Chapter 19 – Help

Editor: kllua

“How is it? Young Master Huo, do you see anything?” Da Tou asked while craning his head and steadying the wooden boxes for Huo ZhenYe.

“There is nothing at all.” Huo ZhenYe jumped down in a few steps, patted the dust off his hands, and asked, “Where is the crazy criminal? Did he say anything?”

“Young Master Huo, this is the Japanese settlement. We might be able to take a look at the scene but we cannot interrogate the criminals.” If it was not for the big fuss surrounding Song MingJie’s kidnapping resulting in the newspapers’ repeated reporting, they would not have been notified this soon either.

Da Tou suddenly said, “Shall we tell Mr. and Mrs. Song that the ones who kidnapped their child are dead?”

Da Tou was very sympathetic. Mrs. Song has become crazy because of the loss of her child so telling them that the perpetrators were dead could make them feel better.

Huo ZhenYe nodded. “We should tell them.” It might even be their son who took revenge for himself.

They disturbed Mr. Song yesterday and reminded him of his son’s murder. So, if today they could bring some good news, it could comfort him.

When they came out of the warehouse, they saw that the forensic examiner was collecting the body scraps. With practically only the skin left, there was nothing much to piece together. Huo ZhenYe took a glance but could not help frowning and turning around.

“Young Master Huo, are you okay?”

“I am fine.”

Da Tou comforted him, “When I first saw such things, I vomited. I only got used to it after seeing it a few times.”

Huo ZhenYe got in the car and took a deep breath. “I still hope that I will never get used to it.”

They drove to Song’s house and knocked on the door for a long time, but the door did not open.

“Perhaps they went out?” Da Tou asked while looking into the garden of the western-styled house. For such a big house, there should be someone around.

Huo ZhenYe frowns and sized up the house. It seemed that the house was gloomier than yesterday. When he looked up at the roof, he happened to see something being thrown out from the narrow window of the attic.

The thing fell to the ground with a thud and rolled a few times on the cobblestone road.

“What is that?” As they were too far away, Da Tou was unable to discern it clearly despite squinting his eyes.

However, Huo ZhenYe recognized it. He took a deep breath and asked Da Tou, “Have you brought a gun?”

A child’s clog had just been thrown out of the window.

The Song family were all mainland people. How could there be Japanese children’s clogs in their house? Did Song FuSheng kill the three people in the Hongkou warehouse and take the Japanese child to his home?

Meanwhile, Da Tou’s mouth was agape. Staring at the window, he saw a child’s hand extended out, holding another clog. However, before the child could throw it down, he was pulled back by another small hand.

Da Tou immediately recalled the splattered intestines of the three people and looked down at his police baton. “No–no, the Chinese precinct does not assign us guns!”

Since there was no other way, Huo ZhenYe rolled up his sleeves and climbed over the iron door. When he reached the other side, he opened the door from the inside and let Da Tou in. “You enter from the kitchen while I enter from the garden. If the child can throw things out, it means that people are concentrated on the first floor, or there may be no one at home.”

Song FuSheng was of medium build and weak. Not to mention Mrs. Song, these two people were not considered worthy opponents.

Da Tou swallowed his saliva and gripped his police baton tightly.

Huo ZhenYe entered through the garden door while the small yellow siskin flew in front of him, acting as if it was Feng Huan’s striker.

The house was silent with no sound at all. On the first floor, there were children’s toys everywhere with colored ribbons and flags hung around. The table which was adorned with a long tablecloth also had a double-layer cream cake on it.

The cake was even inscribed with a “Happy Birthday Xiao Jie” with the candles properly inserted.

Gift boxes were found everywhere too. Beautifully packaged and tied with colored ribbons, it looked as if there was going to be a birthday party here.

At this moment, Da Tou stealthily crept out from the kitchen and shook his head at Huo ZhenYe. There was no movement in the kitchen.

Sharing a glance, they then looked towards the stairs.

Huo Zhenye, who was holding a gun, walked in front, while Da Tou followed him closely with his baton.

The door of the study was wide open and Song FuSheng was sitting in front of the desk. Huo ZhenYe raised his gun but realized that Song FuSheng was actually tied to the chair and unconscious.

Crayons were found scattered on the desk. Song FuSheng’s face was pale, and two red blush were added to his cheeks. At a glance, he looked like a mannequin.

Da Tou went forward and patted Song FuSheng awake. Immediately after the latter woke up, he looked out of the window. When he saw that it was still bright outside, he burst into tears.

Da Tou covered his mouth. “Keep your voice down! Where are the children?”

Song FuSheng looked conflicted as he whispered, “They are all… in the attic.”

Huo ZhenYe pointed to the phone on the desk and told Da Tou to call for backup before walking to the attic himself. Seeing that, Song FuSheng bleakly said, “Don’t go!”

However, Huo ZhenYe has already opened the attic door. The scene in front of him shocked him in place and he was momentarily lost.

With the floor of the attic covered with bedspreads and quilts, it looked like a huge bed. On it were several children asleep and curled up together like small birds.

They were initially snuggled up to each other but upon hearing the noise, they raised their heads alertly and looked at Huo ZhenYe.

One, two…

Huo ZhenYe frowns. How could there be five children? Perhaps there was another case of missing children, but the parents did not have time to report it yet?

He squatted down and said to the children, “Don’t be afraid, I will take you out of the house.”

Despite hearing such words, none of the children moved and they still looked at Huo ZhenYe with frightened eyes.

Huo ZhenYe, who has no experience dealing with children, shouted, “Da Tou, come here!”

Da Tou was dressed as a policeman and looked dull. Maybe he could cause these children to lower down their guard.

After that, he left the attic with the intention to interrogate Song FuSheng. Meanwhile, Song Fusheng was fully awake despite being tied up. Supporting himself with his legs, he had wanted to drag the chair to the window.

So, as soon as Huo ZhenYe came in, he saw Song FuSheng struggling to move. He said, “Mr. Song, this is the second floor. You cannot escape.”

However, Song FuSheng did not want to escape. He just wanted to be closer to the sun.

“Speak, how did you and your wife kidnap these children?” Among them, the longest missing child was five days. Song FuSheng could not have remained unaware if the child was in the house for five days.

“Were you tied up because you had an argument with your wife?”

Throughout this questioning, Song FuSheng was still moving towards the window. The chair that he dragged along scraped the floor and made a harsh sound, but he did not stop and was very persistent.

Huo ZhenYe had no choice but to take out his gun. “Mr. Song, you might as well cooperate with me. This case may fall under the Japanese settlement. By that time, it will be difficult to leave.”

At this moment, Song FuSheng stopped moving and looked at Huo ZhenYe in horror, causing the latter to raise his eyebrows. After all, Huo ZhenYe was just scaring the man and had not intended to shoot at all.

It took him a moment but Huo ZhenYe finally realized that someone was behind him.

He swiftly turned around and pointed his gun at the door. However, there was only a dark shadow in the shape of a child outside the door. The child was probably hiding at the door and dared not come in.

Huo ZhenYe relaxed. “What is the matter? Did Uncle Da Tou not bring you out?”

Before he could smile, he suddenly thought of the other little hand sticking out of the window, the child’s handprint at the warehouse window, and the frightened and silent eyes of the children.

They were not afraid of him but someone among them.

Nonetheless, it was still daylight. Even if there was a little ghost, they could only appear at night.

The muzzle of the gun that was just lowered was raised again. “Who are you?”

The shadow did not move as the whole house shook with a child’s unbridled laughter. The yellow siskin on Huo ZhenYe’s shoulder flew towards it like a cannonball.

Huo ZhenYe did not want to shoot at a child. Besides, he was also unsure whether the child was a ghost or someone who was just possessed.

At this moment, the child’s shadow entered from the door. It avoided the sunlight shining on the floor and quickly hid in the dark areas of the ceiling, integrating into the darkness.

Song FuSheng stared at the dark shadow on the ceiling in horror. “Don’t you come here! You are not Xiao Jie! I am not your father!”

Here, handprints appeared one after another on the ceiling, looking like footprints. It crossed over the room and “walked” towards Song FuSheng.

Seeing that, Song FuSheng was in such fear that he fainted.

Huo ZhenYe’s muzzle then pointed to the black handprint, but it appeared all over the ceiling, causing Huo ZhenYe to be unable to take aim. Eventually, the string of footprints approached the window and was about to leap onto Song FuSheng.

At this moment, the yellow siskin rushed forward. As that thing had no physical body, the yellow siskin was unable to attack it. It could only keep flapping its wings to prevent it from touching Song FuSheng.

The black shadow became furious. With a hit, it batted at the yellow siskin.

The small yellow siskin opened his mouth. Unable to make a sound, it fell out of the window.

Huo ZhenYe proceeded to pull the trigger, causing the bullet to make a hole in the ceiling. Hearing the gunshot, the black shadow also stopped and went back to the door, soon disappearing.

Huo ZhenYe untied Song FuSheng first. When he returned to the attic, he saw Da Tou on the ground bleeding.

At this moment, Huo ZhenYe heard the sound of a car coming from outside, and rushed to the window.

Just now, Mrs. Song was hidden under the tablecloth on the long table. When she saw an opportune time, she had chosen to escape while holding something in her arms and drove out of the iron gates.

The policemen that were about to enter the house were thrown into disarray by Mrs. Song escape. So, when they rushed up and saw Song FuSheng tied up and Da Tou unconscious, they thought that Huo Zhenye had subdued Song FuSheng.

The four children were still in the attic. As the Japanese businessman’s child had just been abducted to the Song family, he was able to speak and move. He was also the one who opened the window and threw out the clogs for help.

Amongst the remaining three children, the youngest, stood motionless against the wall with no expression in his eyes.

Huo ZhenYe recognized him as Xiao Kai so he walked up to him and called his name. “Xiao Kai, you are safe. Your parents and sister are waiting for you to go home.”

Xiao Kai was initially staring straight ahead. However, when he heard his sister, he turned his head little by little.

Huo ZhenYe took in a breath. He was very familiar with such an action as Bai Zhun’s paper dolls would also turn their heads like this. He quickly felt for the child’s pulse and realized that his heartbeat was slow and he was gradually losing his warmth.

Huo ZhenYe immediately took off his suit and covered the child with it. He said to the policeman coming from behind, “This child seems to be injured. I will take him to the hospital first.”

He then stuffed Da Tou and the child into his car before driving to Sacred Heart Hospital where he searched for his old classmate that studied abroad with him, Xu YanWen.

Xu YanWen was not very close with Huo ZhenYe. After all, while the prior studied hard, the latter was wilful. So, when Xu YanWen heard that Huo ZhenYe was looking for him, he was surprised.

“Brother Huo, why did you come to find me?”

“There is no time to explain. Where is your office?” If it was not because he was left with no choice, he would not have sought him either.

“I am a surgeon. What type of consult are you seeking?” Despite saying that, Xu YanWen pushed his glasses up and still pointed to the direction of his office. Huo ZhenYe, who held the child in his arms, pulled Xu YanWen towards it.

As soon as he entered the door, he put Xiao Kai on the examination couch. “Quickly take a look at him and maintain his vital signs. I will be making a call.”

Although the Bai’s family did not have a telephone, there was one in the store selling tobacco and alcohol located at the end of YuQing lane. Ah Xiu would occasionally take Bai Zhun’s handwritten paper and ask the shopkeeper to call the restaurant to deliver food.

Huo ZhenYe had also used it before to call the precinct. Fortunately, he had written down the number at that time.

When the shopkeeper received the call, he knocked on the door of Bai’s house. Over the door, he took out a piece of paper and repeated it word by word, “Mr. Huo said that he is at the Sacred Heart Hospital. Mr. Bai, please help.”

It turned out that the Young Master Bai could also give medical advice.

*Translator’s Notes:

Hi guys, so sorry for the delay and thanks for being patient. From my current schedule, updates will most likely become regular again so we are back to weekly releases YAY! Hope that you all have fun over the holidays and stay safe <3