Volume 1: Night Visit to the Vampire Chapter 6: Similar Fate

  Ling Lan knew she was in the hospital, although she couldn't open her eyes and her body wouldn't listen to her commands, but she still maintained a thread of consciousness. She remembered that she had finally fainted from the pain at Wang Laoshi's neighborhood. Someone with good intentions must have sent her to the hospital.

  I can vaguely hear the doctor and nurse's voices by my ear, it seems like there is another person, the doctor is reporting her situation to him. This person seems to be a family member of the patient, who could he be? The kind-hearted person who sent her to the hospital?

  It wasn't until dusk that Ling Lan fully came to, and when she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was Gu Hanyu's face.

  Gu Hanhao's face was filled with concern, and as soon as he saw Ling Lan open her eyes, he put down the huge stone in his heart and smiled slightly, "It's about time you woke up, how are you feeling? Is there anywhere that still hurts?"

  Ling Lan didn't have time to be surprised at Gu Hanyu's good attitude, she just wanted to confirm that her guesses in her half-dazed state were wrong. "Is Yue Tong and Feng Jia okay?"

  Gu Hanhao lowered his eyelids, "Very unfortunately, due to the explosion of kitchen gas, at the time of the explosion, the two of them and that teacher were all standing on the balcony outside the kitchen. They died instantly after falling from the 18th floor. The preliminary identification result is accidental."

  Ling Lan sneered, "Unexpected? This is murder! I've told you before, they must have seen something, that's why they ended up being killed!"

  "So you're in great danger now, I'll assign someone to protect you 24 hours a day."

  One word awakened the dreamer, and Linglan only then realized how lucky she was. She should have stepped into that trap set by others with Feng Jia and Yue Tong, but as a result of being framed with a false charge, she coincidentally escaped the fatal disaster. She really should find that heavily made-up woman to thank her properly.

  Gu Hanhao sighed, "I've asked the other people in the elevator at that time to go to the police station for a composite sketch, but it didn't have much effect. I think you and that woman had the closest contact recently, her facial features, you should be the clearest."

  Ling Lan raised her eyes and stared at Gu Hanhao, who didn't investigate the mastermind behind the explosion, but was actually interested in a heavily made-up woman who had nothing to do with it!

  Gu Hanhao saw Ling Lan's anger and adjusted his mood, taking a deep breath before calmly saying: "Alright, I'll tell you about my personal experience from a year ago. After hearing it, you'll understand."

  Ling Lan's expression was somewhat resistant, but she involuntarily adjusted her sitting posture to listen intently. Her strong curiosity had already begun to anticipate Gu Hanyu's story.

  Gu Hanhao's face spread with a sorrowful expression, "Last year on April 14th was an unforgettable day for me. At that time, I was just an ordinary criminal police officer, and two days ago, I received the order from above to participate in a capture operation. The target of the capture was a murderer who had been on the run for nearly ten years, he had changed his appearance, name, and surname, and escaped from the south to S city. We had already grasped important clues about his identity and initially confirmed that he did not have any weapons and was not very dangerous. So this capture was thought by everyone to be as simple and easy as taking something out of a pocket, after all, we had dealt with even more vicious and evil criminals before."

  At 5:00 am on the 14th, I got up before five o'clock and prepared to go out with a refreshed spirit. At half past five, I drove out of the community gate, and a black shadow rushed towards my car. At that time, because I was about to leave the community gate, my speed was not fast, but the black shadow jumped out two or three meters like a rebound, and then fell down. I was very clear that I had encountered a collision scammer. I still got out of the car, originally thinking of showing him my ID card to scare him away, after all, I had an urgent matter to attend to. However, when I saw his outfit and face clearly, what I took out was not only my ID card but also three 100-yuan bills for him. He was old, probably almost eighty years old, wearing a worn-out black cotton-padded jacket, with a big bag of plastic bottles on his back. His appearance was really miserable, and based on my observation ability, I could confirm that he was indeed a poor old man who relied on picking up trash to survive. I noticed that he had almost no teeth left, his lips were chapped, and the wrinkles on his face and hands were like knife cuts, with the wind and frost leaving behind black stains in the gaps of those knife cuts. When he saw my police ID card, he didn't have any reaction, even if he couldn't read, he should recognize the police badge. But he didn't show any surprise at all, as if he had known my identity long ago. What's more strange is that he didn't react to the three big bills either. He didn't take the money, and when I was about to put it down and leave, he suddenly found the courage to grab my pants leg tightly, and with a thud, he knocked his head on the ground in front of me, and instantly, blood filled his face that was covered with knife-cut-like wrinkles.

  "He had made up his mind to die, after all, he was already in his twilight years. It seemed that what he wanted wasn't money, but for me to send him to the hospital. A crowd quickly gathered around, including some of my neighbors, who knew I was a police officer. If I were to turn a blind eye and leave at this moment, or say I had an urgent task and ask someone else to take him to the hospital, it would not only make me unable to show my face in the future, but also tarnish the reputation of the police profession. Moreover, I wanted to wait until the old man came to and personally ask him what he intended to do. So, I drove him to the hospital. On the way, I called my superior and reported the situation on my end. My superior also thought it was just a simple task, and having one more or one less person wouldn't make a difference. After giving me some brief instructions, they accepted my request for leave."

  Ling Lan had already guessed what would happen next. In all likelihood, Gu Hanhao's four colleagues were in a precarious situation.

  Gu Hanhao adjusted his state and continued: "The fugitive culprit actually had two accomplices, they were involved in smuggling guns together, so naturally they had the upper hand. We underestimated them, my colleagues and they got into a gunfight, as a result, two died and two were injured, one of the surviving colleagues died in hospital, and the other was left with lifelong disability."

  "What about the old man in the hospital?"

  "That night, I went back to the hospital to look for him, but unfortunately, I was a step too late. The doctor said he had mysteriously disappeared without leaving any identification information. I also asked the security guard at the entrance of my residential area, and he told me that the old man had been lingering around the entrance since 3:00 am, looking very suspicious. Whenever he heard a car coming, he would go over to take a look, until he saw my car, then he rushed out. What's more, another security guard had asked him if he was waiting for someone, but the old man didn't respond. The security guard only heard him muttering some numbers under his breath, and only managed to make out the last three digits - which were exactly the last three digits of my license plate number! It can be seen that he wasn't randomly selecting targets, he was waiting specifically for me. He's old, if he hadn't been constantly reciting my license plate number, he would have forgotten it. In order to wait for me, in order to risk his life by crashing into me, he probably spent more than two hours from 3:00 am to 5:00 am reciting my license plate number!"

  "He didn't write down the license plate number, probably because he didn't want to leave any evidence," Ling Lan said, voicing her thoughts.

  "I never gave up looking for him, not to thank him for letting me escape by luck, but I want to ask clearly, who is the one who instructed him to do this and what is his purpose! It's very clear that he used his life to complete this task, a person willing to pay with his life, what kind of motivation is behind him!"

  Ling Lan agreed with Gu Hanhao's point of view, she didn't think that what happened to Gu Hanhao was just a coincidence, after all, there were too many suspicious places in it. But did this really have anything to do with her own narrow escape today?

  "This year, I've made many terrible guesses. If this isn't a coincidence, then the person behind the scenes manipulating the old man is too terrifying to think about. Let's not talk about what his purpose was, how did he know that day's action would fail? Maybe he himself has some connection with that fugitive or gun smuggling gang. If so, I'll never let him go." Gu Hanhao looked at Ling Lan very seriously, obviously taking her as his ally. "Originally, I also had a doubt in my heart, maybe the incident was just my overthinking, and it's just a coincidence. But when this kind of thing happened to you too, I think the probability of it being purely coincidental is extremely low."

  "Do you think that the mysterious person behind sending out the old man and this time sending out the heavily made-up woman is the same person?" Ling Lan asked.

  Gu Hanhao nodded solemnly, his expression serious. "The same modus operandi, my intuition tells me that the possibility of it being the same person is extremely high. It's also possible that it's not the same person, but rather a group or a large criminal organization. And we two may have some common characteristics or secret connections that make us particularly significant to that mysterious person or organization, and cannot be killed by accident. Oh, and I'd like to emphasize that in my past experience with cases, my intuition has been accurate over 85% of the time."

  Ling Lan was startled by Gu Hanhao's "alarming words" and couldn't help but think that this Gu Hanhao was a very pessimistic person, who had thought the situation was so severe that he even mentioned a "huge criminal organization". It's no wonder, as a detective, he deals with bloodshed and violence every day, it's not surprising that he has developed a crisis phobia.

  Ling Lan shifted the topic, "Regarding that suspicious old man, I think you shouldn't just go find this old man, but should find the family that is missing an elderly person like him. This family probably left behind several frail women and children who were struggling to survive from day to day a year ago, and now..."

  Gu Hanhao smiled and interrupted Ling Lan, "It's really that people can't be judged by their appearance. You're just a young girl who hasn't even graduated from college yet, and you've thought of this point. Unfortunately, following this line of thinking to search for it still yields nothing."

  Ling Lan felt a bit annoyed, not only because the ideas she provided had already been thought of by others, but also because Gu Han Hao described her as an inexperienced little girl, saying that one cannot judge a person by their appearance, implying that she looked like a brainless fool.

  "Back to the topic, what does that heavily made-up woman look like?" Gu Hanhao said as he prepared his pen and paper.

  "Can you do this?" Ling Lan looked at Gu Han with interest, "Indeed, one cannot judge a person by appearance." (Download this book by entering or searching for "book name + Ha Shi Ba") You can search for the latest updates of this book on Baidu by typing "Mi Qing Zhui Xiong Ha Shi Ba"!