Chapter Fifty-Six

  Li Jin suddenly woke up.

  It's him after all.

  He bit his cheek and pinched his phone, quietly hiding in the shade of a short tree.

  "What did you say?" He lowered his voice, "The recording has been found?"

  "Right, found it." The voice on the other end was even lower, faint and trembling slightly.

  "How did you find it?" Lí Jǐn asked in a cold voice.

  "It's a long story, anyway, it took a lot of effort." The other party asked, "When are you coming over to pick it up?"

  "Where are you?" Li Jin took a deep breath and asked.

  "No. 3, XX Road, Unit 2, Room 303."

  "Stay there and don't move, I'll come over to find you."

  Every city has some unknown secrets, and some people make a living by selling these secrets. Huang Erzi is one of them.

  Li Jin had known him through some secret channels when he was an agent for Shu Mu. At that time, he wanted to know the secrets of his competitors in order to make a targeted attack plan. Now, it's about his own death, and he can't ignore it no matter what. But Mr. Li clearly refused to let him participate in the investigation, so Li Jin had no choice but to contact Huang Erzi again, paying him to gather information for himself.

  On the midnight road, a black Honda sedan sped out at a speed of 120 kilometers per hour.

  Huang Erzi was extremely cautious, never giving his phone number to any client, and the calls he made were always from a private number. He only maintained single-line contact with clients, especially those like Li Jin who were new partners, and he was even more vigilant, not even meeting in person, just providing him with a bank account number and asking him to transfer money regularly.

  If it weren't for their long-standing relationship, just relying on this sneaky transaction method, Li Jinli might not even bother with him.

  Because of their connection spanning two lifetimes, Li Jin knew that this person's extensive network could make even the most senior big shots in the circle break a sweat. To put it simply, Li Jin had seen Huang Erzi's figure at a high-end cocktail party in his past life, where only a fixed group of people were invited. The man, who was normally timid and reserved, was dressed to the nines, chatting and laughing with ease, and even greeted old acquaintance Ke Yuan without hiding. Instead, he introduced himself confidently, saying he had just returned from studying abroad, with an English name Vincent. At the same time, he made a living by selling secrets, and his own mouth was extremely tight-lipped, having once bragged to Ke Yuan that even if a knife were held to his throat, he wouldn't reveal any client information.

  And now he's dead.

  Li Jin stared blankly at Huang Erzi who was lying on the ground.

  He is dead.

  Thick, icy blood flowed all over the ground, and a faint smell of blood floated in the air. Li Jin crouched down, turned on his phone's flashlight, and the cold, inorganic light clearly illuminated Huang Erzi's dead eyes that refused to close.

  He was killed by a cut throat artery and died of excessive blood loss.

  Li Jin clenched his teeth tightly, so as not to let his overly rapid breathing stand out in the quiet night.

  This is an old-fashioned residential building, with three households on each floor. Huang Erzi's place was the one on the far right. When Li Jin came over just now, he found that the door was ajar, and inside it was quiet and dark.

  He slowly opened the door, the old iron anti-theft door was rusty, and the creaking sound was extremely piercing in the dark night. He slowed down his movements, one foot tentatively stepped inside the door, making sure it was safe, before the other foot followed.

  As soon as he entered the door, he felt something was off.

  A faint smell of rust wafted through the air, accompanied by a chill that was unique to winter days, making one shiver involuntarily. The sound of footsteps on the floor seemed especially loud, as if the room was empty and even the footsteps could create an echo. Tonight, under the clear and cold moonlight, he looked around and found that the house indeed had no decorations, only bare walls. He fumbled for the light switch on the wall with the help of the moonlight, pressing it several times in a row, but the lights still didn't turn on.

  Then he stepped on blood.

  At first, he didn't know it was blood, but since he was in the middle of the living room, where did this water come from? He took out his phone and shone the dim light from the back of the phone over there.

  Blood is flowing all over the ground and has already turned black.

  Then, following the bloodstains, he walked all the way to the darkest corner of the wall and finally found Huang Erzi's long-dead and still warm corpse.

  Li Jin covered his mouth, a strong sense of nausea made him want to vomit in waves. He suddenly sprang up and leaned against the wall, gritting his teeth and turning his head away, unwilling to look at the corpse with a miserable appearance again.

  Huang Erzi... died with his eyes open.

  Those eyes that had never closed until death were wide open, staring at Li Jin with a scattered pupil, as if the deceased's most vicious accusation.

  The burning sensation in his stomach took a long time to subside, and Li Jin slowly exhaled, then squatted down again, using his phone to illuminate the area while searching for any possible hiding spots on the body.

  Huang Erzi's hands were tied behind his back with a sturdy fabric similar to cotton cloth. His palms were tightly clenched, as if he had gone through a painful struggle before death. His legs were curled up in an unnatural position, as if he had been sitting when he died. Indeed, when Li Jin moved her phone, the white light illuminated the chair that was tilted against the wall corner, and under the chair, an old-fashioned mobile phone was pressed firmly underneath.

  Li Jin walked two steps forward, kicked open the chair with his foot and picked up the phone.

  The phone was smashed by the chair, and the screen cracked into three lines, but the key unlocked, still usable. Li Jin opened the recent call record, the top one, indeed showing his own number.

  He furrowed his brow and carefully flipped through the conversation records below.

  All were called out, few were hit in.

  The few incoming calls were all concentrated on a certain day. Li Jin calculated that it was about a week ago.

  Li Jin put his mobile phone into his pocket and slowly stood up.

  The layout of this house is very strange, as soon as you enter the door, it's a completely unobstructed open space. It seems that previously it was a one-room-one-hall layout, but the wall had been artificially knocked through. So from Li Jin's angle, the entire room is in full view.

  There is no furniture or decorations, so there is nowhere to hide anything.

  Li Jin closed her eyes, recalling the scene where she had just examined Huang Erzi's body - the sticky and cold blood seeping through the cheap sweater, bringing a wave of nausea with every touch. Li Jin forced herself to forget that unbearable feeling, using the light from her phone to rush into the bathroom, turn on the faucet, and scrub her palms fiercely.

  The cold water flow made him gradually calm down, the phone was placed flat on one side, and the pale light shot straight up from the bottom. In the mirror opposite, Li Jin's face looked ferocious and terrifying.

  "Ah!" He exclaimed softly and flipped his phone over.

  The light was gone, leaving only the gurgling sound of water flowing, echoing hollowly in the room.

  What's going on?

  Li Jin propped up his body, unable to stop his whole body from trembling.

  There was no place to hide anything in the room, and Huang Erzi had nothing on him either. In other words, either the recording wasn't here at all, or...Huang Erzi hadn't found it after all.

  He not only failed to find the recording, but was instead discovered by others who were also searching for this recording about Ke Yuan's cause of death. The other party took the initiative and kidnapped Huang Erzi, forcing him to reveal who had hired him and asking him to call that person over. Then, after hanging up the phone, the other party ruthlessly killed him.

  But why?

  Li Jin didn't understand.

  He turned off the faucet and quietly stared at the dripping water mouth.

  From the moment I entered the house until now, no one has appeared. If the other party wants to lure me out and catch me on the spot, their action is a bit too slow.

  Or did they never intend to catch themselves?

  "Is this where someone reported a murder?" Suddenly, carried by the wind, a strong and confident voice floated into his ears, "Building 2, Unit 303?"

  The washbasin is near the window, and outside the window is a spacious courtyard.

  Li Jing's body trembled slightly as she quietly turned off the flashlight function on her phone and hid silently by the window, looking down.

  In the courtyard, a police car with markings was parked, its front lights still on, illuminating the yard as brightly as daylight. Next to the car, three policemen in uniform were looking up at the building with their heads tilted back. The building's structure was old, and although Li Jin was on the third floor, it was only slightly higher than the second floor of a modern residential building. With the quietness of the long night, the police spoke in hushed tones, so he could hear their conversation clearly.

  "Yes!" A policeman replied, "It's right here."

  "Damn it, a midnight report of a homicide case! If I find out that this is a false alarm, I'll make sure to catch the guy who made the call and kill him!" The lead policeman, with his belly sticking out, waved his baton and shouted, "Up!"

  The three of them rushed up like the wind.

  So that's how it is!

  Li Jin's entire body seemed to have its blood frozen solid in an instant.

  So that's how it is!

  He first had Huang Erzi lure him here, then killed him with a ruthless hand, and then called the police to report that there was a homicide case. By the time the police arrived, he was the only one left in the room, and the last contact on Huang Erzi's phone was himself. At that time, even if he had a hundred mouths, he wouldn't be able to explain it clearly.

  Even the timing of reporting the crime is so accurate, I'm afraid it's been hiding in the dark all along, waiting for me to take the bait before reporting the crime!

  Li Jin was both angry and anxious, with the sound of police footsteps getting closer and closer in the corridor outside his room, while he himself had no way to escape, his heart almost jumping out of his throat.

  What's going on!

  Stay here and can't argue, rush out and must encounter police, which is equivalent to jumping into the net!

  He clutched the window frame tightly, feeling for the first time in his life that he was at a loss, anxious and frightened, flustered and at a loss, even thinking of jumping out of the window directly, even if he broke his leg, it would be better than being caught as a murderer.

  Suddenly, a hand from behind covered his mouth.

  "Hmm...hmm...hmm!"

  Li Jin felt his heart almost exploding, and subconsciously used all his strength to struggle and flail about, even risking his life to twist his body and escape the grasp of that hand. But instead of letting go, the hand pulled him into its embrace, and the next moment, a familiar voice sounded in his ear.

  "Shut up, it's me."

  Li Yiheng!