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墨書 Inktalez
There is an old saying that the most dangerous place in the world is often the safest. This statement holds a grain of truth. The phenomenon of "darkness under the lamp" is quite common in life. Mary was quick; within just an hour, she found us new identities online, purchased a new SIM card, and even acquired a car.
Truly, she is one of the top hackers, and I have great admiration for her skills. Since we couldn't get in touch with the Police Department of Jing City, they had already issued a citywide wanted notice. It seemed that the Police Department was taking this matter very seriously. There might be an insider at work, but we were unclear about the specifics at this point.
Returning to Jing City meant we couldn't take the highway. The Police Department would surely block off external roads immediately. Fortunately, with access to the internet, finding a back road into Jing City was quite simple. We had to enter within twenty-four hours of the wanted notice being issued; otherwise, once everything was set up, it would be much harder for us to infiltrate.
As I watched the car head towards Jing City, I speculated about how events would unfold. The sports car that Zhao Mingkun lent me would likely be discovered soon; I estimated it would happen within two hours. Although sports cars are common in Yuzhou City, having one parked on a suburban road was quite unusual. If someone spotted it, there was over a ninety percent chance they would call the police. I doubted any thief would dare steal a car worth millions.
If someone did report it, Jing City would definitely receive notification. At that point, Old Wang would surely lead his team to track down the vehicle, giving us a time advantage to investigate the hotel staff's situation. This was already the fourth victim; cases like this were often filled with contradictions. No one wanted more deaths to occur, but with each new victim, we could get closer to the Killer.
The car took a nearly abandoned back road, winding its way into Jing City. What should have been an hour-long journey stretched into over two hours, and by now we were both starving. We found a rundown supermarket that looked like it might close soon and bought some food to satisfy our hunger.
Mary devoured her bread while gulping down bottled water; she looked absolutely famished. We hadn't had anything to drink since morning, and now even bread tasted incredibly delicious. We had spent the entire day in the car, and judging by the circumstances, it seemed like we would continue this way for several more days.
After letting out a satisfied burp, Mary said to me, "You’re so cautious about finding food, choosing supermarkets without surveillance cameras. If you really were the Killer, I doubt anyone could catch you. Just think about it—if Sherlock Holmes committed a crime, who could possibly catch him?"
I shook my finger and replied, "That statement is incorrect; anyone who commits a crime will eventually be caught. There’s no such thing as a perfect crime in this world; even if Sherlock Holmes were involved, he would leave behind clues. Lockard's principle of material exchange makes it clear: people are products of their environment."
"In simpler terms, even a tree nearby or a flower or a stray dog can record the process of a crime." I packed away what was left of my food and its wrapping into my bag and continued, "Right now, that sports car should have already been discovered. We need to head straight to the hotel where we found the staff member's body earlier."
When we arrived at that location, there were no police lines outside the hotel anymore; not many people knew about this case yet, so it hadn’t caused any panic. I scanned my surroundings and told Mary, "There are three cameras in total: two on the left and one at the back; there are also cameras inside the hotel. You stay in the car while I go ask questions—keep it running; we need to be ready to leave at any moment."
Mary nodded but looked somewhat nervous. Honestly, I hadn’t expected that after chasing others for so long, we would now be on the run ourselves. With that thought in mind, I opened the car door, put on my sunglasses, lowered my head slightly, and confidently walked towards the hotel entrance. Ironically, those who appear most anxious often attract more attention.
This reminded me of cheating during elementary school exams—those who discreetly copied from notes usually succeeded while those who constantly glanced around at the teacher ended up getting caught. If you can’t hide something from yourself, how can you hide it from others?
I pulled out Mary’s Police Badge and flashed it in front of one of the staff members before saying, "Police investigation—where's your Boss?"
The staff member looked at me and replied, "I'll call him right away." As he walked away muttering under his breath, "Here we go again? How many times have they come today? It’s just someone accidentally drowning in a toilet—does it really warrant all this fuss?"
It seemed Old Wang was downplaying the nature of this case—a reasonable choice to avoid panic and prevent copycat crimes. After waiting for several minutes, Boss finally rushed down from upstairs. I repeated my earlier action with Mary’s Police Badge and said to him, "Earlier today my colleague came here to gather information; however, there are still some details we need to understand more deeply."
The Boss was a woman in her forties, quite cooperative. She nodded and said, "Ask whatever you need to know; we will definitely cooperate. Just please don’t let this information leak out. We still have business to run, and it would be detrimental if this got out. Who would want to stay at our hotel then, right?"
I nodded, understanding the Boss's concerns. I replied seriously, "Of course, we have already gathered most of the information we need. The hotel will not be affected. You see, I’m not wearing my police uniform today; I came in plain clothes for this very reason. Now, please copy the surveillance footage for me."
As I spoke, I handed the USB drive to the Boss.
She was busy but asked, "Didn’t you already request this during lunch? Why do you need it again?"
I frowned and replied, "What you provided at lunch wasn’t complete. How many days' worth do you have?"
The Boss explained, "We keep a week's worth of footage stored here. Our hotel’s surveillance is usually cleared every month. If nothing happens, we delete everything. Today is the 20th; we only have footage from the last twenty days. Do you need all of it?"
I shook my head and said, "I only need the footage from the 1st to the 10th. Also, I don’t need the internal surveillance; we’re looking for footage from outside on the street."
Since the Killer had thought of killing the Victim in the hotel restroom, it was clear he knew that he wouldn’t be caught on the hotel’s internal cameras; otherwise, everything would be exposed as soon as they checked the footage. Therefore, internal surveillance was useless. If the Killer was aware of this, he would have likely staked out the place beforehand and would have found a way to avoid being seen by street cameras after a certain amount of time. However, at first, he wouldn’t be able to avoid detection perfectly.
Analyzing from this perspective, requesting footage from the 1st to the 10th made sense. Just then, I received a call from Mary. As soon as I picked up, I heard her voice: "Captain, two police officers are heading towards the hotel. They’re definitely coming for it; they should arrive in about two minutes."
I felt a surge of anxiety but kept my composure on the surface. Staying calm was crucial; panicking would only reveal our position. Analyzing from the Killer's perspective: how did he leave the restroom after committing murder? He certainly wouldn’t just swagger out through the Main Entrance.
While still on the phone, I smiled at the Boss and asked, "Do you have a back door or any other exits here?"
The Landlady shook her head and replied, "No, we only have one Main Entrance here, and all windows are secured with bars. What’s going on, officer?"
"Captain!" Mary’s voice came through again: "They’re almost inside; you’re about to run into them."
At that moment, the Landlady had finished copying the data. I took the USB drive from her and said, "Boss, two of my colleagues will be arriving shortly; they’ll handle any remaining questions for you. I need to use the restroom first." With a slight smile towards her, I quickened my pace towards the restroom.
As soon as I turned down the hallway, I overheard two people talking: "We didn’t find anything useful in the surveillance footage. Do you think the Killer is that Special Investigation Team leader? Wasn’t he sent down from above to solve cases? How did he end up being labeled as a Killer?"
"I don’t know; who really understands what goes on up there? We just need to focus on our mission..."
It seems I have indeed been marked as a key suspect. I quickened my pace and hurried toward the restroom. If no one could leave this place, then the only explanation is that the Killer had exited through the restroom. I entered the men's restroom and found that there were indeed iron bars blocking the window.
I slowly pulled on each iron bar and suddenly noticed that two of them were a bit loose. I tried to pull them out, and with a strong tug, I managed to remove them. It was clear that the Killer had been hiding here, just like before at the party; the Killer had spent a long time preparing for this.
This meant that the Killer had entered the restroom through the window beforehand, then hidden in a stall, waiting for Xing Jie to come in, before pushing them forcefully into the toilet, causing them to lose consciousness, and then placing my fingerprints on Xing Jie's neck. Finally, they had exited through the window using the same method.
But a question arose: if the Killer had started preparing long ago, why involve me in this case? However, this was not the time to ponder such matters. I quickly jumped out of this space and reinserted the two iron bars. From the outside, it looked perfectly intact, with no signs of tampering.
Just as I finished securing the bars, I heard hurried footsteps approaching. I quickly shouted into my phone to Mary, "Start the car and circle around to a small alley in the back; we need to leave immediately!"
The alley was narrow and lacked surveillance—an ideal place for a stealthy escape. When I ran out, Mary's car was already waiting at the mouth of the alley. I jumped into the car, and without hesitation, Mary pressed down on the accelerator, propelling us far away.
As Mary drove, she said, "That was really terrifying! If you had been any slower, you would have been caught right there."
I smiled and raised the USB drive in my hand. "But this adventure wasn't without its rewards. Find a safe place to park so we can check if the surveillance footage reveals anything useful. If I'm not mistaken, we're getting closer to the truth."
On my first voyage at sea, I encountered a well-known Bengal Aid Worker—young and impulsive—but too poor to really make a move until the First Mate told me that a bag of instant noodles could get me through a night with a group of women...
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