5 Room#23 [1]

The next day as Xiajun stepped off his porch, he saw Zhaohui leaning against his car, his back to him.

"Did Peizhi let you in?" Xiajun said loudly as he unlocked his car with a 'pew-pew' sound. Peizhi was the security guard that sat near the house gate in his little horse-box like hut.

Startled, Zhaohui turned around with a jolt.

"Detective Jun," he muttered, his hand over his chest where his heart was supposed to be. "You scared me. Yes, your guard recognized me from last year."

Xiajun allowed himself a smile.

"I'm glad you decided to not be late," Xiajun said cheerfully. Too cheerfully. Infact, he had hoped that Zhaohui wouldn't show up at all. He didn't like to listen to the small talk of foolish humans when he was trying to focus on the case ahead.

"Zhaohui," declared Xiajun as he pulled open his car door with a click, "get in the car."

Zhaohui did as he was told and both of them peeled away, stopping only briefly so that Peizhi could open up the electric gate for them.

When both men were on the road, Xiajun laid down some rules.

"You know where we're off to, yes?" Xiajun asked as he studied a file while he drove.

Zhaohui nodded, his eyes strictly at the road. "Yes, Detective. Boss let me know."

Xiajun nodded slightly while throwing the file onto Zhaohui's lap. "Read that. I don't want you questioning any of my advances today. Don't ask me why I'm doing what I am or tell me to take it down a notch or however many notches you see fit. We've worked together before, Detective, you're aware of my modus operandi."

Zhaohui nodded, though he remained tight-lipped.

Good, Xiajun thought. This was as it should be.

It took them a couple 10 minutes before they reached the notorious neighborhood.

Here, the roads were damp yet it had not rained and the air was just a little bit more stale. The streets were littered due to several upturned trash cans though some of the cigarettes didn't seem as if they had stumbled out of a particular bin.

As Xiajun's car drove slowly through the tower of houses, his car in stark contrast to the surroundings, Zhaohui noticed something.

"It's awfully silent around here, isn't it?" he spoke quietly yet firmly. "Quite unnatural of a neighborhood well-known for gangsters."

Though Xiajun did agree, he didn't express it. He was much too worried about his expensive car-wheels rolling over disgusting cigarette butts. Oh, the maintenance would cost lots!

They drove on till they stopped outside a tall, grey building. It seemed to be a commercial building though the wet clothes draped over many of the gaps in the walls indicated elsewise.

Xiajun and Zhaohui proceeded forward towards the paint-chipped wall at front and entered in through the main entrance. There was nothing on the ground floor, only the smell of cement and dirty, trickling water.

Xiajun did a 360 degree scan of his surroundings and didn't even flinch when he saw the ghosts of two teenage girls huddling together in a corner.

"Let's move." Xiajun nodded towards the stairs.

Both of them took two stairs at a time as they moved towards the first floor.

"Which floor, Detective?" Zhaohui asked breathlessly.

"6th."

They went up fleets of stairs after stairs, not pausing between floors. Finally, as they stepped onto the 6th and the 2nd last floor of the building both the detectives noticed that the whole atmosphere of the building had changed. This floor looked pristine and clean in contrast to the other floors they had just visited which were just chipped paint and cement. Even the smell here coupled with his uncle's office. The walls were painted a nice off-white and there was even a plant in the corner. To their left were 4 doors which belonged to 4 different people.... except one 'belonged' once.

Zhaohui looked at Xiajun as if to ask something but before he could even open his mouth, Xiajun muttered quietly, "Last door, detective. Proceed quietly so not to alert the other neighbors."

Understanding dawned on the fellow detective's face and they walked quietly over to the end of the floor, towards the last door. Room#23.

Xiajun knocked on the wood with his gloved hand.

No answer.

He knocked again.

Again, no answer.

Xiajun raised his foot to bust the door down but Zhaohui stopped him in time.

"Detective, we must be quite," he said in alarm, glancing a look towards the rest of the doors although they remained shut. Xiajun scoffed, his hands on his hips. "Though I can pick the lock if you want."

Xiajun stepped away so Zhaohui could do his work. With a sound click, the door opened. Xiajun and Zhaohui glanced at each other one last time before pushing the door wide open.