Memory Lost (美人为馅): Chapter 78

Chapter 78: The Second Person Part 2

Jin Xi opens the box.

It indeed contains her lump of black necklace.  It’s just that the pendant has been cut into five pieces.  Although the outside is black, it’s silver white inside.  There’s an analysis report under the box.

Xiao Zhuan picks up the report and starts reading, “Composition: platinum.  Due to heavy impacts and reaction with other chemical materials, its color has changed and morphed into a different shape……”

Jin Xi fiddles with the five pieces and takes a closer look at them in the light.  She can make out a few blurry marks.

“S……hea……my……” she murmurs.

Xiao Zhuan continues to read, “After analysis, the characters engraved on the inside of the platinum are……”

“s;hmyheart,” Jin Xi says it out before he does.

She lowers her head while grasping the pieces in her hand.

s;hmyheart.

h;sforeverlove.

Su Mian and Han Chen; my true heart.

Han Chen and Su Mian; forever in love.

Xiao Zhuan panics a bit seeing her like this, “What’s wrong?  Why are your eyes red?”

Jin Xi sniffs her nose and raises her head, “I’m fine.”  She takes out the phone and calls Han Chen.

At this moment, she wants to see him right away.

“Ring——ring——ring——Hello, the number you have dialed is unavailable…..”  Jin Xi puts the phone down.  She recalls that Tan Ge was also unable to reach him just now, and he’s also not at the office.  Did something urgent come up?

She dials Cold Face’s number.

She gets through after a few rings.  Cold Face picks up with a hoarse voice as if he has been sleeping, “Xiao Bai, what’s up?”

“Cold Face, is Han Chen with you?”

Cold Face seems to be stunned as his voice becomes serious, “He didn’t go back?  He started driving home four hours ago.”

Jin Xi is also stunned.  She and Xiao Zhuan look at each other, “No, he hasn’t come back yet.  What happened?”

Cold Face tries to remember the situation and answers, “It was 5am when we came back to the city from the suburbs.  Chatterbox and I rode in his car.  He dropped us off at the office building and didn’t say if he was heading somewhere else.  Could he have returned to the office again?”

“No,” Jin Xi starts to feel uneasy all of a sudden, “Xiao Tan from the forensic department came by saying that he didn’t see anyone at the office.  Where could he have gone to then?  He didn’t say anything at all?”

Cold Face feels his heart skip a beat as he responds, “I remember that he picked up a phone call.  I think it was from Xin Jia.  He didn’t say much.  He said ‘okay’ at the end and hung up.”

Jin Xi’s eyes are wide open, “Xin Jia?”

Jin Xi is in a daze after hanging up.  The phone is still in her hand as she tightens and loosens her grip on it.  Xiao Zhuan tries to comfort her seeing her like this, “Don’t worry.  Xin Jia must be clinging onto Leader again.  Leader must have gone to clear things up with her to stop her from bothering you guys.”

Jin Xi shakes her head firmly, “That’s not possible.  Han Chen doesn’t even want to talk to Xin Jia about anything.  And base on Xin Jia’s personality, do you think that it would be of any use even if Han Chen talked to her?”

“Then……”

Jin Xi bites on her lower lip.

She doesn’t know why, but her heart is pounding hard.  This is too strange.  Why has Han Chen disappeared suddenly?  Why can he not be reached on his cell phone?  She had just been attacked a few days ago, and now she can’t contact Han Chen.  Although these two things don’t seem to have any connections, she has a very strong bad feeling about all of this.

“Han Chen might be in trouble!” she grabs her coat and leaves, “I need to go find him!”

_____

An hour later at the Black Shield Team’s office.

Not only Jin Xi and Xiao Zhuan are here, Chatterbox and Cold Face have also rushed over.  They split up to search for Han Chen.  And as time passes, Han Chen’s cell phone is still unreachable.  This makes Jin Xi feel more and more restless.

“I’ve found it!” Xiao Zhuan shouts in excitement.

Everybody hovers in front of the computer screen.  It’s showing an image of a surveillance camera on the road.  It’s from 6:10am this morning.  There are very few cars on the road, so it’s easy to spot Han Chen’s Land Rover, as well as its license plate.

Han Chen is in the driver’s seat.  There’s also a woman sitting in the back.  Although the image is from rather far away and they can’t make out the face clearly, they can still recognize that it’s Xin Jia.

“This road goes to the South Suburbs.  Besides factories, it’s a mountain area.  What are they doing there?” Xiao Zhuan murmurs.

“Xiao Zhuan, continue looking,” Jin Xi says coldly with her eyes fixed on the screen, “We must find the places that they’ve passed by, where they’ve been to, and where they are now!”

“Okay!”

Besides Jin Xi, everybody’s expression has turned serious.  It’s because this all just seems to be too strange.

A criminal investigator knocks on the door, comes in and reports, “We’ve sent someone to Xin Jia’s home and school to check things out, and we didn’t find her.  Furthermore, the school says that she had requested for extended leave yesterday.”

Jin Xi doesn’t say a word.  Xiao Zhuan shivers with the image of the way Xin Jia looks at Han Chen every time; that fanatic yet resentful gaze.

“Extended leave?  What is she doing requesting for extended leave?” he murmurs.

The investigator pauses before saying, “Another thing.  I’m not sure if it’s related to what you guys are looking for currently.  Just now, the school reported to us that last night, a bottle of gas from their pharmacology lab went missing.  They just discovered this in the morning.”

Chatterbox is an expert in tracing evidence, so he naturally has studied pharmacology.  He raises his head immediately hearing this, “Gas?  What kind of gas?”

The investigator flips through the papers and answers, “It’s called hkn5-3.  It’s mainly for cancer research.  But it is poisonous itself although it won’t cause death.  However, if you inhale a small amount of it, it can cause you to become unconscious and nauseous.  If you inhale a large amount of it, it will cause serious damage to the nerve center and be in a vegetative state.  But this gas evaporates very quickly and is also very strong.  It basically can only be effective in a sealed room.  Therefore, we have already notified our superiors and are increasing the security checks at subways and other transit locations.  And we have started our search for this missing poisonous gas.”

The investigator leaves.  The four members of the Black Shield Team all look at each other.

“Such a coincidence?  This can’t be related to Xin Jia, can it?” Chatterbox says in a low voice.

“That’s possible,” Jin Xi says slowly.

“But, Xin Jia likes Leader,” Xiao Zhuan’s expression changes, “Could that saying be true?  If she can’t have him, she will destroy him?”

Jin Xi’s facial expression is already full of coldness.  She grabs the car keys on the table and dashes out.  Chatterbox and Cold Face exchange gazes and then follows.

“Xiao Zhuan, find out their actual location and let us know right away!” Cold Face shouts.

“Okay!”

Jin Xi runs down the stairs.

When it comes to Han Chen, Xin Jia has always been very prejudice about it.  She and Han Chen being together must have caused a big emotional impact on Xin Jia.  And if these emotions accumulate to a point where it causes her to collapse and lose all hope, what would Xin Jia do?

Jin Xi can almost analyze the possibilities right away.  The outcome that Xin Jia wants: she will definitely use some sort of unknown thing to lure Han Chen to leave with her.  And then she will set up a trap to poison Han Chen and make him be in a vegetative state.

And then?

And then she’ll definitely take him away; away from Bai Jin Xi and disappear in front everybody.

This way, he who has lost all his consciousness and lives like the dead will forever be hers.

Even though she knows that with Han Chen’s skills, it wouldn’t be easy for him to take the bait, just thinking of the possibility makes her breathing become uneasy.

_____

Han Chen did indeed receive a phone call from Xin Jia four hours ago and has gone to meet up with her.

The details of the phone call were completely unexpected.

“Han Chen, I want to see you.  In three minutes, I’ll wait for you at the XXX road.”

He didn’t even bother to respond and was about to hang up, but he then heard her say clearly and slowly, “Han Chen, come and see me.  This is your only chance, and it will also be our last time seeing each other.  I know everything about the past.  I know why you two lost your memories, and I know why you were separated.  I also know……who wanted to harm you guys.”

Han Chen felt his heart pound.  His breathing also became quick.

After a moment, he asked, “Why should I believe you?”

Xin Jia stayed quiet for a long while as if she wanted to laugh at herself.

She answered softly, “Because I was also one of the serial killers back then.”