WXRG Chapter 30 – Suspicious

The words “running away after sleeping” were very ambiguous.

Chi Qing: ……

Chi Qing’s mental state improved a lot today. There were two friendly families in the building who were discussing going on a vacation together, at eight in the morning in the elevator. The one who was staying home on sick leave also got better. Many people had left and it became much quieter. The number of times the residents of the building would stay up late were limited, and there weren’t things to fight about every night. The only thing bothering him was that there was a search for a tenant for one of the two vacant rooms downstairs.

The agent brought people over to see the apartment, three times in an afternoon, but failed in the negotiations because of the high rent.

Towards the evening, the agent eventually brought a female tenant. The female tenant wasn’t renting the apartment alone, because the distorted voice said: [All aspects of this apartment are rather good, I don’t know if they’d like it or not……]

As for whether this person is a ‘he’ or ‘she,’ Chi Qing had absolutely no interest in those types of things. He just hoped that the person who moved in in the end wasn’t talkative.

In short, when his mental state is not as bad, he didn’t mind reverting back to his original relationship with Xie Lin for a while, so his attitude of replying to messages was straightforward.

– I owe you a meal, I made too much when I was cooking.

Followed closely by five words.

– Want to eat or not.

“Is there anyone who asks the way you do,” approximately ten minutes later, Xie Lin parked the car and took the elevator upstairs, leaning against the doorway of Chi Qing’s apartment, “would it meet your expectations if I said I won’t eat?”

Chi Qing: “Do you want to hear the truth?”

“?”

“Yes,” regardless of if Xie Lin wanted to hear it, Chi Qing said the truth, “I don’t like to eat with other people.”

Xie Lin: “Then how should I eat?”

Chi Qing: “Take it home.”

“……How cold,” Xie Lin smiled as he looked at him, “and you even said you’re not running away after sleeping.”

Xie Lin purposefully walked past the door: “Then what should I do, I quite like eating with you, why don’t you start getting used to me first.”

There were two white plates on the dining table in the apartment, with two sets of knives and forks on the side.

The food Chi Qing made didn’t seem bad, but frying beef strips and boiling vegetables were also originally not difficult.

Xie Lin really hadn’t eaten yet. Wu Zhibin invited him to eat in the canteen at the General Administration, but he didn’t reply.

The General Administration, that place, was both too familiar and too unfamiliar. So many things had changed, but there were traces of Xie Feng no matter where he went.

He remembered the way the man in a police uniform gave him food when he took him to the canteen at the General Administration for the first time. The man’s face at the time had already become a blurred memory, but he remembered the words filled with pride and eagerness: “This is where gege works.”

……

Chi Qing wiped the cutlery carefully again, then picked up the cutlery, holding the silver knife and fork with black clad fingers. Before he could make the first cut, he heard Xie Lin speak: “This patient’s attitude towards treatment isn’t very proactive today.”

“……”

Xie Lin: “Take your gloves off, who would cover up so much while eating?”

It was a habit for Chi Qing to wear gloves.

Wearing it when there was someone around was habitual, without having to think too much about it.

Habits formed over ten years were hard to change overnight.

The hand holding the cutlery paused. He had dug the pit of cooperating with the treatment himself after all. He was also not really resistant to Xie Lin, nor could he not compromise.

So he put down the cutlery, and took off his gloves.

Picking up the fork and knife again, there was no black cloth this time, so his fingers touched the hard cold surface of the fork and knife directly, appearing more natural.

During the meal, the two chatted occasionally.

Xie Lin was used to Western food, his index finger resting on the cutlery naturally: “You don’t seem to like talking when you’re eating.”

Chi Qing coldly cut the piece of beef in his hand: “I don’t like to even when I’m not eating.”

“Is it always this dark at your place?”

“The lights aren’t on, the curtains aren’t drawn. It’s quite sunny outside today.”

“If you don’t like it, you can take it back to eat.”

“……”

After eating, Xie Lin suddenly brought up a random topic as he put his fork and knife down: “The woman who died in Tianrui Community was named Xue Mei. Like with Yang Zhenzhen, there were no signs of forced entry, but none of the people around her are murder suspects.”

Xie Lin rarely wanted to listen to other people’s opinions when he handled cases.

And there were no one’s opinions for him to listen to, but Chi Qing’s performance in the cat murder case caught his attention.

This eccentric, full of flaws, mysophobic, who stays at home all day yet doesn’t like to turn on the lights, had extraordinary insight in some aspects.

Chi Qing: “What does that have to do with me?”

Xie Lin: “Nothing to do with you, I just want to hear what you think about this case.”

After a while, Chi Qing grabbed a tissue from the side, and spoke while wiping his hands: “There are too few conditions, it’s hard to guess. The murderer may have the means to freely enter and exit, or may have erased the traces. The lack of forced entry may just be a fake. There are too many directions to guess in, so it’s hard to say.”

The topic of Xue Mei ended there. Xie Lin received the text message Wu Zhibin sent after he went home: The neighbor’s whereabouts are indeed suspicious. He hasn’t gone to the office to work this whole time, and no one opened the door when we knocked on it. We’re currently camping outside of Tianrui Community for him, you can also come over if you have nothing to do tomorrow.

Xie Lin replied: Got it.

The next day, Chi Qing stayed at home as usual, and the agent brought another new resident to see the apartment.

Chi Qing was forced to learn that the apartment downstairs was originally a wedding gift bought for the owner’s son, but the son didn’t choose to return to the country for work after studying abroad, choosing to stay and settle overseas, so the owner planned to rent out the house.

He just pretended to not have heard anything; as long as he didn’t go out, or to crowded places, he could bear the voices coming from the people in the building for a while longer.

But this small hope was quickly shattered by reality.

His former landlord called him: “Mr. Chi do you have time right now? Here’s the thing, you moved out in a bit of a hurry. I haven’t even returned the deposit to you, do you think it’s convenient for you to come back?”

Chi Qing didn’t want to go outside: “Not convenient.”

Former landlord: “……”

Chi Qing: “You can check yourself, if there’s anything broken, give the deposit back as you see fit.”

The landlord knew that this tenant didn’t like to talk to people, yet didn’t think it was to this degree, but he still insisted: “If you’re not here in person, I would not feel at ease. If there is any damage or anything similar, then two people can talk it through more clearly in person, you agree right.”

There wasn’t much trust between people.

The landlord thought that if the amount of compensation to be paid exceeded the deposit, and this tenant wasn’t present, there was nothing he could do if he ran away or refused to admit it.

Chi Qing still went outside in the end.

This was the first time he has gone out in over a week.

The outside world was like a huge noise producing factory to him after losing control, with countless mouths opening and closing, behind every sentence was another sentence that he didn’t dare say, the two voices mixing together and filling his ears endlessly.

Chi Qing put on a black jacket. In order to reduce contact with the surrounding air, he also pulled up the hood on the hoodie. At the same time, it was also for psychological effect, as if the loose hood covering half his face could isolate the surrounding sounds.

The driver looked at the address on the order, and muttered: “You’re going to Yangyuan, it’s dangerous over there right now, I heard they still haven’t caught the person……”

As long as the case was not solved, everyone’s vigilance would not be lowered.

The rumors actually only intensified.

When he got closer to his destination, Chi Qing heard a lot of voices, many of which were still talking about the murder.

[The murderer must live in this neighborhood, otherwise how else would the two dead girls live so close to each other.]

[I’m scared to death everyday when I get back to the community after work, scared that the murderer is still nearby. I should really find a place and move away from here as soon as possible.]

[……]

The former landlord was obviously also worried about this. As soon as he saw Chi Qing getting out of the elevator, he couldn’t hold back after greeting and complained to him: “It’s getting harder and harder to rent out the places in this area, no one comes even if the rent is reduced by a third.”

The former landlord was a middle-aged man, who had demolished the original building and divided it into several more suites. He had become fatter and fatter recently.

Chi Qing actually had a hard time hearing what the former landlord was saying. There were too many residents in the building. He had been getting a headache from all the noises ever since entering the community, so he interrupted: “Open the door.”

The former landlord pulled out the key and opened the door.

Although Chi Qing moved out, he hadn’t come back to see this apartment. The apartments he rented weren’t limited to this one, and the lease with Chi Qing didn’t expire until the end of the month. Chi Qing had moved out early, still within the lease period, so he wasn’t in a rush to check it over.

Seeing this, the former landlord was understandably shocked: the apartment seemed so new that it was exactly the same as the one that had been rented out, looking like it had hardly been lived in.

The former landlord looked at the apartment hesitantly, looked Chi Qing up and down again a few times, and realized once his gaze landed on the pair of black gloves on his hands, this person might have serious mysophobia.

“There are no problems, aiya, this apartment looks the same as when I bought it,” the former landlord grinned from ear to ear, as how new the apartment was had a big influence on how high the rent was, “I will transfer the deposit back to you. Let’s do business together again in the future if there’s an opportunity. If you want to rent from me again, I welcome you anytime.”

Chi Qing, because of his mysophobia, has received a lot of criticism.

He was always out of touch with the students around him in school, so it was barren everywhere he passed, and other students were scared of touching him.

It’s unexpected that he’s popular when it comes to things like renting an apartment.

It was already noon by the time Chi Qing left after handing the apartment over. The sun was shining brightly; he lifted his hand to press down his hood, walking to the side of the road and getting ready to take a taxi back early.

There were too many people in the community.

Residents, shops along the street, pedestrians and vehicles on the road.

There were sounds everywhere, all of them meshing together. Chi Qing couldn’t process all these sounds at the same time.

The sounds overlapped in the end, and he heard a dizzying hum.

As the hum passed him, a man with a buzzcut in a padded jacket hurried past him.

Right as he passed by, he heard an extremely clear distorted voice: [Xue Mei died, the police will find me soon, they’ll find that I’ve always been…… she……]

Chi Qing could only hear the first half of the sentence when he passed by. The most important words in the middle of the first sentence were disrupted by the surrounding voices, and the name Xue Mei was familiar.

Chi Qing recalled what Xie Lin said last night while eating.

— “The woman who died in Tianrui Community was named Xue Mei.”

At the same time, 50 meters away from Tianrui Community, in a seemingly ordinary car, Wu Zhibin sat in the shotgun seat and quietly observed the movement at the entrance of Tianrui Community.

Since the incident, the other entrances of Tianrui Community had been blocked off, leaving only the south gate for residents to enter and exit.

“The person still hasn’t shown up.” Wu Zhibin said.

Sitting in the driver’s seat was a professional criminal police officer sent by the General Administration. He was puzzled as he said: “There’s currently no definitive evidence pointing at him, why is he hiding his whereabouts?”

Before they could find the person, no questions could be answered.

Wu Zhibin suddenly turned and looked at the backseat of the car: “I thought you wouldn’t come today.”

There was one person sitting in the backseat of the car.

Xie Lin sat in the backseat, his hand propped up on the half rolled down car window, and looked sideways out the window. There were no signs of even the slightest tension of carrying out the task in his demeanor: “You have already invited me in person, how could I not come.”

While speaking, the criminal policeman in the driver’s seat straightened up in his seat, and said: “I found the target.”

“Wearing a black jacket, diagonally behind us,” the policeman watched the rearview mirror as he spoke, “at a distance of approximately 250 meters, and will pass by our car in a few minutes.”

Wu Zhibin also straightened up: “Get ready!”

Only Xie Lin still looked idle, even looking out the window as if admiring the scenery.

The angle that the rearview mirror could see was limited, and other pedestrians would also block the view during the time. They also couldn’t stick their heads out the window and look back. They could only hold their breath and wait for the target to approach them.

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Chi Qing: Scored twice