Ji Bai was quite certain and sent them another text: “The criminal did it 4 times; however, he did not get caught on the camera during any of those times.”
He meant that the criminal was familiar with the park’s protection system.
There was a contrast between Xu Xu’s idea and Ji Bai’s logic; however, Zhao Han and Xu Xu still had to follow Ji Bai’s idea.
Xu Xu didn’t accept Ji Bai’s reasoning, but she still followed his order seriously. Late into the day, Zhao Han and Xu Xu already went over every single the guards at all 3 parks where the crime happened but were still unable to find the suspect.
In the end, Xu Xu and Zhao Han went to the TA Park where the first case happened. This park was the furthest from CBD; it was also the last park that they had to investigate for the day.
After the sunsets, Xu Xu and Zhao Han sat in the office of the head of the guards. There were 40 screens of cameras hanging on the wall in the office.
The head of the guards’ last name was Ding., 40 years old; average built, nice appearance, speaking maturely. He gladly brought out all the guards’ resume for Xu Xu.
However, Xu Xu couldn’t find any suspect.
The park had 30 guards. There were 18 people who don’t have a Saturday shift; there were 8 people who matched in terms of age, school, and etc. But none of them got any discipline in the recent past.
Xu Xu wanted to meet them, however, the head seems to be troubled: ”There are only people on their shift here at the moment. I’m not sure if others are at their dormitory. How about tomorrow? I can announce for everyone to be here then.”
It was already dark when Xu Xu and Zhao Han left the office. There were stars shining above in the sky. The two of them sat down on the beach, relaxing their tired body.
“We will start to investigate the guards at CBD tomorrow.” Zhao Han said: ”Ji Bai got here this evening. He’ll probably start working tomorrow.”
Xu Xu didn’t reply. She still thought about Ji Bai’s words.
He said: “There was an error that we couldn’t have known, that’s why the criminal escaped our investigation.”
What if the criminal used a way to hide himself? That meant Xu Xu’s reasoning was not really reliable?
There was no evidence, no standard; there were only the criminal’s special characteristics left.…
Xu Xu suddenly stood up running to the head’s office. Zhao Han followed behind her: “Xu Xu, what are you planning to do?”
Xu Xu didn’t reply and pushed the door open to go up to the head guard. The head guard D. was not surprised to see them show up: “Is there a problem, officer?”
Xu Xu nodded then spoke up: “We want to find a person who is not tall, quite skinny, average appearance. He placed great importance on his appearance, spent quite a lot on his clothing. However, his clothing style makes people feel uncomfortable.
He is not in good terms with everyone; he is not close with any of his coworkers.
He doesn’t have a good personality, easily angered, and can’t take critical remarks.
He often brags with his coworkers that he used to come from a good background….”
The head guard listened attentively. Then, his expression slowly changed.
Seeing his expression, Xu Xu felt a shred of hope, however, still maintained a serious demeanor: ”Who is it?”
Zhao Han didn’t understand what Xu Xu meant by that, however, he still reacts and grabbed the resumes on the table to look over them.
“Yang Yu?” the head guard was still shocked: “You are familiar with him?”
Zhao Han instantly grabbed Yang Yu’s resume, furrowed his brow and said: “In the past month, he got an award of $500 for his excellency in his job. Also, he worked on Saturday last week.”
Xu Xu received Yang Yu’s resume and read it over, then look up: “How did he get an award?”
The head guard nervously said: “An award… in regard to the case. Yang Yu was the first one to find out and helped bandage someone who got hurt with knives hidden on the bench… to be honest, his working ability was just average. Just because of the incident, he got an award from the CEO…”
Xu Xu‘s expression changed and cut in on head guard’s words: “Did he switch his shift with someone else last Saturday?”
“Let me ask.” The head guard called someone and asked a couple of questions.
After that, he hesitantly answers: “That’s right, he switched with someone to a night shift.”
“Xu Xu” Zhao Han couldn’t hide his joy, points to a sentence on the resume: “Four month ago, he was a guard at a bank in a CBD area.”
The two of them looked at each other, able to see the joy and confidence in each other’s eyes.
The salary of a guard at CBD bank must surely be higher than a guard at a park. Why did he switch his job? He must have made a mistake then got fired.
Why was there no mention for his resignation? This was quite normal; because, if the employee didn’t make a mistake that cost the company big loss, then the company would simply fire the employee. They wouldn’t write anything in the resume because they want to leave the employee the means to find other jobs.
Was this something that they couldn’t have known that Ji Bai mentioned? The suspect changed his job in the last 6 months and hid the information. Other than that, he got an award recently and switched his shift with someone else. That’s why, the officers left him out of their investigation.
“Where is he?” Zhao Han said in a serious tone.
The head guard showed an unusual expression: ”He asked for a resignation this morning. I told him to come to talk to me later today.” The head guard looked up at the clock: “I told him at 8:00 PM.”
Xu Xu and Zhao Han glanced over at the same time, it was 7:30 PM right now.
Zhao Han took out his phone to call the station. His phone suddenly rung before he could make the call. He answered it. His expression suddenly changed: “We’re at TA park, a suspect appeared, please be here right away…”
After he hung up the phone, Zhao Han glanced over at the head guard and whispered to Xu Xu: “Lao Wu called, the team found a suspect from the camera. He appeared multiple times at the parks. The time of the appearance also matched the time when the crime happened. The suspect is Yang Yu.” For the past few days, the team observed all of the recordings from the cameras at the parks of the past week. There was so much to look over; that’s why they took until now to find the suspect. Shockingly the suspect was also Yang Yu.
At this moment, there was noise of footsteps.
“Brother Ding, did you eat yet?“
The door opened and a light skinned man pushed the door to walk in. He had an average height, wore a black colored jacket inside, a cheap T-shirt tucked in, and a blue color pants belonging to a guard’s uniform, not very pleasing to the eyes.
It was dark outside; a cool breeze blew in through the window. The office was in a quiet area; there was only the TV noise that could be heard in the room.
At that time, eyes met eyes. Nobody spoke up.
The man who just walked in was kind of shocked. But with a glance over, he saw the bad expression of the head guard, and also saw the gun on the side of Zhao Han’s hip. His expression changed right away, showing mixed feelings: anger, nervousness, … His quite bright expression suddenly changed dark and scary within seconds.
At this moment, even Zhao Han was sure that he was the suspect.
Yang Yu reacted quickly and turned to run out the door.
“Stop!” Zhao Han angrily shouted and ran after Yang Yu.
The sound of footsteps was further and further away. The head guard’s eyes and mouth were wide open, standing frozen in place. Xu Xu stood in place, eyes following the direction where they were running. After that, she turned around and said to the head guard: “Call to tell all your people to guard at all the gates of this park. If they were to see Yang Yu, don’t do anything and call the police to notify the location. Be careful, he has a knife.”
Listening to the clear voice, neither fast nor slow, the head guard calmed down. He quickly used his speaker to notify his subordinates.
Xu Xu dialed a number on her phone: “Lao Wu, this is Xu Xu. Where is everyone at?” Hearing the news, everyone at the nearby location quickly came to surround the place. After a couple of minutes, Xu Xu felt assured. There was a slim chance that the suspect would be able to escape.
After hanging up the phone, the head guard looked at Xu Xu. On the face of this head guard was anger and determination: “Officer, what should we do?”
Xu Xu took out a baton in her purse: “Let’s go out to observe.”
It was late into the night; however, the big park was no longer in silence. All the lights were on. The sound of footsteps were sometimes close and sometimes far, the flashlight’s light was all over. The sounds of the guards’ voice constantly notified the situation: “Brother Lee, I think there is someone over there!” “Over here, Er Qiu, where are you?”…
Amidst the chaotic voices, Xu Xu and the head guard stood at a big space on the side of the building. The head guard’s heart was beating fast; he turned his head. Xu Xu was holding a baton looking over at an area of trees in front, maintaining a calm demeanor.
Even though Xu Xu seemed so small and delicate, in the eyes of the head guard, she was a “magical immortal”. He couldn’t help but ask because of his curiosity and admiration toward Xu Xu: “Officer, do you know what kind of person Yang Yu is?”
Xu Xu didn’t answer him but asked instead: “Where does Yang Yu live? How many people are in one room?”
The head guard pointed towards up front: “That’s where the dorm is. There are 2 people in 1 room. There is only Yang Yu in his room at the moment because the other roommate is on leave to his hometown for a visitation of his family.”
“Call over some people to watch over the dorm.” Xu Xu quickly said.
Yang Yu was not dumb. If he couldn’t escape the park, the first thing he would do is to get rid of all the evidence. There was a chance that he had hidden the weapons in his dorm.
The head guard quickly gave the order using his walkie-talkie. At this moment, someone spoke up in haste through the walkie-talkie: ”Brother Ding, we just found him.”
The head guard quickly asked: “Where?”
“He is running toward the dormitory. There is only 2 of us here, you should hurry up here!”
The head guard took a big wooden stick and ran toward the dormitory. Xu Xu quickly followed behind. However, Xu Xu’s result in physical activities had always been at the barely passed level. After a moment of running, the head guard was already way ahead of Xu Xu. Perhaps because of a moment of haste, the head guard forgot about Xu Xu. He turned and quickly out of Xu Xu’s sight. There was only his voice carried by the wind reaching Xu Xu’s ears: “Where, where is he? Let me….”
Xu Xu ran up at the turn looking between the trees on both sides. There was a small path. There was no streetlight here, only a dim light. The trees ahead were slight moving, and the dormitory could not be seen. The head guard was nowhere to be found; no one else is here and the small isolated path was in complete silence.
Xu Xu stopped. She was holding the baton quietly walking on the small path while being cautious of the surrounding. Then, Xu Xu could hear the sound of footsteps; perhaps someone stepped on dry leaves or a tree’s branch.
The person was behind her; the distance was very close behind. The next couple seconds, no more noise can be heard behind her.
Xu Xu was a calm person; however, at this moment, her heart couldn’t help but beat faster. Ba-thump ba-thump… She held the baton tightly, slowly looking down. On the path, her small shadow was slowly being covered by a bigger shadow from behind….
All Xu Xu’s body tightens up like guitar’s string; there was sounds of running coming from behind. Then there was firm voice of Zhao Han from afar: “Stop there!”
Xu Xu quickly raised the baton and turned around. Just as she turned, she met with Yang Yu’s scary expression. He raised the knife towards her.
Just in a blink of an eye, the baton already hit Yang Yu in the chest. Even though weak, Xu Xu tried to use all her strength into this hit. Xu Xu made a sound; the knife in his hand was dropped.
However, Yang Yu reacted really quickly. He turned his hand and grabbed the baton, and tugged it forcefully towards himself. His strength was enormous which made Xu Xu’s hand hurt greatly and the baton gets taken. She quickly turned around to run.
But Yang Yu quickly, like lightning, grabbed Xu Xu by the collar, pulling her towards him while taking out a knife from his shirt’s pocket and placed it to Xu Xu’s neck.
When Zhao Han ran up, Xu Xu was already in the hands of Duong Vu, step by step dragging her into the forest behind them. Zhao Han was very angry: “Let her go!”
This time, the head guard with 3 other guards ran up to Zhao Han’s back. Seeing the situation, they were all in shock.
“ I … I need a motorcycle!” Yang Yu stopped in place and raised his head high: “All the officers need to back off! Right at this moment! After safely escaping this city, I will let go of her. Do not follow me or I will stab her.”
Zhao Han’s face was pale; the light from all the flashlights allowed him to clearly see Yang Yu’s appearance. Yang Yu’s eyes were red with his scary darkened face and his trembling hand holding the knife that might accidentally cut a line on Xu Xu’s delicate neck at any moment now.
Xu Xu’s built was already petite. While being held closely to Yang Yu’s body, half of her faec was covered by Yang Yu’s arm so they could not see Xu Xu’s expression clearly.
Zhao Han breathed in deeply and spoke to Yang Yu: “Don’t act rashly and drop the knife. If she were to get hurt, you will get a heavier punishment.”
More guards were gathered. The head guard got impatient and shouted:”Yang Yu! Don’t be reckless one cm error goes a mile.* Let the officer go right now.”
*This is a saying, I’m translating it word by wording because too lazy to find the right English saying for it so it is kind of weird. But it means one small mistake leads to big consequence.
The group of guards all spoke up: “That’s right Yang Yu, stop it.”
Yang Yu didn’t listen to any of it, his speech already turned a bit chaotic: “Where is the car? I need one! I need to leave this place!” Seeing the knife in his hand, Zhao Han’s heart almost leapt out of his chest. We cannot let Yang Yu escape, but what about Xu Xu who was in his hands? What should I do now?
Right at this moment, a cold tone of voice spoke up: “Not possible.”
Everyone was startled, Yang Yu was also shocked because the voice came from the person who was in his embrace. He unconsciously lowered his head to see Xu Xu’s pale face. But her eyes were very black, so black that it could darken someone’s inside. The coldness in those eyes made him quiver.
“What did you say?” Yang Yu angrily said while holding the knife closer to Xu Xu’s neck.
Xu Xu looked at him attentively: “There is no car, there is no way that we will let you go. There is no option for negotiation, so don’t even think about that.”
Yang Yu did not think that a hostage could be that scary like that. He was stunned, including the people around them.
Xu Xu continued to say: “Drop the knife right now or my fellow officer will shoot you dead. Yang Yu, you wanted to give those people a lesson. Do you want to lose your life over this?”
Xu Xu’s words terrified him: What if you will die because of this? He just wanted to take revenge.
Xu Xu continued to speak: “Your punishment should be only a couple of years in jail, it isn’t really serious. However, if you were to use me as a hostage, then that would change everything. Even if you were to escape here, you would still be pursued for life. Then, your parents, your neighbors, everyone will know about this when you get caught. And they would say things like this… what they thought was right Yang Yu is trash just like his father… “
Yang Yu’s body frozen in place by Xu Xu’s words:”You… you…” He stuttered and couldn’t say a complete sentence. Xu Xu glanced once over him: “If you let me go right now, everything can still be fixed. Not that many people know of this yet, you can still start over. You should compare between two options, is it something to even to hesitate over? Drop the knife quickly!”
Yang Yu’s expression changed, breathing heavily. He didn’t speak up, but was not budging either. Xu Xu’s voice was very calm: “Listen to me, don’t think about it anymore, drop the knife right now.”
Yang Yu’s hands were trembling with his deadly expression. After that, he was slowly lowering his hand that was holding the knife. Zhao Han breathed out in relief, but all the guards were traumatized.
Even though Xu Xu was showing a firm demeanor, her hands were sweating a lot. She knew that his thoughts were chaotic right now. She had to wait until he lets go of her entirely to be safe from danger.
However at this moment, the whistle belonging to polices ring up loudly in the quiet night.
The police’s cars were here…
Xu Xu shouted on the inside “not good”. Yang Yu who was terrified, showed a doubtful expression. He then proceeded to place the knife on Xu Xu’s neck again: “Who are you? Would you keep your promise? Are you being honest that it is only a couple of years? How do you know? No. I can’t go to jail, I can’t go to jail! Motorcycle, I need a motorcycle. If not, she will die with me!”
The man was breathing heavily like a dying cow. There were so many faces in shock in front of her eyes. From not quite far, there were lights coming from police cars’ flashing.
The blade of the knife lightly trace over Xu Xu’s cold neck. Xu Xu calming herself down and was about to speak up; however, suddenly found in Zhao Han’s eyes a trace of astonishment.
There was someone behind them.
An idea just came to Xu Xu’s mind, but she suddenly heard Yang Yu shout in pain.
An arm coming from behind reached up quietly and got a hold tightly of Yang Yu’s wrist. There was a noise of “crack crack” that could be heard. His hand was broken, the knife dropped down onto the ground. Inside the long sleeve was a hand with long and clean fingers along with an overwhelming strength.
Yang Yu let go of Xu Xu right away. He held his wrist in pain, kneeling down on the ground.
For the next second, Xu Xu could feel her chest being grab tightly. She got pulled by a force from behind; fell into an embrace of someone.
His chest was wide and warm; Xu Xu could faintly smell the scent of fresh grass on him like it was sometimes there and sometimes not there. This ‘someone’ used great force and tightened his hold which made her chest feel pain.
Zhao Han shouted in joy: “Boss!” and quickly ran up to grab Yang Yu’s hands and chained him up. The group of guards surround them, and Yang Yu spoke up in pain, his face darkened.
It was Ji Bai.
He was wearing a black jacket, has a big and tall build. His face was symmetrical which could be said to the point of being handsome. His sharp face gave off a mix of a rough, yet gentle appearance. He looked younger compared to his picture. Under the black hair, there was a pair of lively eyes.