Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
The police officers in gray-blue coveralls entered the Qingtong Community from four different directions, each carrying an electrical maintenance toolbox. They planned to gradually narrow their search from the edge buildings inward, while some officers remained on the main road of the community to oversee the situation.
Auxiliary officer Ji Qinchou was looking at a photo sent by Captain Shen as he walked. The photo showed a half-body shot of a man and a woman. The man had his back to the camera, with a shaved head and a tall, sturdy build. The girl was walking on his left side, turned towards the camera, her face clearly visible. Her eyebrows were raised, forming a "V" shape, and beneath them were a pair of innocent almond-shaped eyes, large pupils almost filling her eye sockets, misty with tears, making her look pitiful—especially since she appeared to be only sixteen or seventeen years old.
Ji Qinchou zoomed in on the photo with two fingers, focusing on the distance between the two individuals and the angle of their arms hanging down. The more he looked, the stranger it seemed. He scrolled down to reveal the girl's tech-savvy face occupying his entire screen and showed his phone to his colleague.
"Do you think this girl looks familiar?"
His colleague leaned in closer. "Yeah, she does look familiar. That shiny forehead and those prominent European-style double eyelids with two folds hanging down. The implant in her nose is almost breaking through the skin, and those plump lips with a pointed chin—she must have layered on at least five layers of makeup. If you search online, you'll find tons of people who look like her; it's like they came off an assembly line. But this girl is wearing a school uniform," he zoomed in again, "Rongqing High School. Is she really a high school student? What a shame to look so unrecognizable at such a young age! Once we rescue her, I’m definitely going to have a talk with her!"
Ji Qinchou didn’t respond but opened a video instead.
In the video, the two were holding hands while walking along the main road of the community. The girl turned around upon seeing the cameraman and exaggeratedly mouthed—“Help!” The man seemed to sense something and turned back as well. The cameraman was likely startled; the camera pointed at the concrete ground for two seconds before being lifted again. Perhaps due to their earlier movement, a wooden handle was sticking out from the man's left pants pocket. Judging by the shape of the bulge in his pocket, it was likely a kitchen knife. The girl also had something in her oversized school uniform's right pocket that was protruding—a straight black object that looked like either a marker or pen but thicker.
Ji Qinchou's fingers trembled slightly as he paused the video. His colleague nudged his elbow, and he looked up to realize they had reached between the two outermost buildings.
"Left? Right? You choose."
"Let’s go left; just be careful."
His colleague rubbed some dirt off his hands onto his palm and quickly got into action, striding towards the nearest unit door. Ji Qinchou once again held up his phone to closely examine the girl's face with intense focus; if she knew how concentrated he was, she might think he was about to get hit over the head for it. He rationally pivoted 90 degrees and moved forward at 0.25x speed for two full minutes, replaying the photo and video repeatedly before lifting his foot again—only to stumble headfirst into a flowerbed.
Yu Liangcai received Ji Qinchou's call and after listening to him finish speaking, raised his tone at the end of his sentence, "Are you sure?" Without waiting for an answer from Ji Qinchou, he continued speaking to himself, "Forget it; with your brain, I’ll go check it out myself."
Outside Room 101 of Building 9, Yu Liangcai pressed his back against the corner of an exterior wall and cautiously peeked inside. To his surprise, he found exactly what he had predicted: two young people—one perpetrator and one hostage—standing face-to-face seemingly engaged in conversation. The young girl looked terrified; her face was pale as if she hadn’t eaten for three days. However, her eyes were sharp; as soon as he revealed himself slightly, she caught sight of him out of her peripheral vision and slightly furrowed her brow in plea for help. He shushed her quietly with his hand facing downwards to signal her to stay calm before quickly leaving to report the latest situation through his walkie-talkie to Shen Jie, captain of the criminal investigation team’s second squad. Within a short time frame, officers from both criminal investigation and armed police units surrounded the area along with Yu Liangcai’s team of junior officers.
When Shen Jie entered through the unit door with his team members, he extended his hand towards Yu Liangcai first.
"Thank you for your hard work."
Before Yu Liangcai could return credit to Ji Qinchou, they had already arrived at Room 101's door and began arranging their forces based on the terrain. Yu Liangcai remained observant outside waiting for orders. However, Ji Qinchou’s expression seemed unusual; Yu Liangcai hadn’t yet asked how he knew where the perpetrator was hiding after taking hostages. So he approached him and gently tapped his shoulder.
"Tell me how you knew? Room 101 in Building 9 isn’t within your search area."
Ji Qinchou licked his dry lips and leaned closer to whisper, "Director, this might be a trap..." He briefly explained his reasoning. After hearing it all, Yu Liangcai felt alarmed but didn’t dare take Ji Qinchou’s words lightly; he frowned with mixed black-and-white brows and asked skeptically, "Do you have any other evidence? Something substantial?"
Ji Qinchou shook his head.
Yu Liangcai felt troubled. "Just based on this small detail? That takes some guts! But you can guess; I can’t report it! Not to mention whether your reasoning is reliable or not—those criminal investigation officers are experienced veterans who handle these cases far more professionally than we do! When lives are at stake during critical moments like this, if we recklessly interfere with Captain Shen’s judgment and something goes wrong later on... With your status as an auxiliary officer, how can I help you if responsibility comes knocking?"
That wasn’t important; Ji Qinchou wanted to say something when Yu Liangcai sensed his thoughts and placed a hand on his shoulder as they nearly touched heads together.
"Xiao Ji, you’re talented! I’m looking forward to you passing your probation exam in May to become a real police officer! But you have that common flaw smart people have—arrogance! If what you say is true, do you think Captain Shen wouldn’t notice? Are you really the only one with sharp insight? It’s fine to believe in yourself but also trust that others can see things too. Alright now—be obedient and wait for arrangements."
Comment 0 Comment Count