20 - This is my boyfriend, Zhou Yanling

“There’s a dead body.”

Wu Fengrong’s face was a greenish blue color, his eyes wide and staring blankly. He looked as though Zhao Xintao had, rather than spoken to him, instead slapped him across the face.

Zhao Xintao, also very frightened, quiveringly spoke haltingly: “Just in car 9. A woman had fallen out of a chair. Many people came and gawked…..RongRong, you have to go and see! Going to have to inform the Ministry of Public Security!”

Wu Fengrong quickly calmed down, although his breathing was still a little rapid. He took Zhou Yanling’s hand and immediately rushed to car 9.

“You need to speak clearly. Who was it? How did they die? How long have they been dead?” Zhou Yanling asked.

Zhao Xintao began to shout: “I don’t know! I only know…..that’s it’s a woman, about thirty years old. She was wearing a dark grey down coat and was sitting in a window seat. She looked like she had fallen asleep on the table. The person who made the report was sitting next to her. They thought that her window was open too much and was cold. They went over to her to ask if they could close the window. After asking, they waited for a while but there was no response. When they touched her, she fell, and they found that she wasn’t breathing! They were really frightened……”

The footsteps of these three people were heavy and jumbled, thudding like hoof beats…..Wu Fengrong’s heart beat quickened. His vision fuzzed over and he didn’t see the threshold of the doorway until he’d tripped and stumbled over it. Zhou Yanling steadied him with an arm around his waist and looked at him with worry in his gaze. He only shook his head.

“RongRong, are you okay?” Zhao Xintao asked nervously.

Right now, he couldn’t not be okay. Wu Fengrong gritted his teeth and said: “Don’t mind me. You go on with it.”

“I don’t…..I don’t know any other details. I had a few other crew members handle the other passengers and ask them to relocate to the next car, not to take any pictures, and not to spread the news and cause panic…..the transit police were also notified, and the medical officers were also called. They’re all hurrying over…..”

He hadn’t finished speaking and they had already arrived at the door to car 9. A large number of people blocked the entrance. Zhao Xintao incessantly waved his hand, lightly pushing people to disperse so that they could pas through. The transit police had arrived before them and had already draped a clean bed sheet over the corpse. The faces of several of the younger crew members were white with fright, huddling off to the side and at a loss. Only Zhou Chi, of the medical staff, dared to approach the body for a careful examination.

“Xiao Chi, how is it?” Wu Fengrong asked, drawing near.

Zhou Chi shook her head and heaved a sigh: “There’s nothing that can be done. The time of death was at least half an hour ago. I’m not a forensic pathologist, so my estimate can’t be more precise. I can only give a rough estimate based off state of the blood.

“What was the injury?”

Zhou Chi’s expression was grave. She hesitated for a moment before saying: “Blunt force trauma to the back of the head.”

Wu Fengrong’s heart sank. Suddenly, his limbs felt cold and numb. Zhou Chi turned the corpse over so they could see the horrific bloodstain covering the back of the woman’s head. Her hair was a complete mess, tangled together into clumps, and there was a clear inward concavity, like the interior of a soup bowl, where she was hit with a blunt object. The skin around the head injury was damaged. Hardened scraps of skin dangled from the site of impact from the back of her head, and even the naked eye could see rusty blood clotting the hair into twisted lumps. The corpse’s ears showed evidence of heavy bleeding. The blood had fallen in a straight line from her shoulder to into the inside of her collar.

Zhou Chi put on a pair of medical latex gloves and pointed to the top of her head: “I briefly touched her head and I think that a part of the back of her skull was shattered. From the wound, it looks like it was made by more than one blow. Simply put, there were many downwards blows concentrated to one area on the back of her head, shattering her skull. There is certainly internal bleeding. It seems like it’s modeled off of the 9/27 Tongzhou murder case. The mechanism of death is a carbon copy and the cause of death is also exactly the same. Rong, the murderer from that homicide is still wanted nationwide. Could he be on this train?”

Wu Fengrong’s expression was very cold and he asked, rhetorically: “Do you think this was done by the same person who killed Xiao Quan?”

“This case has made a lot of noise and is basically the talk of the town. Everyone in the nation is following it closely. It’d be difficult not to connect Xiao Quan with this dead woman. I don’t know who killed Xiao Quan, if the same person has killed this woman, or if someone has decided to copy them out of admiration. Rong ge, I fear that if news of this spreads,it will lead to an even bigger panic that would inspire even more people to imitate them. This matter is very dangerous. If it is the murderer themselves then using the same technique consecutively to kill shows that their becoming perverted. Last time, killing Xiao Quan in an alleyway was a small attempt at slaughter, but this second time it was deliberate.”

“What do you mean deliberate? Deliberately did what?”

Zhou Yanling said, meaningfully: “Deliberately to tell others that she killed this person. She wants to make everyone know that she’s the killer. She fears that others will misattibute Xiao Quan’s homicide. This was her purpose for the second murder.”

Zhou Chi interrupted: “It might also be to show off. They are wanted by the Ministry of Public Security but haven’t been caught for several days. They might be swollen with pride and cheerful, and then continue to kill to show others how capable they are by making police nationwide chase their own tails Some criminals have a personality that predisposes them to perform, committing crimes again and again in a grandiose manner. The more conspicuous it is, the more pleased they are with themselves.”

Zhou Chi didn’t know the whole story, but the other three did. Shi Xiaoran had killed again in order to make herself known. She feared that Wu Fengrong would hold Hé Youan in order to hand him over to the police, so she wanted to make it known to all that the killer from the 9/27 Tongzhou murder case was aboard and that it wasn’t Hé Youan., it wasn’t Zhou Yanling, it was her. If they wanted to catch Shi Xiaoran they would need to find her through this victim, otherwise she it very likely that she would kill a third time.

“I underestimated this girl,” Wu Fengrong breathed deliberately. He looked calm but Zhou Yanling held his hand and he could feel his hand shaking. He said to Zhao Xintao: “Have the transit police isolate this area/cordon off this area, and arrange for the passengers from this car to go to car 8 or maybe 10. Xiao Chi, thoroughly inspect the body again and give me a short and detailed statement. I’m going to call the Ministry of Public Security. It’ll be necessary to have reinforcements sent over in this situation.”

At the moment he was looking out the window. The train had just entered a mountainous area, and the snowfall was worsening. Ahead the mountain road was circuitous and complex, and the terrain was dangerous. Even if the Ministry of Public Security wanted to assist, it would surely be difficult for them to catch up. Wu Fengrong’s mood was quiet and solemn mood. Unconsciously, he reached his hand out to his side and touched Zhou Yanling’s palm, then raised his head. Zhou Yanling’s gaze was steady and gentle which calmed his heart and mind. In the space between them, it was as though an anchor had dropped, mooring a boat to float smoothly along.

Wu Fengrong spoke to all the crew members facing him: “Until the transit police arrive, do not move anything here so as to avoid destroying the crime scene and losing evidence. The deputy conductor is in charge here. Zhou Chi is to coordinate with him to provide assistance. If Zhao Xintao or Zhou Chi needs help, everyone is to do their best to accommodate them. Xiao Chi, you have another very important task which is to find the murder weapon. If you can find it, it’d be a great help in solving this case. Maybe it’s somewhere here at the scene of the crime.”

Zhou Chi nodded his acceptance of this order.

“The passengers can’t be completely controlled, but one of us needs to make it clear that this matter can’t be posted online. There shall be no photographs taken and all photos already taken need to be deleted. If anyone does leak this information and provokes another murder, I will not be held responsible. They’ll need to go to the talk to the police themselves.” Finally, Wu Fengrong thought briefly: “The transit police still needs to be organized. We need people here but we also still need others to guard Hé Youan…..”

After saying that, he paused and suddenly, at an ill-timed moment, felt his temples throb. Wu Fengrong exhaled with difficulty as his stomach churned and the urge to vomit bubbled in the hollow of his throat. A terrible thought occurred to him and, flustered, he counted the number of transit police surrounding them. Altogether, there were six people which meant that only one was left guarding Hé Youan…..

“Damn,” Wu Fengrong shouted, his eyes closed: “it was a trap…..oh…..”

Zhou Yanling wasn’t prepared for him to vomit, gagging noisily. Hastily, he grabbed him around the waist and patted him on the back. Wu Fengrong clasped his hand in a death grip, face ashen, and sternly said: “Yanling, go find Hé Youan! This was done to lure the tiger away from the mountain 1 . There’s no one watching him right now. Shi Xiaoran wasn’t trying to show off with this performance, she was used this corpse to draw our attention away in order to rescue Hé Youan!”

“Xiao Chi!” Zhou Yanling shouted for Zhou Chi to come over: “Look after your conductor!” With only this little explanation, he ran to the conductor’s office. Zhou Chi took Wu Fengrong’s hand and helped him to lie down on the seat nearby. He raised his head, but Zhou Yanling’s figure had already disappeared.

Zhou Yanling sprinted. He didn’t think that he’d ever run so fast before. He had a stitch in his side and his footfalls sounded heavy. By the time he dashed into the conductor’s office, the door was already ajar. An arm horizontally blocked the doorway. His eyes dulled and his forehead beaded with cold sweat.

As he pulled open the car door, the body of a young officer crumpled to the floor at Zhou Yanling’s feet. The ladder affixed to the bed frame was empty except for a pair of handcuffs, still unopened. Zhou Yanling crouched to check the officer’s mouth and nose and found that his breathing was weak but steady. It seemed like he’d only lost consciousness. Zhou Yanling slapped his face a few times, but he didn’t awaken. In his heart he felt defeated. He clenched his fist and fought down the anger and his urge to hit himself.

It’d been very difficult to find Hé Youan, and now he had been taken away again. If Shi Xioaran and Hé Youan fled the train, there would be trouble. Of the twenty members of the crew, unexpectedly had been duped by half-grown young woman!

Zhao Xintao’s voice came over the intercom. Zhou Yanling pressed the speech button and bitterly said: “I need a paramedic here. There’s an officer of the transit police who’s wounded. Also, inform the rest of the crew that Hé Youan had fled.”

Wu Fengrong still had a light concussion. Engaging in such intense exercise as running had caused him to vomit nearly all of his previous meal.

At 6:30 in the evening, Zhao Xintao called a meeting for the entire crew. Wu Fengrong had no choice but to lie down as he talked. His nerves were very weak and even a little bit of movement would cause him to become so dizzy that the world spun. For his well-being, Zhao Xintao had found a soft pillow for his head. As he raised his eyes, he saw that the service members had forced a dense circle around him. The looks of concern and surprise pressed him down against the bench and kept him immobile. Wu Fengrong waved his hands for everyone to disperse. He felt smothered.

“By now, probably all of you know more-or-less what happened in the car. Everyone’s been gathered together for a short meeting so that everyone can receive a clear account of what happened. The next thing that I say, everyone is to remember well. The suspect of the 9/27 Tongzhou murder case has already been identified and is on our train. It’s a young girl named Shi Xiaoran. Xintao has her photo and will send it out for everyone to see. Finding this girl is now our top priority.” Wu Fengrong said.

He sounded out of breath, allowed Zhou Chi to pour him a cup of hot water, drank a couple of mouthfuls, then continued: “She’s with a boy, family name Hé, called Hé Youan. As of recently, he’s also missing. The two are lovers Hé Youan was also at the crime scene that evening of the 27th and had fought with Xiao Quan. These two children might be accompanied by an adult, the girl’s maternal uncle. His exact name is still unknown. The three are traveling together.

Lastly, the person who hit me in the head is also a murderer but we still haven’t investigated his background, and he may be carrying a controlled knife 2 . I’ve just gotten off the phone with the Ministry of Public Security and they’re going to dispatch some people. Everyone mustn’t panic. Just wait for help to arrive. I ask that everyone be careful and stay safe, and to do their best to ensure the passengers’ safety.”

He had tried his best not to exaggerate the description, to speak calmly and to deliberately reassure everyone, but several of the crew members still looked frightened. Zhou Chi stood in the corner, biting her lip without speaking. Her face was pale. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed the corpse bundled in a yellow bed sheet. In her mind it resembled a fuse, and like a fuse it ignited, at once, all the fears in her heart.

There were others who were even less restrained than she was: “Rong ge, are we going to be killed?”

This extremely straightforward question was one that Wu Fengrong had no way of answering. He restrained a smile and appeared solemn: “The criminals are watching all of us attentively. You 3 and I are facing the same dangers. I will bring this train to the last stop on this trip and I will do my utmost to ensure everyone’s safety. While I am the conductor of this train, I will lead and protect all of you, so I hope everyone won’t be too pessimistic. It’s even more important to show courage in the face of pressure, this is the ethos of our personnel.”

“But…..the train is already at Yangjiao Mountain. How will will help be able to reach us? Are they going to use helicopters?”

“We have to wait for the Ministry of Public Security to arrange and deploy aid. We don’t have any input in this.” Wu Fengrong heaved himself into a sitting position with some difficulty: “We usually travel along this part of the road with few difficulties, but now it’s different. The weather is bad and Shanshang’s roads are treacherous. Even more so now, we need to keep our spirits up 4 . If aid can’t come immediately, then we need to grit our teeth and persevere to the last.”

He spoke so solemnly that no one dared to speak. Zhao Xintao stood at his side physically supporting him, deeply worried and sick at heart.

Wu Fengrong wanted to say something else, but the train turned sharply, jostling him. He lowered his head and retched. Zhou Chi rushed forward with a basin to catch his vomit. Wu Fengrong was a little embarrassed and took the basin. Zhou Chi couldn’t stand it any longer. She clenched her fist and said: “Rong ge, I trust you. I will do my job well without psychological burdens.”

Wu Fengrong smiled at her, gratefully: “Good.”

Zhao Xintao quickly patted Wu Fengrong’s shoulder: “You should rest now. You shouldn’t move around this much. I’ll take over from here. Everyone depends on you so you can’t collapse.”

Wu Fengrong bit his lip and pressed on: “I will lead everyone, safe and sound, to the end.”

Abruptly, someone opened the door and walked in.

Everyone’s attention shifted to the doorway. Zhou Yanling stood in the doorway, baffled and nervous by the sudden attention. He looked disheveled and tired. The collar of his shirt was stained, when and how he didn’t know. The sudden appearance of this nationally wanted fugitive on the train made the crew jump in fright. They peered at Wu Fengrong, eyes questioning.

Wu Fengrong coughed twice, feeling incredibly awkward: “Oh, I forgot to make the introductions. This is my boyfriend, Zhou Yanling.”

T/N:

WFG: Hello, this is my boyfriend.

Staff: ::gasps in horror::

WFG: He sells insurance and investigates claims

Staff: ::even more horrified::

调虎离山 : Metaphor to lure the enemy away from the original place in order to take advantage of the opportunity 管制刀具 : types of bladed weapons designed to be used with one hand and that are either be carried or be used. People need carry permits or certificates to walk around with them, and stores and factories need to be licensed to sell and produce them, respectively. You, plural thank you to @lynn, @easternwitch and @barebones on the discord for help translating this!