Memory Lost (美人为馅): Chapter 62

Chapter 61: Who’s Being a Psycho Part 2

The night is quiet.

Jin Xi and the others are busy organizing the information and the recordings they’ve gathered.  Han Chen walks out of the office by himself.  He stands in the hallway, looks up at the stars in the sky and many dots of lights in the city.

He keeps quiet for a moment before taking out his phone.

In his cellphone, there’s a text message sent by Ji Bai from tonight.

Ji Bai, the friend whom he had asked to help him investigate the murder case that happened in Beijing five years ago.

“I’ve sent you the details via email.

Whatever it is that you want to do, be cautious and protect those who are around you well.

Ji Bai.”

Han Chen opens his mailbox.

The email starts off with a paragraph written by Ji Bai: “In that year between January and December, in Beijing and other districts around it, there was a total of 64 murder cases that were not included in the Public Security Bureau’s total.  But based on a document from one of the internal departments, these murder cases had already been put away as ‘case closed.’  The police made official statements to console the victims’ families.  The summary reports of closing the cases were deemed as top secret.  Even with my level of authority, I can’t see them.”

Han Chen reads his words and keeps quiet for a long while.

He scrolls down and sees the details of the 64 victims along with their autopsy reports completed by forensic investigators.

Han Chen finishes reading them and puts his phone back into his pocket.  He rests his arms on the railing with his hands held together.  After a moment of silence, he reaches into his chest pocket for a cigarette.

It’s empty.

Therefore, he becomes even quieter.

Until faint footsteps appear from behind.

Bai Jin Xi walks to his side, leans on the railing with him and looks to a distance.

“What are you thinking about?” she asks.

Han Chen doesn’t answer.  He reaches out his arm and wraps it around her shoulders.

Jin Xi turns her head to look around immediately.  Seeing that everybody is working with their heads down, she doesn’t bother to stop him.  It’s cold at night, so she leans closer to him and rubs her head against his chin.

After a while, she says, “Han Chen, it’s quite weird.  Why do I feel particularly interested in psychopathic killers?”

“Maybe because you were an expert in the past,” his deep voice sounds especially gentle at night as if he’s pacifying her.

The corners of Jin Xi’s mouth curve upwards.  She says as if she’s murmuring to herself, “It really does feel different.  It’s as if I’m slowly recovering something that I’m familiar with.  Some blurry images in my mind are slowly becoming clear.”

“I also have had that feeling before,” Han Chen says, “Four years ago when I woke up, some of the bigger cases I handled felt unfamiliar and familiar at the same time.  After a few cases, everything flowed.”

“Recovered?” the word spurts out of Jin Xi’s mouth.

Han Chen shifts his gaze sideways to look at her.

“You’ve been at that deserted place, Guanhu station, this whole time and all you do every day is either fighting against sex trade and other small cases.  You’ve been living a simple life so your recovery has been slow.  That’s normal.”

Jin Xi finds it funny yet offended, “F–k you!  Our station isn’t a deserted place!  You sure look down on people.”

Han Chen smiles also as he lifts his head up to look at the front.

After a while, the smile on Jin Xi’s face subsides slowly.

Han Chen’s words from just now feel like a small stone tossed into a quiet pond, rippling it.

You’ve been at that deserted place, Guanhu station, this whole time so your recovery has been slow.  That’s normal.

But if her “recovery” has been slow because she’s been at a low-level station, where did she gain all the knowledge about psychopathic serial killing cases?

At the Shahu Police Academy which can’t even make it into the nation’s top list?

Isn’t this what Han Chen calls a “logic paradox”?

A strange feeling of doubt surges in her heart.  But Jin Xi can’t explain what it is.  She can only lift her head and stare at Han Chen.

And Han Chen is looking at the woman in his arms.

The stars seem to light up her face and the hair running through his fingers is soft and smooth like silk.  He can see her face clearly.  Her clear and dark brown eyes seem to contain a thousand words.

And she’s still wearing the dress that she wore to go to the clubhouse.  The royal blue dress draws out her smooth contours, and the color makes her face look even fairer white and lively.

Han Chen keeps quiet for a moment.

“Give me a kiss.”

Jin Xi laughs, “Do you know where we are right now?  Yet you want a kiss.”

Han Chen turns around to look.  He catches the others in the office ducking down their heads immediately.  He turns back around without an expression.  He pulls onto her arm and leads her to the other end of the hallway.

“Where are we going?” Jin Xi murmurs.

“To somewhere where there’s no one,” he answers swiftly.

Jin Xi wants to escape the moment she hears him, but he quickly pulls her into his embrace as they dash to the landing platform of the empty and dark staircase.  Jin Xi giggles.  Han Chen leans against the wall hugging her.  He lowers his head and kisses her.

“We’re no longer kids, why are we doing this?!” she mumbles.

As a result of her words, he locks her lips and sucks on them aggressively.  He says into her ear, “Our bet hasn’t been fulfilled yet.”

Jin Xi’s heart skips a beat.  After a while, she answers with a whisper, “I haven’t forgotten it.  But……wasn’t it because you didn’t have enough body strength so that’s why it wasn’t fulfilled?”

Han Chen moves his lips away immediately and stares directly into her eyes.

Jin Xi smiles at him.

And then she feels a hard pinch on her bottom.

“Ssss……” Jin Xi gasps, “What are you doing?!”

“Whether or not I have body strength…..” he lowers his head and bites on her ear, “You know without trying?”

His words are explicit, causing Jin Xi’s face to flush.  But he has already sealed her lips again to prevent her from talking any more nonsense.

The stairwell is dark and the sparsely lit stars are scattered above their heads.  They continue kissing just like this as if they can’t get enough of it.  At the back of their minds, this kiss seems familiar.  How many times have they been like this, hiding away from others and kissing passionately without holding back?  They are both arrogant and are crazy for love.  As blazing youths, they’re not the least bit scared or hesitant.  They just know that it can’t be any other person but the one in front of them.  They just know that they want to be with each other and grow old together.

The feelings and emotions awaken from deep down in her heart are too strong.  As they continue kissing, tears begin to flow from Jin Xi’s eyes.

“Han Chen……how did we end up breaking up?”

Han Chen wipes away the tear marks on her cheek with his finger and also stops kissing her.  He hugs her.  The two of them embrace each other just like this for a long while without moving.

Until the lights in the stairwell come on.

The sound of footsteps can be heard.  Someone is coming up.

Han Chen lets go of her but continues holding her hand.  Since her eyes are stinging a bit, Jin Xi avoids turning around.  She has her back towards the other person while staring at Han Chen’s chest.

Xu Nan Bai, who is in casual wear, is walking up the stairs.  He looks up and is a bit surprised seeing the two of them.  His eyes fall onto their holding hands as he smiles, “Team Leader Han, Junior (female) classmate.”

Jin Xi retrieves her hand, turns around to greet him.  She smiles calmly, “Senior, what brings you here in the middle of the night?”

As if he didn’t notice their intimacy, Xu Nan Bai smiles and stands beside the two of them as he answers, “I’ve been busy with some work at the school, but I heard that you guys have locked down on a suspect.  I had a feeling that you guys would be interrogating them throughout the night, so I rushed over here.”

Han Chen and Jin Xi lead him to the interrogation room.  They look through the glass window at Situ Yi, who is still in the room by himself.

“Therefore……” Xu Nan Bai asks, “we’ve confirmed the suspect purely based on the psychological profile, but we still need to gather the evidence to prove his crime?”

Jin Xi nods.

Xu Nan Bai smiles slightly.  He glances at them and says, “Let me provide a piece of evidence to you guys first then.”

Han Chen isn’t showing any expression, but Jin Xi smiles, “Okay.”

Xu Nan Bai turns his head and looks at Situ Yi again, “After you guys are done questioning him, I’ll conduct a lie detector test with him.”