Li Caiyi thought she wouldn't come out of her apartment until school started again, but there she was, waiting for Detective Tang to contact her.
After listening to his request yesterday, there was no way she could just sit there for fear of her own safety.
Li Caiyi was already prepared to go out and waited for Detective Tang to pick her up. He also thought it would be dangerous for her to go out alone, so he decided to pick her up.
Although she also went out alone from her apartment yesterday, she felt more reassured when Detective Tang volunteered himself to accompany her. Telling him everything was a good call.
Not long after that, she received a new message from Detective Tang, informing her that he had arrived downstairs.
Li Caiyi walked out of her room and down the building vigilantly until she saw Detective Tang standing beside a car in the parking lot.
"Hello, Young Miss. It's been a while since I last saw you. Have you grown taller since then?" Detective Tang raised his hand to measure her height with a teasing smirk on his face.
Meanwhile, Li Caiyi was surprised when she saw Detective Tang's appearance. He usually looked messy and shabby, but today he actually looked decent for once.
His hair was cut neatly, and he didn't wear his old jacket, but a white shirt with pants. The stubble on his chin was gone, and it even seemed like he did some treatment on his face because his skin glowed under the morning sky.
If his previous attire made him look like a homeless person, now he looked like an average adult who was on the way to his office.
"Detective Tang, you look different today." Li Caiyi commented after observing him for a moment.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇtDetective Tang swiped his hair backwards smugly before throwing a flirty wink at her. "Young Miss, consider yourself lucky for having a chance to meet me in all glory. But don't be too surprised, because this is my true self all along. Usually, I was just too busy to take care of myself."
"I can see your inside is still brimming with self-love as usual. That's good. For a second, I thought Detective Tang sent his twin to pick me up." Li Caiyi replied sarcastically, without bothering to hide the ridicule in her tone.
"Ouch. That goes straight to my heart," Detective Tang said while pretending to look hurt, but Li Caiyi was too lazy to follow along with his jokes.
"Can we go now?" She asked impatiently.
"Hehe. Yes, let's not waste any more time. Have you eaten yet?"
Li Caiyi nodded. "Yes, I have. What about you?"
"I haven't. We still have some time, so can you accompany me to eat first?"
Li Caiyi didn't see anything wrong with it, so she nodded again. "Sure."
After that, Detective Tang opened the passenger seat for Li Caiyi in an unusually gentleman-way. Even at times like this, he was still joking around. She didn't know whether to laugh or cry as he flashed her that playful smile.
"After you, my lady."
Li Caiyi rolled her eyes inwardly but chose not to nitpick his every action. She went inside the car and buckled herself up while Detective Tang entered and sat on the driver's seat.
"I don't know if you have a car. This is a nice one." Li Caiyi struck a conversation first.
"It is a nice car. Shame this is just a rental one."
"Ah."
Li Caiyi didn't comment further, and the car drove away. Detective Tang drove in silence, seemingly having many thoughts in his mind. She didn't want to bother him, so she sat in silence while enjoying the outside view.
Detective Tang brought them to a family restaurant near her apartment building first.
Li Caiyi didn't eat, but Detective Tang finished two plates of steak, a bowl of noodles, and a plate of dumplings by himself. He wasn't kidding when he said he hadn't eaten yet.
One is busy with food, and one is amazed by how he swallowed all that food in minutes, so no one spoke a word. Thankfully, the bustling noise of the restaurant filled in the silence.
He rubbed his belly in satisfaction after he finished, then stood up to take care of the bill. It didn't take half an hour before they departed again.
After driving for another ten minutes, Detective Tang finally broke the silence while speaking in a controlled manner.
"We have been followed."
"Ah?" Li Caiyi jerked her head to him before turning her head to the back. She wanted to confirm his statement.
"The black sedan behind us has been following us for a while. I thought it was only a coincidence at first, but they kept following us even when we stopped by at the family restaurant earlier."
Li Caiyi's whole body tensed up. If she went out alone, she would never have suspected that anyone would follow her. Thank goodness Detective Tang was here and noticed that.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏm"I'm amazed you can even find them."
"When you are in my line of work, watching everyone in the room will become a habit ingrained in your body. I can't unsee a suspicious person when I see one."
She had a newfound respect for him once again. He observed his surroundings well while acting naturally as if nothing had happened. Li Caiyi couldn't ever hope to do that.
"Then, what should we do? Wouldn't it be bad if they followed us and found out what we were up to?"
"Of course. Hold on tight, I'm going to increase the speed."
As soon as he said that, he stepped on the gas, and the car sped up. The momentum made Li Caiyi's body pull backwards, with her back pressed against the backrest.
Detective Tang manoeuvred his car to avoid one car from another, throwing her body out of balance. She felt like a sheet being washed inside the washing machine by how her body kept thrown left and right roughly. There was no time to breathe, so she swallowed her complaint and gripped the seat belt around her tightly until her knuckles turned white.
Li Caiyi had experienced death once, but not even that could beat how scared she was right now. Her heart beat so fast that she was sure it would retire early if this went on.
She lost count of how many times she thought they would crash into another car, so she shut her eyes, only to open them again in the next second. Not knowing when and how she would die made her even more frightened!
Oblivious to Li Caiyi's condition, Detective Tang's sharp eyes watched over the road while occasionally glancing at the rearview mirror.
That black sedan's driver was persistent. He couldn't shake them off on a straight road like this.
He clicked his tongue in annoyance and abruptly turned the car to the right. It caused a loud squeaking noise from the friction of the tire and the street, followed by honking noise from other cars who almost got a heart attack by how sudden he changed direction.
He had memorised all the roads around here and deliberately chose the narrow one with many turns.
No one could beat the police in terms of chasing and being chased by criminals. Let's see how those amateur drivers could deal with this!