Detective at the Noble Boys' Academy — 24

After seeing Yuwen Qing and Mami off, Ji Yue called for the driver.

This time, the destination was Yan Min's home.

'Ding-dong——'

He had already given his name at the gatehouse. When he reached the ground floor, he was met by a middle-aged man who looked like a servant, who apologized and said: 'The young master is entertaining guests at the moment and cannot come down just yet.'

Who, then, could Yan Min's guest be?

'Wow——'

Two children's voices exploded in the sitting room, answering the question.

Yan Min was seated at a round table, two small children gathered around him. It looked as though he was guiding them through their calligraphy practice — he held a child's pencil and was patiently correcting one of the children's grip.

There was more warmth to him here than when he was tending his plants. The children seemed like a handful, yet his expression never changed.

'Nephews,' Yan Min explained.

'Oh.'

The two children soon had their attention stolen by Ji Yue, gnawing on their pencil caps and staring at him, occasionally whispering to each other. A slightly older child was swinging on the curtain by the window, like a little monkey.

Yan Min, thoroughly accustomed to this, called a servant over and had all the children taken away.

'We'll go to the other building.'

The other building was where he actually lived.

It was a mansard-roofed structure, surrounded on all sides by strange, lush greenery from the garden — vivid green, broad-leafed, taller than a person — pressing in around the house until the place was nearly swallowed by towering plants, more like a glass house hidden inside a small forest. The moment you stepped inside, you could hear birdsong and the white noise of insects, and a man-made lake sat still in the distance.

A few of the children, who had followed along at some point without anyone noticing, disappeared laughing into the depths of the greenery; the broad leaves closed behind them, and at first glance it looked very much as though the plants had eaten them.

Yan Min didn't even glance their way. 'Don't mind them.'

There wasn't a single servant in this building. Yan Min got up himself to brew the tea.

The curled tea leaves unfurled in the water. Only a few minutes passed — yet by the time he carried the tea out, the sitting room was completely empty.

The children, Ji Yue — not a single soul.

Ji Yue had been upstairs just before, gazing out the window at the greenery, and had caught a glimpse of the children running wild below. One of them was nearly about to fall into the lake without even realizing it.

He went downstairs and told them to keep their distance. 'Don't go over there.'

[Human children are truly impossible to deal with!]

The children stared at him for a few seconds, exchanged a glance with each other, then burst into inexplicable laughter and ran off into the depths of the greenery, leaving behind only a trail of fading giggles.

Ji Yue: ?

[Wait, these kids feel like characters from a horror film... hide-and-seek... one-two-three, wooden man...]

What was over there?

Ji Yue was a little curious.

He walked down the steps, parted the broad leaves, and slipped sideways through the gap.

The further he went, the darker it grew — it was clearly morning, yet it felt as though dusk were pressing in.

Strangely, the leaves seemed to have begun moving.

Was it an illusion?

The enormous leaves blotted out the sky, tinting his entire field of vision a deep green. The few leaves closest to him stretched, without any sound, into even larger shapes, and began silently closing in on him.

Before he could react, the leaves were already pressing against him.

The broad leaf surfaces wound around his arms and cheeks.

The cool touch of the plant leaves made him shiver. The raised veins on the leaf surfaces grazed lightly across his cheeks, rubbing at his soft skin with a pressure that was neither too heavy nor too light — carrying a strangely intimate quality that was difficult to name.

Being wrapped in layer after layer of deep-green leaves was genuinely bizarre. Smaller leaves threaded through his long hair, crept into his collar, and kept stretching further inward.

...I am not a rice dumpling.

Ji Yue kept a cold expression and shoved the leaves away with force.

[What on earth — are these leaves disguised as vine-tentacle monsters?!] The System erupted in outrage. [How does something like this exist in the interstellar age? This isn't right!]

The leaves refused to let go, winding around his waist and creeping steadily upward.

He frowned, balled his hand into a fist, and slammed it down onto the leaves — seven or eight solid blows in a row.

Take that —

The leaves, thoroughly startled, hastily shrank back, retreating like a wounded tide.

At last, Ji Yue's hand found a cold, smooth wall.

He switched on his torch and looked: a heavy, towering iron door.

Unlocked.

Ji Yue pushed it open with effort.

The passage beyond was long and dark, no sunlight reaching inside. In the open space, his footsteps echoed back at him, along with the very distant laughter of the children outside.

[Ahhhhh, how has Yan Min's place turned into a horror film?!]

He kept walking deeper in, until a dark-colored sofa appeared in his field of vision.

So this was a room...

Words like 'secret chamber' and 'murder case' flashed through Ji Yue's mind.

He pressed himself cautiously against the wall and moved forward on careful tiptoe.

He surveyed the space — up, down, left, right. It was large, far more spacious than the Greenhouse on the island, with a ceiling so high it was nearly impossible to see the top. Combined with the dim light, it gave the illusion of a secret room stretching on without end.

He ran his hand along the wall and finally found the light switch.

The lights came on.

What met his eyes were photographs covering all four walls, floor to ceiling.

All kinds of photographs — photographs of Ji Yue. Some were selfies from years ago; others had been taken by someone else.

The day he first transferred into the boys' school, sitting in the classroom. Standing by the window of the Art Studio, both hands dirty. More recent ones: just before the short holiday, working as a docent at the art exhibition; on the beach, wearing a wide-brimmed straw hat, head bowed, watching Si Jing pick up seashells.

On the bookshelf, there were also many documents.

He pulled one out at random — it was a short essay he had submitted last year, handwritten; the copy here was a scanned version.

There were even a few sheets of scratch paper from some class or other, bearing his messy handwriting and a pig-head doodle he had drawn.

The System wailed: [Oh god, this time we've genuinely encountered a lunatic!! I'm actually scared there might be nude photos of you in here!]

'I have never taken nude photos.'

[I meant secretly taken ones!]

'...'

Above the sofa — was that a painting?

Ji Yue rose onto his toes and examined the wall carefully.

A portrait painting, entirely ordinary in both composition and color — it looked far too unremarkable among the expensive works by famous artists in the Greenhouse, more like a student assignment from an academy.

What was strange was that the subject of the portrait was Ji Yue himself.

It was indeed in an academy style — he recognized it. This was the final portrait assignment submitted by a classmate from the upper-city art class, painted with him as the model.

How had this kind of assignment ended up here?

The image of Conan's glasses catching the light flashed through his mind. Ji Yue touched his chin and thought for a long while.

He stood facing the wall — a wall covered in countless versions of himself, sitting or standing, caught in various moments scattered across the world.

Yan Min has been investigating me all along.

Why?

[It's actually not uncommon in the world of detective fiction for the detective to be investigated by the suspect! Cases where the suspect tries to murder the detective are even more frequent!]

[Yan Min's collecting obsession didn't develop overnight — and this time, I'm afraid the person he wants to collect is you!! You need to be careful!!]

Ji Yue thought for a moment. Having his entire background and history investigated, with photographs from so many different periods attached — it was genuinely strange.

Was Yan Min actually a yandere?

He finished examining the last wall carefully, then left the room without lingering.

Back in the main house, the sitting room was perfectly quiet. The tea on the table had gone cold, and the children were nowhere to be found.

Yan Min looked as though he had just come in from outside as well, wearing his Black Coat, slightly windswept.

'Did you go looking for the children?' he asked Ji Yue.

'Didn't find them.'

Ji Yue still had bits of broken leaves clinging to him, a few caught in his hair as well, and his cheeks were a little flushed.

He walked over and, using Yan Min as the center of a circle, made a slow loop from left to right, then right to left, studying him from all angles.

Yan Min held his teacup and cooperated quite willingly, letting him complete two full circuits.

Only when Ji Yue stopped did he ask: 'What is it?'

'You and your nephews are very different.'

'They're more unruly.'

'Were you not like that when you were small?'

'No.'

'Where did they go?'

'The driver took them home.' Yan Min paused for a beat. 'No one will disturb us anymore.'

The moment those words landed, the air went still.

[That sounds exactly like something someone says right before locking you in a little black room!]

Ji Yue thought of what Li Xihe had said — that he showed up without needing a reason — so this time Ji Yue simply said: 'I was just passing by. Thought I'd drop in and see how you were.'

'Where are you planning to go after this?'

'Not telling you.' Ji Yue glanced at his watch. 'I've had a good look. Time to go.'

'Won't you stay for lunch?'

'No, thank you.'

Ji Yue turned and headed for the door.

'I have a horror game I just bought.'

His footsteps stopped.

'The newly released trial version of 'Big Blade Comes Down on the Zombie's Head.'

'Let me see it.'

Ji Yue immediately turned back.

The single greatest inconvenience of living on the island was not being able to buy many things in time — especially a popular trial version like this, with only a handful of access slots. Yet with the power of the F4 behind them, it had been obtained with effortless ease.

[Hey hey hey, is playing games also part of your plan??]

'Mind your own business.'

[...]

For the next two hours, Ji Yue sat there with a blank expression, slaughtering zombies as blood splattered across the screen.

Of course, even while playing games, character analysis could not be neglected.

'What do you usually get up to outside the island?' Ji Yue brought the big blade down on a zombie's head and spared a moment to ask.

Yan Min was doing something Ji Yue couldn't quite make out; the screen's reflection showed him standing just behind, like a shadow at his back.

'Attending various academic societies.'

An answer entirely as expected.

The long hair at the back of his head was gently smoothed.

Yan Min was running his fingers through his hair, the way one might soothe a stray animal one had taken in, and asked again: 'Why did you come to find me today?'

'No particular reason.'

'Just had nothing to do, so you came to kill time with me? Why not go find the honor students or the others?'

'I wanted to find you. Is that not allowed?'

[That sounds a little jealous!]

'When did you first realize you were attracted to the same sex?' Yan Min asked another question. 'Did you meet someone you liked at your previous school?'

'...'

'Then it was somewhere else you met them.'

'Stop prying. Stop distracting me.'

[What a cold and indifferent detective! Refuses to answer no matter what anyone asks! In their eyes, you must seem terribly mysterious!]

Distracted for just a moment, he was struck by a Qing-dynasty zombie on screen, leaving him with only one sliver of health.

All Yan Min and the System's fault.

Ji Yue frowned slightly, maneuvered his character to retreat sideways, the zombie on screen nearly lunging out of the display — and then a few more details surfaced in his mind.

When had Yan Min first come to know him?

The photographs and the portrait — when had he gotten his hands on them?

Yan Min was asking about his past, so was this not the same situation as with Li Xihe?

Three questions in a row, and the zombie was already opening its mouth wide at him.

The rotting jaw was about to snap down when a pair of hands reached from behind, closed over his hands and the game controller, and in a swift series of moves, stabbed the zombie to death.

Yan Min's hands.

The Qing-dynasty zombie toppled over, and the death sound effect played its cheerful little jingle.

Yan Min's hands were still resting over his, very warm. Ji Yue's back was pressed against his chest; he could hear the faint sound of his heartbeat, and he went rigid.

[Heart beating that fast — either it's an arrhythmia, or he's fallen for you~]

Ji Yue immediately dropped the controller and stood up, face already red, and walked out without looking back.

Ji Yue concluded that this must be an allergic reaction to physical contact with the same sex, manifesting primarily as facial heat, elevated heart rate, dizziness, and quickened breathing — a complex and stubborn condition.

'Done with the zombies?' Yan Min called after him from a distance. 'I'll play with you.'

'No.'

'Heading home?'

'Bye.'

Ji Yue walked faster.

[Heh, this guy has some real moves when it comes to flirting — inviting you to play games and kill zombies together. I think what he really wants to play with is you!]

'...'

The wind scattered the leaves of the parasol tree by the gate. By the time he got home, the warmth had still not faded from his face.

The housekeeper was in the back courtyard directing the gardeners — it looked as though they were transplanting something.

A tall, unnamed green plant stood in the center of the back courtyard, like a green giraffe, its leaves broad and swaying in the wind, holding its head high among the low shrubs and flower beds, entirely out of place.

This strange plant looked oddly familiar.

Ji Yue stared at those broad leaves, and the image of the enormous plants at Yan Min's home — the ones that had nearly swallowed the house whole — suddenly flashed through his mind.

The housekeeper looked a little troubled: 'This was a gift sent over by Mr. Yan some time ago. The young master didn't say what to do with it, and I was afraid it would die if left too long, so I planted it in the courtyard for now. Apparently it's a newly cultivated variety.'

[Yan Min sent you a plant he cultivated himself — wow, he really is a gardening man. This plant might even carry some kind of meaning.]

'Mr. Li's gift, I've put in the storage room.' The housekeeper noticed him staring at the leaves with a puzzled look and added a reminder.

The housekeeper didn't actually know the nature of the relationship between these two men and the young master. Seeing the flush still on his cheeks, she couldn't help but grow suspicious.

Could it be that a simple change of schools had led to not one but two early romances?

Wasn't that a little... few?

Back in his room, Ji Yue unwrapped the parcel Li Xihe had sent. What met his eyes was a collection of framed photographs. There was more than one candid street shot of him sitting on a bench listening to music — several different poses — along with one of him holding an ice cream cone, standing on a street corner.

He went through them one by one. At the bottom of the parcel he found a velvet box; he opened it to reveal a pair of gold bracelets set with sapphires.

[F3 remembered you'd worn a similar style before and bought you a more elaborate and beautiful pair, did he?]

[Oh ho, so the pursuit has begun? Their future résumés could read: once courted a detective during school. Ha ha ha!]

[Wait, no! That's not how our plot is supposed to go! Aren't they supposed to be in a melodramatic, forced-love entanglement with the honor student, and then you photograph the crucial evidence, about to make their prominent parents lose all face, so they destroy the evidence and drive you out?! Ahhhh——!]

I don't need the characters of this small world to do anything for me.

Ji Yue thought: it would only add to their troubles.

Things had come to this point — the task needed to be brought to a close, and quickly.

The housekeeper knocked at his door: 'Young master, the second young master and his classmate are outside. Shall I let him in?'

Xie Zhen and Ji Yue didn't live together; it was just that every year during the holidays, Xie Zhen would come to find him.

The last time they had seen each other must have been during the New Year.

Ji Yue left his bedroom and went to the sitting room, where his younger brother Xie Zhen was already perched on the edge of the sofa, flipping through his horror manga. The moment he appeared, Xie Zhen stood up.

Xie Zhen was very tall — after several months apart, he was now noticeably taller than Ji Yue. He had a sharp, striking appearance quite unlike Ji Yue's, and the last trace of boyish softness had faded from his brow.

'Ji Yue. Long time no see.'

Xie Zhen lowered his eyes. He had never called him gege — older brother — only ever by his name.

[That little brat actually dares not to call you gege. He deserves a lesson!] The System let out a little laugh.