My Dearest General: It Has Always Been You

"Tang Wei, Wang Chengbing, process the video and try to see if you can find something to deduce the location." Jin Renguang commanded. "Xu Binchen and Ke Shao, go to Si Zhening's apartment right now and find whatever clues there are. I will go to Director Fen to ask permission to acquire weapons. The rest of you, prepare yourself. We have to move as fast as possible. Go, go, go!"

"YES, SIR!"

Xu Binchen's jaws were clenched tight throughout the journey as he drove the police car like a sports car. Ke Shao held tightly to the handlebar and clamped his mouth shut. Sirens blared out loudly, the sound wrecking and suspenseful. A few times, they even scraped against other cars. The whole scene didn't lose out to genuine racing in the Fast and Furious movie.

When they arrived in front of Si Zhening's apartment less than half an hour later, the car acquired a few indents and scratches, as well as a poor passenger whose stomach was turned upside down. 

Ke Shao stumbled out and retched a few times. "You…crazy bastard! You ran through the red lights twice!"

Xu Binchen slammed the door shut. "I will pay the fine later."

Ke Shao rolled his eyes and chased after Xu Binchen who had made his way to the security post. 

Seeing the police car, the security guard ran out, flustered. "He—Hello! May I ask what matter do these two police officers came here for?"

Xu Binchen brushed past him and ran inside. 

"Please make way!" Ke Shao exclaimed loudly as he flashed his police badge. "We're apprehending a criminal!"

The security guard uncle was dumbfounded for a moment before he hastily grabbed the metal baton inside the post. "Wait for me!"

Three people sprinted inside one after another. The security guard uncle halted when he arrived at the second floor, panting while propping his hands on his knees. "Which floor is it?!"

Ke Shao's voice echoed from above. "Fifth!"

Glancing around, he opted to take the empty elevator instead. When he got to the fifth floor successfully, the two police officers had stopped in front of a door, banging on it fiercely. "Si Zhening, we are the police! Open the door at this instant!"

"Mr. Si?!" The security guard called out in shock. "It's him?!"

Xu Binchen barely broke into a sweat from running five flights of stairs. Hearing the guard's words, he rushed forward and demanded urgently. "You know him?!"

"Y—Yes!" He took a few steps back and stammered out. "Mr. Si always leaves for work and returns at the same time so it makes an impression on me. However, these past few days, I haven't seen him around!"

"You didn't see the news?!" Ke Shao groaned in frustration. "He's a fucking criminal, okay?"

The guard was appalled, colors draining from his face. "My TV is broken lately so I haven't seen the news… Oh my God, so that's why he hasn't returned for four days! I counted it because Mr. Si always returns at 6 pm on the dot."

"So he's not at home…" Ke Shao rubbed his chin and sighed. "That's as expected. If he's at home, I will definitely commend his prowess and audacity."

In the next second, the two officer's eyes turned to the guard simultaneously, gleaming and sly like a fox. Goosebumps instantly formed on the guard's arms and he stumbled back a few steps. "W—What do you want?!"

Five minutes later, the door to Si Zhening's apartment room was broken open. The security guard stepped in gingerly. "Is it okay if we break in just like that? Don't you need to give me something like an arrest warrant?"

However, his words were ignored as the other two were already preoccupied with prowling around the space. "I say…" Ke Shao laughed incredulously. "Is this really his home? There's nothing here except for a bookshelf and a bed! Where's his closet? He doesn't change his clothes at all?!"

Xu Binchen frowned and circled around the place twice. The entire room could be seen in one glance. The kitchen was squeaky clean as if it hadn't been used before and the refrigerator only contained a few bottles of mineral water. The bed near the window was neat and tidy, no creases were found on the mattress. 

The space was absolutely devoid of warmth and any sign of living beings.

…Well, maybe except for the bookshelf. The huge assortment of books were the only thing that could explain its owner's temperament. 

Xu Binchen walked toward the shelf and inspected it. 

His head throbbed in pain. It's pleasant to see if one arranged their books neatly, but when one was so obsessed to the point of separating it by genres and assorting them by alphabets and colors, it became a bizarre and freakish sight instead.

"Holy…" Ke Shao swallowed. "How much of an OCD is he? Miss Ru is right. He's one hell of a psychopath, alright?"

The bookshelf almost took over the entire wall. Starting from economics, history, geography to literature, psychology and cooking, Si Zhening practically owned a mini library in his house. 

Xu Binchen massaged his brows and sighed. Where should he start to look? In the back of his mind, the 24 hours countdown and Jiang Jinyan's bloody state repeated again and again. He shook his head to sober himself up. Think, Binchen, think. You have to save him before the time's up.

"Umm…what are you looking for, if I may ask?" The guard probed carefully. "I will help you if I can."

Ke Shao spread his hands around. "Search around to see whether there's anything that can lead us to where he's hiding now."

"Okay!"

Ke Shao approached Xu Binchen who was staring intently at the bookshelf as if he could drill holes through it. "What's wrong? Is there something in it?"

Xu Binchen pondered deeply. "The house has nothing except for these little things. Most of it is books. If he wants to hide something, don't you think the best place to hide it is here?"

"You're right…" An idea popped up in Ke Shao's mind and he rolled up his sleeves. "Then what are you waiting for?! Let's knock this whole thing down!" 

The more he thought about it, the more brilliant his idea was. No matter how Si Zhening tried to hide it, there must be something that gave him away between those books!

He had just grabbed the shelves when a voice suddenly came from the doorway. "What…are you doing?"

Turning around in shock, Ke Shao found a young, quite handsome man with black rimmed glasses who looked stern and upright. "Are you a tenant? What are you doing here? Can't you see we're busy? Go, go—" 

"Jia Ming'en?" Xu Binchen, who came to check the situation, uttered the man's name in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"Huh? Do you know him? Wait…Jia Ming'en?" Ke Shao frowned and sized the man up and down. "I have heard that name before…"

"Are you looking for Si Zhening?" He suddenly asked.

Xu Binchen nodded. "Do you know where he is?"

Jia Ming'en was silent for a while. Behind those glasses were eyes filled with a kind of resignation and loss that came from deep within his soul. He looked just like an abandoned child. 

"I don't. But if there's someone who can bring you to any possible places he might be, I'm the one." Sensing their doubts, he added. "I am on your side. After all, Jiang Jinyan is my junior in university and Si Zhening…" He sighed and turned his head away. "Come on, follow me."

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A/N: Here it is for today's mass release! I might release another on Christmas Eve as a gift for all of you! Oh and also, I didn't expect that the time will coincide with real life lol, what an exciting Christmas they have (ʃƪ¬‿¬)

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