บท 278: Let's Go Down
She breathed deeply and hoped it's not Li Xiaozhi.
As the light approached the third floor, she heard Han Mingxia's voice. She's already in the third floor but she couldn't aimlessly walked out of the stairs in the opposite direction.
If the officer would use her flashlight to scan the entire hallway of the third floor, there's no way she could hide.
The distance of the two stairs located on both sides of the building wasn't that long. The flashlight could probably see until the end of the hallway.
Han Meixiu could not gamble about it. She should distract the coming officer. The farther the officer to the third floor, the better.
*
"Ahhh! Help!!!"
Li Xiaozhi who was a few steps towards the third floor, stopped. She wasn't wearing an earpiece as her small 'trip' to this place wasn't really 'legal'. Her own radio wasn't noisy either.
She even looked back to check if her whinny partner was following. But there was none.
'A voice in an abandoned building?'
It was so weak and soft as if it was just part of the cold air inside.
'Is it a ghost?'
Her hair slightly stood up and she swallowed several times. Why didn't she let her partner follow her?
'D@mn it!'
She's not ready. Okay?
Normally she's not a scaredy cat but recently while reviewing cold cases plus her partner's unnecessary comments about supernatural things, her mind wondered in that direction.
But then again, it might be only her imagination.
Li Xiaozhi continued her step. Highlighting her senses. Though she could hear her heart beat more than the surrounding as it was getting louder.
On the other hand, Han Meixiu thought she wasn't heard. Thus she repeated her 'plea'.
"Help!" She shouted and to make her action more believable, she kicked a debris resulting for an injury.
'Sh!t!' She exclaimed inwardly and grabbed her leg that was hurt.
Li Xiaozhi walked faster and climbed the stairs upwards. She heard someone and also a movement.
'It wasn't a ghost!' She concluded. It was a voice of a girl or a woman.
'Maybe someone was trapped inside!'
"Anyone there?" She asked while moving her flashlight right after she reached the fourth floor.
"Here! Here!"
When Li Xiaozhi arrived she saw a woman slumped on the floor covered with pieces of woods.
The face was slightly hidden.
She actually doubted the woman as she was a bizarre sight in this abandoned building. But looking at her pitiful posture she somewhat lower her guard as she walked slowly.
"Don't move!" Although she was still holding her gun, her voice was more gentle than before.
When the woman looked up, she became speechless for a few seconds.
"Meixiu?!?!"
Han Meixiu who was being focused on by Li Xiaozhi's light covered her face. After adjusting for a while, she finally saw the face of the officer. "Xiao Xiao..." She mumured. There was helplessness in her voice as she said her name. Her face dimmed and complex emotions surged.
She lowered her gaze to hide what she was feeling at the moment.
"Why the hell are you here???" Li Xiaozhi asked and kneeled beside Han Meixiu as she saw a bleeding leg. "Are you okay?"
Han Meixiu nodded. It was thanks to Li Xiaozhi's light that she saw the floor and area she chose to stay.
Looking at her leg scraped and felt the tingling pain, she couldn't help but curse her luck.
Of all the debris she would kick, she chose the one with a protruding nail.
"Can you stand? Did you come here because you found out about black.com's connection to white peony agency?" Li Xiaozhi asked in a hushed voice.
"You know?" Han Meixiu immediately asked. The surprise was evident on her eyes. There was also a hidden worry within.
"I just found it out. The police received an order to chase someone who took an important record from the retired police chief of Q City. He's here in K Country for a short vacation. The record has a tracking device. They checked that the thief was in the next building."
"If it was in the next building, why are you here?" Han Meixiu asked as her heart was pounding due to an intense nervousness.
If her mother was the one who took the record, then that record should be the one she was holding now.
If they said that it was in the next building, then it meant her mother removed the tracking device.
Her mother probably wanted to run farther but given she was wounded, she couldn't run that far. Thus she settled in this building.
But why in the former office of white peony? Was she looking for something?
"There are so many of them trying to catch just one thief. I don't think I'm needed. Besides, it's more interesting to check the previous office of white peony. I also have a hunch that if the thief was able to get the valuable record of the former chief, he must have been a member of an organization similar to black.com. Or maybe a member of it. Most likely since he came in this area, he might as well drop by here. Although it's just my biased analysis, I still want to check."
Han Meixiu wanted to applaud Li Xiaozhi's analysis. She wanted to cry without tears.
"Also..."
Han Meixiu wanted her best friend to stop thinking after hearing that the woman wanted to continue. She was getting worried.
"He might keep the record here. Then it would be picked up by someone else!" The excitement on Li Xiaozhi's voice was evident. She was transported back from the time the two of them would analyze a case study.
There was a subtle smile on Li Xiaozhi's face as she looked at her best friend.
Han Meixiu on the other hand squeezed a forced smile and averted her eyes.
"I've heard some movement here earlier. But when I checked I accidentally kicked a debris and hurt myself." Han Meixiu said trying to change the topic while availing time.
"This floor was originally an English Academy. There's no important items beneficial here but if I want to hide something, it might be a good place." Li Xiaozhi said and looked around while moving her flashlight in sync with her eyes.
"Then can we check around?"
"We can of course. Can you stand?"
Han Meixiu nodded and breathed in relief.
If they would scan around, that would be enough for Han Mingxia to take out her mother.
"Is there a connection of black.com and the stolen record?" Han Meixiu asked.
"I'm not sure. But according to some officers, the record was about the former chief's transactions with that organization. Although some said it was a list of officials whom the chief received some kind of 'favor'."
Although he looked clean, nobody in the police force could really guarantee that those high ranking officials weren't involved in a dirty work at some point.
"It can be both." Han Meixiu quickly uttered as if it was a fact.
"Probably. That's why he placed a tracking device in it." Li Xiaozhi said and checked the small rooms, staying for a minute before moving to the next one. Han Meixiu was quietly following.
"How did you find out the connection of black.com and white peony?"
"There were several cases in my work involving this agency."
"Cold cases?"
Li Xiaozhi nodded before speaking. "Yeah. Although mostly were missing, the pattern that they applied in this agency prior to their disappearance, is already a big clue. But when it was shut down before, nobody got any solid evidence. Also, when I was reviewing the confiscated evidence, I saw the black.com's logo. I still remember it because of what we did before. But nobody recognized it when I asked around."
"Did you tell anyone about it?"
"No. I wanted to tell Brother Shan about it but it would expose that we opened his files so in the end I didn't."
Han Meixiu calmed down a little.
"There's really nothing here. Should we check the third floor?"
Li Xiaozhi only saw empty cabinets and some pile of old chairs and broken desks.
"There's no secret compartment?" Han Meixiu moved and pressed the walls. It was a ridiculous action that made Li Xiaozhi chuckled.
"Did you come here to satisfy your fantasy of becoming an investigator? This is just a simple wall. Based from the thickness of it, it wouldn't contain anything special inside."
Han Meixiu bit her lip and moved her hand over her ear that was covered with her hair.
She wanted to ask if Han Mingxia was already out but she couldn't speak freely if Li Xiaozhi would be just beside her.
"You have a thermal goggles. When you heard the sound earlier, you didn't see anyone?"
"No. The person was probably behind walls thus I didn't see anything."
"If it was really a person though." Li Xiaozhi commented. "Let's go down."
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