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墨書 Inktalez
As we move the timeline forward, it was the end of the year 2000 when I had just arrived at the military unit. I heard a story from an Old Military Doctor, and later added some of my own speculations. I believe the events unfolded like this.
Our unit was established around a mountain, surrounded by a wall that separated us from the local villagers. Outside the wall was a ring of ponds, which were actually fish ponds owned by the locals. One summer morning, despite the guards' attempts to stop them, some villagers forcefully broke through the gate and rushed to the duty room. At that time, my Old Company Commander was on duty (I hadn't arrived yet; he was still a newly assigned staff officer). They reported that someone had drowned in the pond, and it seemed to be one of our soldiers. "You should go check it out!"
Upon hearing this, the Old Company Commander became anxious. The death of a soldier was a serious matter, so he quickly reported it to his superiors and handed over his shift before heading out with the head of the Security Division. The incident occurred near the family quarters of our unit, just outside the wall. The body was half-floating in the pond. Why half-floating? Because the pond was shallow; when the Section Chief went in to retrieve the body, the water only reached his knees. When they pulled him out, they found he was wearing civilian clothes, had a buzz cut, thick eyebrows, and big eyes, along with military boots. They quickly gathered everyone for a roll call and confirmed that it was indeed one of our soldiers—specifically, the Squad Leader's Aide! The Commander had been away for training for a year and hadn't returned yet. The Squad Leader's Aide had drowned! This was definitely a big deal. Later, local police were called in to investigate and concluded that he had died early in the morning by drowning. He had a wallet on him containing two bank cards and several thousand yuan. However, everyone was puzzled: why would a Squad Leader's Aide scale the wall early in the morning? And how could someone drown in such shallow water? Did he fall while climbing over? Did he faint in the water and drown? It didn't make sense—after all, this Squad Leader's Aide was selected from the Special Operations Unit and was about 1.8 meters tall with good agility; he wouldn't have failed at climbing over.
During the autopsy, our unit took responsibility and sent a Military Doctor to accompany the police. When he returned and spoke with his colleagues, he mentioned casually, "The Team Leader's Wife wasn't afraid; she even went to see that Buddy and cried." The second Commander rushed back after visiting the police station and announced that they were closing the case, classifying it as an accident before reporting it to the Military District Security Department. However, when personnel from the Military District Security Department came down to review it, they discovered some issues...
It turned out that one detail caught their attention: there had been no inspection of the pond's water level prior to draining it for investigation. With insistence from comrades in our security department, local police coordinated with residents to drain all water from the pond, revealing something significant! It turned out that on our side of the wall, someone had deepened part of the pond—about a meter deep—and its area resembled a semicircle with a radius of approximately 55 meters. Upon inquiry, it became clear that the drowned Buddy couldn't swim (our unit specialized in ferry bridge operations; this Buddy didn't get assigned to bridge-building duties because he couldn't swim but instead joined Special Operations for security tasks). He must have fallen into this deep area while climbing over and likely didn't even have time to struggle before drowning!
The second issue arose from finding two bank cards on him: one belonged to him while another belonged to a woman named Zhang. After investigation, they discovered that this cardholder was actually the Team Leader's Wife! When questioned about it, she insisted she knew nothing about it and suggested that perhaps the Duty Soldier had taken it without permission; this lead essentially went cold. Later on, they turned their attention to the Pond Owner: "Why did you dig up your pond so carelessly?" To their surprise, he replied defensively, "What digging? I just returned from buying fish fry! If you hadn't drained it, I wouldn't have known!" Fortunately, there were many migrant workers around; after some inquiries and rewards offered for information, several workers identified that it was a girl who hired them for digging—she had instructed them to dig deeper.
After sketching her likeness and identifying her, can you guess who deepened that pond?
It was none other than the Pond Owner's daughter! When we later called her in for questioning, she already knew who had died and broke down into tears for quite some time. It turned out she had known that Duty Soldier long ago as pen pals; coincidentally, when he managed to serve in this city close to her home, they began secretly dating without anyone knowing. Since she knew he loved catfish, she decided to raise them herself for him to eat. After hearing that catfish needed deep water for breeding, she persuaded her father to buy catfish fry while secretly hiring someone to dig deep holes at one end of their pond for water storage. However, she never imagined that this Buddy would sneak out at night; previously they had agreed on such arrangements where she would keep watch while he climbed over. What’s more shocking is how could anyone know he couldn’t swim? And thus he drowned...
Do you think this story ends here? You are mistaken! The turning point came when Commander sorted through this soldier's belongings and discovered some private items—details I won't delve into here—but ultimately confirmed an affair between his wife and this soldier. It turned out during his year away for training; this Duty Soldier frequently visited Commander’s home under various pretexts like helping with chores. Spending so much time together led them into an affair—the young soldier fell completely under her spell while she also developed feelings for him; whenever they found time alone together they would meet up.
Later on, somehow Commander learned about their relationship and called home warning his wife about it; she did behave herself for a while but eventually fell back into old habits when no one was watching. One night Commander called home unexpectedly during his rounds and sensed something was off; threateningly he said he'd return immediately to find out who that man was. At this point, Duty Soldier panicked—not only did he feel guilty but being just a soldier made him feel helpless too; in his state of confusion he chose to flee—indeed those bank cards were given by Team Leader's Wife.
When Commander returned home afterward, he wrote up an introspective report requesting disciplinary action against himself before promptly filing for divorce from his wife; soon after he transitioned out of military service at year-end and remarried elsewhere.
This is roughly where things stand now.
What follows are my personal deductions—I cannot say if they are entirely accurate but I feel strongly about them: Commander’s wife grew up alongside him as childhood sweethearts so generally speaking infidelity seems unlikely under normal circumstances; however during his sudden absence of one year coupled with Duty Soldier’s recent transfer right before everything happened raises suspicion—didn’t he worry at all? Thus I suspect there might be some conspiracy involved here but events unfolded beyond anyone’s expectations.
Perhaps Duty Soldier discovered some clues or maybe Commander himself noticed something which caused panic leading that soldier to flee under cover of night—a mere eighteen or nineteen-year-old soldier—where could he possibly go? To elope with Pond Owner’s daughter? Or perhaps longing simply to return home? These remain unknowns.
I just want to emphasize sometimes human hearts can be more terrifying than anything else!
That concludes my second story; let’s see how everyone reacts before we chat again later—stay tuned! Preview for Chapter Three: Joint Operations Across Land, Sea & Air!
I sincerely appreciate everyone’s affection towards my stories; honestly speaking I’ve never written before coming here—it started as mere fun but gradually I realized people genuinely enjoyed them. As long as you all like them I’ll keep going! There are many more exciting tales ahead—these stories reflect my ten years serving in military life filled with fiery passion alongside comrades battling through countless unknown events—I often recall vividly those days.
As long as you wish to know more I will gradually share them all—even those secrets we cannot reveal now—we’ll save them for our lifetimes ahead! Please don’t dwell too much on these matters’ authenticity since many things blur between truth and fiction making pursuit less meaningful—I suggest treating these merely as setups or beginnings leading towards even more thrilling narratives ahead!
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