When A Snail Falls in Love

“I’m pregnant.”

The morning light outside the window was dim and the room was warm and quiet. The two of them looked at each other for a moment and did not say anything.

Ji Bai was a little dumbfounded by the news he was hearing so early in the morning. Even so, recovering from his shock, a sense of happiness rapidly flowed into his heart; he felt like lush green meadows have suddenly sprouted around his drab and dry heart.

He pulled her into his arms and said in a low voice, “Don’t I always wear condoms? You’re on contraceptive medication too.”

There was a period of time whereby Ji Bai did not wear a condom and Xu Xu was taking a long-lasting safety contraceptive medication that had just been introduced into the market. She answered sullenly, “Maybe the medication didn’t work because the weather in Lin City is so humid, also didn’t your condom break that one time you came?”

Ji Bai stared at her for a moment, then wrapped her hands in his palm and apologized. “It’s my fault.”

Xu Xu lowered her head and did not reply.

Ji Bai’s heart broke a little when he saw how sullen she looked.

He would not be too surprised if Xu Xu wanted to abort this child. She had just graduated from the police academy and she was still young. Moreover, she never had plans to give birth. In addition to this, she was very independent and ambitious whilst the birth of a child would severely impede her.

Nonetheless, with the way Ji Bai was brought up, he felt that abortion was something that should never happen.

Furthermore, how could he let her get an abortion? It would cause too much damage to her body.

He raised his head to look at her quiet, pale face, and he felt his heart tremble. However, he would undoubtedly convince her to keep the child. As he was about to speak up and say something, he saw her lift her head up and look at him with a determined look on her face.

Ji Bai held his breath.

Xu Xu stared at him and said, “I still need to go to the hospital for a check-up to confirm it, but I’m most likely pregnant.”

She paused for a short while before continuing, “Frankly, if I’m really pregnant, then I will keep this child regardless of what you think.”

The sky outside the window was getting brighter and their surroundings were almost surreal as Ji Bai looked at her dark, clear eyes and felt a warmth surging into his heart.

Xu Xu saw how Ji Bai had remained silent, she frowned slightly and continued to explain in an orderly manner. “I made this decision after careful considerations, since twenty-five to twenty-six years old is the best age for women to conceive, and abortion would indefinitely damage the body. Moreover, this is, after all, a human life, I can’t just…”

“Okay.” He interrupted her sentence in his low-pitched voice. Ji Bai pulled her towards his chest, then looked down and kissed her.

Only after kissing her passionately did he let go of her and stared at her very intensely with deep, thoughtful eyes. Then he suddenly started smiling. “If you want to give birth so bad, then I guess we have reached a decision.”

Xu Xu could not help but laugh.

She was feeling down the entire night when she had first found out that she was pregnant. Even though she had promptly made up her mind, it was still a very serious matter and she was not prepared for it, so how could she relax? Therefore, the obvious joyful and affirmative look on Ji Bai’s face comforted her greatly.

Ji Bai raised his head and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 6 o’clock and there were two hours left before they need to go to work. Furthermore, they were not allowed to take any time off over these few days.

“Change your clothes, we’ll go to the hospital now.”

“Okay.”

While Xu Xu was freshening up, Ji Bai had changed his clothes, called a friend, and contacted the City’s Obstetrics Hospital. After everything was settled, he picked up the car keys on the table and strode to the door. He then turned back around, opened the drawer, took out the ring hidden in a stack of clothes, and plunged into his pocket.

The hospital was deserted and quiet on the dark rainy morning. The two of them waited for a while at the obstetrics department before they got to meet a doctor.

The test result soon came out and it turns out, Xu Xu was positive on all the indicators, so she was definitely pregnant.

When the two of them returned to the car, the rain still had not stopped. Even though the sky had gotten brighter, the entire street was so wet, it seemed like it was being shrouded in a fine mist.

Instead of starting the car immediately, Ji Bai parked it on the boulevard outside the hospital, held Xu Xu’s hand and watched the rain quietly.

Xu Xu also remained silent. This news had come suddenly, and she still had a lot to think about.

Ji Bai was also contemplating as he had recently been really busy with the case, but now he had to find time to meet his family to propose a marriage. Initially, he wanted to have an engagement ceremony, but he needed to forget about it now. They will only begin preparations for the wedding after they close the case, even if it meant that they end up getting married with a baby bump…

He put his hand in his pocket and gripped the ring box. The atmosphere around them was way too ordinary and not romantic at all, but he could not resist smiling from the corners of his lips.

He coughed to clear his throat and just as he was about to take the ring out, he heard her say, “Third Brother, I would like to discuss marriage.”

Ji Bai’s heart skipped a beat and he said, “Yes.” He held the ring in his pocket and did not move.

Xu Xu turned her head and looked at him sincerely. “Even though I’m pregnant, marriage is still marriage, we don’t have to get married in advance because of the child. After all, we have only been together for half a year. I do love you very much, but marriage is a lifetime commitment, so we need to consider it thoroughly.

“We’re still in the early stages of our relationship and we should get to know each other better first and live together for a longer period of time. After our relationship has matured and stabilized, then we will naturally consider marriage. This way, we can ensure we have a stable and happy marriage which will last longer.

“Of course, the child will take your surname.”

Raindrops continued to patter outside the window as more cars gradually started to fill the road. Ji Bai looked at Xu Xu and remained silent.

He should have known that unmarried pregnancy was not a big deal to her. She wanted to wait until their relationship got stronger before getting married, which fitted her cautious and slow personality. In fact, he had initially planned to get engaged first before getting a marriage certificate the following year.

Nonetheless, the way she sincerely said “I do love you very much” made his heart throb. Neither of them usually said sweet words like “I love you” and he did not expect her to be the one to blurt it out unintentionally today.

He took his time to speak. “Xu Xu, of course, I would need to get your approval to marry you, but you don’t have to make up your mind that quickly. Since you had only just got pregnant, it will still take a year for you to give birth to our baby. By that time, we should have gotten along for almost two years already and your mindset would have most definitely changed. When you first got together with me, you didn’t think that you would ‘love me very much’, right? We can always decide later on. ”

Xu Xu agreed and nodded. “Okay.”

Ji Bai smiled and moved on from the topic. Although this was just a trick for him to buy time until he could successfully convince her to agree to the marriage, he was still a little disappointed that he would need to continue hiding the ring in his pocket. Nonetheless, he was not too worried as their child would definitely be on his side. Moreover, since she had fallen for him this much within just half a year, in a years’ time, there was no way that she’d leave him.

Neither of them continued talking. As Ji Bai drove exceptionally cautiously and made his way through the flow of traffic.

He saw a red light and gradually slowed the car down. When he turned sideways, he saw Xu Xu looking through the pictures from the crime scene.

Usually, Ji Bai would ignore this, but after a while, he realized that this prenatal education was way too gory.

Even so, it was inevitable as a police officer, so Ji Bai merely remarked, “Avoid looking it as much as possible.”

Xu Xu was a little stunned and she did not answer him. Suddenly, she raised her head to look at him with a gleam in her eyes. “I recall where I’ve seen this before.”

While Ji Bai and Xu Xu were driving on the city’s highway, across the city, another woman was facing the most horrifying moment of her life.

The woman was wearing a light blue dress and she looked extremely fair and clean. She could not get out of the bed as her wrists and ankles had been tied to the bed.

Soon, the door was pushed open and a man walked in. The woman’s entire body shivered in fear as she tried to tuck herself into the bed, but it was in vain as all she could do was watch as he approached her.

The man smiled at her and took off his clothes first. He revealed his powerful naked body and pulled her into his arms before removing her clothes piece by piece. When he flung her down like prey in front of him, he was in no hurry to dominate her. Instead, he lowered his head and sniffed along her skin inch by inch.

“You smell good.” He whispered.

The woman was horrified as goosebumps spread all over her body. The man saw this but he did not get angry. Instead, he took a glass of water from the table and handed it to her, a mournful look appeared on the woman’s face but she had no choice but to drink it.

She reacted to it quickly and she soon heard herself moaning uncontrollably while a red flush spread across her snow-white body. The man sat on the edge of the bed while he watched quietly as the woman twisted and writhed.

After a while, he took out a camera and started capturing her misty eyes as well as dripping wet private parts. Then, he threw the camera aside, grabbed her waist and rammed into her.

Only the repetitive noise of the impact could be heard in the spacious and quiet room, as if there was no end to this ridiculous indulgence.

“Do you like it when I fuck you?”

“Yes… Yes…” The woman sounded as though she was whimpering, but at the same time, she sounded like she was enjoying it.

“Who am I?”

“Husband… husband…”

“And?”

“I love you… I love you…”

…

Ji Bai and Xu Xu drove directly to the Provincial Department and headed for Xu Xu’s senior brother, Sun Qinglin’s office.

When Sun Qinglin saw them, he was a little surprised and asked after a short pause, “Captain Ji, Xu Xu, what is it?”

Xu Xu handed him a photo of the crime scene. “Senior Brother, are you familiar with this scene?”

Sun Qinglin took a look at it and the expression on his face suddenly changed.

When Xu Xu was at the police academy, she assisted her professor on the cases in America while the cases in Asia were mainly handled by Sun Qinglin. Thus, Xu Xu although had a feeling that she had seen similar photos, she would not be as sure about it as Sun Qinglin. He quickly took out a box of files from the filing cabinet and placed it in front of them.

He took out photo after photo and spread them out on the table. They saw pictures of multiple beautiful women laying sideways on grassland, soil ground, in the forest and next to a stream… Their clothing style was similar to that of the deceased, Bai Anan while all the pictures carried a warm tone, which made them look extremely fresh and gentle.

Sun Qinglin sat down and said, “This is the ‘Angel Killer’ incident in Hong Kong three years ago. So far, eight victims were found, but there could be many more unreported incidents. All of them were white-collar workers between the ages of 22 to 25 and they had all disappeared for some time before dying from potassium cyanide poisoning. This case caused quite a stir in Hong Kong at the time.”

Ji Bai and Xu Xu nodded. They had both heard of this case before, but they did not dig deep into it.

Sun Qinglin picked up the photo of Bai Anan and said, “The murderer was captured by the police and he died while being transported across the sea. Some people say that he was dead, but others claim that he fled to another country. When I look at this photo, I can almost conclude that this murderer is not the murderer from before, but a fanatic imitator.”

Ji Bai and Xu Xu both remained silent before Xu Xu asked, “Senior Brother since you’ve investigated this case before, do you have his criminal psychological profile?”

Sun Qinglin nodded. “I not only have his psychological profile, I have all his information and photos.” Then, he added in a heavy tone, “He’s from Lin City.”

Soon, he found a folder and handed it to the two of them.

The young man in the photo wore a simple white shirt and trousers. He also had a tie, a flat haircut, and a defined face shape. He had handsome features, thin lips, and a gentle smile.

Sun Qinglin growled. “Feng Ye, he was 22 years old when he committed the crimes; he would have been 25 years old this year. Due to his outstanding grades, he enrolled in the Architecture Department in the University of Hong Kong with a full scholarship. After graduation, he worked in a listed company and obtained permanent resident status in Hong Kong. After we found solid evidence, he was wanted all over Hong Kong and soon disappeared later on.” He sighed and continued, “If he really isn’t dead and has in fact returned to Lin City…”

Ji Bai asked, “Do you have his address in Lin City?”

“Yes.” He flipped through the file and handed it to the two of them.

Half an hour later, Ji Bai parked his car outside the housing area of the dormitory of an old government enterprise in the city. At the same time, he ordered a few criminal police officers to stand guard around the area.

The two of them had sent Feng Ye’s information back to the criminal police unit and got an arrest warrant on him, as well as contacted the Hong Kong Police to obtain more information. When everyone in the unit got the news, they were excited but at the same time, they felt heavy-hearted.

As they walked along the narrow path in the old housing area, Ji Bai paused and asked, “Do you want to wait in the car?”

Xu Xu shot a glance at him. “There’s no need for that.”

Ji Bai didn’t try to persuade her and instead ordered the other criminal police officers to be extra cautious.

The murderer, in this case, was a psychopath so Xu Xu’s work would play a very important role. As the captain of a criminal police unit, he could not ask her to stay out this.

All he could do was protect her.

Feng Ye’s house was on the sixth floor, and his uncle was the one who opened the door. He was a lean man in his forties who worked in the factory as a technician.

“Does Feng Ye have any other relatives?” Xu Xu asked.

The man shook his head. “No, his parents died a long time ago.” He then asked hesitantly, “Fellow police officers, what else do you want to investigate? The incident in Hong Kong… It has been a few years since then. Didn’t Feng Ye fall into the sea and die?”

Of course, they did not answer him. Ji Bai ignored the question and asked politely, “We want to see Feng Ye’s personal belongings.”

His uncle nodded, then led them to the balcony and pointed at the pile of stuff at the corner of the balcony. “I’ve thrown out a lot of it and this is all that is left. You can all have a look at it.” Perhaps because he did not want to continue talking, but he turned around and attempted to leave. Ji Bai quickly stopped him with a question. “Was there anyone else who came here looking for Feng Ye recently?”

His uncle was a little surprised. “No. Of course not.”

“Did anything strange happen in your house recently?”

His uncle looked at him in surprise. “How did you know? Last month, a thief came at midnight. I heard movement and chased after him to the balcony, but in the blink of an eye, he was gone. He ransacked the house and messed everything up but did not steal anything.”

Ji Bai and Xu Xu both suddenly thought of something. ‘Could this thief be related to Feng Ye?’

After answering the question, his uncle went into the hall as Ji Bai and Xu Xu picked up Feng Ye’s belongings and looked through it carefully. After about half an hour, Ji Bai was stunned and handed Xu Xu a photo.

It was Feng Ye’s high school graduation photo. He stood in the middle of the last row and he seemed to be a little younger than in the photo that Sun Qinglin had shown them. Xu Xu did not notice any abnormalities, but she quickly scanned through the people in the photo. When she saw the girl in the front row, her eyes widened. “Yao Meng?”

Ji Bai nodded. “They were classmates.”

In the photo, Yao Meng had long silky hair and was wearing her school uniform. Even back then, she was already very charming and beautiful.

Xu Xu quickly said, “I will contact her after I get back to the police station and ask her if she knew about Feng Ye’s condition.”

The two of them continued to flip through the photos, but they were all of Feng Ye’s childhood photos and there were no valuable clues. However, as Ji Bai started flipping through the pile of books next to him, a photo suddenly dropped out, which Xu Xu picked up.

Xu Xu looked at it and horrified.

It was a single photo of Yao Meng. She wore the police academy’s uniform, her head lowered to read a book while sitting under the shade. There was a pedestrian’s silhouette beside her but she seemed unaware of it.

It looked like it was secretly photographed a few years ago.