Case Files Chapter 33: Angel of Death (13)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

When Lu YunYang walked into the office to discuss the case with Wen JingHan, he saw that he was looking through a lot of files. “I’m not familiar with the routines of handling a case, so I seem to be a little lost. I should go back and read all related information from start to finish.”

He found Guan Jin, who was helping Lin Bai look through the files. “Little Jin, are all files related to this case kept here?”

Guan Jin didn’t even look up. “Yes.”

“Actually, it’s easier to ask you instead of looking through the files, you’re a lot more flexible.”

“Thanks, but I’m not a human computer. If you want to read them, then do it yourself. Second shelf on the left.” Guan Jin continued to speak to him from the back of his head.

Ah, Guan Jin seemed to be very irritated this time, so he would have to spend some more effort this time to appease him. Lu YunYang chuckled quietly in spite of himself. Lu YunYang buried his head in the pile of files the entire afternoon, all the way until the sky began to darken.

“Can you look into that nurse’s, Yu Hua’s, death from five years ago?” Lu YunYang finally spoke.

Ding Ding looked at him in surprise. “Yu Hua? She fell into a river and drowned, so she probably doesn’t have much to do with this serial murder, right?”

“Yes, but I keep getting the feeling that the start of this case was too abrupt. Before the killer forms a steady and mature method and psychological state, they must have had a transition and exploration phase. Whether or not their method changes, their basic choosing of their targets won’t, because they’re the most important appeal to the killer. After all, Yu Hua was the only nurse with an abnormal death in these past few years, so let’s just try our luck.”

“Then I’ll assign this to Ding Ding and Gu Xiang. Look into Yu Hua’s family and social relations,” agreed Wen JingHan.

*****

“I’ll take you home first, since I still have to go to Hospital Three,” Lu YunYang said to Guan Jin as he drove.

Guan Jin said disdainfully, “Why are you going there so late at night?”

“I need to find Jiang Tong for something.”

“Then I’ll go too.”

“Oh? You’re going to go find Wu Meng to ask for leads?”

“A little girl like her can only do so much, I just want to go take a look at the scene of the crime again. Didn’t you say that the scene of the crime is the best way to understand the psychological process of the murderer?”

When they arrived at Hospital Three, it was almost ten p.m.

After Guan Jin got out of the car, he went by himself to the inpatient wards. He didn’t have the leisure to experience the killer’s psychological process; he only wanted to come to find himself. Guan Jin leaned against a window of the corridor on the third floor, and quietly gazed at the large flower bed outside the hospital. He had gazed at this flower bed countless times from his patient room’s window since he had first woken up, with the fury and indignance of having been assassinated, as well as the confusion for his future. 

Up until now, he had only become even more confused, and he didn’t really know how to be himself anymore. Before, he had been taciturn, preferring to act alone at night. He hadn’t had friends nor family, and at most, he would occasionally chat with Tony about superficial things, both of them very wary of each other. Now, in order to conceal his identity, he had tried to fit in with everyone by chatting with his colleagues and bickering with that sham of a psychic, and even occasionally becoming furious because of him. This wasn’t him acting anymore, and he had lost control of too many things, now falling towards an unpredictable direction.

Should he let himself develop freely, or should he forcefully put a stop to it so he could immediately return to his original position?

Guan Jin patted his pocket out of habit, but he didn’t have any cigarettes. Ever since he had come here, his habits of many years had been given up. Then, exactly what was left that could be considered as Hei Xiao?

As Guan Jin had a rare, gloomy but artistic moment, he suddenly saw a black shadow quickly scurry down the path from the clinic building across the street and head towards the underground passage of the hospital, abruptly ruining the atmosphere.

Guan Jin turned around and ran downstairs. That person’s movements had been too fast and nimble, so they definitely weren’t just some passerby. He ran into the underground passage and reached a fork which led to either the underground parking lot, laboratory building, warehouse, or medical waste disposal station. Guan Jin hesitated for a moment before deciding to run towards the laboratory building.

There were still dim lights along the corridor of the laboratory building, and there was practically no one there. Guan Jin tread lightly and silently walked to the second floor, carefully observing the door to every room in the empty corridor. At the end, there were two closed, opaque glass doors, and two very large words were pasted on them: Dissection Room.

Guan Jin held his breath and slowly pushed the doors open.

It was dark inside, and he was hit with the pungent odor of chemical liquids. Guan Jin was glad that he had purposely trained this body’s night vision, and although it wasn’t comparable to what he had before, he could still vaguely see the room’s furnishing so that he didn’t bump into anything.

Guan Jin slowly moved forward, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He determined that there was another person in the room. In this world, besides that sham of a psychic, no one could hide under his nose without him noticing. Bah, why did I think of that person again?!

In the instant that Guan Jin lost concentration, he felt a gust of wind at the back of his head. Guan Jin ducked, and the wind swiftly passed over the top of his head, taking away a few of his hairs.

Guan Jin was covered in cold sweat; if he had been even just slightly slower, he reckoned that that knife would’ve been driven into his head. He readjusted his breathing and grabbed a random utensil nearby, immediately parrying the next stab. They then engaged in a back-and-forth clash.

This person was an expert, and his movements were extremely quick and agile, each of his strikes deadly. Guan Jin smiled bitterly to himself; this was another person of the same occupation as him, though they were an assassin specialized in the cold weapons. Guan Jin could tell that he was at a clear disadvantage in terms of physical strength. He accidentally let his guard down and was kicked backwards, crashing into some shelves, and fell down. He struggled to jump back up, and dodged as he retreated, but since he retreated too quickly, he tripped and lost his balance.

Splash! Liquid splattered everywhere, and he seemed to have fallen into a bathtub. Before he could get up, the person pounced on him and pressed his neck down, plunging the gleaming dagger in his other hand down towards Guan Jin’s chest.

Guan Jin felt extremely indignant; he was going to die for a second time by the hands of an assassin. Was this the gods punishing him?! If he could survive this, he vowed to become a vegetarian!

The gods seemed to hear his repentance, and the dagger abruptly stopped, mere centimeters away from his chest. Immediately after, he heard two people scuffling. Guan Jin quickly climbed out of the water, but before he could step out, a harsh, bright light lit up the room.

The room was a mess, and a person wearing a black t-shirt was lying on the ground, a dagger nearby. Lu YunYang rubbed his wrist and sighed. “It’s really been too long since I’ve done something like this, and my body’s a little stiff.”

Guan Jin wasn’t calm anymore; as a professional assassin, he had fought for a while but was still nearly sent to hell, yet this professor had knocked out the opponent in less than a minute.

“Little Jin, you’re——”

“Why would you show up here?” Guan Jin shook off the water from his hand.

“I called you, but no one picked up. I was worried that you got lost, so I located you using GPS.”

“GPS? From my phone? How did you locate me?”

“Remember how I was at your place the other day? I was bored and had nothing to do, so I turned on the GPS in your phone and connected it to my phone.” Lu YunYang smiled innocently.

Bored and had nothing to do?!

“Little Jin…”

“That’s violating other people’s privacy without permission!”

“I was just…”

“This type of sneaky behavior of yours is very perverted.”

“Actually, what I wanted to say is that the thing you’re standing in is used to store bodies, so the unknown liquid inside might be- is probably- probably——a formalin solution.”

“…Fuck! Why didn’t you say so earlier?!”

I wanted to say it, but it was you who kept interrupting me…

Guan Jin immediately jumped out and ran to the sink to rinse off the liquid.

Unfortunately, it was still too late, and Guan Jin could feel his face begin to prickle. He had already been pale and fragile before, but if he got disfigured…

 *****

Guan Jin looked like a cooked shrimp, even more so when contrasted against the snow white hospital bed.

“Your red look is actually quite cute,” complimented Lu YunYang. “Really.”

Guan Jin glared at him fiercely. “Stop taking pleasure from other people’s misery!”

Jiang Tong’s hands were in his pocket. “You were pretty lucky. The formalin solution had already been removed, and there was water inside, so the concentration of the remaining traces of formalin was very small. If it weren’t for your skin being so sensitive, it wouldn’t even have caused an allergic reaction.”

“Say, exactly what kind of doctor are you, how come you’re everywhere?” Guan Jin began to detest this hospital and this doctor.

“I’m a neurologist, and if it weren’t for JingHan exhorting me to look after his people, do you think I would come?” Jiang Tong was very dissatisfied with Guan Jin’s ungratefulness.

Fortunately, Lu YunYang sent Jiang Tong away and opened a hot food thermos. “Since you’re allergic, you can’t eat anything too greasy. Here, I made pork and bamboo shoots, stir-fried choy sum, and yam and lily congee.”

Guan Jin glanced at the dishes on the table and silently swallowed his saliva. “You can even cook?”

“My dad kicked me out when I was eighteen, so I learned to be independent.” Lu YunYang served the dishes.

Guan Jin looked at the appetizing dishes, but he struggled a little in his heart. What was that old saying again, three strikes and you’re out? As for the thing about going vegetarian, he’ll consider it the next time something happened to him~

“How did they deal with that unlucky assassin?” Guan Jin asked as he ate.

“He died.”

 

Guan Jin choked and coughed violently. “He-he died?!”