The moment Bai Mo opened the door, a big group of guards filed in.

The leader, a fierce-looking man with a big beard, looked around with a frown and asked gruffly, “Where’s Fu Yucheng?”

Bai Mo calmly replied, “Yu-ge is in the bedroom. He’s drunk.”

“Drunk? Really?” The bearded man snorted coldly, and led the group of people into the bedroom.

Fu Yucheng was sprawled face down on the bed, sleeping soundly. His hair and clothes were a complete mess, and the alcohol fumes around him were almost enough to kill someone.

The bearded man walked up to the bed, suspicious. “How can you be this drunk so early? I hadn’t heard of Fu Yucheng being an alcoholic.” As he muttered, he pushed Fu Yucheng harshly. “Wake up!”

Fu Yucheng mumbled and turned over, still asleep.

The bearded man waved his hand impatiently, and someone immediately brought him a glass of water.

Taking a big mouthful of the water, he sprayed it all over Fu Yucheng.

When the cold water hit his face, Fu Yucheng’s eyelashes fluttered lightly, and, finally, he opened his eyes. He stared at the group of people in front of him in a daze, his eyes unable to focus.

“Did you sober up yet?” The bearded man asked him impatiently. “Where were you two hours ago?”

Fu Yucheng stared at the other man blankly, and then he slowly spoke. “I’m not drunk.”

The bearded man was stunned. He still intended to say more, but Fu Yucheng leaned against him, putting his arms around the man’s shoulders, and said, slurring his words “Littl- little Mo, I’m- I’m so happy today… Open- open another bottle!”

The bearded man didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. He stretched out a hand to push the other man away, but Fu Yucheng’s arms were like iron shackles, impossible to shake off.

Fu Yucheng squinted, taking a look at the other man. “Little Mo, when… when did you grow a beard? Haha, it’s so ugly.”

Standing at the foot of the bed, Bai Mo said helplessly, “Yu-ge, I am here.”

Fu Yucheng raised his eyelids sluggishly. His beautiful eyes were in a drunken stupor, the corners slightly reddened, and indescribably glossy. “Huh? Little Mo?”

Although he knew that the man was pretending, Bai Mo’s heart still thumped heavily. He suddenly felt that he didn’t want anyone else… to see Fu Yucheng like this.

The boy was silent for a moment before saying in a low voice, “Yu-ge, let him go, quick. He’s here looking for a thief.”

“If you- if you are little Mo, then… who’s this…?” Fu Yucheng looked at the bearded man that was tightly trapped within his own arms, and examined him closely. “Well, you- who are you?! Why are you holding me without letting me go?! Scum- scumbag!”

The bearded man was so angry that he cursed him out. “Fu Yucheng, you lousy drunkard! Did you go mad with the booze?! You’re the one holding me!”

“Bu… bullshit, it’s obviously you!” Fu Yucheng replied angrily.

Bai Mo hurried forward, speaking in an almost coaxing tone. “Yu-ge, behave. Let him go, be nice.”

Fu Yucheng stared at him blankly. “Uh.”

Then he let go.

The bearded man, relieved, scrambled to get away from the bedside area.

He stared at Fu Yucheng. “Forget it. Seeing as you’re this drunk, I don’t need to ask what you have been up to for the last two hours. However, according to the regulations, the search still has to happen. Men, register the area!” Following the bearded man’s order, a group of guards immediately began to rummage through the room.

In a short while, they had turned the living room upside down and made a mess of Bai Mo’s bedroom, even turning his mattress over.

All the cabinets in Fu Yucheng’s bedroom were opened, giving a clear view of the inside.

At last, the only thing left to search was the bed under Fu Yucheng himself.

However, he was lying on that bed, drunk, and refusing to get down.

The bearded man told Bai Mo, “You get him off so that we can finish searching, then we’ll leave.”

Bai Mo had seen Fu Yucheng hide something underneath the mattress earlier, and, naturally, he knew that he shouldn’t let them search it.

“Yu-ge, get up!” He pretended to pull Fu Yucheng up. The other made for an excellent octopus, clinging to the mattress with all his limbs. Bai Mo was unable to move him.

The bearded man lost his patience and said angrily, “Men, just lift the mattress with this man on it!”

Several big guys immediately stepped forward. All working together, they lifted the mattress, with Fu Yucheng still on top.

There was nothing there either.

Just a bare bed frame.

At that moment, a high pitched sound from a smart alarm came from outside the door: “Beep beep beep- Thief’s location: northwest corner of the 33rd floor! All squads, rejoin to flank him! Repeat: Thief’s location: northwest corner…”

The bearded man no longer cared about the damn drunk. He gestured sharply. “Follow me!”

The group of people left in an instant, leaving just the messy house behind.

It wasn’t until Bai Mo closed the door with a bang that Fu Yucheng let out a long sigh of relief, rolled over, and sat up. “I wonder who the little thief upstairs might be, looking for trouble just in time.”

Bai Mo was a little curious. “Yu-ge, I definitely saw you hide two books under the mattress. Why are they missing now?”

“Haha, they’re there.” Fu Yucheng jumped out of bed and raised the mattress with a grin, showing the diary and the book, taped to the bottom of the mattress.

A moment earlier, he had been lying on that bed, refusing to get up. The others had to lift the mattress with him on it. Naturally, they were only able to see the bare bed frame, but not the things stuck to the mattress.

Bai Mo couldn’t contain a laugh. “So that’s how it was. No wonder you were refusing to get up.”

“There is an old saying: the most dangerous place is the safest place.” Fu Yucheng proudly set the mattress back down, and, suddenly, he staggered.

Bai Mo had a quick eye, and his hands supported Fu Yucheng before he could fall. “What’s wrong?”

Fu Yucheng shook his head vigorously, trying to sober himself up. “That half bottle of liquor just now was too strong. It got to my head a little.”

“You should drink less.” The boy frowned helplessly.

Fu Yucheng waved his hand, nonchalant. “How could I act like that if I drank less? It’s okay, you can help me to the bathroom, I’m just going to wash my face.”

Bai Mo endured it and restrained his tongue, carefully helping him to the bathroom.

As soon as he stepped inside, the boy suddenly felt something.

He stopped immediately, staring at the still, white shower curtain before him, and, turning to the side to protect Fu Yucheng, he said harshly, “Who’s there?! Come out!”

After a second, the shower curtain shook.

A baby faced boy, about fifteen or sixteen years old, peeked out from behind the curtain timidly: “…It’s- it’s me.”

It was Mo Ziran.

For a moment, Fu Yucheng was dumbfounded. “Mo Ziran? What are you doing here?”

The wheels in Bai Mo’s head started turning. The bathroom’s door had been closed until a moment ago, so Mo Ziran shouldn’t have been able to hear what the two of them had talked about in the bedroom.

However, in order to ensure Fu Yucheng’s safety… Bai Mo stared at Mo Ziran, his eyes dark. His snow-white face was completely devoid of any expression, and traces of a cold, murderous aura began to pour off him.

Kill him.

As if he had sensed something, Fu Yucheng gave him a look and said in a warning tone, “Little Mo.”

Bai Mo looked down and lessened his killing intent. “Fine.”

Mo Ziran didn’t know that he had just dodged a bullet. Confused, his eyes opened wide, the black irises contrasting sharply against the white around them. “I- I didn’t hide on purpose, I had no choice. They were chasing me… My brother will definitely be angry…”

Fu Yucheng was puzzled. “Kiddo, what are you talking about?”

Mo Ziran seemed close to tears. “I was hidden in a storage room on the 33rd floor. I heard the guards coming in, so I could only climb the water pipes down the outer wall… I didn’t- I didn’t know your room was right below…”

Fu Yucheng finally understood, and couldn’t help raising his eyebrows in surprise. “The guards? Do you mean… that you are the little thief they’re chasing?”

“I didn’t steal anything! I just wanted to go into my brother’s bedroom and his study to take a look… However, when I got out of the bedroom, I triggered the anti-theft laser…” Mo Ziran explained.

Fu Yucheng realized that the person who had triggered the alarm had not been him, but this boy in front of him! Of course, he would also end up taking the blame for the things that were lost.

He was a little confused. “Why did you sneak into Mo Ziwei’s room?”

Mo Ziran bit his lip, apparently not knowing how to answer.

After a long time, he murmured, “Could I get a glass of water?”

The three returned to the living room, and Mo Ziran sat down onto the sofa. Holding the cup of hot water that Bai Mo poured for him, he stared blankly ahead.

After a long time, he muttered, “I think my brother… has been acting a bit strange.”

Your brother has always been a deviant, Fu Yucheng thought to himself. Of course, he would not say it out loud. Instead, he raised his eyebrows. “Strange in what sense?”

“He’s… he’s not the same as before.” Mo Ziran’s expression was a little dazed. “When I was a child, my brother always loved me very much. The year he went off to the Devil’s Antarctic, I was only eight years old… I couldn’t bear to let him go, so I chased after him. He wouldn’t even look back, but, after I fell, he turned around to pick me up. He told me that he was going to do something very important, and that he would be back soon.

“However, after he left, three years went by in the blink of an eye. During that time, my mother passed away from heartbreak, and my father had a cerebral hemorrhage soon afterwards and became paralyzed. At that point, everyone thought my brother was dead… But, one day, he suddenly came back, wearing that horrible ghost mask.”

Fu Yucheng interrupted him. “When Mo Ziwei came back, he was already wearing a mask? Then how can you be sure that he is Mo Ziwei?”

Mo Ziran said, “My brother’s face was ruined, so he has to wear a mask. But his psionic field has not changed, and I know his various habits very well.”

Fu Yucheng nodded.

“When my brother came back, I was, of course, ecstatic. But soon after his return, my father passed away, and my brother took over the position of the fortress master. Over the years, although my brother was always very busy and didn’t have much time to spend with me, he never treated me badly.”

Mo Ziran murmured, “Later, my brother got married… My sister-in-law was my brother’s childhood sweetheart, gentle and beautiful. However, after getting married, my brother and sister-in-law separated. One night, I heard them arguing, but I never found out what they were arguing about.”

Fu Yucheng frowned and said, “I heard that they cared for each other very much, right? After his wife died, when a little girl accidentally broke into her mourning hall, the fortress master became so enraged that he killed her on the spot. Is that true or not?”

Mo Ziran whispered, “That’s true. So I believe my brother should still love my sister-in-law… Back then, when my sister-in-law accidentally fell to her death, he didn’t leave his rooms for a long time. Afterwards, when that girl stepped into sister-in-law’s mourning hall, my brother just… he just killed her.”

Deep in thought, Fu Yucheng said, “So that’s how it is.”

“Recently, I think my brother has been getting more and more… strange. A while ago, I brought up how during my childhood, when I was eight years old, he promised to carve me a toy of my zodiac’s animal and that he broke his promise in the end. After listening to me, my brother suddenly became furious and kicked me out.”

Mo Ziran murmured, “After I was kicked out, I was so confused that I couldn’t understand anything no matter how much I thought about it. Then I realized that my brother might have been dealing with another problem and that was the reason why he got so angry, so I just… I just thought I’d sneak into his room to take a look.”

Hearing his words, Fu Yucheng couldn’t help but frown deeply.

So many things, all indescribably odd.

Mo Ziwei, missing for three years…the distant Devil’s Antarctic… the beloved wife who fell to her death… the oil painting with strange colors… the ghost mask…

Suddenly, a thought flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.

Was it… could it be?!

At that moment, Mo Ziran wiped his nose, embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I get teary and get a runny nose when I get emotional.”

Fu Yucheng glanced at him and slowly said, “Go to the bathroom and wash your face. There is a red towel on the rack, it’s brand new.”

After hesitating, Mo Ziran nodded, got up and walked into the bathroom.

Bai Mo gave Fu Yucheng a suspicious glance. The only new towel on the towel rack in the bathroom was a light green one which he himself had placed there… where would a red towel come from?

Fu Yucheng ignored him, got up and walked to the bathroom door. He watched as Mo Ziran hesitatingly took the towel from the rack, and, suddenly, he asked, “Mo Ziran, are you… color blind?”

Mo Ziran looked at him in surprise. “How did you know?”

“Just as I thought. Your mother is also color-blind… that was the reason the colors in her painting were so weird,” Fu Yucheng muttered. “If the mother is color-blind, the chance of the son being color-blind is practically 100%. However, Mo Ziwei isn’t.”

He thought of the stack of papers in Mo Ziwei’s study, and how he had used pens of several colors to make annotations, all clear and organized.

Fu Yucheng murmured, “The Mo Ziwei who came back that year, is he really your brother? Your father and your sister-in-law, how did they really die?”

The colorblindness stuff is true, red-green color blindness is on the X chromosome, so for the mother to carry it she needs both X chromosomes to have it, and therefore sons would have it too, but daughters would require the father to also be colorblind for that to happen.

These chapters are getting tense, hoo boy.

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