he usually looked lean, his hips were anything but gaunt—firm and well-shaped. His long legs were straight and slender.
Yet You Mingxu found his posture both foolish and indecent. For a handsome guy, he looked utterly ridiculous. Without thinking, she lifted her leg and lightly kicked his butt again, asking, "What are you doing?"
Yin Feng’s heart and rear quivered simultaneously. He thought, You won’t have me now, keeping me at arm’s length, yet you always tease me on a whim, tease me! But with the investigation as the priority, he pressed his lips together and said coolly, "A Xu, come here."You Mingxu crouched beside him. He grabbed her hand and pulled her down to crouch as well, directing the flashlight beam toward one of the support legs of the storage shelf.
You Mingxu froze for a moment.
"Look, is that a scratch on the ground? Made by the metal leg."
On the dark gray concrete floor, within the small area illuminated by the light, there was indeed a white scratch mark.
"The scratch is as fresh as the bloodstains," Yin Feng said.
You Mingxu stared intently and said, "The scratch is uneven. Judging by the shape of the mark, it wasn't dragged steadily by a person but was caused by a heavy impact."
"Exactly."
You Mingxu said, "Perhaps at that moment, Fan Jia and that person had a brief physical struggle."
Yin Feng stood up, resting his chin on his hand, and said, "A Xu, if you were Fan Jia, facing a powerful enemy, physically exhausted, and seeing no way to escape, what would you do?"
You Mingxu was silent for a moment, her heart suddenly pounding. "I would..." She scrambled up from the ground and said, "I would do everything in my power to protect the evidence and prevent it from falling into that person's hands!"
Her heart raced with excitement and sorrow. Her eyes quickly scanned every corner of the room, and the previously dark, cluttered items suddenly seemed to glow faintly.
Yin Feng stood up and said, "Maybe it's right under our noses. Fan Jia was at a disadvantage. How could she hide the evidence without being discovered by that person? She might have had only one barely satisfactory opportunity."
Their gazes simultaneously fell on the storage shelf beside them, which had been knocked askew by about ten centimeters.
This was their only chance.
If Fan Jia had indeed made it here, hid in this room, and left behind the bloodstains. If she had fought with that person, the moment the storage shelf was knocked askew and items scattered might have been her only opportunity to leave and conceal the evidence.
Without another word, the two began carefully searching the storage shelf and its surroundings.
Before long, under a messy stack of document boxes on the bottom shelf, You Mingxu's eyes lit up: the corner of a black object was clearly visible. You Mingxu moved the document boxes pressing down on it, her eyes burning with emotion. Wasn't that the decoding storage device Fan Jia had taken with her before the mission?
You Mingxu pulled out the storage device and let out a dry laugh, "Haha, haha." Yin Feng was overjoyed too, shouting, "A Xu, we did it! We really found the evidence Fan Jia hid!"
You Mingxu looked up with a wide smile, and their eyes met, both momentarily stunned.
Because normally, if You Mingxu were partnered with Xu Mengshan or any other colleague, they would have been ecstatically hugging each other and jumping around like children to vent their excitement. But now, seeing Yin Feng's eager, excited gaze fixed on her...
You Mingxu suddenly laughed, reached out, and hooked her arm around his neck. Yin Feng leaned in, and she pressed him against her shoulder. Despite being over 1.8 meters tall, he was held by her, who was only around 1.6 meters, with one arm. His eyes widened, and he remained silent. Still laughing joyfully, genuinely happy, she patted his back lightly a few times and said, "Well done, Handsome. Thank you."In truth, Yin Feng could have lifted her entire body with one hand and pulled her tightly into his embrace. Yet he merely rested against her in this somewhat uncomfortable position, closed his eyes, took a deep breath of her scent, and said with a smile, "No need to thank me. This is what You Yingjun willingly does for You Mingxu."
His foolish words made You Mingxu's heart tremble faintly. She closed her eyes, unwilling to dwell on anything deeper, simply absorbing his warmth and presence. They held each other for a long while before she calmly and openly released him, her expression unchanged.
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