Late at night on February 3.

It was a dark and windy night, but it was not pitch black, and there was a thin crescent moon hanging in the sky. It's just that the gray moonlight in the sky, which is not very bright, is even weaker.

Maozhong City, Maosheng District, old foreign trade family area.

The area is very shabby and very peaceful, all the windows of the houses are dark, and there seems to be snoring, and it is clear that the residents have fallen asleep.

Suddenly, a very small "squeak" sounded, which was the sound of the courtyard door slowly opening. The open courtyard door is located in the last row, counting from the east, is the third.

A head figure slowly poked out of the open courtyard door, looked left and right for a moment, and then moved out of the body hidden in the courtyard. Leaning against the wall, he listened with bated breath and confirmed that there was nothing abnormal before beckoning behind him.

Immediately several figures came out of the courtyard and came in the hallway, and one of them turned around and closed the courtyard door, locking the previous lock again. A group of figures crept east, out of the aisle, and at the base of the east wall, they got into two black SUVs parked there.

The off-road vehicle immediately started and drove away from the old family area, where tranquility was restored. The courtyard also seemed to be as if no one was in or out, the lock was still locked, and the door number on the door showed two lines of small letters: No. 7, Maomao Road, Maosheng District, 7 rows of three.

Two off-road vehicles rushed out of the city and onto the ring road. After running on the ring road for more than ten minutes, I passed through the entrance of the station, got on the highway, and galloped forward.

There were two people sitting in the first car, a square-faced man driving the car, and a man with a Chinese face sitting in the passenger seat. These two are none other than Xu Jianjun and Li Xiaohe. The courtyard they just came out of was the place where He Erlai once lived for Ma Yishan, and this was the second time they came, and it was also the third courtyard they visited tonight.

More than 20 days ago, after Li Xiaohe told some information about Ma Yishan, He Erlai finally explained some of Ma Yishan's situation, including the four houses where Ma Yishan once lived. After that, Xu Jianjun immediately led people to take action and searched everywhere, and Li Xiaohe also participated in two searches, but he survived and found no valuable clues, and the entire case investigation also fell into a deadlock.

Yesterday afternoon, Qiao Manchu and He Chunsheng reported that the villagers were going to petition the county government after the Lantern Festival. Realizing the seriousness and urgency, Li Xiaohe immediately contacted Xu Jianjun and suggested that the four houses be searched again. Xu Jianjun agreed to this suggestion and arranged the operation tonight, and has now searched three places, but still found nothing.

From that room to now, Li and Xu have not said a word, and their hearts are very heavy, and they don't know what to say for a while.

"There's still this one left, and if you don't find anything else, you'll run away again." Li Xiaohe broke the silence.

Xu Jianjun said with relief: "Lao Li, don't take it too seriously, for us, running for nothing is a parent's convenience." Although the second search was proposed by you, I also agree with it, after all, these houses are the only clues that can be used at the moment. ”

"I hope I can find out." Li Xiaohe's voice was a little heavy. He is worried that once there is no progress, once the villagers really go to the county, many things will be difficult to do, and one carelessness will cause an irreparable situation.

"If there is hope, sit down, hope is ahead." Xu Jianjun smiled "haha", the foot was oiled, and the speed of the car was faster.

……

After running for more than an hour, two off-road vehicles got off the highway from the "Xiyun" exit and headed for the north of the county.

It had not been long since the last visit, and the police were good at remembering the way, and in a short time, the car entered the wider alley on the north side of the city.

After walking in the alley for a while, Li Xiaohe asked softly: "Lao Xu, it's not right, why don't you see that building?" I saw it early last time. It was pitch black that day, and today there is still a little moonlight, so I shouldn't be invisible. ”

"Oh, yes, it's this alley, I'm sure I remember it well. But where is that building? Can it still disappear into thin air? Xu Jianjun looked forward while driving, "Drive out of the alley." ”

Li Xiaohe said "oops": "It won't be demolished, right?" I remember there were several big red 'demolition' words written on the wall. ”

As he spoke, the off-road vehicle drove out of the alley.

In the moonlight, a building appeared in front of me, where the building was located last time. But why is the building low? Where did the courtyard walls go? No, it's not low, it's demolished, it's just not finished. Li Xiaohe asked and answered himself.

The buggy came near and stopped.

Li Xiaohe quickly got out of the car, looked at the ruins in front of him, and his heart was half cold. Five floors are gone, leaving only a story of ruins and construction debris scattered around it.

It was not only Li Xiaohe who was cold, but also Xu Jianjun who got out of the car together, and the same was true of the people in the car behind, and even the handcuffed person added the word "more". The reason for this mentality is that it is difficult to find anything of value here beyond recognition, and because this is the last stop in the world, which means that any hope is about to be dashed.

What to do? After crossing the question mark in his heart, Li Xiaohe walked forward silently, and the sound of trampling debris came from his feet.

"Click", "click", a few pairs of feet stepped on the crumbs and bricks, and went straight to the easternmost black door hole.

"Since it's already here......"

"Then go up and have a look."

Li Xiaohe and Xu Jianjun relayed back and forth and completed a whole sentence.

Leaving two policemen in the car, looking at He Erlai, who came together; Li Xiaohe, Xu Jianjun, criminal policeman Xiao Liu and Xiao Zhang climbed the mountain rope to the second floor.

At this time, the second floor was no longer covered, only a one-story roof, full of broken bricks and collapsed broken walls. According to the location of the remaining corridor units, the four of them went to the "room" last time and found the "living room", "bedroom", and "kitchen".

The last time I came, there was a sofa and a low cabinet in the living room, which were all gone.

The scene was already like this, and there was no need to deliberately cover it up, so the four turned on the flashlights with cloth covers, squatted on the ruins, and tossed the broken bricks and cement lumps on it.

Although I needed to be more cautious last time, it was still in the state of the house, the floor was relatively flat, and the scattered pieces of paper and sundries were easy to pick up. And now the construction waste is piled up in a thick layer, strips, blocks, chips, everything, churning is particularly laborious.

According to the division of labor, the place where Li Xiaohe rummaged was the "bedroom". In addition to the newly generated construction waste, the previous shredded paper was also mixed in the garbage. Although hope is extremely slim, as long as there is a place to turn, it is that hope is not lost. So, Li Xiaohe turned over the bricks and crumbs, picked up the scraps of paper, and looked at the contents of them very carefully, and he couldn't let go of the cards and daily objects, even the inside of the old slippers, and even the pieces of paper sandwiched between the pieces.

Although I was wearing gloves and I was very careful about turning them, I still felt pain in my hands, and some parts were still scorching, and it was estimated that they might be scratched. Without bothering to check whether there were any scars on his hands, Li Xiaohe had already changed from squatting to kneeling on one leg, turning over construction waste, looking for things that might be useful. If someone sees these people at the scene, they will definitely be regarded as a "garbage picker" in "Taobao", and it is difficult to link it with the police action. Of course, if you notice two cars parked, you may think that the owner of the original house is looking for something important.

It had been a full hour of searching, and only half of the "bedroom" had been rummaged, and the rest of the work was even more arduous, not only because of the thick pile, but also because of the large amount of glass shards. Turning his head, the two detectives stood up, apparently searching their area.

At this time, Xu Jianjun reminded softly: "Look carefully, there is no such shop in this village, and it will be impossible to find this ruin next time." ”

After listening to the captain's prompt, the criminal policemen Xiao Liu and Xiao Zhang squatted down again and carried out another "treasure hunt".

With a light sigh, Li Xiaohe retracted his gaze and continued to move the pile of garbage, while keeping his eyes on the bottom of each removed fragment.

Holding a flashlight in his left hand and picking up a broken piece again with his right hand, Li Xiaohe looked at the small scrap of paper pasted on it. The text on the scrap of paper has been blurred, but some fonts can still be seen, there are words "pig breeding", "highly regarded", and the date is twenty years ago. It turned out to be an old newspaper, which had little value, so Li Xiaohe threw it aside.

I picked up a small, opaque bottle and shook it, and there seemed to be a noise inside. Li Xiaohe opened the cap of the bottle and poured out the contents of the bottle, which turned out to be two tablets of analgin. It's been meticulous to this extent, but there's still nothing to be found in the places that have been turned over.

The faint flame of hope in his heart will be extinguished at any time, Li Xiaohe basically has no hope, he is just trying to do one thing with a beginning and an end.

"Sizzle", a burst of pain came, and Li Xiao secretly took a cool breath. Immediately afterward, I only felt that something was squirming in the sore area, and it was still a little sticky.

It bleeds. You can't ignore it, you have to take a look. Thinking in his heart, Li Xiaohe put down the flashlight and prepared to take off the glove on his left hand.

When Li Xiaohe took off his gloves, his eyes swept inadvertently, and the half slipper at the end of the flashlight came into view. The slippers are nothing special, they are the old Baotou cotton slippers, but a piece of paper is exposed in the slippers, and a few words are shown on the exposed part of the slip.

Momentarily startled, Li Xiaohe didn't care about taking off his gloves anymore, and he didn't care about the bleeding part of his hand, but reached out and pulled out the part that was pressed into the brick, and the whole slipper was in his hand. He quickly pulled out the note and looked at it with a flashlight.

That's right, those three words. Li Xiaohe couldn't help but feel excited in his heart, tried his best to suppress his voice, turned around and shouted, "Old Xu, look." ”

Hearing a slightly trembling voice, Xu Jianjun rushed quickly, and the criminal policemen Xiao Liu and Xiao Zhang also surrounded him.

picked up the note and looked at it, Xu Jianjun couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Lao Li, this trip is not in vain!" ”