An evil wind suddenly blew in brazenly through a join in the window; the window, opened a crack for ventilation, trembled, and a pen container on the windowsill fell, scattering over the ground with a clatter. Fei Du, startled, raised his head, and at the same time, a phone rang sharply, like a thunderclap—
Luo Wenzhou, just coming in, didn't even catch a breath. He grabbed the landline phone's handset. "Hello?"
Fei Du's chest tightened for no clear reason. Then, he heard Luo Wenzhou's voice suddenly change. "What? Say that again!"
"…there were inflammable and explosive materials in the two responsible pickup trucks, a fire started when Deputy-Captain Tao's car crashed into them. One of the responsible drivers died on the scene, the other was severely burned and died halfway to the hospital. Boss, it was deliberate…"
All the orderly threads in Luo Wenzhou's head snapped midway. His head rang. "Wh-where? What hospital?"
Five minutes later, the whole City Bureau had been alerted. All the Criminal Investigation Team's people, whether they were inside the bureau or out in the field, put down what they were doing and flew to Yan City's Second Hospital.
The car air-conditioning was very smooth. Warm, dry air constantly blew out towards the occupants, but it seemed to float on their skin, not entering their pores.
When Luo Wenzhou had driven half the way, he grabbed Fei Du's hand.
Fei Du's hand seemed to have just come out of an icebox. It was so cold it hardly seemed alive. He hadn't made a sound since they'd received the news. Now, sitting in the car, he wasn't moving a muscle. Once in a while he would blink. It was as if he'd become a human-shaped ornament. Startled by Luo Wenzhou's little movement, Fei Du squeezed his hand gently in consolation.
Luo Wenzhou looked at him. When he wasn't afraid of Fei Du making trouble, he was afraid of him not talking.—He held Fei Du's hand tightly in his, and, forcing his soul, which had turned upside down, to return its proper position, he dialed a number. "It's me, I'll be there in five minutes, where are you at the hospital? What's the situation?"
The criminal policeman who'd gone with Tao Ran to Yin Ping's house to investigate Old Cinder's whereabouts was hoarse, his voice tearful. He struggled to hold himself back as he spoke to Luo Wenzhou. First he explained in a few words where to go at the hospital. Then he really couldn't resist beginning to sob. "We were going to go back today, but Deputy-Captain Tao said something was wrong with Yin Ping, and when we went back to find him, Yin Ping had already run off on his electric bike. Then Yin Ping got into an accident on the road and ran away, the victim called the police, so we fixed Yin Ping's approximate location. I don't know why Deputy-Captain Tao was in such a rush, he didn't wait for backup to arrive…"
Fei Du's gaze fell on Luo Wenzhou's phone, which was on speaker.—As soon as Yin Ping had run, if they'd wanted to catch him, they needed to make a report, needed to follow procedure; at least as long as they had absolutely no leads as to where Yin Ping was going, they had to seek the help of a colossal number of cameras—they needed assistance and couldn't avoid alerting many people.
As soon as the report about the "responsible driver on a red electric bike" had gone out, it had gone into someone's ear. Tao Ran had perfectly understood the risk of information getting out, so he'd had to plan for the worst; he hadn't waited for anyone; he'd had to get in and snatch Yin Ping away before the other side could react.
If the informer who had taken Gu Zhao into The Louvre truly had been Yin Ping under a false name, then it was likely he was the last witness in this old case. Even if he wasn't worth a penny, he was still valuable enough to merit being put into a safe now.
Tao Ran's handling had been very decisive, but why had the other side's reaction been so quick?
That shouldn't have happened.
"We caught up to Yin Ping in a half torn-down urban village in the north of Sound Bend County. It's hard to drive there, there was a colleague from the police station who was riding a motorcycle and wanted to go on ahead, but while they were going past an intersection, two pickups suddenly appeared and Deputy-Captain Tao pushed him aside and went on ahead himself…"
Fei Du's other hand, curled up at his side, suddenly tightened.
"The road was too narrow, the three cars crashed at the intersection and we couldn't get through. Luckily that colleague saw the pickup trucks catch fire, felt something was off, and went over to break open the door. He'd just pulled Deputy-Captain Tao out when it all exploded, if not for him…"
If not for him, they wouldn't have needed to rush to the hospital now.
Fei Du suddenly put in a word, asking, "What about Yin Ping? Is he still alive?"
The criminal police officer on the phone was too worked up. He didn't hear that someone else was speaking, and immediately replied in the style of making a report. "Deputy-Captain Tao threw Yin Ping aside, and he may have fallen not too gently when he was thrown. His lower leg was fractured by the electric bike. He may have been impacted by the explosion. He's been unconscious this whole time. He's also at the Second Hospital."
Fei Du was frighteningly calm, his expression not moving a hair, as lifeless as his hand.
He looked up and could already see the hospital building not far off. Luo Wenzhou charged over the speed bumps at the parking lot, the car trembling violently.
Fei Du grabbed the door handle, but his speech didn't shake at all. "Find some trustworthy people to keep an eye on Yin Ping, whether he's in the inpatient department or in the emergency room—twenty-four hours, don't relax for a minute. Yin Ping didn't die, so the person who wants to silence him will come again."
"Yes, sir!"
Luo Wenzhou had wanted to add something, but after he thought about it for a moment, he decided there was really nothing to add, so he hung up without saying anything and stopped the car.
"A cornered dog will jump over a wall. It seems that not only was Tao Ran's suspicion that Yin Ping was passing himself off as Old Cinder back then on the right track, the fake Old Cinder may have come into direct contact with the key figure," Fei Du said unhurriedly. "Since the other side wasn't this nervous when Wei Wenchuan and Wei Zhanhong were called in to the City Bureau and then arrested, it shows that Wei Zhanhong's disavowals all along may not have been disavowals—he really did only hold a part of the shares in the Beehive. He's been using their 'resources' all these years, but he doesn't know who the boss he's been working with behind the scenes is."
Luo Wenzhou didn't make a sound. He lowered his head and looked at Fei Du's hand that he was holding.
Fei Du's pulse was very quick, so quick it was almost uneven, but the roiling blood was constantly removing the warmth from his limbs. There was only a thin layer of cold sweat in the palm of his hand.
Without feeling the physiological reaction of this hand, Luo Wenzhou nearly would have gotten the mistaken impression that to Fei Du, Tao Ran was a stranger of no importance, the same as the other people involved in cases, just another detail in a complicated case, not worth too large an investment of mental effort and feeling. His logic never came to a standstill; he was always objectively analyzing.
But…physiological reactions didn't lie.
Fei Du's body and emotions, even what he said, what he thought, all seemed to be out of alignment. It was as if he ought to have been a unified precision instrument but had been disassembled and reassembled too many times, and the gears, not interlocking well, wouldn't turn smoothly. As soon as there was an overload, there would be a subtle disharmony.
A few police cars, also hurrying, charged in. The people in them hardly waited for the cars to come to a full stop before jumping out. They ran in too much of a hurry, not noticing that Luo Wenzhou and Fei Du were in the parking lot.
Luo Wenzhou suddenly said, "Aren't you in a hurry to go in and see Tao Ran?"
"I wouldn't be able to see him even if I went in," Fei Du said, his expression not changing. "You can't just wander into the emergency room. And even if I could see him, it wouldn't be any use. I'm not a doctor. There's no difference between waiting in the hospital and waiting in the car."
Luo Wenzhou was silent.
"At first, the people who framed Gu Zhao were in the same position as the victim, not knowing that Old Cinder had been replaced by a cowardly old man who looked the same but had a completely different temperament. Otherwise, it would have been too easy to kill Yin Ping. They couldn't have waited until now to act." Fei Du unhurriedly unbuckled his seatbelt. He continued, "And supposing that they only realized it after they were alerted by the crucial information of Tao Ran requesting pursuit of Yin Ping, where did they get the two pickups to silence him?"
Luo Wenzhou said, "Unless they just happened to have two pickups equipped with explosives waiting in South Bend, which a bird wouldn't shit on, they shouldn't have been able to react faster than the police, and they especially shouldn't have been faster than Tao Ran, who rushed on ahead of everyone."
"So the point in time when they received the news must have been a little earlier," Fei Du said. "Tao Ran had a partner from the City Bureau with him at the time, and a civil policeman from the South Bend police station leading the way. Also…"
"Also, he called me," Luo Wenzhou said grimly. "Since we found the listening device in Tao Ran's bag, we've been very cautious. He called my personal phone. I can guarantee it with most of a decade of professional experience, there 100% isn't a problem with my phone."
"Then the problem can only be with those two people and the car," Fei Du said slowly. "The car was a service car. There must be a record of stops and use.—Doesn't that sound like a much smaller scope of investigation?"
Luo Wenzhou's teeth were tightly clenched. He got out his phone and called Xiao Haiyang.
Xiao Haiyang picked up after less than half a ring. He said somewhat incoherently, "I'll be at the hospital at once, Cap-captain Luo, I…"
"Don't come here yet," Luo Wenzhou said grimly. "There's no lack of people standing watch in the hospital's corridors. I want you to go investigate the most recent whereabouts of two people. I'll send you their names and badge numbers. Also, the use record of the service car Tao Ran drove today. I want to know where it's been, which people have touched it—including the staff who clean it and perform maintenance. Remember—everyone."
Fei Du said, "If there's something you can't easily investigate, I'll get Lu Jia and the others to send someone to cooperate with you."
Xiao Haiyang paused, blew his nose heavily, then hung up without even saying "yes."
The two of them sat in mutual silence in the already turned off car for a moment. Having made all the arrangements, Luo Wenzhou tilted up his face, closed his eyes, and leaned back in his seat.
He hadn't been able to think closely about what was happening with Tao Ran now, how the rescue was going. He'd had to use all his willpower to ignore his anger and worry, take care of the things he needed to take care of.
Fei Du hesitated a moment, then encircled his shoulders, turning to hug him, his lips gently touching his hair. He quietly said, "It's all right if you're upset and need to get it off your chest. There's no one here but me, anyway."
"Back at school…there was a female schoolmate who managed to work up her courage to ask him out, and he looked at her eyeshadow and said, 'I see you've got dark circles around your eyes from staying up late. You should hurry home and rest. I heard the movie's no good. It's only rated 50% online.' …That's the sort he is. For a while I thought he was gay like me," Luo Wenzhou said almost inaudibly. "Then I saw him get a girlfriend and found out that he wasn't gay, he was just an idiot. He had absolutely no game. He was totally earnest. The girl thought he was cute at first, but later, when we were about to graduate, she found that in this mortal world, a man needs to be more than cute. When they broke up, he slunk around furtively being depressed for over half a month, even willingly shouldered the responsibility of helping the girl move and carrying her luggage for her. When he was through, he took me drinking and spat it all out in a muddle… I said, 'It's all right, brother, there's fragrant grass at all the world's ends, you'll marry someone a hundred times better than her, and I'll be your best man.' He said that his hometown is particular about best men being unmarried, and that someone like me might abandon the association any day. I couldn't resist. I came out of the closet to him, said, 'I'm not going to get married, the marriage laws don't allow it.'
"The upshot was, the fool's reflex arc is about ten thousand li long, and he actually didn't understand at the time. About half a month later he finally worked it out and ran over to see me in a fright, worried that my dad was going to beat me to death." The rims of Luo Wenzhou's eyes were a little red. "If Tao Ran…if…"
Fei Du's arms tightened around him.
"If Tao Ran…" The thought flashed through Fei Du's mind, following Luo Wenzhou's words. He immediately nipped it off, along with all the memories associated with Tao Ran, like many years ago, when he'd walked up the stairs following the music and seen the woman who'd hanged herself behind the door.
This was what Fei Chengyu had taught him—always remain aloof; if he couldn't, then he would have to try a little harder to learn. If there were any gaps, Fei Chengyu would repeatedly teach him over and over, until he'd "learned"; this had nearly become a reflex carved into his bones. Every time he encountered something he couldn't face, it would automatically switch on, guaranteeing that he would make the most reasonable choices.
"I know," he said, using just the right amount of warmth to pat Luo Wenzhou's back. "I know.—Let's go."
Tao Ran got on well with people. There weren't enough benches in the hospital waiting room, and quite a few people were sitting on the floor. Even Yang Xin, who'd been accompanying shiniang in the hospital, had hurried over when she'd heard. As soon as they saw Luo Wenzhou, everyone stood up.
By the time Luo Wenzhou came in, he'd already quickly adjusted his emotions. He waved a hand at the crowd. He was just about to say something when a door suddenly opened inside, and a somewhat grave-faced nurse came out and pulled down her mask. She didn't seem like she was coming like normal to notify the patient's family and friends to come help push the hospital bed. Her gaze swept over the crowd of people ardently watching her. "You must all be from the public security bureau? Well… My apologies, our doctor really did everything he could…"
Luo Wenzhou's head buzzed. Fei Du put an arm around his shoulders.
The nurse braced herself and went on: "…the patient Kong Weichen's neck was pierced by a fragment during the explosion. Because of excessive blood loss before he was brought in…"
Kong Weichen was the civil policeman from the South Bend police station who had accompanied Tao Ran. Luo Wenzhou had just sent that name to Xiao Haiyang; he was one of the suspects.
After a good while, someone finally came around and asked with bated breath, "So…the other one…"
"The other one most importantly suffered fractures and internal bleeding during the collision. He was blocked by his colleague during the explosion. He'll need critical observation overnight. If his condition stabilizes, then there shouldn't be danger to his life."
The whole waiting room was perfectly silent.
When Tao Ran had found that those two cars had come with ill intent, his first reaction had been to push aside the motorcycle, making his colleague, who was wearing a helmet, retreat. And that colleague, realizing that an explosion might occur, had rushed over without thinking and pulled him out…
After a long time, someone who'd come over from the South Bend police station let out a suppressed sob.
Before those from the City Bureau had even had time to sigh in relief, the sound of that man's sobs provoked a feeling of sympathy for someone in a similar position.
"Captain Luo?"
"Have this…ahem." Luo Wenzhou's voice was somewhat strained. He cleared his throat, then picked up what he was saying. "Have this colleague's relatives been notified? Go…"
His words were again interrupted by some medical personnel quickly running over.
"Yin Ping—the one called Yin Ping was also brought in by you?"
Luo Wenzhou turned his head at once.
"He must not have had a physical examination in years. His blood pressure is high, didn't he know it himself? His diastolic pressure is nearly 130. He had a stroke when he was hit. We need to operate at once. Can anyone sign?"
Luo Wenzhou: "…"
The ancients said that there were gods above you, and if you committed a shameful deed, sooner or later there would be retribution.
But Yin Ping's retribution had come too coincidentally!
Just then, Luo Wenzhou's phone vibrated again. In the midst of the mess, he lowered his head and looked. He saw a message from "Retired Emperor." The "retired emperor" Comrade Luo Cheng never used punctuation marks when he texted. It was always one string—"investigation team into gu zhao case established focused on investigating old people your lao lu has been called in look out".