Black or White Ways E-Book

Weijian Zhu

• Herausgeber: via tolino media
• Kategorie: Abenteuer, Thriller, Horror
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2023

Beschreibung

Late in night a sharp knife was pierced into the heart of an investor from other place by a mysterious killer, police had put all its efforts to solve the case without making any progress. From then on many dead bodies were left in street by the mysterious killer with a knife, and people in the city were scared by what they heard about the cases. Instructor FineElegance Li of the group of the criminal investigation of the municipal bureau of public security just joined the group to solve the case, but the sharp knife was pointing at his heart, through his own vigilance, courage and fight, he barely missed the knife, thus he could continue his investigation. At the same time he found there is(are) a mole(moles) inside the bureau... Under extremely difficult situation, he focused his attention on the cases as hard as he could, he persisted in his investigation despite various interference, in the end he found the identity of the killer, after a life or death fight, he caught the killer, exposed the evil and the corrupted behind the killer. The truth is really unbelievable... Black & white ways is signature novel which lay a solid foundation for the author to become the best author about police.

Leseprobe

This is a work of fiction. Similarities to real people, places, or events are entirely coincidental. For permission requests, write to : [email protected].

BLACK OR WHITE WAYS

First edition. September 21, 2023.

Copyright © 2023 Weijian Zhu.

Written by Weijian Zhu.

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Table of Contents

Copyright Page

Black and White Ways

Author  Weijian Zhu | Translators  Bin Liu  Jirong Liu

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Part II  Bonfires linked to the dawn | 1

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Epilogue

Further Reading: By Order of People

Also By Weijian Zhu

About the Author

Black and White Ways

A shocking story about an invisible killer from an executed criminal by police writer

Author  Weijian Zhu

Translators  Bin Liu  Jirong Liu

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A cold light from a sharp knife pierced through the curtain of the night

A mysterious killer which couldn’t be found anywhere

A weird and treacherous case

An everlasting loyalty with righteous ardour

Warm nightfall

Darkening night

Who casts the ominous mist

To turn the night into hideous one

Evil ghost with shiny white teeth

Makes children fall into nightmare

Makes mother frighten and tremble

Makes night travelers lose their ways

Makes the eyes of warriors filled with tears

Who lights the bonfire faraway

To connect the dawn coming late...

—-quote from a poem of protagonist

Prologue

The execution ground was in front of a hillside in the suburb.

Police cars and trucks slowed down gradually, stopped, three condemned prisoners were taken out of the trucks and to the execution ground.

Though he was over thirty one and had been in police for about a year, it was first time for FineElegane Li to witness an execution of the condemned prisoners at the scene, furthermore, from a special angle with a special identity to watch the whole process: From the prison to the public place to announce sentence till the shooting sounds in the execution ground, from the beginning to the end without missing any detail.

The video camera in his hand was recording the whole process silently, he was focusing his lens on the three condemned prisoners, intentionally or not the video camera recorded a bit longer for one prisoner.

Because he knew the prisoner, it seemed there is a bit predestination for them.

His name was LittleDragon Ji, but FineElegance Li called him TreasuredOne Ji—that was his name when he was in primary school. Yes, it is him, though they have not met for more than a decade, he still could recognize him. Definitely it is him. Only his face is more paler than before with beard on his chin, he appears much older than before, it is a result of time and prison’s life. At the moment, he is walking in front of the video camera his hands tied behind his back.

He moved a step forward to record clearly. The guy was famous for fighting when he was in school, before he was arrested, he was a famous hooligan in the city, when he was fighting, he did not care much about life or death. This time he was doing armed robbery, the victim fought back, he was infuriated, took out his sharp knife and killed the victim. Therefore his evil life came to an end.

At the moment he is smiling, it seems the smile is with a bit pleasure, his eyes look around covetously with an expression not willingly to leave the world. It seems that his pale cheeks as snow show up a bit red. He looks friendly at everyone in the scene as if he wants to say goodbye to everyone.

When he was in primary school, his name was Treasure Ji, his classmates called him TreasuredOne Ji, then later he changed his name to LittleDragon Ji. It was said after he watched many Kung Fu movies produced in Hong Kong, he changed to his current name. He thought he is a mighty dragon.

At the moment the evil dragon would be executed.

The good will be awarded, the evil will be punished. At the moment LittleDragon Ji got his final punishment. He took away someone’s life, he had to pay back with his own life, though the value of the two lives were not equal. He deserved to get the punishment.

His lens switched to the execution ground from LittleDragon Ji. He noticed dozens of armed policemen had arrived and guarded around the ground with full military gears and stern expressions to form a half-circle about one hundred meters. Bystanders who came after the police cars could only stand at the outside of the half circle.

LittleDragon Ji was gotten down from the truck, FineElegance Li noticed he is still smiling, still looking at bystanders with friendly expression, but other two condemned prisoners are swooning with fright, when they were taken down from the truck, they couldn’t stand anymore, had to be supported and drawn forward by policemen like dead dogs. Only he is able to stand steadfast and looking around, is he yearning for staying in the world and hoping for some miracle?

There was no miracle.

There was a piece of gravel field at the foothill. LittleDragon Ji and two other condemned prisoners were taken to the place, let them kneel down to face the hill with their backs to the muzzles. After the command was issued for execution, the guns were shot, one, two...

The heads of the other two condemned ones were blown up with splashing blood, they fell down to ground, it was his turn.

FineElegance Li heard before, sometimes for the hideous criminal, the shooter would slow the pace to pull the trigger down a bit to increase his frightful feeling to death. Maybe it was just an illusion, he thought at the moment the shooter paused the shooting. He focused his lens on LittleDragon Ji, wanted to give a snapshot for the moment when the bullet is entering his head. But at the short moment of pause, the body of LittleDragon Ji began to move, he wanted to stand up, struggled to turn around, his mouth was murmuring something to the video camera...

At the moment, the gunshot was heard.

Red and white sticky liquids were splashing around, he fell to ground.

FineElegance Li was stupefied for a moment, then went forward in quick steps, focused his lens on him: He was dead, the bullet entered from his forehead and left a hole at the back of his head, the brain and blood were flowing out of his head, it was disgusting to look. Medical examiner turned his body over to check. He saw his eyes were still open, his mouth was open, as if he were talking something to him.

FineElegance Li was drawn into the expression. He was dead, his pallid face like a piece of white paper was still with a smile, it seemed that his distended pupils were still looking at people and him. He felt behind his fixed eyes as if there were another pair of eyes, the eyes were looking into his eyes to his heart to his soul through the eyes of LittleDragon Ji. He couldn’t help but shiver once, a terror he had never experienced before was welling out of the bottom of his heart...

“What, are you scared? Let’s go, he is dead, why you are still recording, it is disgusting, let them pick up the dead bodies!”

One man came forward, he was Glory Qin, the captain of criminal detectives, no, he was the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation. He was just promoted to the position, FineElegance Li couldn’t get used to his new call.

When he returned to the bureau, FineElegance Li checked the video again, thought it is nice, every important detail of execution was recorded clearly. He wrote a news release in a hurry with special words ‘The execution served him right, people feel glad about his execution.” Then he sent the news release with videotape to TV station, suggested the station to focus their attentions more on LittleDragon Ji, particularly the moment he was shot to frighten criminals.

But in the evening news, FineElegance Li did not see the shots he wanted to broadcast. The leaders who were taking part in announcing sentence in public place took most of the time, particularly the impassioned speech of Mayor ForPeople Wei, LittleDragon Ji was just given a flashing moment recording from a distance. Later he heard the station got instruction for Mayor Wei to pay particular attention to the direction of public opinion, it was not appropriate for the station to play up the details of the execution.

In the night FineElegance Li had a dream. In the dream he returned to the execution ground, witnessed again the execution process of LittleDragon Ji, at the beginning of the dream it was in comply with what had already happened, but at the end there were changes. He saw the dead LittleDragon Ji was lying in the ground, he was staring at him, he could not dodge his look, it seemed there is another pair of eyes behind the empty and mysterious eyes... suddenly the eyes move, smile, then LittleDragon Ji comes to life, sits up slowly, his eyes are focusing on him with a smile, he raises his bloody hands slowly, then stands up again... FineElegance is frightened by what he is watching, he turns around, find no policemen are around, there are many women and children standing behind him including his mother, wife and daughter... they all wear extremely frightened expressions. Though he is extremely frightened, he knows he couldn’t retreat and run away, no... he takes a deep breath, catches his bloody hand, shouts:”What do you want? You are dead, you are already dead...”

He begins to grapple with him...

Part I  Hideous Night

1

Three years later.

FineElegance Li walked alone in street around midnight. There were no other pedestrians in street, his surroundings were deadly quiet, the buildings along street nearly all closed their eyes, slept in darkness. There was no moon in the sky, even stars were twinkling with sleepy and tired eyes, occasionally the faraway sound of train horn blowing could be heard, which made people realize the small city is still breathing. Streetlights were dim, his lonely shadow was stretching in ground and moving forward with his body.

He felt sleepy, his eyelids were heavy, he couldn’t wait to plop down in the bed of his home. But as it was late, the bustling taxis in daytime vanished, he could only quicken his paces to walk toward his home.

He crossed through a small alley, came to another street.

The street was very famous, though it was late, buildings along the street were still with bright lights with flashing neon lights.

The street was famous in the city, was called ‘corruption street’ by some people and ‘red lights street’ by other people as the street was filled with places for entertainment such as houses for washing head, washing feet, disco, karaoke, billiard, bowling, video arcade etc... Of course the most attractive ones were sauna and SPA centers and several hotels. In these places there were numerous and beautiful girls providing service to their customers, with money one could get whatever service one wanted. What more attractive was no matter what kind of service one would have in these places, customers needed not to worry about their safeties as these places were rarely bothered by police. Even police occasionally found a problem during their check, they would choose to ignore the problem. Since the establishment of the street, none of the places had received heavy fine from police. Look, wasn’t the highest building ahead called ‘Red Mansion’? Yes, its formal name was Grand Garden, with names for each floor or rooms copying from Dream of Red Mansion, such as Crab Apple Flowers, Concubines of Emperor, Fragrant Sweet Grass, of course the protagonists of Dream of Red Mansion did not live in the places but girls coming from all over the country. The girls were assigned to each floor according to their birth places and temperaments to satisfy various tastes and demands of their customers. In the hotel there were centers for sauna and SPA, dining, massage and karaoke, it could provide any service their customers want. Therefore the business was booming and the owner was rolling in money.

The owner of ‘Red Building’ was called Brother Iron  Xu. Of course he did not just own the building, he owned about one third of businesses in the street, but the building was the tallest and most famous one. He had shares in another one third. The remaining one third had to pay him certain ratio of their profits every month as the street was developed by him, and he could ensure the safety of the street. If one of the businesses did not share its profit with him, he would be angry, then police would come to check and punish the business with heavy fine, or a group of henchmen from nowhere would come and vandalize the business, thus the business could not continue, and the owner had no place to complain.

Of course ordinary people could not afford the services, for those who came to the places most of them did not pay the services out of their own pockets. In the night, the street was bustling with shiny luxurious cars, people couldn’t help but admire the scene. Look, though it was around midnight, in every place there were still two to three cars in front of the door. The street was a great contribution of Brother Iron  to the city, he was very proud of himself, called the place ‘Las Vegas’ of his, though none was sure where he heard the exotic name.

FineElegance Li was angered by the thing, he and his colleagues of criminal investigation knew the street was doing many illegal activities, and the activities had to be checked and punished as many cases which they had investigated and solved were related to the street more or less. But they could only talk about the thing without taking any action as the leader of the city thought the street has made a great contribution to improve the environment of economic development, thus he praises the street frequently.

Yes, the place belonged to Brother Iron , he would not allow anyone else to operate in his territory without his permission. If anyone dared to challenge him, the outcome was definitely not good. Look, the dark building ahead without any light...

The building was called Joy of Night, the business had boomed for more than two months, at the moment the building was empty. The owner of the building was BigSea Mao from another place. The outsider who does not know anything wanted to come to the city to do big business, bought the building with a high price, opened Joy of Night for entertainment, wanted to compete with Red Building for business. At the moment none knew where is his soul now. In the night of three days ago, he was killed on his way back to his home: A knife was pierced into his heart.

The case was being investigated by FineElegance Li and his colleagues, that was the reason for his late return in the night.

Three days had already passed after the case, based on the current information, it seemed the case couldn’t be solved in a short time. Of course that a case couldn’t be solved was normal. When he came to the office, he checked the cases which had not been solved yet, found many major cases including homicide cases had not been solved in recent years. At the moment, he had been the head of criminal police for two months, major cases including armed robbery and homicide cases happened in the two months all had been solved except this homicide case, in ordinary sense it was not a big deal if he couldn’t solve the case. But the case was different, the victim was an investor from other place, the case had caused repercussions in society. The leaders of the city paid high attention to the case, Deputy Secretary of Municipal Committee concurrent with Secretary of Committee of Political and Legislative Affairs NewPeak Liu and Mayor ForPeople Wei had issued instructions, told Bureau of Public Security has to take all measures available to solve the case as soon as possible, otherwise it would bring bad influences to the investment environment of the city. Director BrilliantServant Cai, the director of the bureau of public security and Glory Qin, the deputy director in charge of criminal investigation had been facing tremendous pressures. Of course the pressures had been placed on the group of criminal investigation. The leader of the group was Finelegance Li who faced the greatest pressure in the group. For three days he had done a lot of investigations with his group without finding any significant clue.

The case was difficult to solve but had to solve. Even without instructions from the leaders, FineElegance Li would not allow a case to be unsolved under his leadership. He could not answer to himself and his leaders if the homicide case couldn’t be solved. Though he had been a detective for not a long time, he had a belief that a detective’s responsibility is to solve cases, if a detective couldn’t solve a case, then he shouldn’t be a detective, particularly for the major cases which have caused bad influences in society and are focus of the attentions of people. He thought the process of investigating a case is just like solving a geometric problem, no matter how difficult it might be, so long as one does not give up, keeps trying, thinks from different angles, he could suddenly find a key to solve the problem. At the moment, one could feel indescribable glory which is filled in his body and mind... For the case he should investigate in same fashion, so long as you keep on trying, in the end the case would be definitely solved. Due to the reason, he did not go back to his home once after the case. Before the dinner, his wife and daughter called him, wanted him to go back to their home, his four years old daughter cried while calling him as she missed him, thus he had to go back to his home. Otherwise, he might still stay in his office.

Yes, FineElegance Li was a political instructor for the group, as the captain was hospitalized, he was an acting chief in charge of the group. In the night that he returned to his home late was due to the case of BigSea Mao.

The location of the ‘corruption street’ was not good, much less in downtown. Therefore after he crossed through the street, came to another remote street, FineElegance Li felt sleepy again, yawned several times, thought for a moment, decided to take another shortcut, thus went to another road.

Though it was called a road, in fact it was just a narrow alley. There were residential buildings and walls at the sides of the alley without streetlights, thus it was very dark, but he was not afraid at all, first he was a bold man, second he had been a detective for more than half a year, he experienced no fear anymore. Furthermore, he had a handgun, which made him fear nothing at all. He even did not think about anything, just went into the alley.

The alley barely allowed a car to drive through. He was walking in the alley, suddenly recalled the case of BigSea Mao, he was killed in the night when he was alone. He saw his corpse, he was a strong middle-aged man, unexpectedly in the night a knife was pierced into his heart, he never could stand up again... He shivered once, became alert at once, looked around and could not see anything in the darkness. Suddenly he felt unknown terror, sensed as if a criminal were hiding around him, the criminal would rush toward him at any moment... he couldn’t help but touch the gun at his waist.

An ominously instinctive feeling was welling out of his heart.

Many years ago he found he has such a kind of instinctive feeling, whenever something ominous would happen, he would have such a kind of unknown terror. When he was in high school, he felt uneasy while he was in school, before the school was over, he ran back to his home, found his mother had a heart attack, all other people in his family went to work in field, he found a car to send his mother to a hospital and got her life saved. If he came back a bit later, his mother might not be saved. In another time, while he was in secondary school, after school when he went through a piece of forest, he felt goose bumps all over his body, thought something bad might happen, prepared in advance, it turned out several guys want to ambush him in the forest, as he had already prepared, thus the guys failed in their ambush...

At the moment, he had same feeling, the feeling was even stronger, he looked around and found nothing wrong. He calmed down, sneered at himself for his cowardice, continued to walk forward, then heard the sound of engine behind his back.

He turned and noticed a car. Based on its shape, the car should be a jeep. He turned back and continued his walk, then thought the sound was not right... turned again, the jeep was without headlights, driving toward him in high speed.

The alley was very narrow, he had no place to dodge, the jeep was closing in quickly. He shouted:”Stop, someone is here, I’m a policeman...” As if the jeep were not driven by a man, the jeep was rushing toward him. He had to run forward, the jeep was following him, the distance became shorter and shorter. It was obvious that the jeep is coming for him and trying to collide with him. It was impossible for him to get out of his gun, he would be doomed in next second, a hot blood was rushing upward from his body, he suddenly stopped his running, turned back, rushed toward the incoming jeep. Just the jeep was about to bump with him, he jumped up on the hood of engine, then on the top of the jeep, somersaulted down from the jeep, fell down to the ground.

He fell down heavily on ground, his palms were broken, his arms and legs ached as if they had been fractured, his head bumped onto a stone at the side of the road, he felt dizzy, and the world was rotating around him. Nevertheless he warned himself he could not faint, no...in a trance, he saw the jeep stopped in a short distance, the door opened, a man jumped down from the jeep, ran toward him in agile paces with a long and narrow shiny thing in his hand. He couldn’t control the palpitation of his heart, struggled to get out of the gun from his waist, slid off safety pin, pointed forward, shouted with difficulty:”Don’t move, I’m a police...”

He pulled the trigger, felt a shock in his hand, saw the flame at the muzzle, then couldn’t hold anymore, lost his consciousness.

2

In his coma, FineElegance Li could not clearly see the face and figure of the killer, could only see his eyes, a pair of gloomy, cold and hideous eyes were staring at him, the eyes were the killing weapon, wanted to kill him, the stare made him feel severe headache and disgusting as if his head had been ripped into parts. He wanted to fight with the eyes, but he couldn’t move a bit, he couldn’t help but wait the eyes to stare at and kill him at any moment. He wanted to move a bit, but none offered any help, he couldn’t move... suddenly, he heard the familiar voices:

“Instructor Li, Instructor Li... FineElegance, FineElegance... ”

“Instructor, instructor...”

Suddenly he felt a pain in his head, the eyes vanished at once, there were blank pieces in front of his eyes, he woke up at once, opened his eyes suddenly, saw piercing bright light, then a pair of eyes.

The eyes were not in his dream but real ones, the eyes were filled with cares and worries, then he noticed a familiar and swarthy face with beard stubs.

Who was he? Why he was so familiar, warm... how couldn’t I know his name. The eyes suddenly flashed once, a drop of tears was rolling down from his face, a familiar voice called:”FineElegance, FineElegance... how are you feeling, you’re right, fuck, who did it, tell me, who did it, who wanted to kill you...”

His mind flashed once, he regained his consciousness, called the name of the man in front of him:”Brother Wu, you...”

The man was Deputy Captain DeepWill Wu of the group of criminal investigation. When he saw FineElegance wakes up, he took his hand gladly and began to shake:”It’s me, FineElegance, you wake up, you’re right? What happened? I’m too anxious...”

With his shaking, FineElegance Li felt pain in his arm and dizzy in his head, wanted to talk but couldn’t. DeepWill Wu realized his rashness, stopped his shaking at once, said apologetically with care:”I’m sorry, FineElegance, I’m a bit excited... How about you? Do you feel a bit better?”

FineElegance Li recovered after quite a while from the shaking, at the moment, he noticed he is lying in a bed, there is an intravenous fluid bottle in front of him, what’s the matter? He wanted to move, as soon as he moved, he felt tremendous pains coming from his arms and legs, his gauze wrapped head felt dizzy again.

After a while, he realized he is lying in a hospital bed, recognized people around him: Besides deputy captain DeepWill Wu, there are several brothers from the group: Solider Shen, JumpCenter Xiong... Suddenly he recalled what had happened just a moment ago, tried to sit up hurriedly:”What’s wrong, how I... am here... you....”

When he heard his words, DeepWill Wu smiled wholeheartedly, said:”Don’t move. If possible, just tell us what happened? If not, just have a rest.”

FineElegance Li had recalled the incident completely. How could the thing wait? He told the incident painfully. His words surprised DeepWill Wu and other policemen. Through them, he got to know what happened after he lost his consciousness, the sound of his gun shot scared off the killer, called patrol policemen to the scene. It was the policemen sent him to the hospital. Then DeepWill Wu and other detectives got to know the thing, came to the hospital... At the moment, it was near daybreak.

Upon hearing his words, DeepWill Wu’s face turned livid. He said through his clenched teeth:”Fuck, how could this kind of thing happen? He tried to kill a detective, he was crazy.”

While talking, there were footsteps out of the ward, two more people entered the room. The detectives left the room hurriedly, only DeepWill Wu stayed. Based on their greetings, FineElegance Li knew the two people are Director Cai and Deputy Director Qin, wanted to sit up to greet them, but he felt his body is hurt, his head is dizzy, couldn’t move.

Director Cai with gray hairs first stood in front of him. He was about to speak, Director Cai shook his head, said:”No, don’t talk if you can’t. Have a good rest!”

He said painfully:”Director, I’m fine, thank you for coming to see me...”

Deputy Director Qin with a gloomy face showed up in front of him, said:”Can you talk? If you can, just tell us what happened...”

He told the incident to them while enduring the pain. Upon hearing the words, Deputy Director Qin humphed once, cursed:”Fuck, how could such a kind of thing happen? How he dared to kill a detective...The case must be solved!”

Deputy Director Qin turned and looked at DeepWill Wu, said angrily:”Why you are still here? Act now, put other cases aside, just focus your attention on this case. Start from the car, check all the jeeps of the city to find whose jeep was not at home last night, where was jeep? When you find anything suspicious, you have to report to me immediately...”

Though he felt painful in his head, he still understood the meaning of Deputy Director Qin, struggled hurriedly to prevent:”No, Director Qin, don’t put all policemen in this case, we cannot put the case of BigSea Mao aside!”

Deputy Director Qin thought for a moment, accepted his suggestion, said:”Yes, the case cannot be put aside, DeepWill Wu, you take some people to investigate this case, let LearnStraight Hu take some people to investigate the case of BigSea Mao... Well, why LearnStraight did not come, what he is doing...”

StraightLearn Hu was another deputy captain of the group. DeepWill Wu shook his head, said:”I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t know this incident yet!”

Deputy Director Qin said unhappily:”Find him now, tell my command to him, you both take action now!”

DeepWill Wu nodded his head, said yes, then held the hand of FineElegance Li tightly for a moment, left the room.

Only three of them were in the room.

Director Cai asked Deputy Director Qin:”What do you think about the case of FineElegance?”

He said:”I don’t know at the moment. But, no matter what, I will not let the case pass easily, he dared to come to kill our policeman, if the case couldn’t be solved, how could we maintain the social safety and security?”

Director Cai turned to FineElegance Li, said:”FineElegance,  what’s wrong really?”

What’s wrong? He couldn’t wait to find an answer, but at the moment he really did not know what’s wrong. He thought about it, but as soon as he tried to use his mind, he felt dizzy again. At the moment a nurse with white uniform entered the room, said to two directors:”Okay, you may leave now. He needs rest. If you act in such fashion, it will affect his recovery...”

Two directors left the room. He felt dizzy again. But the words of Director Cai were echoing in his mind:”FineElegance, what’s wrong really...”

Yes, what’s wrong really, what’s wrong.

3

He woke up again when it was daybreak, felt less painful in his body and dizzy in his head. But he did not move a bit, the thing of last night flashed back in his mind, so did the words of Director Cai. Yes, what’s wrong? Who wanted to kill him? He had no clue at all. It seemed the opponent meant to kill him to get his final satisfaction. It could be put in such a way, since he came to the group, he had solved many cases, arrested not a fewer people, offended a lot of people, but he did those things in line of his duty. Furthermore many people had stayed longer than he in the group, Deputy Captains DeepWill Wu and LearnStraight Hu, they stayed much longer in the group, solved more cases and arrested more people than he... Then, was there anything to do with the case he is investigating? Yes, his attitude to the case was resolute, in his analysis he took Brother Iron  as principal suspect... if it was the case, then Brother Iron  was really related to the case of BigSea Mao.

The case was flashing into his mind again.

BigSea Mao was pierced to death. Based on the killing method, the killer was a professional, as he pierced the knife directly into his heart. There were a lot of rumors spreading around about the case, some rumors were closely reasoned and well argued. For example, the case was done by Brother Iron . Because he was a tycoon of entertainment businesses in the city, he had no competitor all the time. When BigSea Mao came to the city with huge capital and nice personality, he took many customers of Brother Iron  away, took profit directly from his bowl. The saying had its own reason. FineElegance Li did analysis too: They both are competitors in same business with money and power, neither of them wanted to give in. Not long time ago, henchmen of Brother Iron  smashed his building, both sides fought with each other, several people were injured. Though police interfered, as the injuries were not severe, main culprits were not caught, the thing could not be proved through instruction of Brother Iron, in the end police just fined the perpetrators for violation of public safety. It was said BigSea Mao had reported to police, Brother Iron  had once threatened him and said he would not get a good outcome if he dared to fight with him.

Based on the information, Brother Iron had the motive to carry out the case.

As a matter of fact, the case did have some clue. There was a clear fingerprint in the crime scene, the fingerprint was left on the wall by the killer with blood of BigSea Mao, it seemed that killer intentionally left the fingerprint. Technicians got the print easily and clearly, compared it within database, no match was found. Through various channels, the fingerprints of Brother Iron  and his several subordinates were acquired and compared with the print, there was no match either.

But when they carried out peripheral investigation, someone said in the night he was killed, BigSea Mao drank with Brother Iron . Therefore Brother Iron  might be last person who had contacted him before he was killed, if he were not a suspect, at least he should know something. Brother Iron  did not come to the bureau by himself, but he actively called Director Cai himself to explain what had happened in the night. He said the reason that they both went together to have a drink was BigSea Mao proposed to have a drink to get rid of some misunderstandings to resolve the contradiction. In the night they had a nice talk, expressed mutual understanding and willingness to resolve the misunderstandings. After the drink, each of them took his own car and left... Upon further investigation, the words of Brother Iron were confirmed and he had alibi with solid evidence. FineElegance Li and his subordinates did further investigation and analysis, they thought if Brother Iron wanted to get rid of BigSea Mao, he would definitely not do it by himself and his subordinates, he would hire someone else to do the kill. They went to the telephone company to check his phone record, but it was very difficult, as he would make hundreds of calls daily to various places all over the country, it was very difficult to investigate the calls.

In three days and nights, they had investigated what they could investigate, but they still could not interview Brother Iron as he was too busy. He had so many businesses with so many things to take care of, went out to other places frequently, it was difficult to find and talk with him. When they called him, he would pick up the call, but he never showed up in the bureau. They sent subpoena to him, he just threw the subpoena at his side without reading it, said he is busy and has no time. Thus Director Cai and Deputy Director Qin had to talk with the municipal leader, the leader called him, he promised to come to the group of criminal investigation, but FineElegance Li and the two deputy heads waited for him till midnight. He finally called, said there is an emergency and he has to leave for other place, he is contacting a foreign investor who plans to invest in the city. They had no other choice, had to leave the office and go back to their homes.

On his way back to his home, FineElegance Li was attacked and nearly lost his life in the process.

Was it he who did the thing? Did his investigation close in to him, thus he wanted to get rid of him as soon as possible? It was impossible as at the moment he did not make any progress in the case, it was unnecessary for him to act in such a way...

What’s wrong really?

He felt a bit dizzy again, couldn’t continue his thinking, moved a bit, wanted to change into another position, then found another person is in the room. When he saw his movement, the man went forward hurriedly, said:”Instructor, you wake up.”

He saw the young, handsome and strong face, recognized it is Soldier Shen, asked surprisingly:”It is you... what are you doing here?”

Soldier Shen patted the gun at his waist, waved his fist, said with a smile:”To protect you!”

“Protecting me...”

Before he could ask any more question, Soldier Shen said:”I was sent by Director Cai, he is afraid someone might want to harm you again, thus ordered me to stay with you all the time!”

Really, he smiled wryly in his heart, he needed to be protected, it seemed the action is a bit over, does the killer dare to come to hospital to take his life away... but when he recalled the incident of last night, he really had lingering fear, at the moment if the killer comes into the room, based on his current condition, he really cannot fight against him. While thinking in such fashion, he felt grateful for Director Cai.

Soldier Shen talked about the topic he was interested, said:”Instructor, at the moment your reaction was quick, it was right to jump on to the car, but when you jumped on the car, you have to lie down at once, catch the body of car, try to stabilize yourself, then take out of your gun... I think from now on we have to receive training not only for shooting and catching but also for running and jumping...”

Solider Shen was transferred to the group from armed police, he had practiced freestyle fighting. He taught the catching and fighting skill for the group as an instructor. That Director Cai sent him to protect his safety showed Director Cai really gave much thought to it.

Maybe the presence of Soldier Shen increased his sense of safety, he thought about his encounter for a while, then felt sleepy and sleepy, couldn’t raise his eyelids anymore, closed his eyes slowly.

Probably people had the sixth sense. Though he fell into sleep, his sleep was restless, his dream was chaotic, in the dream it seemed that he is hiding from something, or is looking for something, he is angry and fearful. Suddenly he smelled a familiar scent, then felt cool water dropping on his face, then heard the sobbing of a woman, felt a little hand is touching his face, heard a light calling:”Daddy...”

He woke up at once, opened his eyes, saw the chubby and lovely face of his daughter, blurted out:”Sprout...”, tried to stretch his hand to hug her, but felt pain in his arm, moaned once, gave up his movement.

A pair of hands took his daughter away, said:”Sprout, you cannot touch your daddy now...”

It was his wife. He turned his face to look at her beautiful faces and tearful eyes. She definitely worried about such a kind of thing. He raised his eyes, said:”You have nothing to fear. You see I’m fine.”

His wife turned her face away, began to sob loudly. At the moment, someone said:”Sister-in-law, you just stay for a while, we both will have something to take care of for the time being.”

The speaker was DeepWill Wu, he did not know when he had arrived. Upon hearing the words, his wife turned back, said hurriedly:”Elder Brother, you just stay, I’m fine...”

But DeepWill Wu and Soldier Shen glanced each other meaningfully, then left the room.

Only they three left in the room, but the room was deadly silent, even it was a bit awkward. His wife sat at the edge of the bed across him silently with lowered head, his daughter was standing in front of him quietly without playing and talking.

Nevertheless, his wife finally said in a mild tone and not loud voice:”What really happened? I’m nearly frightened to death...”

FineElegance Li did not want to tell her, but he also knew the more he holds the more she worries. Thus he briefly told the happening in the night, though he said lightly, she was really scared, turned her face away and began to sob again. He expected she would say something more.

As expected, she wiped her tears away, said:”Okay, What I told you is right, you did not want to listen my words, you just want to become a detective... I know, sooner or later, either you will be killed or I will be scared to death...”

He closed his eyes.

In recent years he often had quarreled with his wife, furthermore, with the increasing tension, their relationship was affected too, there was a seam in their relationship, the seam became wider and wider, the seam became harder and harder to get repaired.

When the quarrel began? Yes, after they got married, they began to have quarrel. But which couple did not. It could be put in such a way, at the beginning everything was not out of ordinary, but since he was transferred to the bureau of public security, particularly after he joined the group of criminal investigation, the tension increased significantly. She could not get used to his frequent not returning home in night, was not contented with his commitment to his job, of course the poor economic condition of the family became a fuse too. If it were mediation of DeepWill Wu, they might have already broken up. At the moment he was injured, bumped into that kind of great danger, she did not offer her care and warmth but complained about his choice and work, he felt hurt in his heart.

She did not think about his feeling, sobbed several times more, then began to scold him by enumerating his wrongdoings:”What? You did not listen to my words, this time... if you still were in the office of Municipal Government, how could this kind of thing happen? In the division of secretary, among your batch of secretaries, three have already become a head of township government, one is the secretary of township committee, all are at the head of a division in administration rank. ForeverCalm Yu who entered the division later than you has already become a deputy head... it’s okay if you are transferred to the bureau of public security, isn’t nice to stay in Division of Political Affairs? If you had not transferred out of the division, you might have already become the head of the division and the member of the party committee of the bureau, with you ability, in a few years you will become the commissar. You are really good. At the moment you get up early, return to home late, even sometimes you just stay in your office, I really couldn’t see where is your future... People said the detectives are with power, some detectives become rich in a few years, anyway you are at least a head, but I don’t see any power with you, you only have the power to get up early and come back late. For such a long time, except salary, I have not seen you taking an extra penny back to the home. Even for the salary you cannot get the pay full. Right now, you nearly lost your life in your work...”

Anger was welling out of his heart, he suppressed his anger with great efforts, enjoined himself: Enduring, enduring, more enduring...

That was her—his wife GentleFragrance Wang. She talked to the point. In fact whether he was transferred out from the municipal government or he should not become a detective really did not matter at all, which were just superficial reason. In fact if he could take a lot of money back to satiate her desires, she did not care much about the kind of his job: As to where the money comes from, she really does not care. So long she has money to satisfy her vanity, everything is fine to her!

That was the real reason for their estrangement.

How could she be this kind of person? Before marriage, she did not act in such fashion... It was not a bit strange that someone had warned him that it is not easy to maintain a stable relationship with a woman involving in artistic activities as this kind of woman is with vanity... Is it true? But she has already changed her job and become a leader... When she was transferred out the art troupe, she first worked in Women’s Federation, then Department of Organization, in a short while ago she was promoted as a deputy director of labor bureau, but she still acts in such a fashion with such kind of knowledge! He knew she had given speech to other people, occasionally he would read her speech, she talked to other people to make selfless contribution to one’s work... when no other people are around, she acts in such fashion. This is true herself.

She was still complaining. He closed his eyes to listen her words, the disgust in his heart became stronger and stronger, his blood was boiling in his body, he felt dizzy again. At last he could not hold it anymore, opened his eyes suddenly, waved his hand rudely, said:”Go away, you needn’t not bother me anymore. I’m glad to become a policeman, I’m glad to become a detective, I’m willing to risk my life, even if I’m dead, I needn’t you to care. If you think I’m incapable, you can have another option. Did you say ForeverCalm Yu is a deputy director? You go to him, he is quite capable to climb up, I’m inferior to he, I’m a fool, just a fool. If I were not a fool, how could I have taken you as my wife!”

“You...”

She stood up at once due to anger, gasped several times, took their daughter into her arms, said:”Okay, I’m leaving now, we’re leaving now, anyway you don’t keep us in your heart...”

She took their daughter, turned and went to outside. DeepWill Wu showed up in time at the door, said:”Well, sister-in-law, you’re... you just stay a bit longer, what...”

DeepWill Wu always acted in such fashion, he would show up when he was needed. As expected, when she saw him, she relaxed her expression considerably, said with a forced smile:”I have to send the child to kindergarten, then I have to go to my work... Elder Brother, I’m sorry to bother to take care of him!”

She persisted to leave. He prevented her leaving the room, asked in a low voice:”Have you bumped into any difficulty in your life. If you have, you just tell me. I know your salaries are not enough to do anything, so long as your couple have a harmonious and happy life, anything else is easy to cope with. Don’t you have your elder brother...”

Upon hearing the words, FineElegance Li did not know what he should do.

After they got married, he found his wife is a vainglorious woman. She always compared with other people for clothes, house, and everything. She always said if someone has something and they don’t, she is ashamed to walk around... Particularly in recent years, a lot residential buildings were developed. Many officials working for government had moved into the buildings, she couldn’t endure that. Last year the labor bureau constructed a residential building, she wanted to buy an apartment in the building no matter what. As the apartments were for their employees, the price was really cheap, but it still needed fifty thousands, where should they find the money? Nothing could change her determination to buy the apartment. She sold their one-storey house for more than twenty thousands, then they borrowed to get another several thousands, but they were still short of twenty thousands, no matter how hard they tried, they just couldn’t raise the money, she forced him to find a solution, but how he could find a solution? They had a fierce quarrel for the thing, she even said if he couldn’t raise the money, she would divorce with him. His attitude was resolute, even if it meant to divorce, he would not borrow from other people...

The conflict suddenly quieted down, she did not mention the thing again. He thought the thing is over. Who knew in a short while she began to prepare to move to the building, he asked where she got the money, she just did not want to tell him. He said if she does not tell him where is the money from, then he would not move. She had to tell him the money was given actively by DeepWill Wu. In face of his questioning, DeepWill Wu had to admit the thing, said:”I know your temperament, I want to hide from you, as you have already known, then just move now, no more rage, don’t speak those useless things. Your brother’s life is fine, your sister-in-law is in business, she earns more than us. In future, if you have anything, you just tell me, no more quarrel with sister-in-law, it is not easy to be a couple, you have to have a harmonious life...”

At the moment he held tremendous pressure in his heart, his mother once said under no circumstance you should spend other people’s money. He also believed in the saying a hedge between keeps friendship green. Therefore he asked her to return the money, but the money had already used to buy the apartment, how to return the money? He couldn’t find another solution, could only say to DeepWill Wu:”Brother Wu, you know my economic condition, I do not know when I could pay back your money!”

DeepWill Wu pulled a long face, said:”Do you still take me as your Brother Wu, aren’t we brothers? Have I told you to pay back? Of course I know your temper, you don’t want to spend other people’s money, but do you think I am the other person? Okay, let me state it clearly to you. If you have, you can return the money at any time; if you don’t, you just forget about the money. Okay... FineElegance, you cannot just blame sister-in-law, we detectives get up early and return home late, we often do our investigation in other places, just leave wife and child in home, could you feel assured about their safety? It is much safe and convenient in building, this is also for our job...”

After his persuasion, FineElegance Li moved into the apartment with his wife, the disturbance about the apartment calmed down.

From then on, his relationship with DeepWill Wu became deeper subconsciously. He thought to himself DeepWill Wu just acts like an elder brother, though he is a bit rude, he is kind, honest and simple with warmheartedness. DeepWill Wu acts in same fashion in work, when he was transferred to the group of criminal investigation, it was only from his support, he could get his initial success in his job.

DeepWill Wu talked several words more to her, saw she still persists in leaving, said several more words, and saw her off out of the ward.

Soldier Shen who was eavesdropping at the outside came into the room and couldn’t understand the situation clearly, said:”Instructor, Sister-in-law is different with you, she is pretty good...”

DeepWill Wu happened to hear the words, stared once at Soldier Shen, said:”What nonsense you are talking about?” then turned to him, said:”FineElegance, you couldn’t only blame sister-in-law, in fact any woman would act in same a way. If I had bumped into such a kind of thing, I would not be sure how frightened your sister-in-law could be... Yes, I originally planned not to tell her, but she got to know the thing from other source, came to our group, persisted in seeing you, but when she arrived, you... FineElegance, Sister-in-law really worries about you. That she got angry with you is another way of her caring about you. Her words are right, to be frank, what is the significance for us as detective? We work very hard day in and day out everyday, we are facing not only hard work but also danger, who could understand us? If the living condition is poor, it is really boring... To be frank with you, if I had the ability of yours, I would definitely not choose to work in this profession... Really, you have a much promising future in the government. But... Anyway, I know you don’t want to listen such a kind of thing, I don’t talk anymore... well. Do you feel better now, did you see clearly the murderer? What he looks like?”

The words brought him back into last night. There was a murky figure flashing in his mind: Thin, agile... But it was faraway and dark, he couldn’t see his features clearly. He shook his head, said:”No, not at all. At the moment, I saw he is jumping down from the car, rushing toward me, it seems that he is holding a knife in his hand... Then I opened fire, and lost my consciousness.”

DeepWill Wu sighed deeply, thought for a moment, then murmured:”Fuck, who was the man? Why he wanted to kill you?”

He shook his had again, said:”I couldn’t figure it out too. If it was due to I offended someone, we as detectives definitely have offended a lot of people. But I have become a detective for not a long time, though I have arrested some people, in comparison with you, my number is much fewer than yours, who wants to kill me, I really couldn’t figure out, I think...”

He paused, DeepWill Wu who was listening attentively asked:”FineElegance, do you have any idea? Whom are you suspecting?”

He thought for a moment, then spoke out the idea flashing across his mind last night:”This...it’s my wild guess...I have a kind of feeling, I’m not sure, maybe the thing is related to the case of BigSea Mao we are investigating!”

Upon hearing the words, DeepWill Wu and Soldier Shen both wore surprised expression, DeepWill Wu suddenly stood up, said:”What? This... For such a kind of thinking, do you have any evidence?”

He thought for a moment, then smiled, said:”How do I have evidence, it’s just a feeling. Maybe it is not true... Yes, what kind of relationship between them? The murderer killed BigSea Mao, we suspect the thing is related to Brother Iron , does it really...”

Solider Shen said:”I think the analysis is reasonable, maybe our investigation has touched him. I heard the guy is an evil, he can do anything one could imagine!”

DeepWill Wu fell into deep thinking too, in a short while, nodded his head, said:”Your analysis might be right. One could only know other’s face without knowing his heart and thinking. Though he is an entrepreneur, a representative of People’s Congress of the city, I have no good impression about him... Nevertheless, I think it might be a bit overstretched. The case of BigSea Mao just happened, we are investigating and don’t make any progress at the moment, why Brother Iron wants to kill you? Furthermore we have not actually contacted him yet!...”

Yes, it was a bit overstretched in the relationship. FineElegance Li knew too, but really had that kind of feeling, as to why he did not know, thought for a moment, said:”No matter whom, we will find out, if the case is not solved, I’ll definitely not stay in the group.”

DeepWill Wu said:”Yes, they came to take the life of a detective away, if we cannot solve the case, why we should be detectives? Well, with your words, I cannot stay here any longer... Yes, let me tell you, all our brothers from the group and policemen from the stations in the city have all been mobilized, Director Qin is the commander himself, from last night till I came here, nothing had been found. You just stay here for your recovery, I will tell you any good news at once if I have... Well, I’m leaving now. Soldier Shen, you have to take good care of Instructor, if anything wrong happens, you have to suffer!”

While talking, DeepWill Wu left in a hurried and brisk way. Soldier Shen said:”Captain Wu is nice, simple, honest and warmhearted, unlike Captain Hu... Instructor, you feel assured, I really hope the killer would come, so I can fight with him!”

In the afternoon, Deputy Director Qin came to visit him again, told him about the progress of the investigation.

When he saw Deputy Director Qin, he struggled to sit up. Deputy Director Qin wore yellowish and tired face. He lighted a cigarette, took a long drag, then said gloomily:”We found the jeep, it was stolen when someone parked at the roadside. He reported its missing in morning, someone found it at the roadside out of the city, there was a bullet hole at its back, it should be the jeep!”

He felt glad, said:”Then, anything else? Is there anything found in the car?”

Deputy Director Qin shook his head, took another long drag, said:”Nothing. We found the car, but after repeated check by technical people, we did not find any fingerprint or traces in the car. The owner and his family members were checked repeatedly, they were excluded from suspicion. Their car was really stolen. I guess the murderer is from other place!”

FineElegance Li made his own judgement at once: First stole a car, then ran away with the car, deserted the car again in the way, vanished at once.

It was planned and executed carefully and skillfully, and definitely not carried out by a novice.

It seemed the case is a difficult one.

Deputy Director Qin took two more puffs of his cigarette, asked same question like DeepWill Wu:”You just tell me the incident more carefully again, didn’t you really notice any feature of the murderer?”

He followed his demand, recalled the whole process of the incident carefully, even thought what he said is not useful for solving the case. Deputy Director Qin sighed again, asked:”What do you think about the incident?”

He repeated what he had told DeepWill Wu, mentioned the case of BigSea Mao and the name of Brother Iron. Upon hearing the words, Deputy Director Qin opened his mouth widely, forgot smoking, shook his head, said:”Possible? It’s impossible, why Brother Iron wants to kill you... he has no motive, it is unnecessary... it’s a huge thing, we investigate our case based on evidence. You cannot talk the thing around, if the words are heard by him and he comes to us, that will put us into an awkward situation!”

His words were reasonable, his remind was right, the words could not be told to anyone else anymore, because it was just a kind of feeling and guess without evidence and reasons.

One day passed without any progress, and the clue led to a dead end.