chapter 2
1135 Words
“Ugh—”
“Detective Miller, I... ugh, I...”
“I can’t take it either, ugh!”
Behind John Miller, the young male officer covered his mouth, turned to the wall, and vomited violently, seemingly emptying his stomach completely.
Even John, who had handled a few murder cases before, was momentarily stunned, not knowing what to do.
His stomach churned as well.
After the young officer finished vomiting, and after John calmed down, they exchanged glances. The young officer, leaning against the wall and patting his chest, asked, “Detective, what do we do?”
John's lips twitched. “What else can we do? Report to... to...”
He tried to speak, but even he couldn’t hold it together. The young officer quickly stepped forward and gently patted John on the back. “Detective, I understand, report to the city bureau, right?”
“Yes, yes! I’ll call the city. You... you get some containers...”
“Have Officer Wang identify the victim, tell Li Tao to check the accounts, ask Chen Yan to investigate the victim's social connections, and get Xu Ming to collect footprints and fingerprints from the scene.”
“Also, contact the medical examiner!”
“Got it!”
A few minutes later, John managed to hold back his urge to vomit, though his face was still deathly pale.
About twenty minutes later, several more police cars arrived at Dreamland Villas, stopping in front of House B021.
New Haven’s Detective Squad Captain, Ray Thompson, led his team into the villa, their expressions solemn as they made their way to the second floor.
Seeing the buckets placed outside the bedroom and smelling the strong odor in the air, Ray’s face turned grim. “Did someone throw up here?”
John and his two officers exchanged looks, all three nodding one after another.
John opened his mouth to say, “Captain Thompson, I brought young officers. They haven’t seen cases like this before, it’s understandable...”
Ray’s face darkened further. He pointed at the buckets. “What’s the meaning of this? Did you prepare these for me to vomit into?”
“John Miller! You’ve been an officer for half your life and you don’t know how important it is to preserve a crime scene?!”
“Do you think I’m as useless as you?!”
John hung his head, not saying a word. He turned his pale face away, gesturing towards the bedroom with a look of extreme discomfort.
“Look at yourself! It’s just a dismembered body! I’ve seen worse. Do you think there’s a ghost in there or something?!”
Ray said as he stepped to the bedroom door and looked inside—
Holy—!
Gulp!
Ray swallowed hard, standing motionless at the bedroom door.
His shoulders twitched several times in quick succession.
The officers behind Ray also turned pale, with two young officers silently turning away, faces white, retreating to the side.
John pointed them towards the buckets he had prepared.
The two officers immediately showed expressions of gratitude, each grabbing a bucket and running to the side to vomit.
Listening to the continuous sounds of vomiting behind him, Ray quietly stepped back from the door, looking around before moving to the window. He reached into his pocket, but found nothing.
A cigarette was handed to him by John’s trembling hand. “Captain, this is going to be a tough case...”
Taking the cigarette, Ray pulled out his lighter, trying to light it several times but failing. He glanced at John, who shook his head and raised an unlit cigarette with trembling hands. “Don’t look at me, I’m shaking too.”
Putting the cigarette back in his pocket, Ray took a deep breath, tightly pressed his lips together, and turned to open the window a bit wider.
After a while, John heard Ray swallow hard before his voice came through. “John, get ready, we’re going to be all over the news.”
John held the crumpled, unlit cigarette under his nose, taking a deep breath. “Understood!”
Half an hour later, all the officers gathered around Ray and John.
Ray asked, “Have we found out who the victim is? Report!”
A pale young officer, with traces of vomit at the corner of his mouth, fought back another wave of nausea as he held a file. “The victim is named Wu Tian, formerly known as Zhang Hui. He was divorced and lived alone. He was a human trafficker.”
“He’s been imprisoned before, served five years, and was released last April.”
“We found no evidence of criminal activity from his release until three months ago, but in April this year, he made a suspicious transaction marked 'buy doll', indicating he might have returned to his old ways.”
After he finished speaking, a young female officer, equally pale and weak, said, “I checked Wu Tian’s accounts. He’s very wealthy, especially in the past two months. His luck has been extraordinarily good.”
“Whether it was stock trading, cryptocurrencies, gambling, or the lottery, he seemed to win every time, often hitting big.”
“The suspicious transaction mentioned by Officer Wang involved transferring two million yuan to someone using his ex-wife’s account three months ago. We’ve identified this person.”
Ray and John said in unison, “Who?”
The female officer glanced at her file, frowning. “A seventeen-year-old boy named Yang Ning.”
...
Central City, Airport Highway.
A well-dressed young man in white clothes and gold-rimmed glasses sat in a taxi heading towards the city center. He carried a white shoulder bag and gazed out the window, enjoying the passing scenery. He picked up his phone and placed it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, is this Mr. Kenny Ghost?"
"Yes, this is he."
"Mr. Ghost, this is Emily Chen, the leasing agent you spoke with earlier about the shop on Yundu Road. What time will you be arriving today?"
"I should be there in about two hours and twenty minutes."
"Oh, alright then. I will head over a bit early to meet you."
"Thank you."
"You're welcome, Mr. Ghost. Goodbye!"
Kenny Ghost hung up the phone and continued to quietly watch the scenery speeding past the window. The driver glanced at him in the rearview mirror and smiled. "Young man, it won’t take you two hours and twenty minutes to get to Yundu Road!"
"I’ve been driving a taxi in Central City for over twenty years. I know these roads like the back of my hand! Don't worry, I’ll get you there in an hour and a half at most."
A slight smile appeared on Kenny's face as he softly replied, "Alright, thank you, sir."
The driver laughed heartily. "Ha ha! No problem!"
- Writer
