Fractured Hues of a Winter's Night Chapter 7

It was still raining in Wujin at night.

On rainy days, there are always people waiting to pick up their relatives and friends at the exit of the South Railway Station. They are pushing and shoving each other, holding umbrellas or wearing raincoats, crowding at the exit, waving to the large number of returning or visiting travelers, and calling out familiar names.

The night was as black as an ink canvas, and the rain was like diluted ink, falling in an endless stream.

A young man in thin clothes and carrying a travel bag squeezed out of the crowd with difficulty. Before he could even take a breath after leaving the train station, he was immediately troubled by a deeper worry, because it was his first time in Wujin and he had no idea where to go after leaving the train station.

There was no other way, he could only temporarily hide in front of a supermarket opposite the train station to avoid the rain, and slowly think about where to stay for the night.

He took off his heavy backpack, took out a pack of tissues and wiped the rain off his face, looking worriedly at the heavy rain and strong wind that were rushing back and forth on the street.

"My boyfriend didn't come to see me."

Suddenly, he heard a woman's young and choking voice.

He turned his head and saw a slim woman standing on the other side of the supermarket entrance, with her shoulders hunched, her arms hugged, and shivering in the rain.

She looked very young, with long hair and fair skin. Although she was dressed in ordinary clothes, it couldn't hide her exquisite figure. The knitted coat she was wearing had been soaked by the rain, and her black hair was tangled on her shoulders, covering her fair face. She looked very pitiful.

"There's no one in the train station anymore, is there?"

The woman turned her head slightly towards him and asked with a sob.

Faced with the sudden approach, the man was nervous and shy, at a loss, and said: "Yes, yes, it's raining too hard, the railway is closed, and our train is the last one today."

The woman lowered her head even more, and said with trembling shoulders: "I knew he broke his promise, and he won't come to me."

The boy didn't know how to comfort a sad beautiful woman, so he could only stand there awkwardly for a moment, then handed her a pack of tissues.

The woman took the tissue, whispered a thank you, then was silent for a moment, and suddenly asked shyly: "Are you alone?"

"Um."

"No one came to pick you up?"

"No."

"...It's raining so hard, do you have anywhere to go tonight?"

The man smiled and said, "There are many cheap hotels nearby. I'll just pick one and stay for one night."

The woman folded her arms and remained silent for a while. She said in a low voice, "If you have nowhere to go, can you take me home?" Then, she looked at him with a pair of moist, beautiful eyes and said timidly, "It's so dark tonight. I don't dare to go home alone."

The boy couldn't help but be stunned for a moment, looking at her in surprise, and somehow noticed her right hand holding her left arm. Her five fingers had delicate, sharp nails, painted with scarlet nail polish, red like blood...

There was a loud thunder, and the pouring rain became even more violent.

According to the range given by Theo Hammond, the identity of the first victim was quickly found out. He was an outsider who came to Wujin from a third-tier city to work at 5 pm on September 23. None of this was important. What was important was that he got off at the South Railway Station, which meant that the murderer would look for prey at the South Railway Station again tonight.

All criminal police were dispatched urgently. Although they did not know the exact target, they had to do their best to prevent a murder that was going to happen tonight.

Langston Xing took the walkie-talkie and recalled all the criminal police who were transferred to the security team, asking them to go directly to the South Railway Station.

For a moment, the whole building was extremely busy, and the sound of footsteps could be heard in the corridors on every floor.

People were constantly running around in the corridor, making final preparations before the action. Only Theo Hammond was still standing at the door of the meeting room, wondering whether to change his clothes.

The windbreaker he was wearing was almost completely soaked, and it was sticky and damp, making him uncomfortable. But he didn't have any spare clothes. Although there were a few coats of unknown owners hanging on the coat rack at the door of the conference room, he would not take other people's belongings, especially clothes that were close to his body, which were very private to him.

After thinking it over, he could not think of a solution. Theo Hammond simply took off his windbreaker and hung it on the hanger, then picked up a raincoat and walked out of the meeting room.

Langston Xing stood at the stairs holding a walkie-talkie and remotely directed the first group of criminal police officers who were rushing to the train station: "Find a white manual transmission car near the train station and write down all the suspicious license plate numbers. A large area? I don't know it's a large area? Just look for it when I tell you to, why are you talking so much nonsense!"

Turning his head inadvertently, he saw Theo Hammond wearing only a black shirt, and he also saw the hem of Theo Hammond's shirt tucked into his belt. His narrow waist was indeed much thinner than that of an average man. This showed that the conclusion he drew from measuring Theo Hammond's waist with his hands not long ago was still very accurate.

Langston Xing himself didn't realize that his eyes stayed on Theo Hammond's waist for a long time. At the same time, he also found that although Theo Hammond looked thin, he was surprisingly muscular after taking off his clothes. His frame was well-proportioned, and he was the type who could be placed in the window of a clothing store as a model to attract customers. People like him look best without clothes.

Theo Hammond was standing in the corridor, busy adjusting the hem of his untucked shirt, unaware that someone was having a dirty thought about him.

"...Why aren't you wearing any clothes?"

Suddenly, he heard Langston Xing ask him this.

Theo Hammond raised his head to look at Langston Xing, then lowered his head to glance at himself, and then looked up at Langston Xing again, his eyes very innocent.

After looking at Langston Xing in mystery for a while, Theo Hammond finally realized that he was talking about his windbreaker.

"Oh, it's wet."

Theo Hammond said calmly and concisely.

Langston Xing wanted to remind Theo Hammond to borrow one from any technician who was not on duty, but suddenly remembered the little cleanliness that Theo Hammond had mentioned to Qin Fang, so he swallowed his words and looked up and shouted upstairs: "Xiao Lan, bring my clothes down."

Soon, Shen Qinglan came down with Langston Xing's washed and dried leather jacket. When passing by Langston Xing, she threw the jacket into his arms and went downstairs without stopping.

Langston Xing took his leather jacket and threw it back into Theo Hammond's arms. Then he walked into the meeting room and picked up a coat whose owner he didn't know. He put it on and said, "It's just been washed."

Theo Hammond stood at the stairs and watched him walk down the stairs quickly, shaking his collar, then looked down at the coat in his arms. He hesitated for a moment, then curled his lips and slowly put it on.

Langston Xing was taller than him and much stronger than him. When he wore Langston Xing's clothes, they were at least two sizes larger and he had to roll up his sleeves.

Several police cars drove out of the police station one after another. Langston Xing was sitting in a jeep and kept honking the horn, but no one knew who he was honking.

Theo Hammond used a policewoman's umbrella to walk to Langston Xing's car, opened the passenger door and sat in the passenger seat.

As soon as he got in the car, Langston Xing stopped honking the horn and drove towards the gate.

The car had just moved two steps when Langston Xing suddenly stopped the car on the side of the road, tightened his coat and got out of the car.

Theo Hammond sat in the car and watched him walk up to the old lady and say a few words to her, then he held an umbrella and walked the old lady to Shen Qinglan's car in the back.

Afterwards, the large force drove towards the train station amidst the street fire that could not be extinguished by wind and rain.

At 8:10 pm, several police cars without lights drove to the South Railway Station. However, the last wave of people who came to pick up their relatives and friends had already dispersed. In the rainy day, the train station was unusually quiet, with only the staff still working diligently at the windows.

One group of people went to search the surrounding area for a white manual transmission car, while Shen Qinglan took the old lady who reported the case to investigate the "prostitution" street in the South Station. The remaining detectives took the geographical portrait drawn by Theo Hammond to find the murderer's crime scene.

The plainclothes detectives were scattered by the rain, and they shuttled through the unnoticeable streets and alleys, blending in with ordinary people, and began their aimless search tonight.

This operation was blind because they didn't know who the target was. They were just blindly trying to stop a murder that might be too late to prevent.

Half an hour passed, and the teams found nothing. Listening to the "nothing found" coming from the walkie-talkie, Langston Xing felt more passive than ever before.

There were not even a few taxis at the passenger station at the entrance of the train station, and the small hotels that solicited customers were even more deserted. Langston Xing stood in the empty entrance square, and felt that this building in front of him, which was always full of people, was particularly desolate tonight.

"All teams, report your situation."

He said.

Reports came one after another from the walkie-talkie.

"Boss, no suspicious vehicles have been found yet."

"Captain Xing, we didn't find anything here."

"Boss, we are checking the streets."

"Captain Xing, ..."

In short, nothing was gained.

Langston Xing put the walkie-talkie into his raincoat pocket and suddenly turned to look at the food street across the street.

On that street, Theo Hammond kept walking back and forth between every store, walking hurriedly and eagerly with an umbrella, trying his best to find every single male traveler who had not left.

"mainland!"

Langston Xing suddenly called out to Lu Mingyu who was trying to find out information at the ticket office of the bus station.

Lu Mingyu raised his head and looked at him.

Langston Xing raised his arm and pointed in the direction of Theo Hammond: "Follow him!"

Lu Mingyu didn't ask anything and ran across the street.

Langston Xing tightened the rain hat on his head, quickened his pace and entered a chaotic street at the exit of the train station. Like a fish diving into the sea for shelter during a rainstorm, he soon disappeared.

Lu Mingyu ran across the street and bumped into Theo Hammond who was coming out of a noodle shop.

"Any clues?"

Theo Hammond asked.

Lu Mingyu wiped the rain off his face and said, "No, let's look for it in the front."

In fact, they all knew that this action was blind and passive, but no one stopped or gave up, even though no one knew when the action should end.

They searched three streets but did not see the imagined vehicles, women, or even a lone young male traveler.

Theo Hammond's face was stiff, cold and numb from the wind and rain. His vision became increasingly blurred and even began to become hazy.

Lu Mingyu listened carefully to the reports coming out of the walkie-talkie from time to time, and it was only after a long time that he realized that Theo Hammond looked strange.

"What’s wrong with you?"

Lu Mingyu held his arm and saw that his face was horrifying, a lifeless pale color, and his lips were trembling as if they were covered in poison.

Theo Hammond closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "It's okay, just a little hypoglycemia."

Although hypoglycemia is not a serious disease, it is still very uncomfortable if it occurs. And judging from Theo Hammond's appearance, it seems that the attack has lasted for a long time. It is hard for him to walk around a few streets.

Lu Mingyu wanted to help him to the nearby shop to rest, but he seemed to be in a state of terror and lay motionless.

Theo Hammond stood on the sidewalk, looking at the intersection in the distance. Suddenly, he heard the sound of raindrops very clearly and saw the red light at the intersection ahead. The dizziness and tinnitus caused by hypoglycemia disappeared in an instant, and all his senses became clear again.

Just now, he saw a white car whizzing past the intersection ahead.

Theo Hammond suddenly grabbed Lu Mingyu's walkie-talkie: "Captain Xing! Can you hear me, Captain Xing?!"

Langston Xing's voice, which was dark and hoarse due to anxiety and anger, soon came out from the channel: "Speak."

"At the intersection of Fuqiang Road, a white car just passed by!"

As if they had formed a tacit understanding, Langston Xing did not ask about the identity of the people in the car, nor did he repeatedly ask Theo Hammond whether his judgment was correct. Langston Xing knew very well that even if there was only a one in ten thousand chance, he would intercept the white car passing by Fuqiang Road.

Langston Xing ran quickly from the dark street to the parking lot, jumped into the jeep, and turned the car to Fuqiang Road. Soon, he saw a white car rushing in the heavy rain through the rain-dripping windshield, but he could not distinguish the license plate number because of the distance and low visibility in the rain.

Langston Xing stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, and the jeep sped forward like an angry steel beast. His eyes were fixed on the white car in front of him. He held the steering wheel with one hand and picked up the walkie-talkie with the other hand: "A suspicious vehicle was found, Dalu, you drive from the east side of the train station to block it, the license plate number is... Sh!t!"

A taxi suddenly rushed out from the intersection ahead, rushed to the center of the road like a whirlwind, then suddenly turned around and drove west, just blocking the jeep.

Langston Xing stepped on the brakes in time to avoid crashing into the body of the car. After stepping on the brakes, his body rushed forward suddenly. Lu Mingyu was still asking: "Boss, what's the license plate number?!"

Langston Xing gritted his teeth, staring at the rear of the taxi that blocked the white car with his red eyes, and started the engine again to chase: "I can't see the license plate number, as long as I see a white car, I will intercept it!"

A taxi suddenly came in between the white car and the jeep. The taxi seemed to be drunk, and it was moving fast and twisting on the road like a snake.

The road was narrow, and Langston Xing tried to drive around the taxi several times, but gave up because of the private vehicles coming in the opposite direction from time to time. He stepped on the accelerator again, and the front of the car almost hit the back of the taxi. He leaned his head forward and yelled: "Get out of the way!"

Strangely, the taxi accelerated again as if frightened, with black smoke coming out from under the car.

Langston Xing, who was left behind, was stunned for just a moment before he realized where this divine taxi came from.

The two cars were too close to each other just now, so he saw from the rear window that there were three men in the taxi, one man was driving, and the other man was sitting in the back seat, looking back with a panicked look. If Langston Xing hadn't seen the knife in the man's hand and the woman with the knife against her neck, he would have let go of a serious armed robbery case.

"Shiguang Road Badaokou, come quickly to support us!"

Langston Xing threw down the walkie-talkie, smoothed his hair, gripped the steering wheel with both hands and suddenly drove into the wrong lane. The jeep roared and crushed the water on the road.

Dodging several oncoming cars, Langston Xing followed the taxi and turned a sharp corner. He saw the white car from a distance, as if it was leading the way for the jeep and taxi that were chasing it.

Langston Xing shortened the distance between himself and the taxi to only a dozen meters, pulled out a pistol from the holster on his waist, leaned out of the window and fired at the tire of the taxi.

With a "bang" sound of a gunshot, the rear tire of the taxi was hit and it crawled on the road like a snake, its speed greatly reduced.

At the same time, Xiao Wu's voice came from the walkie-talkie: "I saw your car, Captain Xing!"

Langston Xing put away his gun and drove past the taxi that was paralyzed in the middle of the road: "Control that taxi, there is a woman kidnapped inside!"

Putting the gun back into the holster, Langston Xing stared intently at the white car in front of him. The jeep continued to move in the wind and rain without any respite.

The white car suddenly turned right at the intersection ahead and disappeared from his sight for the second time. Langston Xing temporarily changed the pursuit route and drove the jeep into the auxiliary road. When he was about to turn into the narrow restaurant pedestrian street, a motorcycle suddenly rushed out from the street corner!

The turn was very sharp and the motorcycle was going very fast. The rider didn't even have time to react before the motorcycle rushed straight towards the front of the jeep.

The distance was so close that one could almost see the pair of terrified eyes behind the rider's helmet. Langston Xing's scalp exploded and he turned left at a speed that almost broke the steering wheel.

The wheels ground and squeezed on the ground, making a sound similar to the roar of a wild beast. The body of the motorcycle turned more than a hundred degrees to the left, and the rear wheel narrowly brushed past the bumper of the motorcycle.

Just like a galloping horse that is suddenly stopped by having its neck tightened, the jeep lost its center of gravity due to the sudden braking and turning, and the huge and heavy body of the car crashed to the ground.

The impact on the car body caused the airbag in the driver's seat to pop out. Langston Xing was trapped between the seat back and the airbag. He struggled to pull his right leg out from under the seat, kicked through the windshield, and climbed out.

"Big brother, are you okay?"

The motorcyclist who escaped the accident witnessed the thrilling scene with his own eyes. After escaping from under the tire, he immediately looked around for cameras, thinking that they were filming a movie. It was not until he saw a man with blood on his head crawling out of the car that he ran over to help.

Langston Xing pushed away his hand that was trying to support him, and went back to the front of the car to take out his walkie-talkie. He squatted on the ground and said in a hoarse voice: "Each group should report the situation."

Lu Mingyu: "I am chasing southward."

Xiao Wu: "Captain Xing, the two robbers have been arrested."

Shen Qinglan: "We are still investigating the 'Beauty Street'."

Langston Xing casually wiped the blood from his face, stood up in the rain, glanced in the direction of the white car, and suddenly felt his vision blurry. He knew very well that he could no longer catch up.

Another taxi drove up and stopped on the quiet roadside, and then a man in an ill-fitting leather jacket got out.

The man opened the umbrella in his hand and walked towards Langston Xing with slow steps.

Under the street lamps on both sides of the road, the warm yellow lights were not affected by the heavy rain, and they fluttered in the wind and rain like a handful of mist. Theo Hammond walked in the mist, holding an umbrella, with a calm face, as if he appeared here not to solve a serial murder case, but just passing by.

When Langston Xing saw Theo Hammond, his heart, which had been surging like magma, suddenly calmed down a little. He felt a kind of tranquility and peaceful power from Theo Hammond that was enough to soothe people's hearts. It seemed that there was no wind or rain tonight, and Chang'an was peaceful.

Theo Hammond walked very slowly. Langston Xing saw that his right leg was not strong enough and his body weight was on his left leg. If you look closely, you can see that his walking style is a bit uncoordinated.

Theo Hammond was soaked through, and the two strands of hair on the side of his face had lost their curls and were wetly tucked behind his ears. He stopped in front of Langston Xing, moved the umbrella in his hand to the top of Langston Xing's head, shielding him from the cold rain, and then opened his pale lips, tiredly and calmly said: "We are a step late."