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墨書 Inktalez
If we were to compare a person to a finely-tuned instrument, then emotions would undoubtedly be the core element. Humanity can build spacecraft to venture beyond Earth, yet we struggle to understand what those around us are truly thinking.
Lin Shu was someone who had killed for his grandmother in the past, and I believe that even if Lin Shu hadn’t told her, she could still sense it.
“So, even if Lin Shu wants to run away, he wouldn’t leave his grandmother behind,” I said firmly to Mary. “This means Lin Shu is still in Takizawa City. Once the commotion dies down, he will come back to see his grandmother.”
Mary continued typing on her computer without looking up. “That old lady said Lin Shu hasn’t returned in three years.”
“That’s why I say that old woman is lying.” I leaned closer to Mary’s computer and noticed she was still searching for any trace of Lin Shu online.
Upon hearing this, Mary shut her computer and said, “What if Lin Shu doesn’t come back?”
“Let’s make a bet. If Lin Shu doesn’t return, I’ll run around naked,” I lightly tapped the table as I spoke. “But if he does come back, what will you do? It wouldn’t be good for a girl to run around naked. How about you say a few good words in front of Captain Shao so I can get promoted?”
“Is that really how you want to become a police officer?” Mary looked at me seriously.
I nodded. “Yeah, I don’t know what else I could do.”
“By the way, where are Captain Shao and Gu Chen?” I looked around but didn’t see either of them.
Mary replied, “Captain Shao went to investigate some leads, while Gu Chen is still hanging around the garbage dump near the old lady.”
“It’s been a day and a half!” Hearing this made me gasp. “Is he still waiting there? Isn’t anyone switching shifts?”
Mary shrugged, showing her own helplessness. “We’re communicating through text messages. Gu Chen said that if they keep switching shifts, it would be easy to get discovered and might alert the target. So he’ll only switch when he really can’t take it anymore. It reminds me of a story Captain Shao told me about Gu Chen.”
“What story?” I asked.
"When they were just selected, the instructor had them stand at attention. However, due to some unforeseen circumstances, the instructor was delayed, and by the time he returned, it was already dark. All the trainees were resting, except for Gu Chen, who remained standing in perfect posture." Mary shook her head as she spoke. "You two, one with Delusional Disorder and the other a paranoid..."
In the Garbage Dump, there were not only homeless people but also police officers.
For five consecutive days, there was no sign of anyone. Gu Chen had finished all the compressed biscuits and bottled water he had hidden among the trash, and he requested a shift change.
When Gu Chen returned, he looked noticeably thinner and reeked of odor. He touched the rotten vegetable leaves in his hair and said to us, "In the five days I monitored this place, not only did I not see a single person, but I didn't even see a dog. Aside from that old lady who comes to throw away garbage every day, this Garbage Dump has basically been abandoned."
"You mean to say that in five days, aside from that old lady, no one else came to throw away garbage?" I asked.
Gu Chen nodded and replied, "That's right; I can guarantee that."
I took a few steps closer to Gu Chen. His awkwardness was evident from my approach. Mary covered her nose and exclaimed, "Wu Meng, what are you doing!"
I pulled something off Gu Chen's clothes; it was a bone.
To be precise, it was a rib bone.
"What kind of garbage does she throw away every day?" I asked Gu Chen.
Gu Chen glanced at me and then at the rib bone in my hand before shaking his head. "I don't know; I only focused on whether anyone came or not and didn't pay attention to that detail."
"Let's go." I waved my hand decisively. "I'm taking you to find Lin Shu."
"You know where Lin Shu is?" both Gu Chen and Mary asked simultaneously.
Li Cunzhuang, that cannibalistic homeless man, once told me something quite interesting. He said that during his years of wandering, he had eaten countless delicious things. The trash bins in upscale neighborhoods contained nothing but gourmet leftovers. Li Cunzhuang had feasted on shark fin soup and abalone here.
The garbage discarded by one person might reveal a lot of information to us.
When we arrived at the old woman's cottage again, I didn't go inside but headed straight to the back of her house, to the Garbage Dump. There wasn't much trash in the dump; beneath a large piece of tattered cloth was a foot. I chuckled to myself and stepped right on that foot, prompting a familiar voice to say, "Ouch."
"I mean, you're supposed to be with Captain Shao's people, but your disguise is really terrible," I remarked.
Xiao Liu crawled out from under the rag, staring at us for a while before finally saying, "Damn, it's you guys. I've only just gotten here a few minutes ago and haven't even finished my disguise. It's not easy for me. Besides, how am I supposed to disguise myself? Am I supposed to crawl into the garbage?"
As soon as he finished speaking, Xiao Liu fell silent because he saw Gu Chen.
"Good thing you didn't switch shifts," Gu Chen said. "With your method, you'd have been discovered long ago."
"Do you remember where the old lady threw the trash?" I asked.
Gu Chen nodded without hesitation and jumped directly into the Garbage Dump, pulling out several bags of items. I shook out the trash inside, and various things cascaded down like a waterfall. Then I began rummaging through the garbage. Finally, I found what I was looking for, and at the same time, I confirmed where Lin Shu was.
"Notify Captain Shao; it's time to prepare for an arrest," I said.
Everyone looked puzzled, and Mary asked, "What are you up to this time?"
"I trust my judgment. No matter how much Lin Shu was bullied back then, he never fought back. But when his grandmother was just hit by a bottle, Lin Shu went all out." I gazed slowly at the littered ground and continued, "He wouldn't leave his grandmother behind. If he hasn't returned, it means he hasn't left."
"What I'm looking for now is evidence that he hasn't left." I picked up a chicken bone from the trash.
"People change; especially someone who's a Drug Dealer," Xiao Liu interjected. "When addiction kicks in, they can forget their own family."
Forget their own family?
The police had already surrounded the old woman's cottage. The four of us visited her once more. She was still sitting on the ground and smiled when she saw us: "It's you again."
Captain Shao sighed and gestured for me to speak.
I looked at the old woman and slowly said, "Grandma, do you know why Lin Shu killed someone ten years ago?"
The old woman seemed to be touched, her body trembling slightly. After a long pause, she replied, "I don't know. That child changed completely after he turned fifteen. Look at my palm; he did this."
"You know," I said. "You know what kind of person your grandson is. You've lived together since he was little. You understand Lin Shu's character, and you must know Wang Liqun, the one who turned your grandson into a murderer. If it weren't for Wang Liqun—no, if it weren't for you—your grandson wouldn't have ended up like this."
"You hate yourself; you regret picking up Wang Liqun's drink that night. If you hadn't done that, none of this would have happened." I slowly walked over to the old woman and continued, "Lin Shu became a murderer because of you. So you severed your own hand as a form of punishment."
Upon hearing my words, tears welled up in her eyes. "No, my palm was cut off by my grandson. Ever since then, he has never come back."
The old woman fought back her tears, determined not to let them fall. Her wrinkled face bore a different kind of stubbornness.
"No, your palm must have been cut off by yourself," I insisted. "Your grandson is not left-handed, and since your left hand was severed, it suggests that you grabbed him with your left hand while he held the knife in his right hand. When he turned around to strike, the blade would have come down on the outside of your left wrist, resulting in a deeper wound on the outside and a shallower one on the inside."
"But look at your wrist; it's exactly the opposite." I gently lifted the old woman's severed limb. "Clearly, the inner side of your wrist should have been cut deeper while the outer side has some protruding flesh. Did your grandson hug you from behind and then cut off your left hand? Such an action clearly couldn't have happened at that moment."
"This is where I began to doubt your story after you finished telling it," I continued. "So when I gave you money, I deliberately dropped the coins to see if anyone was hiding under the bed. Unfortunately, there wasn't anyone there. But I did find several spoons and some cigarette butts."
"Anyone with common sense knows these are likely tools for drug use," I chuckled lightly before continuing. "You said your grandson hasn't returned home in three years; that's obviously a lie. At that time, I didn't say it outright, but if everything you're saying is a lie, then it's clear you're covering for Lin Shu. Your grandson must have returned."
At this point, Mary finally understood why I insisted on having someone monitor this small house.
"You deliberately said this to make us believe Lin Shu is a heartless villain. The more brutal you portray him, the safer he will be when he returns here. I always thought Lin Shu would definitely come back, but I overlooked one thing: we arrived here two days after the incident; Lin Shu might have already returned."
"He hasn't come back," the old woman said with cloudy eyes, pleadingly. "Really."
In that moment, I even felt that perhaps it would be better to leave it at that. Why did I have to make an old woman lose her only light in life—her grandson?
Sighing, I continued, "After realizing this point, Gu Chen came back covered in trash and reminded me of something. The words of that homeless man made me think; perhaps I could find some clues in your household garbage. A chicken bone—that's the clue."
"Chicken bones?" Xiao Liu said, "What kind of clue is that?"
"An old man with no teeth couldn't possibly gnaw chicken bones clean. And someone who begs for a living can't have meat every meal," Captain Shao continued from where I left off. "Did you notice this little detail?"
I nodded and slowly helped the old man to his feet.
Then I knocked on the ground where the old man had been sitting; it sounded hollow.
"With a bed but sitting on the ground every day," I raised my voice. "Come out, in the end, you can only rely on your own grandmother."
The wooden board shifted slightly, and I took the opportunity to push it aside. Lin Shu appeared in my line of sight. It was a pit barely big enough for one person to crouch in, and it looked freshly dug. Besides Lin Shu, there were stacks of Renminbi, roughly amounting to tens of thousands.
I quickly pulled Lin Shu up and covered the wooden board again. "Found you."
Lin Shu looked at me gratefully.
"Son..." a heart-wrenching voice came from outside.
Lin Shu's eyes turned red, and tears couldn't help but flow down his cheeks.
In his life, Lin Shu had only cried twice: once when he saw his grandmother's severed hand, and this was the second time.
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