“What - what do you mean? ” Mick scratched his jaw, “I thought the group of people tracked her down and kidnap her from her secret apartment in our district? Is there - is there something not disclosed to the general public?”

“Well, I may have heard something. I MAY.” Sergeant Fu shook his head: “When the special investigators from the city were looking into the matter, they caught some not very well encrypted communication and deciphered pieces of them. It seems that someone in our district - and according to the origin location of the signal, someone from a pretty well-off area, notified the mob and told them the hidden apartment of poor Big Sister Zhu.”

Mick gasped, and Brian Sai immediately went into his thoughts with a heavy frown on his face.

“So you’re saying - someone leaked the location of Yixiang Zhuge to the mob from the South-Eastern District?” Mick cleared his throat, then lowered his voice.

“I’m not saying anything. You asked me what I knew about the death of this infamous trafficker.This is just the information I happen to know.” Sergeant Fu shrugged and chugged down his cup of matcha latte: “And - I trust that you’ve probably found her autopsy report?”

“Yes, but it’s not - uh - it’s not that much of a report.” Brian Sai squeezed his nose bridge: “I gotta say, I’ve seen a fair share of reports, this is gotta be one of the most ridiculous. I get it, at that age, DNA technology was not yet fully proven useful. But - there’s no face, no dental records, only some fingerprints lifted off the pants and the presence of some identifying personal items.”

“Yes. Because the only parts of her body is her lower body with her legs.” Sergeant Fu nodded while grimacing: “But - just to be clear, that one IS the only report the city has. Due to the sensitivity of the case, and the fact that SHE was such a hated criminal, no one really cared about looking into the cause of her death. Everyone just cared that she WAS dead. And they were happy with the answer.”

“So - anyway to track down who tipped the mobs off?” Mick asked.

“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure the city has tried. But there’s no definite answer whether they found the one who did.” Sergeant Fu sighed and waved at the waitress: “The message could only be partially decrypted due to certain technical reasons. So, what I told you is all I know.”

“And - and, there’s something else I would like to ask. But before that - ” Mick thought for a moment, then turned to the waitress, pointed at the poster of a special item on the wall: “Hi, excuse me. Can we have one order of each?”

Brian Sai sighed internally, none of the things ordered today were cheap. He expected coming here today would cost him, it was just that he did not actually know how much he would be spending here today.

“Thank you, little Mick.” Sergeant Fu grinned and nodded at Mick: “You are too kind.”

The waitress delivered the special item: a light purple cheese case, their specialty, named “Ube My Heart”. It was the third most expensive single item in the entire shop, and the most popular one. Sergeant Fu apparently liked it very much. His eyes almost glowed when the slightly bouncy cake was served.

Before neither Mick nor Brian Sai could say anything, the sergeant already finished his share of the cake. Mick chuckled, and pushed his cake forward: “Uncle Fu, here’s mine, don’t worry about me. I’m not a big fan of Ube flavor anyway.”

“Thank you.” Sergeant Fu nodded and started eating the cake slice by slice.

Brian Sai tasted the cake. Smooth, light, moist and not too sweet. The taste of Ube, or sweet taro, was indeed a nice touch. He could understand why people liked it so much. It was definitely a different kind of flavor from everyone’s usual food.

“Okay. Thanks for the treat.” Sergeant Fu let out a light burp: “To be honest, if it weren’t for the occasion, you don’t know how much effort I’ll have to put in to convince my wife to let me have this.”

“Good. Just make sure you run some extra lanes so that aunty would not come to me with grief.” Mick chuckled.

“So, what do you wanna know? ” Sergeant Fu wiped his mouth, laid back on his chair and asked with a satisfied smile: “You know the drill, I can’t tell you too much. And I can’t divulge any critical information. But other than that, ask away!”

“Okay. This is purely because we’re looking into the cases.” Mick raised his hands and offered a disclaimer: “But - we’ve found that there were several families that were under investigation from the city after the death of Big Sister Zhu. A few families were kept on the list for a particularly long time. And one of the families is the Lings. An unfortunate family whose murder fell into our jurisdiction.”

“Oh.” Sergeant Fu sighed then went silent, seemingly contemplating his thoughts. Brian Sai and Mick fixed their eyes on him for a while, long enough to make him appear uncomfortable. “I remember the Lings. Small world. I know someone who used to be in the circle.”

“And? What do you know about them?” Mick leaned forward: “You know, I figured I asked you first before actually talking to their neighbors…”

“FORMER neighbors, I’d assume?” Sergeant Fu raised an eyebrow.

“That’s what we thought. Yes.” Mick snapped his fingers and exchanged looks with Brian Sai. “Their house was bought just a few years back.”

“Yeah. Had to change an environment, when your old circle despised you.” Sergeant Fu shrugged.

“What - what do you mean?”

“Now, with no insinuation whatsoever, but the crux of the rumor is that - they’ve been put on the adoption waitlist for a while. And from what I heard, they were nowhere close to the top before they got their son.”

“Holy - you’re saying - ”

“I’m not saying anything. ” Sergeant Fu waved his hands and leaned back: “And you did not hear this from me. Remember that?!”

“Okay, but what do you think - ” Brian Sai tried to follow up.

“Alright - I’ve had enough carbs for today.” Sergeant Fu stood up and grabbed his jacket: “Remember, you didn’t hear any of that from me.”

“Of course, of course. Just words on the street.” Mick stood up and nodded at the sergeant: “Thank you, so much.”

“Don’t mention it. It's good seeing you.” Sergeant Fu put on his jacket, after thinking for a few seconds, he leaned in and said to Mick with a lowered voice: “Little Mick, I know you’re motivated and determined. But - I’ve gotta say, you need to be really careful with this case. Sometimes a hole is just a hole. Sometimes a hole can drag you into the abyss.”