As he watched Yi Heye's drowsy yet indifferent eyes gradually widen, revealing a hint of panic amidst his surprise, he knew he had guessed correctly.
Ha. What kind of bullshit enemy relationship is this? Turns out they're gay.
Author's Note:
Yu Yili: Impossible! Listen to me, SHEEP will definitely assassinate the cheetah tonight!
(A polite suggestion for Captain Pei: quit being a cop and become a romance detective instead x)
Chapter 91, number 091
Yi Heye, whose thoughts had been exposed, panicked genuinely for a moment.
But the instant his pupils dilated in shock, he realized—what the hell! He'd guessed wrong! He'd never been with SHEEP! He was just spouting nonsense!
"He and I are enemies. I thought everyone knew about this," Yi Heye said, trying to appear calm.
Pei Xiangjin sneered: "Over the years, I've met all sorts of people. I've seen enemies turn into lovers, siblings get together, and even masters marrying dogs—I can tell what's going on with you guys at a glance."
Yi Heye didn't realize he had been insulted. He only felt a sudden tightness in his chest, then pretended to be casual and tentatively asked, "I'm quite curious, what did Captain Pei figure out? Tell me so I can broaden my horizons."
After saying that, he became nervous. He was terrified that Pei Xiangjin would say something like, "You can't hide the look in someone's eyes when they like them," something that would make him want to scream. He would rather die on the spot running into Xiaoyunduo's wool.
Fortunately, Pei Xiangjin seemed to be a reasoner: "From the day you started your thorough research on men's photos, I suspected you were gay—what normal man would stare at other men's faces and care whether they were good-looking or not?"
Yi Heye, the officially certified gay man, felt a jolt in his heart, but he still remained calm and stubborn, saying, "Officer Pei, I believe that whether you are a police officer or a hunter, having a strong sense of facial features is our most basic working ability."
This implied that the cops lacked professional ethics, which made Pei Xiangjin's veins bulge. However, he still managed to salvage the situation by pointing at Xiaoyunduo: "You also raise a sheep. I've never seen many people raise sheep. This is clearly a form of empathy."
Yi Heye felt wronged: "This is Jian Yunxian's! You've clearly seen him before! Stop pretending! I was just looking after him!"
Pei Xiangjin completely ignored his explanation: "Judging from his appearance, I even suspect that this is a child you had without telling everyone."
"You fucking can have a baby with a sheep?!" Yi Heye suspected that he was just deliberately trying to mess with his mentality. "This guy is a fucking AI! You saw it yourself, you can't even touch that other guy, okay?!"
Seeing his anxiety, Pei Xiangjin sneered, "What about the roses? How do you explain this? Who would give roses to someone for no reason?"
Surely it can't really be like what that idiot Yu Yili said, right?
Yi Heye's scalp tightened again; he truly didn't know how to explain this. He used all his knowledge to painstakingly come up with a far-fetched and absurd reason:
"...That, that's him provoking me!"
He wanted to slap himself as soon as he said it—what genius could come up with the idea that sending roses was a reason to provoke such outrageous behavior? This blatant attempt to cover up his grievances was better left unsaid!
But to his surprise, Pei Xiangjin looked shocked and shaken after hearing his reason—shock was understandable, but what was with this deep wavering?! Could he really believe such a bizarre reason?!
Yi Heye thought this person was even more outrageous than himself, but the wavering look in his eyes gave him a lot of encouragement, allowing him to continue making things up without any scruples:
"Do you see the thorns on this rose? That's a warning that he's going to assassinate me. Do you see the red in the petals? That's him threatening to make me bleed red..."
The more Yi Heye talked, the more he felt something was wrong, but strangely enough, with each additional word he rambled on, Pei Xiangjin's wavering and despair deepened.
“Then…” Pei Xiangjin struggled almost breathlessly, “Then why did you hide it from us, throwing the flowers away in front of us and then secretly picking them up again? Wasn’t that just an act? Deep down, you just couldn’t bear to throw them away!”
"What do you know?" Yi Heye was once again guessed correctly, so he could only continue to make up stories. "I'm checking if there are any hidden weapons inside! I've thoroughly studied the provocative letter he sent. This is called knowing yourself and your enemy, and you will never be defeated."
Pei Xiangjin fell silent, seemingly genuinely considering the possibility of this hypothesis.
Finally, he played his last trump card, his only remaining advantage: "During your hospitalization, we found that SHEEP's IP address appeared in your ward—what was he doing?"
Yi Heye continued to feign ignorance, saying, "What else could they be doing? Of course, they're here to assassinate me."
The logic miraculously became self-consistent again.
With the two geniuses seemingly conspiring in unison, Pei Xiangjin began to deeply doubt his intuition. But for the sake of his pride, he stubbornly held on to his last shred of pride:
"These things are just words; I hope you can prove them with some concrete actions—Mr. Yi, I hope you don't forget your place."
The last sentence seemed to subtly touch upon Yi Heye's innermost thoughts, and his expression instantly turned serious.
“I have never forgotten,” he said.
At this moment, the security department's investigation seemed to have made progress. Someone poked their head out of the office and waved to Pei Xiangjin. This team leader, who was beginning to question his life, immediately chose to flee this place of right and wrong that was shaking his understanding of right and wrong.
As soon as Pei Xiangjin turned around and went back to his office, Yi Heye breathed a sigh of relief. He turned his head and saw Xiao Yunduo looking at him with a strange expression.
He suddenly remembered that he and Pei Xiangjin had just been talking about these adult topics in front of the child, so he quickly whispered to Xiaoyunduo, "Your dad and I are nothing!"
Upon hearing this, Little Cloud's tiny black eyes revealed deep doubt: "Huh?"
"Really! What's there to doubt?!"
Yi Heye stared into its eyes for several seconds and discovered that these small, dark eyes were surprisingly transparent.
It felt as if it could see right through me, and all my little thoughts were exposed under the watchful eyes of those two black beans.
hateful.
Feeling guilty, Yi Heye reached out and covered its eyes.
Not long after, Pei Xiangjin came out of the office again.
This time, he seemed to have finally figured things out. His irritable aura disappeared, and he looked like a gentle spring breeze.
Pei Xiangjin said, "It seems my premonition was right."
These abrupt and unrelated words startled Yi Heye—a premonition? What premonition? What's right about it?
Could he have found evidence that he and SHEEP were having an affair?!
Pei Xiangjin didn't sense Yi Heye's inexplicable guilt, and couldn't suppress her excitement as she asked, "Guess where he most often appears?"
Before he could even connect, Yi Heye stammered, "Huh?... Ah? Who?"
“Ah Wei!” Pei Xiangjin said, “Three months ago, his coordinates repeatedly appeared near Minghe Building in District C. About eight months ago, the place he frequented most often was Shijia in District B. Between May and August of last year, he was always seen near the swamp in District D.”
Yi Heye blinked, completely clueless: "Huh?"
"Tsk." Pei Xiangjin was somewhat disappointed in him. "Here's another hint: besides that, he most often goes to the south of the University Town in Area B."
Yi Heye simply couldn't connect these locations—Minghelou was a Chinese-style street in District C, Shijia was a famous commercial center in District B, and Zhaotan was the most notorious slum in District D...
"Uh...a travel enthusiast?" That was the only conclusion Yi Heye could draw.
"Damn it," Pei Xiangjin cursed. "During the time he was around, film crews were shooting in all three of these locations."
Yi Heye opened his eyes wide, as if he had finally understood something.
“Several well-known art colleges are concentrated in the southern part of the university town,” Pei Xiangjin said. “This Ah Wei is a ‘talent scout’.”
“Ke Yu was poached by him to become a star,” Pei Xiangjin said.
This explains why most of the missing people are men with decent appearances—it all seems to make sense now.
"To be more precise, he tricked me with the idea of becoming a star. Judging from the conversation between Ke Yu and his wife, I even suspect that he himself did not know that he was going to become a star."
No one knows what happened to them after they were tricked, or what they will face.
After sharing the good news with Yi Heye, Pei Xiangjin excitedly returned to his office to oversee the work.
This step forward finally pulled him out of the shadow of self-doubt, making his entire demeanor and aura more refreshing.
With a lead in mind, the subsequent work proceeded smoothly. Soon, they retrieved the communications of other missing persons during this period and analyzed a great deal of useful information.
“These guys are very cunning. They always arrange to meet in person for anything that involves important information. They never reveal their real information online,” Pei Xiangjin said. “Their IP addresses are also encrypted using special methods. I contacted the cyber security department, and they said it would take at least a week to crack them, but I’m worried that the case won’t allow for that long—it seems the only way is to lure them to come to us.”
Yi Heye gave up again: "So what if we can't find it? It seems this case can only end here."
Pei Xiangjin rolled her eyes and continued, "We've summarized the commonalities among the missing persons."
He unfolded the floating screen in front of Yi Heye, which displayed a bunch of chilling words: "First of all, these people have been publishing a large number of blog posts about the shortage of funds in a short period of time. I think this is their primary criterion for selecting targets."
When people are desperate for money, they lose their rationality. These people are clearly taking advantage of their desperation and wanting to get whatever they want, trying to drag them down with them.
Yi Heye nodded, but still held no hope for it.
Pei Xiangjin: "Secondly, I admit that they are indeed all handsome men."
Yi Heye was very sensitive to this kind of topic. He was unsure whether Pei Xiangjin was trying to bait him, so he could only squint and remain silent.
“This is officially certified,” Pei Xiangjin said. “I found that, apart from some people who were contacted directly offline, the other people who were ‘selected’ online all had a history of posting their own photos in their blogs. Some of their photos were reposted by some so-called ‘handsome ordinary guys bots,’ while others attracted a lot of likes from netizens as soon as they were posted—in short, they are all handsome guys selected by the public.”
“I checked, and almost all those accounts with over 10,000 likes and interactions, who also met the criteria of needing money urgently and having clean identities, have disappeared.” Pei Xiangjin’s gaze began to burn. “So this isn’t some subjective probability event; it’s an objective selection process with ‘hard criteria’—as long as these requirements are met, we can directly infiltrate the enemy’s ranks!”
When Pei Xiangjin said these words, his emotions were boiling, as if he had solved a case, which made everyone who heard him excited.
Yi Heye was also infected by his excitement, but soon he saw a hint of something ominous in Pei Xiangjin's burning gaze.
His keen intuition sent a chill down his spine, and then he asked warily, "...What? You wouldn't...?"
“There is no better candidate than you, Mr. Yi,” Pei Xiangjin stated bluntly. “Good looks, high level of confidentiality regarding your identity, core member of the investigation team, and the ability to independently resolve emergencies…”
Hearing these praises, Yi Heye was so frightened that he retreated repeatedly, but the wall blocked his way.
"Next, we will turn you into an idol in the shortest possible time, Mr. Yi Heye."
Pei Xiangjin's devilish voice echoed in his mind.
"You are our only hope."
Author's Note:
Yi Heye: Idol Hope Project x
Chapter 92, number 092
Although Yi Heye had a premonition of what he was going to say, when he actually heard those words, he still couldn't help but ask from the bottom of his heart, "What the hell are you talking about?!"
Pei Xiangjin had anticipated his reaction and repeated, "I'm not kidding, we're going to train you to be an idol."
Upon hearing the word, Yi Heye felt a chill run down his spine. He took a deep breath and said, "Impossible. You can go by yourselves. All of you in the Security Section are handsome men and beautiful women; you'd all be perfect idol material."
This was probably the first time anyone present felt their looks were so incredibly valuable. Under Yi Heye's intense gaze, the handsome men and beautiful women in the security department wished they could smash their faces with sulfuric acid on the spot.
Pei Xiangjin, one of the handsome men targeted, calmly explained to Yi Heye, "First of all, we're not as handsome as you..."
Yi Heye couldn't stand such flattery and quickly waved his hand: "No, you are all handsome, this is my official certification."
Pei Xiangjin ignored his excuses and continued, "Furthermore, Yu Yili and I are semi-public in our identities. Anyone who knows a little about us knows we are police officers, which makes it inconvenient for us to take action. But you are different. You have always been carrying out your duties as 'Cheetah,' and very few people have seen the face behind your back or know that your real name is Yi Heye."