Coming to Myself

Yin Feng asked, "Has A Xu figured it out?"

His tone made You Mingxu glance sideways at him, giving her the feeling that a subordinate she had always kept underfoot now dared to sit as an equal.

She retorted impatiently, "What?"

Yin Feng's gaze, for the first time, turned somewhat profound as he said, "After killing them, he dragged all the victims to the kitchen, piled them up haphazardly, and covered them with a table. There was no need for him to conceal the victims' identities, so I believe this action represents the killer's post-crime fear and guilt."

You Mingxu remained silent. It was a strange feeling—this reasoning of Yin Feng's held some merit. And precisely because they had glimpsed this aspect of the killer's psychology, the previously vague image of the perpetrator seemed to become somewhat more concrete.

"So, it's more likely that the killer knew Xie Huifang," Yin Feng said. "He is among the people you've already investigated. You must have overlooked something."

You Mingxu frowned without speaking.

Yin Feng suddenly broke into a bright smile and said, "Of course, there's also a very small possibility—as A Xu said—that he truly is a stranger. Although he is far from an organized killer and hasn't yet clarified his ultimate motives, he still exhibits a certain degree of psychological distortion.

Xie Huifang was a carefully chosen target. He projected his own hatred, fear, and guilt onto her. In other words—he killed her as a substitute for someone else, taking revenge. Xie Huifang served as a stand-in. In real life, he might be unable to confront the person he truly despises."

You Mingxu's thoughts seemed to sink into the vague image Yin Feng had described—a face shadowed, twisted, terrified, and repressed seemed to materialize before her.

But when she looked up, she saw an unfamiliar face.

Perhaps too excited from speaking, even with the same tousled hair and sharp features, Yin Feng wore a slight smile at the corners of his mouth, his eyes gleaming with excitement, insight, and a worldly wisdom.

You Mingxu froze.

She knew that in that instant, she had seen that person.

However, the complexity in You Mingxu's gaze at that moment quickly pulled Yin Feng's mind away from the case. Why did he feel that A Xu was looking at him strangely? So he reached out, pinched one of her cheeks, and gave it a gentle tug.

"Ouch," You Mingxu said instinctively.

He stared straight at her. Suddenly snapping back to reality, she slapped his hand away. He lowered his head with a chuckle and asked, "Do you want to pinch my cheek?" Then he leaned his head closer.

"No!"

Seeing his familiar foolish expression, You Mingxu felt an inexplicable sense of relief. Yet, for some reason, a trace of irritation began to stir within her. Perhaps to shake off this feeling, she added, "If it's as you said, it's still more likely to be someone she knew. But we've investigated all the relevant people. None of them had clear motives."

Yin Feng shook his head and said, "Everyone's upbringing and psychological state are different. What you consider trivial and insufficient as a motive might, for someone long suppressed, be magnified infinitely—enough for them to cast everything aside and kill to their heart's content."

You Mingxu lowered her head in thought again.

Yin Feng gazed at her intently for a moment, then leaned his head closer and said, "It seems I really am quite clever, don't you think?"You Mingxu answered objectively, "Not bad."

He just blinked, then straightened up and continued walking, kicking pebbles on the ground with a faint smile in his eyes.

"So now, am I quite useful to you?" he said. "You're not raising me for nothing?"

You Mingxu hadn't expected him to still remember that remark. That day, when he'd declared in front of so many people that she was raising him, hadn't he been quite self-righteous about it?

She laughed too, deliberately teasing him: "Whether you're useful or not still needs more testing before I can draw a conclusion."

He fell silent.

You Mingxu reached out and patted his head, saying, "Just teasing you. You're very useful. There's a lot you say that I don't understand. And I'm not raising you—you're spending your own money. Don't you know you're very wealthy?"

Yin Feng stopped walking.

You Mingxu also halted.

He suddenly took one of her hands, lowered his head, and gently nuzzled his face against her palm with his eyes closed.

You Mingxu was startled. The man before her was too handsome and pure, his posture of bending and bowing before her seeming utterly natural. A tingling, itchy sensation continuously spread from her palm, gradually intensifying until that fine, dense feeling became like a burning thread shooting straight from her palm to her heart, as if something had silently exploded. You Mingxu snatched her hand back and shouted, "What are you doing?"

Yin Feng looked up, bewildered: "You... didn't you want to touch me? You praised me so much just now."

You Mingxu remained silent for a moment, saying nothing as she continued walking with an unchanged expression. Yin Feng immediately caught up, having already forgotten the previous incident and becoming cheerful again. With his long legs, he hopped and skipped beside her. Sometimes he deliberately tugged her ponytail before running away. When she ignored him, he'd run back. Sometimes he intentionally lagged far behind, only bursting into a wide grin when she looked back impatiently, then striking a sprinter's starting pose before dashing to catch up in one breath.

You Mingxu had been walking perfectly fine initially—eyes forward, striding purposefully—but with his constant antics, she almost forgot how to walk properly.

In a daze, she felt like she'd returned to those days of being pestered by the annoying boy from the next class...

By the time they neared home, Yin Feng finally settled down, walking quietly beside her. After a while, he said, "A Xu, then it's settled—I'll follow you on cases from now on."

You Mingxu glanced up at the surrounding forest of high-rises with their scattered lights and smiled, saying, "You won't be following me forever."

He bit his lip: "Why?!"

You Mingxu said, "Because one day you'll wake up and regain your memories. When you remember everything and are completely recovered, heh, you'll definitely turn around and leave. By then, you won't want to see this little police officer who witnessed all your embarrassing moments." After speaking, she chuckled softly.

But Yin Feng couldn't laugh at all. He gazed at her for a long moment before saying, "A Xu, I wouldn't do that. No matter what I become, I would never do that. I'll always be with you. If I can't keep that promise in the future, I'll jump off a building to show you."

You Mingxu thought, why would I want you to jump off a building? Why would I need you to follow me forever? Knowing he couldn't understand future implications now, she simply smiled and walked toward the building entrance.

He followed silently behind. After walking a while, he spoke again in a stiff tone: "I just made a decision."

You Mingxu: "What decision?"He quickly caught up, gripping the stair railing beside her with an almost urgent persistence as he pressed closer: "I want to change my name—I won’t be Yin Feng anymore. I’m different from that person I used to be, so you won’t keep thinking I’ll turn into that unpleasant version of him."

You Mingxu couldn’t help but laugh and asked, "So what do you want to be called?"

Studying her expression, he replied, "I’ve thought of a name these past couple of days—'Yingjun.' How about I go by 'You Yingjun'? That way, we’ll share the same surname."

You Mingxu fell silent for a moment, then covered her mouth with her hand, eventually bursting into laughter, and finally gave in to hearty, ringing laughs. Seeing her so amused, Yin Feng couldn’t help but smile along.

It had been a long time since You Mingxu had laughed so freely. By the time they reached her doorstep, her cheeks ached from smiling. She patted his shoulder and said, "Alright, from now on, I’ll call you Yingjun—You Yingjun."

Yin Feng broke into a satisfied grin and nodded.

You Mingxu, still smiling, slipped off her shoes and stepped inside. Just then, her phone rang. Seeing it was a call from the station, she answered immediately.

"A homicide just occurred near Lushan Factory!"