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墨書 Inktalez
Wang Chao slowly awakened from his unconscious state, the first words out of his mouth being, "You all need to run!"
In Wang Chao's memory, time still lingered in the Desolate Village from over a week ago.
"Fool!" Zhao Wenjing leaned against Wang Chao's chest.
Xu Yiman's eyes were red with emotion, while Jiang He showed little reaction.
Noticing that the other members were absent, Wang Chao immediately asked, "Where are the rest of the project team? Are they okay?"
Jiang He replied, "Old Shao and Yuan Jun are still in the capital and haven't returned. Guan Deng is right there!"
With that, Jiang He pointed to the camera in the hospital room and added, "Say hello to Wang Chao."
The camera wobbled left and right for a moment.
Wang Chao finally felt relieved and couldn't help but tease, "Guan Deng is still the same as ever. By the way, Wenjing, where's our daughter?"
Zhao Wenjing playfully punched Wang Chao on the chest and scolded, "You only just remembered you have a daughter now?"
Wang Chao grinned, "How could I forget my precious daughter?"
Zhao Wenjing replied, "Your daughter is at kindergarten!"
"What?" Wang Chao shook his head lightly. "How long have I been lying here? I thought school was still far off."
"You've been lying here for almost half a month!" Zhao Wenjing exclaimed. "You heartless person, you nearly scared us to death."
"Then what was the outcome of the Desolate Village incident?" Wang Chao asked directly about the case.
Zhao Wenming shot a glance at Wang Chao, but was ignored.
Jiang He recounted the results of the Rural Case to Wang Chao, which left him feeling quite disheartened. He never expected that the entire village would end up turning against each other, resulting in so many deaths. The catalyst for this chaos was Er Dan; if Er Dan hadn't blocked the door, Li Sanhan and Luo Yu wouldn't have fallen out, and the others wouldn't have started fighting.
After a long pause, Wang Chao finally spoke, "If it weren't for Er Dan, you and Yuan Jun wouldn't have been able to escape either."
"Er Dan?" Xu Yiman was taken aback.
"That's right." Wang Chao struggled to sit up on the hospital bed and said earnestly to Xu Yiman, "At the critical moment, it was Er Dan who rushed out to block the door, preventing those villagers from rushing out all at once."
Xu Yiman finally understood why Er Dan had ended up with a broken arm.
Wang Chao continued, "At that time, I was already losing consciousness. All I knew was that Luo Yu wanted to kill Er Dan, but Li Sanhan wouldn't let him. After that, I don't remember anything. Now it seems that it was the argument between Li Sanhan and Luo Yu that led everyone in the village to start attacking each other."
"Would Li Sanhan really confront Luo Yu for Er Dan?" Xu Yiman asked. "Luo Yu is not someone to be trifled with."
Wang Chao remained silent for a while before responding, "That's true. Li Sanhan has done many bad things; he could be considered utterly wicked and deserving of execution multiple times. However, regarding Er Dan, although Li Sanhan deceived him out of money, how much could Er Dan's family possibly have? For all these years, it has been Li Sanhan supporting Er Dan. Perhaps that's a glimpse of the goodness left in Li Sanhan's character."
Human nature is complex; no one is entirely good or entirely evil. This complexity is precisely what troubles Jiang He. He finds it difficult to categorize people simply and struggles to comprehend emotions beyond basic feelings.
"Take care of your injuries," Xu Yiman said as she glanced at Wang Chao and then at Jiang He. "Come on, Jiang He, let's step outside."
"What's wrong?" Jiang He asked, somewhat confused. "I feel fine here."
Xu Yiman shot him an exasperated look and said, "Just come outside."
With that, Xu Yiman pulled Jiang He out of the room.
"What’s going on?" Jiang He asked in bewilderment. "There are still questions I haven't asked."
Xu Yiman pulled Jiang He’s arm and led him outside, saying, “What is your relationship with Wang Chao? Even if you’re just colleagues, you have so many questions to ask. And as for his wife, Sister Zhao must have a lot to discuss with Wang Chao. You shouldn’t be here acting like a third wheel; we have plenty to do.”
“Are we investigating that matter?” Just as Jiang He finished speaking, his phone rang.
“Old Shao?” Jiang He asked. “Is something wrong?”
Old Shao replied, “That’s right, you guessed it correctly. A boy has died.”
“A boy has died?” Jiang He asked.
Old Shao continued, “Yes. Later, I will bring Yuan Jun to Dragon City. Aren’t you three in Dragon City? So you’ll start the investigation on this case. Now go report to the Longcheng City Public Security Bureau immediately; the police there will tell you what happened.”
“Okay!” Jiang He responded.
As Jiang He put his phone back in his pocket, he pulled Xu Yiman along and said, “Old Shao just called me. A boy from Dragon City has died, and we need to report to the Longcheng City Public Security Bureau right away to get involved in this case.”
Xu Yiman nodded and said, “Didn’t our vacation just start?”
“It looks like it’s already over,” Jiang He replied.
When Jiang He and Xu Yiman arrived at the Dragon City Police Bureau, Guan Deng was already there. It seemed that Guan Deng always received news faster than they did.
As soon as they entered the police station, Captain Liu, the current head of the Criminal Investigation Team at the Longcheng City Public Security Bureau, welcomed them in. He said, “We know that former Captain Wang Chao is still in the hospital and that your special investigation team is in Dragon City. A rather peculiar case has occurred here, so since you’re available, we’d appreciate your help. We could learn a thing or two from you.”
Xu Yiman finally understood why her vacation had been abruptly cut short; it turned out that Captain Liu wanted to learn from the special investigation team. This eagerness to learn was certainly commendable, so Xu Yiman didn’t mind too much.
Jiang He had a fervor for solving cases; when there was a case to investigate, he was always the fastest to run toward it, and naturally, he was quite excited.
“What exactly happened?” Jiang He asked.
"About half an hour ago, we received a report of a child, around fourteen or fifteen years old, found dead in a dry well. After we arrived at the scene, we indeed saw the body of a child in that well. One of the child's arms was missing, and we couldn't find it anywhere around the well, which makes this case quite suspicious. It is highly likely to be a case of a perverse murder," Captain Liu said.
"Our director thought of you and asked you to investigate this bizarre case," Captain Liu added, scratching his head.
Jiang He nodded and asked, "Are we heading to the scene now? Is the child's body still there or has it been moved?"
Captain Liu replied, "Since we knew this case would be handed over to you, the scene has already been sealed off, but the child's body has not yet been transported."
"We're going to the scene right away," Jiang He said.
Captain Liu drove, taking three people along with him and leading A Team of police officers to the site.
The location was in the southern district of Dragon City.
As Captain Liu drove, he remarked, "It's not surprising for a child to die—whether by murder or other causes—but one thing caught us off guard: the way the report was made."
"The way the report was made?" Jiang He asked.
Captain Liu nodded and pulled out a note from his pocket, handing it to Jiang He. "It's this note."
Jiang He took the note and read what was written on it:
"A child died in a dry well, South Bay in the southern district. Come quickly."
The note was short, containing only fourteen characters. However, it clearly stated that a child had died in the dry well at South Bay. This was indeed a novel way of reporting an incident; something that could have been resolved with a simple phone call had turned into such an elaborate situation. The person left a note instead of making a verbal report, indicating there might be something particularly significant behind it.
Jiang He looked at the note and asked, "Where was this note found? Do you know who left it?"
Captain Liu responded, "The note was stuck on the sign of the police station. Initially, we thought it was just a prank and didn't take it seriously. But with the possibility of a homicide in mind, we investigated further and discovered there really was a child's body in the dry well. So we quickly checked the surveillance footage and found that this note was left by some kid."
"Kid?" Jiang He asked again.
Captain Liu nodded. "The boy looked to be around seven or eight years old. He walked right up, slapped a note on the sign at the entrance of the police station, and then left. At the time, since he was just a child, no one paid any attention to him. We have already started investigating whose child this is."
"Mm." Jiang He nodded and tucked the note into his pocket.
Captain Liu continued, "So this case seems quite strange. A child put this note on the police station's sign, and the content of the note mentions a child who died in a dry well. Don't you think this is complicated? I feel like this case isn't as simple as it appears."
Jiang He looked out the window, observing the buildings along the road as he said, "It is indeed very strange, but until we have more evidence, no one can say for sure what this case is about."
The car stopped outside the police tape, where officers from the nearby precinct were already on guard. The police from A Team who accompanied Captain Liu began taking photos and collecting evidence around the area, including gathering fingerprints. However, collecting fingerprints in such an open space was not an easy task.
The well was located in South Bay, south of Dragon City, and it appeared to have been abandoned for many years. The area was quite open, with a vacant lot nearby that had no crops or planning; it was rarely visited by anyone and lacked surveillance.
"Right over there," Captain Liu pointed to the dry well.
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