The young man wore a beige colored shirt, champagne gold tie, sunglasses, and earphones. Even with all these accessories, he still looked unequipped. He shook his hand on the steering wheel and smiled obsequiously, “If you like it, I can give them to you, what do you think?”

“Hmph! Who wants your gifts! Papa will buy it for me!” Bai Wu humphed and poked at the buttons on Xu Lan’s shirt self-mindedly and said, “Right, Papa?”

Xu Lan wanted to say that he did not have the money. However, he still smiled and held that errant hand and said, “Yes.”

“I knew that Papa would’ve promised me, I love you Papa,” Bai Wu sat up happily and kissed Xu Lan between his eyebrows.

Since the last incident with Li Xiu, he developed a liking towards kissing the area between Xu Lan’s eyebrows. ‘Any other parts would probably be rough,’ Xu Lan thought.

Xu Lan saw the young man had a shocked expression on his face from the rear-view mirror. He did not bother much and tapped on his shoulders to signal Bai Wu to sleep.

“Mr. Xu, do you like him?” The young man could not help but ask since Xu Lan did not give any explanation after some time.

“Who else will I like if I don’t like my own son? Perhaps you?” Xu Lan lashed out without holding back. His expression showing a hint of frustration.

No one would believe that Bai Wu had the mentality of a three-year-old. Sometimes, even Xu Lan himself could not fathom it. However, all the facts had shown that he was just a child. One other possible factor could be that this was the normal intellect of the Dragon clan since he was the leader of his clan in the past.

“Uhm, Mr. Xu, I didn’t mean that. I don’t have any ill intentions. These things are very common in our country, it’s even protected by the law,” the bodyguard rushed to explain. He understood these things, it was just that he did not expect it to be this way.

Xu Lan rolled his eyes while he gently patted on Bai Wu’s back to put him to sleep, ignoring the bodyguard who was driving.

The mountains outside the car window were covered in a layer of hoar frost and the yellowed leaves had withered. The evergreens at a distance were still standing upright, waiting to bathe in the spring breeze. The continuous stretch of mountains resembled cyan tidal waves that surged from afar.

“Are we reaching G city?”

“Hmm, it’s one hour away,” the young lad answered.

The bar in Lanshan area, One Street, was packed with people from the media including journalists, news reporters, and even the paparazzi joined in. They were waiting for the police to make a public announcement. The promise they made to protect the public’s safety was met with brutal murders instead. If this continues, would the police force be of any use?

Both digital and print media were criticizing and condemning the police. A month had passed since the homicide case, but the killer was still on the loose. Not only that, he was becoming more rampant and started murdering those who volunteered to help in this case. How could the public still trust the police if this carried on? How could they live in peace?

Xu Lan went to the police station. Xiao Zhang was the person on duty for the day. He was shocked when Xu Lan walked in. He rushed out from his room and saw that Bai Wu and his bodyguard were following right behind him. He was so afraid that he went back into the room.

“Xu… Sergeant Xu, how can I help you?” Xiao Zhang asked fearfully.

Bai Wu’s hotel incident had spread very quickly from mouth to mouth like wildfire. In addition, the whole place was a mess when everyone got there, and Li Xiu was severely hurt. Xu Lan looked at Xiao Zhang’s reaction mockingly and knocked on the table top.

“Why is there no one here?”

“They are still in the Lanshan area. I heard that they can’t come back because their car got blocked,” Xiao Zhang felt uncomfortable under Xu Lan’s gaze and answered him swiftly.

“Hmm, give me one of Sun Fei’s number.”

“Oh, okay. Hold on please,” Xiao Zhang checked the directory immediately and copied out Sun Fei’s number for Xu Lan.

At the moment, Xu Lan was at the entrance of One Street bar. He requested for a cigarette from the person beside him. After he finished smoking, he just crushed the cigarette bud on the wall, ignoring the searching glances from the surrounding crowd and lead Bai Wu towards the crime scene.

The crowd did not recognize Bai Wu, but it was difficult not to notice Xu Lan since his photos were broadcasted on the television repeatedly within these few days. It would be easy to deduce the identity of the young man he was holding hands with. However, why were they followed by a tall, handsome man?

“Xu… Sergeant Xu? How did you come here?” Xiao Li asked shockingly. He was ordered by Sun Fei to check on the situation outside, but was shocked to see Xu Lan and a grown-up Bai Wu when he lifted his head up.

“I walked over. What’s the situation?”

Xiao Li closed his eyes and shook his head disappointingly. Looking at it, it was similar to past cases, where the killer was extremely careful and did not leave anything behind. Xu Lan handed Bai Wu over to the bodyguard and followed Xiao Li upstairs with the equipment.

The site of the crime was now at a hotel, which is different from the previous settings.

“Lao Xu, you’re here!” Sun Fei kept a close watch on the hallway. When he saw that the first person was Xu Lan, he walked over and held his hand strongly.

Xu Lan tapped his arms and opened his mouth but he did not know what to say. He then continued to shake hands with everyone on the scene and arrived beside Hu Cheng at last.

“Director general, this is my case.”

Hu Cheng gave Xu Lan a look and packed his tobacco pouch before leading him in. The 2.2 m bed was dyed bright right with fresh blood. The left breast was sliced off neatly and the private part was sewn shut. The cause of death was due to excessive bleeding. Wu Wendi was able to draw a series of numbers on the wall even though her hands were tied together.

01001001 – there was a small gap between the numbers, which could be read as 0100/1001.

“Except for a series of numbers, there’s no clue at all. All of the surrounding surveillance were destroyed,” Hu Cheng used two sentences to summarize the worst-case scenario.

“Who asked her out?”

Hu Cheng shook his head. He felt a little relieved after meeting Xu Lan. He wanted to tell the child’s mother that he could finally recognize his son. All these years of waiting had finally paid off.

“What about Sun Fei? Did she tell you who she met last night?” Xu Lan continued asking.

“At first, she was with Li Xiu. They were gone after I dozed off. She then texted me that they were meeting Big Boss Liu. I advised her not to come over last night because all of us were too tired busy dealing with assignments, but she did not listen to me. Then, she was gone just like that!”

Sun Fei blamed himself because Hu Cheng had given him this case, and he even reminded him before leaving. However, it was too late to say anything!

“Li Xiu was there? Big Boss Liu?” Xu Lan could not figure out and asked, “Where’s her cell phone?”

“Her cell phone is missing too. The killer could have taken it,” Sun Fei said.

Xu Lan nodded his head to indicate that he understood. He went around the huge bed and focused his vision on that series of numbers. This was definitely left behind after the killer left. The killer was too clever to make such rudimentary mistakes.

He felt waves of trepidation and sympathy when he thought of Wu Wendi trying to write these characters under such tremendous pain. What a fine woman…

What did the series of numbers represent? Xu Lan paced back and forth in the room and recalled the likings and habits of Wu Wendi.