Being Lucky Can Be A Curse (Jack x Zhao Li An)

Chapter 8 - First Case : Phantom Thief Pt. 5

"Impressive guess," Jack said as he nodded.

Zhao Li An scratched his head as he slightly smiled, "It's only a guess. We won't be able to confirm it since the culprit can't talk at all. We don't even know where it went," he suddenly paused as he remembered, "Ahh! I forgot that I have to call for backup!"

Grabbing his phone, Zhao Li An called the police department and emergency responders for backup.

Soon, Jun Wei, A Zhi and the rest of the backup came. They were greeted by Zhao Li An by the front gate of the pig farm.

"How's the situation here? Are you okay?" Jun Wei asked worriedly to Zhao Li An. He knew that this was Zhao Li An's first time working on a crime scene. Although there was no any kind of gruesome scenes to deal with according to him, it must still be hard on him to deal with this thing by himself.

"Um, I'm okay. Everything's fine," Zhao Li An answered. Afterward, he started explaining his discovery to others.

By the corner where he would not be seen by the others, Jack witnessed how Zhao Li An and Jun Wei seemed to be rather close as the two talked. He only scoffed. He himself could not explain the sudden slight irritation that he felt. In any case, since his goal to retrieve his butterfly knife and his master's lighter was accomplished, he quickly fled from the scene.

"I wasn't alone, I was with...," Zhao Li An said as he turned back to look for Jack, "Where did he go?"

"Who were you with?" Jun Wei asked as he frowned while A Zhi and his team proceeded to go to the red barn and the old man's house for retrieval and investigation.

"I was with Jack earlier," Zhao Li An replied as he whispered, "Did he leave already?"

"Why was he with you?" Jun Wei asked as if he was interrogating. He knew that Jack was a gangster and he was up to no good every time he was around.

"He wanted to get back the lighter and the butterfly knife that the pig stole," Zhao Li An answered as he confusedly looked around for Jack. Why did he leave without saying anything? 

When he could not find a trace of him, the young policeman could only scratch his head as he helped out with the retrieval of items from the red barn. As for the old man, after confirming that there was no crime committed against him, the emergency responders took the body to be examined and to figure out the actual cause of his death. It would be known later that the old man died from heart failure. Before he was taken away, the picture frame that he was hugging was already gone from the room.

After the retrieval of items from the barn and seeing that the teleporting pig did not come back, the team could only return to the police department. A Zhi and Jun Wei were surprised that the culprit was actually a pig. They did not know that animals could also have powers.

Later that day, the Special Investigation Department held a meeting. In regards of the teleporting pig, since there was no way to catch it, they did not have any options, but to let it go. If by any chance that the pig continues its destructive behavior, then Shao Fei would have to declare a Shoot-to-Kill order. The items that were retrieved from the red barn would be returned to their respective owners in the police department. As for the case of Edison Song, it was dismissed as ordered by the Chief of the police department. It seemed that the higher ups ordered the dismissal of the case. This just made Huang Yi Qi's intuition about the involvement of Duke Wu more plausible. She knew that Duke Wu's father was a powerful figure in the entertainment industry. He was even seen socializing with the senior officials of the military. It could be that Duke Wu's father used his connection to dismiss the case about Edison Song. Yet, even if this was true, the S.I.D could not do anything about this at all. They could not further investigate.

"If there's nothing else, you're all dismissed for today," Shao Fei said. There was frustration in his expression.

When everyone left except Zhao Li An, Shao Fei looked up and asked, "You need a ride home?"

Zhao Li An nodded, but he quickly said, "What's bothering you Shao Fei?"

Pinching the bridge of his nose as he took a deep breath, "The cases that we have handled so far, they're not completely closed. I feel powerless."

Seeing that his best friend was feeling down, Zhao Li An quickly acted to encourage and lift his spirits.

"Shao Fei, at least we don't have to worry about these cases anymore. You're free to pursue what it is you want to do with your free time. For example, Tang Yi." As soon as Zhao Li An mentioned Tang Yi, Shao Fei had a sudden realization. Zhao Li An was right!

"Because of the cases we handled for the S.I.D, you didn't have time to pursue your investigation on Tang Yi. Now, you have the time," Zhao Li An once again emphasized. With this, he hoped that Shao Fei would not feel down. Thankfully, his plan worked. Shao Fei was fired up.

"You're right, Zhao Zi!" Shao Fei said as he slammed the table from becoming suddenly enthusiastic which startled Zhao Li An.

"That's the spirit," Zhao Li An said as he smiled.

"Alright, I'll take you home." Shao Fei got up from his seat.

Zhao Li An nodded and the two went outside. Before Shao Fei drove his partner back home, Zhao Li An asked that the two of them eat noodles in a convenience store. Since Shao Fei was in a good mood, he did not deny his request. When it was time to pay, Zhao Li An could not find his wallet. He suddenly realized that Jack did not return his wallet yet! Now, who was the actual stealer? The young policeman must now find Jack to get his wallet back. Thankfully, Shao Fei was understanding and nice enough to pay for the noodles he ate.

"Thank you, Shao Fei! I'll see you tomorrow," Zhao Li An said as he smiled.

Shao Fei nodded as he said, "Good night."

After their goodbyes, Shao Fei drove away.

Going inside his little house, Zhao Li An grabbed a glass of water to drink. Afterward, he went to the bathroom to take a bath. When he finished his business in the bathroom and changed into his fresh clothes, he went inside his bedroom.

Due to exhaustion, he quickly lied in bed. Unfortunately, he forgot to turn off the lights. As he got up, he momentarily turned to look at his bookshelf and instantly noticed something different. There was an unfamiliar picture frame that was set up there. As Zhao Li An looked closely at the picture, his eyes and mouth widened from the sudden shock.

It was the picture frame that the old man was hugging when he died in his bed.

Zhao Li An suddenly felt goosebumps all over his body. Was he being haunted?

With this thought, he put down the picture frame back to the bookshelf and quickly covered himself in a blanket.

While hiding inside his blanket, Zhao Li An heard footsteps. As the footsteps got closer to him, Zhao Li An's heart started to beat faster. Although Zhao Li An was not the type of person to get easily scared, when it came to things related to ghosts, he would get scared quite easily.

"Oink."

Zhao Li An, "Ahh! Don't possess me!"

"Oink?"

After hearing the voice of the ghost, once again, Zhao Li An was confused.

"?"

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It's been a long time, but I didn't forget to update. Here you go!