Passing By

“The trail seems to have gone cold again.”

After leaving Starsea Games, the group returned to the van downstairs. Old He leaned against the driver’s seat, his brow furrowed deeply.

Jiang Xun sat in the passenger seat but remained silent.

One of their primary missions this time was to find and recover that necklace. They had originally scheduled a meeting with Professor Zhou, who held the necklace, only to find that the professor had been killed in his home the following morning. The necklace had vanished along with him.

It was said to have been taken by the killer, but that person seemed to have vanished into thin air. To this day, there were no useful clues, and the necklace had effectively sunk into the depths of the ocean.

Everything seemed logical on the surface, yet it was riddled with oddities.

Just as Old He was about to ask where to go next, Jiang Xun, who had been silent since they went upstairs, finally spoke. He suddenly said, “When we inspected the professor’s house earlier, I found the traces left behind to be very strange.”

“Captain, what did you find?”

“There were too many traces left at the scene, yet they were destroyed too thoroughly.”

Jiang Xun’s gaze fell out the window. Without waiting for a question, he continued, “If a thief truly had the ability to quickly clean up all clues at a scene after an accidental killing, they would have to be a professional. But conversely, a professional wouldn’t have left so many traces in the first place.”

“First leaving numerous traces, then cleaning and destroying them… why do something as redundant as ‘taking off your pants to fart’?”

“So, Captain, you mean…”

Neither Old He nor An Ye were fools. After exchanging a glance, they immediately understood what their captain was getting at. Old He spoke first: “Someone else arrived at the scene after the thief left and helped him handle the numerous clues left there?”

An Ye was even more direct.

“An inside job?”

Aside from the neighbors who called the police after hearing something was wrong, the only people at the scene were the police who arrived immediately after being notified.

But Jiang Xun shook his head. “We can’t be sure it’s a problem with the police station. It could also be that the thief’s accomplice knew he killed someone and rushed over to help him process the scene.”

“But if there was someone that professional, why wasn’t he sent in the first place?”

“That’s why I said we can’t be sure.”

Pressing his somewhat stiff lower back, Jiang Xun told Old He to start the car and exhaled a heavy breath. “Regardless, that thief is by no means an ordinary one. And more than who stole it, I want to know why he stole it.”

He closed his eyes.

“What exactly do they want to do with that necklace?”

“As expected, it’s impossible to find a clue that easily.”

At around three in the afternoon, Su Mian sat in a fast-food restaurant, chewing on a chicken wing with a bored expression.

After leaving home at noon, he immediately went to the vicinity of that restaurant from earlier. As expected, the doors were closed. He didn’t know the situation inside, but outside, there wasn’t a single trace of abnormality left.

Having found nothing, Su Mian wandered around the school, but the result was still nothing. Forget about a demon; he hadn’t even seen another Fiend.

Though it stood to reason—after all, he had been attending school here for over a year. If it were that easy to run into them, he would have encountered them long ago.

“Maybe they’re just too shy to come out in broad daylight?”

Su Mian didn’t think that a real demon would stay hidden forever. Like him, demons needed to forage, though they certainly wouldn’t strike in plain sight.

Should he come out again at night to take a look?

Su Mian hesitated.

It wasn’t that he was truly desperate to make contact; his other self had just warned him that a rash encounter could lead to trouble. But whether to make contact was one thing; knowing if there was one… and exactly where it was… was the key.

This kind of thing was fine as long as you didn’t know about it. But once you knew another demon might be hiding nearby, it felt like a stone had been stuffed into your heart—heavy and irritating.

The feeling was exactly like finding a hideous, multi-legged bug dangling from the ceiling right as you turned off the lights to sleep—only for the bug to disappear the moment you turned the lights back on!

If you didn’t find that bug or figure out if you’d just seen things, you could forget about sleeping peacefully all night.

To put it plainly, he couldn’t put his mind at ease. It was a fear rooted in the unknown, a basic instinct of self-preservation.

So, the demon itself wasn’t important; what Su Mian truly cared about was whether there really was another demon nearby. He just needed to confirm it.

But how?

The area around the school was too large, and it was impossible for him to check every single place. He didn’t have the time or energy for that. Relying on luck was far too slim a hope. Furthermore, a demon hiding in human society would surely be an expert at disguising itself. Even if they brushed shoulders, he might not realize anything was wrong.

Wandering around aimlessly was a complete waste of time. He needed a relatively reliable method.

The problem was that Su Mian couldn’t think of one—at least, not by relying solely on his human strength.

Could it be…?

A flash of hesitation crossed the youth’s eyes. If possible, he was unwilling to awaken the demonic part of himself under any circumstances. But the current situation was special; using only his human abilities wouldn’t cut it.

“Forget it, I’ll deal with it when I get back.”

Ultimately, he didn’t make a decision immediately. Su Mian decided to talk to his other self first. He finished the last of his chicken, sucked down the remaining cola in one gulp, scanned the code to pay, and walked out of the shop.

At that moment, someone happened to push the door open and enter—a man in his thirties with an ordinary appearance.

Su Mian’s gaze lingered on him for a split second. Perhaps it was the lighting, but he felt the man’s silhouette looked somewhat blurred. However, he didn’t think much of it and quickly brushed past him.

The youth didn’t pay much attention to the passing stranger, but the short man paused slightly. He tilted his head slightly to glance at him—a very small movement—and quickly retracted his gaze, as if it were just a subconscious look.

Then, the man unhurriedly ordered a set meal at the counter. His gaze swept across the room, landing exactly on the seat Su Mian had just vacated.

He sat down across from the empty spot, crossed his legs, and adopted a pensive expression.

“Just now… was it an illusion?”

Looking in the direction Su Mian had left, the man sat motionless for a long time. It wasn’t until the server brought the tray and placed the meal on the table that he turned his head and offered a polite smile. “Thank you.”

Once the server left, he immediately took a large bite of the burger, but the thoughtful look remained on his face.

As he ate, the man suddenly felt the burger tasted a bit bland. He reached up, plucked out his own left eye, and swallowed it along with the burger. Finally, a look of satisfaction appeared on his face.

After that, he seemed to have made a decision. Ignoring the rest of the food, the man stood up and walked to the checkout counter.

His hollow eye socket stared directly at the cashier, his face wearing a smile identical to the one from before.

“Bill, please.”