"How's your progress?" The doctor asked in a whisper.

"I could count on everything I could hope to do, and even more. The news of the miserable girl's report, combined with what I had seen and heard, and the investigation of our good friend's scene, left him no retreat, and laid out all his despicable deeds, and with these facts the situation became as clear as day. You write a letter to inform you that we will meet at 7 p.m. the day after tomorrow.

We had to get to that place a few hours early, and we still needed to rest—especially the young lady, who needed so much composure that you and I couldn't really imagine it right now. My blood was boiling all the time, and I had to avenge the poor girl who was killed. Which path did they take? ”

"You just rushed to the police station, and it was still too late," Mr. Qian replied. "I'll stay here."

The two gentlemen broke up in a hurry, and they were so excited that they couldn't suppress the excitement in their hearts, chasing and fleeing.

The church is located on the side of the Qingshui River, and the buildings on both sides are very dirty due to the dust raised by the coal carriers and the smoke from the dense low houses, and the boats on the river are also dark.

There are many unknown areas in Conch City, and there is still one of the dirtiest, strangest, and most unusual areas in this area, and the vast majority of Conch City residents can't even name it.

To get there, visitors have to walk through a large area of dense, narrow, muddy streets, inhabited by the lowliest, poorest people on the water, whose livelihoods are not hard to imagine. The store is stacked with the cheapest and worst-quality food.

The crappiest and most worthless clothing hangs in front of the merchants, and is displayed in the wind on the railings and windows of the houses. Everywhere there are the lowest laborers, porters who carry ballast cargo, coal ship stevedores, prodigal children, children in ragged buildings, and scum and waste on the riverside, and you are squeezing in the middle and struggling to move forward.

Countless alleys diverged left and right, and disgusting sights and smells constantly poured out of the alleys. Heavy wagons loaded with mountains of goods creaked out of the stacks and warehouses that dotted around every corner, so that no one could hear anything.

I finally came to a street that was more remote than the one I had passed before, and there were not so many pedestrians, only to see the arcade jutting above the sidewalk crumbling, a wall of ruins that seemed to fall down as you passed, half of the chimney had collapsed, the other half was hesitating, and the iron bars guarding the windows were old, rusty, smeared, and almost rotten—all signs of decay and decay were here.

Wicked Island is located in this area, and it is a short walk from Nandu Wharf. The stinky ditch around Wicked Island, which can reach six to eight feet deep and fifteen to twenty feet wide at high tide, was formerly called the Mill Pond, but it has been known for many years.

This is a porthan or inlet divided by the Qingshui River, as long as the sluice gate of the mill is opened at full tide, the water can be filled, and the old name of the ditch comes from this.

When the gates are opened, outsiders who stand on the wooden bridges that cross the ditch in Mill Lane will see residents on both sides of the river open their back doors and windows, and put down buckets, pails, and all kinds of household utensils to fetch water.

When you turn your gaze from the drawing of water to the house itself, you will be taken aback.

Five or six houses shared a rickety boardwalk behind the house, and through the holes in the boards, the mud could be seen below. The windows were tattered and some had been repaired, and the clothes pole was sticking out of the window, but there were never clothes hanging on them. The room was small and dirty, airtight, full of foul smell, and it seemed too dirty to hide dirt and dirt.

The plank houses hung above the muddy and smelly water, as if they were about to fall—some of them had already fallen. The walls were filthy, the foundations were rotting day by day, the horror of poverty, the disgusting dirt, decay and garbage - all this adorned the banks of the absurd ditch.

The stacks on the island of the wicked were empty, not even roofs, the walls were crooked, the windows were no longer windows, the doors were down in the streets, and the chimneys were swarthy, but they never smoked.

Thirty or forty years ago, it was a thriving market, but now it's an island.

The house has no owner, and the bold break down the door and take it for himself. They live here and die here. These people must have their own serious reasons for coming to find a secret abode, or they must have reached the point of desperation, or they do not have to flee to the island of the wicked.

One of these houses was a rather large solitary building, and the rest of the house was dilapidated, except for the doors and windows. The rear of the house was on the edge of a ditch, and the situation was as depicted before—in a room on the second floor, three men gathered together, who looked at each other with sad faces, and looked at each other with confused and expectant expressions, and had been sitting in silence for a long time.

Of the three, one was a clever ghost, the other was a false young master, and the third was about fifty years old, who also made a living as a thief, and his nose had been almost flattened in a previous brawl, and he had a terrible scar on his face, which may be traced back to the same occasion. This man was an exile who had fled from overseas, and he didn't know what his name was.

"My good fellow!" The clever ghost turned his face away and said, "Since those two nests can't stay any longer, you should find another place to shelter from the wind, and you shouldn't come here." ”

"Brainless, why don't you do it?" The fake young master also said.

"Well, I thought you would be happier to see me." The clever ghost replied with a dejected expression.

"You, you, young man," said the young man, "it is unbearable to see a young man in your situation, who is as alone as I am, and who has managed to get a comfortable house to settle down in, and no one around to inquire or smell." ”

"In particular, this lonered young man has a friend living at home, who came back from abroad a little earlier than expected, but he is very modest and does not want to report to the patrol house." The fake young master added.

After a short silence, the clever ghost seemed to despair of maintaining the usual stinking frame that the devil would worry about when he saw it, and he stopped working hard, turned to the false young master and said, "When was the old camel caught?" ”

"It's time for lunch—two o'clock this afternoon. I slipped out of the laundry chimney, and Bobo plunged headlong into the big empty bucket, but his legs were too long and he was on top of the bucket, and they grabbed him again. ”

"Where's the salt?"

"Poor salt. She ran to see the corpse, and said she was going to tell her goodbye," replied the false young master, whose face was stretched longer and longer, "and she went crazy, screaming and talking nonsense, and banging her head against the wall, and they had to put her in a restraint suit and take her to the hospital—where she was now." ”

"It's a big sweep," said Rakan Biting her lip, "and it's not just one person who got in there. ”

"Now is the time of trial," said the false young master, "as soon as the pre-trial is over, and Bobo confesses to the old camel - judging by what he has said before, he will definitely confess - they can judge the old camel as an accomplice in advance, and the trial will be held on Friday, and from now on he will be swinging in six days, I-"

"You must have heard that the people are roaring so loudly," said the false young master, "if the police hadn't risked their lives to rush him, he would have been torn to shreds." He fell down once, but the police formed a circle around him and rushed out. You don't see him looking around, covered in mud and bleeding, sticking to the policeman as if he were his closest friend. I could still see that the crowd was desperately pushing forward, and they couldn't stand it, so they dragged him between their own people. I could see people jumping up one after another, gritting their teeth and screaming, and lunging at him. I could see the blood on his hair and beard, and I could hear the girls clamoring into the crowd on the corner, vowing to dig out his heart. ”

Frightened, witnesses at the scene covered their ears, stood up with their eyes closed, and walked around furiously as if they were delirious.

As he made these moves, the other two sat silently on the sidelines, staring at the floor, when there was a clattering sound on the stairs, and the fat man's dog scurried into the house. They ran to the window, ran downstairs, and rushed out into the street.

The dog jumped in through an open window, it didn't run after the three men, and its owner didn't show up.

"What does that mean?" The three are back, Toby said. "He's not going to come here. I-I-I hope not. ”

"If he comes up here, he'll bring the dog with him," Keggs leaned down, surveying the panting beast lying on the floor. "Hey. Let's give it some water to drink, and see if it runs out of breath. ”

"It drank all the water, and there wasn't a drop left," said the false young master, who stared at the dog silently for a while. "Covered in mud - my legs are lame - my eyes are almost open—I must have walked a long way."

"Where can it hit!" "It's been to other dens, and it's all here because it's full of creatures, and it's been here many times, and it's been here often." But where did it come from in the first place? How could it have come all the way without that person? ”

He-" He's not going to be short-sighted, don't you think? The fake young master said.

The Clever shook his head.

"If he dies, the dog will lead us to the place where he committed suicide." He drooped his eyes and said, "No." He may have escaped from Conch City and left the dog behind. He must have played some tricks, or the dog wouldn't be so honest. ”

This explanation seems to be the most likely, so everyone agrees. The dog got under a chair and fell asleep curled up without anyone paying any more attention to it.

By this time, it was already dark, the window panels were closed, and they lit a candle and placed it on the table. These terrible events that have taken place in the past two days have deeply imprinted on their hearts, and they have become more and more nervous when they are in danger and their future is uncertain.

They moved their chairs and leaned close to each other, their hearts beating at every sound. They seldom spoke, and when they did, they whispered, and they looked as if the body of the murdered woman was parked in the next room.

For a while, they sat like this, when suddenly there was a sharp knock at the door downstairs.