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墨書 Inktalez
The summer in G City is extremely hot and humid. Occasionally, the sky is covered with thick, dark clouds, followed by a heavy rain accompanied by strong winds, as if someone has thrown a bucket of water at you. But this rain only briefly makes people forget about the heat, and after the rain stops, the sun becomes even more unrestrained.
The humid and hot air is filled with the smell of boiling water. The ground quickly dries up under the sun, but some corners of the Urban village still feel damp due to the shelter of the houses. This scene is also suitable for the appearance and reproduction of rats and cockroaches, as they feast on scraps and leftovers in a pile of garbage.
Sanitation worker Lao Wu cleans up the garbage in the Urban village at noon every day. In his fifties, he seems to be struggling to breathe under the weight of the garbage, hunching his back and coughing loudly a few times, probably to remind the rats to leave quickly. He slowly throws bags of garbage into the cart. Surrounded by tightly packed buildings, the so-called balconies cannot see a ray of sunlight. People lazily stand on the balcony in slippers, smoking and lazily watching Lao Wu.
"I f*cking can't stand this, what's that awful smell?" Despite wearing a mask, Lao Wu was still nauseated by the stench, his eyebrows, nose, and eyes scrunching together. Clearly uninterested, Lao Wu hastily tossed the black garbage bag into the cart and spat on the ground with disgust.
There was a moderately sized garbage station at the intersection of this Urban village, and around 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Lao Wu slowly pushed the garbage cart back. Next, he would dump the garbage into the incinerator. Before dumping, all the garbage needed to be sorted to prevent any flammable or explosive dangerous goods from being dumped. At the same time, as an environmental worker, he could also check for any bottles or cans that could be recycled. Lao Wu often tirelessly swept away his previous fatigue and diligently sorted through the garbage. But today, luck was clearly not on his side, as he only found some plastic bottles and nothing else.
Finally, there was the black garbage bag emitting a foul smell. Amidst the colorful garbage pile, this black plastic bag seemed like a shiny black gem. Lao Wu hesitated whether to open the bag and try his luck. Approaching it, he covered his nose and kicked it hard with his foot, but still couldn't figure out what was inside. So, he went back to get a pair of tongs, cut open the garbage bag, and found a bundle wrapped in newspaper inside. Lao Wu then used the tongs to carefully unwrap the newspaper. Suddenly, Lao Wu let out a scream, "Ah!" His legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground, propping himself up with his hands.
"Ah! Someone's dead!!" In front of Lao Wu was a head, completely unrecognizable as male or female, with a large patch of scalp torn off and a few wet strands of hair hanging on the bloodless face. A pair of eyes glared fiercely at Lao Wu... This is Liu Bing's fifth year at the police station. He has a strong presence, always holding a cup of tea and swaying the scalding hot tea, crossing his legs, and speaking unhurriedly. Due to long-term smoking, he has bad breath and his teeth have gradually turned from yellow to black. His slightly plump figure exudes the greasy aura of a middle-aged man, especially with a lot of flesh on his face. He even went to see a physiognomist, who said that he had the potential for great wealth and that his nostrils expanding outward indicated a sign of wealth absorption. After hearing this, Liu Bing was somewhat pleased, having stayed at the police station for five years without any promotion or wealth.
In the past five years, a lot has happened to Liu Bing. Three years ago, he married his high school classmate and they had a son. Then, two years ago, there was a robbery at a department store in Baiyun District. The robber held a salesperson hostage, and Liu Bing ultimately shot and killed the robber. This incident caused a sensation in the entire G City, but eventually, it faded from public attention. Liu Bing returned to his normal life, still sitting with his legs crossed and drinking tea at the police station.
Around 4 o'clock in the afternoon, the police station received a call from Old Wu, and Liu Bing was notified to go to the scene with several other officers, including Guorui. Liu Bing hadn't encountered a homicide case since the shooting incident, but today, as he was on duty, he had to lead the team. When they arrived at the scene, it was already crowded with people. Tenants, landlords, and passersby from the surrounding urban village were whispering to each other, and a group of people were eagerly taking photos and videos, hoping to gather firsthand information to share with their relatives and friends.
"Make way, the police are here. Disperse, why are you all standing here?" Guorui scolded the onlookers and used his hands to part the crowd, creating a path for Liu Bing.
Liu Bing squatted down and looked at the gruesome head, the broken scalp with a few white maggots crawling around. The staring eyes still retained the terror of the moment, with false eyelashes stuck to them. Due to the onset of decay, the tongue in the mouth had also protruded, resembling a clown with makeup and appearing somewhat comical. Liu Bing watched as the eyes lost their focus, wondering what exactly had been seen to elicit such a fearful expression.
He couldn't help but think of the robber he had shot dead two years ago, who fell to the ground with a look of despair and terror in his eyes. Perhaps people all show this kind of fearful expression when facing death.
Liu Bing lit a cigarette and then had Guorui call Lao Wu over to ask about the situation. Lao Wu clearly hadn't recovered from the shock, speaking in a stuttering manner and with a local accent. Liu Bing and Guorui found it very difficult to understand, so they gave up on questioning and arranged for several other auxiliary police to take the statement.
"Let's go, go to That urban village and take a look. The population there is concentrated, see if we can find any clues. Also, make a call to the bureau to check if there are any missing persons cases." Liu Bing instructed Guorui as they walked.
Before leaving, Liu Bing turned back to look at the skull again. The forensic doctor was carefully packing the skull into a box. The round eyes of the skull seemed to droop for some reason, the corners of the mouth seemed to be slightly upturned, and the tongue that was sticking out was swaying back and forth. It was as if the skull was making a grimace at Liu Bing...
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