"Do you understand this design?" Wen Luoyang asked them a question.
The three looked clueless.
Huojin sheepishly grinned. "I-I always failed in art..."
Jia coughed. "I wasn’t the type to really understand deep anings in art."
Mingshen chirped. "I do use my shiny tools to carve on the beautiful skin-"
"You just better stop talking altogether, Mingshen," she closed her eyes.
He pouted. "Don’t disrespect my form of art."
"It’s not art. It’s macabre."
Wen Luoyang continued. "The top end of S rges with the top line of h and the bottom line of h rges with the cursive e. But both the top and bottom links where the letters rge with each other are broken. I an the link is shattered and thorny. Prickly and invasive."
Jia looked closer and nodded. "So what does this tell you?"
He sighed. "I am not a psychologist or anything. I really cannot talk about the mindset of the person who wants such a design to be tattooed on their body. It’s just my instinct that tells that sothing is very wrong with this design. The thorny part gives the creeps. It’s as if you are..."
He made hand gestures as if trying to get them understand his point, but he wasn’t finding the right words
"Shit I don’t know how to explain. It’s like...you are broken sowhere."
Mingshen asked, "Is that so weird? Not all people tattoo for happy reasons."
"Yes. I have many clients that have tattooed sorrowful depictions on their bodies. But that still felt pure and genuine. This on the other hand...is just evil. My gut feeling tells that. We artists get a sense of things after years of experience."
Huojin asked, "Did any other tattoo artist you know ever ntioned such a design?"
"Nope. I would have known. There are quite veteran artists in this field and in our circle. They would have felt the sa thing as , and they would have definitely talked about it. But nobody hasn’t."
"But there is definitely a tattoo artist sowhere drawing this for people," Jia pursued.
"Oh yes," Wen Luoyang agreed. "But we don’t discuss our work in detail. We keep our clients and their requests confidential."
"The people we ca across having these tattoos were up to no good. They were criminals. We need to know who they are. This tattoo is the only link for now to reach them. Can you please make so discreet enquiries? Anything on how we can find this artist."
Wen Luoyang looked unconvinced. "We don’t bring trouble to each other in our circle."
"The artist himself will not be in any trouble. But we need to know about his custors."
Mingshen chuckled. "You cannot be so sure if he won’t be in trouble. I don’t believe for a second that the artist would be any innocent. He is drawing tattoos because he is one of them."
"Our community is not criminal," Wen Luoyang frowned with displeasure.
"Your community is not criminal but that doesn’t make everybody an angel. There are bent people everywhere. Cops, doctors, politicians, even activists. Greed and fear can consu the mightiest. That is its curse," he smiled.
He gave him a hard stare. In the end, he drew out a helpless sigh. "I will see what I can do."
Jia thanked him. "I will leave you with Huojin and my number. Hit either one of our numbers if you learn anything."
"Sure."
—
As they exited, Jia turned towards Huojin and said, "I hope Wen Luoyang finds sothing. But we cannot sit still."
"Definitely not," he agreed.
"We don’t have their pictures, but Mingshen and I have seen them. We can help with the sketches and then we can feed it into our system."
"That’s a good start. I was thinking of tracing back Zhang Luqi’s life. Sothing odd that happened recently which made these goons co after her. Maybe, she would have shared sothing with Zhang Feiyue too. I will check with him."
She nodded.
"It’s strange though. I have never heard of this tattoo or any organization associated with it," he blinked.
"It doesn’t make sense to either. Wang Lei and his two buddies, then the three n at Zhang Luqi’s house and those three fake nurses who took them away. We already ca across nine people. It definitely seems like so big organization but for what?"
Mingshen chid in. "Whatever it is, is very interesting to say the least. Ah, how this pumps up my adrenaline~ The one with the eidetic mory was impressive too."
Jia asked, "Why are you so sure of that? It could be that he planted so very small secret caras on his body to record the ambulance."
"He didn’t record anything. Recording is simpler. But he was walking very aningfully. He was watching the vehicle very attentively as he took rounds. It would seem like he was looking for any issues, but he was actually morizing. Plus morizing is safer than getting caught with caras. He used his head over there," he chuckled.
Huojin sighed. "Guess these are the only clues we can work on for now."
"There is another~" Mingshen said ecstatically.
They blinked at him simultaneously. "What?"
"The chips that were planted in Wang Lei’s and his buddies’ necks."
A look of confusion ca across Jia’s face. "But you said the chips had already gotten dissolved."
"Yes. But I found so trace remnants in the blood. The traces told a pretty interesting story~"
"Like what?"
His eyes twinkled like the onset of a shady plan’s execution. "It’s too long to tell that here. How about we head to the lab?"
She smiled. "You think I will go back to the place I was imprisoned?"
"Won’t it trigger wonderful mories for you? You might faint of pure joy," He asked purposefully.
She gave an icy stare. Huojin cleared his throat. "Let’s go, Jia. It will be fine. The case is more important to us."
Mingshen shone brilliantly. "Your colleague is so much more intelligent."
Jia inwardly cursed.
Not to that wretched place again!
User Comments
0 comments from readers