“What wind has blown you here?”
Bai Muchuan glanced at Cheng Zheng then got up unhurriedly to close the windows before sitting down at his seat. He started playing with a pen thereafter. “Say it.”
“It’s that equipment purchase,” said Cheng Zheng, “why is there no news about it?”
Oh.
He saw what was happening at the group chat after all.
Bai Muchuan showed a half-smile on his face. “How would I know? I’m not in charge of that.”
Cheng Zheng’s face sank. “Didn’t you already applied for it long ago?”
“I did, but they have not approved it.” Bai Muchuan looked at him expressionlessly and shrugged. He then did a little stunt by throwing the pen back into the penholder. “You should know that such an instrument is not something that is easy to get an approval…”
Cheng Zheng was the most anxious person on the purchase of an advanced trace identification equipment from abroad, but that did not mean that Bai Muchuan did not do his part properly. He had submitted the application for two months already, but it was not being approved.
When they wanted to bring in a new, more advanced equipment, there would be a lot more procedures and paperwork required, and the process would be more troublesome.
Cheng Zheng understood that.
However, he put on a grim face and looked at Bai Muchuan, as though he was unhappy.
“You promised me that.”
Bai Muchuan simply looked at him. “…”
He found himself speechless for a moment. “So you want me to steal it or snatch one back? Besides, stealing and snatching is out of the question, what else can I do?”
“I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
This took Bai Muchuan aback for a moment.
For a moment, his eyebrows crumpled slightly together.
Those words…
It felt vaguely familiar.
He then looked at Cheng Zheng with his eyes narrowed.
Some memories of his childhood came back to him…
…
“Where are you going?”
“Why should I tell you? Do you really think you’re my elder brother?”
“Go back home with me!”
“… This is funny! Don’t you think you’re being a busybody?”
“You’re going to the arcade to play games. This is not something a student should do. I don’t allow you to go…”
“Haha! Aren’t you silly to say this to a straight-A student like me?”
“…”
“You can preach when your results surpass me in the next exam! Move…”
“Dad asked me to keep an eye on you. If you don’t go back with me when dad asks about it later, I wouldn’t be able to account for him…”
“I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
“… Muchuan!”
“Move!”
…
Both of them looked at each other expressionlessly in the office.
Neither of them moved. Their gaze looked complicated as if they wanted to see something from each other’s eyes.
In the quiet atmosphere, there was a tinge of vague gloominess in the air.
A smile flashed across Bai Muchuan’s face. “I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
Cheng Zheng’s face sank inexplicably. “You really do bear grudges.”
Bai Muchuan’s smile felt a little like a sneer. “Oh, do I?”
Cheng Zheng said nothing in response.
“Oh,” continued Bai Muchuan who supported his forehead with his hand. “Could it be that you thought of something bad that you have done to me and you feel guilty about it?”
Cheng Zheng looked at his eyes carefully but didn’t say a word.
In the quiet office, time felt as if it came to a pause…
… Until the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
That piercing ringing tone of the phone woke both of them out of their staring contest.
Bai Muchuan took a deep look at him before picking up the call. “Hello, this is Bai Muchuan…”
Not sure what the other party said, but his expression immediately turned grim.
“Got it. I’ll come over right now!”
“What happened?” Cheng Zheng saw that Bai Muchuan wanted to leave after hanging up the call and turned to ask.
Bai Muchuan halted his steps and turned to him.
“Captain Zeng just called. There’s another ‘zombie’ case in his area of jurisdiction. The deceased had some relations with Xiang Wan.”
…
Another one.
Just that word alone was enough to say that the situation was rather grave now.
Captain Zeng was not in a good mood. In fact, the new ‘zombie’ case was driving him crazy.
The first ‘zombie’ case was with Hu Bandao when someone attacked him at the cinema.
After that attack, they caught the perpetrator, and when she calmed down, besides remembering that she had gone on a movie date with Hu Bandao, she couldn’t recall anything else, despite using all kinds of interrogation techniques. When she watched the horrifying footage caught by the surveillance cameras at the cinema, she was scared out of her wits and kept crying non-stop. Even so, she still couldn’t remember anything else.
This case was just the start.
A few days after the incident, two more similar cases occurred within five kilometers of the cinema.
The situation was also similar.
When the perpetrators regained their senses, it horrified them to learn what they had done.
One of them nearly freaked out after learning what had happened…
When there was only one of them, people might perceive that person as a liar.
However, all three perpetrators had the same situation.
This case attracted the attention of the higher authorities.
Hence, before Cheng Weiji came for inspection this morning, Serious Crime Division One was actually preparing to take over the case. The transfer application was in progress.
This was, no doubt, a major case.
Cheng Weiji had told them that they would push for cooperation between different units. This was a must.
This was because the case involved the ‘zombie’ drug, the Narcotics department was certainly the more professional team to get hold of more information about it.
At this juncture, they considered the case a hot potato. Although Serious Crime Division One would take over the case, Captain Zeng would need to cooperate and provide assistance too. Moreover, he hadn’t slept soundly for the past two days. He felt that his nerves were so fragile that it would break soon.
It worried him that there would be another case like this.
He was even more worried that the case would happen in his area of jurisdiction.
Well, things happened where he dreaded the most…
…
When Bai Muchuan went out for a crime scene investigation, Xiang Wan was chatting with Fang Yuanyuan at home.
For the past few days, Fang Yuanyuan was suddenly into Buddhism.
She bought a jade buddha pendant and hung around her neck. Everyday, she would put her hands together and pray to God to protect Huang He.
Xiang Wan could not understand her. “You’re wearing a jade buddha on your neck, but you’re praying to God instead. Is this suitable?”
Fang Yuanyuan did not turn her head. “This is called a fusion of east and west.”
It was more like ‘a drowning man will clutch at a straw.’
If there was something that could offer peace of mind, she would adopt that.
“I don’t dare to think about what he will experience once he’s out there,” said Fang Yuanyuan, “besides praying, what else could I do for him?”
She was right that she could do nothing for him.
“But you can make him not worry about you?”
Finally, Fang Yuanyuan turned to look at her. “How do I do that?”
Xiang Wan consoled her. “Before he could come back to you, you need to take good care of yourself till you’re plump again.”
Fang Yuanyuan looked at her in silence. “…”
Xiang Wan placed both hands on Yuanyuan’s shoulder. “Yuanyuan,” she sighed, “you’ve lost quite weight.”
“… Really?”
“Really.” Xiang Wan nodded her head.
“Ah!” Fang Yuanyuan looked dazed for a moment.
Then she made a dash to look in the mirror. About 30 seconds later, she heaved a long sigh.
“This is wonderful! I’m now slim, slim… My Huanghuang is my weight loss medicine, simply marvelous~”
Xiang Wan gave her a frown. “… Amitabha.”
Fang Yuanyuan then made the sign of the cross. “Amen!”
The slim Fang Yuanyuan was now filled with self-confidence. She put on makeup and seemed to be very pleased with her new look while she looked at the mirror. She pursed her lips in satisfaction. “You want to go out with me?”
Fang Yuanyuan was also doing her job while in the Capital. She met up with the authors in the Capital, talk to them, and shared the new popular trending stories with them, et cetera—
Xiang Wan was now a “famous” author in the circle of female authors.
Fang Yuanyuan was very willing to get her to come along.
However, Xiang Wan always turned down her request.
Fang Yuanyuan was used to it. She took her bag and went out of the door.
The moment she left the house, Xiang Wan received a call from Bai Muchuan.
“You want to come with me?”
She received another invitation to go out.
Xiang Wan looked at her laptop screen.
“Go out for?”
Bai Muchuan replied. “Something happened to your friend.”
Xiang Wan was puzzled. “Friend?”
Bai Muchuan: “Xuan Yue—”
Thump!
Xiang Wan felt her heart clasping.
She suddenly felt a chill all over even though the heater was turned on in the house.
“Another case came up?”
“Mm.”
“Xuan Yue…?”
“Mm.”
Ever since that day, Xiang Wan had not met Xuan Yue again.
Nevertheless, both of them did message each other through messaging apps.
Besides confiding in Xiang Wan about her memories with Hu Bandao and Du Landuo, Xuan Yue had said the word “frightened” and “someone is after my life” the most…
It worried her that something bad would happen to her, and she felt that someone seemed to target her and wanted to kill her.
But…
Initially, her behavior had also made Xiang Wan worried. However, when the frequency of hearing such words increased and nothing actually happened, it was normal for her to become numb to it, gradually.
Moreover, Bai Muchuan told her that in the recent three “zombie” cases, although the method for killing someone was the same, the victims and the perpetrators were not related to each other at all. This would mean that, in the perpetrator’s case, the target might jolly well be picked randomly. Therefore, she told Xuan Yue to cut down on going out and pay more attention to her safety. She also said that it wouldn’t be such a coincidence for her to encounter that.
However…
With feelings of guilt in her heart, Xiang Wan left the house.
Outside the neighborhood, Bai Muchuan’s car was waiting.
The one who was driving was still Tang Yuanchu and the one sitting beside him was Cheng Zheng.
Bai Muchuan was sitting in the passenger seat and opened the door for her when he saw her.
“We happened to pass by the area, so I asked if you want to come along.”
This was an explanation as to why he was already here.
Nonetheless, Xiang Wan was more willing to believe that he had missed her.
Last night, he didn’t come back home at all—
He passed by the area so he picked up his girlfriend. This excuse scored full marks whether to others or to her. Cheng Zheng furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that, but he remained silent. As for Tang Yuanchu, he cackled when he heard his awesome excuse.
“Captain Bai, you’re really something!”
Bai Muchuan swept a glance at him.
“Focus on driving!”
“Yes, Sir!” Tang Yuanchu added, “It’s just a remark. Well, to say the truth, if Captain Quan has half of your skills with women, his kids would have been running about already…”
“…”
Of course, Quan Shaoteng wouldn’t know that they had mentioned him.
However, Bai Muchuan retorted Tang Yuanchu.
“If you use your time on learning such skills rather than making jabs at others, then your children could already call me ‘Uncle’!”
“…” Tang Yuanchu kept his mouth shut.
He was also a bachelor just like Captain Quan!
“What wind has blown you here?”
Bai Muchuan glanced at Cheng Zheng then got up unhurriedly to close the windows before sitting down at his seat. He started playing with a pen thereafter. “Say it.”
“It’s that equipment purchase,” said Cheng Zheng, “why is there no news about it?”
Oh.
He saw what was happening at the group chat after all.
Bai Muchuan showed a half-smile on his face. “How would I know? I’m not in charge of that.”
Cheng Zheng’s face sank. “Didn’t you already applied for it long ago?”
“I did, but they have not approved it.” Bai Muchuan looked at him expressionlessly and shrugged. He then did a little stunt by throwing the pen back into the penholder. “You should know that such an instrument is not something that is easy to get an approval…”
Cheng Zheng was the most anxious person on the purchase of an advanced trace identification equipment from abroad, but that did not mean that Bai Muchuan did not do his part properly. He had submitted the application for two months already, but it was not being approved.
When they wanted to bring in a new, more advanced equipment, there would be a lot more procedures and paperwork required, and the process would be more troublesome.
Cheng Zheng understood that.
However, he put on a grim face and looked at Bai Muchuan, as though he was unhappy.
“You promised me that.”
Bai Muchuan simply looked at him. “…”
He found himself speechless for a moment. “So you want me to steal it or snatch one back? Besides, stealing and snatching is out of the question, what else can I do?”
“I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
This took Bai Muchuan aback for a moment.
For a moment, his eyebrows crumpled slightly together.
Those words…
It felt vaguely familiar.
He then looked at Cheng Zheng with his eyes narrowed.
Some memories of his childhood came back to him…
…
“Where are you going?”
“Why should I tell you? Do you really think you’re my elder brother?”
“Go back home with me!”
“… This is funny! Don’t you think you’re being a busybody?”
“You’re going to the arcade to play games. This is not something a student should do. I don’t allow you to go…”
“Haha! Aren’t you silly to say this to a straight-A student like me?”
“…”
“You can preach when your results surpass me in the next exam! Move…”
“Dad asked me to keep an eye on you. If you don’t go back with me when dad asks about it later, I wouldn’t be able to account for him…”
“I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
“… Muchuan!”
“Move!”
…
Both of them looked at each other expressionlessly in the office.
Neither of them moved. Their gaze looked complicated as if they wanted to see something from each other’s eyes.
In the quiet atmosphere, there was a tinge of vague gloominess in the air.
A smile flashed across Bai Muchuan’s face. “I don’t care. Think of a way out!”
Cheng Zheng’s face sank inexplicably. “You really do bear grudges.”
Bai Muchuan’s smile felt a little like a sneer. “Oh, do I?”
Cheng Zheng said nothing in response.
“Oh,” continued Bai Muchuan who supported his forehead with his hand. “Could it be that you thought of something bad that you have done to me and you feel guilty about it?”
Cheng Zheng looked at his eyes carefully but didn’t say a word.
In the quiet office, time felt as if it came to a pause…
… Until the phone on the desk suddenly rang.
That piercing ringing tone of the phone woke both of them out of their staring contest.
Bai Muchuan took a deep look at him before picking up the call. “Hello, this is Bai Muchuan…”
Not sure what the other party said, but his expression immediately turned grim.
“Got it. I’ll come over right now!”
“What happened?” Cheng Zheng saw that Bai Muchuan wanted to leave after hanging up the call and turned to ask.
Bai Muchuan halted his steps and turned to him.
“Captain Zeng just called. There’s another ‘zombie’ case in his area of jurisdiction. The deceased had some relations with Xiang Wan.”
…
Another one.
Just that word alone was enough to say that the situation was rather grave now.
Captain Zeng was not in a good mood. In fact, the new ‘zombie’ case was driving him crazy.
The first ‘zombie’ case was with Hu Bandao when someone attacked him at the cinema.
After that attack, they caught the perpetrator, and when she calmed down, besides remembering that she had gone on a movie date with Hu Bandao, she couldn’t recall anything else, despite using all kinds of interrogation techniques. When she watched the horrifying footage caught by the surveillance cameras at the cinema, she was scared out of her wits and kept crying non-stop. Even so, she still couldn’t remember anything else.
This case was just the start.
A few days after the incident, two more similar cases occurred within five kilometers of the cinema.
The situation was also similar.
When the perpetrators regained their senses, it horrified them to learn what they had done.
One of them nearly freaked out after learning what had happened…
When there was only one of them, people might perceive that person as a liar.
However, all three perpetrators had the same situation.
This case attracted the attention of the higher authorities.
Hence, before Cheng Weiji came for inspection this morning, Serious Crime Division One was actually preparing to take over the case. The transfer application was in progress.
This was, no doubt, a major case.
Cheng Weiji had told them that they would push for cooperation between different units. This was a must.
This was because the case involved the ‘zombie’ drug, the Narcotics department was certainly the more professional team to get hold of more information about it.
At this juncture, they considered the case a hot potato. Although Serious Crime Division One would take over the case, Captain Zeng would need to cooperate and provide assistance too. Moreover, he hadn’t slept soundly for the past two days. He felt that his nerves were so fragile that it would break soon.
It worried him that there would be another case like this.
He was even more worried that the case would happen in his area of jurisdiction.
Well, things happened where he dreaded the most…
…
When Bai Muchuan went out for a crime scene investigation, Xiang Wan was chatting with Fang Yuanyuan at home.
For the past few days, Fang Yuanyuan was suddenly into Buddhism.
She bought a jade buddha pendant and hung around her neck. Everyday, she would put her hands together and pray to God to protect Huang He.
Xiang Wan could not understand her. “You’re wearing a jade buddha on your neck, but you’re praying to God instead. Is this suitable?”
Fang Yuanyuan did not turn her head. “This is called a fusion of east and west.”
It was more like ‘a drowning man will clutch at a straw.’
If there was something that could offer peace of mind, she would adopt that.
“I don’t dare to think about what he will experience once he’s out there,” said Fang Yuanyuan, “besides praying, what else could I do for him?”
She was right that she could do nothing for him.
“But you can make him not worry about you?”
Finally, Fang Yuanyuan turned to look at her. “How do I do that?”
Xiang Wan consoled her. “Before he could come back to you, you need to take good care of yourself till you’re plump again.”
Fang Yuanyuan looked at her in silence. “…”
Xiang Wan placed both hands on Yuanyuan’s shoulder. “Yuanyuan,” she sighed, “you’ve lost quite weight.”
“… Really?”
“Really.” Xiang Wan nodded her head.
“Ah!” Fang Yuanyuan looked dazed for a moment.
Then she made a dash to look in the mirror. About 30 seconds later, she heaved a long sigh.
“This is wonderful! I’m now slim, slim… My Huanghuang is my weight loss medicine, simply marvelous~”
Xiang Wan gave her a frown. “… Amitabha.”
Fang Yuanyuan then made the sign of the cross. “Amen!”
The slim Fang Yuanyuan was now filled with self-confidence. She put on makeup and seemed to be very pleased with her new look while she looked at the mirror. She pursed her lips in satisfaction. “You want to go out with me?”
Fang Yuanyuan was also doing her job while in the Capital. She met up with the authors in the Capital, talk to them, and shared the new popular trending stories with them, et cetera—
Xiang Wan was now a “famous” author in the circle of female authors.
Fang Yuanyuan was very willing to get her to come along.
However, Xiang Wan always turned down her request.
Fang Yuanyuan was used to it. She took her bag and went out of the door.
The moment she left the house, Xiang Wan received a call from Bai Muchuan.
“You want to come with me?”
She received another invitation to go out.
Xiang Wan looked at her laptop screen.
“Go out for?”
Bai Muchuan replied. “Something happened to your friend.”
Xiang Wan was puzzled. “Friend?”
Bai Muchuan: “Xuan Yue—”
Thump!
Xiang Wan felt her heart clasping.
She suddenly felt a chill all over even though the heater was turned on in the house.
“Another case came up?”
“Mm.”
“Xuan Yue…?”
“Mm.”
Ever since that day, Xiang Wan had not met Xuan Yue again.
Nevertheless, both of them did message each other through messaging apps.
Besides confiding in Xiang Wan about her memories with Hu Bandao and Du Landuo, Xuan Yue had said the word “frightened” and “someone is after my life” the most…
It worried her that something bad would happen to her, and she felt that someone seemed to target her and wanted to kill her.
But…
Initially, her behavior had also made Xiang Wan worried. However, when the frequency of hearing such words increased and nothing actually happened, it was normal for her to become numb to it, gradually.
Moreover, Bai Muchuan told her that in the recent three “zombie” cases, although the method for killing someone was the same, the victims and the perpetrators were not related to each other at all. This would mean that, in the perpetrator’s case, the target might jolly well be picked randomly. Therefore, she told Xuan Yue to cut down on going out and pay more attention to her safety. She also said that it wouldn’t be such a coincidence for her to encounter that.
However…
With feelings of guilt in her heart, Xiang Wan left the house.
Outside the neighborhood, Bai Muchuan’s car was waiting.
The one who was driving was still Tang Yuanchu and the one sitting beside him was Cheng Zheng.
Bai Muchuan was sitting in the passenger seat and opened the door for her when he saw her.
“We happened to pass by the area, so I asked if you want to come along.”
This was an explanation as to why he was already here.
Nonetheless, Xiang Wan was more willing to believe that he had missed her.
Last night, he didn’t come back home at all—
He passed by the area so he picked up his girlfriend. This excuse scored full marks whether to others or to her. Cheng Zheng furrowed his eyebrows when he heard that, but he remained silent. As for Tang Yuanchu, he cackled when he heard his awesome excuse.
“Captain Bai, you’re really something!”
Bai Muchuan swept a glance at him.
“Focus on driving!”
“Yes, Sir!” Tang Yuanchu added, “It’s just a remark. Well, to say the truth, if Captain Quan has half of your skills with women, his kids would have been running about already…”
“…”
Of course, Quan Shaoteng wouldn’t know that they had mentioned him.
However, Bai Muchuan retorted Tang Yuanchu.
“If you use your time on learning such skills rather than making jabs at others, then your children could already call me ‘Uncle’!”
“…” Tang Yuanchu kept his mouth shut.
He was also a bachelor just like Captain Quan!
