The fake Dali sat on the ground with his legs folded, crying.
“Are you crazy, Uncle Wang?” he yelled. “Xiaotao-jiejie, I’m really Dali!”
Xiaotao was confused and didn’t know who to believe. “Even if you suspect him, don’t you think shooting him is a bit reckless?”
“He’s got calluses on his hands,” replied Yuanchao simply.
His observation skill was indeed impressive. In fact, Yuanchao had suspected Dali to be fake the moment he saw Dali running after me, so when I gestured to him to subdue the fake Dali, he took action straight away.
Then, the fake Dali’s expressions changed, and his voice altered dramatically too.
“It doesn’t matter,” he said. “Neither of you can escape now. Even your police uniform won’t protect you!”
“Who the hell are you?” asked Xiaotao.
“You have no business knowing that, Miss Officer,” sneered the fake Dali. “I’m warning you. Some cases should be left unsolved. We’ve given you warning. There is only one outcome for those who don’t listen to us—death!”
“You dare to threaten us?” snapped Xiaotao. “Look at yourself!”
“Where is the real Dali?” I asked.
The thin smile on the fake Dali’s face grew wider. “I don’t know. He should be alive now, but if I don’t go back alive tonight, then I can’t guarantee that he’ll stay that way for long…”
Yuanchao kicked the fake Dali squarely on his stomach. The man fell flat on his back. Yuanchao always had a fiery temper, and the thing that angered him the most was arrogant criminals. Then Yuanchao grasped the fake Dali’s face with his wide palm and tore off his skin.
We were all stunned for a few seconds when we saw the man’s true face. He was completely bald, had no eyebrows, and no nose. He only had two holes where his nostrils should be, just like Voldemort in Harry Potter. There were bloody scratches on his face because the mask was glued to his face.
Yuanchao examined the mask in his hand for a while, then handed it to me. I found that it was made of rubber. This gave me a sense of relief, because I had been worried that they had cut off Dali’s real face and stuck it on this man.
“So you are a faceless slave, correct?” I asked.
“How did you know?” the man was startled.
“The Song family has been dealing with criminals for thousands of years,” I replied. “We know you more than you know anything about us.”
No matter how much the times had changed, the many hidden occupations associated with the underworld did not change much. These occupations included fortune-tellers, prostitutes, mercenaries, and so on, and much of it was still to be seen today.
Faceless slaves were one of these occupations. They had to cut off their noses from the first day they joined the organization. They would wash their face with special medicine day and night, making their skin as soft as bread dough. That way, they could easily morph into anyone. They also practiced changing their voices so they could mimic other people’s voices.
Experienced faceless slaves only needed to massage their face in a certain way and they would immediately look like someone else. The fake Dali was evidently not at that stage yet; he still needed a rubber mask to look like Dali. Still, I had to admit that his voice sounded just like Dali’s, and his acting had been very convincing indeed.
Such people could easily act as assassins, but in most cases, they would be used to spy and gather intelligence instead. They were no different from shadows. They had no names and no identities of their own. They were often killed by their employers because they knew too much. Few people even knew of their existence.
“Where is Dali?” I asked again.
“As long as I’m safe, he’s safe,” he replied.
“Your acting is good,” I sneered, “but it’s not good enough that I can’t see through your lies. It looks more like you’re just their foot soldier. You’re just a pawn they use to monitor me. Dali has no value as a hostage, you know that. Your boss won’t have any interest in him.”
His face changed instantly. It looked like I hit the nail on the head. If they really needed a hostage to threaten us, no one could be more suitable than Bingxin. She would be easier to subdue and her kidnapping would immediately trigger us into action.
“Who do you work for?” I asked again. “The Black Panthers gang? The Blood Wolf gang?”
I watched his reaction carefully. It seemed that neither was correct. Instead, the faceless slave burst into laughter, saying, “You nave boy! You’re stupid enough to compare us to small powerless gangs? We are like a dragon that should not be provoked!”
Yuanchao punched him and kicked him over and over again. Xiaotao had to yell at him multiple times before she could stop him. When he was finally pulled away, Yuanchao angrily pointed at the faceless slave and yelled, “If you open your mouth again, I’ll beat you into a pulp!”
The faceless slave bit his lip and held his tongue. It was obvious that he was afraid of Yuanchao now.
At that moment, I noticed that the effect of the potion was starting to wear off. I hurriedly said, “Uncle Wang, can you tie this man up and carry him? We have to carry on with our investigation now!”
Yuanchao agreed and lifted the man up with no effort. The man was scared stiff, yet he still murmured, “Kong Hui works for the organization. If you touch him, you’re as good as dead!”
“Good!” scoffed Xiaotao. “I’d love to see what your boss looks like anyway!”
I breathed in and focused on the scent on the ground. I caught the whiff of some body odors and the scent of drugs on the grass. I followed the trail until I saw tire marks on the side of the road. As expected, Kong Hui had carried the victim here with a car.
Xiaotao took photos of the tire tracks to keep as evidence. Then she asked me, “Want me to drive to follow the track?”
“No,” I shook my head. “I can’t smell if I’m in the car. I’d have to trouble everyone to follow me on foot.”
I continued to sniff at the tire prints and smelled something else. It could be that Xu Xiaohui had peed in the car, and that made it more convenient for me to follow the trail. We walked along for a while, and half an hour later, we reached an old residential area. By this time, the effects of the ‘potion’ were just about to wear off.
I saw an off-road vehicle parked near the apartment building so I asked Xiaotao to compare its tires with the tire tracks in the photo we’d just taken. Sure enough, they matched. We were ecstatic.
“Kong Hui’s secret operating room must be nearby,” I declared.
Then the faceless slave spoke up again, but this time the arrogance in his voice was gone. He almost sounded like he was pleading when he said, “I advise you to stop investigating now. Don’t provoke the organization. There’s no going back after this. Don’t you want to live peacefully for the rest of your lives?”
Yuanchao glared at him scornfully.
“I’ve been ready to put myself in the line of danger the minute I put on my police uniform,” Xiaotao stated. “If there really are underground organizations that the police have no power over, then I think it’s my duty to change that!”
“I have the blood of the great magistrate Song Ci flowing in my body,” I echoed. “Why should I listen to you?”
Ever since the day Grandpa was killed, I vowed to arrest Jiangbei Daggers or die trying. In fact, I had a feeling that the ominous entity related to this case might just be the one connected to Jiangbei Daggers.
The faceless slave laughed. “Fine, I won’t try to stop you then! It’s none of my business anyway. You’ll learn what regret feels like the day they get your family and loved ones!”
Xiaotao and I looked at each other. There was no sign of hesitation in them. Instead, they were full of courage and determination.
I sniffed around the car, then followed the scent to a room. I picked the lock with a wire and pushed the door open. We were met with the sight of Kong Hui’s secret operating room…