n

n

nTranslator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios

nIt was still summer with hot scorching sun that irritated and frustrated people.

nIn Hongjiang district, everyone in the Criminal Investigation Unit were busy.

nThere had been a tad too many cases in their district recently. The cases were major, and the public were particularly concerned about them. The respective police heads were pressuring them to speed up with their investigations. Everyone had a hard time and a great deal of stress.

nBack in the office, Tang Yuanchu was on the phone when he saw Bai Muchuan came back with a sullen face and paused for a while before continuing to talk cheerfully.

n“Alright then! Brother, do hold out a little while more. Our Captain will be right there.”

nJust about an hour ago, he sent a message to Bai Muchuan to inform that Kong Xinqiong had awakened from her coma, and he replied that he would make a trip personally.

nHence, the police officer at the hospital had been waiting for his arrival but no one turned up, so he called up Tang Yuanchu for an update.

n“Boss!” Tang Yuanchu put down the phone and went up to him. “When are we going to the hospital?”

nBai Muchuan seemed like a block of ice with no expression on his face. “Bring the necessary things, we’ll go now.”

n“Okay.” Tang Yuanchu picked up the already prepared recording equipment and information. “Actually you could have gone there directly and we can meet at the hospital.” He laughed as he turned to Bai Muchuan. “Boss, why did you come back here?”

nBai Muchuan did not say a word.

nThat expression of his captain had indicated that he had not heard what he said, let alone to chat with him?

nTang Yuanchu cleared his throat and laughed uneasily when his Captain glanced at him with his pair of sharp eyes.

n“Boss, what’s up? Why didn’t you have any reaction when I talk to you?”

n“You had a change of gender today?” Bai Muchuan replied emotionlessly, ” Why are you so talkative today?”

nTang Yuanchu: “…”

nWhat happened to boss?

nHe scratched his head, totally lost at where exactly had he done wrong that incurred the wrath of his boss?

nTang Yuanchu had wanted to volunteer to drive to the hospital.

nBut when he saw Bai Muchuan’s cold face, he dared not utter a word but mumbled to himself in his head.

nEarlier on when he left the office, although Bai Muchuan seemed fatigued, his mood was still fine?

nWhy did he come back looking all gloomy after he handled with some private matters? Tang Yuanchu thought.

n“Tang Yuanchu.”

nBai Muchuan called him suddenly that made Tang Yuanchu jumped.

n“Yes Sir!”

nHe answered very properly as he thought maybe Captain Bai had found out what he was thinking about and his ears started to burn.

nHowever, Bai Muchuan was obviously not someone who would let his personal feelings interfere with his work.

nThe next second, he asked him about work related matters.

n“Is the report from the forensics team ready?”

n“Yes, it’s ready.” Tang Yuanchu knew about the opposing relationship between his boss and Cheng Zheng, so he answered very cautiously, “The moment you stepped out of the office, Mei Xin delivered the report over. The corpse that we found inside the wall is Wu Hongliang without a doubt. The other set of bones and partial body parts we found matched with the ones at ‘The Palace’, they belonged to Tan Ziyang…”

nAfter a slight pause, he took a peek at Bai Muchuan’s side profile.

n“Mei Xin told me that she was unable to confirm if all these body parts, when assembled together, could complete the corpse of Tan Ziyang…”

n“Hm?” Bai Muchuan squinted his eyes with displeasure.

n“…” Tang Yuanchu received another chilly glare and was even more careful with his choice of words. “That corpse has been severely damaged. The muscle portions had been minced and mixed with cement. Same for the bones, they had been so heavily damaged that they could only identify a small portion of it… Even if they tried to piece them together, they might not be able to piece a complete set of skeletal structure.”

nHmph! Bai Muchuan sneered, “Because it’s hard so they won’t be doing it? They sure know how to save trouble.”

n“…”

nTang Yuanchu did not dare to say anything.

nIn fact, Bai Muchuan’s demands were not that harsh.

nWith the rapid development of science and technology today, modern people have higher expectations toward solving of cases.

nWhere there was something that could not be explained, someone would find fault.

nInternally, although everyone knew that no matter which team they were in, they could more or less understand each other’s difficulties. However, those superiors up there only wanted the outcome, not the process.

nMoreover, the superiors usually only aimed at Captain Bai.

n…

nKong Xinqiong had awakened at the right time.

nThe team had already known by now that all the case related personnel were dead, with exception to Huo Shan and Kong Xinqiong.

nEven though they could infer the cause, course, and result with the material evidence, it could not be compared to a statement by a person that could restore the full course of what exactly happened in the case.

nThinking of that, Tang Yuanchu could not withstand his urge and asked a question.

n“Captain Bai, did you say you want to bring Teacher Xiang along? I feel that this woman, Kong Xinqiong, would not talk so easily. Didn’t people say women understand women the most? If Teacher Xiang is around, this might go better than expected…”

n“Tang Yuanchu!” Bai Muchuan suddenly looked stern and reprimanded him, “You’re a detective! Don’t forget that!”

n“…”

nPoor Little Tang got a scolding. He felt wronged.

nHis boss was the one who said that Xiang Wan could render assistance to the case and even put up an application to employ her!

nWhy did it change to him forgetting that he was a detective just because he mentioned her?

nI feel wronged!

nTang Yuanchu felt like these three words, in bold, were weighing on his head as he drove the car quietly. He even told himself that Captain Bai must have been possessed by an evil spirit!

n…

nAt the hospital.

nThe doctor, nurse and a police officer were waiting anxiously at Kong Xinqiong’s ward at the fifth floor.

nShe had attempted suicide before as well as an important witness to the case. Everyone was worried that she might commit suicide again and dared not relax.

nThus, when Bai Muchuan and Tang Yuanchu entered the ward, everyone was relieved.

n“Captain Bai is here.” The police officer got up.

n“Good work!” Bai Muchuan patted him on the shoulder and took a glance at Kong Xinqiong who was lying on the bed. “How’s the situation?”

nThe policeman also followed his line of sight to the woman lying on the hospital bed, and shook his head.

n“Let’s talk outside.”

nKong Xinqiong had awakened.

nHowever, ever since the doctor had ascertained she had come out of her coma, she only asked a question.

n“Where’s my son?”

nWhen she asked that, her eyes revealed hope that her son would be alive as well.

nThe doctor and nurse remained silent as they couldn’t bring themselves to tell her the sad truth…

nNevertheless, she seemed to detect something from their gazes and she closed her eyes without saying another word. No matter who asked her questions, she did not bother to reply, totally an attitude that she had lost all hope to live.

nWhen the police officers arrived, the doctor did a body checkup on her and said that she was recovering well…

n“We tried to communicate with her earlier, but she has a strong resistance against interacting with anyone.”

nThe police officer who had been keeping watch here was giving an account of what happened. “She already has no will to live.” The police officer shook his head and sighed. “Now that she learnt that her son is dead, I’m afraid she’s even more unwilling to cooperate.”

nWhen she committed suicide, whether she was escaping punishment or simply lost the courage to live, it was a show of a weak and cowardice mentality to escape reality…

nNow, facing such a person who no longer had hope to live, how should they help rekindle her desire for life and cooperate with the police?

nBai Muchuan paused for a while and nodded his head.

n“Fine, leave it to us.”

n“Okay, Captain Bai.” The police officer took a look at the ward and pointed at the lift lobby. “I’ll get going then?”

n“Hm, thank you for the hard work!”

nWhen Bai Muchuan entered the ward again, his chilly aura not only daunted Tang Yuanchu to not make a sound, even the doctor and nurse who had nothing to do with the case felt a strong feeling of discomfort.

n“Captain Bai, I have an operation coming up soon, so I’ll take my leave now.”

nThe doctor adjusted his glasses and wanted to leave.

nThe nurse also waited no time to get away. “Uh, Detective, I’ll get going as well. If you need me, just press the bell and I’ll be here in no time.”

n“Hm.”

nHe only made a sound of acknowledgement.

nBai Muchuan was no different from a cold air machine that day.

nHe had no urge to communicate with anyone which was no less different from Kong Xinqiong.

nThe doctor and nurse told them some things to look out for and left the ward.

nHence, the ward had plunged into a state of unspeakable silence.

nBai Muchuan sat on a chair but did not say a word—his chilly aura slowly filled the ward.

nTang Yuanchu endured the silence as he did not know what his boss had in mind. He waited till his hair stood on end when he noticed that Kong Xinqiong, who had been quiet like a corpse, suddenly opened her eyes.

nA prolonged duration of silence was a tactic to get her attention.

nAlthough she did not want to talk, that did not mean she could not sense what was happening around her.

nActually, she knew that the detectives had arrived. Although she did not want to talk to anyone, she was still mulling over how to counter the questioning from the police. Due to Bai Muchuan’s abnormality, however, she had not a single question directed at her and she actually started to feel anxious.

nHence, she wanted to see what was happening and opened her eyes. At that moment when she did that, she was linked to the real world once again.

nShe had seen this detective before; the light in her eyes seemed to move slightly.

nBoth Bai Muchuan and herself looked at each other.

n“Want to eat something?”

nKong Xinqiong’s face was as white as a sheet—as if she was already dead—yet her eyes moved with the mention of food.

nShe did not say anything. Bai Muchuan was expressionless as he asked her again.

n“What do you want to eat?”

nSuch an interrogation method made Tang Yuanchu flustered.

nHe had already set up the recording equipment, but even he felt embarrassed at that question and reminded Bai Muchuan softly, “Captain Bai, the doctor has said earlier that she can’t eat anything right now.”

n“She wanted to die anyway,” Bai Muchuan’s lips curled up in disdain, “if she’s going to die, it’s better to be a satisfied ghost than die in hunger.”

n“…”

nTang Yuanchu was left speechless.

n“…”

nKong Xinqiong continued to remain quiet, but her lips moved.

nBai Muchuan raised an eyebrow and spoke in a mocking tone, half-jokingly, “You haven’t eaten for a long time. Don’t you miss all those good food? It is not easy for a person to arrive and live in this world. If you can eat something nice before you die, it will be a type of consolation for yourself, right?”

nIn fact, he said that with a touch of irony.

nHowever, Tang Yuanchu noticed from the recording camera that Kong Xinqiong gulped when Bai Muchuan mentioned food.

nWhat a discovery!

nShe’s actually a foodie? Tang Yuanchu thought.

nCaptain Bai is really unconventional when it comes to handling such suspects!

n“I know you wanted to die.” Bai Muchuan looked at Kong Xinqiong. His handsome face had compassion and sympathy that did not fit his image. He was looking at her, but it seemed he was not. She felt as if he was talking about someone unrelated to her or telling her a story.

n“Because of cheating, you lost your family, lost your happiness and lost the rest of your life. Now, you’ve lost your only child. Do you really have no regrets? There’s so much good food that you haven’t tasted. There’s so many beautiful clothes that you’ve never worn. There’s so many beautiful places that you’ve never been to…”

nKong Xinqiong was silent.

nShe was silent like a statue.

nNevertheless, from Tang Yuanchu’s camera screen, this woman did feel something from those words.

nHer eyelids were blinking more and faster than before.

n“Do you have regrets?”

nBai Muchuan laughed suddenly. It was a sneer, a mocking and ironic laugh.

n“Did you think that the moment you die, everything will be over? Sins can never be covered. Everyone needs to pay a price for their actions!”

nAs he said those words, he noticed that the look on Kong Xinqiong’s face changed alongside with his words.

nWhen she heard the words “pay the price”, her body went stiff, and her mouth twitched.

n“… Give me a death sentence… it’s me… I killed him,” she said with a hoarse voice.

nWho did she kill? Tan Ziyang or Wu Hongliang?

nAs Tang Yuanchu listened, his hand which was holding the equipment, trembled. He was nervous as well.

nHowever, Bai Muchuan did not show any emotion nor did he move. “It’s not easy to die, even if you wanted to.”

n“?” Kong Xinqiong’s face showed that she was puzzled.

n“It’s easy to admit to murdering someone, but to convict you, the police needs proof. It’s not as simple as when you say you killed someone, we will take your words for it. So, before the case gets solved, you will be alive. We will protect you so you can recall what happened in the past. Think of your son that you’ve killed. He is still lying in the cold mortuary waiting for you to take care of the aftermath.”

n