Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“When we found Xiao Wu in the hotel this morning, there was a series of numbers on the wall. The things that Xiao Li was holding just now were brought over from Xiao Wu’s house. The whole process was documented,” Xu Lan kept staring at Li Xiu while he was talking. He was amazed by Li Xiu’s self-composure, as he remained the same except for signs of mockery for a fleeting moment.
Xu Lan passed on each item from the carton box to the others, all of them contain scribbles of numbers and lines. Each number had the corresponding lines, which translate to its complementary letter.
The corresponding lines for 0100/1001 were ·—··/—··—. According to the Morse code chart, ·—·· codes for ‘L’ and —··— codes for X. The combination of both letters would be LX.
Xu Lan enlarged the message from his cell phone onto the computer screen. The message was about how Li Xiu taught her to use the Morse code chart.
Up to this point, Li Xiu had started to get a little restless. The combination of the letters was f*cking Officer Li Xiu. He was indirectly stating that he’s the real killer!
“But these are just two letters, there are infinite explanations. It’s just your speculation. How can you prove that I’m the killer? I can sue you for defamation.”
“Hmm, indeed. We can’t understand what the victim wanted to tell us, and we can’t prove that you’re the killer with just two letters. However, if both of them knew you, and you were present in their rooms, these are not merely numbers, there’s a specific meaning to it.”
Xu Lan retrieved Chen Xinyi’s cell phone from another bag. After Xiao Xu’s relentless effort, the complete data was successfully restored.
He found Mr. Liu’s contact and dialed the number. Suddenly, the meeting room that was previously restless fell silent, the only sound heard was the lively ringtone ringing from Li Xiu’s pocket.
“No! Impossible! You guys must have saved my number in to frame me!” Liu Xiu’s expression changed immediately. His relaxed state that he had was no longer there and was replaced by a grim and fearful expression on his face. He had no idea about the presence of the cell phone!
“All your calculated schemes and cunning plots have brought you nothing but doom, you never thought that you are the one who brought this upon yourself. Do you think you can escape the law? Everyone thought that you were lying in the hospital. Why did you contact Qiu Ling when you knew that she was being investigated? Weren’t you flawless in the previous execution? How did you forget to clean the wine glass? Were you in a hurry when you heard that Xiao Xu was monitoring Qiu Ling, that’s why you didn’t take it with you?”
The reports were in black and white, displayed in front of Li Xiu one at a time. He was not able to argue, filling himself with fear and anxiety.
“What are you waiting for, arrest him!” Hu Cheng slammed his tobacco pipe on the table with a ‘bang’, stood up and said while pointing towards Li Xiu.
The police that was stationed outside for quite some time busted in and charged towards Li Xiu. In a moment of desperation, Li Xiu took off his frameless spectacles and threw it on to the floor with a ‘pang’. Suddenly, pungent, thick smoke rose from the ground and Li Xiu took the opportunity to escape.
“Papa! Are you okay? What happened?” Bai Wu came up out of nowhere and found Xu Lan’s exact location within these pungent, foul-smelling thick smoke.
“Cough cough… I’m okay. Everyone stay calm, it’s the chemical reaction that caused the formation of smoke, don’t panic. Go out one by one. Cough… cough,” Xu Lan yelled, while he was choking on the smoke until he could not even bear to open his eyes.
Bai Wu lead him outside immediately. He felt that as if he was reborn after resting for a very long time.
“Sergeant Xu, you’re the man. We don’t know what to do because we thought that we lost all of the leads,” Zhu Jing was the first one to walk over and talked to him. It was nice to know that her forthright personality had not changed a single bit.
“Yeah! Sergeant Xu! I had access to the information, but why couldn’t I link them together?” Xiao Li pinched his nose and said softly in defeat.
“Thank you, Xu Lan. You’ve completed the mission outstandingly,” Hu Cheng said while he smoked his tobacco pipe, baring his yellowed teeth and said.
“Looks like I couldn’t reach my true potential in the forensics department. I also contributed to solving the case,” Sun Fei said while laughing loudly.
“Haha, without Section Chief Sun organizing those case files, we wouldn’t have managed to identify the killer so soon. Moreover, Xiao Xu suffered the most, everyone owes him a meal!”
Xu Lan laughed joyfully. The load on his mind was taken off, and he could finally leave in peace.
Bai Wu was happy for Xu Lan because he rarely laughed whole-heartedly. The bodyguard was also immersed in the joyous mood since he should be able to return to the Central Science Park.
Everybody was delighted, except for Shen Xiang who cried silently.
Xu Lan gave her the lollipop in his pocket that he bought for Bai Wu, as well as a handkerchief. This was because Bai Wu cried too often. The place that once kept Yunyan Special titbit soft had turned into a handkerchief.
“Try it, it’s sweet,” Xu Lan said gently. He intentionally suppressed his original sonorous voice, leaving behind a magnetic tone, “Inform Xiao Wu’s family to come over.”
Shen Xiang received the handkerchief with reddened eyes, “Wendi had no family. We grew up from the same orphanage. We relied on each other,”
“What she did was remarkable! We should be proud of her!” Xu Lan said guiltily.
Bai Wu walked towards them and snatched the lollipop from Xu Lan’s hand. He peeled off the wrapping and shoved it into his mouth immediately, “I’m hungry.”
Shen Xiang smiled through her tears when she saw Bai Wu’s action. The handsome young lad she was looking at would not ask her shyly for liquored-centered chocolate anymore. Instead, he snatched away her lollipop.
“Let’s go and eat. I’ll foot the bill today, it’s to reward all of your hard work!” Hu Cheng said happily.
“Great!”
“Oh… we can finally eat meat!”
“Go go go.”
A whole bunch of people was loudly discussing where to eat, and where to sing after the meal.
“Cough…cough… Guys, Li Xiu escaped! We have to go and arrest Lao Liu immediately,” Xu Lan cleared his throat and said loudly when the crowd was about to leave the main door. His sonorous voice echoed in the hall for some time before going into the ears of the shocked bunch.
“Oh my! Quick! Look for Li Xiu from the surveillance to see where he went. Also, how can Lao Liu be so ignorant, he should turn himself in!” They beat their chests in despair before returning to their posts promptly.
However, after two deliveries and the arrival of Lao Liu at the police station, they still could not find any traces of Li Xiu. Lao Liu admitted openly that he was the only one committing those crimes, but he denied any involvement with Li Xiu. He refused to help the police to find Li Xiu.
Also, he behaved like a rock from the latrine when he was interrogated – hard and stinky! It angers Xiao Li to the point where he kept wanting to swear.
