Chapter 42: Are you able to heat the mattress?

The investigation into the gunpowder residue, as envisioned by Cheng Zesheng, yielded no outcomes. The detectives from Staff 2 went out enthusiastically however returned disheartened. It was evident on the assembly that their morale had taken successful. Cheng Zesheng reiterated his recommendation to them to not proceed losing time on this lead and prompt that they could possibly be higher off inspecting different instances.

Maybe this case was so advanced that even the heavens couldn’t bear to observe. Town bureau had been comparatively calm lately, with no main instances reported from the grassroots police stations. Whereas many prefectural-level police items have been centered on offering steering, the effectiveness trusted the management. Folks like Cheng Zesheng have been the sort who would turn out to be anxious in the event that they noticed others combating investigations they couldn’t crack.

“Now we have to give attention to investigating He Lu. I think he intentionally fabricated the story of He Wei’s disappearance and deceived us by saying he had pushed again. In actuality, the one who drove again wasn’t him; he discovered another person to do it whereas he stayed right here and killed He Wei,” Zhao Yu stated.

“That’s extremely unlikely. The surveillance footage from the toll station exhibits a 90% similarity within the facial comparability, so it’s almost certainly He Lu,” Le Zhengkai countered as he pushed the comparability photographs ahead.

“Nevertheless it’s additionally potential that he went via the toll station after which turned again on the nationwide freeway. This He Lu is sort of a madman. Have a look at his testimony; he even refused to consider that the deceased was his brother. If it’s not his brother, then who might it’s? Even when there’s a genetic discrepancy, it’s unimaginable to fully change an individual, proper?”

“…” Cheng Zesheng cleared his throat. “Let’s simply think about it as his rambling.”

Concerning the genetic sequencing, solely Cheng Zesheng, Jiang Tan, and Liu Renyu knew the exact outcomes, and even Chief Huang and Yan Minglang have been saved in the dead of night. The others had solely partial data, understanding that one thing was off with the physique and the genetic testing, however with out the specifics. This matter was by no means mentioned once more after the preliminary assembly and was left unresolved.

The explanation for retaining it underneath wraps was that Cheng Zesheng knew all too nicely the panic that will ensue as soon as these three evaluation reviews have been delivered to mild. The police archives have been filled with unsolved mysteries, a lot of them veering into the supernatural realm. Nonetheless, these occurred many years in the past, in an period the place DNA expertise and surveillance capabilities weren’t as superior as they’re now. What was as soon as unexplainable now had scientific explanations, and criminals making an attempt to deceive with supernatural claims confronted extra important challenges.

However in He Wei’s case, the superior genetic sequencing expertise had decided that the sufferer and the physique have been two people with completely different life trajectories. This may undoubtedly have substantial implications, and revealing them might result in extreme penalties. An inadvertent leak might flip midnight right into a dialogue of the supernatural. 

Thus, the less individuals who know this secret, the higher. Jiang Tan’s worldview was shattered and took a number of days to piece again collectively. Liu Renyu appeared detached, as he was accustomed to science fiction literature and films. Cheng Zesheng, alternatively, accepted it calmly; he had a He Wei at dwelling, and the illogical was a norm in his eyes.

From Cheng Zesheng’s perspective, the primary objective was to unravel the case and apprehend the perpetrator as quickly as potential. The worst final result can be in the event that they couldn’t even catch the perpetrator, turning it into an unsolved case.

After the assembly adjourned, Le Zhengkai privately inquired concerning the physique’s scenario. Cheng Zesheng’s response was evasive, shifting the blame to Jiang Tan, claiming that Director Jiang was researching it and would quickly present outcomes. He urged them to be affected person.

Le Zhengkai nodded, sighing, “It’s actually powerful. It’s been years since we encountered such a mind-boggling case. Have you ever discovered how He Wei went lacking?”

Cheng Zesheng shook his head. He did have an thought, nevertheless it was too weird to share. If he have been to share, it could solely be with He Wei himself, who would certainly perceive.

Considering of He Wei now, a picture of He Tianluo sporting a translucent lengthy costume and providing to heat his mattress appeared in Cheng Zesheng’s thoughts. The picture was mild, candy, and alluring. His face turned barely purple, and he touched his nostril, feeling his coronary heart charge enhance.

Le Zhengkai noticed his expression and exclaimed in shock, “Oh, what’s with you? You’re blushing a lot.”

“It’s nothing.”

“Don’t play harmless. You’ve been performing unusually currently, and I’ve good motive to suspect you’re as much as one thing.” Le Zhengkai playfully bumped his arm towards Cheng Zesheng’s chest, saying, “Hurry up, confess for leniency, go dwelling for a date; resist strictly, work extra time through the holidays.”

“…” Cheng Zesheng pushed away his hand, “There’s actually nothing. By the best way, the place did you purchase that Hainanese hen combo you stated was scrumptious final time?”

“At Liuzhou Highway, it’s fairly a distance, half town away. Are you going?”

“Half town is manageable. I can drive fairly quick.”

“…” Le Zhengkai was shocked. For whom would he run half town to purchase one thing for? This didn’t seem to be somebody who wasn’t in love.

Cheng Zesheng was nonetheless calculating what time to go to Liuzhou Highway to keep away from visitors. He hadn’t observed that his extreme attentiveness towards He Wei had already skewed in a distinct path.

———

He Wei left the workplace at 7 o’clock, preoccupied all the best way as he contemplated over Cheng Zesheng’s phrases.

“Don’t contain him on this.” This “him” naturally referred to Cheng Zesheng. However what did “contain him on this” imply? Did it imply that Cheng Zesheng would have an opportunity to enter his world?

Cheng Zesheng didn’t wish to elaborate a lot, deflecting any additional questions and never offering direct solutions. When it got here to the homicide case, Cheng Zesheng emphasised that he was not the killer. Though he didn’t have an alibi, there wouldn’t be concrete proof proving he had been current on the scene.

Based mostly on He Wei’s years of expertise in dealing with instances, Cheng Zesheng wasn’t doubtless the perpetrator. When speaking about Cheng Zesheng, He Wei felt a way of helplessness greater than the rest. Cheng Zesheng’s loss of life was seen by He Wei not as a tragedy or shock, however as remorse and self-blame.

An emotion of being unable to avoid wasting.

He wished to avoid wasting Cheng Zesheng, however he was powerless. He might solely watch him die. Following the so-called “script,” he needed to play out these anticipated scenes and segments. Even along with his brother’s loss of life, he was nonetheless powerless.

After parking the automobile, He Wei regarded up and noticed the lights on at dwelling. Cheng Zesheng was again.

Though this was an invisible cohabitant, with rising time spent collectively, Cheng Zesheng’s presence had turn out to be extra distinct. Traces of one other individual’s life have been all over the place in his personal life. He Wei had grown accustomed to seeing the toilet mild on after which going to do one thing else, solely coming all the way down to take a bathe later. He had additionally grown accustomed to coming dwelling after two days to seek out the place a bit messy, which he would dutifully tidy up regardless of any annoyance. Furthermore, he had turn out to be accustomed to a different deep and melodious voice showing after midnight, discussing the case with him.

It solely takes 21 days to kind a behavior, and so they hadn’t been residing collectively for that lengthy. Nonetheless, He Wei felt that Cheng Zesheng’s presence was changing into overwhelmingly robust and occupying a sure a part of his life.

Cheng Zesheng was in the lounge, exercising his arm power with dumbbells, when the door abruptly opened. He shortly set the dumbbells down and rushed to the doorway, solely to pause. What might he do on the doorway when he couldn’t see anybody?

He Wei stood within the lobby, his footwear not even modified but. What was that sound simply now? A muffled noise, like a heavy object hitting the bottom. Did Cheng Zesheng throw a shot put within the room?

Cheng Zesheng stood there for a second, considerably irritated, after which returned. He Wei walked in, noticed the takeout on the desk, and instantly guessed that he had introduced it for him. The packaging contained two varieties of Hainanese hen, accompanied by 4 varieties of sauce—purple chili, inexperienced chives, black soy sauce, and yellow ginger paste.

He Wei took off his coat and hung it on a chair. He had handed by a fried hen store on his method again and couldn’t resist shopping for one thing to tide him over. He wasn’t very hungry now that he was again. So he wrote a word, calling Cheng Zesheng to affix him for the meal.

Following the alternate guidelines, so long as he didn’t contact them, issues that belonged to Cheng Zesheng wouldn’t seem in his space. Over time, he had additionally discovered sure patterns, permitting Cheng Zesheng to unwrap the packaging, open the containers, and he would take the chopsticks to select up the meals, making certain the whole meal wouldn’t disappear.

Cheng Zesheng, who had simply exercised and was lined in a lightweight sweat, opened the packaging, grabbed a pair of chopsticks, and sat throughout from He Wei to benefit from the Hainanese hen. He Wei had a eager sense of scent and detected a faint scent of sweat within the air, blended with the scent of pheromones. It was like a male creature was exhibiting off his power.

He Wei furrowed his brows. Did Cheng Zesheng train earlier than? Was that heavy and muffled sound simply now from a weightlifting session?

He Wei stared at his personal hand, realizing that he often didn’t deliberately train throughout downtime. In any case, his common work concerned a whole lot of transferring round and chasing criminals. Climbing partitions and timber usually gave him sufficient train, so there was no want for added effort. He hadn’t anticipated Cheng Zesheng to come back dwelling from work and begin lifting dumbbells. Did this point out Cheng Zesheng’s extreme vitality, or was he implying that the work on the Prison Investigation Division was so relaxed that he had time to train at dwelling?

It’s potential that Cheng Zesheng largely does steering work. He contemplated this thought in his thoughts.

Beneath the encirclement of two grown males, the takeout containers have been emptied shortly. Cheng Zesheng observed that the outermost packaging bag had disappeared and guessed that He Wei had taken it. He subconsciously tried to cease him, saying, “Let me clear up.”

He Wei paused in his actions, trying up on the quartz clock. It wasn’t even 9 o’clock but. Was he having auditory hallucinations, or did he genuinely hear Cheng Zesheng’s voice?

To confirm this, He Wei requested softly, “What did you say?”

Cheng Zesheng additionally froze, trying up on the clock and voicing the identical query as He Wei.

“I stated, I’ll clear up. Are you able to hear me?” Cheng Zesheng requested.

“…Mm.”

Each of them fell into silence. Had the permeation between these two worlds began to ignore the principles of time?

“It’s fairly good like this, not needing to remain up late to investigate the case. I haven’t been sleeping nicely currently and have been getting simply irritated.”

“Who hasn’t?”

Cheng Zesheng cleaned up the takeout after which retrieved the garments he had washed an hour earlier to hold them on the balcony. The glass sliding door of the balcony acted as a mirror at night time resulting from its transparency, clearly reflecting the scene contained in the room. A person with refined options and a peaceful temperament sat on the sofa along with his legs crossed, taking part in a handheld recreation console.

Cheng Zesheng stood in entrance of the balcony with the basin in his arms, dazed. “… He Wei.”

“Yeah?”

“Come over right here.”

He Wei saved his recreation and stood up, strolling in direction of the balcony. Cheng Zesheng’s nervous throat moved as he watched He Wei method. Their figures virtually overlapped when He Wei arrived in entrance of him.

He Wei prolonged his hand, sliding his index finger on the glass, sketching a silhouette that didn’t belong to this world. His gaze centered on Cheng Zesheng’s well-built arms, seen beneath his sleeveless T-shirt, and a touch of jealousy surfaced in his coronary heart.

Cheng Zesheng, alternatively, was fixated on He Wei’s face, seemingly misplaced in thought. Although He Wei’s fingers have been sliding on the glass, Cheng Zesheng felt as if there have been real arms teasing him, the fingertips icy chilly but igniting a fireplace wherever they touched.

Nearly unconsciously, Cheng Zesheng requested, “Are you able to heat the mattress?”

In a considerably absent-minded method, He Wei replied, “Don’t you might have an electrical blanket?”

“…Faux I didn’t ask.”

“Oh, in case you don’t have one, you should buy it.”