The Silent Night Before

When Jing Yi was a teenager, he once asked his first love what kind of job he thought Jing Yi would have someday. His first love recalled Jing Yi's glorious record of fighting and brawling, then laughed and ruffled his hair. "Whatever you do, just don't end up in jail." Little did he know his words would come true: when Jing Yi grew up, he really did end up inside...

He became the director of the Special Investigation Office for Supernatural Abilities!

Ten years after he and his first love were forced apart, Jing Yi met his first love's younger brother, Lin Jiu, who looked exactly like him. Lin Jiu told him that his first love had died of an illness many years ago, leaving Jing Yi heartbroken.

When his friends learned about it, they quietly warned him not to do something unethical like treating someone as a substitute.

Jing Yi declared with conviction, "I'm not that kind of person."

He kept his first love and his first love's younger brother completely separate in his mind. He could even use that distinction to tease his sly, inscrutable younger brother.

Jing Yi thought his intentions were clear and his conduct aboveboard, but at a gathering one day, he heard his first love's younger brother say in a very serious tone, "If you need me to, I can be a substitute for my brother."

Jing Yi: ????

At the time, Jing Yi looked grim and sternly refused Lin Jiu. But he never imagined that, much, much later, he would be the one clutching Lin Jiu's hand, tears streaming down his face as he pleaded beneath Lin Jiu's fearful, hateful gaze:

"Did I do something wrong? Did I not love you enough? Is that why you only like him and not me? I can learn to be like him. Please, don't stop loving me, okay?"

Lin Jiu: ...

How the tables had turned.

Reader's Guide:

1. Straightforward mixed-race handsome top x flirtatious beauty bottom. Their views on love are [Important] not mainstream, and they have a childish relationship dynamic.

2. This is a blind-box story, meaning there are no content warnings. Please don't read if that's an issue for you.

3. An alternate-universe supernatural crime investigation story. Please don't overanalyze the details.

Theme: Love is the greatest supernatural ability