Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)

He Juan had just placed the phone to his ear and the word ’hello’ had barely formed on his lips when he was bombarded by an agitated yell from the other side. "Mu. Yu. Ze! Where the hell have you gone?! Why didn’t you answer the phone? Do you know how many times I have been trying to reach you? Do you know the consequences of leaving people hanging just like that? It’s illegal, just so you know! Don’t think that because it is not included in the official law that you can get away from it! Now spill, where did you get that video?! Do you even know the importance of that footage?! HUH?!!"

Kang Guanyu’s shrill and high-pitched voice reverberated through the room, even Su Xieren stopped what he was doing to raise his brow at him. He Juan grimaced as he held the phone at arm’s length. Only when he sensed that Kang Guanyu had finished his angry spiel did he place the phone back to his ear again, carefully this time. "Hello, Officer Kang? I’m sorry, this is He Juan..."

Thick silence stretched from the other end of the line. Has the call been disconnected? He Juan glanced at the screen and saw that the timer was still running, so why wasn’t there any voice from the other side? Doubtful, He Juan asked again, "Hello? Officer Kang?"

This time, the answer came in a heartbeat. Kang Guanyu no longer sounded like a frenzied chicken, this time his voice was subdued, almost shy, with a hint of confusion and thrill. "O–Oh, yes, it... it’s my fault! I should have checked who’s answering before shooting my mouth off! That... um, Mr. He, why are you answering Mu Yuze’s phone? Wait, forget it, I’d rather not know the answer to that. Is he... um... available right now?"

He Juan had no idea why Kang Guanyu sounded way too giddy and excited, but he assumed that the man must’ve had some misunderstanding about the situation. He cast another quick glance at Mu Yuze, unable to restrain the sadness and gloom in his voice as he replied, "There has been an... accident. Officer Mu is in the hospital right now. I don’t know when he will wake up, but if you have an important message, I can help you relay it to him later."

"Wait, what? He’s in the hospital?!" Kang Guanyu was shocked. "Didn’t he say that he was fine earlier?"

Hearing this, He Juan’s throat felt blocked as if a huge lump had formed on it. Yes, that’s right, a few hours ago, Mu Yuze had been fine and dandy...

A distant voice yelled at Kang Guanyu, telling him not to talk too long on the phone, to which the man replied with a furious ’go away!’. After that, Kang Guanyu returned, though he sounded distracted. Granted, he must have been busy with work. "Hey, uh... which hospital is it?" When He Juan gave the answer, Kang Guanyu made an intrigued noise. "Guess what, I think I will make a trip there. It’s not something I can say on the phone because it’s super duper ultra important. On another note, can you please check the recent video Mu Yuze sent me and see if there’s any extra information like the location or something like that on the file? You will literally be our division’s lifesaver after this, Mr. He!" The same person yelled at Kang Guanyu again, and the pace in which the man spoke increased into a hasty barrage of words. "Okay, that’s all! I will be there in thirty, no twenty minutes at most! Please send me the room number! See you later!"

"Wait—" He Juan rushed to interject only for the call to be hung up with a click.

He was left befuddled, staring at the screen which had gone black. He had wanted to cut in a few times before only to be swarmed by Kang Guanyu’s rapid words. The other officer had most likely misunderstood him. When he said that he did not know why Mu Yuze would wake up, he meant it literally and not because he could not bear to wake the omega up from his sleep...

"Is there something wrong, da-ge?" Su Xieren asked, a hint of concern in his tone.

"Xiao Ze’s colleague, Kang Guanyu." He Juan replied absentmindedly as he swiped to unlock Mu Yuze’s phone – the omega had not put in any password, He Juan took notes to remind him of it later – and opened the messaging app. He mentally apologized for going through Mu Yuze’s phone, but Kang Guanyu had sounded so urgent that he felt bad for refusing. If it was really important, he would hate to hinder Mu Yuze’s work. At least, he wanted to help even if it was just checking some videos.

His eyes softened when he saw that Mu Yuze had pinned their chat box to the top. And as the person Mu Yuze had most recently contacted, Kang Guanyu’s name was just below him. He clicked on it and sure enough, Mu Yuze had sent a short video lasting more than one minute, which seemed to have been retrieved from a surveillance camera.

"Da-ge...?" Su Xieren called out tentatively when he saw He Juan’s expression abruptly changed.

However, words were utterly lost to He Juan. He could not even hear Su Xieren’s question past the ringing in his ears. His eyes were fixed on the screen in front of him. Though he had not opened the video, just the silhouette of the crimson-haired man on the thumbnail was already enough for He Juan to recognize who it was.

His best friend, his doctor and his good brother, Jia Molei.

Almost frantic, He Juan went to call Kang Guanyu when he abruptly recalled how busy the man had sounded on the other side of the call. Hence, he switched to the chat box and sent him a message. [Why do you say that this video is important? Who is in it?]

A reply came in what seemed like half a century, when in fact only half a minute had passed. [The one talking to the crimson-haired man is a wanted criminal! We’re chasing after them now! How is it, Mr. He? Is there a location attached to the file?]

A... wanted criminal? With Molei?

"Da-ge!" Su Xieren grabbed his arm in time when He Juan swayed on his feet from the blood rushing too quickly to his head. The Beta sounded extremely alarmed, "What’s wrong?"

"Call..." He Juan gasped, his tongue felt too swollen in his mouth to articulate his thoughts properly. "Call Molei."

He brushed Su Xieren away in lieu of grabbing his phone on the nightstand. His fingers were shaking too much to enter the password and it took two attempts for him to succeed. He immediately called Jia Molei’s number which he had already put on the speed dial. He Juan had never hated the monotonous ringtone more than now. In those few short seconds that stretched like forever, various thoughts raced through his mind. He had recognized the background of the video even without searching for the location. It was in front of Jia Molei’s house – which was also the house He Juan had been living in until recently.

But how...? He had been living with Jia Molei for nearly seven years, but he had never seen that person before. How could a wanted criminal be with Jia Molei? Who was it? Was Jia Molei in danger right now?

An icy numbness washed through He Juan’s entire body when a horrible possibility popped up in his mind. He had recently found out that Jia Molei was someone from his past, and he had also discovered that his past might not be anything good. Could it be...

Was this person their past acquaintance?

After that blue-eyed young man, had this person come for He Juan too?

The ringtone abruptly ended with a click, followed by a mechanical voice that shook him down to the core, "The number you’re calling is unavailable..."