Memory Lost

In the control room, everyone is staring at the blank monitor screen with a stern face. No one moves or makes a sound. Only Qin Wen Long is holding the intercom, communicating and giving out commands to the criminal investigation and special police teams who are on the chase.

“We’re still behind him! Our distance is five hundred meters!”

“Watch for your safety! He is armed with a weapon!”

“F–k! He’s gone into a residential area, and we don’t know which road he has taken!”

“The one on the right! The left one and the middle one don’t have any coverings, so he definitely won’t pick them!”

“It’s okay, let him go. We’ve already blocked off the road with our cars at the end of it!”

……

It’s a race against time. Just from hearing the policemen’s voices makes Jin Xi feel all tensed with her blood rushing inside.

But then she sees Han Chen lowering his head suddenly. He picks up the map from the table and bends down to look at it.

His movements don’t capture anybody else’s attention. Jin Xi walks over and stands beside him.

“What are you looking for?” she asks in a low voice.

Han Chen doesn’t answer; his finger on the map moves across it slowly. Jin Xi also looks down. The map shows a forested area and a park, and beside the park is a lake.

Han Chen’s finger follows the green area and moves slowly upwards until it stops suddenly. He raises his head and says, “Subway station!” 𝑓𝔯𝑒e𝘸e𝘣𝓷𝘰ѵe𝚕.c૦𝙢

Qin Wen Long, who’s next to him, is stunned for a second before he reports the findings to the team immediately, “Be on the lookout that T might abandon his car, travel across the park, and leave by subway!”

But they’re too late.

The area of the park is big. Since it’s Saturday today, there are a lot of people there. fre𝑒𝘸𝚎𝚋n૦ѵℯl.c𝒐𝘮

A panicking voice from a police officer soon comes onto the intercom: “Captain Qin! We’ve found T’s car. It’s been left beside the fence outside of the park!”

“There’s too many people. We can’t tell who is him!”

“Let’s hurry to the subway station!”

……

Two hours later.

The Black Shield Team returns to their office, and Qin Wen Long also goes with them.

This has been the closest they’ve gotten to catching T ever since the first incident. They almost had him; forcing him to abandon his car and escape on his feet. But they still missed him.

Xiao Zhuan stands in front of the projector screen and explains to everyone, “From where T disappeared, there is only one subway line. The Northbound line would take him to the suburbs, while the Southbound line would take him back to downtown. The police teams are currently searching at every stop, but there hasn’t been any progress. T has been very careful. He didn’t leave any fingerprints on the vehicle.”

Chatterbox asks hesitantly, “What does T want to do? He’s not thinking of doing something big like shooting at the subway station, is he?

“He wouldn’t.”

“He wouldn’t.”

Han Chen and Jin Xi answer at the same time.

Jin Xi says, “That doesn’t align with his usual ‘punishing’ style. Based on his actions from the last few days, he is someone who’s well planned and is firm on his belief. The next person he kills will definitely be someone who has done heinous crimes.”

“He will continue to head North,” Han Chen says, “He was driving North before we forced him to abandon his car to take public transit, so he will definitely continue heading to his targeted destination.”

Xiao Zhuan thinks for a minute and says, “Following on the subway Northbound line, there is a residential area, commercial area, a park, city center, and that’s about it before it goes to the suburban area. In the suburban area, there’s Beitong County, which has tourist resorts, and the game industry. It’s been developing quite well. It has a big mountainous area. What is T planning to do there?”

Qin Wen Long, who has been listening quietly, lifts his head immediately, “Find out right away to see if there are any provincial and/or municipal leaders having a conference in the suburban area.”

Everyone’s heart shakes instantly. Xiao Zhuan sits back at his computer right away and starts searching. Chatterbox starts calling related departments.

When Chatterbox hangs up, he is almost about to cry, “At the Beitong County’s conference center, there’s a semi-annual report meeting for the city today……”

Qin Wen long is dumbstruck. He bounces up from his chair, and just when he’s about to leave, Han Chen’s desk phone rings.

Han Chen picks it up on speaker phone, “hello.”

“Team Leader Han. We received a phone call at the call center advising a tip on the serial shooting case. Should I connect you through?”

“Go ahead.”

Everyone is silent as they listen to the call.

Ever since the media exposed the case, the station has received many calls about giving us tips like this one, which are all directed to the Black Shield Team. After they failed to catch T on the chase today, the frontline officers have asked people in the area. This phone call could be from a witness.

The call is connected.

Qin Wen Long dials on his cell phone while listening to the call.

It’s silent on the other end for a few seconds.

Han Chen: “hello?”

“hello,” a deep and raspy voice comes on. He pauses before saying, “I am T.”

The office becomes still. Qin Wen Long also puts his phone down and stares at the desk phone sternly.

Xiao Zhuan rushes to the equipment shelf, fetches a call tracking device, and starts to connect it carefully. Chatterbox pushes open the door and calls in a low voice for an IT member to come. Cold Face walks to the phone and listens with Han Chen. The station’s phones all have automatic recording capability, but Jin Xi still takes out her pen and paper to jot down notes.

Everybody takes action quickly and quietly.

Han Chen presses both hands onto the table and quietly waits for him to speak.

“There’s no need to trace the call,” T says softly, “because I will tell you where I am.”

Everyone is shocked.

“Don’t worry. My target is not one of those officials,” he says calmly, “If I wanted to kill them, I wouldn’t need to spend so much effort.”

No one says anything.

“15 Kilometers from Beitong County, there’s Mountain Wulin. At 5pm today, a CS team will be entering the mountain area and participate in a ‘Battle Royal’ competition for one day and night.

They’ve already arrived. Every member has an AK47 laser tag gun. I do as well. But, mine is a real gun.

I heard that Han Chen of the Black Shield Team is the most incredible criminal investigator, while Bai Jin Xi is very good at criminal psychology. The below is what I’m requesting——

1) I want Han Chen and Bai Jin Xi to be participants of the competition. I’ve already registered for you. At 5pm, I must see you two arrive at Mountain Wulin.

2) You must not carry any weapons or communication devices, and there must not be another member coming.

3) During the competition, you must not let any of the other participants know about my existence as well as your identities.

There is only one road out of Mountain Wulin, and I’ve installed surveillance cameras at the entrance and on the mountain. If these criteria are not met, I will immediately start killing others. Oh, and one more thing, because I almost got caught by you guys today, I’ve already killed a person in advance to retaliate.

The competition will end at 8am the day after tomorrow. At that time, no matter what the outcome is, I will turn myself into the police and end all of this.”