If a person wanted to dangle out of an eighth floor window, in a situation where they had no equipment, they had to rely solely on the strength of their arms and legs to cling to the cracks in the wall. Among those, their wrists and their fingers bore the brunt of their weight. The two streams of wind rushing down from upstairs were aiming right at these two people's wrists.

The person who had drawn the line on Nie Ke's neck bent his legs and forcefully leaped upwards by nearly a meter to dodge the wind. In a moment of panic, his feet landed on empty air. He twisted in the air, looking as sorry as a carp jumping out of the water, and just barely managed to grab on to a clothes drying rack hanging out of someone's balcony window.

The other person's reaction was not as quick. When the sound of the wind cut close, he had no way to dodge. His left hand was abruptly thrown away from the wall while his other hand couldn't keep his balance. He shrieked at once and fell down from the eighth floor. Luckily, the sixth floor had anti-theft windows that slowed down his fall midway. This unfortunate person first crashed forcefully onto the anti-theft window, then bounced off and rolled all the way down. He fell through the rain canopy on the second floor and finally rolled all the way to sprawl on his back on the canopy over the bicycle racks, spasming as he lay there. In his left wrist, sticking out of his flesh, was a caramelised sunflower seed.

The second batch of police arrived right at that moment. All together, they swarmed up.

The one hanging from the clothes drying rack initially wanted to charge up to the tenth floor to see who was the interfering busybody but seeing so many police on the ground, he couldn't be bothered to do that anymore. He climbed madly for his life towards the western side. The police on the ground gathered around and gave chase.

Gan Qing closed the window, shutting out the jumbled voices from outside. She leaned against the side of the window and finished snacking on the sunflower seeds in her hand. Then, she unhurriedly put on a coat and went outside. The elevator brought the police who came later to the eighth floor, then creaked its way up to the tenth floor to fetch her. Both parties passed by each other.

The police at 804 broke down the door and entered. The first to charge in was the young female police officer who had left a paper note with Xiang Xiaoman. Once she entered, she was shocked by the scene in the apartment which was completely different from what she had expected. Only when Nie Ke started struggling for his life, his head knocking against the kitchen cabinet, did she realise that the person was still alive.

The police officer strode over and stood between Xiang Xiaoman and Nie Ke, preventing her from taking any drastic action. Her other colleagues rushed to Nie Ke's side, nervously looking at the wound on his neck. Fortunately, the small blade had only cut into the flesh at the side of his neck and did not reach any major arteries. It had already fallen out when he was struggling.

"Don't move, I'll untie you."

The moment the police pulled out the strip of cloth in Nie Ke's mouth, the man's hysterical screams were like the water from a burst dam. "H-Help me stop the bleeding, quick, quick! C-Call the ambulance! This crazy woman wants to murder me! She wants to murder me! Officer, she has two more accomplices! T-They escaped through the window just now! I… How much blood have I lost? I… Can I still be saved…."

The door was opened and it was also a Sunday. With so much hustle and bustle going on, all the neighbours on that floor poked their heads out one by one. An unsuccesful murder attempt was not something they could be an onlooker to every day. The killer and the victim were even husband and wife!

In no time at all, the other floors also got the news. At the stairwell on the eighth floor, there was a large crowd made up of all sorts—men and women, old and young. Each one of them stretched their necks out two meters long, their five senses all fighting each other to squeeze to the front, wanting nothing more than to fly forward from their faces, go past the police stopping them, and investigate every little detail.

Xiang Xiaoman didn't resist anymore. That one cut seemed to have used up all her courage and strength. After the police broke down the door and entered, she only sat on the floor in a stupor, blankly and obediently watching everything happening before her eyes, letting the police search her body as they needed.

By then, Nie Ke had regained his senses. When he found out that his neck only had a small cut that could be managed with a bandaid, he quickly straightened his clothes and recovered his bearing.

"All these while, I didn't want other people to know about this. I was afraid that if the neighbours know, they would look at us with biased eyes. My wife is indeed seeing a psychiatrist. Because of this, there was no way she could go out and work. I have been taking care of the house and our child all these while. Ai… erm… Officer, don't make things too hard for her. She couldn't control herself. It's my fault for always neglecting her a few years ago because of my work…"

The man was courteous and respectable, with a face full of worries; the woman stared straight ahead, slumped on the ground like a lump of rotting meat, surrounded by the police like she was a dangerous item.

The old lady from next door looked on feelingly, saying "Aiyo" a few times in sympathy. "What is going on here?"

"She doesn't like leaving the house. I was afraid she would be bored, so I encouraged her to go online. I didn't know that there are so many terrible people online nowadays!" Nie Ke hissed in pain and covered his neck. He poured out all his grievances as the victim to everyone in the building.

No one wanted to be sick. What did the sick person do wrong? They were just unlucky and indeed should not be subjected to any criticism.

But what did their family members do wrong? Why did they have to bear this kind of endless torment and carry this burden? As the saying went, "By the bedside of a chronic illness, there is no filial piety." An ordinary invalid who couldn't get up from bed could already make other people feel annoyed, much less someone with mental illness.

In some people's eyes, everything in the world could be segregated by rank and status, including illnesses. According to this discriminatory view, since ancient times, mental illness had always been at the very bottom of the chain. It was just barely a step up from sexually transmitted diseases, neither of them were anything good.

"This person should be sent to the hospital." Sounds of whispered discussions came from the stairwell. "Otherwise, what will happen if her illness flares up again?"

"Her husband still has to go to work. How would he have the energy to follow her around for twenty-four hours a day?"

"You can still hire a nanny or a nurse for ordinary illnesses. This… You can't hire anyone for this type of sickness!"

"Today she wants to kill her husband, what if she wants to burn down the house tomorrow? This isn't just about them."

"Clear the scene, don't let them crowd around. Why are there so many unrelated people here!" The young female police officer who was the first to get the call was a little agitated. "Do any of you know what actually happened? You are just making blind guesses! We came because we got a call saying that this man was beating his wife. Mr. Nie, it was also your home that was broken into previously, wasn't it? Did a burglar really break in or did you make a false report to cover up what you did in your home?"

Nie Ke looked at the police officer in shock. "Me? Beat my wife? I… I… Food can be eaten in any way, but words cannot be spoken irresponsibly! I'm the victim here, aren't I? Didn't you see her try to kill me with your own eyes?"

"Why would she want to kill you for no reason?" The police officer scoffed. "Just you wait, let the evidence speak for itself."

As she spoke, she pulled Xiang Xiaoman into the room next to them and closed the door. If Xiang Xiaoman was a long-term victim of domestic violence, the previous occurrence where her face was injured was surely not the only time Nie Ke had beaten her. She surely had other wounds on her body.

Yu Yan and Yu Lanchuan had agreed beforehand to lay in wait for their prey at the activity center for seniors and were waiting to catch that Spiderman. Who would have thought that before they got there, more than half the people they had were diverted elsewhere.

His colleague called him to inform him of the situation at 804. Yu Yan listened and felt his head blowing up. "What? There was an unsuccessful premeditated murder attempt, and there's even a mysterious group capable of jumping on roofs and walking on walls behind it… Seriously… All right, take them away for now. This matter has gotten big, we might have to hand it to the higher-ups."

After hanging up, Yu Yan texted Alliance Leader Yu, instructing that if "Spiderman" were to appear, he was to please try his best to keep him there, the neighbourhood police didn't have enough hands to go around.

"I initially wanted to hug the alliance leader's thigh tightly so that I can work less overtime in the future," Yu Yan said as he typed. "But I think this alliance leader is an unlucky disaster-bringer."

His colleague said, "Suspected domestic violence, drugging and murdering her own husband... Yeap, this is a real life version of a Be Afraid of Marriage lesson, letting you guys take a good look at what happens after marriage."

Yu Yan glanced at his colleague. "You talk like you can find a partner. Did your previous arranged dating end in failure again? Was it because she didn't like you or because you didn't like her?"

"Hard to say. I didn't feel anything and there was nothing wrong with her either. We're all ordinary people anyway, if we can get along then we'll get along. In the end, my family again didn't agree. They just had to say that she was not a local and must be targeting our family's household registration. Let me ask you, isn't it funny? She doesn't know me anyway, if it was not for the household registration, what else can it be?" His colleague dangled a cigarette from his mouth and let out a laugh as broadminded as the sea. "Since they don't agree, that's it. I'm fine either way. My parents want to look for a daughter-in-law and they're the ones paying for a house, so they can call the shots. I don't care."

An older police officer from the front looked back. "What are you saying!"

"I'm being logical here. In the first place, whoever pays is the one who calls the shots. I'm spending my old mum and old dad's money, so I gotta listen to my old mum and old dad. Whomever they ask me to marry, I'll marry. How many kids they want me to have, that's how many I'll have. Ge, with this lousy job of ours, relying on our ego to struggle to buy a house and a car is just a dream. Without money, is there freedom? I've long since accepted it. To steadily continue depending on my parents and not cause trouble—that's what it means to be filial."

Yu Yan said, "Move aside, you with the wrong views^[1]."

His colleague replied, "All right, your views are right. Then, have you saved up your deposit?"

Yu Yan, "..."

In the past, he had thought that Yu Lanchuan's chuuni sickness had reached the fourth stage, which was why he was at loggerheads with his family and made things difficult for himself. Now, he suddenly seemed to understand why Master Lan was willing to lose all his fortune and bear the weight of a few millions worth of debt.

"Ai, enough chit chat. Yu-ge, check your phone!"

Yu Yan jolted. This was what he had agreed beforehand with Yu Lanchuan. This morning, they would use WeChat to contact each other if there was anything. Once the "Spiderman" appeared, Yu Lanchuan would immediately speed-dial his number. The phone call was the signal.

"Go, go go, quick!" Yu Yan pushed open the car door. As he led them towards the activity center for seniors at a run, he muttered in puzzlement, "Isn't their assembly not yet over?"

Yu Lanchuan had actually come out for a breath of fresh air. Because the new alliance leader was a young bachelor of good looks and talents, the seniors from all the major sects had gone crazy and were practically pouncing on him and making moves on him. Since young, Yu Lanchuan had been prideful and stubborn, and had never been on an arranged date even once. This was the first time he was facing such a situation. The cool and aloof demeanour he had developed through crawling and rolling and fighting in the working world was of no use. After holding on for a few minutes, he fled in defeat.

He wandered over to the reception area and poured himself a cup of coffee, wanting to calm down for a bit. He had just sat down when a small balled-up paper flew over from the back, bouncing a few times on the table before landing beside his hand. Yu Lanchuan looked back abruptly. A shadow suddenly flitted past behind him. The window was open, Yu Lanchuan poked his head out for a look and saw that at the grove of trees in the park behind the activity center for seniors, someone dressed up as Spiderman was standing there, far away.

This "Spiderman" was tall and broad. He wore a tight-fitting cosplay costume bought from Taobao. The quality was worrying and the net over the eye holes seemed to have been pasted on himself using the mesh lining from track pants. When he saw Yu Lanchuan, without saying a word, he immediately struck a pose.

"Who on earth are you?" Yu Lanchuan walked over, carrying his coffee, and asked, "After all the fuss with the challenge, you're not even going to show your face?"

"Spiderman" didn't say anything. From a few steps away, he made a sign with his hands. The meaning was, "Stop talking nonsense, I'm going to attack."

Yu Lanchuan took no notice. "You said that you're the descendant of Tang Qian Yan? Where did you come from? How are you related to Tang Qian Yan, Mr. Yan Ruofei? Is it a family relationship or a master-and-disciple one? Do you have proof?"

The Yan Hao inside the "Spiderman" skinsuit was about to go crazy. Didn't the masters in the television shows all begin their attacks without saying a word? Why was there an oral test segment?

Yu Lanchuan asked, "Who made you challenge me? Do the recent spate of high-rise burglaries have anything to do with you?"

Yan Hao didn't want to have a chat with him. He just wanted to take the chance when no one was around to fight and then leave right away. Since he had already gone through the opening steps, he felt that the formalities were already complete. Hence, he gritted his teeth and charged towards Yu Lanchuan, one fist aiming straight for Yu Lanchuan's shoulder.

"Careful, this is hot." Yu Lanchuan frowned and stepped nimbly aside to dodge. He put the hot coffee on a small stone table beside him and raised his hand. Yan Hao's eyes gleamed. He thought Yu Lanchuan was going to fight back but what he saw was the other man raising his hands and not moving. "I'm not going to fight anymore. I surrender."

Yan Hao, "..."

"You've won," Yu Lanchuan said. His words were still in the air when footsteps sounded. "However, on the matter of breaking into a private residence, you need to explain that to the police."

"I see that Spiderman!"

"That's him, Master Lan, don't let him escape!"

Yan Hao quivered, then twisted his head around and leaped towards the little grove. There seemed to be a pair of springs under his feet; when he jumped, he really looked like a large spider. He leaped over the stone table, clambered up a fork in a tree about three meters high, and swung himself away.

Right at that moment, Yu Lanchuan moved. At some point, he had picked up a pebble from the ground which he now threw ruthlessly. The tree branch that was as thick as a human thigh shook violently, mercilessly shaking off the Spiderman on it. Yan Hao wanted to run the moment he landed but a stick swept towards him, blocking his escape route. A flick of the wrist and the "Spiderman" got a faceful of dew, and his eye holes were blurred. Yan Hao closed his eyes and ducked. The stick caught on his skinsuit. With a tearing sound, the cheap quality skinsuit tore open, revealing the cowering face of the laundry shop employee inside...

"We caught him!"

Meanwhile, at the same time, at Apartment 804 of No. 110 Courtyard, the "righteous and brimming with indignation" female police officer who wanted to have Xiang Xiaoman's injuries checked walked out with a strange expression.

Xiang Xiaoman's body was very clean. There were no injuries.

T/N:

[1] "Views" here is literally "three views," 三观. These three views refer to "view of life," "view of the world" and "view of value." Altogether, this term can be understood to refer to a person's values system and mindset.