A Good-for-Nothing

193. A Massage Parlor (1)

Translator: Dragon Rider

The room was still filled with a faint, indescribable smell.

Zhao Fei rubbed his hair and subconsciously reached to the other side of the bed only to feel the cold sheet, which suggested that his bedfellow had left some time ago.

Zhao Fei stared at the crumpled sheet. The wild things they’d done the night before were still vivid in his memories. He gave a self-deprecating smile. It’d never occurred to him that one day he’d be screwed by a fan of his, and to make things worse, this fan had disappeared without a trace and he didn’t know a damn thing about him. This guy was so good at one-night stand.

Zhao Fei refused to admit how special that man who showed up last night was. Not really a sentimental person, he preferred to regard the whole thing as a dirty dream.

He rose to his feet and went to the bathroom to take a shower. Today he had the whole day to himself and he planned to leave aside his identity as Zhao Fei the TV star and start working as Group Leader Zhao of the action group of the sub-bureau in Hang City.

It turned out that he wouldn’t be spending this day doing nothing. Zhao Fei had just finished his shower when his cellphone started ringing aloud. The call was from a member of his group.

The moment he answered the phone, an anxious voice came from the built-in loudspeaker. “This is bad, Chief. Five extra-normal missing cases came in today. All victims are young women. I fear that something horrible is going on.”

“Send me the address. I’ll be there in a minute.”

After saying this, Zhao Fei fished some papers untouched by anybody else out of a drawer and quickly left home.

…

The victims had been last seen in different places. Their family members were now in West Lake Public Security Bureau.

An old lady cried in her dialect, “My daughter told me she was working in Hang City. She used to talk to me on the phone every night, but half a month ago, she suddenly stopped calling me. I sent her a text message but she didn’t reply to it. I thought she was busy and didn’t dare disturb her. But a few days ago, I found that her phone was power-off.”

Sniffing and sobbing, the old lady kept wiping her eyes. “My poor daughter…”

Her black hairs dusted with grayish ones, face covered with creases, the old lady burst into wail, making a poignant sight.

There were a couple of policewomen in the office, who felt quite upset and hurriedly sent a box of tissues and a glass of hot water to the old lady, consoling her patiently.

“Don’t worry, madam. We will get you your daughter back.”

“Madam, I need you to think about it and tell me where your daughter worked. We can only start looking for her after you give us a specific address.”

The old lady drank some hot water, her hand holding the glass quivering. Her red eyes roved at the question. She quickly wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and answered, “My daughter worked in a massage parlor. I have an address. I have it.”

She hastily fumbled in her pocket and then fished out a scrap of paper. “Look. It’s here.”

A policewoman took it and gave it a quick glance.

Zhao Fei and his group members, feeling that they’d make the office crowded if they went inside, had been waiting in a van parked outside the public security bureau. After a short while, a tone for an incoming text message came from Zhao Fei’s cellphone.

“The old woman’s daughter previously worked in a massage parlor near the Nine Castles Bus Station.”

Li Zong and a couple of others were very familiar with the details of this case. The name “Nine Castles Bus Station” instantly put Li Zong and Zhao Fei on the alert.

Zhao Fei exchanged a look with Li Zong. Both of them had come to realize the key point.

“That branch of a hotel chain where Wang Dong and the other three college students stayed is also near the Nine Castles Bus Station.”

“It seems that we’ve got to pay a visit to that place.” Zhao Fei put on his shades and glanced at the trainees behind Li Zong. “Since you brought so many rookies with you, you need to be more careful on the scene.”

“I know.”

On hearing Zhao Fei’s mocking tone, Zu Zhichong subconsciously looked at Chen Qianlin and He Zheng.

Strangely enough, this time around, He Zheng and Chen Qianlin both of whom had always been rebellious appeared quite cooperative. Instead of retorting or contradicting Zhao Fei, they calmly replied to him, which came as a great surprise to Zu Zhichong.

“No wonder they say that you get to see all kinds of things if you live long enough,” muttered Zu Zhichong in a low voice.

He Zheng and Chen Qianlin in front pretended not to have heard.

Soon the group of people reached the Nine Castles Bus Station. The manager of that branch of the hotel chain had not been eating or sleeping well recently. He had no idea who had put the whammy on him, but terrible things had happened in succession, and the victims had stayed in either his hotel or in some other places nearby before the accidents had occurred.

And now he was informed that yet another misfortune had happened in the massage parlor next to his hotel.

“Police officers, you’ve got to stop visiting my hotel so often. We’ve barely had any customers lately. My superior singled out this branch for criticism at the last quarterly meeting. If things keep going this way, all of us will be sent packing soon!”

The manager refused to cooperate with their investigation no matter how hard they tried to convince him, which gave the police headaches.

The police had gong to that massage parlor immediately after receiving the message, but that massage parlor had been emptied some time ago. The surveillance cameras on the street covered only that hotel. After looking into it, the police had discovered that one of the two security cameras installed outside the hotel by its staff members was facing the doorway of that massage parlor, and there was definitely crucial information in that camera.

As a result, the police were now consulting with the manager, trying to persuade him into handing over the surveillance video.

The manager, probably smoldering, refused, saying that it was a breach of customers’ privacy and against the statutes.

The cameras installed outside the hotel were private property. If the manager was unwilling to cooperate, the police couldn’t resort to compulsion. They could only try to reason with him.

To put it bluntly, many people believed each one should sweep the snow from his own doorsteps and should not bother about the frost on his neighbor’s roof. Some people just had limited sympathy. It was the truth and there was not much people could do to make a difference.

Because of the manager’s being uncooperative, the inquiry instantly reached an impasse.