Dark Light Chaser.

Chapter 20 Dinner for Three

"Then you can help wash the vegetables."

Ai Liang took out green peppers, tomatoes, potatoes, eggs and other ingredients from the refrigerator and put them in the basket.

Yang Xingyue hummed in agreement and stood aside to wash the vegetables. The occasional snickers coming from the doorway kept her face flushed.

'This is just like a newlywed couple.'

This thought grew wildly and rampantly in Yang Xingyue's heart like weeds.

"Stars and Moon".

'Hehehe, you two.'

Yang Xingyue let out a silly, dazed laugh.

"Stars and Moon".

"What's wrong? Old Ai Liang!"

Yang Xingyue, who almost blurted out the fantasy in her mind, shouted to cover up what she had just said.

"The water is about to overflow."

Ai Liang pointed indifferently to the steel basin in the pool.

"Huh? Oh dear!"

Yang Xingyue hurriedly lifted the steel basin, splashing water everywhere.

"Sorry! Well, I'll go chop the vegetables!"

Yang Xingyue quickly scooped a green pepper out of the water and placed it directly on the cutting board. With a few swift strokes of her knife, she scattered the green pepper pieces everywhere.

"You can go out now, I can do it myself."

Putting someone who has never cooked before into the kitchen was a mistake; she can do nothing but cause trouble.

Yang Xingyue felt her face burning as she was dragged out.

Watching the kitchen door slam shut with a bang, Yang Xingyue felt a strong sense of frustration.

"Hmm, good material."

Yue Qihua watched the video on her phone and sighed with emotion, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Huahua, delete it right now!"

Yang Xingyue lunged at Yue Qihua, but Yue Qihua dodged her with a quick movement.

"That won't do, I want to keep it as a souvenir."

Yue Qihua smiled sweetly and then backed up the video to a folder named "The Growth History of Xingyue".

This folder contains all of Yang Xingyue's embarrassing moments from childhood to adulthood.

Ugh, this is so embarrassing!

Knowing she was no match for her opponent in martial arts, Yang Xingyue squatted down and covered her face with her hands.

Yue Qihua smiled mischievously and secretly recorded this scene.

Ignoring the young girls wrestling outside, Ai Liang focused on washing rice and cooking in the kitchen, shielding herself from the noise.

Half an hour later, the two, tired from playing, lay on the sofa and scrolled through short videos.

"dinner time."

Wearing an apron, Ai Liang opened the kitchen door and came out, her face still bearing that indifferent expression.

Yang Xingyue glanced at the table first, then sniffed: "It smells so good."

"Just a few simple home-style dishes."

After washing her hands, Ai Liang wiped the water droplets off with the hanging towel.

Stir-fried green peppers and shredded pork, stir-fried shredded potatoes with sour sauce, stir-fried lettuce, plus a bowl of tomato and egg soup—a standard three dishes and one soup.

"Oh, you don't mind if I take a picture?"

Yue Qihua ran to the dining table with her phone and asked.

"casual."

Ai Liang picked up a bowl and chopsticks and went to the kitchen to serve rice.

"Then I won't stand on ceremony. I'll make a good record of the first meal I cook for Xingyue."

Yue Qihua started snapping photos of the dining table. Unlike others who carefully adjusted the angles, she liked to take a bunch of photos at once and then choose the best ones.

"Don't make it sound like this was made especially for me! Aren't you going to eat it?"

Yang Xingyue, who had just returned from washing her hands, heard this and immediately pulled Yue Qihua to the bathroom. She didn't know why Yue Qihua seemed to enjoy teasing her today.

After dinner, Yang Xingyue and Yue Qihua took the initiative to clear the dishes.

After eating someone else's food, you can't take it for granted that you don't do anything just because you're full, especially since the guests cooked the meal. It would be unreasonable to ask the guests to wash the dishes.

"I'm going back now." Ai Liang called out to the kitchen after changing her shoes, clutching her notebook and novel.

"Ah, it's getting late, why don't we just stay here...mmmmm."

Yue Qihua could only make muffled sounds halfway through her sentence, and it was obvious that Yang Xingyue had covered her mouth.

After a slight commotion, Yang Xingyue came running out in her slippers and bowed slightly to Ai Liang: "Be careful on the road."

"Ah."

Ai Liang reached out and grasped the doorknob, closing the security door from the outside.

"Couldn't you take off your gloves before covering your face? You've made my face all oily," Yue Qihua complained as she picked up the face wash.

"Honestly, why do you always act like a little kid when it's just the three of us together?" Yang Xingyue said with a dissatisfied tone.

"Eh? Is there any?"

Yue Qihua, who was washing her face, suddenly stopped what she was doing.

"Of course, it happened when the three of us went to the bookstore together, and it happened on our way home from school."

Yang Xingyue continued, "It feels like he's become a different person. He's always joking around with me and Ai Liang. He's a completely different person from usual."

Yue Qihua looked up and saw a face covered in foam reflected in the mirror. She couldn't see her expression clearly, but her eyes looked somewhat vacant.

"Huahua?"

After talking for a while without getting a reply from Yue Qihua, Yang Xingyue walked over and waved her hand in front of her face. "Are you angry?"

"Huh? Oh, I was just thinking about a formula. What are you talking about?"

Yue Qihua, who had been lost in thought, finally snapped out of it and turned to look at Yang Xingyue.

Seeing that Yue Qihua's mood hadn't changed much, Yang Xingyue said in a complaining tone, "I'm saying why you always like to joke about me and Ai Liang."

"Well...you see, ever since we met Ai Liang, he's always had this cold and aloof look. Aren't you curious about his other expressions?"

Yue Qihua rinsed the foam off her face and said with a smile.

"Then don't always make fun of me. I get shy too, so why can't you just use yourself?"

As she continued, Yang Xingyue's voice gradually faded.

"I don't care, but I'm afraid someone will get jealous and make everything sour."

Yue Qihua dried herself with a damp towel and checked her face in the mirror to see if there was any foam residue.

"You introduced Ai Liang to us, why would I be jealous? At first, I thought you had a boyfriend! Ouch! What are you doing!"

Yang Xingyue pressed her hands to the top of her head and squatted down on the spot. The pain brought tears to her eyes.

That's someone you like.
Yue Qihua murmured softly, but it was impossible to hear what she was saying.

Yang Xingyue squatted on the ground and protested: "Don't hit my head. I suspect it's because you've liked to hit my head since I was little that I became stupid."

Yue Qihua sighed softly and patted Yang Xingyue's head to comfort her, saying, "Alright, hurry up and get up to wash the dishes."

It was completely dark when Ai Liang left the apartment.

Just after dinner time, many people appeared in the neighborhood to take a walk, walk their dogs, or bring their children.

Ai Liang, who didn't want to wait for the bus, called a Didi (ride-hailing service) and arrived home quickly.

The sound of the door opening echoed in the living room.

Even in the sweltering summer, the house was terribly cold and damp.

Ai Liang turned on the living room light, and the warm yellow light slightly dispelled the loneliness brought about by the quiet environment.

One moment she's at her classmate's lively house, the next she's back in a silent, haunted house. Every time Ai Liang returns home, she experiences a strong sense of disconnect from reality, as if she's not going home but to a deserted island.

As usual, Ai Liang returned to her room, put down her notes and novel, turned on the air conditioner, took off her clothes, and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Halfway there, a sudden evil thought welled up in my mind.

Various scenes uncontrollably surfaced in Ai Liang's mind.

Please, let me go.

The man being stuffed into an oil drum pleaded desperately with the man in the suit.

'Boss, this is what I just got.'

Looking at the unconscious person on the bed, the henchman revealed a fawning, lewd smile.

"You little brat, I'll beat you to death today!"

The vendor swung a wooden stick at the thief.

"Dad, I want fried chicken."

The father smiled and led his son into the fast food restaurant, but he was very impatient inside.

"Hello? Is this the urban management department? There are people illegally setting up stalls here."

The restaurant owner sneered as he looked at the thriving food cart not far away.

"Are you brainless?! I told you to bring more money! Bring more money!"

A group of people in school uniforms punched and kicked a classmate on the ground.

'Mommy! Mommy, sob sob!'

The ten-year-old child watched as his mother was put into the ambulance and cried out desperately.

As the scenes flashed by rapidly, Ai Liang's eyes became bloodshot, she clenched her teeth, and two lines of clear tears streamed down her face.

The image lasted for about two or three minutes before quickly fading from my mind.

After a long while, Ai Liang finally got up from the ground and resumed her cold and aloof demeanor.

"It's time to clean up the trash again."

Ai Liang leaned against the sink and looked at herself in the mirror. She wanted to smile, but her heavy heart prevented her from doing so.

"It's been almost five years since I last entered this body. I shouldn't have meddled in other people's business in the first place."

As he spoke, Ai Liang's face remained expressionless, terrifyingly calm, which he could only silently mock to himself.

As long as he continues to read minds, he will inevitably see the malice deep within people's hearts, and his body will record this malice and feed it back to the mental level.

Given an environment filled with malice every day, which is more likely: to remain untainted by the mud or to become part of it?
Ai Liang's mental capacity, even combined from two lifetimes, is still that of a teenager, yet she faces tons of malice every day.

He would have gone mad long ago if Ai Liang hadn't used his abilities to clean up these things every few years.

After taking a shower, Ai Liang returned to her room, locked the door, and lay down on the bed, unable to fall asleep for a long time. In the end, she forced herself to fall asleep.

Around 10 p.m., several police cars parked on the side of a park near a residential area, surrounding the park entrance and setting up a cordon.

Criminal investigation team captain Shi Feng and Gao Bin stood in front of a bench, examining the body.

They recognized the body; it was Wang Qiang. He had been making frequent trips to the criminal investigation team these past few days.

Wang Qiang had a gruesome wound on his neck, the dark brown blood had already congealed, and he was holding a small wooden box in his hand.

It was already late at night, and Gao Bin stood by, shining a flashlight to provide light for Shi Feng.

A group of criminal police officers, wearing white gloves and headlamps, carefully observed the entire park, searching for any clues left by the murderer.

Shi Feng, wearing white gloves, examined the body. Wang Qiang could not open his mouth, bend his neck, or move his limbs.

Rigor mortis had already begun, and given the absence of livor mortis and the lack of any stench, the time of death was likely between one and two hours.

They gently lifted Wang Qiang's head, a process that required some effort.

Shi Feng examined the wound on his neck. The blood had already congealed, and as he increased the force in his hand, the hideous wound gradually became visible.

Gao Bin's expression was not good. He frowned and said, "Both the arteries and veins were cut. Logically speaking, blood should have splattered. There is no blood on the bench or the ground. Isn't this the crime scene?"

Shi Feng shook his head and said, "No, this is the crime scene. The blood scabs on the body have no signs of breaking, and the shape of the bloodstains on the bench matches the body's sitting posture, indicating that the deceased has not been moved."

Gao Bin hesitated for a moment before saying, "If an artery is cut, blood will splatter everywhere, right?"

Shi Feng pointed to the deceased's neck: "This wound was caused after death; the real cause of death is this."

Gao Bin looked in the direction Shi Feng pointed and saw a strangulation mark there.

"The murderer strangled the person first and then cut the blood vessels. Once the heart stops beating, there will be no ejection of blood. Of course, the possibility of death by drugs cannot be ruled out."

Shi Feng patiently explained to Gao Bin.

"The purpose of doing this is probably to deliberately attract attention. If it were just strangulation, passersby would just think the deceased was asleep and wouldn't bother to interfere. But it's different when the deceased is covered in blood, sitting motionless on a bench."

"What was the killer's motive for doing this?"

Gao Bin was utterly baffled. Most murderers would go to great lengths to hide the body, but this man deliberately left it in a park. And to make matters worse, he even slashed his veins, worried people wouldn't notice. What was he thinking?
Shi Feng glared at Gao Bin: "Do you think I'm a god? That I can know everything with just one glance?"

Gao Bin was a little embarrassed, so he offered his speculation to ease the awkwardness: "Could it be that the murderer is provoking the police? After all, Nevada's security has only stabilized in recent years; there used to be fewer people like this..."

Shi Feng ignored him; such speculation was meaningless to discuss without sufficient evidence.

He carefully pried open Wang Qiang's hand, picked up the wooden box, and gently opened the lid.

There was only one folded supermarket flyer inside.

Shi Feng put the two items into the evidence bag, as they might have the murderer's fingerprints on them.

Gao Bin peered through the evidence bag at the wooden box inside: "Pandora? What does it mean to put supermarket flyers inside a magic box?"

The words on the wooden box caught his attention, but there were still too few clues, so he could only keep this question to himself for the time being.

"Team Leader Shi, we've found the deceased's car."

Wang Xun, who was leading the other criminal police officers to search the park, walked up to Shi Feng and said, "According to the car navigation record, the deceased was at a bar two hours ago."

Gao Bin said, "So, someone lured the deceased here and then killed him?"

"Have you notified the technical department to retrieve the surveillance footage?" Shi Feng asked Wang Xun.

The time of death was close to what he had guessed. There were many surveillance cameras near the park, and Shi Feng hoped to capture the killer's image on camera.

"The investigation is ongoing. The perpetrator was very cautious, and no suspicious clues have been found near the park."

Upon hearing Wang Xun's answer, Shi Feng sensed that this case was somewhat unusual.

The scene was cleaned very thoroughly, and no trace could be found. The only clue was the wooden box the deceased was holding and the supermarket flyer inside.

What was the killer trying to express by leaving these two items after killing the person?
Was it a random killing or a targeted revenge killing?

Considering the relationship between Wang Qiang and Wang Zi, and the fact that Wang Qiang was also strangled to death, could there be something in common between these two cases?
Shi Feng pinched the bridge of his nose, deep in thought.

He suddenly felt that the campus murder case, which was already in its final stages, was not as simple as it seemed.

"Gao Bin, come with me to the bar. Wang Xun, you guys take some men to clean up the bodies and go back to the team to review the surveillance footage."

After giving the order, Shi Feng turned and left the park.

(End of this chapter)