The Final Gentleman Part 4
Shen Yexi finally understood what a splitting headache[1] meant. He took a long time to force out a sentence with clenched teeth, "Yining, can we discuss that trivial matter of the explosions with Chief Mo and transfer it to another department?"
An Yining used a very pure and innocent voice to say, "What do you think?"
Towards the numerous citizens, familicides or whatever are only trivial drifting clouds on the horizon. At the most, they will only sigh with feeling at tea time—the society will keep things lawful and orderly now, yeah they will. The people these days were unkind. Yeah, they were unkind. This won"t affect them much. But these bus explosion cases were different. With the current frequency of these explosions, even if you didn"t say that everyone was in danger, it"ll at least turn the originally crowded Bus 6 and Bus 97 incredibly empty. If the impact of the situation increased any further, the friends in the munic.i.p.al committee would have a huge headache.
In this situation, even if they were too busy for this case, the case that had to be put aside first would be the familicide case too.
Shen Yexi sighed. "Let"s do it like this. Yining, get Junzi to work a little harder and go to the crime scene first. You and Yang-jie continue to investigate the explosion case. I"ll bring Scatterbrain Hu back first. When I return, I"ll help out Junzi…"
"I can go back by myself." Jiang Hu said.
"You? Even when you weren"t feverish, you"re all muddled and confused. Can you still differentiate where"s north, east, south, west right now?"
"…" He couldn"t differentiate it before either.
"Then won"t that be great." Shen Yexi rolled his eyes.
"I can get on a taxi…" Jiang Hu said.
Shen Yexi choked. An Yining looked at their wise and majestic captain as though he was an idiot. Jiang Hu laughed, waving his hand as he walked out. "Moreover, I also know which bus to take. Sheng Yao isn"t around and everyone is so busy too. I"ll come back after half a day"s rest."
An Yining giggled gleefully. "Your opportunity to court someone"s favor is stripped now, bossman. Capable people should work more. You"ll go to that b.l.o.o.d.y crime scene. We"ll wait for your instructions."
"Frick you!"
Jiang Hu was bundled up in the coat, waiting for a cab at the entrance of the police bureau. They say that "when you"re unlucky, you"ll get something stuck in your teeth even when drinking cold water". When Jiang Hu was doing volunteer work at Jing Nursing Home, he heard an old woman say this. He thought the phrase was pretty interesting but it was only now that he understood the true meaning of this curse.
Ten minutes later, he felt his limbs were a little stiff. and the biting, cold winds really did get something stuck in his teeth…
Fifteen minutes later, he felt that the slight chilly breeze had already blown all the way through the jacket. Every inch of his skin was numb. Everyday, taxis came and went, one after another. But who knew what was up with today. Were the cars all sent running by the heavy winds or something? There were occasionally two or three taxis, but all of them were actually occupied.
Actually, our colleague, Scatterbrain Hu, did turn a little stupid from the fever… Otherwise, once he saw that there weren"t many cabs the moment he came out, he could have just gone and sat on the bus. Why did he have to listen to Shen Yexi"s words so obediently and waited all these time just because he said to wait?
The public buses gave him more face. At least they won"t slack off in their work. Once Jiang Hu got on and looked around, he found there really weren"t just a few people. Only one transverse seat was left. He didn"t know if it was because of the chilly wind, but he felt that his headache seemed to have gotten worse. He nearly couldn"t balance his steps well. The colors of the things in his sight were even darker. He sat there, wobbling, and listened to the announcement of each stop.
After three stops, an elderly woman led a child in. The elderly woman wasn"t especially old either. But that child also looked like he was three or four years old, an energetic age. Dragging along such a mischievous monkey jumping around while standing on the swaying bus really made the eldery quite unstable on her feet.
Jiang Hu looked around. It was all exhausted workers making up for their lack of sleep around him, with some pretending that they didn"t notice them, so he stood up, patting the child"s head. He smiled at the elderly and pointed at his seat.
See, look at this young man here. You could tell he wasn"t feeling well with a look. Even when he grabbed onto the pole on the bus, he was swaying left and right, but he still knew how to love and respect the old and young. The old lady thanked him for a long time before carrying the child and sitting down.
Jiang Hu remembered that nurse"s words blearily. When that vehicle exploded, it seemed to be a situation like this. A child sitting and an adult standing, and then…
And then his phone vibrated a few times.
Jiang Hu took a look. It was Shen Yexi"s text. "Did you get on the cab? Are you home yet?"
It wasn"t long, but just a question like this made people feel that as though this person was always concerned about him, making his heart feel especially warm.
Jiang Hu replied that it was a little cold outside so he didn"t wait for a taxi and got onto the public bus commute. He was already almost there.
It wasn"t a while later when Shen Yexi"s text arrived. "What?! You"re on the bus? Which bus? To which direction?!"
Jiang Hu felt a little down. He was just a little bad with directions and was slightly unreliable and had a slightly bad apt.i.tude in languages, but how come in this Boss Shen"s eyes, he was just like someone with an IQ below 30 and couldn"t take care of himself?
Another bus stop. Near him, someone was squeezing their way through and Jiang Hu moved to the side a little to make some s.p.a.ce. He hadn"t yet responded yet when Shen Yexi"s message came again. That guy"s fingers were basically G.o.dly fast. "How cold is it in the bus with all the wind leaking in everywhere? There are so many people too. People who aren"t even sick yet can already get ill from the cold if they sit two more rounds! Before tomorrow, I don"t want to see you in the bureau. Otherwise, just wait for your next month"s bonus to become everyone"s subsidy for their overtime work!"
Jiang Hu laughed, replying with an "okay".
Ngh… Actually, it seemed like the weather wasn"t that cold anymore.
Right at this time, Jiang Hu felt that an exceedingly soft sound emitted from something at his feet. Like a machine making a "beep—" sound. It was such a small sound yet it made his scalp explode. His slightly dizzy and heavy head instantly cleared. He took a sharp step to the side. Then, the unfriendly sound of an explosion erupted at the place he originally stood. The vehicle instantly quietened. Then, the screams started and people moved in panic. Jiang Hu"s eyes sharply darkened—he could see it clearly. In that instant, there was only the explosion sound and no explosions.
What was going on?
The people were squeezing around so much that everything turned into chaos. The driver pulled the emergency brake and the vehicle jerked hard. The child who was originally held in the elderly"s arms was scared witless. b.u.mped into by people around her, the elderly couldn"t hold on properly. So, the child ran out from her arms and was shoved by the people, about to fall onto the ground.
Jiang Hu caught him at once, and immediately following that, an explosion sound rang out. This time, he could feel the hot flow of air, and the deafening sound of the explosion close at hand made his ears throb in pain. It even overpowered the screams and chaotic noises of the people. Jiang Hu only had enough time to hug the child in his embrace and turn around, arching his back to protect the child in his arms with his body acting as a shield.
It turned dark like twilight—he could feel that explosive power propel him forward. The searing pain was like a tear that shot through his back and the child burst into tears. His strength and blood seemed to be flowing away from his body rapidly. He felt that he was about to lose control over his four limbs very soon. His knees weakened as he knelt on the floor before collapsing forward.
In the final instant before he lost consciousness, Jiang Hu still remembered the child pressed in his arms. Borrowing the strength of the child pushing him away, he let himself collapse in the opposite direction. Don"t press down on him…
What was a real gentleman like? Graceful and poised, his speech elegant, and when you interact with him, it made one feel at ease, wholly considerate or… Someone also said that what was called the gentleman"s grace was only a false persona to mark his value, a ploy to chase women, that it was so fake that it was disgusting.
But perhaps, it might not be anything at all, just an ability that rose from yourself and your capabilities. As a youth, to protect the elderly and children. As a man, to protect the person you love. In danger, to act as their shield. In an ordinary afternoon, to observe their most secretive thoughts and wholeheartedly protect the most beautiful thing in the world—the soul.
Only when you know what beauty and love was, you"ll know how to value and protect them.
A teardrop. No one knew who shed it, but it flew through the smoke-saturated air and landed on Jiang Hu"s sickly pale finger covered with dust.
At this moment, the people on the other side still did not know what had happened.
They only had a few people in the first place, and they were even split into two groups as they moved. Shen Yexi and Su Junzi made a round at the two crime scenes separately. The smell of ether still hadn"t disspitated. Forensics said that there were traces of anesthesia on the corpses and deduced that the injection used was M99—an anesthetic used on animals.
Much evidence proved that the victims were killed while drugged.
This was very normal. To be able to cleanly and accurately kill with a knife when the master was at home, you"ll either be from a murderous and vicious organisation or you"ll need to have help from anesthetics.
The adult victims were all excessively chopped to death. The b.l.o.o.d.y words on the wall also showed that the murderer was in extreme rage. But the deaths of the children were relatively much more peaceful. The murderer seemed like they weren"t quite willing to vent on children. There weren"t many wounds on the corpses at all. And after death, they were carefully laid down, their expressions peaceful.
It made one suspect that… this murderer was either in an extremely bipolar state of mind, or there were two entirely different people.
What kind of personal grudge would make someone do something with so much rage?
Shen Yexi silently listened to the forensic investigator"s discoveries outside the crime scene as he lit a cigarette. At this time, a frantic ringing from his phone interrupted him. Shen Yexi picked it up casually. "Yining, what"s the situation?"
"Boss, I just got a report saying that there was an explosion on another bus."
Shen Yexi furrowed his brows, looking at the completely b.l.o.o.d.y crime scene and felt that the trivial explosion cases were a little troublesome. He dragged his voice out as he asked, "Oh, really. Did someone get injured? Which bus?"
An Yining was silent for a while.
"Yining?"
"Boss, it"s Bus 2…"
Shen Yexi felt that the blood throughout his entire body had instantly rushed to his head. His four limbs were numb and icy-cold. It took him a long while before he found his voice again. "Which bus… did you say?"
"Bus 2!" An Yining was panicking now. "Boss, what transportation did Dr. Jiang take to go home? He…"
Shen Yexi didn"t finish listening and instantly cut the call. He rapidly dialed Jiang Hu"s number. "f.u.c.k, pick up! Quickly, pick it up! If you don"t pick up, laozi will deduct all of your next month"s bonus…"
"The number you have dialed has been turned off…"
"f.u.c.k!" The forensic investigator watched dumbfounded as the Inspector Shen who had been in deep contemplation just earlier called yet another number after receiving a call, then swore in a fiercely distorted expression before dashing out as fast as lightning.
Translator Note:
[1]: The actual phrase is much more metaphorical than a "splitting headache". 一个头变成两个大 (lit. one head becoming the size of two) refers to having such a huge headache that it became the size of two, which was why Shen Yexi only seemed to have understood how it felt now