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墨書 Inktalez
In the interrogation room, only Wei Lingyong remained. He sat blankly in the chair, staring down at his hands. No one knew what he was thinking, and no one cared anymore. He had lost his wife and daughter, and now, he had lost his sister as well.
Faced with the situation from ten years ago, no one could tell him what to do. Every morning when he woke up, there was a family that needed his care—his mother, his wife and daughter, and his sister. At his age, everyone around him relied on him, yet he had no one to lean on.
No one could provide him with answers.
Old Shao furrowed his brow tightly as he sat in the conference room, repeatedly rubbing the tea cup in front of him.
Xu Yiman and Guan Deng sat nearby, their heads bowed as if there were something fascinating on the table. Captain Liu and Yuan Jun had gone to search for Jiang He at the restaurant he had imagined.
After Jiang He rushed out, he never returned, and the two of them had no idea where he had gone. Meanwhile, Old Shao sat in the conference room without giving any instructions.
The atmosphere was stifling. Xu Yiman finally couldn't take it anymore and turned to Old Shao. "Old Shao, what are we supposed to do now?"
Old Shao looked at Xu Yiman and placed the tea cup on the table. "We have done everything we can. Now we just wait for Liu or Yuan Jun to find a lead!"
Just then, a rumble of thunder echoed outside the window. They all turned to look; dark clouds had rolled in without them noticing, blocking out the sun as thunder boomed. It seemed Dragon City was about to face a heavy rainstorm.
It was still four hours until ten o'clock at night.
Yuan Jun looked up at the dark clouds and said, "Looks like it's going to rain again."
The supermarket owner handed a plastic bag of bottled water to Yuan Jun and craned his neck to look at the sky. "Yeah, it seems like this rain won't be light. If it lasts too long, I’m afraid the drainage system on this street won't hold up."
As Yuan Jun distributed the bottles of water to the officers around him, he asked, "Isn't the drainage system here good?"
The supermarket owner retracted his neck and grimaced. "No, this street is just too old. Over time, the drains have filled with garbage and plastic bags. Every time it rains heavily, the water rushes into the drains and backs up with a terrible stench. If no one manages it, this whole street could end up flooded."
"No one is managing this place?" Yuan Jun gulped down the mineral water. They had been running for two hours without even a sip.
"Nope," the Supermarket Owner replied, moving a stool to sit at the entrance of the supermarket. "In this rundown place, who’s going to manage anything? Whoever can’t stand it just hires someone. Just recently, the drain in front of that restaurant got clogged, and sewage backed up into the place. With that awful smell, who would want to eat there? Only then did the restaurant owner finally spend money to hire someone to clear it."
Yuan Jun placed the half-empty bottle of mineral water on the counter with a thud that nearly knocked the owner off his chair. "You mean there's a clogged drain in front of a restaurant?"
"Yeah," the Supermarket Owner said, looking at Yuan Jun with confusion, unsure what had gotten into him.
"No wonder I couldn't find it!" Yuan Jun cursed. "Damn it, so that's what happened. It’s the drain in front of the restaurant, not their internal plumbing system. Which restaurant? Tell me right now."
The Supermarket Owner pointed casually. "See that one? It's called Old Dragon City Restaurant."
"Let’s go." Yuan Jun led his companions as they dashed into the restaurant.
It was around six in the evening, and there weren’t too many diners inside. The staff member was sitting behind the counter playing on his phone. Suddenly, seeing four or five people rush in, he fumbled and dropped his phone on the floor. "What’s wrong? What do you want to eat?"
"We're not here to eat," Yuan Jun said. "Did your boss just deal with the drain out front?"
"Uh, yeah, but that—" the staff member stammered.
"Get your boss out here," Yuan Jun demanded.
"Okay, okay!" The staff member dashed into the kitchen. "Boss, quick! Someone's here to cause trouble!"
Then came a series of crashing sounds from the kitchen as Yuan Jun rushed over to see two people fleeing through the back door.
"Damn it, what are these guys thinking? Chase them! You two stay here and notify Old Shao; this should be the right place."
Yuan Jun cursed helplessly.
"Let's go!" Old Shao hung up the phone and said, "Yuan Jun found that hotel. We need to head there immediately."
The two nodded and got up. Xu Yiman followed Old Shao out the door, asking, "What about Jiang He? Aren't we waiting for him to come back?"
Old Shao looked up at the dark clouds and replied, "Prepare a few raincoats. There's no time to waste; we're not waiting for Jiang He."
Where had Jiang He gone?
At that moment, Jiang He was inside Wei Linghui's house. To be precise, Jiang He had secretly infiltrated Wei Linghui's home. After Wei Linghui stormed out of the interrogation room in anger, Jiang He had followed her all the way to her house. This was the very house that Wei Linghui's brother had bought for her as a wedding gift ten years ago. At this moment, Wei Linghui was dousing her home with gasoline.
Jiang He knew what Wei Linghui intended to do, but he did not reveal himself or stop her.
When Old Shao left, he told Jiang He that the time had come. Although Jiang He couldn't understand Old Shao's intentions, he knew from the beginning that things were not so simple. Jiang He had found many subtle clues, but Old Shao never gave him a chance to share them. Now, Old Shao had given Jiang He the freedom to investigate on his own.
Wei Linghui sat on the floor, repeatedly looking at memories related to Lu Zhengye—photos of him, clothes and shoes he once wore, gifts he had bought for her, their marriage certificate, and a train ticket.
This was a long and tedious process, but for Wei Linghui, it represented ten years of memories. Soon she would have to say goodbye to these memories. With an expressionless face, she took a lighter from the cabinet and ignited those memories.
Flames danced along the gasoline like fiery dragons.
A rumble of thunder echoed as it began to rain.
Old Shao stepped out of the car, wearing a raincoat, as large raindrops fell on several people, creating a sound like firecrackers exploding.
Yuan Jun was pointing at the restaurant owner's nose, shouting, "Why are you running if you haven't done anything wrong?"
"I heard someone was causing trouble," the owner replied. "I was thinking about calling the police, but I didn't expect you to be the police. But why are you smashing up my restaurant?"
Yuan Jun slapped the back of his head and said, "Who’s smashing your restaurant? Let me ask you, when the drain outside your door was clogged, did you call someone to fix it?"
"Yes," the owner admitted. "But I never knew that fixing a drain was illegal."
"Did you give that worker a hundred bucks?" Yuan Jun pressed on.
"Yes," the owner replied. "The drain was clogged, and dirty water kept flowing into my restaurant. I had no choice but to get it fixed. I originally planned to offer fifty, but that guy insisted on a hundred. After thinking it over, I decided to just pay him. Can this money be reimbursed?"
"Get me his number," Old Shao said. "Can we find that guy?"
The restaurant owner nodded. "I think so; I found him from an ad on a telephone pole."
When they contacted the sewer worker, he was still at home sleeping. For him, as long as he had enough to eat, his family wouldn’t go hungry. He would do hard labor or dirty jobs that others were unwilling to do for just a few dozen bucks.
It was still three hours until ten o'clock at night, and Old Shao didn’t have time for small talk with the worker. He pushed open the door and asked directly, "Did you clear the drain in front of the Old Dragon City Restaurant?"
The worker reeked of alcohol and cursed loudly, "Clear what? How am I supposed to remember? What are you guys even doing? I'm not working today; I'm just drinking. If there's something urgent, come back later."
Yuan Jun didn’t care about that; he stepped forward and grabbed the worker by his collar. "I'm asking you now: Did you take a hundred yuan from the restaurant owner? And who did you give that hundred to?"
Old Shao pulled Yuan Jun's hand, and Yuan Jun then put down his hand and stood aside. Shao the Elder: "This matter is very important to us. It is related to the lives of several people. Therefore, if it is you, please be sure to tell us who you gave the one hundred yuan and what it was used for. Where?" The worker frowned, and after a moment, he said, "Yes, I did receive a hundred yuan, but I have a lot of one hundred yuan, and I am a careless person. I'm not afraid it's fake money, so I just put it in my pocket. If you have to ask me who gave the one hundred yuan, I need to think carefully to find out." Old Shao motioned for everyone to sit down. Come down. The room was small, the lights were not turned on, and the room was dark. Everyone sat in this narrow room and said nothing. I could only hear the patter of rain outside the window and the occasional thunder. From time to time, a bolt of lightning lit up the room, shining on everyone's faces, making them look pale. "Then let me count slowly and see..." the worker said. Wei Linghui's house still didn't burn. When it reached the roof, the rain extinguished the fire. It rained hard and fast today, and the dark clouds have not dispersed. It looks like it will continue to rain for a long time. Wei Linghui didn't stay in the house. After he finished all this, he opened the door and left. Jiang He walked out of a house and saw an iron bucket in the house that was extinguished by the rain. There was a train ticket in it that had not been completely burned. After seeing this train ticket, Jiang He Understand understood everything. At this moment, there are still two hours left.
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