Murder the Dream Guy

“D*mn!”

“There’s a problem with that fellow. Chase!”

Screech! He Wencai stepped on the accelerator.

The few of them perked up as they gave chase in the direction the man ran. But that man not only ran fast, he also knew how to slip away from sight. When he noticed the police were near, he quickly turned to an alley.

As the Avenue of Stars offered various scenic spots, there were a lot of sightseeing visitors and a lot of alleys that only allowed walking. Everywhere was filled with a rustic charm of its own. Rows upon rows of teahouses and old shops occupied half of the space. When that man slipped into the alley, it was as though a mudfish had entered a pond, difficult to catch up.

“F*ck!” Tang Yuanchu gave a cuss. “Stop!”

Not waiting for the car to stop entirely, he jumped out of the car and gave chase.

“Move away! Police!”

When the police chased after anyone in the streets, the crowd would try to give away. He Wencai and Wang Chengming hurried over as well. That man took the police round several streets and alleys. The place was too narrow and interconnected with many alleys and streets. Even though the three men were agile and fit, they were panting and gasping for air before they managed to catch hold of that man.

When Xiang Wan was panting heavily for air and saw them, the detectives had caught hold of the man and pinned him onto the wall.

“D*mn, still going to run? Hmph! Can’t run away now?”

That fellow was around 170 centimeters in height, quite thin, cropped hairstyle, long slanted eyes and his face haggard and puffy as though he couldn’t open his eyes. He got held down by the police, but his mouth could not stop blabbering.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts. Brothers, can’t you be gentler, my hands are going to break!”

Tang Yuanchu gave a slap on his shoulder. “You still know pain huh?” He said angrily, “You know pain and you still run? Why are you running?!”

That man turned his head in a daze and looked at Tang Yuanchu’s face below the police cap, looking somewhat confused. “Aren’t you the ones who asked me to run?”

What? Tang Yuanchu and Xiang Wan and the other two exchanged glances with each other and loosened their grip on the man. They turned him slowly around to face them.

“Tell us everything! What happened?”

That fellow gasped then rubbed his shoulders and stretched his arms about.

“Brothers, so how’s my performance?” He asked as though there was nothing wrong with a grin.

Now everyone was confused. They could not understand what he was talking about

“What are you talking about?”

“I said ‘brothers, how’s my performance?’ So, did I run fast enough?”

What is he talking about?

Tang Yuanchu got angry, he almost wanted to lash out at him.

“Don’t pretend you’re close to us, quickly explain the situation!”

“Hur! Brother, you’re still acting?” That fellow laughed in amusement as he looked at them, showing his teeth jauntily. “Professionals are sure different, you acted so much better than me, as though it’s real. When I was running earlier, I was so scared that my legs are trembling, as if I’m really being chased by the police and nearly peed my pants–”

“…”

The three detectives were confused.

After hearing him talk, Xiang Wan somehow had a thought.

She walked up to the front and got Tang Yuanchu to let her speak to the fellow.

“What’s your name?” She smiled.

A sudden question coming from a pretty woman left the man dazed for a while and responded reflexively.

“Chen Liu!”

“Are you a celebrity?” He asked Xiang Wan with a grin, even his eyes were curved. “I’ve never seen you before in the film set…”

Celebrity? Xiang Wan raised an eyebrow. “You thought we were shooting a film or something?”

Chen Liu paused for a moment and studied her attire then he looked at Tang Yuanchu and the rest who were wearing solemn expressions.

“Isn’t-isn’t it the case?”

Xiang Wan smiled and look at Tang Yuanchu. “Detective Tang–”

Tang Yuanchu understood and fished out his police officer badge. “Hongjiang District Criminal Investigation Unit, Tang Yuanchu! Tell us what’s with the blood on your face and why did you run so desperately when you saw us?”

“D*rn!” Chen Liu did not answer the question carefully looked at Tang Yuanchu’s police officer badge. “You’re really the police?” His lips were twitching, obviously stunned from the sudden turn of events. “Oh gosh! But it’s impossible, aren’t this supposed to be a rehearsal?”

“I’m asking you a question. Tell us!” Tang Yuanchu was getting frustrated talking to a fellow who did not answer according to their question.

Perhaps feeling his flames of anger, Chen Liu started to worry. He winced and said softly, “Officer, I-I don’t know what happened. I’m just an extra who’s here for a shoot…”

At this point, he lifted his sleeve and wiped his forehead.

The “bloodstains” on his forehead were all over his face, and his sleeves were stained red by the “bloodstains”.

He took a look at his sleeves and grinned proudly. “The make-up artist must have done a good job, right? Haha, all of you didn’t realize it right? This blood is fake.”

“…”

Makeup. Acting. Shoot.

Tang Yuanchu was so angry that his anger went up by another notch.

“Since you’re just an extra, why did you run when you see the police? What are you afraid of?”

Chen Liu scratched his head nervously as Tang Yuanchu stared at him fiercely. “Precisely! I have to run when I see the police. Wait, no, I didn’t know you’re the real police! Earlier on, my boss told me to try this scene out, and this scene required me to come out from an alley and run when I see the police…”

The four of them were speechless.

“What show are you filming? Is there a show that one has to run when they see the police?”

“It’s the famous ‘The Grey List’! Heheh, I wanted to be a part of the film. Even if I only show a back view in it, it will still be very cool, right? Heheheh, Of course I need to run when I see the police! Not only I have to run, I need to run as fast as I can so my boss will be happy!”

This person spoke incoherently.

Judging from his facial expression and the way he communicated with them, this person did not have a high IQ.

After giving it a thought, she asked the key question. “What do you mean by your boss?”

“Boss is boss!” Chen Liu seemed ignorant of what was happening.

Xiang Wan’s brows furrowed slightly and tried to explain to him in simpler terms.

“I’m asking you, who is this boss that asked you to come for the shoot?”

“Oh!” Chen Liu laughed again. “Boss is our manager. Heheh, not only celebrities have managers but we extras also have managers. When any filming set needed extras, boss will get us to come…”

Although he did not directly answer her question, Xiang Wan understood what was going on.

The supposed “boss” he mentioned all the time must be the one who helped these extras to get work.

The problem was this “boss”. How did he know the police was coming?

Xiang Wan turned to talk to Tang Yuanchu before turning to Chen Liu. “Let’s go, bring us to your boss!”

What! Chen Liu was scared silly. “Officer… I-I didn’t know anything. I didn’t do anything illegal. Why did you want to look for boss? If boss got unhappy, my pay will be deducted…”

Pay deduction? So serious?

Xiang Wan was slightly shocked but she consoled him with a smile. “Don’t be so worried, we’ll just ask your boss a few questions!”

“But-but can we not?…” Chen Liu seemed to be a little scared of his boss. He stammered as he tried to reject the request, but when he saw Tang Yuanchu’s grim expression, he decided to give in. “Okay, go, let’s go!”

Their patrol car was still parked outside.

When the few of them “escorted” Chen Liu out, that attracted the attention of many passersby.

Chen Liu tried hard to explain that he was leading the way for the police officers and had done nothing wrong.

He was so honest!

His explanation made the onlookers laugh in amusement.

When Xiang Wan looked at the simple and silly Chen Liu, she smiled as well.

However, when they returned to the street where they first spotted Chen Liu, they couldn’t smile anymore.

They noticed that there were a group of people and a few of them were wearing the police uniform, presumably costume.

“Chen Liu! Where the hell did you run off to?” From the group of people, a middle-aged fat man rushed out to scold Chen Liu. The middle-aged fat man was bald and wore a thick gold chain around his neck, looking entirely like a gangster.

He took a few steps and stared at Chen Liu before looking at Tang Yuanchu, Xiang Wan and the detectives.

“What’s happening?” he asked, “Which film crew are you from? Are you trying to poach my people?”

“…” Film crew?

Xiang Wan took a look at the “police officers” behind the fat man. “You’re doing a shooting scene?”

The fat man sized them up and his eyes seemed to be shocked. “You’re… the police?” he asked weakly.

“…”

It was a misunderstanding. Entirely a misunderstanding.

The filming set of “The Grey List” was preparing to shoot a police chasing scene in the street.

Chen Liu was chosen to shoot the scene as he fit the description of a character in “The Grey List”. That was the reason the fat man called him to come for the shoot.

But Chen Liu was a simpleton. After they did the makeup and told him what to do, he did not even wait but dashed out into the street, where he happened to see the real police and was even more convinced that the shoot had started. He followed accordingly to what they told him earlier by running, as fast as he could…

“My apologies, my apologies. Officers, we’ve created trouble for all of you!”

The middle-aged fat man apologized profusely and bowed to the police officers. Just one look and one would know the fat man knew the ways of society.

Looking at him, Tang Yuanchu turned to look at the street and still had a strange feeling about the whole incident. “Shouldn’t there be a sign or something that a shooting was going on?”

“There is, there is. It’s because we have not yet started…” When the middle-aged fat man said that, he seemed to be angry and made a kicking action at Chen Liu but did not actually kick him. “Only this silly one did not know. He simply dashed out and started running that left us all in shock–”

With that, he stretched out his hand, wanting to shake hands with Tang Yuanchu to express his apology.

“I’m really sorry about this. Officers, we’ve created trouble for all of you–”

Tang Yuanchu extended his hand quite unwillingly and was shocked to notice that there were a couple of 100 yuan notes that was passed to him, in his palm.

“What are you doing?”

The middle-aged man laughed and blinked meaningfully. “The police officers work hard to maintain public order, please take this to have some tea!”

“Nonsense!” Tang Yuanchu was still a rookie detective. This was the first time he encountered such blatant bribery in broad daylight. His cheeks burned and he glared at him angrily. He also turned to look at the group of extras wearing the police officer costume, where he felt awkward about it.

“Be more careful next time! Don’t disrupt public order!” His tone was now unfriendly.

“I understand, understand. Officers, please have a good day ahead!”

After encountering such an incident, they hopped on the patrol car feeling somewhat depressed.

Tang Yuanchu was still feeling upset and continued to complain. “Geez, these people who act as the police look more like the real deal where we actually get misunderstood as the fake. Does this make sense?”

“I agree.” He Wencai puffed a sigh. “Just look at them, they look fair, healthy and valiant. They’re nothing like you and me. We don’t get to sleep enough and look ghastly and pale like a ghost!”

“Hahaha! That’s only you. I still look as suave as always!”

“Enough! If you’re so suave, why do you still have your chastity?”

“He Wencai, you bleeping say it one more time?”

Sensing that Tang Yuanchu was really getting infuriated, He Wencai quickly shut up his mouth.

While they were talking, Xiang Wan was mulling after the incident in silence.

How could there be such a coincidence? They happened to see that guy, he ran away, and they happened to go after him?

…

The patrol team walked along the Avenue of Stars as well as the vicinity and returned to the office at about 12 noon.

At this time, the food at the canteen was ready.

The three of them were as though reincarnated from hungry ghosts. They dashed to the canteen after washing their hands. Xiang Wan was not in a hurry like them. She went back to the office to get her moisturizer, went to the washing basin to wash her hands and use the moisturizer on her face. After using it, she felt so much better.

The ultra-violet rays in September were still quite strong. The temperature around noon was high as well. Earlier on, she perspired a lot. Her face was red from the hot weather and she felt dehydrated.

If she were to go on patrol like that every day, she felt that she would be the same as the brothers and sisters over in Africa in less than a month’s time…

“Why are you sneaking around here?”

Xiang Wan just placed her moisturizer in her bag when she heard Bai Muchuan’s voice from behind.

This guy walks around without a sound?

Cough! She turned around and raised an eyebrow. “Why? It’s my privacy as a woman comrade. Captain Bai wanted to know about this as well?”

“Oh.” Bai Muchuan nodded his head as though he understood what she was implying. He spoke softly in her ear while looking at her face. “Your relative is here?”

Relative? Xiang Wan did not get what he meant for a moment. “What relative?” she asked, bewildered.

Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow. “The privacy of a woman comrade… Doesn’t it mean that your great aunt ¹ has visited you?”

What the! He even knew what great aunt means? Xiang Wan did not feel good. She narrowed her eyes and said in an unfriendly tone, “Captain Bai, I realize that you’re quite lewd at times?”

Bai Muchuan: “…”

He took a breath and looked at Xiang Wan casually. “This is general knowledge taught in the middle schools under health education. How can you think so poorly of it? Teacher Xiang, who exactly is the lewd one among us both?”

Xiang Wan always lost to him, be it an argument or a harmless banter.

She snorted and thought she might as well change the topic.

“What did you talk to Brother Xing? You both were talking inside for more than an hour…”

Bai Muchuan’s eyes were dim for an instant but lit up again. A hand slowly went around her waist and rested on the washing basin, as though wrapping her whole body in his arms. “You wanna know?” He smiled in a sly manner.

Xiang Wan lifted a finger against his arm, to prevent him from coming nearer. “Of course!”

Hur! Bai Muchuan looked into her big, beautiful dark eyes with a smile. “Well, you need to have the right to ask me about it,” he said arrogantly, “for example, you need to tell me, who are you to me? I will only tell if you’ve a very close relationship with me.”

Xiang Wan sighed helplessly and tapped on his shoulders. “Forget it then, I don’t want to know.”

“Giving up just like this?” he asked.

“Of course!” Xiang Wan smiled but she also realized that if it was something that she could know, Bai Muchuan would tell her about it. Those that she should not know, even if she really did admit something, the probability of him not telling her about it was still there.

Hence, she would not fall into his trap.

Seeing that he still refused to let her go, she started to feel a little warm and she gave him a glare.

“Move? Not going to eat?”

Bai Muchuan smiled casually. “I want to, but I’m waiting for my girlfriend to eat with me.”

Girlfriend…

The word had a sudden romantic meaning to it that had a great impact on her fragile little heart. She managed to calm herself down and imitated him to speak arrogantly. “Well, I haven’t agreed. Comrade Bai Muchuan, don’t forget, you’re still under probation! So, our relationship is still one-sided, please be mindful of your words.”

“Hah! One-sided?” Bai Muchuan broke out in laughter and leaned on the side of the washing basin where he ran his fingers through her hair. “You’ve got guts, huh? Little Xiang Wan.”

“Hey, don’t touch me!” Xiang Wan stared at him then looked outside. “You’re not worried if someone will come here?”

“They’ve all gone to eat!” Bai Muchuan leaned forward with a smile, his charming smile appeared in front of her. “No one will know what we’re doing…”

When he spoke, his breathing landed on her face, neck and ear. It felt numb, itchy and crisp, as though there were ants crawling on her, making Xiang Wan felt numb in her scalp. Under his gentle gaze and voice, her blood seems to gush up to her face, making her all blushed. “Hey, don’t go too far!”

Bai Muchuan raised an eyebrow, his peach blossom eyes winked at her. “Just like this and you are shy?” He smiled.

“Who’s shy!” Xiang Wan would never admit that and used her hands to push him away. “Move, move, don’t stay here to be the door god!”

“Give me a kiss me and I’ll move away.” Bai Muchuan’s low-pitched voice was so enchanting that Xiang Wan got goosebumps from hearing it and her heart twitched heavily…

It was an unusual feeling.

She felt uncomfortable, flustered and at a loss. Every minute as he leaned in close to her, her heart would beat so fast that even her breathing would be faster as well. But on the contrary, he was very calm and his warm smile was like the early winter sun, his tall stature valiant and manly, forcing her to quietly stay by the washing basin, where her heart was turned upside down…

“Mm? Not willing?” He lowered his head, almost touching her cheek. “I shall kiss you then, it works the same.”

“Bai Muchuan, we’ve agreed on it.” Xiang Wan tried to push him away in a fluster and muttered helplessly. “Stop fooling around…”

“… Hur!”

Seeing how her ineffective push and “punches” were, Bai Muchuan finally broke into laughter again after seemingly tolerated for a while.

He pinched on her nose softly and smiled lovingly at her. “I’m just teasing you, silly. You actually believed it?”

So childish! How can he tease me like this!? She thought.

Xiang Wan gave a glare then stepped on his foot. “Hurhurhur, is it? I’m also teasing you!”

As she said that, she directly stepped over his foot, not giving a care of how painful he looked at that moment. “I’ll go eat my lunch now,” she said casually, “Captain Bai, see you later!”

“Heartless creature!” Bai Muchuan chuckled, looked at the footprint on his shoe and cleaned it with a paper napkin. Then he washed his hands and walked out slowly towards the canteen.

When he got out, he never expected that Xiang Wan was actually waiting for him along the corridor, folding her arms.

She had a leisurely look with a straight face. That confident look of hers actually made him a little annoyed.

Bai Muchuan smiled as he walked. “Teacher Xiang, you’re waiting here for me?”

Xiang Wan responded, “Yes!”

There was a glint in Bai Muchuan’s eyes as he smiled. “Didn’t you say to keep a low profile of our relationship?”

“Well?” Xiang Wan pouted, “What do you think I’m waiting here for?”

Bai Muchuan put on a straight face. “Isn’t it because you didn’t get to kiss me earlier, so you regretted and waited for me here?”

“Dream on!” Xiang Wan grunted a laugh, totally imitating the arrogant manner of Bai Muchuan, and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “There’s something I encountered during the patrol today,” she said seriously, “I feel strange, so I wanted to tell you about it!”

“Oh–! You wanna talk about work?” Bai Muchuan dragged his voice and raised his finger to point right ahead. “Let’s go, we’ll talk about it while eating.”

“Alright!”

The two of them walked together to the canteen.

There weren’t many people eating in the canteen that day. The canteen was not packed, groups of twos and threes sat together and chatted with each other.

After Xiang Wan took her food, out of habit, she would sit by the window.

Very soon, Bai Muchuan also got his food and sat opposite her with a solemn expression. “Say it, what’s up?”

Before he came over, Xiang Wan had already summarized what she wanted to say. After his question, she was able to give an account of her experience over at the Avenue of Stars smoothly.

“I feel weird that this feeling keeps lingering inside of me! But I don’t know which part of it felt off…”

She let out a sigh while in deep thought while Bai Muchuan furrowed his brows all of a sudden.

“Something’s not right!” He put down his chopsticks suddenly and said with a grim face.

Xiang Wan looked up at him, startled. “What is it? Did you think of something?”

Bai Muchuan rubbed against his temples and looked at her with a weird expression. “To think that you’re actually Second Young Master Mu’s loyal fan. You didn’t know what plot is that?”

Eh?! “What is it?”

The story of “The Grey List” was very long and there were too many cases inside. How would she be able to recall a plot out of the blue?

Bai Muchuan looked at her confused little face. “That plot is about luring the tiger away from the mountains–a drug dealing was going on but the drug trafficker received news that the police was coming. At that time, it was too late for them to change their dealing location. The drug trafficker suddenly had an idea and got his men to carry a suitcase to lure the attention of the police away…”

“Ah!” Xiang Wan was enlightened.

That’s right! She had felt there was something strange about it. It was just that she did not manage to recall the plot.

With that said, she realized that her doubts had originated from “The Grey List”.

Well, does that mean that a scene in the novel got replicated in real life?

“Captain Bai, so do we need to…”

Bai Muchuan put down his bowl and got up from his seat.

He clapped his hands to get attention and when everyone looked at him, he issued a command.

“Brothers, let’s get to work!”

…