When A Snail Falls in Love

The woman looked pale from the shock as she hurriedly used her hand to press on the wound. Despite that, blood just kept flowing out. When the man finally recovered from his shock, he immediately helped her put pressure on the wound with one hand while dialing 120 with the other. “Fangting Park, my friend’s wrist was cut…”

“Step aside.” Xu Xu arrived behind them and immediately identified herself. “I’m a police officer.”

The man was stunned, he let go of the woman and moved aside, but still stared at Xu Xu suspiciously.

Xu Xu took a deep breath and held the woman’s wrist. She pressed the spot above her artery with force and precision.

The bleeding gradually slowed down.

Both the woman’s long skirt and hands were stained red with blood, while her face looked pale, “Thank you…”

Xu Xu breathed a sigh of relief and nodded at her. “The nearest emergency center is less than a 10 minute drive away so you’re not in any danger.”

The pair was relieved and thanked her together. Xu Xu nodded then stared at the woman. “What happened just now?”

Although the woman sounded weak, her voice was calm. “There was something on the grass, I put my hand down and was cut.”

By now, the sky was already dim and the streetlights were not yet lit, which made the grass look dark and unclear. The man used his phone as a flashlight and started to sweep the area. After looking for a while, his tone became cold as he called out to them. “There’s a razor blade here.”

Xu Xu nodded. “Don’t ruin the scene, wait for the police. You, press on her wound.”

The man was quite surprised and frowned. “Me? How about you?”

Xu Xu glanced at the woman’s wound which was still bleeding. She turned towards the man and ordered him sternly, “Press on it.”

Both the man and woman were stunned as if they did not expect Xu Xu to speak in such a tone.

Nonetheless, the man still did as he was told. Xu Xu took her towel and folded it, then she picked up a wooden stick from the ground. She tied a knot on the woman’s arm then tightened the wooden stick to it, making a makeshift tourniquet.

The woman moaned painfully, which made the man hesitate. “Is this to stop the bleeding?”

Xu Xu could not be bothered to chit-chat with him. She quickly asked the woman. “Do you have a pen?”

The woman shook her head. Xu Xu then looked at the man, who shook his head as well.

Xu Xu kept a straight face and stuck her index finger out, then she rubbed back and forth on the woman’s bloody arm, getting it completed soaked in blood in the process.

The man was appalled. “What are you doing?”

Xu Xu flashed him a cold glance then lowered her head and wrote down the time on the woman’s arm in blood. This was so that when the emergency personnel arrived, they would know how long the tourniquet had been on and know when to proceed with the next step.

The pair was not dumb and, upon observing her actions, they guessed what she had done. The woman immediately expressed her gratitude, “Thank you, thank you very much.” The man seemed to not be bothered by the Xu Xu’s cold treatment and merely stared at Xu Xu with interest.

“Talk to her until the ambulance arrives.” Xu Xu said to the man, then she turned to examine the grass.

As the streetlights were now lit, the grass was full illuminated, to the point that they were almost white in color. Xu Xu had to go extremely close to the ground before she noticed the hidden protrusion in between the blades of grass. There was an exceedingly sharp razor half buried in the soil. The top half had been painted green so it would be hard to notice.

Moreover, it was not just one, blades of different lengths were buried in the ground to form a shape.

It was a five-pointed star. This was not an accident, somebody had intentionally put those blades there.

Xu Xu looked at them for a while more then stood up to examine her surroundings. This area of grass was not very big and the place that they had sat at happened to have the best vegetation as well as the most gentle terrain.

Therefore, the person who buried the blades had a very clear intention of hurting someone.

She turned to look at the man and woman who were seated in the nearby gazebo now. The woman laid in the man’s arms and the man had a clear, gentle voice that echoed quietly through the night. However, when he spoke to the woman, he was looking in Xu Xu’s direction. Xu Xu then noticed that he was a very tall man, who wore a remarkable business casual suit and had fair skin with good looks. Even though his eyes showed a sense of arrogance, he had a benevolent look to him.

Xu Xu walked over to them and asked, “Which one of you suggested to sit on the grass?”

The man’s face changed slightly and the woman answered, “It was me.” While she sounded weak, she quickly added on, “Officer, Zixiao is my cousin brother, he just returned to the country today and came to see me. I was the one who suggested to take a stroll in the park too.”

Xu Xu nodded. She ignored the man’s keen-looking eyes and continued her investigation of the grass.

Soon enough, the ambulance and police car arrived. Even the manager of the park was notified. Xu Xu assisted the ambulance staff in helping the woman into the car. When the ambulance staffs saw that she was covered in blood as well, they hesitated and asked, “Are you hurt?”

Xu Xu shook her head. Just as she was about to speak to the police officer on duty, she suddenly heard a loud and clear voice call out to her, “Officer, how about you leave your contact details for us.”

It was the man, Zixiao. He had followed his sister into the ambulance. While he was seated beside her, the two of them were looking at Xu Xu from far.

Xu Xu answered faintly, “That’s not necessary.” After some hesitation, she showed them an indistinct smile and waved at them as a sign of encouragement.

When Xu Xu received Ji Bai’s call, she was holding onto a high-powered flashlight as she swept the park inch by inch.

It was very late into the night and rows of tree shadows swayed along with the night breeze. Ji Bai’s voice echoed on the other side of the call; he sounded lazy yet there was a hint of coldness in his voice. “What time is it now?”

Xu Xu froze.

After the ambulance left, the park was closed. The police started investigating the scene, along with the manager of the park. They swept the area to see if there were still any hidden razors. Since she had identified herself to the police and was a witness, she was permitted to stay at the scene.

Despite the fact that she had participated in quite a number of case analyses with her professor, this was still her first time being at a crime scene in person. Both the police and the medical personnel praised her for showing great emergency response knowledge and for ensuring that the crime scene had been perfectly maintained too. Deep down, she felt excited and proud.

Hence, due to the rare excitement, she had forgotten the time and about Ji Bai’s assignment.

“I forgot.” She answered, “An assault case happened here.”

She went on to briefly describe the case to him. After a short silence, Ji Bai said, “Pass the phone to the person in charge.”

The policeman who was in charge was in his thirties. He smiled after he received the phone. “Captain Ji, how are you, yes, this is what happened…”

A moment later, the policeman passed the phone back to Xu Xu. Ji Bai asked, “Can you make a video call with your phone?”

Xu Xu felt rather surprised but quickly replied, “Yes.”

IT products had always been her only hobby. Whether it was her cell phone, computer, or MP4, she made sure she had the latest and best model on the market.

“Turn on your camera.”

The park looked much brighter with all the streetlights on, but it still looked quite dark overall. The news of the legendary detective Ji Bai wanting to take a look at the scene quickly spread, so a few police officers and the park manager surrounded her. They were both curious and doubtful about what Ji Bai was going to do.

Xu Xu held her cell phone up and offered him a view of the park as she paced around. She was confused as well as she thought to herself, ‘What is Ji Bai trying to see?’

After she briefly made a round in the park with her phone, another sound was vaguely heard on the other end of the line before Ji Bai said anything. “Third Brother Ji, come over and drink.”

“Wait a minute.” Ji Bai replied with a laugh.

Xu Xu frowned a little.

At that instant, Ji Bai barked out, “The rockery in front, the few willows on the right and beside the bridge that is behind you.”

Shortly after, everyone cheered, they had really found razor blades next to the rockery and under the willows.

After that, Ji Bai mentioned that he would leave the rest to the police on duty.

It was clear that the policeman in charge looked much more relieved. He asked to take the phone call and smiled as he said, “Captain Ji, I’m really grateful… Oh right, when the incident happened, there were very few people in the park, so it did not cause a panic. Little Xu from your unit handled the situation very well. Ah… no wonder, so she’s your apprentice… a great teacher produces great students I guess.”

When he said this, all the men around Xu Xu looked at her with respectful and shocked faces.

Xu Xu’s face slowly warmed up.

A while later, the policeman returned the cell phone to her. Trying to seem familiar to her, he purposely called her with a different title, “Little Xu, your instructor still wants to speak to you.”

Xu Xu was bursting with excitement after Ji Bai lent a helping hand just now. When she took her phone back, she instinctively asked before he had the chance to say anything, “How did you do that?”

Previously, the on-scene police had roughly inferred more than thirty possible locations where more blades could be buried. She felt that their reasoning was logically sound too, so everyone started investigating together. Due to the large size of the park, they had found nothing. However, while it was still dark, Ji Bai only needed a brief look around the garden to accurately determine two spots.

Unexpectedly, Ji Bai ignored her question and asked her instead, “You haven’t answered my question. What time is it now?”

“Twelve thirty.”

“What time did you say that you were going to send me the report of the missing people?”

“Eleven.”

Ji Bai laughed, but it was a cruel and faint one. Xu Xu could instantly detect the mocking tone.

She was very surprised and felt uncomfortable. She had already explained the case to Ji Bai just now and he had participated in it too. He must have understood that she had delayed her work because of the scenario.

Besides, he seemed to have praised her with the police and even made it clear that she was his apprentice.

Who would have expected him to turn against her and continue asking her for the assignment after they were out of earshot of everyone else?

She felt that this “instructor” of hers was being absurd.

As if aware of what she was thinking, Ji Bai asked, “Do you feel wronged?”

Xu Xu kept quiet.

Ji Bai took his time and continued attacking her, “Didn’t you ask me how I managed to detect where the blades were buried? Very simple, instinct. Any criminal police officer who has been working for more than ten years can make a deduction like this based on experience as long as he or she has some brains.”

“However, what does this case have to do with your unfinished assignment? When you stayed for such a long time at the crime scene, you were not only unhelpful, you wasted my time too. Xu Xu, you should think about what’s going to happen if I don’t see the report that I asked for before 6.00am later in the morning.”