The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 1

Malice – 01

---

Endless malice, unfathomable and bottomless, like a deep abyss.

– Malice

April in Yuchuan, the daytime sunshine was still pleasant, but the nights remained bitingly cold with spring chill, and the spring rain poured incessantly. During the Qingming Festival, rain falls one after another, this season matched the saying exactly.

Eight a.m., Yuchuan City Bureau, Director Wu was in his office furiously berating Deputy Captain Jiang Ziyu from the criminal investigation team. "Where's Gu Yanta? Find Gu Yanta for me!" He slammed his thermos onto the desk, causing the tea leaves and wolfberries inside to swirl around turbulently.

"Director Wu, calm down a bit." Jiang Ziyu wiped the spray of saliva from his face. "Old Gu accidentally stubbed his toe on the sink this morning, he went to the hospital first thing to get it taken care of!"

"A criminal investigation captain in the capital of a province! Always so careless, either bruising his elbow or stubbing his toe! If he can't keep himself from getting hurt, how's he supposed to protect the citizens' property and security?" Director Wu grew even more furious, slamming his thermos harder this time.

"Ai, Director Wu, you know how brave and invincible our captain is when it comes to catching criminals, it's just that he's a bit of a fool in everyday life." Computer expert Chen Chen from the police team entered the room, adjusting his gold-rimmed glasses. "Deputy Jiang, here's last month's attendance and leave statistics for the team. Director, you tell me, I'm a technical investigator, but I end up handling logistics work for the team every day, when are we actually going to hire someone for internal support?"

"Alright, alright, Chen Chen, enough complaining, all you had to do was tally up attendance and leave days, with so few people on the team, how much work could it be?" Jiang Ziyu shot Chen Chen a glare.

"Aiyou, Boss is here! I just saw Boss!" Chen Chen, always observant, looked out the window of the director's office.

A battered, army-green Jeep slowly drove through the main gate of the city bureau and found a parking space, and a tall figure emerged from it...

Captain Gu Yanta of the Yuchuan criminal investigation team was quite famous, and for many reasons. Besides his innate sense of smell for criminal activity and his remarkable achievements for the police team over the years, he held the record as the youngest criminal investigation captain in Yuchuan since the city was established. But perhaps most importantly, he was known for his looks.

With a high, straight nose and chiselled jawline, this young captain had earned the title of "most perfect profile in Yuchuan law enforcement". Standing tall at a hundred eighty-three centimetres with a striking, dignified presence, Captain Gu had long been the dream man of female officers across the ranks in Yuchuan.

Now, however, this "misfortunate" heartthrob looked rather miserable as he limped his way into the city bureau.

"Director Wu, you're busy, I'll bring Old Gu up right away to see you!" Jiang Ziyu said before rushing down the stairs like the wind.

Seeing his deputy storming down the stairs like a whirlwind, Gu Yanta chuckled, "What's this? Has Old Jiang finally come to escort me?"

"Shut up, Director Wu's already fuming! Hurry up to his office!" Jiang Ziyu grabbed Gu Yanta's arm, pulling the "cripple" back up the stairs.

"Fuming should be reserved for beauties! I'm injured! Surely Director Wu wouldn't be so heartless?" Gu Yanta sighed.

"You know the situation, we're severely short-handed in the bureau. Watching you get hurt so often is giving him grey hairs!"

"I can't help it, you know me, I'm like a magnet for injuries wherever I go."

"Oh please, you're just careless! I've been telling you for years, and you never listen!"

"Old Jiang, with that tone... why do you sound like a nagging little wife?" Gu Yanta brazenly teased his deputy, who often acted like a doting, fussing mother.

"Stop it! If you have time to mock me, maybe you should find yourself a partner who can look after you! You single dog!" Jiang Ziyu retorted resentfully.

"Old Jiang, no need to be mean with the personal attacks!! What's wrong with being a single dog? It's not like I don't want to date... if I were like you straight guys, surely, with looks like mine, handsome as Pan An and suave as a jade tree in the wind, I don't know how many young ladies would fall for..."

Before he could finish, Jiang Ziyu shoved him straight into the director's office.

Facing Director Wu's furious glare, Gu Yanta remained calm and confident. "Director Wu, it really was a stubbed toe, see for yourself!" he said, showing his big toe wrapped in layers of gauze, still slightly bloodstained.

"Enough, I don't have time to argue with you, just tell me, can you work or not?" Director Wu, still visibly annoyed, glared at Gu Yanta.

"Light injuries don't take me out of action, you know I wouldn't let a minor injury affect my work." As he spoke, Gu Yanta shoved his injured foot back into a police boot that was a size too large.

"I just got a call from Old Liu at the Haibei District Sub-bureau, there's been a murder in the Haibei Villa area..."

"Hang on, Director Wu, if it doesn't involve drugs, firearms, or more than three deaths, it shouldn't be our city bureau's responsibility!" Gu Yanta frowned. Haibei Villas... someone important had most likely been killed.

"It's exactly as you're thinking, the victim was Lu Yousheng's own son!" Director Wu's brows furrowed deeply. "The Lu family is one of our province's major taxpayers. Lu Yousheng's eldest son, Lu Yu, was murdered in his own villa. And coupled with the recent high-end community burglary cases, the current situation is critical. The district bureau can't handle it, and now the provincial department is getting involved. The superiors are urging us to solve the case as quickly as possible, I'm giving you three days!"

"Three days... all right..." Gu Yanta muttered before pushing the door open and shouting to the team, "Kids! Pack up quickly, we're heading to the scene!"

Haibei Villas was a newly developed villa district in Haibei, sparsely populated and very quiet. A few years ago, Yuchuan University started constructing a new campus in this area, fully equipped with new facilities. At the beginning of last year, Yuchuan University relocated some of its postgraduate and doctoral programs here.

The deceased, Lu Yu, was a PhD student in the chemistry department at Yuchuan University, nearing graduation. Of course, he also had another identity, a famous second-generation rich kid, the eldest son of Lu Yousheng, a notable figure in Yuchuan.

The Lu brothers had been prominent in business for over two decades. During the financial crisis over a decade ago, they had a major disagreement over the company's future, leading to a split. The elder brother, Lu Yousheng, continued to manage Lu Pharmaceutical, while the younger brother, Lu Youxin, moved to America, founding the multinational conglomerate Zhongxin Group.

Unlike the previous burglary cases, this scene was chaotic.

From the living room to the walk-in closet and bedroom, there were signs of extensive rummaging, as if the intruder had ransacked the place like a headless fly.

Gu Yanta frowned, a peculiar feeling creeping over him. His years of experience in criminal investigation told him that this case might not be as straightforward as it appeared.

The deceased lay sprawled on the bedroom floor, with visible strangulation marks on his neck and a dark patch of dried blood on the back of his head.

"Material evidence team, quickly collect samples, and search nearby, see if we can find the murder weapon! Chen Chen! Go pull the nearby surveillance footage, now!" Gu Yanta arranged everything in an orderly manner.

He gestured to the forensic pathologist, Lin Feiyu, to come over, "Old Lin, come over here for a moment."

Forensic pathologist Lin Feiyu, who was directing a few interns to load the body onto the transport, removed his gloves and said, "Preliminary assessment places the time of death between twelve and two a.m. Cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation, with a blunt force trauma to the occipital area, but we'll need to wait for the autopsy report to confirm the specifics."

"How soon can we get it? Director Wu's given us just three days to solve this case." Gu Yanta pulled out a cigarette but refrained from offering it to Lin Feiyu and chuckled, "Forgot you don't smoke on duty."

Lin Feiyu frowned. "Best we can do is after six today. What kind of work does the old man keep giving us? It's always the most difficult to get involved with these rich people! And today's Jing Jing's birthday, I told her I'd finish early and celebrate with her."

"Come on, don't worry about it, just get that report to us ASAP and I'll make sure you're out in time for your date," Gu Yanta winked at Lin Feiyu. "If it doesn't work, blame it on me and tell them I made you stay late."

"Boss, the person who reported the case is here, over here!" Ma Qin, a police officer from the field team, shouted from outside the door.

Hearing this, Gu Yanta stepped outside and stopped short when he saw the person.

The person who reported the case was a young man, good-looking in a strikingly distinct way from Gu Yanta's own tall, handsome looks. The young man was slender yet poised, his features refined, his expression indifferent, but his gaze strikingly resolute.

It had been a long time since Gu Yanta had encountered such a unique and eye-catching young man. Yes, the famously single captain of the Yuchuan City criminal investigation team was into men. But working in an environment that had him working overtime three hundred sixty-five days a year, he'd nearly forgotten what hormones felt like.

Gu Yanta quickly came back to his senses, "Hello, I'm Gu Yanta, head of the city bureau's criminal investigation team, please come back to the bureau with us to assist in the investigation."

"Okay," the young man replied. "My name is Lu Zheng, Lu Yu's cousin, I'm the one who called the police."

"Material evidence team, continue processing the scene, the rest of you, pull out!"

"Yes, sir!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

| TOC | Next Chapter

Translator Notes

Welcome to a new novel! Since I finished all the active translation projects (I'm taking a break before starting to translate SCI volume 6) and am only editing, I thought it was a good time to start a new project. I hope you all enojy~ 🥰

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: November 11, 2024 by Angel

Edited: November 16, 2024 by Angel