"It was a trap. In the forest, there were footsteps that weren"t older than a day or two. After the incident, the fire must be lit to remove traces or simply used to direct attention. The fire has nothing to do with the vehicles."Ji Zhou point was to confirm that this was the very vehicle on which Lei Xinyi was riding. He didn"t want to leave a loophole that would leave the possibilities or s.p.a.ce for hope or doubt for Li Yuan.
There was no benefit of hanging to a broken thread...
It was her blood that was painting the ground, too much blood. Li Yuan felt his own blood boiled looking at her spilt life-fluid being contaminated on the dirty floor.
His urge to spill blood intensified and everyone felt the murderous aura and froze with their fixated on the man of power.
Without taking his eyes off the dried crimson blood of his beloved. He demanded, his voice dry, cold and horse without a trace of emotion in his lifeless eyes, "Where?"
Yu w.a.n.g stiffened and Ji Zhou ears perked at once and he could feel the fear seeping in his veins. His Master was asking where Lei Xinyi"s...body was.
But the girl was in a condition, he had felt his heart had jumped in his throat when he had seen her first, the gruesome condition she was in now. He gulped and lead the way.
Li Yuan followed him like he was on autopilot but Yu w.a.n.g stood there rooted to the ground.
They crossed the blasted SUV and reached the bike where the blood was spilt in abundance. There was a trail that leads to the forest like the body was dragged there.
Li Yuan followed it and it felt like everything was happening in slow motion. The blood trail went on to a distance of about three meters. His heart was constricted with every extended step and so was his hands fisted.
They reached a place that was surrounded by his inspectors and detectives team. The loud sobbing voice dropped his heart to his stomach.
He took reluctant steps forward and forced to look at ugly reality left of his beautiful Raven.
His fight left him. He could feel his heart turning cold and his breath short. A lump hardened in his throat.
It was better said there was nothing left to call a body. The limbs were torn apart, the head was capitated, b.l.o.o.d.y to the point that it couldn"t be recognised. The stomach was raw open. Scratches and bites mark were evident on the body, like wild animals feasted on it.
Jiang Cheng, the proud man, was kneeling on the dirty ground with his hands covering his face, sobbing. The pain in his cry was contagious. but there was n.o.body to console him, everybody was mourning the same loss. Even those who didn"t know her.
Li Yuan felt like his soul was leaving him just like his breath. Thinking of her going through the pain inflicted on her, broke his heart and the wall of his sanity.
He wanted to shout, cry to G.o.d of how the life he gave was unfair.
n.o.body eased his heart as she did. He never desired a thing but her. She broke him yet she was his only remedy and now she was...
He wanted her more than his next heartbeat. He needed her more than the air he breathed. He...loved her more than the world he lived in.
Couldn"t he fall in love with her in better circ.u.mstances? In fair circ.u.mstances? Normal circ.u.mstances?
He stood there rooted to the ground, looking at his dawn and demise ashen to the ground. His throat was constricted with emotion and his heart was beating its protest in his chest.
But even standing here he couldn"t believe it was her. Wasn"t facing it head-first supposed to melted the state of denial? Then why couldn"t he believe the love of his life was the reality of his life, on the ground to be deposited under the ground?
Why couldn"t he morn for her and himself?
No! It couldn"t be true! G.o.d wouldn"t do that to him! NO, he wouldn"t take away the only thing he had ever asked from him.
His eyes teared like the melting of a mighty glacier by the harsh heat slapping his face with reality. There was nowhere the man that ruled and commanded. He was helpless. He couldn"t do a thing against death.
"Proof." Ji Zhou froze listening to his Master. His voice wavering yet cold.
His waving of hand was enough to send everybody away. He didn"t want statistic and progression, right now he only needed to hear the...corpse wasn"t his Lei Xinyi.
He snapped his head in his direction, "Sir, n...no identification can be possible. Sh...She was a very private person. She had no dental record for a dental or a known relative for DNA, not even a sample of her blood..."
He hesitated and looked at Jiang Cheng who was wailing by the corner and Yu w.a.n.g who had now joined him and was trying to get him away from the corpse with tears streaming down his own face.
He had heard of the woman, how she led a secluded life in distrust and scepticism and would never know how much of an impression she left. People loved her they just didn"t know and neither did she ever made it easy for people to express love to her.
When Jiang Cheng and Yu w.a.n.g were out of earshot, he took out a plastic transparent zipper bag and extended it to Li Yaun, "Sir, we found it close to the...her." He didn"t dare call the girl a dead body and dig his own grave.
Li Yuan brows furrowed and his eyes s.h.i.+fted to a bracelet in the plastic bag, The Yu"s heirloom.
His eyes hardened on it and the memory struck him and his head turned to Ji Zhou, "Where is the dagger?"
Now that he remembered Lei Xinyi was infamous for having the Lei"s heirloom, the dagger. He had only seen it once in the bedroom she stayed in the Lu"s Mansion but it was definitely authentic.
Because it was something more than on-sale, it was valuable. There was no way she would leave without it. If the bracelet was here, the dagger was supposed to be here too.
Ji Zhou looked at him in confusion, "Dagger? There was no dagger. My men have searched the whole area. There wasn"t a speck of dust that wasn"t searched or inspected."
It wasn"t that much of an exaggeration. Li Yaun men weren"t normal law-abiding authorities. They ere far more precise and efficient.
Li Yuan looked at him with an unknown emotion in his eyes. Realization widened Ji Zhou eyes a fraction.
If it was a thief would have taken the dagger then they wouldn"t have left the bracelet worth millions. It was a set up to make it look like Lei Xinyi was dead.
But they couldn"t leave the dagger even for the setup.
The question was who was the one who planned the setup. Was it Lei Xinyi, who did it to go in hiding or was it someone else and she was kidnapped?
"Look for her. She is still in the country and keep a watch on the border, ports and check posts." Ji Zhou heard the dark and cold voice of his Master and stiffened.
Li Yuan turned around to walk away when his steps halted, "Give a proper burial to the corpse and... keep it low on the search. We don"t want to alert anyone."