Yu Yan sighed for the millionth time that day. Her body felt weird and she felt really confused. Her mind kept trailing back to the dinner she had with Da Dong and his family and she suddenly yearned for that warmth. Yu Yan felt an odd sense of sadness in her heart but she didn't know why she was feeling this way all of a sudden. She was never sad and usually wouldn't care about such small matters like family.

"Maybe some medicine will help... Father did say I was sick..." she muttered to herself and she brought out a yellow tube from her pocket. She opened the lid and waited for a pill that her father had created for her to land in her palm before she shoved it into . She gulped it down and sighed once more, slouching.

The screeching sound of a chair being dragged across the floor entered her ears and she felt someone position their self in front of her. Xiao Yu sat in front of her, "Why does Jiang Yu Yan looked so bothered today?" he asked, softly.
"I'm always bothered by you annoying people," she grumbled, not really having any energy to face him or snap at him.
"It's lunch time, you know." he told her as he looked down at her head that was on her desk.
"So?" Yu Yan dragged out her words to emphasise her disinterest. She shifted her head and faced the other way, feeling uncomfortable.
"You normally go outside don't you? Isn't it too noisy in here for you?" he asked her and looked over at Jin Bao San and his followers who were having a pretend sword fight, at Sha Jie and her crew who were gossiping loudly with Liang Zhi and Xia Ba, at Wu Xiong who was attacking Da Dong for accidently stepping on her fallen banana, at Yun Han who was threatening Ya Se for touching her sister, at all his noisy classmates who were busy in their own small bubbles.

"What's it to you?" Yu Yan huffed, "I'm tired."
A faint rumbling noise didn't miss the chance to roll into Xiao Yu's ears and he smiled, "You should eat something," he told her as he reached into his bag.
"I'm not hungry. Leave me alone," she groaned in response before the boy in front of her slide a paper bag onto her desk. "I don't want it," she stated, turning to face the other way.
"It's a pizza bagel," Xiao Yu explained, even though he clearly knew that she wasn't interested.
"I told you I don't want it," Yu Yan repeated but louder and firmer but then she heard the rustling of the bag as Xiao Yu brought it out of its bag.
Xiao Yu then placed the bagel on top of the bag to allow it's aroma to waft into Yu Yan's nose.
"What did I tell you?" Yu Yan snapped at him but Xiao Yu only smiled and said a small "Okay".

Minutes of silence passed between them at Xiao Yu just stared at her, waiting for her to pick up the bagel. The cheesy smell from the pizza bagel stirred her stomach and it called out to her with a loud growl. Yu Yan... don't fall into his trap! she warned herself, trying to think of anything but the bagel and her hunger at that moment.
Smirking, Xiao Yu gently blew at the bagel from its side to allow Yu Yan take in a bigger whiff of it.

"Okay, I've had it Little Fish!" Yu Yan shot up, slamming her palm down on her desk. Everyone then had their eyes on her. Yu Yan grumbled to herself in defeat before picking up the bagel and tearing it in half. She stuffed a half into Xiao Yu's mouth before walking out of the classroom with the other half in her own mouth. Xiao Yu chuckled before choking on the bagel that was already stuffed in his mouth but his helpless gags came out in a muffled mess. Everyone returned to their previous activities, not aware that Xiao Yu choking wasn't on their script for that episode.

Why am I always a victim? Xiao Yu thought with anime tears running down his face.
 

~*~*~
 

Jiang Yu Yan dragged her feet through her home towards an old styled lounge room. She dropped her bag onto the sofa and sat down next to it with a deep sigh.

"Yo, Yu Yan, why do you look like ?" Jiang Yu Ru looked up from her magazine, "Wait, you always look like - you look like cow today."
Yu Yan inwardly groaned, she didn't want to deal with her annoying sisters today, "We have the same face, so don't you look like too?"
Yu Ru scoffed, "Our DNA might be similar but not all of us sisters are identical. And plus, I use lots of beauty products and makeup so we look nothing alike. And my hair is softer and longer than yours, yours is so ugly and scruffy like what are those stupid pig tails?"
Yu Yan groaned loudly, not in the mood to hear Yu Ru's nonsense. She grabbed two cushions and covered both her ears in attempt to drown out her sister's words. When that didn't work, she stood up and left to see her father in his laboratory.

Before she could enter through the large red tinted glass doors, her younger twin sisters - Yu Tang and Yu Tong - ran out. "Eeeeww Yu Yan~!" They sneered, pushing past her and sniggering.
Yu Yan rolled her eyes before sticking out her foot which caused one of the twins to trip up and fall. "Whoops, I didn't see you there." She gasped in a sing song voice before entering the room.

Her father was stacking up some documents when he noticed her come in. He wore a mask and his long and unruly dark bangs hung over his face, masking his true identity. "What do you want my dear girl?" he asked her, slipping the papers into an envelope.
Yu Yan sighed as she leaned against a wall, "I don't feel so good."
"How do you feel?" he turned to look at her, knowing already what had happened to her.
"I feel kinda... sad..." she muttered quietly.
"Oh? And why's that?" he replied, It's probably the effects of reducing the production of dopamine and serotonin...
"I don't know..." Yu Yan began slowly, "I feel like wanting to have dinner with you all like I did at Wang Da Dong's house. I don't get why I would want such a thing though, I can't stand my sisters, Father."
"Really? Then let's all have dinner together, okay?" He stood up and smiled before leading her out of the room.

~*~*~

After the school, the next day, the three friends Wang Da Dong, Wang Ya Se and Ding Xiao Yu were having dinner at Duan Chang Ren's stall as they discussed a course of action to tackling the yi neng muggings.

Ya Se spread out some papers in front of them, "These are accounts of some of the victims and witnesses," he explained, "We should start with Su Jia Li," he said as he shuffled the papers and put her account in front of them.
"But we can't go to her personally to interview her because she's no longer here, so is this the only thing we can rely on for her word?" Da Dong asked him.
"It seems so and I doubt anyone close to her will even speak to us." Xiao Yu added.
"Maybe you could," Duan Chang Ren piped up, "I heard her funeral is being held tomorrow morning and lots of important figures in the high school realm are attending to show their respects. The three of you should go."
Ya Se looked at his brothers, "Is that a wise idea?"
"I don't see why it's not." Da Dong shrugged as he ate his noodles.
"But our reputation isn't so good. If we go there it might cause trouble." Xiao Yu pointed out.
"But we didn't do anything," Da Dong responded, "And to prove we're innocent, we should go."

"But Xiao Yu does have a point. We don't have any battle points and if we go somewhere where people are hostile towards us and also have yi neng on top of that, there could be a fight." Ya Se spoke as he thought deeply.
"There won't be if we play the right cards." Da Dong replied, "If we don't provoke them then there should be no problem right?"
"What about disguises?" Duan Chang Ren suggested.
"But if Zhong Ji Yi Ban doesn't send any representatives, that would look bad on our part since our school is one of the strongest amongst the major high schools." Xiao Yu replied.
"Ugh Xiao Yu!" Da Dong moaned, "We can't do this and we can't do that, then what do we do?"

The three brothers remained silent trying to rack their brains to think of a plan.

"I know!" Ya Se blurted out before pulling out a folder from his bag and placing it in front of them.
"Narcissist, we don't need a report right now." Da Dong turned to him.
"Listen to me," Ya Se opened up the file to a map of Taipei, "Look here," he pointed to red dots on the map, "These are all the high schools in Taipei and these," he then pointed to blue dots that were scattered over the maps, "These blue dots show where each yi neng mugging took place and the all the victims just happen to be from the school closest to them at the scene."
"So what are you trying to say, Ya Se Wang little friend?" Duan Chang Ren inquired as he leaned over his counter to have a look.

"If you look closely, there are 40 reported attacks surrounding the 8 major highschools and a couple around other high schools. Attacks on ordinary citizens are minimal," he showed them that every high school mapped out had a ring of blue dots, "From what my men have told me, I've worked out that attacks in the south take place in the early hours of the day between dawn and 9am; attacks in the north take place in the latest hours of the day between 10pm and 2am; attacks in the east take place during the evening between 5pm and 8pm and attacks in the west take place during the afternoon between noon and 3pm."
"So if we work out the patterns... we can work out the next targeted school?" Da Dong asked.

"Right on Egomaniac," Ya Se nodded, "Also if you look closely at the data, atleast two attacks have taken place at the exact same time in a similar area which shows that it isn't just one person doing the mugging."
Xiao Yu flipped through the file, skimming through all the accounts and data that Ya Se had collected.
"So that makes sense as to how so many attacks have taken place in a short amount of time." Da Dong nodded in understanding.

Someone lurked in the shadows from a distance, spying on the three friends. He (Joe Cheng) had his locked on them, noting down everything they said and did as well as their interactions with each other.

~*~*~
 

A woman (Played by Pauline Lan/Xiong Ge's alternate) opened the door to her house and stared at the man that stood at her doorstep. She plastered a small smile on her face to mask her slight unease, "Uh... May I help you, sir?"
 

~*~*~

Xiao Yu's eyes widened after he finished examining the data and he quickly shut the file, "Guys... if everything in here is all true... and if the enemy really is following a cyclical plan... then..."
"What is it Xiao Yu?" Da Dong asked.
"Then... the next victim should be from...." Xiao Yu turned to look at them slowly, "...Zhong Ji Yi Ban."