Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 130

Naturally, sneaking into the residence of a single woman was wrong, but since it was more inconvenient for two men to stand in the corridor of the lewd apartments, after Xing Conglian quickly unlocked the door, Lin Chen flashed into the residence with him.

So, when Miss Lily arrived home and opened her door, she saw two men sitting on her sofa.

One of them was looking at the photo frame on the coffee table. Lily quickly recognized the other person as the man who gave her fake checks, which caused her serious trouble today.

When the two heard the door opening, they both turned to look at her.

Lily didn’t say anything. She picked up her handbag and rushed over and smacked it at the fake rich man. “Fuck, you still have the face to come here and do this to me?!”

Listening to Miss Lily’s shouts, Xing Conglian didn’t even fight back and was firmly beaten a few times.

“Asshole, using fake checks. If you’re poor, don’t go looking for whores!”

As if she felt it was useless to keep hitting, after venting, Lily took out her phone and was about to make a call.

Xing Conglian’s eyes flashed, and he quickly took the phone from her hand.

“Still trying to rob me, huh?” Lily’s cry became louder.

Lin Chen looked at the girl with heavy makeup and put down the photo frame. “We’re here because of Xu Ran. I know you know her.”

Hearing what he said, the anger in Lily’s eyes quickly dissipated. She subconsciously looked at the photo on the coffee table, which showed two girls hugging each other.

Lin Chen also looked at the photo frame.

Although girls loved beauty and often exaggerated themselves, he could still clearly tell from the photo that the person who was making the peace sign on the left was the one standing in front of him, while the one on the right was Xu Ran.

Lin Chen glanced back and saw Lily’s eyes covered in sadness, which she couldn’t hide.

After taking two deep breaths, Lily trembled and asked, “Xu Ran… Is she dead?”

“Her life remains uncertain,” Lin Chen said.

“I know she must be dead! I persuaded her not to go or she would definitely be killed!”

Lily covered her mouth, trying her best to hold back her tears. She leaned against the wall and slowly slid to the ground.

“We’re here because of her, so I hope you will trust us.” Lin Chen took out a tissue from the table and squatted in front of the girl, wiping her tears.

The snow-white tissue gleamed with the eyeshadow sequins.

The tears turned Lily’s entire face into a palette of colors. She suddenly looked up, showing bruises around her mouth and under her cheekbone, and said to them, “Are you good people?”

Her eyes were suspicious but innocent, showing a look of distrust towards everything in the world.

“I said, you can trust us.”

Lily sobbed a few more times, then calmed down. She said to them with tenacious restraint, “Xiao Ran, she left a letter.”

……

Before walking into the room, Lin Chen never thought they would get a letter left by Xu Ran.

If Xu Ran didn’t have the ability to predict the future, how could she leave behind a letter?

He followed Lily into the narrow bedroom by the living room.

The old-fashioned apartment was filled with a musty smell from the damp walls. Lily squatted down in front of the closet and found an old shoebox under the closet.

“Xiao Ran… They smashed up Xiao Ran’s room, but she gave me something important for safekeeping, so…” Lily’s voice suddenly became gentle. She sobbed and looked up at Lin Chen. “So she has a lot of things with me, but in fact none of them are really important. Then she gave me a letter, saying if she died or if the police came to Royal One to investigate her case again, to have me secretly hand them her letter. If there’s a police officer that’s willing to go to Royal One to check her case again, then they must be a good person, but if not, then forget it.”

Lily tucked her hair behind her ear. “Actually, I think that’s just wishful thinking—as if there were that many good people in the world…”

She opened the lid of a shoe box and took out a plastic bag from it, then sat down on the bed.

Lin Chen dragged a chair from the desk and sat next to her.

Lily carefully opened the plastic bag and took out the stack of things inside.

Those were all things like photos and postcards, as well as a sticker book and two posters.

Those things looked old. Some of the photos had an obvious trace that they were removed from a photo frame, showing trim marks. The backs of the posters were still sticky with some adhesive. After Lin Chen asked for Lily’s permission, he felt for a while that he couldn’t read the letter. He picked up the sticker book and opened the first page.

Sure enough, the records of these things belonged to the same person.

Lin Chen held the sticker book for a long time, silently. There was a lone lamp on the bedside table, which was so bright that it made him feel extremely sour.

Finally, he raised his head.

Xing Conglian was standing at the door frame, facing the bed full of photos, and was relatively speechless.

Everything had a reason.

For example, why did Xu Ran fight fiercely when facing Li Jingtian despite having worked in this industry for so long?

Or, why did she go to the police and accuse Li Jingtian, knowing that it was impossible for her to take him down?

And after that, why did she still insist on going to Hongjing knowing the dangers it possessed?

Although Lin Chen still didn’t understand what the connection between these things was for the time being, looking at the young singer on the bed who was laughing, singing, posing in various funny ways, and giving his middle finger to the camera, Lin Chen knew that the reason was here…

Because it was Song Shengsheng.

Nine years ago, the unruly young man was imprisoned for rape.

“Xu Ran… She…” Lin Chen finally came back to his senses. He looked at Miss Lily on the bed and realized that he was choking uncontrollably.

“Xu Ran likes Song Shengsheng. She has liked him for a long, long time. She always believed that Li Jingtian and Mu Zhuo, those bastards, framed Song Shengsheng. But what’s the use? Song Shengsheng is already finished.”

Lily took out the letter left by Xu Ran and handed it to him.

Lin Chen lowered his head and looked at the snow-white letter paper in front of him. For the first time, he felt a little scared.

He slowly opened the letter when suddenly his hands were pressed.

Xing Conglian had appeared at some point behind him.

“I’ll read it,” he said to him.

Lin Chen pressed Xing Conglian’s hand, remembering that when they were on the same bed, the other party took the initiative to take on the embarrassing role.

Xing Conglian always took the initiative to take on the responsibility.

But, Lin Chen thought, he had things he should bear, and no one could replace that.

“Let me do it. This is what I should see.”

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian’s worried gaze and pushed his hand away. He felt that although he had never said a word to Xu Ran and they were complete strangers who had never crossed paths, he seemed to have depicted Xu Ran’s appearance countless times in his mind.

The moment he opened the letter, he seemed to see Xu Ran’s appearance quietly writing this letter a few days ago.

Hello,

I don’t know how to call you, so let me just talk to you.

If you’re reading this letter, then it means I’m probably dead.

Many letters or suicide notes will say this at the beginning. I thought it was hypocritical before, but now that I’m writing this, I find that it’s quite a suitable way to start.

My name is Xu Ran. A woman who’s 28 years old.

Three weeks ago, I received a job. The job I’m talking about is sex trading. Yes, I am a prostitute. In more popular terms, I’m a chicken—the kind of woman who’s dirty to the bone. I can’t deny this.

So when I walked into that door, I knew very well that I was going to provide services to men.

But behind that door, the man sitting there was indeed a person I’ll never forget.

I hate him. Hate him to the bone. I used to like a person very much, and that person was ruined by him, never to be reborn.

The person I hate is Li Jingtian.

And the person I like is Song Shengsheng.

In fact, before entering the door, I didn’t know exactly what Li Jingtian had done to Shengsheng, although I always suspected that Mu Zhuo’s false accusation against Shengsheng was planned by him.

So, when I saw Li Jingtian, I was angry. I couldn’t control my anger, but what could I do to him? I can only tell him I didn’t want his business because he’s too disgusting.

After I told him this, I slammed the door and wanted to leave.

But he didn’t let me leave. He grabbed my hair and slammed my head on the door.

I told him to get out. I don’t want his business. I don’t want to do those things with him.

You see, although I’m a prostitute, sometimes I turn down clients.

But Li Jingtian didn’t give me a chance to refuse. At that time, I was so angry that I kept scolding him. I scolded him for being disgusting and treacherous. I told him I didn’t want to sleep with him.

When he heard Shengsheng’s name, Li Jingtian suddenly laughed, excitedly.

He grabbed my hair and pushed me to the ground. He was jubilant. He said to me, “So there are still people who like Song Shengsheng.”

Later, I don’t really remember much of it. I was dragged to the bathroom by him. He stomped on my head, then shoved it into the toilet. He beat me, humiliated me. He didn’t treat me like a human, but like an animal. I shouted for help, but no one cared about me.

I don’t know if such a situation can still be considered rape.

You see, a prostitute took the initiative to deliver herself to the door, but refused a client, and was beaten to death by him.

This should be deserved.

Then, as I was submerged in the toilet, he entered me.

It hurts. It really hurts.

When he raped me, he whispered next to my ear, “The Song Shengsheng you like was also fucked by me like this. He likes it very much. He’s dirtier than you.”

Then, he beat and abused me repeatedly and kept telling me how he tortured Shengsheng in the same way. He said that Shengsheng was a masochist and liked to be fucked by him.

Shengsheng loves him to death and even volunteered to go to jail for him.

Those words are still swirling in my ears now.

At that time, I felt that the sky was falling. I really regretted that I couldn’t record his words and show them to everyone. Li Jingtian himself admitted that Shengshemg was innocent.

At that time, I felt I had to live. I wanted everyone to know that Li Jingtian isn’t human.

Later, I really didn’t die. When Li Jingtian left, he threw me into the bathtub and washed me many times.

He told me there was no evidence now. If I want to call the police, I can report it, but he said the police will never believe a whore. Who would believe a woman who sells her body would be raped at a place like Royal One?

Yeah, he’s right. No one will believe me, but I want to try. I think I should try.

The policewoman who received me was a very nice person. She really believed me. She took me for an examination. At that time, I felt Li Jingtian wasn’t necessarily right.

But I made a mistake. I regret it. I really, deeply regretted it.

When they asked me where the crime scene was, I remembered Li Jingtian’s words. If I said it was at Royal One, the police wouldn’t believe me, so I lied. I told them I was raped at his hotel.

I don’t know why I said that, but I really lied. Everyone scolded me, and they all sympathized with Li Jingtian. Then I realized that it was impossible for me to defeat him.

Because I lied, I lost the opportunity to get justice for myself and even the chance to seek justice for my voice. No one will believe what I say anymore. I screwed up, and I only have myself to blame. It’s all my fault.

This afternoon, Li Jingtian called me and asked me to meet in Hongjing. He said he wanted to compensate me.

I know he must want me to die.

But if I die, will someone look into my case?

Will I meet a good police officer, like that female police officer who trusted me and gave me another chance?

If my life can be exchanged for another chance to let you read this letter, then why don’t I die?

In fact, I didn’t have much hope, but I thought, ah, if I’m going to die, I might as well create some fantasies, right?

I know very well that it’s difficult for you to have the opportunity to get justice for me, but I hope that in any case, you can get justice for Shengsheng. He’s really innocent.

Please, believe me.

……

There was no final signature for this letter.

It started with a hello and ended with believe me.

Xu Ran didn’t know whether someone would eventually read this letter, but she still clearly stated what happened. She just wanted justice.

For the first time, Lin Chen felt that the word “justice” was so heavy—as heavy as Mount Tai—that it made people despair.

Unconsciously, Lin Chen found that his fingers were trembling. He knew very well that his eyes were frighteningly red now, but he thought, he really couldn’t cry.

His hand brushed over the snow-white letter; it was immaculately clean. Although Xu Ran’s handwriting was childish, the paper was really clean.

When Xu Ran wrote this letter, she didn’t shed a tear.

Every sentence in this letter was strong. Lin Chen raised his head and looked at the other girl sitting by the bed.

Although the girl had loose hair and messy makeup, she was looking at him with firm eyes.

Yes, they were all girls with the tenacious vitality of weeds. Although their lives were gloomy, the beliefs in their hearts were sometimes firmer than others.

Xing Conglian placed his hand on his shoulder.

He stood behind him and read the letter with him.

Lin Chen took a deep breath, turned his head, and looked at the man who had been silent this entire time.

At this moment, Xing Conglian’s phone rang.

Xing Conglian kept his hand on Lin Chen’s shoulder as he picked up the phone with his other hand.

The call was short.

The person on the other line probably only said one sentence.

Xing Conglian only replied with, “I see.”

But Lin Chen clearly felt Xing Conglian’s hand on his shoulder begin to tremble. The tremor was short, but such a thing was impossible for someone like Xing Conglian.

Lin Chen looked into his eyes and understood everything in an instant.

“Xu Ran is gone,” Xing Conglian said calmly.

After he finished speaking, the room suddenly became quiet.

This was the inevitable ending, and this was also the ending she prayed for.

Lin Chen looked out the dark window.

There was continuous rain. It was fine and soft, like a girl’s soft hair, like a girl’s insignificant life.

The night was dark, and it must equally be as dark in Hongjing.

Lin Chen looked at the dark night sky. He suddenly thought if people’s faith could really break through time and space, then Xu Ran should know they have read this letter.

So, she had persisted until now, and finally she could end her not-so-long, not-so-good life.

Xing Conglian patted Lin Chen lightly on the shoulder.

Lin Chen looked back at the man he loved deeply.

He suddenly wanted to ask a question, so he naturally did. “Your guarantee is very effective, right?”

Xing Conglian suddenly squatted down in front of him.

He stared at him with deep but serene eyes and then answered him.

“Please, believe me,” he said.

……

Wang Chao came later on.

When he arrived at Red Street, Lin Chen had already sorted out all the photos and letters with Xing Conglian.

When they left, Miss Lily was sleeping soundly in the room. They closed the dilapidated iron door and walked into the drizzle.

The teenager held his head and squatted under the streetlight where they were standing.

Seeing them approach, Wang Chao jumped up excitedly and shouted in a low voice, “Captain, A’Chen, you’re finally here. This place is too scary.”

Wang Chao really had a strange magic power. When they looked at the boy’s eyes that would never dim, it was like meeting a flame that would never go out in the endless night. He would make you believe that everything would be fine.

Lin Chen walked over, rubbed the boy’s wet head, and said, “Let’s go.”

Probably because they were so close, Wang Chao noticed their abnormality.

“A’Chen Gege, what’s wrong? You… You were crying again?”

Lin Chen couldn’t help but smile. “It’s really not this time.”

“Then what happened?”

Lin Chen found that when Wang Chao asked this, he was unable to answer.

“Xu Ran is dead.”

Xing Conglian walked up to him and answered it for him.

Wang Chao instantly became shocked, and he asked incredulously, “Then, do we have no case?”

Looking at the teenager’s disappointed but not sad gaze, Lin Chen began to understand why Xing Conglian was always protective of Wang Chao.

Lin Chen thought that although the night had many ups and downs, the luckiest thing was that Wang Chao didn’t read the letter.

This arrangement was probably their only good luck tonight.

“No, now we can start investigating the murder case,” Xing Conglian said.

“But, isn’t Xu Ran dead? Could it be that you found some important clues from Miss Lily?” Wang Chao sharply asked.

“Yes, we found clues.” Lin Chen pinched Wang Chao’s face.

“But this clue makes you very uncomfortable, right?”

“Why are you talking and thinking so much? Do you want to learn psychology from your brother A’Chen?” Xing Conglian abruptly cut in.

As they talked, they started walking out of the alley.

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian walked side-by-side, while Wang Chao faced them, briskly walking backwards. “Then what about the investigation of the murder case, Captain? Did you find evidence that Li Jingtian is suspected of murdering Xu Ran?”

“There’s no evidence,” Lin Chen said.

“Then, how can it be called murder?”

“Mr. Xiao Wang, do you have a misunderstanding about the murder?” Xing Conglian asked seriously. “It’s not like Li Jingtian stabbed Xu Ran to death with a knife. That’s murder. Those who persecute, trick, or incite others to commit suicide are all punished according to the crime of intentional homicide. You really should study harder.” Xing Conglian concluded.

“So now, are we going to investigate the evidence chain of how Li Jingtian caused Xu Ran to commit suicide? Wait, did Xu Ran commit suicide?” When they reached the entrance of the alley, Wang Chao finally turned around. “What are we going to do next?”

“We have to prove one thing first,” Xing Conglian said.

“What’s that?”

“We have to prove that Xu Ran isn’t the culprit who took to the stage and tried to slit Li Jingtian’s throat.”

Lin Chen thought about how Xing Conglian would arrange their next move, but he never thought Xing Conglian would say that.

He didn’t understand for a moment, but then he got it in an instant.

This was Xing Conglian.

……

Xu Ran’s suicide note was written too early, and she didn’t mention what happened after she went to Hongjing. She just said that Li Jingtian asked her to go there.

As for why she wore that red dress, dressing exactly like the culprit who slit Li Jingtian’s throat, Xu Ran didn’t explain these things.

Therefore, the contents of the letter were all unilateral statements by Xu Ran. Even Xu Ran herself stated at the end of the letter that she had no evidence to prove those statements.

In other words, they still couldn’t rule out that possibility—the possibility that all the incidents were committed by Xu Ran. In order to avenge Song Shengsheng and herself, Xu Ran planned all this and used her own death as the final touch of the entire conspiracy.

Although it was impossible for anyone to believe in the possibility that Li Jingtian was innocent after reading that letter, a fact-based investigation of the case had nothing to do with Xu Ran’s plea; it could only include factual evidence.

Even an extremely terrible monster like Li Jingtian or Xu Ran; both had the right to a fair and impartial investigation.

And the most critical breakthrough point of this investigation was whether the person who slit Li Jingtian’s throat was Xu Ran.

In fact, the identity of the throat-slitter had always been the primary focus of the investigation in Li Jingtian’s case.

Lin Chen was grateful for Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian trusted his judgment on Li Jingtian, so he took him to Fengchun before the investigation report from the forensic department was released.

But it was necessary to investigate the truth of the whole matter, so it was impossible to bypass the threshold of the throat-slitting case.

It was 16 hours after the incident, which meant it had been 6 hours since they left Hongjing.

Lin Chen thought that Xing Conglian was stretched for time. During this period, Hongjing’s forensic department could release the investigation report of the throat-slitting case, while at the same time, during this blank period, Xing Conglian was able to bring him to Fengchun to investigate Li Jingtian’s sexual assault on Xu Ran.

The conditions for going out to handle cases were difficult, and the time was really late—or rather early.

The Jeep wasn’t around, so they found an internet café next to Red Street. Naturally, the place was chosen by Wang Chao because of its internet speed.

After Xing Conglian sat down in the small cubicle, he started making phone calls.

Lin Chen went out and ordered instant noodles. When he came back, he heard Xing Conglian speaking on the phone to another police officer who was in charge of the blood test.

“Status?” Lin Chen put down the instant noodles and asked Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian put it on speaker, and the voice of the police officer responsible for the blood test sounded.

“Captain Xing, the blood test has just been completed. The blood on Xu Ran’s dress only contained her DNA. There are no other people’s blood samples mixed in. I really have no way to prove whether Xu Ran was or wasn’t the assailant. Shall we test for other things, like hair samples on the stage, and see if we can prove that Xu Ran was there?”

“I see.” Xing Conglian hung up and remained silent.

Sitting across from him, Wang Chao took a big mouthful of noodles and sighed. “Captain, don’t you feel uncomfortable being a police officer? You have to give evidence for everything!”

“Check on your stuff.” Xing Conglian knocked on the teenager’s head.

Wang Chao was dissatisfied. “Why don’t you say things like, Wang Chao, have a good meal first. I’m still a kid!” Wang Chao slurped up another mouthful of noodles unhappily but didn’t forget to move the mouse with his other hand.

Xing Conglian didn’t bother talking nonsense with him. He made another call. Lin Chen glanced at the number. It was another police officer who was in charge of the scene investigation.

“Captain Xing, Captain Xing, please don’t rush me, okay? Do you know how many things are on that stage? I have to test everything…”

“Has any DNA sample belonging to Xu Ran been detected?”

On the other end of the phone, the on-site police investigator seemed to be checking through documents. After a while, he replied, “I haven’t detected any DNA of Xu Ran for the time being…”

“Continue.” Xing Conglian hung up again.

The third call was to the officer in charge of trace inspection.

But the result was still disappointing.

“Captain—Captain Xing, don’t mention fingerprints. The outer surface of the bouquet was covered with fabric, so there wouldn’t be any left behind. The footprints were also checked, but they’re basically useless. You know how many people were at the scene. All I can say now is that the assailant’s height is similar. There are photos floating around on the internet everywhere, but hey, it’s the same as if I’m not saying anything.”

Xing Conglian hung up the third call.

Everything was returning without success and without evidence. Despite that, it was actually a good thing.

Although the test results they got were no use in solving the case, at any rate, they cleared up some suspicions on Xu Ran.

After contemplating for a moment, Xing Conglian was about to start calling again, but he stalled and didn’t dial out.

Lin Chen pushed the instant noodles in front of Xing Conglian and said, “Let’s eat something first.”

At this time, he really couldn’t find any breakthroughs, so Xing Conglian put the phone down.

Lin Chen opened the instant noodle bowl with him.

The noodles were soaked just right.

The smell of cigarettes in the room was strong, and the rain outside the window gradually turned from light to heavy. Inside the room, except for the slurping sound of instant noodles, there was only the hissing noise from the computer fan.

Wang Chao was the first to finish his bowl. He drank the soup, wiped his mouth, and said, “Captain, A’Chen, I have taken all the photos of the crime scene that were taken by the fans that I could find online. They have been sent to you. Hey, at such a critical moment, you still have to rely on me!”

Xing Conglian didn’t respond.

As if feeling lonely, the teenager started to chatter again. “Captain, don’t ignore me. I looked at all the photos and videos of the fans for you. There are not many photos where you can see the assailant’s face clearly. It seems that Li Jingtian’s brain dead fan group called for deletion of the bloody and violent photos of the scene, so no one posted pictures. That is to say, only the first photo that was posted showed a clear picture of the assailant. I suspect that the person who posted the post was arranged by Li Jingtian, but unfortunately, there’s no problem on Weibo’s end. It really is a Li Jingtian’s die-hard fan… You said that it would be nice if the surveillance wasn’t blocked, but let me tell you, Captain, it’s useless even if it wasn’t. You also know that face recognition algorithms are based on feature points. The assailant only showed their eyes. There are not enough feature points, so it won’t help you. Don’t blame me for talking too much. The assailant really looks very similar to Xu Ran. When she was caught on the street, she looked fearful, like she committed a crime, and ran to the streets and was hit by a car. There really is no proof. What should we do if we can’t find evidence proving Xu Ran wasn’t at the scene of the crime?”

“That can only be done by pulling a net and seeing if someone has seen Xu Ran within the time of the crime, so we can establish her alibi.”

Listening to what Xing Conglian said, Wang Chao was stunned, and the fork in his mouth fell to the table with a thud.

Lin Chen turned his head and looked at Xing Conglian’s face, which was hidden under the dim light. Xing Conglian ate his noodles carefully, neither fast nor slow; extremely methodically.

He suddenly realized that Xing Conglian’s attitude towards Xu Ran was actually more determined than his.

In fact, after stumbling into a dead end at the clubhouse and after reading the letter, Lin Chen subconsciously felt despair for Xu Ran’s sexual assault case because there was no evidence. Someone had wiped it all out in advance.

But after experiencing these things, Xing Conglian’s attitude towards this case was clear on who was innocent and ambiguous results couldn’t be accepted. If there was no evidence, then he would continue to look for evidence.

Lin Chen recalled what he thought. If people’s beliefs were strong enough to break through time and space, then they must also be able to break through bad luck.

Even if Li Jingtian’s calculations were foolproof, there would still be oversights.

People like them had to embrace faith.

……

Lin Chen pushed away the noodle bowl and checked all the photos and videos of Ansheng International Mall that were sorted by Wang Chao together with Xing Conglian, trying to find any omissions.

Those fan photos were either clear or blurry, but the protagonist in all of them was Li Jingtian. To be honest, even if he forced himself to look at these photos with the mentality of proving Xu Ran’s innocence, Lin Chen still felt nauseous every time he saw Li Jingtian’s hypocritical face.

Moreover, he was in a terrible state today. The hangover made his vision gradually blurry. He lowered his head, rubbed his eyes, and noticed that Xing Conglian had patted him on the shoulder. “Go and help Wang Chao find out more about Song Shengsheng’s case. I can look at these things myself.”

“Yeah, yeah, A’Chen. Stop looking at that disgusting idiot!”

Lin Chen habitually wanted to be polite, but since it was Xing Conglian saying this, there was no need to. He nodded, changed his seat, and sat beside Wang Chao.

“Okay, A’Chen Gege, my big sword is hungry and thirsty. Tell me what I need to check!”

Wang Chao was full of vigor.

In fact, there were as many as three cases they needed to investigate.

Lin Chen sorted out his thoughts and said, “I’ve seen the files for Song Shengsheng’s case. In fact, files that can be closed have been heavily reviewed, so the possibility of any issues isn’t high. However, Xu Ran believed that Song Shengsheng was innocent. So, I think there must be a lot of his former fans that also insist on this, and among them, some may have evidence, which may exist in previous fan debates or forums. Please try to search for them.”

But what Lin Chen didn’t tell Wang Chao was that Xu Ran also revealed in the letter a piece of information that Song Shengsheng and Li Jingtian might have been in a relationship, and the relationship between them was quite distorted.

“A’Chen, what are you talking about? Why are you being so polite to me? Don’t you love me anymore?”

Wang Chao was focused on the wrong point.

Lin Chen had no choice but to rub his head and say, “Of course I love you, good boy.”

Xing Conglian coughed softly.

“Captain, what’s wrong with you? Jealous?” Wang Chao snickered and then said, “A’Chen, do you want to sleep for a bit? It’ll take a while for me to check these things, and there’s still some time before dawn. You should rest for a while.”

Wang Chao pointed to the sofa at the corner of the room.

Being polite would look hypocritical. He really needed sleep. “Okay.” After Lin Chen replied, he laid down on the sofa.

“Thank you for your hard work,” he said before closing his eyes.

“You don’t love me anymore!” Wang Chao continued to draw out his whining.

Lin Chen quickly closed his eyes.

Sleepiness covered him like a tide.

In fact, before going to sleep, Lin Chen wanted to tell Wang Chao to wake him up in an hour, but before he could, he had already fallen asleep.

He had a dream.

The dream began on an extremely long, red street. The neon lights that washed over him turned into thin shades of red and green lights on the ground; as thin as the eyeliner on Lily’s face.

Then he saw Lily crying to him, and soon, Lily’s cries turned into the laughter of the taxi driver, Master Guan. It was equally loud and full of emotions.

The scene reverted to the dark basement of Royal One, where Xing Conglian was pulling him to run, then the two of them were lying in the same bed, with Xing Conglian on top of him, jerking him around.

While on the bed, he turned his head sideways and saw Xu Ran’s face.

Xu Ran stared at them with her face covered in blood as she fell into a pool of blood and a truck ran over her.

Li Jingtian’s face suddenly appeared. His eyes were vicious, staring with excitement at the person in the pool of blood. The scene seemed to be rewinding, frame by frame, going back to the beginning of everything.

The surroundings were noisy. People crowded over each other as Li Jingtian was singing. Through the gap between people, Lin Chen saw someone walking onto the stage.

It was a girl in a red dress; not tall, very thin, holding a bouquet of roses in her hand. She handed the flowers to Li Jingtian, who hugged her.

Bright red blood seeped out of Li Jingtian’s throat.

Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes.

He got up from the sofa. Before he knew it, the sky outside the window was already bright.

Wang Chao had fallen asleep at the table, while Xing Conglian was steadily clicking his mouse. He looked at him but said nothing.

Lin Chen closed his eyes and rubbed his forehead vigorously.

If every dream revealed something, Lin Chen thought, his dream must also be indicating something.

Li Jingtian hugged Xu Ran.

He opened his eyes again, stood up from the table, and walked over to Xing Conglian’s side. Xing Conglian was looking at a photo. It was the first photo that was posted, accusing Xu Ran of being the assailant.

The picture was clear.

For them who had lost on-site surveillance, this was the clearest of all the photos.

In the photo, Li Jingtian turned his back to the camera and seemed like he was about to hug the fan holding the bouquet. His hand was raised high to put his arms around the assailant’s shoulder.

Xing Conglian kept zooming in on the photo to see the position of Li Jingtian’s hand.

Xing Conglian turned his head and asked Lin Chen, “Do you remember where Li Jingtian’s hand ended up?”

“On the shoulder,” Lin Chen replied with great certainty.

His gaze finally fell on a very unusual place in the photo.

On the shoulders of the red dress, there were two leather decorative straps.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

This was a fairly heavy and graphic chapter.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 129

The air in the thin blanket quickly became sultry due to the dense carbon dioxide they exhaled.

In the quiet love suite, in the middle of the night, under a blanket, both Xing Conglian and Lin Chen panted and lifted the blanket at the same time.

Perhaps because they were panting too loudly, or maybe it was because they were breathing too much together, but Xing Conglian once again heard Wang Chao’s high-pitched voice ringing in his ears.

“Captain, A’Chen! What are you doing?! You can’t treat A’Chen Gege like that, you beast!”

“Shut up.” Xing Conglian felt that the situation wasn’t right, but he still steadied his mind and asked, “Where did you drive the car?”

“Ah! I’m at Heping Avenue, YOYOYO*!”

*Slang for LOL.

Wang Chao’s voice became even louder.

The sound of the night wind clashed with the sound of the crazy engine, mixed with the hearty laughter of the teenager came through the headset. Xing Conglian said coldly, “Park the car at Heping Avenue and tell us the current situation.”

However, Wang Chao had fallen completely into the extreme excitement of drag racing. “The situation? The situation is very cool! Hahahahaha, Captain, are you asking me? Beg me!”

Xing Conglian rubbed his temples and began to regret, deeply.

“You’d better not let him touch the steering wheel in the future.” Immediately, Lin Chen’s voice sounded close to his ear.

“Indeed.” As he said this, he could hear the sound of the car rubbing against some cement surface through the headset again, so he looked at the ceiling and couldn’t help but add, “Consultant Lin, according to your experience, interpret what’s wrong with this. How the hell can touching a steering wheel be no different than smoking marijuana?”

“The reverse-upgraded version of road rage.” From Lin Chen’s voice, Xing Conglian couldn’t hear any traces of drunkenness, but he was convinced Lin Chen was still inebriated. Although he didn’t lose his ability to think and act, his thinking and logic weren’t as clear as usual.

“Some people, when they encounter some ‘trigger points’, will become another person.” Lin Chen’s clear and drunken voice sounded.

Xing Conglian would like to ask, “For example, if you encounter alcohol, is that the same?”

However, Wang Chao had interjected into their conversation with interest. “Captain, A’Chen, what are you doing? Are you just purely chatting underneath the blankets? Fuck, at least pretend a little. Aren’t you afraid you’ll get caught? Get high*!”

*Org. written in English. It’s netizen language referring to enlivening the atmosphere (get excited, get happy).

As soon as Wang Chao finished speaking, before Xing Conglian had time to ask what he wanted, he suddenly felt the person next to him move.

Lin Chen lifted up the blanket and suddenly rolled over onto him.

Naturally, laying shoulder to shoulder was completely different from this current posture. Although Lin Chen had just straddled him in the darkness, at that moment, Xing Conglian could clearly picture the position they were in.

Lin Chen had sat down from his waist, and his legs were spread apart. His feet were covered by a cotton blanket, with his ankle exposed.

In fact, the word slender may not be appropriate because, while Lin Chen was thin, he was well-proportioned, which was a typical example of someone being thin but not delicate. However, in Xing Conglian’s opinion, Lin Chen’s ankles were still slender and fair.

Xing Conglian didn’t know why he was imagining these kinds of things right now, but when he thought of Lin Chen’s legs that were further up, suddenly it became Lin Chen’s hands.

Lin Chen’s hands were now gently propped up on his chest, shaking lightly as he breathed.

He looked at Lin Chen’s face. Right now, his consultant’s eyes had changed from indifferent and emotionless to misty; distinctly gentle from the loss of focus.

It was too gentle.

Xing Conglian opened his mouth lightly, trying to say something, but before he could speak, Lin Chen slowly leaned down, pressing their stomachs and chests together…

Then, at the moment when their lips and teeth were about to intertwine, Lin Chen turned his face, buried his head in the crook of Xing Conglian’s neck, and breathed gently.

Because he was very close, Xing Conglian discovered that Lin Chen was indeed drunk. His body was hot, and he smelled full of absinthe, with the unique sweetness and warmth of alcohol.

Although Xing Conglian believed the gasping was just Lin Chen’s uncomfortable groaning due to alcohol, those warm breaths that sprayed in his ear, side, and neck had an unexpectedly seductive effect.

In the deep night, next to one of his ears, the breathing of one of his same-sex friends sounded, while his other ears picked up the sound of the night wind and a teenager’s wanton laughter. When he was almost about to pull out the headset and put his arms around Lin Chen’s waist, there was a sound of braking, an engine stalling, and the laptop opening and closing from the headset. In an instant, those sounds became clear.

Lin Chen must have heard it too, because his voice was calm as it rang in Xing Conglian’s ears. “Wang Chao, continue to check on Lily.”

Xing Conglian couldn’t tell how he felt right now, but he thought it was truly like Lin Chen. Under such circumstances, he was still focused on investigating the case.

……

In the Jeep, Comrade Wang Chao heard Lin Chen’s voice assigning him a mission, but he didn’t immediately start looking for information.

As a professional and upright electronic information practitioner, he naturally carried more than one laptop with him.

After stopping the car, the first thing he did was quickly open a small video in Room 1105 of the Oho Hotel, and then, after carefully placing the tablet and adjusting it to a perfect angle, he began to search for what Lin Chen asked him for.

“Lily doesn’t sound like a real name,” he muttered as he hacked into Royal One’s system. After flipping through a few pages in boredom, he looked up and saw two vaguely overlapping figures in the dark picture. He thought to himself, ‘My god, it’s a pity there are no potato chips here!’

Comrade Wang Chao sighed regretfully, then lowered his head and looked through the photos of the background page by page. God knew why normal people would want to make themselves into such a ghastly look. Their almost indistinguishable faces flashed before his eyes, suddenly dazzling him. Going through the photos was useless and only made him want to vomit. He quickly turned off the webpage depressingly and obediently looked at the salary records.

Sure enough, how could a shady place like Royal One put money on the salary records!

He looked through all the records and found that none of the princesses or young masters in Royal One had any salary records or social security records. Wang Chao recalled the magnificent building and suddenly felt it was like a dark, cannibalistic cave.

He touched the goosebumps that appeared on his arms and continued to report. “A’Chen, I haven’t found Lily’s real name yet, because there’s nothing in their system that can prove Lily’s identity. The social security and medical insurance records of all the staff don’t include the young masters and princesses who accompany customers at the table.” As Wang Chao replied, because he was too busy looking for the blank records, he didn’t have the mental energy to continue to observe the dynamics between the two on the tablet.

“What about medical records?”

At this point, he was startled to hear his boss’ voice, which was deeper than usual. It was even a little hoarse, with a hint of forced calmness.

Wang Chao grinned, and then he heard his brother A’Chen speak again.

Lin Chen said, “Yes, clubs like Royal One must have regular medical examination records presented to customers to prove that their people are clean and problem-free, and hospital medical exam records are supposed to be difficult to falsify.”

“Oh!”

Wang Chao became aware of this and immediately began retrieving medical examination records from all large and small hospitals in Fengchun. Sure enough, he found the regular medical examination reports of Royal One.

However, although he found the report, he also stumbled upon a bigger problem. He looked at the names and photos of the reports woefully and said to the two on the other end, “I found the records, but Captain, A’Chen, you have to wait a bit. The photos of these people here are all liquefied into a mess. I can’t use the photo retrieval function, so I have to compare each medical record one by one!”

“How long will it take?” Xing Conglian asked suddenly. As if he thought of something, he said, “Wait, if the alarm is because of Lu Xu’s snitching, they will most likely go to Room 1103 where Xu Ran’s incident happened, so keep an eye on it.”

“I’m keeping an eye on it,” Wang Chao hurriedly replied. He looked up at the erotic pornographic video, pressed the recording button, and then pulled out another tablet and brought up the full surveillance of the elevator and emergency exit.

The moment the picture appeared, Wang Chao’s heart almost jumped out of his throat. As Xing Conglian said, a group of heavily armed security guards had just taken the elevator up to the 11^th floor.

At the same time, he looked at the video recorded by the pinhole camera in the room again. He returned to the main interface of the other party and found that someone was turning on the video in room 1105 to view it. He quickly said, “Captain, someone really went to it. Ahh!”

Because there was no corridor surveillance, Wang Chao felt like a blind man.

“Captain, a team of security guards just went to the 11^th floor, and there are people watching the video in your room. Hurry up and act! Don’t just be still. If you’re exposed, you’ll be caught!”

He shouted nervously, but after he finished speaking, he heard his brother A’Chen’s weak and calm voice. “Wang Chao.”

“I’m here, A’Chen Gege!”

“Turn off the video of our room and don’t watch it, then delete the ones you just saved.”

Shit. What are you doing that you don’t want to be watched!

Wang Chao shuddered and couldn’t help but look around the Jeep. The surroundings were pitch black, but why was his back so cold!

“No, A’Chen Gege, how can I record your video? Later, I can also help you delete it. Believe me. I’ll take care of it!”

“Turn off the surveillance,” Lin Chen repeated solemnly.

……

With the end of Lin Chen’s last words, Xing Conglian heard the clear sound of the door opening and many people entering the room to search in Room 1103 next door.

Lin Chen obviously discovered that too, because his consultant raised his head and put a little distance between them as he stared at him in a daze.

The tips of their noses touched each other. Lin Chen was obviously hesitating.

But soon, Lin Chen seemed to have made a decision. Xing Conglian felt Lin Chen’s body start to slide backward, and at the same time, he arched his back.

Xing Conglian guessed what Lin Chen wanted to do in an instant. He grabbed Lin Chen’s wrist and said softly, “No need to do this.”

After he finished speaking, he pushed his knees hard, protected Lin Chen’s neck with his other hand, turned over, and pressed Lin Chen under him.

Because of the sudden inversion, Lin Chen was lying on the bed with his head up. Xing Conglian looked at the person under him quietly and found that Lin Chen was still staring at him. His eyes were gentle and serious.

His hand was still between Lin Chen’s neck, which made Xing Conglian recall what Lu Xu had said when he approached Lin Chen.

He said, “You smell good.”

At that time, Xing Conglian felt this sentence made him sick, but at this moment, he leaned on Lin Chen and couldn’t help but think of it.

Although there was no incense smell in the love suite and Lin Chen didn’t smell of soap or shower gel, Xing Conglian still felt Lu Xu’s words weren’t wrong. The smell on Lin Chen’s body was clean and refreshing, which was quite comforting…

And it was really fragrant.

Footsteps came out of the next room, one after another. The security guards obviously didn’t find them there, but perhaps the next moment they would knock on the door to the room where they were.

It was truly a tense moment right now. One door away were the security guards who were chasing them, but he was quietly lying on the body of his friend and colleague.

Xing Conglian felt that he hadn’t been this stimulated in a long time, but, although his senses were stimulated, he suddenly felt he needed to calm down.

Because Lin Chen was calm.

“Sorry.” He reached out and caressed Lin Chen’s face, and then started to move.

When Lin Chen heard Xing Conglian apologize, he felt choked up for a while. It was truly a bittersweet moment.

Lin Chen looked at the man on top of him.

The surroundings were dark.

This may be the only opportunity in his life, and a person who was as unlucky as him may not be able to get the same opportunity a second time.

He would not get drunk again; not forced to enter an erotic love suite with Xing Conglian after being drunk; he would not be pressed down under Xing Conglian to avoid the chasing security guards; and be as close to Xing Conglian as he was now.

The current situation was the result of numerous coincidences.

Now he only needed to simply raise his head and kiss Xing Conglian’s lips. Xing Conglian might push him away or he might respond to him, but it was more likely that Xing Conglian would regard this as just common drunken promiscuity, and he could even explain that there were some drugs added to the drink he had consumed.

He would definitely be able to find an excuse for this gaffe.

But Lin Chen knew exactly where his physiological response came from. When normal men experience movements such as theirs, even if they were facing a wall, they would still react a little. What was more, this was the Xing Conglian he loved. Even if he were hugged by him, this would make him happy.

How normal all this was.

It was normal enough that he could reach out and put his arms around Xing Conglian’s neck, kiss him, confess to him, and seriously state his physiological response.

However, this was the wrong time, the wrong place; everything was wrong.

Because more than half a month ago, Xu Ran suffered inhumane abuse in the room next door, and there was probably someone who had suffered just like Xu Ran on the bed they were lying on, perhaps even more inhumane things.

But in the final analysis, it was because Lin Chen was clear that it was the most irresponsible behavior to use being drunk as a cover-up, so that he could use it as an excuse if his test failed. At least, Lin Chen thought he didn’t want to use such an excuse. He wanted to respect Xing Conglian more.

Lin Chen stared at Xing Conglian’s dark eyes. He didn’t know whether he was drunk or not. If he was really drunk, it turned out that people could still be sober and rational even after being drunk.

Desperately sober.

……

It took a long time before Wang Chao’s voice sounded in their ears again.

“Captain, A’Chen, the security guards are gone.”

Xing Conglian finally stopped.

That was a really awkward moment. Lin Chen nodded at him and tried to control his expression as usual.

“We’re going to the next room. Open the door for us.” Xing Conglian rolled off of him. His voice instantly switched to a calm, clear state. He acted as if nothing had just happened.

However, Lin Chen still saw traces of panting on his chest.

“Holy shit, Captain. Are you guys seeking death?” Wang Chao shouted. “You’ll be discovered!”

“It’s fine. When they come to outflank us, we’ll have a chance to leave. Can you control an elevator? I remember there’s another elevator next door to room 03. We’ll go to the basement parking lot. Can you help us find a way to leave safely?”

Xing Conglian looked at him and commanded logically and clearly.

“Oh! That’s a good idea! The elevator is computer-controlled, so I have no problem opening it for you,” Wang Chao responded solemnly.

“By the way, call us a taxi at the exit of the parking lot.” Xing Conglian raised his watch and glanced at it. “It’s 1:05 a.m. After five minutes, open the door to the next room.”

“Roger!” Wang Chao said. “But Captain, I can also drive and pick you up!”

“I want to live a few more days,” Xing Conglian said coldly, and Wang Chao sensibly shut up.

“Are you okay?” After Xing Conglian arranged everything, he turned his head and asked Lin Chen.

“I’m going to wash my face.” Lin Chen sat up in his bed and fumbled out of it in the dark. However, because he was probably too restrained just now, his muscles were tense, so his legs suddenly twitched when he stepped on the ground in pain, and he staggered violently. Just as he fell to the bedside table, thinking he needed more calcium, his waist was supported by a broad and strong hand. Xing Conglian had wrapped his arm around his waist and said, “Be careful.”

This was really an afterthought.

Lin Chen felt that his face must be red.

In the end, it was Xing Conglian who helped him to the bathroom.

Lin Chen turned on the faucet, lowered his head, and let the water wash over the top of his head and the ends of his hair. The biting cold made him suddenly sober up.

For a minute, none of them spoke. There was only the sound of water flowing through the porcelain sink. When Lin Chen raised his head again, he saw Xing Conglian standing with his arms crossed. As he calmly puffed out rings of smoke, there was a faint odor of smoke in the air.

Now it was more like an afterthought.

Lin Chen pulled out a towel and wiped his face, adjusted his mood, and finally said, “What time is it?”

“There’s one minute and three seconds left.” Xing Conglian looked at his watch as he responded.

Then, there was silence between them again.

Lin Chen dried his face and looked at his eyes in the mirror, which had become red from the alcohol. He said, “Xing Conglian.”

“Hmm?”

“Your skills should be good, right?”

“Is Justice Bao satisfied?”

“Uh, do you need me to recuse myself?” In the quiet bathroom, the joking voice of Wang Chao sounded.

Lin Chen suddenly thought that if he hadn’t known that Wang Chao was listening and that someone was watching them, he might really have made a move on Xing Conglian.

It seemed he wasn’t such a righteous man either.

Thinking of this, he laughed with relief. Sure enough, everything was wrong.

He put the towel back on the shelf and said to Xing Conglian, “Let’s go?”

“Okay.”

Wang Chao was always the typical example of efficiency taken to the extreme.

When they walked out of the love suite, the door of the next room opened in response.

There was no need to be reminded. At the moment when Xing Conglian opened the door, Lin Chen thought that the security alarm of the entire building would sound again.

After all, their purpose was different. After entering, Xing Conglian turned on all the lights in the room.

However, when Xing Conglian wanted to take out his gloves and inspect the room, they both were stunned…

Because the furnishings, though they looked the same as the one next door, were completely different.

This room was very new and seemed unused.

The carpet was spotless, and the cabinets still had burrs. Under the bright light, the bed and cabinets, and even the handcuffs hanging from the ceiling in the room, seemed to glow with a shiny luster.

Lin Chen sniffed the air, which was filled with formaldehyde and the smell of banana water that would only be found in newly renovated rooms.

It seemed that someone had just completely remodeled this room.

Indeed, if they remembered the deleted video records, how could they not clean up all the physical evidence.

It would be strange if any evidence could be found here.

Beside him, Xing Conglian squatted down and touched the carpet, then raised his head and said to him, “The carpet is also new.”

“It seems they are much more meticulous than we thought,” Lin Chen said lightly.

“Captain, A’Chen, the taxi has arrived… What’s wrong with you?”

“Nothing. We just reached a dead end again.”

After Lin Chen finished speaking, Xing Conglian took out his phone and took a few photos of the scene from multiple angles.

Afterwards, Xing Conglian quickly put it away, glanced at his watch, and then asked, “Wang Chao, report the current situation.”

“A group of security guards is rushing down from the 13^th floor, and another wave is outflanking from the emergency exit on the 7^th floor. Hurry!”

Xing Conglian nodded.

As if he had timed it perfectly, Xing Conglian went to the back door and glanced at his watch again.

About ten seconds later, he suddenly opened the door, and almost at the same time, the indicator light for the elevator that had just reached the 11^th floor lit up.

At the moment when the elevator closed, Lin Chen seemed to hear a team of security guards shouting out from the emergency exit.

As the elevator slowly sank, Lin Chen didn’t have the slightest fear of being chased; rather, he felt quite calm.

If Xing Conglian knew what he was thinking at that time, he would probably hold his hand and say, “What a coincidence. When I was on the bed just now, I looked at you with the same calmness.”

However, they were now in an after-the-fact state and couldn’t communicate with each other.

Therefore, the two of them simply faced the smooth inner wall of the elevator, waiting silently for the moment when the door would open again.

……

The process of escaping from the parking lot was smooth.

Wang Chao’s ability to command was quite good, and Xing Conglian’s sense of direction matched it frighteningly well.

Lin Chen followed Xing Conglian through hordes of luxury vehicles, listening to the footsteps that were chasing them from far behind. At the moment when the security guards were almost close enough to smash their baton into the car window, they got into the taxi that Wang Chao had called in advance.

The taxi driver stepped on the gas and looked at the angry, nervous, and disappointed faces of the security guards. Lin Chen actually felt like he was escaping from ascension.

The driver was also frightened. Although he subconsciously stepped on the gas, he still shook his hands nervously when he saw the security guards waving their batons while rushing towards him. “Who the hell are you?”

“Police. Handling a case.”

Xing Conglian quickly flashed his badge.

The moment the driver saw the badge, he seemed to have powered-up and slammed on the gas again. The taxi smashed through the guardrail of the parking lot, flying like an arrow released from a string, and flew frantically into the distance.

“Police. It’s great you’re the police. I really want that place checked out. It’s best if it gets shut down!”

After the taxi driver said this to them, the taxi started zooming down the wide road at a speed of no less than 100 kilometers an hour.

Xing Conglian put his hand on the car window. He glanced at the name on the badge and praised the taxi driver. “Master* Guan, there are very few men with a strong sense of justice like you. Ordinary men can’t wait to soak in there all day.”

*He’s addressing him as shifu (关师). It’s a term frequently used for cab drivers or other skilled laborers in modern times.

The driver blushed and said honestly, “I can’t afford to go. It’s too expensive.”

Xing Conglian laughed heartily.

“What case are you investigating?” The driver asked again.

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian and heard him reply, “It’s not convenient to speak of it.”

The driver gave a long “Oh” and said, “I mean, it’s no wonder those security guards are like mad dogs. Don’t worry. I’m a top-notch driver. They won’t be able to catch up!”

“Do you often come here to pick up customers?” Xing Conglian suddenly asked.

“Occasionally, but who hasn’t come to Royal One to pick up a few people if you’re working the night shift.”

Xing Conglian’s eyes lit up. “Then do you know where the princesses of Royal One usually live?”

“I don’t know about that.” Master Guan laughed shyly again. “I’ve come here to pick up guests a few times, but I can’t tell who the young masters and princesses inside are.” As Master Guan said this, he suddenly seemed to remember something. He smacked his forehead and said, “Wait, wait, let me ask for you. We have a radio station. I can ask about it!”

Before Xing Conglian had time to refuse, Master Guan had already pulled out his walkie-talkie and shouted, “Hey, which one of you often does business at Royal One? Do you know where the princesses and young masters usually live?”

Soon, chattering voices from many night shift drivers sounded on the radio.

Someone said, “Lao Guan, what’s wrong with you? Are you dissatisfied with your wife?”

Another person said, “Yes, Lao Guan. Finally, you want to have some fun!”

The middle-aged man named Lao Guan coughed twice, pretending to be righteous, and interrupted them. “Be serious. Right now, I have two police comrades who are handling a case. I’m asking for them.”

“Are they real cops?”

Lao Guan looked back at Xing Conglian. Xing Conglian nodded, took the walkie-talkie, and said to the drivers, “I’m Xing Conglian. My police badge number is 20151014xxx. You can verify it.”

Following that, more chaotic sounds erupted from the radio station.

“It’s really Mr. Police Officer!”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mr. Police Officer!”

“I hope everyone can provide clues to what Master Guan asked just now. It will be very helpful for us in solving the case.” Xing Conglian’s relaxed voice quickly calmed the commotion on the radio.

Taxi drivers were probably the most enthusiastic group in the city. When they heard there was a police investigation, the drivers immediately began to give ideas. Some said the girls lived on the east side of the city, while others said they lived on the west, but there was no accurate number.

Finally, a Mr. Driver who seemed to have received the notification suddenly said loudly, “I—I—I—I know, uh. Just now, Master Chen called me in a hurry and asked me to listen to the radio. I know. Royal One, uh, I usually pick up a few ladies there every night and send them home. Most of them lived on Red Street, but cars can’t be driven in, so I don’t know where they live!”

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian again.

“Thank you very much,” Xing Conglian said sincerely to the drivers.

On the subsequent drive to Red Street.

Master Guan chatted with them. Most of the time, Mr. Driver was telling them about his heroic experiences and those of his old buddies who had rounded up thieves or transported supplies to rescue teams.

Although they couldn’t exchange the same stories with him, listening to his pleasant boasting voice, because of the effect of alcohol, Lin Chen fell asleep again.

By the time he woke up, Master Chen had already driven the car smoothly to the location of Red Street.

He and Xing Conglian got out of the taxi, only to find that, at some point, it was slightly drizzling. The rain hardly wetted their clothes, but it plunged the entire city into a misty fog.

Xing Conglian took out his wallet to pay, but Master Guan pushed it away. “You’re the police handling a case. It’s appropriate for citizens like us to assist. I don’t want your money!”

Xing Conglian was used to paying, and rarely did he encounter a situation where someone would refuse payment. He smiled and said, “You’re quite enlightened, but money still needs to be collected for services rendered. We also have our own rules.”

“Oh, I’m not charging you anything, or else I’ll be teased to death by those guys later!”

Seeing the 100-yuan bill about to be crushed by them, Lin Chen stepped forward and said to the driver, “You can accept it. If you don’t, I’ll report him for not paying a taxi driver when I go back.”

Lin Chen thought that his face must have looked serious, since after he said it, Master Guan finally accepted the money.

Xing Conglian had already gone ahead, and Lin Chen followed after him.

“Mr. Police Officer.”

Suddenly, the hoarse voice from smoking too much of the middle-aged driver sounded from behind them.

“Royal One isn’t really a good place. Can you shut it down?”

The streets in front of them were dark, and behind them was an ordinary citizen who was making a selfish request.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian’s figure paused under the streetlight, before it turned back. He stopped in front of the taxi, bowed forward solemnly, and said, “Don’t worry.”

……

Just like Royal One was named Royal One, Red Street was exactly as it was named.

From beginning to end, there were endless spa parlors with most of the doors closed. They walked slowly inward and found that there were still a few shops open. The air was filled with a dirty smell that came from the sewers. The alley was narrow but just wide enough.

Lin Chen and Xing Conglian walked side by side, bathed in the veil-like drizzle and fog in the alley.

The shops were glowing with pink light, and some of it flowed out from the cracks in the doors while others leaked from the floor-to-ceiling windows. Lin Chen looked at the shops that were still open and saw that most of them were filled with ladies lying in various promiscuous positions. Some were extremely old, while others looked as if they had just become adults.

It was really late. Most of these ladies were lying on sofa beds and didn’t even have any desire to attract guests.

The problem had become clear again.

How were they going to find Miss Lily’s residence in this long street full of alleys?

“Wang Chao, did you find it?”

“No!” The teenager responded angrily.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian. Apparently, Xing Conglian’s order had prevented him from driving again, which made Wang Chao angry.

However, Wang Chao could only voice it, as Lin Chen heard the sound of him clicking on a mouse. “I just checked the medical examination records of the hospital. You don’t even know what I saw. God, just now, I’ve seen five cases of AIDS, not to mention countless cases of herpes and genital warts. A’Chen, I feel like I’m going crazy. I feel so uncomfortable.”

“Ah, I know,” Lin Chen said calmly.

“Why is this happening? Why do they have to do that kind of thing? Can’t they make good money!”

“Wang Chao,” Lin Chen stretched out his hand to hold back Xing Conglian and stood with him under the quiet light. “Not everyone is entitled to choose their own life.”

“But—but why are they so unclean? Wear a condom? Is it that difficult?!”

“Actually, you can look at these people from two points of view. First, they are indeed engaged in illegal industries. From this perspective, you can despise them and spurn them without any problem, but you can also imagine what kind of family they grew up in and what kind of life experience they have, which caused them to live such a life of selling their bodies. Of course, it’s true that they broke the law, and their life experience is just our speculation, but I think… Among those girls, there must be people who wanted to go to a good college and make a decent living by working in an office. I think some of them want such a life, but, really, not everyone in the world is qualified to choose their own life trajectory, and even some do not know they have the right to choose.”

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian.

The other party did not speak, but instead placed his hand between his neck and gently shook it.

This was a slightly intimate and familiarly comforting action.

But at that time, neither of them noticed that this action was not only intimate but also ambiguous.

Probably because they had slept together just now, even Lin Chen didn’t feel anything strange, as if this were normal and natural.

After a long silence, he finally asked, “Well, did you find Lily yet?”

Perhaps it was because of what Lin Chen said, Wang Chao’s voice had some choking in it, but the teenager quickly adjusted his emotions and said to him, “Found it, A’Chen. Lily’s name is Zheng Wenli, female, 21 years old.”

“Any information on her residence?” Xing Conglian quickly asked.

“Wait for me to check her records.”

After a while, Wang Chao said, “Damn, I found it. It’s really in Room 502, No. 3-117, Red Street. Zheng Wenli’s card paid the utility bills for that place. God, that old driver is really experienced!”

The teenager sincerely sighed.

Lin Chen stopped and looked at the house number. They were about to reach it.

In fact, he was a little surprised. He thought that a princess like Lily, who worked in a high-end club, should have enough income to provide her with better housing, but there was obviously no so-called better housing on this street.

No. 3-117 was an old-fashioned residential building with mottled walls. The corridor door was open, revealing a rusty door frame. Lin Chen looked up, and there were all kinds of dazzling underwear hanging from the balcony. Some windows were lit with pink and purple lights, which looked quite ostentatious. Lin Chen thought they had found the right place.

However, the process of finding Miss Lily was quite difficult. They stood in front of the locked, old-fashioned iron door and fell into trouble again.

Xing Conglian rubbed his nose and asked Lin Chen, “Is it illegal to break into a private residence?”

Lin Chen leaned against the handrail of the stairs, feeling a little dizzy. “What do you think?”

“Can you not report me?”

Lin Chen silently turned around.

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Keep in mind that Wang Chao is only a teenager, so the things he says sometimes can be immature, but as an 18-year-old raised by Xing Conglian and given his experience with the police force, I would’ve imagined he would be more worldly.

Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with prostitution, and it shouldn’t be looked down upon. Unfortunately, many people who go into it are often victimized and exploited, and some are even forced. As Lin Chen says, it’s best not to judge others, especially when you don’t know their circumstances.

Just some food for thought.

Oh, and in case you missed it, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian were pretending to fuck in this chapter.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 128

“Why can’t they be reimbursed?” Lin Chen couldn’t help but ask with a smile.

“Contraband products. The finance department won’t reimburse you for those, so I have to pay for them myself.”

Hearing what Xing Conglian said, Lin Chen felt both funny and annoyed. At any rate, he was a man who took out a bunch of membership cards casually, but he was so brokenhearted by the fake checks that were five yuan a piece. It was terribly confusing.

They chatted, and while talking, he followed Xing Conglian into the remote bathroom at the end of the corridor.

Xing Conglian became cautious. As an experienced policeman, he pushed open every bathroom stall to check and then nodded at Lin Chen. “No one.”

“Wang Chao?” Hearing this, Lin Chen called to the teenager listening on the other end in a low voice.

Wang Chao’s voice sounded in their ears again inside the bathroom, where it was only the two of them.

“A’Chen, I just checked the strings of numbers given by the captain. The owner of the phone number is Lu Xu. He was imprisoned for three years for organized prostitution. After he was released from prison 12 years ago, he…” The teenager paused and then said, in disbelief, “Has never had any social records.”

“What do you mean there are no social records?” Xing Conglian asked.

Just after inspecting the stall, Xing Conglian was leaning against the marble wall by the window. When he heard Wang Chao say that Lu Xu didn’t have any social records, he couldn’t help but ask rhetorically.

Wang Chao said, “That is to say, there was no payment information for housing, medical care, or social security when Lu Xu was released from prison. Not only that, but he also doesn’t even have bank card records, let alone Alipay. It feels like he’s a ghost!” Wang Chao specially lowered his voice and said, “Captain, this damn Lu Xu is so terrible. He doesn’t have any social records after being released from prison, which probably means all his transactions are cash-based. I don’t believe he’s not doing shady business!”

“I see.” Xing Conglian nodded. He rubbed his hair and said to Lin Chen, “Lu Xu lives so cautiously. It’s very likely he’s a small boss of a prostitution ring. He introduced Xu Ran to Li Jingtian, so it’s very possible that he’s a ‘key person’ that we’re looking for.”

The door to the bathroom where Xing Conglian and Lin Chen were suddenly pushed open as soon as Xing Conglian’s voice fell.

Xing Conglian glanced at Lin Chen from a distance and saw him nodding at him, so he turned around and pretended to walk inadvertently to the wall-mounted urinal in the corner. After he reached the position, he opened his zipper and casually looked towards the sink again.

He saw Lin Chen standing in front of the sink, gently turning on the faucet as he slowly rolled up his cuffs. Lin Chen bent down, splashed a handful of water on his face, and rubbed his face twice, as if he were in a state of drunkenness and trying to sober up. In short, the level of their performance was superb.

Like all men who were bored when they were relieving themselves, Xing Conglian moved his eyes to the man who had just entered the door.

It was a middle-aged man who had a fat belly. He had a wide forehead and convex eyes, but he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses, looking like a bloated toad. He was so fat that the belt on his pants could hardly hold up his pants. Xing Conglian noticed that the man’s black suit cuffs were stained with blood and his knuckles had hard brown smudges that looked like caked blood.

Xing Conglian saw him walk towards Lin Chen, turn on the faucet, and begin to wash his hands. The other party seemed to notice him and glance at him. Instead of looking away immediately, he shrugged at the man indifferently and finally turned his gaze back.

The space in the bathroom became quiet again, leaving only the sound of gurgling water echoing.

Just now, Wang Chao didn’t hear either one of them respond and quickly shut up.

In fact, if the middle-aged man had pushed open the door later and hadn’t interrupted Wang Chao’s report, they would have heard him say, “Captain, I found a picture of Lu Xu when he was in jail. I’ll send it to your phone.”

If Wang Chao could’ve finished speaking or sent the photo directly to them without saying anything, they would realize that the person in question had just walked into the men’s bathroom where they were.

Amazingly, sometimes things were so coincidental, it was as if there was a screenwriter or some brain-dead author behind the scenes, arranging these coincidences. If Wang Chao hadn’t been interrupted, Xing Conglian would know that the “key person” they were looking for was five meters away from him and was having some unclean thoughts about his consultant.

Obviously, Lu Xu didn’t walk into this bathroom because he knew in advance that two police officers were investigating him, and it wasn’t because Miss Lily tipped him off either, because at this moment, she was fighting with the other girl over the distribution of the check book, and there wasn’t time to check its authenticity.

Getting down to business, when Lu Xu received Lily’s message just now, he thought it was just an ordinary guest who wanted to have fun. He stopped in the restroom to wash the blood off his hands since he just finished educating two disobedient girls. This just happened to be the closest men’s restroom to him.

Lu Xu turned on the faucet, rubbed his hands, and looked around boredly. When he saw the man standing by the sink, he almost instantly forgot about washing his hands.

It was a young man who looked very indifferent. The other party was thin, but not like a matchstick. He had a beautiful back and a thin waist, and a very handsome and noble aura that gave him a sense of unattainability. In short, the young man washing his hands was unlike the other young masters in this place and was the type he preferred.

Lu Xu thought he might be some rich man’s plaything, well-bred and favored, so he couldn’t be blasphemous.

The reason Lu Xu came to this conclusion was because he analyzed Lin Chen’s clothes. Lin Chen had rushed from Hongjing to Fengchun overnight, so he was still wearing a white shirt that was soaked from the day’s sweat. The shirt looked dirty and a little old, and of course, cheap.

After mixing in here for a long time, Lu Xu could tell who was wearing big brand-name clothes and what year style. The clothes of this young man next to him obviously didn’t belong to any luxury brand. It was ordinary, cheap clothing from a typical mall. It had the obvious signs of having been washed many times, as there was a natural fragrance of detergent. Lu Xu became itchy thinking of this.

In fact, if he hadn’t drunk so much alcohol, he would have thought more deeply. If the people around him were just playthings raised by rich people, how could they be dressed so poorly?

But at that time, Lu Xu didn’t have time to think so deeply because Lin Chen had put his wet hands down and stood up.

The spotlight on the sink was bright, and Lu Xu smelled the clean scent of detergent.

Lu Xu watched as a crystal-clear drop of water flowed down the young man’s cheek to his jaw. Lu Xu wiped his wet hands on his shirt twice, then put his arms around the waist of the young man beside him.

Unlike the young man’s hands, his body appeared flexible and warm. Lu Xu reached out and touched the other’s cheek.

“Hello.”

Looking at the handsome and angular face of the young man, Lu Xu leaned down. He felt the scent of fresh green leaves that was mixed in the air, which made him want to bury his head in the other man’s neck and sniff his body.

From the time the fat, middle-aged man moved his gaze toward Lin Chen, Xing Conglian had already felt the sordid desire from that gaze. He quickly zipped up his pants and walked towards them, but his steps weren’t as fast as Lu Xu’s hands. The distance from his position to the sink was too far. Before he could reach Lin Chen, the fat palm of the middle-aged man had already touched Lin Chen’s cheek. This made Xing Conglian furious. People like him rarely get angry. At that time, he was about five steps away from Lin Chen and had already clenched his fists and sketched in his mind the most painful way to take this bastard out without killing him. He was ready to swing his fists fiercely, but suddenly, everything seemed to have entered a state of slow motion.

He clearly saw Lin Chen at the sink, pulling his hand out from under the running water, turning off the faucet, and then turning around. Lin Chen’s left hand was holding the fat palm that touched his face, while his right hand was raised high and pressed on the back of the middle-aged man’s head. Then, he saw Lin Chen’s hands, which usually held pens or books, grab the middle-aged man’s hair and pull. He held the other party’s bloated head back as he pressed it down abruptly. Lin Chen immediately took a step back, and at the same time, his knee hit the lower part of the middle-aged man’s ribs. When he connected to the middle-aged man’s stomach, Lin Chen let go and watched as the man covered his abdomen as he kneeled to the ground, slowly falling down.

Although Lin Chen’s movements were broken down slowly in Xing Conglian’s eyes, in fact, his set of movements to his knee strike was completed within a second.

It was precisely because Lin Chen’s movements were fast and ruthless that the middle-aged man’s scream wasn’t heard immediately. Experienced people knew that a hard blow from the knee to the stomach would be so painful it was impossible to breathe, let alone scream.

At that moment, Xing Conglian felt the preciousness of life for the first time.

He slowly shifted his gaze from the middle-aged man on the ground to his advisor.

However, Lin Chen acted as if nothing had happened just now. He turned around calmly, turned on the faucet again, pressed on some soap, and continued to wash his hands. Xing Conglian felt that he couldn’t see through Lin Chen’s psychological reaction to what just happened.

The water washed over the lavender soap on Lin Chen’s hands, over his slender fingers, and then flowed down from his slightly clear fingernails.

Xing Conglian swallowed.

It was quite frightening to see him wash his hands as if nothing had happened after beating someone.

It wasn’t until Lin Chen finished washing his hands and turned off the faucet again that the unfortunate middle-aged man on the ground finally began to scream. Xing Conglian quickly came over and knocked him out.

“Are you okay?” He finally searched his guts and found a response that he could express concern without being too over the top.

However, hearing what he said, Lin Chen raised his brows at him as if to say, “How could something happen to me? What nonsense are you talking about?”

……

No matter where they were, of course, when they hit someone, they had to leave as soon as possible. Although they were the police, they were conducting an unannounced visit, so they couldn’t make a big ruckus.

Xing Conglian felt regretful walking out of the restroom because he couldn’t take a swing at the unconscious man.

After leaving, Lin Chen took out his phone and dialed the string of numbers they just got.

As if it were too coincidental, the moment the phone connected, the sound of extremely vulgar electronic dance music came from the door behind the men’s restroom that they had just left.

Lin Chen stopped in his tracks and looked at Xing Conglian in bewilderment.

“Tell me, when I was calling just now, how likely is it that someone else called that idiot at the same time?” Lin Chen looked back at the restroom’s door and asked.

God knew that even if Lin Chen called someone an idiot, he really didn’t want to kill them.

“Small,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen curled his lips, turned around, and walked back to the restroom just now.

Perhaps, nothing could be more refreshing than letting someone go, but fate forced you to continue your uncompleted mission.

Xing Conglian walked to the sink.

Lin Chen had already turned the faucet on again, picked up a handful of water, and sprinkled it on the head lying on the ground.

The middle-aged, fat man lying unconscious was stimulated by the cold water and instantly woke up.

Lu Xu, who was as heavy as a few sacks of lead, seemed a little unclear about what just happened. He bowed toward the sink and braced himself to get up.

The moment he raised his head, Xing Conglian obviously saw the look of horror in his eyes, and this look reached its peak when Lin Chen turned back as he locked the restroom door.

“Who are you and what do you want!” Lu Xu shouted in panic.

Lin Chen didn’t answer.

Xing Conglian grabbed Lu Xu by his collar and dragged him into the nearest stall.

Although he admitted that he was being a bit heavy-handed, he wasn’t too fierce. Despite that, the middle-aged, fat man in front of him slid directly from the toilet seat to the ground. “You two, I’m really sorry. I drank too much just now and was out of my mind. I’m sorry!”

Lu Xu changed his face as quickly as flipping a page in a book, almost to the extreme. He sobbed and begged for mercy, then began to slap himself in the face.

This was a typical hob* begging for mercy. Once they realized that they were in trouble with someone they couldn’t afford to mess with, they would start frantically begging for forgiveness, disregarding all human dignity.

*Internet term refers to someone who’s arrogant and unreasonable.

Xing Conglian glanced at Lin Chen and saw him just leaning against the wall opposite the stall, with his arms crossed and without any expression on his face.

This meant: What happens here is not my responsibility.

Xing Conglian felt that he was a grunt collecting accounts for his boss. He squatted down and continued to hold the back of the middle-aged man in front of him by the neck and said helplessly, “I’m not going to kill you. Don’t be so nervous.”

As soon as he said this, Lu Xu cried even more miserably, causing Xing Conglian’s eardrums to hurt.

“Brother, I’ll beat you again if you keep crying.”

As soon as Xing Conglian’s voice fell, Lu Xu stopped crying. This kind of slick guy was really difficult to deal with.

Xing Conglian pointed to the toilet and then said to Lu Xu, “Open the lid.”

The fat middle-aged man wiped off his snot and tears, turned around carefully, knelt on the ground, and opened the toilet lid.

Then, unexpectedly, Lu Xu actually stuck his head into the toilet.

Xing Conglian was shocked to see this. What’s wrong with this guy?

At this moment, Lin Chen finally spoke up.

Xing Conglian listened to his consultant click his tongue impatiently and said slowly, “What are you thinking? I didn’t want you to drink toilet water. Answer a few questions I have.”

Hearing Lin Chen’s voice, Lu Xu suddenly wanted to push his head out of the toilet, but because he had stuffed himself in too tightly, he bumped the back of his head when he pulled out.

He groaned in pain, then quickly shut up and sat down on the toilet extremely obediently. It seemed that Lin Chen’s education just now had improved his memory.

Xing Conglian retreated behind Lin Chen. Obviously, what Mr. Lin said now would be more effective than him.

Lin Chen stood with his arms crossed and pursed his lips slightly, looking as cold as ice.

“Do you know Xu Ran?” Lin Chen asked directly.

Lu Xu suddenly raised his head.

At that moment, a very stern look flashed in Lu Xu’s eyes. Xing Conglian saw the cruelty, indifference, and unsympathetic look in them. He believed that Lin Chen probably saw the same thing.

However, Lin Chen didn’t say much. He just took another step forward and said, “I ask. You answer. It’s very simple. I don’t want to repeat the same question a second time.”

Lu Xu changed back to his timid appearance again and said, “I… I know Xu Ran.”

“What’s your relationship with her?”

“Who are the two of you?” Lu Xu asked curiously.

“I didn’t give you the right to ask questions,” Lin Chen said loudly. “On Sunday night, three weeks ago, did Xu Ran come to Royal One?”

Lu Xu’s eyes darted twice, as if he had guessed something. He clasps his hands into fists, showing great panic. “Mr. Policemen, this really has nothing to do with me!”

“How long is the sentence for organized prostitution?” Xing Conglian heard Lin Chen ask him.

“Fixed-term imprisonment of more than ten years or life,” he replied.

When Lin Chen heard this, he turned to the middle-aged man on the toilet. “Did you hear that? People like you usually have no way of coming out alive if they go in.”

“It’s really not my fault!” Lu Xu began to cry. “This was all voluntarily done by that little bitch, Xu Ran. She came here that night but was working normally. I don’t know why she was like a chaste woman that day and refused to obey. Later, she was beaten badly by the guests and thrown out through the back door.”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian was shocked. He looked at Lin Chen, but Lin Chen still had an indifferent, otherworldly look.

“That’s all?” Lin Chen asked again.

“Yes…” Lu Xu replied.

“You haven’t told me who the guest was.”

“Mr. Police Officer, I really don’t know who they are. Look at the people who come here. Everyone pays attention to privacy. How can a little ass like me know who the guests are? I’m responsible for telling the girls the room number and letting them in.”

“That is to say, before Xu Ran entered the room, she didn’t know what kind of guests she would face, right?” Lin Chen asked.

Hearing this, Lu Xu suddenly regained his energy, and his tongue became slicker. “Mr. Police Officer, I know you have good intentions, but think about it. How long has that little bitch been in this business? How can she not know anything? Don’t be deceived by her… Later, that little bitch said it was Li Jingtian who raped her. She really wanted to blackmail him. I guess that didn’t work out for her in the end, so she went to sue someone else. Haa, bitches like her use such tricks all the time. I’ve seen a lot of it before…”

Suddenly, Lu Xu’s words stopped, because Lin Chen walked extremely close to him. He leaned down and grabbed the back of his head again, causing Lu Xu to scream in pain.

Lin Chen put a slight force on his hand and raised the middle-aged man’s fat face. “I told you to answer what I asked, so why aren’t you listening?”

“I—I…”

“Answer my question. Before Xu Ran entered the door to that room, did she know who the guest would be?” Lin Chen continued to apply force to his hand.

Seeing his consultant leaning over slightly, Lin Chen’s thin back and arms had become taut due to the exertion. Xing Conglian swallowed again.

“Yes, she didn’t know!” Lu Xu replied.

“Which room… Which room did you send Xu Ran into?”

“Room 03, on the 11^th floor,” Lu Xu replied without hesitation.

“One last question. Where is the private room booked by CA Entertainment today?” Lin Chen said calmly, without giving Lu Xu another chance to speak. “I think you’re very used to taking CA’s business, so I don’t want to hear you say you don’t know where, okay?”

“9^th floor! 901!” Lu Xu quickly replied.

Lin Chen nodded as if satisfied. He let go of Lu Xu and walked out of the bathroom without turning back.

Upon seeing this, Xing Conglian walked to where Lin Chen was just standing, took out his phone, and shook it in front of Lu Xu. “I recorded all that just now. Watch your mouth. If anyone knows that we’ve been here, then…” he said as he made a motion of slitting his throat.

After Xing Conglian finished speaking, he heard the sound of the restroom door opening and closing.

He rushed out the door and followed Lin Chen. Lin Chen was walking in front but was obviously staggering, so he rushed up to support him. “What’s wrong with you?” He couldn’t help but ask.

Lin Chen shook his head and said, “I seem to have drunk too much.”

“It’s just half a glass of absinthe,” Xing Conglian said in disbelief.

“What’s the ABV?” Lin Chen asked.

“Uh…” Xing Conglian thought for a while, then replied, “The one you drank just now seemed to be 55%.”

At that moment, Lin Chen’s mind churned up countless curses.

What “just half a glass” and what “only 55% ABV”? 55% already belonged to the category of spirits. Half a glass of that stuff could completely make people intoxicated, which was equivalent to getting locked up until sober and fined for drinking and driving.

Does everyone drink vodka like wine in your country?

Holding back all kinds of nausea and dizziness that were churning up, he said to Xing Conglian, “Let’s go to the 9^th floor.”

“We’re already in the elevator, and I have already pressed 9 just now.” Xing Conglian’s voice sounded uneasy around him.

Lin Chen continued to rub his brows and forcibly focus his attention. “That Lily has a problem. She must know something. We’ll go find her later… Wang Chao…”

After he finished shouting, the nervous voice of the teenager sounded from the headset again, as prompted. “A’Chen, I’m here. Are you okay?”

“I’m okay.” Lin Chen paused before he continued, “Thoroughly check the identity and background of Miss Lily. Just now, even Lu Xu, who runs the prostitution ring, didn’t know who Xu Ran was going to face. Why did Lily hand over his contact to Xing Conglian after he mentioned Li Jingtian’s name? She should know something. There’s something up here.”

“Oh, oh, okay, A’Chen Gege!” Wang Chao’s voice sounded exceptionally well-behaved.

Soon, with a soft ding, the elevator door opened again.

When he walked out of the elevator, Lin Chen heard Xing Conglian ask with concern, “Can you hold on?”

“I’m fine,” he said.

Although he said he was fine, he felt as if he was stepping on clouds instead of soft carpet. He looked at the room numbers next to him and calculated according to the order of the rooms. Room 901 should be at the end of the long corridor. Lin Chen had never felt that a corridor could become this long.

His head was getting heavier. Through the doors of the private rooms, he felt he could clearly hear many shouts and laughter coming from inside. Some people were singing, and some were screaming. Everything around him seemed to be fragmented like a reflection after the glass shattered.

Fortunately, Xing Conglian was by his side. He tried to guide Lin Chen’s body with his hands.

Just as he was about to walk to the end of the long corridor with great difficulty, suddenly, a nervous call from Wang Chao came through his headset. “Captain, A’Chen, the security system of Royal One seems to have issued an alarm. The alert is aimed at you!”

Lin Chen suddenly sobered up.

“Speak clearly.” Xing Conglian lowered his voice.

“I don’t know. I don’t know for the time being. There are too many blind spots in the surveillance here. I just saw a large number of security guards rushing out of the lounge. Their destination is the 9^th floor. Did you threaten Lu Xu just now? He dares to seek death?!”

Wang Chao prattled on.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian, but the other party just turned his head and said to him, “I just hit him lightly.”

“Lu Xu is more courageous than we thought.”

Standing at the door of Room 901, Lin Chen noticed that his tone had become cold.

Through the thick, frosted glass, he could see some lights and figures coming from his head.

Perhaps Mu Zhuo was inside, and maybe even Li Gaoqiang. Perhaps there were more clues just a door away from them, but now they had no way to get in.

Although they were separated by a door, it was like a gap in the sky.

Lin Chen retracted his gaze and heard Xing Conglian ask Wang Chao, “How’s the surveillance situation?”

“A security guard is going to the 9^th floor. Captain, there’s an emergency exit on your left.”

“I know.”

As he spoke, Xing Conglian led Lin Chen into the emergency exit.

As soon as he walked from the bright area into the dim space, his eye had a short period of discomfort. Lin Chen squinted and continued to listen to the unusually calm dialogue between Xing Conglian and Wang Chao.

“You just said there’s no surveillance on the 8^th and 9^th floors here?”

“Yes.”

“But this building has more than 20 floors. What’s upstairs?”

“It seems to be a hotel upstairs, called the Oho Hotel!” Wang Chao said.

“Is there any surveillance?”

“Let me check it out. Captain, what do you want to do?”

“Just now, Lu Xu said he sent Xu Ran to room 1103, so if I’m not mistaken, there should be close ‘business contacts’ between the hotel rooms upstairs and the clubhouse downstairs…”

“Shit, Captain. Are you saying the upstairs is the prostitution den of the club? Wait, do you want to go upstairs?”

“Open a room for us in the hotel on the 11^th floor,” Xing Conglian said decisively.

Lin Chen realized that Xing Conglian had asked him to hold on to the cold iron handrail as he led him up.

“Huh? Captain, are you kidding me? You want to hack the system, so you’ll just hack it. You want to open a room, so you’ll just do it? How can you be so domineering and cool!” Wang Chao’s hands were flying. The more nervous the teenager got, the more talkative he became. Suddenly, the button clacking sounds stopped. Wang Chao said nervously, “I just saw a security guard on the 7^th floor walking into the emergency exit. I suspect they will come from downstairs to outflank you, so you have to hurry and get to the 10^th floor in 20 seconds.”

Sure enough, before Wang Chao’s voice fell, the sound of rapid footsteps echoed in the emergency exit beneath them.

Lin Chen tried his best to follow Xing Conglian, making his steps as inaudible as possible.

The sound of door panels opening and closing quickly filled the emergency exit on the 9^th floor. In the dimness, Lin Chen saw Xing Conglian nod at him, and they started running to the 11^th floor.

“Wang Chao!”

The exit was within reach as Xing Conglian shouted.

“I took a look at the 11^th floor. Room 5 happens to be empty. Go out from your passage, then turn left. The penultimate room is there. The good news is that although there’s surveillance on the 11^th floor, I found it to be false surveillance, which means it won’t pick up anything. I wish you good luck and hope you don’t get caught!”

After Wang Chao finished speaking, he quickly hit the Enter key.

Xing Conglian slammed open the door of the emergency exit.

There was soft carpet under his feet and a long passage in front of him. Lin Chen walked in the corridor with Xing Conglian.”

“The third door. It’s open for you.”

As Wang Chao spoke, the door lock in front of them lightly flashed. With a soft click, Room 1105 opened in response.

Xing Conglian quickly opened the door to the room, and Lin Chen followed in a flash.

The moment the door closed, Xing Conglian stood at the entrance, habitually wanting to turn on the lights.

Wang Chao’s voice sounded again. “Captain! Wait, I suggest you don’t turn on the lights and go quickly to bed…”

In the dim space, Xing Conglian pressed the headset repeatedly, thinking that there was something wrong with his ears. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, Captain, I’m not joking.” Wang Chao’s voice sounded a little awkward. “Didn’t you ask me if there’s surveillance on the 11^th floor? It’s fake monitoring, but there are pinhole cameras installed in every room. Shit, well, to be honest, I saw a lot of discord going on in many of the rooms. I suspect the hotel is secretly recording pornographic videos for their guests. Captain, I think I need my eyes stabbed by needles after watching these.”

Xing Conglian was confused. He digested it for a while and then asked a somewhat idiotic question, “So, we also have them in our room?”

“Yes, but it’s pitch black now. If you turn on the lights, you’ll be in trouble!”

At this moment, Xing Conglian heard Lin Chen’s voice. “So what about room 1103? The room of Xu Ran’s incident. Are there any records?” Lin Chen asked.

After Lin Chen entered the room just now, he sat down on the carpet while leaning against the wall. He tried to stand up but obviously failed.

Xing Conglian hurriedly squatted down and helped him sit down again.

Wang Chao obediently checked the records, then replied apologetically, “There should be, but I checked and found that room 1103 doesn’t have any video records since three weeks ago. The video from then was obviously deleted, so…”

“So, our trail is broken again,” Lin Chen whispered.

“These people are really courageous.” Xing Conglian suddenly became alert. There were all kinds of elites and dignitaries at Royal One. In the face of wealthy and powerful people, the club actually dared to secretly record them. Then this wasn’t simple boldness. Obviously, they had other plans for these secretly recorded videos.

Xing Conglian thought of this and found another problem. If Li Jingtian dared to accept a girl from Lu Xu here, it would show that he was comfortable here. In other words, Li Jingtian didn’t know that he was secretly being recorded.

So if he didn’t know that the guest rooms of Royal One would secretly record videos, how could he spend the effort to clear all video files in his room afterwards?

There were obviously more questions that deserved a deeper investigation, but at this moment, they had no way to pry further.

“Wang Chao, you try to gather some ‘evidence’ of their backstage.”

“What evidence, Captain? The opening record or something?”

At this time, Lin Chen spoke. He patiently said to Wang Chao, “He’s asking you to find some sex videos of dignitaries in the background records…” Lin Chen spoke bluntly. He took a breath and continued. “After all, we’re not the local police of Fengchun. Our hands and feet would be tied, and for places like Royal One, it’s very likely they wouldn’t work on non-priority activities. Then, fighting fire with fire is the best way.”

Xing Conglian was a little surprised that Lin Chen was so drunk, yet he could clearly explain his thoughts for him in an organized manner.

“I understand. A’Chen, Captain, what you mean is, take the opportunity to get some videos and post them online. If the local tyrants who patronize here see their ugliness being secretly recorded, they will be furious and will do their best to kill Royal One. This club will definitely be finished in Fengchun by then.”

“You know, so do it quickly,” Xing Conglian said.

He thought things had been thrilling enough, but Wang Chao screamed again.

“Captain, I saw some security guards coming to outflank the parking lot. Fuck me, I’m just the support. Why should I be responsible for pulling agro!”

In this case, Xing Conglian couldn’t criticize Wang Chao. The sound of movements came from the headset.

Wang Chao seemed to have moved to the driver’s seat. The engine sounded, and the teenager’s voice became excited. “I’m going to drive! Go, go, go!”

“He can drive?” Lin Chen asked suspiciously.

“Yes. He has a driver’s license since He was 16 years old.”

“Then why don’t you let him drive the car occasionally.”

“Because his driving… is really bad.” Xing Conglian admitted to Lin Chen.

Sure enough, the sound of a vehicle collision and alarms after the impact sounded.

He could tell from the indistinct engine sound coming from the headset that at this moment, Wang Chao was driving his Jeep at a speed of 100 kilometers an hour on the urban road.

Although it was already late at night and there were relatively few cars on the road, it seemed like it was an exciting night.

Xing Conglian rubbed his temples and wanted to sigh helplessly, but the irritating voice of this brat sounded in his ears again.

Wang Chao’s voice was hoarse, like he had swallowed a hundred cough syrups. “Captain, I forgot to tell you. You have to go to bed and put on a show. Although I opened the door for you, if there’s no one on the bed in the video, those perverts watching the small video screen will definitely become suspicious!”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian finally began to look at the room.

Although the light wasn’t turned on, there was a glimmer of light from the gap in the curtains, which allowed Xing Conglian to roughly see the outline of the room.

In the middle of the room was a round, fun bed. Xing Conglian felt that, judging from the nature of the room, it was likely to be a waterbed.

Above the waterbed, there were two handcuff-like things hanging from the ceiling.

A whip and a fun chair were placed on one side of the room. Xing Conglian dared to imagine that there must be a plethora of sex toys stuffed in the bedside table on the opposite side of the waterbed.

“Consultant Lin, are we going to bed?” He retracted his gaze and asked Lin Chen in a low voice.

Lin Chen was probably drunk. Although it was difficult for Xiang Conglian to see his expression clearly, after hearing him say that, Lin Chen struggled to stand up again by himself. As he leaned against the wall, he said, “Cut the crap and help me up.”

People would say that a person could easily become another person after drinking, but Lin Chen seemed to become a bit violent when he drank.

Xing Conglian thought this, and recalled the scene of Lin Chen beating Lu Xu severely just now. It was rare for him to be a little timid, but he still helped Lin Chen up and brought him to the bed.

Sure enough, the fun bed was indeed a waterbed. When they lay down, occasionally they would roll together.

Xing Conglian drew a thin blanket from the pillow and covered the two of them from head to toe. While Lin Chen was lying next to him, a warm breath came.

Xing Conglian discovered that he hadn’t had experience lying on the same bed with someone else in a long time.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 127

All in all, things went smoothly.

The security guards successfully found the membership card to their club among the pile of cards taken out by Xing Conglian. It was a golden card that matched the style of Royal One.

At first, the security guards were a little hesitant because there were no markings on the card, making it hard to identify. Then, one of them took out the card reader and scanned it.

“Welcome, distinguished Super VIP member.”

The card reader recited in a very doggy, mechanical tone.

In an instant, the drop of a pin could be heard in the hall. The young masters and princesses looked at Xing Conglian as if he were a gold mine.

The stunned security guard came back to his senses as exclamations sounded in the hall.

Xing Conglian acted as if nothing had happened, like taking out a bunch of top membership cards for the elite clubs was as casual as paying bills in a supermarket.

He still acted like a dandy and ordered two beautiful “princesses” in the hall, including, of course, the pure and lovely Miss Lily.

Although the two charming young ladies pestered Xing Conglian to go to the private room, Xing Conglian didn’t have the slightest pity for jade*. He smacked his mouth and said impatiently, “Why are you talking so much nonsense? Like I said, take me to where it’s lively.”

*(怜香惜玉) Idiom referring to being tender towards women.

He dragged his tone and spoke languidly.

Finally, due to Xing Conglian’s perfect acting skills, they sat down in the luxurious hall of Royal One. When they arrived at this place, Lin Chen was at a loss for words.

Surrounded by bright purple lights and misty smoke, various changing spotlights dye the huge space with strange colors. On the stage was a blood-tingling erotic dancer. The floor under their feet trembled as laughter and sounds of kissing could be heard mixed among the explosive dance music, which was so loud it made their internal organs tremble.

It wasn’t a pleasant experience. In fact, Lin Chen admitted that he relied on his imagination for the laughter and kisses around him. The sound of the music was so deafening that he couldn’t hear what was being said near him, and because the surrounding lights were too dim, he couldn’t see Xing Conglian’s face clearly.

Of course, this was also because Miss Lily, whose tutu was so short that it didn’t cover half her thigh when she sat down, was squeezed between him and Xing Conglian. Miss Lily stuck to Xing Conglian as if she were an extension of his body.

Sure enough, the treatment of distinguished Super VIPs was indeed different.

Lin Chen raised the iced water that the waiter had just brought over, took a sip, and then realized what kind of drink it really was; a highly alcoholic drink.

He put down the glass and rubbed the space between his brows.

Xing Conglian finally made room. He took out his noble membership card from his shirt’s front pocket and threw it on the table. He said to the two girls around him, “Go get some drinks.”

Anyone with common sense in a nightclub knew that the majority of income for hostesses depended on the corkage fee. With Xing Conglian’s lax attitude, it seemed he didn’t care at all about how expensive the drinks were, so they could order as much and as expensive as they wanted.

The two girls were so happy that they jumped up abruptly and grabbed the card as if they were grabbing diamonds. They ran out, but didn’t forget to look back and blew a kiss at Xing Conglian, but Master Xing remained impatient. He leaned on the leather sofa and glanced at the two of them, causing the two girls to take a half step back with great interest before happily running away.

“Where did you get so many cards?”

Seeing the girls run away, Lin Chen stroked the rim of the cup, feeling a little dizzy.

However, the person who answered his question wasn’t Xing Conglian, but Wang Chao through the headset. “A’Chen Gege, don’t you see the nature of our captain?”

“Well… I have some understanding,” Lin Chen replied with a low smile.

“Cut the crap. Did you find that Li Gaoqiang?”

Apparently, Xing Conglian also heard Wang Chao’s words. Within a second, his tone changed back to the serious and calm tone of a police officer. However, after he reprimanded his little subordinate, Xing Conglian said to him in a gentle and joking tone, “It’s all necessary stuff to handle cases.”

“Oh?”

“A’Chen Gege, don’t believe it. Let me tell you, the maintenance box in the trunk of the Captain’s car is full of all kinds of things covered in gold. You have to look through it when you have time!”

“Wang Chao…” Xing Conglian’s tone was sluggish. “The limited edition of Magneto’s helmet is gone.”

“No!!!” The headset exploded with the teenager’s scream. “No way!!!”

The teenager’s scream was so miserable that Lin Chen couldn’t help rubbing his ears.

“Where is Li Gaoqiang?” Xing Conglian asked again.

“He hasn’t swiped his card yet, so I don’t know what room they are in. Moreover, there’s a problem with the surveillance layout of this club. There are many blind spots. The surveillance on the 9^th and 10^th floors isn’t turned on at all. So, you’ll have to rely on yourself, muah.”

After Wang Chao finished speaking, he simply shut up.

“Trunk?” Lin Chen recalled the clues that Comrade Xiao Wang had provided earlier.

Xing Conglian coughed dryly and said, “Just let go of unimportant things.”

When he finished speaking, the girls that he had sent away came back. They reluctantly returned the valuable membership card to Xing Conglian.

Afterwards, the waiters brought over two trays of drinks, which were all foreign wines. The bottles looked expensive, but there weren’t that many, so the bill shouldn’t be too high.

Indeed, a big boss like Xing Conglian made even a hostess who was used to seeing all types of people yearn for him, so they weren’t willing to go too far all at once and possibly cut off future contact.

People were like this. When the temptation was great enough, everything could be changed.

The waiter wanted to open the red wine and brought over the decanter. Xing Conglian waved to him and asked the waiter to take it away. He opened the bottle himself and took two sips from the opening. It looked like he was drinking a five yen bottle of beer on the street, and he definitely didn’t think there was any difference between the two.

“Do you have any exciting things here?” Xing Conglian put down the wine bottle and asked the girl next to him.

The girls looked at each other, as if they thought rich people were too straightforward, and were eager to talk.

“I’m here to have fun, but I’m not having fun,” Xing Conglian said with a smile, but his eyes remained indifferent. Under the enchanting light, there was a hint of cruelty and bloodthirstiness, just like a rich man who pursued the ultimate cruelty and lust.

Lin Chen picked up the glass of alcoholic drink that looked like ice water and watched the young master perform.

“Aren’t we fun?” Lily and the other girl spoke tentatively.

Xing Conglian glanced up and down at the two girls with a smile on his lips. “How much for one night?”

“Five… Five thousand…”

“Your life is only five thousand?” After he finished speaking, he picked up another bottle of wine and took a sip, then put it down again. He said to the two girls, “Let’s go. I may be a little heavy-handed, but don’t worry. I can usually save your life.”

The two girls were so scared by what he said that they couldn’t control the expressions on their faces. Their entire body language indicated that they wanted to stay as far away from this gold master as possible.

Lin Chen thought this was really interesting. He never knew that Xing Conglian’s acting skills were so good.

“Sir, we don’t provide that kind of service you need here,” Lily said to Xing Conglian with a smile on her face.

“Oh.” Xing Conglian seemed less interested, as expected.

He then took out a stack of things from his pocket and slammed them on the table. Lin Chen looked around and found it was a stack of fixed checks, each with a face value of 10,000 yuan.

Lin Chen couldn’t help but take another sip of his drink to suppress his shock. He even felt that he would have a psychological scar on Xing Conglian taking things out in the future.

However, the man who was immersed in acting didn’t feel there was anything wrong with taking out a checkbook casually. He leaned on the table and said lazily, “Okay, tell me where to go to have fun, and the rest of the checks are yours. My patience is very limited.”

He moved quickly, and after speaking, he really started to tear off the checks one by one and stuff them back into his pocket. After a while, the checkbook on the table was one-third less.

The two girls watched the checks fly away, both longing and shrinking, but more so expressing their distress for the checkbook that was slipping away through their fingers.

Xing Conglian sighed and stopped suddenly. “I have a friend who said that your place is very good. He’s a little star.” He picked up the wine bottle on the table and took a few swigs, then stared at Miss Lily.

Miss Lily’s eyes fluttered, and she looked at half the checks on the table. Finally, she swallowed and said, “You—if you’re his friend, you should know.”

“A little star like Li Jingtian isn’t worthy of talking to me,” Xing Conglian said indifferently.

Lily’s face changed. When she heard Xing Conglian directly say the name, the girl changed from anxiety to nervousness. She looked around, covered her mouth, and looked at Xing Conglian in disbelief. Her entire body was completely frozen, like a sculpture.

After a long while, Xing Conglian started tearing up the checks again. Lily shuddered and said, “I—you… Let me ask for you.”

As she spoke, she took out her phone and sent two WeChat messages. After a while, the response over there seemed pretty good. The girl smiled as she showed Xing Conglian a number and said, “This is Lu Ge’s number. You can just call him.”

Xing Conglian glanced at the number, nodded, and got up and left, leaving the checkbook on the table.

……

Walking out of the door, Xing Conglian quickly reported a series of numbers in an empty space. “1893706XXXX.”

Lin Chen nodded, indicating that he remembered.

“Received!” The teenager, who had been listening to the entire scene, also reacted quickly.

Xing Conglian reeked of alcohol. He looked around and walked straight to the bathroom.

“Is the Captain pretending again?”

Lin Chen followed behind him, listening to Wang Chao’s question.

“Well, the young master probably spent about half a million just now,” Lin Chen replied.

“Shit, that’s a lot of money, Captain. Why don’t you buy me Magneto’s helmet!” Wang Chao shouted.

Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian with a smile.Xing Conglian slowed down and said to him with a sore face, “It’s just a prop. A prop. They cost five yuan, and you can buy them on Taobao. They can’t be reimbursed, making them especially troublesome.”

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 126

When Lin Chen woke up, he thought it was already dawn.

There was a misty white light in his vision as he opened his eyes slightly, and it took him a while to realize that they had arrived at the first stop of their trip—the “Royal One” clubhouse.

Unlike the Tianren Club, where they went when they were in Yongchuan, “Royal One” was truly a place that matched its name. After all, the preferences of the rich would also be different. It was resplendent here, with white Roman pillars, gilt lintels, and fountains that sparkled under the ambient lights.

If decoration was just the hardware of a club, the “software” here was also quite good.

There were two rows of people standing around the golden revolving door in the hall. A row of “princesses” on the left and a row of “young masters” on the right. The princesses and young masters were so tender that you could easily pinch out water*. Judging from their attire, Royal One was probably not that serious of a place.

*(掐出水来) Idiom referring to immature.

Lin Chen retracted his gaze and looked at the two people in the front passenger seat.

Xing Conglian looked forward a few times, apparently noticing the two rows of people in the hall dressed scantily. He turned his head and said to the teenager, “Wait for us to go in. You’ll act as backup in the car. Take out two wireless headsets.”

Wang Chao looked at the rows of stilettos and puffy dresses when he heard this and gave Xing Conglian an aggrieved look. “Why?!”

Upon hearing this, Xing Conglian smacked him on the head. “Have some class, okay?”

“I don’t like this!” Wang Chao stated grudgingly. As he spoke, he moved his gaze back to his boss’ face and seemed to sober up. “Wait, Captain, what back up?! Do you mean you’re going undercover? You’re going clubbing to pick up girls, right? Why aren’t you taking me?!”

“Because there’s more important things for you to do in the car. Very important things,” Xing Conglian heavily emphasized.

Wang Chao was coaxed and became happy again. “What is it? Let me at it!”

“First, check on the surveillance records of this club the night Xu Ran was sexually assaulted. If there’s no video, try to find the on-duty records or work logs around that time. Since Xu Ran changed her testimony and said Royal One was the scene of the crime, if she didn’t lie this time, judging from the scars on her body, Li Jingtian’s actions must not be small, so even if we can’t prove she was tortured here, at least we can find some witnesses to prove that Li Jingtian and Xu Ran were here at the same time on the night of the crime.”

“Ah?” Wang Chao was stunned. “It’s been half a month. It’s highly unlikely that they kept the surveillance records.”

“That’s why I also ask you to find the work logs.”

“You mean anyone that was working on the night of the incident?” Wang Chao was still confused.

When Lin Chen heard this, he couldn’t help but glance at Xing Conglian as he said to Wang Chao, “He’s asking you to find out if anyone related to Li Jingtian opened a private room here on the day of the incident and what ‘special services’…”

Wang Chao was stunned again. “A’Chen, you understand well!”

“Consultant Lin seems quite experienced,” Xing Conglian added.

“It’s just a trivial social experience.” Lin Chen looked at Xing Conglian and said, “Moreover, my experience tells me that it’s not very appropriate for Captain Xing to make an ‘unannounced visit’ to this club in such an outfit.”

Xing Conglian smiled and pulled down the rearview mirror to look at his face. “There’s nothing I can do if I’m born upright and awe-inspiring.”

At that time, Wang Chao was already clacking on the keyboard to check the things that Xing Conglian had instructed him to do. Hearing this, the teenager glanced up at him and said, “Captain, your shameless words today are a bit over-the-top. Restrain yourself.”

Xing Conglian ignored Wang Chao.

Lin Chen saw him touch the stubble on his chin and then turned his head and asked through the gap between the seats, “Does Consultant Lin have any good ideas?”

The neon lights outside the car were shining with various colors, but the light inside was dim, causing Xing Conglian’s eyes to shine like jewels.

Xing Conglian was looking at him seriously.

Lin Chen sat forward a bit and grabbed his shirt collar perplexingly. Xing Conglian moved slightly at that time when Lin Chen had already unbuttoned the first collar button, so he whispered, “Don’t move.”

As Lin Chen spoke, he unbuttoned the second button.

They were so close that Xing Conglian’s breath brushed against his ear. When he lowered his head, he could feel the warmth from Xing Conglian’s body through his shirt as the ends of the fingers touched his skin.

In fact, the time it took to unbutton three collar buttons wasn’t long, but Lin Chen wished that time would pass more slowly. After all, there weren’t many opportunities to take advantage of his sweetheart so openly like this.

“Put out your hand.” After unbuttoning the collar, Lin Chen said this to Xing Conglian with some intent.

Xing Conglian stretched out his hand generously. Things like cufflinks could be undone by him, but at that time, Lin Chen and Xing Conglian probably weren’t thinking about it.

Lin Chen held Xing Conglian’s wrist with one hand as he slowly unbuttoned the cuff links and carefully rolled it up.

“Found it!”

Suddenly, Wang Chao roared.

Lin Chen withdrew his hand as Xing Conglian unbuttoned his other cuff, rolled it up naturally, and turned around and asked, “What did you find?”

“I found some clues on the day when the crime happened!” Wang Chao said while raising his head. He looked at Xing Conglian’s open neckline and was stunned. “Captain, why are you unbuttoning your shirt? Did A’Chen Gege help you unbutton them so you’d look better?”

Lin Chen sighed.

Xing Conglian pulled the rearview mirror to take a look again and said with satisfaction, “He did. I also think, with the angle of the neckline, it makes me look quite good, no?”

“It’s particularly immodest.” Wang Chao concluded. He then returned to his work. “First, I checked, and the surveillance was deleted that day. Second, on the day of the incident, there’s a record of a credit card of a PR director from Li Jingtian’s company, CA Entertainment, that was used at Royal One, totaling 184,115 yuan.”

“Pretty good,” Xing Conglian said.

“Yeah, then I checked all his credit card records. It seems that Royal One is a designated consumer merchant of CA Entertainment, and a man named ‘Li Gaoqiang’ is the one that pays the bill, so it’s very possible that this person is waiting to pay for Mr. Mu Zhuo’s celebration. You can find him!”

Xing Conglian glanced at Wang Chao and asked, “What else?”

“Oh, also, the salary records at Royal One are quite detailed. I have read them. On the day of the crime, Li Gaoqiang opened an extra-large private room No. 441. They ordered five princesses and two young masters. One of them has a work number of 3341 and is named Lily. Who is now standing at the door.”

As he spoke, he pointed his finger at the girl, who was near the end of the row.

Xing Conglian nodded, took out an electric shaver from the glovebox, and started to shave. Lin Chen didn’t know why this person kept almost all the necessities of life in the glove box but never cleaned himself up.

He watched the stubble covering the cheeks and lips be neatly trimmed. The moment Xing Conglian looked back at him again, just like in a novel where a scruffy young man with heavy bangs covering his eyes took off his heavy, thick glasses, and changed into a well-tailored suit, turning into a completely different person.

Although this was a bit exaggerated when putting it into words to describe Xing Conglian, the sudden sense of amazement didn’t change.

At this time, Wang Chao had just dug out two sets of transparent headsets from his backpack. When he saw Xing Conglian’s clean-shaven face, he was stunned again.

After a while, he murmured, “Captain, you’re really here to pick up girls, right? A’Chen Gege is at a disadvantage with you looking so handsome and coquettish!”

Lin Chen took the headset, pressed them to his ears, and then looked at Xing Conglian from top to bottom. “As the chauffeur of the young master, I’d better keep a low profile.”

After he finished speaking, he got out of the car, opened the door for Xing Conglian, and made a gesture of invitation.

Xing Conglian understood and happily stepped out of the car.

……

Probably, because they were acting, they couldn’t take it too far.

As they walked into the revolving door, before they could finish enjoying “Hello Boss” from both sides in unison, two heavy, thick security guards stepped forward and stopped them.

It seemed that they weren’t regular customers, or perhaps when they walked in from the parking lot, the security guards noticed that the Jeep they were driving wasn’t high-end, so they got suspicious.

Lin Chen saw one of the security guards press their headset, glanced at them, and said, “Sir, we’re a members-only club. Please show me your membership card.”

Lin Chen was taken aback. He really didn’t expect that there would be such a “threshold” here.”

“You still need a membership card for a lousy place like this?” Xing Conglian reacted quickly, and he spoke arrogantly.

He didn’t know if it was because of Xing Conglian’s performance or if he was born with an aura of a dandy that looked down on everything, but in short, after Xing Conglian said that, the security guard didn’t throw them out but changed his tone, emphasizing more respect. “I’m sorry, sir, we’re a membership only club. Please show your membership card, or please complete the membership application after being recommended by two members and making a purchase.”

“So troublesome?” Lin Chen looked at the ‘young master’s’ face and wondered if he should retreat first.

However, Xing Conglian just raised his chin and said to him, “You wait here.”

After saying that, Xing Conglian went out, leaving him alone in the glorious hall to stare at Mr. Security Guard.

This period of time was quite difficult. Lin Chen felt that Xing Conglian might have left him and just ran away, but the young master was true to his word, and soon, the familiar footsteps sounded again.

He turned his head and saw Xing Conglian with his neckline open, walking gracefully to the front desk in front of the two security guards, took out a thick stack of things from his pocket, slapped it on the table, and slowly wiped it away.

Lin Chen looked over and saw Xing Conglian had opened various cards, large and small.

There were gold, silver, and black cards among them, and even some cards that didn’t have any logo on the surface, but judging by the texture of the card’s surface, it didn’t look like a cheap supermarket membership card. One category, without exception, no matter how the color of the cards changed, the identity on the card surface was top-level, Super VIP; diamond cards, black gold cards, and so on that it created a dazzling spread.

“Go on~ Find your membership card yourself.”

Xing Conglian’s voice rang out slowly and methodically.

Lin Chen looked up, completely dumbfounded.

---

The author has something to say:

Lin Chen: ……

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 125

“Don’t just leave us hanging. I’m going to have a heart attack,”

Wang Chao paused for a long time, so Xing Conglian urged him impatiently.

“No, Captain, this, I—but the perpetrator of this crime wasn’t Li Jingtian. The case has been closed, and the criminal was sentenced to ten years in jail,” Wang Chao said, then paused again. “I… Are you really sure Li Jingtian is the bad guy?”

As if he had seen something that couldn’t be explained in words, Wang Chao spoke intermittently.

“What stupid thing are you talking about?” Xing Conglian glanced at Wang Chao.

“I—I seem to have discovered another terrible case. Oh god, I’m going crazy!”

“What kind of case?” Lin Chen couldn’t help asking, seeing that Wang Chao was as impatient as if his butt was on fire.

The young man’s ass writhed restlessly in the seat. “Fuck!” He was grabbing his hair with one hand as he was desperately checking something with the other.

In the end, Wang Chao seemed to have determined something. Seeing Lin Chen staring at him blankly, Wang Chao turned his head and said, “A’Chen, I seem to have discovered a shocking injustice!”

Lin Chen thought that, although he didn’t know what Wang Chao had experienced, it was clear that he had met many people in the world. Then, in that young man’s heart, what would the story be like for him to consider it a shocking injustice?

Without leaving them hanging further, Wang Chao sorted out his thoughts and asked, “A’Chen, do you know Song Shengsheng?”

Lin Chen was stunned.

He didn’t expect Wang Chao would mention Song Shengsheng, because that was such a resounding name.

In fact, he didn’t know much about the entertainment industry because that world was too far away from him. For example, when he heard Li Jingtian’s name for the first time, he tried his best but couldn’t match the name to the face. However, probably no one who came from his era would not know who Song Shengsheng was.

After all, nine years ago, as Wang Chao said, while Li Jingtian was still a rookie, the news was filled with Song Shengsheng on the entertainment page.

Compared with a reputable star like Li Jingtian, Song Shengsheng was completely opposite, filled with negative stories.

He smoked, drank, got into fights, went clubbing, and wore earring studs and nose rings on his face. He was the kind of person one’s typical grandmother would say to their teenage grandson, “Good child, you must not be like this person.”

But at the same time, he was indeed talented, with a good voice that could span several octaves. He had written many good songs that were passed around through word of mouth. At the same time, boys and girls loved his rebellious nature.

The reason why Lin Chen knew so much about Song Shengsheng was because Song Shengsheng himself was really good at causing trouble. One day he would quarrel with a certain female celebrity or a certain rich second-generation, the next, he would dress up as a beggar and sing on the street. Truly a strange performer.

The media liked such restless stars the most, so news about Song Shengsheng appeared weekly.

But suddenly one day, an explosive, earth-shattering piece of news caused an uproar across the country.

A newly debuted male singer accused Song Shengsheng of sodomizing him for more than 20 hours.

Lin Chen’s memory of this incident ended here.

Whether it was the specific investigation process or the trial process, too much time had passed for him to recall it. He only remembered that during that time, piece after piece of heavy evidence was exposed, crucifying Song Shengsheng to the pillar of shame.

Ten years ago, society’s acceptance of homosexuality was very low, not to mention Song Shengsheng’s reputation was quite bad. After this incident, Song Shengsheng went to jail, and like a stone thrown into the sea, no news about him had surfaced since. Even his former singles were banned nationwide.

As time progressed, no one knew who Song Shengsheng was anymore.

Today’s darling would become tomorrow’s trash. A person like Song Shengsheng wasn’t even considered trash. Unless he died, he would never be mentioned again.

As he could see, the public was like this, Lin Chen thought. Even he, who was an ordinary person, after so many years, despite Song Shengsheng being a star who once swept across the country and would occupy the front page every time; he no longer had any impression of him.

“Oh, so where is the injustice?”

Xing Conglian seemed to have never heard of Song Shengsheng. After listening to Wang Chao’s story, he commented like so.

And Wang Chao, although he had been excited before, was now also beginning to regain his emotions, saying in his usual relaxed and lively tone, “Captain, guess who was the person that accused Song Shengsheng?”

Whenever this happened, Lin Chen felt that he wasn’t living in the same world as them, as their past had nothing to do with him.

Xing Conglian said, “It can’t be Li Jingtian. It seems that no one online has mentioned anything like this.”

“Of course it’s not Li Jingtian, but… Oh, guess who it is. Aren’t my hints obvious, huh?”

“The one who was in the same group as Li Jingtian?” Xing Conglian guessed.

Wang Chao snapped his fingers. “Bingo. It’s another member of Illi—Mu Zhuo.” Wang Chao said excitedly, “Could it be that the person who sexually assaulted Mu Zhuo wasn’t Song Shengsheng, but Li Jingtian, and he made a mistake and accused Song Shengsheng? There has to be such a possibility, right?”

Lin Chen didn’t know what to say for a moment.

There was nothing wrong with Wang Chao’s reasoning. In fact, it was entirely his idea that Wang Chao could track down this case nine years ago, but now, with a case that was nine years old resurfacing, Lin Chen felt there was a deeper problem.

But if, as Wang Chao inferred, Song Shengsheng was wrongfully imprisoned, then this must be a shocking injustice that could once again stir the entire country.

Lin Chen felt his hands tremble a little involuntarily as he said, “Even if it’s Li Jingtian, without any evidence, we can’t speculate what he did and didn’t do.” He paused, then continued, “I need to see Song Shengsheng’s file, and… If I can find Mu Zhuo or Song Shengsheng, it would be better to talk to them in person.”

When he said this, Wang Chao’s eyes lit up. “Guess what, A’Chen? What a coincidence. Mu Zhuo is holding a concert in Fengchun today. They’re currently celebrating the afterparty. The paparazzi have photographed it. They’re celebrating it at Fengchun Royal One… Are you familiar with the name Royal One?”

Lin Chen thought this was unbelievable. “Is it where Xu Ran changed her confession to?”

“This is such a coincidence. Does this count as God giving us a chance to nail Li Jingtian?!”

……

Sometimes, the harder one tried to track something down, the more coincidental the moments became to the point where you would believe in ghosts.

Whether it was a divine blessing or not, they appeared to have discovered some new clues and restored some hope in Li Jingtian’s case.

At some point, Lin Chen had fallen asleep.

When Xing Conglian was about to get off the highway, he looked at the rearview mirror and saw his consultant leaning against the car window, fast asleep.

A thick stack of files was placed on the seat next to Lin Chen, and a tablet was on his knee. It seemed Lin Chen had accidentally fallen asleep while reading the files in Song Shengsheng’s case that Wang Chao had just sorted out.

Generally speaking, the only one who would fall asleep while reading files was Wang Chao, but today, it was Lin Chen. From this, it could be seen that Lin Chen was truly exhausted.

Wang Chao also seemed to sense something and quickly looked back. “Captain, A’Chen Gege* is asleep!”

*Brother (哥哥) Address towards men who are older than you and are close to you or your actual older relatives.

Xing Conglian rolled down the window and asked rhetorically, “So, only you’re allowed to sleep in the car normally, but not your A’Chen Gege?”

“No, no. I don’t think A’Chen Gege usually sleeps while you’re driving. He must have suffered a heavy blow to his heart today and is so exhausted that he fell asleep. You have to comfort him. Do you hear me…”

Wang Chao kept babbling words like “comfort” and “talk more”. After a few absent-minded “Nn”, Wang Chao suddenly stopped talking. After a while, he heard the chattering teenager let out a long sigh and said to him, “I really feel that A’Chen Gege seems to be holding onto something all the time, living a very, very tired life.”

Hearing what Wang Chao said, Xing Conglian felt a little funny. “Mr. Xiao Wang, why did you suddenly express this?”

Wang Chao lowered his voice and whispered, “Don’t you think so? We used to be regarded as people who did great things, right? But the things A’Chen Gege did seems to be completely different from us. The people and things he encounters always make it feel so easy to fall into despair. A’Chen Gege was crying today. God, my A’Chen Gege actually cries!”

Sure enough, Wang Chao was prevaricated when he asked Lin Chen why, so now that Lin Chen couldn’t hear him, he made a lot of guesses, but actually, he just wanted to gossip and find out why Lin Chen was crying.

Xing Conglian didn’t know why this child was like this now.

“People will cry. When they’re sad, feel pain, or hopelessness. It’s normal,” he said.

“Captain, that’s a bit cold-blooded of you to say that.”

“After all, it’s enough that he’s a psychologist who can interpret people’s minds. We don’t need to be like him.”

“What?”

Wang Chao opened his mouth wide, as if he couldn’t understand what Xing Conglian was saying.

“We don’t need to be sympathetic forever, and he doesn’t need us to sympathize with him, so rather than spending your time sympathizing with him and the world, think about how to protect them and share the responsibility for them.”

It was late at night, so there wasn’t a single car on the ramp.

This was purely a conversation between men, so Xing Conglian didn’t expect Wang Chao to grasp it quickly.

Sure enough, Wang Chao said, “Huh?” in confusion.

“Your IQ is really terrible.” Xing Conglian knocked on Wang Chao’s forehead.

“Then how can we assume the responsibility of protecting this world? For example, if we can’t bring Li Jingtian to justice, should we kill him secretly?”

“What are you saying? Can’t you be more civilized? This is a society ruled by laws.”

“Do you want to have a proper chat? What’s with all your quips? I’m obviously teaching you how to be a man.” Xing Conglian almost wanted to beat the brat next to him.

“Haven’t you given a few similar orders?”

“Seriously, Captain, don’t get off topic. As far as Li Jingtian’s background is concerned, if we really find empirical evidence, most likely we’ll go head-to-head with Lao Li. You haven’t seen the fake files that his family and Lao Li have made for him. If this kind of thing can be done, Lao Li won’t hesitate to cause a real diplomatic dispute to protect his grandson. What are you going to do then?”

“Wang Chao,” Xing Conglian said heavily. “Didn’t you say that the prince committed a crime towards the common people when he broke the law?”

“I did.”

“Then you know what should be done.”

“Captain, ah, I mean, if a short-sighted madman like Lao Li knows you’re messing with his grandson, won’t it become troublesome to deal with protecting your current identity?”

“Hey…” Xing Conglian gave a long sigh.

“What?”

“Mr. Xiao Wang… Li Jingtian isn’t the only prince in the world.”

“Ah?”

“I have more experience as a prince than him.”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 124

In terms of the process, in the absence of any substantial evidence, he identified Li Jingtian as a suspect based on his personality alone and then tried to find clues to prove Li Jingtian’s guilt. Lin Chen was well aware of the potential problems, but people had opinions. In this case, he felt he had no choice.

Work started quickly.

He asked Wang Chao for all the files in the rape case against Li Jingtian. In fact, these things required some cumbersome documents to be obtained from the Fengchun police.

However, since Wang Chao was here, it took less than a minute from when he asked to see the files to when he actually saw them.

There were printers and shredders in the police lounge. Wang Chao printed hundreds of pages of files at once. Lin Chen sat by the desk lamp and finished sorting out the papers without rushing through them.

“Judging from Li Jingtian’s pathological personality, it’s impossible that he didn’t commit such a similar rape case for the first time, since that would be going against one’s innate desire for someone like him. If so, there must be clues in his files.” Lin Chen looked at the teenager who was motivated in front of the computer and said, “Wang Chao, I need you to thoroughly investigate all files related to Li Jingtian, including his files in Xinni and those in our country. Records, ranging from smoking fines to traffic accidents, including any criminal records that haven’t been officially filed, need to be thoroughly checked to see if there are any cases that have been ignored. Those records may be able to help us crucify Li Jingtian.”

“Understood!” The teenager nodded and turned around to search. He had just typed a few words in when he suddenly turned to ask, “What is the Captain doing?”

Lin Chen looked at the man sitting next to him. Thinking Xing Conglian was his immediate superior, there was no reason for his subordinates to arrange work for his superior.

“Xing Conglian…” But, after some thought, he still said to Xing Conglian.

“Consultant Lin?”

“When is it convenient for us to go to Fengchun?” He asked tentatively.

“Anytime.”

……

As a result, his file-reading work and Wang Chao’s research were quickly moved from the police lounge to Xing Conglian’s car. Within a quarter of an hour, they had already started to drive towards Fengchun, which was hundreds of kilometers away.

Lin Chen always felt that whenever they encountered a case, they probably spent more time in Xing Conglian’s run-down Jeep than their beds at home.

Because there were too many files at hand, he sat in the back seat and switched with Wang Chao, who was sitting in the front passenger seat next to Xing Conglian.

Xing Conglian drove so steadily that he could put a glass of water on the dashboard, and it wouldn’t spill a drop of water.

By 8 in the evening, the flow of people on the road had gradually decreased. Naturally, a city like Hongjing was completely different from Fengchun.

The surrounding lights were silent. The hustle and bustle during the day and the scolding and cursing online didn’t play much of a role in this city. The road was dark, and the more one walked outside the city, the darker it became. At this time, Lin Chen started to believe that, just as day would always come, night would as well. No one in this world could really turn black and white.

“Is it okay for us to go to Fengchun so suddenly?”

Although he proposed to go to Fengchun, and Xing Conglian firmly supported it, Lin Chen suddenly remembered that their sudden actions might still cause trouble for Xing Conglian.

Again, what they were supposed to investigate was the assault case at Ansheng International Mall, but now they uncharacteristically went to investigate a suspected sexual assault case of Li Jingtian’s victim that was already closed. If this matter was exposed online, and he believed it would, let alone Li Jingtian’s fans, even ordinary netizens would criticize the Hongjing police for this.

Xing Conglian glanced at him through the rearview mirror of the car and said, “Since Consultant Lin said we’re going, then we’ll go. That’s all.”

“Is there any problem with the Ansheng International Mall’s case?” he asked.

“Someone is doing the trace test, and there are others checking on the artificial blood used by the assailant, including the source—the nightingale and the rose. There are people following orders. Don’t worry.” Xing Conglian seemed to see through what he was thinking. He said lightly, “Besides, when we go to Fengchun, we’re also investigating the social relations of Xu Ran. Wang Chao also gave me the phone records of her two closest friends. This is serious work.”

Lin Chen was a little speechless. This person was more shameless than he thought.

Although he was worried about Xing Conglian’s situation, they really did have to go to Fengchun.

The reason was because of what Li Jingtian said to him when he left.

He left him his number and said he would return home to recuperate.

Obviously, Li Jingtian was provoking him. He was confident that he wouldn’t be caught.

Even though they found a crime that could nail Li Jingtian, with him at the embassy, he could enjoy diplomatic protection. What was even scarier was that if the problem was serious, Li Jingtian could immediately book a plane ticket to return to his country. Once Li Jingtian left China, they could only watch as the other party escaped sanctions.

So now, every minute was important.

Lin Chen rubbed his brows, turned on the reading light above his head, and looked through the files of Li Jingtian’s sexual assault case page by page.

He saw the examination conducted by the Fengchun police on Xu Ran and saw the densely terrible scars that covered her body and the bloody wounds on her chest. Unfortunately, because Xu Ran was a sex worker, considering her background, the scars on her body could easily be interpreted as self-inflicted or the result of a money transaction, which in itself was incredulous.

Lin Chen couldn’t help but take a deep breath and turn to the next page.

When they approached a rest stop, the teenager sitting in the front passenger seat suddenly let out a long “Ah!”

Xing Conglian was so startled that he almost slammed on the brakes and reprimanded the restless co-pilot. “What are you on about?”

“Captain, how can there be a person like Li Jingtian in this world? He’s obviously a pervert, but there’s not a single criminal record at all. This is truly unscientific!”

Wang Chao put his laptop on the driver’s dashboard, stretched out for a while, then turned his head and said to Lin Chen, “A’Chen, let alone any sexual harassment records, Li Jingtian doesn’t even have a parking violation ticket!”

In the dark car, Lin Chen was astounded. “Did you really look through it?”

“Yeah, after checking, Li Jingtian is crystal clear, just like a fully plucked chicken. I suspect his files are even cleaner than ours!”

“If everyone’s like you, their files would be full of stains,” Xing Conglian said coldly.

“Captain, it takes one to know one. Scolding others just reveals the stains you have.” Wang Chao quickly countered.

Lin Chen frowned and interrupted them. “This is unlikely. Antisocial personality disorder like Li Jingtian would manifest during their early childhood. Were there any juvenile criminal files that were sealed?”

Wang Chao started mumbling. As if recalling something, he lowered his head and searched Li Jingtian’s files again, then said, “A’Chen, wait… If you say that, there might be something wrong with Li Jingtian’s files.”

As he spoke, he put the laptop through the gap between the seats and handed it over. “Look, aren’t these files a little too clean? It’s as if they all have the same format.”

Lin Chen looked at the scanned copies of Li Jingtian’s files when he was young. The more he looked at them, the more frightened he became.

Although he didn’t know what kind of standard of records Xinni had, it was clear that the person who wrote Li Jingtian’s 7-year-old primary school admission file was exactly the same person who wrote his 13-year-old junior high school file. After six years, even the handwriting of the person would change, not to mention that Li Jingtian attended different schools. How could the file writer be the same?

Lin Chen’s finger slid on the screen. He flipped through the series of scans and found the records of Li Jingtian between 7 and 16 were probably rewritten.

He also looked at the electronic files that were the standards of Xinni. The electronic file was brief, just stating what significant experiences Li Jingtian had in a certain year and month. The matter fits with the contents of the scanned paper. Apart from the handwriting issue, in fact, this forged file was beautifully made. If it weren’t for careful investigation, the abnormality wouldn’t be found.

Furthermore, if there was no accident involving a “law-abiding citizen” like Li Jingtian, why would Xinni investigate his childhood files?

For a police officer from another country to see this file, they must first submit an application to the ICPO and then spend a lot of effort waiting for the Xinni police to agree to submit it, and even then there was a high probability it would be rejected, so…

Lin Chen looked at the teenager in the front passenger seat. He probably understood where the “stain” in Wang Chao’s file came from.

“It seems that Lao Li has really worked hard for his grandson.” After listening to his narrative, Xing Conglian dropped another cigarette and spoke calmly.

Perhaps only Xing Conglian would use such a peaceful tone to evaluate a privileged class protected by a family of high status. It seemed that Li Jingtian was more difficult to deal with than they imagined.

“What are we going to do next, A’Chen?!” Wang Chao stretched his waist, but he wasn’t the slightest bit frustrated.

“Li Jingtian is smart. Since his files have been modified, let’s expand the scope of the search. It’s impossible for him to act seamlessly. Check on those around Li Jingtian—former classmates, relatives, and friends. See if any of them have ever reported anything unusual.”

Lin Chen handed the laptop back to Wang Chao.

“Okay!” Wang Chao nodded vigorously.

The car became calm again. Xing Conglian opened the windows slightly to let out the smoke. The smell in the car was filled with his usual mint cigarettes mixed with the smell of the grass and trees at the turn of spring into summer, which made him feel a little sleepy.

At some point, Xing Conglian had turned on the radio.

A soft voice from the male anchor flowed out into the night. “The bloodshed that happened today has filled everyone’s hearts with trauma. Although we don’t know what the truth is, we still hope that music can comfort you. The following song is the most famous single from Mr. Li Jingtian’s group, Illi, called Peaceful. I hope you will like it.”

The voice of the male anchor gradually disappeared, and a soft singing voice flowed out.

On top of the background noise of the rustling radio, the sound of a guitar suddenly resounded. The rhythm was gentle and seemed to pull people’s heartstrings.

Then, Lin Chen heard a clear male voice. It wasn’t Li Jingtian’s voice, because his singing was soft with a terrible explosive power hidden within it, whereas this singer’s voice had a sharp aura that a young person should have. Come to think of it, there should be another person in Illi.

Li Jingtian’s voice appeared later. He hummed the melody softly, blending it with the lead singer’s voice almost perfectly.

Before they knew it, they had all put down their work. Lin Chen was carefully distinguishing the meanings of the lyrics, while Wang Chao listened carefully to the song. Xing Conglian was, of course, still driving.

In a very calm atmosphere, the sound of the song suddenly changed. It was an extremely abrupt climax, like the handover of night and day. Various roaring noises in the background sounded like painful resistance, like people suffering in a war or suffering from ordinary life.

There was almost no libretto in that climax—only screaming, which was so uncomfortable that it was incomprehensible.

Lin Chen put his hand on his chest. He could feel the despair and pain in the scream, as if it were a true scream. From the mirror of the car, he could clearly see Xing Conglian’s frowning brows. Wang Chao reached out to turn down the volume.

But at the moment when Wang Chao was about to touch the knob, the melody gradually softened again. The arrival of that moment was like a mouth blowing on a painful wound, soothing it. The wounds were still clear and painful, but love bloomed, like roses from the muzzle of a gun.

This made Lin Chen suddenly remember what happened in front of Xu Ran’s ward. Xing Conglian was holding him tightly.

He didn’t know when the singing would end.

During the unbearable blank time, Wang Chao looked back at him. The teenager’s eyes were filled with tears at some point. “This song is really hard to listen to, but it is indeed very good.”

Lin Chen put his hand down from his heart.

In the front passenger seat, Xing Conglian didn’t seem affected by such emotions. He suddenly asked, “What happened to Li Jingtian’s former group?”

Wang Chao was startled by him before he began tapping on the keyboard and quickly replied, “It seems they were around nine years ago. Jingtian used to be in an underground band called Illi. At that time, Li Jingtian was still a newcomer. CA Entertainment discovered them at the time, but it seemed they were short-lived. They disbanded eight years ago, and Li Jingtian went solo.”

Wang Chao flipped through the news records, and suddenly, a piece of information seemed to attract his attention.

The sound of the young man tapping the keyboard became much louder. He pressed enter twice and suddenly turned his head and said, in an inconceivable tone, “A’Chen, I seem to have found it. You asked me to look into it. The abnormal reports of people around Li Jingtian were recorded, but…”

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 123

The girls were detained together. Xing Conglian wanted his police officers to arraign them, but Lin Chen stopped him.

“We’ll just question them in the detention room.” Lin Chen thought for a bit before saying, “I’ll go in alone.”

Xing Conglian raised his brows. He obviously didn’t expect him to say this. “Don’t push yourself.”

“I know.”

The detention room of the police criminal division was on the negative first floor. Hongjing was originally a humid and rainy city, so there was always a musty and rancid smell in the detention room. Most of the prisoners held there were petty thieves and traffic offenders. The surrounding area was filled with whispers and people retching.

It was thanks to Xing Conglian’s hands that these dainty little girls were held here for more than four hours.

Lin Chen used a key to open the iron door. When they heard the sound of the door opening, all the girls in the room stood up.

But unlike Lin Chen’s imagination, in the dim underground space, those little girls looked furious. Their faces weren’t repentant, and they spoke to him condescendingly. “Okay, Uncle Policeman, can we go now?”

Lin Chen was familiar with the faces of those girls. After all, in his memories, their faces had appeared repeatedly. He still remembered that one of them was wearing pink earrings and the other had a Mickey Mouse doll attached to her satchel. Seeing them again, those memories resurfaced.

Lin Chen glanced at them and sat down on the only bed in the detention room in the same posture as he sat in front of Li Jingtian’s hospital bed. “I’m afraid not yet.”

“Why?”

“What makes you think you can keep us for so long?”

The girls began to chatter again. “We didn’t force her to jaywalk.”

“Because Xu Ran is in the hospital and isn’t out of danger,” he said to the girls.

The girls were stunned. They seemed to have no idea who Xu Ran was.

Suddenly, someone responded, “That’s the chicken?”

“What? It’s none of our business. If she dies, she deserves it.”

“That bitch committed suicide. That has nothing to do with us!” The girl wearing pink earrings said. “Hehe, this is truly divine punishment. It’s retribution, I tell you.”

Suddenly, a short-haired girl said coldly, “Officer, I remember you were also at the scene. Why don’t you think it was you who forced that whore to commit suicide?”

Those words poured into Lin Chen’s ears, but he didn’t feel any anger; just sadness.

He wasn’t prepared to talk about useless nonsense such as love and kindness. “I certainly have an inescapable responsibility for Xu Ran’s serious injury, so I’ll take the responsibility I should bear. For example, making you guys talk.”

“You… What do you want?!”

The girls were quite imaginative. There were some that pulled their shirts and hid by the wall.

“It’s simple. We’ll play a game of questions and answers. The person who gives me the most satisfactory answer can leave first, and the rest will stay here for the night.”

As if to match his words, a drunk driver in the next cell began to vomit, and the violent criminal opposite their cell began to shake the iron door frantically.

The girls were shocked. “I’ll tell my parents. I’ll report you. This is abuse!”

Lin Chen thought, if Xing Conglian was here, he would probably take out a cigarette, narrow his eyes slightly, and say to the girls, “You can try.”

So, he said the same thing.

Without giving the girls time to react, he took out his phone and opened Weibo. He pointed to the post that first appeared, indicating Xu Ran’s location, and asked, “Who is this @EatDrinkSleep?”

The girls looked at each other, as if trying to figure out how to respond.

“I’ll give you three seconds. Three, two…”

When the count reached two, the girl wearing pink earrings suddenly raised her head and said confidently, “It’s me. So what?”

“Congratulations.” Lin Chen didn’t even look at her and instead looked at the remaining girls. “She got the first point.”

“Why did you happen to find Xu Ran’s trail?”

As soon as the girl was about to speak, Lin Chen interrupted, “I don’t want to hear words like ‘it was a coincidence’. I want to hear the truth.”

“Someone sent a private message to @EatDrinkSleep and she asked us to go together,” another girl said.

Humans were very strange individuals. The seemingly unbreakable alliance disintegrated in an instant.

“One point.”

“Someone did send me a private message.” The girl wearing pink earrings named “EatDrinkSleep” gritted her teeth as she responded, looking extremely unhappy that her opportunity was robbed.

“Who?”

“It’s the kind of private message that gets deleted after reading. I forgot the name. She said that she saw a bad woman at the intersection and asked me to find her quickly and that she was waiting for me over there.”

“Do you know that person?” Lin Chen asked.

“I… There are so many Jingtian fans on Weibo. How could I know them all?” EatDrinkSleep looked back at the other girls in the detention room and said, “But it’s not any of them. I know all of them.”

“In other words, none of you knows exactly who the person was who first found Xu Ran?”

“It could be someone from the fan club. Who knows?” EatDrinkSleep grumbled.

The expressions on the girl’s face didn’t seem to be fake. Lin Chen nodded and said to her, “You can leave if you can write down the name of the person who sent you the private message.”

After he finished speaking, he took out a pen and paper and handed them to the girl. After the other party finished writing, she headed towards the door.

Just as she was about to reach the door, the girl who was performing well suddenly stopped and walked back to her companions.

“We’re in this together, so we’re going together!”

This sudden sense of loyalty surprised Lin Chen. He turned his head and looked at the fair-skinned girls in front of him again and said, “Then answer my question.”

His gaze finally fell on the fan club logo on the girls’ chest as he asked the stupidest question ever, “Why?”

Why do you want to do this? Why do you want to hurt Xu Ran? Why can you love someone so much yet hate another equally at the same time?

Hearing this, the girls looked at him as if he were an idiot. Their eyes were filled with the flame of faith.

“We agreed to protect Jingtian until we grow old!”

“We’re not wrong!”

When people were young, they would firmly believe in their own opinions and views, as if their love and hate were incomparable.

Lin Chen shook the key in his hand and walked away from the interrogation room without closing the door.

He walked out to the stairway and found Xing Conglian hadn’t waited for him in the previous place.

He raised his eyes and looked at the police officers that were rushing around. He grabbed one of them and asked, “Where’s Xing Conglian?”

“In the lounge.” The police officer had an angsty expression on his face.

“What’s wrong?” Lin Chen asked.

“Captain Xing was just on the news. He seems to have shut himself in the lounge to watch TV. Do you want to go see him?”

Hearing this, Lin Chen raised his head and looked at the clock on the wall. It was exactly 7:15 p.m. It shouldn’t have been long since the Hongjing Night News started.

Lin Chen nodded, thanking the other party, and walked to the police lounge.

Of course, Xing Conglian wasn’t the type to sulk alone in the lounge over trivial things like being on the news. When he walked to the door, he could hear an anchor’s sharp voice coming out of the lounge.

Lin Chen knocked on the door and pushed it open. He saw Xing Conglian leaning on the sofa bed while watching the news. His uniform was spread out, his shirt collar was unbuttoned, and he was holding a bottle of mineral water in his hand. There was no light in the room, which made it a bit eerie.

Wang Chao was checking on things on the desk behind him. When he saw Lin Chen enter, he hurriedly made a quiet gesture to him.

Lin Chen didn’t go up to Xing Conglian but instead walked to the teenager, showed him the Weibo name written by the girl just now, and asked, “What’s wrong?”

He didn’t deliberately lower his voice, so this wasn’t considered snooping behind someone’s back.

“The captain was reprimanded by the director just now. Most likely Li Jingtian’s complaint has arrived.”

“Your captain doesn’t seem like someone who would be unhappy because they got reprimanded.”

“Oh, it’s all trivial. An ant can’t shake a tree*, hmph.” Wang Chao carefully opened a post on Weibo and said, “I don’t know what that old man’s thinking, but it could be the online investigation news just now that made him unhappy.”

*(蚍蜉撼树) Idiom referring to a futile effort. || In this context, basically saying these things wouldn’t shake Xing Conglian.

“Hm?”

Lin Chen looked at the news, which showed an opinion poll. The choices were simple: Who do you think is responsible for the stampede in Ansheng International Mall?

The options were: The police, the murderer Xu Ran, Li Jingtian, or Li Jingtian’s fans.

The poll results were obvious. The murderer Xu Ran won with an overwhelming “advantage” of 68.12%, followed by the police with 16.01%, while Li Jingtian’s fans and Li Jingtian ranked third and fourth.

The total number of votes was 15,000. The public appeared to have already made up its mind about the case.

“So, are you using mineral water to relieve your worries?”

Lin Chen looked back at the man on the sofa. Xing Conglian’s eyes had never moved away from the TV screen.

“Good use of that idiom.”

Xing Conglian finally spoke.

Lin Chen walked over and sat down beside him.

The previous news criticizing the work of the police force had passed, and now people were discussing Li Jingtian’s case.

The male anchor was sitting upright as he spoke solemnly. “In fact, regarding today’s stampede at Ansheng International Mall, things are very clear. This is Xu Ran’s retaliation against singer Li Jingtian. In this regard, we randomly interviewed some passersby to hear their views on the case.”

The location of the interview happened to be on the road outside of the municipal hospital.

In the background of heavy traffic, a hurrying old auntie was stopped by the reporter.

“Oh, what’s there to say about this? Let me tell you, this kind of unclean woman is the guilty one. Can the police hurry up and arrest her already!”

“What? A car accident during the arrest?”

“Oh, that’s retribution!”

Within this day, they had heard too many similar words. Just like the fans who guarded their idols and had a clear love and hate, passersby who understood the background differences between Xu Ran and Li Jingtian had come to their own judgments as well.

But now, Lin Chen was almost immune. Those positive and negative analyses, other people’s opinions and views, hardly affected him.

At this moment, the reporter caught a person who looked like a female college student.

“Excuse me, classmate. What are your thoughts on the recent controversy surrounding singer Li Jingtian?”

The girl had a ponytail, and her face was bright. She asked the reporter rhetorically, “Are you sure you want me to express my opinion?”

“Of course. You can speak frankly.”

The girl nodded, faced the camera, and said solemnly, “If a prostitute is sexually assaulted, it is considered self-inflicted or unbelievable. This is a huge challenge in our social legal system. I hope the police can thoroughly investigate it. Even if the prostitute is a criminal suspect in another case, she should be treated with the same fairness under the law…”

The reporter’s face showed embarrassment as the picture was cut off, falling on the girl’s serious face.

Xing Conglian turned his head to the side and said to Lin Chen, “Is this girl also surnamed Lin? Your sister? How come the tone is exactly like yours?”

“I have never said anything so sensible.”

“But you say it in your heart.” Xing Conglian turned off the TV and asked again, “How was the interrogation?”

“Didn’t find any useful clues,” Lin Chen said, “But it seems that someone did lead those girls to Xu Ran. This isn’t a coincidence.”

“How likely do you think that person is Li Jingtian, his manager, or even that little assistant?”

“90% probability with 0% evidence,” Lin Chen said honestly. “They are all at the embassy, so we have no way to search their electronic devices.”

Hearing this, Wang Chao stepped in. “A’Chen, I checked the Weibo account you just gave me. It was newly registered today. The number bound to it is also very strange. It belongs to an 88-year-old lady. At first glance, it looks like someone used another person’s ID card. In other words, the true identity of the account owner can’t be traced.” Wang Chao paused. “I smell a conspiracy!”

“That’s very smart.” Lin Chen tapped the armrest of the sofa lightly with his knuckles. “In fact, even if Li Jingtian induced his fans to chase Xu Ran, it would be difficult for us to hold him criminally responsible for Xu Ran’s accident, unless the driver was also arranged by him.”

“I have reviewed the driver. He’s an honest man with no issues,” Xing Conglian replied.

“If all this was arranged by Li Jingtian in order to use Xu Ran as a scapegoat, the only question is, how can he be so sure that something will happen to her?”

Xing Conglian said, “Indeed, the car accident happened very well and coincidentally. As long as Xu Ran remains quiet, all clues will be broken, but…”

“But?”

“You speak first.”

Seeing Xing Conglian’s eyes looking at him with a burning gaze, Lin Chen thought they were probably thinking the same thing.

“The passerby just told me one thing. In fact, what we have on hand is more than one injury case, and an accident case. There is another case that I think we should continue to investigate.”

“Li Jingtian’s sexual assault case?” Xing Conglian asked.

“Since Xu Ran can’t speak currently, if we want to nail Li Jingtian, I’m afraid we can only start investigating the previous case.”

“Your reason is more than that, right?”

“It’s simple. Because I want to reverse the case for her,” Lin Chen said solemnly.

---

The author has something to say:

June 1^st Small Episode

—-

Children’s Day was on June 1^st and was considered an international holiday.

In other words, no matter where you were in the world, as long as you had a child by your side, you had to give him this holiday.

And the most hateful thing was that the United Nations had set the standard for children under the age of 18. Xing Conglian turned his head from side to side and looked at the “child” playing games on the front passenger seat, resisting the urge not to drive him out of the car.

He asked calmly, “Wang Chao, how do you want to celebrate the holiday tomorrow?”

“Oh, that’s simple. In the morning, go to Uncle John’s Pizzeria and eat a 12-inch turkey pizza. After eating, I want to go to the amusement park for a while. In the afternoon, go to the zoo. In the evening, go see the new X-men. Then, watch the fireworks.”

Xing Conglian lowered the car window, took a deep breath of the smog, and calmly asked, “Why didn’t you say you were going to the UN headquarters to hold a celebration?”

“Hey, Captain, we can do that? Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

Xing Conglian was irritated. “Do you not understand sarcasm?”

“But tomorrow is my holiday, and you asked me to make a request, so why are you mocking me?”

The child’s eyes didn’t move away from the game at all. It seemed that he had no desire to seriously answer his question. Xing Conglian parked the car, feeling he shouldn’t have any in-depth discussion with Wang Chao on the issue.

“Hey, are we there yet?” When he had just stopped the car, the child put down his phone in a daze and looked out the window as he asked excitedly.

It was an ordinary house, located in an ordinary and calm community, with a small courtyard with pink and blue daisies on the fence, trying to poke their heads out.

It seemed like there was nothing special about this house.

Xing Conglian looked at his watch. The child had already arranged his “equipment” on the front passenger seat.

“It’s 15:00 New York time.”

“Got it.” The child followed him, right on time.

“Let’s go.” Xing Conglian opened the door and got out of the car.

The next day, when the task was completed, it was deep into the night of Children’s Day, but it wasn’t yet midnight.

The pizzeria, amusement park, and zoo were probably closed. The movie theater did have late-night showings, but looking at the child’s sleepy face in front of the laptop, it seemed like he didn’t have the strength to watch movies anymore.

The night news broadcast on the radio had just finished reporting on a gunfight on the outskirts of the city and was interrupted with breaking news of two child sex trafficking victims under the age of 14 who risked their lives to report a terrorist organization that had imprisoned them at the United Nations General Assembly.

Xing Conglian lowered the volume of the broadcast and looked at the dark street ahead.

Although this was a beautiful holiday, not all children were happy in this world. There were children who didn’t have clothes, children who were suffering, and even some children that were fighting with guns at the moment. This had never been an overly beautiful world.

However, he could still try to make the children around him feel some happiness.

Xing Conglian got out of the car, bought popcorn and two cans of Coke, then made a phone call and drove to the top of a mountain.

Wang Chao was awakened by the sound of an explosion.

He opened his bleary eyes and looked at the fireworks in the dark sky in the distance, then shouted excitedly in the car. His cry almost broke through the roof. “Wow, Captain. I want to make a wish.”

“What do you want?” Xing Conglian opened a can of Coke and clinked it with the child’s.

The teenager closed his eyes and really made a serious wish.

He then opened his eyes and looked at Xing Conglian with a solemn and sincere gaze and said, “I wish, ah, for you to marry a good person so we can be a family.”

At that time, Xing Conglian remembered he was smoking a cigarette as he responded loudly, “Stop reading romance novels.”

But now…

Xing Conglian looked back at the person sitting in the front passenger seat and asked, “How do you want to spend June 1^st?”

The man turned his head and looked at the boy in the backseat, who was still playing games, and said, “Listen to him.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Aww, that small episode made my heart melt… Not so much the main story.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 122

Lin Chen didn’t know how effective Xing Conglian’s guarantee was. Under the circumstances at the time, after hearing those words, he was simply enjoying Xing Conglian’s hug.

Being held by the object of his love, even the roots that were frozen to the point of withering would slowly recover. He gradually felt the numbness leave him, and his thinking returned to its normal sequence.

Then, he noticed that he could smell the scent of clear mint smoke from Xing Conglian’s uniform. The atmosphere was touching. Before he had a chance to finish his cocoa, it was taken from his hand and exuded its sweet scent in the air.

He leaned on Xing Conglian’s neck, and only when he was close did Lin Chen realize that though Xing Conglian looked cynical, he was actually extremely calm, deep to his bones. Like now, he stood firmly, and the hand that was holding his shoulder was also stable. Lin Chen really couldn’t see through Xing Conglian.

Finally, he patted Xing Conglian on the back and retreated from his embrace. “Xing Conglian.”

It seems, I really love you.

“Thank you.”

When Wang Chao came back, there were no signs of their closeness. They were sitting on a bench outside the ward. The teenager’s eyes bounced between them, before he said, “A’Chen, you’re crying.”

Lin Chen covered his eyes and looked at Xing Conglian sadly. “What’s with this kid’s emotional intelligence?”

Xing Conglian let out a small cough and said, “You really can’t blame me.”

“Blame you for what? Captain, did you scold A’Chen?” Wang Chao squatted down in front of Lin Chen with the laptop in his arms and said with righteous indignation, “A’Chen, if the captain scolds you, just ignore him. He’s just a naturally grumpy maniac who has been single for dozens of years. You have to forgive him.”

Probably, compared to the embrace of one he loved; this cute teenager’s smile could also alleviate the frost-like pain.

Lin Chen stretched out his hand and rubbed the top of the teenager’s head. It was shaggy to the touch, and Wang Chao smiled awkwardly, as if he didn’t know why Lin Chen was patting him on the head. “A’Chen?”

“Yes, I cried,” he replied honestly.

“Why?”

“For many reasons. First, I think I made mistakes in this matter. Second, I have encountered similar things several times. For a while, many traumatic scenes flashed back, and it overwhelmed me. Lastly, for someone like me, shedding tears to vent my emotions at certain times help make me less psychotic.”

After he finished speaking, Wang Chao looked at him blankly. After digesting what he said for a long time, he suddenly asked, “A’Chen, are you feeling better now?”

“Much better.”

“That’s good that you’re better.”

Wang Chao was a typical example of a sunny person who could brighten anyone’s day. He jumped up excitedly and said, “Let’s catch Li Jingtian together, okay?”

Lin Chen shook his head and remained silent.

Wang Chao started to get confused again. When he saw that Lin Chen was responding, he looked at Xing Conglian, who simply just leaned back on the bench and also remained silent.

“Captain, what’s going on here?”

“Officer Xiao Wang,” Xing Conglian said.

“Yes!”

“I want to ask you; in what name do you want to bring Li Jingtian to justice?”

“In the name of the law?”

“Speak properly,” Xing Conglian said coldly.

Wang Chao winced, and only then did he get serious. “Captain, are you asking me on what charge I want to use to arrest Li Jingtian, right?”

Xing Conglian didn’t answer and maintained his previous posture and expression.

Wang Chao hurriedly continued. “The crime of assault?” He thought for a while, and then backtracked. “The crime of assault doesn’t seem to work. Li Jingtian was the victim. Then, the crime of endangering the public?” Then added, “But we have no evidence of this.”

“What else?”

“I… This isn’t my area of expertise!” Wang Chao finally relented.

“The existing evidence proves that, whether it was assault or endangering the public, our biggest suspect is the girl in the ward. How do you want to prove that Li Jingtian is behind all this?”

“I don’t know, Captain…” Wang Chao put his laptop aside, squatted on the ground, and began to scratch his head.

“Keep thinking.”

“Although Xu Ran is suspicious, we haven’t found the assault weapon yet. The first thing we need to do is find it?” Wang Chao sat down crossed legged and continued, “Then, Xu Ran is wearing that red dress. We have to see if it’s been stained with Li Jingtian’s blood. Captain, I really don’t think it’s Xu Ran, but it’s really weird. Why is she wearing the same exact outfit as the fan who slit his throat on stage? If she has the ability to escape from the scene and dispose of the murder weapon, shouldn’t she also change her clothes as well? Why is she still wearing the clothes at the time she committed the crime?”

“Mr. Xiao Wang, do you have any explanation?”

“I think Li Jingtian arranged this matter!”

“But you have no evidence.”

“Actually, I do have a little evidence!” Wang Chao said as he turned the laptop around. “Didn’t you just give me Xu Ran’s phone? I checked her call history and found someone suspicious had called her using a disposable phone. The first call was at 15:13 yesterday afternoon, and the second call was at 12:13 today…”

Hearing this, Xing Conglian frowned and asked, “Can you track who made the call?”

Wang Chao shook his head. “This kind of disposable phone doesn’t even have the location of the base station. It’s used by criminals, okay?”

“12:13?” Xing Conglian asked.

“About. It happened when we were on our way to Li Jingtian’s ward,” Wang Chao said mysteriously. “Captain, this is really not my conspiracy theory anymore… Do you think it was Li Jingtian who called and asked Xu Ran to meet in Hongjing?”

“Whether it was Li Jingtian or not, you can’t prove this,” Xing Conglian said.

Lin Chen suddenly remembered that if the call had been made by Li Jingtian, then when they met with him in the hospital just now, the phone was most likely on him. If they had searched his luggage at that time, the truth might have been revealed.

However, they let the evidence slip away right from under their noses, making this even more unbearable.

Hearing what Xing Conglian said, Wang Chao was close to collapsing again. “Ahhh, what should I do!”

“Is there any evidence in Xu Ran’s phone that can prove she stole Li Jingtian’s Weibo account?”

Hearing this, Wang Chao looked depressed again. “Captain, have you seen Xu Ran’s phone? It’s no different from those old phones. It doesn’t even have Weibo on it. The highest technology on it is the snake game. Do you think this kind of outdated machine can scan for loopholes and transmit viruses?”

“In other words, we have no clues, right?”

“I can try to identify Xu Ran’s face in the surveillance video of the mall to see if she has been there, but that’s no different than finding a needle in a haystack. If you’re conscious of it, it’s not difficult to avoid the cameras.”

The assault case at Ansheng International Mall had almost reached a dead end, so Xing Conglian asked him, “Consultant Lin, do you have any ideas?”

Lin Chen closed his eyes and recalled the sidewalk and the scene at that time again. Many times he guided witnesses to recall the situation of what they saw, but when it was his turn, he realized that this matter was more difficult than he thought.

He tried his best to calm down, and the scene that had happened reappeared again.

The small shop on the street, the flashing signal lights, and the girl running in front of him.

“Xu Ran saw those people chasing her and ran away in a panic. Even regardless of the danger to her life, she rushed into traffic to avoid them.” Lin Chen suddenly opened his eyes. “Why was she trying to avoid Li Jingtian’s fans?”

“She knows that those people are Li Jingtian’s fans and was afraid of being chased by them. Then, if Xu Ran was truly afraid of seeing Li Jingtian’s fans, why would she be seen walking around the city in broad daylight? Moreover, there’s also another question. How is it that Li Jingtian’s fans are so powerful that they were able to find her faster than the police?”

“A’Chen, you have a point. It’s very likely there’s a problem with the first Weibo post that located Xu Ran. Let me check into it!”

As he spoke, he was about to turn the laptop around, but Xing Conglian held his hand down to stop him. “Let’s go back to the police station first. You can check it later when we get in the car,” he said to Wang Chao.

It was around noon when they entered the hospital. When they walked out, it was already completely dark.

Lin Chen glanced at the flowing lights of the city and felt a sense of desolation.

It was rare that the police station at night was this lively. After all, there were a lot of parents.

After Xu Ran’s accident, the girl fans who had chased her were brought back to the police station to assist in the investigation.

Under normal circumstances, when encountering a similar accident, the police would only take back the main perpetrators to the station to deal with them, while they would take statements from the rest and release them. Only Xing Conglian would dare to suddenly detain over seven girls at once.

The girls’ parents came from all directions with their inquiries. Middle-aged men and women surrounded the police station, adamant that they would not leave without their child.

“My daughter didn’t do anything. Hurry up and let her out!”

“What is with this attitude? Don’t you dare think I wouldn’t complain to your city leaders!”

The parents were on the verge of irritation. Any child who had been detained for more than four hours would be exhausted, and such girls that could chase stars generally had good family conditions, so when the parents threatened to call the city leaders, it wasn’t an empty threat.

Lin Chen glanced at Xing Conglian and saw him walk through the corridor as if nothing were wrong and walk right past the parents.

It seemed that Xing Conglian had no plans to release these children in advance. After all, he was a man who dared to directly beat up an embassy military attaché. Locking up a few girls for a few hours was something he would do without even blinking.

Comrade Zhang Xiaolong stood in front of the parents, trying to dissuade them. The police officer seemed quite annoyed by this group of parents. She was rarely tough, but she knew what had happened. “Our leader hasn’t come back yet. There’s been a big incident today, and there’s not enough manpower at the station right now. Your children need to be interrogated one by one. After all, this is a murder case, and the victim is in the hospital with an unknown fate. This matter must be investigated clearly.”

Hearing this, some parents suddenly became nervous, but they refused to relent.

A middle-aged woman with wavy curls and fine eyeliner suddenly sat on the ground and cried. “What kind of murder! Don’t think we don’t know. It was a car accident. That person ran across the road by herself. The police are now blaming it on my girl. You’re bullying people!”

Zhang Xiaolong raised her eyes. She saw Xing Conglian come from behind the crowd and immediately grew some backbone. She said to the parents righteously, “This is normal investigation procedure. We are following what needs to be done. Please wait patiently.”

“What procedures? Is there a reason? The police are just helping that woman. Don’t think we don’t know. It’s been reported in the news. Bah, it was just a prostitute who was hit and killed. This is called divine punishment, don’t you understand? Just some son of a bitch.”

The middle-aged woman cursed and crawled on the ground, grabbing Zhang Xiaolong’s pant leg, refusing to let go. The female officer staggered and almost lost her balance.

“Zhang Xiaolong,” Xing Conglian suddenly said.

“Yes!”

The police officer seemed to be waiting for this moment. She quickly stood at attention and saluted. “Captain Xing.”

“How do we deal with those who are obstructing the normal work order of the police station?”

“Lightly, they will be punished with detention for more than 3 days and less than 5. If it’s serious, criminal charges.”

“Oh, you know well…”

The middle-aged woman on the ground was stunned and even forgot she was crawling. Another middle-aged man beside her hurriedly said, “We’re just here to ask for an explanation. Why are the police going around arresting people casually?!”

As he spoke, he wanted to reach out and point his fingers. Lin Chen saw this and took a step forward. Just as the man was about to point at Xing Conglian, Lin Chen stepped out in front.

The middle-aged man’s finger jabbed heavily into his shoulder. Lin Chen covered his shoulder and let out a muffled groan.

“You will be held criminally responsible for assaulting a police officer!” Wang Chao excitedly shouted from behind.

When the middle-aged man heard this, he immediately panicked. “Don’t blame me. He stepped forward by himself. It’s not my fault!”

Naturally, because they had a tacit understanding from being partners, Xing Conglian knew what Lin Chen’s intentions were.

With a cold face, he pretended that he couldn’t be bothered to deal with these parents anymore and waved his hand. He pointed to the visitor chairs on the side and said lightly, “Alright, go and wait. Stop talking. We’ll let your daughter out later.”

One after another, the parents fell silent. Seeing Xing Conglian’s face, they felt that he was being serious and that he would really act on what he said. The crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble would depend on how the police characterized them, so they all went to the corner and sat down anxiously.

Lin Chen felt Xing Conglian’s eyes fall on him.

“Consultant Lin, let’s go,” he said.

Lin Chen followed Xing Conglian to the office, where the parents couldn’t see them when Xing Conglian suddenly stopped.

“Consultant Lin’s position was very accurate just now,” Xing Conglian said to him.

“Thank you, Captain Xing, for the rescue.” Lin Chen saluted him.

“No, I have to thank you for the rescue. Is this a new type of porcelain* rescue…”

*Reference to scams in the old days where gangsters would bump into people while holding fragile porcelain in their hands, then drop it and blackmail the pedestrian to pay up.

Xing Conglian had a playful look in his eyes.

Under that gaze, Lin Chen had no choice but to rub his shoulders and say, “It still hurts a bit.”

---

Kinky Thoughts:

Lin Chen is now picking up bad habits from Xing Conglian and Wang Chao.

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 长洱 / Chang’er

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

---

Chapter 121

A long time after that, Lin Chen was thinking, ‘If the person who got out of the car and chased Xu Ran was Xing Conglian, what would happen?’

Perhaps he wouldn’t be as silent as he was. With his skills, he probably could’ve reached Xu Ran as early as when she knocked over the newsstands and detained her, or perhaps he would have shouted at the people in front of him to stop chasing wildly. Would he say, “Don’t move” or “Stop”?

If it had been Xing Conglian, perhaps the outcome would’ve been better…

And if it had been better, perhaps Xu Ran would be sitting opposite of him now. She would cry to him about Li Jingtian, and he would hand her a tissue or a glass of water and tell her that everything would pass. He would catch the bad guy.

But now, all Lin Chen could see was the inside of an intensive care unit.

In fact, he was in a face-to-face situation right now, but he was standing outside a window while Xu Ran was lying on the bed.

There were catheters and wires connected to Xu Ran’s body. She laid there lifelessly. A light-yellow liquid medicine was slowly injected into her body, drop by drop, along the hose. Her heartbeat, blood pressure, and respiratory index on the monitor were temporarily stable, but it was only temporary. No one knew when the alarm for her disappearing vital signs would sound again.

Lin Chen looked at Xu Ran’s face, which was mostly covered by the ventilator. The lines of her brows and eyes were deep. She had a typical look of a tormented life. She was only 25 years old, but it looked as if she was aging in reverse.

Because of the car accident, Xu Ran had high intracranial pressure, so a flap of her skull had to be removed. There were brown blood stains and traces of yellow vomit on her face, as if she were the aftermath of a crudely made doll after children had fought over it and in the process had broken it to pieces.

Unfortunately, dolls were different from people. The doctor said it was unknown whether the patient would wake up; she was facing internal organ failure at any moment because she had been run over twice by the truck.

In short, the classic plots of those movies and dramas were always like this. Doctors would always say it would depend on the patient’s will to survive, because in the eyes of screenwriters and directors, they had to be such a hopeless and yet desperate person in those stories. Only passages of full hope could highlight the dramatic conflict.

However, Lin Chen knew well that for Xu Ran, there might not be such a hopeful moment.

The saline mixed with the liquid medicine slowly dripped, as if the life of the girl on the bed was slowly passing.

Lin Chen felt someone patting him on the shoulder. He turned his head and saw Wang Chao. The teenager’s eyes were tender and sad. He saw Wang Chao open his mouth to say something to him, but it was all inaudible.

Strangely enough, seeing Wang Chao’s face made the scene on the sidewalk resurface. At that time, Wang Chao was delayed getting out of the car because he had to put down his laptop, but he felt that the teenager wasn’t far behind him. The wind wasn’t that cold, but when it blew on his face, he could smell the blood. This sense of clarity was terrifying, because he could recall every detail of the scene, such as the few newspapers that were floating in the sky or the plush pendant that smacked a passerby—and, of course, the moment that Xu Ran’s body was crushed. Such scenes replayed back and forth, giving him a headache.

Lin Chen closed his eyes. The ringing in his ears made him unable to hear anything around him.

He knew well that this was a post-traumatic stress response. In fact, the thing about pain was that it was fair to everyone. No matter how many books he read, how many psychotherapy techniques he mastered, and how many great truths he could say, when the time came when he should feel pain, that pain would not diminish.

When Lin Chen opened his eyes again, he realized what Wang Chao was saying to him.

He saw Xing Conglian and the forensic pathologists coming from the end of the corridor. He looked as if he were watching a crime drama that had nothing to do with him. He watched the uniformed policemen push open the door and enter the intensive care unit. They were solemnly doing forensic work as flashes of light would flicker from time to time. Some of them were taking pictures, while others were taking Xu Ran’s fingerprints. Some were checking Xu Ran’s bag, while others had put her bloody clothes that the doctor had taken off during the operation and put it into an evidence bag. Everything proceeded in an orderly manner, as methodically as time passing.

Finally, Lin Chen saw someone hand over a cellphone with a broken screen to Wang Chao.

He didn’t look up, but based on the calluses on the slender knuckles and joints formed from holding a gun, he knew it was Xing Conglian’s hand.

Lin Chen lowered his head. He didn’t know if Xing Conglian had spoken yet, but the symptoms of his tinnitus had temporarily disappeared, and the ward was eerily quiet.

Later, the visitors retreated like the tide, and there was no one in the corridor again.

Lin Chen began to hear the hissing sound of the ventilation fan.

He felt that he should do something—at least not stand here in a daze, deeply immersed in a plot of PTSD, muddled by those flashbacks that made him powerless.

He took out his phone and wanted to see if there was any news or content online; even if it was just some strange entertainment news.

Although he thought so, he subconsciously knew that what he wanted to see wasn’t that. Since it was the top trending post, he once again saw on Weibo the photos of the scene of the car accident.

The annoying asphalt road, the clogged traffic, and the hordes of people…

The faded scene became vivid again as he looked at the photos of Xu Ran lying in a pool of blood, one after another. Although the photos were mosaiced, his memories filled in the blur, and the scene became complete again.

Lin Chen even saw himself in the photos.

It was quite comical. He looked at himself at the scene of the car accident, showing blank, empty eyes from a distance, as if he hadn’t recovered from his inexplicable actions. For the first time, Lin Chen discovered how truly fragile and incompetent he was. People were always fragile and incompetent.

When Xing Conglian exited the intensive care unit, this was what he saw.

Lin Chen was looking at his phone with a mocking gaze. The screen emitted a bluish-white light, which made his face pale.

Xing Conglian clenched the paper cup in his hand and walked towards him.

When he got close, he realized Lin Chen was looking at his own photo at the scene of the car accident. He could see the ridicule in Lin Chen’s eyes, which held some contempt. Lin Chen was mocking himself—at his own incompetence.

Xing Conglian felt he should say something. In fact, from the time he rushed to the scene of the car accident to after Xu Ran was carried into the ambulance, he should’ve said something to Lin Chen.

But he searched his guts and found that he wasn’t the kind of person who was suitable for consoling people. After all, Lin Chen had been doing that job, and he did it well. Just by standing there, as if he were blessed with a soothing aura, he could make anyone temporarily forget the pain.

Xing Conglian thought about it. Of course he could tell Lin Chen not to be sad, that it wasn’t his fault, and all kinds of flowery words, but they were all nonsense. No one wouldn’t feel pain watching a life fly away at their fingertips, even Lin Chen.

He sighed and raised the paper cup in his hand and touched Lin Chen’s cheek.

Lin Chen could feel his cheeks burn.

He raised his head, only to find that Xing Conglian had come back at some point, and they were the only two standing in the corridor. Wang Chao had gone off somewhere; most likely to check on Xu Ran’s phone.

“What are you thinking about?” Xing Conglian asked him as he handed him the paper cup and leaned against the glass window.

Lin Chen stared into Xing Conglian’s dark green eyes as he almost blurted out his answer. “I was wondering why you covered my eyes.”

Such thoughts were obviously abnormal—even unprofessional, given that the victim was lying behind the wall they were next to—but he still asked Xing Conglian, “Why didn’t you let me look at the accident scene?”

This was a fragile test. A kind of test that was common among people who were in love. People who were carried away by love used these questions to test the other’s mind, hoping to get something that would suddenly make them feel happy. In the past, he wouldn’t be so naïve, but now, like those little girls who were dazzled by love, he wanted to use this test to gain hope and was eager to get a response of love from Xing Conglian.

Even if he saw traces of wavering or love in Xing Conglian’s eyes, it would give him great comfort. The desire for love that only little girls had could make him forget the pain, because love was the greatest refuge.

But, alas, this was Xing Conglian, and such a response would be out of character for him.

His gaze was still calm and peaceful, like a deep pool in the mountains. He said, “Because, this time, you don’t need to look at it.”

“What?”

“It’s fine if it’s only me.”

In an instant, Lin Chen understood what Xing Conglian meant. When Xu Haozhen committed suicide in the previous case, Xing Conglian didn’t have time to rush to his side to witness the tragedy on his behalf. Now, he was here, and he should have seen it.

Although it wasn’t romantic, it was better than romantic.

Lin Chen found it funny. He brought his hot drink towards him and found it was hot cocoa, the kind he had ordered for Wang Chao.

“A friend of mine said that sweets can release dopamine in the brain, which can make you feel better.”

“Your friend is very wise.”

“Indeed.” Xing Conglian looked at him as he responded solemnly.

Lin Chen took a sip of his hot cocoa, feeling a little embarrassed. “Actually, you don’t have to be like this. I’m not the kind of person who never forgets and continues to torture myself whenever I witness a tragedy. I don’t have such lofty ideas of saving the world…”

“I’ve heard similar words last time. What’s wrong with you?” Xing Conglian’s words didn’t sound harsh at all, but it was probably more like he was reprimanding a subordinate. There was no emphasis in his tone. Just looking at his eyes when he said, “What’s wrong with you?” was enough to make Lin Chen honestly explain clearly.

“Some PTSD. I just need to take it easy,” Lin Chen replied.

“You’re blaming yourself, very badly.”

Xing Conglian was serious. He was sharp and saw right through the problem.

“Self-blame is inevitable. If I didn’t blame myself, I’d have antisocial personality disorder.”

Lin Chen gently turned the paper cup in his hand. He still had a pretend relaxed smile.

However, Xing Conglian couldn’t smile. He had never seen Lin Chen like this.

Lin Chen was wearing the same white shirt he had always worn for ten years. His cuffs were rolled up, and the collar buttons on his shirt were unbuttoned, revealing his clavicle, which made him look a little thin. He was leaning against him in a disheveled manner, holding a paper cup with his head lowered, and he didn’t even dare to look him directly in the eyes. Xing Conglian couldn’t tell what was on Lin Chen’s mind.

He remembered that after Xu Haozhen committed suicide, Lin Chen told him that he knew he wasn’t a saint and couldn’t save everyone in the world, so he wouldn’t blame himself too much, but this current situation was completely different from that day. Lin Chen was blaming himself, severely. He blamed himself so deeply that it made his bones ache. If he could exchange his life for the girl lying on the hospital bed, it was possible he would be willing.

“You have no obligation to assume this kind of responsibility,” Xing Conglian said.

“Why not?” Lin Chen almost laughed, though it could hardly be considered a laugh. This was the first time Xing Conglian had seen that Lin Chen’s eyes were red. “This is completely my fault. It’s different from when Xu Haozhen committed suicide. Her psychological problems were something I couldn’t judge at the time, but Li Jingtian is different. After knowing what he had done to Xu Ran, I should have read the file immediately, but I didn’t. What am I doing? Sitting in a store eating ice cream and getting confused by all those comments online. I didn’t understand what was going on at all…”

Although Lin Chen’s eyes were flushed, he spoke every word calmly, as if he were expounding facts from a distance. The object of his accusation seemed not to be himself, but a stranger in a parallel world.

At this time, saying anything was useless. Xing Conglian shook his head. He took the paper cup in Lin Chen’s hand and pulled him in for a hug.

Of course, hugging was a form of comfort and encouragement between comrades-in-arms, but Lin Chen was completely different from the other comrades he had hugged before. Lin Chen leaned against his arms respectfully; his body was ridiculously cold, like a piece of ice or an inorganic substance. He just heard him mumbling about his mood, like on repeat, about his feelings.

“And then what? I was completely entranced by Li Jingtian. You know, for psychologists, this kind of perverted, abnormal individual seems to be extremely attractive to us by nature. Yes, I looked at Li Jingtian and kept analyzing him over and over again. From his fingertips to every strand of his hair. I was excited. I felt that I had caught all the key points, and this proud excitement made me completely ignore Xu Ran. I ignored the real victim. How could this not be my fault? This is my fault… I’m sorry. I’m really sorry…”

Lin Chen’s dull voice sounded in his ears. He heard Lin Chen keep talking, and those whispers seemed to penetrate his heart. It was strange that Lin Chen was clearly blaming himself and confessing to the mistakes he thought he made, but Xing Conglian felt those words were beautiful, just like a rose that was red like fire, a rose that was white like snow. Kind people were truly kind to their bones, and Lin Chen was so beautiful that it almost broke his heart.

Finally, after Lin Chen had apologized multiple times, the hoarse confiding stopped.

Xing Conglian felt strange. The lights were bright, and the surroundings were silent. He was hugging someone of the same sex as he stood in an empty corridor. This hug that was supposed to comfort comrades became complicated. It was mixed with heartache, pain, despair, self-blame, and other unspeakable emotions, and, at the time, he didn’t notice, love.

Xing Conglian felt his shoulder get wet. He lowered his head and looked at Lin Chen’s black hair.

Many times, later on, when Xing Conglian recalled this scene right now, he realized that at this moment, he should have lowered his head and kissed the top of Lin Chen’s head.

But at that time, he just said, “We’ll catch him. I promise.”

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