The matter of Yan Hao being taken away by the police while wearing a Spiderman costume created huge waves. After all, whether it was "Spiderman" or "police," both were worth getting worked up over. The intense and exciting Martial Arts Arranged Dating General Assembly was interrupted just like that.

"I was the one who brought him here. It's all because you people insisted that everyone has to sit in different groups. When I turned my head, I couldn't find where he had gone off too. This child gets scared whenever he's at a place he's not familiar with and doesn't even dare to go to the toilet!" The boss of the laundry shop had the surname Jiang, full name Jiang Xiangyang. He lived at No. 110 Courtyard. Other than running the laundry shop, he was also the leader of the tai chi^[1] squad of the Senior Citizens Morning Exercise Army. "Sect Leader Yang, he is the descendant of Old Senior Yan. There isn't anyone left in his family, that's why they came to Yanning to seek my help. He's a well-behaved and guileless child, how can the police take him away? What on earth is the misunderstanding here?"

Old Master Yang didn't know what "Spiderman" was and had only seen Yan Hao from far. Even though he was confused why this young man would want to dress up like a sneaky dragon fruit, he had been good neighbours with Boss Jiang for many decades, so he was still willing to believe his brother's words. "Don't panic, Xiao-Chuan is going with them."

Yu Lanchuan went off with Yu Yan and the others because after Spiderman Yan Hao was surrounded by the police, he became like a bird frightened by the twang of the bow string, ready to take flight at any second. This guy climbed high-rise buildings like walking on flat ground; if he escaped on the way, they would not be able to catch him, so they had to bring Yu Lanchuan along just in case.

"This kid is adamantly refusing to admit that he has stolen things before," Yu Yan said. "But we have checked, he came to Yanning at the beginning of this year. He eats and stays at the laundry shop, and usually hardly ever goes out. He doesn't have much money with him either. All his personal items are at the shop. My colleague just went over to see and didn't find anything suspicious either. Just an old laptop and some daily necessities, a few cans of cat food… If that's really the case, there is indeed no evidence to prove that he committed those high-rise burglaries."

"Canned cat food?" Yu Lanchuan asked curiously. "His taste is pretty heavy."

"Behave yourself." Yu Yan jabbed him with his elbow. "Maybe they're to feed stray cats, we don't know. It's not related to this case so we didn't ask in detail. If we ask any further, he's going to kill himself. Look at how he is, it really doesn't seem like he would have accomplices. I think that even for a territory fight, no one would be willing to be in a gang with him, much less for something risky like high-rise burglaries."

Yu Lanchuan asked, "Then, what about that night when 804 was broken into?"

Yu Yan said, "He said that he climbed the window that day just to give you the letter of challenge. He didn't go to 804."

Yu Lanchuan said, "Why on earth must he give me a letter of challenge? My good looks are my own business, I'm not stopping him from being ugly. Even if he defeats me, there is no stage-clearing reward."

"I don't know. He said it was his mum that made him do it. His mum's dying wish was for him to surpass his peers and become the new generation's… head of something supreme?"

"Five Supremes."

"Ai, fine, your esteemed community doesn't have any damned thing to do the whole day but you guys sure have a lot of special terms. Five Supremes, so there are five of them. In the end, when this mummy's boy got here, he found out that other than himself, one person couldn't be found no matter what, one person would pant for breath just from running after the bus, and one person was a woman so he really didn't dare talk to her. So, after considering all of them, you're the only one left."

Yu Lanchuan, "..."

Yu Yan had a rather strange expression on his face. "That's right, he said that when he passed by the eighth floor that day, he saw the woman sobbing and making a huge fuss. The man was next to her, restraining her and trying to get her to calm down."

Yu Lanchuan frowned, "So who was the one who broke 804's window?"

"Our deduction is that the window should have been broken by Xiang Xiaoman," Yu Yan said. "My colleague is still there. Xiang Xiaoman's murder attempt was unsuccessful and is currently being restrained. Nie Ke is now admitting that he was indeed urged by the neighbours around him and had no choice but to make a false police report. Based on what Nie Ke said, Xiang Xiaoman was not in a good state during that period of time. That's why he sent their child away just a few days ago. That night, her illness suddenly flared up and she sobbed and made a fuss at home, and even threw things to vent her emotions. Nie Ke tried to hug her from the back to stop her from moving. Xiang Xiaoman grabbed a wooden chair and swung it backwards to hit him. She didn't hit Nie Ke, but broke the window. The injuries on her face and head also happened when she fought and struggled when Nie Ke restrained her."

There didn't seem to be any major problems with this explanation. Nie Ke wasn't a very burly man, it wouldn't be easy for him to restrain a grown woman who was acting wildly. For there to be falls and bumps during the process could be considered normal.

Yu Lanchuan thought of something and asked, "Then, who called the police today?"

"Right, that's also a question," Yu Yan said. "I have a colleague who has always been suspecting Nie Ke of domestic violence. She left her personal number with Xiang Xiaoman. The call today was made to her personal number. The other person's voice was a female voice, very soft and also came from very far away, so we initially thought it was Xiang Xiaoman herself. But Xiang Xiaoman didn't admit it. It makes sense too, since she had already contacted her accomplices and made the decision to kill Nie Ke, of course she wouldn't call the police herself. We've also checked the number the call was from, it's a single-use burner number."

Which was to say, someone knew what was happening at 804.

"The most troublesome thing now is that out of the two people who appeared inexplicably at Nie Ke's home, one escaped and couldn't be caught while the one we caught fell down from the eighth floor and is still in the hospital now." Yu Yan passed the phone to Yu Lanchuan. The entire sequence of events when the two people were hanging outside the window had been caught on the police's body cameras. "Xiang Xiaoman's drug was given by them. We are now suspecting that this is an organisation of substantial scale that instigates crimes. There's enough now to hand the case over to the detectives. I say, Master Lan, previously when I consulted you on the question of jumping over walls, you said that ordinary people can jump over walls with just a bit of training. Then, what level is this freehand wall climbing? Don't tell me that this type of sports is also included in the national 'Sports For All' program!"

Yu Lanchuan didn't say anything. The video was a little shaky. It started from the moment one of the two people fell down and the other person sprang up to clamber up the clothes drying rack. He rewatched this part of the video three times.

The one who fell down was nothing much. His skill was not good enough and he hadn't gotten a firm hold. But the other person's movement was very inexplicable — he had one very risky move where he swiftly leaped upwards, followed by a series of dodges and evasions like he was surrounded by perils. When he was hanging beneath the clothes rack, he had also looked up at something...

What was he looking at?

Yu Lanchuan suddenly stood up.

"What's the matter?" Yu Yan asked curiously. "Did your boss use a summoning talisman again?"

Yu Lanchuan ignored him. He rushed out of the police station and hailed a cab.

That person made those dodges and evasions because someone was throwing things down from the upper floor. There was also a possibility that the accomplice didn't fall down on his own. On this day when even Yang Yifan had reluctantly attended the "arranged dating general assembly" and everyone in the building who could have done this was not at home, other than...

The man was in a sorry state, panting harshly. He tore off his coat and face mask. On the inside, he wore a light sweater of a preppy style. He quickly ran his fingers through his hair, fumbled out a pair of glasses which he perched on his nose, and also made a small change to the way he walked. Immediately, his entire demeanour changed; he seemed like a feeble yet proud intellectual.

Right after that, he walked out of a small alley as though nothing had happened. He saw a bookstore at the corner of the street. Two primary school students were squatting by the small rack at the bookstore's entrance, choosing comics. The man narrowed his eyes a little and strode over. Without any warning, he grabbed the comic from the little girl's hands and asked sternly, "Are you students from No. 1 Primary School? Who taught you to read this kind of unhealthy extracurricular book? Which class are you from, who's your class teacher?"

His tone was stern and fierce. The two little children had probably just started school not long ago and were immediately frightened. They thought that he was really one of their school teachers that they did not recognise and stood frozen on the spot like two dead quails.

Right then, the police ran past in pursuit. Their eyes swept past the man standing with the children at the roadside, and didn't stop.

The man glanced at the police running further away out of the corner of his eye and smiled a barely discernible smile. Then, unexpectedly, he did not leave but instead, came up with a long lecture off the top of his head and scolded and scared the two unlucky children into crying. Only then did he brush off the dust on his pants, stood up, and swaggered away.

He was evidently a bad person who could not be saved anymore.

He avoided the police who were pursuing him. From far, he looked back and stared at the No. 110 Courtyard in the shaded lane. He spat on the ground. Just you wait.

Right then, a voice suddenly spoke from behind him. "The fine for spitting in public is fifty yuan. Teacher, as a role model for others, how could you be so uncivilised?"

The man had not noticed at all that someone was approaching him. Startled, he turned around abruptly but before he could see clearly who was behind him, the back of his knees took a heavy blow. His balance suddenly lost, he instinctively covered his head and landed on his shoulder, rolling on the ground. When he looked up, the space behind him was empty.

His eyes widened. Right at that moment, that voice again spoke from behind him. It sounded like someone was keeping their voice very low, delivering each word into his ears one by one. "Do you know what the real 'Paoding Jieniu' is? Are you even worthy of speaking those words?"

The man let out a roar. He jabbed his elbow to the back but met empty air. Right after that, a pair of hands pressed down on his shoulders, using the force of his jab to twist lightly. With a snap, half the man's body went numb. He even had a misperception that he had exerted too much force and dislocated his shoulder. The most outrageous thing was that the person actually used a plastic bag that had been used to carry deep-fried dough cakes to stifle his anguished scream in his mouth. The grease was all over his face!

Immediately after that, a cold light flashed in that person's hand. There was a chill on the man's neck.

I'm dead!

In that second, he seemed to hear the sound of his flesh being cut open.

Before he lost consciousness, he heard the person say with a hint of a laugh, "The dotted line was not drawn clearly. Is this where I should cut?"

Yu Lanchuan leaped out of the cab. The elevator was too busy right now; he pressed the button a couple of times, then directly turned to run up the stairs to the tenth floor and started hammering on the 1003's door.

No one answered.

"Ge?" Liu Zhongqi was on vacation at home and heard the noise. He poked his head out, a shrimp dumpling half-stuffed in his mouth. "You're back, have you eaten? I just ordered delivery…"

Yu Lanchuan pushed him into the apartment. "Give me your phone!"

Baffled, Liu Zhongqi fumbled out his phone and handed it over.

Yu Lanchuan asked, "Do you have Gan Qing's number? Which one?"

Liu Zhongqi, who frequently went to Star Dreams to be deceived voluntarily, said, "...Big Swindler."

Yu Lanchuan found Gan Qing's number and immediately dialled it. Before it rang even once, the other side rejected the call.

If the one who called the police was Gan Qing, then there was a high chance that she had been keeping tabs on what was going on with that organisation that instigated murders. Otherwise, if she waited for Xiang Xiaoman to make a move before calling the police, by the time the police arrived everything would be too late.

It looked like she had learned her lesson from being found by Yu Yan the last time she called the police and knew to use a burner sim now.

How long had she been tracking this organisation?

Since she had called the police and had taken action to help them take down one person, why didn't she clearly point out the location of their nest to the police?

Where was she now, what was she planning?

Yu Lanchuan had a bizarre hunch. Gan Qing appeared to be someone who acted strictly according to convention and didn't bother with things that were none of her business but he kept feeling that… in her bones, this person was not a good citizen who followed norms and obeyed laws.

He opened up WeChat and sent three messages in a row to Gan Qing.

Where are you? What are you doing?

This is now a lawful society, don't cross the line!

I know you're seeing this, reply!

Liu Zhongqi swallowed the shrimp dumpling. "Ge, are you looking for her for something urgent?"

Yu Lanchuan ignored him. Gripping the phone, he pondered over how he could locate her.

"I feel that even though she's a big swindler, she seems quite… quite amazing." The first time they met, she had said that he had a sibling that he couldn't get along with. Until now, Liu Zhongqi still couldn't understand how she had known. "The last time, she looked at my English paper and said that I made fourteen mistakes in the fill-in-the-blanks exercise. I didn't believe her. Our teacher finished marking and returned the paper to us on Friday, I really got fourteen of them wrong! Ge, is fortune-telling really accurate?"

Yu Lanchuan, who scored 119 in TOEFL, had his train of thought cut off. Speechless, he glanced at Liu Zhongqi and suspected that his stepfather's genes had a virus.

Following that, he thought of something. "When was that?"

He hadn't seen Gan Qing for a while. Recently, this person seemed to be wandering outside every day.

"Last Monday." Liu Zhongqi said, "After the sports event on that day, I bumped into her at the entrance of Snow House. She even tricked me into treating her… Hey, ge…"

Yu Lanchuan turned and left immediately.

Liu Zhongqi said, "...My phone… Ai, forget it."

The desserts shop Snow House was located in a mess of winding and tangled little alleys. There was a former residence of a famous personage nearby and it could be considered a tourist spot. Quite a number of non-locals came to seek out this shop that was popular on the internet and also dropped by the tourist spot on the way. The people were many and various, and there were also a few guest houses and room rentals of dubious legality in the alleys. It was a place suitable for concealing wicked deeds.

Someone who spent the whole day tricking meals from a child probably wouldn't have spare money to visit an internet-popular shop. So why had she gone there?

What did she find out near that place?

As he hurried there, Yu Lanchuan notified Yu Yan.

Liu Zhongqi's phone was silent. Gan Qing hadn't replied.

At this hour, Snow House—the place where the drugs had changed hands between Xiang Xiaoman and the middle-aged woman—had just opened for business. There was already a line of customers. Behind it was an alley that was slanted at an angle, very well hidden. At a glance, it seemed to be a blind alley. One had to walk in to see that at the very end, there was a narrow lane wide enough for just one person to walk. Squeeze in, and it was another street. There was a hole-in-the-wall dingy little restaurant there and also a few small courtyards with guest houses scattered around, all totting unremarkable shop signboards.

The middle-aged woman hurried into a courtyard. She knocked on her companion's door. The person inside had just poked their head out when she pushed them in again and entered, closing the door behind her. "Are they back yet?"

This guestroom was a suite. There was a small hall and two bedrooms. One man and two women were inside.

The man shook his head and asked, "Why?"

The middle-aged woman paced in anxious circles. "Shifu had stressed that No. 110 Courtyard cannot be touched. It cannot be touched. You guys didn't listen and now we're in trouble!"

"That Xiang Xiaoman's circumstances were so suitable and she also has money. It's a pity to let it go." After saying that, the man continued asking, "What happened? Did they fail?"

"I don't know," the middle-aged woman said. "That place is full of police cars, I didn't dare take a second look. Quick, pack up, get ready to leave this place."

The other two women in the suite hastily separated to pack their things. Suddenly, one of them exclaimed in surprise. "Shijie, the 'Chun' tablet is gone!"

"How could you be so careless with our founder's memorial tablet!"

"It was right on the altar… Hey, who opened the window?"

Outside the guest house's tiny window, there was a soft snap. Leaning upright against the wall, Gan Qing snapped the wooden tablet into two pieces.

T/N:

[1] Tai chi 太极拳 - a form of martial arts that is still commonly practised nowadays for health benefits.