Watchmen Chapter 26

t.i.tle: Suicide
Wu Yang started the car and followed the GPS to the address written on the paper.
It was only when they reached the place,  did the two of them realize that the address on the paper wasn't a neighbourhood, but a two-story retail store. Wu Yang carefully checked the address after seeing that. After making sure he was correct, he mumbled to himself, "It's another psychologist."
"What is it?" Jiu Jie asked.
"Li Yu is a psychologist." Wu Yang said.
"Who's Li Yu?"
"He's the informant that was just killed."
"Oh. Li Yu and Ma Chen are both psychologists. Jobs like those surely have some work a.s.sociations. Maybe they really have a relations.h.i.+p."
"Maybe. We really don't know what Li Yu's got up his sleeve."
The two of them alighted and walked up to the door. It was already past 3 am. The office's roll-up door and windows were closed tightly and there was no light inside. Opening hours were written beside the door: 9 am to 5 pm.
"Looks like n.o.body lives here." Jiu Jie said.
Wu Yang nodded. "It's most likely Ma Chen's workplace. If we want to find him, we can only wait until he comes to work."
"Then, what do we do now? Find a place to stay, or should we just stay at my place?"
"You're staying too far away, and returning is too troublesome. Why don't we just stay in the car and wait until he opens in the morning before finding him?"
"That's fine. Your words make me hard pressed to refuse though. Both of us are big boys, so anything is fine with me."
Finished speaking, the two of them returned to the car. Wu Yang took the driver's' seat and gave the back seat to Jiu Jie. He laid down on the seat and fell asleep rather quickly.
Jiu Jie slept quite well in the car. He didn't know how long he slept for though, but he vaguely felt that someone was pus.h.i.+ng him.
He dazedly opened his eyes and heard Wu Yang saying from the front, "Hey, wake up. The office is open."
Jiu Jie rubbed his eyes and realized that it was day. He asked, "What time is it?"
"It's already 8:30." Wu Yang said.
Jiu Jie sat up and looked outside. The roll-up door of the office was open and he could see movement through the window.
"Let's go. It's time to conduct business."
Wu Yang alighted once he finished speaking, then Jiu Jie yawned and followed him.
The two of them entered the office and were met with a young lady cleaning the reception room.
The lady saw them and asked, "Do you need anything?"
Wu Yang went straight to the point, and said, "We're looking for Ma Chen. Is he in?"
The lady replied, "Looking for Doctor Ma, is it? He's not here yet, but he'll be in soon. I'm his helper, you can call me little Chen. Do the two of you have an appointment?"
Wu Yang shook his head. "No, we don't."
Little Chen apologetically smiled. "I'm sorry, but Doctor Ma's schedule for today is full. If you don't have an appointment, then I'm afraid you can't be seen today…"
"We aren't here for a consultation."Wu Yang said.
"Then, the two of you are?…"
Wu Yang took out a police badge from his s.h.i.+rt and held it up for little Chen to see. "We're police officers. We want to ask Doctor Ma for some clarifications."
Little Chen was silent, and the smile on her face started to gradually fade away. She was very surprised at the sudden visit by the police. "Doctor Ma hasn't arrived yet, so please wait here for a moment. When he arrives, I'll immediately inform you guys. Is that okay?"
"That's fine. Then, we'll have to trouble you," Wu Yang replied, very politely.
"What would you two like to drink?" Little Chen asked.
"Two gla.s.ses of waters, thanks."
Wu Yang and Jiu Jie found a place to sit down in the room. Little Chen handed the two water before busying herself.
Jiu Jie saw that Little Chen wasn't too close before moving closer to Wu Yang and asking him quietly, "Where did that police badge come from? Have you been temporarily rea.s.signed to a police department before?"
Wu Yang kept his eyes on little Chen, before replying softly, "We Watchmen have very little people in such a public job. The badge is fake."
"Fake? Where did you get it?"
"Logistics gave it to me before I left."
"D***. Logistics even has these kinds of things. Isn't this knowingly breaking the law?"
"Nothing serious. It's also for convenience sake. Sometimes; if your job is an officer, a reporter, or a doctor, etc; doing certain things would be much easier. So, regardless if it's a police badge, or whatever ident.i.ty you want, logistics will help settle it. You shouldn't go find unnecessary trouble though."
Jiu Jie nodded. "Looks like our logistics team possess remarkable abilities. I used to think they only manage the food."
The two of them pa.s.sed the time talking like this about different matters. Wu Yang looked at his watch, which showed that it was already half past nine.
Little Chen also had some misgivings. "Apologies, but Doctor Ma hasn't arrived. He usually arrives early, so I don't know what's going on today."
"Do you have his phone number? Give him a call."
"Alright. Please wait a moment."
Little Chen said his and used the receptionist's telephone to call him. She listened for a moment before putting the phone down, saying disappointedly, "I'm sorry, but Doctor Ma's phone seems to be off."
Wu Yang and Jiu Jie glanced at each other after hearing that. The two of them seem to have come to the same conclusion.
"We have very urgent matters that need Doctor Ma's input. Do you know where he is right now?" Wu Yang asked.
"At home, maybe…." Little Chen replied.
"Do you know his home address?"
"I do."
"Can you tell me? Aiding in a police investigation is every citizen's responsibility."
"Alright, I'll write it down for you," Little Chen agreed, without the slightest hesitation.
Little Chen then wrote the address down on a piece of paper. Wu Yang thanked her, grabbed the paper, and the two of them went back to the car, then drove to the written down location. The traffic was much worse during the day. They drove for almost 40 minutes before reaching a residential district on Pearl River road.
The two of them followed the address that they were given. It was level B5, apartment number 703. Wu Yang knocked on the door, but no one answered. He knocked again, but there was still no answer.
Jiu Jie took two steps back and teased him, "How about you use your simple and rough poet's method?"
Wu Yang also took two steps back. "Don't look down on the simple and rough method. In the long run, it's usually the simple methods that are the most effective."
He took a deep breath, preparing himself to knock down the door when it cracked open even an inch. Half a face peeked out from behind the door and an exhausted voice asked, "Who are you looking for?"
Wu Yang hurriedly straightened himself up and asked, "Is this Ma Chen's house?"
"I'm Ma Chen. You are?…"
Wu Yang fished out his fake police badge, pa.s.sed it over to him, and said, "We're the police and would like to gather your input on a case. Is it a convenient time for you?"
Ma Chen scrutinized the badge and gave the two of them a once over before opening the door wider. "We'll talk inside."
Ma Chen led the two of them over to the living room, and separately sat down as guests and host,
Jiu Jie sat on the sofa and glanced around the room. It was a 2 bedroom, 1 living room flat. The entrance hall directly led to the living room, which was circular in shape. To the south, there was a balcony connected to the living room with curtains hung to the ground. One bedroom was in the south, one in the north. In between the two rooms was the bathroom.
As Jiu Jie was observing the flat, Wu Yang was sizing up Ma Chen. Ma Chen was a middle-aged man. His figure was average, with a slightly chubby face. He was wide up top, and narrow below, but there wasn't much body fat. His appearance could be counted as smart and bright, but his face was pale, his eyes were swollen, and his whole countenance was dispirited, just as if he recovered from a terrible illness.
Wu Yang furrowed his eyebrows slightly, and asked, " Mr Ma, are you not feeling well?"
Ma Chen coughed first before replying without any strength, "Not a big deal. I just didn't sleep well last night."
"You need to look after yourself then. Your face looks very pale."
"Thanks for your concern, I'll pay attention from now on. Just asking…, but what did two policemen need to find me for?"
"We're looking for you because we need your help for the investigation." Wu Yang said, very officially.
"What case? I'll try my best."
"You're a psychologist, right?"
"That's right, I'm a psychologist. I'm a private consultant on s.h.i.+ Yang road."
"Then…"Wu Yang stared directly into his eyes, and asked, "Do you know a man named Li Yu? He's also a psychologist and was also in Nanjing with his own practice. "
When Ma Chen heard the name 'Li Yu', his whole body began to shake. His body straightened, and his eyes glowed radiantly. The dispirited look from just now completely disappeared.
"Who?" Ma Chen asked as he woke up with a start.
"Li Yu." Wu Yang tactfully replied, "Do you know this person?"
Ma Chen was distracted for a moment, with his eyes staring straight ahead as if he was possessed. Wu Yang and Jiu Jie looked at each other, feeling that the man's reaction was very weird.
"Doctor Ma?" Wu Yang asked, after waiting for quite a while. The man had no reaction to his question though, and just blankly stared straight into nothingness, with unfocused eyes.
After quite a while, Ma Chen slowly regained consciousness. He slowly got up, and his movements were stiff as he made his way to his desk and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen. He wrote a few simple words on it, before returning, and thrusting the paper to Wu Yang.
Wu Yang and Jiu Jie took the piece of paper and read it. On it, there were a few written words: "Go find Wei Guang. He'll help you."
Below that, there was an address. Wu Yang and Jiu Jie were both very confused. The two of them looked up at the same time to clarify its contents, but they realized that Ma Chen had already walked to the balcony. He opened the large curtains and jumped.
Seeing such a strange series of actions, Wu Yang and Jiu Jie were both struck dumb!