Chapter 8 - Jingxinyuan (1/2)

Just when everyone was betting on whether Xu Lan would or would not come out unscathed, he burst out of the door with a swagger and presented himself in front of everyone.

“Xiao Li!”

“Yes!” The slender young man from before immediately stood up after hearing his name being called out. Under Xu Lan’s direct gaze, the young man awkwardly massaged his own nose.

“Get your things in order. You’ll follow me to Jingxinyuan and have a look at the scene,” the no-nonsense Xu Lan immediately directed.

“Yes!” The moment Xiao Li realized it was serious business, he became extremely excited and immediately went to start the car.

“Sergeant Xu, where have you been? Why is it that you have a kid with you all of a sudden?” asked a lady in a ponytail.

“Oh, this is my son. I was absent cause I went back to fetch him,” he replied, after which he placed Bai Wu down and nudged him to greet everyone.

The child had always been worried that Xu Lan would not want him someday, but at that time, the man’s actions proclaimed to the world that Bai Wu was his son. Even if the boy himself wanted to run away, he could not!

“Come here, say hi to all these big brothers and big sisters,” Xu Lan squatted down and placed both hands on Bai Wu’s shoulders so that the boy would feel at ease.

“Hello everyone. My name is Bai Wu. I’m three and a half years old. This is my papa.”

That last sentence was said while looking at Xu Lan, and once again, tears started forming in those eyes. He tried hard to fight them back.

“Alright, alright, don’t cry. I’ll be going out with Xiao Li for a bit. You wait for me here. I’ll come back and pick you up again, okay?”

Xu Lan reassured Bai Wu while stroking the boy’s cheeks.

“I’ll wait for Papa!” Bai Wu replied determinedly.

Everyone in the police station got word that Sergeant Xu had brought back a cute little son, and they were all enchanted by the boy. They surrounded him and made him happy.

Having set off with Xiao Li, Xu Lan first requested to be sent to his rented room so he could take a look at it, after which they would go to Jingxinyuan. The room was an important detail, for it would be a big problem if he had nowhere to stay for the night.

“Xiao Li, the files say that the perpetrator first rapes his female victims, then he’ll slice off the victim’s breasts and sew her private parts shut?”

Xu Lan could not help but ask after seeing the information in his hands.

“Exactly, such a perverse character. Such madmen should be caught and locked up in prison. The sooner the better! The way they go out and harm people, it scares me just to think of it!”

A cold shiver came over Xiao Li as he replied Xu Lan. Earlier that morning, the young man had accompanied old man Hu to the crime scene. It was a spectacle too horrible to endure.

“Mm.”

That was all that Xu Lan responded with. He then diligently studied the case files, stopping only when Xiao Li told him that they had arrived.

“Sergeant Xu. You better prepare yourself.” The young man could not help but voice out another reminder as they stood outside the third floor entrance.

By then, the place had already been fenced off by police tape. As soon as the door was opened, the stench of blood came crashing toward them. Something caught their eyes. It was a pair of high heels that lay flat in the middle of the entrance.

Further down, there was a living room, complete with two sofas and an LCD television. There were also some plants and a large toffee chair!

Xu Lan’s pupils immediately contracted; then his eyes scanned across the room. His eyesight was better than it was the previous night, and yet, he realized that everything he saw the night prior was exactly the same as what he was seeing then!

In other words, he had witnessed a murder and let the criminal escape!

He smashed a fist into the sofa, and the bang gave Xiao Li a fright.

“Sergeant Xu, what is it? What did you notice?”

“Nothing, let’s go in and see,” Xu Lan said weakly.

The scene in the lady’s bedroom was even more gruesome, making their hair stand on end. Fresh blood stained the whole bed, soaked the mattress, and dripped to the floor: it was everywhere.

Naked on the bed was a young lady. Her legs were tied to the bed and spread open. Her once-bouncy chest was now flat – those voluptuous breasts had been cleanly sliced off by a sharp knife.

Xu Lan recalled the bloody scalpel. He was so near to the perpetrator.