Case Files Chapter 8: Debut (6)

Translated by Vivian of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

 

After they got off work, Guan Jin was practically the first to rush out the door. Now, he was praised as the ‘star of getting off work ‘since he was extremely precise with the time, rain or shine. However, he was delayed at the door today. The person who delayed him was the ‘Durex’ man wearing flashy clothes and holding an even flashier bouquet of blue roses.

When Jin MaiLong saw Guan Jin, he rushed up to him. “You, I know you, you’re Le Fan’s coworker!”

Guan Jin shifted to the side disdainfully as he thought, Leave me alone, can’t you see that people are already watching?

“Did Le Fan get off work yet?” Jin MaiLong was very excited.

“I don’t know.”

“Did he go to work today?” Jin MaiLong didn’t seem to notice Guan Jin’s indifference and impatience at all.

Guan Jin inwardly rolled his eyes and was about to leave. At this time, Le Fan and Wen JingHan walked out of the building.

“Little Fan!” Jin MaiLong practically pounced on him, catching Le Fan off guard, and he stumbled backwards a few steps.

“You——”

“I’ve been waiting for you this entire time. Today, I reserved the revolving restaurant on the top floor of building 108 so I can invite you to go eat French cuisine!” Jin MaiLong said diligently.

“I don’t have time!” Le Fan was fuming that he had even dared to come to the police station and bother others.

“What do you have to do?” Jin MaiLong asked pitifully.

“He already has a date.” Wen JingHan crossed his arms.

“He has a date?! With whom?!” Jin MaiLong widened his eyes.

Wen JingHan pointed at himself and replied, “Me.”

“…” He carefully looked Wen JingHan up and down and said, “You’re just a gold digger, Le Fan isn’t that superficial.”

Le Fan glared at Jin MaiLong and said, “JingHan, let’s go. Just ignore him.”

“Ah, Little Fan…” Jin MaiLong was like a big dog that was disliked by everyone as he stammered behind them, still holding the bouquet of flowers.

As Guan Jin watched this happen, he felt quite amused. Although this person was a little simple-minded, he was the only source of humor in his life after being reborn, so Guan Jin considered helping Jin MaiLong next time. [Jin MaiLong: Should I feel happy about this?]

The next morning, Guan Jin walked into the patient area of the hospital quite unwillingly, and was surprised to see all members of the team present.

“What are we doing today?” Guan Jin stuck his hand into his pocket and stood in front of everyone as he narrowed his eyes slightly.

“Say, our Guan Jin’s every movement is very stylish now,” remarked Zheng Fei.

Guan Jin silently took his hand out of his pocket.

“Nothing much, I originally just told you, QiaoYu, and DingDing to come. Zheng Fei, Gu Xiang, and Little Bai just wanted to go visit Tan Qu, so we happened to bump into each other.” Wen JingHan looked at the team. “Since we’re all here, let’s go together. Today, we must make Tan Qu talk.”

“Boss, are you planning to force a confession or something?” whispered Zheng Fei.

“Don’t say nonsense, Tan Qu is a victim and a witness, not a criminal. I reckon our boss already has a plan in mind,” said Gu Xiang, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

“Tan Qu, how are you feeling today?” Wen JingHan walked into the patient room alone and placed a small flower pot in it onto the drawer next to the bed. “This is for you, do you like it?”

Tan Qu was sitting on the bed, and he glanced at the white flowers and fixed his gaze on them.

“You like it?” Wen JingHan’s tone was very gentle and persuasive.

Tan Qu shifted and looked in another direction.

“I know you’ve gone through some awful things before, some things that made you feel shocked, scared, and at a loss. But you did very good by escaping bravely. You’re already very safe now, and you can live under the sunlight everyday. Those things are already in the past, and they’re merely a nightmare that will gradually fade throughout your long life——”

“You don’t understand shit! You don’t know at all… It wasn’t a nightmare, it was hell… You’ve never gone to hell, so you have no right to talk to me! Get lost! Get lost!” Tan Qu suddenly snapped and glared at him with bloodshot eyes. He clutched the blanket and used his other hand to swipe the flower pot onto the floor.

Chen QiaoYu was watching through the glass window, and she was about to rush inside. However, Guan Jin pulled her back. She looked at him in surprise. Guan Jin shook his head and let go of her. Chen QiaoYu drew a deep breath and walked back to where she had originally been standing.

Wen JingHan leaned over and picked up the flower pot, placing it back onto the drawer. He sat on the edge of the bed and looked calmly, silently, and firmly at Tan Qu, who was panting heavily. Tan Qu’s breathing gradually evened out, and he weakly leaned back against the headboard.

“How do you know I haven’t gone to hell before?” Wen JingHan rolled up his sleeve, revealing one of his forearms.

Tan Qu slowly looked up and was stunned. On the inside of Wen JingHan’s forearm, there were big and small scars that were evidently cigarette burns. Tan Qu recognized and had seen them before, and he even had the same kind himself.

Wen JingHan quietly observed his expression and slowly rolled his sleeve back down.

Outside, everyone, including Guan Jin, were dumbfounded. What?!

“You…” Tan Qu said softly.

“I only want to tell you that no matter what pain we’ve gone through, people can never forget. They’re just like scars, and they will remain on our skins. However, although the scars are there, our bodies won’t be destroyed just because of the scars, they will still continue to live healthily. Pain will also still exist in our hearts, but that shouldn’t stop you from experiencing happiness, enjoying things, and continuing living with hope. On the contrary, they will make you become braver, teach you to cherish things, and give you the opportunity to get rid of the numerous temptations and instead see the true essence of life. What you need to do now is to admit it, accept it, experience it, and finally, defy it.” Wen JingHan lightly patted Tan Qu’s head. “Do you want to just let it drag you into the abyss, or do you want to climb out and fiercely stomp on it?”

Tears swam in Tan Qu’s eyes as he looked up. “Don’t you want to forget?”

“Of course I do, but once you have a goal in life and things that are worth cherishing, this so-called pain will turn to dust and not worth mentioning. So what if you can or cannot forget it? Think of your friends, of your family, the first girl you liked, the math teacher you hate, your terrible grades, the kids you play soccer with. Which one of these aren’t more dazzling and beautiful than that dark period of time?”

“Wahh——” Tan Qu sobbed as he buried his head into Wen JingHan’s arms. He sniffled as he said shakily, “I miss my parents, I miss fighting with my deskmate, I miss, I miss the teacher who always punishes me…”

Wen JingHan patted his back as he nodded. “I know, I know…”

Outside, Guan Jin tugged on Lin Bai’s arm. “Our boss was also a victim of this case?”

Everyone shook their heads disbelievingly in reply——no one knew.

Tan Qu finally stopped crying, “What do you need me to tell you?”

Wen JingHan took out a stack of photo,. “Out of these people, which ones have you seen before?”

Tan Qu flipped through the pictures, and in the end, besides two of them, he handed the rest back to Wen JingHan. “I’ve seen all of these people there.”

“Where?”

Tan Qu hesitated for a moment, and a hint of agony flashed in his eyes. “I don’t know what it’s called, nor where it is. I escaped through the back door in the night, and it was pitch-black outside. I just ran desperately, and I don’t know how long I ran for.”

“Can you tell me what happened, starting from the beginning?”

“I’ve always wanted to become a singer, so I wanted to drop out of school in pursuit of that. However, my family didn’t approve. For a while, I would always skip class to go outside and play, as well as go to bars and clubs. Later, I acted as an extra in a drama, and I met some people there. One of them is called Brother Kang, and he said that he’s an agent from an acting company and that he had a lot of singers under him and could help refer me. I was very happy, and I became quite close with him. Later, he told me that I could attend a high-level private gathering, that there would be a lot of famous people there, and that it would help me a lot. So that night, I got into a car with Brother Kang to go there. After that, when I opened my eyes, I was already in hell…” When Tan Qu said this, he closed his eyes.

“How were the others brought there?” Wen JingHan didn’t give him the time to recall the nightmare.

“I asked them privately, and they were all told that they could attend a gathering. On the way to the gathering, they were brought there. However, not everyone wanted to become a celebrity. Some wanted to join a gang, so someone recommended them to go participate in the gang initiation or something like that…”

“In there, what did you guys…” Wen JingHan trailed off.

Tan Qu covered his eyes and smiled bitterly. “It’s just like what that police officer who saved me said, I’ll just treat it like I’ve been bitten by a dog. But we weren’t just bitten by a dog, there were always people to the side, watching and enjoying seeing us get abused and—— Those people are scum, no, they’re monsters, they’re devils!” Tan Qu spat through gritted teeth.

“How did you get out?”

“Actually, I wasn’t abused as badly as the others, because I would always get sick. Later, they kind of gave up on me and left me to fend for myself. One day, the others were brought out, so I was in a room by myself. I don’t know where the courage came from, but I opened the door and walked out. I found out that there was no one guarding the room at all, so I snuck into the storage room in the kitchen. I found a door there, so I ran out. And just like that, I ran for a day before stopping at a residential area.”

“How much of the people in charge there do you remember?”

“I’ve only seen the thugs, not the people in charge. However, as long as I’ve seen them before, I’d know them like the back of my hand!”

“Okay, I’ll ask a criminal sketch artist to come in later so you can work with her to recreate some portraits of the criminals, especially that Brother Kang.”

Tan Qu nodded earnestly.

“Do you still remember anything else? Such as things related to the address, people…” prompted Wen JingHan.

Tan Qu shook his head slowly, his eyes wide and hollow. “I only know that it was very cold…”

Wen JingHan walked out of the patient room, and when he looked up, he saw that his subordinates were all looking at him strangely in respect and admiration.

“What is it?”

“Boss, you…” Chen QiaoYu felt very conflicted, and she didn’t know how to put her thoughts into words.

Wen JingHan interrupted her. “First things first. DingDing, stay here with Tan Qu and draw portraits based on his descriptions of the suspects he remembers. Gu Xiang, continue investigating the film set and the people involved. QiaoYu and Zheng Fei, you two go to Shuimo Street’s Zilan Clubhouse. Remember, don’t reveal who you are. Guan Jin… you’ve been doing very well recently, so you can start doing some field work. This time, you can choose, what do you want to do?” As Wen JingHan said this, he fished out a wet wipe and rubbed it vigorously on his arm. The scary scars from cigarette burns gradually faded, leaving only faint red marks behind.

Everyone was shocked.

“Boss, those, those aren’t real?” Even Zheng Fei stammered a little.

Wen JingHan looked up. “Real? Please, have you guys ever seen wounds on my arm? Hm, Le Fan’s quite skilled at this, he drew these on me last night, and they’re quite realistic. It seems that the color isn’t that easy to wash off…” Wen JingHan turned his arm over and looked a little perplexed.

“You deceived him?” Guan Jin said coolly.

Wen JingHan paused and smiled. “What do you mean, deceived him?”

“The scars.”

“Just like how a teacher teaches, there has to be a specific case or example so the students can understand the topic better. No one said that the example has to be real, right?” Wen JingHan clapped once and said, “Okay, everyone, let’s get this case solved as soon as possible, the chief of police told me that he would be very grateful if we can do so.”

Besides Guan Jin, the other people seemed to be back to normal as they hurriedly walked out of the hospital.

Guan Jin pulled Lin Bai back and asked disdainfully, “The police can also engage in fraud? Is that even allowed?”

Lin Bai was stunned.

“Our boss is a little unscrupulous to achieve his goals, but he knows where to draw the line. No one is better than our boss at playing this set of so-called rules, and everything he does is always for the bigger picture, minimizes damage, and protects other people. And, he won’t request us to do things his way, so don’t worry,” whispered Chen QiaoYu.

Guan Jin declined to comment, and when Chen QiaoYu continued walking forward, he said, “Wen JingHan doesn’t seem like he’s following the decent police standards.”

Lin Bai stopped walking, and when he saw everyone else turn the corner, he said mysteriously, “This is confidential information, so forget it after you hear it. Our boss used to be in national security, and he was only later transferred to the police department.”

 

National security? Secret agent?! No wonder Wen JingHan was so two-faced and elusive. Guan Jin caught up in a few strides and said, “Boss, I’ve decided, I want to go to the Zilan Clubhouse with Zheng Fei and the others.”