Chapter 47: Going Down Together
The Short-haired Youth spent the entire day hesitating over whether to report the Old Chinese Physician.
If he reported him, he was afraid it would turn out to be a huge misunderstanding.
But if he didn’t, and there really was someone being held captive inside, he would be turning a blind eye to a life-or-death situation just for some food, clothing, and shelter. His conscience would never be clear.
Suddenly, someone walked up to the door of the Short-haired Youth’s room and softly called his name twice.
The Short-haired Youth recognized the voice. It was the Old Chinese Physician. ’He’s here to check if I’m asleep.’
He closed his eyes and lay motionless on the bed. Soon, he heard footsteps leaving, followed by a RUSTLING sound from downstairs.
The Old Chinese Physician was probably changing clothes and packing, preparing to leave.
After waiting a little longer, he finally heard the main door CREAK open and then shut.
The Short-haired Youth tiptoed to the window, stealthily peeking out.
Tonight, the Old Chinese Physician was dressed the same as the previous times. The only slight difference was the bag he was carrying. It no longer contained instant food, but rather those red, white, and blue nylon bags. Through the plastic, he could even see some hemp rope at the bottom.
Scenes from all the news reports, movies, and TV shows he had ever seen flashed through the Short-haired Youth’s mind.
’Something terrible is about to happen!’
The Short-haired Youth panicked.
’No, a life is on the line. I can’t just stand by and do nothing.’
He quickly changed his clothes, left, and headed for the nearest police station.
Even though it was late at night, the police station was still brightly lit.
The moment the Short-haired Youth appeared at the entrance, the officers inside noticed him.
’A kid this age... Probably a runaway with nowhere else to go.’
They got a few kids like that every month, so the officers were used to it.
An officer led the Short-haired Youth into a small meeting room, handed him two small bread rolls and a cup of hot water, and then asked, "What brings you to the police station?"
Looking at the uniformed officer before him, the Short-haired Youth finally felt less nervous. He took a big gulp of hot water, closed his eyes, and quickly blurted out the reason for his visit.
"I want to file a report. Someone is holding a person captive and preparing to kill them."
The officer was stunned for a moment, then his expression immediately turned serious.
This wasn’t something to joke about. He couldn’t tell if the youth was just bored and looking for trouble, or if he had genuinely discovered something. He had to handle it with caution.
At the officer’s questioning, the Short-haired Youth told him everything he knew, down to the last detail.
A remote and desolate mountain area, an abandoned house, frequent late-night food deliveries, long stays, and furtive behavior...
With all these illogical behaviors, it was no wonder the young man was suspicious. ’It really is highly questionable!’
The officer immediately stood up, left the meeting room, and reported the situation to his superior.
The further the Old Chinese Physician walked along the path that night, the more his heart pounded in his chest.
He hadn’t even covered half the distance when his heart began to beat so fast it felt like it would leap out of his chest.
The Old Chinese Physician stopped in his tracks, his expression growing exceptionally grim.
’No, I absolutely can’t go today. I’ll go tomorrow instead. Tomorrow will be fine.’
The Old Chinese Physician heaved a deep sigh and returned to the clinic the way he came. After he lay back down on his bed, his sense of unease didn’t fade. Instead, it grew even stronger.
With the Short-haired Youth leading the way, several officers followed him.
The path grew narrower and narrower, and the surroundings became more and more desolate.
When they saw an abandoned house by the roadside covered in climbing ivy, their expressions all darkened.
Leaving one officer behind to watch over the Short-haired Youth, the others moved with extreme agility as they circled the house to scout the situation inside.
One of them crept to a patch of ivy on the side of the house and used a small stick to gently pry open a gap. A faint sound drifted out from within.
The officer focused his attention and listened carefully.
"DA-DADA~"
As he listened, a strange look appeared on the officer’s face. ’Isn’t that from that really popular mobile game—Subway Surfers? Is that the in-game music? Is someone inside playing a game?’
Just then, a few other team members who had found nothing unusual elsewhere walked over and heard the noise as well.
The first thought that entered their minds was that there was someone inside! It could be a vagrant, a captive, or even a desperate fugitive!
The officers exchanged a look and began searching for the main door beneath the ivy.
After some difficulty, they found the main door and discovered it was secured with a huge padlock.
A closer inspection revealed the door was wooden and had several damaged spots. Perhaps they could try breaking it open with brute force.
One of them, the most burly man of the group, motioned for the others to step back. He delivered a powerful kick to the door. The two wooden panels tore from the frame and fell to the ground with a loud THUD, kicking up a cloud of dust.
Inside, the Old Chinese Physician’s son, who was happily playing his game, heard the noise but paid it no mind. He even muttered, "I kept saying this busted door needed fixing, but no, you wouldn’t fix it. See? Now it’s broken. Still gotta fix it in the end."
Then he casually tapped for another round. On the phone screen, the little hooded boy sprinted and leaped energetically along the subway tracks...
Once the dust had settled a bit, the officers saw a faint light emanating from the crack under the bedroom door.
Several of them quickly moved to take cover on either side of the bedroom door. One officer stepped forward, gripped the handle, and gave it a light turn. The lock clicked open.
It was only then that the Old Chinese Physician’s son finally sensed something was wrong.
There was more than one set of footsteps outside the room. ’This doesn’t sound like my father... Did someone break in?’
He put down his phone, intending to walk to the bedroom door and peer through the peephole to see what was going on outside.
But he had been lying down all day and hadn’t eaten much. When he stood up suddenly, he felt dizzy and had to lean against the wall for a moment, waiting for the vertigo to pass.
Outside, the officers exchanged another look and nodded in unison.
The one holding the handle abruptly shoved the door open and shouted sharply, "Nobody move! Police!"
The Old Chinese Physician’s son, who was leaning against the wall trying to recover, heard the word "Police." All the fat on his body trembled, and his legs began to shake. The shaking grew faster and faster, until he was trembling like a sieve.
Seeing only one person inside—disheveled, dressed in rags, and of indeterminate gender—the officers first breathed a sigh of relief, but then their hearts leaped back into their throats.
Judging from the trash strewn all over the room and the locked main door outside, this person was indeed being held captive here, not just some vagrant.
"Do you have an ID? Show us your ID."
"N-no, I don’t." The person’s voice was hoarse and unpleasant, making it difficult for the officers to determine their gender.
"Do you remember your ID number?"
"N-no, I don’t remember."
This was going to be tricky.
They couldn’t determine the person’s identity, which made it difficult to decide on their next move.
Just as they were at a loss, one officer spotted a backpack next to the pillow on the bed. The zipper was open, and from a distance, he could see a few card-like objects inside. The pattern on one of them looked very much like an ID card.
The officer gave the others a look, nonchalantly walked over to the backpack by the bed, and used two fingers to pinch out the card that resembled an ID.
He carefully compared the photo on the ID with the person in front of him. Although this guy was two or three times fatter than the person in the photo, some key facial features were still there, matching about eighty percent.
Then he looked at the text information next to the photo.
"Li Yingcai, born in 1978?" The officer’s expression shifted drastically. Suddenly, he roared, "Cuff him!"
Hearing the command, the other officers’ bodies reacted before their minds could process it. They lunged forward, slammed the Old Chinese Physician’s son hard against the wall, and pulled his hands behind his back to slap on a pair of silver handcuffs.
"The net of Heaven is vast, but it lets nothing slip through. Li Yingcai, to think you’d cross over a thousand kilometers in the past ten-plus years just to hide out here in Hai City."
As he spoke, he glanced at the other cot in the room. The bedding on it didn’t have the musty smell of long disuse.
The smell from the bedding was different from the foul stench coming off Li Yingcai; it had the faint scent of burnt incense.
"So you have an accomplice. Someone who’s been bringing you food and helping you hide."
Li Yingcai kept his mouth tightly shut, saying nothing.
’He knew that as long as his father wasn’t caught, there was still a chance.’
’But if his father was caught and brought in, they would both be finished!’