It was a sunny afternoon, and Xie Yuchen was sitting in a café in Nanluoguxiang, watching the various tourists outside. At the other tables in the café, there were several foreigners. From their skin tones and facial features, it was clear they came from different countries, and they were conversing in English. Even in China, they were reluctant to use Chinese.

The café had a decor that blended elements of Nepalese and Mediterranean styles, reminiscent of a café run by a Nepali in a Mediterranean country, while the coffee tasted as if it had been brewed by a Japanese person. Over the past decade, many beautiful young women had opened such “just for fun” cafés, and over time, this had surprisingly become a sort of industry standard.

He was quite familiar with the café owner, and during leisurely afternoons, he often visited places like this. It made him feel safe because the arrangement and everything here lacked rigor and showed no regard for rules. Compared to those places where coffee was taken seriously, he preferred to face the silly big girls here.

The owner didn’t know what he did for a living. Xie Yuchen had a natural charm with women, and in this afternoon coffee-drinking scenario, he didn’t need to get too close to the girls; just watching them from a distance could earn him preferential treatment for the entire afternoon.

However, today, his mind was not so calm.

Wu Xie was sitting across from him, flipping through a poetry collection written by the café owner. He frowned, clearly engrossed in his reading. He looked much fresher than when he first appeared, but his gaunt cheeks and the dark circles under his eyes from severe lack of sleep still gave him a somewhat unhealthy appearance, creating an illusion that the fire within him was about to burn out.

“You should take a break for a while. Even if you want to do this, your current state is the biggest unknown factor,” Xie Yuchen said.

Wu Xie reacted a bit slowly; it wasn’t until Xie finished speaking that he looked up, but his gaze remained on the poetry book. “I understand. I still have some details that I haven’t completely let go of. Once I’m no longer anxious inside, I’ll be able to conserve my energy.”

He closed the poetry book, exhaled deeply, pushed it to one side of the table, and lit a cigarette.

“No smoking here; the owner will come over because of you,” Xie Yuchen snatched the cigarette from his mouth, extinguishing the burning end and dropping it into his coffee cup. His movements were quick, and Wu Xie didn’t even realize the cigarette butt was gone.

Wu Xie rubbed his temples but still pulled out another cigarette and lit it. “I don’t want to follow the rules anymore.” As he spoke, he took a photo out of his bag and handed it to Xiaohua. “The only reason I came this time is to ask you, is this person reliable?”

The photo showed a person wearing sunglasses, grinning foolishly while putting an arm around Wu Xie’s shoulder, with a beer bottle in hand.

Xie Yuchen looked at the photo but didn’t take it. He just smiled, noticing Wu Xie’s expression, which clearly indicated that at the moment this photo was taken, Wu Xie was not smiling at all.

“What kind of information do you want to know?”

“Everything you know,” Wu Xie replied.

Xie Yuchen looked at the photo, closed his eyes and thought for a moment before saying, “This person’s Han surname is Qi, and he comes from a prominent family. He hasn’t received much formal education but holds degrees in music and anatomy from Germany. He started to gain recognition in the industry a long time ago, primarily as a broker for overseas investigations. He is very low-key and was one of the agents before Chen Pi Ah Si.”

“Is there a connection to the Nine Gates? If his surname is Qi,” Wu Xie asked.

Xie Yuchen sighed, “Well, yes and no. This person is quite reliable because, in this world, there is nothing left that can threaten him.”

Wu Xie looked up, a bit surprised, and asked, “Why?”

“It’s a long story,” Xie Yuchen replied. “If you just want to know if this person is reliable, the story would be too long for you.”

Wu Xie fell silent, touching his face. “He told me he doesn’t have much time left. It seems he was telling the truth.”

Xie Yuchen noticed Wu Xie’s cigarette butt had quickly burned down to his fingers. This was no longer just smoking; a person doesn’t need to absorb nicotine that quickly. Wu Xie was using the stimulation to his lungs to resist anxiety. He pushed his coffee cup in front of Wu Xie, suggesting he use it as an ashtray. “This is my dedicated coffee cup here; I brought it from home. How about this: you’re too tired. Just take a break now.”

“It’s not that I don’t want to rest; I can’t rest,” Wu Xie said.

Xie Yuchen stood up, went to the adjacent table, and brought back two or three cushions, placing them next to Wu Xie’s chair to let him lie down. He sat cross-legged across from him. “Close your eyes, and I’ll tell you about what happened with this blind man.”

Wu Xie stared at the ceiling, which was adorned with hastily installed pipes, drapes, and strange paint colors.

“Everyone learned about this person 11 years ago, when something particularly strange happened in Beijing. Because of the unique location of the incident, very few people know about it. I lived in a military compound at the time, and Mrs. Huo was considered a red family member, so the news reached our courtyard,” Xie Yuchen said. “It was a building near Chang’an Street within the Second Ring Road, a panel building that used to belong to a certain military unit. It had seven floors and is now the Beijing office of a certain organization. At the time of the incident, the building caught fire and was left unrecognizable. The fire was very fierce, spreading uncontrollably in an instant, which was quite strange. After the fire was extinguished, a total of 14 bodies were cleared from inside. However, it was a holiday, and there was no one in the building except for an old security guard, who managed to escape. Afterward, inspections of the organization and nearby residential areas found no missing persons.”

“Was it a burglary?” Wu Xie asked. “Breaking and entering, accidentally igniting the building?”

“Initially, that was the assumption, but later the police found it suspicious because the rooms where the 14 bodies were found were very scattered and arranged in a bizarre manner. Moreover, forensic examinations revealed that 13 of the 14 bodies had not died from the fire but had drowned,” Xie Yuchen explained.

Wu Xie rubbed his eyes and said, “If you tell me such things, how am I supposed to rest?”

“Thirteen drowned corpses, all of which have serious eye diseases. They were placed in thirteen different rooms, and these thirteen rooms, on the floor plan, formed a strange shape resembling a fish,” Jie Yuchen said. “People are anxious and feel that there is some hidden truth behind this incident.”
“What about the fourteenth corpse?”
Jie Yuchen replied, “The fourteenth corpse is even more outrageous; it was found on the rooftop, and it is different from the other thirteen corpses.”