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墨書 Inktalez
"Ah? It's him!" I exclaimed, unable to contain my surprise.
Yes, it was him, no doubt about it! Although we had only met once, I would never forget that face!
He was the one who had come in and out of Professor Qin's Emergency Room as a Cleaner! I had only encountered him briefly, but that face was etched in my memory. The left side of his face appeared normal, while the right side was contorted and almost squished together, resembling a "ghost face."
The background of the photo showed a separate courtyard of a bungalow. The person taking the pictures had captured various moments of him entering the courtyard from different angles. Although the shots were a bit distant, I still recognized him; he was pushing a vehicle that looked like a motorcycle.
"Do you know this person?" Ah Huang asked urgently.
"Yes," I steadied myself. "This person is the Cleaner from the hospital who has been in and out of Professor Qin's Emergency Room."
"I see. No wonder he’s at the hospital and can access Professor Qin's Emergency Room; it all adds up," Ah Huang said, flipping through the stack of photos.
"Wait, there's still something that doesn't add up," Lao Zhao suddenly interjected.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Liu Qi was clearly subjected to Hypnosis. When I tried to Hypnotize her earlier, there were many things I couldn't get out of her. It's evident that someone has placed a lock on Liu Qi's subconscious and some of her memories. This person must be a master of Hypnosis, but how could a Cleaner possibly be an expert in Hypnosis? Even if he were that skilled, he wouldn't be just a Cleaner, right?" Lao Zhao looked at Ah Huang.
"That makes sense," Ah Huang nodded.
"Great, we're back to square one," I said, genuinely confused. Honestly, I began to doubt my own intelligence. How could we keep finding clues that seemed plausible yet led us astray time and again? What was the truth? It had gotten to the point where I had lost my appetite.
"What should we do?" Lao Zhao and I asked in unison. I realized this had become my most frequently asked question lately. Back at the Unit, it was always others asking me what to do; when had I ever asked someone else? But there was no choice; every field is different, and Ah Huang had the final say. We were merely here to provide references and suggestions. Naturally, it would be up to Ah Huang to make the decision.
"Wait for him to go out again," Ah Huang said after some thought. "Once he leaves, we’ll search the courtyard!"
“There's a dog inside, a Tibetan Mastiff!” I reminded him.
“Don’t worry, we have tranquilizers. We’ll knock it out, and it won’t cause any trouble.”
“But you don’t know when he will come back. What if he returns and sees the dog lying unconscious? If he’s innocent, that’s one thing, but what if he’s a suspect? That would alert him!” Lao Zhao asked.
Ah Huang hadn’t spoken yet, so I chimed in, “In that case, why not give the dog an awakening shot right before we leave? That way, it will wake up quickly, and we won’t have to worry about being discovered.”
“We also need someone outside to keep an eye on him, in case he comes home unexpectedly.”
“Let’s use a traffic cop!” I suddenly thought of something. “Doesn’t he have a motorcycle? We can have a traffic cop wait near his home. If he comes back early, they can stop him. This will buy us enough time to cover our tracks.”
Ah Huang stared at me for a while before saying lightly, “Three cobblers surpass Zhuge Liang; you really are quick-witted to think of this!”
Ah Huang tapped his fingers lightly on the table. “Then let’s not waste any time. I’ll set things up now; you all continue eating.”
“Hey, make sure to call us when you go in,” I said to Ah Huang.
“Bringing you along is fine, but you can only watch from behind me. No talking, no questions, and don’t touch anything!” Ah Huang said sternly.
“Got it, this is an operation after all,” Agent of the Array replied.
“No problem,” Lao Zhao mumbled with food still in his mouth. For him, none of this really mattered; what was important was that there was plenty of good food and drink. After all, wasn’t his fortune-telling just a way to ensure he could enjoy life? It was great that it was happening directly! I couldn’t believe that a so-called hypnosis expert was like this; I had expected them all to be cool and profound like Dawn.
Ah Huang left the private room to set things up. Meanwhile, I continued eating and just shared a couple of drinks.
After a while, Ah Huang finally returned, his face clearly showing excitement. I couldn't help but tease him, saying, "Oh, congratulations! You must be close to cracking the case and have received praise from your superiors, right?"
Ah Huang paused for a moment, "How did you know..."
"Come on, you called your boss, didn't you? You must have gotten some solid leads and are just waiting for the next steps to confirm something."
"Heh heh." Ah Huang chuckled awkwardly. "Well, there's no choice; we need some progress to report. Besides, without that, we can't get a search warrant."
I could understand his perspective, but I didn't quite agree with Ah Huang's bureaucratic approach. It seemed that once people changed positions, they inevitably changed a bit too. Years later, when I wrote this story, I recalled the saying: it's the backside that determines the head rather than the head determining the backside. Isn't that true? If it were truly the head that determined the backside, I doubt Instructor would have been in that position, and I wouldn't have been stuck in my own position with little chance of promotion.
Old Zhao was eating while Ah Huang and I were lost in our thoughts. The room fell silent except for Old Zhao's loud chewing sounds, reminiscent of a pig.
Once Old Zhao finished his meal and started drinking while chatting with Ah Huang and smoking, I was already feeling extremely tired. I had developed a habit of napping during lunch; by this time, my consciousness began to blur. As Old Zhao put it, this was when I was at my most relaxed—perfect for hypnosis. I leaned back in my chair and dozed off. I didn't know how long it had been when a sudden noise woke me up. I opened my eyes to find that Ah Huang's phone was ringing.
Ah Huang answered the call and after a few murmurs, his voice suddenly grew louder. "Okay, let's go! Start moving! Be careful not to disturb the neighbors! I'm on my way!"
He hung up and excitedly told us, "The suspect has left! We need to hurry over for the search operation!" With that, he dashed out the door.
I quickly rubbed my eyes and stood up to follow him outside, leaving Old Zhao behind shouting, "Wait! Wait! By the way, did anyone pay the bill?"
We got into Ah Huang's car and within ten minutes we arrived at Ghost Face's house. I checked the time; it was four in the afternoon.
This area resembled an urban village with mostly single-story houses and some residents with yards. Ghost Face's home was one of them. The roads were narrow enough that cars couldn't easily drive in, so we parked outside and hid the vehicle before walking in.
There was an undercover officer—at least I assumed he was undercover—who gestured vigorously at us (specifically at Ah Huang), signaling us to follow him.
We walked for about five or six minutes into the residential area and arrived at a relatively spacious intersection. I recognized that "Ghost Face" lived in a yard right at this corner.
However, the door was open, and a police officer was standing at the entrance, making a gesture with his hand. Ah Huang nodded and walked inside.
We followed closely behind Ah Huang. As soon as we entered the yard, I realized it was a simple space, not large—about twenty square meters. In front of us was a house, and to the left of the yard gate was a patch of vegetable garden, though I couldn't tell what was growing there; it was lush and green, thriving well. Just as I was looking around, my peripheral vision caught sight of something large and black on the right side.
I turned to take a look. What the heck! A massive black dog lay on the ground, completely motionless.
It was it—Tao Tie!
Yes, there was no doubt about it; with that build, there couldn't be another one.
It lay there without moving, its furry head obscured from view, but its mouth was wide open, revealing a mouthful of sharp teeth, with its crimson tongue hanging out. If I hadn't seen its chest rising and falling slightly, I would have thought it was dead. This creature had a chain around its neck as thick as my thumb. Upon closer inspection—what the hell!—the chain was quite long, likely enough to cover the entire yard. How fierce! With such a vicious dog, if anyone entered here, I couldn't even imagine what would happen.
Goodness, how could anyone get into this yard without tranquilizers?! I shivered at the thought.
(To be continued; more exciting content tomorrow!)
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