Wings of Angels Part 6
"I did something bad again, mama." The daylight had vanished. The house gradually darkened. All of the objects projected long, quiet shadows. A man was curled up at the corner of the room, arms tightly hugging bloodied clothes and his mouth emitting quiet sobs. "I did something bad, I did something bad…"
He used his fists to hit his head. Lines and lines of dry wrinkles were squeezed out on the rough face. The tears followed those wrinkles as they rolled down.
At this time, the giant clock on the wall rang. An olden-style clock like that was rarely seen now. While placed there, it seemed like there were many years of history behind it, but yet, it was still working, diligently following the footsteps of time. The man"s movements suddenly stopped. He was like a dog that Pavlov experimented on. The sound of the clock at six in the evening had built a reflex in him incomprehensible to others.
"No…" He stood up. "No, mama, don"t beat me, don"t beat me, don"t beat me!" The man seemed to have been hit by something in the empty air as he struggled ferociously. Then, he aggressively pushed before dashing out of the main door.
An old photograph was hung at the corner of the wall. It was a group photo of a woman with a perfect smile and a group of eight or nine year old children. They looked like they just finished a performance. The children"s faces were still donned in excessive makeup and they wore performance outfits in pure white. On their backs, snow-white fake wings were fastened, just like a group of small angels.
Everyone smiled so brightly, gazes looking at the still quivering door.
Sometimes, h.e.l.l did exist. It was right in humans" hearts, following you throughout your life. Hovering without leaving, persisting until your death.
The cars on the street did not decrease by much when night fell. Nightlife had just began. Shen Yexi didn"t drive at a very fast speed. He had been silent the whole time since he came out of the bureau. They were halfway along the way when he finally slowly opened his mouth to ask, "Doc, do you remember which way we should go next?"
Jiang Hu shook his head in honesty.
Shen Yexi smiled, "Then, why would you remember the shops near the choir group so clearly?"
As it turned out, he was waiting for his answer here. Jiang Hu turned his head over to glance at Shen Yexi. This guy was truly well-versed in interrogations. During the entire way, he made one feel uneasy and bewildered, suspending one by the neck and not speaking a word. It was only when he felt that he made Jiang Hu suffer enough that he began to ask questions again.
It was a pity that this person he was asking was rather special. Jiang Hu blinked, saying as a matter of fact, "Ah? Didn"t Yining say that the murderer knew the children and was also someone familiar with the surroundings? I thought that the people who fulfilled these criteria, other than the people in charge of the choir, would be those shop owners."
"Yining only said that after you thought of it right?"
"Mn." Jiang Hu was especially calm as he nodded. "Correct. I agree with her view."
Who asked you about this… Shen Yexi felt that the frequency of him rolling his eyes was especially high. When he communicated with this Dr. Scatterbrain Hu, whether probing him or being against him, it all gave a feeling of their fists. .h.i.tting on cotton. Jiang Hu was truly someone like his name[1]. His entire character was like a ball of soft and sticky wheatpaste. It looked like a cl.u.s.ter of white, without anything else at all. But its transparency was too low, and absolutely no one knew what was hidden inside.
Whatever he said or did was so natural. But if you think deeply about it, it was also so… odd.
Shen Yexi felt that making sense of this person seemed to be harder than making sense of a case, so he had to hurriedly stop himself. This was a bad omen.
The two reached their destination. Shen Yexi immediately began to investigate the local shop owners efficiently. He slammed his police badge on the table, straight to the point as he asked if there were any ice-cream trucks in the vicinity, and how the manager looked like.
In his entire lifetime, the shop owner only greeted people like the city administrators at the most, so would he have seen a policeman with a gun before? The moment he was nervous, his speech became a little clumsy, and he even bit his tongue accidentally. "Y-Y-Yeah…"
The shop owner sucked in cool air to soothe his injured tongue.
There really was one—Shen Yexi turned his head back to glance at Jiang Hu, mentally wondering, did this person already think of this issue during their first time here? Probably not, right? Although he was a little unreliable, he still could recognize what was important and what was secondary. He probably wouldn"t keep it to himself if he already knew.
Only to see that Jiang Hu"s attention was completely not on the conversation at all. Instead, he was staring outside the window in a slight daze, observing something with the lamplights. His side profile faced Shen Yexi. This allowed Shen Yexi to see the eyes behind Jiang Hu"s gla.s.ses—because of his blood, they showed a light colour akin to stained gla.s.s, making them seem especially clear and also an indescribable coldness.
His mind couldn"t help but surface with the image of this person taking off his gla.s.ses. After he noticed it, he hurriedly pulled back his thoughts that had flown away, giving a slight cough. "Then where was that ice-cream truck usually parked?"
"Right there." The shop owner pointed with a stretch of his hand. Shen Yexi followed his finger and looked over, finding in astonishment that it was the place where Jiang Hu had been staring at the whole time. The shop owner stretched out a hand to gesture vaguely. "A man, around thirty years old. Not tall. Like a thin monkey. Normally, he doesn"t really like to talk to people, but his relationship with the children is still fine. The frozen desserts that he sells are also delicious. If it wasn"t for the popularity of his truck, I would have planned on putting a fridge at my entrance to sell ice-cream."
Shen Yexi asked, "Does this person come out for work everyday?"
"If there weren"t any special circ.u.mstances, he"ll come everyday I guess. I don"t know what happened today, but he was absent. Normally, he comes pretty early in the morning. Whenever I open the shop, I"ll always see him. But he ends work rather early at night. Everyday, he"ll leave at 5.40. Pretty weird person."
"Why was he weird?" It was only now that the Jiang Hu who had been silent the whole time inserted a question.
"Cough, just think about it. There are so many kids here waiting for their parents to fetch them. Half of these parents get off work late and can only come over after six. How many children would be willing to eat something cold on the road? If he just stayed for one more hour, he could have quite a bit more business." The shop owner paused. "Moreover, for people like us who do business, we won"t fix the time so sharply. If there are more customers, then we"ll work more and close a little later. If we have less, then we"ll work less and go home earlier. But it was like there was a spring attached to that man everyday. Once it was 5:41, he would close on time, drive and leave. He"s even more accurate than an alarm clock."
At this time, An Yining called. Shen Yexi glanced at Jiang Hu, heading outside to pick it up.
An Yining said, "We found the car plate number of that ice-cream truck you mentioned, as well as the car owner and his address. I texted you the information. Yang-jie is currently dispatching people to come over. The location is not far from where you guys are. It"s probably won"t take twenty minutes by car if you drive a little faster. I"ll inform Sheng Yao."
Shen Yexi closed his phone with a "pah" sound. "Jiang Hu, let"s go!"
Yep, Dr. Jiang became Jiang Hu now.
Jiang Hu grinned, following him as he jumped into the car. In order to pay back the great captain Shen for this sudden, abrupt acceptance and trust, he disclosed information of his own accord. "I think that the place where he parked the ice-cream truck is a little weird."
"Mn?"
"Look, that place is the only gap in the entire street and two intersections."
"Gap?" Shen Yexi drove as he knitted his brows, muttering to himself. "He used his ice-cream truck to attempt to block the gap?"
Jiang Hu practically glanced at Shen Yexi in surprise. This person"s comprehension was far too shocking. Shen Yexi seemed to be amused by the slight change in his usual bewildered expression. He laughed. "I"ve been a policeman for so many years now. What kind of weirdo have I not seen yet? Dr. Jiang, tell me the truth, what"s your major?"
"A Bachelor of Mathematics…"
Shen Yexi nearly drove the car into the curb.
"Oh, a Master"s and Bachelor"s Degree of Medical Psychology." The car shook, and Jiang Hu jumped in shock, hurriedly adding.
"Medical psychology, as in the type that can prescribe medicine for people?" Shen Yexi gave him a peer from the corner of his eye. "For a normal doctor to be able to see that kind of crime scene, Dr. Jiang"s mentality must truly be overly strong."
Jiang Hu seemed like he didn"t hear the light ridicule in these words of his. He made an "oh" sound. "Thank you. It"s still alright, I guess. Right, I haven"t finished yet. Actually, criminology too."
Shen Yexi said, luckily that what you joined was the police force and not the Fire Department. Otherwise, if you were to be hurried to put out fires, the entire city would have long been burnt to the ground. He smiled, "Bachelor of Criminology? You sure know how to act witless."
"Wheat-less?" Jiang Hu was blank, seemingly doubting his ears. He looked at Shen Yexi, asking in a slight confusion. "You mean… the wheat used to make food for consumption[2]?"
Shen Yexi shut his mouth… Forget it.
When the two of them reached the location, Yang Man already had people searching the place. The door of this apartment was originally opened in the first place, seemingly waiting for it to be searched.
Yang Man expressionlessly put the blood-stained dress and the ribs scattered on the floor in evidence bags, leaning against the door frame to wait for Shen Yexi"s group. When Shen Yexi arrived, he found that this lady"s face was a little cold.
Yang Man nodded at him. "Just these entrails. Go in and look. Scene investigation is not quite my strong suit."
Shen Yexi glanced at her before turning around to shoot Jiang Hu a glance. He didn"t say anything much and entered the room. Jiang Hu understood the look and remained outside. He adjusted his gla.s.ses, lightly asking, "Yang-jie, what"s wrong?"
Yang Man forcefully moved the corners of her mouth, signalling him over. "Come over, little cutie. Quick, give me a little counselling."
The first thing Yang Man saw clearly when she brought people in was that bloodstained dress. Of course she recognized those clothes. The mother of the last missing child, Zhang Jing, provided a photo of the adorable little girl wearing those clothes with a giant teddy bear in her arms.
The small girl on the photograph was just like those numerous girls who had dolls when they were younger; she smiled sweetly, so sweetly that Yang Man couldn"t bear to put the photograph down for a long time when she first saw it. And now, this child was lying in the icy-cold forensics room, body dismembered. That princess-like clothing was just lying on this messy floor, lonesome, stained with dust and blood.
Jiang Hu said, "Yang-jie, your emotional state has been affected."
Yang Man"s brows twitched, and she smiled, "I"m guessing it"s because of the special feelings that females have towards the young?"
"I also like children very much." Jiang Hu said, "Tribes or communities all have an innate tendency to protect the young, to guarantee their bloodline living on. Since the ancient to current times, the actions of harming the young have been perceived as a moral degeneration, so we have to catch this guy."
He walked to the entrance, turning around to tell Yang Man, "Come over. Let"s look at the exact extent of this guy"s illness."
Translator Notes:
[1]: Again, the nickname for Jiang Hu which has been TL"d as Scatterbrain Hu is 浆糊(wheatpaste), a h.o.m.onym with his actual name 姜湖.
[2]: This conversation has been edited for smoother flow in English. "Acting witless" is 装蒜 – lit. pretending (to be) garlic, a slang for playing dumb, and Jiang Hu took it to mean literal garlic.