Lin Wan rubbed her forehead, letting out a sigh.
Lu Zheng asked, “Need my help? Or have you already identified suspects but lack solid evidence?”
Lin Wan shook her head, “We’ve indeed locked onto a few suspects, but we’re not sure who’s in charge now, and we don’t have concrete evidence to make arrests directly.”
“In that case, I’ll check who sent the letter,” Lu Zheng said. “You go handle the analysis. If I find anything, I’ll call you.”
“Like the body-dumping case?” Lin Wan couldn’t help but smile.
“Exactly, like that one,” Lu Zheng nodded.
They shared a smile, stood up together, and walked hand in hand out of the restaurant, heading toward the nearby Weizhi City Bureau.
“With you involved, I don’t even feel the thrill of solving cases anymore,” Lin Wan said helplessly. “If you were a police officer, your case-solving efficiency would be off the charts.”
After all, most criminals couldn’t counter-trace something like an aura. They couldn’t even conceal their own presence, so wouldn’t that make it easy for Lu Zheng to track them down?
“No way you’re tempting me to become a cop!”
“Tch, with your attendance record, no unit would take you!”
Laughing, they walked back to the city bureau. Lin Wan went inside to work, while Lu Zheng casually unlocked a shared bike on the roadside and leisurely pedalled southeast.
…
“Was the letter delivered?”
“It was. I saw Lin Wan take it myself.”
“Good. We didn’t manage to kill her last time, and we can’t stage another accident too soon. It’d be too coincidental and might expose the driver, giving them evidence. So, we sent the letter, hoping she’ll take the hint.”
“Will she listen?”
“Hmph! Takeuchi Mingmei is dead. If she doesn’t want to end up like that Japanese cop, she’d better wise up. We’re helping the Japanese launder money. Their police can’t do anything about it, so what’s it to her?”
“Exactly! Exactly!”
“Alright, head back. Be careful not to get exposed.”
“Don’t worry, I’m being cautious.”
…
An ordinary-looking middle-aged man left the office, leaving a portly man sitting in a swivel chair.
Twirling a pen in his hand, he pondered for a moment, weighing his options. “No, this ledger can’t stay here. It’s too risky.”
He stood and walked to a safe in the corner of the office, taking a full minute to open it.
“This woman’s closing in too fast. I need to hide this ledger first.”
The man struggled to bend down, pulling out a ledger and some documents from the safe. He glanced at the handgun inside and took it out as well.
“First, I’ll send it to…”
As he turned to leave, he suddenly noticed the office door opposite him.
It was gone!
“What… what?”
The fat man blinked hard, staring intently, but it was still gone. Where the office door should have been was now a wall.
Thinking he was seeing things, he rubbed his eyes and strained to look again, only to see a plain white office wall.
“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!”
His heart began to race, his body felt ice-cold, and his brain momentarily starved of oxygen, leaving his mind blank.
A thought flashed through his mind, and he whipped around to look at the window on his right.
Gone!
It was just a wall!
“Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!”
Clutching his chest, he placed the documents on the desk, then grabbed his phone to make a call.
“Hiss… hiss…”
The phone suddenly turned into a green snake, coiling around his hand.
“What the hell!”
He flung the snake away.
“Thud!”
The snake hit the floor, coiled up, and hissed at him.
“What… what’s going on?”
Sweating profusely, his face pale, he stammered, “Am I hallucinating?”
Though he suspected the snake was his phone, he didn’t dare approach to check. All he could think about was escaping the office.
Sidestepping the snake, he reached the spot where the door should have been and felt for the handle.
Smooth. Nothing but a white wall.
“This is the door… this is the door…”
Muttering to himself, nearly in tears, he cried, “What the hell is going on?”
He groped around but found nothing, then frantically rushed to where the floor-to-ceiling window should have been.
White wall! White wall! Still a white wall!
He pounded the wall, making dull thuds.
At the same time, he felt colder and colder, shivering uncontrollably.
“Help!”
“Help! Can anyone hear me?”
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
But there was no response. The employees outside, who were supposed to cover for him, seemed not to hear their boss’s cries.
“Could it be… could it be…”
His mind raced, instinctively thinking of supernatural events and…
“No way! Have I been chosen for some main god space?”
Muttering to himself, terrified, he trembled and cried, “No, I don’t want to do missions! I’m fine in my world! I don’t want to die!”
…
A while later.
“Boss, are you okay? These two officers want to see you…”
“Put the gun down!”
Two sharp commands rang out, and two dark gun barrels pointed at the fat man.
Dazed, he opened his eyes to find himself sitting behind his large desk, documents in front of him, his phone to his left, and in his right hand…
A handgun!
“What… what’s happening?”
He looked up to see the office door, which had been a white wall moments ago, reappear. His pretty secretary stood there, looking terrified, glancing at him and the gun in his hand while giving him subtle signals.
Besides her, two officers had their guns trained on him. Behind them was a sharp, professional-looking woman in crisp attire: Lin Wan, the one he’d sent the threatening letter to.
Stunned, he sensed a change in the light to his right. Turning slightly, he saw the office’s east floor-to-ceiling window reappear, with sunlight streaming through the blinds, bringing a long-lost warmth.
“Was I… asleep? Was it all… a dream?”
Feeling like crying, he wondered how he’d fallen asleep and had such a vivid nightmare.
At the worst possible time!
The problem was… he still felt inexplicably cold. Was it the aftereffect of the dream, or was his heart chilled by the sudden appearance of the police?
He was trembling…
“Put the gun down!” a male officer shouted again.
“Boss…”
His secretary, clutching the doorframe, stammered nervously, “We… we knocked for ages, but you didn’t answer. I… I thought something happened to you…”
It was all over!
“Thud!”
His hand loosened unconsciously, and the gun fell onto the desk. He looked at the documents laid out in plain sight, then at the gun, and finally at Lin Wan. Forcing a smile, his voice broke with a sob, “Officer, I want to turn myself in!”
