trial

When Ying Yungui pushed open the door of Treatment Room No. 27, the rain outside had stopped for a long time, and the people in the room had been thinking alone for a long time.

After the rain stopped, the house was too quiet. Shi Youchen heard the footsteps approaching outside the door, but he was scared, even more than when he was alone with 07.

He was afraid the visitor might be from the association's censorship department, and he was afraid he wouldn't be able to handle it. Of course, if it were before the bridge attack, he would have been able to accept all the scrutiny and criticism, since he was the one who broke the rules first.

But Ah Xian's appearance reminded him of many unfinished things. Those scattered fragments were poured in front of him all at once, and there was a clear sign written on the ground: "Only when you piece them together can you know the truth."

And the truth is exactly what has always been out of his reach.

He would not be willing to end it here.

He was even more afraid if the person who came was Lin Zhouze, Yan Zhiyuan, or even Ying Yungui. He clearly wasn't prepared to explain himself. He could choose to conceal the truth, but he didn't want to deliberately lie. If they asked why he wanted to return to City Z at that moment, would he have to answer truthfully, "Because once the investigation begins, my betrayal can no longer be hidden."

07's voice was still ringing in his ears. His fate after being exposed wasn't a big deal, but Yan Zhiyuan shouldn't risk his future and his life for it. He didn't know what the effect of the thing planted on him by the dense forest lake would be, and Shi Youchen didn't dare gamble on 07's character.

As for Ying Yungui, the situation was even more complicated. 07 specifically requested the pendant from him, but there was no detailed description of it. The last thing 07 had taken was Mo Lian's Nanhong bracelet. Could this pendant also be a status symbol of the Ying family? Furthermore, was he the only one who had recovered memories of the Mo family? Did Ying Yungui know about Lu Ming's actions? How was he supposed to explain all this?

What people dare not even think about is whether this memory is real.

If this was just a trap set by 07, a lie 07 used to exploit him...

Shi Youchen's newly recovered body could not bear such deep thoughts and concerns. His head began to ache slightly, and the door of the treatment room was opened at this time.

Ying Yungui didn't expect the person to be awake. He stood there for a few seconds, holding the armrest, then gently closed the door. "Are you awake? Are you feeling unwell?" He pulled a chair over to the bed, sat down facing the window, and asked, "Do you remember what happened?"

This was the doctor's order, asking him to confirm the patient's memory as soon as he woke up. But Ying Yungui hadn't expected that Shi Youchen, who was already unable to face him calmly, would not even look up at him after hearing the key words like memory.

"Yeah." Shi Youchen shaded his eyes with one hand, his head lowered. "I... was attacked in City Z. The attacker was..." Ah Xian's image permeated his memory of that snowy night. The investigation into Lu Shen had nearly stalled when he deliberately released new information. And Ying Yungui had always stood by his side in the investigation of Lu Shen.

He has a right to know.

"The attacker was a bar owner named Ah Xian whom I met while investigating Lu Shen in City A. I don't know his motives, but he's probably a person with special abilities." Shi Youchen recalled the moment of mental confusion and double vision he experienced when his palm was stabbed in the car. "Maybe it was another 'mental invasion'."

Ying Yungui suddenly reached out and lifted the quilt that had fallen on Shi Youchen's thigh, covering the back of his hand, which was cold from the IV drip. "Yes, I caught him. He's been in the interrogation room for five days."

"Five days?" Shi Youchen just realized something, "Today is!" He suddenly raised his hand to check the time, but forgot that the hand wearing the bracelet was receiving an IV, so the IV tube that was pulled off left a light blue mark on the quilt.

Ying Yungui's warm hand folded over his, grasping his wrist and holding it firmly. Then, he connected the IV line and said, "Calm down, Shi Youchen." His tone was firm, just like the one he had used outside the remote bathroom of the JU Bar during their first joint mission. "The association's review has passed. Now you just need to rest well."

Shi Youchen shook his head. "Ying Yungui, you should be out on a mission. Why did you return to District 8? Why did you capture the people who attacked me, and why did you save me?" He finally looked up at the person he was afraid to face and asked the question he didn't dare ask, "The driver who fell into the river with me."

Seeing Ying Yungui's increasingly cold features, his usually flamboyant purple eyes now darkened with confusion, anger, helplessness, and heartache, Shi Youchen guessed the answer. "Have you brought the body back?" He seemed to be asking, but also to be muttering to himself. "Of course they have. After all, they're victims of a supernatural event. The Association won't just ignore them, right?"

"Shi Youchen." Ying Yungui called out, but couldn't stop Shi Youchen from talking, "Can I go see him? After all..."

"Time has dust!"

The voice suddenly became louder and spread throughout the house. It was the first time that Ying Yungui called out someone's name in such a trembling voice.

"After all, I was the one who killed him!" Shi Youchen shouted even louder, drowning out the shouts. He asked doubtfully, "Isn't it possible for me to go and see the person I killed?"

Ying Yungui turned his head and forced himself not to look at the pale face. He took a deep breath and said, "It was Old Yan who saved you this time. I arrived later. When he found you, the driver had no vital signs, and the body was not brought back to the association."

"Also, you didn't kill him. The person who killed him is in the interrogation room."

After saying this, Ying Yungui tried to shake Shi Youchen's hand, but was repelled. He then saw the quilt instantly wrinkle. Shi Youchen said, "No, I've already healed his back wound. I'm still alive, how could he die?" The damp cloth beneath his palm seemed to pull him back into the icy river, back to the time when he had unloaded the driver's heavy clothes and discovered his back was covered in broken glass.

"You are a superpower, he is an ordinary person, you are different."

Shi Youchen was really confused: "What's the difference? I don't want the identity of a superpower, I just want to be an ordinary person, Ying Yungui, I..." He couldn't finish his words.

Because Ying Yungui blocked his words with her hot and trembling lips.

A few seconds later, a familiar hug arrived, and the warm breath of Ying Yungui's whisper reached Shi Youchen's ears: "Shi Youchen, you always remember so many people, but why don't you remember my promise, our agreement?"

Shi Youchen was completely dazed. Even though he allowed Ying Yungui to express his feelings without reservation, he also allowed himself to become more and more accustomed to his love and companionship, which eventually led to a surge of longing and concerns.

Even so, he never thought about a kiss between them.

This was Shi Youchen’s first kiss.

He felt the heart beating in that chest, its beats strong and clear. "Ying Yungui." Shi Youchen reached around the broad back and gently touched the silver earring. "Give me one of your jewelry, an earring, a pendant, or something."

Ying Yungui paused for a moment, he loosened his arms and asked in a low voice: "What do you want? Tell me, and I'll give it to you."

"Pendant, do you have one?"

"...I, picked up one." All his jewelry were energy limiters that could not be taken off easily, and there were indeed no pendants among them.

"Then I'll take that one."

"..." Ying Yungui remained silent. He gently lifted Shi Youchen's lowered face with his palms, looked into those ink-black pupils as if they were a unique treasure in the world, and said softly, "I promised, and you agreed. If there is anything, you have to tell me. I'm always here." Then he took out the black pendant that 08 had left on the bridge from his pocket, opened Shi Youchen's palm, and put it on it.

"Rest well. I'll go see Lao Yan. I'll pick you up when you're well." Ying Yungui walked out the door and stood in the hallway for a moment. He knew the pendant might be something special, and he knew Shi Youchen's sudden request wasn't a response to his confession. But he didn't know what had happened to Shi Youchen while he was on the Alpha team's missions.

What happened that made him hide it from me?

After all, he wouldn't be away that long. Thinking this, Ying Yungui didn't go to Treatment Room 3, where Yan Zhiyuan was, because the intensive care unit didn't allow anyone to enter until the injured person regained consciousness. As usual, he met with Lin Zhouze first. In the cluttered office, where documents were scattered across the floor, they discussed the information they had pried from 08, then went to the interrogation room to begin another day of assisting in the interrogation.

The darkest and largest interrogation room was a spacious, empty room. Its six walls were bluish-black, with faint streaks of light occasionally flickering across them. Aside from a vertical trough in the middle, just big enough for one person, there were no other instruments or props within sight.

08 had been floating in this place for five days. Every two hours, the tank would drain, then refill after another hour. When the tank was filled with blue liquid, only his head was left hanging in the air, and the cycle repeated. His skin wrinkled and smoothed, but there was no obvious damage to his organs.

Ying Yungui entered the interrogation room and looked at the person he had captured with his own hands through a one-way visible wall.

No one knew how strong his willpower was to restrain his murderous intent when he saw Shi Youchen unconscious on the river bank. He rushed back to the battlefield on the bridge after sending Shi Youchen to the medical department of the Z City Branch Association in a race against time. He wanted to kill 08 who had lost the ability to resist several times, but he suppressed his impulse out of consideration for the seriously injured Yan Zhiyuan and the precious information of the Maintenance Bureau.

If it were in the past, this person would have been left with nothing alive in his hands.

Ying Yungui stared closely at the head that was completely wrapped in cloth, with only the nostrils showing for breathing, and asked the person standing next to him: "How is the progress?" He asked casually, but the listeners felt a chill coming straight at them, as if he was asking about the progress of an autopsy on a corpse.

"His brain is reaching its limit. I estimate that even with further time, we can only dig out what we already know." The interrogator scratched the back of his head. "Let's just leave it at that. I don't think he can hold on much longer. We need to get the results as soon as possible so we can report to the higher-ups."

Ying Yungui coughed lightly and said, "I captured him. I'll hand over the results I've obtained. His supervision will be mine." Without waiting for the interrogator to object, he continued, "If anything goes wrong, the Ying family will be held responsible."

"..." The interrogator muttered inwardly, grumbling that the young master was abusing his family's status to gain power, perhaps seeking revenge. But he remained silent, saying, "Alright, then you can submit this application to the Minister for approval, and you can choose a time to transfer the person."

There was still no sound from 08 inside. Not even a breathing sound could be heard in the empty room. Only he himself knew what kind of torture that was.

He could fully feel the process of all his senses being stripped from his body, from a third-person perspective.

"Speaking of which, your interrogation system is quite perverted. Who designed it?" Ying Yungui surveyed every corner of the room, his tone tinged with hidden excitement. The interrogator broke out in a cold sweat: "Please stop torturing me. How dare I gossip about that person behind his back?"

Ying Yungui turned to look at him and smiled: "Oh, that person, I see, I'll ask her for advice later."