Chapter Fourteen: Private Clubs

  Ling Lan and Liu Fan followed behind Gu Han Hao into this so-called 'private' club.

  Can't help but admit, this club called "zoo" has a uniquely decorated style, it's like walking into a movie set. First, there's a narrow corridor like a mountain cave, then suddenly an open six-sided large hall appears. The hall is about 100 meters in size, with a door on each of the six walls. The lighting in the hall is dim, and the color scheme of the decorations is also a dull brownish-gray color.

  Here, about a dozen young men and women gathered, some sitting around the table playing poker, others sitting in the corner of the bar drinking beer. At this moment, the eyes of these dozen people were all focused on Gu Hanhao and his two companions.

  "What's going on? Who are they? Dawei, who let you bring in strangers?" A man drinking beer in the corner stood up and blamed the bald-headed man named Dawei who opened the door.

  Dawei hung his head in silence, his face full of defeat. Just now at the 'door', he had already seen Liu Fan's certificate.

  Gu Hanhao looked around, sizing up the dozen or so young men and women, before slowly opening his mouth. "I think all of you members still don't know why the investor of this private club named it 'zoo', which means 'animal garden'. What's the reason?"

  One sentence indeed shocked everyone present, and several of them had already shown the color of expecting an answer. Indeed, they didn't know. But what they wanted to know even more was probably the identities of these three uninvited guests.

  Gu Hanhao walked to the wall and sat down at a 'door', "Because your investor, Xiao Hui, has given each of you code names related to your appearance. He associates you with various animals through imagination. Don't blame him for being rude, it's just that he is too lazy to remember your names, but he is very familiar with your appearances."

  He pointed to the ceiling, "There, there, and also there and there. I think it's not just these four places, but many other places have cameras installed too. I think he was in charge of finding someone to do the renovation work here. Every time you guys gather here at night, Shao Hui would monitor your every move from his own home, on his computer in his study. He'd record who performed better, who spoke or acted improperly. He'd decide your pay based on each of your performances."

  The words had barely fallen when several boys stepped on the table, stretched out their hands and searched in the direction that Gu Hanhao pointed to on the 'ceiling', and indeed, they pulled down two cameras. Suddenly, the people in the room began to whisper uneasily.

  "I thought he was just listening to our performance from Shaomei Yun, I didn't expect him to be so 'sly', monitoring us all the time!" Several girls were indignant.

  "This Mr. Wei who opened the 'door' for us, your salary last month was 12,000 yuan, which is considered low among these people, I'm afraid it's because what you did didn't quite satisfy Shao Hui?"

  A bald-headed man named Dawei asked somewhat discontentedly, "Didn't you say he gave us nicknames? How did you know the person who earned 12,000 yuan last month was me?"

  Gu Hanhao couldn't help but burst out laughing, he actually called this money "salary", no wonder, these idle young people have already taken it as a job.

  "Baldy! When I saw your bald head, I immediately thought of the 'Baldy: 12,000' in Shao Hui's account book. As for the public 'chicken', it's that boy over there with red hair standing upright like a rooster's crest. White rabbit is this girl wearing red contact lenses. Eagle, unfortunately, is the one who still has the energy to play computer now, you have an eagle nose. And so on, I won't explain one by one."

  The man who had just scolded Dawei clenched his fists and asked angrily, "Who are you? Where is the account book? Hand it over!"

  "The account book is in the drawer of the office desk at No. 6015, 435 Shun Ning Street, Jingjiang District." Gu Hanhao answered lightly, without paying attention to several burly men who were eager to try him out.

  He gazed at the boy with a hawk nose in the corner, who looked like he was only in his early 20s, rapidly clicking on the keyboard. Soon, a look of shock and fear appeared on his face, and he trembled as he said: "Shun Ning Street No. 435 is Jingjiang District Public Security Bureau!"

  The atmosphere in the room suddenly froze, and those men who wanted to use their fists also retreated. The man who first asked the question asked incredulously: "You, you are police?"

  Liu Fan coolly pulled out his ID, and with that, the young people in the house finally completely lost their composure.

  Ling Lan stood by, completely stunned. This Gu Han was really too much, actually knowing so much already and putting them in the dark, causing her to be tongue-tied like these "animals" at his words. She really wanted to ask Gu Han right now how he had inferred all this.

  Gu Hanhao was still sitting at the entrance of that 'door', he stretched out his arm and knocked on the 'door' beside him, "Mr. Red-crowned Crane, how long do you plan to hide inside?"

  Ling Lan stared at the 'door' in disbelief, "You're saying he's inside?" At this moment, Ling Lan already had a habitual trust in Gu HanHao. Although she was still asking with her mouth, she already believed that Jimmy was behind this 'door'.

  He pointed to the floor at the entrance of this 'door', "Only this 'door' and the opposite 'door' have arc-shaped marks left by frequent opening and closing, while the opposite 'door' has obvious water stains. It can be inferred that it should be a bathroom. The rest of the 'doors' all do not have any traces of opening and closing, I think, very likely they are all decorative fake 'doors'. According to the list on the account book, there should also be a last added 'Mr. Dan Ding He' who only received one month's salary. I inferred that he was hiding behind this 'door' because my colleague just called me to tell me that he was not in his dormitory at school, and my sensitive ears seemed to hear the sound of a pair of crutches hitting the ground from inside this 'door'. I think, 80% chance he will be here."

  As soon as the words fell, a special footstep came from that 'door', the 'door' opened, and Jimmy walked out with a crutch, speaking fluent Chinese: "It seems I can't escape, to be honest, I don't plan to hide anymore. Ling Lan, sorry, I let you down."

  "What do you mean? Are you admitting that you killed Shao Wei, and also Yue Tong and Feng Jia?" Ling Lan stepped forward and grabbed Jimmy's arm, asking in a tearful tone.

  He first nodded and then shook his head, "Shao Wei was killed by me, but Yue Tong and Feng Jia, I couldn't bring myself to do it."

  "What's going on?" Ling Lan shook Jimmy vigorously, tears streaming down her face.

  "Alright, everyone follow me back to the police station for questioning! Lv Fan and Yuan Jun's car should be parked near mine, you organize them to get in their cars, and you two can ride with me."

  Liu Fan took command and began loudly organizing everyone into a line, then pulled out his phone to dial Yuan Jun's cell phone to confirm whether they had arrived.

  Ling Lan suddenly remembered the text message that Gu Hanhao had sent just before they entered, which was actually meant for Yuan Jun, informing them to come and provide support. The reason why Gu Hanhao waited until he saw the "vulture" after entering the door before pressing send was because he was afraid everyone would make a futile trip. He indeed had meticulous thoughts. Fortunately, Shao Hui named this place "zoo", which allowed Gu Hanhao to associate it with the various animal names on the handwritten account book. If he had chosen a different name, finding it might have been a bit troublesome.

  Ling Lan looked up and glanced at Jimmy, who had a disheveled appearance. She didn't dare to imagine that the "vampire" she saw in the basement was actually him, her teacher whom she had always admired and revered. It was just like Yue Tong and Feng Jia said, fortunately she hadn't seen it then, if she had seen it then, she would have definitely shouted out "Jimmy" loudly and chased after him to ask what was going on. Would he have killed her on the spot?

  Gu Hanhao took out the handcuffs from his pocket and walked in front of Jimmy, then suddenly realized something and put the handcuffs away. He had just forgotten that Jimmy still needed to support himself with both arms on crutches. As a veteran detective, he was capturing such a suspect for the first time. Looking at Li Hua's Ling Lan again, his emotions were truly mixed.