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墨書 Inktalez
I looked around, wondering what to do. I had no choice but to rush downstairs to chase after Liu Qi.
Fortunately, there weren't many people in the outpatient clinic. From a distance, I saw Liu Qi walking out of the hospital entrance, and I hurriedly followed. Ah Huang's car was parked by the roadside, and as soon as I stepped outside, I spotted it right away.
At that moment, Liu Qi was already waiting for a taxi. I quickly unlocked the car door with my keys and sat in the driver's seat. To my surprise, I realized it was a manual transmission!
Manual transmission felt so unfamiliar. I silently recited what my old man had taught me: "Start in first gear, shift to second gear on the road." Fumbling around, I tried to start the car.
Luckily, taxis were hard to catch. While I managed to start my car, Liu Qi still hadn’t hailed one. I let out a sigh and looked back at the hospital, hoping Ah Huang would come out soon.
But things didn’t go as planned. A taxi carrying passengers slowly pulled up at the hospital entrance. After the passengers got out, Liu Qi opened the door and got into the back seat.
Well then, this was my first time independently investigating! Who would have thought I'd have to play detective too? I started the car and slowly followed behind.
It was only during this first tailing that I realized how difficult it was. Staying right behind her made it easy to be noticed, but if I kept too far back, I'd risk losing her. The road was busy with cars constantly cutting in, and I truly admired Ah Huang for being able to maintain such perfect distance.
To make matters worse, there were traffic lights! They were completely out of my control; if she got through a red light while I didn’t, there would be no way for me to catch up.
This was indeed a nerve-wracking task. The car was unfamiliar to me, and I had to watch out for traffic police as well. Using all my senses, I managed to follow her for about ten or fifteen minutes when suddenly trouble struck.
A red light.
The taxi stopped just four cars ahead of me. I slammed on the brakes too but unexpectedly stalled while waiting for the light. Just as I prepared to restart the engine, the light turned green! The cars in front of me began moving, but my engine wouldn’t start. The cars behind me honked loudly, and I started sweating nervously; this was ridiculous! It was an intersection, and not far away, I noticed a traffic officer starting to look over in our direction.
Ah, just when you fear something will happen, it does! The more frantic I became, the harder it was to restart the engine. At that moment, the traffic officer walked over.
He approached my car and signaled for the vehicles behind me to change lanes. Then he bent down and knocked on my window. My heart began racing wildly. I was genuinely afraid he would ask for my driver's license; if he checked online, I'd end up being labeled as someone who stole a police vehicle!
Stay calm! I told myself as I slowly rolled down the window with a forced smile and asked, "What’s going on?"
"What's wrong?" The traffic officer glanced inside the car and asked.
"The engine died; the car has been having issues lately," I began to fabricate.
"Make it quick; there's a car behind you."
"Got it!" I started fiddling with the ignition, feeling the officer's gaze fixed on me. To avoid raising suspicion, I continued, "Sorry about this, brother. The police car we have is pretty old, which affects our operations."
"Hmm? Which unit are you from?"
"Subordinate Criminal Investigation Team." I glanced at the rearview mirror; Ah Huang's police uniform was still in the back seat. The officer must have seen it too. To prevent any misunderstandings and to keep his attention focused, I had to stick with that story.
"Oh, you guys have it tough."
"Yeah, it's not easy for you either!" I casually replied while noticing his badge—interesting number, 007.
Alright, I'll remember you. If things go south and I'm caught, I'll know how to reach Ah Huang.
"How's it going? Still not working? Do you want me to help?" 007 asked as he saw me struggling without any progress.
"No need, no need," I quickly replied. "It'll be ready soon."
Fortunately, after several failed attempts, this time the engine roared to life with a hum, and the car shook slightly.
"Brother, I'm off now. Thanks for your hard work," I continued to play my part.
007 stepped back and waved goodbye.
"Shh," I let out a breath, started the car, wiped the sweat from my brow, and looked ahead. Where was the shadow of the taxi that Liu Qi had been in?
Although the car was moving, I had lost track of my target, which left me feeling a bit lost. I glanced around and felt like I had been on this road before; it seemed to be near Liu Qi's shop. There was nothing I could do but keep driving, hoping that Liu Qi hadn't gone somewhere else and would return to her shop. Otherwise, I'd be in big trouble. What if she went somewhere else and met someone? That would leave a blank space in my investigation!
This time, I parked on the opposite side of Liu Qi's shop. As luck would have it, after parking, I prepared to stroll in front of the shop to see if she had really returned.
As soon as I got out of the car, I ran into that fortune teller!
"Hey, it's you?" we both said at the same time.
"What a coincidence! We meet again! Come on, Officer, let me give you a free reading!" The old man was quite enthusiastic.
"No, no, no time for that," I replied. He clearly mistook me for a police officer. I crossed the street and slowly walked to a spot diagonally across from the shop. Peeking inside, lo and behold, she was indeed there. It turned out Liu Qi had just gone to the hospital for a check-up and hadn't done anything else.
But what was she seeing the doctor for? Mental health issues? My heart sank; I hoped it wasn't something like multiple personality disorder. Honest made me think back to what happened with Yu before. With that thought in mind, I slowly walked back to my car and sent a message to Ah Huang, letting him know we were back near the Pet Store.
Soon enough, Ah Huang replied with two words: "Wait for me."
With nothing else to do, I returned to my car and prepared to take a nap while waiting for Ah Huang.
At that moment, the old man saw me again and hurriedly said, "Officer, are you working on a case? Want to make some discoveries?"
I looked at him in surprise. "Are you some kind of fortune teller? How can you help me?"
"Hehehe, Officer, are you following a girl named Liu Qi?" The old man tilted his head and smiled mysteriously.
"What!" I exclaimed in shock and crouched down to him. "Old man, how do you know? What else do you know?"
The old man stroked his beard and chuckled, "Of course I know."
"Don't keep me in suspense! Be honest," I said, putting on a stern face and pretending to be angry to intimidate him.
"Hey, Officer, I'm just a good citizen. I happened to know a little something, so I thought I'd share it with you," he replied.
"Alright, go ahead."
"I noticed you all hanging around this pet store, and the owner of this pet store is Liu Qi, so I figured you were following her."
"That's obvious; it's easy to deduce."
"She came to me for a fortune reading," the old man added.
"Hmm?" No wonder. That night I heard the old man mention Liu Qi; I hadn't paid much attention then, but it turned out he had read her fortune too.
"A rogue fortune teller's trick, right?" I scoffed, watching as Jing looked bewildered.
"What do you mean by that, Officer? Fortune telling is a science too," he retorted.
"Pfft, it's pseudoscience."
The old man didn't argue further but hesitated for a moment. "What has this girl done?"
"Why do you want to know that?"
"I sense that this girl has some inner turmoil," he said, staring at me intently.
I was about to respond, "Hey, what are you doing? This isn't the time for games." When I looked up, Ah Huang was standing in front of me.
"Nothing, I was just waiting for you," he said as he pulled me into the car.
"Where is she?"
"At the store." I pointed to the Pet Store.
Ah Huang glanced at the Pet Store. "Let's wait another night and see; she might go to the bar tonight."
"By the way, Ah Huang, did you find out anything from Professor Qin?"
Ah Huang hesitated for a moment before saying, "It turns out Liu Qi has to go to Professor Qin regularly for psychological therapy."
"Why?" I asked in surprise.
"Liu Qi suffers from severe insomnia." Ah Huang thought for a moment and added, "Professor Qin mentioned that she had been hurt in the past and lacks a sense of security, which has caused her to close herself off quite tightly."
"No wonder. That's probably why she opened the Pet Store, right?" I nodded, realizing this.
"What kind of treatment does she receive?"
"Hypnosis therapy."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm not entirely sure, but I think Professor Qin puts her in a state of extreme relaxation to awaken her subconscious and continue her psychological treatment or something like that."
"It seems these clues are of no use," I recalled the old man's words from earlier, which conveyed the same sentiment. A knot in my heart. Forget it, there's no need to tell Ah Huang. And there was no need to mention the incident where I pretended to be a police officer from the Criminal Investigation Team. Yes, that's settled.
The car fell silent for a moment.
"Brother, is it possible that Liu Qi was hurt in her early years and now wants revenge on men?" Ah Huang broke the silence.
"Maybe, but let's keep observing! However, it's not very likely. Where did those men go? Dead? There must be bodies, right? Besides, Liu Qi likes men who are over 180 centimeters tall and strong; it doesn't make sense for her to have taken them out. That's illogical," I countered.
"True," Ah Huang fell silent again, deep in thought.
Time passed like this. I was utterly bored with Honest and Ah Huang together. Ah Huang became increasingly engrossed in his work. I remembered that we used to spar with our weapons every so often. Now that I thought about it, it had been two months since we last trained together. How interesting! Old Bi was like this too; Ah Huang was the same. I found myself yearning for a worthy opponent to spar with. Back in college, my family said I wasn't suited for the military because I loved to play and was lazy. But looking back now, it's a pity I didn't travel back to ancient times to become a warrior, isn't it? With thoughts of swords and sticks swirling in my mind, I sighed; only people like us in the military had time to study these things.
Lost in thought, it was soon mealtime. It seemed I'd have to settle for a boxed meal, but of course, Ah Huang would pay! As I got out of the car to buy lunch, I saw the old man fortune-telling again. Surprisingly, he really knew how to hustle; in such a short time, he had made two hundred. What the hell! This way of making money is incredible; I felt a bit envious.
As dusk approached, the Pet Store turned on its electric lights, and the old man began to pack up. Before leaving, he glanced at me and Ah Huang eating our ten-yuan boxed meals in the car, and I could clearly feel his disdainful gaze.
Just as we finished eating, Ah Huang suddenly exclaimed, "Liu Qi has come out!"
(To be continued; more exciting developments tomorrow!)
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