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墨書 Inktalez
Everyone was silent, all eyes on Jiang He. He walked forward alone, leaving the crowd with only his back. No one knew what Jiang He was doing or what he was thinking, but everyone placed their hopes on him. They believed that, just like every time before, Jiang He would be able to find even the most subtle clues from the tiniest details.
A brand new one-hundred-yuan Renminbi bill carried a strong scent of ink. However, if it were a bill that had been in circulation for several years, that ink smell would gradually fade away, replaced by the myriad scents of life. No one would intentionally smell a Renminbi bill, yet at this moment, Jiang He was doing just that.
Images floated through Jiang He's mind:
It was a noisy Sichuan restaurant; the establishment wasn't large, but it had many regular customers. This one-hundred-yuan bill passed from a diner's hand to the owner's. Indeed, there was a distinct scent of the Sichuan restaurant on the money.
There was a worker emerging from the damp and cold sewer. He took the one-hundred-yuan note handed to him by a customer and carelessly stuffed it into his pocket. It carried the smell of decay and the chill of the sewer.
There was a scavenger who had filled a tricycle with bottles and cans he had collected. He took this one-hundred-yuan bill with his filthy hands; it bore the scent of a garbage dump.
Then there was a Criminal Consultant dressed in black, who, in a dark abandoned chemical factory, had used trinitrotoluene to make explosives. Afterward, he handed this one-hundred-yuan note to Ghost Head near Jiang He's home.
And now, this bill lay in Jiang He's hands.
How did the Criminal Consultant acquire this bill? A one-hundred-yuan note is the highest denomination; it couldn't have been change from a purchase. It could only have been paid as wages or stolen or simply bought. This bill had passed through countless hands, but only these few scents were discernible to Jiang He.
Clearly, this was a recently acquired scent.
Sewer, Sichuan restaurant, garbage heap, trinitrotoluene—no, there was also the scent of rainwater.
“Xu Yiman!” Jiang He suddenly opened his eyes and said to Xu Yiman, “The composition of rain in the chemical zone is different from that in non-chemical zones, right?”
“That's right,” Xu Yiman nodded. “Rain carries a lot of different dust particles; if the environments where it rains are vastly different, then naturally the composition of the rainwater will also differ.”
Jiang He placed the one-hundred-yuan bill back into an evidence bag and said to Xu Yiman, “Test this bill for chemical substances; perhaps we can narrow down our search.”
Old Shao approached Jiang He and asked, “Do you have any leads?”
Jiang He nodded and replied to Shao the Elder: “The scent of explosives, a strong chili aroma, sewer smells, garbage odors, and rainwater scents. If these are indeed clues left by Wei Demian, then we just need to determine whether this money contains any components not found elsewhere.”
Old Shao patted Jiang He's shoulder and said, "Very good. It’s autumn now, and Dragon City has been experiencing continuous rain for a long time in many areas. Because of the rain, some places have indeed had their drainage systems clogged. If we can find a Sichuan restaurant that had its drainage blocked and needed someone to clear it, we can basically narrow down our search."
Jiang He replied, "But I don't have more than a fifty percent certainty. I can't determine the order of the money flow, so it could be off by a hundred thousand miles. The probability is high enough that I don’t even want to believe it myself."
Old Shao looked into Jiang He's eyes, pointed at his chest, and said, "When you received this coin, did this thought suddenly pop into your mind?"
Jiang He looked down at his chest and replied, "Yes."
Old Shao placed Jiang He's hand on his chest and said, "If it's a fleeting thought that came to you in an instant, that's called intuition. This kind of thought appears in your mind without reason, but upon reflection, it does make some sense. Solving a case requires evidence, reasoning, and logic."
"But sometimes, solving a case also requires intuition." Old Shao glanced at Captain Liu who was fighting a fire in the distance before looking back at Jiang He. "Logical ability and reasoning skills can be developed through practice, but intuition cannot be cultivated. That's why people refer to it as a gift; it's something bestowed upon you by fate."
"Find it," Old Shao instructed. "This time, abandon your probability theory and rely entirely on your intuition for a gamble."
Then he turned to Yuan Jun and said, "Yuan Jun, arrange for everyone to find a restaurant. This restaurant cannot be in the city center; it’s best if it's near the old industrial area. This restaurant's drainage system was once clogged, and they hired a plumber to clear it."
"Should we look for the plumber or the restaurant owner?" Yuan Jun scratched his head and asked.
"Both," Old Shao replied.
"What about the southern suburbs?" Yuan Jun inquired.
"Don’t worry about that," Old Shao said decisively.
The others understood now; Old Shao was placing all his hopes on Jiang He. If Jiang He's guess was correct, they might find Wang Chao within twelve hours. If Jiang He's guess was wrong, it would waste a lot of police resources and render everyone's efforts futile.
However, Jiang He's reasoning was truly bizarre and avant-garde.
Yet no one questioned it because earlier, Old Shao had given them one word—trust.
Xu Yiman said, "We need to return to the City Bureau immediately. If we want to test this hundred-dollar bill, we won't be able to do it in less than a few hours."
Old Shao nodded and said, "As soon as possible."
Yuan Jun drove the group back to the police station, and no one spoke in the car.
Wang Chao had been missing for three months, and they had no idea. When Wang Chao was discharged from the hospital, they were all busy with investigations and had never taken the time to congratulate him. But time had passed, and everything had changed in an instant. Wang Chao had become a wanted criminal throughout the city, while they were on their way to capture him.
Twelve hours seemed like a long time, but everyone understood that every minute and second passing by was a loss of life.
When Xu Yiman took a hundred yuan bill for testing, there were ten hours left.
Jiang He stood motionless in the yard, waiting for Xu Yiman's results. At this moment, they had no leads; all they could do was wait.
Leaves fell one by one in front of Jiang He, swaying with the wind and lying on the ground. Autumn announced its arrival in such a straightforward manner.
As Jiang He watched the leaves fall, before long, he was surrounded by a pile of fallen leaves. Suddenly, he stood up. A thought flashed through his mind—he had seen fallen leaves somewhere before.
These leaves were different from those here; although the leaves here fell randomly, they did not cover the entire yard. Most of them were concentrated in one area. While there were leaves scattered elsewhere, they were few and far between. The fallen leaves in the yard varied in density; some areas had many while others had few.
Jiang He understood now; this was the meaning of randomness. Randomness did not mean that leaves would cover the entire yard uniformly but rather that there was a higher probability of them falling here than elsewhere.
"Old Shao!" Jiang He pushed open the conference room door and shouted.
At that moment, Old Shao was holding his teacup with his eyes closed in thought. Hearing Jiang He's voice, he suddenly stood up and asked, "Is there a result from Xu Yiman?"
Jiang He shook his head and replied, "No, but I have a lead on Lu Zhengye."
"What?" Old Shao asked.
Jiang He gestured for Old Shao to follow him outside as he said, "Old Shao, when we were at Wei Lingyong's house before, we saw that the yard was filled with fallen leaves. He never cleaned up; those leaves came from that big tree outside, right?"
"What's the problem?" Old Shao asked.
Jiang He pointed to the ground and said, "But the leaves here haven't been cleaned up either. In a yard that hasn't been cleaned, the fallen leaves should be unevenly distributed—some areas would have more, while others would have less. This could be due to the position of the trees or the wind blowing. However, in Wei Lingyong's yard, the leaves are almost spread evenly across every corner."
"This clearly indicates that he didn't neglect cleaning; rather, he must have taken great care to evenly spread those leaves throughout the yard."
Jiang He looked at Old Shao and analyzed, "Previously, Wei Lingyong always advised Wei Linghui to stay away from Lu Zhengye. Yet after Lu Zhengye was released from prison, Wei Lingyong stopped advising his sister. This doesn't make sense."
Old Shao clapped his hands and said, "Exactly! If it wasn't because Wei Lingyong felt he couldn't break them apart and chose to give up, then it means he knows Lu Zhengye can no longer pursue his sister. That is to say..."
Jiang He and Old Shao spoke in unison, "Wei Lingyong killed him!"
Shao the Elder confirmed, "That's right. No wonder when the police went to his house and asked him some basic questions, he got so nervous that he drank so many cups of water. At first, I thought he felt guilty about his daughter, but now it seems he was afraid we would figure out that he killed Lu Zhengye."
"If Lu Zhengye was indeed killed by him, then Lu Zhengye has been dead for at least eighty-eight days," Shao the Elder continued. "Where do you think he hid the body?"
Jiang He replied decisively, "In the latrine. I noticed he glanced at the latrine in the yard several times. He drank so much water but showed no signs of needing to use the restroom. If he threw Lu Zhengye's body into the cesspit, then everything makes sense."
"Gather everyone else," Shao the Elder instructed. "We need to head out immediately. The matter of testing the hundred-dollar bills will be handled by the others. If we find Lu Zhengye, this lead will be far more important than the hundred-dollar bills."
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