Chapter 1
"Handsome guy, want a date?"
The explosive music surged in the dance floor like a wave, and the colorful lights swept back and forth with the drum beats. When the music stopped abruptly, it was replaced by bright and dazzling light. The man and woman who were pointed at by the light were stunned for a moment, and soon they hugged and kissed each other with laughter. The crowd around them immediately burst into screams and cheers, almost overturning the entire bar.
It was difficult to hear someone clearly in such a situation. The bolo tie on his collar had become a constraint in the hot bar. Chen Liuchi loosened the braided leather with one hand and lowered his head slightly: "What did you say?"
The boy who was chatting me up seemed to have a little lip gloss on his lips, which sparkled under the light: "I said..."
He leaned forward, his wet lips almost touching her chin. Chen Liuchi immediately raised his head to avoid her: "What are you doing?"
The boy's thoughts were dashed, so he turned to grab Chenliuchi's belt and stuffed his thumb into the narrow gap between the belt and the shirt. "Handsome boy, I've been observing you for a long time. You must be so lonely by yourself. Can I play with you?"
"Want to try it?" He said, standing on tiptoe to get closer. The bright pink eyeshadow at the end of his eyes shone brightly in the light, very dazzling. "I'm very skilled."
There was a frantic clamor on all sides, and the sinking pool seemed to be infected by this atmosphere. He looked down at the boy. The halo in the pool was like some soft ripples, soaking the cold and handsome face as the corners of the man's eyes curved. The contrast between softness and hardness made it impossible to look away.
Taking advantage of the boy's momentary daze, Chen Liuchi quickly pulled out his hand that was about to touch his waist and hips: "Don't waste your time here."
He pressed the boy's shoulders and asked him to turn around to face the dance floor. Without any teasing, he patted the boy's shoulder and said, "Your target shouldn't be me."
When the boy came to his senses, the figure had disappeared into the darkness, without even a blurry back left.
Pushing open the secret door of the bar, the explosive noise dissipated a lot. Chen Liuchi slowly exhaled and walked slowly along the corridor towards the back alley not far away.
Bang!
The drunk young man rushed out of the bathroom and the two collided head-on. Chen Liuchi was caught off guard and stumbled. He raised his hand to hold on to the wall to avoid being tripped.
"Stop, mind your own business!" The young man seemed to be drunk to the point of being unconscious. He raised his middle finger to Chenliuchi with a bottle of wine in his hand and then walked away in a swagger.
His chest was wet, and the sticky wine stains that had soaked through the fabric of his clothes felt terrible on his skin. Veins on Chen Liuchi's forehead were throbbing, but the young man was nowhere to be seen, so he could only consider himself unlucky.
Turning into the bathroom, Chen Liuchi simply rubbed the front of his clothes with hand soap. The smell in the bathroom was very strange. In addition to the strong incense, there was also an irresistible smell of disinfectant.
He frowned even more tightly, held his breath, rubbed his face quickly and wanted to leave, but unfortunately, a figure flashed around the corner when he turned around. Chenliuchi didn't step forward in time and took a half step back, thus avoiding a recurrence of disaster.
"Feel sorry."
The gentle and magnetic tone of the voice is a bit out of place in the noisy bar, but it is very pleasant to the ear.
The first thing Chenliuchi saw was the other person's gray coat. Since he could come to make trouble wearing such clothes, he was probably not a regular.
"fine."
The front of his clothes was still very wet, and the undiluted hand soap stuck to his chest felt even worse than alcohol. But when Chen Liuchi heard the apology, he inexplicably wanted to leave a good impression, so he slowed down his irritated voice and said, "I didn't touch it."
"For wine stains, hand soap isn't very effective, so you can try dish soap and white vinegar."
The other person didn't mean to leave immediately. Instead, he stepped forward and stood by the sink to observe the hand soap. "This kind of aromatherapy hand soap tends to have average cleaning properties."
Chen Liuchi paused slightly when he heard this, raised his eyes and looked at the man for a few seconds, his gaze lingering on the other's light brown eyes for a little longer.
Foreigner?
He was a little confused, but looking at her facial features, she didn't look like her. Her eyebrows and eyes were gentle and relaxed, a standard beautiful Asian face.
The man let him look at him, and after a moment he smiled: "I'm going to be embarrassed."
Chen Liuchi came to his senses and realized that his behavior was a bit rude and offensive, but at the same time he couldn't help but sigh at the other party's good temper.
"Feel sorry."
He pulled his business card from his pocket and handed it over: "Take this to the bartender and I'll buy you drinks for a month."
"So generous?" The man smiled even more broadly, taking the business card and glancing at it. "Boss Shen, are you opening a bar for business or to make friends?"
Chen Liuchi seemed oblivious to the fact that the other party was about to classify him as a familiar "friend" with just one sentence. He simply followed through with his self-deprecating joke: "I have money for making friends, but not for doing business. You came at the right time today. The bar just opened, and there are quite a few people coming to support it. I might be able to make a few friends."
The man's voice dragged out a little: "From what I see with the excitement tonight, I'm afraid Boss Shen has made more than three or two friends."
He spoke softly, slowly, and a bit lazily, and even when he was joking and retorting, he wasn't annoying. Chen Liuchi really enjoyed talking to him.
The toilet door is not a good place for communication. She used the toilet paper to wipe the hand sanitizer on her chest and gestured to the man to follow her.
Who would have thought that the other party waved his hand and pointed in the direction of the toilet.
Chen Liuchi thought for a moment and said, "Then I'll wait for you for a while?"
Why do you act like a primary school student?
The man was stunned when he heard this, then laughed. "I just wanted to say that if the toilet has a window, you could open it to let in some air. The disinfectant smells a bit strong right now, and inhaling high concentrations of sodium hypochlorite fumes is harmful to your health."
Naturally, the strong smell of disinfectant was also noticed by the sedimentation tank, but he was just a second-in-command who paid money to wait for the sound. He knew nothing about the bar's hygiene and just thought that the cleaner on duty today forgot to open the window.
Fortunately, he had been to this bar several times before and knew that the window should be located at the innermost part of the toilet cubicle. It was hidden so deep mainly to maintain the beauty of the overall wall.
Although the sink didn't know why the toilet should be kept beautiful, the bar owner's wife and pub designer was a painter. It was normal that ordinary people with his artistic attainments could not understand her unique aesthetic design.
"Wait a moment." He nodded at the other party, "I'll go in and open the window."
The deeper you go into the toilet, the stronger the smell of disinfectant becomes. It seems to be mixed with other smells, like some rotten and spoiled meat, which is disgusting.
The man followed him a few steps inside, and before he reached the sinking pool, he felt someone gently blocking his arm. He lowered his head and saw that the back of the other person's hand was slightly blocking his forearm. It was a measured move, yet it seemed decisive.
"Don't go in yet."
The man's eyes swept across Chen Liuchi and fell on the last cubicle in the toilet. His focused gaze made Chen Liuchi's originally relaxed mood suddenly tense.
As the compartment door was pushed open, an even stronger stench of decay hit him. Chen Liuchi's eyes dropped, and his pupils suddenly constricted. "What... is that?"
…
The flashing red and blue police lights at the street corner were extremely conspicuous in the dark night. Inside the bar, the eardrum-shattering roaring music was finally turned off, and the crowd of people dancing wildly in the dance floor were all dispersed.
The colored lights turned into dazzling incandescent lights. Chen Liuchi had finished his simple questioning and was now standing behind the bar with his eyes lowered, wiping the wine stains on his lapel.
At the bar counter, the bar owner's unhurried voice came from his phone: "I told you not to open this kind of messed-up shop a long time ago, but Xinxin just wouldn't listen. Now, it's good. It won't be open for at least a month."
Chen Liuchi listened expressionlessly: "If you don't want to start asking me to invest, why?"
"Xinxin, think about it now." The other side said, "You know, I don't have any real power at home."
Chen Liuchi really wanted to give him an international friendly gesture, but considering that the phone could not transmit images, he turned his middle finger into a resounding national curse.
The final sound of the dirty word was still swirling around the dance floor when the side door was pushed open. The person who came in happened to catch the light tail. After a second of stunned silence, he couldn't help laughing: "Boss Shen, I'm sorry, am I here at the wrong time or too late?"
When Chen Liuchi encountered a dismemberment case while opening a shop, he wanted to curse a few times, but he couldn't say anything harsh in front of the man's gentle face. He could only vent his anger on the phone and hit the hang-up button heavily.
"Your coat."
Chen Liuchi handed over the coat draped over the bar and asked, "Do I still need to go with you? The boss is abroad and won't be back for a while."
"No need. Boss Shen is also a victim. If necessary, the police will contact you."
The man didn't take the coat. He pointed at the protective suit on his body and said, "Boss Shen, can I leave my clothes with you for a day? I'll pick them up after get off work tomorrow."
Chen Liuchi nodded, looked at the other person's actions, hesitated for a few seconds, and then asked: "You are... a forensic doctor, right?"
The man's eyes curved as he heard this, as if amused by Chen Liuchi's hesitant tone. He was a few inches taller than Chen Liuchi, so he had to lower his head slightly to meet his gaze. But even from above, his gaze remained calm. "Yes."
"Criminal Science and Technology Division of the Municipal Bureau, Cen Zhao."
His introduction was very businesslike, and now was indeed not a good time for a private conversation. Chen Liuchi subconsciously stood up straighter and nodded at him: "Then you go ahead and do your work. I won't bother you anymore."
Cen Zhao paused, wanting to say something, but a police officer called out from behind, "Forensic Doctor Cen?"
"Hold on."
People in their line of work don't have the habit of carrying business cards with them. Cen Zhao fumbled around and only took out a pen.
As he was searching, Chen Liuchi, who was standing next to him, noticed the stain on the fabric of his clothes at the waist. He didn't know when it got there, maybe when he was taking out the body bag from the water tank.
So he opened a package of alcohol wipes and handed it to me: "Looking for paper to wipe your clothes?"
Although this wasn't the kind of paper he was looking for, Cen Zhao took it without hesitation, holding it in his hand for two seconds before asking, "Where is it?"
Chen Liuchi smiled and pointed to his lower back. Unable to bear with his clumsy hand reaching back, he took the wet wipe and pressed it against Cen Zhao's lower back: "Here."
Cen Zhao subconsciously took a breath, and Chen Liuchi noticed it. He coughed dryly and withdrew his hand: "Have I been rude and offended again?"
"That's not the case." Cen Zhao blinked, "You tickled my sore spot."
Chen Liuchi couldn't help laughing out loud.
He could still laugh even at the dismemberment scene and the loss-making bar. Forensic Doctor Cen was a great contributor.
"Old Cen!"
At the door, Zeng Baoguo, deputy captain of the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment, poked his head in: "Are you still not leaving? Are you planning to run back to... Mr. Shen?"
Zeng Baoguo didn't expect that there was a Shen Liuchi standing behind the bar. He couldn't help but pause and straightened his expression slightly, "Mr. Shen, do you have any other clues?"
He said as he squeezed out from behind the side door, but before he could take two steps, Cen Zhao stopped him. Cen Zhao raised his eyebrows slightly, looking like he didn't want to be disturbed. "Boss Shen is my friend. Let's chat for a while, then I'll be leaving now."
Zeng Baoguo's eyes flickered between the two of them, and then he slowly said, "Then I'll wait for you in the car."
Having already sent people to urge him twice, Cen Zhao naturally couldn't stay any longer. Just then, a call came from the other end of the sinking pool, so the two of them had to wave goodbye without even having time to say goodbye properly.
In the alley behind the bar, the red and blue police lights were still on. Cen Zhao opened the passenger seat and got in. Before he even sat down properly, Zeng Baoguo glared at him several times.
Cen Zhao took off his mask and leaned back in his chair: "Speak."
Zeng Baoguo folded his arms and squinted his eyes at Cen Zhao for the eighth time: "Friend?"
He and Cen Zhao have been roommates since high school, eating together, living together, and walking the same way home from school. How could he not know when Cen Zhao had a friend who opened a bar?
Cen Zhao remained calm: "Friends."
Zeng Baoguo squinted his eyes and stared at people.
He knew Cen Zhao's sexual orientation, having known him for many years, and he had some guesses about the performance of Forensic Doctor Cen today, so he pointed at him decisively, meaning that there was something wrong with him.
Cen Zhao slapped his hand away and raised his chin: "Green light, drive. We still need to go back and do an internal autopsy."
Zeng Baoguo smiled coldly: "Why didn't you remember that you had a job when you were just chatting with someone?"
Cen Zhao gestured to today's date and sneered, "Who would think about work on a weekend when they're hanging out with old friends?"
Zeng Baoguo immediately sighed, "You weren't like this, Old Cen, just now at the bar. We've known each other for over ten years, and I've never seen Mr. Cen smile. I feel so bad!"
Cen Zhao, amused by his chest-beating and stamping, pulled out the business card Chen Liuchi had given him from his pocket and waved it, "It's progressed to this point."
Zeng Baoguo immediately stopped howling and wailing: "What?"
Cen Zhao slowly entered the phone number on the business card into his phone: "Add friend."
Zeng Baoguo: “…”
Zeng Baoguo: "Wow, what a fast progress."
Cen Zhao ignored his sarcasm, entered the number on WeChat, searched, and the contact soon appeared.
His nickname is just “Chen”, and his profile picture is an ordinary landscape photo of blue sky and white clouds.
Zeng Baoguo wanted to make a sharp comment for a moment, but he held back because Cen Zhao also had the same style.
Cen Zhao sent a friend request, and it was approved in seconds, so fast that he was stunned for a moment.
Clicking into the dialog box, a message was sent from the sinking pool. The tone was warm and polite, and the process was official:
Chen: [Galaxy Technology, always with you!
The immersive home interactive mobile game is now online nationwide, looking forward to your arrival! 】
Cen Zhao was stunned for a second, and finally came back to his senses amid Zeng Baoguo's laughter.
This is not Chenliuchi’s personal number, it is his work WeChat account.
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