Chapter 244: Chapter 206: Hearsay
"Collection room?" Yang Xiao raised his head in surprise, yet the sign clearly hanging on the iron door was for the Special Equipment Training Center.
The iron door in front of him had excellent soundproofing effects. The training center was very quiet at night, but even so, Yang Xiao couldn’t hear any sounds from behind the iron door.
Having just experienced the terror of the ghost child, Yang Xiao felt danger lurking everywhere in the dimly lit surroundings and quickly left. He returned to the office at top speed, and only when he grabbed his backpack did his erratic heartbeat slowly stabilize.
Pouring himself a glass of water, Yang Xiao gradually began to recall everything that had happened not long before.
"No, we must release the balloon as soon as possible to make it sleep; otherwise, if something else is awakened, that would be terrible."
This was exactly what Lu Youdao had said, leading Yang Xiao to suspect that each door in the corridor hid a Resentful Eye.
But... why?
Was it necessary to store so many Resentful Eyes in a training center like this?
And judging from the ghost child incident, the stability of these Resentful Eyes generally wasn’t very good. If an accident occurred, it could likely lead to a major disaster.
Then there was that rusted iron sign which had been obscured by a wooden rack.
Collection room...
That night Yang Xiao went to sleep with trepidation, the backpack containing the Drama Robe just a short distance away on the sofa.
During the night, Yang Xiao had a terrible dream. He dreamt that the Resentful Eye known as the ghost child completely exploded, and a horrifying amusement park swallowed the entire Patrol Defense Bureau. Dozens, even hundreds of bureau employees were killed. His investigation team also suffered heavy losses, with bloodied and mangled corpses piled upon one another like a small hill.
What was even more terrifying was that nearby the mountain of corpses, a merry-go-round kept turning non-stop, accompanied by cheery yet eerie music. Director Nalan and Lu Youdao appeared on the merry-go-round, with Lu Youdao holding the ghost child in a yellow raincoat.
The two had ashen faces, giving Yang Xiao a sinister smile as they looked at him.
In the following days, Yang Xiao spent his time in a mix of complex emotions. Everything was normal in the bureau, with the ghost child incident not causing the slightest ripple.
Yang Xiao had thought that Director Nalan would come to him, or at least that Lu Youdao would seek him out, warning him not to talk recklessly. But after several anxiety-filled days, nothing happened. He had not even caught a glimpse of either person.
According to the internal regulations of the Patrol Defense Bureau, such supernatural events must be reported, or else, if found out, one would be penalized at the very least by dismissal. But Yang Xiao did not plan to report Lu Youdao. For one, he wasn’t used to tattling from behind, and more importantly, he was wary of this man.
The man’s background was complex, and his relationship with Director Nalan was subtle. Inexplicably, even Nalan Shuo had to show respect to him.
Since it was inconvenient to probe for information through those close to Director Nalan, Yang Xiao could only take the opportunity during casual conversations to seek out the dull-witted Zhuge Zhijie.
To bring up the subject in a more plausible way, Yang Xiao did not mention Lu Youdao, but feinted and asked Zhuge Zhijie about his past experience participating in training.
Unfortunately, Zhuge Zhijie, the weakling, had never undergone Special Equipment training. In the entire squad, besides himself, only Da Xiong, who was professionally trained, and the former acting team leader Beibei, had received such training.
Helpless, Yang Xiao could only go to Da Xiong and Beibei, but their answers surprised him. It was true they had received training, but their coach was not Lu Youdao. It was a Coach Chen, and the training location was not the training center beneath the bureau but a specially designed training base in the remote suburbs of Rongcheng.
As the authority on this subject within the team, Da Xiong explained very rigorously, mentioning that their Lin’an District Bureau did not have the environment or qualifications for comprehensive training with Special Equipment. From Da Xiong’s introduction, Yang Xiao was led to believe that his training was mostly theoretical.
Yang Xiao gave vague answers to Da Xiong’s few questions. Luckily, Da Xiong didn’t think much of it and even kindly reminded him to ask if there was anything about the course he didn’t understand.
After thinking for a moment, Yang Xiao asked, "Da Xiong, I saw a very strange person in the underground training center before, his face appeared to be disfigured, and his body hunched, quite frightening. Do you know who this person is?"
"I know a bit, his surname seems to be Lu," Da Xiong answered.
Yang Xiao perked up, "What does he do?"
This time Da Xiong thought for a moment, then shook his head, "I’m not sure... probably just a handyman, I’ve only seen him a few times."
Yang Xiao then asked Beibei, the most senior member of the team, but Beibei’s answer was also vague. He only knew that such a person existed, but knew nothing of his background or status.
"Commander, you can try asking Xi Menxiu," Beibei suggested.
"He knows?" Yang Xiao was somewhat surprised.
Beibei lowered his voice, mysteriously saying: "Xi Menxiu might not be good at much, but he’s an expert at gathering intelligence. There’s no piece of gossip from top to bottom within our bureau that he doesn’t know about. Last year, our director secretly went to dinner with a woman from the neighboring Suizhou City’s department. They even booked the most private room. The dinner was at eight in the evening, and by 8:30, Xi Menxiu already knew it."
"That skilled?" Yang Xiao looked at Xi Menxiu with newfound respect, "Then what?"
"After that, everyone in the bureau knew about it. It’s said that because of this incident, Xi Menxiu was originally set to become a regular employee at the end of the year. However, the director went against everyone’s opinions and forcefully suppressed the appointment during the discussion meeting. As a result, Xi Menxiu is still just a temporary worker." Beibei spread her hands, her face expressing helplessness.
After waiting all morning, Yang Xiao finally met the belated Xi Menxiu, and this time he finally made some progress.
"Oh, you’re talking about that person? I know him, seems his name is Lu Youdao." Xi Menxiu recalled, "He’s been here for quite some time, longer than all of us."
"What does he do?" Yang Xiao had checked the roster of the bureau’s personnel, but there wasn’t a name like Lu Youdao on it.
"He’s a repairman who occasionally does odd jobs. He usually lives in the maintenance room in the northwest corner of the underground garage. He’s quite a loner, doesn’t speak to anyone, and rarely shows up in public."
"I heard that he transferred to our bureau after getting injured on a mission. To put it plainly, they are offering him compensation so as not to discourage the brothers. But there’s one strange thing: he doesn’t seem to take up a spot on the bureau’s staff roster; he’s not on any lists."
After saying this, Xi Menxiu suddenly lowered his voice, "Captain, don’t mess with this guy. He seems to have some backing, not here, but above. Even our director treats him very politely."
"Where did you get all this information?" Yang Xiao didn’t understand. In terms of rank and experience, Xi Menxiu was far inferior to the former team leader Beibei, and even she didn’t know these details.
Xi Menxiu waved his hand and chuckled, "It’s all hearsay; I’m a busybody who loves to snoop around."
Yang Xiao didn’t believe one could find out such information just by snooping around, but since Xi Menxiu wouldn’t say more, he didn’t press the issue. He had another matter to take care of.
In the evening, alone in the office, Yang Xiao opened Fu Qingzhu’s social media feed. The guy had updated his status again, posing in a high-end restaurant in a dark blue suit, with gold-rimmed glasses, hair perfectly combed, and sitting between two girls.
The caption read: "It’s hard to refuse such kindness, just a simple meal, that’s all."
Yang Xiao first liked the post, then sent Fu Qingzhu a message, asking him out for a late-night snack, hinting in his message that he wanted to discuss something important.
The Gulin Villa case had been closed; the culprit had been killed by random gunfire. Observing over some time, Yang Xiao noticed everything had been calm, suggesting the danger had passed. It was time for him to have a good talk with Brother Fu.
About half an hour later, Fu Qingzhu replied, and the two agreed to meet at a bar at 9 pm sharp.
After confirming the plan, Yang Xiao began gathering people, calling Beibei and explaining the situation to her briefly. Once Beibei’s car arrived, Yang was dumbfounded; the car was full of people—Da Xiong, Beibei, Xi Menxiu, even the injured Yu Shu was there.
"What’s all this..." Yang Xiao was worried about a conflict with Fu Qingzhu. For safety, he had planned to bring Beibei, but never expected almost the entire team to show up.
"Captain, your business is our business," Xi Menxiu declared, patting his chest with bravado.
"Yeah, with the six of us together, if anything happens, we can watch each other’s backs," Da Xiong was as reliable as ever.
Yang Xiao looked around the car. Counting himself, there were only five people. "Six? Is Zhuge Zhijie coming too?"
"Oh, he’s already here. The car was too small to fit everyone, so he’s lying in the trunk," Xi Menxiu explained. "Come on, Captain, the quicker we get there, the less he’ll have to suffer."
Yang Xiao: "..."
Yang and the others arrived at 7:30, a full hour and a half early, leaving Yu Shu and Zhuge Zhijie outside.
Yu Shu served as the lookout, keeping an eye out for whether Fu Qingzhu brought any backup, while Zhuge Zhijie brought a laptop and would help disable nearby surveillance when the time came.
Yang Xiao booked the two most secluded rooms: Yang Xiao and Beibei took one, while Da Xiong and Xi Menxiu hid in the next one over.
At 9 pm sharp, Yu Shu outside sent a message that Fu Qingzhu had arrived alone, and no abnormalities were detected on the surrounding surveillance.
Hardly had he pushed open the door to greet him, Fu Qingzhu was immediately held at knifepoint by Beibei who was hiding behind it.
But Fu Qingzhu wasn’t the least bit panicked. He gently closed the door and greeted them with a smile, "Brother Yang, you’re really making me feel cold here."
Yang Xiao smiled along, "Brother Fu, what are you talking about? It’s you who stabbed me in the back, dragged me into trouble, that makes me feel cold."
"On my honor, I took an arrow for you, Brother. My shoulder is still hurting." Fu Qingzhu chuckled and reached into his overcoat toward his shoulder.
"Don’t move!"
Beibei slapped the back of Fu Qingzhu’s head and then yanked off his coat with one hand.
Without searching, they wouldn’t have known, but the search was startling. A dagger, a taser, pepper spray, a tactical flashlight, thin rope... Yang Xiao could stomach all that, but what made him gasp was when Beibei pulled out a roll of duct tape and two candles from the inside pocket of the overcoat.
