Novel Bin Chapter 26: This is Lan Tian’s Room.
Chapter 26: This is Lan Tian’s Room.
Translator-Rhapsodite
Editor-simpforlife, Proofreader-Ghostie
May 2, Sunday, 2 p.m.
Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan came to an apartment building in the south of Fèng Xīngchéng city.
The apartment complex was right in the middle of the emerging metropolitan region. It appeared no more than five years old and had a total of 28 floors. It was based on the single loft housing concept. Each apartment had a modest interior room, but the design was quite creative. It increased the practical size of the suite by separating the sleeping and living rooms with a semi-duplex construction. It was very fitting for bachelors or young couples.
The transportation was convenient, all surrounding facilities were satisfactory, the security was reliable and the residence was brand new. Because it was not really affordable to rent or purchase, the majority of those who lived here were young social elites with fulfilling incomes.
The Mo Yuqing that Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan were searching for, who called the hotline to inform them under the alias Xiaoqing, resided in the apartment 1905.
The apartment’s main entryway was an automated door. To enter, you were required to swipe your card. In the absence of one, you would need to call the security guard, who would then enable you to enter the building with the owner’s permission.
But it wasn’t that much of a challenge for Bei Quan.
Wei Fuyuan saw his boss stop at an intersection opposite of Mo Yuqing’s apartment, and then released Guan Hu Su Ying while waiting outside the building.
Wei Fuyuan: “???”
A moment later, Guan Hu Su Ying returned with a small card in its mouth.
Wei Fuyuan: “!!!”
——This guy should sincerely get a part-time job as a thief, with such skills!
He roared in his heart.
Bei Quan took the door card and generously led Wei Fuyuan into the building, entered the elevator and went straight to the 19th floor.
Mo Yuqing lived in room 1905, facing the southern side of the commercial street.
Wei Fuyuan rang the doorbell.
The doorbell sounded again and again, yet no one answered.
Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan looked at each other.
According to the information they had obtained, Mo Yuqing’s parents died when she was still in junior high school. She was raised by her aunt’s family until she reached adulthood.
Of course, her aunt did not treat her badly, but she was not her biological daughter after all. After Mo Yuqing graduated from college and left her hometown to work in Fèng Xīngchéng City, she didn’t keep close contact with her aunt’s family.
The girl hadn’t returned to her hometown for three years. She only greeted them on New Year’s day and sent some gifts.
Bei Quan speculated that her aunt might still not know that her niece had resigned from Lisa Media.
Wei Fuyuan, “What should we do?”
He took out his cell phone and said, “Shall we call the police?”
Bei Quan grabbed Wei Fuyuan’s hand, then placed his hand on the door handle, pressed it down and pushed the door again.
“Creak—”
The door opened in response.
Wei Fuyuan: “…”
He was now very confident that no door lock could stop this man!
Bei Quan led Wei Fuyuan into the private house in confident strides.
Although now was the time when the sun shone the brightest, Mo Yuqing’s living room was pitch dark with fine blackout curtains.
As soon as they entered the door, they smelled a peculiar scent, not unlike the pungent smell of something gone rotten.
Wei Fuyuan’s heart was pounding in his chest. He immediately searched for the switch on the wall and turned on the ceiling lights.
Fortunately, the scene he had imagined did not appear.
Neither were there any living people, nor any dead bodies.
Wei Fuyuan patted his chest reassuringly and looked at the internal interior of the small duplex flat.
“In terms of a single woman’s apartment, isn’t Mo Yuqing too particular?” Young Master Wei frowned.
Given his stereotype as a gay guy, girls should be very clean and tidy, but Mo Yuqing’s suite was surprisingly messy.
Takeout bags and empty beverage bottles were heaped by the kitchen entrance. There were also lunch boxes on the table that had not been cleaned after eating. Cockroaches, big and little, pranced around comfortably. The nauseating odor in the house was due to the kitchen trash that had not been collected for an unknown time.
“Where has Mo Yuqing run off to?”
Wei Fuyuan covered his nose with his hand and frowned.
“Since she’d decided to go out, why didn’t she think of throwing all this rubbish away? How on earth does she even put up with this godforsaken stink?”
With that, he turned to look at Bei Quan but found that the other party was squatting at the kitchen door and was picking up those smelly garbage bags one by one.
“What are you doing??”
Wei Fuyuan was shocked.
“Don’t talk nonsense. Come over and help.”
Bei Quan waved to his assistant, “Help me find all the takeout receipts.”
Wei Fuyuan had no choice but to rummage through the rubbish, which he did albeit begrudgingly.
They found a total of eight takeout order receipts.
Bei Quan lined them up one by one, “So it turned out to be this way.”
Wei Fuyuan, “What did you find?”
Bei Quan asked him to pay close attention to the time printed on the bill.
“The earliest one of these takeout orders is April 3, and the latest one is April 9. There is at least one every day.”
Bei Quan had a slight smile on his face, “Does this mean that Mo Yuqing hasn’t been back here for more than 20 days since the 9th?”
Wei Fuyuan widened his eyes.
“Then, where did she go?”
He pointed to the garbage pile they had just turned over.
“Even if you want to travel, shouldn’t you first clean up the house before you go?”
Young Master Wei thought carefully and found more doubtful points ,
“Also, these takeout boxes are from 3rd to 9th. Depending on the quantity of food, we can estimate that three meals a day would be enough for an average girl…”
The more he spoke, the more frightened he became.
“If so, does this mean that she stayed at home for six or seven consecutive days starting from April 3rd, and then—”
Wei Fuyuan took a deep breath.
“And then went missing?”
Bei Quan stood up, walked a few steps to the girl’s wardrobe, and opened the door.
Mo Yuqing’s suitcase was still in the cabinet and her clothes were neatly tucked away. It didn’t look like she had packed her belongings to go somewhere.
Wei Fuyuan: “…”
——What does it generally mean when someone doesn’t return to their apartment for more than 20 days and doesn’t take anything with them either?
Even though Young Master Wei did not study criminal investigation, who hadn’t watched a few crime thrillers and suspense movies in recent years? He’d already made some terrible assumptions.
“But she… I mean, Mo Yuqing. She only called us last Thursday!”
Bei Quan only revealed a smile when he heard him.
“By the way, did you notice another detail?” He said to Wei Fuyuan, “These lunch boxes began to pile up on the 3rd of last month…”
“Yes, Shen Xing killed Xu Ziye on the 2nd!”
Before Bei Quan could finish speaking, Wei Fuyuan had already understood.
“It would be foolish to say that these two things are not related!”
————————-
Monday, May 3rd, at 1:40 a.m.
Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan had been squatting near a villa for more than two hours.
“It’s almost done, let’s go in.”
Bei Quan looked down at his watch and smiled at Wei Fuyuan.
Wei Fuyuan: “…”
It had only been less than 20 days since he applied for a part-time job at Santuchuan. He had committed so many illegal acts that even now he felt guilty. Now he would soon add one more to the list— breaking into private houses at night!
Bei Quan and Wei Fuyuan were guarding Lan Tian’s home.
As the fiancee of Manager Xu Ziye, she didn’t work for Lisa Media since her fiance had been murdered.
In contrast to Mo Yuqing’s humble apartment, Lan Tian— the eldest daughter of a director, resided in a single-family villa which was a part of a high-end neighborhood purchased by her parents. At the same time, she had a full-time maid and a security guard.
Although Bei Quan could knock down everyone in the house, it was easier for him to cause problems on crowded occasions and it was more convenient for him to cast spells in the middle of the night. As a result, he and Wei Fuyuan waited patiently until late at night before deciding to begin their mission when they noticed that the lights in the villa were turned off.
“Lan Tian’s room is on the second floor.”
Bei Quan pointed to the southeast corner of the villa, “We’ll climb straight to the top.”
Wei Fuyuan looked at the railing with an infrared induction alarm, which was almost 1.5 meters high, and his heart slightly constricted.
——He’s not planning to make me climb the wall, is he? What if we get caught?!
At this time, Bei Quan opened his black umbrella, which he habitually brought along with him. He stretched out his arm and pulled Young Master Wei under the umbrella.
“Let’s go.”
Wei Fuyuan had seen Bei Quan’s move before, but he still couldn’t believe that as long as he held an umbrella, he could go into no man’s land.
Seeing Wei Fuyuan’s doubts, Bei Quan explained to his assistant as he walked.
“In fact, the utility of this umbrella is limited.” He said, “It can only be used at night.”
Wei Fuyuan said “Oh”
“What about the day? Isn’t it useless during the day?” He added silently in his heart, “But I see you often carrying this umbrella during the day too.”
Bei Quan smiled, “During the day, well, it has other uses.”
By now, they had reached the courtyard of the villa.
Bei Quan stretched out his hand and pushed open the gate. Holding an umbrella, he passed through the garden under the security surveillance camera and opened the villa door in a similar manner.
The villa was quiet, only a few wall lamps were still on, and the light emitted was bleak.
Wei Fuyuan was aware that Bei Quan was visiting the villa for the first time, yet he appeared to be extremely familiar with its interior structure. He moved quickly and silently across the living room, located the railing steps next to the kitchen, led him to the second floor and came to a halt in front of a door in the corridor’s south.
“We are here.”
Bei Quan stepped closer to Wei Fuyuan’s ear and said in a whisper, “This is Lan Tian’s room.”
Wei Fuyuan’s ear was brushed by Bei Quan’s warm breath, and it became itchy and red.
He resisted the urge to rub his ear and tried to sound steady.
“What are you going to do?”
“Ha ha.”
Bei Quan laughed softly, “Of course, let her tell us what she knows.”
Wei Fuyuan thought that Bei Quan would repeat the entire thing again. After opening the door, he would stun Miss Lan Tian, and then let Wei Fuyuan sift through her memory.
Unexpectedly, Bei Quan opened his suitcase and took out a gray stone.
“Wait a minute, it should be ready soon.”
Then he gently tapped the stone on the floor.
The stone cracked like an eggshell, and gray smoke came out of the crack.
The thick fog whirled in the air, and then, like a snake, squeezed through the crack of the door into Lan Tian’s room.