On a chilly autumn night on the mountain trail, Jiayi stood by the roadside with a baseball bat, waiting. It wasn’t Fang Zhenyue who arrived first, but Uncle Jiu, who had returned with his car.
They had driven a bit when they realized Sir Fang’s jeep wasn’t keeping up. Remembering a sanitation worker they had passed who had acted oddly, they sensed something was wrong and turned back.
After Jiayi explained the situation on the hillside, Uncle Jiu placed a red warning cone about a hundred meters behind the car. Everyone then waited together for the forensic chemist and Brother Yue. Suddenly, it didn’t feel so cold anymore.
“If he was really stabbed while wearing that suit, the blade would have likely gutted him,” Liu Jiaming, standing next to the sanitation worker and using his flashlight, shone light on the suit while frowning deeply.
“When I went down to the hillside, I saw a lot of blood. If it all came from one person, the chances of them still being alive are very slim,” Jiayi said, standing next to Liu Jiaming. Now with more people around, they weren’t afraid of a possible returning murderer and could speak freely.
Sanfu, after taking the sanitation worker’s statement next to Uncle Jiu’s car and having him sign it, came back and took the caution tape from Uncle Jiu’s car. He made a circle with it and isolated the sanitation worker outside it, no longer allowing him to come closer.
“The sanitation worker didn’t see anything, almost the same as the clues we gathered; at most, he could slightly advance the timing of when the suit appeared here,” Sanfu said, unconsciously turning towards Jiayi as he spoke.
“The suit was severely damaged. From how it hung on the bushes, it seems it was caught by thorns during an escape, tearing as the person ran,” Jiayi thought for a moment and then added:
“When I looked down earlier, I didn’t see any injured person nor signs of further movement downwards. The bushes that were pushed aside stopped less than two meters below where the suit got caught. If there really was someone, they might have been pulled back. The footprints indicate that as well.”
“Was he dragged back, or did he walk back on his own?” Sanfu asked.
“Dragged, I guess…” Jiayi recalled the footprints she had observed, noting they were chaotic with signs of a struggle.
“Let’s hope it was just a false alarm,” Uncle Jiu said, arms crossed and stamping his feet. The evening chill was a bit too much for a middle-aged man edging into his later years.
“In this line of work, you really have to be prepared for anything at all times,” Jiayi said, the wind making her fear being blown down the slope, unconsciously she took a few steps back from the edge.
Fang Zhenyue, worried about his jeep blocking the road on the mountain trail, had run down instead of driving.
His short hair, damp with sweat and slightly heavier, was blown back by the wind as he approached at a slower pace, exuding a robust and vibrant aura.
“Everything okay?” Fang Zhenyue’s gaze first fell on Jiayi’s face before he looked around at the others.
“All good, Brother Yue,” Jiayi responded, then yawned.
Fang Zhenyue then arranged for the sanitation workers to leave their contact information and depart. The other detectives paired up to take turns guarding the scene, while the remaining four went to Uncle Jiu’s car for a nap.
Jiayi was the first to be scheduled for rest, with Fang Zhenyue and Liu Jiaming standing guard in the first shift.
Uncle Jiu’s car was small, but wrapped in the car’s air-conditioning blanket and dozing off, there was still a sense of bliss.
Upon opening your eyes, you could see the nighttime view of the bay through the window, and resting was certainly more comfortable than standing guard.
Jiayi slept through two shifts and it wasn’t yet her turn to stand guard when a team of forensic scientists dispatched by the Central District Police Station arrived on the mountain. Fang Zhenyue went over to coordinate, and everyone together conducted an on-site investigation.
A rope was tied around the forensic scientists, with large lights making it as bright as day. The physically stronger Fang Zhenyue and Sanfu pulled on the rope from above to ensure the safety of the scientists.
Liu Jiaming and Gary stood behind holding the lights, ready to adjust the direction of the lights according to the scientists’ needs.
Senior forensic scientist Teresa collected some blood and handed it to Ah Wei, a male forensic scientist squatting on the roadside. Ah Wei immediately began the test using some reagents on site.
A few minutes later, he stood up and reported to Fang Zhenyue and Teresa:
“It’s confirmed to be human blood.”
Fang Zhenyue took out a set of keys from his pocket and threw them to Jiayi:
“You and Uncle Jiu go to my house together, call the police team to request support from a PTU search squad. We need to conduct a victim search on the cliffs of Shixun Road at the mountain top, and also call a team of police dogs.”
“Yes, sir.” Jiayi caught the keys, saluted in response, and then quickly returned with Uncle Jiu to Fang Zhenyue’s villa.
While on the phone, Jiayi took the opportunity to look around and found that Sir Fang had arranged for her eldest brother and Jiaru and Jiajun to stay in three separate guest rooms. This arrangement surprisingly allowed the siblings to each have their own room in the villa.
When Jiayi went to check on Jiaru, she found the young girl wasn’t asleep but was excitedly peering out the window at the night view of the bay.
“Big sister, what’s happening? Has someone had an accident? Do we need to stay up all night?” Normally, the little girl would be sleepy by now, but at this moment her eyes were wide open like brass bells.
“I don’t know yet, I have to go to the scene again. You should go to sleep, otherwise, you’ll have panda eyes for school tomorrow.” Jiayi went over and gently stroked her sister’s soft, long hair.
“That would actually be great. If classmates ask why I stayed up, I’ll say, ‘Ha, I couldn’t sleep because I’m not used to the big villa. Hahaha… That way, they’ll all know I had the chance to sleep in a big villa,” Jiaru laughed proudly.
“…” Jiayi frowned and tilted her head, staring at her sister, puzzled by her logic.
Seeing her big sister’s expression, Jiaru immediately realized her mistake and earnestly said, “I was just talking to big sister, fantasizing a bit here. Of course, I won’t boast to my classmates, that would just make people jealous.”
“…” Jiayi patted Jiaru’s head, saying with a laugh, “Go to sleep early, don’t let your imagination run wild.”
“Big sister, don’t you think that Brother Yue is very nice to you?” Jiaru asked curiously, tilting her head.
“Sir Fang is a leader, don’t get any funny ideas,” Jiayi cautioned, patting her sister’s head again.
“Got it, we have to keep him on his toes. Things that are too easy to get aren’t appreciated. Keep him hanging for a year and a half before agreeing, then keep him hanging a few more months before kissing. Big sister, you really know what you’re doing, you’ve got the timing just right,” Jiaru nodded seriously.
“…” Jiayi tilted her head and scowled, “Watch less of those Taiwanese romance novels!”
“Yu Qing, Xi Juan, they are all really good,” Jiaru said, laughing as she nodded, promising never to let it interfere with her studies, while carefully studying her big sister.
After probing repeatedly, she really couldn’t tell whether her big sister actually liked Sir Fang. Ah, the heart of a woman, truly as elusive as a needle in the sea.
With no time to properly discuss this with her sister, Jiayi firmly smacked her sister’s buttock, ordering the little rascal to go to sleep immediately. After closing the door for her sister, she met up with Uncle Jiu who had just used the restroom, and they both headed down to inspect the scene together.
By then, the PTU search team had already arrived. The Flying Tigers are also part of the PTU mobile force, but the team called this time was not the highly skilled Special Duties Unit, but the regular blue berets.
As needed, the PTU dispatched two platoons totaling 16 people, including 4 inspectors and 12 police officers.
These four inspectors were of the same rank as Fang Zhenyue, all known as ‘Station Sergeants,’ so Fang Zhenyue did not need to salute them, but Liu Jiaming and others did need to salute and greet them.
After Jiayi and Uncle Jiu rejoined the team, they first approached Fang Zhenyue, saluted him, and greeted the four PTU inspectors.
After exchanging pleasantries, they got to work.
Roping down and climbing the slope, the movements were swift, showing the PTU officers’ well-trained capabilities.
After the police dog was assigned a safe search area, Jiayi stood for a while and then also spoke up to Fang Zhenyue to request a task:
“Brother Yue, let me be responsible for searching an area too.”
Standing a few steps away, PTU Chief Nie Chen couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.
Jiayi and Fang Zhenyue both looked towards Nie Chen. Nie Chen tensed his muscles, leaned back, and grabbed the rope tied around the waist of a fellow officer preparing to descend for the search, ensuring the rope was tightly secured. While rhythmically feeding the rope, he softly said:
“Perhaps the fierce lady should stay above and handle flexible tasks, it’s too dark and risky down here.”
Jiayi sensed the arrogance in Nie Chen’s words and slightly furrowed her brow.
Fang Zhenyue, noticing the displeased expression on the policewoman, which even affected her lips and nose, gave a slight smile and ignored Nie Chen. Instead, he nodded to Jiayi and said:
“You take charge of the descent and search, Uncle Jiu will hold your rope, okay?”
“No problem, sir,” Jiayi responded with a strong voice.
“Yes, sir,” Uncle Jiu saluted and echoed.
When taking over the rope, Uncle Jiu turned to glance at Fang Zhenyue, who was also looking back. At the moment their eyes met, Uncle Jiu said softly but solemnly, “Don’t worry, I stake my life on it, I will keep a tight grip on Eleven and ensure nothing happens to her.”
Fang Zhenyue didn’t reply, only nodding his head.
Jiayi and Uncle Jiu, while coiling the rope, brushed past the PTU officers along the roadside, each officer managing their rope while unconsciously sizing up Jiayi.
Some had seen her picture in the newspaper, others had heard stories about this female officer, and still others were completely unaware of the media reports or police gossip. Whether they had heard of Officer Jiayi or not, they all didn’t really know her and were skeptical and curious about whether she truly was competent, or if it was all just an empty reputation.
They scrutinized the tall, good-looking young female detective, wondering if her palms could handle the rough abrasion of the hemp rope, if her slender arms were strong enough to hold the rope tightly, and if her straight, beautiful legs had enough muscle to navigate steep slopes and support her weight.
Some were also inwardly skeptical: Perhaps this female officer was just showing off? Any slip-up could be serious, and this was no joking matter.
Although the PTU officers only assessed the policewoman with their eyes and didn’t actually say anything, Jiayi knew that strangers always tend to scrutinize and doubt others.
Especially when one is such a unique presence as herself.
But Jiayi did not give much attention to the looks or reactions; she just straightened her back, walked steadily, tightened the rope around her waist, fitted her headlamp securely, and tightened her gloves. She clenched her fists repeatedly to feel the strength in her arm muscles, focusing her attention on every muscle from her fingers, palms, forearms, upper arms, shoulders, calves, thighs, to her buttocks.
She stomped her feet twice, stretched her arms, performed a chest expansion exercise, and, like the PTU officers before descending, did leg stretches and light jumps to ensure she was unproblematic. Then, recalling the various harsh environment training sessions from police academy, she took five deep breaths to adjust her mood and condition.
Then, with both hands on the rope, she looked up at Uncle Jiu and said:
“I’m ready.”
“Rest assured, I will hold on to you,” Uncle Jiu said as he positioned himself with one leg forward and the other back, leaning slightly backward. He wrapped the shaking rope around his wrist, crossed his hands, and then looked up, locking eyes with Jiayi and nodding to encourage her to proceed boldly.
The night wind continued to blow, and the sky grew even darker, but the mountaintop cliff was brightly illuminated by various lights.
Jiayi stomped on the ground firmly, swallowed dryly, and then gripped the hemp rope, carefully making her way down step by step. The slope of the cliff varied, sometimes gentle, sometimes steep. Bushes scraped against Jiayi’s pant legs and elbows, hindering her movement.
Occasionally, a sharp pain would make her hiss when her arm was scraped or she stepped on a rolling stone, forcing her to clutch the rope tightly to stabilize herself. Even with gloves on, the friction from the rope burned her palms, not completely shielding her from the pain. She would frown and silently curse those criminals who caused harm and made the police suffer like this…
But remembering the skeptical looks of others and her own solemn vow to become a chief inspector, she gritted her teeth and endured.
“Never mind, after the search operation is over, I can just hide under my blanket, warm my hands, massage my feet, and cry quietly,” she thought. For now, she had to endure no matter what.
Her heart was tender, enduring the pain and cursing the bad guys, yet her speed was unaffected, and her eyes still searched around like an owl hunting for prey.
She pushed aside bushes, kicked away rolling stones, and illuminated every spot within her search area. Jiayi descended further and further, gradually reaching the distance typical of PTU officers.
At the same time, she didn’t just look around blindly but kept searching for the position of a blood-stained suit while recalling the direction of the footprints she had seen while descending with Fang Zhenyue, focusing her search along the extended line of those footprints.
After about ten minutes down the slope, Jiayi’s eyes lit up. Right in the area covered by the extended line of the footprints, she saw something black.
“Uncle Jiu, let out another 10 centimeters of rope!” she shouted loudly.
“Okay!” Uncle Jiu responded, releasing the rope smoothly by a few centimeters at a time until it reached the length Jiayi had requested, then tensed the rope to secure it.
Once Jiayi had secured her footing, she pulled on the rope and pushed aside two springy branches covering the black object, and immediately exclaimed in surprise:
“It’s a big Nokia phone!”
A blood-stained Nokia phone, as large as a landline phone handset, complete with an antenna on top!
….
Footnotes:
PTU stands for Police Tactical Unit. It is a specialized branch of police forces found in various countries, most notably in Hong Kong. The PTU is trained to handle a wide range of situations, including crowd control, anti-terrorism operations, and large-scale emergencies. They are often equipped with specialized gear and receive training that prepares them to deal with more complex and high-risk situations than regular police officers.