Meanwhile, inside the office, the atmosphere was calmer than Shen Jiu and Huan Zhan had expected.
The spacious room was neat and organized. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlooked the glittering city below as evening slowly settled outside.
Hei Bao sat behind his desk, several stacks of documents arranged neatly before him.
The moment the three entered, his eyes briefly lifted from the papers in his hand.
"Sit."
The single word immediately made both cousins straighten their backs.
"Yes, Lord Bao,"
Unlike them, Cheung Qi casually dropped onto the nearby sofa and crossed one leg over the other.
He looked completely relaxed.
Hei Bao closed the file in front of him before directing his attention toward the two young men seated opposite him.
His gaze shifted between Shen Jiu and Huan Zhan.
Then he opened one of the drawers beside his desk and retrieved several folders.
"The body disposal was handled properly?"
The moment business was mentioned, both cousins immediately became serious.
"Yes," Shen Jiu answered.
"There were no traces left behind."
Hei Bao nodded.
"However..." Huan Zhan spoke, expression filled with hesitation.
His brows slowly furrowed.
"There's one thing that left me confused."
Hei Bao looked at him.
"Speak."
He placed the folders on the desk and gave his full attention towards his words.
Huan Zhan unconsciously straightened under that gaze.
"The other day... After everything happened, I checked the tracking radar, and I noticed A-Feng took a long time to leave the dumping area."
His expression turned uncertain.
"So I followed the location, and I found him unconscious in the driver's seat."
The room became quiet.
"And?"
Hei Bao's voice remained calm.
Huan Zhan swallowed.
"When I got closer... I saw his face was covered in tears."
Cheung Qi blinked.
"He cried?"
His expression held genuine disbelief.
"That's absurd."
Even Hei Bao's usually indifferent expression shifted slightly.
He contemplated the information for several moments, as if thinking deeply of it, then asked quietly,
"During these past few weeks... Have either of you noticed anything unusual about him?"
Upon mentioning the word 'unusual' Shen Jiu and Huan Zhan exchanged glances.
It was obvious they remembered something, but neither immediately spoke.
Hei Bao's fingers tapped once against the desk.
"Why are you hesitating?"
His tone lowered.
"Have you noticed something?"
The cousins still remained silent, and a few seconds later the table was smack hard.
Hei Bao's palm slammed onto the desk.
The sharp sound startled both of them.
"Speak."
His voice remained controlled, but that calmness only made him more frightening.
"Have you seen anything or not?"
Huan Zhan nearly jumped out of his seat.
"I-I'll talk!"
He nervously sat up straighter.
"W-We noticed something..." he began.
"It started a few weeks ago. We invited A-Feng out during the weekends, but he always said he had something to do. At first, we believed him."
He rubbed the back of his neck, looking conflicted.
"But after a while, we started getting annoyed. Every weekend, he kept giving us the same answer, that he had something to do."
Huan Zhan glanced toward Shen Jiu before continuing.
"And that's just... not like him."
His expression grew more serious.
"A-Feng has never been the type to go off and do things by himself without telling us anything. Even when he wants some quiet time, he'd usually mention it."
He hesitated for a moment before admitting,
"So we got curious."
Shen Jiu nodded in agreement.
"Suspicious, actually," he corrected.
"Because no matter how many times we asked, he would just smile and brush it off."
Huan Zhan looked back at Hei Bao.
"We weren't trying to invade his privacy."
He scratched his cheek awkwardly.
"We were just worried."
"A-Feng isn't good at asking for help," Shen Jiu added quietly.
"If something's bothering him, he'd rather deal with it alone than trouble other people."
Huan Zhan lowered his head slightly.
"So... we decided to find out what he had been busy with."
Cheung Qi raised an eyebrow.
"You followed him?"
"...Yes."
Both cousins lowered their heads guiltily.
"We waited outside the school and secretly followed him."
"And?" Hei Bao asked.
Huan Zhan hesitated before answering.
"He went to a human church."
The room fell silent.
"...A church?"
Cheung Qi sounded genuinely surprised.
"We're not exactly religious," he remarked.
"Who influenced that child?"
Shen Jiu shook his head.
"We don't know… we never visited that church before either. He would kneel together with everyone else and pray. Sometimes, he'd stay there for a long time."
"Em." Huan Zhan nodded,
"I even fell asleep outside the church because waiting for him was so boring."
Neither Hei Bao nor Cheung Qi interrupted them; they allowed the two young men to speak freely.
After a moment of hesitation, Shen Jiu continued.
"Afterward... he traveled outside the city."
"He went to an abandoned house," Huan Zhan added quietly.
"We don't know whose house it was, but..."
He lowered his voice.
"We think it might have been the place where he used to live with his father."
For the first time since the conversation had begun, Hei Bao's expression changed.
The indifference in his eyes gave way to something heavier.
"What happened there?" he asked.
Huan Zhan looked down at his hands.
"He walked through the house, touched the ruined furniture... the old walls... even the broken window frames."
His voice grew quieter.
"And then… He cried. He cried for more than an hour," Huan Zhan said.
"And we didn't know what to do."
Shen Jiu lowered his gaze.
"We wanted to comfort him, but we also didn't want him to find out that we'd followed him."
"So..." Huan Zhan forced out bitterly,
"We just stayed where we were and watched. Helplessly."
Neither of them had ever forgotten that sight.
Gou Feng had never been someone who expressed his emotions openly.
He smiled when he was troubled.
He reassured others when he himself was struggling.
He rarely complained.
Which was precisely why seeing him sit alone among that ruined home, crying as though all the grief he had buried for years had finally surfaced, had left them at a loss.
The office became unusually quiet.
Even Cheung Qi no longer looked relaxed.
Eventually, Hei Bao spoke.
"Did he do anything else?"
Shen Jiu shook his head.
"Nothing major." He hesitated.
"But..."
Hei Bao's gaze settled on him.
"But what?"
Shen Jiu frowned slightly.
"I noticed smaller changes."
"What changes?" Hei Bao asked.
Shen Jiu exchanged a glance with Huan Zhan again before answering.
"He zones out more often now."
"He'll suddenly go quiet in the middle of conversations," Huan Zhan added.
"Sometimes we'll call his name two or three times before he responds."
Shen Jiu nodded.
"And lately, he keeps rubbing his temples like he has a headache, and he looks exhausted even after sleeping."
"He also forgets little things," Huan Zhan said, concern evident in his voice.
"Nothing serious at first, but enough for us to notice."
"He'll stare into space as if he's listening to something only he can hear," Shen Jiu admitted.
The more they spoke, the more unsettled the atmosphere in the office became.
"...And sometimes," Huan Zhan said quietly,
"He'll suddenly have this expression on his face."
Hei Bao narrowed his eyes.
"What expression?"
Huan Zhan struggled to describe it.
"...Like he's remembering something painful or unpleasant."
Shen Jiu lowered his voice.
"We truly don't know how to describe it, but..."
He hesitated, searching for the right words.
"...he looks distant. It's an expression we've rarely seen him wear before."
Shen Jiu frowned slightly.
"It's like..." He struggled to explain it.
"Even when he's sitting right beside us, it feels as though part of him is somewhere else."
Huan Zhan nodded in agreement.
This time, neither Cheung Qi nor Hei Bao spoke.
Because they both understood one thing.
These were not changes that had appeared overnight.
Which meant Gou Feng had been carrying them alone for quite some time.
The realization left an uncomfortable heaviness in the room.
Huan Zhan glanced nervously at Hei Bao before finally gathering the courage to ask,
"...Lord Bao, is A-Feng sick?"
Hei Bao leaned back slightly in his chair.
His fingers tapped lightly against the armrest again, the steady rhythm was the only sound in the office.
"No."
He released a sigh.
"He's not sick."
His gaze lowered briefly, as though considering how much he should say.
"It's something else."
The two cousins visibly relaxed.
At the very least, it wasn't an illness.
Shen Jiu let out a breath he hadn't realized he had been holding.
"Thank goodness," he muttered.
"We were worried that he'd been hiding some serious health problem from us."
Huan Zhan nodded vigorously.
"He never tells us when something's wrong. Even when he had a fever, he insisted he was fine."
Cheung Qi glanced at Hei Bao before looking back at the two younger men.
"Your concern isn't misplaced," he said.
"But if A-Feng truly didn't want anyone to notice, most people probably wouldn't."
Shen Jiu lowered his head.
For someone who laughed so easily around them, Gou Feng had always kept the deepest parts of himself hidden.
Hei Bao remained silent for several moments.
His expression revealed little, but the slight tightening of his jaw did not escape Cheung Qi's notice.
Finally, he spoke again.
"There's another reason why I called you here today."
The two cousins immediately look straight at him.
The earlier relief vanished, replaced by nervous anticipation.
Hei Bao continuously tapped his finger against the desk, as he spoke.
"The investigation into Fei Nian."
Immediately, the atmosphere shifted.
Cheung Qi straightened on the sofa.
"I thought the council was handling that."
"They are."
Hei Bao narrowed his eyes.
"But I don't trust them to uncover everything."
No one questioned him.
Because everyone understood what he meant.
If Fei Nian had truly acted under someone's influence...
Then the person responsible remained hidden, free, watching, and waiting. And that made them dangerous.
"I want both of you and Gou Feng to be careful."
Hei Bao's gaze settled on the cousins.
"If you notice anything unusual... Report it immediately."
Both young men nodded.
"Understood."
For a moment, no one spoke.
Then out of nowhere Huan Zhan cautiously raised his hand.
"...Can I ask a question?"
Hei Bao looked at him.
"What?"
Huan Zhan swallowed nervously.
"Are we in trouble?"
Cheung Qi immediately covered his face.
Shen Jiu looked away in embarrassment.
Even Hei Bao appeared momentarily speechless. It took several seconds before he was able to answer.
"No."
The relief on Huan Zhan's face was immediate.
"Oh, thank goodness."
Cheung Qi burst into laughter.
"I told you two."
Before either cousin could defend themselves, the office door opened.
A secretary stepped inside.
"Sir."
Hei Bao looked up.
"What is it?"
"The afternoon meeting has been moved forward by thirty minutes."
"I understand."
The secretary nodded before quietly leaving.
Silence settled over the office once again.
Then Hei Bao's gaze slowly shifted toward the closed door.
His brows furrowed.
"Call Gou Feng inside."
The moment those words left his mouth, the room immediately fell deadly silent once more.
The two cousins froze.
Even Cheung Qi's relaxed posture stiffened for a brief moment.
Shen Jiu looked away.
Huan Zhan suddenly found the carpet beneath his feet incredibly fascinating.
Cheung Qi rubbed the bridge of his nose.
Hei Bao narrowed his eyes.
"...Why are all of you acting strange?"
No one answered.
A familiar sense of unease slowly settled in Hei Bao's chest.
His voice became colder.
"What happened?"
This time, the three men instinctively avoided looking directly at him.
And for the first time that evening, Hei Bao had the distinct feeling that whatever answer he was about to hear...
He was not going to like it.