Girl, you form the head.

Chapter 61 I'm Thirsty

"So, you should move on too."

When Ding Lan said those words, the entire living room fell into a deathly silence.

Xia Tian's gaze kept lingering between Bai Chi and Ding Lan, while Bai Chi's words to her when he came came back to her mind: "This mother has never been able to get out of her daughter's shadow."

But now it seems that the ones who really couldn't get through it were the seniors?
Suddenly, an indescribable feeling welled up in Xia Tian's heart.

After a moment of silence, Bai Chi said, "You just need to answer a few questions for me; it won't affect your current life."

“No, Xiaobai.” Ding Lan shook her head. “You and I both know that’s impossible. Remembering the deceased is a very painful thing, and I don’t want to suffer anymore.”

“We haven’t found Ni Xue’s body yet,” Bai Chi said. “So strictly speaking, there’s still a possibility that she’s alive.”

Ding Lan laughed: "Really? Xiao Bai, do you really think Ni Xue is still alive?"

Bai Chi remained silent.

Indeed, they have not been able to find Ni Xue's body so far, but based on the amount of blood left at the scene, it is impossible for Ni Xue to have survived.

Ni Xue is dead; that's an unchangeable fact. All they have to do is follow the process, but Ding Lan, Ni Xue's biological mother, chose to give up twenty years later.

"Xiao Bai," Ding Lan spoke gently again, trying to comfort Bai Chi, "Xiao Xue is gone. Her departure has caused me pain for over ten years, and for you, it's been even longer, twenty years, right? How many twenty-year periods does one have in a lifetime? We really should think about that now. In the end, shouldn't we live for the living?"

As she spoke, Ding Lan reached out and gently grasped Bai Chi's hand, then slowly stood up.

"Alright, you should leave now," Ding Lan said. "My husband will be off work soon, and I need to prepare dinner for him, so I won't keep you two any longer."

Summer watched as Ding Lan walked into the kitchen with her back to them, then hugged the little boy who had been peeking at them, seemingly not intending to talk to them anymore.

Is this really how it ended?

A huge sense of loss welled up in Xia Tian's heart, and she couldn't help but look at Bai Chi and ask in a low voice, "What should we do?"

Bai Chi's expression remained calm, showing little change: "Then let's go."

After saying that, he stood up briskly and walked towards the door, while Xia Tian hurriedly followed.

Before leaving, Xia Tian took one last look at Ding Lan, but the latter still didn't seem to want them to stay. She didn't even turn her head, leaving them only with her slender back view.

No, the figure wasn't frail, because beneath her was a little boy who kept peeking out.

And the truly frail figure... Xia Tian turned her head and looked at the white incandescence that was receding into the distance.

At this moment, the 1.8-meter-tall man looked like a slender and weak bamboo.

Xia Tian felt very sad. She caught up with Bai Chi and asked hesitantly, "Senior, do you want to continue investigating?"

“Of course,” Bai Chi said. “Why not investigate?”

“But her mother has already given up,” Xia Tian said. “Even if you find the truth, who can you explain it to?”

Bai Chi stopped and looked at Xia Tian.

At that moment, Xia Tian's heart was in her throat. She thought Bai Chi would be angry, would be hysterical, and would say stiffly, "This is my explanation to myself." After all, in Xia Tian's view, Bai Chi was indeed as Ding Lan said, trapped in the past twenty years and unable to move on.

To Xia Tian's surprise, none of the aforementioned emotions appeared on Bai Chi's face. He remained calm, just as calmly as when he had handed her that strange gift in the police station without batting an eye.

"Why should I give an explanation? Is it that complicated?" Bai Chi said. "That child is my friend. She's gone missing, and I'm looking for her. It's that simple."

Xia Tian opened her mouth, but after a long while, she finally spoke: "It's that simple?"

"It's that simple." Bai Chi walked to the elevator, lightly pressing the button as he casually said, "If you disappear one day, I'll come looking for you too."

When the elevator arrived, Bai Chi noticed that Xia Tian hadn't followed, so he turned around and asked in confusion, "What's wrong? Aren't you coming?"

go?
Which way do I get there?
Xia Tian felt that Bai Chi's words, "I will come to find you too," had pierced her heart like a sharp arrow.

You'll look for me too... and you'll look for me like this for twenty years...

Damn, what kind of talk is that? That's so unfair!

Especially that sentence, accompanied by that nonchalant look, really made my legs go weak... I was so weak!

Faced with Bai Chi's questioning gaze, Xia Tian took a deep breath and decided that she had to do something.

"wait for me a while."

She left those words behind and immediately turned back, knocking on Ding Lan's door again.

“Ms. Ding, I understand that you have made up your mind to say goodbye to the past and start a new life. You are right, the arrival of your second child has given you the strongest reason and motivation. Living for him is your greatest strength now,” Xia Tian said. “But your child is not just the one in your arms, is she? Although she has been gone for twenty years, and although she may never return to your arms, she is still your child.”

“We don’t expect you to live for her; that would be too unfair to you.”

"But if you choose to completely erase her from your life, wouldn't that be unfair to her as well?"

“She has already lost her life. If she loses her mother as well, then she will really have nothing left.”

After speaking, Xia Tian took a deep breath, took two steps back, and stared intently at the tightly closed iron gate in front of him.

Bai Chi watched her from the side.

The two waited for nearly five minutes, but there was no movement from inside the house.

A hint of disappointment welled up in Xia Tian's eyes, while Bai Chi shook his head, as if he had expected it, and said to Xia Tian, ​​"Let's go."

But just then, the iron gate clicked open.

Ding Lan's voice, which she tried to keep calm, came through the crack in the door: "Come in." When they returned to the living room, there was no fresh tea left, and Ding Lan was no longer as composed as before; her eyes were red and swollen, as if she had just been crying.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Ding," Xia Tian said softly. "I went too far."

"No." Ding Lan shook her head, forcing a smile. "What you said makes sense. If I myself forget her, who else in this world would remember her?"

Bai Chi replied, "I will remember."

Xia Tian glared fiercely at Bai Chi.

Can you please be quiet right now?
To Xia Tian's surprise, Bai Chi's words actually eased Ding Lan's expression.

"Yes, thank goodness for you, Xiaobai. The luckiest thing in Xue's life is probably meeting you." Ding Lan seemed to have made up her mind. "Alright, Xiaobai, just ask me anything. I'll tell you everything I know, but that's all I can do, understand?"

Bai Chi nodded, said "That's enough," and took out a map from his pocket.

"What's this?" Ding Lan looked at the various markings on the map with some confusion.

"Before Ni Xue's incident, did you take her to any of these places in my circle?"

Ding Lan was somewhat stunned. She had participated in the investigation back then, and the police had naturally asked Ni Xue if she had encountered any strange people before the incident. However, they didn't know how to answer such a broad question. Only now had Bai Chi narrowed down the scope. Although the locations within this scope seemed ordinary, just these few circles alone gave Ding Lan a glimmer of hope that hadn't appeared in a long time.

Is it really possible that Bai Chi could find Xiao Xue?
Ding Lan pursed her lips, not daring to have too much hope, and simply bent down to look at the map carefully.

“Fenjin Bicycles, Mitsubishi Motors, Hongtai Pharmaceutical, Sanfeng Department Store…” Ding Lan looked at each one, and then first rejected Hongtai Pharmaceutical, “Xiaoxue has never been here. At that time, we thought that such a pharmaceutical factory would have harmful substances, so we never let her go near it. Moreover, after her accident, the police also investigated this place, but they found nothing.”

Bai Chi took out a pen and crossed out Hongtai Pharmaceutical.

"Then there was Mitsubishi Motors. You know, our family wasn't well-off back then, and we couldn't afford a car at all. But my ex-husband really liked cars, so he naturally took Xiaoxue to look at them, but we only drove around the outside and never went inside, so it shouldn't count."

Bai Chi also crossed out Mitsubishi Motors.

That's why he came to find Ding Lan; it would save him a lot of time, since there are only two left now.

“Sanfeng Department Store was a place we often took Xiaoxue to because things there were cheap. We often took her there to buy snacks and clothes.” A look of reminiscence welled up in Ding Lan’s eyes. “So that was probably the place Xiaoxue went to most often. The police asked us if Xiaoxue had encountered any strange people there, but the place was just too big, and we couldn’t really say…”

"Electrical appliances".

"Electrical appliances?"

"Yes, appliances." Bai Chi narrowed down the possibilities for Ding Lan again, "Rice cookers, televisions, radios, anything that specializes in appliances. Have you taken Xiaoxue to any of those stores?"

Ding Lan frowned and thought carefully for a few minutes, finally letting out a bitter smile: "I really can't remember. Besides, when we were with Xue, we rarely went to those electronics stores. She wasn't interested in them at all, and she would start clamoring for food after a short while... I'm sorry."

As she spoke, her eyes reddened again, and she had to wipe them with a tissue to calm herself down before she could continue.

"As for this Fenjin brand bicycle, we don't even have one..." Ding Lan's words stopped abruptly, as if a sudden thought had seized her heart. Her pupils slowly dilated, the color drained from her face, and her lips moved, uttering a few dazed syllables, "No... that's not right. We should have... had one."

……

Ten minutes later, the two returned to the car.

Bai Chi was driving, while Xia Tian was looking up information on her phone. After a while, she sighed and said, "No, this Fenjin brand bicycle company has been out of business for a long time. Besides, the internet was practically non-existent twenty years ago, so there's no useful information to be found."

Bai Chi remained silent, pondering Ding Lan's words.

Ding Lan said that about a week before Ni Xue's accident, they came across a bicycle exhibition at Sanfeng Department Store, where there were also bicycles for children. Ni Xue took a liking to one of the bicycles, and the Ding couple decided to buy it for her. The salesperson said that the bicycle Ni Xue was riding was a new one, and if they weren't in a hurry, they could leave their address and they would notify them by mail when the new bicycle arrived.

However, Ding Lan and his wife did not receive the notification letter until Ni Xue's accident. Of course, at that time they did not have the energy to pay attention to this trivial matter.

The bicycles on display at the bicycle exhibition came from the nearby Fenjin Bicycle Factory!
Now, the two suspicious locations are connected, along with the address they provided.

Bai Chi had a vague feeling that it was them.

However, the problem now is that both Sanfeng Department Store and Fenjin Bicycles have been closed for many years, and both factories have been demolished. This is why Xia Tian said that he could not find more information.

But it doesn't matter, the factory collapsed, but the people are still alive.

Before leaving, Bai Chi also used his phone to search for the factory manager of Fenjin Bicycle Factory.

The factory manager's name is Doi Eiichi. He retired after the Fenjin Bicycle Factory went bankrupt, but he has a son who is currently the CEO of "Fearless," the largest automobile company in City C.

How big is this car company?

The police car that Bai Chi is currently driving is from this car company.

The son of a bankrupt bicycle factory owner has risen to become the head of an automotive empire in City C. This astonishing leap from two wheels to four wheels is very likely backed by the support of those two major military industrial enterprises.

However, Bai Chi did not tell Xia Tian any of this; he would handle the subsequent investigation himself.

Hmm... no, it should be that he will come with Ruri, Yanle, and Jufeng.

Summer is just an ordinary person; she shouldn't get involved anymore.

The problem now is that even for someone like Bai Chi, who has become a police inspector, reaching the level of a behemoth like "Dauntless" Automotive is extremely difficult. After all, unlike cults like the New World Society that rise from the bottom, they are essentially conglomerates, backed by military-industrial complexes—this is truly…

"Senior." At this moment, Xia Tian suddenly spoke, her voice very soft, "I think... I'm a little thirsty."

thirsty?
Then drink some water.

Bai Chi wanted to say that, but then he felt something was off. When he turned around, Xia Tian had already pounced on him.

"Pfft" sound.

It bit through his neck.

(End of this chapter)