Silent Testimony - Chapter 69

“Brother Chen, someone is indeed following us!” The sedan exited the community, turned right onto the six-lane Dajian Road, and the driver slammed the accelerator, observing through the rearview mirror.

“Take her toward Weining Town in the opposite direction.”

Li Hewei followed closely. The driver accelerated and changed lanes, overtaking the two cars ahead. He couldn’t help but complain: “You could have just smothered her in the parking lot, but you chose the most difficult way to kill someone.”

“I could have also killed Ma Zhiming in Yancheng, so why did I come back?” The man on the other end of the line, Yan Chen, chuckled coldly. “I, Yan Chen, don’t do things without a challenge.”

“You really are a maniac. I must be crazy to follow you.”

“The Last Survivor‘s sales have exceeded 300,000, and there will be more printings later. I heard two film companies are fighting for the web drama rights. Ma Zhiming profited at least ten million from this book, and he wouldn’t even give you 200,000 as the ghostwriter…”

“I’m not saying Ma Zhiming shouldn’t be killed, and I agree with dealing with the police officer who draws the sketches. But you’ve complicated a simple matter. What if we can’t escape?”

“Ha, the Tin Oven Case in Beiyun District on March 28 last year? The police still haven’t solved it.”

“You… you did that?” The driver’s mind went blank. His lips instantly compressed, and his hands gripping the steering wheel trembled uncontrollably.

“It was also a crime that imitated the killing method in a novel by an author signed under me. What do you think?”

The driver’s head was empty, and his ears felt surrounded by thousands of buzzing mosquitoes. “You…”

“Even the Yancheng detachment couldn’t handle me, much less the Puchen detachment with barely thirty officers?”

The car speed slowed. Li Hewei, who was behind, seized the opportunity to catch up and drove parallel to him, shouting angrily: “Pull over!”

The driver’s consciousness returned. He stepped on the accelerator. He stammered, “Brother C-Chen, the police…”

Yan Chen interrupted his stuttering. “What are you afraid of? Lead her on a long detour. If you get caught, proceed according to the original plan.”

“Oh.” The driver glanced at the wine bottle beside him, gripped the steering wheel, and turned right onto Provincial Highway 205, which had only two lanes.

Li Hewei saw him heading toward Weining Town and called Qiu Wan: “Sister Qiu, the roadblock on Hanlin Avenue can be removed. He turned onto Provincial Highway 205 and is driving toward Weining.”

In the Traffic Police Brigade Monitoring Center, Qiu Wan stared intently at the surveillance screens for the three important intersections on Hanlin Avenue, her eyes darkening. “Understood. I’ll notify the Weining police to intercept.”

“Good.” Li Hewei was normally composed, but now her heart felt gripped by a large hand, a dull pain surging through her. Nothing will happen, nothing will happen. Her eyes were bloodshot, locked on the car in front. However, on the two-lane road, oncoming traffic was frequent, making it difficult to overtake. She could only maintain her distance and follow closely, then look for an opportunity, hit the hazard lights, change to the left lane to overtake the sedan, and try to cut back into the right lane to force the car to stop.

“Lunatic!” The driver fiercely stepped on the accelerator. The two cars drove side-by-side at nearly 50 kph for 200 meters.

Li Hewei saw a large truck speeding toward them in the opposite direction. She had no choice but to slow down and switch back to the right lane.

“Heh, so you know how to be afraid of death.” The driver laughed scornfully. However, just as the words left his lips and the truck passed, Li Hewei’s car swerved to the left again. She accelerated and overtook. The powerful engine roared like a giant beast closing in. Drifting and fishtailing, in the blink of an eye, half her car was already back in the right lane. The driver hardened his heart. He grabbed the nearby wine bottle, took three huge gulps, and then slammed the brakes. The tires screeched against the asphalt, and the sedan stopped steadily on the roadside. He pushed the car door open and ran frantically toward a nearby deep fish pond.

Driven by inertia, Li Hewei noticed the change and stopped nearly 50 meters away from him. She staggered toward the sedan, pulled the door open, and searched for Tao Ling.

“Tao Ling, Tao Tao!” The car was empty. The trunk… Li Hewei trembled all over. She backed out of the car, looking at the trunk lid, her legs turning weak. With suffocating pain in her chest, her shaking hands pressed the release button. The trunk slowly opened, but Tao Ling was still nowhere to be found.

Li Hewei breathed a sigh of relief, but then her heart jumped into her throat.

Where is she? The driver had already run far away. Is this a feint?

Li Hewei panted heavily as she contacted Qiu Wan, her feet moving non-stop. “I’m on Provincial Highway 205, near Qianzhang Fish Pond in Langhe Village. I didn’t find Tao Ling in the car I was chasing. You…” Her mind was in chaos. She frantically replayed the process of Tao Ling’s disappearance, desperately trying to organize her words. “Quickly go get the surveillance video from the Puan Community parking lot exit! There… there should be more than one killer! Find… find suspicious vehicles.” Li Hewei’s voice choked. “Please…”

“What about you? Are you coming back?”

“I’m pursuing the fleeing suspect.” Divide and conquer. If they couldn’t find Tao Ling’s whereabouts on the other end, she wanted to try and get information out of the driver.

“Be careful. Colleagues from Weining have already rushed toward the fish pond.”

“Okay.” Li Hewei hung up the phone, pocketed it, took a deep breath, and sprinted with the speed of a leopard toward the vague figure visible in the distance. The wind whistled in her ears. She regulated her breathing and saw the driver’s steps become increasingly unstable. About five meters away, the driver suddenly stumbled and fell headfirst into the seemingly bottomless fish pond beside him.

Li Hewei instinctively stripped off her trench coat and shoes, took the narrow path down to the water, and saw the driver thrash twice before disappearing without a trace. She held her breath and submerged herself about half a meter, finally catching sight of the sinking body. She skillfully moved her arms, swimming toward him. The autumn water was bone-chilling. Li Hewei’s left ear began to swell. She used her throat muscles to contract and transmit pressure to her eardrum, trying to relieve the unbearable pressure caused by the water.

Fortunately, it was just a fish pond. Though it looked deep, the area near the bank was only about two and a half meters deep. Li Hewei quickly grabbed the driver’s arm and pulled him upward. However, due to the difference in body weight and the strong underwater pressure, her breath grew weak. She had to surface for air, then dive again, finally managing to drag him to the shore embankment.

Li Hewei gasped for breath, turning her head to look at the driver beside her, whose face was as pale as paper, showing a greyish, deathly pallor. Familiar. Where have I seen him? Chao Hui?

“Hey.” Without time to ponder, she gently patted his face, checked the movement of his chest, and bent down to assess his heart status. It was still beating faintly. Li Hewei immediately opened the driver’s airway and pressed his abdomen to drain the water. At that moment, the Weining police arrived, guided by the tracking system. She instructed her colleagues to perform CPR and called emergency services.

“Yes, Qianzhang Fish Pond.”

After ending the call, Qiu Wan called. “What’s the situation on your end? I heard the suspect fell into the water.”

“Chao Hui. It’s Ma Zhiming’s assistant, Chao Hui.”

“Chao Hui?”

“Yes. What about Tao Ling? Did you find any suspicious vehicles?”

Qiu Wan’s throat felt like it was on fire, dry and difficult to speak. “We found a black Volkswagen with license plate Shu A3HPR2 driving away from the parking lot after your car. According to surveillance, we know he headed east.”

Li Hewei’s thin lips moved stiffly. “And then?”

“We are currently expanding the search and pursuit.”

Beep, beep, beep…

Li Hewei hung up the phone, turned sharply, and looked at Chao Hui lying flat on the ground beside her, her eyes burning like two flames. She suddenly roared in a low voice, “Move aside.”

“Officer?”

“I’ll do it.”

The colleague stepped back. Li Hewei knelt beside Chao Hui and performed standard chest compressions to resuscitate him.

“How long ago was he pulled out? He had a heartbeat just now, but now it’s gone!”

Li Hewei remained silent, continuing the rhythmic compressions.

Cough, cough…

Chao Hui rolled his eyes and spat out foam.

Li Hewei saw his eyelids fluttering, seemingly about to wake up, and sharply questioned, “Where is she?”

The police officer advised, “Hey, Officer, he probably can’t answer you in this state.”

Li Hewei grabbed Chao Hui’s collar and shook him. “I’m asking you, where is she?”

A colleague tried to stop her. “Officer, don’t get agitated.”

Li Hewei released her right hand, staring down at the ground. After a long moment, she grabbed the trench coat by her hand, stood up, and stumbled quickly toward the direction of the provincial highway.

Another colleague expressed concern. “Officer, are you going to the hospital? I see a wound on your forehead. Did you hit something when you saved him?”

Li Hewei ignored him, her eyes lifeless, like a walking corpse.

The colleague from Weining Town suddenly exclaimed, “Officer, he said the river is rising!”

“What?” Li Hewei almost flew over, her lips trembling, her breathing clearly unstable.

“He only said four words before passing out. Riverbank, water rising.”

Riverbank, water rising. Li Hewei pulled out her phone and searched the news.

[Affected by the cold vortex, our province has experienced heavy to torrential rain over the past two days, with localized exceptional downpours. Water levels in some rivers have risen, and the peak is expected at 5:00 p.m. this afternoon.]

Liangmin River. Puchen borders the Liangmin River to the east, and it is within the rising water area.

Every single word felt like a sharp hook, digging into Li Hewei’s heart. She forcefully suppressed her emotions, her steps heavy with lead as she walked back, her ear pressed to her phone. “Riverbank. Which urban sections lead to the Liangmin River? But I suspect the eastern suburbs.”

“Hewei, don’t rush. Explain clearly. Why the Liangmin River?”

“Chao Hui said riverbank, water rising. Sister Qiu, I can only gamble…”

“Okay, I’ve applied for a drone carpet search. Xiao Tao will absolutely be safe and sound.”

Two hours and twenty-three minutes had passed since Tao Ling disappeared, with no news.

Li Hewei forced herself into the driver’s seat and leaned her forehead against the steering wheel. The fierce, cold wind poured into the car, numbing her body until she completely lost sensation. She ignored it, her back hunched. The light outside was cold and white, reflecting her hollow eyes. Two streams of hot tears flowed down her delicate cheeks, silently, quietly, yet surging.