Chapter 193: Loophole
Hanbury Street was located in between Whitechapel area and Baker Street. It was not too far when compared to the park that Chen Xiaolian and the others went to yesterday night.
It was presently around seven in the morning. As Chen Xiaolian was driving toward the destination, he caught sight of the flashing lights coming from the lights above police cars parked in the distance. A yellow cordon was set up and police officers could be seen milling about busily inside the blockade.
Early morning joggers could be seen standing to the side, watching what was happening. There were also reporters from the media wandering around with cameras. They appeared to be looking for something.
“We… may be too late!”
Chen Xiaolian’s face sank and he halted the car by the street. He got down the car together with Phoenix and walked over. However, they were stopped outside the yellow cordon by two police officers.
“If I may… what happened inside?” Chen Xiaolian glanced around and asked a reporter who was carrying a camera.
“A murder case, a pitiful woman was stabbed several times. The scene of crime was comparable to Hell itself,” answered the reporter. Despite what he said, the reporter’s eyes instead revealed excitement. He waved his hands and shouted toward the police officers within the cordon, “Hey! You cannot stop us from going inside! The media has a right to report and the public has the right to know, and…”
“Enough,” a red-nosed police officer muttered. He moved over and gave the reporter a harsh glare before saying, “The police will make an announcement later. At present, it would be best that you do not come across the cordon line.”
“Damn it!” the reporter swore and moved away.
Chen Xiaolian and Phoenix looked at each other.
Phoenix suddenly patted Chen Xiaolian and extended her hand before him before slowly spreading out the palm of her hand.
Her hand was a work of art, with delicate and slender fingers – naturally, that was not the main point. The main point was the thing within Phoenix’s palm. Two unique looking badges rested within her palm.
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes turned peculiar after seeing them. Surprisingly, the shape of the two badges was a… hexagram pattern. They were the size of a copper coin and words that Chen Xiaolian could not read were engraved on the side of the badges.
“This is?”
“A useful item, the Universal Access Badge. By wearing it, others will accept you as a comrade. It is a very useful tool for infiltration purposes – a product of the system,” replied a smiling Phoenix. She then handed one of them to Chen Xiaolian.
Chen Xiaolian followed Phoenix’s lead and pinned the badge onto his body. Phoenix simply walked forward, bent her waist and stepped past the cordon line.
The red-nosed police officer turned around and cast a glance before turning his head away indifferently. He did not bother questioning her at all.
Chen Xiaolian was surprised. He stepped across the cordon line and caught up to Phoenix. “This thing…”
“Under such circumstances, wearing it will cause them to think that we are also police officers. Trust me, products made by the system are all very useful. Not too long ago, I used it to gain access to the movie set of ‘Star Wars 7’,” Phoenix winked. “It can also be used to gain access to those high-class clubs. Using it, you will automatically be considered a member. Ah… but the badge becomes invalid if the place has something to do with some highly classified national-level security.”
…
There was a flower shop located not far away from the street. The murder scene was behind the fence beside the flower shop.
The fence was not made of wood or metal. Instead, it was made of shrubbery.
One of the plants revealed signs that indicated that something or someone had pressed down on it. This meant that the victim might have been jumped on in the street and forcibly dragged toward the shrub fence.
At the murder scene, police officers were taking pictures while forensics and autopsy personnel were carefully checking the corpse. They also inspected the surroundings.
Although Chen Xiaolian and Phoenix moved closer, they did not attract any unwanted attention from the others – it appeared that the police officers considered them as comrades.
However, it was likely that things would change if they were to get closer. As Chen Xiaolian tried to step across the shrubbery, a suit wearing police officer scolded him, “Don’t go over! Are you new? Go guard the vicinity and make sure the reporters don’t get to come inside!”
Phoenix silently pulled out her mobile phone and quickly took a few pictures. Then, she patted Chen Xiaolian and asked, “Did you discover anything?”
“No…”
Chen Xiaolian stood outside the shrub fence and peered at the corpse inside.
Judging by the physical aspects and the clothes worn by the corpse, it was apparent that the victim was the black woman they encountered back in the park last night.
She wore a coat that was partially pulled down.
A piece of cloth covered her chest and abdomen area, making it impossible to see whether or not the Ripper had dissected open her abdomen. However, observing the amount of blood splattered over the ground… the answer was evident.
Chen Xiaolian covered his nose and endured the pungent smell of blood. After that, he turned to Phoenix and said, “Let’s go.”
After leaving the cordoned area, Chen Xiaolian took off the badge and returned it to Phoenix. He said, “Your team members…”
“They sent a message to me a few minutes ago. They found the fifth woman and are now on the way back,” Phoenix answered with a smile. “Everything is going smoothly there.”
Chen Xiaolian nodded his head.
The two of them entered the car. Chen Xiaolian started the car with a puzzled look on his face. He said, “I keep getting this feeling that I am missing something.”
“What?” Phoenix looked at him.
Chen Xiaolian shook his head and said, “I do not know. But, I feel that I am missing something…”
He looked at Phoenix and asked, “Do you have this feeling?”
Uncertainty could be seen in Phoenix’s eyes.
Feeling vexed, Chen Xiaolian rolled down the window and directed his gaze toward the police officers who were busily working within the cordoned area.
His mind suddenly thought of something!
“Ghost! The female ghost!”
Chen Xiaolian became excited and he firmly held onto the steering wheel. He continued, “Do you remember? When we were at the first murder scene, a female ghost appeared! The deceased’s ghost transformed into a vengeful spirit to attack us!”
Phoenix was stunned and she lost her composure: “You mean to say…”
“If we are to assume that victim’s soul will transform into a vengeful spirit to attack after dying… that could be a process set by the system! If that is the case… since this murder occurred, would the deceased also…” Chen Xiaolian clutched his head and said, “Wrong, that is wrong! Could it be? Because there are too many police officers here… the female ghost did not appear due to this? But, if we are to assume that, there were a lot of us present during the time of the first murder scene. Yet, the female ghost appeared anyways to attack us…”
Phoenix gaped before suddenly saying, “That’s wrong… back then, the one that the vengeful spirit was attacking doesn’t seem to be us! It’s…”
Chen Xiaolian’s eyes flickered and he turned to face Phoenix: “You mean…”
…
Upon the TV screen, the morning news was re-broadcasting a football game from last night: Chelsea vs Tottenham.
The moment a goal was scored, Bei Tai who was seated on the sofa laughed out and gulped down a mouthful of beer before praising, “Beautiful!”
Colombo was seated beside. He watched the TV with a depressed and bored expression on his face.
“You don’t like football?” asked a smiling Bei Tai.
“This is London, UK,” the forensics expert rolled his eyes and answered, “Why should I cheer for Chelsea? I am an Arsenal fan!”
Bei Tai pursed his lips to the side and stood up. He then moved to window and peered outside. He said, “It’s dawn. We should get something to eat. Do you have any food in the refrigerator?”
“There’s bacon, eggs and some bread. The rest is beer,” answered Colombo. “If you do not like it, we can order something.”
“Right, wake Dr Mu up as well. He is probably feeling hungry now.” Bei Tai turned to look at the bedroom. “Poor fellow. He got shocked and had to go through all that last night.”
“As you said, he got shocked and had to go through all that. So, let him sleep.” Colombo sighed. “Before he went to bed, I gave him a sleeping pill.”
Lun Tai came out of the toilet while holding onto a roll of newspaper in his hand. He tossed the newspaper onto the table.
“What happened?”
“What could happen? You were only inside for five minutes.” Bei Tai laughed. “What can happen in five minutes?”
“Don’t be careless, we are in an instance dungeon,” Lun Tai said seriously. “Where is Dr Mu?”
“Still sleeping,” answered Bei Tai. He waved and said, “Let the poor fellow sleep a little longer.”
“What about our … guest?” asked Lun Tai. He moved into the guest room and opened the door.
Inside the room, Polly sat on the bed with a dazed look on her face. Lun Tai looked at her for a moment before turning to close the door. However, Polly suddenly shouted out, “Wait!”
“What is it?”
“I … I want to go to the bathroom,” the woman shouted. “For God’s sake! Could it be that you won’t even allow me to go to the toilet?”
Lun Tai went over and lifted her up from the bed.
“Can you untie my ropes? What rope is this? They are so hard, my wrists are worn.”
“As long as you don’t struggle, your wrists will not get worn,” Lun Tai answered coldly. He did not untie her. Instead, he simply carried her out of the room and into the toilet. He placed her on top of the toilet bowl and said, “There is no need to untie the rope. Your hands can take off your pants. When you are done, call me.”
After saying that, Lun Tai closed the door.
“Crass bastard!” Polly swore at the door.
There was only a very narrow ventilation hole in the toilet. Looking at it, Polly sighed helplessly.
As she struggled to remove her belt, she failed to notice something. Behind her, a rope on the shower curtain moved lightly. It was as though it had been given life and the originally tied up rope unravelled and slid down from the shower curtain…
…
“How is it?”
Chen Xiaolian was stepping on the accelerator and the car sped along the road.
“My phone can’t get through to them!” Phoenix clenched her teeth and kept her phone.
Chen Xiaolian swore, “Damn it! Me too… I have already sent a message through the guild channel, but no one is responding!”
“We may have committed an error!” Phoenix quickly said, “Do you remember the last thing said by the vengeful spirit when we forced it to retreat?”
Naturally, Chen Xiaolian remembered.
The female ghost had said, “I have my eyes on you! I won’t let you escape me!”
Those words were said in English, thus the word used by the ghost was {you}.
In English, ‘you’ can be singular, but it can also be ‘plural.
Due to that, when Chen Xiaolian heard what the female ghost said, he thought she meant: ‘You people’ will not escape me.
But now…
“Clearly, the one she was after is a single person, not all of us,” said Phoenix, her face turning odd.
…