Lai Xiang’s temper had been quite foul recently. His elderly parents, wife, and children were all well, but no one could tolerate him not coming home for half a month straight.
Since being assigned to tail Ma Delu, Lai Xiang had spent most of his days following this "big shot" around the city. Of course, if his partner had been one of his old colleagues, the brothers wouldn’t have been so lonely. But Mei Qian maliciously assigned him three fresh graduates from the police academy, which was rather unfair.
Like now, one of the rookies, whose name he couldn't recall, hadn't slept for over a day and a night, yet his eyes were still as wide as brass bells.
“Captain Lai, a business vehicle just drove in and then drove out,” the rookie reported to Lai Xiang, who had just woken up after an hour of sleep.
“Oh, so and so, you’ve worked hard. Is the old man inside?” Lai Xiang asked.
“No, only a girl got into the car. The old man is still in his office,” the rookie replied. “My name is Lu Lu, Captain Lai!”
“Alright, alright, I’ll remember it someday,” Lai Xiang said, stretching in the car. “Any other situations?”
“Um, nothing else, but after the business vehicle drove away, a motorcycle seemed to have followed,” Lu Lu said.
“Keep a close eye on this old man!” Lai Xiang ordered. “Drive the car over to the courtyard. We can’t see his office window from here.”
The silver Jetta flashed its headlights, repositioning itself.
“Give me the binoculars!” Lai Xiang rolled down the car window, staring at a dark window on the third floor, west side, of the building opposite, and extended his hand to Lu Lu.
“Captain Lai, this old man, might he have already gone to bed? The office lights haven’t been on since it got dark.”
Lu Lu handed the binoculars to Lai Xiang.
“Brainless, can’t they just draw the curtains?” Lai Xiang glanced at Lu Lu helplessly. “We’ve been following him for over half a month. This old guy is very cautious. He always takes a car when he goes out, and his own car at that. See, after his driver dropped him off this afternoon, he hasn’t come back to pick him up. This means he has no intention of going out.”
After speaking, Lai Xiang ignored Lu Lu and focused intently on Ma Delu’s window through the binoculars.
Truthfully, Ma Delu’s office building was just an old four-story building. Although located in a bustling urban area, it was eerily quiet in the dark. After watching for a long time, Lai Xiang was about to put away the binoculars and order takeout, but just as he was about to lower them, a beam of light suddenly appeared in the lens.
“Something’s happening, turn on the camera!”
It turned out the dark window of Ma Delu’s office had suddenly been opened, and a figure stood by the window. Upon discovering this, Lai Xiang, as usual, instructed Lu Lu to turn on the camera connected to the binoculars.
Although the face was unclear, the silhouette alone indicated that the person by the window was Ma Delu.
“What is this old guy up to?” A sudden sense of alarm flashed through Lai Xiang’s mind.
Ma Delu in the window seemed drunk, his hands resting on the glass, his head not raised. Suddenly, a stick appeared from behind the curtain and smashed down hard onto Ma Delu’s head.
One hit, two hits, three hits!
Within a mere one or two seconds, after suffering continuous blows, Ma Delu slowly collapsed.
“Not good! Something’s wrong!” In fact, the moment the stick suddenly appeared from behind the curtain, Lai Xiang had sensed something was amiss, but the attack was so sudden that even he, an experienced detective, took two or three seconds to react.
“Ma Delu attacked! You two behind the car, one inform the station, the other keep watch outside.” Lai Xiang put down the binoculars, yanked open the car door, and shouted as he got out, “Lu Lu, turn on your body camera and come with me!”
The back gate was still unlocked, just secured with a few chains. Lai Xiang, gun in one hand, opened the iron gate with the other, and led Lu Lu through the courtyard into the office building.
Inside the first floor of the office building, the corridor lights seemed to be out, plunged into darkness so thick one couldn’t see their hand. Lai Xiang fumbled his way to the stairs and went up to the second floor. The corridor on the second floor was still dark, so Lai Xiang went directly to the third floor. The corridor on the third floor was slightly better than the other two floors, with only the light at the stairwell illuminated. A crack in the door of Ma Delu’s office on the west side of the corridor revealed a sliver of light emanating from within.
Lai Xiang stood outside Ma Delu’s office, gun raised, signaling Lu Lu behind him to remain quiet. He was certain he had arrived in time and the killer hadn’t escaped yet.
“Bang!”
Seeing that Lu Lu, on his first operational mission, had calmed down, Lai Xiang gritted his teeth, gripped his gun, and kicked open the office door, rushing in first.
“Don’t move! Hands up!” Upon entering the office, Lai Xiang first saw a person holding an iron rod, standing stiffly beside the desk. At this person’s feet, Ma Delu lay on the ground, a large pool of blood flowing from his head.
“Put down your weapon! Turn around slowly!” Lai Xiang casually turned on the room’s main light and, noticing the person standing there hadn’t seemed to notice his entry, issued another warning.
“Clang!” The standing person finally reacted, dropping the iron rod to the ground.
“Good. Now, turn around slowly and put your hands on your head!” Lai Xiang said fiercely.
The standing person finally moved. He first raised his hands, one of which was covered in blood. He then slowly turned around, looking at Lai Xiang with an innocent expression.
“You’re, Su Tang?” Lai Xiang never expected the killer he had caught red-handed in the room to be… Su Xia’s orphaned daughter, Ping An’s apprentice, Su Tang!
Seeing Su Tang cooperatively raise her hands, Lu Lu, still buzzing with excitement, didn’t notice Lai Xiang’s astonishment. He lunged forward and tackled Su Tang to the ground.
Hands restrained, knee on back, head pressed to the ground.
These were standard police takedown maneuvers. Lai Xiang, only realizing what had happened afterward, quickly stopped Lu Lu, who was about to search Su Tang after pinning her down. Regardless, shiny handcuffs were already on Su Tang’s wrists.
“Be gentle with your hands! Get off!” Lai Xiang kicked Lu Lu off Su Tang, then holstered his gun and carefully helped Su Tang up.
“Girl, why are you here?” Lai Xiang observed Su Tang at close range and noticed she had no expression. Was she scared? Her large eyes seemed devoid of spirit, as if… sleepwalking?
Putting Su Tang’s condition aside, Lai Xiang placed her to the side and quickly rushed to Ma Delu’s side. He felt for a pulse and found no sign of life. He examined the wound closely; it was clearly caused by a blunt object. He then glanced at the iron rod on the ground, its end covered in blood.
“Su Tang!” Lai Xiang, realizing the gravity of the situation, turned around and shouted, “What exactly happened?”
“Speak up!”
“Captain Lai, the evidence is clear. What more is there to say?” Lu Lu said excitedly. “She killed him!”
Lai Xiang looked up at Lu Lu and said helplessly, “You know nothing! What do you know? Do you know who she is?”
“Who?” Lu Lu asked curiously.
“That’s enough! Search the other rooms. See where everyone in this building has gone. Where are those two bodyguards? The doorman? Find them!” Lai Xiang clearly didn’t want to talk further with Lu Lu and issued new orders.
“Captain Lai, I just searched. The two bodyguards are next door, but they were drunk,” one of the rookies assigned to report the situation appeared in the office, looking somewhat nervous.
“Why did you come up here?” Lai Xiang was annoyed to see a rookie acting on his own initiative. “Who told you to act alone? How dare you come in by yourself? Was your brain kicked by a donkey! Did you bring your body camera!”
“No, I didn’t turn it on, what’s wrong?” This rookie clearly didn’t understand why Lai Xiang was scrutinizing these details at this moment.
“What’s wrong? Now it’s a mess. If that important person gets angry about this case, he’ll make a big deal out of it!” Lai Xiang glanced at Su Tang, who was sitting on the floor without speaking. “Grandma, why are you here? What are you doing here?”
“Uncle Lai, I, killed someone? I, seem to have… killed someone…” Su Tang, her gaze vacant, finally spoke…
“Boom!” Outside the window, a spring thunderclap roared without warning.
Spring thunderstorms always carried a chilling aura. Ping An, without an umbrella, got out of the car and found the area outside Ma Delu’s office building already swarming with police cars. In the pouring rain, about a dozen officers were setting up a cordon and directing traffic. Following behind were Xiang Wanfeng, Gao Xiaofei, Mei Qian, and Hei Dou, who entered the scene flashing their badges. Ping An, after staring blankly in the rain for a while, finally remembered to go in, but was stopped by a police officer.
“Let him in!” Gao Xiaofei, walking ahead, shouted back.
Whether it was due to the slippery rain or numb legs, the cordon was opened, but Ping An couldn’t move his feet.
A hand suddenly reached out, tightly gripping Ping An’s.
“Don’t panic. We all know that child Su Tang will be fine,” Lin Dang, also without an umbrella in the heavy rain, whispered reassuringly.
“Let’s go!” Holding Lin Dang’s hand, Ping An finally walked into the courtyard.
Inside the building, the stairwell was illuminated by the bright searchlights brought by the police. Several officers, who looked familiar but whose names he couldn’t recall, were searching for something in the corridors and stairwells. Seeing Ping An arrive, they consciously cleared the way.