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墨書 Inktalez
Su Jin'er pushed open the door of the village chief's house, and a cloud of dust rushed towards her, making her cough repeatedly. The furniture inside was still there, but it was covered with a thin layer of dust.
Captain Xing squatted down and tapped the floor with his hand. Just as Su Jin'er had said, the space below was empty. He stood up and carefully examined every corner. The design of the houses here was different, so their secret room door would definitely not be in the same place. Su Jin'er pushed open the room where she had discovered Arian's body; the blood on the floor had been cleaned up, but she could still faintly smell the scent of blood. She even felt as if Arian's wounded body was still lying there. Frowning, she closed the door, preparing to step out.
Just as there was only a small gap left in the door, she pushed it open again and re-entered the room. Aside from a bed and a desk, there was nothing else in the room. Arian's body had fallen at the foot of the bed, covered in horrifying wounds.
She walked to the far corner and looked at something on the ground. It was a photograph. She picked it up and wiped off the dust, then gasped in surprise!
This photograph was the same one she had seen in that strange villa—the one with the face scratched out.
Holding the photograph, she rushed out of the room. In her panic, she didn't notice that Captain Xing was already standing at the doorway, and she bumped into him. Losing her balance, she fell backward, but Captain Xing reached out to catch her by the waist and asked with concern if she was alright.
Su Jin'er shook her head and handed him the photograph, saying, "This is the photo I saw in that strange villa, but it was framed back then."
Captain Xing took the photograph from her hand; it was a picture of a boy, but his face had been scratched out, making it impossible to identify him.
"Is there any chance this photo can be restored?"
Captain Xing frowned as he looked at the photograph. "The scratches are too severe; restoration is highly unlikely."
"Have you found where the mechanism is?"
Captain Xing shook his head. "I've searched through the entire house, but there's nothing. However, the floor below is indeed empty."
Su Jin'er casually turned her head to look at the bed. The originally pink bedsheet appeared dull due to being covered in dust, and the quilt was carelessly tossed into a corner in a crumpled heap.
Captain Xing walked to the bedside, lifted the bed board, and smiled at Su Jin'er, "It's really down here!"
Su Jin'er recalled a scene from the TV drama "The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber," where the secret passage of Bright Summit was also under the lady's bed. Thinking of this, she couldn't help but smile; perhaps the designer of this secret room was a fan of Jin Yong!
This time they were much more cautious. Now it was just the two of them, so Su Jin'er had to wait above while Captain Xing went down to look for someone.
"Be careful!" Su Jin'er handed the flashlight to Captain Xing and reminded him.
Captain Xing nodded.
Watching him go down, Su Jin'er found a chair outside and sat down beside it. She could still hear Captain Xing's footsteps. She slowly exhaled, remembering Linyuan's sudden death, a wave of sadness surged in her heart. It felt like a lump of cotton was stuck in her throat; she struggled to breathe, her eyes stung painfully, and tears finally streamed down her face. This was all her fault. If she hadn't insisted on investigating this matter, Chu Feifan wouldn't have gone missing, Zuo Yi wouldn't have been captured, and Linyuan wouldn't have died. In fact, she was the real killer; she had put her friends in danger.
The sky had completely darkened, and bright moonlight poured in through the window. She sat in the moonlight, quietly shedding tears. At this moment, she could fully release her emotions. She stood up and walked to the window, gazing at the moonlight outside when suddenly a dark cloud floated by, obscuring the moon and plunging everything into darkness.
Suddenly, a strange sound of footsteps came from outside. She wiped her tears and hid in a corner, too nervous to make a sound. The bedroom door slowly creaked open, and a vague shadow stepped inside. Due to the darkness, Su Jin'er couldn't see his face, but she was certain he was a man.
The man walked to the bedside and looked at the turned-up bed. He paused for a moment before turning around to scan the surroundings. Just then, the moon peeked out again, allowing Su Jin'er to catch a glimpse of his face. It was an unsettling sight; his features were all jumbled together—almost indistinguishable as nose or eyes—and his eyebrows seemed to have vanished. His mouth was crooked, with an upper lip missing, revealing unsightly yellow teeth.
Su Jin'er stared at him in terror as fear surged from her feet to her head; her scalp tingled and her whole body went cold. She hugged her knees, trying to stop herself from trembling.
The man scanned the room but did not notice Su Jin'er hiding in the dark corner. Although his eyes were squished together, she could still sense the fierce intensity in his gaze. He turned back to lower the bed and then pressed the desk onto it before walking toward the door slowly as if each step required great effort; his movements were slow and stiff.
Once the man left, Su Jin'er stood up. She watched him walk away slowly and finally let out a sigh of relief. At that moment, footsteps came from beneath the bedboard. She rushed over to move the desk aside and lifted up the bedding to pull Captain Xing up.
"Has anyone been here?" Captain Xing asked as he brushed off dust from his clothes.
"Yes, I just saw a very strange person. He looked particularly ugly, and his way of walking was odd. He was the one who put down the bed."
"He didn't notice you?"
"Yes, I was hiding over there." Su Jin'er pointed to the corner where she had been hiding, which was just out of the moonlight. If one didn't get close, they wouldn't notice anyone there at all. "Did you find Zuo Yi?"
"I found him. He's locked in a cage downstairs. I came up to look for tools."
Captain Xing spoke without a hint of surprise, as if he were discussing something very ordinary. However, Su Jin'er felt both surprised and worried because she had no idea how to tell him about Linyuan.
"How is he?"
"I called out to him a few times, but he didn't respond. I think he must be unconscious." Captain Xing wasn't sure how to say it; in fact, he wasn't certain whether Zuo Yi was merely unconscious or already... dead.
But Su Jin'er was not easily deceived. She asked warily, "Are you sure he's just unconscious?"
She was actually scared; she wished Captain Xing could confidently tell her that he was only unconscious. However, Captain Xing didn't answer and instead shifted the topic.
"That person just left, and we don't know if it's safe outside yet. Do you know where there are tools in the village chief's house?"
Su Jin'er shook her head. She had only eaten here a few times and always left right after, so she wasn't very familiar with the place.
"Then we'll have to search for them ourselves." Captain Xing said as he began to look around.
Su Jin'er shrugged and started helping him search. Although they still weren't sure whether Zuo Yi was alive or dead, at least they had found Zuo Yi.
As Su Jin'er was lost in thought, Captain Xing had already found the tools. He quickly ran over and told Su Jin'er that he would be right back before hurriedly heading down. She initially wanted to follow him, but the memory of that terrifying creature made her abandon the idea, and she obediently stayed behind to wait for them to return.
About half an hour later, she finally heard footsteps and rushed over to help Zuo Yi up. As soon as she embraced him, she leaned in to check his breathing and smiled with relief; he was merely unconscious.
Captain Xing, having climbed up from below, looked at her and said, "I told you he was just unconscious. Look at how worried you are."
Su Jin'er placed Zuo Yi on the bed. He was not wearing any clothes, and before Captain Xing arrived, he had covered Zuo Yi's lower body with his own clothing. Zuo Yi was covered in wounds, resembling Arian's appearance when he died—his body was drenched in blood, some of which had already congealed into black clots. The sight was heart-wrenching for Su Jin'er.
"Fortunately, Zhang Junsheng didn't intend to kill him; he just wanted to torture him. So the wounds aren't too deep, but with so many injuries, it would still be enough to cause immense pain."
Captain Xing's words made Su Jin'er gasp in shock; it was a relief they had found him.
"Let's go; we need to leave here," Captain Xing said as he carried Zuo Yi on his back.
Su Jin'er walked ahead and opened the door. They still couldn't be sure if that strange person had truly left, so they had to be cautious.
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