章 16: Children Noodle Soup
Once Leon had managed to get out of the Heifu Yang club, he spotted the man wearing a dragon vest jump into a van with the serial number X981-GH1.
He pulled Wolfe closer and said, "You have good memory, right?"
Wolfe reddened when he asked this, fearing that he somehow knew he remembered what happened last night.
But then Leon said. "Remember these details. White van, 13 seater, Changan model, license plate X981-GH1. Got it?"
Wolfe blinked. "You're turning me into your personal memo pad now?"
Leon just grinned at this. "Well, if you're going to keep being a nuisance, at least I can put you to good use."
He dashed off to the rush at the van itself, and Wolfe pulled on his sleeves. "Wait, where are you going?"
"Even when we got a van, that's nothing conclusive yet. I need to make sure I'm following the right lead and not just some random people."
"So you're just going to keep running to follow them?" Wolfe asked.
"Nope." Leon laughed like a maniac as he stepped on a risen platform---
And did parkour by jumping up a tree branch, swinging and getting on top of the van!
He was light on his feet, and the people inside only thought it must be a small rock or something that fallen above.
Wolfe could not believe his eyes. Is this guy really just some negotiator??? He could be in the next American Ninja Warrior!
"Hurry up!" Leon mouthed to him.
He hissed. "I'm trying!"
Wolfe did his best to catch up while the van was still driving in low speed and tried to reach Leon Mo.
"Grab my hand!" He said, extending it as far as he could so Wolfe could reach it.
The actor may be no ninja warrior, but he still exercises and keep his body fit for his job. And so, he finally managed to jump up and grab on to Leon, and he was pulled up on the top of the van.
"You are crazy, Leon Mo!" Wolfe said when he finally steadied himself and squatted like Leon on the shaky vehicle. "This is really dangerous! And what if someone sees us? What, we're just gonna say two guys decided to have a picnic on top of a moving van???"
"No one is going to see us. They're not going to the highway, they're going to the areas where barely any street light could be seen and everyone who passes by is too drunk to care." Leon said. "That's the slums for ya."
"Even so... God..... That was heart-pounding. If I fall off here, I'm dragging you with me."
"If you fall, I'll cover your pretty little head so you won't get a concussion or something." Leon joked, though he really would do it if that happens.
After all, even when he hates this guy's guts, and his mere presence annoys him, he had the duty to protect every citizen as a policeman. And the fact that they would be married someday also meant he had to save this guy's ass from any trouble.
Leon was right. They were going into a more rural-like area here in Beijing, where the narrow streets were overridden with makeshift houses and illegal ones, not to mention delinquents and the homeless.
The night was so dark and it was a new moon too, and so the darkness gives you a foreboding feeling that was gnawing away on your insides.
Leon felt his companion shiver a little, and he pulled Wolfe to huddle closer so he would really not slip from the old Changan van.
The van stopped slowly, thankfully, and the people inside got out. It parked in front of a warehouse, and from the very little light, Leon could vaguely see bold white letters and a logo.
But it was too dark to see it clearly. However, there was something that clued him in on what kind of warehouse it was for.
"Noodle soup." He whispered to Wolfe.
"What?"
"Noddle soup. I can smell it. It must be a food warehouse."
Besides his intuition, Leon's sense of smell was never wrong.
He patted Wolfe's shoulder. "I go first, then I'll catch you. Stay as quiet as you can."
He jumped down once more like an agile big cat, not a single squeak from his shoes or a huff of breath. He turned back and raised his arms, gesturing Wolfe to jump next.
"You better catch me, you dumb ogre." Wolfe said nervously, as he closed his eyes and jumped down.
He did not fall like a limp doll to the ground and broke his foot. Strong arms did manage to catch him, and he could only see the silhouette of a figure in the pitch black.
"It's not even that high. You try jumping from a 10-storey building." Leon said, letting go of him without an ounce of gentleness.
Wolfe scowled and brush himself off. Then, he suddenly pulled Leon away from the van and unto a tree!
"What---"
"Shhhh." Wolfe covered his mouth, and they waited.
Sure enough, the men from inside the van went back, opening the trunk. They observed everything, as the two men only used flashlight.
The mere fact that they don't want to open the lights in the warehouse and would rather use flashlights was already suspicious enough...
However, there was something even more that raise suspicion on these men with dragon embroidered vests.
"Waaaah!!!! Wahh!!!!!"
The thing they picked up on the van made high-pitched wails!
Both Wolfe's and Leon's eyes widened when they heard this, but they did not dare to even breath loudly at this revelation.
"Come now, baby~ Don't cry!" The muscular man in a vest swung the swaddled infant from side to side. "You'll be surrounded by really good food soon. Really, really good food. Then, it will be your turn."
Leon was disgusted. So there really was child cannibalism going on in this case.
He had encountered many vile things in his life as someone involved closely in crime, and he was sadly already desensitized to this.
However, he heard a very small retching sound from the back of Wolfe's throat.
"Urk!"
The man turned around, and they both caught their breaths, as the flashlight turned to the tall tree they were hiding behind.
Their hearts pounded at almost the same rhythm, waiting and waiting for the moment the man ignores them or catches them.....
"Wahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!"
The baby wailed even more, and the man pooh-poohed the child to calm it down. It continued to swing it around like a bag of potatoes, and eventually, closed the trunk and went to the warehouse while whistling.
The two sighed in relief.
"We need to get out of here." Wolfe said.
"Yeah, no kidding. Does your phone have a flashlight?"
"We're going to walk our way back?" Wolfe asked as he took out his phone, and Leon just took it.
"Yes. The faster, the better. I don't want to walk until dawn." Leon frowned. "You still remember the van details earlier?"
"Of course." Wolfe said, holding his chest.
He made a gagging sound, and Leon stopped walking for a moment, placing a hand on his back.
"Are you alright?" Leon asked. "Let's move a little further before you puke."
"I'm..... I'm fine. I'm a mafia boss' son, for god's sake." Wolfe said. "This is nothing. I should be used to these things by now, especially now that I'm back here in China."
"Hey, it has nothing to do with it. If it was me 10 years ago, I would have also puked at the thought of babies being turned into noodle soup."
"Can't we at least save that kid..... No, that's stupid." Wolfe shook his head. "It would be too dangerous since we don't know what we are facing, right? We're just two nosy people who are not even licensed policemen, and who knows how many thugs they have working in that child-killing factory."
"Yes. And we don't have weapons. I want to save the kid too...." Leon said forlornly. "But there are just things that you can't do in this line of work. It makes you feel hopeless, but if you let your feelings get to you, nothing good will come out of it."
"You must have nerves of steel then for this kind of work, huh?" Wolfe jested.
"Mn. " Leon said, as they have continued to walk in the small forest threshold and finally reached the end of it, an intersection on the streets.
Wolfe pointed to the right. "This way."
"Thanks, human memo pad and map." Leon joked. "Maybe we can find some store to buy you a bottle of water to calm down."
"I don't really need it anymore. Just keep talking to distract me." Wolfe said.
"What else do we have to talk about?" Leon raised an eyebrow. "You wanna talk about last night---"
"No!" Wolfe immediately said with a slight growl, making Leon laugh with his head back.
"Hahaha, do you remember now? I really didn't do anything, you initiated all of it." Leon grinned. "Though I would still take responsibility if something happens to you. I'll pay for your medical expenses and all that."
"Wow, that's real sweet of you." Wolfe said sarcastically.
"You're welcome." Leon just winked at him, and Wolfe fakes another gag.
They just walked quietly for a while, before Wolfe asked hesitantly. "Say, Leon.... Have you..... Have you ever had regrets as part of the police work? I can only imagine the amount of psychological pressure it has on you."
"Oh, I have a lot of regrets. But then again, that's just what they are. Regrets. I regret them because I can't do anything about them." Leon sighed. "The faster you realize that, the faster you can let go, and not get hurt."
"But I never forget them. I hold on to them. Every single lives lost, every innocence stained by humanity's evil.... I keep them as a reminder of why I'm doing this in the first place."
Wolfe seemed to regard Leon in a bit of a different light now besides his brutish, impulsive and playful personality. Which was ironic because it was incredibly dark, and he can barely see his face.
But Wolfe imagined that if he could see him better right now, he would see much sadness in this dumb ogre's eyes.
Leon then turned to him. "How about you? You have any regrets?"
Wolfe thought about it for a while, then shook his head.
"No."
But Leon could tell that he was lying. Still, he let it go, just letting this brief moment of peace between them pass as they walk the near-empty, lonesome and dim streets.
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