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墨書 Inktalez
The road was muddy and bumpy, and my skills were not as good as Gu Chen's, so I could only slow down and concentrate all my attention on navigating this stretch. Hu Ningning was about to go home, but I didn't sense the excitement one would expect from her; instead, it felt as if she was somewhat reluctant to return.
This might be an instinctive avoidance from a nine-year-old girl who had experienced a kidnapping, unwilling to let her parents know what had happened. However, despite my slow pace, I safely arrived at Hu Ningning's doorstep. The rain poured down, and at that moment, the road was deserted, reminiscent of the atmosphere surrounding Gu Hui's tragic incident.
As I looked around, memories of Gu Hui's death flooded back. That girl had been trapped in a pit filled with rainwater, the narrow space preventing her from gaining any leverage. The water above her head made it impossible for her to call for help or even breathe. Within ten minutes at most, Gu Hui had perished.
Her body had been submerged in that pit for nearly twenty-four hours. If it weren't for the keen-eyed officers from the Substation who spotted a few strands of hair floating on the water's surface, Gu Hui's body might never have been discovered.
"Brother," Hu Ningning said as she noticed my daze. "We're home."
I smiled at her and opened the car door. Hu Ningning dashed towards the gate like a bird. The left side of the gate had a square hole in the middle; through it, one could reach in to unlock the latch secured from inside. However, Hu Ningning was still too short to open the door by herself.
"Brother, help me," she exclaimed excitedly.
I nodded and reached my hand inside. In that moment, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind. It passed quickly but left a deep impression on my heart. Just then, I managed to open the gate. As I pushed it open, a hoarse voice called out from inside, "Who is it?"
"Grandma!" Hu Ningning ran straight into the main room.
"Ningning? Ningning?" came the response from inside. Moments later, two figures rushed out of the house—Hu Ningning's parents. They had hurried back after her disappearance and hadn't gone out since. After all, everything they worked for was for Hu Ningning; with her gone, they had no heart to continue working.
"Dad! Mom!" Hu Ningning threw herself into their arms.
Hu Ningning's father knelt down and embraced her tightly. It was such a touching scene, and the pouring rain added a touch of melancholy to this reunion. The three of them wept together—some cried out of sorrow while others cried out of joy.
At that moment, it was clear they belonged to the latter group.
Soon after, Hu Ningning's grandparents also emerged, and three generations stood in the yard, unable to contain their tears. Regaining something lost is one of life's most beautiful experiences; while one might give up something they never truly possessed, losing something they once had is unbearable. Understanding this explains why this family cried so profoundly.
Fortunately, at that moment, everyone's rationality hadn't completely faded away. Hu Ningning turned back and said, "It was this Police Brother who saved me."
At that moment, several people noticed me.
Hu Ningning's Grandfather said apologetically, "Look at us, look at our family, what a mess we've become. Officer, please come in, come in! Don't stand out in the rain; come inside."
With that, the whole family ushered me into the house.
Once inside, they offered me tea and water, while someone helped me take off my coat and handed me fruit. In a daze, I almost forgot who I was, feeling as if I were a spoiled child of an ancient clan.
"Your coat is covered in mud; let me wash it for you. You should stay for dinner tonight," someone said.
Before I could react, my coat was tossed onto a pile of dirty clothes.
"No, no, that's not necessary," I protested, but then I noticed the clothes beneath my coat.
It was clear that those were children's clothes. Specifically, they looked like clothes worn by a nine-year-old girl. The garments were speckled with dried mud. But this raised a question: Hu Ningning had been kidnapped by Zhang Zijun and his wife for over a week; whose clothes were these?
"Has another girl been here?" I asked, looking at the dirty clothes.
"Ah," Hu Ningning's Grandmother said, sensing my confusion. "These are old clothes; they belong to Hu Ningning from when she used to play outside. This child has always been mischievous. She would play in the rain and get herself all muddy. We sent her off to school right after that, planning to wash her clothes later, but then we received the call about Ningning..."
Hu Ningning's Grandfather sighed and said, "Let's not dwell on the past; what's important is that Ningning is back now. Have they caught the murderer?"
"They have!" Hu Ningning interjected at that moment. "It turned out to be the parents of one of our classmates."
Hu Ningning's Father added, "They have children too; how could they do such a thing? I'm so sorry for what happened to you, Ningning."
Hearing her father's words made Hu Ningning unable to hold back her tears. She reached out and hugged him tightly, saying, "It was so terrifying! I thought I might never come back. Do you know how many children they killed? They killed four kids! I thought I would be next."
With that, Hu Ningning broke down in tears.
For a moment, the relatives in the room gently patted Hu Ningning's back, while others spoke softly to comfort her. Some were loudly cursing the murderer, calling it utterly insane, but I stood frozen in the middle.
At that moment, my subconscious told me that this case was certainly not as simple as it seemed. I closed my eyes and let my thoughts soar. I recalled the entire sequence of events and the connections between the first and second parts of the case, pondering over the unresolved mysteries.
I walked over to the pile of dirty clothes and picked up my coat while observing them. I casually grabbed a piece, and it was clear that the level of dirt on this clothing suggested that the person wearing it had rolled around in the mud several times, rather than just having a few mud spots.
The pants underneath were in a similar state. Both legs were covered in mud, as if they were splattered with a few "clean" spots on a pair of pants made entirely of mud.
A girl playing in the yard would never get this dirty no matter how much she played. In the eyes of her teacher, Hu Ningning was a well-behaved and sensible child, and she certainly didn’t seem like someone who enjoyed playing in the mud. Suddenly, I remembered what Li Xiaoyan had told me earlier; she had seen Hu Ningning break the glass but blamed it on Li Jun.
However, Li Jun bullied everyone else. Even if he dismissed such accusations without defending himself, he had never bullied Hu Ningning.
At this moment, Hu Ningning was still crying in her father's arms, and no one noticed my actions. Watching her, an indescribable feeling welled up inside me; something about this scene felt off. Hu Ningning seemed a bit too clever—perhaps even too clever for her own good.
There was something wrong.
With that thought in mind, I stepped out of the house and headed outside.
“Officer! Officer!” Hu Ningning's grandfather spotted me and said, “Where are you going?”
I replied, “There are still some things I need to investigate. I'm going out to take a look; I might be back or I might not.”
“Oh,” Hu Ningning's grandfather said. “You have to come back; let’s have dinner together.”
I ignored him and walked straight out of the house. The rain was pouring down harder now. I needed to go somewhere—specifically, to Teacher Gao's house. I had been there before, but it was too late at night then to see anything clearly outside.
Fortunately, the village wasn't very far away. At this moment, Teacher Gao's gate was still sealed with tape, indicating that no one had disturbed it. The gate wasn’t locked; there wasn’t anything valuable inside Teacher Gao’s home anyway, and since we were all from the same village, outsiders rarely stole from here.
I tore off the seal and took advantage of the fading light to carefully measure the height of the square hole in the left door—it was about one meter fifty. To open this door from outside, a person would need to be at least one meter sixty tall; otherwise, their arms wouldn’t be able to bend enough to push it open.
I opened the door and walked in, carefully observing the position of the windows in Teacher Gao's house, which were about one meter and sixty centimeters high.
Before the incident, Teacher Gao had always had a good reputation, even being the ideal choice for many unmarried young women in the village. Yet, such a good person became a pariah overnight, despised by everyone. As a result, Teacher Gao lost his job, his family, his relationships, and ultimately his freedom.
Everything stemmed from what Gu Hui claimed to have witnessed. Everyone believed the mere child Gu Hui because a girl who was so young could only describe something she had seen with her own eyes. However, people overlooked one crucial point: some things cannot be seen just because you want to see them.
If Teacher Gao truly were a beast, then as a relatively intelligent beast, he would have thought to close the door before engaging in such vile acts—something even a fool could figure out. Moreover, Gu Hui was not even one meter fifty tall. How could a girl, unaware of the situation, know that Hu Ningning was inside?
Even if Gu Hui had a good relationship with Hu Ningning and was told where she was, how could Gu Hui—who couldn’t even reach above the gate—open the door by herself? And why didn’t Teacher Gao hear the sound of the door opening or closing?
Even if all of this were possible, it would require Gu Hui to find something in the yard to stand on and then climb up to look through the window. Only then could she see what was happening inside.
However, the probability of all these conditions being met is exceedingly low.
Gu Hui would have to go through great lengths to achieve this, while Teacher Gao would have to be completely deaf and blind not to notice any commotion.
Both individuals held firm to their claims; they were completely opposed to each other.
One person was not lying; the other was panicking.
Teacher Gao was not lying.
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