"Captain Han, Captain Han, wake up, we’re almost at the place you ntioned."
Song Hongbiao woke Han Bin, who was in the passenger seat; the latter opened his eyes, stretched, and instinctively reached into his pocket, pulling out half a pack of cigarettes.
Han Bin took one out and placed it in his mouth.
He then searched his pants pockets for a lighter, but after rummaging around, he couldn’t find it. Eventually, it was Song Hongbiao, who was driving, that took one out from the glove compartnt and handed it to him.
"Captain Han, you were having a nightmare just now."
"Huh?"
"I saw you frowning in your sleep, muttering to yourself, ’It’s all fake, it’s all fake.’ Did you dream about the end of the world again?"
Han Bin lit his cigarette, took a deep drag, then opened the car window and flicked the ashes outside, "Maybe I’ve been too tired these days."
"But last ti after that homicide case, you only slept for two days out of the week, and you looked as lively as ever. You didn’t go back ho to catch up on sleep but instead called people over to play mahjong."
Han Bin snorted, "I’m already thirty-five, do you expect to keep pulling all-nighters?"
"Then don’t go looking for trouble," Song Hongbiao said, parking the car by the roadside.
"The guys ca to Z City to catch soone and are already exhausted from staking out the target every day. Captain Han, you think that’s not busy enough, running over to the neighboring L City on top of everything. If Director Guo finds out, we’re both definitely in for a scolding."
"Cut the crap, I’m just going to et soone and ask a few questions before heading back," Han Bin said, "You think about what we’ll eat tonight while in the car."
"So you’re treating, Captain Han?"
"If I say I’ll treat, then I’ll treat," Han Bin replied, while pushing open the car door and getting out.
Song Hongbiao watched as Han Bin’s figure disappeared into the residential complex opposite, then he turned on the car’s radio and found a station playing comic dialogues to listen to for a while.
About a quarter of an hour later, the passenger side door was pulled open, and Han Bin got back into the car, proceeding to take another cigarette out of the pack and light it up.
"Let’s go, back to Z City."
"You done?"
"Done."
"How’d it go?" Song Hongbiao asked curiously.
Han Bin shook his head.
"I just don’t get it," Song Hongbiao shifted gears as he spoke, "Captain Han, why are you so fixated on that company called Third Era? Haven’t we already checked them out? They didn’t do anything illegal."
"And even if they did sothing illegal, shouldn’t that fall under the jurisdiction of the economic cri division? What does it have to do with us? Hate to say it, Captain Han, but you’re kind of like a dog trying to catch mice, sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong."
"Who are you calling a dog," Han Bin said, "Drive, I’m hungry. Let’s head back to Z City for so rice noodles."
"Hey, rice noodles again? Captain Han, you told to pick, and I want to eat at Haidilao!" Song Hongbiao protested.
"No ti for that," Han Bin said. "Don’t you have to go on a stakeout tonight?"
"Damn!" Song Hongbiao exclaid, "Captain Han, you’re that kind of person, huh? You never really intended to treat properly from the start."
"Alright, alright, stop complaining. Just rember, once we wrap up this case, I’ll treat you to Haidilao,"
"That’s more like it," Song Hongbiao finally satisfied.
anwhile, Han Bin had smoked half of his second cigarette. He opened the car window again, and the cold wind from outside sowhat eased his irritable mood.
Song Hongbiao spoke up again at this point, "Right, I rember reading sothing online before, saying that dreams are a manifestation of your subconscious. If you often have the sa nightmare, it is very likely related to so tragic event in your childhood."
"I didn’t have any tragic events in my childhood."
"Then it must be because you watched a similar movie or read a novel recently."
"No, I’ve been too busy to death, when would I have ti for entertainnt and relaxation."
"That’s strange, why would you, Captain Han, have nightmares? And keep having the sa one over and over."
After a mont of silence, Han Bin said, "Tang ngjia."
"What?"
"Tang ngjia, I just visited her grandparents," explained Han Bin.
"Then this Tang ngjia..."
"Eleven years old, female, lived in B city with her parents, fifth-grade elentary student. Two months ago, she fell down the school stairs, tragically hitting the back of her head. She was taken to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead."
"Oh. I seem to rember now. Captain Han, didn’t you initially suspect campus bullying in this case?
"But after asking around, whether it was her parents or her classmates and teachers, everyone said they hadn’t seen her being bullied, so, it probably was just incredibly bad luck."
"What, Captain Han, have you found so new clues?" Seeing the traffic jam ahead, Song Hongbiao honked twice, but there was no movent. Hence, he could only continue waiting and turned his attention back to the conversation with Han Bin.
"I haven’t found anything else about the cause of death, but later, Tang ngjia’s mother, Dong Yuanli, ca looking for ," said Han Bin.
"Really, when? What for?"
"She told she had seen her daughter again."
"Ah, that’s quite common. Family mbers of the deceased, due to excessive grief, do experience hallucinations. But when a person is dead, they are dead, and the body was cremated..."
"Tang ngjia’s body wasn’t cremated."
"Ah?"
"Her parents signed a body donation form, so after she died, the Red Cross imdiately took her body away."
"I see, is there a problem?" asked Song Hongbiao, puzzled.
"There’s no issue with the procedure, but when I went to the Red Cross, I found that Tang ngjia’s body was sent to a research institute. When I got there, however, the researchers wouldn’t let see Tang ngjia’s body.
"Not until I threatened to apply for a search warrant did they tell that Tang ngjia’s body had already been cremated because there was an issue with the research, and her body was no longer useful.
"So, I checked all the crematoriums in the city, and sure enough, I found Tang ngjia’s na at one of them. But this ti, I had the foresight to ask the cremator responsible for that day.
"However, the cremator had no recollection of Tang ngjia. When I asked if he could have forgotten, he said that because of his job, he sees many dead bodies every day, but for soone so young, he wouldn’t forget so easily if he had seen them."
"So where did Tang ngjia’s body go?" Song Hongbiao was astonished.
"That is the question," Han Bin said. "I continued to investigate the research institute and found that among their donors was a company nad Weide Health, who donated the most money and did so most frequently.
"This is an international company with headquarters in Switzerland. I can’t find much information about them here in China, but while investigating, I discovered a consulting firm called the Third Era had a rather close connection with Weide Health.
"They are a consulting company. It’s normal for them to provide advice to clients," said Song Hongbiao, who wanted to smoke as the car was stuck in the middle of the road.
"The problem is, the Third Era is not a normal consulting company," Han Bin said indifferently.
Reviews
All reviews (0)