Previous | TOC | Next |
At nine o'clock in the evening, the street lamps were gradually turned on, and a bright moon hung mid-air in the city sky.
After
a busy day, Lu Junchi returned to his rented apartment. After he got his job,
he hadn’t bought a house and had instead been renting. His parents had already
moved abroad, and only he and his brother were left in the country.
Ever
since this case started, Lu Junchi often had to work overtime and could only go
home very late. Today could be considered relatively early.
Before
going upstairs, Lu Junchi glanced sideways. The billboard advertisement
downstairs had been contracted by a public welfare organization. It was not a
star or a movie poster, but an enlarged picture of a girl. The girl's eyebrows
and eyes were slightly curved and she smiled happily. A few words were written
beside it - "Looking for Pei Weiwei".
At
this point, the girl had been missing for nearly a hundred days. Although many
people had searched for her, they never found her.
Lu
Junchi still remembered, because he handled the case.
Three
months ago, his Major Crimes Unit received three related cases, including Pei
Weiwei's information. The police suspected that Pei Weiwei had also been killed
by Song Rongjiang.
Read on Otaku translations. Any other site is a no-no.
At
that time, Lu Junchi led the team and soon caught the murderer, who admitted
the criminal facts of the other two cases, but flatly denied Pei Weiwei’s case.
After
the arrest of the suspect, the case was quickly transferred to other criminal
investigation teams for investigation. It no longer belonged to the category of
serious crimes, and Lu Junchi could no longer intervene. As there was no
evidence to *implicate him, the police finally could not confirm whether Pei
Weiwei's disappearance was committed by the same murderer.
Show/Hide Note
*Lit – to point out mistakes or weaknesses for correctionNow,
the criminal had already been tried and was about to be executed through the
death penalty, but Pei Weiwei had still not been found…
Lu
Junchi walked upstairs, opened the door to his apartment,one-room and turned on the
lights. This was a small one room household, with only one room and one living
room. The kitchen was small and exquisite. But the whole place was very clean
and neat. *Everything was clear and in good order. On one of the walls, he stuck
a white paperboard, which he used as a whiteboard.
Show/Hide Note
*Everything clear and in good order (idiom) – neat and tidyIt
was divided into different areas and posted with different materials for each
case. The lower right corner was the latest amputation case, while the upper
left corner was about Pei Weiwei.
That
case had been handed over long ago, but Lu Junchi had continued to investigate.
In the past, he had no spare time for the case, and he was also looking around
to collect all kinds of relevant information, hoping to find *spider’s thread
and horse track.
Show/Hide Note
*spider’s thread and horse track – tiny hints/cluesLu
Junchi remembered the last meeting with Tan Ju.
More
than half a month ago, he sorted out a document about the results of the case
investigation, in addition, he systematically listed the data on the doubtful
points, went to the General Administration and handed it to Tan Ju.
At
that time, he explained to Tan Ju: "Tan Ju, although I'm not in charge of
this case, I still summarized the information. I hope I can help those who are
still pursuing..."
Tan
Ju received the thick stack of materials: "You have the heart for a
Marine." Then he sighed, and said in one breath, "After Song
Rongjiang was arrested, the task force that searched for Pei Weiwei did a lot of
fieldwork and invested a lot of manpower and material resources, but it was
always at a *bottleneck,. As for this case, he had also been trying to find a way
recently, hoping to make a breakthrough in this matter."
Show/Hide Note
Lit: neck of a bottle. Fig: bottleneck – a problem that impedes progressTan
Ju said tactfully. In reality, the team that had continued to search could not
find a trace of the girl. They applied twice for it to be classified as a missing
person case, but Tan Ju did not approve.
However,
that team had already been in a state of half-giving up. They had tried their
best to find more clues to no avail and could now only wait for time to pass
and for people to forget everything.
Lu
Junchi said: "I hope I can do my part. For me, the search for the missing
girl is not over."
Maybe
this case would become an unsolved case, which would take years to be solved.
As long as the girl was not found one day, he would not take it out of his
file.
Tan
Ju looked at Lu Junchi's firm eyes. He understood that without clues over time,
everyone's morale would be diminished, but there are always people who persisted.
Tan
Ju looked at the thick stack of materials. In the end, Lu Junchi did not rule
out Song Rongjiang as a suspect. He even marked the fuel consumption of Song
Rongjiang's car every day from the time before Pei Weiwei's disappearance to
the time of his arrest, as well as the location that the surveillance cameras
along the road where he could appear.
Tan
Ju could see that this data was very detailed, and a lot of analysis was in
place. He was somewhat moved: "Captain Lu, I think this data will be very
helpful for the follow-up search. As for the rest, I will think of a means.”
If
the conventional method was completely useless, he would make some
unconventional attempts.
Lu
Junchi nodded and stood up: "Tan Ju, if there is nothing else, I will go
first."
Tan
Ju suddenly raised his head: "By the way, Captain Lu, I remember you live
in a rented apartment?"
Lu
Jun hesitated for a moment: "Yes, it's near the General Administration,
but my lease is about to expire."
"How
much longer?"
"Less
than a month."
Tan
Ju nodded: "Then you should go back and pack up. Don't rent a new apartment.
I’ll make some arrangements here. I will inform you when they are ready."
Lu
Junchi did not know what Tan Ju’s so-called arrangements would be. Now that the
check-out date was approaching, he would start to clean up.
In
the middle of the case, there was a little deadlock these days, so he should
tidy up a little more. If he became busier in the coming days, he may have to
stay up *all night, and there will be no time to pack up his things.
Show/Hide Note
*Lit: Overnight until daybreak (idiom) – all night long/ day and nightSince
he took over as a member of the Major Crimes Unit two years ago, Lu Junchi has
sealed his private life. He has no leisure, entertainment, movies, games, so
much so that apart from formal dinners with his colleagues, he’s pushed aside
all other unnecessary social interactions.
Several
leaders once wanted to introduce their daughters and relatives to him, but Lu
Junchi tactfully declined.
In
addition to eating, sleeping, and exercising every day, he was only involved in
those cases. Others said that the Major Crimes Unit was solving more cases, but
it really depended on time, perseverance, courage and hard work.
Lu
Junchi reached out and began to take down the files of those files from the
wall. When he reached the middle, Lu Junchi stopped for a moment. A large piece
of the wall was all about *fine sand cases. However, he found out the least
relevant information about this case.
Show/Hide Note
(细沙)fine sand – I’m thinking this is probably a censored word for drugs? I’m not sure. Or it could just be about sand. Maybe there’s some sort of scam going on about sand. Anyone who has an idea please comment down below.That
was the case he wanted to understand most, but it was so like a mythical beast…
Lu
Junchi took down the stack of materials and packed them in boxes.
Tired
of tidying up, he sat on the bay window and picked up the glass bottle on the
bedside.
Lu
Junchi turned off the light, and the bottle in his hand lit up. It was a whole
bottle of luminous stars. He counted them repeatedly, ninety-nine in total.
The
curtains were not drawn, and the moonlight shone through the gaps in the gauze
curtains. Outside was the splendid light of the city nightscape.
Read on Otaku translations. Any other site is a no-no.
Under
the moonlight, he held the glass bottle in his palm. It gave off a bright
light as if it was filled with fireflies.
Pei
Weiwei's case, as well as the case of the severed limbs... A lot of things were
pressing down on his chest.
During
the day, he was busy and had many things to face and solve. But on this
deserted night, he thought that if *that person was around him, these
cases would have *easily been solved.
Show/Hide Note
*Lit: That person – Fig: The person you’ve been looking for; Mr. Right *wink wink*Show/Hide Note
*Lit: Bamboo splits when it meets the knife’s edge (idiom) – Fig: Easily solvedThe
ringing of his mobile phone suddenly interrupted Lu Junchi's thoughts, and he
answered the phone.
"Brother...
I had an appointment to play basketball with my classmates in the evening. I
just came back from taking a bath and saw your message. What’s the matter ah?"
Lu Haochu's youthful voice came from the phone.
Lu
Haochu studied in the Information Technology and Network Security department of
Huadu Police Academy, specifically video detection technology and was currently
in his 3rd year. With the gradual popularization of video surveillance
technology, surveillance videos monitoring had become one of the most important
pieces of evidence and an important direction of police reconnaissance. This
major had only been established for a few years, and the first batch of
graduates were snatched away by local police stations as soon as they left the
university… supply did not meet demand.
Lu
Junchi said, "I want to ask you about someone. I went to your school the
other day and met a strange teacher." Recently, he was considering the
candidate for the consultant position of the Major Crimes Unit and thought that
this teacher was very suitable.
Lu
Junchi found it a little difficult to explain. Since that meeting, the
emaciated figure had been lingering in his mind.
After
Lu Junchi came back from the Huadu Police Academy that day, he had already
checked the information on Su Hui. The information was simple, ordinary, and
standard, conforming to the norms of society. He could hardly see anything he
wanted to know.
Lu
Junchi considered again and again, but decided to ask his younger brother who
was studying in the Chinese Police Academy. Maybe he would know more. So, in
the afternoon, he sent a message to Lu Haochu. Unexpectedly, he was able to
call back.
"Who
is it?"
"A
teacher named Su Hui seems to be teaching the sociology of crime (criminology)."
"Teacher
Su? Did you see Teacher Su in our school?" Lu Haochu's voice was excited.
"Teacher Su is the most popular teacher in our school. If you want to
apply for his public class, you must grab it by the pinch, which is more
difficult than grabbing Taobao's flash sale!"
Lu
Junchi did not expect Su Hui's evaluation from his younger brother would be
completely different from that of Director Liao, moreover, it was at two
extremes: "Is this Teacher Su very famous in your school?"
Lu
Haochu continued to get excited: "Not only is he famous, but also female
students who want to pursue Teacher Su can line up from the east gate to the
west gate of the school!"
Lu
Junchi asked, "Why? Because he is handsome?"
"Our
Chinese police girls don't judge people by their looks, mainly because Teacher
Su speaks well in class." Speaking of this, Lu Haochu explained,
"Teacher Su's class is not only interesting but also different from other
teachers. The cases he talks about are very stimulating and well-analyzed..."
Lu
Junchi hesitated for a moment, and then asked what he had heard from Director
Liao: "But I heard someone say that he did not take his teaching seriously,
and his academic work was average."
"Alas,
where did you hear the rumor?! Was it said by the old scholars of the criminology
academy? I knew they were not pleased with Teacher Su because his students’
grades dumped theirs several streets behind! Really, when Teacher Su is lecturing,
he is always deadly earnest and serious. The more you listened to his analysis,
the more fascinated you become. Hearing his lectures, people would change their
inner understanding of human evil."
"This
Teacher Su seems to be in poor health?" Lu Junchi asked again.
Read on Otaku translations. Any other site is a no-no.
"Yes...
Teacher Su has poor eyesight, is deaf in one ear, his voice is hoarse and husky,
he, therefore, needs a microphone to teach, and often coughs, so he can’t be tired...
So, our student union has set up a special help group to help Teacher Su with picking
up express delivery and cleaning, etc..." Lu Haochu unexpectedly got angry
when he mentioned this, "but I've only been in line twice!”
“.…”
Lu
Junchi was a little speechless. He was too familiar with Lu Haochu. His younger
brother was spoiled by his parents. He is the only one who didn't help when the
oil was being poured into the bottle. He never lifted a finger at home.
How
can such a person rush to clean up after others?
"Are
you rushing to wait in line to wait on people?"
"No,
no, no! Brother, you don't understand. Anyway, he is very popular with our students…”
Lu Haochu said coquettishly, "Aiya, brother, If you are able to get
Teacher. Su’s WeChat in the future, can you pass on a message for me? Just say,
I’m a third-year student in the Chinese Police Academy. I’ve attended his
public class. If I have any questions, I want to ask him, can he add me? Or you
can ask him to make a list of books for me..."
Lu
Junchi now fully understands that his younger brother was a fan of Teacher Su
and a hardcore fan at that.
Just
as they were talking about this, Lu Junchi's mobile phone suddenly rang again.
He said to Lu Haochu, "Wait, I have something to do here. I'll hang up
first and talk to you later."
He
cut the phone, and Xing Jing's voice came from the other side: "Captain
Lu, the results of the micro evidence test you applied for came out, and we
found a small amount of black substance in the nails of the three
hands..."
"What
is it?" Lu Jun hurriedly asks.
"It's
a trace of coffee powder."
Coffee
powder? Lu Junchi frowned slightly. It seemed that there was a connection
between the victims.
Xing
Jing said: "In addition, we also found some strange things. Captain Lu
should also know that we followed Wu Jian here to check, and we found traces
left by the suspected murderer on three vehicles near the body where the remnant
was found. These traces include fingerprints and some other samples, but...
according to our current results, these traces belong to different
people."
“……”
Lu
Junchi frowned slightly.
Different
people?
Is
there more than one suspect in this case? Are these limbs related to a crime
syndicate?
Or
did they swipe the car owner's information by mistake?
But
it shouldn't be. The information left on these three cars had certain
particularity…
Lu
Junchi's expression became serious: "I will come up with a plan immediately."
The author has something to say:
Later,
Lu Junchi remembered that Tan Ju was the
leader of the Municipal Bureau who like to play matchmaker for young people, and
was known as the "Old Moon" of the Municipal Bureau.
Tan
Ju: No, it's really an accident
TN:
I wish I had a Teacher Su in my life. Coz all my teachers were boring asf and made learning a chore rather than something to enjoy. Esp. the Maths and Chemistry. I failed that sh*t😭🤧
Thanks for the chapter
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome 😊
ReplyDeleteThe "fine sand" thing is described later in the story. It's indeed just the sand (more specifically, artificially colored sand used in DIY)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for this💜
Delete