Xiaxi City.
The cold winter in the small northern city is a bit depressing, the sky is full of white snow, but when it falls to the ground, it becomes gray mud.
Cheap lanterns and lanterns are sparsely hung on the streets. During the day, when the light bulbs are not powered, the dust on the lanterns is very obvious, and even a festive color like red is difficult to dispel the unpleasant haze in the air.
There were not many pedestrians on the road, so Mingshu stopped in front of an old building with the umbrella he bought while watching the live broadcast.
This building is only 6 stories high. It is almost impossible to see such a low building in Dongye City, but it can be seen everywhere in Xiaxi City.
Mingshu took out his mobile phone, confirmed the address again, put away his umbrella, and walked in.
On 5-2, there lived He Maolian, the former head of the investigative news department of Xiaxi Evening News, a woman over sixty years old, and Lin Zhongguo was working under her back then.
According to the work flow of traditional media, before making key reports, reporters need to communicate with the director to select a topic and determine a reporting direction, and subsequent interviews and writing will strictly follow this direction. ". During the interview, the reporter can contact the director at any time and ask the director to give reasonable suggestions.
A manuscript is usually signed by only one or two reporters, plus a photojournalist, the director's name will not appear on it, but his efforts are definitely not large, and once the manuscript is wrong, the director must also be responsible. responsibility.
In other words, if Lin Zhongguo's disappearance is related to the reports involved, then Maulian He is the one most likely to have some clues.
"Xiaxi Evening News" has long since ceased publication. Most of the employees of the newspaper have changed careers, and the older ones have retired directly. Before coming to Xiaxi City, Mingshu contacted the media group in Xiaxi City and He Maolian. Knowing that the police wanted to know what happened to Lin Zhongguo, He Maulian was silent for a long time, asked "where are you from the police" several times, and then said after a brief silence: "Come to Xiaxi City to find me, I do I have a lot to say to you."
The door opened with a creak, and an old woman with gray hair stood in the door, it was He Maolian.
Mingshu showed his credentials, and He Maulian took a closer look. His eyes were fixed on Mingshu's face, as if he was judging whether the young policeman was trustworthy.
Mingshu stood upright and let her observe.
"I thought it would be a police officer who is at least 40 years old." He Maulian said.
Mingshu said, "I'm the leader of the serious crime team of the Dongye Criminal Investigation Bureau, and it's me who is in touch with you."
"Mingshu, light and forgiveness, a good name." He Maulian smiled and sighed: "That's right, it's better for young people, and they are motivated. Only young people have the courage to change the world."
After saying this, He Maulian returned the certificate to Mingshu, made a way out and said, "Come in. The family is narrow, take more care."
The furnishings in the room are in the style of the last century. The cabinet has feet, leaving a small space between the bottom of the cabinet and the ground, which breeds darkness and accumulates dust.
Maybe people of this age are nostalgic, and they are always reluctant to throw away the things they have used. Mingshu noticed that there was an old-fashioned pendulum clock on the table, and the sound of the hands scraping on the clock face was particularly loud, as if he was using his last breath to show his existence. And next to the pendulum clock, there is also a "big head" computer.
It is conceivable that He Maolian used such a computer to process manuscripts.
He Maolian made Mingshu a cup of tea and took out a thick stack of yellowed manuscripts, "These are all manuscripts given to me by Lin Zhongguo. Investigative journalism was popular more than ten years ago, unlike now, the Internet is full of fast-moving manuscripts. Selling news. He exposed a lot of unscrupulous businesses, and because of this he offended many people he could not afford to offend.”
Mingshu took it over and read a few articles.
Lin Zhongguo's writing is vigorous, even if it is only a draft, it is pleasing to the eye.
Nowadays, almost all industries use computers for office work, and it is rare to see words presented with paper and pen and ink like this.
"It's been 17 years in a blink of an eye." He Maulian narrowed her eyes. "The police came to me back then and asked me if I knew why Lin Zhongguo disappeared, and asked me what reports Lin Zhongguo was doing before he disappeared. I told them clearly that Lin Zhongguo was missing. Zhongguo is upright and does not know how to be flexible, if he is harmed, the people who harmed him must be the businessmen who were exposed by him."
The investigation records provided by the police in Xiaxi are not exhaustive, and only describe who has been excluded from committing the crime.
These people should be the people He Maulian mentioned to them.
But Mingshu felt that He Maolian wanted to say more than that, and he didn't want him to find these people one by one and check them again. Otherwise, He Maolian would not have asked him to come to Xiaxi City after receiving the call.
"Mr. He, you didn't tell the police everything you knew back then, did you?" Mingshu asked.
There was the sound of the child scrambling outside the window, but the room suddenly fell silent.
He Maulian didn't seem to be hesitating or recalling, but repented alone.
After being stretched for seconds, He Maulian said: "There are some things that I couldn't tell you the police at that time. I had my concerns. But over the years, I have occasionally thought, is it right or wrong to do this?"
Saying that, He Maolian lowered her head and looked at her wrinkled hands, "Thinking about it now, I still can't think of an answer."
Mingshu said: "But you have actually decided to tell me."
He Maolian smiled dryly, "If I don't say it again, I'm afraid I won't have a chance to say it."
Mingshu could see that the old man was dragging his sick body to receive him.
"I didn't tell the truth, I just abide by the agreement with Lin Zhongguo." He Maulian said.
"Is that what Lin Zhongguo meant?" This was beyond Mingshu's expectations.
He Maolian nodded, "Lin Zhongguo is very paranoid, and he doesn't care about personal safety when he does things. Xiaxi City is so big, and the people he offends not only retaliate against him, but also wear small shoes for his relatives. He doesn't care about these, his motto is— In the face of malice, someone has to stand up. But when it comes to protecting his son, he has done his duty as a father."
Ming Shu said, "Lin Jiao."
"Yes, Lin Jiao, Lin Zhongguo's only son." He Maulian continued: "Before Lin Zhongguo disappeared, he reported to me a topic to investigate the bad folk customs of backward villages and towns."
Mingshu's eyes suddenly sharpened, "Is it a 'ghost card'?"
He Maolian was stunned, with a somewhat relieved look between her eyebrows, "It seems that you are indeed investigating this matter. The 'Ghost Card' originated in Qiuxu Village, and all the baby girls born there were made into' Ghost cards', but that was decades ago. When Lin Zhongguo was working in the Xiaxi Evening News, the 'ghost card' industry had disappeared in Qiuxu Village."
"But Lin Zhongguo told me that, as far as he knows, in other northern villages and towns, there are still many people making 'ghost cards', including Silin Town near Xiaxi City. These people have learned from Qiuxu Village's experience. , is no longer concentrated in one place, and has developed a more secretive trading route, so it is difficult to check, even if you have evidence, you may not be able to break them down in the end."
Mingshu said, "But Lin Zhongguo still insists on investigating?"
"He wanted to investigate, but in fact he was hesitant. He was more cautious than usual when dealing with this matter." He Maulian said: "The first time he mentioned the 'ghost card' to me was a year before he disappeared. He was not sure whether he should investigate or not, so he came to ask me what I meant. I told him that those people were fundamentally different from his previous investigation subjects. They were all murderers, while others At most, the person who took Liangzi from him was a businessman who had lost his virtue. He could be cruel to a newborn baby, kill a person without blinking an eye, and finding evidence was not that easy. I mentioned it. But a month before the accident, he came to me again and said that after thinking about it, he was still going to dig into this matter."
Hearing this, Mingshu felt puzzled.
Since Lin Zhongguo expressed his desire to investigate the "ghost card" a month before the accident, he should have done something in this month, but the police in Xiaxi City never mentioned the "ghost card" from beginning to end, and the investigation was only Other businessmen who contradicted Lin Zhongguo.
Did the police get no clues at all
Or do you clearly have a direction, but are unwilling to check
"Lin Zhongguo made a request to me." He Maulian said: "He asked me to assure him that if he encounters misfortune, he must not inform the police about his investigation of the 'ghost card', nor tell anyone. Rotten with me and him."
Ming Shu frowned.
"There is no way he can do this. As a reporter, he has the responsibility to face the darkness. But as a father, he also has the responsibility to protect his son." He Maolian sighed, "Those people can do anything, and the police even He can protect Lin Jiao for a while, but he can't protect Lin Jiao for the first time. He hopes that Lin Jiao can be safe. It is best not to know what happened to him. 'I am not a good father, but at least, Lin Jiao should not suffer because of me. Hurt'—that's his exact words."
Mingshu was silent for a long time, "So Lin Zhongguo was indeed killed in the process of investigating the 'Ghost Brand' industry. Did he leave you any other clues?"
He Maulian said: "I only know that he rescued a baby girl. I guess, maybe it was because of this baby girl that he was killed by those people."
The baby girl 17 years ago should be under 18 now.
Lin Jiao and Chi Xiaomin have such a close relationship. Was Chi Xiaomin the baby girl back then
After being rescued by Lin Zhongguo, the baby girl survived somewhere and was not found, but at the same time she did not have a household registration, and became a "black household".
Now whether it's Lin Jiao or Chi Xiaomin, their wings are already full, and they finally have the ability to join forces to punish those who buy "ghost cards"
But Chi Xiaomin is 21 years old this year.
wrong.
21 is just the information shown on the ID card, and that ID card is a forgery at all.
Chi Xiaomin has a list of people who own "ghost cards" in Silin Town in Dongye City. This list is likely to be drawn up by Lin Jiao. Lin Jiao had obtained key evidence long ago, but he did not expose them. He just instructed—most likely instructed—Chi Xiaomin to intimidate the buyers and lead them to commit suicide.
Why did Lin Jiao do this
Now is not the year, if you hand over the evidence to the police, no, no evidence is needed, and only some clues will be given. Even if the investigation is difficult, the police will never deal with it perfunctorily.
At least the crime squad won't.
Lin Jiao gave up a more lucrative job and came to the Municipal Bureau as a consultant, didn't he just want to get close to the police and avenge his father? But why did you choose to punish privately in the end
Don't trust the police
Or do you prefer to take revenge yourself
After leaving He Maulian's house, Mingshu has been thinking about these issues.
Lin Jiao had long understood what happened to his father's disappearance, but the police in Xiaxi City had yet to give him an explanation. He may think that the police in Xiaxi City know everything, but they collude with the bandits and waste their lives.
So he doesn't believe in the police, he doesn't believe in the law, he only believes in himself, and he only believes in retribution.
Becoming a consultant is to make it easier to get first-hand information from the police.
But misleading Xu Yin was a huge failure.
If it weren't for Xu Yin's strange reaction when he saw Chi Xiaomin's photo, it would have been impossible for the serious crime team to connect the "ghost card" with Lin Jiao.
Mingshu let out a white breath and got in the car to call Xiao Yuan.
·
Silin Town.
The snow fell intermittently and hardly stopped. Xiang Tao's stay in the town for the past few days didn't yield much. First, the people in the town said things that he didn't understand at all, and secondly, it was a bit uglier. The people in the town are actually the bottom ones." Lamb", the police were able to control the whole town, but it was inevitable to startle the snakes.
Xiang Tao calmly observed and collected evidence, and found six elderly men who were dressed differently from ordinary townspeople. They are between 60 and 75 years old, with goose skin on their faces, drooping brows and eyes, and the skin almost covers their eyes. They uniformly wear long black jackets, which differ in details, such as the color of sleeves and collars, which are reminiscent of a chef's rank uniform.
Xiang Tao has already made a judgment in his heart - these old people may be "master craftsmen". Each of their hands was stained with the blood of innocent baby girls.
An old man in a long coat walked by in front of Xiang Tao, supported by strong men to the left and right, looking pampered. Xiang Tao's eyes crossed with his for a short while, and the other party obviously saw this "outsider", but his eyes were still like a pool of stagnant water.
He doesn't think he's guilty.
All of them do not think their actions are contrary to human nature.
Xiang Tao suddenly felt terrified.
Although many criminals in the city are extremely vicious, they at least know that they are committing a crime. And the people in this town don't think that it is an extreme sin to make a baby girl a "ghost card".
Xiang Tao clenched his fists.
And in the next instant, he heard a small noise behind him that could be ignored.
Turning around, he saw a little girl in a goose-yellow cotton jacket.
The little girl is close to 1.6 meters tall, has a big face, and looks relatively sturdy. She looked at Xiang Tao timidly with a pair of eyes. When Xiang Tao turned around, she made a subconscious move to dodge, but she didn't really dodge, just. took two steps back.
Xiang Tao knew this little girl.
Since the day before yesterday, she had followed him, not the kind that followed, but watching from a distance.
This time, it was the closest she had followed.
After arriving in Silin Town, the townspeople have been following Xiang Tao, especially in the first few days. Later, those people probably thought that he was not a threat, so they almost didn't follow him, but when they saw him wandering around, they still looked at him a few more times.
The little girl's eyes were completely different from theirs.
Xiang Tao felt that the little girl had something to say to him.
Most likely a call for help.
Perhaps an "imminent" cry for help.
Xiang Tao looked around, smiled at the little girl, pointed his index finger to himself, "Are you looking for me?"
The little girl nodded, shook her head again, opened her mouth, but before she could say a word, her eyes were red.
"You understand me?" Xiang Tao said again, "Can you speak Mandarin?"
This time the little girl just nodded.
"My hometown doesn't snow in winter. It's the first time I've seen such a huge amount of snow. I want to build a snowman, but I can't." Xiang Tao pointed to the snow in the distance, "Can you teach me?"
After half a minute, the little girl nodded vigorously.
In the snow and ice, Xiang Tao handed the little girl a pair of gloves.
There were about a dozen boys playing snowball fights nearby, and their figures were not out of the ordinary.
The little girl squatted on the ground tired of Snowball, Xiang Tao followed her to learn, and heard her whisper, "Uncle, can you save me?"
This is an extremely common sentence, but Xiang Tao's heart clenched immediately.
In an absurd and evil world, the weak are struggling as best they can. Not everyone here is indifferent. Someone made her voice. Although it was subtle and weak, it disappeared without a trace when the wind and snow blew, but it had a deafening power.
Xiang Tao took a deep breath, let the cold air force him to calm down, and said in the firmest tone, "Tell me what happened to you."
The snowman gradually has a body, a head, funny eyes and a long nose.
The little girl, Luo Xueyan, was 12 years old—but she looked older than she was, like she was 16.
There are very few girls in Silin Town, and most of them were killed when they were small babies. But Luo Xueyan survived.
"Master craftsmen" do not kill all baby girls, because if there are only men in a village, after several decades, no new baby girls will be born.
The town has its own basis for judging which baby girls should stay, but this basis seems to be known only by the "master craftsman". In short, Luo Xueyan became the lucky one who escaped the killing and was raised as a future "breeding vessel".
12 years old is the most naive age, but Luo Xueyan witnessed her sister, cousin, cousin, and the little baby from the lead family being taken away.
When she was a child, she didn't understand why they were taken away. She asked her mother and her aunt. Their eyes were always blank, as if it was only natural for a baby to be taken away.
In Luo Xueyan's memory, her mother would get pregnant once in a year or two, but only one younger brother was added to the family.
Last year, when another baby fell to the ground, Luo Xueyan boldly followed behind "Master Craftsman" and went to the mountains.
There are many wooden houses in the mountains, and "Master Craftsman" entered one of them.
Luo Xueyan heard the weak cry, saw a few "outsiders", and witnessed the "Master Craftsman" swing a knife at the baby after reciting the scriptures.
At that moment, Luo Xueyan understood everything.
She even knew what her future destiny was - like her mother, aunt, and all the women in this "beast town" gave birth to a child, the boy was raised at home, and the girl was sent to the mountains.
There is a TV in the town, but not many stations. Luo Xueyan began to watch the news and learn Mandarin from the program. She knew that she was still young and had no ability to resist, not even to leave. But she also knew that before adulthood, she could live a very stable life.
She plans to use these few years to make herself strong enough - not too strong, as long as she can escape.
However, in April this year, after she turned 12 years old, her mother gave her a box of medicines without instructions, and told her to take three pills three times a day, saying that it could supplement nutrition.
She did not doubt and did as her mother said. After more than two months, I gradually realized that my body was abnormal.
She began to grow rapidly, and her small body became fat, and in a short time, had gender characteristics.
When he heard this, Xiang Tao's nails were already embedded in his palm.
If he hadn't heard it with his own eyes and seen it with his own eyes, he couldn't believe that a mother would treat her daughter like this!
That's not a nutritional supplement at all, it's a hormone!
"That's hormones." Luo Xueyan herself understood, "I hid the medicine, pretended to eat it, and threw it away when no one noticed."
This trick worked at first, but in August, Luo Xueyan and several other girls were gathered at the town doctor's house, and each was injected with a medicine.
It was a more effective hormone than pills, and Luo Xueyan's body changed more obviously until it became what it is now.
Luo Xueyan took out a photo from her padded jacket and told Xiang Tao that it was a photo she took during the Spring Festival this year.
Xiang Tao's eyes were burning with unbearable heat.
The girl in the photo is beautiful and thin, with a thin face and round eyes, which is what a 12-year-old girl should look like.
And now Luo Xueyan is bloated and fat, at first glance she looks like she is 16 years old.
In some villages, girls are adults when they are 16 years old.
Thinking of what was about to happen to Luo Xueyan, Xiang Tao couldn't sit still any longer, and immediately contacted Mingshu.
At this time, Ming Shu was at the Xiaxi City Bureau.
The one who stayed with him was Shen Xun.
After receiving Xiao Yu'an's application, Shen Xun immediately arrived with the members of the special operations team.
The "ghost card" is by no means an evil that exists in Silin Town, and the police in any place alone cannot completely solve it - Qiuxu Village is an example. A few decades ago, the "master craftsmen" in Qiuxu Village were wiped out, and the darkness not only did not disappear, but also flocked to other places and took root.
Whether it is the Dongye City Police or the Xiaxi City Police, there is a limit to what they can do. Only the highest-level special operations team can mobilize the forces of all parties to the greatest extent.
The phone was connected, but Xiang Tao's voice was intermittent because of the signal problem. Mingshu turned on the amplifier so that Shen Xun could hear it too.
After Xiang Tao finished speaking, Luo Xueyan's tender voice came from the phone, she said, "Uncle, please save me, save the girl like me."
Silence is as heavy as a thousand catties, shocking and reverberating in a small space.
For a while, no one made a sound.
After a long time, I don't know if the other side has hung up, Mingshu clenched the phone tightly, his eyes were hot, and he said in a trembling voice: "I will come to save you. We will save you soon!"