Chapter 98 - The Devil's Den

UNEDITED: PLEASE WAIT FOR SOME TIME

Just "Do you mind If I ask why you are interested in Hu Geng Xin, officer? He is just a nameless guy who barely talks to anyone."

"Do you know where he is right now?"

"I just heard that he went to the city for a better job?"

"Better job? What was he doing here?"

"He used to do all these petty jobs in the village...from working in the fish market to the gatekeeper of the church cemetery...he literally did everything."

"As I told you earlier, he was the one who helped us to dig out the skeleton from the mountain."

"Do you know where did he go? Or does he have any friends, here?"

"Not really. He never talks to anyone. Ahhh, maybe if you talk to Elder Mao, you might get some details."

"Where can find elder Mao?"

"He lives next to the place where you are going to stay tonight. I will send him a word."

"Thank you for your co-operation, officer."

"It's a shame that you came here as part of the investigation otherwise, it is a nice vacation spot for people from imperial."

"We will come back again. See you tomorrow, officer Pei?"

"This place is a hell hole with criminals and injustice, and he wants us to come here again. Sorry, I'm out."

"I'm not even getting proper signals. Does your phone have signals?" 

"Yes, then can you lend me your phone? I have to make a quick phone call,"

"Oh, sure."

"Did you make up your mind?"

"What's happening wrong with officer Han? He was on his phone all day. I saw him giggling at his phone,"

"Did he has a girlfriend?"

"Oh please, don't start."

"Can we go then?"

"Yes, captain."

The local police team left in the evening after arranging accommodation facilities for the eagle team members in a nearby guesthouse in the village. Since it wasn't a town big enough to have huge buildings and hotels, the place where Wan Yi Jun and his team stayed was a beach cottage owned by one of the villagers for tourists. 

After making sure that everyone settled down in their respective rooms, Wan Yi Jun picked up his phone and walked out the balcony,

"How are you, miss Ming? Is everything alright? He called you, when? Just block him. I will take care of it."

"I hope everything is according to your likes, sir."

"Yes,"

"Who lives there?"

"Nobody lives there, now."

"It looks so beautiful."

"Yes, But no one goes there. It's notoriously known as devil's den."

"Devil's den?"

"Many people died over there, either falling into the sea or hitting the head on the rock."

"as Han Ze Min's car drove past Zhi Lan in the parking lot of Skyline condo, another one abruptly stopped in front of her, and a masked woman got down. 

"Oh, finally!!!" Zhi Lan heavily sighed as she looked at Cai Hong, who dressed up to avoid paparazzi. 

Removing her sunglasses in hurried motions, she almost dragged Zhi Lan behind one of the concrete columns in the parking lot.

"What are you-" Even before Zhi Lan could ask something, Cai Hong silenced her with a bunch of questions,

"Was that Han Ze Min? Why is he here? Did he come here to ask about me?" Cai Hong inquired while looking in the direction where Han Ze Min's car went.

"Hey, hey, cool down. He lives here," Zhi Lan tried to calm down her friend who started panicking at the mere glimpse of a police officer. Though Cai Hong pretended unaffected during the interrogation, she was indeed frightened by Han Ze Min's wrath. 

"Here?" Cai Hong asked and glanced around the parking lot. Skyline apartments was home to the elites in the imperial city and she couldn't help but wonder why Han Ze Min who was rich enough to buy a hundred such skyline penthouses chose to live here, like a nouveau riche. 

"Hmm... opposite to Xie Na's penthouse" Zhi Lan calmly informed and took a step away from the  column, intending to walk away from the parking lot. 

"What? I thought he lives in the Han family's mansion...when did he move out?" Cai Hong asked while following her friend to the elevator, hiding herself in the shadows of columns and cars, as if she was on some undercover mission. 

"No proof of existence?" Lao Yating's eyes widened in shock as his brain slowly processed the piece of unexpected information that shot directly at them, "Are you saying that he is also missing like Song Jia...for the last two years? Is he alive or-"

"Maybe, maybe not." Wan Yi Jun gave a vague reply to his team members, crushing their hopes all at once. "We tried to issue an interrogation and search warranty in the address he had given, and the data showed that someone else is staying there."

"Just because he moved houses doesn't confirm-"

"The number he has given as his contact in the agency went inactive, two years ago, and its last tower location was around Jing university, to be more precisely, next to Shu Li Li's apartment," Shen Junru added as a matter of fact,

"We don't know the exact date when he met Shu Li Li, but on 9th of December, he suddenly disappeared without even collecting the salary."

"Well, if he had plans to move cities, no matter how busy he was, he would have made sure to get his salary before leaving the city."

"As we said earlier, there is no evidence of his existence, no medical records, call records or anything that proves that a man named "Hu Geng Xin is alive."

"Are we hitting another dead end?" 

The moment, those words fell from Lao Yating's mouth, Bing Wen unknowingly covered his ears and yelled like a worried

"Sir Lao, don't jinx it." 

"Where did Hu Geng Xin live? Is it possible for us to search?"

"Still, we should at least try."

"How about we go and search Hu Geng Xin's house in Gui Xiang?"

"It's Gui Xiang you are talking about, we can just go and search there just because we doubt that he is related to  Shu Lili."

"Hmmm. I will talk to Chief Wu and try if we can talk to someone who investigated Song Jia's missing case."

"Are we going to reopen that case, too?"

"If it is necessary, we should do it."

"This case is getting complicated day by day...even I lost the count of people and cases related to this case."

"We investigated the drug deals in Rising Ravens, the enemies of Qin Kai, bullying scandal with that model, now this missing cases...it is nothing but a mess."

"Let's try to look into Hu Geng Xin's contacts in imperial. As per what we have gathered about him, he is an introvert with an eccentric personality, so it is pretty difficult for him to find a place to live or work in the city. So there will be someone who helped him."

"Will look into it."

"Can I suggest something, captain?"

"Even if we somehow managed to prove the relationship between Shu Li Li and Hu Geng Xin, I damn sure that they are just pawns in this case. There is someone, a genius perpetrator behind all this."

"Someone who knows how to tangle everything and make himself safe from the mess."

"Do you have anything to say in it?"

"If there is a perpetrator in it, he holds a huge hatred towards Shu Li Li and what will be the reason for it."

"If it was jealousy, then he or she would aim to ruin Shu Li Li's career, not to kill her."

"It was personal vengeance, but what would have made him?"

"He moved out last year, I guess... Let's go up otherwise we will be late." Zhi Lan reminded as she pressed the top floor button on the elevator. 

"Do you think this is going to be safe? Xie Na and Han Ze Min are neighbours and....we are doing something illegal right under his nose." As soon as

"Are you kidding me, Cai Hong? Did you forget your brain at home?" 

"I'm just worried...what if something happens to me..." 

"Didn't Xie Na tell us that we can rely on her for things like this? She got a team to handle this without gathering any police attention." 

"Hmm... But still," 

"Were you sleeping?"

"Hmmm... I barely slept." 

"That can be seen on your face," 

"Who was it?" 

"One of my clients.." 

"You are sleeping with your clients?" 

"What can I do if they are willing to sleep with me? Coffee?" 

"Well, at least one of us is getting laid. Good for you." 

"So tell me, what help do you want from me?" 

"I want you to look for someone on run after committing a crime." 

"Who?" 

"I don't know his name." 

"Photograph?" 

"Nope." 

"It's the culprit who murdered a girl on new years eve." 

"I thought police department...Lanlan's boyfriend is investigating the case?" 

"Yes, but can you ask your people to search him and if you can...catch him before the police?" 

"What's it, Cai Hong? What did you do this time?" 

"Why...why are you doubting me? Do you also think that I killed that b*tch?"

"So, that's what happened. Did captain Wan summon you to interrogate?"

"Yes."