Chapter 14

Lu Siyu looked at Song Wen hesitantly, but did not answer him.

The room was brightly lit, but the two of them had something on their minds.

Song Wen didn’t ask about that year’s events, but instead talked about the current events: “Lu Siyu, ever since you joined the police department, I’ve felt that you are different, and that you don’t fit in with the environment of the police department. You had more and better options, but you tried so hard to get in here; just like the murderer in this case, who desperately wanted to destroy all the evidence on the body, but ended up leaving traces instead.”

Lu Siyu replied softly “Huh?”, as if he didn’t understand what he was talking about.

“Let me recount for you all the things you did after you joined the team. On your first day on the job, you left your stuff behind twice. Returned to the scene of the crime once alone.” After saying this, Song Wen paused, as if waiting for Lu Siyu’s explanation.

Lu Siyu turned his head slightly to look at him: “I’m a little lost, Captain Song. Do you dislike me for losing things too often?”

Song Wen continued: “I initially noticed only one of these instances, but the later made more of an impression on me. At first, it didn’t feel right, but later, I found the second one in Xiao Cheng’s exhibit photos where you were observing the deceased’s car up close; which was actually the so-called first time. I deduced that you should have found a trace in the trunk of the car at that time, because the trunk of that car was where the body had been placed by the Zhong Qing.”

Lu Siyu hesitated for a moment and explained softly, “I just stopped by to say hello to Sister Xu when I went down.”

Song Wen looked at him, his eyes were firmly locked on Lu Siyu. The person in front of him looked harmless, but he knew in his heart that he was not that simple: “In this case, you were ahead of us the entire time. During the first group meeting, you identified the mangler as Zhong Qing and drew suspicion to her. After you went to their house subsequently, you learned the truth about the case.” He paused and continued, “But it was strange to me, that you didn’t expose Zhong Qing or tell me directly. Instead you hinted to me…….”

Lu Siyu opened his mouth and licked his lower lip, trying to say something, but didn’t interrupt.

“You took the trouble to buy a copy of the “Devotion of Suspect X”, just to tell me that the time and place of the crime was changed.” At this point, Song Wen revealed the purpose of coming today, “After all these years, your behavior still hasn’t changed…… Just like when you wanted to borrow the hands of those students so you could have access to the corpses, you were able to avoid the hassle and make an exception to live off-campus. Just as you answered the psychological assessment test to get into the police force, but didn’t want to reveal your true feelings, you deliberately confused Dr. Zhou. Lu Siyu, I want to ask you, what the hell are you doing here?”

After talking with Zhou Yining and doing some research, Song Wen still chose to come here and make things clear.

The rest of the team, whether smart or stupid, were all racking their brains to find the truth; except for Lu Siyu, who seemed to be playing a game of detective. He doesn’t care about justice, he doesn’t fear death, and he doesn’t care if the bad guys can be caught or not; he just seems to be looking for the truth and confirming the deductions in his head.

He felt that Lu Siyu was using emotional indifference to cover up his real purpose, to hide what was different about him from other people. ……

The entire process was analyzed by Song Wen, and as he pressed on, Lu Siyu finally stopped arguing. As if he was drunk from the little amount of wine he had, his expression gradually changed. Under the light, the gold-tinted glasses gave a little gleam of light, and he leaned forward, his eyes narrowed. The red that lined the corners of his eyes became more and more obvious, “Officer* Song.” Lu Siyu spoke, pointing his chin a little, “Does anyone else know you came to see me tonight?”

This sentence was a little threatening, and his expression seemed to deduce how much Song Wen knew, or he was thinking about how he should pass this unique interview.

Lu Siyu called him Officer Song, not Captain Song. It was as if the distance between them had been widened again by those three words; but for some reason, listening to him call himself Officer, Song Wen had a strange feeling of danger and desire in equal measure.

(T/N: 宋警官 : Sòng jǐng guān Officer Song,3 words)

The person in front of him had brilliant eyebrows and eyes like peach blossoms, looked pleasing to the eye and was charming, had a kind of hazy beauty, but seemed to be filled with coldness. He was an ice-cold and ruthless man who always kept a thousand miles distance between himself and others. His fingers were delicate and fair, but they were the hands that touched the corpse, the hands that cut the intestines, the hands that just made a fine table of food.

In the luxurious room, with the chandelier shining brightly overhead, the air in the room seemed to freeze for a moment, and the two men at the table were silent. What was real, and what was fake? What is good, and what is evil?

Lu Siyu stretched out a white hand to stir up the fish soup, and a piece of fish bone floated up. Food, Wine, Beauty and Money. These things were placed in front of Song Wen’s eyes, and it was a world full of colors.

The one in front of him was a suspect, but also incredibly beautiful, incredibly cunning, smarter, and more intriguing.

Finally, Lu Siyu opened his mouth. He seemed to be laughing at Song Wen’s reasoning.

“Are you so overloaded with cases that you have to examine everyone you meet? I just killed a fish, do you want to check the motive and proof of the crime, Captain Song?” Then he stuck out his tongue and licked his dry lips, his eyelashes quivering, “Captain Song, I really just came here to be a detective.”

“I was also a victim of the school incident back then, and I don’t even know how to argue with your conspiracy theories. Because I chose South City, you are saying that I have an ulterior motive, I just left a bottle of water and you are saying I did it on purpose. You were the one leading the case. I buy a book and you tell me, I figured out who the killer was first? I still have a set of “Detective Conan” books at home, do I have to give you a copy of “Detective Conan” when I come across a similar case in the future?”

It was the first time in Song Wen’s memory that Lu Siyu said so many words in a row, and this time he was finally no longer wooden and slow to respond, but instead asked a series of questions like a shotgun. Before he could respond, Lu Siyu continued, “Can you just focus on a case? Or maybe you should find a girlfriend and stop being so idle at night. You’re telling me, that I’m smart enough to come here and work for you as a Criminal Police Trainee, but why am i put through this daily torture of writing reports?”

Song Wen held his chin with one hand and watched as Lu Siyu suddenly exploded, but it was very amusing. The whole process was like watching a cornered rabbit, or a cat that was suddenly woken up, meowing and clawing at the same time.

He narrowed his eyes and looked at the person in front of him. In the past few days, Lu Siyu has been quite stable and steady, although a little suspicious, but did not do anything excessive. In addition, his various files were organized quite well, which saved Song Wen a lot of effort, and it was hard to have such a handy subordinate. He didn’t want Lu Siyu to leave, but just like Song Wen replied when talking to Zhou Yining, he needed to keep things under his control.

Lu Siyu has to be reminded that nothing can be hidden from his eyes.

Song Wen seemed to be satisfied with his answer and he circled back to the topic.

“Congratulations on passing the final interview assessment, and one last thing to remind you of, it is something an old cop asked me back when I was getting started. If you encounter a vicious murderer, are you willing to sacrifice your life at any time?”

Lu Siyu seemed relieved and nodded, “I understand what choosing this career means for my life.”

Song Wen stood up and grabbed the coat he had placed on the back of the chair.

Lu Siyu walked him to the door. Song Wen changed his shoes, looked back at him and said, “Summarize the case and give it to me the day after tomorrow.”

He switched conversations so naturally, as if he was the supervisor visiting his subordinate’s home for a casual conversation.

Lu Siyu replied solemnly: “I understand.”

When he reached the door, Song Wen suddenly turned around, and Lu Siyu, caught off guard, bumped against the back cabinet. He looked up at Song Wen, as if he were a handcuffed prey.

Staring at Lu Siyu, Song Wen’s expression subtly changed.

After a moment he said quietly, “Whatever you’re going to do, I’ll be watching you.” Then he waved his hand, “See you tomorrow.”

♛♛♛

Once Song Wen was ushered out, he was the only one left in the luxurious room.

Only then did Lu Siyu realize that his back was drenched in sweat, his heart was pounding in his chest, his thoughts seemed out of his control, and his stomach was twitching with pain. As if there was a fire burning, he rushed into the bathroom and vomited up everything he had just eaten. His legs were weak and he was the only one left in the room. Suddenly he felt a sense of panic and called out to Little Wolf.

The dog came running from the bedroom and rubbed his leg with its soft, fluffy fur.

Only then did Lu Siyu summoned a bit of consciousness. He endured the dizziness, went upstairs, took out a small bottle of painkillers, and swallowed a few without pouring himself any water. He sat down against the bedside table, pressed his hands firmly against his abdomen, buried his head in his lap, and curled himself into a ball.

He was so dizzy that he didn’t even have the strength to crawl onto the bed.

A cold sweat broke out all over, chilling him to the bone and made him tremble.

His heart was beating so hard that it was about to burst out of his chest, and his ears were filled with the sound of hallucinations, men’s and women’s, all kinds of talking, and the sound of blood spurting in his head.

It made his mind confused.

The dog was still with him. It whimpered and circled around him. After about ten minutes, the pain was subdued, the overdose finally took effect; and when things got better, Lu Siyu raised his head weakly, reached out and touched the dog’s back.

Lu Siyu still remembered Song Wen telling him that torture can’t be used in interrogations to induce confessions, but deceit can used. Sometimes, this one word of deceit can save countless words, and today Song Wen was here to deceive him.

He reflected on whether he had been too eager to defend himself, and what he had revealed. He couldn’t play those little tricks anymore, and he couldn’t escape his eyes.

Song Wen was smarter and more sensitive than he had thought.

For a few moments, Lu Siyu felt that he was seen through by Song Wen. He was rotten and a demon in hell, while Song Wen was like a blazing sun. It seemed that just by standing next to him and being looked at by him, he was going to melt.

♛♛♛

Translating team shenanigans

~Oh, the tension (¬‿¬)