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墨書 Inktalez
Early the next morning, Mary had already identified a suspicious person on the train.
There was a man who boarded at Takizawa Station every Friday night. His destination was not fixed; sometimes he would get off at the next stop, and other times he would travel further away. A day or two later, he would take a different train back, continuing this cycle every Friday night.
He was a very thin young man with dark circles under his eyes, as if he were awake every night. Dressed in a suit and tie, carrying a briefcase, he looked like a salesman traveling between cities. Many young people suffer from urban ailments, staying up late and staring at computers all day, but he disguised himself well.
Takizawa Station was not a large station; perhaps that was precisely what he counted on.
"He's the drug smuggler," I said. "No need to look for anyone else. Contact the local police and implement an arrest as soon as possible."
"How do you know?" Captain Shao asked me.
I shrugged and looked at him on the station's surveillance footage. He had a small habit of unconsciously touching his stomach, as if something were inside. In reality, every time someone hides drugs in their body, they are fighting against death itself; if the outer packaging breaks, he would meet the same fate as Luo Zhongcheng.
He certainly understood this, but sometimes life and desire cannot coexist.
"We need to act quickly," Captain Shao said, rubbing the porcelain cup in his hands. "Such dangerous transactions cannot go untracked afterward. If we can't reach Ye Zi, they might escape soon, and now two days have already passed."
The drug smuggler was named Lin Shu, a twenty-four-year-old male with a four-year history of drug use. He had been forcibly rehabilitated several times in a drug treatment center, and after leaving it, he seemed to have never returned to his hometown; there had been no trace of him until now when he reappeared in Takizawa, coming under police scrutiny.
The police conducted a comprehensive search and deployment in Takizawa City. As long as this person appeared on the surveillance footage, he would not escape arrest. However, for several consecutive days, we could not find out where he was. This left us with two possibilities: either Lin Shu had already fled Takizawa City or he was hiding somewhere within it without leaving.
"Find an informant," I said to Captain Shao, who was frowning deeply. "This is something I'm familiar with."
Captain Shao nodded and said to me, "Be careful not to expose yourself."
I had mentioned many times that I grew up in prison, where the inmates taught me many things that ordinary people would never encounter in their lives. I also got to know many who lived their lives hidden in the shadows. I used this knowledge to develop several informants who could help the police, and now, what I needed to do was find Lin Shu's whereabouts through these informants.
In the pitch-black alley, two cigarette butts flickered faintly. The informant and I stood back to back; he couldn’t let me see his face because if he were exposed, he would face dire consequences. Cowardly people fear the night, but some are most afraid of the day, as the darkness provides them with the best cover.
With our backs turned, I handed him five hundred yuan.
He smiled and then asked, "What do you need from me?"
"There’s someone who should be in your circle," I said while smoking, handing him a photo behind my back. "This person is named Lin Shu, a drug dealer. If you know anything, I'll give you a thousand."
Upon hearing Lin Shu's name, the cigarette suddenly fell from the informant's mouth.
A shock ran through me as I thought it couldn't be such a coincidence; could this so-called informant actually be Lin Shu? With that thought in mind, I turned around and grabbed him, asking, "Are you Lin Shu?"
The informant appeared flustered. As I got a clear look at his face, I realized he was not Lin Shu. He desperately tried to shield his face with his hands, fearing that I would see him. However, thanks to the dim moonlight, I still caught a glimpse of his face, which was hardly human.
His sunken eye sockets held murky eyes, and his high cheekbones jutted out prominently; his skin seemed to have sunk into his muscles. His mouth was slightly agape, revealing that he had lost all his teeth. At first glance, he looked like a walking corpse. He clutched his hat tightly, trying to break free from my grasp.
"Are you still using drugs?" I exclaimed. How could an addict possibly escape my hold? "Let me tell you, if you keep this up, you won't even need to worry about being discovered by any drug dealer; you'll be dead long before that."
Tears streamed down the informant's face as he sobbed, "I can't quit! I just can't quit!"
He was like a puddle of mud in my hands, continuously weeping. I sighed, unsure of what to say. Once someone gets involved with drugs, it's nearly impossible for them to break free for life. Yet everyone has their own choices; in some areas, the relapse rate is as high as ninety percent—out of ten people, perhaps only one can completely overcome their addiction. The person before me clearly did not belong to that fortunate group.
“Do you know Lin Shu?” I asked.
“He's the one who follows me…”
By the time we arrived at Lin Shu's home, it was already around three in the afternoon. The scorching summer heat made it feel like we were in an oven; just taking a few steps seemed to make us sweat. This shabby rental unit had its door wide open, and the cramped space of about twenty square meters was cluttered with various items. In the narrow passage, an elderly man in his sixties or seventies sat amidst the mess.
The old man sat cross-legged, gazing up at the ceiling as if lost in thought. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead, but he seemed completely unaware of it. If you saw this scene, you might truly understand the meaning of the phrase “walking corpse.”
“Old…” Captain Shao began to speak, but the old man turned his head.
Then something unexpected happened; he suddenly knelt on the ground and bowed deeply to us, the sound echoing on the floor with a loud thud. As he turned around, we all saw that he only had one hand; where the other hand should have been was just a stump, revealing signs that it had been severed.
“I beg you, I have no money left…” the old man cried out.
Mary's expression darkened, her lips quivering slightly as tears welled up in her eyes. Gu Chen reacted quickly and rushed forward to help the old man up. Captain Shao's expression shifted slightly as he said, “We are police officers.”
Upon hearing this, the old man paused for a moment before saying, “Has Lin Shu gotten into trouble again?”
The old man was Lin Shu's grandmother. According to her, Lin Shu's parents worked away from home for long periods, and Lin Shu had always lived with her. Before turning fifteen, Lin Shu had been a good student. He excelled academically, and everyone said he would get into Key High School. After school, he would go out with his grandmother to collect beverage bottles to sell for extra money.
Then an incident occurred that completely changed Lin Shu and altered the course of their lives forever.
The old woman remembered clearly; it was a hot summer day just like today. Lin Shu came home clutching a knife and told his grandmother, “I killed someone.”
After that, Lin Shu was sent to a juvenile detention center. Two years later, he emerged from there. With just a few months until adulthood, Lin Shu may have imagined what his coming-of-age ceremony would be like more than once, but he could never have anticipated that his coming-of-age would be spent amidst a street shootout.
At that time, he was eighteen years old, following an older brother to watch over the territory.
"Eighteen now," the older brother said. "It's time for you to taste the real world."
Lin Shu smiled.
Then, a dozen people rushed out of the alley. Lin Shu recognized them; they were the enemies of his older brother. Unlike what was portrayed in all the movies, Lin Shu might have fantasized about protecting his brother and escaping single-handedly, with everyone on the street giving him a thumbs up. But in reality, Lin Shu was knocked down by a knife.
For the first time, Lin Shu felt death was so close. He watched helplessly as his brother died in front of him, bloodied and mangled.
The memory of his coming-of-age ceremony at eighteen was still fresh.
The first thing he did was not to go to the hospital but to return to his grandmother's house.
They held each other tightly and cried uncontrollably, their blood mingling with tears, staining them both. Blood is thicker than water, or perhaps tears. In fact, Lin Shu's wounds were not deep; his assailants did not intend to take his life. They cried for quite a while until Lin Shu realized he had stopped bleeding. He found a small clinic to get bandaged up.
One day later, he asked, "Is there something that can make a person forget life and death? Something that makes one feel fearless even when facing mountains of knives and seas of fire?"
His friends pulled out a bag of white powder.
From then on, Lin Shu forgot life and death, and life became worse than death.
Lin Shu became addicted to drugs and was sent to a Rehabilitation Center several times, but it was all in vain. A year into his addiction, he secretly sold his grandmother's house to someone else, throwing her out onto the streets. Two years into his drug use, his parents severed ties with him, yet his grandmother remained.
His parents never sent another penny home again; from then on, his grandmother could only survive by scavenging.
Lin Shu underwent a drastic change in temperament after that. He seized every penny from his grandmother without knowing where the money came from. It was the sweat of his grandmother under the blazing sun, the silver coins she earned among the bustling crowd, and the countless times she rummaged through trash bins.
Those addicted to drugs become unrecognizable to their loved ones.
One day, Lin Shu found himself broke and desperately needed money to buy drugs. But his grandmother stopped him. With his left hand tightly gripping every dime and nickel he had, he picked up a kitchen knife with his right hand. In a swift motion, he brought the blade down, severing his grandmother's palm, which fell to the ground.
Without looking back, Lin Shu left and never returned.
The old woman was discovered by passersby and taken to the hospital.
"I did it myself; I don't want to live anymore," she said.
From that day on, Lin Shu never came back but frequently sent his shady friends to collect money. Just moments ago, the old woman mistook us for Lin Shu's companions.
Tears streamed down Mary's face as she exclaimed, "Beast."
I looked around at the dilapidated little house filled with clutter. On the walls hung several tattered, yellowed certificates, barely legible but still showing words of praise:
"Lin Shu has been recognized as an Outstanding Student and is awarded this certificate as a reward."
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