95 Toy Plane

 

Guan Zhenglin shared a look with me and she sighed, “Come on, the kidnapper might call again to confirm we’ve received the present. Furthermore, we need to go grab that finger back for analysis.” I didn’t say anything and followed behind her. Even though no one stated explicitly whom the finger belonged to, everyone knew. I couldn’t help the image forming in my mind. A young girl was tied to the chair in a damp basement. With tears staining her cheeks, she begged the kidnappers to let her go. But instead of doing that, they cut off her middle finger. Blood squirted everywhere. The girl’s howls echoed in the basement, mixed with the kidnappers’ laughter. Liu Fei’er was being tormented, we needed to hurry up before worse happened to her.

What exactly were the kidnappers trying to tell Liu Yinyan? Had Liu Yinyan done something wrong to others in his life? Were the kidnappers taking revenge for themselves or they were just hired mercenaries? Could we really save Liu Fei’er? What were the most dangerous people in this world? It was not the criminals, not the murderers, but those who didn’t operate according to accepted logic and rules. It was like you had checkmated them in chess but suddenly they told you their king had superpower and could fly.

I had a feeling I was playing with such an opponent. The kidnapper’s 2 calls so far were just to toy with Liu Yinyan. Unlike normal kidnappers, they didn’t ask for money; unlike someone holding a grudge, they didn’t go into hysterics. The kidnappers were calm and even enjoying themselves. Furthermore, they seemed to know that the police had been involved. Just how arrogant these people must be that they not only didn’t rein in their hubris but instead went for an even stronger response after knowing the law’s involvement. No wonder Captain Zhao stated earlier that this had gotten bigger than Liu Yinyan and Liu Fei’er. We were facing a group of sociopaths.

We arrived at the bungalow at the fastest speed possible. We were notified that Liu Yinyan was in bed. He had gotten so weak that he could barely stand. The butler had already placed the finger inside the fridge, hoping that a reconstruction surgery was still possible. Xiao Liu was in the living room checking out the toy plane that delivered the ‘present’.

Guan Zhenglin took the finger out from the fridge and told the butler, “I’ll take care of this carefully. As long as we can find Liu Fei’er soon enough, it should be possible to reattach this back to her.”

The butler sighed, “Please help us find Fei’er, these kidnappers don’t want money or even company stock. This time they’ve removed a finger but what about next time.” Guan Zhenglin removed a small piece of skin from the finger and then replaced it back into the fridge. “I’ll bring this with me when I go. For now, I’ll analyse DNA first.” Guan Zhenglin then settled down with her toolbox.

I turned my attention to Xiao Liu and the toy plane. The toy plane was so small. There were 2 main questions we needed to answer, how far it could fly and where it could have flown from. To answer these questions, we needed to buy a plane of the similar model and experiment with it ourselves. I messaged the picture of the plane to Mary, asking her to help me find a similar model on the market.

Moments later, Guan Zhenglin answered, “According to the DNA result, this finger does belong to Liu Fei’er. Compared to pictures we have of her, I believe this is her left middle finger. The wound at the root of the finger is smooth and the edges clean, that means that the knife used is extremely sharp. From the amount of blood in the finger, at least when the finger was removed, Liu Fei’er was still alive. I’ll need to do further analysis to know more.” Then Guan Zhenglin placed the finger and packs of ice into her toolbox. The butler was completely dazed hearing all that.

“Sir.” I called softly. “I think I’ll go take a look at Elder Liu.”

“Okay, but you better don’t bring Fei’er’s incident up before him. I don’t think he’ll be able to accept the news in his state.” The butler walked with me and said, “Elder Liu is a good person, but you do not want to get on his bad side. You can say he does everything in doubles, if you are good to him, he’ll be doubly nice to you; if you are horrible to him, then he’ll be doubly ruinous to you.”

“I don’t get that impression so far.” I honestly didn’t have that good of an impression of Liu Yinyan. The butler shook his head. “When I was young, I worked in the same company with him. One time, he sprained his ankle and I only bought extra meals for him every day. But after he achieved success, he never forgot about me. He paid me 20000 RMB per month, and guess what he had me do? Someone like me who didn’t know anything. He told me to help him guard his gate, where have you heard that a guard could earn 20000 RMB a month?”

“Really? That has remained the same until now?” I followed behind the butler. The butler answered, “Yes, I’ve been with him for decades already. Not too long ago, he even gifted a house to my son in Dong Xing City. He’s such a good man. Why would God be so cruel to him? Fei’er is the only daughter he has, she’s his everything.”

“But all I’ve heard is negative press from the others.” I chided. The butler scoffed. “That’s only because you’ve only heard their side of the story. They lamented about how Elder Liu had treated them but they never told you how they treated him first. Take for example, our old boss Zhao Dongfa, Elder Liu had confided in me multiple times that he was ignored and belittled whenever he handed in his reports to the old Director Zhao Dongfa. Elder Liu always has an admirable work ethic despite how our old boss treated him. There was one time where Elder Liu was left stranded in the pouring rain for the whole night because Zhao Dongfa was too busy frolicking with his mistress.” The butler said indignantly, “It was also that experience which steeled Liu Yinyan’s resolve to make something of himself. The document that Zhao Dongfa didn’t want, it helped Rong Ding Corporation earn its first bucket of gold. Like Confucius said, to repay kindness with kindness, and repay enmity with justice.”

When we arrived at Liu Yinyan’s bedroom door, the butler tapped on the door softly and told me, “And Elder Liu has always lived his life by that motto.”

To repay kindness with kindness, and repay enmity with justice. I ruminated, no wonder the old man was still acting like the whole world was against him at his advanced age. I always thought Liu Yinyan was horrible to everyone but now I had a new understanding of this business mogul. Seeing me, Liu Yinyan struggled to stand up from bed. His right hand reached for the staff beside his bed. He looked like he was 80 years old, like a hunchback, swaying all over. A few days ago, this fragile old man was the person who had the whole Dong Xing Market by its ears.

“Inspector Wu!” Liu Yinyan cried out with a hoarse throat, “Did you find anything?” Seeing the state he was in, I couldn’t bring myself to deliver anymore bad news, so I said, “We already found some clues but you’re still our biggest hope. The kidnapper doesn’t want anything but to play a game with you. If you know what they’re talking about, please tell us, so that we can help you.” Liu Yinyan nodded and then shook his head. “Let me think, let me think. When I got it, I will inform you at first notice!” Then Liu Yinyan started to pace inside his bedroom with the aid of the staff. He looked deep in thought. I didn’t want to disturb him any further but seeing the state he was in, I felt something was off. However, I couldn’t put my finger on exactly what…

As I walked down the stairs, I could hear Xiao Liu calling me, “Wu Meng, get down here. Sister Mary has already ordered for us the same model of toy plane!”

“So soon?”

“Yes!” Xiao Liu confirmed. “You know how she is.” Half an hour later, an officer delivered the remote-controlled plane to us. I looked closer and realized even the color of the model was similar to the one used by the criminals, I was impressed. Xiao Liu and I stood at the top floor of the bungalow and tried to fly the plane. The control was quite easy. I said, “Let’s see how far we can go, then it’ll be easier for us to figure out where the criminal could have been when they sent the plane into the compound. I’ll pilot the plane here while you go and follow it, see how far is its maximum distance.”

“Fuck, you always leave the labor work to me.” Even though that was what he said, Xiao Liu was already running down the stairs.

40 minutes later, the experiment ended. This model airplane’s maximum distance from the controller was 1500 metres. Beyond that, it would go out of control and just tumble to the ground. But based on what the butler said, the plane landed smoothly on the lawn, so the criminal was within 1500 metres of the bungalow when the present was delivered.

For the kidnapper to land the plane smoothly on the lawn, there was another needed criterion and that was a vantage point. They must be able to see the plane and the bungalow compound from where they were hiding. However, there was no high building around the compound, the only elevation was the mountain. However, the mountain was so big, how were we supposed to search through it? Looks like that was exactly what the criminals were banking on.

I shook my head, this lead would definitely be hard to follow. Right then, my phone rang, it was Gu Chen. “Wu Meng, I need you with me. I believe I’ve found the person who had that speciality cigarette.”

“Who is it?”

“He’s also an escaped convict, his name is Lin Dafa, he’s 42 this year.” Gu Chen explained, “I’ve already informed Sister Mary to look into this person but the black-market boss told me that Lin Dafa just purchased the Davidoff mixed tobacco from him yesterday, and he might come back later today!”

I was shocked. “You sure?!”

“Yes, that’s why I need you to come here with me!” Gu Chen said.

Lin Dafa, another escaped convict, was this team made of all escaped convicts? The dead Chen Lin escaped from prison as well, but why this special membership? Was it because they wouldn’t hold back because they knew it was the death sentence waiting for them if they got caught? Death was not scary, at least for those who were already numb to it.

Looks like I needed to go meet up with Gu Chen.