Sitting in the interrogation room of Portland City"s Police Department were two drenched young men tightly clutching their arms and shrinking back into their seats.

A middle-aged policewoman soon arrived with dry blankets. She wrapped the cloth around the youths" shoulders and served each of them a steaming cup of coffee. "Look at these poor kids, they"re completely soaked by the rain and frightened to death." With a voice br.i.m.m.i.n.g with sympathy, she lightly stressed to her colleague, "Be patient with them, Terry1."

"Patience has always been a specialty of mine." The beefy black officer instantly a.s.serted. "Amanda, separate them. I"ll question them individually."

The policewoman stepped forward and kindly led the Latino boy to another room. The color of the boy"s hair turned a shade darker because of the rain. His curls clung to his forehead, and droplets of water were dripping from the tips. It evoked a sense of youthfulness and inexperience, unruliness and sensuality. This exact temperament roused a woman"s maternal instincts, causing the middle-aged policewoman to dote on him even more; the expression in her eyes grew more affectionate.

"All right." Terry sat down in the seat on the opposite side of the table and interrogated the remaining person in the room, the Asian boy. "Speak. How"d you come across the crime scene, and what did you see? Tell us everything you can. Try not to skip any details, and don"t fabricate anything. As the first witness, your testimony is crucial to solving this case."

His att.i.tude was professional, but not overbearing. Li Biqing took a sip of the hot coffee and slowly elucidated in English. However, most of the terms he was looking for were not commonly used; he had difficulty p.r.o.nouncing them, and he couldn"t properly arrange them according to the conventions of Standard English. The more anxious he became in expressing himself, the more he stuttered and spoke incoherently.  After a few words, he began to mix Chinese and English together; by the end, everything he said was in Chinese.

Terry wrinkled his brows and asked a few more questions. After determining the other party wasn"t pretending to not speak the language and genuinely wasn"t fluent in English, he stood up, walked out of the interrogation room, and shouted, "Where is Tan?! Tell him to get his a.s.s over here and help with translating!"

A middle-aged Chinese police officer walked over, put down a small box filled with doc.u.ments, then said, "I only speak Cantonese, sir."

"It"s all Chinese either way. You"re going to talk him." Terry stepped aside and led him into the interrogation room. Officer Tan mumbled awkwardly and gestured around in order to communicate with him, but to one"s surprise, the other person just sighed in exasperation. "Just speak in English, you two. At least I can understand some of it, but I couldn"t understand a single word you said in Cantonese."

"The h.e.l.l with it! Is Guangdong not in China?" The black officer muttered angrily. "How many languages do you people have in your country?!"

"About 129." Li Biqing answered with sincerity.

Terry stared at this Asian boy who didn"t seem to be joking; a deep feeling of helplessness poured into his heart.

"Or you can just let me question him." The door to the interrogation room was pushed open, and two white men donning black suits walked inside. Before Terry could confront them, the man fished out his ID from his pocket and waved it in the air. "FBI, Criminal Investigations Division, Leo Lawrence. This is my partner, Robert Simon."

"This is a state case. We are fully capable of solving it ourselves. There"s no need to involve the Federal Bureau of Investigation." Terry was obviously disgruntled.

"Indeed, it isn"t within our jurisdiction, but perhaps we can offer some help." Stated the expressionless dark-haired, blue-eyed federal agent. He then casually pulled out a chair, took a seat, then continued on, speaking in fluent Chinese. "For instance, better means of communication?"

"Fine." Terry shrugged. "You go ahead and ask him, but I want a translation of the transcript."

"No problem." Leo turned around and gazed at the Chinese boy wrapped in a blanket. His eyes were filled with gentleness and compa.s.sion. "Biqing, it"s all right. You"ve received a great fright, haven"t you?"

"I"m fine. It was a bit too surprising at the time, but I"m feeling better now." Li Biqing clasped the coffee cup in his hands, his fingers interwoven with each other. He whispered, "How could this happen? I mean, to kill a person in such a cruel manner…"

"Don"t think so hard on it. Imagine this as a movie, and just playback the scene in your memory. There may be some spots that you can"t recall very well, or perhaps you just might not want to say some things; both ways, it doesn"t matter." Leo softly encouraged.

Li Biqing shook his head. "It"s fine. I"m not that weak." Thus, he started from the moment he encountered Wayne, and narrated all that happened in full detail. Of course, the part regarding the other"s "teasing" was completely omitted from his description.

Leo calmly listened to the other and jotted down notes at the same time. However, Terry still wasn"t feeling at ease, so he called someone to record the entire conversation. Seeing this, Rob, who was just sitting idly at the side, felt more than dissatisfied with the guy.

After Li Biqing finished his account, he heaved a long, heavy sigh, then drank the remaining drops of coffee in his cup.

Leo handed the notes over to Terry. "Look, if there"s nothing else, I"ll be taking him away."

Terry carefully examined the detailed records, and it just so happened that Amanda came out of the adjacent room to hand him a copy of the version on her side. After comparing both papers, he found the testimonies to be nearly the same; there weren"t any discrepancies between the two"s accounts.

"The two boys were just extremely unlucky to have encountered the crime scene. This case should have nothing to do with them." Amanda whispered in Terry"s ear.

Terry also felt the same way, but the FBI"s uninvited meddling in this specific case left him rather displeased. However, if he looked at it from another point of view, the other party had helped him, so he decided to get over such a trivial matter. After collecting the two transcripts, he spoke to Leo very politely and even smiled courteously at him. "Thank you for your help. The two of them can go now, but they can"t leave this city; we may have to question them again some time."

"That"s only natural." Leo agreed then nodded his head at Li Biqing, motioning him to get up and leave with him.

"Another question. Is it necessary to bring the both of them with you?" Amanda couldn"t help but inquire.

"No, it"s not necessary." Leo Replied, staring straight at the policewoman who only had good intentions. "I simply want to send him home."

Surprise flitted across the policewoman"s face.

"Let"s send Reggie along the way." Li Biqing suggested.

"Okay." The federal agent extended his hand and reached for the corner of the blanket that hung at his waist, gently and attentively drying his hair for him.

The black Chevrolet SUV, which was parked just outside of the police station, soon roared away into the night. Terry glanced at Amanda and asked, "You got it, right?"

Amanda didn"t respond for a while. "What?"

"From the way I see it, that kid is his."

With that sentence, Terry turned on his heels and went back to his office, leaving Amanda standing alone in the corridor wondering if there was supposed to be a pun was intended; the words were too ambiguous.

"I"ve seen you near the gates of the university before. At that time, you drove there to meet Li Biqing. You guys know each other?" Sitting in the backseat, Reggie couldn"t resist asking the federal agent, who sat in the driver"s seat, a question.

Li Biqing felt that the atmosphere was a little heavy, so he played the middle man and began introducing everyone to each other. "Here"s Reggie, my new friend in school. And this is Leo, my girlfriend"s younger brother."

Rob suddenly interrupted and shouted, "What?! Leo"s sister?! You talking about Molly, you"re the one… How should I say it? I met her last year, and wow, was she impressive…oh man…the queen"s boyfriend? It"s hard to believe she liked this kind of guy." Rob chortled and hooted, revealing a face filled with admiration.

"If you have any reservations about Molly"s choice of husband, then you can tell it to her face the next time you see her. Or perhaps I should help you convey your opinions to her?" Leo"s said indifferently; at the same time, he gave Li Biqing a ‘this guy"s an idiot, so don"t listen to him’ look.

"Nonono! I have nothing to say about this!" Rob immediately insisted, then abruptly changed the topic to this week"s weather.

Apart from asking Leo one question, Reggie stayed silent the entire ride. As the other three talked, he just silently observed them from the corner. The car soon stopped in front of a residential area, and Reggie directed a short "See you tomorrow" to Li Biqing, then quickly hopped out of the car, hurrying off.

When they drove back to the apartment building Leo stayed at, Leo told Rob, "Pick me up at eight tomorrow morning." Afterwards, he headed off to the elevator with Li Biqing following after him. Rob stuck his head out of the car window and watched their backs in disbelief. "They live together? What"s up with that…"

After joyfully enjoying his bath time, cleaning his body, drying himself off, and getting dressed, Li Biqing walked into the living room. Leo was sitting on the sofa reading a crime-suspense novel called Heartsick. After noticing him enter the room, he put down the book and handed him a paper bag. "It"s black olive and mushroom pizza. It might suit your taste."

Li Biqing opened the paper bag, grabbed a slice of pizza, and took a small bite. "It"s pretty good." He sat cross-legged on the sofa and while holding the paper bag and nibbling on his pizza slice, he wondered, "Would the FBI be involved in this investigation?"

"Under normal circ.u.mstances, no. Unless the city"s officials seek help from us, or other dire complications, hidden motives, and such are uncovered in the course of this investigation, such as with the case of the Serial-Killer Killer, then the nature of this case will no longer be the same."

Li Biqing was looking pensive. After a few minutes, he asked, "Why do you think happened with this murder case? Was it a murder out of pa.s.sion or love? Killing out of deep hatred? Perhaps just on the spur of the moment—"

"These are the responsibilities of the police. You don"t have to think about it so much, just pay attention to your own self, and keep yourself safe." Leo interjected. He obviously didn"t want him to be mixed up in such matters. "How about I help you transfer to another language school?"

"No need. I"m not affected by this." Li Biqing finished the last slice of pizza, then threw out the paper bag and headed towards the bedroom. "It was a pretty crazy day… It"s 11 o"clock right now. I"m going to brush and go to bed since I"ve cla.s.s tomorrow."

"Good night." The federal agent he was cohabiting with announced before walking off to his own bedroom. After taking a fast cold shower, he stood in front of the washroom basin, beads on water sliding down his entire body. He opened the cupboard on the wall and, as usual, pulled out a small vial. He popped the cap off with his thumb and tilted the bottle to pour the contents onto his palm.

The container was empty.

Leo froze for a moment. He then recalled that he had already taken the last two pills the night before. He"d intended to purchase some more after his shift ended today, but he had to postpone his own affairs because of the unexpected homicide on the university campus.

…Forget it. I"ll just stop taking them for a while like before. Besides, it"s not good to take these for long periods of time. After making up his mind for the nth time, he tossed the empty bottles into the trashcan.

As he lay down on his bed, the simulated portraits of Sha Qing that hung on the walls stared intently at him. Leo turned to his side and rested his head on his arm; he then glanced at those three handsome faces, all of which looked different from one another, and sighed helplessly. "I guess I"ll be seeing you in my dreams again, old pal."

It was a given that the atmosphere on campus would become tense and restless once news of the homicide got around the State University. Numerous related topics and rumors spread quickly amongst the students. The people seemed to be bringing up the past homicide that occurred in Forest Park months ago. Some individuals suspected these two incidents were connected and deliberately, or perhaps unintentionally, created panic to satiate their curiosity and interest. Since rose petals were found on the ground at both crime scenes, the murderer was soon nicknamed, "Interfector Rosa".

As the first discoverer of the murder scene, Reggie naturally attracted the attention of many students. Wherever he went, he was surrounded by countless people asking him for details on the homicide. As a matter of fact, Li Biqing also received the attention of many students, but because he was a new face and he had a language barrier, the curious eyes, pointing fingers, and whispering gossips weren"t directed towards him as much.

On the third day after the incident, during lunch break, Li Biqing saw Reggie being encircled by several male students under the tall black walnut tree. Leisurely going about their time, the students occupied the benches and seemed to be having an enthusiastic conversation about something. And smack down in the center of this small group was that Latino boy, who appeared to be the star of the show.

"Hey! Biqing!" Sharp-eyed Reggie, who had immediately caught sight of his new friend, rose from his seat and waved to him. "Come here! Come here!"

Li Biqing didn"t want to join the party, but in order to save his friend"s face, he had no choice but to walk over to him.

"I heard you guys found it together? The body…" A red-haired boy with freckles dotting the bridge of his nose immediately probed him; his inquisitive eyes flashed with a desire for adventure.

Li Biqing was very reluctant to partic.i.p.ate in this kind of meaningless gossip. He then put on a foolish look that made it seem as if he couldn"t understand because of his language barrier and ruefully shrugged his shoulders, his eyes revealing a hint of disdain and condemnation for the person who asked the question.

"He understands, but he doesn"t really want to say anything." Much to his friend"s chagrin, Reggie seemed to want to create trouble for him. With raised eyebrows, he shot a wide, mischievous smirk at Li Biqing; it was as if he were saying, "I"m sick of being pestered, so I won"t let you have it so easy."

When the red-haired boy saw that he didn"t want to speak, he lost interest and turned to the burly black young man who sat to his side and asked, "Hey Quentin, I heard you stole the autopsy report yesterday. What was the cause of that guy"s death?"

"Yeah, it was in my dad"s office." Quentin declared in a pompous tone. "You know, that unlucky b.a.s.t.a.r.d"s death was pretty terrible. Dude lost nearly half of his blood. And that wasn"t even all. He had eleven braches stabbed through his body, on his chest, stomach, lower back, thighs, everywhere. And the most tragic one was the branch shoved up his a.s.shole, penetrating his intestines… The forensics medical examiner concluded that the guy was still alive when he was speared to death with those branches. Put it simply, the killing was beyond cruel, and he finally died of excessive blood loss caused by ruptured organs."

Surrounded by a deafening uproar, Quentin grinned proudly, exposing his shining white teeth; it was as if he was relishing the limelight.

"If his upstanding father learned about this thing, do you think he"d strongly whoop his a.s.s and set him straight?" Reggie whispered in Li Biqing"s ear.

"If it"s Officer Terry, then it"s very possible." Li Biqing answered.

This time, Reggie was surprised. "How do you know?"

"Look at him. They"re like twins. He"s exactly like the younger and more arrogant version of Terry."

Reggie burst into laughter. "He really is! And you even used the words "younger and more arrogant" correctly. It seems that your English has improved considerably!"

While they were laughing and cracking jokes, another group of students led by a fair-haired, blue-eyed young male headed towards them. His appearance was rather handsome, but heavy malice and provocation colored his entire face. He stood directly in front of Reggie and stared down at him from above, sneering at the small group that sat on the benches. "You dare to sit here and chat? Shouldn"t you be cowering in your bedroom, p.i.s.sing yourselves in bed out of fear? Don"t tell me you guys don"t know the one who died the other day and the one who died five months ago were both filthy native dogs? c.o.o.ns and yellow monkeys like you?  It won"t be long before it"s you guys" turn."

"Clyde, you"re a f.u.c.king dog who only knows how to bark! Dying one hundred times isn"t good enough for a n.a.z.i like you; racist sc.u.m like you should go straight to h.e.l.l! Just go home and f.u.c.k your own mama if you want to keep your bloodlines pure!" Fuming, the red head shot up and aggressively pointed a finger at his face, swearing and hurling abuse towards his direction.

The blond youth bared his teeth, viciously and savagely jeering, "What, is your a.s.shole still itching? Want me to find a branch and shove it up there, Collin? Or should we just let Interfector Rosa meet you? Oh, you probably don"t know, but those two short-lived f.a.ggots are dead and gone. But it"s a good thing. At least the dirty trash like you in the world is disposed of; the pollution in the world will be reduced that way!"

Completely enraged from being labeled with insulting t.i.tles like "h.o.m.o", Collin roared and rushed at him with clenched fists.

However, Clyde wasn"t about to take it lying down. The two men immediately got into a heated scuffle, cursing and throwing blows at each other. The fight rapidly escalated as everyone else joined in, and the scene of violence became even more chaotic.

Li Biqing took a few steps back, wanting to distance himself from this frenzied confrontation of racists versus non-racists, h.o.m.os.e.xuals versus h.o.m.ophobes. This had absolutely nothing to do with him, so why should he bother adding fuel to the fire? Unfortunately, things don’t normally work out the way one hopes. His yellow skin made him the prime target of one of the individuals in the other group. Amidst the frantic confusion, a fist flew right at his face. He nimbly dodged to the side, barely avoiding the attack, then struck out his leg, brutally kicking the other in his lower abdomen. The pitiful young man instantly bent over and cupped his vital area; he screamed and blubbered endlessly in agony, tears streaming down his cheeks and snot running down his nose.

"—Security came!" Who knows who shouted this, but after hearing this sentence, the two groups that were fighting immediately scattered off into all directions, dispersing from the scene for fear of consequences. Before running off as well, Clyde, who was extremely unwilling to leave Collin be, made a slashing motion across his neck and threatened Collin. "Just wait, you"ll die next!"

Collin simply flicked his middle finger at his retreating back.

Reggie grabbed Li Biqing with one hand and hauled Collin to his feet with his other hand. Before the security guards who were blowing their whistles could catch them, they fled the scene. The three men ran thousands of meters before stopping to catch their breaths. Collin put his hands on his hips, leaned forward, and gasped for air as he vowed, "I swear on my mama, one day, I"m going to beat that crazy son of a b.i.t.c.h, pummel his brains out…"

"Well, no need to get so mad. That kind of guy isn"t worth your anger." Reggie comforted him.

"He threatened me! Didn"t you hear him?! How dare he threaten to kill me! d.a.m.n, I need to find some more guys to get back at him." Collin"s face flushed red from anger; the tips of his hair trembled in impatience as he began brewing his plan for revenge. "How"s this sound. We"ll pretend to be some hot chick and ask him out, then we"ll f.u.c.k him, take some pictures and videos of him nude, and upload it to the internet."

Reggie wanted to wake him from his daydream so he smacked the back of his head hard. "Come to your senses, Collin. It doesn"t matter if you find some willing guys who’d love a f.u.c.k, you"re still breaking the law because you"re forcing another. You want to go to jail for a piece of s.h.i.t like him? Besides that, don"t drag me into this, I can"t even get it up for a man anyway."

After taking the hit to his head, Colling seemed to have become discouraged. He bitterly added, "I"ll never let him get away with it…just wait and see!" He then spat on the ground and stomped away, huffing in indignation.

Reggie silently sighed at his back, then he turned to Li Biqing to apologize. "I"m sorry. I almost got you involved in some trouble. These guys are always so impulsive and hot-headed, especially Collin."

No, not almost, you clearly did get me involved! Li Biqing secretly voiced to himself, but he politely responded, "It"s okay. I"m not injured. It was only an accident."

Reggie felt even guiltier after hearing this. "If we were caught, we"d probably only get some warnings and disciplinary actions. But if you were caught, you"d definitely suffer more, because you"d most likely be expelled from the campus… I truly never meant to drag you into something like this on purpose, please don"t hate me."

Eventually having forgiven him, Li Biqing smile warmly, "What"s up with that? It"s no big deal. There"s no need to get all sentimental and take it to heart, you crybaby."

Reggie licked his lips. At that moment, he couldn"t control the br.i.m.m.i.n.g emotions that surged out of his heart; he suddenly hugged the boy, his hands continuously patting the other"s back in jubilation. Finally, he turned on his heels and walked away without a single glance back.

"This was such a disaster." Recalling the chaotic war that he"d just experienced, Li Biqing felt like a fish who was caught in a net. Fortunately, that punch didn"t meet his face, otherwise he wouldn"t know how to explain a black eye to that federal agent when he returned to the apartment at night.

1特里维—It would technically be something along the lines of ‘Trevi’, but well, you got ‘Terry’ instead.