Chapter Eighty-Nine: Apologies Are Dangerous, So Do Not Lie

I sat down in front of Wang Yazhuo. She was cradling a cup of hot coffee; the morning air was bitterly cold, and she looked half-frozen by it. When the little ghost saw her, it took the initiative and climbed onto the seat beside her. I had not expected Wang Yazhuo to care so much about tracking down Xuan Yi. At this hour, ordinary people had only just gotten out of bed, yet Wang Yazhuo had asked me to meet her.

We had only argued yesterday, and she seemed rather awkward, unable for a long while to say a single word. After taking a few sips of coffee, I asked what she had found out. She told me that just yesterday, one of her people had spotted Xuan Yi near the train station in Capital City.

Xuan Yi was no longer wearing a Daoist robe, and his hair had been cut short; he looked quite different from before. For some time, Wang Yazhuo’s people had been unable to find him, and she had assumed he had long since left Capital City. Yet just when she was about to give up, she found his trail again.

The Wang family had many eyes and ears scattered throughout Capital City, especially in places where all sorts of people passed through, like arcades and train stations. By the time Xuan Yi was discovered, it was already too late for the Wang family to stop him. Afterward, they investigated and found that he had boarded a train bound for Bay City.

Bay City lay in the southwest; the straight-line distance between it and Capital City was well over a thousand kilometers. If Xuan Yi took the train there, barring mishap, it would take about three days to arrive. I frowned, wondering why he was constantly on the move, and why he was leaving in such a conspicuous way.

Before, he had appeared outside the Wang family’s courtyard, clearly with some purpose in mind. He must have known that the people inside that courtyard were no ordinary folk. I had even speculated that Xuan Yi seemed to know we would use the Wang family to track him, which was why he had deliberately left clues behind.

After lying low for many days, Xuan Yi had turned up again at the train station. A place like that would surely be thick with the Wang family’s watchers. If he had truly meant to leave in secret, he could have hired a car and been out of Capital City long ago. Instead, he chose a place like the train station. I had an uneasy feeling that he had once again made sure we would find him.

"Do you have people in Bay City?" I asked.

Wang Yazhuo replied, "I’m not sure. I’ve already sent a few people after him to Bay City. I just hope we don’t lose his trail again. I told them that if they see Xuan Yi, they should tie him up on the spot."

If Xuan Yi had really done this on purpose, then his goal was probably to lure me to Bay City with him. But what that goal was, I could not guess. The Guman Tong case had not yet been solved, so I obviously could not leave Capital City now. Especially after I found my photograph inside the Guman Tong, I had even more reason to get to the bottom of it.

I thanked Wang Yazhuo. She really had gone to great lengths, sending people all the way to Bay City. I stood up, ready to leave. Wang Yazhuo asked if I wanted to sit a while longer, but I shook my head and said the case was still unresolved, so there was no time to waste. Wang Yazhuo shrugged and gently stroked the little ghost’s head. "When Brother Fang Han is free, I’ll come play with you again, okay?"

The little ghost nodded obediently. Wang Yazhuo looked at me and told me that Wang Jianming had already boarded the train back to Capital City and would arrive in two days. By then, she would not be so free. She left me her phone number and told me to contact her anytime if I needed help.

After thanking her once more, I left with the little ghost. When I reached the door, Wang Yazhuo called out to stop me again.

I turned back and saw her head lowered. Three words came from her lips. Though very soft, I heard them clearly: I am sorry.

She was apologizing for our quarrel yesterday. I had not expected a spoiled young lady, used to having her own way, to apologize to someone else. After thinking for a moment, I smiled slightly. "It’s all right."

Outside the cafe, the streets were already crowded.

The cafe was near the police academy. As I passed the academy gates, I heard the sounds of cadets drilling inside, and I felt a pang of emotion. If I had not been framed by Gong Yuanhai years ago, I should have been a police officer by now. It was just the time people were heading to work, and many lecturers and professors from the academy were walking inside.

I saw a crowd gathered around a sharply dressed man as they headed into the academy. He was full of energy and carried himself with confidence and pride. I recognized him. He was the youngest professor at the academy, not much older than I was, yet already a nationally renowned professor of criminal investigation. He was often invited by the police to participate in investigations as an expert, and had solved countless cold cases. Everyone called him Professor Li.

If there was anyone at the academy whom I admired, it was this young Professor Li. The little ghost asked what I was looking at. I shook my head and said that man was formidable. The little ghost took my hand. "Brother Fang Han will be even more formidable."

Its words left me feeling both bitter and warmed at once.

I led the little ghost away and called Chen Fan. Coincidentally, the police investigation had made further progress. Since yesterday, they had been examining the guest lists of the hotels Zhou Sheng had changed between, and this morning they finally found a clue.

The police discovered that the same hotels Zhou Sheng had stayed in had also been used by the actress known as Z, and the times of their stays were very close together. In other words, less than a day after actress Z changed hotels, Zhou Sheng moved into that same hotel. When actress Z first arrived in Capital City, she had been staying in a hotel; only later did the crew rent her an apartment. A bird on a branch.

A thought flashed through my mind. Chen Fan told me the police had already gone to those hotels to ask questions. They suspected Zhou Sheng and actress Z had some connection, so they wanted to see whether the two had ever had contact there. Because of actress Z’s status, and to avoid unnecessary negative social repercussions, the police were being extremely cautious and planned to look into things thoroughly before approaching her.

As for Tang Jia, Chen Fan said she had gone early that morning to find Zhou Sheng’s parents.

That gave me an opening. I had Chen Fan call Charlie to ask where they were, and I wanted to meet them before the police did. Chen Fan did as I asked at once. Not long after, he called me back and said that actress Z was filming in the studio city, and that he had already arranged to meet Charlie, who had agreed.

"Charlie says they’re at the end of their rope and hopes you can help them," Chen Fan told me.

I did not ask further. After hanging up, I hurried to the studio city. When I found Charlie, he was arguing with people from the production crew, while actress Z sat off to one side with her head down, saying nothing at all. Once Charlie lost his temper, the crew gave in, and from the things he shouted, I roughly understood what had happened.

It had been two days, and they were still filming the same scene as before. The reason was that actress Z had been distracted the whole time; they had shot it many times, but the director was still not satisfied. The crew seemed to have complaints. Charlie cared about face and could not tolerate others speaking ill of him and Z, which was why he had clashed with the crew.

Only when he saw me did Charlie finally rein in his anger. During the crew’s break, he took Z and me to a resting area where no one else was around. Z kept her head lowered. When she finally raised it, I paused slightly. She was not wearing heavy makeup. In only two days, the bloodshot veins in her eyes had deepened, and her face looked even more haggard.

Charlie no longer had the temper he had shown before. He took my hand and insisted I must help them.

I asked what was going on. He said they had already moved to a different place, but it had brought them no peace at all. Instead, the fear had only grown worse. Charlie said that for the past two nights, Z had not dared sleep alone. Whenever she closed her eyes, she would see the child from her dreams, a figure she could not tell was male or female.

What’s more, the scratches on Z’s arms had become more and more numerous.

At that, Z rolled up her sleeve. The scratches were even deeper than before; some places that had already scabbed over had been torn open again. Though they had been smeared with antiseptic, the sight was still shocking.

Charlie said that for the last two nights, he had stayed in the same living room as Z. Once, he finally managed to coax her into sleeping on the sofa, but not long afterward she was frightened awake again. After that, she kept crying and looking around in panic.

I gave a cold smile. "If the two of you want to stay alive, then stop lying."

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