Money Loving CEO's Detective Lover

Chapter 78: CCK (21)

Minho smacked Kanji's head hard causing the latter to yell.

"Ow!" Kanji cried. "What was that for?"

"It's right behind you, pinhead!" Minho snapped and pointed at the cliff behind Kanji. The latter turned around and sure enough, there was a den on top of it. 

"Oh," he said. "My bad."

"Let's go," Minho ordered. He led the way with Kanji in tow. The cliff was gleaming dangerously and the path was dark. One wrong step could cost them their lives. From Mimi's story, Minho had assumed that the cliff was probably not so tall but he was wrong. It was probably a few hundred meters high and it astounded him that Mimi managed to jump from that height and survived.

"How did Mimi survive?" Kanji asked in awe.

"She had incredible willpower," Minho muttered. "And the river is really deep. If it was shallow, she would have died on the spot. Her luck favored her."

Kanji nodded as he followed Minho around the cliff. They were looking for any sort of trail or passage which would lead them upwards. 

"Mimi said the den was a lab," Kanji frowned. 

"Yeah," Minho sighed. "But I don't see any trail."

"I don't think there's a trail though," Kanji said. "I mean look at this cliff! It's too steep. And how do you expect someone to climb it with a ninety pound woman on his back? Nah. I'm sure he uses another route?"

"I don't see any trail," Minho pointed out. "Unless he flew straight to the top."

Kanji was not listening to him but was gently tapping on the side of the cliff as he went around it. He was sure that the cliff had some sort of passageway which led to the top. The kidnapper could not possibly carry a heavy woman all the way to the top by rock climbing. The man used this place as a lab and he had a secret passage. He could just tell.

Suddenly, he stopped. Minho frowned as Kanji repeatedly knocked on the cliff.

"What are you doing?" he scowled. "We need to find the route!"

"I think I found it," Kanji said in excitement. "Listen!"

He tapped on the rocky cliff. Minho listened carefully to his taps.

"It sounds hollow!" he exclaimed. "The place behind this wall is hollow!"

"Yes," Kanji murmured. "Which means, there must be something hidden behind it. But how do we open it?"

He searched the rocky wall for some kind of entrance but it was tightly shut. They tried to push the wall but soon gave up. 

"There must be some kind of lock!" Kanji insisted.

"But where is it?" Minho asked. "I don't see anything. Is it on another side?"

Kanji peered in the darkness, touching every part of the wall he could reach while Minho searched the other side.

"Aha!" Minho clapped his hands. "I found it!"

Kanji came running to him. He was pointing at an electronic lock which was concealed behind a bunch of hanging plants. It was not visible at first because it was painted green but Minho's sharp eyes managed to find it after a few doubletakes.

"But it's an electric lock," Kanji groaned. "It needs a passcode. How do we get the passcode for this thing?"

Minho was in a dilemma. The passcode would set off an alarm if they failed to input the code on their first try. The CCK would get a hint of their presence and might end up killing Mina in the process. They would have to think very carefully.

"Is it his kill count?" Kanji asked. "How many women did he kill?"

"I don't know," Minho said, shaking his head. "The police did not give an official figure."

"His birthdate?"

"How the hell are we supposed to know that?" Minho snapped. "Don't be stupid Kanji!"

They spent the next half an hour trying to figure out the code but not daring to input anything. No matter how many guesses they made, it was of no use. They did not know anything about the killer and it was highly risky to take a shot in the dark.

"What in the world is the passcode?" Kanji asked in frustration. "Should we wait for him to come out and ambush him?"

"But there is no guarantee that he would come out," Minho shot back. "What if he emerges out of the cave only after the fifth day?"

"Should we wait until daybreak to find another way to climb up?" Kanji suggested. "Maybe a route will appear. Minho looked up at the cliff. It was too steep to be climbed. They would have to use the secret entrance to gain access to the den above. Mimi was lucky that she reached the mouth of the den instead of the front door to the cave otherwise she would have died by his hands."

Kanji ran a hand through his hair in worry. For a moment, the green neon light from his mickey mouse watch blinked at Minho. He barely glanced at it before backtracking his gaze.

"Kanji, what's the time?" he asked, starting to feel a little hopeful. Kanji frowned and checked his watch.

"It's one minute to midnight," he said warily.

"Remember Mimi's story?" Minho recalled. "She said that the killer mentioned something about Thanksgiving dinner with his family at 11:59 PM."

"Yeah"

Kanji knew where Minho was going with this. He took a look at the lock.

"What if we're wrong?" he asked, feeling unsure. "It's our only chance. It'll be too risky. And the killer might murder Mina if he realizes that we're here."

"But we have to try," Minho sighed. He was not fully sure about his guess either but they had no other choice. It was the only option they had.

Kanji looked worried as Minho stepped towards the lock. The latter took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing, he thought. Please work. Please.

Slowly, he typed in the code '1159' and pressed 'ENTER'. Both of them held their breaths, anticipating what their stab in the dark would lead them to.