The kitchen still looked slightly chaotic from earlier. A few bowls sat drying near the sink, a towel had been tossed carelessly over the back of a chair, and the scent of simple homemade food lingered warmly through the apartment in a way that felt unfamiliar after so much running. And somehow, that made it feel more dangerous than either of them wanted to admit because comfort was easy to get used to.
Jun Wei, however, acted as if this had always been home. "This is better than before!" he announced proudly from his seat at the small table, swinging his legs with enough enthusiasm to make the chair creak beneath him. His chopsticks waved slightly as he spoke, full of dramatic certainty. "Even the rice tastes like home."
Suo Ran, standing near the stove while finishing the last plate, glanced back over his shoulder with faint disbelief. "Rice is rice."
"No," Jun Wei argued immediately, his expression turning deeply serious in a way only children could manage over something so small. "Home rice is different."
That earned the slightest pause from Suo Ran. Lian Ziho, who had been carrying another plate over to the table, let out a quiet breath that was almost a laugh as he set it down carefully. " He kind of has a point."
Suo Ran frowned slightly as he turned fully from the stove. "Don't encourage him."
"I'm not encouraging him," Lian Ziho replied easily, pulling out a chair. "I'm saying you lost." "I didn't know this was a competition."
Jun Wei looked between them instantly, as though they'd both said something ridiculous. "Everything is competition."
That Actually made Lian Ziho laugh.
The sound caught Suo Ran off guard enough that his gaze shifted toward him briefly before he looked away again almost immediately.
Dangerous not because of any visible threat.
But because moments like this small, ordinary, warm made it too easy to forget how temporary things could be. Jun Wei, entirely unaware of the emotional damage he casually caused, pointed dramatically toward the empty seat beside them. "You're staying too, right?" Lian Ziho blinked once, then pointed lightly toward himself. " Me?"
"Yes, you," Jun Wei said as if there was no reasonable alternative. "You helped clean. You carried heavy things. That means you stay."
Lian Ziho leaned back slightly, folding his arms with exaggerated thoughtfulness. "Hm. That sounds reasonable." Suo Ran narrowed his eyes immediately. "Does it?" Lian Ziho glanced sideways at him, faint amusement flickering in his expression. "If your gege allows it." Jun Wei turned toward Suo Ran so fast it was almost alarming. "He allows." Suo Ran stared at him flatly. "I didn't say that."Jun Wei didn't even blink. "You didn't say no."
Silence.
Lian Ziho lowered his head slightly, clearly hiding another smile." He's smarter than you think." Suo Ran muttered under his breath as he finally sat down, "That's exactly the problem." Jun Wei grinned brightly, fully satisfied with himself and his apparently flawless logic. For a moment Just a brief, painful moment It almost felt normal enough to hurt.
Suo Ran settled into his seat, though unlike Jun Wei, his posture stayed more guarded than relaxed. He ate, but carefully. Like even now, some part of him refused to fully let himself belong in the moment. Jun Wei, on the other hand, had no such problem.
"Can we fix that shelf later?" he asked between bites. "Maybe." "And the broken light?" "We'll see."
"And can Lian Ziho stay in the room near ours?" Suo Ran nearly choked on absolutely nothing. He didn't cough but the abrupt stillness from him was obvious enough.
Lian Ziho, somehow, remained unbearably calm. "That's very considerate."
"It's practical," Jun Wei corrected immediately, as if Lian Ziho had missed the obvious point. "If bad things happen, you're closer." The table went quieter. Suo Ran's gaze moved slightly, his expression unreadable for half a second before softening in that careful, restrained way Jun Wei rarely noticed. " Jun Wei." The child blinked innocently. "What?" Suo Ran's voice lowered not harsh, but gentler. "Eat." Jun Wei frowned, visibly unconvinced. "You always say that when you don't want to answer."
Suo Ran picked up his chopsticks again. "And yet it keeps working." Lian Ziho looked down this time, very clearly hiding his reaction. Jun Wei sighed with the exaggerated suffering of someone deeply misunderstood, then returned to eating.
Lian ziho simply watched Suo Ran quietly from across the table, noticing the way his grip tightened slightly, the way his responses became shorter, the way his thoughts had clearly drifted somewhere darker.
Later, after lunch, Jun Wei became distracted by a small box of old objects he'd found while exploring one of the lower cabinets random coins, loose buttons, forgotten keys.
"Treasure," he whispered to himself with complete sincerity. That left Suo Ran briefly alone near the kitchen sink, rinsing dishes.
"You're doing it again." Lian ziho said behind him. Suo Ran didn't turn around. " Doing what?"
Lian Ziho's voice came from closer than expected. "Acting like this is temporary."
That made Suo Ran pause Only for a second. "It is temporary." "Is it?"
Suo Ran set the dish down a little too carefully. " Yes." Lian Ziho leaned lightly against the nearby counter, arms folded now.
"You say things like that too quickly."
Suo Ran finally looked at him. "And you stay too easily." Neither looked away immediately.
Lian Ziho's voice lowered. "You shouldn't say things you don't mean." Suo Ran's brows narrowed slightly. "And what exactly am I pretending not to mean?" "That leaving fixes anything." That Hit. Suo Ran's jaw tightened faintly. "This isn't safe." "It wasn't safe there either." Lian ziho with serious tone. "That's different." "No," Lian Ziho said quietly. "You just had more walls." Suo Ran's gaze sharpened. "You don't understand." "Then explain it."
"I can't."
"Or you won't."
Silence in kitchen.From the other room:
"Gege! This key looks suspicious!" Neither answered immediately. Suo Ran's voice dropped lower. "You shouldn't stay." Lian Ziho didn't move. "Give me one good reason." Suo Ran stared at him. "This can get worse." Lian Ziho nodded once. "I know."
"You could get dragged into something you don't understand." "Already happened."
" Lian Ziho." "No," he said, quieter now. "You don't get to do that."
"Do what?"
"Decide alone that everyone leaves."
That landed harder than Suo Ran expected.
Because part of him already knew it was true.
His expression shifted small, but enough.
Lian Ziho noticed. " Why?" Suo Ran asked finally. The question came out quieter than intended. Lian Ziho hesitated.
Not because he didn't know because he did." Because if something happens to you," he said carefully, "I won't be able to ignore it."
Jun Wei, from the next room: "I found another suspicious button!" they stayed frozen neither moved. Neither spoke. The space between them suddenly felt too aware.
Lian Ziho's gaze didn't shift. "Suo Ran…"
"Don't." The word came instantly.
Lian Ziho paused. " I didn't say anything yet."
Suo Ran's breath caught slightly despite himself. "That's why I'm stopping you."
A long silence followed. " You already know."
Suo Ran looked away first.
" I need air," he said. And left before staying became more dangerous than running.
Meanwhile Cai Lang stood in the living room with the photo still in his hand. The apartment around him felt dim in a way that wasn't just about lighting anymore, but about atmosphere like even the air had slowed down to listen. The silence wasn't comforting; it felt expectant, as if something unseen was waiting for his reaction.
The paper in his grip looked too light for how heavy it felt in his mind, like something fragile holding something dangerous. His eyes moved over the image again and again, refusing to settle on a single detail, because every detail led back to the same point.
All of them were there in the photo Suo Ran, Lian Ziho, Jun Wei, Anxin. Normal faces. Normal moment. Nothing about it should have felt wrong, and yet it did. The wrongness was precise, intentional, like someone had chosen this exact moment and frozen it just to disrupt it later. And then there was Suo Ran. His face was marked with a harsh red circle, as if drawn in anger or urgency, something aggressive layered over calm expression. Beneath it, uneven handwriting pressed into the paper with only a few words that refused to leave Cai Lang's mind: Don't trust him.
Anxin's voice finally broke the silence, uncertain and lower than usual. " What is this?" he asked, stepping closer, eyes narrowing as he tried to understand what he was seeing. Cai Lang didn't answer immediately. His grip on the photo tightened slightly, fingers pressing into the edges as if pressure could extract meaning from it. His gaze scanned it again, slower this time, like repetition might reveal something new, but it didn't. It only confirmed the same unsettling message.
His thoughts started to move on their own before he could stop them.
Suo Ran? Why him?
Why only him? (....)
His eyes stayed fixed on the mark as his mind tried to piece it together in fragments.
Is he connected to this? (...)
The thought surfaced without permission, blunt and uncomfortable, as if the situation itself was pushing him toward it. Cai Lang's jaw tightened slightly.
What I'm thinking. (....)
Almost immediately, another voice inside him pushed back harder, firmer.
That doesn't make sense. (....)
He's been here. He's been around Jun Wei. Nothing about him nothing. (....)
The thought broke for a fraction of a second as hesitation tried to creep in again, but Cai Lang shut it down instantly.
He's not that kind of person. (....)
The certainty didn't come from logic alone. It came from something he didn't want to name, something already decided long before this paper ever appeared. His grip loosened just a little, but his eyes didn't leave the photo.
Then why this? Why his face? Why the warning? (....)
Anxin come closer and said " hey, Are you listening? " He repeated " where did you find this?" Cai Lang said finally, voice low and controlled. "It was outside the door." Anxin's brows furrowed sharply at that. "Outside? Why would someone leave something like this at your place?" Cai Lang didn't look away from the image when he answered. "That's not the only question." His tone wasn't emotional, but it wasn't calm either. It was the kind of voice that came when thinking had already gone too far ahead of speaking.
Anxin took the photo from him briefly, turning it in his hands as if checking for hidden meaning. "Why is there a picture of all of us? Who even took this?" he asked, more to himself than anyone else. Cai Lang didn't respond. His attention had already drifted past the physical object and locked onto the words again, as if they had weight of their own. Don't trust him. The phrase repeated itself inside his head without permission, each repetition slightly different, slightly sharper. " What does that message mean?" Anxin asked again, this time more firmly, trying to pull Cai Lang back into the present.
Cai Lang still didn't answer immediately. His eyes had returned to Suo Ran's face in the circled mark, studying it in a way that was no longer just observation but analysis. Not speaking. Not reacting. Just thinking, but too many thoughts were colliding without order. Too many gaps where certainty should have been. His jaw tightened slightly before he exhaled slowly. " Say something," Anxin pressed again, impatience starting to surface now, because silence from Cai Lang usually meant deeper trouble.
Cai Lang finally spoke, voice low and distant. " I don't know anything." Anxin blinked at that. "What?" Cai Lang repeated, quieter this time, as if clarifying for himself as much as for Anxin. "I don't know anything. I'm also confused." His gaze dropped slightly, still holding the photo. " Why is his face marked?" he added after a pause, almost like the question slipped out without permission. "Did he.." He stopped himself abruptly, as if catching the direction of his own thought mid-fall.
Anxin's reaction was immediate and sharper. "Hey. Don't tell me you're actually thinking Suo Ran is behind this." Cai Lang's eyes flickered for a fraction of a second, a shift too small for certainty but too real to ignore. Then he answered immediately, "No. I'm not saying that." A beat passed. " I'm thinking." That honesty, blunt and unfiltered, made the situation heavier instead of clearer.
Anxin didn't relax. "That's the same direction," he said firmly. Cai Lang's fingers tapped once against the edge of the photo, a small, controlled movement that revealed more tension than his face did. "You are thinking about it," Anxin added. Cai Lang didn't deny it this time. Instead, he responded flatly, " I'd be stupid not to." That sentence didn't accuse anyone, but it also didn't protect anyone. It simply existed in the middle, unsettled.
Anxin stepped closer, frustration mixing with concern now. "Then think properly," he said, voice low but firm. Silence stretched between them again, heavy and deliberate. Anxin continued, "I've known him only a few days." A pause. "And even I can tell he's not like that." Cai Lang didn't respond, but his gaze stayed fixed on the photo. Anxin didn't stop there. "He protects Jun Wei constantly. He avoids attention. He had opportunities if he wanted something any of us would've noticed by now." He gestured at the photo again. "This? This feels manipulated."
Cai Lang's gaze darkened slightly at that. " Or warned," he said quietly. Anxin immediately reacted, snapping his head up. "Exactly. Warned." He leaned in slightly, voice lowering. "About him? Or for him?"
Cai Lang stared at the photo again, slower this time, as if trying to separate intention from manipulation. " Someone wants me suspicious," Anxin added quietly. "And emotional. And right now? It's working." That statement hung there longer than anything else so far, because it wasn't wrong it was just uncomfortable.
Silence stretched again, dangerous in its calmness. Cai Lang finally turned the photo over fully in his hands, expression unchanged but attention sharpening. There was more writing on the back short, uneven, almost rushed: Ask what happened before he came to you. Anxin leaned slightly closer. " Before?" he repeated under his breath. Cai Lang's voice dropped lower, colder now. "We know nothing."
A long pause followed, heavier than before. Then Cai Lang slowly lowered the photo, as if deciding something internally. "Anxin," he said. "Yeah?" Anxin responded immediately. " Check the door cameras," Cai Lang instructed. Anxin frowned. "You think someone " "I don't think," Cai Lang cut in sharply, then corrected himself more controlled, "I confirm."
Another pause followed, tension still present but now directed. Then Cai Lang turned toward the door. "Where are you going?" Anxin asked quickly. Cai Lang didn't slow down. "Outside." "For what?" The door handle clicked under his hand. " To find who left this." And then he left.
Suo Ran stood near the edge of the valley, where the wind moved differently colder, slower, like it had to pass through too much space before reaching him. The land below was quiet in a way that didn't feel peaceful, only distant. He stayed a little apart from the others, not because he wanted distance, but because it came naturally now. Behind him, footsteps approached. "Still standing here like you're trying to argue with the wind?" Lin Yichen's voice came first, light, familiar.
Suo Ran didn't turn immediately. " It doesn't answer," he said simply.
Lin Yichen gave a small hum as he stopped beside him. "Most things don't." A couple of other friends were there too. One of them grinned first, breaking the distance with familiarity. "So you really disappeared this time, huh? No message, no trace just gone."
Suo Ran glanced at him briefly. " It wasn't planned like that."
Another friend laughed softly. "That's what you always say. 'Not planned.' Then suddenly you're somewhere completely different." A third leaned forward slightly, half joking. "At this point we should start tracking you like missing property." Suo Ran didn't respond immediately, but there was the faintest softening in his expression. " You all talk like I'm hard to find." "Because you are," the first one replied quickly. "We meet once in a blue moon, and every time it feels like you've lived three different lives in between."
That made one of them laugh again, lighter this time. Suo Ran exhaled faintly. "Nothing that dramatic." Lin Yichen watched the exchange quietly, not interrupting, just observing the way Suo Ran stood there present, but not fully pulled into it. One of the friends tilted their head. "Still the same though. Quiet, serious, acting like you didn't just vanish for ages." Suo Ran's voice stayed calm. "I didn't vanish."
"You did," another said immediately. "Just in your own way." A brief pause followed, then someone added more softly, "We were actually starting to think you wouldn't come back at all this time." That made the air shift slightly. Suo Ran didn't answer right away.
" I came back now, I'm not going. " he said.
Lin Yichen glanced at Suo Ran briefly. "You've been coming this place, whenever you came back. Do you like this vally that much? " "It's quiet," Suo Ran replied. "That's not a reason," Lin Yichen said, half-teasing. Suo Ran finally looked at him for a moment. "It is for me." Lin Yichen didn't push further immediately. He just leaned slightly against a nearby rock, watching the valley below. "You haven't changed much in that way." Suo Ran didn't respond to that. A pause settled between them,"Lin Yichen."
"Hmm?" Suo Ran's gaze lowered slightly. " My father didn't die naturally, did he?" That question came out nowhere. Lin Yichen's expression didn't change much, but his silence stretched longer this time. " You already suspect that," he said finally. "I'm confirming it," Suo Ran replied.
A faint wind passed between them again.
Lin Yichen sighed quietly. "I don't have proof. If I did, you wouldn't be standing here asking me like this." Suo Ran's jaw tightened slightly. " Then why say there's someone who knows?" Lin Yichen glanced at him. "Because there is." "Who." A pause.
Then Lin Yichen spoke more carefully, each word measured. "Someone who was close to your father before everything happened."
Suo Ran's eyes narrowed slightly. "Close how." "Work," Lin Yichen said. "Maybe more than that. I don't know the full relationship."
Suo Ran didn't look away. "And this person is still alive." "Yes." Silence followed.
From the group behind them, faint laughter carried again someone joking about taking a photo at the edge of the valley but it felt far away now. Suo Ran spoke again, quieter. "Why didn't you tell me before?" Lin Yichen's gaze shifted slightly. "Because you weren't asking before." "That's not true." Lin Yichen turned to him fully now. "No," he corrected gently, "you were running before." That made Suo Ran pause.
Lin Yichen continued, voice lower now. "Every time your father came up, you changed direction. Every time someone tried to talk about it, you shut it down."
Suo Ran's fingers tightened faintly at his side. " I didn't want to know something I couldn't fix," he said. Lin Yichen nodded once. "That's exactly why I didn't push."
A beat passed. Then Suo Ran asked, quieter, "And now?" Lin Yichen looked at him for a long moment. " Now you've stopped running," he said. "So it becomes dangerous in a different way." Suo Ran's eyes lifted slightly. "Dangerous for who." Lin Yichen didn't answer immediately. When he did, his voice was quieter than before. " For everyone still connected to it." That silence settled differently.
Suo Ran looked back toward the valley again, expression unreadable. " Tell me the name," he said after a moment. Lin Yichen hesitated.
Then "I can't do that here," he replied. "Not with them around." Suo Ran glanced briefly at the others behind them. " Then where."
Lin Yichen met his gaze again. " Somewhere you can't be watched."
Cai Lang was not in the city anymore. His car had stopped a while ago, engine silent now, like even the machine had decided there was no point continuing further. He stood outside it, one hand still resting lightly on the door, as if he hadn't fully decided whether to leave or go back inside.
For a moment, he exhaled through his nose and looked up at the empty stretch of road ahead. " Of all days," he muttered under his breath. "This is really how it's going to go."
A faint pause followed. He glanced back at his car, then forward again. " First that mess," he added quietly, voice tightening slightly, "then that box, then that nonsense, and now this."
His jaw clenched. "What bad luck do I have to attract all of this at once?" A short, humorless breath left him. " I should've just gone home." The wind moved lightly across the road, but it didn't feel empty anymore.
It felt occupied. Cai Lang's expression shifted almost instantly. "what the..."
group had formed at a distance, stepping out from the darker edge of the road. Their movements were slow, deliberate, like they already knew there was no need to rush. Metal caught faint light in their hands knives, cold reflections. And among them, at least two shapes that held the unmistakable outline of guns. Cai Lang's eyes narrowed slightly. " okay, let's do it." he said quietly.
Cai Lang finally turned his head slightly, eyes scanning them once. "you're blocking the wrong person," he said. One of them scoffed. "You talk too much." The moment the words landed, the group moved.
The first man rushed in with a blade aimed low, fast and direct. Cai Lang stepped aside just enough for it to miss, his shoulder twisting with controlled precision as he caught the attacker's wrist and redirected the momentum. The knife scraped past air instead of flesh, and Cai Lang drove his elbow into the man's forearm sharp, efficient. The blade dropped before it hit the ground, Cai Lang had already moved.
Another came from the side this time slower. Aimed to trap rather than strike. Cai Lang shifted backward, boot sliding against the ground, then pivoted in a tight arc and used the man's own forward motion against him. A quick strike to the ribs. A second to the wrist. The man stumbled back with a sharp inhale.
Cai Lang didn't pause. "Still think I'm alone?" he muttered under his breath, almost annoyed more than anything else.
A gun clicked somewhere behind him.
That sound changed the rhythm instantly.
Cai Lang dropped low without thinking.
The shot went wide, cutting through the space he had just been standing in. Dust flicked up from the ground as he rolled to the side, using the motion to close distance instead of retreating.
He came up near another attacker and struck first no hesitation. A hit to the jaw, then a twist that forced the man's arm down. The weapon slipped loose again. Another rushed him immediately. This one didn't use a blade.
Just brute force. Cai Lang blocked the first hit with his forearm, the impact vibrating through him, then stepped inside the man's reach and delivered a short strike to the neck. Not enough to end it just enough to break rhythm.
Breathing stayed steady. Expression unchanged. " Too many of you for people who want results," he said flatly.
A kick came from behind. He barely turned in time, absorbing it partially, sliding forward a half-step to reduce damage. His hand shot back and grabbed the attacker's ankle mid-recovery, pulling him off balance and forcing him down but there was no time to finish.
They were circling again. Cai Lang straightened slightly, exhaling once. " Annoying," he muttered. He dealt with the first quickly block, counter, strike but the second forced him to step back, just a fraction more than before.
Cai Lang's eyes flicked slightly, but not fast enough to fully turn. A shadow approached from his blind side. Metal caught the faint light. A knife lifted. Directly aimed at his back.