CH 75

Wang Ao looked at Gu Xizhou and lightly shook his head. He walked over to his desk helplessly and tore out a sheet of paper. After writing down a phone number, he handed it to Gu Xizhou and said, “Here: Li Yaolin’s phone number. He’s my colleague, and he also handled this case.

“However, he’s long retired. You can call him and try to ask about the situation at that time. You’ve seen the statement inside the police station, and there’s no problem with it.” 

“Thank you, Uncle Wang!” said Gu Xizhou.

“I can’t stop you, go investigate, ba.” Wang Ao sighed, looking at Gu Xizhou’s back as he departed and using a hand to knead his brows.

Gu Xizhou returned to the office and didn’t hesitate before directly making a phone call. He straightforwardly explained the reason he was looking for Li Yaolin.

Li Yaolin answered with genuine pain in his voice. “You ask, ba.” 

“When you handled the case, was there anything off about Tong Jia’s parents?” asked Gu Xizhou.

“I remember that time when I received a phone call, two brothers and I rushed to the scene. Tong Jia’s home was on the twelfth floor. You can imagine that her appearance after her fall was very wretched… None of the people around the scene dared to look. I hadn’t been a police officer for long at the time, and frankly I was also afraid to look straight at the scene.

“Tong Jia’s mother was at home that day, and her father was out. However…the one who reported the incident wasn’t Tong Jia’s mother. Rather, it was the neighborhood’s security guard… Actually, when I questioned the security guard at that time, I also felt it was odd.

“According to the security guard’s statement, Tong Jia fell from the building with a loud sound, so many people in the neighborhood knew about it.”

“And what did you think was odd at the time?” asked Gu Xizhou. “Can you tell me?”

After listening to Gu Xizhou’s description, Li Yaolin probably felt somewhat sympathetic toward Tong Jia, so his story was very detailed. “She didn’t dial 120.”

“Of course, we can’t rule out that she only temporarily forgot to dial 120,” said Li Yaolin on the other end of the phone. “But furthermore… When she cried it was very strange, and I felt like… she wasn’t really grieving.”

“Then you didn’t continue to investigate?” asked Gu Xizhou. 

“We investigated, ah. Because of this, we even suspected it was homicide back then, but later, we found a resident when we were in the neighborhood who lived opposite Tong Jia. According to their statement, they verified that Tong Jia really did jump over the balcony herself.” Li Yaolin sighed and added, “Because of this, we investigated the relationship between this resident and Tong Jia’s parents, but we found that both parties really had no connection.

“The most important thing is that one who saw Tong Jia jump didn’t know the family, and was a passerby on the road. At that time, he was shocked when he saw the jump, but he said that when Tong Jia jumped, he didn’t see anyone else standing on the balcony. Finally, we could only conclude that it was suicide.”

“Got it. Thank you for answering my questions. Oh, that’s right, was there anything strange about Tong Jia’s corpse?”

“No, there wasn’t. Back then, since we doubted Tong Jia’s mother, we examined the corpse, but the body had no mortal wounds, and there was no trace of poison,” said Li Yaolin. “Her cause of death was confirmed to be a fall from a building. At that time, we let a forensic investigator evaluate it and make a report.” 

“Yxjs, P ecvfgrajcv. P’w ageis ugjafoei ab sbe,” rjlv Xe Wlhtbe. “Ktjcx sbe obg jcrkfglcu ws defralbcr.”

“Tbe’gf kfimbwf.”

Xe Wlhtbe vlvc’a mbcalcef ab rqfjx. Lf yfujc ab rlifcais qbcvfg bnfg Ol Tjbilc’r kbgvr. Ycf ys bcf, tf wjvf j ilra bo jii atf fnlvfcmf fzmievlcu Kbcu Alj’r wbatfg jr j rerqfma. Xe Wlhtbe gfjilhfv atja Kbcu Alj’r vfjat kjr wbgf vloolmeia ab lcnfralujaf atjc tf atbeuta. Pc atf fcv, kts vlv Kbcu Alj xlii tfgrfio? Qjcalcu ab ufa jc jcrkfg joafg Kbcu Alj vlfv kjr clut lwqbrrlyif.

When he realized this problem, he suddenly felt very stupid. Gu Ji Ji blamed himself for many years after Tong Jia’s death, and he was also a police officer. He must have investigated. 

Gu Ji Ji said that he’d already given up investigating Tong Jia’s cause of death, not because he didn’t want to, but because he had already failed. What role did Tong Jia’s mother play in her death? He could have one hundred different guesses and one hundred different theories, but it was all to no avail.

Because Gu Xizhou didn’t speak, Li Yaolin on the other side of the phone opened his mouth. “Lao Wang called me before… Child, whatever happened in the past is already over. It’s meaningless to continue to dwell on it. It’s better to treasure the present.”

“I know. Thank you, Uncle Li.”

After hanging up, Gu Xizhou was in a poor mood. He thought that he could help Gu Ji Ji solve this matter, but he didn’t expect that this case had witness testimony that Tong Jia had killed herself. 

Gu Xizhou put away his phone and leaned back in his chair, lost in thought for a moment. Then, he stood up and prepared to go out for a meal, and he bumped into Ma Qi in the hallway.

“Do you want to eat together?” asked Ma Qi.

“Okay, ah,” said Gu Xizhou. “Your treat?”

“Of course,” Ma Qi said with a grin. “What do you want to eat?” 

“Whatever.”

“You have to lead the way,” Ma Qi said helplessly.

Gu Xizhou considered in his heart and thought that he should cheat Ma Qi out of a meal. He remembered that there was a pretty good family restaurant nearby.

The two people sat in the restaurant. Gu Xizhou ordered a lot of things. He had just handed his menu to the waiter when Ma Qi couldn’t help but ask, “Can you finish eating so much at noon?” 

“In the last world, I almost starved to death.” Gu Xizhou curled up his lips and whispered, “Up until now I still haven’t completely recovered.”

Ma Qi showed an understanding expression. He got Gu Xizhou’s meaning. There were plenty of crazy rules in the mission world.

While eating his many dishes, Gu Xizhou mentioned Ma Qi’s nickname. “This nickname of yours is a bit interesting: Mystical Lao Ma… You narcotics officers have a more dangerous job than the criminal police. Isn’t there a firefight every day? It’s exciting to think about.”

“Exciting?” Ma Qi shook his head helplessly with a bitter laugh, saying, “Only by relying on seeing my life countdown and knowing that I won’t die do I dare to be at ease and act boldly. As a result, I’m fine every time there’s a firefight… but my partners have changed batch after batch. Right now, I’m not afraid of apprehending armed drug dealers, but I dread entering the mission worlds.” 

Gu Xizhou nodded in acknowledgement. Ma Qi was very reasonable. It wasn’t because of a miracle, but rather due to knowing that he won’t die that he dared to act so brave and fierce. On the other hand, as the life countdown ended and he entered the mission world, one wrong step would lead him to fall into the abyss.

Gu Xizhou changed the subject and asked Ma Qi, “How did you get to our side? It seems quite distant.”

“There’s nothing to be done about it,” said Ma Qi reluctantly. “Who doesn’t want to stay in their hometown? This time, a few of my coworkers died, but we also solved a huge case, and that drug lord was arrested. The narcotics officers had to be transferred away. There’s likely to be an incident if they stay in the original region.”

Gu Xizhou realized that while criminal police were arresting murderers, the narcotics department was arresting murderers with guns. The power balance was fundamentally different. The narcotics officers were also human, and they were afraid of the underworld’s retaliation. The transfers were a means to avoid that. 

The two chatted a while longer. Gu Xizhou didn’t mention Si Yu or Fang Zhi to Ma Qi, but from their conversation, Gu Xizhou knew that Ma Qi had a team of his own. Just like Gu Xizhou, Fang Zhi, and Si Yu’s group of three, he also had friends that he teamed up with regularly. Although Ma Qi didn’t mention their names, Gu Xizhou could tell that he trusted them from his words.

“You really finished it all,” he said, “Gu Ran… en… Gu Xizhou, I’m now convinced you weren’t deliberately cheating me. You really were starving.”

“No kidding,” Gu Xizhou spread his hands. “I went hungry for four days. I nearly starved to death.”

Gu Xizhou looked at the time on his cell phone and used a napkin to wipe his mouth. He said, “Let’s go, there’s still half an hour. If we hurry back, we can still nap.” 

“All right.”

The two people, one in front and one in back, returned. As soon as Gu Xizhou said goodbye to Ma Qi, he went through the door and met Fang Zhi, who was also on his way back.

“Gu Ge, guess what I got!” Fang Zhi said, putting on a mysterious tone.

Gu Xizhou looked at him. “What?” 

“A driver’s license!”

Fang Zhi took out his newly obtained driver’s license.

Gu Xizhou heard his words, and his mood lightened. He patted Fang Zhi’s shoulder. “Not bad, ah. When we go out in the future, you drive the car, and I can finally rest.”

Fang Zhi thumped his chest and said, “Okay, Gu Ge!” 

Then, Fang Zhi’s stomach rumbled, and Gu Xizhou grinned. He said, “You haven’t eaten yet? Go eat quickly.”

“En!” Fang Zhi left like a wisp of smoke. Gu Xizhou looked at Fang Zhi’s departing back and shook his head in exasperation.

Gu Xizhou’s day was pretty serene apart from arresting a few thieves. There were no dead bodies. Gu Xizhou was very satisfied with this pleasantly relaxed day without overtime.

In the morning, Gu Xizhou was driven by Fang Zhi straight to Si Yu’s mansion. After the car was parked, he directly input the PIN to enter Si Yu’s villa. They went upstairs. The resting Si Yu opened his eyes and gestured for them to sit. 

Gu Xizhou mentioned Ma Qi to Si Yu. Contrary to Si Yu, who didn’t say anything, Fang Zhi’s whole face was filled with shock.

He gripped his water cup tightly and said, “Gu Ge, you’re saying the new Ma- Deputy Ma is like us?”

“Yeah, do you really think his luck could be so good otherwise? A bullet was blocked by a car fragment. He survived by the skin of his teeth,” Gu Xizhou spoke casually.

Fang Zhi agreed and said softly, “In that case, as long as there’s still time on our countdown… nothing we do will kill us… even if we jump from a building?” 

“In theory, yes,” said Si Yu. “Of course, Ma Qi himself has already covertly proved this theory.”

“So like this, it’s difficult to die with the countdown.” Gu Xizhou grinned and said, “This trick is pretty useful.”

Si Yu agreed, then he turned to ask Fang Zhi, “How long is your countdown?”

“There’s still ten minutes.” After Fang Zhi had completed several worlds, he was clearly no longer as uncomfortable as before. His mentality had experienced a qualitative leap. 

“Ten minutes, ah.” Gu Xizhou shot Si Yu a pitiful look and said, “Chief Si, I want to drink coffee. The most expensive kind.”

Si Yu: “……”

Si Yu turned around to get the coffee. He had apparently grown accustomed to Gu Xizhou’s shamelessness. He only contacted him when he needed to enter a mission world. If not for that, he wouldn’t even see a glimpse of his shadow. Because of this, he was slightly irritated, but he didn’t realize the cause.

The autho