The Old Hand  

Wenjay had a restless sleep, his heavy nightmares slowly consuming him like a swamp, making every pore of his body endure an uncomfortable pressure.

Thankfully, Patton finally rescued him. Wenjay was awakened by Patton's warm, wet tongue in the midst of a suffocating dream—it was half past ten, time to feed the dog.

After freshening up, Wenjay dragged Patton downstairs. He first cooked a pot of oatmeal porridge for himself and Mingyoo, then, while yawning, he started to cut beef to cook dog food. Patton, out of nowhere, pulled out the squirrel toy that Rommel had given him and was having a blast playing with it on the floor. The poor squirrel toy was fully awake, running east and west under Patton's massive paws, but it could never escape, emitting desperate squeaks.

"Play with it a bit and then let it go," Wenjay advised Patton as he put the beef into a small milk pot and took out a red bean bun from the freezer to put into the steamer. "Look how pitiful the little squirrel is. I'm condemning you on behalf of the Asian Squirrel Protection Association."

Patton seemed to understand his words and let go of the bewildered squirrel toy. The little thing rolled on the ground and quickly scampered out the window, disappearing into the bushes. Patton trotted over to the dining table and obediently lay down at Wenjay's feet, resting its large head, adorned with a collar, on his foot.

Wenjay felt that he had quite a knack for pets, of course, except for that scoundrel Rommel.

"What time is it, and your owner still hasn't come down?" Wenjay asked Patton while cutting pickles. "Is he competing with Zeeshow in superpowers, like Professor X and Old Man Logan? Ah! It's a pity he doesn't let me watch. I haven't seen a real-life X-man yet. How can I join the Supernatural Case Division? Do I have to be a Chinese national?"

"Ugh, why am I a foreigner!"

Patton seemed uninterested in his owner's work, listening to Wenjay's complaints with a dull face. Suddenly, its ears perked up and it barked towards the front door.

The doorbell rang. Wenjay washed his hands and went to open the door. Outside stood a medium-built young man who looked a bit surprised when he saw Wenjay, "Who are you?"

"Who are you looking for?" Wenjay, learning from past experiences, didn't dare to let strangers in easily and asked him cautiously.

"Is Director Jow in?" The man took out a wallet, opened it to show Wenjay, "I'm from the Maplewood Town Police Station's Criminal Police Team, my surname is Chan."

"Oh, please come in." Wenjay remembered Mingyoo mentioning Highyang Chan last night, so he guessed this must be him and quickly invited him in, "Mr. Jow is upstairs, do you want me to call him down?"

Highyang followed him into the living room, "No, I'll wait for him here, I've already contacted him." He then gave Wenjay a once-over, "Who are you? A newbie from the Division?"

Wenjay didn't dare to say he was Mrs. Jow. He wanted to say assistant, but it seemed he hadn't joined the party, so he bluffed, "I'm his cousin."

After saying this, he remembered that close relatives couldn't marry, and it seemed that men couldn't either, so he added, "

Distant cousin, we're beyond the fifth degree of kinship."

Highyang chuckled, "I've never heard him mention having relatives overseas. You're mixed-race, right?"

"Heh, I have a quarter Viking blood," Wenjay joked, "A descendant of pirates."

Highyang burst into laughter, glanced up the stairs and asked, "Is Director Jow feeling better? I heard he's on leave. I've been wanting to visit him, but I've been too busy."

"I'm not quite sure, I just arrived a couple of days ago," Wenjay replied, "Have you had breakfast? I made some porridge, would you like to join us?"

"No need, you go ahead," Highyang said, "I've heard about last night. You just woke up, didn't you?"

Wenjay was about to respond when he heard the sound of shuffling footsteps coming down the stairs. He looked up to see Mingyoo coming down with the aid of a crutch.

His complexion wasn't great, seemingly worse than the night before, but his spirit was okay, his eyes bright and mischievous. Wenjay vaguely felt that he had seen him in this state somewhere before, but he couldn't recall where.

"You're here," Mingyoo greeted Highyang, "Let's eat together. I know you just got back from the scene. We can talk while we eat."

The three of them sat down in the dining room. Wenjay served everyone porridge and placed the red bean buns and pickles on the table. Mingyoo asked Highyang, "Did you catch that lunatic?"

"Not yet," Highyang replied with a gloomy face, "After you messaged me, I immediately sent people to search the farm, but the lunatic never returned. He was nowhere to be seen by dawn, probably knew his cover was blown and ran off."

Mingyoo seemed to have anticipated this, showing no signs of disappointment as he calmly sipped his oatmeal porridge. Highyang continued, "However, they found a lot of things at the scene. When I rushed over at around seven, the forensic team had already arrived, confirming that the first crime scene of the serial murder case was there."

"Whoa!" Wenjay choked on his porridge as he remembered the posts he had browsed the night before. He coughed a couple of times, covering his mouth, "You... you guys carry on."

Highyang looked at Mingyoo questioningly. Mingyoo glanced at Wenjay and said, "It's fine, you continue."

Wenjay was surprised by Mingyoo's trust in him. He stood up and said, "You guys talk, I'll prepare some more dishes."

Highyang continued, "The forensic team found some cleaned blood stains and small personal items of the victims in the lunatic's dormitory... That guy has some nerve, keeping the victims' bags. The gum was just sitting on the table, and he had eaten more than half the bottle! Also, the forensic team confirmed that the wounds on the bodies were caused by pigs. The lunatic killed the people and threw them directly into the pigpen. Except for the last victim, the others all suffered varying degrees of gnawing."

Wenjay was defrosting some fried chicken, and his stomach churned at the gruesome details. He heard Mingyoo say, "He's mentally challenged, and these things are easy to check. The key now is to find him. I suspect he will kill others. Judging by the time intervals of his previous crimes, he's losing control."

"We've already dispatched all our manpower. His features are quite distinct, so we should be able to find him soon," Highyang said. "There are still some doubts about the case. The biggest issue is that the experts in the special case group initially analyzed that there was more than one killer. The traces on the bodies clearly showed two completely different behavioral patterns. From a psychological perspective, it should be two people who handled the bodies one after the other."

Wenjay braced himself to listen to their case analysis, gradually becoming less nauseated. He put the defrosted fried chicken and fries into the air fryer, which started sizzling.

Highyang continued, "If there was only one killer, the lunatic, we would have found him long ago. The bodies were gnawed by pigs, so we just needed to check the local pig farms. You didn't see the scene today. That guy had no consciousness of cleaning the scene or destroying traces, he left everything. But when the bodies were initially found, they had been cleaned, the wounds were disguised, and they were wrapped in white cloth and buried... So he definitely has an accomplice. This accomplice is very skilled, handling the bodies very cleanly, leaving no evidence."

Mingyoo didn't comment, continuing to sip his oatmeal porridge. Highyang finished his portion quickly, took out a piece of paper from his pocket and said, "This is yours, you forgot to take it back yesterday."

Wenjay brought the fried chicken and fries to the table, noticing that it was the arrest warrant Mingyoo had given to the police before. Highyang asked, "Director Jow, if I may ask, you personally arrested Zeeshow yesterday. Is he related to this case?"

Mingyoo had a cryptic expression, "Classified."

Highyang asked again, "Is he the accomplice?"

Mingyoo remained silent, and Highyang said, "The guys below told me about last night's incident. I checked it out later. Although there is no evidence to suggest that Zeeshow is related to the lunatic, he has direct or indirect relationships with all four victims. Can I assume that the Division is also investigating this case?"

Wenjay was engrossed in the conversation, habitually dipping the fried chicken in sweet and spicy sauce, placing it on their plates, and arranging the fries, squeezing ketchup on them like he was taking care of children.

Highyang leaned towards Mingyoo and asked in a hushed tone, "Director Jow, is this case related to supernatural powers? Otherwise, why would your Supernatural Case Division get involved? Can you give me a heads up?"

Only then did Wenjay realize that the "super" in "Supernatural Case Division" didn't refer to superpowers, but supernatural cases. He was amazed at the mysterious homeland—a criminal investigation bureau actually had an organization specifically for supernatural cases. Wasn't this the Chinese version of Men in Black?

He couldn't help but respect his fiancé's profession.

Mingyoo pondered for a moment, then told Highyang, "We can't confirm that yet, but Zeeshow is indeed a suspect. I'm still verifying it further. If there's any news, I'll notify you immediately."

Highyang slapped his thigh, "Director Jow, you're a straightforward person!" He handed the arrest warrant back to Mingyoo, "Keep this, and by the way, tell your people to check the warrant number next time. I checked it in the system, and this number is empty."

Mingyoo's lower eyelid twitched, "I'll talk to them about it."

Highyang seemed a bit embarrassed, "It's not a big deal, it's just that the department has been focusing on file management recently, so I checked it out."

Mingyoo nodded, "When you guys go back, check out Zeeshow's social relations, especially those he's had disputes with. I suspect the lunatic's next target might be among these people."

Highyang promised solemnly and stood up, "Alright, I should get going. Director Jow, you take care... I mean, rest well." He then thanked Wenjay, "Thanks, little cousin, your cooking is great, much better than our cafeteria lady! You even drew a smiley face for me, it lifts my mood just looking at it!"

Wenjay looked down and realized that he had drawn a smiley face on Highyang's fries with ketchup out of professional habit. He turned to look at Mingyoo's plate... and that was embarrassing—he had drawn a heart!

Mingyoo waved goodbye to Highyang, picked up a fry, dipped it in ketchup, and complimented him, "When the immigration office comes for a home visit, just show them this. I think we can even skip the fake love letter stage and directly get our marriage certificate!"

You really are an old hand, knowing everything... Wenjay looked up speechlessly, and Mingyoo couldn't resist poking fun at him, "Why did he call you 'cousin'?"

"Well... let me explain..."