Urban Martial Saint

The door opened, and a thin figure walked in, turning on the light as they entered.

At the same time, Ye Qing suddenly closed the door, blocking the entrance, cutting off the person’s escape route.

The women inside the room immediately stood up, all looking towards the newcomer. However, after a moment, the expressions on their faces changed, and in unison, they exclaimed in shock, ”Why is it you!?”

The newcomer was a woman in her twenties, which made her look quite small and thin. Her face was somewhat haggard, with dark circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t slept well for a long time. Her lips were chapped, her complexion pale, and her hair was dry and yellow, altogether she looked like someone severely ill.

Seeing that it was a young woman surprised Ye Qing as well. This kind of thing was usually done by men. How could a girl be spying on other girls?

Upon seeing the women in the room, the girl’s expression changed as well, clearly very shocked, panic evident in her eyes.

”You know her?” Ye Qingqi asked.

”Of course, we know her!” Huo Pingping said urgently, ”Are you mistaken? She was our roommate before; that empty room was hers. She just moved out a while ago. She’s a girl; why would she do something like this?”

Fang Tingyun said, ”Pingping, you saw it just a moment ago. There were photos of us on her computer in her room!”

”That’s true!” Huo Pingping furrowed her brows, looking at the girl, and said sternly, ”Ya Xin, explain this to me, what exactly is going on!”

The girl, Ya Xin, looked terrified. As she watched the people in the room, her lips trembled as she spoke in a quivering voice, ”How... how did you find this place?”

”Cut the crap, tell me what exactly is going on!” Huo Pingping said angrily, visibly upset even though it was a girl who had taken the pictures.

”What… what’s going on…” Ya Xin still pretended to be clueless.

Huo Pingping said, ”Stop pretending! We already saw the photos on your computer. Tell me honestly, otherwise, I’m taking you to the police station right away!”

”No, please!” Ya Xin hastily waved her hands, grabbing Huo Pingping’s arm, she pleaded, ”Don’t take me to the police station, I’ll... I’ll tell you everything.”

The women looked at Ya Xin, who was silent for a moment before she said in a low voice, ”Actually… I actually like girls...”

”What?” The women exclaimed in unison, shocked that they had lived with such a person for so long. Thinking about it now, they felt chills all over and goosebumps continuously appeared.

Ya Xin looked at the women with a helpless expression and said, ”I’m sorry, I know I was wrong. But could you please not take me to the police station... I won’t do it ever again!”

The women fell silent. If the peeper had been a man, they definitely would not have let him off. But now, the peeper was a woman, which somewhat changed the nature of things. Even though she was a lesbian, it was just a girl who had seen their pictures, which wasn’t something too hard to accept. But could they really just let it go like this?

”I don’t believe it!”

Suddenly, a voice rang out, and all the women looked up at Ye Qing.

”You don’t believe what?” Mu Qingrong asked, curious.

”I don’t believe what she said!” Ye Qing stared at Ya Xin, saying, ”Don’t lie, just tell the truth.”

Ya Xin looked at Ye Qing and said, ”Everything I’ve said is true, what can I do if you don’t believe me?”

”How do you know she is lying?” Fang Tingyun asked, more inclined to trust Ye Qing.

”Yeah, you need to be responsible for what you say!” Huo Pingping chimed in.

Ye Qing walked up to Ya Xin, silently staring at her for a long time, before finally asking softly, ”How much does a pinhole camera cost?”

Ya Xin hesitated for a moment, then replied in a low voice, ”Six or seven thousand.”

The women’s expressions changed. Such an expensive device, and each of their rooms was equipped with one. The cost Ya Xin had incurred to spy on them was too great.

”How much is your rent per month?” Ye Qing continued.

”What... what are you trying to ask?” Ya Xin became somewhat panicky.

Ye Qing said, ”If I’m not mistaken, your rent here every month is definitely not less than one thousand, right?”

”Such a house, the monthly rent is about one thousand five,” Huo Pingping explained.

Ye Qing nodded and looked at Ya Xin, saying, ”Your income and your expenses are clearly disproportionate!”

Ya Xin said, ”What of it? Can’t my family be rich?”

”Of course it’s fine if your family has money, but I don’t think your family is rich.” Ye Qing looked at the vegetables on the table and said, ”These few leaves are obviously the cheapest, unappealing ones from the market. Would your spending be so frugal if your family really had money? If you were rich, do you need to live this miserably? If you were well-off, would you be malnourished?”

The women looked at Ya Xin as Ye Qing’s reasoning made them also start to doubt her.

Mu Qingrong said, ”Isn’t she a drug addict? So emaciated, it must be due to drug use, right!”

”It’s different,” Ye Qing shook his head. ”Drug addicts have a period of revitalization after taking drugs. Her current state is clearly caused by malnutrition.”

The women did not understand the difference, but they thought Ye Qing must be right.

Huo Pingping glared at Ya Xin and said, ”Yeah, what’s going on here? Explain it to us!”

”I... I really haven’t done anything...” Ya Xin’s face was full of tears as she said, ”You have to believe me, I... I just like girls, that’s all, you have to believe me... I don’t have any other intentions!”

”Stop lying, they won’t believe you!” Ye Qing stared at Ya Xin and said, ”This matter concerns their reputation and their whole future, we must clarify it. So, you better be honest. You’re already in this state, why implicate others? I advise you to confess now; otherwise, it’ll be different when the police arrive!”

Ye Qing kept staring into Ya Xin’s eyes. Though his tone was measured, it had an imposing pressure.

Ya Xin dared not meet Ye Qing’s gaze, but seeing no pity from the other women, she silenty, suddenly burst into loud tears: ”I was wrong, I really was wrong. I’ll talk, I’ll say everything…”

The women’s hearts sank. Could there be something more behind this?

Mu Qingrong couldn’t help but glance at Ye Qing again. If not for Ye Qing’s analysis, they might have believed Ya Xin’s words. Now it seemed, the matter was not that simple!

Ya Xin sobbed for a while before slowly revealing her true intentions.

Indeed, just as Ye Qing had deduced, her income and expenses didn’t match. Those pinhole cameras and this house were actually provided by someone else. She had moved in with Fang Tingyun just to find an opportunity to install pinhole cameras in their room. Then, she moved to this house to secretly take pictures of the women.

These pictures would ultimately be compiled and sent to the person paying her.

It was also her greed; she had installed cameras in her own room too, hoping to capture other girls who might move in and live there. However, it was exactly this greedy move that led Ye Qing to discover the cameras when inspecting that room. Otherwise, these women would still be in the dark.

Hearing this, all the women started shaking uncontrollably.

”What... What does he want our pictures for?” Huo Pingping asked anxiously. ”He wouldn’t go through all this trouble just for some pictures, right?”

Ya Xin said in a low voice, ”He... he wants your pictures mainly to threaten you, then to force... force you into prostitution…”

The women’s faces turned white, cold sweat dripping. It was good they kept pressing for answers; what if they had believed Ya Xin earlier?

”Who exactly told you to do this!” Huo Pingping grabbed Ya Xin’s clothes, shouting, ”Say it! Tell me fast!”

Ya Xin screamed in fear, sobbing painfully, while Mu Qingrong and Fang Tingyun hurriedly pulled Huo Pingping away. But Huo Pingping was still agitated. After all, in such a situation, who wouldn’t be?

Mu Qingrong looked at Ye Qing and said, ”Mr. Ye, what should we do about this?”

Ye Qing spoke softly, ”What we need to know most now is exactly how many photos she sent to that person!”

Ya Xin said urgently, ”I didn’t send any, not a single one, really, I haven’t had the chance to send them yet!”

Huo Pingping glared, shouting, ”All this time and you haven’t sent any? Who are you fooling?”

”I’m telling the truth, I really haven’t sent any, I swear to God!” Ya Xin said urgently. ”I wanted to take all your photos first before sending them over so I could get more money. But these days, Qingyue hasn’t been home much, and she rarely stays here, so I couldn’t get her picture, and I haven’t sent your photos yet!”

The women were skeptical, but then again, Zhao Qingyue, who had been sharing the apartment with them, indeed hadn’t come back much these days. Could what she said be true?

Ye Qing nodded and said, ”If you haven’t sent them, your crime could be lesser.”

”I’ve said everything, can... can you let me go?” Ya Xin pleaded tearfully, ”I was forced by them too. They got me addicted to drugs, and then... then they controlled me. I didn’t want to do this…”

”You have to take responsibility for what you’ve done!” Ye Qing slowly shook his head and said, ”If you commit a mistake, you must pay the price. Otherwise, what’s the use of the law?”

”Xiao Fangfang, call the police!” Huo Pingping turned and ordered.

Ya Xin ran over and hugged Fang Tingyun, crying loudly, ”No, please, I know I was wrong, please don’t call the police...”

Fang Tingyun showed some reluctance, but Huo Pingping waved her hand and said, ”Forget it, you, even if someone pees on your head, you definitely won’t resist. What use is pitying this kind of person? She’s addicted to drugs and must be forcefully rehabilitated, otherwise who knows what might happen later. Calling the police isn’t harming her, it’s saving her!”

Huo Pingping took over the phone and called the police herself. Soon, several police cars arrived and took Ya Xin away.

Of course, the files on the computer had been deleted by the women thoroughly. They ransacked the house to make sure no other traces were left, then left angrily.

However, with the computer files deleted, lacking this key evidence, Ya Xin’s crime was not as severe. On this point, the women were actually relieved; after all, they were still girls with soft hearts.

After all the chaos, the women were exhausted. Back at their residence, Huo Pingping collapsed onto the sofa, unwilling to get up.

Ye Qing picked up his stuff and said, ”You all should rest early, I’m leaving now!”

”Where are you going?” Fang Tingyun hurriedly stopped him, asking anxiously, ”Aren’t you here to rent a house?”