Chatting at a Tea Shop

The second floor of a tea shop in Citong City, Taiwan.

Besides Guo Lin, the owner of the tea shop, there were also two of his old classmates, Chu Xiuwen and Xu Zhao, the latter of whom worked at the Citong City Police Department. At this moment, they were chatting with the two about some work-related matters.

"Old Xu, you really haven't touched a drop of alcohol lately, have you? It's a rare day off, and we had a get-together with old classmates, but you didn't drink a single drop..." Guo Lin was still complaining that when they were eating together earlier, Xu Zhao insisted on not drinking, which led Chu Xiuwen to stop drinking as well. He felt it was no fun drinking alone, so he only had a small glass in the end.

Xu Zhao, who was the same age as Guo Lin and Chu Xiuwen but whose hair was already turning gray, had dark skin, and a face full of wrinkles, touched his balding head and laughed, "If you're not used to drinking, just quit completely. You should also drink less 'pot' (alcohol). Alcohol damages the brain. You're already this stupid; if you get any more stupid, we won't be able to communicate anymore."

"Damn! That's a personal attack, I'm telling you, or I'll file a complaint against you," Guo Lin said with a laugh. He actually knew that Xu Zhao had quit drinking, but it was mostly for work.

Chu Xiuwen suggested, "How many days off do you have this time? If you're not busy lately, Lao Guo is planning to go to Tongshi Town with me for a while. Why don't you come along? It's been over ten years since you last came to Tongshi Town to see me, hasn't it?"

Xu Zhao picked up his teacup, took a sip, and shook his head, saying, "No, I only have one day off today. I have to go back to work as usual tomorrow. In fact, if something suddenly happens at the bureau today, I'll have to rush back immediately. That's how it is in our line of work; there are no real holidays."

Chu Xiuwen asked curiously, "The Lantern Festival is over now, so things should be much easier now, right?"

Xu Zhao laughed and said, "What's next? Valentine's Day is in a couple of days. You probably don't know, but every year on Valentine's Day, all sorts of cases pop up, all sorts of bizarre and ridiculous things. They may not be big, but we have to deal with them all. Couples breaking up, arguing, or discovering infidelity, they all have to call 110 to report it."

Guo Lin changed his cup of tea and said, "Old Xu, the security in Citong has been pretty good these past few years. You should have nothing to do during the Spring Festival, right?"

Xu Zhao said, "It's definitely much better than when I first started working, but it's still not easy."

"Hey, by the way, Old Xu, I heard that on the night before New Year's Eve, someone hired someone to attack a doctor at the Third Hospital, but the doctor managed to kill two of them in a fight. Apparently, the doctor was a woman?" Guo Lin asked curiously. "Was that female doctor really that good at fighting? Two against one? Or did she have pepper spray, a stun gun, or something? Or maybe she carried a scalpel?"

Xu Zhao laughed, "You mean that matter? The bureau's announcement should have been released by now. You're just listening to rumors instead of checking official information? It's not about hiring someone to commit murder. You can check the details online yourself; there are news reports. It's about someone trying to influence a forensic examination, but the female doctor blocked their way, so they hired Third Hospital thugs to warn her. The two thugs sneaked into the doctor's rented apartment and installed a camera. When they were leaving, the doctor happened to catch them. She wouldn't let them leave, so they tried to fight, but their companions who brought her back beat them up. We took the report, brought them back for questioning, and that's how we uncovered the big fish behind them."

"So, it was that female doctor and her boyfriend, one man and one woman, against two men on the other side? That's quite impressive." Guo Lin nodded and said, directly assuming that Xu Zhao's "female doctor's companion" meant "female doctor's boyfriend."

"Actually, she was the female doctor's companion. She took on those two thugs all by herself and completely crushed and beat them," Xu Zhao said.

"Is the female doctor's boyfriend trained?" Guo Lin asked curiously.

"When we asked him, he said he hadn't trained, but looking at his physique, we felt he must have trained to some extent. Speaking of this, a young guy in our department, who hasn't been out of school for long, the one you met last time, Xiao Zhao, Zhao Feng, thought the female doctor's companion was a bit strange, so he spent some time investigating."

"Oh? What did you find out? Did you actually discover that he's a hidden big shot?" Chu Xiuwen joked.

"We actually found it. There's quite a bit of data about that person in our police station's internal database." Xu Zhao nodded seriously, and only after seeing that his two old classmates were looking at him very seriously did he laugh, "That guy has done heroic deeds, subdued knife-wielding thugs with his bare hands, apprehended wanted murderers on the street, and even caught human traffickers. He's had a reward offered by our police."

"Holy crap! I thought he was some kind of 'big shot,' but he's just a 'hero'! But that experience is really something else," Guo Lin exclaimed.

"Yes, I told Zhao Feng that when we police investigate cases and judge people, experience and intuition are indeed very important sometimes, but the most fundamental thing is to rely on evidence. Don't assume that someone is lying or has a problem just because they are bald, strong, and good at fighting," Xu Zhao said.

Chu Xiuwen was taken aback when he heard this. "Bald?"

"Yeah, that guy is bald, very tall and strong, but he wears glasses. His main job is programming, he's an intellectual. I think he's a pretty good guy, courageous and with a sense of justice. I've also talked to his former colleagues in the city where he used to work, and they all have a very high opinion of him," Xu Zhao said.

"He wouldn't be... surnamed Xiang, would he?" Chu Xiuwen asked subconsciously.

"Uh, I think his surname is Xiang, but I can't quite remember. His given name should have two characters. What, Xiuwen, do you know him?"

"Oh, if his surname is Xiang and he's bald, then we probably know each other. I met him at a friend's child's wedding. His classmate and I have worked together before; he's a really nice person..." Chu Xiuwen suddenly realized. If it was Xiang Kun, then one against two should be very easy, right? However, it seems that Xu Zhao and the other local police officers from Citong don't know Xiang Kun's deeper identity. But the police officers from the city where Xiang Kun used to work should know something about him.

Xu Zhao didn't doubt Chu Xiuwen's words. He continued talking about his young colleague Zhao Feng: "These young people who have just graduated from police academy are indeed full of energy and have sharp minds. But after studying too much, they inevitably become a bit pedantic. Moreover, they are always thinking about solving big cases. Even if a case can be handed over to the prosecution, they still have to spend time scrutinizing the details."

"Xiao Zhao has a classmate from police academy who sent him a picture on the first day of junior high school. He said that some suspects in their area saw a monster while committing a crime, and they were all terrified. Xiao Zhao thought it was a bit strange, so he drew the monster based on the descriptions of those suspects and asked Zhao Feng to study it together."

"Then, a while ago, some car thieves from the Yungang District Subbureau surrendered themselves. They said they saw some kind of monster in that abandoned factory in the suburbs. Zhao Feng heard about the monster described by those car thieves from his colleagues in Yungang District. He felt that it was somewhat similar to the monster picture that his classmate sent him, so he came to me and wanted to investigate the case."

"Then I looked into those two cases. The case involving his police academy classmate involved three drug addicts with prior convictions, and the case in Yungang District involved three car thieves who also seemed mentally unstable. I suspected that these two groups might have been using the same illegal drugs. If that were to be discovered, it would really connect the two cases and make it a major case."

"But after investigation, it was found that the two sides had no connection whatsoever, and there was absolutely no overlap. The three suspects in Yungang District had not used any illegal drugs. I think the hallucinations they saw on both sides just happened to be somewhat similar, so it's not worth wasting any more time on this matter."

"However, I discovered a few days ago that Zhao Feng and his police academy classmate have been discussing this matter privately, which I really find hard to understand. It's as if they hope that such a monster will actually appear."

Xu Zhao said, somewhat amused and exasperated, that he took out his phone, pulled up a picture, and showed it to his two old classmates. "Look, this is a monster drawing that Zhao Feng's buddy made based on the suspect's description. Doesn't it look a bit like a monster from anime or games? Their generation has been too deeply influenced by the internet and anime!"

However, as Xu Zhao spoke, he noticed that Chu Xiuwen and Guo Lin, who were looking at the pictures on his phone, both had their brows furrowed and their expressions were quite solemn.

He couldn't help but feel puzzled. He had clearly told this as a funny story, hadn't he? Neither of these cases were particularly serious, were they?