That winter

That winter the snow was especially cold, especially white and especially chilling. In the main office of division one Police department of Xiu, Liu Chen held the steaming cup of coffee close to his chest.

"I can't believe they're just letting this go!" A man next to Liu Chen screamed and slammed his palm lightly onto the dark brown desk. The office lights shone dimly into the room and illuminated a side of the officer's face. Facing directly towards the window, Liu Chen sighed and said to his co-worker,

"It's inevitable, the job of police in district 4-1 isn't considered important, our workforce can't deal with this even if they wanted to. We don't have the experience." He said lightly to the fuming co-worker who then turned their short ruffle of brown hair towards him, puffed their small cheeks, and pouted before sighing.

"Chen, is there really no way for us to get the case?"

He didn't reply but looked out the frosty window on the 15th floor of the department. Outside, there reflected the window of another building right across. It seemed to be even higher, its top floor peeking up to the foggy clouds.

"Xiao Xi, the department will hand us this case in two days." He replied softly, his voice barely audible being so close to the top of his coffee cup. The steam warmed up his eyelashes as he spoke.

"Huh?" The co-worker, or Xiao Xi, "Captain..?" asked in a pleading tone, his brown eyes looking earnestly at Liu Chen.

"What I mean is, they will ask for our opinion, but we might not be able to directly take on the case. Remember, this city is a...it's like this cup of coffee. Free, but only at the surface. Depending on the situation, this anomaly unseen in years can be handled by Qin Mo. How long, I estimate two days." He replied gazing into the cup of coffee.

"Captain!" Xiao xi suddenly called out, his back straightening in a sharp arc forward, and pointed his finger forward at Liu Chen. "Your speaking in metaphors again!" He declared. The snow fell quickly.

In a white office on the top floor of Xiu Division 1 Law enforcement center, a meeting was being held. At the end of the table sat a young man in a full black suit. His gaze was frosty and stern, yet oddly his expression was-- expressionless. It lacked the animated look even the coldest resting face would have. He wore a silver badge on his suit with a chain hooked up to it. The accessory was slightly on the left, where one's heart usually resided.

Currently, the meeting only sat five people. In addition to the black-suited man, two middle-aged men sat on the right and a girl with short hair as well as an old man with visible wrinkles sat with her.

"Currently, the Forscenic department hasn't replied yet. They, seem to be...unavailable right now. Dr. Fei has contacted us and apologized. They claim that the workers had too much "going on" last night and weren't at the laboratory. They came to work late today as a result and missed Director Wang's call." The middle-man closest to the door finished his report which at this point, displayed his clear sweat that dripped slightly onto the pristine white table. The room seemed to be getting colder. The girl with short hair shivered slightly, before taking a peek at the man in his black suit, sitting straight; his gaze dark.

"Uhm," Director Fang continued with a cough,

"On the behalf of the Forscenic Department, I deeply apologize for my co-workers misconduct." Director Fang continued speaking, this time he stood up and bowed before sitting down, then with a slight sigh he looked straight into the cause of the dropping temperature.

"However, this case is urgent. I know from the results of a preliminary assessment which was conducted, this morning, the death of the victim is strangling, but the killer was meticulous and wiped all evidence we can use to identify the victim. So far we have only concluded he is male, 25."

There was silence after the head of the Forscenic department finished their report. The snow was piling up and outside a consecutive, soft 'beep' noise filled the silence intermittently. The snow which should have blanketed the grey roads disappeared from sight after. The people in the room only shivered. It seemed warmer outside than in the simple, empty white meeting room.

"Ahem, Qin mo." As if a warning, director Wang stood up and gave the black-suited man, or Qin mo a stare. Qin mo only briefly looked at him, scoffed slightly, and then nodded in the direction of Director Fang.

Director Fang seemed to have let out a brief sigh, his tensed posture relaxed considerably. By now the temperature has reached -10 degrees inside.

Finally, the little girl couldn't stand the cold anymore. She asked the older man to her right,

"Can we turn off the aircon? It's so cold." She asked in a relaxed tone

"Of course, Marie." The man replied, then he looked in the direction of the window, his gaze landing on the man sitting in front.

"...If you'll excuse us, then." And they left. Following Director Wang with his short stubby fingers pushed at the desk, and tailing him was director Fang. They both bid the man in front farewell.

'beep!'

"The temperature has reached below standard room temperature. Automated adjustment commencing."

The meeting ended. Qin mo sat still at the end of the table his gaze cast downwards, chilling like the snow outside, foggy like the windows. Suddenly, he walked towards where Director Wang sat and reached out for something.

--------------

Liu Chen put his hands into the safety of his brown trench-coats pockets. The snow was still falling, but the grey roads contrasted clearly against the white. The snow only defined the roads more, so much so that the roads spanning endlessly into the distance seemed to be paths to another further place.

He boarded station 6 and the first train arrived, its metallic sheen blending with the snow outside. The carriage was considerably empty, when he looked around, all he saw were maintenance bots. Perhaps the snowflakes falling outnumbered the total population here. This was district 4 In the Metropolitan city Xiu, today the news saw the first corpse in 20 years. Liu Chen didn't even want to open his phone, but he opened it nonetheless. He suddenly shivered as he took his phone out. Maybe the metal phone would warm him somehow.

"Today, the streets are empty. We are still keeping in touch with the police but they claim that everything is under control, however, no one knows how the corpse was delivered to the gate so suddenly without a trace. Furthermore, the victim still hasn't been identified. It's as if-- as if the corpse fell down like the sudden snow."

The female reporter trembled slightly before she quickly continued on a ramble, she seemed to be getting carried away with theorizing. No-one stopped her though, maybe they wanted to listen in.

Liu Chen abruptly turned off the news. He had arrived at his station and got off. The snow was still falling heavily, but it seemed to slow down a bit.

He walked a few steps outside, his gaze on the far distance, onto those grey walls. His apartment was near on the tenth floor, the entrance just a few dozen meters in front of the station. Some fog escaped his lips as he breathed in the winter air and moved his eyes down towards the ground before him. On the pile of pristine, pure snow, there was something that clearly shouldn't be there. Crimson red--blood, after that, there laid a pale hand, then after that-- a headless body.

'This was district 4 of the Metropolitan City of Xiu and the news has seen the second corpse in 20 years.'

He imagined the new headline that he may not be able to view.

He dialed Director Wang's number.

"This is Liu Chen of the 3rd Special division. There's a body at the entrance of Apartment: Lily Station 6. The victim is missing their head and there is only one drop of blood on site. They seem to be female. "

There was silence before a low voice replied coldly,

"Stay still. I'm coming over." The voice replied.

Liu Chen suddenly felt the hairs on his skin stand up. Wasn't his phone supposed to heat up by now? It was so cold now.

"Who is this?" He inquired slowly, his gaze on the bloodless corpse.

"Commander of the 1st Special division, Qin Mo." The other replied, and then hanged up.