Captured By The Cold Detective (BL)-Chapter 112: Think It Through
Er Meilin was dumbfounded for a few seconds and she only jolted out of her trance when Jia Molei roared impatiently, "What are you waiting for?! Answer the call!" 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖
Her spontaneous reflex toward her Boss’ domineering voice, which had been brutally trained every single day for the past few years, abruptly kicked in and before she knew it, she had pressed her thumb on the green button and put the call on speaker.
"Hello...?" She whispered, still a bit shaken.
She could not believe it. Judging from Ye Lingya’s terrified demeanor, she had expected that the girl would need days or even weeks before she would give them a call. There was also a possibility that the paper, which she wrote her number on, would immediately be flushed down the toilet and they would end up waiting for a call that would never come. She had been prepared for a long battle, yet as it turned out... it had not even half an hour after they left the apartment and Ye Lingya was already willing to call them?!
The familiar harsh breathing, albeit a little muffled, drifted out from the phone. Hearing that, Er Meilin immediately snapped back to her senses. Now was not the time to think of why Ye Lingya was willing to call them! This was the chance they had been waiting for and she could not let it go down the drain! She made eye contact with He Juan and her eyes blazed in resolution. Her voice though, remained as patient and gentle as ever when she spoke.
"It’s okay, Miss Ye. Just take your time. We won’t force you to say anything. Listen to my breathing." She took exaggerated inhales and exhales to guide the panicking girl. "Yes... that’s right, just like that. Are you sitting down now? If you aren’t, then please take a seat. Make sure you’re warm and comfortable. No rush, Miss Ye. Just like I have said earlier, I am willing to wait for you no matter how long it takes."
When Ye Lingya’s wheezes subsided, He Juan gave Er Meilin another thumbs up, then turned to the passenger seat and placed his finger on his lips, gesturing for the two men not to make any noise. Su Xieren nodded at him, whereas Jia Molei rolled his eyes and threw his gaze out of the window with a quiet harrumph.
Next, Er Meilin accompanied the student to talk. Or to be exact, it was only Er Meilin who was talking whereas Ye Lingya was silent, whether she was listening or not, they had no idea at all. Er Meilin was perfectly capable of holding a conversation for two on her own. Her topic also ranged widely from her job in the hospital, to the diet exercise that was currently booming overseas...
Er Meilin talked until her saliva run dry, and it was not until she took a short water break that Ye Lingya’s soft, breezy voice drifted out of the speaker,
"Sister Er..." it was Er Meilin who skillfully persuaded her to use ’sister’ to promote their close relationship and Ye Lingya was helpless but to comply. "You and your... colleagues, are you really here to ask me about the missing data?"
Er Meilin took a deep breath and only answered after receiving He Juan’s nod. "No, I’m very sorry but I was lying. The real reason we are visiting you is... to ask about the chronology of the incident five months ago."
As soon as those words were out of Er Meilin’s mouth, Ye Lingya’s breathing suddenly became rapid, even harsher than when they heard it earlier. Not only that, there was also a few messy clatter as if the girl had bumped against something, causing them to fall to the ground. The loud, messy noise further served as a stimulant to her panic, building higher and higher until her mind was filled with nothing but incoherent buzz...
No... I don’t want to say. I don’t want to remember...!
Er Meilin’s face abruptly changed as she cried out to the phone in a firmer voice. "Miss Ye, listen to me! It’s okay, you will be okay. It’s no problem even if you don’t want to talk about it... Take a deep breath, okay?"
However, it was evident that this time Ye Lingya was no longer listening to her. A muffled scream escaped from her lips, weak yet anguished, sounding like the wail of dying beast on its last breath.
Er Meilin became flustered and reflexively turned to Jia Molei for advice. "D–Doctor Jia, what should I do?!"
No matter how skillful Jia Molei was, he was still helpless against a hyperventilating patient. His area of expertise was brain neurons, for God’s sake! All of his patients were either unconscious or incoherent by the time they were sent to the operating room, whereas the socializing task was handed to Er Meilin. How the hell did he know what to do in such a situation?!
He Juan was even more flustered. He wanted to soothe the girl, yet he was more afraid that he would make the situation worse if he opened his mouth. After all, Ye Lingya showed vivid fear just now when he spoke earlier!
In that crucial moment, a steady voice belonging to a male pierced through the thick fog of frenzy and hysteria. It was low, each word clearly spoken and contained nothing but tranquility, just like a stream of cool spring water that gushed over a barren land.
"Miss Ye, the perpetrators who did bad things to you are already caught."
In that second, the entire world abruptly screeched to a halt, so did Ye Lingya’s terrified and ragged breathing. Three pairs of incredulous eyes snapped to the one who had just spoken — Su Xieren.
What happened to their agreement for not speaking?!
Su Xieren had his lashes lowered, obscuring the emotions swirling in his eyes. Ignoring the stunned gazes on him, he continued to speak as if he was certain that Ye Lingya would listen. "My girlfriend is also a victim to their savagery. It happened twenty two years ago. And three days ago... she’s dead."
He Juan sucked in a sharp breath. His lips parted to prevent Su Xieren from speaking any further, yet for some reason, his throat choked up and the words ended up dissipating before they could even materialize in the air.
"It’s exactly because she’s dead that the police could catch those bastards who have done her wrong two decades ago. They are currently squatting behind the bars, awaiting trial. Twenty two years..." he scoffed derisively. "Can you imagine how long they have been accustomed to committing this kind of atrocious deed? How many innocent girls have fallen to their hands, like you and... Xinya?"
"Miss Ye, some people will not change, no matter how much time has passed. The most suitable method right now is to throw them into prison forever and let them rot inside until they die. But Miss Ye... the incident with my girlfriend happened two decades ago. Even if the police want to collect the evidence, it is impossible to get them. Now that you know this... can you still remain silent?"
The other side was cloaked in suffocating silence, not even a hint of breathing could be heard. If the timer had not stopped ticking on the phone screen, they would have thought that the call had been disconnected.
Su Xieren calmly broke apart the girl’s defenses bit by bit and laid out her future path in a concise and systematic manner. "Miss Ye, you have two choices in front of you. First, you can keep your mouth shut, live every single day in fear just like today, and let those bastards run free after a few years of sentence before committing another crime, again and again. Or... second, you can step up to testify against them. You will fight your fear and cowardice, and in exchange, you will be able to throw those bastards into jail with your own hands and prevent countless others from having the same fate as you in the future."
Everyone was dumbfounded. They had known Su Xieren for so long, but never before had they seen him speaking so many words in one breath.
Su Xieren took a deep inhale and his eyelids fluttered shut. At that moment, there was an imperceptible tremble in his voice, a tiny chink in his almost impenetrable armor. "Please think it through, Miss Ye. Do you want to live in the shadows forever, or do you want to step back into the light? Think about it carefully... so that when you look back five or ten years later, you will pat yourself on the back to have made this decision today. And if you’re ready, just give this number a call and we will definitely be with you along the way."
"Don’t do anything you will regret in the future, Miss Ye."
Xinya, do you see this?
I am helping another person like you, so that there won’t be a second or third Zhao Xinya in the future. I am sure this is what you want... right?
