The tracking feature of handphones for the elderly were essentially just for show. Moreover, their boss’ handphone was equipped with an anti-tracking feature. In the end, it was only by relying on the signal from the call that Grayback finally narrowed down the location to Three Tribute Town.
Two teams of policemen operated separately. Based on the location where the signal had vanished, they searched Three Tribute Town for half a day before eventually discovering an illegal underground boxing ring at a desolate alley in Pilta Street.
The boxing ring’s manager reported that he had checked through all the rooms with his men after yesterday’s shooting and confirmed that there wasn’t anyone. Otto, who was still applying ice packs in the VIP lounge, solemnly told Grayback that he had already dispatched people to comb through every corner of the boxing ring and was sure that Ying Wan and Eagle had already left the place.
Only after prying open the rusty iron door did Team One discover their target behind an expanse of dust fluttering in the air.
The policemen standing outside were stunned upon seeing the scene behind the door. Among them was Guan Xingwen, who was at the front, as well as Curly Hair who was following closely behind him.
A mattress occupied the center of the already-narrow storage room. Ying Wan, who had woken with a start from the sound of the door opening, sat up straight in front of the mattress. His hair was in disarray, and Yu Baiqing’s coat still hung over his shoulders.
As for Yu Baiqing, he was leaning alone against a corner of the wall. There was a pile of cigarette butts beside his feet and he was topless.
Guan Xingwen had thought all this while that Old Yu had been dispatched on some top-secret mission under the pretense of being on leave. Who would have thought that Old Yu had actually been stumped by a rusty iron door?
On their way out, Grayback secretly slipped up to Ying Wan. He lowered his voice, asking curiously, “Boss, how did you guys get locked up?”
Immediately, he heard his boss respond heavily, “Shut up.”
Nobody knew what had transpired that day at the underground boxing ring. The two persons involved refused to say anything either.
It was almost off-work hours. Yu Baiqing, who’d originally been on leave, returned to his office at the municipal bureau. Ying Wan followed behind him with Yu Baiqing’s coat still draped over his shoulders.
The criminal investigators they passed by followed Yu Baiqing with their gazes as he brought the youth, whose head was lowered obediently, towards the office at the end of the corridor. The criminal investigators came to a unanimous consensus – it seemed that Old Yu’s di had caused trouble again.
However, it was different this time. The corner of Old Yu’s mouth was bruised; it was uncertain if he had gotten it from banging into something or from a fight with someone else.
Ying Wan followed Yu Baiqing into the reception room. The people currently seated in the meeting room wore all manner of expressions. There was Grayback, who’d just returned with him. Owl, whose arms were crossed, expression ice-cold. And Ah Bu, who treated the municipal bureau as half a canteen and was in the midst of devouring a bento box.
Apart from Grayback, the rest had been called over on the spot through phone calls. This was the agreement Ying Wan had reached with Yu Baiqing during the time they had been trapped in the storage room.
Under normal circumstances, even if it was an emergency situation, they could tease out crucial bits of information just from a mere few words.
But the boss did not say anything during the phone call apart from calling them over to the police station on last notice. Even their most used secret signals were not used. Though they couldn’t quite wrap their heads around this, they could more or less guess that their boss had probably encountered a sticky problem.
Since they didn’t know if this shoddy place was equipped with audio or video monitoring devices, the three of them sat in the meeting room for half the day, abiding by the golden rule of ‘not saying a thing if able to move’. Silent exchanges were done through their gazes, but none of them spoke up.
Not long after Ying Wan entered with Yu Baiqing, someone knocked on the door. Old Liu peered in and informed Yu Baiqing that they had brought the last person.
Otto, whose face was half-swollen, had been on the way to his restaurant date when he was invited over by a few plain clothes policemen. He had originally ordered his bodyguard to hold them up while he thought of a reason to shake them off, but the other party simply described in detail the shooting incident at the boxing ring and stated that Captain Yu of the municipal bureau’s criminal investigation unit would like to invite him over.
Otto walked into the meeting room and saw Eagle, whom he’d just encountered several hours ago. Eagle was in uniform, both shoulders decorated with police badges. He was seated at the end of the meeting table, watching Otto attentively. Otto’s heart thumped. This was bad.
Recalling what had happened during the day, realization struck him.
Had this person discovered that the underground boxing ring belonged to him, so he was deliberately baiting him?
Now that everyone was gathered, Yu Baiqing got Old Liu to close the door. He flipped through the information he’d just picked up from Guan Xingwen.
This was a condition he had put forward to Ying Wan. He wanted to meet these people by Ying Wan’s side.
Despite knowing that Yu Baiqing was doing so to fish for information from them, Ying Wan eventually still agreed to his request.
An investor in auctions. A mixed-race commercial advertisement model. A renowned foreign enterprise’s IT engineer. A street-roaming beggar.
The four people seated in the meeting room all had different identities. Even their nationalities were worlds apart. Yet, they all had one common point–
Yu Baiqing’s gaze shifted from the data and onto Ying Wan seated directly opposite him.
A handicapped person in his twenties without any higher education or any official work experience had gotten these people from different backgrounds to listen to his orders.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Lf obgwjiis lcagbvemfv ab fnfgsbcf, “Ktlr lr ws uf, Yoolmfg Te Djldlcu bo atf weclmlqji yegfje’r mglwlcji lcnfralujalbc ecla.”
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Ah Bu called out obediently, “Ge.”
The boss’ words were law. The boss’ ge was also his ge.
Grayback flashed a cordial and radiant smile. “Yu-ge, we meet again.”
Yu Baiqing probably didn’t remember where they’d met before, but no matter, it was all right as long as he did.
Owl had combed her hair into a high ponytail today, and radiated the aura of an exceedingly competent person. She crossed her arms, nodding slightly at Yu Baiqing. “Officer Yu.”
Otto’s face darkened. He took out a flat wine canister from his pocket and took a swig. Clearly, he didn’t want to give Yu Baiqing the time of the day.
Yu Baiqing ignored Otto’s nasty attitude. He didn’t say anything, merely tapping his knuckles against the table.
Once. Twice. Thrice.
The rhythm and frequency alternated. Sometimes, it was slow and light. And other times, it was urgent and hurried. There did not appear to be a clear rule to them.
However, the expressions on everyone except Ying Wan’s faces changed simultaneously. The changes for the two young men Grayback and Ah Bu were more obvious. Ah Bu stared dazedly at Yu Baiqing’s fingers, his gaze trained on the finger joints rapping against the table. Only after hearing a light cough from Grayback did he hurriedly shift his line of sight away.
Since the moment Ying Wan entered the room, he’d been sitting quietly with lowered eyes. There was no visible reaction from him.
Yu Baiqing was not anxious despite not having obtained the answer he wanted. He unhurriedly lifted and lowered his slender fingers against the table, as if playing an invisible piano.
This was the intelligence code he’d seen in He Guanyu’s video. He might not know the meaning behind it, but he’d taken care to memorize the rhythm of the code.
If he had not guessed wrongly, the people present should understand how to use this method to transmit information, including the person Curly Hair called ‘boss’.
After tapping out the final segment, Yu Baiqing interlaced his fingers, resting them on the table. His gaze swept across everyone in the meeting room before finally settling on Ying Wan seated opposite, expression unchanged throughout the entire sequence of events.
Yu Baiqing asked straightforwardly, “Who are you?”
This question contained many meanings, but should never have been directed at his brother who had grown up with him since young in spite of the lack of blood relation.
His tone of voice was calm without the slightest fluctuation in emotion, as if this were merely an opening remark at the first meeting between two strangers.
Yu Baiqing had always thought he had only been absent for the two years he was away on mission. Until two weeks ago, when he was the only one left living in this world like a walking corpse. It was only then that he realized he knew virtually nothing about this child.
He knew the sweets the child was fond of eating, but didn’t know when he’d learned to smoke and drink. He knew which path the child liked to take back home, but didn’t know what the child did alone while he was doing overtime at the bureau.
Yu Baiqing had even died once, yet there was still so much he didn’t know about Ying Wan.
For instance, that pair of eyes.
The minute hand on the wall moved slowly. Everybody’s gazes were gathered on Ying Wan. They did not know how Ying Wan would respond to the present situation.
Ying Wan’s hands were cupped around the glass of water on the table. His head was lowered, seemingly in thought.
He finally understood why his ge had brought Owl and the rest here after hearing this question.
When he was alone, Yu Baiqing could never resist Ying Wan’s show of weakness and accepted the answers he gave time after time. This time, his ge wanted to leave him no way of covering up his lies in the presence of all who were close to him.
Yu Baiqing was an elite with a professional background in investigation. With so many people present, no lie could escape his keen eyes.
Ying Wan raised his head. “Ge, have you heard of Robin?”
Time froze. The four people present were struck dumb. Their shock could barely be concealed on their faces.
Apart from them and the old fogeys in the organization, the number of people who knew Bird’s real identity could be counted on both hands.
Their mission this time had just seen some progress, and their boss was choosing to give up on it and give himself away to the cops?
Yu Baiqing raised his brows slightly, but didn’t reply as if waiting for Ying Wan to continue speaking.
Ying Wan pursed his lips, seemingly in deliberation. Then, as if having made a resolution, he said with a serious yet earnest expression, “Ge, Robin is my benefactor.”
Otto: ……
Owl: ?
Grayback: ??
Ah Bu: ?????
–
“I got to know Otto when I was moonlighting at LEON,” Ying Wan took a sip of warm water. His eyelashes drooped slightly, as if he were recalling his memories. “It hadn’t been long since ge left. I was looking for all sorts of ways to find out about ge’s situation. Otto was someone I was familiar with at the club and he told me that Robin would be able to help me find you.”
“Otto helped me to leave the country. Even now, I’m still very grateful to him,” Ying Wan continued. “I learned how to gather intelligence from Robin with Denis, Elaine, and the rest. Although we’ve never seen him in person, we’ve always listened to his orders–”
“You collect intelligence for him and he pays you a hefty remuneration, right?” Yu Baiqing interrupted. “After that, you discovered something related to your parents and intended on continuing to investigate abroad, but was soon targeted.”
“That group of people have always wanted to get rid of you. Robin sent you back to this country for your own protection. But not long after, you heard about his death.”
He calmly helped Ying Wan to fill in the second half of his story.
For the first time since entering the meeting room, there was a shift in Ying Wan’s expression. His pupils contracted slightly and he looked up in bewilderment at the investigator sitting opposite.
Ying Wan had only used this version of events two or three times and essentially got away with it every time. He’d thought that it was perfect for dealing with Yu Baiqing, but hadn’t expected to be seen through immediately.
Yu Baiqing took out a cigarette from his pocket. As he held it in his mouth, he suddenly recalled that smoking was prohibited in the meeting room. “I also know about the other three versions, should I run through all of them with you?”
Ying Wan’s mouth parted, but not a single word left his mouth.
A while later, his head drooped slowly. He crossed his hands on his knees. “I have nothing to say.”
This was not something Ying Wan had expected Yu Baiqing to know.
They all had their own secrets, just like the agreement Yu Baiqing had made with Ying Wan in the storage room and how he’d refrained from exposing Ying Wan’s eyes in front of everyone.
Yu Baiqing had already heard this version of events from Yuan Shan.
The Heavens had given him another chance to do things over. There seemed to be traces of everything that was unavoidable.
Yu Baiqing did not continue to press Ying Wan. Instead, he turned and fixed his gaze on the dazed Curly Hair. “What’s your purpose for coming to Fan City?”
“Uh…”
Seeing that his boss had been rendered silent by his ge, Grayback was momentarily at a loss for words. He glanced left and right. Seeing that nobody could help him, he hemmed and hawed, “We came mainly to see Ying Wan. As for the rest–”
“They are investigating Heyu Real Estate,” Ying Wan said. “Similar to the police.”
If you can’t beat them, join them. If you can’t deceive them, collaborate with them. And Ying Wan had always been partial to having dealings with intelligent people.
“Ge,” He stared into Yu Baiqing’s deep-set eyes. “What happened at Qin Gulf is not a simple case of a serial murderer.”
–
It was well into the night.
Ying Wan stood alone at the rooftop of the municipal bureau. He lay slumped over the railing, looking out at the groups of people coming and going along the snack street not far away.
Yu Baiqing was still in the interrogation room questioning the two people who had just regained consciousness. Yu Baiqing didn’t allow him to run amok and he had nothing to do, so he could only linger here and enjoy the wind.
Otto had gone rushing for his evening appointment. Grayback and Owl were already back at the hotel and were preparing to continue investigating Heyu. As usual, Ah Bu wandered the streets to gather information. Ying Wan was right under Yu Baiqing’s eyes and contrary to expectations, became the most idle. He was waiting for Yu Baiqing to get off work just like how h always did, as if nothing had happened between them.
Night deepened. The deep, resounding sound of a clock could be heard in the distance. Ying Wan glanced down at the central plaza’s bell tower. The hour hand had stopped at the ten o’clock position.
The door to the rooftop opened behind Ying Wan. He could hear the footsteps of two people from behind him, but did not look back.
The person he was waiting for had arrived.
Gao Jun looked at the frail figure of the young man leaning against the railing. He called out to Ying Wan, “I’ve brought the person you wanted to see.”
A middle-aged man dressed in a gray windbreaker stood beside Gao Jun. A pair of thick eyebrows could be made out, but half of his face was hidden under his collar, rendering his appearance indistinct in the night.
Ying Wan turned around and nodded politely to Gao Jun. He walked over to the tables and chairs at the rooftop rest area, pulling out a chair for the person who had arrived.
Knowing that they had private matters to discuss, Gao Jun didn’t intend to linger. But before he left, he gave Ying Wan a kind reminder, “That fellow Yu Baiqing is pretty skilled at interrogating criminals, he will probably finish up soon.”
Ying Wan stood up with the help of his cane to send him off. “Thank you, Uncle Gao.”
After Gao Jun left, the middle-aged man sat down beside Ying Wan, scrutinizing him with a pair of piercing eyes. “I did not know your identity the last time we met.”
Ying Wan put down his cup. A faint smile appeared on his face. “You’d have known in the future, Inspector Zhuo.”
Back then, he was ready to meet death and naturally wouldn’t tell anyone who he was to avoid any disruptions to his original plan.
Facing him was the high-ranking inspector dispatched to Fan City to re-investigate the ‘7.13 hostage kidnapping case’. They had previously encountered each other at the actual site, but this time, Ying Wan had taken the initiative to contact him.
“Why did you want me to come here today?” Inspector Zhuo asked.
“I’m being targeted by another group of people. The people who’ve come are a bit more dangerous this time,” Ying Wan told him. “In order to better execute my missions in the future, I would like to request for an increase in my level of authority.”
Inspector Zhuo met his gaze. “Has the identity you’re using now been exposed?”
“Yu Baiqing probably knows.” There was a moment of silence before Ying Wan slowly uttered, “He started suspecting me a long time ago, just that he never said it out loud.”
“What about those attendants of yours? How should we deal with them? Especially the one called Grayback. His technical skills surpass the majority of our technical specialists, I can’t let him be.”
“Let’s wait a while more,” Ying Wan leaned back against the chair. “This group of intelligence traders are pretty easy to use, I still need their help for the time being.”
“So,” He changed the topic. “I’ve provided you with intelligence on both parties. Have I passed your test, Inspector Zhuo?”
“…No,” Inspector Zhuo’s face sank slightly. “I told you before. You have a visual impairment and definitely can’t join the agency. But I will use my discretion and have a word with the higher-ups to allow you to first–”
“I have already regained my sight,” Ying Wan slowly shifted his line of sight to the right, staring at the middle-aged man’s work badge under his collar. “Inspector Zhuo, you know my parents. You know I was not born blind.”
Under Ying Wan’s unwavering gaze, Inspector Zhuo seemed to falter. His lips moved. “How are you going to prove that?”
“The corner around the east side of the carpark. Under the tree at the north entrance. And the two people in black at the door to the rooftop. They are all plain clothes policemen specially for your protection, right?” Ying Wan looked around, examining his surroundings. His tone of voice was exceptionally calm. “But even with such thorough security measures, at the fourth window from the right of the postal service building on our left, there is a sniper aiming between your brows, planning to kill you in one shot while you are still within their firing range.”
Inspector Zhuo’s expression turned chilly. He stood up abruptly, looking leftwards in the direction of the postal service building.
“I’m lying. There’s only a billboard there, nothing else.”
As Ying Wan spoke, he held out a hand to the man in front of him. He was all smiles. “Now, give me my police badge.”
Oho go Ying Wan !!
Thanks for the chapter!!!
Ying Wan is so badass. He and Yu Baiqing are such a power duo 💕
Interesting turns of events! And now didi joins the police force!