White Nights

The Bible says that after Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit, they gave birth to two sons, Cain and Abel.

Cain was in charge of growing vegetables, while Abel was responsible for raising livestock.

Once when the two brothers were making offerings to God, Cain only offered some fresh vegetables, while Abel offered delicious lamb. God preferred Abel's offering, which made Cain jealous. Eventually, Cain killed his younger brother Abel with a stone.

None of this escaped God's eyes. God called Cain to stand before him and asked where Abel had gone.

Cain lied that he didn't know. God was angry and cursed Cain, banishing his descendants to wander unable to walk in the light!

Some theologians believe that from then on, Cain was driven out of the Garden of Eden and became a monster that lived by sucking human blood. His descendants have lived in haunted castles ever since, and whenever they appeared, they would whip up a horrific vampire legend across Europe.

Wang Dali said, "Damn, Yangzi, you've even read the Bible?"

I shook my head. "I haven't read the Bible. I saw this legend in another book."

Huang Xiaotao sneered. "How interesting. The birthplace of a bloodsucker turned out to be a place for worshipping God, how ironic."

The nun said, "Ms. Police Officer, you can't talk like that. There is light and darkness, God and the devil are like two sides of the same coin. Besides, the child has been reformed through the principal's education."

"That boy hasn't reformed at all. Just a few days ago, he sucked a woman completely dry of blood..."

Wang Dali blurted out. Huang Xiaotao glared at him. The nun asked in shock, "Is this true?"

Huang Xiaotao had to hem and haw, "We're still investigating this case. There's no conclusion yet on who the murderer is."

The nun made the sign of the cross over her chest and murmured, "May the Lord forgive his sins."

The nun led us to an office door and knocked. A man's voice came from inside, "Come in!"

The nun opened the door, "Principal, these people are from the police station. They've come to investigate some matters."

Right across from the door was a desk where a man in his fifties or sixties with graying temples and wearing glasses sat typing away. There were many books on the desk, most of which were Bibles.

The principal stood up and greeted us, "The room's a mess, please take a seat anywhere. Sister, please make our guests some tea."

Wang Dali seemed to have heard something and muttered under his breath, "Sister Rong?"

I nudged him with my elbow to signal him not to speak recklessly. Sister is how nuns are addressed here, not like the sisters in Princess Pearl.

Huang Xiaotao briefly explained why we were here. The principal nodded. "I do remember this child! His name is Baiye. In fact, I gave him this name. Bai means his pale complexion, and Ye indicates his preference for living in the dark. Baiye had quite a pitiful background. It's said his mother was a pr-stitute, but he was too young then to remember what his mother looked like or her name. Due to her profession, his mother abandoned him. For a long time, Baiye was very depressed and rarely interacted with other children."

"A pr-stitute?" Huang Xiaotao was slightly surprised.

It seemed Baiye specifically targeted pr-stitutes for a reason.

"Principal, do you know where Baiye went afterwards?" I asked.

The principal shook his head. "I don't know. There's been no news of him since he ran away. I was very worried about him at the time and sent people everywhere to look for him."

I asked, "What do the orphans who leave here do for a living afterwards?"

The principal replied, "We teach them some basic knowledge, equivalent to nine years of compulsory education, so they can have a skill to support themselves as adults. Of course, some orphans also choose to stay and serve God when they grow up."

I saw the principal's office furnishings were very simple and complimented, "It's really benefiting society for you to run an orphanage like this!"

The principal smiled. "You flatter me. To be honest, I was an orphan when I was little too. It's the Lord's grace that allowed me to survive. I want to devote my whole life to repay God! The first few years after the orphanage opened were quite difficult, but it gradually got much better with government funding, donations from all walks of life, and occasional help from children who left the orphanage."

We thanked him and left without even drinking the tea. As we were leaving, I suddenly recalled something and asked the principal, "By the way, have you seen Baiye recently?"

When I asked this, I activated the Abyssal Eyes to observe the principal's reaction. The principal was slightly startled, then calmly answered, "No!"

"Alright, thank you!" I nodded.

After leaving the orphanage, Huang Xiaotao asked me, "How did you guess there would be clues at the orphanage?"

"I didn't really guess, just hedging my bets." I said.

"Hedging bets?" Huang Xiaotao was a little confused.

"Baiye has a strange appearance and the bizarre habit of sucking blood. Which parents wouldn't be scared to death giving birth to a child like this? So I figured there were two possibilities. One is that the parents took him to every big hospital seeking medical advice. The other is that they simply abandoned him." I explained slowly.

"So you thought if there were no clues at the hospitals, there must be clues at the orphanage?" Huang Xiaotao caught on quickly.

"That's right!"

When we left the orphanage, I kept thinking about the principal's reaction earlier. People have some subtle reactions when lying that are hard to notice in psychology called microexpressions, like eyebrow twitching, eyes not focusing, lips tightening.

When I asked the principal that question just now, he definitely had some abnormal reactions. I wasn't sure if he was lying or just startled by my suddenly changed eye color, since I hadn't used this move before.

Huang Xiaotao saw me staring at the orphanage and asked, "Song Yang, what's wrong?"

"Come, let's do a little test."

After saying that, I suddenly activated the Abyssal Eyes, startling the other two. Wang Dali asked, "Yangzi, why did your eyes change color again? Do you know some evil magic?"

"Dali, did you masturbate this week?" I asked right off the bat.

Wang Dali stared wide-eyed in shock. "Why are you asking this?"

"Yes or no?" I pressed.

"No! How could I possibly do something so indecent?"

I retracted the Abyssal Eyes and said, "You're lying."

Wang Dali's face turned red. Masturbation wasn't a big deal, but admitting it in front of Huang Xiaotao was too embarrassing. He grumbled, "Song Yang, you're messing with me! Why did you have to expose my flaws?"

"Sorry, I'll buy you ice cream later to make up for it."

I explained that I was testing the microexpressions people have when lying. Wang Dali had exaggerated reactions while the principal remained calm, yet the two of them had some identical brief behaviors - flared nostrils, contracted pupils, slightly reddened ears. These reactions were fleeting, but didn't escape my Abyssal Eyes.

Through this test, I was certain the principal had lied. He had definitely seen Baiye recently!

Huang Xiaotao turned pale with fright. "I knew it. The more saintly someone pretends to be, the less trustworthy they are! Song Yang, should we go back and question him thoroughly?"

"I don't think there's much point. He's hiding it for a reason, and we don't have a search warrant anyway. I suggest leaving a few officers here to keep watch on him for now, no need to startle the snake in the grass." I thought about it and said.

"Alright, let's do that!" Huang Xiaotao suddenly asked, "By the way, what does 'masturbate' mean?"

"It means..." I couldn't help but consider how to answer. I was a little surprised Huang Xiaotao didn't even know this. But it wasn't that strange since she'd never had a boyfriend. Girls who haven't dated probably don't hear this word much.

"It's a game, the latest mobile game!" Wang Dali quickly explained. "We guys love playing it!"