Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Why would a person contemplating suicide be holding a briefcase? Observing his actions, it seemed there was something valuable inside the briefcase.
With this thought in mind, I asked, "In the surveillance footage, he was holding the briefcase. So where exactly is it now?"
"It hasn't been found yet; we don't know where it ended up," someone replied.
As soon as the words left their mouth, my phone rang. The caller was none other than Mary.
"Wu Meng, we've clarified the situation regarding this person. His name is Li Zhinan, twenty-five years old, living alone in Dongxing City. He currently works as an employee at a financial company, earning around three thousand a month. I'll send you his address shortly. I've already contacted the jurisdiction's police station."
"Okay." I rubbed my temples and responded, "But we still can't determine if this case is related to the two previous ones."
Mary said, "The address has been sent; you can handle it from here."
"We should go take a look," I said to Guan Zengbin and Gu Chen. "Although the style is vastly different from the previous two cases, there are still some oddities and inconsistencies that bother me. We need to check out Li Zhinan's home to understand his motive for suicide."
By the time we left, the subway had finally reopened.
Line One resumed normal operations, and most people boarded the train. A life had vanished here, but no one seemed to care anymore. Perhaps this incident would only become fodder for their casual conversations, while the bloodstains on the wall served as a reminder to every passerby that someone had once taken their life here.
Li Zhinan's rented place was far from his workplace, which explained why he had to take the subway every day.
The apartment was quite old, lacking property management and surveillance cameras, and even had no private bathroom. The toilet was located downstairs not far away and was one of those traditional pit toilets. As we climbed the stairs, local police officers had already contacted the landlord; at that moment, the door opened, and someone was waiting for us.
The layout of this room was simple; there was no kitchen—only a living room and two bedrooms.
One of the bedrooms had been turned into a storage room filled with various items. However, when we opened the other bedroom door, we were stunned by what we saw. The room was filled with posters of various superheroes.
Walking in felt like stepping into another world. Perhaps he truly lived in a different reality than ours. It was somewhat surprising; after all, a twenty-five-year-old man might enjoy superhero movies, but few would be as obsessed as he appeared to be.
"There's a notebook here," Gu Chen said.
I turned around and saw Gu Chen flipping through a large notebook in his hands.
"What’s written inside?" I asked.
Gu Chen handed the notebook to me and said, "It's all his diary. I flipped through a few pages earlier; perhaps we can find something useful in it."
By evening, I finally finished reading the thick diary, which was almost devoid of literary flair. This gave me some understanding of Li Zhinan and why there were so many Superhero posters in his bedroom. Every boy has a martial arts dream, a hero's dream in their heart.
Li Zhinan's hero dream began during his school years.
Wang Ernao was a legend in this village because he learned to smoke at eight and dared to pull down girls' pants at ten. Wang Ernao always wore a pair of white sneakers that had seen better days. He had a sword, a wooden sword he made himself, and wherever Wang Ernao went, there were screams. The village children had never seen anything like Shamate.
In fact, Wang Ernao might not even be his real name; names are merely codes. But at least, Wang Ernao was unrivaled among the kids, embodying the image of a big brother. His favorite pastime was to block girls on their way home from school and tease them with words.
Wang Ernao's father owned a video store, and by the age of eight, Wang Ernao had done many things that most people only start doing after turning eighteen.
And every villain needs a hero to defeat them.
Li Zhinan's first encounter with Wang Ernao happened one autumn day.
Wang Ernao blocked the girl that Li Zhinan had a crush on.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Wang Ernao laughed heartily.
The innocent goddess did not understand what Wang Ernao meant.
Li Zhinan appeared: "Wang Ernao, let her go. If you don't let her go, I won't be polite."
Both of them revealed their weapons; Wang Ernao held a wooden sword while Li Zhinan brandished a brush—he had just finished a calligraphy class. To be honest, wielding a brush as a weapon looked much cooler than holding a wooden sword because true masters often have an edge over those who merely possess weapons.
When masters clash, often one move is all it takes.
When Wang Ernao lay on the ground, Li Zhinan raised the brush in his hand. Li Zhinan had won; Wang Ernao tripped over a stone while rushing over and fell, injuring his head and bleeding profusely.
Rumors spread through the martial world that Li Zhinan had poked a hole in Wang Ernao's head with his brush.
The goddess said, "You are my hero."
Being a hero was never easy, as heroes must hold themselves to strict standards. Wang Ernao was a rogue, and a rogue without any sense of responsibility. Sometimes, being a rogue was much more enjoyable than being a hero, especially when that rogue took the goddess's first time while the hero sat in class solving math problems.
This world was always full of tests for heroes, especially when the goddess came looking for him.
At seventeen, Li Zhinan was in high school, still in the same class as Wang Ernao and the goddess.
The difference was that Li Zhinan had earned his place through exams, while Wang Ernao had bought his way in.
Most of the time, the goddess's judgment was off. Just like how Wang Ernao, at eight years old, had been fixated on the word "sex," finally fulfilled his wish when the goddess turned seventeen. The goddess had failed her exams and felt immense pressure; that night, she drank too much.
She had originally invited Li Zhinan to join her, but he was a man of integrity.
Li Zhinan said, "I'll take you home."
Some people are always taking girls home, while others are always bringing them out.
The goddess didn't want to go home at all; Li Zhinan didn't understand, but Wang Ernao did.
Wang Ernao said, "If you don't mind, I have a shoulder for you to lean on. Just like the moon has its phases, people have their ups and downs."
That night, Wang Ernao brought the goddess to her peak.
Wang Ernao charged through like a harvester, swiftly claiming the goddess's heart.
But just like harvesting wheat, this machine cut through her heart in waves; soon enough, the goddess became withered crops in the field. Wang Ernao was an irresponsible rogue whose only tricks involved getting into bed and then breaking up quickly. The goddess's heart was shattered, so she came looking for Li Zhinan.
Like all heroes, Li Zhinan calmly said, "I don't care about your past."
That night marked the second duel between Wang Ernao and Li Zhinan.
When Wang Ernao ran over, he no longer stumbled, and thus the hero was beaten like a bear. During the years Wang Ernao spent in school, he did little else but fight and chase girls, while Li Zhinan still held onto his brush. Sometimes, the saddest thing is that heroes grow old.
Li Zhinan said, "Even if you have her body, you cannot have her heart."
Wang Ernao told Li Zhinan a story.
A lock was secured on a door, and the Golden Key bravely inserted itself but could not unlock it. Then an unassuming iron key arrived, and with a gentle turn, the lock opened. The iron key had won her heart. And you, Golden Key, cannot win her heart.
"Do you know how the Golden Key feels?" Wang Ernao laughed heartily and left.
Li Zhinan never quite understood what Wang Ernao was getting at.
The goddess had never actually dated Li Zhinan; he didn't know where things had gone wrong. He loved his goddess deeply, and she knew it too. Yet she would date someone like Wang Ernao but not him.
Was he still her hero? In the quiet of the night, Li Zhinan asked himself this question.
Li Zhinan got into college while Wang Ernao and the goddess failed to make the cut.
At twenty-five, Li Zhinan found a job in Dongxing City with a monthly salary of six thousand, which was considered above average there. He felt it was time to find a girlfriend, get married, and then have a child.
So he approached the goddess, and they dated for a month.
But ultimately, their relationship ended because one night, when Li Zhinan returned home early, he found Wang Ernao in bed with her.
Li Zhinan faced Wang Ernao for the third time; this time there was no winner or loser.
The goddess said, "Let's break up; our personalities just don't match."
Li Zhinan said, "I have ambition, I earn money to support my family, and I would do anything for you. But why did you choose him? From the very beginning, he was a rogue. How could you do such things with him? We have never been like that; the most we've done is hold hands."
The goddess remained silent for a long time before replying, "I don't know either. You're a good person, but..."
Li Zhinan understood: "If our personalities don't match, I can change."
Wang Ernao interjected with a fair point, "You really don't understand anything! What's wrong with your brain? What do you mean by personality mismatch? Why should she be with me? Just because you earn six thousand a month while my dad gives me sixty thousand? Do you get it? This has nothing to do with personality; you've been brainwashed at school."
Suddenly, the goddess broke down, "It's not just about money; it's about personality. Li Zhinan, you really don't understand anything. What you want is not what I want. Why can't you be like an ordinary person? Why do you have to elevate yourself so high? Don't you feel tired? Why do you act so superior?"
Li Zhinan realized that he had lost from the very start; not everyone liked heroes.
It turned out that when Wang Ernao was with the goddess, when he took her first time, everything was already destined.
If that night Li Zhinan had chosen to stay, who knows if the outcome would have been different.
A hero is someone who sacrifices themselves for others.
Golden Key said, "I never thought about winning her heart; I was just playing around."
Comment 0 Comment Count