# 224
**Chapter 224: Joining Forces**
“I have no interest in becoming a Night Watchman,” An Qingyu said calmly. “I just want to dissect the mysterious, to understand the truest face of this world. What I pursue is truth.
If I join the Night Watch, I’ll be bound by all kinds of rules. They’d never let me dissect these monsters’ corpses like some mad scientist, and I’d waste countless hours on meaningless things.”
After hearing An Qingyu’s words, Lin Qiye was momentarily speechless.
Mad scientist… you certainly know how to label yourself.
There was no denying An Qingyu was right. If he joined the Night Watch, his teammates definitely wouldn’t let him carry out obviously evil-looking experiments—unless they were all lunatics too.
And for someone like An Qingyu, who chased truth above all, that would be a fatal blow.
Back when they’d just cracked the Nāga Serpent Demon case, An Qingyu had wanted Lin Qiye to pull strings and get him into the Night Watch. At the time he hadn’t understood what the Night Watch really was, and since he hadn’t awakened a Forbidden Ruin, joining had been his only way to get close to the mysterious.
But now everything was different: he had the perfect environment he’d always dreamed of, so why settle for second best?
Lin Qiye looked at An Qingyu and sighed.
So the question now was—should he turn An Qingyu in to the Night Watch?
An Qingyu had helped him solve the Nāga Serpent Demon incident. They hadn’t worked together long, but Lin Qiye knew An Qingyu wasn’t evil at heart; he simply sought things most people didn’t.
Besides, over the past year he hadn’t done anything to endanger society. Even the equipment in his underground lab had been scavenged cast-offs, and whenever he secretly took “mysterious” corpses, he’d left half for the Night Watch out of principle.
Lin Qiye hesitated, then asked, “One more thing—was it you who sent me that message during New Year’s?”
“It was,” An Qingyu nodded. “But it was only a small favor.”
“To me, it wasn’t small at all.” Lin Qiye drew a slow breath. “I owe you for that. Time to repay the debt.”
“You mean…”
“I won’t turn you in. But if you ever do anything that threatens public safety, I’ll hunt you down no matter where you hide.” Lin Qiye narrowed his eyes.
An Qingyu’s lips curved slightly, a shy but sincere smile appearing on his face.
“Deal.” He nodded, then turned toward a lab bench as if remembering something. “Come, I’ll show you something.”
Lin Qiye followed. Seeing the three corpses lying there, he raised an eyebrow.
“You went to the morgue for these bodies?” An Qingyu asked.
“Exactly.”
“No need. Their cause of death matches the forensic report perfectly.” An Qingyu slipped on a white coat. “Fatal wound to the chest—a iron nail through the heart. No drug traces, no signs of struggle. Apart from four nail wounds used to fix the body and the severed fingers, no other injuries.”
“So these three show nothing unusual?” Lin Qiye frowned.
“Sounds like you think the corpse from the bar is different?” An Qingyu’s eyes lit up.
“The moment that body was found it went to the Night Watch department that handles such cases. I never got to see or dissect it…”
“I haven’t seen it either,” Lin Qiye shook his head. “I can view it tomorrow, but from the crime-scene photos I noticed something odd.”
“Odd?” An Qingyu narrowed his eyes. “Such as… the amount of blood?”
Lin Qiye blinked. “You noticed too?”
Given An Qingyu’s skills, sneaking into the bar unnoticed wouldn’t be hard, so Lin Qiye didn’t doubt he’d seen the scene—maybe even the surveillance footage.
An Qingyu gave him a meaningful look and walked on. “Follow me.”
He led Lin Qiye to an open area beside a wall. A human outline was chalked on it, positioned exactly as at the crime scene.
At the spot where the outline’s fingers touched the wall was a patch of crimson.
“I also thought the blood seemed too little, so I recreated the scenario. This cup—” he lifted a beaker in his left hand “—holds the volume I simulated. This one—” he raised a second beaker in his right “—matches the blood visible in the photos.”
The left beaker’s fluid level was clearly far higher—more than triple the amount.
“Hold on,” Lin Qiye interrupted. “You simulated the bleeding? How?”
An Qingyu met his gaze and smiled without answering.
“You… cut off your own fingers?” Lin Qiye asked, frowning.
“I have lizard-type super-regeneration. As long as I want, regrowing fingers is trivial.” An Qingyu spoke as if it were nothing.
Lin Qiye: …
The kid really is a lunatic.
“The fact is, that corpse bled far less than a normal person would.”
Lin Qiye lowered his head in thought. “What does that suggest? The bar wasn’t the primary scene? Impossible—the footage shows the whole process. Could the mysterious creature have a blood-drinking habit? Or maybe the tool it used to sever the fingers somehow blocked blood flow?”
“One point alone proves nothing.” An Qingyu shook his head. “I have to examine the body from the bar.”
“You can’t get in.”
“You can take me.”
Lin Qiye frowned at that. Seeing An Qingyu wasn’t joking, he shook his head. “I haven’t arrested you—don’t expect me to smuggle you inside.”
“Consider it another favor owed.”
“…What good is a favor from you?”
“No idea, but it’ll be useful someday.” An Qingyu was certain. “Plus, with my help you’ll crack this case faster. You’re smart, but I’m a bit better.”
Lin Qiye turned stiffly, staring into An Qingyu’s eyes.
An Qingyu coughed lightly. “I mean, when it comes to corpses, I’m stronger than you.”
“Why are you so obsessed with solving this?” Lin Qiye asked.
“I can feel that whatever did this is very, very clever.” An Qingyu licked his lips. “The more complex the puzzle, the more I want to solve it. The last time I felt this urge was facing the Nāga Serpent Demon…
After dissecting corpses in a dark basement for so long, I feel like changing the menu.”
Lin Qiye rolled his eyes. “Pervert.”