Book Synopsis
Book Tags
Donation Rankings
Comment
0 Comments
You May Also Like
墨書 Inktalez
Guo Guoqing hung up the phone without any discussion, and it seemed he had already calculated how long it would take us to find him. However, we still needed half an hour to arrive, and by that time, Guo Guoqing would likely have fled. Yet, during our conversation, he mentioned that he would remind us in a special way, which likely meant we had to reach this location to discover it.
The journey was silent, and when we arrived at the place, we realized the signal was coming from a rundown apartment complex. There was no security at the entrance, allowing us to walk right in. Upon finding the exact location, we noticed the door was slightly ajar; it appeared that Guo Guoqing had been hiding inside while talking to me.
As we entered and observed, we found the apartment was about sixty square meters—a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. It could be said that although small, it had all the essentials. The dust on the floor was thick, and there were footprints—clearly belonging to Guo Guoqing. At this moment, we didn’t need to collect fingerprints since we already knew that Killer was Guo Guoqing; there was no need for such trivialities.
We moved further inside to inspect. The place was nearly empty—barely furnished. There wasn’t a single piece of furniture. We put on gloves, turned on the lights, and turned on the faucet only to find it useless; it seemed there had been no water or electricity for quite some time. This location was likely chosen by Guo Guoqing specifically so that we wouldn’t find anything—no clues whatsoever. After circling around the area, we found nothing.
However, Mary discovered a mobile phone on the balcony. The last call displayed was made to me. It appeared that this phone was used by Guo Guoqing to contact me earlier. Yet on our way here and around the neighborhood, there were no signs of Guo Guoqing or his accomplices.
We had deployed twenty police officers for this operation; others were tasked with searching for any traces of Guo Guoqing nearby while we focused on the only clue he left behind—the mobile phone. It was an ordinary Android phone; I won’t mention the brand as it was quite unremarkable.
Upon opening it up, we found that the phone seemed brand new—almost devoid of any applications except for the pre-installed ones like calendar, notes, and calculator. This suggested that the SIM card must also be new. As for whose card it was, we couldn’t tell yet; however, it definitely wasn’t obtained by Guo Guoqing himself—that much was certain.
After circling around the room several times without discovering anything unusual or any clues, I found it strange. On the phone call, Guo Guoqing mentioned wanting to play a game with us—to see if we could find Dr. Sun tied up in a location within a limited timeframe.
Setting aside other considerations for now, where could they have tied up Dr. Sun? First, it had to be a cold place; second, it needed to be somewhere with few people so as not to attract attention. Such places are not uncommon but can be narrowed down significantly.
Tianlan City is in the north and is starting its heating season now; thus Dr. Sun couldn’t be in a heated environment—meaning she must be in one of those dilapidated apartment complexes without central heating. These locations aren’t rare but are primarily found in rural areas.
Secondly, it must be a sparsely populated area—one where most people wouldn’t venture and would go unnoticed easily. It was just past one in the afternoon with temperatures above freezing. Although autumn is nearing winter, it wasn’t too cold yet; at above-zero temperatures, Dr. Sun could hold out until at least nightfall—giving us four or five hours of time.
Four or five hours might seem like too long for Guo Guoqing from his perspective. Would he really give us such ample time? This suggested that he might have misled us into thinking Dr. Sun could last longer than she actually could; in reality, she might not survive until evening.
So where could this place be? Suddenly I recalled what happened to two detectives last night—they were thrown onto Tianlan Mountain and spent the night freezing and exhausted. Yes—the Mountain.
For every hundred meters ascended, the temperature drops by 0.6 degrees Celsius. I checked my phone’s temperature app; it showed three degrees above zero now. This meant that at five hundred meters up the Mountain, temperatures would already be at zero degrees or lower.
Tianlan City is located in the west surrounded by continuous high mountains averaging at least two thousand meters in height. If Dr. Sun were at one thousand meters up the Mountain right now, then temperatures would already be minus three degrees Celsius—and with strong winds on the Mountain, how long could she possibly endure without clothes?
I didn’t know how long she could last but understood she wouldn’t hold out for long at all. Moreover, being alone on a deserted Mountain must fill her with despair—nervousness coupled with fear would undoubtedly accelerate her demise.
Thinking along these lines made me anxious; however, there were no other options available right now. Guo Guoqing had previously mentioned giving us hints—but now that this phone was left behind here, how would he provide those hints? Would he perhaps use another phone to call me again to indicate Dr. Sun’s location?
If that's the case, isn't it redundant? If so, it means that what Guo Guoqing wants to tell us is right here in this room. And in this room, there is no furniture; what could possibly be of value? Suddenly, a possibility struck me—this thing is both far away and right in front of me.
This thing is the phone sitting beside me, the one Guo Guoqing used to call me.
If there is anything in this room that can hold a lot of information, it would undoubtedly be this phone. However, I had already gone through it and found nothing useful. It had only received one call from me, there were no messages ever edited, no alarms set, and nothing in the notes.
It was clearly a brand-new phone, aside from that one call.
Seeing me lost in thought while holding the phone, Juan Juan walked over and asked, "What's wrong? Did you find something in the phone?"
I shook my head and replied, "There’s no information in here."
At that moment, a female forensic technician approached me to take photos of the scene. As she was leaving, she caught a glimpse of the phone and remarked, "Your wallpaper has quite a Chinese style."
Hearing her words made me notice that the wallpaper depicted a landscape painting of continuous mountains. Besides the towering peaks, there were some small poems written beside them, though I couldn't make out what they said. Suddenly, an idea flashed through my mind, and I quickly focused on the phone again.
Yes, this phone is new and has only made one call; however, this wallpaper is definitely not the default one. Default wallpapers are usually bright and colorful patterns—where would you find a black-and-white landscape painting like this? This indicates that besides making that one call, someone had also modified the wallpaper!
With this realization, I hurriedly called over Mary and said to her, "Can you display this phone's wallpaper on a flat surface?"
Mary nodded and immediately connected to the computer.
The wallpaper was quite wide; as we swiped left and right with our fingers, parts of it would appear. However, we could only view it piece by piece, which felt uncomfortable and cumbersome—like trying to look at a painting cut into several segments. So I had to ask Mary, who was skilled with computers, to present the wallpaper as a single image so we could see it clearly and enlarge the text.
Soon enough, Mary fulfilled my request and displayed the wallpaper on the computer. We could finally see the entire painting. It was a landscape painting; most of the left side featured high mountains with a tranquil lake below. Above the lake, some Dragonfly insects were flying around, and on a path through the woods were two small children.
On the right side were several small poems written in relatively small text.
Fortunately, Mary managed to enlarge these poems without distorting them so we could finally read what they said.
They were three simple quatrains.
The first one read: "Clear water shines bright; clouds vanish with daylight. Love turns to hate with intent; insects fill the sky's extent."
The second poem: "Two young children go to gather firewood, lacking strength and unable to chop. On their way home, they fear being laughed at, hiding in the mountains and not coming out."
The third poem: "The mountains rise and fall, gradually fading away; the winding path is rugged, and the mountains are unseen. The peaks twist and turn, forming a web, forged by blades of gold and iron."
These three poems correspond to the scenes depicted in this painting. The first poem speaks of the calm lake at the foot of the mountain, with many insects fluttering above. The second poem describes two children gathering firewood on a mountain path. The third poem illustrates the undulating mountains that are quite winding.
Upon closer inspection, this is a landscape painting featuring mountains, water, and people. These poems are merely simple verses. Is there something that Killer wants to convey to us within them? Yet, upon further reflection, what useful information could possibly be contained here?
Mary said, "This seems like just an ordinary wallpaper; what could it possibly hold?"
However, in this room, aside from the phone which holds some value, everything else is essentially worthless. Thinking along these lines, I said, "No, the clue Guo Guoqing gave us should be within this painting. But what exactly does he want to tell us?"
Comment 0 Comment Count