Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The man grabbed her and asked, “Don’t you want the corpse anymore?”
“We can’t bring it along with us right now, anyway. Let’s just leave it here for now. I’ll send someone to bring the corpse away after we go back. However, I can’t tell where we are now.” An Xiaoning untied the rope and put it away.
“You can’t tell and yet you were so eager to run away. I’ll take you out of this place,” he drawled.
An Xiaoning trusted him completely since he had entered from this very exit and, hence, should be aware of which route they should take to leave.
“Alright, I’ll go with you.”
The man removed his hat and placed it on her head.
“You may wear it instead, I’m fine…” An Xiaoning said in surprise.
“Put it on if you don’t want to fall ill.”
“Aren’t you going to be caught in the rain, then?” She removed the hat and tiptoed to put it back onto his head. She then took off her jacket and said, “We can both stay dry like this. Let’s go, it’s already so dark.”
The man remained quiet, and the two of them quickly left.
An Xiaoning followed him blindly, her shoes getting covered in mud.
Time crawled by. She decided to break the silence and ease her boredom. “How much do you get paid for working in the military?”
“It’s enough to get by.”
An Xiaoning knew that military personnel were not paid much. But of course, the value of money was subjective. For example, a salary of eight thousand dollars a month was considered a good amount to the average citizen. However, to An Xiaoning, even 80 thousand dollars would be considered peanuts.
She had no idea what he meant exactly by “enough to get by.”
“How old are you?” she asked.
“How old do you think I am?”
“About 26 years old?”
“I’m the same age as you.”
He would never give her an exact answer to all her questions.
“Are you married yet, then?”
“I’m not.”
His cold replies killed An Xiaoning’s desire to continue chatting with him. Thus, she decided to stop talking, lest he finds her to be a nosy parker.
Five minutes later, he asked, “How about you?”
“What… about me?”
“Are you married yet?”
“Not now, but I was thrice-married. I have a seven-year-old son too.”
“…”
He fell silent upon hearing her answer.
An Xiaoning hurriedly caught up with him and said, “Wait a minute, I need to use the toilet.”
He stood still and cupped her face in his hands. He then moved her head to shine the headlamp around.
At last, he shifted his gaze onto a tree nearby and pointed at it. “Go there, I’ll wait for you here.”
“Okay.”
….
“Bastard!” Pan Zhenghui exclaimed while slamming the handset down. He immediately called An Xiaoning, only to find that he could not reach her. He then zoomed out of the office.
Noticing the sullen expression on his face, Ma Jianguo asked, “Bureau Chief, did something happen?”
“Old Ma, go to the archeological research center with me now. Bring your subordinates along.”
“Alright.” Ma Jianguo immediately did as instructed.
Less than twenty minutes later, they arrived at the archeological research center. Upon hearing the sounds of their arrival, Wang Jinsheng immediately stubbed his cigarette into the ashtray and rose from his seat.
“Captain, Bureau Chief Pan is here,” one of the team members reported.
“I can hear that.”
Before they even reached the door, Pan Zhenghui scurried in.
He immediately punched Wang Jinsheng, causing Ma Jianguo and the rest to be dumbfounded. They had no idea what had happened at all.
“Bureau Chief, simmer down and hear me out, alright?”
Pan Zhenghui lashed out at him and hollered, “Quit trying to explain! Are your brains fried!?!”
“I didn’t have a choice, Ms. An insisted on going in and I couldn’t stop her. I told her to film a video of herself declaring that she won’t hold us responsible should anything happen to her, and she just told us to leave.”
“Why did you wait until now to call me? It’s all too late now! She made you guys come back, but do you think that you’ll really be able to escape scott-free if something happens to her? I’m telling you, you and your subordinates will still have to face the punishment. I’m not trying to scare you. I didn’t want to go to Beiying previously but I still risked my life and went anyway. Nobody wants to die, but do we have a choice? Great, you let her go in alone while all of you came back here. You’re digging your own graves.”
Wang Jinsheng suggested, “Bureau Chief, why don’t we head there now to check on the situation?”
“Of course we have to do that. I tried to call her but she didn’t pick up. I’m going to check if she has returned to Wei Ni Estate yet.”
Pan Zhenghui called the bodyguards in Wei Ni Estate, only to hear that An Xiaoning was not home yet. His heart sank; he was extremely terrified.
The two cars sped along the streets toward the lake.
Pan Zhenghui continuously berated Wang Jinsheng throughout the entire journey. When they were about to reach the lake, Zu Dong, who was behind the wheel, yelled loudly, giving Pan Zhenghui a great fright. “What are you yelling for?” questioned a startled Pan Zhenghui.
“Bureau Chief, look, is that Team Leader An? But who’s that beside her?”
Pan Zhenghui looked over to see that it was indeed An Xiaoning and the man, both of whom were drenched in the rain.
Everyone frantically alighted from the cars.
“Xiaoning!” Pan Zhenghui exclaimed while sprinting toward An Xiaoning. He hurriedly grabbed the umbrella in Gong Le’s hand and held it over An Xiaoning’s head. “You gave us a huge scare.”
“What’s there to be scared about? Captain Wang, I found your team member inside. He’s already dead and we left his body near the exit. There are no markings. The approximate location…” She looked at the man beside her and said, “You tell them.”
The man looked down and answered calmly, “You guys better write down the directions I give you. I can’t do anything else apart from giving you directions because there isn’t a specific location.”
“Alright, sure.” Pan Zhenghui took out a small notebook and a pen from his pocket without delay.
To An Xiaoning’s surprise, the man gave them the directions accurately. She did not expect him to have remembered the route so clearly, especially since they had had to make several turns here and there.
Wang Jinsheng brought his subordinates along to look for the corpse.
An Xiaoning called Henry whose mobile phone was switched off. Thus, she had no choice but to head to the lake in Pan Zhenghui’s car together with the man.
Pan Zhenghui had been dying to ask about the identity of the stranger. However, he decided to curb his curiosity because he found it a little inappropriate to ask her right in front of him. After the man alighted with the umbrella, Pan Zhenghui asked softly, “Xiaoning, who’s that?”
