Trafford's Trading Club

The exact time was about 4:00 AM in the early morning.

Of course, it was the time Ma Houde arrived at the gymnasium, instead of the time when the person on the site found the body and reported the case.

When Ma Houde arrived, the policeman that came earlier had cordoned the scene.

It was winter, Officer Ma still felt a little cold going out on this time even though the cold wasnʼt so bad in the south.

He rubbed his hands subconsciously. When he was about 20 meters away from the real scene, he suddenly looked around mysteriously.

Officer Ma, Miss Ren wouldnʼt come here at this time and I remember she doesnʼt like to stay up late?” Lin Feng whispered beside Ma Houde.

”Not really! She dares not to stay up late only when Luo Qiu is at home.” Ma Houde said.

But soon he found something wrong, said suddenly, ”Do you think I am the kind of person that will be once bitten twice shy thus be dominated by that horror, Ren Ziling, each time I come to the scene of the murder?”

ʼHavenʼt you already confessed…ʼ

Lin Feng…Officer Lin shook his head, and said immediately, ”Officer Ma, case first! Case first!”

…

Then they crossed the cordon and came to the place where the body was found.

Ma Houde looked for a long while, then frowned, ”I have never seen such a scene of death in my life!”

As per the comments of the worker who found the body, they soon found the platform the dead once laid on.

”Officer Ma!”

A young man in a police uniform waved his hand to Ma Houde.

Ma Houde asked directly, ”Xiao Bao, why is it only you here, where is Old Qin?”

”Oh, Section Chief is on leave!” Technician Xiao Bao replied at once.

”On leave?” Ma Houde gave a start, ”He would stay in office almost every night for half a year and he actually asked for leave?”

Xiao Bao said, ”I donʼt know. I saw the message from him when I went to work yesterday. He said that he would take leave for some days with the approval of the director.

”How many days?”

”He didnʼt mention that.” Xiao Bao shrugged, ”He said that he will come back when itʼs time for that.”

”Will come back when itʼs time for that? What does he mean? Mysterious…” Ma Houde frowned, but he didnʼt want to ask more at this time, so he said, ”Fine, did you find any clues here?”

Xiao Bao said, ”We found some footprints on that platform with the deceasedʼs blood… Emm, as per the wound of the body, he was not cut by the thin steel cable on the platform. In fact, it is not possible for the steel cable to make such big and neat wound… Officer Ma, have you seen the body? It was cut from the left shoulder till the right side of the waist. We are collecting the falling remains.”

”By sword? Ma Houde asked suddenly.

”Sword?” Xiao Bao was surprised, ”Officer Ma, how could you confirm that it is a sword? We have not even made any hypothesis, let alone confirmation.”

Ma Houde asked, ”Then do you think there is any relation between the dead and the body of the tramp we found last time?”

”I am not sure about that.” Xiao Bao frowned, ”Your case made you think that they have a connection, but we have to check the case from the point of forensicsʼ view when everything is approved.”

Ma Houde rolled his eyes, ”I donʼt see any ability you learned from Old Qin, but the wild goose chase is exactly the same! Forget it, go do your work, Iʼll ask the people around!”

…

Ma Houde and Lin Feng as well as the other police began asking the workers around about the case.

During this time, Ma Houde complained that there were so many people around. It was 6 Oʼclock, but the investigation was not even half complete.

They didnʼt find the murder weapon but only several small footprints and something like new scratches.

The body was taken to police station for checking.

Ma Houde comforted the deceasedʼs family that came from a long distance just as the body was just sent away. He felt a headache but still stayed here until seven oʼclock without any clues.

”Officer Ma, I couldnʼt get coffee… Is Red Bull okay?”

”All right.” Ma Houde shook his head, sitting down tiredly on a stone chair outside the gymnasium.

Just at this time, they saw a little boy and a little girl who was slightly older.

The boy looked a little odd… Office Ma thought so.

”Uncle, what happened here?” The boy ran to Ma Houde and Lin Feng, and asked in curiosity.

Ma Houde touched the little boyʼs head softly, ”Little child, donʼt ask about that. You havenʼt arrived at school now, arenʼt you worried about being late?”

”Hee hee~” The boy asked suddenly, ”Uncle, are you a policeman?”

”Yeah.” Ma Houde smiled, ”We didnʼt wear any uniforms so how did you know that?”

”Because you have the credentials hanging on your neck.”

Ma Houde gave a start, and then smiled, ”Clever boy… Okay, since you have known that I am a policeman, then donʼt bother me… By the way, tell me something honestly, alright?”

”Sure! My mother told me that we have to tell the truth to policemen.”

What a good boy… Ma Houde asked, ”Do you live nearby? Have you seen any strangers when you came out this morning?”

The boy shook his head, ”I didnʼt see anyone but I can tell you if I see someone?”

Ma Houde thought even if the boy saw some strangers… Who knows how many strangers that the boy would see in a day? So he shook his head, ”You donʼt need to do that… Okay, just go to school! Donʼt bother uncle here.”

”Okay!” the boy then ran back quickly to the girl, taking her hand and left.

”It is good to be young.” Ma Houde yawned, ”Wait, those two little devils, are they in a relationship?”

”Maybe they are the big sister and the little brother?” Lin Feng said.

Ma Houde frowned, and drank all the rest Red Bull. He patted his face and stood up, ”Get back to work! Hey... It must be puppy love, I bet on it!”

”…”

”Cheese, did you get anything?”

Nini asked---It was the daytime, Nini had turned into the appearance of a little girl.

She and Cheese were hiding behind the billboard outside the gymnasium.

”No.”

Cheese shook his head, saying, ”But it seems they have not found any clues yet… The man on the helicopter should not have seen anything last night.”

Nini was worried, she grabbed Cheeseʼs arm suddenly, saying, ”Cheese, will the policeman find out that Wind-Chasing Wolf was the murderer who killed the man…”

”Nini!” Cheese frowned, ”Donʼt say like that! We didnʼt see Wind-Chasing Wolf kill the man, we just saw he was there!”

Nini was older then Cheese, but including Wind-Chasing Wolf, Cheese was the calmest one among the member of the Wind-Chasing Youth Group.

Nini signed, ”How could this be... Well, if you didnʼt quit when we chose the leader, then there wouldnʼt be so many problems...”

”Letʼs change the topic.” Cheese shook his head, and said, ”Where is Xiaojiang? Didnʼt we agree to meet here?”

”I donʼt know about that, why he hasnʼt arrived here?” Nini looked around… Suddenly, her face turned serious and trembled, ”Long, Long, Long…”

”Long what?” Cheese gave a start.

”Master Long!” Nini suddenly covered her mouth with her hands.

Cheese saw that Long Xiruo was walking toward them expressionlessly and Xiaojiang was just following her with head lowered.

Xiaojiang said, ”I am sorry Cheese, I, I was so scared so I told Master Long…”

”Xiaojiang, didnʼt we have a promise…” Cheese got angry immediately.

”Promise what?” Long Xiruo interrupted, ”Cover up?”

Cheese stopped speaking at the moment he saw the eyes of a real dragon of the Godly Land. He lowered his head and trembled.

Long Xiruo continued, ”As I said before, youths are not allowed to go out at night, didnʼt you remember that?”

Cheese suddenly raised his head, ”Master Long! Wind-Chasing Wolf didnʼt kill anyone! I know he wouldnʼt kill anyone!”

Long Xiruo looked at Cheese whose eyes looked very scared but determined, sighing, ”You are totally different from Shu You, you are braver.”

”I…”

Long Xiruo suddenly squatted down and touched the face of Cheese, ”I heard something from Su Zijun about your family. I intended to look for you after handling some things. You have suffered during this time. Donʼt you?”

Somehow, Cheeseʼs eyes turned red and sobbed uncontrollably.

He lowered his head and endured desperately, but he couldnʼt help but surge his throat, ”I... I didnʼt suffer!”

”Silly boy.”

Long Xiruo hugged him with her arms.

”I didnʼt suffer!”

Although he twitching on the shoulder of Long Xiruo, Cheese was still stubborn.

Because he told himself before, he would never cry again.