My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

Qin Weizhe rubbed his chin, pondering deeply. "That has really slipped out of my mind. I was too focused on the riddle Lei Liqiu gave us. Captain Jin was right, everything doesn't match."

"Sorry," Wang Chengbing grimaced. "It's my fault. I was supposed to keep an eye on the username but I forgot about it too because there's a lot of other clues turning up. But what did he mean by no need to think about complicated things?"

Ru Meiqi stared at the username with a deep frown. "Remember that the way the serial killer threw his victim's body part was by marking the maps with a silly sketch of the sun? Sometimes, his reasoning is overly immature. With his big ego, he might wish to fool us, for example by blatantly slipping in his real identity amidst the clue and I must admit it's a brilliant idea. Our brain is wired to think two or three steps ahead but it's possible that…the answer has always been right in front of us."

Under everyone's eyes, she wrote kmeulchian5862 in large font on the notebook.

"He has been telling us who he is for the whole time." Ru Meiqi sneered. "When Nan Xukun was eight, he reunited with his father and for some reason, he was sent abroad for a few years afterward. At that period of time, his English name was…Michael."

k, m, e, u, l, c, h, i, a, n

Ru Meiqi rearranged the word.

k, u, n, m, i, c, h, a, e, l

—It's me. Kun is here.

"It's him?!" The atmosphere exploded into an uproar. "Nan Xukun is the serial killer?! But—But what about the last number 5862? Could it mean something else?!"

Ru Meiqi scribbled. "In numeric keypad, 5-8-6-2 can be translated to j-k-m-a in alphabets. This doesn't mean anything. But what if it means the 5-8-6 buttons being pressed twice?"

"5-6-8…" Ke Shao tilted his head up and wrote on air. Gasping, he exclaimed. "Fuck, it says 'KUN'!" 

"Bingo." Ru Meiqi laughed incredulously. "I can't believe this. From the start, the answer has always been clear."

"No wonder!" Ke Shao hit his fist on his palm. "The assault case in City A's hospital! He managed to disappear without a trace because he's one of the patients! From the start, we have been focusing on the matter of him breaking in from outside and totally neglected the possibility that he was only a few steps away from Shi Nian! This man, he's too audacious for his own good, alright?!"

Another member asked. "But according to his medical report, Nan Xukun isn't diagnosed with OCD, not even a light case. We have even done the MMPI test[1] and PCL-R test[2] on him! The result came out negative!"

"About that…we will be able to know after we capture him." Ru Meiqi let out a tired sigh. "Now the question is, how did he manage to seize Jiang Jinyan and Si Zhening right in front of our eyes and plant the bombs?"

"You speculated that Si Zhening possibly wished to cover for him. But what if he's an accomplice? From the start, Jiang Jinyan is only a decoy and the real target is Shi Nian." Luo Ning gingerly shared his idea which some nodded in acceptance. It was a huge possibility.

However, Qin Weizhe rebuked. "I beg to differ. I still agree with Miss Ru. Si Zhening and Nan Xukun… I got the feeling that they don't seem to be on the same side. Now apart from the question Miss Ru brought up, the most important question is, where has he taken Shi Nian to? How much time do we have left? If it's based on his previous modus operandi, then he will not leave any traces at all."

"Speaking of time…" Ru Meiqi glanced out of the window toward the darkened sky. The hour hand of the clock had almost tilted to nine. "Do you recall tomorrow's date?"

"Tomorrow…" Qin Weizhe checked the calendar. "It's 23rd December. What's wrong with that—oh, shit. It's the date when Shi Nian was found last year."

Shivers ran down their spines. This Nan Xukun, wasn't he too terrifying?! His OCD had already reached another level altogether, okay?!

"What?" Wang Chengbing shuddered and put on a disgusted expression. "If it's the same date last year, doesn't it mean we have until tomorrow's time to save Shi Nian?"

"Regardless, we have to release an arrest warrant." Ru Meiqi commanded in a firm tone. "Atop of that, because SCI squad is almost incapacitated, we have to mobilize every single manpower at our disposal."

"But—" Ru Meiqi knew what Qin Weizhe wanted to say. 

But the arrest warrant had to be approved by Director Fen whereas the man himself was in cahoot with Nan Cheng. Would Nan Cheng stand still and allow his son to be a wanted criminal? 

Obviously, the answer was no.

The arrest warrant was fated not to land into their hands. Ever.

"But what?" Luo Ning probed carefully.

"No. It's nothing." Qin Weizhe sighed and put on a smile. "I will see if I can do something about it."

This was going to be an arduous search. First, there wasn't any CCTV in the area around the residential complex so they couldn't even check anything. Once Nan Xukun managed to slip in and out without anyone noticing, it meant he had succeeded in getting away thoroughly.

How could that damn bastard be so shrewd and slick?! It was absolutely hateful and repulsive!

Knock-knock-knock. 

In a timely manner, the nurse who was there earlier when Ru Meiqi woke up popped her head in and was shocked to see a bunch of rowdy men with a scowl on their faces. Cowering, she spoke tremblingly. "E—Excuse me…"

Qin Weizhe stepped forward and showed his million dollar smile. "Is there something you need, Miss?"

The nurse was caught in daze for a moment before snapping out of her senses. Blushing, she stammered. "Oh, no…it's nothing. I guess Miss Ru wants to know because she asked earlier. Your friend—Mr. Jin's surgery is successful and he has been moved to the ICU."

"Really?!" The members instantly caused a ruckus. "Captain is safe now?!"

"Oh my God, you have no idea how my heart almost stopped when he's carried into the ambulance!"

"Hallelujah! It's a Christmas miracle!"

"Miracle your ass! Captain is strong and it's not like the beam pierced straight through his body. The doctor only needs to patch him up. Patch him up, you hear me?!"

Smiles and laughter returned to the members' faces. It was such a relieving sight to see. Seeing them made Ru Meiqi smile subconsciously. 

"Alright!" Qin Weizhe clapped to pull their focus back. "I know we're happy for Captain's recovery but now, we need to focus on the matter at hand! As you have known, Director Fen has pointed me as the temporary Captain. I will start to divide tasks. First, the most important thing we have to do is to find any clues regarding their whereabouts."

Everyone nodded, rejuvenated. "Sure! Give us the tasks! We are ready!"

Qin Weizhe nodded, satisfied. Recalling something, he frowned deeply. "I have no idea what Xu Binchen is doing right now. He was supposed to follow up on Shi Nian's disappearance because he's the one who discovered it first. However, it's been almost three hours and he still hasn't updated us. I can't help but wonder whether something happens to him too…"

"Oh no!" Wang Chengbing gasped. "Are you saying that he's been caught by the serial killer too?!"

"That's possible." Qin Weizhe sighed. 

Everyone mulled over what had happened to Xu Binchen and the atmosphere turned strangely silent for a moment. Only then could they faintly hear the sound of the phone vibrating. Searching for the source, all eyes fell on Qin Weizhe in the end. 

"What?" He blinked and exclaimed with an 'oh'. "It's an unknown number that has been calling me since a while ago. There has been a lot of similar cases before so—"

"You popular dude!"

"Are you trying to brag that girls hit on you all the time?!"

"Itching for a fight, huh?!"

Curses rained down on him in the next few moments. The guys in the police station pretty much suffered from single-forever syndrome. It was hard enough to find a girl amidst their swamped work while this bastard here didn't even have to move and the girls instantly threw themselves on him! Hateful! Unforgivable!

Qin Weizhe put on a helpless expression and glanced discreetly in Luo Ning's direction. Fortunately, the latter didn't give much of a reaction. Qin Weizhe sighed as he pulled out his phone. He didn't know why he was kind of disappointed. He meant...shouldn't he be elated to have such an understanding boyfriend like Luo Ning?

With a begrudging expression, he hit the green button. "Hello? Who is this?"

Out of his expectation, the reply came in a form of low, masculine voice. "Is this Qin Weizhe?"

"Y—Yeah." It couldn't be…had he even attracted gays since he started dating Luo Ning? "And you are…"

"This is Jia Ming'en."

"Oh, you're Jia Ming'en—wait, Jia Ming'en?!" He had just sighed in relief when realization dawned on him.

"Jia Ming'en?!" The others exclaimed in shock. "Why does that son of a bitch contact us again?! Did he not collude with Si Zhening and Nan Xukun to bring us to that place?! Otherwise, how could there be such a coincidence!"

Qin Weizhe put his forefingers on his lips and turned on the speaker mode. "You may talk now. Do you need something?"

"I'm sorry to call you at times like these and I know you might not trust me. But your colleague, Xu Binchen, is here with me." 

On the other side of the phone, Jia Ming'en propped his arms on the steering wheel as he glanced to the side toward the pale faced, unconscious man. "His phone is broken by accident and the only number I was able to get from his mouth is yours." He put on a troubled expression and returned his gaze forward. "He's in quite a perilous condition, you see. And I can't leave my position for now. I'm currently trailing after the one who kidnapped Jiang Jinyan's girlfriend."

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[1] The Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory (MMPI) is a psychological test that assesses personality traits and psychopathology. It is primarily intended to test people who are suspected of having mental health or other clinical issues.

[2] Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R). It is commonly used to rate a person's psychopathic or antisocial tendencies.

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A/N: hehe now the truth has finally been revealed. I see some of you wish that Nan Xukun isn't the serial killer. Don't worry, there's more about the case than what meets the eye. Spoiler: Xiao Chun's cuteness shall stay in your heart forever~

Btw, if you want to test how psychopathic you are, you might want to try the two tests above but it's not free. There's a simple PCL-R test online consisted of a few basic question and my result is I'm 45% more psychopathic than average people but still hasn't crossed the threshold of actual psychopath (Thank God) lol