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墨書 Inktalez
Hong had just finished her work and returned home, only to find a man standing at her doorstep. His hair was messy, his clothes ill-fitting, and his haggard, disheveled appearance suggested he was not a good person. Hong stood frozen at the top of the stairs, holding her breath as she watched the man's strange behavior.
He was holding a notebook and was currently pressing it against the wall next to her door. His head moved up and down against the wall as if he were searching for something. Hong realized that she might be encountering a pervert. Not daring to make a sound, she slowly retreated down the stairs and hurried to find the security guard.
The security captain looked at the girl on the verge of tears with deep frustration. This was already the third resident to come to the security room, all reporting a man outside their doors taking notes on something. They feared he might be some kind of perverted thug. From their descriptions, the security captain immediately recognized that this man was none other than Jiang He.
Thus, the security captain had no choice but to explain to each resident that this man was not a pervert but rather a police officer investigating a case.
However, the security captain was genuinely puzzled about what Jiang He was doing.
What exactly was Jiang He up to? Following the addresses listed in a theft logbook, he had visited seven households in total, and his notebook now bore many additional symbols. It turned out that Jiang He was standing at others' doorsteps to look for these symbols on their walls.
Most of these were line symbols; some were drawn with pencil while others were scratched into the wall with hard objects.
Jiang He recorded all these markings at each household's entrance.
Using the hallway's lighting, he examined these symbols as he made his way to Li Weiyi's home. When Jiang He stood at Li Weiyi's door, he closed his notebook and contemplated the seemingly insignificant graffiti symbols outside.
Jiang He found a plastic water bottle and tied a string around its neck; the other end of the string passed through the gap under the door and was tied to the bottom of the stair railing. He placed the half-filled water bottle upside down between his legs and sat cross-legged on the floor. If the bottle moved, it would fall onto Jiang He's legs.
For the next three hours, Jiang He remained inside Li Weiyi's home. It seemed he had taken this place as his own; he hadn't stepped out for three whole days. The security captain brought him meals daily, and aside from that, Jiang He made no other requests.
Each time the security captain delivered food, he would see Jiang He sitting cross-legged on the living room floor, completely still—like an old monk in meditation or an unparalleled master in secluded training. After nightfall, while patrolling with several guards, the captain paid special attention to Li Weiyi's window on the sixth floor; its light never illuminated, as if no one were inside at all.
Instinctively, fear crept into the security captain's mind.
Indeed, who could endure sitting alone on the floor without watching television or listening to music except for eating and using the restroom? This made him recall Two Donkeys' words—could it be that this police officer was possessed by a ghost, which explained such bizarre behavior?
Jiang He was naturally not possessed by any ghost; he did not find his actions strange at all. The reason he remained there was that he was waiting for someone.
"According to my estimated probability, the likelihood of Ming is fifty percent, and the latter is sixty percent..." Jiang He muttered to himself as he crumpled the tissue he had used to wipe his mouth and tossed it toward the trash can.
The tissue sailed through the air and landed directly in the bin.
Wang Chao nodded in satisfaction and asked the detective beside him, "What's going on? Haven't you figured it out yet?"
The bespectacled detective shook his head. "It's strange, Captain. I can't find any record of this person."
Wang Chao frowned and leaned closer to the screen. "Is it 'Jiang He' that you entered? I don't really know what those two characters mean; it's just from the Jinlun Road Police Station. Check it out."
The detective responded with an "oh" and entered the information.
"Nothing," he said, scratching his head. "Look, I found names of cleaners from the precinct, but among all these names, there's not a single Jiang. Not even a homophone or anything similar. Are you sure you didn't make a mistake, Captain?"
"Made a mistake?" Wang Chao scrutinized the names on the computer screen. "That's impossible; so many people heard it. How could there be an error?"
The detective shrugged. "I don't know; I just can't find anything in the files."
At that moment, Wang Chao finally realized something. "Damn it, I've been fooled!"
"Fooled?" The detective asked. "Who would dare to trick a police captain?"
Wang Chao waved his hand, knowing this was not easy to explain. No wonder he always felt something was off about Jiang He; he had followed him to the police station without any introduction on the way here. It turned out Jiang He wasn't even from the precinct. But then Wang Chao thought again—if Jiang He wasn't a police officer, why was he so enthusiastic about the case?
Suddenly, Wang Chao considered a possibility: often, murderers return to the scene after committing their crimes. Could it be that Jiang He was actually the real murderer? Otherwise, how could he be so aware of all those details?
But that didn't quite add up either; if Jiang He was the murderer, then what did that make Li Weiyi?
Wang Chao felt overwhelmed, muttering to himself, "Jiang He, what exactly are you up to?"
"Achoo."
Sitting on the floor, Jiang He sneezed for no apparent reason. He glanced out at the darkening night sky, feeling an overwhelming sense of calm. He had been sitting there for a whole hour, and it seemed he intended to continue sitting indefinitely. Jiang He did nothing—he didn’t turn on the lights or play with his phone; he just sat there.
By four in the morning, Jiang He still had his eyes wide open. As a night owl, this was when he felt most alert.
Suddenly, a water bottle landed on Jiang He's leg. Since the bottle was filled with water and had hit him softly, it made almost no sound. A faint smile appeared on Jiang He's lips; he understood that the person he was waiting for had finally arrived.
Jiang He slowly stood up and walked to the door behind the entrance hall.
He held his breath, listening intently as someone outside gently fiddled with the door lock. The lock emitted a faint metallic scraping sound, and the person was being quite cautious. Finally, Jiang He heard a "click," indicating that the lock had been opened. The door creaked open slightly, and a figure slipped through the gap.
Luo Jinbao tiptoed inside. He paused at the doorway for a moment, ensuring that no one was coming to check what was happening before he relaxed. Luo Jinbao had been scouting this household for quite some time.
To be honest, Luo Jinbao had already visited this house not long ago; he shouldn’t have come back again. Even thieves have their principles—one shouldn’t milk the same cow twice. But Luo Jinbao felt helpless; the pressure of competition in society was just too great.
Wandering around the train station, he would see nine fellow thieves for every ten steps he took. Especially in places like these, stealing was organized into various gangs based on different regions. In this day and age, even thievery had to be taxed; it was frustrating! With the current system of shared responsibility in place, if you stole enough collectively to satisfy the boss, then whatever was left over would be yours. Otherwise, you wouldn’t even be allowed to steal in that area; they would come down hard on you if caught.
Luo Jinbao despised dealing with those people; their skills were too low. If caught, they would resort to outright robbery—there were too many of them for an average person to confront. So he had no choice but to accept his bad luck. Unable to find a foothold at the train station or bus station, Luo Jinbao had to blend into various neighborhoods instead.
From his experience of lingering around here, he knew that this family lived a very routine life.
Luo Jinbao preferred such orderly households; once you grasped their routine, stealing became almost guaranteed. What he disliked most were those who lived without any schedule—it made things difficult for him. He couldn’t help but curse under his breath about today’s youth: they didn’t have set times for sleeping or eating; they just came and went as they pleased. It was unhealthy! More than once, Luo Jinbao had nearly been caught red-handed because of it.
But he had gathered enough information about this family; at this moment, they were all deep in slumber.
Thinking of this made Luo Jinbao's spirits lift as he began to search through the living room slowly.
He carried a bag slung over his shoulder and started stuffing items into it as he found them.
There are no second chances, and Luo Jinbao knew he could never return to this place. He decided to take whatever he could while he still had the chance.
Just as Luo Jinbao was feeling pleased with himself, the lights suddenly flickered on with a loud snap.
Accompanying the light was a booming shout: "What are you doing?"
At that moment, Luo Jinbao was rummaging through the TV cabinet. The sudden brightness and shout startled him so much that he collapsed to the ground, his body shaking violently. He gasped for breath, glancing nervously at Jiang He, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.
He thought to himself, "It's over, it's really over. My master taught me well—there's a code even among thieves. Once someone has stolen, they can never return a second time; otherwise, they'll face retribution. And now it seems that retribution is here, and I might just get beaten half to death."
However, when Luo Jinbao got a good look at the person shouting, he felt a sense of relief wash over him.
Luo Jinbao wasn't foolish. If there were others in the house, they would have already come out upon hearing such a shout. But aside from the person standing in the living room, there was no one else around. This meant he was alone in the house, and judging by the person's slender build, they might not even be his match.
Moreover, when Luo Jinbao had scouted the place earlier, he hadn't seen this person at all. He had seen the male host, the female host, and an elderly person, but this individual was unfamiliar to him.
As his mind raced, Luo Jinbao finally recognized who this person was.
"Oh, it's you," Luo Jinbao said as he stood up from the floor. "I thought it was someone else. But it's a bit strange—are you really the only one home?"
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