Cold Dependence - Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Just like that, Qi Wenxi was forced to hold hands with the black-haired woman beside her, who wouldn’t let go no matter how she hinted or signaled, as they walked in.

As soon as they entered the police station lobby, even though it was dark outside and raining, the place was packed with people.

At that moment, a group of young men in black shirts sat in a row on the lobby seats, while a uniformed officer nearby told them to sit still and behave.

When Qi Wenxi walked in with Jing Lian, curious gazes from the crowd shot toward them all at once.

“These guys really don’t care about their lives. This time someone bailed them out, but next time, I wonder if anyone will… Hm? What are you two here for?” A staff member watching over the careless young men turned and noticed Qi Wenxi and her companion walking in from outside.

Seeing the staff member’s question, Qi Wenxi stepped forward immediately, her expression very serious as she said to him, “Hello, I want to report a case. It’s about her.”

Her hand was still tightly held by the black-haired woman beside her.

Meanwhile, the young men, who had been sitting bored on the seats waiting for their bail, started looking the two women up and down.

Though both were beautiful, the silent black-haired woman seemed more captivating, with an innocent and fragile appearance.

She was like a blank sheet of paper, easier to tame.

She was even standing barefoot in the lobby, her body soaked from the rain.

Her slightly wavy black hair hung down, clinging to her pretty face, making her look so pitiful and fragile, tempting people to ruin such a delicate thing.

“Hey, look at her, she’s so pale. Top quality,” one of the men whispered to another beside him, glancing with his eyes at the seemingly innocent barefoot woman.

Jing Lian had been keeping her eyes down, staring at her hand intertwined with Qi Wenxi’s, the warmth of the human hand just right for her.

But she sensed those dark, lustful gazes sizing her up, and with her highly sensitive hearing, she didn’t miss that whispered comment.

She slightly turned her head, her golden eyes looking at the human man who was disrespecting her with his gaze.

One of them saw Jing Lian glance their way and deliberately raised an eyebrow at her.

Jing Lian’s eyes darkened instantly. She was about to step forward, but Qi Wenxi pulled her to the front.

“We’ll follow him inside, don’t be afraid,” Qi Wenxi said softly, comforting her while pulling her hand and wrapping her clothes tighter as they walked into the station’s record room.

Jing Lian had to suppress the flash of hostility, her hand still tightly holding the other’s.

The warmth of that grip was like a soothing remedy, calming Jing Lian’s displeasure, and she obediently followed behind Qi Wenxi.

The officer leading them brought the two to the registration area in the back.

The large office was filled with all sorts of different people.

Even though it was pouring rain outside in the dark, the police station’s office was bustling with activity.

There were drunkards being escorted, a few heavily made-up women in revealing clothes, an old man shouting about his stolen money, a crying little girl…

“Excuse me, excuse me,” a uniformed staff member said as he led a handcuffed man past them, the middle-aged man muttering curses in some dialect, seemingly confused about why he was brought here.

Qi Wenxi quickly pulled the dazed woman beside her back a bit, making sure the middle-aged man, who didn’t look like a good person, didn’t bump into Jing Lian.

She had to admit, even though she was in her thirties, this was her first time in a police station. She really hadn’t expected it to be so crowded at this hour, mostly with people who had done something wrong. It was very noisy.

Mihe District had been a bit chaotic lately.

The muttering middle-aged man glanced back at the wary Qi Wenxi, giving a disdainful smirk.

“Behave! Keep moving forward,” the officer restraining him sternly ordered the man, who had started stealing again, and led him straight to the interrogation room.

Afterward, a staff member brought them to a relatively quiet corner of the office.

“Please sit down,” the staff member said.

Clearly, the barefoot woman beside Qi Wenxi didn’t follow the staff’s words and stood there indifferently.

“Your friend is…?” Captain Li, sitting nearby, looked at the soaked woman with some confusion, glancing at Qi Wenxi.

Qi Wenxi had to pull Jing Lian to sit on another chair.

Jing Lian’s expression wrinkled slightly, but she eventually sat down obediently.

Watching this, Captain Li clearly felt something oddly uncoordinated about the woman wrapped in a coat.

She seemed a bit stiff, though he couldn’t pinpoint what was strange.

Was she on drugs?

Or perhaps she had some mental issues?

Still, he wasn’t surprised, as too many people came through here daily—every kind of strange, wild, or crazy behavior imaginable.

“Name, show me your ID, and tell me what’s going on,” the man said, pulling off his pen cap and starting to take notes as usual.

Qi Wenxi didn’t hesitate at all, clearly eager to resolve this matter quickly.

“My name is Qi Wenxi. I can give you my ID number, but I can’t provide my ID right now. I lost my wallet, including my ID and phone.”

As expected, her wallet had probably fallen into the sea, or maybe she was washed ashore from the sea.

“Then tell me what happened first,” Captain Li said, noting down some of the woman’s information.

While Qi Wenxi provided her details, she didn’t notice that the quiet woman beside her was constantly staring at her, head tilted.

So, this human woman was called Qi Wenxi.

Qi Wenxi.

Jing Lian silently repeated the name in her mind, then continued staring unreservedly at Qi Wenxi, who was describing the situation to the human man across from them, subtly leaning closer to her.

“…That’s the whole story, officer,” Qi Wenxi said quickly, recounting the events. Heaven knows she had rehearsed the words in her mind countless times to handle this matter swiftly.

Then she could go home in peace.

Captain Li stopped writing halfway through. When Miss Qi finished speaking, his expression was… hard to describe.

“Miss Qi, so you’re saying you woke up on Lanhai Sea beach without knowing how, with only her beside you, and you two don’t know each other?” Captain Li picked out the key points, looking again at the serious-faced woman.

“Yes, we don’t know each other,” Qi Wenxi nodded earnestly.

Captain Li turned to call a young man nearby, “Xiao Han, come here.”

“Captain Li, what’s up?” Han Yang immediately put down the files in his hand and came over. He glanced at the two women sitting across from Captain Li, sitting close together, and thought it was probably some weird family matter.

“Hasn’t Lanhai Sea been sealed off these past few days?” Captain Li doubted his memory and asked Han Yang for clarification.

“Yes, it’s been sealed since the day before yesterday. Suirong Avenue to the north is also fully restricted,” Han Yang reported promptly, taking Captain Li’s notebook and looking it over.

Captain Li sighed, glancing at the woman claiming to be Qi Wenxi, frowning slightly as he said, “Miss Qi, your story’s credibility is really low. You heard him—Lanhai Sea beach has been sealed for three days. No one can get in. I don’t understand why you’d say you ended up there.”

Hearing the officer’s words, Qi Wenxi knew Lanhai Sea was sealed. She herself could hardly believe why she was there!

But that wasn’t the point right now.

“I know it’s hard for you to believe me, but everything I said is true. I don’t know why I was there either… Oh, right, I was calling for help at the Lanhai Sea beach surveillance camera. I don’t know if you can see it, but the point now isn’t that. I hope you can find her family to take her home. The point is, she’s not with me.”

Qi Wenxi’s usually calm voice grew a bit anxious. She really wanted to hand this woman over to the police and leave this place to go home. She didn’t like talking too much with strangers.

“Miss Qi, are you sure you don’t know her?” Captain Li could see Miss Qi was eager to leave, but he really doubted the truth of her words.

After all, dragging a woman she supposedly didn’t know to report a case in such heavy rain, especially when they met at the most unlikely place, was very strange. It was hard for anyone to believe.

“I don’t know her, really don’t know her,” Qi Wenxi affirmed again.

“Then why have you two been holding hands since you came in, even now?” Captain Li pointed out the detail, questioning Qi Wenxi.

“That’s because she kept following me closely at the beach, insisting on holding my hand. Her grip is strong, I couldn’t shake her off. Then I drove her here, and she still wouldn’t walk unless she held my hand,” Qi Wenxi said calmly, stating the facts, making Han Yang, who was listening nearby, chuckle.

Captain Li raised his eyebrows. He already felt this Miss Qi’s mind wasn’t entirely clear. She looked normal on the surface, but her reasons sounded so far-fetched.

No matter how strong a young woman’s grip was, it couldn’t be that hard to shake off.

To the nearly fifty-year-old Captain Li, anyone in their twenties was a young woman.

He decided not to question Qi Wenxi further and turned to the so-called “stranger” woman sitting close to Miss Qi.

From the moment she entered, she kept her eyes lowered, looking at Miss Qi, as if very dependent on her.

Pale face, black hair, golden-brown eyes, somewhat sickly.

Nowadays, young women liked wearing these colorful contact lenses—not surprising.

Captain Li clicked his tongue in his mind.

“Young lady, what’s your name?” Captain Li asked the silent woman, his tone relatively gentle.

At the same time, Qi Wenxi’s gaze fell on the pale, clueless woman’s face. She suddenly realized she hadn’t asked her companion’s name this whole time, too focused on solving the problem.

Jing Lian frowned unhappily, lifting her face and giving a cold glance at the human man across from her.

Who was he calling a young lady?

Utterly foolish.