Memory Lost

Morning of next day.

The sun is shining brightly accompanied by a subtle breeze. The humidifier by the window is blowing light mist, making the morning look beautiful and quiet.

The moment Su Mian walks into the office, she sees someone already sitting at her desk.

It's Xu Si Bai.

He's wearing his usual brown colored jacket, white shirt, and casual pants. He's leaning against the chair and reading one of her books. Behind him, Xiao Yao is chatting with Xiao Zhuan.

On the other side at Chatterbox's desk is where Xu Nan Bai is sitting. Chatterbox is conversing enthusiastically with him about something. Hearing the noise, they all look up at her.

Su Mian smiles squinting her eyes and greets Xu Nan Bai, "Good morning, Senior Classmate."

Xu Nan Bai smiles and nods at her.

She walks to her desk where Xu Si Bai is already standing up. She presses on his shoulder, "You sit, you're a visitor."

Xu Si Bai smiles. His clear eyes are gleaming.

Thinking about it now, they haven't seen each other for many days. He doesn't seem to have changed a lot from before; his face has slimmed down a bit and he looks even calmer and quiet. Su Mian actually feels a bit distant from him now.

This feeling makes her uncomfortable. She stares at him like this with her black pupils. 𝑓re𝘦𝔀𝗲𝘣𝘯𝘰νℯ𝒍.c𝗼ｍ

He seems to understand the words that she hasn't spoken in her mind. His gaze turns gentle as he asks, "How do you feel after visiting Beijing?"

Just when Su Mian wants to answer, her heart skips a beat. She recalls her conversation with Han Chen; could Xu Si Bai be one of the killers?

She looks at him sideways.

He looks calm and not the least bit bothered from talking about her visit to Beijing.

Su Mian feels relieved and answers, "I had some fun in a couple of places. Oh, I bought you some roasted duck, did you get a chance to eat it yet? I asked Xiao Yao to bring it over to you."

Xu Si Bai furrows his eyebrows for a second, "They weren't good."

Su Mian spurts out a giggle. Xu Si Bai smiles slightly as well.

This makes Su Mian feels rather good. It's as if they've gone back to the way they were before. This is the way they interact; she chitchats with him while he's aloof and cute like a child.

They chat for a short while before Su Mian raises her head and looks around the office.

Besides Xu Si Bai and Xu Nan Bai, a few others from the forensic and criminal investigation departments have also come. It makes the small office room feel cramped immediately. Everybody is waiting to start on the new case.

At this moment, Han Chen and Cold Face finally come. Cold Face is carrying a big pile of documents in his hands. Everyone looks at them. The atmosphere becomes serious immediately.

Han Chen sweeps his eyes across the room. His and Su Mian's eyes meet and they shift their gaze away without anyone noticing.

He tells Xiao Zhuan to close the door and then distributes the information to everyone.

Su Mian observes their expressions secretly. Everyone flips open the document, "April 20 Case's Condensed Records", and is a bit stunned.

This is the plan that Han Chen had decided on yesterday: no insinuation, no hidden agenda——he gets right to the point and throws the case information in front of the killer, catching him off guard.

_____

A moment later, Han Chen finishes introducing the case briefly and says, "This is a very old case. But because there are traces of the escaped suspects from back then in our province recently, therefore, we will do some investigating first. We will be reporting directly back to the Chief and all work must be kept confidential. As a result, we will announce publicly that we are investigating the case regarding the wealthy businessman murdered by his mistress. Internally, we will focus our efforts on this case. Therefore, I've specially invited Professor Xu and Forensic Investigator Xu to assist us."

Xu Nan Bai has his head down reading the information. He nods hearing Han Chen's words. He seems to be quite immersed in the document, so he doesn't say much. Xu Si Bai, on the other hand, flips to the end of the document to look at the autopsy reports of the victims. He reads each page very carefully with full concentration, so he doesn't answer.

This announcement has come too suddenly nonetheless. Others in the room also don't know what to say.

Supporting members of the Forensic and Criminal Investigation Departments express their thoughts first, "Team Leader Han, just tell us what you need us to do. We will definitely do our best to complete it."

Han Chen nods. He scans across them with his eyes calmly.

Cold Face is quiet as usual. Xiao Zhuan probably kind of knows that the big case back then relates to Su Mian and Han Chen, so he squeezes her hand lightly to express his nervousness and excitement in his heart. Chatterbox flips through the information and says in shock, "Leader, this sure is a big case. How are we going to investigate it? Where should we start?"

Han Chen responds back, "We've already gathered some very valuable details."

Everyone lifts their heads to look at him.

Han Chen fetches two pages from the document. They're photos of T and Xin Jia. He puts them in front of everybody, "After some investigating, these two were members of the killer organization."

The majority of the people still don't know about Xin Jia's identity. They all reveal a surprised look on their faces hearing about it. Chatterbox murmurs, "Holy s.hit! She's actually a killer?" Xu Nan Bai is also surprised, "Xin Jia?" Xu Si Bai has never really interacted with Xin Jia before so he doesn't show a lot of reaction hearing the news. Even Xiao Zhuan is surprised and turns his head to Su Mian, "You can't serious……my God!"

Han Chen gives a brief summary of what happened to him and Xin Jia in the forest that day and then says, "Xin Jia said before she died: there were 7 survivors from the killer organization back then. With T and her deceased now, there are still 5 of them left."

Everybody is quiet in the room. Su Mian examines each and every one of their faces; she doesn't notice anything strange yet.

"She said, these people have been staying in……" Han Chen pauses before continuing, "a city on the Southern side. But recently, due to T's death and our investigation, they have already arrived in Province K. Therefore, she warned me to be careful."

Everybody continues to be quiet.

Han Chen gives out a series of orders, "Professor Xu, Bai Jin Xi has already completed a few suspect profiles based on the information of the victims and the case from back then. I would like you to help her tweak and finalize them."

Xu Nan Bai and Su Mian exchange glances. He fiddles with the Buddha beads on his wrist subconsciously and answers, "Sure."

"Forensic Investigator Xu," Han Chen looks towards Xu Si Bai, "can you reassess the autopsy reports? It'll be great if there is anything that will help us with making a breakthrough in our investigation."

Xu Si Bai responds, "I will." 𝗳𝘳𝒆𝘦𝑤𝐞𝚋𝗻𝚘𝘷𝘦𝙡.𝑐𝐨𝘮

Han Chen turns to look at the members of the Forensic and Criminal Investigation Departments again, "Please start investigating all individuals who have come to our City from the South in the past three months immediately. Especially those who fit the profiles from Bai Jin Xi and Professor Xu. And collect information on all their activities and DNA samples."

They all respond in agreement.

"Cold Face, come with me," Han Chen opens up a map of Beijing and hangs it on the board behind him, "You and I will be responsible of the locations where murder incidents have occurred and we'll create a map of them. We'll then confirm the killers' areas of activity and conduct our search of suspects."

"Yes, Sir."

The clues left behind by Xin Jia, the criminal psychology profiles, the evidence from the autopsies, information on individuals from outside of the city, refining the geographical locations……He has organized everything neatly and every path seems to provide a lead. Everyone is eager to start their work. Xiao Zhuan sighs, "This is great! Yet Chatterbox you were afraid that there wouldn't be any evidence and didn't know where to start. Look, once we, the Black Shield Team, unite, all roads ahead are clear!"

Chatterbox nods, "That's right! All of a sudden, everything is wide and clear."

At this moment, Han Chen looks over at the two of them. He takes the couple of sealed plastic bags of evidence from Cold Face; there is a record of a fingerprint.

More precisely, it's a blurry half of a fingerprint that has been left behind.

Han Chen says, "Lastly, it's a task for the two of you. This is a very precious half fingerprint that was collected at the crime scene from back then. I brought it back from Beijing. Due to the limitation of technology back then, the fingerprint expert was unable to find any matches. This time, let's try and lock down on a few suspects and analyze this fingerprint again. Chatterbox, it's all yours. Your fingerprint analytical skills are comparable to the experts in Beijing. If you find anything, we might be able to identify one of the killers. Xiao Zhuan, please work with him. Remember to keep the fingerprint safe. Don't lose it or damage it."

Under the gaze of others, Chatterbox takes the half fingerprint carefully with his eyes gleaming.