Chapter Fifteen Nightmare

  The report from the Procuratorate will not be out until tomorrow, so Guo Yining has to stay behind and work overtime. Fang You and Yang Rong decide to stay as well, to review the videos of cat abuse and see if they can find any leads from the uploaders. Wu Hui is not part of the Major Crimes Investigation Unit, so there's no point in him staying, and he decides to head home with Zhang Qiang instead.

  Zhang Qiang walked back with a happy heart, humming a little tune, shaking his head and swaying his body.

  Wu Hui helplessly looked at Zhang Qiang and sighed deeply, "Drive carefully."

  "Wu Hui, I've got a proposition for you." Zhang Qiang looked at Wu Hui with some ill intent.

  "No way." Wu Hui rejected Zhang Qiang without even thinking about it.

  Before he could even finish speaking, Wu Hui had already refused. Zhang Qiang was somewhat annoyed and slowed down the car, pulling over to the side of the road. He turned around to face Wu Hui and said, "I haven't even told you what it's about yet, and you're already refusing. Isn't that a bit too much?"

  Wu Hui didn't look at Zhang Qiang, but stared at the front of the car. "I don't know what you're thinking in your heart, are you trying to create an opportunity to be with Yang Rong? I've told you before, it's not allowed!"

  Zhang Qiang reluctantly turned around, also looking out of the car window, somewhat angry. In the past, when Wu Hui cracked a case, he would always take Zhang Qiang with him. However, since that incident five years ago, Wu Hui had made three rules for Zhang Qiang: not to appear at the scene of the crime, not to touch any criminal cases, and not to mention what happened back then. If Zhang Qiang couldn't do this, he would keep his distance from Wu Hui and not enter his life again.

  These five years, Zhang Qiang stayed by Wu Hui's side, but he couldn't enter his world. Whatever was on Wu Hui's mind, whatever questions he had, he wouldn't discuss them with Zhang Qiang anymore. Although they maintained the current calm surface, both of them knew that there was something between them that neither could cross.

  The two men sat in the car, neither of them speaking a word. Zhang Qiang was already used to Wu Hui's current demeanor, where he kept everything to himself and no longer spoke his mind like he used to. He knew that this request was unreasonable on his part, so he decided not to bring up past matters again and changed the subject instead. "What do you want to eat? I'll treat!"

  Wu Hui knew what Zhang Qiang was thinking, he had been investigating the case for days, even in his dreams at night, he saw the four victims' dead faces, which kept his nerves tense all the time. "Let's go have a drink."

  Zhang Qiang was surprised by Wu Hui's words, as Wu Hui wasn't a person who liked to drink. He could be said to have never touched a drop of alcohol in his daily life. He didn't like liquor because he had said that it would numb his brain and make him lose his ability to think. It hadn't occurred to Zhang Qiang that Wu Hui would take the initiative to ask for a drink today, perhaps because of what Zhang Qiang had just said, which made Wu Hui recall unhappy memories again.

  Zhang Qiang found a 24-hour hot pot restaurant, the store is not very big, it should be some years old, the tables and chairs inside are a bit worn out, there are black spots on the tables that were left after being burned by alcohol, at the cash register sat a middle-aged woman in her forties, who should be the boss of this store, somewhat stout, with many oil stains on her dark purple down jacket, probably from splashing when clearing the tables of hot pot customers.

  Zhang Qiang opened the door, and a gust of cold wind blew in. The middle-aged woman with her head down looked up and warmly welcomed Zhang Qiang. The two sat down by the window, although it was already past 10 pm, there were still two tables of people eating hot pot. As soon as they entered the hot pot restaurant, they were hit with the strong smell of hot pot, and suddenly the two who weren't hungry felt their stomachs growl with hunger.

  The temperature difference between inside and outside the store was quite large. As soon as Wu Hui entered the store, he took off his glasses, and a layer of white mist quickly formed on them. Wu Hui wiped them with a tissue and put them back on again.

  A middle-aged woman saw the two men sit down, then brought out two sets of tableware for them. She handed a menu to Zhang Qiang, who looked at it carefully, putting a tick next to the dishes he wanted to eat. After finishing, he handed the menu back to the middle-aged woman, who glanced at Wu Hui and saw that he had no objections, smiled slightly, and then left.

  After a while, a young man in his twenties brought up the hot pot base, opened the alcohol stove, and Zhang Qiang and Wu Hui just sat there, waiting for the pot to open. During this time, the young man brought all the dishes that Zhang had ordered.

  The sky was getting colder and there were fewer people on the road. The two of them sat by the window, so they could see everything outside. Wu Hui looked out the window, not intentionally, but he always had a habit of glancing at the cars parked outside and memorizing their license plate numbers in his mind. This habit was something he couldn't get rid of no matter what.

  Seeing Wu Hui staring at the car parked outside the window, Zhang Qiang knew that Wu Hui was forcing himself again. "Boss, bring two bottles of beer."

  Wu Hui withdrew his gaze from outside the window and looked at Liu Qiang opposite him, "Qiangzi, shouldn't you be thinking about your own affairs?"

  "Mind your own business, and I'll mind mine." Wu Hui's words made Zhang Qiang somewhat unhappy, but he wouldn't show it. Some decisions were his to make, so he didn't want others to influence his choices, not even Wu Hui.

  They discuss this topic every year, and it always ends in a quarrel. Despite this, Wu Hui still wants to advise him, "Qiangzi, you have your own things to do, why must you stick around me?"

  When the waiter brought two bottles of beer, Zhang Qiang held the mouth of one bottle with his left hand and a pair of chopsticks in his right hand. With the support of his left hand, he used force with his right hand to open the beer. He repeated the same action to open another bottle of beer. "You control what I say and what I eat, why should I leave? Such a good thing, you want me to give it up? Do you think I'm stupid?"

  Zhang Qiang took the cup in front of Wu Hui, rinsed it with tea water, poured a full glass of beer for him, and placed it in front of him. Wu Hui looked at the wine glass in front of him and said, "I won't be able to persuade you this year, but I'll bring it up again next year."

  "Now that we know the outcome, let's just drink and not say anything else. Today, I won't leave until I'm drunk." Zhang Qiang raised his wine glass, clinked it against Wu Hui's cup, and downed it in one gulp.

  Wu Hui shook his head, picked up the wine glass and took a sip. He wouldn't allow himself to get drunk. "No way, I need to stay sober. There are still some things that haven't been figured out."

  Zhang Qiang poured himself another full cup, seeing Wu Hui had only taken a sip and refilled his cup. "If you can't think it through, then don't think about it. Why make yourself live so miserably? Tonight, just drink some wine and sleep more soundly. Tomorrow's affairs, leave them for tomorrow."

  Under Zhang Qiang's repeated persuasion, Wu Hui downed the beer in his cup in one gulp. As long as he drank, Zhang Qiang would absolutely not let go, pouring cup after cup into him until he was somewhat drunk.

  The two of them kept drinking until it was a bit late. Zhang Qian glanced at the boss at the cash register, yawned repeatedly, and since they were the only table left in the store, she thought Wu Hui had also had enough to drink for today. She made a phone call to hail a ride, and soon the driver arrived. He then paid the bill and walked out of the store.

  On the way back, Wu Hui didn't say a word, Zhang Qiang was somewhat worried, "How are you, are you okay?"

  "I'm fine, I just need to go home and sleep it off." He had indeed drunk a lot today, his head was spinning, and he felt a numbness in his hands.

  Wu Hui returned home and went straight to his bedroom, without even greeting Zhang Qiang. Looking at Wu Hui's closed bedroom door, Zhang Qiang stood still, unmoving. Five years had passed, a long time yet not so long, why couldn't he just come out? Wu Hui was too clever, the more intelligent someone is, the easier they get trapped, and once trapped, they can't escape. Why couldn't he be a bit more foolish? If only he were a bit more foolish, he wouldn't have to live such a hard life like this now.

  Wu Hui returned to his room, still in his clothes, and lay down on the bed. If only he could get drunk, that would be great. Drunk, he wouldn't have to think about anything, just quietly sleep, and worry about things after waking up. He envied those who chose self-protection to avoid painful memories, forgetting what they didn't want to remember. If only he could do the same, how wonderful it would be.

  At 4:00 in the morning, Wu Hui suddenly sat up from bed, hunched over, panting heavily, with sweat-drenched hair stuck to his face, making it impossible to see his expression. In the darkness, Wu Hui looked like a soul returning from hell, except for his violently gasping body, he remained motionless in a hunched sitting position.

  Wu Hui tried to control the violent pounding in his chest, his tightly clenched fists revealing white knuckles. The more he tried to control his fear, the more ferocious it became. Before long, his body was shaking even harder, and a strange sound came from his mouth - a sound that was forced out by biting his lips. He was crying, trying not to make a sound, but the more he restrained himself, the less he could control it. Finally, he couldn't hold back anymore and rushed into the bathroom, turning on the faucet to mask the sound of his sobs. Under the cover of the running water, Wu Hui curled up in a corner like a child, hugging his legs and letting out loud wails that sent shivers down people's spines on this quiet night, like the howling of a ghost.

  Zhang Qiang heard some noise coming from Wu Hui's room, so he stuck his ear to the door and listened. Was he having another nightmare? Although Wu Hui had been having nightmares frequently over the past few years, it hadn't been this often recently. In just these short few days, this was already the second time he'd been woken up by a nightmare. Could it be because he'd gotten in touch with the case again? Thinking of this, Zhang Qiang felt some regret. He had originally hoped that Wu Hui would slowly find himself again through solving the case, but now it seemed like he'd pushed him too hard. Shouldn't he let him withdraw from the case?

  Zhang Qiang raised his hand to knock on the door, but hesitated when his fingers were about to touch it. At this moment, Wu Hui didn't want anyone to see him in such a sorry state, not even Zhang Qiang. After thinking for a moment, Zhang Qiang put down his hand and slowly sat down at the entrance, leaning against the door. He could clearly hear Wu Hui's sobbing coming from inside. Zhang Qiang remained silent and still, just sitting there like that, without moving.

  Starting point welcomes readers to visit, the latest, fastest and most popular serialized works are all on the starting point of original!