Translator: CatCyan Editor: Zayn
Without any reason, Su Bai had a feeling that the person who went through the notebooks should be an experiencer like himself, instead of an audience.
However, Su Bai didn’t struggle over this for long. He turned to the front page and checked the owner’s name: Wang Hongsheng. He remembered this name by heart, then he had another sip of water, went to join the other cops and started filing data.
In fact, Su Bai knew that there was going to be a new case tomorrow, but he couldn’t say anything or do anything. Until he figured out the situation, he should play his role; the wisest strategy was to hide himself well in the first place and to avoid giving away too much clues or inklings.
As for story points, Su Bai was still wishful. After all, in the last experience task, Su Bai was awarded with half of the total story points and had exchanged for Broken Vampire Blood, which somehow brought his enhancement ahead of schedule. Actually, if he could get ahead with the first time, he would always be ahead in these kind of things. Get more story points as soon as possible and it would be easier for him in the coming days. In more direct words, he would be able to live longer in the future.
Data collecting was a very tedious job. It didn’t come to a conclusion until it was late. Those cops were so tired that they sat behind their desks, while Su Bai picked up the files and walked to the director’s office by himself.
Director Zhou did say he was the team leader of the special investigation team, but his office wasn’t changed.
“Knock knock…”
Su Bai knocked on the door.
“Come in.”
Su Bai opened the door and went in.
Director Zhou was smearing some essential balm. The room was filled with a strong smell. Apparently, he was dedicated to this case, too.
“Everything’s ready?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Okay, put it here. I’ll have someone copy it after I read it.”
Su Bai didn’t say anything else. He just nodded, put a pile of files onto the empty desk besides Director Zhou and got ready to leave. But before he started off, he picked up something with his nose.
No. The essential balm was not the only smell in this room.
Su Bai frowned and started sniffing carefully.
“What?” Director Zhou asked.
“Numb leg.” Su Bai answered and walked out of that office, a little tottering.
Director Zhou held the cup and took a sip.
Su Bai was standing outside the door trying to recall the smell he had picked up with his eyes closed. It was a faint fragrance with a little almond-like smell. What would give off such a smell?
Suddenly, Su Bai came up with a possibility. As far as he could remember, some chemicals came with this bitter smell of almond. Was Director Zhou trying to cover the smell with essential balm after messing up with these chemicals?
This was just knowledge from high school. There were several chemicals with bitter almond-like smell which could create lethal toxin in human bodies, and they were also commonly used in murders since many killers chose chemicals for poisoning.
Su Bai put one of his hands in front of his chest and tried to pacify his breath.
He couldn’t be impulsive; he must be calm. He was merely a junior cop, so he should do what a junior cop should do.
Even a special investigation team couldn’t run 24/7; when it came to the closing time, these cops who had finished filing, including Su Bai, got out of the working area and called it a day.
Su Bai lived in the dormitory in the police station, so he dropped by the mess hall and brought some take-aways to the dormitory.
With him being the only person in the room, it seemed a little lonely. But it was just alright for Su Bai to shake off his disguise during daytime and think about something thoroughly while having dinner.
In the beginning, in that police car which went out of the station in the morning, those people were apparently real audiences. Su Bai could guess that they must have been heading to the crime scene of the next case. They must have made some preparation in advance, so they could get the killer under control.
As for the notebook that had been read and the person named Wang Hongsheng, these were the only clues Su Bai had found. But he didn’t want to look into these. At least his own notebook was consistent, whether with its style or the handwriting; therefore he seemed to have showed no leaks.
After dinner, Su Bai took his tablewares to the tank beside the washroom for cleaning. The water from the tap was strong; it made clear sounds when it hit the tablewares and some water even splashed onto Su Bai’s face.
Su Bai took a deep breath. Just then, there came some voices of a group of people from downstairs.
He slanted slightly and looked down through the railings along the corridor. He saw four men and one woman were walking towards here.
Those were the five cops who had gone out during daytime in that car.
The five of them seemed to be debating over something; Su Bai could only hear a few words like “consequences”, “extreme”, “changes” and so on. He guessed that they must be discussing the case which would happen tomorrow. They should know the exact time and location of that case tomorrow, but they were arguing about whether they should make some preparation in advance. Some of them thought that too much preparation in advance would alert the killer, but others believed that if they didn’t make enough preparation, the killer might walk away and there would be consequences.
Now Su Bai suddenly felt envious of them; they could discuss this in public and others might think they were just discussing the case. But Su Bai knew that they were talking about a case that hadn’t taken place yet.
The audiences should have access to the task in advance, or even be able to learn some information about their next story world through the official account. But Su Bai, as an experiencer, knew nothing. Of course, because of that, he could avoid most of the danger, but he still hated this feeling of ignorance.
After cleaning his tablewares, Su Bai didn’t stay there for long. He returned to his room with those tablewares.
Lying on the bed, ready for a nap, he suddenly heard a knock on the door:
“Liu Yang? Liu Yang, may I ask you for a favor, please?”
It was a lady’s voice.
Su Bai frowned slightly. He really didn’t want any communication or connection with anyone else in this story. After all, he was just a fake cop.
But she obviously knew that he was inside. It would be abnormal if he didn’t open the door.
He stood up, walked to the door and opened it.
It was a female cop. Not very pretty, a little chubby and had many acnes on her face.
“Liu Yang, the mess has got no food. Can you cook some instant noodles for me, please? You’ve got a gas stove here. I’ll go take a shower first, okay? Ten minutes, I’ll be quick. Wait for me here.”
The girl stuffed two bags of instant noodles and two eggs into Su Bai’s hands, turned around and walked away with a plastic bag in her hand. She must be heading towards the public bathroom.
Su Bai had read Liu Yang’s diary; there was feelings, impulsion and admiration about his lover, but no photo of any kind. Now Su Bai touched his forehead and had no clue: was that little chubby girl really Liu Yang’s girlfriend?
Well, even if she’s not his girlfriend, they were still kind of close.
Su Bai added some water in the small pot, turned on the gas stove, put in the noodles after the water was boiling and then knocked in the eggs. After it was ready, he picked up a large bowl, took out the noodles and put it on the desk. He sat by the bed and felt about for some cigarettes. There weren’t any. Apparently, Liu Yang didn’t smoke.
However, after ten minutes, then twenty minutes and even thirty minutes, the chubby girl still didn’t come back.
The noodles in the bowl was soaked with the soup and became thick and swollen.
Su Bai was a little confused. She shouldn’t have been so slow; it was just a shower and she had asked him to cook some noodles, and she hadn’t had any dinner. She should have been quicker.
He opened the door and stood in the corridor. Below him was the balcony.
Suddenly, Su Bai realized all the cops were running towards the same direction one by one. Some of them seemed to have already been resting because they didn’t wear their uniforms.
“What happened?” Su Bai shouted towards downstairs.
“Liu, why are you still standing here? Something happened to your Melody… It’s in the public bathroom, come and check it out with me!”
Su Bai’s heart missed a beat. He even forgot to close the dormitory door before he rushed downstairs and followed that middle-aged cop who answered him towards the public bathroom.
At this time, there were already dozens of cops around the public bathroom, but they were all in order. After all, they were not common people driven by curiosity.
At the entrance of the public bathroom, there was a stretcher carrying a half-naked female body covered by clothes. It seemed to be a little desolate here.
Su Bai pushed away whoever was standing in front of him and looked at the body. It was exactly the chubby cop girl who had just told him to cook noodles and wait for her after she was back from shower.
The cops around saw Su Bai; they patted him on the shoulder quietly and cast concerning looks on him.
That’s right; she’s Liu Yang’s girlfriend, my girlfriend.
Su Bai took a deep breath, forced some tears in his eyes and kneeled down with an astonished look on his face.
People around him saw this and immediately came to comfort him.
Just then, a police officer who had been examine the body by the stretcher said with surprise:
“Her throat was cut and private parts were violated… This is the M.O. [1] of THAT killer! Son of a bitch! How he dare kill in a police station!”
Su Bai kept his head down; he seemed to be listening to nothing and reacting to no one’s consolation, but no useful information could slip away from his ears. Now deep down in his heart, there was a storm:
‘What’s going on here? The murder should be tomorrow! And the victim should be that 27-year-old female Deng X living in Shuichuan Road, Silver District. How come… How come it turned into this?’
Then, the five cops including four men and one woman arrived. There was obvious tiredness on their faces; apparently, it had been a long day. But when they pushed through the crowds and saw the body, they all put on an astonished look.
The plot... why had it changed? How could it even be possible!
FOOTNOTES:
[1] M.O.: modus operandi, the way of doing something, especially committing a murder or other crime.
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