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墨書 Inktalez
Sister Mao gazed at the clear face of the corpse with its eyes gouged out. Her brows remained relaxed, and her expression was devoid of emotion, as if she were observing a painting. This reminded me of a little story that Huang Erge once told me about Sister Mao.
Sister Mao and Huang Erge had been neighbors since childhood. One day, the village children made a bet: whoever dared to spend a night on the Wasteland would become the leader, and all the other children in the village would have to listen to him. While everyone else hesitated, Sister Mao boldly ventured onto the Wasteland. By the time her family found her that night, she was sound asleep, hugging a tombstone.
This was enough to illustrate that Sister Mao's rise in this industry relied not just on her looks.
"Not one of ours," Sister Mao said. "Leave a number, and I'll let you know if I find anything."
"Thank you, Sister Mao," I replied.
After leaving, Gu Chen looked at me with a furrowed brow and said, "What exactly are you doing? That Sister Mao clearly didn't come up through any legitimate means; it seems she's involved in some shady business. How do you know someone like her? We should go back and investigate thoroughly."
I handed Gu Chen a cigarette and said, "This isn't our mission, and besides, it's not something that can be resolved in a day or two. You've been in one world for too long; you keep thinking everything is black or white. But is this really the world as you see it? When we showed her the photos, she immediately understood what we were after. So the question is, why would she help us?"
"Does she know our identities?" Gu Chen asked.
I shrugged and lit a cigarette while offering one to Gu Chen. "Of course she does; she's not an idiot. Those clear photos couldn't have been taken by just anyone—they were clearly shot by a professional."
"Then why would she help us? Isn't she afraid of getting burned?" Gu Chen wasn't naive either.
"That's why this world isn't just black and white," I exhaled a smoke ring into the air. "We're all ordinary people; who can claim they don't have a single wicked thought? Who hasn't done at least one good deed? Sometimes love can blossom between prostitutes and their clients—based on that alone, she might be willing to help."
Gu Chen took a drag from his cigarette and said, "This world really is complicated."
"Complex is the human heart," I said. "Just wait, it won't be long before we have news."
A few hours later, Sister Mao indeed called me, confirming the identity of the deceased. This woman was indeed a prostitute, working as an escort at a hotel called "Luxurious Splendor." She had given herself the name Ye Zi, which was, of course, a stage name.
There could be many reasons for becoming an escort; some are forced into it, while others are drawn by money. However, even prostitutes must adhere to basic rules. If a prostitute starts to act like a princess, it either means she has lost her mind or she has finally stopped selling her body. According to Sister Mao, Ye Zi had recently changed dramatically; she used to be submissive to everyone but had suddenly gained confidence in the past few months.
She carried a genuine LV bag, wore Dior perfume, and drank coffee that cost twenty dollars a cup. The old Ye Zi would have hesitated to spend even three dollars on a bottle of soda. Others speculated that Ye Zi had found a wealthy man and become someone else's mistress, which made many of her peers envious.
Starting from this point, we quickly uncovered the truth: Ye Zi had not found a wealthy man; instead, she had taken on a gigolo. When we found this gigolo, he was happily spending time with his girlfriend. Ye Zi had him wrapped around her finger while he was involved with someone else.
In fact, the gigolo had once been Ye Zi's boyfriend. When he learned that she was actually an escort, he naturally chose to break up with her. Until a few months ago when Ye Zi suddenly appeared before him, threw ten thousand yuan at him, and said, "Kneel down and pick it up."
The gigolo replied, "What do you think I am?"
After saying this, he knelt down to pick up the money and even kissed Ye Zi's feet.
For some people, dignity is meaningless.
From then on, they became a loving couple again. When the gigolo learned of Ye Zi's death, he sighed and said, "Now no one will support me anymore."
However, we still obtained a clue from the gigolo: every Friday night, Ye Zi would go out alone and wouldn't return until around ten o'clock the next day. She never told him what she was doing but always came back with an extra ten thousand yuan in her bag. The gigolo thought she was being supported by a wealthy man; since Ye Zi never mentioned it, he didn't ask.
Captain Shao and I exchanged glances and spoke in unison: "It seems you think the same as I do."
Indeed, if that were the case, we would understand why Ye Zi went to the desolate railway tracks in the Western Suburbs late at night. There was indeed a train that ran between two and two-thirty every Friday night—a vintage green train known for its slow speed and openable windows.
White Powder did not come from elsewhere; it should have been thrown directly from the train. The woman went out in the dead of night not for any other reason but to bring back these three packages of White Powder.
Thus, we can boldly make a hypothesis. Someone takes this train every Friday, using methods to hide drugs within their body or some other means to evade the train's security checks, and then rides the train all the way here. At around two in the morning, when people are most drowsy, almost everyone on the train is asleep.
So, this drug smuggler goes to the restroom to expel the White Powder, and as they pass by the area guarded by Luo Yongjun, they take advantage of everyone being asleep to throw those three packages forcefully out of the window. At that moment, Ye Zi should have already been waiting behind the barbed wire.
The barbed wire is not far from the Railway Track. Considering the weight of the three packages of White Powder, even a small child could easily toss them over the barbed wire. This should explain why, amidst the thunder and lightning that night, Ye Zi still appeared near this railway.
However, this time, Ye Zi would never expect that there were things in the darkness far more terrifying than darkness itself. For Ye Zi, darkness was both the best protection and the most lethal enemy. The items thrown out ended up being picked up by Luo Zhongcheng by sheer coincidence.
We do not know why Luo Zhongcheng used White Powder. Was it because he had killed someone? Probably not; based on my speculation, he must have killed three people before. Perhaps it was because he had killed his own father that he felt a sense of guilt for the first time? Or maybe he simply wanted to experience what is called "excitement."
These are all unknowns. Regardless of what he ultimately thought, he had already become a cold corpse.
"Check the passengers who take this train every Friday," said Captain Shao.
Mary pulled out her computer.
This task would take time; she needed to identify passengers who took this train every Friday and then find any problematic individuals among them. Even with Mary’s top-notch equipment and sharp mind, it was not something that could be accomplished quickly.
Xiao Liu stared blankly at the rapidly scrolling data on the computer for a while before feeling dizzy. Bored, he flipped through a book on his desk and suddenly recalled something: "By the way, Captain Shao, we have indeed confirmed the identity of the reporter. This Zhang Xutong is really the one who was abducted to a mountain village years ago."
"Is there really such a coincidence in this world?" Captain Shao said while holding an old porcelain cup.
"Who says there isn't?" Xiao Liu replied. "Because we needed to take a statement, we investigated her identity and found out she is a graduate of Jingzhong Normal University. She also had a classmate named Zhang Hui. One night, she and Zhang Hui took an unlicensed taxi back to school from the city, but the driver took them directly to an unfamiliar place."
Shrugging, Liu Jixu said, "When the two of them sensed something was wrong, a few big men got into the car, confiscated their phones right away, and silenced them. Three days later, they showed up in that small mountain village. After that, the homeless man Li Cunzhuang told everything."
"It was dark and windy at that time, and the black car took small roads, basically without any surveillance," Xiao Liu casually remarked. "So the two girls were missing until someone reported it, and no one could find out where they had gone."
While looking at Mary's computer, I asked, "Did Zhang Xutong not report it after she escaped?"
Xiao Liu nodded and suddenly smiled bitterly. "A few years ago, when Zhang Xutong ran away, she chose not to report it. Even though she knew what kind of life Zhang Hui would face after she left. She selectively forgot about it. We learned a detail: when Zhang Xutong came back, she said she had actually gone abroad and didn't mention anything about being abducted. She also claimed she had never seen Zhang Hui."
"But this time, Zhang Xutong took the train and chose to report it upon seeing an unrelated person," Xiao Liu muttered to himself. "What do you think she's really thinking?"
This question was impossible to answer; after all, I wasn't Zhang Xutong. Faced with her good friend, Zhang Xutong chose to hide the truth; faced with a stranger, she chose to stand up. Perhaps this illustrates that sometimes our kindness is often directed toward strangers.
Because you are my good friend, I hate you.
"What was Zhang Xutong's reaction? Does she know about Zhang Hui?" Captain Shao gently sipped from his porcelain cup of tea.
Xiao Liu shook his head. "In our investigation regarding Zhang Xutong, she still doesn't know. Likewise, she is unaware that we have rescued Zhang Hui. I bring this up because I want to ask your opinion as the team leader: should we tell Zhang Xutong the truth we know?"
Captain Shao remained silent for a while before responding, "Human nature is inherently evil; people are selfish. Even if we know the truth, there's nothing we can do for Zhang Xutong. Are we supposed to arrest her? Let's leave it at this regarding Zhang Xutong; it's better to keep this matter to ourselves."
"After all, not everyone can accept the truth; living in one's own dream is quite nice."
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