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墨書 Inktalez
"Friend, what is your name?" I asked the child, looking at him. "Did you just touch that hand? Why did you do that?"
The child nodded and tugged at his father's sleeve, saying, "My name is Sun Kangning. I came with my dad to Uncle Li's house. On the way back, I ran home by myself. Then I saw a hand by the roadside. I was so happy, so I went over."
He glanced at us and then at his father before continuing, "I've always had a dream of having two arms and two hands like everyone else. But my mom and dad told me that when I was born, I only had one arm and one hand. Mom and Dad, I must have been a superhero in my past life, and the bad guys took my hand away."
Sun Kangning spoke in a cheerful tone, seemingly excited. "Mom and Dad told me that as long as I eat well and study hard, I can regain the abilities from my past life, and I'll be able to get my hand back from the bad guys. Isn't that right, Dad?"
Sun Kangning looked up at his father, who appeared somewhat shy in front of everyone. He was a man in his thirties and didn't seem to have any disabilities. Gently, he stroked Sun Kangning's forehead and softly said to his son, "Yes, if you keep being good, the bad guys will return your hand."
Satisfied with his answer, Sun Kangning exclaimed happily, "To make my arm come back quickly, I eat well every day and practice writing. When I went out today, I saw that hand. It must be the bad guys returning my hand; I just wanted to touch it."
At this point, Sun Kangning's expression fell as he continued, "But when my dad saw it, he scolded me and told me to let go quickly. I don't know if I did something wrong again, but I really want my hand back. Everyone else has two arms and two hands; why do I only have one arm and one hand?"
Sun Kangning innocently shared a brutally harsh story with us. To protect this young boy's heart and help him accept his differences from others, his parents had woven a beautiful dream for him. Perhaps one day he would understand that it was merely a lovely story; for now, at least it allowed him to live in fantasy.
"I just want to be like everyone else," Sun Kangning said.
I noticed Sun Kangning's father gently wiping away tears from his eyes. Everyone stood silently; many among them were people with disabilities. I wondered if there had ever been someone to weave kind lies for them.
Sun Kangning's father looked at me as if afraid I would shatter his child's dream.
I smiled and said to Sun Kangning, "Sun Kangning, my friend, you were indeed a superhero in your past life. What you did was good, but it's not enough yet. You see this hand? It's much bigger than yours; it's meant for someone else, not for you."
Sun Kangning nodded slightly, disappointment creeping into his voice. "So it's not for me?"
I replied, "Good things always come last; your arms and hands are perfect just as they are meant to be. They will come in time. Uncle wants to ask you if you saw who left this hand here? This is from the bad guy who specializes in stealing hands from others; did you see him?"
Sun Kangning's eyes lit up. "Really? But I didn't see that bad person. If the bad person shows up, I will definitely catch them."
"What about other people? Did you see anyone else?" I asked.
Sun Kangning nodded. "No, when I got here, I only saw a hand, no bad person."
"When did you see this hand?" I inquired further.
"I don't know," Sun Kangning shook his head, growing a bit impatient.
At that moment, Sun Kangning's father spoke up. "Officer, we arrived here around one o'clock. He was running fast, but I wasn't pulled too far away. It was probably just a few minutes. I saw my son moving that hand and quickly shouted for him to stop..."
"Indeed, there was no one else around," Sun Kangning's father added. "I did see a pair of footprints next to that hand leading towards the east side of the village, but then they mixed with other footprints and became unclear. After seeing the hand, I hurried to the Village Committee to find the village chief."
Sun Kangning's father glanced at the Old Village Chief and continued, "But there was no one at the Village Committee. Li Danan told me you all went to Mrs. Wang's house, so I informed Li Danan about what happened. Then Li Danan asked me to wait here while he went to find you all, and then you all came."
Although Sun Kangning's father had seen the Murderer's footprints initially, he now had no way of identifying them among the chaotic footprints.
"Did you see anything suspicious?" I asked.
"No," Sun Kangning's father shook his head.
Sun Kangning and his father didn't seem to be lying. This could easily be verified by checking if they had visited anyone else, so I had no doubts about them. However, it also confirmed that the Murderer hadn't gone too far. Even though Tou Gou Zi Village only had two or three hundred people, it wouldn't be easy to track down the Murderer.
As I pondered this, no one spoke.
At that moment, Sun Kangning suddenly said, "Look, these two brothers and sisters are different from us. They have two arms and two hands, unlike me. They can talk; they are not like Grandma Wang, who can't hear anything. They can see things; they are not like Uncle Li, who can't see anything. They are also not like..."
Sun Kangning wanted to continue, but his father stopped him.
With a puzzled expression, Sun Kangning didn't understand why he was being silenced, while Sun Kangning's Father looked at us with a hint of apology.
"That's enough. I have no further questions," I said to everyone. "You can all go back now. If you find any clues, please let me know. After all, with what has happened in the village, the murderer might strike again. I advise everyone to stay alert; this murderer is undoubtedly a ruthless person."
With that, the crowd began to disperse.
Sun Kangning's Father approached me, bowed deeply, and said earnestly, "Thank you, Officer. You are truly a good person, just like Officer Zhou. If there’s nothing else, I will take my leave now. If I find any clues, I will inform you."
Before long, everyone had left, leaving only a few of us behind at the scene.
I stared at the chaotic footprints on the ground, lost in thought.
Guan Zengbin picked up an arm as if shaking hands with someone.
She said, "I'm Wu Meng. Even if you press your eyes to the ground, you won't find anything. The murderer's footprints have long been trampled away; these footprints overlap each other back and forth. Even the most advanced technology can't distinguish them—give up on that."
I tugged at my hair and sighed. "Well, I don't expect to find clues from this aspect anymore. However, we can still find a breakthrough. For instance, the severed end of this arm was clearly bitten off by some animal. What kind of animal do you think it could be?"
Guan Zengbin nodded and replied, "You're right; from the marks on this wound, it appears to have been bitten by an animal. Look here—the humerus has distinct bite marks left by a canine. Based on the arrangement and density of the marks, it seems to be from a larger hunting dog."
I snapped my fingers and said, "These are indeed bite marks from a dog. Today we walked from the west side of the village to the east side and then back again. During this back-and-forth movement, did you notice anything unusual?"
"Unusual places?" Captain Zhou scratched his head and said, "This Tou Gou Zi Village, I come here sometimes because the village chief is a good friend of mine. But after visiting so many times, aside from the fact that most of the villagers are disabled, I haven't seen anything particularly special or unusual."
I shook my head and replied, "There is something unusual, and that is that it seems like this village doesn't have any dogs. Have you heard a single bark since we arrived?"
As I provided the answer, everyone gradually understood. It was understandable not to see dogs in an apartment building, but to find not a single dog in a village was indeed strange.
"You have a point," Gu Chen nodded and said, "It really is odd that there are no dogs in this village."
The Old Village Chief smiled and said, "It's not that there were never any dogs; people used to keep them. However, over time, fewer and fewer people have dogs. Our village is different from others. Many people here are without hands or feet and lack labor power; they can only rely on assistance to survive. There have been incidents where wild dogs attacked people and caused fatalities. Those who are disabled couldn't defend themselves. So whenever we see a dog, we send it away."
Captain Zhou chimed in, "Yeah, I handled that case."
"So it's not that no one kept dogs," the Old Village Chief waved his hand. "We did it for safety reasons. You see, most of the people in our village are in such situations; it's genuinely dangerous. Eventually, everyone just stopped keeping dogs altogether, and that's how it's been ever since. Whether there are dogs or not doesn't make much difference."
After hearing the Old Village Chief's explanation, we realized there was this hidden context.
I continued, "If there are no dogs in Tou Gou Zi Village, then where did the marks on this arm come from? This is our breakthrough; as long as we find this dog, we can locate its owner."
Gu Chen chuckled, "So we're looking for a dog?"
I nodded, "And it must be of medium size at least. The absence of dogs in Tou Gou Zi Village reduces a lot of unnecessary trouble for us."
The Old Village Chief suddenly said, "By the way, at the east of the village..."
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