Chapter 44: I’ll Be Waiting for You in the Room (2/2)

“What are you talking about?” she asked. “Why would I need to book a room just to talk to you? No, there are other people waiting for you inside. I’m just a messenger tasked to bring you here.”

She then knocked on the door, and it was immediately answered by a male voice saying, “Come in!”

That voice sounded very familiar…

Huang Xiaotao pushed the door open, then she saluted and said in a respectful tone, “Sir, I’ve brought Song Yang here.”

“Bring him in!”

As soon as I heard this voice clearly, I knew who it was. It turned out to be Sun Tiger. I wanted to curse him so bad. Why did he need to book a room just to speak to me! He even led me to get carried away with my imagination and I lost my appetite because of that.

But when I entered the room, I realized that there were two other people there besides the Sun Tiger. One was Captain Lin who I met last time. I didn’t know the other person. He was about fifty years old. His face looked cold and expressionless, he had thick caterpillar eyebrows and two deep wrinkles down the sides of his mouth, which made him look angry, and a pair of glasses rested atop the bridge of his nose. Overall, it was difficult to read this person’s expressions. One wouldn’t know what to make of him.

We were in a tea room, and the three people sat on the sofa tasting tea. Sun Tiger was on the left, Captain Lin sat on the right, they seemed to be accompanying the third person. It seemed that this man was a high official. It’s no wonder that I sensed such an authoritative aura around him!

Sun Tiger greeted me and patted me on the shoulder.

“I haven't seen you for a long time, kiddo!” he said with a smile. “You’ve grown into a man now! Come here, let me introduce you, this is Captain Lin, and this is the Chief of the Provincial Public Security Department, Director-General Cheng.”

Director-General Cheng poured tea into a cup and said, “Have a seat, Song Yang. Don’t be so formal, just call me Old Cheng.”

I’d never presume to do that, of course.

“It’s an honor to meet you, Director-General,” I said. “What can I do for you?”

Director-General Cheng looked me up and down and smiled, “You’re a nice-looking young man, and a great talent too! Sit down and have a taste of this Longjing tea.”

I sat down and took a sip of the tea. Although I wasn’t much of a tea connoisseur, I was pleasantly surprised by the taste of the tea, which was sweet and fragrant. It was the best cup of tea I had ever had.

I noticed that there were three thick files under the glass coffee table. Director-General Cheng took them into his hands and tapped on them. “Song Yang, I’ve read the reports of the two cases that you solved, and you did it beautifully. Just like your grandfather did many years ago!”

I was speechless for a while.

“Director-General, do you know my grandfather?” I asked.

He smiled and said, “I used to cooperate with your grandfather in several cases. I heard that he was killed three years ago. The news hit me very hard. I was really afraid that his death meant all the knowledge passed down since the time of Song Ci would be lost forever. Fortunately, it turns out that he had a successor. And from what I’ve seen, you have the potential to be even greater than your grandfather!”

People who are in high positions were usually good at flattery. I didn’t know how much the Director-General knew my grandfather, but I knew that what he said was simply a compliment made out of good manners.

“You’re too kind, Director-General,” I said.

“Song Yang,” he said. “You could probably guess why I’ve deliberately come to see you today.” He pulled out the file at the bottom of the stack and handed it to me. He said, “I have a case here, and the twenty-two experts under my command could do nothing to solve it. It seems that I’d have to rely on one of Song Ci’s descendants again!”

I opened the file and scanned through it quickly. A family of four died in a bizarre and unexplainable fashion. There were a few photos of the crime scene, and the best way to describe it was bloody.

But a messy and bloody crime scene didn’t necessarily mean that the case was difficult to solve. Jiangbei Daggers, for example, did his job so cleanly that it seemed his victims were only sleeping. Most of the time, the simpler the crime appeared at first glance, the harder it was to solve.

“What is special about this case?” I asked.

“As expected from an expert,” said Director-General Cheng, “You hit the nail on the head with your first question. At first glance, this case looked simple. But after some investigation, we hit a dead end, because it is simply a case that cannot be solved!”

“Why not?” I asked.

“Because there is no murderer in this case!” Director-General Cheng replied.

My eyes widened.

“A family of four killed each other in a room that was completely sealed,” explained Director-General Cheng. “We thought it was just an ordinary family tragedy, but the same thing happened again three days ago! If the exact same thing happened twice, wouldn’t you find it to be too bizarre to credit it to coincidence? Song Yang, apart from asking for your help, I could think of no other solution to solve this case. But, of course, if you don’t think you can solve it, then just say so, I won’t force you.”

I looked at the photos on my hand. This would be a challenging case to solve. However, I had confidence in myself. I believed that I could do it.

“You can trust me, Director-General,” I said, “I will definitely solve this case!” Previous ChapterNext Chapte