Chapter 17

Chapter 17 Chapter 17 Fear doesn’t need a reason.

After gulping down two strong cups of coffee in a row, Wang Lai suspected that both his eyes and ears were malfunctioning.

Two minutes ago, a colleague had knocked on the door of the serious crime unit office and said that someone could provide important leads in the Xiang Yun case, and—afraid of being implicated—was requesting police protection.

And then when he looked closely—good heavens—it was Jian Qing, Jian the CEO, a ferocious existence who could beat criminals until they cried out in pain with two punches. Looking across the entire municipal bureau, under the condition of being unarmed, how many people could confidently say they would win against him?

Afraid?

Who exactly was afraid of whom?

The last person who had dared to tug the tiger’s whiskers, Chen Yang, had only been discharged from the hospital two days ago, with multiple fractures on his back. When his clothes were lifted, they were covered in bruises from hitting cobblestones.

The outline was so distinct it looked as if it had been stamped on.

However, the young man’s attitude was extremely serious, and he had reached the same conclusion as He Huoli. With both perspectives combined, they still had to invite him in for a detailed discussion.

“You think the killer is Chen Yang’s accomplice,” Yan Qiuyu asked straight to the point. “Why?”

Sitting alone across from everyone, Jian Qing allowed all kinds of gazes to fall on him and answered honestly:

“The bushes.”

“This morning, I accidentally saw a photo of the Ping’an Road scene online. Although the body was mosaicked, it could still be seen that the victim likely fell directly into the bushes after being attacked.”

“At the time, I already felt something was strange. After going to work, I thought about it for a long time before remembering that when Chen Yang attacked me, he also tried his best to force me toward the bamboo forest area.”

“However, he didn’t succeed.”

“No matter how lively the banquet is, there will always be people who leave early for various reasons. There is only one small path from Lanjing Yayuan to the parking lot, but the bamboo grove is secluded enough. It is a very normal choice. Just this alone is hard to prove anything,” Yan Qiuyu countered with clear logic, arms crossed. “What else?”

Once it involved a case, she seemed like a completely different person—no longer warm, but suddenly authoritative. No matter what their private relationship was like, everything had to be examined rationally and objectively.

Very familiar with her working style, Jian Qing calmly met her gaze. “Disfigurement,” he said, then pointed to his own face. “And the victim’s appearance.”

Highly distinctive personal traits.

Song Xiaotong couldn’t help herself and secretly glanced at He Linfeng several times—the reason was simple: the two of them had made nearly identical deductions within ten minutes of each other.

Even the order of explanation was almost the same.

Yan Qiuyu didn’t show it on her face, but internally she was also slightly surprised.

At that moment, He Linfeng walked away from the water dispenser and casually interjected in a drawn-out tone, “Congratulations, it seems this office still has a kindred spirit who understands me.”

Then he shoved a round object over: “Right? Mr. Jian.”

“Drink water.”

Jian Qing lowered his head.

It was a cat-shaped thermos cup, entirely black, wrapped in a fluffy “coat,” chubby and stubby. Standing upright, it was still slightly shorter than an adult male’s hand.

A gift completely beyond the bounds of “normal.”

This made him feel a rare moment of awkwardness. He considered tossing it back but then remembered he was in the police station, so he could only stiffly freeze in place, as if holding a ticking bomb in his arms.

Song Xiaotong really couldn’t hold it in anymore. She quickly turned away and silently screamed, her mouth curling upward uncontrollably:

So cute, so cute!

Just as cute as Mimi, the black cat lying in the cage basking in the sun!

“…In summary, I think I need protection,” Jian Qing struggled to pull his interrupted thoughts back on track. “After all, I am Chen Yang’s first target.”

From the moment he entered the room, Yan Qiuyu’s expression finally softened:

“I will consider it.”

Jian Qing’s heart gradually settled.

Having dealt with homicide cases since childhood, he understood Yan Qiuyu, understood Bureau Chief Zhao, understood most people in this building—and even better understood how, in their eyes, he was like a “child they had watched grow up.”

Although somewhat despicable, Jian Qing understood that he had to use the “special treatment” he had earned through repeated brushes with death to forcefully participate in this investigation.

“Alright, I’ll go interrogate Chen Yang first,” Yan Qiuyu clapped her hands and stood up. “Wang Lai, follow me. If he really does have an accomplice, we can close the case faster.”

“Normal investigative procedures should also continue in parallel. The remaining personnel will handle that.”

“As for Jian Qing… if you’re fine, just stay a bit longer. I’ll tell you the results later.”

After the team leader gave the order, Wang Lai immediately grabbed his jacket and left. Within a few minutes, Song Xiaotong and Zhou Shan also departed one after another. In an instant, only Jian Qing and He Linfeng remained in the office.

Along with a black cat dozing with narrowed eyes.

Casually finding a paper cup and pouring warm water into it, He Linfeng opened the cage and placed it in the corner: “Clean.”

Perhaps because of his low, pleasant voice, even the most ordinary tone coming from this man sounded like a gentle coaxing.

—Or more accurately, a seduction.

With all four paws on the ground, the black cat stretched lazily. As if enchanted, despite having ignored all attempts to please it since arriving at the serious crime unit, it now walked over elegantly on its own initiative and rubbed its ears and head against the man’s suspended palm.

Accompanied by a short, cool meow of affection:

“Meow.”

Jian Qing seriously suspected He Linfeng had used catnip.

“Personal charm, really,” He Linfeng tilted his head and smiled. “Want to pet it?”

Jian Qing had always kept a respectful distance from such fluffy creatures.

He didn’t have OCD, but he disliked trouble.

Maintaining distance was the most efficient approach.

Even the cats and dogs at Linggang Psychological Clinic had once been extremely enthusiastic toward him, only to ultimately be defeated by his years of consistent indifference.

“B…” Before the word of refusal could be fully spoken, Jian Qing suddenly noticed a faint dark-red stain on the cat’s front paw. The morning nightmare resurfaced. He paused, set down his water cup, stood up, and took out a separately packaged wet wipe from his pocket, handing it to He Linfeng.

He Linfeng blinked: “Hm?”

Perhaps because of the angle, Jian Qing was looking down at him, and for a moment felt that this man didn’t look like a fox at all—but rather like a slightly foolish big dog.

So he maintained a very cautious safe distance: “Its paw. Wipe it.”

But He Linfeng didn’t take it.

Instead, he gently lifted the black cat’s front leg and shook it back and forth, motioning for him to come closer.

Jian Qing: …

Just as he was about to turn away, the man was one step faster—snatching the wet wipe from between his fingers, precisely at the half-second before his patience ran out.

From a fair-minded perspective, even after confirming that the other person was not a transmigrator, Jian Qing still felt that He Linfeng was dangerous enough. Whether it was experience or intuition, the man seemed highly skilled at reading emotions and lies, always managing to withdraw his foot from that dangerously probing edge just before he truly became disliked.

Before actually stepping into the serious crime unit office, Jian Qing hadn’t expected things to go so smoothly. In his prediction, once Captain Yan relented, He Linfeng should have raised objections, asked sharper, harder-to-defend questions, peeling everything apart layer by layer in doubt—he had even prepared seven or eight countermeasures for that.

But He Linfeng didn’t.

Trying to figure out what the man was up to, Jian Qing stared at Mimi the black cat’s swaying, comfortable tail and said casually, “You don’t have anything you want to ask?” He had clearly seen Wang Lai’s surprise when he learned the reason for his visit.

“Ask what?” He Linfeng carefully wiped away the dirt on Mimi’s fur hidden under its coat color and turned his head back. “Fear doesn’t need a reason.”

“Everyone is allowed to be afraid.”

“Whether strong or weak.”

Even if Chen Yang’s arrest had looked somewhat ridiculous, it could not erase the fact that he had attempted murder. It was precisely because the victim was Jian Qing that the atmosphere of terror had been diluted.

However, He Linfeng did not like that dilution.

It was as if Jian Qing had been born to encounter all kinds of strange and violent cases, born to be a key figure assisting the police in uncovering the truth—after all, he was strong enough and smart enough. Because of that, he could repeatedly be asked about painful details that ordinary people could not bear, then turn those into clues, and even grow accustomed to it.

Of course, this was not the fault of the serious crime unit.

The sooner a murderer is caught, the more stable society becomes.

He Linfeng was just a little distressed.

If at first he had merely been attracted by the other person’s appearance, identity, and temperament, then at this moment, it felt as though he had fallen into a swamp called Jian Qing: dark and filled with shards of ice, yet he could not control himself as he sank deeper and deeper toward its very center.

“For the sake of the thermos cup,” He Linfeng said half-jokingly, half-seriously, “how about I protect you?”

Avoiding danger is animal instinct.

Humans are no exception.

He Linfeng knew he shouldn’t say more at this point—stopping at the right moment was the safest approach when dealing with Jian Qing.

But perhaps he simply wanted to hear a rejection. After being rejected, he could justifiably stop in place, create distance, retreat further and further, and return to being that familiar yet distant “colleague” in the serious crime unit.

Yet, two seconds later, as if deliberately teasing him, the young man’s response was something he never expected:

“Mm.”

He Linfeng froze.

“I said mm.” Thinking he hadn’t heard, the young man raised his voice slightly and repeated it. His expression looked impatient, but there was a fleeting avoidance in his eyes.

The man’s upturned eyes curved again, returning to his usual charming, flirtatious demeanor.

Jian Qing suddenly felt a trace of regret.

His goal in participating in the case was to use the transmigrator’s hints from the original plot and subtly prevent tragedies from happening. He needed someone smart enough to understand his implications, and also someone willing to break from convention and believe his occasionally “wild” reasoning.

By all measures, He Linfeng was the best choice.

But the other party had clearly misunderstood something.

He disliked being liked, and even more disliked using someone else’s affection. He felt, for some reason, that something had slipped out of his control. Jian Qing tried to withdraw: “That’s—”

“Too late,” He Linfeng said as he pinched the black cat’s soft pink paw pads one last time, tossed away the wet wipe, and closed the cage. “You invited me to protect you. I’ve got a witness.”

“Right, Mimi?”

Jian Qing: ……

What invitation? He was clearly just going along with the flow.

The most absurd part was that the black cat, which looked quite shrewd, actually nodded very seriously after the man finished his nonsense.

Turning around, He Linfeng picked up the phone from the desk and unlocked it, then naturally handed it over.

Jian Qing: ?

“WeChat,” he tilted the screen to show the QR code and lifted his chin. “Add me.”

“One friend slot in exchange for a bodyguard.”

“That’s not too much, right?”