WWY Chapter 66

Chapter 66: Moral Purity, Desperately Wanting to Travel Back Three Years…

Chapter 66: Moral Purity, Desperately Wanting to Travel Back Three Years…

The sea sixty meters below their feet reflected a cold, steely gray, occasionally flashing with dazzling golden light.

Under the direction of the staff, they stood shoulder to shoulder at the edge of the high platform, holding hands.

Tuxi Ling noticed that Lan He’s palm was actually wet, and turned his head in surprise, meeting his provocative gaze.

Clearly afraid too, why did he have to jump?

Lan He smiled and asked, “Ready?”

Tuxi Ling blinked.

“Three, two, one…”

As the countdown ended, the two jumped off the platform simultaneously. Following the countdown, Lan He let out a long cry. The feeling of weightlessness gripped his heart tightly, making everything feel unreal.

Tuxi Ling’s shout, however, was stuck between his teeth. The whistling wind filled his entire body. As they plummeted rapidly, Lan He suddenly faced him and wrapped his arms around his waist, his cold cheek pressed against his ear.

“Thank you for the birthday gift, Officer Ling. I’m very happy.”

A thick feeling overflowed in Tuxi Ling’s heart. The boundless sea became insubstantial in his eyes. He hesitated, then returned the embrace, holding Lan He’s slender body, and similarly whispered in his ear, “Why did you have to do this?”

The initial terror had dissipated as they reached the bottom of the drop. Lan He said casually, “I just wanted to confirm if my heart disease is really cured.”

Tuxi Ling’s large hands gripped his waist tightly, and he scolded, “You’re really reckless!”

Hearing a hint of doting in the stern words, Lan He hugged him and burst into laughter.

Doctor Zhou was quite reliable. It was indeed cured. He was finally no longer a frail weakling. This way, the day Da Sang came to his door, he wouldn’t be as passive as before. He could even find a way to fight back.

He didn’t think his worries were unnecessary. As antiques were returned to the country one by one, Da Sang would definitely be angry, given his personality. With Qi A causing such a ruckus, Da Sang wouldn’t let him go even more.

Da Sang will definitely come again!

His body was being pulled up and down by the bungee cord. The waves and strong winds raged around them. He only cared about holding onto Tuxi Ling’s waist, his forehead against Tuxi Ling’s shoulder, tightly embracing his own little world. What made him happy was that Tuxi Ling was also holding him tightly, as if fulfilling his promise to “definitely protect you.”

When the staff arrived in a small boat to “rescue” them, Lan He was still holding onto Tuxi Ling’s hand. Tuxi Ling didn’t seem to mind at all, letting Lan He pull him along in a daze, all the way back to the amusement park along the long bridge.

To others, it looked like they were scared silly by the bungee jumping.

They stood hand in hand, leaning against the stone pillars of the seaside railing, watching another pair of young people jump off the bungee platform they had just jumped from. Cheers immediately echoed across the sea.

Lan He curled the corners of his mouth and turned to look at Tuxi Ling, seeing that he still looked somewhat dazed. He raised his hand and waved it in front of his eyes, “Officer Ling?”

Tuxi Ling pursed his lips, lost in thought, seemingly not hearing him.

Lan He waved more forcefully, “Boyfriend? Hey! Brother—”

Tuxi Ling looked at him as if he had been stung by a needle, suddenly realizing that they were still holding hands. He pulled his hand back forcefully, “What are you shouting!”

His face turned red again.

Lan He was increasingly fond of his shy appearance. When his face turned red, his ears also turned red, and his round earlobes looked fleshy and very cute.

He teased him relentlessly, “We already did a tandem bungee jump, and you still won’t admit we’re boyfriends?”

Tuxi Ling’s eyes darted around, and he explained in a flustered manner, “It’s not because…”

Lan He leaned in close, face to face with him, leaving him nowhere to hide, “Because of what? What is it? Oh—Officer Ling is high and mighty, and a former member of a criminal organization like me doesn’t deserve to be your boyfriend, is that it?”

“No!” Tuxi Ling denied it quickly, then realized that he had denied it too quickly, making him even more embarrassed. “I didn’t mean that, don’t…”

“So, that means it’s possible?” Lan He pressed him, demanding an answer.

“Possible what?” Tuxi Ling’s brain wasn’t working properly. He froze for two seconds, then quickly leaned back, putting distance between them. “No, it’s not possible!”

“We’ve already slept together. I miss it quite a bit. How about we give it a try?”

“…No, no need, thank you!”

A touch of disappointment flashed across Lan He’s eyes, then he smiled and concealed it, asking, “Why?”

“No reason, it’s just…” Tuxi Ling wanted to remain calm, but he couldn’t remain calm in front of this person. He said incoherently, “It’s just because we slept, because we slept together, that’s why it won’t work!”

Lan He was stunned by this unexpected revelation.

He straightened up and slowly turned his head towards the end of the sea, pinching his chin and trying hard to think. Finally, he came to a conclusion: Moral purity!

This conclusion caught him off guard, and he desperately wanted to travel back three years to stop his past reckless self.

Rarely losing his composure when faced with reality, his birthday mood was gone, and the lively atmosphere instantly froze.

Tuxi Ling wanted to escape the moment he realized he had spoken his thoughts out loud.

“Um, I have something to do back at the team, so I have to go back.” He turned and walked away a few steps, then silently turned back. “I haven’t wished you yet, happy birthday!”

Lan He’s lips twitched slightly. “Yeah, thanks.”

He watched Tuxi Ling’s hurried figure disappear into the crowd of happy people, smiled self-deprecatingly, and walked in the opposite direction.

His first confession in life ended in failure!

He turned his head to look at the bungee platform, took a long breath, found the number for the White Oak Hotel’s top-floor ocean-view restaurant, and his fingers hovered over the dial button for a few seconds.

Cancel it?

No, don’t!

Why cancel the gourmet feast prepared for his birthday? Wouldn’t it be great to eat it himself?

–

Tuxi Ling was still in a daze even after getting into the taxi.

What just happened? Did what he said count as rejecting Lan He’s advances?

And did those words of Lan He’s count as a confession?

No way, it must be a joke. That’s just how he is, always joking around. How could it be possible? He’d been tricked by Lan He several times already, hadn’t he learned his lesson?

His own performance was really terrible. If Lan He was joking, he should have joked back, and it wouldn’t have become so awkward now.

Tuxi Ling rubbed his face and realized that the taxi hadn’t started yet. The driver was looking at him strangely in the rearview mirror.

“Passenger, where are you going?”

“…Municipal Public Security Bureau.”

When Tuxi Ling returned to the team, the special task force had just finished a case analysis meeting.

Ke Yaojin pushed a stack of reports to him. “Ling, Team Leader Tian just told you to return to the task force. These are the case files submitted by the District Task Force. Take a look. There’s a major discovery!”

The District Criminal Investigation Task Force submitted the case files for the museum robbery. They conducted a comprehensive investigation of the surveillance footage and eyewitnesses. The surveillance footage and fingerprint lock were indeed interfered with, but according to a security guard who was on duty that night, Curator Yishi Pan was seen entering through the back door that night, but he didn’t pay attention to it before.

Tuxi Ling looked at the time when Yishi Pan entered through the back door, which was at 18:25, exactly when the surveillance was broken.

“If I remember correctly, he said he went home after getting off work at around 4:00 pm and only came back before reporting the case to pick up the draft for the meeting the next day?”

“That’s right. He still doesn’t admit that he was at the scene before the incident.”

“What about the surveillance? Can’t it capture anything at all?”

“Nothing was seen.” Ke Yaojin nodded towards Xiao Xu’s direction. “Well, the young man is not giving up and is still watching it! Xiao Xu, any progress?”

Xiao Xu shook his head without even looking up.

Tuxi Ling finally pulled all his attention back to the case and asked, “Let’s assume that Yishi Pan is really related to the robbery case. Then why did he return to the museum?”

Ke Yaojin thought for a moment. “To cooperate from the inside?”

“Is there a need for that? Da Sang and his gang don’t need inside cooperation at all, right?”

“Ling, Team Leader, is it really them? Wasn’t Qi A injured? It’s only been a few days, how can he come out to commit a crime?”

Tuxi Ling also had this doubt, but if the other party were experienced mercenaries, it would be hard to say.

“Is the storehouse manager awake?”

“Awake. The sketch artist went over, but he couldn’t say much either. He said the light was dim and he couldn’t see clearly. He only saw that the person was tall and burly, and the height and build were similar.”

“So, the focus should still be on Yishi Pan.”

“Curator Pan doesn’t admit it, and there’s only one eyewitness. I don’t think what he said is necessarily accurate. The light in the museum is so dim after work, and that person is almost sixty years old. He might have blurred vision or something, right?”

Tuxi Ling didn’t agree and continued to maintain his own train of thought. “Yishi Pan went over, what else could he do?”

“He couldn’t do anything, right? Aren’t those people very good at manipulating surveillance? Do they still need him?” Ke Yaojin flipped through the case files. “According to his previous statement, he said that he went back late at night to get the draft and accidentally discovered that the warehouse had been invaded. Looking at it this way, this ‘accidentally’ is quite deliberate. Even the patrol security guard didn’t notice, how could he think of going to the warehouse? It doesn’t make sense, does it?”

“But if he’s really related to the case, then it makes sense.” Tuxi Ling pondered for a few seconds and suddenly slapped the table. “Fingerprint lock!”

Ke Yaojin was startled, then his eyes widened. “Fingerprint lock? That’s right, the storehouse manager said that he didn’t hear the sound of breaking in. Maybe Yishi Pan went to the museum at 18:25 just to open the door for the suspects!”

“Does the fingerprint lock have opening records?”

“Let me ask!”

Ke Yaojin picked up the phone and dialed out. After questioning, he shook his head at Tuxi Ling. “No records. The museum’s fingerprint lock was installed more than ten years ago. It’s not as smart as the ones now.”

Tuxi Ling exhaled. Ke Yaojin rubbed his chin, feeling a bit difficult. “It seems that we can only break through from the interrogation, right?”

At this moment, Xiao Xu suddenly shouted, “Ling, Team Leader, this, this this! Come quickly!”

Tuxi Ling and Ke Yaojin hurried behind him and saw a frozen surveillance screen. The picture was dim and full of noise, and they could vaguely see a small door that was open a crack, with light shining through the crack.

Time: 18:25

Camera: No. 8

Status: Normal

Xiao Xu took a sip of water to moisten his throat and excitedly shouted, “Did you see it?”

Ke Yaojin hissed and sucked in a breath of cold air. “See what?”

“The shadow on the ground!” Xiao Xu secretly rolled his eyes and turned to Tuxi Ling on the left rear. “Ling, Team Leader, did you see it? That’s Yishi Pan!”

The crack in the door was very small, and the shadow on the ground was even smaller. Tuxi Ling had to admire Xiao Xu’s sharp eyes.

“How are you sure it’s Yishi Pan?”

Xiao Xu called out the drawing tool, zoomed in on the shadow to the entire screen, and then outlined a portion of the silhouette. “Look, this is a head facing sideways. This hairstyle, isn’t this a receding hairline?”

A bald spot in the middle with a circle of hair around it, commonly known as a receding hairline, was indeed Yishi Pan’s hairstyle.

Ke Yaojin opened his mouth wide. “Go back, go back, look at the back! Let’s see if he still denies it this time!”

“There’s nothing behind. This is the last frame.” Xiao Xu shrugged and pressed the video forward one frame, and the picture turned pure black.

Ke Yaojin’s eyes widened. “Amazing, Xiao Xu, you were able to find this!”

Xiao Xu smiled. “Ling, Team Leader, count it as our team’s!”

“Pay attention to unity!” Tuxi Ling tapped him and said to Ke Yaojin, “There’s a breakthrough. Let’s re-interrogate!”