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墨書 Inktalez
According to the Old Village Chief, this man, in his thirties, is not disabled but a perfectly normal person. When he was in his twenties, he arrived at Tou Gou Zi Village. The Old Village Chief found his actions strange because most people who came here were disabled; what was he doing here?
Later, the Old Village Chief learned that the man's purpose for coming was to do business, not to settle down. The reason was that one time, while driving home from the National Highway, one of his companions remarked that there was nothing around here, and it was so remote that there was nowhere to buy a cigarette.
At that moment, as they passed through this area, the man's companion's comment struck him. When he got home, he proposed building a market at the village entrance, believing that within ten years he could buy a house in Dongxing City. Despite its remoteness, it was close to the National Highway and had decent traffic flow—a good choice.
However, no one agreed with his seemingly crazy idea. After all, he was a graduate of Dongxing City University of Technology with a monthly salary of six thousand; why would he come to this desolate place to do such a thing?
Nevertheless, he resolutely quit his job and moved here, using his savings from several years of work to build a small market. Building houses here only required permission from the village, so he approached the village chief, Wei Shengfeng.
Thus, his market was established here. Every month, he would drive his truck to purchase goods from the wholesale market and then bring them back to sell. His initial investment was only a few tens of thousands of yuan, but now it is unclear how much money he has made. However, the Old Village Chief is certain that he has already bought a house in Dongxing City.
In fact, one or two years ago, he considered selling the market. But after staying here for ten years, he had grown somewhat attached to the place, even though he didn’t have much interaction with the villagers of Tou Gou Zi Village.
The Old Village Chief sighed and said, “Actually, this man makes money by selling counterfeit cigarettes and alcohol. If he only sold daily necessities, this market wouldn’t last long. We are in the most remote part of the National Highway; there isn’t a rest stop within dozens of miles. Those truck drivers are all smokers and drinkers.”
“He buys counterfeit cigarettes at low prices and sells them one by one; anyway, those people won’t know when they’ll come back next time. However, he sells us genuine cigarettes; if it weren’t for that, I would have chased him away long ago.” As the Old Village Chief spoke, he shook his wheelchair and rolled up to the entrance of the market before pushing open the door and wheeling inside.
Before we could step in, a man’s voice came from inside: “Hey hey hey! Isn’t this Wei Village Chief? It’s been a while since we’ve seen you! Why are you coming in alone in your wheelchair today? Shouldn’t you be bringing some strong company with you? Oh look, there are pretty ladies too! Want me to recommend some comfortable underwear for you?”
Hearing this made me realize that this man seemed quite witty and sharp-tongued.
We continued walking inside.
The room didn’t have heating but featured a large stove with glowing coal burning inside. While it couldn’t compare to the heating in the Village Committee office, it was certainly warmer than outside.
Upon seeing us, this man shook his head and said: “Wei Village Chief! Have you brought your whole army with you? Why are there even banners being carried? Are you planning to surround my market? Oh look! There are beautiful ladies too! Should I recommend some comfortable underwear for you?”
I looked at the man, who appeared to be in his thirties. He had long hair that seemed unkempt and greasy. His stubble suggested he hadn't shaved in quite some time. He wore a black wool sweater that was frayed and worn.
He was clearly a disheveled man.
The Old Village Chief snorted and said, "When you first arrived, I didn't see you this poor. If I had known you were such a loser, I wouldn't have let you come."
The man grumbled while pouring us some water. "Hey, if you stay here alone for ten years, you'd want to spend a night with even a sow. Especially recently, with this damn snow making everyone feel cold inside. There hasn't been a single car on the road; I'm bored to death here."
The Old Village Chief handed us a few pairs of warm gloves while saying, "These gloves are on my tab."
The man shook his head. "A pair of gloves costs about ten bucks; there's no need to keep track of that. But what brings you here? It can't just be to buy gloves; it seems like quite the production. I see even the police are here—did you report me for selling fake cigarettes and alcohol?"
The Old Village Chief spat on the ground and replied, "Why would I bother to catch you? You’re not worth it. Where's your Beibei? Didn’t see it when you came in? Did you send it off for breeding?"
Hearing this, the man retorted, "Now you're just mocking me. I would love to send him off for breeding, but damn it, there needs to be a dog available for that! In this Tou Gou Zi Village, there isn’t even one dog left—it's ridiculous. Look at it now; this dog has been cooped up for so many years that it finally ran away from home. I still haven't found where it went."
At this point, I felt a jolt of surprise. Could it be such a coincidence that we had just found the only dog, and now it was missing? Could this dog be the one that bit off the Victim's arm?
The Old Village Chief frowned and asked, "Your Beibei is missing?"
Er Yi slammed his hand on the table in frustration. "You bet it is! It's been gone for about two days now. I'm just puzzled—could someone in the village have a female dog? This guy sometimes goes out but has never been gone this long before. Can we still maintain our revolutionary friendship? Why must single dogs make things difficult for other single dogs?"
At this point, everyone fell silent.
Er Yi's dog had gone missing around the same time as the estimated time of death for the Victim according to Guan Zengbin. Was it really just a coincidence, or had someone deliberately stolen that dog?
I asked, "Did your dog run away on its own, or was it stolen? Can you be sure about that?"
Upon hearing my question, Er became serious. He replied, "So you’re here to help me find my dog. The People's Police really care for the people. My dog is a black and tan German Shepherd, standing about six feet tall when on its hind legs. Usually, I keep him outside; there aren’t many people around, and he doesn’t wander far."
"But two days ago, I took a nap and when I woke up, the dog was gone." Er gritted his teeth and continued, "He hasn’t come back yet. I told the villagers to keep an eye out. My dog can be quite fierce; if he bites someone, that would be a problem."
Guan Zengbin shot him a glare and said, "If you know your dog bites people, why didn’t you keep him tied up?"
Er retorted, "You’re an animal too; wouldn’t you be angry if someone tied you up? Besides, I didn’t see anyone around, so I didn’t tie him up. I was watching him all the time; nothing ever happened."
"Do you have a photo?" I asked.
"Mine or the dog's?" Er replied with confusion.
I rolled my eyes at him and said impatiently, "Of course the dog's! What would I want your photo for?"
"I have one!" Er rummaged through his drawer for a while before pulling out a photo.
I looked at it; the dog was indeed a medium to large breed—definitely a German Shepherd. German Shepherds are known as the top police dogs; they are stable and confident and can handle almost any police work, such as drug detection, combat, and patrolling.
These herding dogs are famous for obeying their owner's commands. A trained herding dog would never just go missing like that unless it was stolen.
It seemed very likely that this was the dog in question. If someone had stolen it for use in some way, a German Shepherd could certainly bite off a person's arm. However, these dogs are difficult to command by strangers. If this was indeed the dog in question, how could the murderer have used it to sever the victim's right arm?
Guan Zengbin examined the photo and said to us, "A German Shepherd has a total of forty-two teeth: twenty on the upper jaw and twenty-two on the lower jaw. Their bite force is astonishing, with tight gaps between their teeth. From this photo, it seems that those bite marks on the bone were definitely left by this dog."
After a pause, Guan Zengbin continued, "Look for some fur or anything from the dog. Has the guy who came to collect evidence arrived yet? We can send this along to the provincial city for testing to see if the bite marks on it were left by this dog."
Er was confused and asked, "What bite marks? What are we testing for?"
Guan Zengbin didn’t elaborate, only coldly replied, "Just find some dog hair; there should be some, right? If not, how about the blanket the dog sleeps on or its water bowl?"
Er had no retort against Guan Zengbin and hurriedly found a few strands of fur from the doghouse. "Here you go."
Guan Zengbin placed them in an evidence bag.
I then asked, "Did any strangers come by here yesterday afternoon?"
"Strangers?" Er shook his head and said firmly, "This is the only exit at the village entrance. There isn’t even a tree for several kilometers around. If someone came out, I would have seen them. With the heavy snow blocking the roads, there are hardly any cars on National Highway. You’ve been here for a while; have you seen any cars?"
"No," Er continued. "Forget about strangers; even villagers rarely come by lately. This damn ghostly atmosphere is really eerie. Two years ago, I wanted to sell my shop and leave after selling my last batch of goods. You and I bought houses in Dongxing City; I don’t even know what I’m still doing here..."
Indeed, looking out from here, one could see quite far. If the murderer had disposed of the body and left via National Highway yesterday afternoon, Er would have definitely seen it. This meant that the murderer hadn’t left the village at all.
The heavy snow had blocked our way but also trapped the murderer.
However, we couldn’t search every household to see if they were hiding a body.
So who could the murderer be?
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