My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"What are you two standing around for?" The sudden voice from behind shocked Luo Ning so much that he almost jumped like a cat whose tail was being stepped on.

"D—Detective Xu!" Luo Ning clutched his heart which was beating rapidly, gasping. "Oh my God, why didn't I hear you coming at all?!"

Xu Binchen gave him a contempted gaze and moved to see the wall in front of Qin Weizhe, his brows furrowing.

Qin Weizhe asked, "How is it, Old Xu? What is it like on the other end of the tunnel?"

"This should be an old mining site. I found traces of wheels and machines. Also, this space here ought to be illegally dugged because there's a fork path up ahead. One side of it led to the entrance of the mine, while the other side…" Xu Binchen pondered for a while. "I sensed some people's activity so I didn't dare to venture deeper casually. But from the smell, I'm sure it is gunpowder."

"Gunpowder?!" Luo Ning exclaimed in shock.

"Yeah," Xu Binchen answered nonchalantly like he was just answering a math problem and not illegal weapons which were banned in the country. "I estimated that there's a whole lot of it."

  Qin Weizhe recovered quickly from his shock and guessed, "An ammunition warehouse?"

"It's possible." Xu Binchen nodded. "Now that we put it like that, Old Qin, don't you think that it reminds you of—"

"The mafia?" Both of them said at the same time.

Luo Ning looked at them, dumbfounded. Wait wait—how could they just connect the crime scene with the mafia organization based on a few vague clues?

As if sensing his doubt, Qin Weizhe patiently elaborated. "A few years ago, the police received an anonymous report saying that the mafia has been rampaging around and killing people blindly. Although the act was said to be done under the name of punishment, it's too cruel and inhuman. They buried people alive and let them suffer the agony of dying slowly. Can you imagine it, Little Ning?" Qin Weizhe's eyes turned cold albeit his voice remained soft and steady. "The despair, helplessness and pain of not dying directly? They couldn't even died even if they wanted to. That's how cruel the mafia was."

Images started to form in Luo Ning's mind. Buried alive. The scratching sound. Newly moved brick stones. So…the sound they heard earlier when they were making out, was that the sound of someone struggling, trying to make anyone notice them, to save their lives?

Luo Ning's knees trembled and his eyes fell upon the white fingers peeking out from the hole in the wall. In the next second, he ran to the corner, bent over and emptied his stomach. The pungent and bitter taste of beers mixing with his dinner scorched his throat.

Qin Weizhe and Xu Binchen were dumbfounded at the sudden turn of events.

Qin Weizhe scratched his cheek awkwardly. "….eh?" In the next moment, he received a slap on the back of his head.

"How are you training your subordinate?" Xu Binchen's eyes practically spelled 'weakling and incompetent'. "Isn't his mental strength too weak to be a criminal investigator?"

Qin Weizhe rolled his eyes, a hint of displeasure in his voice. Somehow, the way Xu Binchen demeaned Luo Ning made him annoyed. "He's not like us. Little Ning transferred from the Public Security Bureau, you know how peaceful it is there. Meanwhile, our division…" He gave a wry smile. "We are practically exposed to every cruelty and savageness of the world. It's reasonable for him to be unable to adapt in an instant."

Xu Binchen shrugged and turned to inspect the fingers.

After Luo Ning finished emptying his stomach, he leaned on the wall, uncaring of how it would dirty his shirt. His limbs felt weaker than before, almost to the point where he couldn't stand straight. With his eyes teary and red, he was gasping yet every breath he took reminded him of the corpse—or corpses, who knew how many bodies had been buried inside the walls for years?

"Alright." All of a sudden, his arm was pulled to circle around Qin Weizhe's neck while the man's arm hoisted his waist. "Let's go up. It's not good for you here."

Luo Ning hiccupped, his body was boneless like a puppet as Qin Weizhe dragged both of them up. "Sorry, Detective Qin…"

Qin Weizhe flicked his forehead. "What are you sorry for? It's very okay to be weak. When I was your age, I was also a little scaredy cat and vomited every time I stepped into a crime scene."

"Really?" Although Luo Ning couldn't put Qin Weizhe together with 'scaredy cat' and 'weak', it still didn't stop him from feeling better.

"Really." He chuckled.

Xu Binchen climbed up behind them and patted his dusty coat, grimacing.

In a timely manner, a faint ruckus was heard from outside the gate. "Luo Ning! Old Qin! We are here! Woah, where is your door? What happened to your house?!" The gate had been torn down to accommodate the excavator, even the floor to ceiling window was disassembled. The members of the General Crime Division directly sauntered in and entered unobstructed, their jaws dropping as they found a glaring hole on the floor. "What the fuck is happening here?!"

Captain Jin arrived not long after and the house became rowdy once again. They didn't dare to alert the people from the other side of the tunnel, so they could only investigate the closest area and formulate some plans forward.

The corpse inside the wall had been confirmed to die less than five hours ago, which coincidented with Luo Ning's horrible speculation. The sample was brought back to the laboratory and soon, they would be able to identify the corpse.

"We can't tear the walls apart right now." Jin Renguang shook his head. "This is a residential complex and there's a lot of houses and underground pipelines. If we dig casually, the risk of a landslide or earthquake is huge. We need to evacuate the people around here."

"If we make any large movement, then the people on the other side will notice." Qin Weizhe inserted.

Jin Renguang rubbed his chin and spread out a map he had brought down from his car. He marked Luo Ning's house there and pushed it toward the man in front of him. "Xu Binchen."

Xu Binchen nodded. "I walked for about four hundred meters and judging by the sound of activity, they are about one or two hundreds meters away." He estimated the distance on the map and pointed toward a blank, green area in the middle of the mountain hill. "Here, approximately one hundred meters around here."

"Good." Jin Renguang nodded. "If they really have ammunition storage here, then we will do a direct ambush and catch them off guard. This matter will be handed to Qin Weizhe and Luo Ning because they are the one who found the crime scene. The others, assist them with your all."

The members of the General Crime Division cried out in agony. "Our precious holiday!!!"

Jin Renguang turned to Xu Binchen, pondering. "When is your appointment with Manager Si from Dreamscape Bar again?"

"Three days from now." The man said, "I will prepare from now on. Si Yusheng isn't that simple and he hasn't trusted me fully yet. He will definitely disarm me and surround me with his people."

"Yes, this will be a very risky operation." Jin Renguang patted his shoulder. "But once you succeed, it's only a matter of time until we catch the head of the tiger."

Xu Binchen nodded, a sharp glint flashed through his eyes.

After confirming the plans, they finally decided to call it a day and returned home. The people left one by one, leaving only Qin Weizhe and Luo Ning.

Luo Ning looked around his dusty and messy living room that's clearly unfit for people to live in. Even though his bedroom remained unscathed, just the foul stench in the air was enough for him to be reluctant to stay here any longer.

Sighing, he bowed toward Qin Weizhe. "Goodnight, Detective Qin. Please drive safely."

"Wait." Qin Weizhe grabbed his arm. "Where are you going?"

"I…I will stay in the police station for a while until I find a new place." Luo Ning hung his head low, dejected. He had almost emptied his savings to buy this house and he had even ended the lease on his previous place. Really, it's so easy for one to fall from riches to rags. The best option he had right now was to stay in the police station and scanned any affordable houses along the way. Although it would be hard, Luo Ning didn't have any choice.

Qin Weizhe fell silent for a moment. "How about this, I can empty a room in my house for you so...just stay with me instead."

Luo Ning snapped his head up, eyes widened in shock. "Y—Your house?!"

"Yes," The corner of his lips quirked up. "Even though I already have another housemate, I'm sure she will like you very much." Sensing Luo Ning's hesitation, he added. "Which one is better; the cramped, smelly police station or a comfortable and warm bedding in my house?"

Luo Ning blinked a few times, his cheeks flushing faintly.

Just like that, the decision was set.

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A/N: Aaaah, the start of cohabitation (ﾉ≧∀≦)ﾉ one more chappie and we will return to Shi Nian and Jiang Jinyan. Sorry, it's been a long time since they appeared hehe