The first winter holiday had finally arrived, and it was the time to break free from the stress of this off-the-grid place and return to city life. This feeling of Ke Bu’s did not last long. He did not know who proposed it, but shortly before the turn of the year, everyone traveled by train to go on a trip. Ke Bu really wanted to refuse but he could not do so. His tired body wanted to rest, but he struggled inside thinking that Zhi Li would also go.
Those few people gathered in front of the train station and brought with them big and small bags. This group of people really had spare time. Chu Haoyu and Ying Xiujie helped the girls carry their luggage, while Ke Bu looked at the piles of things: “I say, are you guys wanting to immigrate?”
“It’s rare for us to go out and play. Of course, we should bring a lot of things. What do you know? You’re a person who have no taste for life.”
“Stop talking nonsense. Let’s go now.” Ying Xiujie carried all the luggage with both hands and practiced his arms strength.
This time, the destination was Yinguo Town — a town near the sea. It was said that this town’s scale was equivalent to that of a county town. The climate there was currently warm and the scenery was enchanting. Because of the complicated terrain and the lack of development, there were only a few who would travel there.
After everyone put their things inside, they gathered in the soft sleeper room of the train. It was really, really crowded. Zhi Li lied down on the top berth while Su Youyan sat in the seat in front of him while reading her book. Zhang Luo was playing on his computer. This person could not leave his computer no matter where he went. He really wondered why he would participate in this daytime activity. He gave people the feelings that he really looked like a mouse. He lived in the dark and only dared to come out when nobody was there. Everyone else was playing cards and eating snacks, and soon, everyone had gotten bored with the long journey.
“Who wants to tell a story? Come, let’s hear it.” Ying Xiujie yawned out of boredom.
“Since everyone has high expectations of me, let me tell you a story.” Chu Haoyu volunteered but Ke Bu immediately rejected him: “I pretty much can guess what kind of story you’re going to tell. It’s either all about you encountering a big chest or a small chest. It’s this kind of story.”
Zhang Luo pushed his glasses and revealed a sinister smile: “Then let me tell a story. Let’s guess who’s the murderer.” This proposal quickly got everyone’s approval.
“In order to make it easier for everyone to remember, allow me to use all of your names.”
“Please set me up as a handsome man.” Chu Haoyu commissioned.
Next, the story happened like this:
After graduating from the police academy, Ke Bu, whose heart was filled with righteous ardor, became a policeman. He wanted to serve his country with unreserved loyalty and also put to good use his fists and feet; however, there was always a gap between dreams and reality, and it was still not a small gap. Ke Bu was assigned to a small town. It could not be said that it was deserted. The town was just an average town without anything off in it. When his friends sent Ke Bu to the train, their eyes looked as if they were sending a prisoner who was sent into exile.
“Please, can you not set me up as a stupid character like this?” The real Ke Bu interrupted.
“I hope that no one will interrupt again when I tell a story.” After Zhang Luo said that, everyone, one by one, cast a criticizing glance at Ke Bu. Zhang Luo cleared his throat and continued to tell the story:
After staying in the small town for a year, Ke Bu became completely lifeless. He occasionally read books and spent most of his time sitting in front of his desk in a daze. There were three policemen in the town and they were all men. Just then, a middle-aged man came in, panting, and walked over in anger: “I want to report a crime. I want to report a crime.”
“What’s the matter?” Ke Bu straightened his waist, but he was not very enthusiastic.
“It’s about my pig. I don’t know which bastard did this mischievous prank. After they killed it, they hung it in the forest.”
Ke Bu hypocritically pretended to write in his book: “Think carefully. Have you had any conflicts with anyone recently?”
“No, I’m a good person.”
“Okay, I’ll investigate this. You can go back first. I’ll let you know as soon as I’ve any news.”
After the middle-aged man left, Chu Haoyu patted Ke Bu on his shoulder: “I say Xiao Bu, can you have a little bit of enthusiasm toward others? No matter what, aren’t we the police? At least you have to know how to deal with interpersonal relationships.” Chu Haoyu was Ke Bu’s colleague. He was an upright and well-behaved man. He was a man who would stand up bravely for the truth. (When Zhang Luo finished this passage, everyone burst into laughter.)
“If I know how to deal with interpersonal relationships, will I be able to know who hung his pig?”
One week after this incident, Chu Haoyu had a panicked look as he awakened Ke Bu from his daze: “Ke Bu, we have a problem.”
“What’s the problem? Whose pig is missing now?” Ke Bu straightened his body and stood up with a bad mood.
Chu Haoyu stared at Ke Bu with a pale face: “A dead… a dead person in the Southern Village.” The Southern Village was a village to which the small town was affiliated to. Ke Bu jumped up from his chair right away and his face became red: “How could that be?”
“Just now, someone came to report the incident and said that they found a man, hung on a tree in the Southern Village’s forest.” When Chu Haoyu said this, Ke Bu thought of the middle-aged man who reported last week.
“Suicide?”
“How could that be possible? He was hung upside down on the tree.”
“Let’s go and see.”
Ke Bu rode his motorbike together with Chu Haoyu and headed to the Southern Village. He racked his head along the way — murder? Was it because of revenge or love? This reminded Ke Bu of the plot in the movies and he instantly felt like a hero in the movie — an incredibly handsome one.
At that time, at the scene of the incident, Ying Xiujie was blocking the local villagers who wanted to butt in. Ying Xiujie was one of the three policemen. From afar, Ke Bu saw a man that was hung upside down from a tree. He was about 1.75 meters tall and 120 kilograms in weight. From his appearance, he looked like a middle-aged man. Some of the tree branches were pressed down until they bent as if they would be broken at any time. Ke Bu quickly ran over and Chu Haoyu took his camera and took pictures of the corpse. There were a lot of bruises on the dead body. It seemed that he fought with the murderer. There were also traces of fighting at the crime scene. Chu Haoyu and Ying Xiujie took the dead body down. From appearances, he looked to be a homeless man. Who would make trouble with a homeless man? Ke Bu and the others asked the people who had discovered the dead body. They said that they were passing by here to farm in the morning, then they found the dead body, so they immediately reported it to the police. No one there knew who this homeless man was. Ke Bu and the others had to call a truck to bring back the dead body then report the situation to their superior.
Ke Bu had been investigating this incident for a week now, but he ended up empty-handed. At that moment, the phone rang, and Ying Xiujie answered the phone. Ke Bu saw that his complexion was getting worse and worse, and he also knitted his eyebrows. Ke Bu knew for sure that something had happened again. He waited for Ying Xiuijie to hang up the phone then Ke Bu hastily asked: “What’s wrong?”
“There’s another person who died at the forest again in the same manner.”
Ke Bu was stupefied. The previous excitement was gone. He finally realized that the case was very serious. Today felt like the Monday before. It was exactly the same scene. The victim was also a homeless man, with the same height and weight, but the bruises on the dead body were a little less than the first dead body. The investigation for this case did not even have any progress. Ke Bu, Chu Haoyu and Ying Xiujie began to panic. There were also a lot of widespread comments in the small town and Ke Bu did not even have a clue. No one in the town recognized these two homeless men. Ke Bu’s expression was very calm, but inside, he really wanted to solve the case. He really, really wanted to be a hero, but it had not been long since he graduated from the police academy after all. He never had any contact with this kind of matter at all. Although he previously had a girlfriend who graduated from a forensic school and he often saw dead bodies, it was different this time. Another week had passed. Ke Bu, who had left work in the evening, received a call from Chu Haoyu: “Ke Bu, quick, come to the forest.”
“There’s another incident? Is the victim also a homeless man?”
“You’ll know it once you see it.”
Ke Bu hung up the phone and quickly rushed toward the forest. This time, the one, who was hung upside down on the tree was not a homeless man. He wore a suit and was about 35 years old. He was about 1.75 meters tall and weighed about 120 kilograms. His face was hideous, and he seemed to be brutally beaten. When the dead body was brought down, Ke Bu approached the body.
“What’s on his face?” Ke Bu had just finished his sentence and a man squatted near the dead body and moved closer to the dead man’s face, then sniffed it: “It seems to be cosmetics.”
Ke Bu jumped in shock: “Who are you?”
The man raised his face and fell into the sight of a good-looking face. Just like a prince in the story, whether it was his face, his body, or the breath that came out, everything was not something that belonged to this world. People only needed to see him in a glance to fall for his beauty. To one’s surprise, Ke Bu was blushing in front of a dead body. Ke Bu cursed himself. He was not even a woman. Why would he blush when he would see a handsome man — but this man was a very handsome man.
Ke Bu could not find the words to describe his appearance and his feelings at the moment. (This jumbled scene already seriously fawned on someone, not to mention that he was not so stupid. Zhang Luo even said that he was so handsome; furthermore, would there be a BL plot in this story? In his heart, Ke Bu really wanted to ridicule this but he did not say it out.)