Because I Cannot Hurt You

"Princess!"

Yunru had been searching for Zizi ever since she failed to return even when almost an hour had passed by. He called her phone but it was switched off. Then he called Zhiyuan, but he found that they had talked for only five minutes, and then Zizi hung up the phone.

Zhiyuan was suspicious if something had gone wrong, but Yunru reassured him.

"Where did she go without telling me?" 

He had looked for her everywhere, but he didn't find any trace of her.

Chief Xu Hui asked, "Why are you looking so frantic, Soo Yunru?"

"Chief Xu, did you see Zizi anywhere?"

He shook his head. "No."

"I cannot find her anywhere for almost fifty minutes now and her phone is switched off."

"Perhaps, she headed back to the hotel?"

"She wouldn't do that without informing me."

Yunru got an extremely bad feeling. First, Head Yin Lui suddenly fell sick and now Zizi had mysteriously disappeared. He couldn't help but connect the two cases. He already had a gut feeling that somebody have planned something to cause havoc.

A worker from the staff passed by Yunru and he quickly asked, "Wait. Did you see this woman anywhere?" He showed her Zizi's picture.

The woman took a good look at it and said, "Oh yes. I think I saw her talking on the phone and then she seemed head over there in a hurry."

"Where?"

"Towards that corridor at the far end," she pointed the way.

"Okay. Thanks!"

Yunru hurriedly dashed towards the corridor. "Zizi!"

He looked around, but there was no sign anywhere. Chief Xu Hui had also followed him. "Do you think she is in trouble?"

"...I cannot help but feel that way," he clenched his fists.

His sharp eye fell on something at a distance. He squinted his eyes and rushed towards it. His eyes widened seeing a sandal and some blood on the floor.

He felt his heart almost stop beating in his chest.

"This is her sandal…" 

Chief Xu Hui immediately bent and examined it. "Was she attacked here?"

Yunru hastily opened the room near where he saw it lying around, but there wasn't a sign of anybody in the room. The smell of cigarettes distinctly twitched his nostrils. He searched the whole room, but nobody was there.

But his instinct said that this place was up to no good. Or rather the people who had gathered in this room.

"I don't understand. Who did this and why would they attack Han Zizi?"

For a moment, Yunru had an urge to collapse. The signs were clear.

Zizi was kidnapped and in danger.

I was here...She was right here with me…

What do they want with her? Why did they take her away? What if they hurt her? What if they kill her?

Will I never see her again?

His face turned extremely ashen and pale, and his body started to tremble. He felt short of breath as if somebody was squeezing his neck.

Suddenly, all sorts of negative thoughts barraged his mind. 

He pressed the space between his brows and gulped hard. Sweat trickled down the sides of his ears.

Princess…

Her laughter echoed in his ears, and he wondered if he would never hear it again? He wondered if he could never hug her again?

"Soo Yunru!"

Chief Xu Hui shook him hard, finally snapping him out of his daze. "I called your name at least five times by now. Where are you lost?"

"I-I...Zizi...Where is she? I need to find her as soon as possible or they will…"

He shook his head. "Listen to me. I know you are shaken up by your fiance's disappearance. But this is the time you have to get it together. You cannot lose your calm now, or we will get even further away from her."

He froze.

He is right. What was I doing? I am wasting time here! I need to find Zizi and stop whatever plan the criminals are cooking.

He shut his eyes and took a deep breath.

Then he stared at him and gratefully said, "Thank you for that wake-up call. Let's get to it right away."

"That's the Soo Yunru I know!" Chief Xu Hui patted his shoulder.

"Let's head out again."

Near the door where they had seen Zizi's bloodstains, Yunru observed that Zizi was actually trying to write something with her blood. The blood formed some blurry shape of two letters, and then it trailed off.

Chief Xu Hui narrowed his eyes. "Was she writing the criminal's name?"

Yunru bent on his knee and leaned closer.

The first letter seemed like an 'R' and the second like a 'C'.

"R...C?" Chief Xu Hui tilted his head and tried to read the letters.

Yunru stared hard at the two letters, and he felt something was off with them. It did seem like RC at first glance but…

"I think it's B...O?"

Chief Xu Hui frowned.

"Look at the first letter. It does look like an R but the stroke at the end here is actually bending to form a circle. Maybe she lost her strength and she couldn't complete it. But I could see the curve here. It is also a little thicker and darker at the end of this vertical line as if she wanted it to form a B. Then the next letter. It looks like a C but again, I can see the curve slightly going higher. She was trying to make it an O. But either she lost consciousness, or somebody took her away and she couldn't complete writing it."

Chief Xu Hui nodded. "You are right. But what might she be pointing at? BO? Somebody's initials or a name starting from it or some place starting from it. It could be anything."

Yunru bit upon his lower lip. He pressed his brow and tried to think hard about it.

What could Zizi be trying to warn him? In that extreme danger, what would be the first thing she would want to show him?

He methodically tried to think of all the circumstances.

Head Yin Lui fell sick.

There was a conference where officers from all over China gathered today.

Criminals have planned a disaster.

All officers at one place with the Head being away…

Aren't we like sitting ducks here for the criminals who hate us and giving them a chance to end us all in one fell swoop?

Yunru slowly widened his eyes as realization dawned on him.

"Bomb."