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墨書 Inktalez
"Do you notice a big problem with the glass shards?" Jiang He pointed at the fragments.
Old Shao looked at the shards, which were transparent and appeared to be from an ordinary drinking glass. Judging by its texture, it was clear that this cup was of average quality and not expensive.
"From any angle, this is just an extremely ordinary cup," Old Shao said. "It's the kind you can buy five for ten yuan at the market."
"That's true," Jiang He replied, his mind racing. "But I'm not talking about a complete cup."
Old Shao turned to Jiang He, who had closed his eyes, seemingly deep in thought. After a moment, Old Shao understood. "You mean the pieces of the cup?"
Jiang He remained silent, lost in contemplation. The dozen or so glass shards laid out before him began to take shape in his mind, transforming like pieces of a puzzle that continuously changed and rotated.
Eventually, these fragments formed a whole in Jiang He's mind—a glass cup before it was shattered.
"One piece is missing," Jiang He said. "Are you sure you brought back all the pieces of the glass?"
A nearby detective spoke up. "That's right; we brought back the entire trash bin and sorted through all the garbage inside. We can confirm that all the glass shards are here. If one is truly missing, then it definitely isn't in the trash."
"But," the detective scratched his head, "with the glass shattered into so many pieces, how can you be sure one is missing?"
Jiang He pointed to his head. "I can tell by my memory. I noted down the shape and size of each shard. Even if some pieces are tiny fragments, overall, I’m confident there’s nothing wrong. No matter how I piece them together, one is missing. I’m ninety percent sure that one piece is definitely gone."
Old Shao turned to the detective. "Immediately arrange for the Forensic Science Division to reassemble this glass cup and see if that piece is indeed missing."
The detective nodded.
Jiang He looked at Old Shao. "Did the staff thoroughly search Wang Ziyi's house? Are we sure no extra fragments fell under the sofa or coffee table?"
"No," Old Shao replied firmly. "They always do a meticulous job; they shouldn't have missed anything."
“Hmm.” Jiang He nodded and said, “Bloodstains were found on the glass shards, and one piece is missing. I suspect the murderer took it.”
Old Shao stood up and paced around the conference room, thinking for a moment before saying, “Whether intentionally or not, the murderer broke the glass cup and injured themselves. To avoid leaving traces, they took away the shard that cut them. The murderer probably thought no one would notice that a piece of the glass was missing.”
Hearing Old Shao's words, Jiang He nodded; it was likely true.
Old Shao continued, “However, if that’s the case, we may never find that piece of glass. A shard is truly insignificant. But the murderer certainly didn’t expect that there might be blood droplets on another shard that are even invisible to the naked eye.”
“Let’s check with Xu Yiman,” Shao the Elder said. “The DNA comparison results should be out soon.”
Jiang He nodded and prepared to stand up when Old Shao's phone rang.
“Hello? Who is this?” It was an unfamiliar number.
“Really?” Old Shao sounded pleasantly surprised. “We’ll head over right away.”
“Whose call was that?” Jiang He asked.
Old Shao smiled and said to Jiang He, “Get ready with two thousand yuan; we’re heading to the northwest suburbs.”
“Did you find that Cellar?” Jiang He inquired.
“Yes, we found it,” Old Shao replied.
At that moment, Xu Yiman walked in. She spoke up, “I just compared Lu Zhengye’s DNA and found that the blood on the glass shard does not belong to him. The murderer may be someone else.”
Old Shao nodded, his gaze deepening. “Let’s put this matter aside for now. The Scavenger Elder has located the Cellar in the northwest suburbs; we need to go to the scene immediately.”
“Has Wei Linghui been found…”
"Call Yuan Jun," Old Shao said.
The team members drove towards the northwest suburbs.
In the car, Old Shao asked Yuan Jun, "So, do you have any leads on your end?"
Yuan Jun nodded and replied, "I've been trying to find information about Lu Zhengye's family for the past two days. According to the information Guan Deng provided me about Lu Zhengye's family, I just got in touch with Lu Zhengye's parents an hour or two ago. However, they told me that their son suddenly went missing three months ago. His phone has been off, and when I asked his friends, none of them have seen him; they have no idea where he went. They were even considering reporting it to the police."
Xu Yiman interjected, "But they didn't report it."
Yuan Jun nodded again, "That's right, they didn't report it. Lu Zhengye's father felt that since his son had just been released from prison and was still adjusting to everything, he didn't want to alarm the police again. He was afraid his son might get into trouble once more. But his mother is different; although Lu Zhengye has been involved in some bad company, she isn't a bad person at heart."
Old Shao fell silent for a moment and said, "Ten years. Ten years ago, people didn’t even know what a smartphone was. Now, ten years later, we have smartphones, smart TVs, online payments—everything has developed so quickly. Those who come out of prison have long been disconnected from society; it takes them a long time to adapt."
"It seems like all mothers believe their sons are good," Xu Yiman remarked. "I've seen a photo of Lu Zhengye. He was quite handsome when he was younger; if he had chosen a proper path, he could have even become a star. Yet he chose the path of crime instead."
Jiang He said, "We need to investigate further."
Old Shao nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Lu Zhengye's sudden disappearance must have had some warning signs beforehand. I believe his parents might have some clues; regardless of whether Lu Zhengye is the culprit or not, this case is closely related to him."
"The depth of human hatred," Old Shao sighed. "It's truly one of the most profound emotions we possess. Loving someone may not last more than three to five years, but hating someone can persist for ten years, decades, or even a lifetime. The revenge stemming from that hatred can ruin many lives."
"Perhaps this is humanity's inherent flaw."
Upon arriving near the previous garbage mound, the Scavenger Elder was already waiting at the spot where they had met before.
Seeing Old Shao get out of the car, the Scavenger Elder said, "You’ve arrived! Come quickly; we found your Cellar."
Old Shao nodded and replied, "Lead us there right away."
"Mm." The Scavenger Elder nodded, yet showed no intention of leaving.
"Let's go," Yuan Jun urged.
Old Shao smiled, naturally understanding the old man's meaning. "Jiang He, give this two thousand yuan to this elder brother."
Jiang He nodded, took the two thousand yuan from the car, and handed it to the scavenger elder. "Count it, it's exactly two thousand yuan."
The scavenger elder took the money and stuffed it into his inner pocket. "Why count it? The only thing I trust in this life is the police. But that place is a bit far; cars can't get in, you have to ride a bicycle. Follow me, we don’t have much here, but we have enough bicycles. Come on!"
With that, the Scavenger Elder led everyone to ride bicycles.
"Old Shao, let me give you a ride," Yuan Jun said. "The road isn't very good."
"Mm." Old Shao nodded.
Xu Yiman blushed and said, "I can't ride a bicycle."
"Hehe." Yuan Jun chuckled. "You drive so skillfully but can't ride a bicycle? It’s obvious you had no childhood."
"Hmph." Xu Yiman huffed and looked at Jiang He, who was picking out a bicycle. "Give me a ride."
Jiang He nodded. "Then I need to choose a mountain bike..."
The Scavenger Elder was quick on his feet and pushed a bicycle ahead of him. As he rode, he said to the others, "Don't! That place is really hard to find. Cars definitely can't get in; you can only walk or ride a bike. Very few people go there; if it weren't for helping you find someone, most wouldn't go inside."
"The cellar is on a hill; it's all mud outside, so most people won't go up there and can't see the iron cover on top of the cellar. There was this young man in his forties who happened to walk near that hill. He heard what seemed like someone crying but couldn't see anyone around."
"Fortunately, it was Big White; if it had been at night, he might have scared someone to death. He searched for a while, thinking someone had abandoned a child since it sounded like a kid crying. No matter how hard he looked, he couldn't find anyone. Eventually, he stood on that hill to see if there was an abandoned baby or something and felt something hard under his feet. When he looked down and wiped it with his hand, he realized it was something like a manhole cover."
"But there is a lock on the outside of this Manhole Cover, which secures the lid. The crying sound is coming from inside here. Then he remembered the things we went through together and came to find me, so I quickly called you all," said the Scavenger Old Man, pointing to the large pliers in his bicycle basket. "Look, I even prepared tools for you."
Old Shao smiled, thinking that this old man was quite well-prepared.
After riding for over an hour, the group wound through the garbage hills and finally arrived at the location. The garbage mounds here were not very high, resembling small earth hills. The sunlight slanted down, providing a clear view of the area, which matched Jiang He's speculation closely.
Upon reaching the mound, it was indeed as the Scavenger Old Man had said.
"The footprints are gone," Jiang He remarked.
Everyone looked over, and sure enough, there were no footprints in the mud. However, the person who discovered the Cellar would not have idly erased their own footprints. This meant that someone else had been here.
"Could it be that the person in the Cellar was moved?" Jiang He suggested.
Just then, a sound of crying came from inside the Cellar.
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