Ten floors separated Wenjie from the roof, where Captain Luo was waiting for him. Wenjie clung tightly to the thick rope in the elevator shaft and pulled himself upward. 

A floor below him, someone opened the elevator door. Wenjie ignored the shouts coming up to him. The communication channel on his smartwatch crackled. 

"Wenjie?" he heard Mister Xu talking on the other end. "Where are you right now? The police are coming. You need to get to the underground parking garage as soon as possible."

Wenjie cast a pained glance at the smartwatch. 

"I'm sorry mister Xu. Leave without me," he whispered and pressed the red button to disconnect. Then he detached the smartwatch from his wrist and dropped it down the lift shaft. He would buy Mister Xu time to escape unnoticed.

"Wenjie?" Captain Luo sounded worried. 

"I'm coming," Wenjie called up. 

In the distance, he thought he heard faint voices. Shortly after, Captain Luo moved away from the opening. Wenjie suspected that someone had appeared up there. He couldn't make out the voices, but it wasn't long before Captain Luo was looking down the lift shaft again. 

"Stay where you are. Hold on tight. I'll come down and open the elevator door for you."

Wenjie wanted to reply, but Captain Luo had already disappeared. Wenjie would get the door open on his own. All he had to do was to move the rope in order to swing himself towards the door. Once at the landing, he got a halfway secure footing before he set about pushing the door open. Hopefully Monsieur's men had not come up to wait on the other side. But he had to take the risk. The police under Captain Luo's command should be in the building already as well.

With all his strength, he pushed the door open and entered the long hallway behind. He was two floors above the secret floor where he had picked up the painting, which now hung well packed over his back. Aside from himself, there was no one to be seen. 

Wenjie ran to the fire escape. Behind the door, he heard noises. It sounded like footsteps, from more than one person. Wenjie quickly hid behind a bend and waited until the sounds faded away before he dared to look into the stairwell. Peering over the railing there, he could spot several men running downstairs. Cautiously, Wenjie crept up the stairs. 

Halfway up, he met Captain Luo. "That action was very dangerous", Captain Luo said.

Wenjie lowered his eyes in shame before handing him the scroll with the picture. "But we have Luoshen."

Captain Luo accepted the scroll and gestured for him to follow him downstairs. "The police will take care of the rest. Do I need to remind you that you're still a student? You shouldn't have been here at all."

"I knew what I was doing. And it went well."

Captain Luo sighed deeply. "I'll expect your application as soon as you graduate, then."

Wenjie gave him a surprised glance and laughed. "I'll think about it."

On the way down, they encountered no one else.

Outside the hotel, an impressive sight presented itself. Wenjie had never seen so many police cars at once in his life. It almost seemed as if the entire department was gathered to arrest all the members of the Undercurrent syndicate. 

This filled him with relief, even though he could not spot Monsieur anywhere. If Monsieur escaped, he would surely seek revenge, and Mister Xu might be in danger. 

On the forecourt, Liao Shuang approached them. "Captain Luo, we arrested all culprits and seized the evidence. No one escaped." Her gaze fell on Wenjie. "What are you doing here?"

Wenjie hesitated as Captain Luo came to his aid. 

"He wanted to join the investigation after informing me what had been going on. Did you capture Monsieur?"

Liao Shuang nodded. "No one escaped. Only a white van left the underground parking lot. Unfortunately, the camera doesn't show the driver. But we assume it's nobody from Undercurrent. To be on the safe side, I've already asked our tech to track it." 

Wenjie chewed uneasily on his lower lip. Hopefully, he had not put Mister Xu in a difficult situation by his rash actions. 

"Why are you making such a face? Shouldn't you be cheering?", Captain Luo snapped him out of his thoughts.

"It's just," Wenjie hesitated. "Can I take a closer look at Luoshen at the police station? I heard it contains a message from my father. The seller of Luoshen used a name I gave my father when I was a kid. And someone told me that if the police reopen the case, it could put my father in danger. Maybe it's a coincidence, but what if he's still alive and what if Monsieur is also just a scapegoat?"

Captain Luo frowned. "Who is this someone? The same you got your information from?" 

Wenjie nodded and at the same time felt bad about indirectly betraying Mister Xu. The man had helped him in the past and always had an open ear for him. He had said that he regretted what had happened. Wenjie was willing to believe him. 

"He was here with you," Captain Luo concluded solely from his nod. "He is the driver of the van. And you planned together to trap Monsieur by stealing Luoshen?"

Wenjie lowered his eyes in shame. "I know I should have told you earlier."

"You did the right thing at the crucial moment, that's what counts. He's the tenant of your old parents' house, Xu Zhengqing?"

Wenjie looked at him and nodded.

Captain Luo turned to his colleague. "Shuang'er, send a patrol to Xu Zhengqing's house. I want to see him at the police station tonight." Then he tapped Wenjie's shoulder. "I just have a few questions. But there's nothing we need from you tonight. I'll drive you home. You can come by tomorrow for the testimony. Then we have time for the painting."

He sounded almost as if he was his father. Wenjie smiled cautiously. Looking back, Captain Luo had acted like this from the beginning. And Wenjie still didn't know what to make of it. He wasn't used to someone taking such a strong interest in his well-being. "Thank you," he murmured.

On the way, they didn't talk much. Wenjie hung on to his thoughts and Captain Luo was in contact with his colleagues through the speaker function of his phone. 

"Captain Luo," Liao Shuang called in a moment later. "We couldn't find Xu Zhengqing at his house."

Wenjie cast a worried glance at the smartphone and bit his lower lip. 

Briefly, there was a crackling sound on the line. Liao Shuang was talking to someone. But the conversation was barely audible. Then she was back on the line.

"Hao just called in. He said Xu Zhengqing was at the Bureau and wanted to make a statement."

"Keep him busy. I'll be with you in half an hour."

to be continued...