My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Three days later, it was Sunday and still, there wasn't any further development on the case. Maybe this time, they had really alerted the culprit, afterall, these three days, Xu Binchen followed her wherever she went just like conjoined twins.

Xu Binchen's captain was so angry that Shi Nian could hear his roar across the phone. But Xu Binchen bore with it all, his face didn't change a bit. In the end, he was punished to write a three thousand word complementary essay on his mistakes and how to fix it and prevent it from happening again in the future.

Shi Nian could only guiltily stand by Xu Binchen's side as he grumbled and wrote the essay in half an hour, his ability to talk nonsense was so amazing that Shi Nian was shocked out of her wits.

"…I admit that it's my fault for not being guarded enough, causing the victim to be traumatized and injured emotionally. It's a police officer's duty to embrace every citizen and ensure their safety so that they will feel secure enough with us, thus all fault lay with me as a detective. I, Xu Binchen, am not disciplined enough…"

Shi Nian looked and looked and in the end, she couldn't resist laughing.

Xu Binchen's face was blank as he kept on spouting rainbow farts. His hands glided across the A4 paper and in no time at all, it was filled with a dense row of neat handwriting.

Shi Nian gave him two thumbs up.

Xu Binchen capped his pen and tidied his essay. He scoffed softly. "You have no idea how many essays I have written since I joined the police. This is just a piece of cake."

Shi Nian: "…" Is that something to be proud of?!

Well, judging from Xu Binchen's cold and rude behavior, willful, proud, stubborn, not afraid to offend ghosts and Buddha, it was reasonable for him to be punished regularly. Shi Nian had no idea whether the word 'courtesy' existed in his dictionary.

She started to feel admiration toward Captain Jin who could straighten him up.

Xu Binchen glanced at her. "So happy today?"

She swung her legs joyfully and nodded. [My mother is coming back!]

Yes, Shi Nian's missing mother, whom she hadn't seen ever since she woke up, said that she was coming back soon! Finally, she could meet Qiang Fei who was also her sister in their past lives. Just thinking about that made her so happy that she didn't care about Xu Binchen's sarcasm these past few days.

Xu Binchen raised a brow, muttered, "Teenager." She was really a kid, Xu Binchen thought, well afterall she was only a sixteen years old brat.

But when he turned his back toward Shi Nian, there was an unprecedented gentleness in his eyes that maybe he himself didn't realize.

The TV was playing a new snack advertisement and in the next moment, the scene changed to the live report of a chaotic entrance of a park filled with people. A woman in neat suit stood in front of the yellow police line and around her, people were busy taking photos and video.

"This is Mango TV Station and you're with me, Shang Ling. Now, I am in the Recreational Park of City A. Since this morning at 5 am, the police have surrounded the park and officially closed it for half a day. Many people come only to be denied entry, soon people start speculating; why? Why did the police close a public space on Sunday?"

"Let us move to Xiao Ran." Then, the scene moved to another reporter who spoke in a hushed voice, sneakily glancing around in excitement. "Yes, this is Xiao Ran here, thank you Sister Ling. I am here inside the closed off area." The camera moved from Xiao Ran's face to the scenery around.

The usually crowded Recreational Park was empty and desolate except for some officers in police uniforms and some in civilian clothes. The fountain in the middle of the park was sprouting water gracefully in different movements every few seconds just like an exquisite dance and the grass carpet was soft and fresh. It should be a place which exuded tranquility and peacefulness but now, the solemn faces of the police officers made it look like they were attending a funeral.

Shi Nian lifted her head and stared intently at the TV meanwhile Xu Binchen frowned and went out to the balcony to make a call.

Xiao Ran continued to talk in excitement, "Some police officers have been guarding this area and you can see on the ground beside the fountain which is slightly covered by the ornament bushes, there is a black cloth luggage bag! Is this the so-called body part that was often found throughout the City? There is a huge probability that it's the truth! People are crowding outside to protest and demanding to know what is going on and the police are working hard to track where the bag was coming from…"

Xu Binchen returned to the room with a dark face meanwhile, the police officer on the TV looked around and discovered Xiao Ran. "Hey!" He shouted loudly. "Where are you coming from?!"

Xiao Ran maintained her professional smile without a hint of panic yet her words came out fast like a machine gun. "This is Xiao Ran and I will continue to report the newest development. Meanwhile, let us return to Sister Ling." Then, the screen turned dark and Shang Ling reappeared.

Shi Nian looked at Xu Binchen dubiously, her good mood doused like an icy cold water that was thrown atop of her head. [What happened?]

Xu Binchen sullenly kneaded his forehead, sighing. "Since a few days ago, we have been monitoring the Recreational Park intently, especially the area that often becomes the CCTV's blind spots. But we found nothing and thought that it was a false alarm. The Mayor didn't want to close the park on weekends because it would cause suspicion among the masses and we couldn't go against him."

"Then, the result was, when they were making the last round of search, they found the evidence near the fountain, covered by potted plants. It was clearly the trademark area of the park! The culprit was too audacious, he was so presumptuous that we were clearly caught off guard. Now that the body part is found, we have no choice but to close the park off." Xu Binchen couldn't help but curse the culprit's thirteen ancestors. He didn't fear the police at all, daring to put the body part on the most crowded place within the entire Recreational Park!

Shi Nian gripped her board tightly, her lips pursed. [So…the culprit who bought the bag wasn't caught?]

"Don't worry, we have installed CCTV on every corner of the park. The culprit could hide within the crowd but he couldn't hide from our 360 degrees monitoring. Sooner or later, we will lock him down."

Shi Nian nodded but she still felt uneasy. Somehow, she had a premonition that everything would go haywire. The culprit dared to challenge the police in such a high profile manner, wasn't he scared that he would be found quickly?

Or…he didn't have to be scared?