Qiming Chapter 78

Chapter 78

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A bus braked as it turned the corner of the street. Its headlights swept across a building opposite them, and together with the nearby neon lights, almost lit up the entire structure.

The building transformed instantly from a starry deep blue to a light yellow wall, as if it had undergone a sudden and unexpected change.

Xu Chengyue put down his phone and stared at it intently.

"Look at that office building," Xu Chengyue pointed at the building across the street, which was less than ten stories high and about forty metres tall. Facing Gu Yunfeng's anger, he added, "It just changed colour."

It was almost ten o'clock when Qin Wei ran into the two of them on the street.

In the afternoon, he received a notification that Fang Xing's driver had woken up, and he was supposed to head to the hospital immediately. However, he went home first, picked up his child, and then leisurely had dinner before finally heading out. He called Gu Yunfeng to ask where he was.

Unexpectedly, Gu Yunfeng, as if he had found a saviour, gave him an address and asked him to show up within half an hour.

So now, looking at the two people in front of him with an odd atmosphere, Qin Wei couldn't help but wonder, what on earth had they called him for?

Were they looking for Fang Xing, or had they summoned him to mediate a dispute?

"What happened between you and Professor Xu? Had a quarrel?" he asked Gu Yunfeng, who was standing under a streetlamp wearing a leather jacket, a full five metres away from Xu Chengyue.

He had the impression that the two had gotten along quite well before. He had heard that a while ago, when Professor Xu's house was temporarily uninhabitable, he had stayed with Captain Gu for a month or two. So why were they deliberately keeping such a distance now? Had they had a fight?

"What's there to quarrel about? It's not like you're a couple," he said, shaking his loose jacket and giving the two of them a disdainful look. But when he studied their expressions more closely, he realised that they didn't really look like they had quarrelled, and much less like they had fought.

After all, both of them were neatly dressed without any visible injuries.

"What are you on about? Professor Xu and I have been waiting for you," Gu Yunfeng said, his gaze shifting to Professor Xu. The two of them even seemed to exchange a knowing glance.

So it really didn't seem like they had been fighting. Perhaps they had just quarrelled and then made up.

"It's late at night, it's hard to tell colours," Qin Wei remarked as he lit a cigarette, glancing around at the surrounding skyscrapers. He held the cigarette between his fingers, the white smoke rings drifting northwards, disappearing into the air. As he took a puff, something suddenly came to his mind, and he turned his gaze to Gu Yunfeng, surprised to find that he hadn't reacted at all.

"You're not allergic to cigarette smoke anymore?" Qin Wei teased.

"Yeah, I've healed myself, smoke as much as you like," Gu Yunfeng nodded, waving his hand in the air to disperse the smoke. "But please don't blow it at me, second-hand smoke is harmful to health."

"So virtuous," Qin Wei rolled his eyes and retorted. He stood under the streetlamp for a while, finishing his cigarette, then casually extinguished the butt.

"So how are we going to find that person now? We've already scoured every red building in Nanpu City during the day," Qin Wei complained. During the day, he had visited nearly twenty places, including residential buildings, art palaces, office buildings, and various large company offices. They had checked every building in the area but had found nothing.

It was as if Fang Xing and the red building he mentioned had vanished into thin air.

"I've been thinking too," Gu Yunfeng glanced at him, "Since we've ruled out the red buildings, there's only one possibility left, right?"

"What possibility?"

"The building Fang Xing saw might change colour," Xu Chengyue, who was five metres away, stepped closer at some point and suddenly spoke as if in perfect sync with their thoughts.

"Old Qin, there's a reason I called you to this place," Gu Yunfeng leaned against a rusty streetlamp, then took a few steps forward. He turned on a specialised flashlight, adjusting it to its brightest setting, and shone it directly at a nearby office building, which was less than ten stories high, in the central business district.

"Now, when I shine the light directly at this building, the façade appears yellow to the naked eye." He then walked about ten meters forward, turned around, and shone the flashlight at the same spot from a forty-five-degree angle.

"Old Qin, come here. From my current angle, the building turns blue."

Qin Wei moved to where Gu Yunfeng was standing and indeed saw the façade transform instantly from light yellow to deep blue. With a few lights still on in the building, it resembled a starry night sky.

The façade of the building was made of protruding aluminium panels, painted yellow on one side and blue on the other. As the viewing angle changed, so did the colour. Viewed head-on, it appeared yellow, but from a forty-five-degree angle, it shifted to blue. From other angles, different colours might even be visible.

"An hour ago, Professor Xu and I walked by here and discovered the building's unique colours," Gu Yunfeng said as he put away the flashlight and zipped up his jacket.

An hour ago... No, that couldn't be right. Qin Wei thought about it, he had only received Gu Yunfeng's call twenty minutes ago. What were they doing during those forty minutes? It didn't make sense for them to delay such an important matter, had they been quarrelling?

But his doubts were quickly interrupted as Gu Yunfeng continued, "We've considered two possibilities. One is what you just saw – the colour of the building's façade changes with the angle. The other possibility is that the colour changes with the intensity of the light."

"Today was a sunny day, and when Fang Xing made the emergency call, the sun had just risen. But this idea doesn't hold up well. If it were due to light intensity, the colour change wouldn't be as drastic, and there aren't many buildings that use this special material, it's not very practical."

Qin Wei glanced at the two of them uncertainly, but said nothing.

"Professor Xu and I think we should only focus on the colour changes caused by angle shifts."

Qin Wei responded with an understanding "oh," finally grasping their basic idea. Given the limited time, they needed to quickly eliminate less likely possibilities and rescue the victim as fast as possible.

"I'm just wondering, why are you two checking out the colours of these lousy buildings at this time of night?" He now felt dizzy just looking at these buildings one after another. No wonder people preferred living in villas, there were none of these annoying issues. Why did an exterior façade have to be so fancy? Didn't they know that true luxury is understated and true sophistication is modest?

"Use a flashlight, I just applied for one, it's bright enough and lasts long. Rotate it a hundred and eighty degrees against the different building façades, maybe you'll find an angle that turns them red."

"Even if the light doesn't help much now, when daylight comes in a few hours, we'll definitely find Fang Xing."

As long as they found Fang Xing before eight o'clock the next morning, they wouldn't exceed the twenty-hour window the kidnappers had given. His chances of survival were still fairly high.

Qin Wei was also curious about what would be revealed next. They had uncovered three things so far, with three more left to go.

Gu Yunfeng had requested detailed registration records from the city's property management companies for all office buildings, trying to narrow down the search area to only those with façades made of special materials.

Qin Wei lit another cigarette as he waited at a bus stop, even though the last bus had already left. Occasionally, a few late-night workers, weary from their shifts, stood by the roadside hailing cabs, solitary figures under the streetlights.

"I heard... Professor Xu plans to leave the criminal investigation team?" Gu Yunfeng was busy on a call, so Qin Wei wandered over to chat with Xu Chengyue.

"Yes," Xu Chengyue nodded, raising the collar of his trench coat. "I'm submitting my resignation tomorrow."

"There's just too much going on at the university, I really can't manage both," he explained sincerely.

"You agreed to this?" Qin Wei looked at Gu Yunfeng in surprise, lightly tapping his shoulder with his phone. He remembered that just a few days ago, this young man was adamantly opposed to anyone leaving their post without permission, going on about how it was a matter of dignity. At the time, Qin Wei was utterly confused, wondering how a simple resignation had anything to do with dignity.

But now, in less than a day, Gu Yunfeng had suddenly changed his mind?

"What else can I do?" Gu Yunfeng shrugged helplessly. "You can't stop the rain from falling, and you can't stop a mother from marrying off her daughter. If Professor Xu wants to resign, am I supposed to force him to stay?"

"You could, though, you were able to force us not to smoke before," Qin Wei remarked casually, his vengeful nature shining through as he brought up old grievances.

"Damn," Gu Yunfeng muttered under his breath, trying to justify himself. "That was because smoking is harmful to your health, I didn't want you all dying young."

Still browsing the emails that kept flooding in even at this late hour, Gu Yunfeng continued, multitasking as he spoke, "Anyway, that's settled. I'll help push through Professor Xu's paperwork so he can leave quickly."

Then he looked up, his gaze softening. "This will put your mind at ease." When he said this, it felt like they had reached some sort of secret agreement. Unspoken, but understood between them.

Xu Chengyue smiled slightly, nodding in agreement. "But I haven't told Professor Lu about my resignation yet, could you both keep it a secret for now?"

"I really can't let him find out yet." His expression was one of worry as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his trench coat, looking helplessly at Gu Yunfeng.

"Alright," Gu Yunfeng sighed. "I'll keep it quiet until your paperwork is done, but after that, you're on your own."

Watching the two of them exchange these words so smoothly, Qin Wei couldn't shake the feeling that he was intruding on something, though he couldn't quite put his finger on what. The atmosphere around them seemed charged with a certain ambiguity, a subtle undercurrent, full of intrigue.

It was already past ten at night, and the subway was about to stop running. The streets were almost deserted, with only a few stragglers returning to the distant glow of their homes. On nights like this, their only companions were probably the twenty-four-hour convenience stores.

Qin Wei looked down and saw a stray dog hobbling toward him, circling around him repeatedly. He crouched down and took out a piece of ham he'd bought from a convenience store, feeding it to the poor little guy.

Xu Chengyue handed him a hot coffee while Gu Yunfeng stood not far away, still on the phone. After about ten minutes, he finally walked back over to them, saying that Director Zhao would have someone send over the city-wide records of buildings with special exterior materials within five minutes.

Looking at the two of them exchange a knowing smile, Qin Wei couldn't help but return to his earlier question–

What exactly were these two doing during those forty minutes before he arrived?

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

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

Translated: August 31, 2024 by Angel

Edited: December 5, 2024 by Angel