Under the Rule of Reason

A crime-investigation story on the same theme, Chasing the Light, is now underway. Please add it to your reading list!

Story Blurb:

Qin Zhan has a student: clever, perceptive, and the kindred spirit he has searched for over many years.

He tries to tame the student's wildness and hone his sharp edges, but the other man puts on a carefree attitude. "Old Qin, do you live off the fumes from smoking? Have you never come down from your high horse?"

Wasting his talent and choosing to sink into depravity: that's Qin Zhan's assessment.

Self-important and insincere: Su Yunting reaches the same judgment.

They struggle against each other, waging a years-long war without gunfire.

One day, Qin Zhan receives an email like this:

The format is wrong, the word order is jumbled, and there's no signature.

But who else could it be?

When news arrives that Su Yunting has died in the line of duty, Qin Zhan looks at the endless stream of messages lighting up his phone and thinks everyone is foolish. They can't even see through such a crude trick. For once, he lights a cigarette, takes out his radio, and calls a certain number.

The device seems broken. All he hears is the crackling static. Qin Zhan waits like that as the sun sinks and night falls. The police station is unusually quiet. He doesn't turn on the lights or get up.

Not until dawn breaks

Does a hoarse voice finally sound, like a hallucination: "Old Qin, it's time to close the net."

The crime squad's hotheaded young wolf uke X the veteran, sly old fox seme

Cover character design used with permission from Chi Yi Da Kou Zhe Qian.

Weibo: I Have a Sword, Moonlight, Spring, and Clear Skies. Chapter updates on Weibo.

Theme: You came to me bathed in light, and I grew toward the sun.