Chapter 3

Liu Handong decided to take the girl to the police station to report the incident. He didn't believe that criminals could buy off the entire police system. For the past twelve hours, he hadn't eaten or drunk anything, and he was extremely tense. If he continued like this, he might collapse.

After stating his intention, the girl nodded, indicating her willingness. Liu Handong drove the stolen car straight to the Jinjiang Public Security Bureau. After parking the car, he went to the main gate, where he was stopped by the security guard, who asked who they were looking for and if they had an appointment.

It wasn't easy to enter the police station. One had to show an ID card, fill out a visitor's form, and call someone to come and pick them up. The two uniformed security guards at the gate were under the supervision of an old man in an old-style police uniform. He asked Liu Handong who he was looking for and what he wanted. Upon learning that Liu wanted to report a crime, the old man said, "You should report it to the local police station. The city bureau doesn't deal with trivial matters."

Liu Handong took off his jacket, revealing a gunshot wound on his back, and said, "I was shot. This is a gun-related case. And this girl was kidnapped. These are major cases. We need to speak to the head of the criminal investigation team."

The old man looked at his back and sneered, "Was it a BB gun? This doesn't count as a gun case." Despite his words, he still made an internal call. Soon, a young plainclothes officer came out to meet them. Just as Liu Handong was about to enter, the old man said, "Wait, ID card."

Liu Handong left his ID card at the gate and took the girl inside with the police officer. The young officer was handsome and efficient, exuding a sense of righteousness. He led them to a meeting room, poured two glasses of purified water, took out a stack of notepaper, uncapped a pen, and smiled with a mouth full of white teeth, saying, "Don't be nervous. Just take your time and tell me what happened."

"Last night, I was working near the long-distance bus station when I met someone who flagged me down..." Liu Handong recounted the events in detail, including the missing robber, the suspect in the Highlander, and his forced escape in a police car. He didn't leave out any details. The detective took notes diligently. After Liu finished, he turned to the girl and asked, "What's your name? Where do you live?"

The girl shook her head and remained silent.

"She can't speak," Liu Handong explained.

The detective asked, "Were you kidnapped?"

The girl nodded.

The detective asked, "Can you recognize the person who kidnapped you?"

The girl nodded again.

The detective hummed and tore off the sheet of paper, saying, "Wait a moment. I'll get a superior to come." He left the room, closing the door behind him.

Liu Handong let out a long sigh, finally able to relax.

Suddenly, the girl took a sheet of notepaper from the table, tore off the top sheet, looked at it, and held it up to Liu Handong's nose. Liu Handong was taken aback but quickly understood her meaning. He examined the notepaper, which showed the faint impressions of the first page. The detective hadn't taken notes seriously!

Blood rushed to his head, and Liu Handong stood up to open the door. The meeting room door was locked. He walked to the window, where he saw the stainless steel bars welded to the window. Below was the police station's parking lot, and a black Highlander was parked in a spot, with the license plate number matching the one that had chased him last night.

Liu Handong realized he had walked into a trap. He might become the main character in tomorrow's Huaijiang Morning News legal section. He couldn't just sit and wait to be captured. He pushed the solid wood door of the meeting room, but it was firmly locked, and breaking it would alert the people in the building.

The girl tugged at his sleeve and pointed to the ceiling. Liu Handong looked up and had an idea. He jumped onto the conference table, tried a few times, and finally opened a piece of the ceiling panel. The girl climbed onto the table and, with Liu Handong's help, climbed onto the ceiling. She was light and slender, weighing less than 80 pounds, and easily climbed up. Liu Handong squatted down to wipe off the shoe prints on the table, did a pull-up, and climbed up as well.

The ceiling was crisscrossed with various pipes, and it seemed to have been recently renovated, with little dust. When they came in, Liu Handong noticed that the men's restroom was on the west side of the meeting room. He pointed in that direction, and the girl nodded, crawling toward the west. Liu Handong followed behind, crawling on his belly.

In an office on the same floor, the police officer who had taken the statement was on the phone: "Yunshan team, this is Zhang from the city bureau. The mentally ill person who stole your police car last night is here, and we have him under control. Send someone to identify him later."

After the call, a few female colleagues entered the office, holding welfare items distributed by the bureau. Zhang started chatting with them, animatedly.

In the men's restroom on the west side of the corridor, two police officers were smoking by the window. Liu Handong, sweating profusely, waited for them to leave. Being in a tiger's den was nerve-wracking, but for a former soldier who had survived three days alone in the Tibetan snowfield, this was just a matter of waiting. He turned to look at the girl, whose bright eyes were quietly watching him in the darkness.

The two police officers chatted about the bureau's personnel arrangements, then extinguished their cigarettes in a makeshift ashtray on the windowsill and left. Liu Handong heard the restroom door close and quietly lifted the corner of the ceiling panel, ready to go down. Suddenly, the door opened again, and a man rushed in, unzipping his pants to urinate. Another man followed and stood next to him.

Liu Handong carefully lowered the ceiling panel. Just as he did, he recognized the man below as the Highlander driver, the one with the scar on his face!

Voices came from below.

"Old Gu, you didn't call before coming to the bureau. I'll arrange lunch for you," said the first man.

"I'm here to handle some business and have to go back in the afternoon. Besides, there's a no-alcohol policy. The new chief is strict. We can drink in the evening," said the scar-faced man.

They finished urinating and left.

A moment of silence followed. The corridor was quiet. Liu Handong lifted the ceiling panel, held the girl's hand, and helped her down, then jumped down himself. He opened the restroom door and looked outside. Seeing no one, he signaled to the girl, and they quickly went down the fire escape. As they entered the stairwell, Zhang came out of his office, called three colleagues, and went to the meeting room. He unlocked the door and was shocked to find that the people had escaped!

Zhang and his colleagues searched everywhere. The scar-faced man walked over and asked, "What's going on?"

"Oh, Old Gu, the mentally ill person who stole the Yunshan team's police car last night came to report a crime and disappeared," Zhang said, puzzled.

Old Gu reacted quickly: "Call the gatekeeper and stop them from leaving."

Zhang realized the urgency and ran into the office to call the gatekeeper. Old Gu quickly went downstairs, his leather shoes making a rapid rhythm on the marble stairs.

At the main gate of the police station, the old gatekeeper was about to question Liu Handong and the girl when the phone rang. He waved them away and slowly picked up the phone: "Hello, gatekeeper's office."

The voice on the other end was urgent, and the old man jumped up, knocking over his teacup. He shouted to the security guard, "Stop those two!"

The road outside the police station was busy with traffic and people, but there was no sign of the man and the girl.

The sound of a car horn, and the Highlander drove out of the yard. Old Gu honked furiously, and the gatekeeper quickly pressed the button to open the gate. The Highlander sped out, and Old Gu rolled down the window and asked, "Wang, where are they?"

The gatekeeper shook his head: "They ran off in a flash."

"Which direction?"

"West."

Old Gu turned the steering wheel and, contrary to the direction, headed east.

The security guard asked the old man, "Who was that, so impressive?"

The old man replied, "Old Gu, a former detective who got demoted and now works as a security manager for a big company. He's doing well."

The security guards laughed: "He's a security guard, and we're security guards, but why is there such a big difference?"

The Highlander sped down the street, overtaking several cars. Old Gu's sharp eyes spotted Liu Handong and the girl waiting at a bus stop. He stepped on the gas and chased after them.

Liu Handong didn't go back to the stolen car. Driving would make them an easy target, and he had left the car at the police station to return it to the owner. He chose to take the bus and deliberately took a roundabout route, first heading west and then east. The 520 bus arrived, and only a few middle school students were on board. Liu Handong and the girl got on and sat down. The girl, nervous, tugged at his sleeve and pointed behind them. Liu Handong turned around and saw the Highlander following them. He quickly shouted, "Stop the bus!"

The bus doors closed, and the female bus driver, wearing sunglasses and a denim skirt, coldly said, "I can't open the doors until the next stop."

The road was crowded with cars, and the Highlander quickly caught up, trying to block the 520 bus. The female driver, furious, turned the steering wheel to squeeze the Highlander. Despite being a large SUV, the Highlander was no match for the bus, and Old Gu had to brake hard to slow down.

Liu Handong wanted to jump off the bus but didn't want to leave the girl. As he hesitated, the girl stumbled to the driver's side, holding the railing and gesturing. She pointed at the Highlander and made a throat-cutting gesture, looking pitiful and frightened. The young female driver, moved by sympathy, asked, "Is that black car chasing you?"

The girl nodded vigorously.

The female driver said confidently, "Hold on tight, and watch my driving skills."

The five or six middle school students, regulars on the 520 bus, were excited and grabbed the handrails, their expressions like those on a roller coaster.

Liu Handong was bewildered, wondering if the bus was going to race the Highlander. Suddenly, a strong push came from behind as the bus accelerated like a mad beast. The female driver's ponytail swayed, and the passengers felt as if they were on a small boat in rough seas, being thrown up and down and almost falling out of their seats.

The bus, once it got going, forced other vehicles to the side. The Highlander was quickly left behind, and Old Gu, furious, honked his horn, but no one gave way.

"Is anyone getting off at the next stop?" the female driver asked, turning the large steering wheel without looking back.

No one responded.

The 520 bus sped past an empty bus stop, and Liu Handong looked out to see that the Highlander was long gone.

"Next stop, we'll get off," Liu Handong shouted.

The next stop arrived quickly. As they got off, the girl extended both thumbs to the female driver in gratitude, and Liu Handong thanked her. The female driver, wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses, with long, strong legs in a denim skirt, nodded and drove the 520 away.

This was a bus stop in the urban-rural fringe, with a large real estate advertisement by the roadside. The picture showed a lake with shimmering water and elegant Nordic-style villas, with white sails dotting the lake, a beautiful scene.

A convoy of dump trucks roared past, raising dust. Liu Handong shouted, "I haven't introduced myself. My name is Liu Handong."

The girl pointed to the sailboat on the advertisement.

"Your name is Fan?" Liu Handong asked.

The girl nodded.

"What's your last name?"

The girl gestured, but Liu Handong couldn't understand. He said, "Let's just call you Xiao Fan."

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