Chapter 10
Xiao Yuncheng seemed to truly understand Wu Tong's heartache at this moment. He took Wu Tong into his arms, gently stroked his thin back and said soothingly: "It's okay, you can tell me, it's okay."
"She...no matter how I pushed her, she wouldn't move. She just fell there with her eyes open. I then realized she was dead and there was no way she could get up again. Later, someone dragged me away. I was knocked unconscious once I got in the car, and then I was taken to a strange place and continued my life..."
Wu Tong lowered his head and played with Xiao Yuncheng's police badge. "The person who dragged me away... was Chen Hao's father. I just remember them calling him 'Boss'. Later I heard that he died abroad."
Xiao Yuncheng asked sharply, "What kind of boss?"
"A drug dealer." Wu Tong forced a laugh. "At least he's not a small-time character like Chen Hao."
"He didn't do anything to you?"
"Hmm... I don't remember much. I think he just asked me to help him move things. I had to do it every day. I could only go to bed after I finished moving. Otherwise, I would be beaten."
Wu Tong seemed to be trying hard to recall what it was like more than ten years ago, and then said, "There was another child, with me..."
"His name is Xu Ze, right?"
"Yes." Wu Tong nodded. "Xu Ze is two years older than me."
Xiao Yuncheng asked again in confusion: "Can that person teach you how to paint?"
Hearing this, Wu Tong rolled his eyes at him: "How is that possible? We escaped."
"At the time, we planned to escape together. Although there were some setbacks, we finally escaped from that place. Later, we went our separate ways. I also met a good man who took care of me for a long time. When he learned that I liked painting, he even encouraged me to learn it and even said he would take me in as his apprentice."
Wu Tong lowered his eyes, a trace of regret in his eyes: "He was also a painter."
“There are still many good people in the world…”
Xiao Yuncheng comforted him, but Wu Tong just said nothing and took a sip of water to moisten his throat.
"Okay, you should rest early and take good care of your injuries. I'm leaving now."
Xiao Yuncheng stood up and was about to leave when something suddenly grabbed his sleeve. Wu Tong grabbed his sleeve, lowered his head, and said, "Thank you for believing in me."
Xiao Yuncheng smiled, patted his hands, and left the ward. Wu Tong sighed silently and looked at the moon outside the window. It was exceptionally round and bright.
"Captain Xiao! There's news! Someone from the train terminal said they saw the suspect at the platform entrance."
"Block off that platform immediately! I'm coming over now!"
When Xiao Yuncheng arrived at the station, he saw the stationmaster waiting nearby. As soon as he saw Xiao Yuncheng coming, he immediately stepped forward and shook his hand: "Hey, police comrade, you're finally here!"
Xiao Yuncheng nodded to him, then raised his chin to the field worker beside him and said to the stationmaster, "When did you discover the suspect?"
"About an hour ago, I heard our staff say they saw a very strange person wandering around the platform east of us, so I checked the surveillance footage. And to my surprise, it was the Hao you police officers had reported... So I called the police."
Xiao Yuncheng patted his shoulder affirmatively, "Yes, you have provided our police with a huge clue. The Municipal Public Security Bureau will provide you with a corresponding reward later."
As the stationmaster thanked him repeatedly, Xiao Yuncheng walked over to Shi Qian, who was with the survey team not far away. "How's it going?"
"We're basically certain it's Chen Hao, but we're still unsure of his purpose. We just asked the people on duty in the monitoring room, and they all said Chen Hao was here for ten minutes and then left. He didn't see anyone and didn't take anything."
"Then why is he here?" Xiao Yuncheng was puzzled. Not only him, but everyone else was also confused.
"Keep an eye on the surveillance footage and see where Shi Qian went after he led his men to look for Chen Hao."
"yes!"
Back at the bureau, the sound of turning pages could be heard in the office. Lin Chen took out a cigarette and gave it to Xiao Yuncheng, and the two of them just puffed away on the windowsill of the office.
"What do you think?"
Lin Chen shook his head and said, "He dared to appear there in front of so many cameras. His purpose must be not simple."
Xiao Yuncheng frowned behind the clouds: "What on earth is he doing this for?..."
"Captain Xiao, we've found the suspect's whereabouts!"
In the monitoring room, Chen Hao, who had appeared on the train platform two hours ago, now appeared on the monitoring screen driving a small electric scooter with the license plate removed. Xiao Yuncheng pointed at Chen Hao in the monitoring and asked, "Where is he going?"
"Yunyue Industrial Zone, we checked and it's a new industrial zone." Shi Qian replied.
"Keep a real-time surveillance camera on him and arrest him immediately if he leaves this area."
The police waited a week, but Chen Hao didn't show up again. He seemed to have disappeared from the scene. Xiao Yuncheng leaned lazily against the car door and sent a voice message to his phone: "Come down, you'll see me when you get out the door."
At the hospital's main entrance, Wu Tong emerged wearing a brown mid-length coat. His hair was tied in a low ponytail, and from behind, it was hard to tell whether he was a man or a woman. Wu Tong held his phone to his ear for a moment, then glanced up to meet Xiao Yuncheng's smiling eyes, standing not far away.
"I told you not to come and pick it up..." Wu Tong complained as he took the water handed to him by Xiao Yuncheng.
"Hey, didn't you just get out of the hospital... Wait a minute, fasten your seat belt!"
“······”
The highway was packed with early morning commuters, cars whizzing by without stopping. Wu Tong looked out the window and was surprised to find the sunrise was bright and beautiful.
"Did Chen Hao catch him?"
Xiao Yuncheng turned his head to look at the car in the rearview mirror while steering, and replied, "No, that guy is staying there, right? He hasn't come out in a week."
Wu Tong hummed and stopped talking. Xiao Yuncheng spared some time to look at Wu Tong. He seemed to want to say something but swallowed it back. The two of them returned to the Municipal Bureau in silence.
"Put on your mask and sunglasses, and follow me and don't run around..."
"Shut up." Wu Tong quickly put on his mask and got out of the car, saying, "She's even more talkative than the 50-year-old woman next door to me."
Lin Chen was boiling water in the tea room when he turned around and saw Xiao Yuncheng passing by with someone. Lin Chen quickly stopped them, then circled around Wu Tong twice, excitedly calling out, "Tongtong!"
Wu Tong: “…”
"Have you policemen gone crazy after working on cases for so long?" Wu Tong leaned close to Xiao Yuncheng's ear and asked. Xiao Yuncheng nodded in agreement, but Lin Chen who was standing next to him heard it and shouted that Xiao Yuncheng was shameless. Then he "kidnapped" Wu Tong away in broad daylight, leaving Officer Xiao standing there in a daze.
"Fuck you, Lin Chen!"
Lin Chen took him to the technical investigation office, put Wu Tong aside, and winked at him: "Tongtong looks particularly good today~"
Wu Tong said helplessly: "I know I'm good-looking, go do your job!"
Wu Tong sat there, under the scrutiny of the other officers in the office. His phone was being bombarded with calls from the lonely Captain Xiao. In front of him was Lin Chen, who was working and couldn't stop talking. Wu Tong felt extremely distressed. He turned to the phone and said, "I'm in your technical investigation office."
Less than five minutes later, Xiao Yuncheng, who had just been chatting non-stop on his phone, switched to technical reconnaissance and bit Lin Chen, "How dare you kidnap my brother!"
The office was extremely lively, everyone burst into laughter, even Wu Tong couldn't help but smile, but good times are always so short, the next second they all got into the police car.
Ten minutes ago, they received a call from the police saying that someone had died in Yunyue Industrial Zone. Yes, they had been waiting for a week, but what they waited for was not the whereabouts of Chen Hao, but a new murder case.
The sun shone relentlessly, illuminating the entire city with its dazzling light. The trees were lush and dense, yet beneath this dazzling brilliance, a life had quietly passed away. Xiao Yuncheng and his men rushed to the scene. Based on the location provided by the informant, they found a forest. Less than 50 meters inside, they came upon a body hanging upright from a tree, even moving.
Shi Qian: "Brother, we are not going to see a ghost in broad daylight, right?"
Xiao Yuncheng slapped Shi Qian on the head: "I tell you to read less horror novels all the time! You are suspicious all the time..." After scolding him, he pulled Wu Tong, who was deliberately staying away from the battle, back and walked towards the crime scene.
The corpse made it hard to tell how he died—stabbed multiple times and hung from a tree, blood dripping down. Xiao Yuncheng was amazed at the sight, "How outrageous! What deep hatred could there be?"
Wu Tong mercilessly slapped Xiao Yuncheng's hand off his shoulder and said, "If you have the time to worry about other people's deep hatred, you'd better think more about the case."
Xiao Yuncheng: "I find that your words are becoming more and more poisonous..."
"Xiao!" Lin Chen ran out from behind the woods, brushed the fallen leaves off his head and said, "Xuan Li from the Forensic Department is back."
Xiao Yuncheng raised his eyebrows: "You're back? This is just right, drag them to work! No one can rest now, haha..."
Lin Chen gave him a malicious smile and signaled him to look behind him. Xiao Yuncheng knew that something bad was going to happen. He knelt down with a Thomas turn, turned around and said to the girl behind him without even looking, "Sister Li, I was wrong!"
Xuan Li stood behind Xiao Yuncheng with her hands on her hips. She was wearing a black T-shirt that she had gotten from somewhere, and her long hair was tied up, giving her a clean and capable temperament.
Xuan Li rolled his eyes speechlessly and said, "You really want to open a dyeing factory if I give you some color."
Xuan Li turned around and called over several medical examiners to remove the body from the hemp rope and put it on a stretcher. She and the medical examiners were conducting a preliminary examination of the body, but Xuan Li's face darkened as she looked at it. She waved to Shi Qian, who was investigating in the back, and motioned him to come over.
"What's wrong, sister? What's the matter?"
"I'm telling you, Captain Xiao, this man died in bizarre circumstances. He wasn't stabbed or strangled—these wounds appeared after his death, probably three to five days ago. Let him conduct a thorough investigation at the scene."
After saying that, Xuan Li tossed her hair and got into the car, leaving Shi Qian standing there, thinking for a long time. Xiao Yuncheng was chatting with Wu Tong at the crime scene. He pointed at the fruit knife in the evidence bag and asked Wu Tong, "Little Painter, what do you think?"
"I'm not a policeman, why are you asking me?" Wu Tong frowned and looked at Xiao Yuncheng in dissatisfaction.
"Please express your opinion."
Wu Tong thought for a while and said seriously, "He was still alive before he died."
Xiao Yuncheng: “…”
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