[trans] 48 hours; preface
Title: 48 hours
Character: Kris
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Warning: Character death
Rating: M
Summary: Trapped in the house, they are only given 48 hours. In that time frame, only one will survive out of the 12.
A/N: Original Chinese fanfic.
--------
preface
Lately the weather in LA is always sunny and pleasant. But even so, the number of patients who come to my clinic did not decrease. As usual my secretary would complain about the importance of her job in contrast to her low pay in between the tiny breaks that she gets from answering phone calls. Patients in the waiting room maintain their silence, drinking their water restlessly. Meanwhile, overgrown plants insolently curls about in this rather small area.only
I am a psychologist, 42 years old this year, and have had my license in America for more than 10 years. I am still single. Generally speaking, I don’t have much dissatisfaction in my life, but neither do I have much to look forward to.
Ever since my studying days LA has never really been peaceful. This of course is not the reason why I chose to study psychology in the first place. However when selecting my doctorate topic, I was unable to evade my interest. I’ll admit it, I always had more passion with regards to all types of psychological crime cases as opposed to marriage counselling and the like. There is no disdain towards my colleagues, instead it is merely my acknowledgement of my fate, because I understand that this is a dirty job. Four years ago, an autistic 40 year old man was suspected of wrapping up his 3 month old son in plastic wrap and then throwing him away in a rubbish bin 2 km from his house. His Thai wife couldn’t understand English and has since become mentally unstable after the incident. I remember that day wasn’t a particularly beautiful Christmas. In the interrogation room of the Federal Police Station, the man sitting opposite me for two hours eventually shed two tears that dropped into his cup of coffee, coffee which had already cooled.
Since then, I have become more and more familiar with the road to the police station, but only with the view of the streets because I always go there in the morning and return in the night. I'm a satisfactory supplier for the police, making use of my professional skills to buy the soul of the devil, and then selling it for a higher price to Satan. Of course, this does not include my soul.
My own soul does not need saving, I let it enjoy the sufferings from hell and gain happiness from it. The policemen need not know my sexual orientation, as it is not beneficial for my selling point. Instead it’ll make them think that I am a psychologist with mental problems myself.
Starting from last year, I intentionally reduced working together with them. With the substantial amount of private patients that come to me, I had no time to look after myself. I did not want to pressure myself to the point where I have to see a psychologist myself. However a major case occurred last week in LA involving a number of Asian descents. It may be due to the bizarre nature of the case as well as my personal familiarity with Asian psychology, but when the person in charge of this case, 40+ years old police inspector David, phoned me an invitation, I did not decline.
Simply put, a young and popular Korean idol group came to LA last friday in preparation for tour performances, interviews, MV shoots as well as a series of other activities. From the moment that they disembarked from the plane, they had disappeared without a trace. The local company personnel that were sent to pick them up did not manage to do so. They were separated from their accompanying staff as they went through different exit passages, and following that were uncontactable.
“I only heard two people calling out one of the member’s name in succession. I waited but no one came.” said a local staff.
It wasn’t until yesterday, this week’s Tuesday morning, that the police found them in a villa of a suburban farm.
Unfortunately, when they were found, only one of them was still alive. Moreover, he was sitting in the bathtub attempting to swallow a large dosage of heart disease pills. “He is just like you, a Chinese.” the handsome young police trainee Mike said while looking at me.
Due to the obvious intense psychological trauma that he suffered, after being found by the police he has refused to communicate with anyone. The frustrating thing is that he is the only person who knows the entire story. At the same time, even as he is being viewed as a victim, he has also become the biggest suspect. In addition to the temporary autism, he also has mood swings and tendencies of violence. Yesterday, as he was handed a pen to sign on identification verification documents, he even attempted to assault the police officer. Due to the highly sensitive nature of this case, he is now contained in the monitor room all day.
Even though his hair is disheveled, and he also hasn’t shaved for at least 2 days, there’s no other choice but to admit that God has given him extraordinary looks and stature. If I hadn’t known before hand that he was part of an idol group, I would have even used “heavenly shocking” to describe him.
It is clear that God has a preference for him. Not only is he blessed with extraordinary looks, but he was also able to retain his life.
His Chinese name is Wu Yifan, English name Kris, 24 years of age. His parents divorced when he was still young, and he previously had a short experience living abroad. Heterosexual, and has had several girlfriends. Judging from his resume, his family background is wealthy, he is well-educated, no history of significant medical illness, had no plastic surgery done, not dependant on drugs, no criminal record. He had a smooth road to stardom.
His interpersonal skills are normal, he was even one of the leaders of this idol group, and he had no autistic tendencies.
It has already been confirmed that of the dead victims, the majority are of Korean ethnicity, with only 3 similar to Kris, ethnic Chinese working in the Korean entertainment industry. Mike handed me a group photo taken backstage during one of their Tokyo concerts, they all looked like they were intimately close and had similar looks. In accordance with how bad Europeans’ are at differentiating Asians, of course they are unable to figure out who is who.
“Judging from the time of death, these four should have died within 18 hours of the discovery of their bodies.” Mike selected 4 photos from the crime scene and placed them in front of me. On each photo were their English names written with an ink pen. At this stage, the words helped us to identify the victims better than their faces did.
“The one called Chanyeol, was found in a cupboard on the first floor of the villa. The cause of death has been identified to be abdominal stab wounds. The suspected murder weapon is this magic prop.” He pointed at the retractable sword inserted into the door in the photo, “The murder weapon pierced through the door, directly stabbing into his abdomen causing his death.” It can be seen that the boy in the photo is quite tall, with his hair tied in a simple ponytail at the back of his head. His body was slanted with a few loose strands of hair covering his face
“Luhan, Chinese, was the only one found outside of the villa.” Mike’s slender fingers moved to the second victim of the four. “He attempted to climb out of the chimney, but unfortunately the cloth rope that he made out of bed linens could not support his weight and quickly snapped.” The face of the boy in the photo was unharmed, fair and handsome. Mike seemed to feel terribly sorry that this one victim had failed in his attempt to escape. “I don’t understand. In the centre of the first floor living room, there were a lot of disheveled plastic ropes. They are much more sturdier than this cloth rope made out of ripped bed linens. Why? What was he thinking?”
“You can ask him.” David, the one who summoned me here said suddenly from behind us. I’ve worked with him many times, and immediately held out my hand. “Long time no see old friend,” he smiled and shook my hand. “That kid is currently the most direct way to crack this case.” He pointed at the survivor sitting inside the monitor room. “I’ll treat you to a ski trip in Canada once you crack him.”
“My sincere thanks for your generosity, however,” I touched my nose, “Shouldn’t you honour the trip to Hawaii we talked about last time first? Moreover,” I looked inside at the motionless Kris, “You know that I’ve always had problems working with children, especially with such a cute kid.”
“The cute phase of his life is already over, especially if he continues to remain silent.” David patted my shoulder, “The job is yours now, soul selling master. Let me see him weeping with sorrow while he obediently recounts the case, and put the current expressionless face of his into your bag.” he said while walking out the room.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are very sick?” I said jokingly.
“Of course,” he looked back, “My wife tells me that everyday. It’s really weird that you’ve realised this too.” blinking while he said this.
“Go back to hell!” I watched as David left, and then looked at Mike, “Does your superior torture you like this everyday?”
“Nope, only you.” Mike playfully raised his eyebrows, “Oh that’s right, there’s also Mr survivor.”
“Abusing the prisoners? I can sue you, you know? This is considered racial discrimination.” I jokingly poked Mike with my arm.
“Oh come on! He’s the one that’s abusing us.” Mike said in frustration, “That kid has the same expression on his face the entire day, so still and motionless, acting as if he’s mute. We browsed through their past MVs in the office, and they were non stop singing and dancing. It’s really hard to imagine that it’s the same person.”
“Hey, he was alone in the same space with so many dead people for at least 5 hours. If it had been you, I reckon you’ll already be dead.” I said.
Mike smirked, “Dead? If we had been a little later, he would already be in heaven along with a stomach full of heart disease pills, oh wait, maybe he’d be in hell.”
“You really suspect it’s him?” I asked, “I prefer this kind of sick dark humor.”
“Maybe,” Mike curled his lip while shaking his head, “however he has to cooperate with us. Look at him now, just like a... lion whose whole body is covered in thorns and yet had it’s teeth and claws pulled out.”
“Lion? A cub?” I asked.
“24 years old is considered very young to you, isn’t it” Mike tilted his head.
“Oh of course, I prefer mature people. To be more precise, if someone of his age were to become my lover, I would feel like a criminal.” I said.
“Come on,” Mike shook his head in utter disbelief. “I don’t sleep with any woman over the age of 24 years old.”
“Oh that’s right, I forgot that you were also a cub.” I smiled as I looked at him. Before he could retort, I held up another photo, “Who is this? His skin tone is... very sexy. I mean, compared to the others.”
Mike looked at me in exasperation, shaking his head, before continuing on with his description, “Kai, Korean, also one of the four who died within 18 hours of discovery.” My eyes scanned the sombre photo while I listened to Mike’s incessant speech, “Before his death, he seemed to have been involved in a fierce fight, cause of death was the fatal blow to his neck. This person is kind of interesting,” Mike laughed, “Even till the end, he kept holding on to a beige coloured button tightly, a button from that boy’s collar.” He pointed at Kris who’s sitting in the chair staring blankly into space, “The skin cells that were found in his nails were tested and confirmed to match our sole survivor.”
I nodded my head. Cute cub, seems like you really are in some trouble.
“Lay, Chinese, 23 years of age, he bled to death.” Mike picked up the last photo. “His time of death is very short, there is a high possibility that he was the last person who died.” Mike said.
“Was this photo posed?” I asked.
“This is a photo taken on straight from the crime scene, as for being posed...” Mike turned to look at Kris, “You’ll have to ask him.”
At first glance, this photo looks like it could be a magazine cover shot. The boy named Lay was seated in the bedroom chair, facing the window. Under the gentle sunlight shining in, he looked extremely peaceful. There was even a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips, there wasn’t a hint of pain on his face at all. If you just look at the photo, he would look just like a teenager sleeping under the sunlight, if not for the shallow cut marks on his drooping right wrist and the trail of blood on the rug that led from the door to his wrist.
“Cuts of this depth are hardly ever fatal, however it is hard to say for a person who suffers from severe blood coagulation disorder.” Mike’s voice rang from the side, “Without immediate medical assistance and a supply of blood, the chances of death was almost 100%.”
“This was suicide then?” I asked.
“You think so?” Mike replied.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, “I’m not an expert, it’s just my gut instinct... I mean, look how peaceful he looks.” I pointed at the photo.
“Yeah it does seem like it, however...” Mike held up a photo of the bathroom, “The murder weapon, this broken piece of mirror, is covered entirely with Kris’s fingerprints. Obviously, before Kris attempted suicide,” Mike pointed to the side of the bathtub, “He even arranged the broken pieces of the mirror into a strange pattern. It is possible that at that point of time, his mental state was already unstable.”
I flipped the photo, it looked like a crooked polygon.
“Moreover, Kris was wearing two watches on his left wrist. One black and white while the other was pink. Both were of completely different makes and styles.” Mike recalled, “Both watches already stopped working, and they stopped at different times.”
“On the sink, there was a note with a Chinese address and phone number written on it,” Mike continued, “It has been confirmed to be that boy Luhan’s family address in Beijing and home phone number.”
“There are still many details that we are unable to explain for now, for example… the big hole in the Dance Dance Revolution machine and the boy Sehun who fell to his death in the basement. Next to where he landed, there was actually a small trampoline…” Mike continued, “There’s also an opened empty safe with a Rubik’s cube hanging at its side… it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a safe that opened via a Rubik’s cube.”
“In the first floor bathroom, two small Chinese characters were found written on the bottom right corner of the mirror...” I took the photo from Mike and studied it carefully, the two characters were Leave quickly.
“That boy Tao, Chinese, had left his entire left handprint on the left side of mirror when he was writing the characters.” Mike looked through the photos saying, “He died from abdominal trauma, the murder weapon is suspected to be to be a smashed vodka bottle.”
“Location of death?” I asked.
“The living room.: Mike answered.
“How about the others?” I asked.
“I’ve already said too much,” Mike shrugged, “You know, we have our own rules too. After all,” he looked at me apologetically, “You’re not a part of the investigation.”
“I understand,” it was silent for a moment as I tidied up the photos, “Thank you for explanation, it’s more detailed compared to before.” I looked at Mike with a smile.
“It’s not that I’ve explained in detail, but you who listened and took in more information than before.” Mike blinked.
“Alright, I’ll admit it.” I lowered my head and laughed at myself. Although we are all living beings, there is still inequality somewhere, for example the passing of a young and beautiful life is always regrettable, or God’s decision to let some live, and let others die.
“One last question,” I lifted my head asking, “Was last Friday a special day? A religious holiday?”
Mike looked at me, shaking his head, “To them it was indeed a memorable day. It was their 2nd year anniversary since debut.”
“You know even this?” I glanced at Mike.
“I’m not supposed to know this, but because of some details of this case, I had to know.” Mike said, “Alright, I can’t say anymore otherwise I’ll say something I shouldn’t.”
I smiled understandingly, “When can I talk to him?” I looked down to organise my files.
“Whenever you are ready,” Mike glanced at me, placing the files and photos in his hands down, “However you must inform me half an hour in advance. There are some small and tedious prep work to do.” he said as he walked towards the monitor room.
“Prep work?” I asked behind him.
“Oh, are you kidding me? He already attempted to assault one of our colleagues, and you,” he looked at me from top to bottom, “Gentle, frail doctor, I don’t want you to become a photo as well.”
“But I’m in the safest place in the city at the moment.” I blinked at him, “This gentle and frail doctor has magic that none of you have.”
Tilting his head ambiguously, Mike went in anyways, “Sorry, but duty calls. Also,” he turned back, “Don’t mention anything about magic to me right now, otherwise I will suspect you.”
--------
| 01
--------
This translation wouldn't be finished without the help of madelyn93! She is such a life saver! Chinese proverbs will be the death of me I swear.
Character: Kris
Genre: Mystery, Thriller, Suspense
Warning: Character death
Rating: M
Summary: Trapped in the house, they are only given 48 hours. In that time frame, only one will survive out of the 12.
A/N: Original Chinese fanfic.
--------
preface
Lately the weather in LA is always sunny and pleasant. But even so, the number of patients who come to my clinic did not decrease. As usual my secretary would complain about the importance of her job in contrast to her low pay in between the tiny breaks that she gets from answering phone calls. Patients in the waiting room maintain their silence, drinking their water restlessly. Meanwhile, overgrown plants insolently curls about in this rather small area.only
I am a psychologist, 42 years old this year, and have had my license in America for more than 10 years. I am still single. Generally speaking, I don’t have much dissatisfaction in my life, but neither do I have much to look forward to.
Ever since my studying days LA has never really been peaceful. This of course is not the reason why I chose to study psychology in the first place. However when selecting my doctorate topic, I was unable to evade my interest. I’ll admit it, I always had more passion with regards to all types of psychological crime cases as opposed to marriage counselling and the like. There is no disdain towards my colleagues, instead it is merely my acknowledgement of my fate, because I understand that this is a dirty job. Four years ago, an autistic 40 year old man was suspected of wrapping up his 3 month old son in plastic wrap and then throwing him away in a rubbish bin 2 km from his house. His Thai wife couldn’t understand English and has since become mentally unstable after the incident. I remember that day wasn’t a particularly beautiful Christmas. In the interrogation room of the Federal Police Station, the man sitting opposite me for two hours eventually shed two tears that dropped into his cup of coffee, coffee which had already cooled.
Since then, I have become more and more familiar with the road to the police station, but only with the view of the streets because I always go there in the morning and return in the night. I'm a satisfactory supplier for the police, making use of my professional skills to buy the soul of the devil, and then selling it for a higher price to Satan. Of course, this does not include my soul.
My own soul does not need saving, I let it enjoy the sufferings from hell and gain happiness from it. The policemen need not know my sexual orientation, as it is not beneficial for my selling point. Instead it’ll make them think that I am a psychologist with mental problems myself.
Starting from last year, I intentionally reduced working together with them. With the substantial amount of private patients that come to me, I had no time to look after myself. I did not want to pressure myself to the point where I have to see a psychologist myself. However a major case occurred last week in LA involving a number of Asian descents. It may be due to the bizarre nature of the case as well as my personal familiarity with Asian psychology, but when the person in charge of this case, 40+ years old police inspector David, phoned me an invitation, I did not decline.
Simply put, a young and popular Korean idol group came to LA last friday in preparation for tour performances, interviews, MV shoots as well as a series of other activities. From the moment that they disembarked from the plane, they had disappeared without a trace. The local company personnel that were sent to pick them up did not manage to do so. They were separated from their accompanying staff as they went through different exit passages, and following that were uncontactable.
“I only heard two people calling out one of the member’s name in succession. I waited but no one came.” said a local staff.
It wasn’t until yesterday, this week’s Tuesday morning, that the police found them in a villa of a suburban farm.
Unfortunately, when they were found, only one of them was still alive. Moreover, he was sitting in the bathtub attempting to swallow a large dosage of heart disease pills. “He is just like you, a Chinese.” the handsome young police trainee Mike said while looking at me.
Due to the obvious intense psychological trauma that he suffered, after being found by the police he has refused to communicate with anyone. The frustrating thing is that he is the only person who knows the entire story. At the same time, even as he is being viewed as a victim, he has also become the biggest suspect. In addition to the temporary autism, he also has mood swings and tendencies of violence. Yesterday, as he was handed a pen to sign on identification verification documents, he even attempted to assault the police officer. Due to the highly sensitive nature of this case, he is now contained in the monitor room all day.
Even though his hair is disheveled, and he also hasn’t shaved for at least 2 days, there’s no other choice but to admit that God has given him extraordinary looks and stature. If I hadn’t known before hand that he was part of an idol group, I would have even used “heavenly shocking” to describe him.
It is clear that God has a preference for him. Not only is he blessed with extraordinary looks, but he was also able to retain his life.
His Chinese name is Wu Yifan, English name Kris, 24 years of age. His parents divorced when he was still young, and he previously had a short experience living abroad. Heterosexual, and has had several girlfriends. Judging from his resume, his family background is wealthy, he is well-educated, no history of significant medical illness, had no plastic surgery done, not dependant on drugs, no criminal record. He had a smooth road to stardom.
His interpersonal skills are normal, he was even one of the leaders of this idol group, and he had no autistic tendencies.
It has already been confirmed that of the dead victims, the majority are of Korean ethnicity, with only 3 similar to Kris, ethnic Chinese working in the Korean entertainment industry. Mike handed me a group photo taken backstage during one of their Tokyo concerts, they all looked like they were intimately close and had similar looks. In accordance with how bad Europeans’ are at differentiating Asians, of course they are unable to figure out who is who.
“Judging from the time of death, these four should have died within 18 hours of the discovery of their bodies.” Mike selected 4 photos from the crime scene and placed them in front of me. On each photo were their English names written with an ink pen. At this stage, the words helped us to identify the victims better than their faces did.
“The one called Chanyeol, was found in a cupboard on the first floor of the villa. The cause of death has been identified to be abdominal stab wounds. The suspected murder weapon is this magic prop.” He pointed at the retractable sword inserted into the door in the photo, “The murder weapon pierced through the door, directly stabbing into his abdomen causing his death.” It can be seen that the boy in the photo is quite tall, with his hair tied in a simple ponytail at the back of his head. His body was slanted with a few loose strands of hair covering his face
“Luhan, Chinese, was the only one found outside of the villa.” Mike’s slender fingers moved to the second victim of the four. “He attempted to climb out of the chimney, but unfortunately the cloth rope that he made out of bed linens could not support his weight and quickly snapped.” The face of the boy in the photo was unharmed, fair and handsome. Mike seemed to feel terribly sorry that this one victim had failed in his attempt to escape. “I don’t understand. In the centre of the first floor living room, there were a lot of disheveled plastic ropes. They are much more sturdier than this cloth rope made out of ripped bed linens. Why? What was he thinking?”
“You can ask him.” David, the one who summoned me here said suddenly from behind us. I’ve worked with him many times, and immediately held out my hand. “Long time no see old friend,” he smiled and shook my hand. “That kid is currently the most direct way to crack this case.” He pointed at the survivor sitting inside the monitor room. “I’ll treat you to a ski trip in Canada once you crack him.”
“My sincere thanks for your generosity, however,” I touched my nose, “Shouldn’t you honour the trip to Hawaii we talked about last time first? Moreover,” I looked inside at the motionless Kris, “You know that I’ve always had problems working with children, especially with such a cute kid.”
“The cute phase of his life is already over, especially if he continues to remain silent.” David patted my shoulder, “The job is yours now, soul selling master. Let me see him weeping with sorrow while he obediently recounts the case, and put the current expressionless face of his into your bag.” he said while walking out the room.
“Has anyone ever told you that you are very sick?” I said jokingly.
“Of course,” he looked back, “My wife tells me that everyday. It’s really weird that you’ve realised this too.” blinking while he said this.
“Go back to hell!” I watched as David left, and then looked at Mike, “Does your superior torture you like this everyday?”
“Nope, only you.” Mike playfully raised his eyebrows, “Oh that’s right, there’s also Mr survivor.”
“Abusing the prisoners? I can sue you, you know? This is considered racial discrimination.” I jokingly poked Mike with my arm.
“Oh come on! He’s the one that’s abusing us.” Mike said in frustration, “That kid has the same expression on his face the entire day, so still and motionless, acting as if he’s mute. We browsed through their past MVs in the office, and they were non stop singing and dancing. It’s really hard to imagine that it’s the same person.”
“Hey, he was alone in the same space with so many dead people for at least 5 hours. If it had been you, I reckon you’ll already be dead.” I said.
Mike smirked, “Dead? If we had been a little later, he would already be in heaven along with a stomach full of heart disease pills, oh wait, maybe he’d be in hell.”
“You really suspect it’s him?” I asked, “I prefer this kind of sick dark humor.”
“Maybe,” Mike curled his lip while shaking his head, “however he has to cooperate with us. Look at him now, just like a... lion whose whole body is covered in thorns and yet had it’s teeth and claws pulled out.”
“Lion? A cub?” I asked.
“24 years old is considered very young to you, isn’t it” Mike tilted his head.
“Oh of course, I prefer mature people. To be more precise, if someone of his age were to become my lover, I would feel like a criminal.” I said.
“Come on,” Mike shook his head in utter disbelief. “I don’t sleep with any woman over the age of 24 years old.”
“Oh that’s right, I forgot that you were also a cub.” I smiled as I looked at him. Before he could retort, I held up another photo, “Who is this? His skin tone is... very sexy. I mean, compared to the others.”
Mike looked at me in exasperation, shaking his head, before continuing on with his description, “Kai, Korean, also one of the four who died within 18 hours of discovery.” My eyes scanned the sombre photo while I listened to Mike’s incessant speech, “Before his death, he seemed to have been involved in a fierce fight, cause of death was the fatal blow to his neck. This person is kind of interesting,” Mike laughed, “Even till the end, he kept holding on to a beige coloured button tightly, a button from that boy’s collar.” He pointed at Kris who’s sitting in the chair staring blankly into space, “The skin cells that were found in his nails were tested and confirmed to match our sole survivor.”
I nodded my head. Cute cub, seems like you really are in some trouble.
“Lay, Chinese, 23 years of age, he bled to death.” Mike picked up the last photo. “His time of death is very short, there is a high possibility that he was the last person who died.” Mike said.
“Was this photo posed?” I asked.
“This is a photo taken on straight from the crime scene, as for being posed...” Mike turned to look at Kris, “You’ll have to ask him.”
At first glance, this photo looks like it could be a magazine cover shot. The boy named Lay was seated in the bedroom chair, facing the window. Under the gentle sunlight shining in, he looked extremely peaceful. There was even a hint of a smile on the corner of his lips, there wasn’t a hint of pain on his face at all. If you just look at the photo, he would look just like a teenager sleeping under the sunlight, if not for the shallow cut marks on his drooping right wrist and the trail of blood on the rug that led from the door to his wrist.
“Cuts of this depth are hardly ever fatal, however it is hard to say for a person who suffers from severe blood coagulation disorder.” Mike’s voice rang from the side, “Without immediate medical assistance and a supply of blood, the chances of death was almost 100%.”
“This was suicide then?” I asked.
“You think so?” Mike replied.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head, “I’m not an expert, it’s just my gut instinct... I mean, look how peaceful he looks.” I pointed at the photo.
“Yeah it does seem like it, however...” Mike held up a photo of the bathroom, “The murder weapon, this broken piece of mirror, is covered entirely with Kris’s fingerprints. Obviously, before Kris attempted suicide,” Mike pointed to the side of the bathtub, “He even arranged the broken pieces of the mirror into a strange pattern. It is possible that at that point of time, his mental state was already unstable.”
I flipped the photo, it looked like a crooked polygon.
“Moreover, Kris was wearing two watches on his left wrist. One black and white while the other was pink. Both were of completely different makes and styles.” Mike recalled, “Both watches already stopped working, and they stopped at different times.”
“On the sink, there was a note with a Chinese address and phone number written on it,” Mike continued, “It has been confirmed to be that boy Luhan’s family address in Beijing and home phone number.”
“There are still many details that we are unable to explain for now, for example… the big hole in the Dance Dance Revolution machine and the boy Sehun who fell to his death in the basement. Next to where he landed, there was actually a small trampoline…” Mike continued, “There’s also an opened empty safe with a Rubik’s cube hanging at its side… it’s the first time I’ve ever seen a safe that opened via a Rubik’s cube.”
“In the first floor bathroom, two small Chinese characters were found written on the bottom right corner of the mirror...” I took the photo from Mike and studied it carefully, the two characters were Leave quickly.
“That boy Tao, Chinese, had left his entire left handprint on the left side of mirror when he was writing the characters.” Mike looked through the photos saying, “He died from abdominal trauma, the murder weapon is suspected to be to be a smashed vodka bottle.”
“Location of death?” I asked.
“The living room.: Mike answered.
“How about the others?” I asked.
“I’ve already said too much,” Mike shrugged, “You know, we have our own rules too. After all,” he looked at me apologetically, “You’re not a part of the investigation.”
“I understand,” it was silent for a moment as I tidied up the photos, “Thank you for explanation, it’s more detailed compared to before.” I looked at Mike with a smile.
“It’s not that I’ve explained in detail, but you who listened and took in more information than before.” Mike blinked.
“Alright, I’ll admit it.” I lowered my head and laughed at myself. Although we are all living beings, there is still inequality somewhere, for example the passing of a young and beautiful life is always regrettable, or God’s decision to let some live, and let others die.
“One last question,” I lifted my head asking, “Was last Friday a special day? A religious holiday?”
Mike looked at me, shaking his head, “To them it was indeed a memorable day. It was their 2nd year anniversary since debut.”
“You know even this?” I glanced at Mike.
“I’m not supposed to know this, but because of some details of this case, I had to know.” Mike said, “Alright, I can’t say anymore otherwise I’ll say something I shouldn’t.”
I smiled understandingly, “When can I talk to him?” I looked down to organise my files.
“Whenever you are ready,” Mike glanced at me, placing the files and photos in his hands down, “However you must inform me half an hour in advance. There are some small and tedious prep work to do.” he said as he walked towards the monitor room.
“Prep work?” I asked behind him.
“Oh, are you kidding me? He already attempted to assault one of our colleagues, and you,” he looked at me from top to bottom, “Gentle, frail doctor, I don’t want you to become a photo as well.”
“But I’m in the safest place in the city at the moment.” I blinked at him, “This gentle and frail doctor has magic that none of you have.”
Tilting his head ambiguously, Mike went in anyways, “Sorry, but duty calls. Also,” he turned back, “Don’t mention anything about magic to me right now, otherwise I will suspect you.”
--------
| 01
--------
This translation wouldn't be finished without the help of madelyn93! She is such a life saver! Chinese proverbs will be the death of me I swear.