A Good-for-Nothing

194. A Massage Parlor (2)

 

Translator: Dragon Rider

 

Zhao Fei and the others in the van saw the whole thing and felt that this manager was not really unreasonable, for they had seen people far worse than him and had got used to this kind of things, but the couple of trainees were all totally unable to understand why this manager was behaving like this.

Chi Li’s cheeks flushed with anger. “This manager is just unbelievable. I mean, we’re looking into a major case where people’s lives are in danger. Is it really so difficult for him to be cooperative and let us check the surveillance video?”

Chen Qianlin, holding his sword in his arms, gave a snort. “People like him would never understand unless similar things happen to them.”

Wu Fangshuo didn’t seem quite himself. He’d been silent all the way. Nobody knew what he was thinking about.

“Stay out of trouble,” said Li Zong in an unemotional tone, glancing into the rear-view mirror at the couple of people sitting in back seats.

He Zheng was also angry. ‘It’s true what they say, ‘nothing is too strange in the world!”

“Are we going to stop the investigation just because he refuses to cooperate?” huffed He Zheng, opening the door and intending to get out of the van. “Why can’t we just figure out a way by ourselves?”

“Don’t do anything stupid, He Zheng.” Li Zong’s voice was placid but tinged with coldness.

The other trainees had originally been determined to follow He Zheng’s lead, but after sensing the faint emotion in Li Zong’s voice, they all became somewhat hesitant.

He Zheng lapsed into silence, his back abruptly tensing.

“Chief and Zhao Fei are both here, Cutie. There’s nothing they couldn’t handle.” Seeing that the mood was going awkward, Zu Zhichong hurriedly made an effort to smooth things over. “Hey, hey, hey. You’ve got such a powerful man at your back. What are you worrying about?”

Zhao Fei gave a smile and teased Li Zong, “Why are you acting like you’re disciplining your son?”

He Zheng ignored Zhao Fei, sat back into his seat, averted his face from Li Zong and stiffened his neck. “Sorry, Group Leader Li.”

All the others knew better than to say anything in these circumstances.

Li Zong withdrew his eyes which then rested on the last massage parlor. The information on the papers in his hand made it very clear that this massage parlor had first opened its doors not long ago, shortly before the case of Wang Dong and his fellow students.

“The Human Devil has just been released and needs to regain his strength. This place has a large floating population, and nobody would notice if one or two people go missing. Why did the Human Devil move away for no reason?”

Zhao Fei said, “We still haven’t checked the scene yet.”

Before they finished talking, Zhao Fei’s cellphone rang again. It was from one of his subordinates. Zhao Fei’s face took on a somewhat grave expression after he heard the report.

Li Zong didn’t listen to his words but said, “The couple of girl’s bodies were found?”

“Yeah.” Zhao Fei flicked a glance backward and the sight of the two rows of youngsters sitting in the middle and back seats gave him headaches, but since Li Zong hadn’t made any remarks about it, he felt it inappropriate for him to say anything.

“How’s the situation on the scene?”

“Not good.”

Precisely as they’d expected, the couple of girls’ bodies had appeared in different locations, and all of them had suddenly fallen to the ground without any warning, and the last second, one of them had even been buying something, and another walking on a road.

The scenes were in total confusion. Although the police had taken action promptly, some citizens had still filmed some videos and uploaded them online, giving rise to a heated discussion.

Just like Wang Dong’s fellow students, the couple of girls had died several days before their bodies had lost mobility. They had post-mortem stains on them but no visible fatal wounds.

“Is this a coincidence or…” This was also Zhao Fei’s first time dealing with a case like this, for twenty years ago, when the Demon King had been wreaking havoc, he hadn’t joined the Supernaturalism Management Bureau (SMB) yet.

This year, Demon’s Attendants had reappeared and started making trouble, and leaders of the action groups of the many SMB sub-bureaus, what with their lack of experience, had been handling them with rather low efficiency, and there had even been some casualties.

Eventually, both Li Zong and Zhao Fei decided to check the massage parlor right away to see if there were any traces left behind.

He Zheng and the other trainees hadn’t been officially allowed to get involved in the mechanism for dealing with this case yet, and they had little acquaintance with it. There wouldn’t be much they could do to help if they stayed on the scene. After standing where he was for a while, He Zheng fumbled in his pockets with his hands and said, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

After saying this, He Zheng slunk away.

Since this place was not far from a scenic spot, there were many pretty good comfort stations. He Zheng walked up to the washbasin. The in-built sensor in the faucet sensed his hand and tap water flew out. He Zheng washed his hands and face. Looking into the mirror, he heavily patted his pert-featured face. His cheeks were so delicate that they instantly reddened.

The man in the mirror had a depressed and intransigent look in his eyes.

In the massage parlor.

Zhao Fei was wearing a surgical mask. Even so, somebody might still recognize him, so he had specially put on a peaked cap. Li Zong, crouching, was looking for traces on the ground.

“It’s demonic Qi.”

Zhao Fei bantered with him. “You’re still in the mood for this? Just now you told off your partner on the spot. I think he’s probably not very happy right now.”

Li Zong made no reply.

Chen Qianlin and the others were following Zu Zhichong, learning from him, not listening to what the two of them were talking about.

Li Zong clapped his hands to dust off the ash, stood up and observed, “The Human Devil didn’t abandon this place on his own account. The couple of bodies could still last a few days before rotting. Besides, the Human Devil were probably using his demonic Qi to maintain their bodily functions.”

“How do you know that?”

Li Zong pushed a short teapoy aside, revealing several scratches obviously left by something sharp. “Look.”

Zhao Fei crouched over it and saw that those were marks caused during a fight.

“Someone did something before us – sending the Human Devil a message, for example.”

Zhao Fei was no longer in the mood for joking. “I see. I’ll do some digging.”

A man’s car was parked not far away from the parlor. He was standing in a hidden corner and nobody would notice him. His gray eyes watched what was happening in the parlor. It was quite a while before he quietly left.

He Zheng, after washing his face, set off to return. He walked out of the comfort station. A woman was sitting on a bench on the roadside. Standing beside her was a young girl whose face was unnaturally white and wearing very thick foundation make-up.

Originally He Zheng hadn’t noticed them. The tall, slender, young girl had an anxious look. Seeing He Zheng walk out, she hurried called, “Hey, handsome! Do me a favor please!”