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墨書 Inktalez
"I am a garbage collector." I nervously stared ahead as an aged voice echoed. Under the beam of the flashlight, a hunched figure slowly emerged before us, dragging something behind.
Who is this? I widened my eyes. "Come over slowly!" Ah Huang shouted.
The old man moved even slower, taking a long while to reach us. Wait! Isn't this the old man who was blocked at the door last time?
I couldn't help but speak up, "It's you? What are you doing here?"
The old man looked up at me, the wrinkles on his forehead resembling mountains. "Brother, it's you! I clean the parking lot every night. During the day, someone else is in charge. The television station pays me a hundred yuan per layer every night; it's pretty good."
I glanced at the garbage bin he was dragging and felt a bit sad. "Old man, it's getting late. You should head back and rest."
"Ah." The old man staggered as he prepared to leave with his bin.
Ah Huang stopped him, examining the work permit hanging from his chest closely. "Zhou Renyuan?" he read aloud.
"Who is your daytime supervisor?"
"I don't know her name; she's a woman. I just call her Liu Jie."
"Did she tell you anything?"
"She said there was a death here and asked me to clean up around the third floor tonight."
Ah Huang nodded and told him, "You can go now."
"Do you know him?" Ah Huang asked, watching the old man's retreating figure.
"Yeah, just a homeless old man doing temporary work. I've seen him before."
"He’s not a problem," Ah Huang replied. "Liu Jie is indeed in charge of the daytime shift; she’s also the one who reported it. After we finished our on-site investigation, she even asked if we could clean up and didn’t dare to do it herself, waiting for Old Zhou to take care of it tonight."
"I initially thought we wouldn't clean up so quickly; I wanted to show you the scene. But now, there's not much to see." Still, he led me forward.
"Oh? What was special about the scene back then?"
Ah Huang stopped again, turning his back to me. "There's nothing special about it. It's just a corner, and the deceased's belongings are scattered everywhere."
Suddenly, Ah Huang turned around. "Hey, we've arrived."
I halted in my tracks, looking around with the beam of Ah Huang's flashlight. It was an ordinary corner, spacious and devoid of any vehicles. Ah Huang pointed to the corner. "The deceased was found right there."
I walked over and examined the surroundings closely. There were indeed no traces of anything unusual. I tried walking around the area but found nothing out of the ordinary.
I took out my phone and turned on the flashlight, taking a few steps in another direction, but still found nothing. Just as I was about to turn back, I caught a glimpse of something white out of the corner of my eye. I quickly shone my phone's light on it—a piece of paper.
Curiously, I approached it. It was a sheet of paper, slightly larger than my phone, with an irregular shape that looked as if it had been burned; half of it was charred along the edges.
What is this? I picked it up to take a closer look. Maybe someone lit a cigarette here?
I tossed the paper aside and walked back. "Ah Huang, let’s go. The people upstairs should be arriving soon."
We chatted as we made our way back. By the time we returned to the lobby, Ah Huang's team had already gathered, and mine was assembling as well. After saying goodbye to Ah Huang, we each left the lobby. I glanced at my watch; it was almost 1 o'clock, so I hurriedly led my team back to our unit. Little did we know that another strange incident was about to occur.
It was around six in the evening when I brought my team to the television station, and there were even more police cars parked outside. I couldn't help but exclaim, "Could Zhao Xinran be someone with a significant background?"
With confusion in mind, we took the elevator up to the Performance Hall. Upon entering the hall, we found several police officers stationed around, either questioning people or inspecting various areas.
I looked around for Ah Huang—he was nowhere to be found?! But curiosity aside, I still needed to complete my mission, right? Just as I was preparing to dismiss my soldiers and send them back to their posts, a middle-aged police officer approached us. "What are you doing here?"
"Festival Staff," I replied.
"We need to conduct questioning and registration with you all; please cooperate with our work." I was baffled. "What happened, Comrade?"
"Don't ask what you shouldn't! Which unit are you from? What time did you leave last night? Gather your people for individual questioning!"
I felt a bit displeased but remained patient. "Comrade, we're from the military; we're just nearby helping out on official duty. After each rehearsal, we lead our team back."
I thought for a moment, then took out my identification and handed it to the officer. The Brother took it with some skepticism, but after confirming it, his attitude changed significantly.
"Oh, you're from the military? I'm also a veteran, sorry about this. It's just a requirement from above, but you shouldn't have any issues."
"What exactly happened? Where's Deputy Captain Huang from your Criminal Investigation Team?"
The officer seemed a bit surprised. "Oh, you know Deputy Captain Huang? He's still in a meeting, a field meeting. Just over in the West Tower," he said, pointing to the tall building across the street that housed the television station in a twin-tower design.
Seeing my confusion, he glanced around and lowered his voice. "You don't know, do you? This morning, they found a woman in the bushes near the television station."
"What?! Another one dead?!" I was taken aback.
The officer clicked his tongue. "Wrong. This time she’s not dead, but she lost consciousness. She was sent to the hospital and is now in a Vegetative State. No one knows how it happened. There’s a lot of pressure from above; the leaders at the television station are pushing the bureau to solve this case quickly while also ensuring that the arts festival goes smoothly."
Vegetative State? A girl died yesterday, and now another is in a Vegetative State—could these two incidents be related? I instinctively thought.
After thanking the officer, I turned to organize the soldiers for their activities. I decided to wait for Ah Huang to come over and ask him about it.
The rehearsal continued, but the atmosphere felt quite different. Perhaps it was because of the police presence; I noticed that the noise and laughter from below the Stage had significantly decreased. Everyone seemed less expressive, and even the staff were not as casual as before, which made the director frown and continuously shout at the actors to find their rhythm.
While waiting for Ah Huang, I felt quite bored and wandered around for a bit. When I walked by Xuanhua, he suddenly approached me and whispered, "Company Commander, what's going on? Why are there so many police officers?"
I forced a smile. "What’s going on? It’s normal for a big arts festival to have a few police officers for added Security."
Xuanhua looked at me suspiciously. "That’s not right; I just heard from some staff that there’s been a serial killer targeting young and beautiful girls at the arts festival."
"Don’t listen to those rumors; just focus on your own work!" I interrupted him. Xuanhua walked back to his position looking dejected.
It seemed that anxiety was starting to spread among everyone; Ah Huang's pressure was increasing.
Just as I was thinking this, I noticed some commotion near the elevator in the distance. Looking over, several police officers emerged, with Ah Huang among them.
They were gathered together as if discussing something. After a while, they dispersed, and I saw Ah Huang on the phone, so I slowly walked over.
Ah Huang hung up and turned to see me, coming towards me.
"Something happened again."
"I know. What's the situation?"
"This morning, a sanitation worker found a girl in a bush not far from the television station. She was unconscious and immediately reported it to the police. When we arrived, there were no unusual traces at the scene. After taking photos, we sent her to the hospital for emergency treatment. The hospital checked her and found her vital signs stable, but she remains in a coma without consciousness or awareness—what you commonly refer to as a vegetative state. Strangely, there are no signs of head trauma, and there are no external injuries on her body. Her belongings were not stolen, and there was no indication of personal violation, so it shouldn't be a spontaneous robbery or assault. I just received a call that this girl is named Yao and is a student at the Provincial Art Dance School. She was also scheduled to perform at this arts festival."
After listening to Ah Huang's account in one breath, I could sense his anxiety. Director Meng's arts festival is held annually and is a significant event attended by many leaders. With this incident occurring now, Ah Huang and his team must be under considerable pressure.
"What do you plan to do?" I asked.
"We're going to conduct a thorough investigation! With incidents happening consecutively, we need to determine if it's the work of one person. If we rule out random factors, then this perpetrator is incredibly bold—it's an open provocation against us! I've already contacted the dance academy; everyone who participated in last night's performance has arrived and is currently gathered backstage for questioning. Do you want to come with me to take a look?"
I hesitated for a moment. "Is that appropriate?"
(To be continued, more exciting content tomorrow!)
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