Christmas Day, 2006.

Officer Huanghai took Si Wang to his home, bought a lot of cooked food and cold dishes, prepared two bottles of rice wine for himself, and bought a large bottle of Sprite for the boy.

Outside the window, it was raining coldly.

Si Wang's face is becoming more and more mature, and his eyebrows are gradually thickening, and he will develop into a teenager in two years.

Once, the police officer deliberately took the boy to the bathhouse, and sure enough, in the place of his left vest, he found the birthmark like a knife wound - Huang Hai frowned, but did not say it.

Si Wang came here to play twice in three days, and every corner was open to him—except for a mysterious little room, the door was always locked, and he didn't know what to hide?

Huang Hai drank to himself, swallowing the clouds and spitting fog, until the boy coughed loudly, and then snuffed out the cigarette butt.

"Today is Ah Liang's second anniversary." He touched Si Wang's nose, his fingers trembling, "It's really like a dream." ”

"Who is Ah Liang?"

Huang Hai took out a photo frame from the drawer, which was a photo of Huang Hai and a boy, with People's Park in the background, and many balloons in the flower beds, vaguely recognizable "June 1st" - the boy looked a little like Si Wang.

"He's my son, only a year older than you. Four years ago, he was diagnosed with leukemia, and I searched hospitals across the country to give him a bone marrow transplant, but I never found a suitable candidate. Ah Liang stayed in the hospital for a year, and his hair fell out from chemotherapy, and finally died in my arms at the age of ten. ”

"You miss him so much."

"That year, I would secretly shed tears almost every day until I met you, boy."

The middle-aged man held Si Wang in his arms, and stroked him with a thick and hot palm, as if his son was still alive.

"Where's Ah Liang's mother?"

"I divorced early, the mother-in-law ran away with a rich man, immigrated to Australia, and never came back after her son died."

"Well, I don't blame you." The boy touched the wrinkles on the officer's face, "In the future, you can call me Ah Liang." ”

"Ah Liang is dead, he won't come back, boy."

Huang Hai calmly finished saying this, as if he had fully accepted the reality of his son's death.

"Death is a dream, and so is life."

"Stinky boy, you're here again, dare to talk like an adult!"

He drank the whole glass of wine, and Si Wang pulled his arm: "Enough, you're getting drunk!" ”

"Leave me alone!"

Officer Huanghai pushed the boy away and poured himself another glass. Si Wang helped him to the sofa, and he muttered to himself, "Ah Liang! Don't leave! Ah Liang! ”

After getting drunk...... A wave of nausea welled up in his stomach, Huang Hai lay on the floor and vomited, why was the amount of alcohol so bad tonight?

He embarrassedly gathered his vomit, only to find that the door to the small room was ajar and there was a slight sound of footsteps.

touched the key on his body, and sure enough, it had been taken away by this kid Si Wang. He rushed into the small room, filled with the smell of mold and rot. The boy stands sculpturally, staring at the entire wall, covered in yellowed papers and photographs, densely packed like elegiac couplets at a memorial service.

The photographs show the most familiar images of the Yellow Sea – overgrown wilderness, crumbling walls, towering chimneys, dilapidated factories, rusty machines, stairs leading to the ground, metal hatches with round handles......

The legendary witch district of the students of Nanmyung High School.

Before Si Wang realized it, his lips had been bitten by himself, and blood was running down the corners of his mouth.

The police are seen from time to time in the photo, still in a 20th-century green police uniform, taken in June 1995. The scene of the murder is lit up against the backdrop of a dark and boundless underground, filled with filthy water that emits a disgusting reflection.

He saw the affirmation.

Twenty-five, with lush hair and a shirt that his fiancée bought for him, had been dyed black by the sewage. The black gauze on the arm covered with red cloth was difficult to distinguish, and the blood stains had not yet faded......

The face in the photo is still buried in the water.

In the next photo, the body is turned over, and there is a miserable white face in the miserable white light - the boy is afraid to look at it with his eyes closed, but tears welled up between his eyelids.

Officer Huang Hai hugged him from behind and reached out to cover his eyes.

Unrecognizable and miserable...... One can imagine a person who was killed and then soaked in the rain in the ground for three days......

Three days after death, he poured into the waters of death and gradually decayed.

The next dozens of photos, each one of which is enough to leave a nightmare for the rest of your life. Si Wang pushed the policeman's hand away and stared at the photo with wide eyes - the knife wound on the deceased's back, a red line of less than two centimeters, was enough to break the heart in half.

He did not see the murder weapon.

After the body was removed, the police continued to investigate the scene, pumping out the stagnant water from the basement and searching for possible evidence. There are no legendary graves or bones, just strange words and symbols carved into the walls.

Finally, Huang Hai retrieved the keychain from the boy's hand, looked at the tin cabinet in the corner of the small room and said, "It's been ten years, this little room has never changed, do you know why?" ”

"This is a case you haven't solved yet!"

"In the early morning of June 6, 1995, a girl who had been poisoned was found on the roof of the library of Nanming Middle School, she was in the third (2) class of high school, and she was going to take the college entrance examination in a month. The head teacher of the deceased was called Shen Ming, and he was treated as a murder suspect, and I personally arrested him and released him from the public security bureau. At midnight on June 19, in the wasteland on the side of Nanming Road, a group of wild dogs bit a corpse, attracting the attention of workers on the night shift. The police found Shen Ming missing, and the old man in the porter also testified that he saw Yan and Shen Ming walking out of the school that night, and everyone suspected that he was the murderer, and absconded after killing the teaching director. The police searched for him for three days but did not arrest him, until a girl reported to the school that on the day of her disappearance, he mentioned the abandoned factory near the school, which is also the legendary witch area of the students. It was only at 10 a.m. on June 21 that the police found his body – it had rained heavily for several days, and the underground warehouse was so waterlogged that the body was soaked in water, but the murder weapon was gone. After all these years, these numbers are still etched in my head. ”

After Huang Hai said this in one breath, the wine almost woke up, and there was no air conditioning in the small room, so he only felt cold.

He still remembers the saber that killed the harsh - the manufacturer was originally a third-line arsenal, with a blade length of 15 centimeters, using special steel, a spear-shaped tip with a blood groove, following the traces of military products, much like a dagger of special forces, sharpness, retention, hardness, toughness and corrosion resistance are all first-class. Such knives were extremely rare in the market, and at that time they were only circulated in a few special sectors.

15 cm, 305 mill, special steel, with blood groove, spear-shaped tip......

On the other side of the room, on the white wall, countless lines are drawn with red markers, forming a huge picture of the relationship between the characters. The shocking red letters, at first glance, look like they were written by the Yellow Sea dipped in his own blood.

At the heart of the wall are two words – affirmation.

Around this name, eight thick lines stretched out, each of which pointed to a name, namely: Liu Man, Yanyan, He Nian, Lu Zhongyue, Gu Qiusha, Gu Changlong, *Song, and Ouyang Xiaozhi.

There is a headshot under each name, among which Liu Man, Yan Yan, He Nian, Gu Qiusha, and Gu Changlong, the names of these five people are marked with red crosses, indicating that he (she) has died.

The word "affirmation" is like an evil spell, and most of those who connect with him have already met with bad luck. Just this year, Gu Qiusha and Gu Changlong, who affirmed their former fiancée and father-in-law, also suffered the tragedy of family breakdown. People will naturally think: Is this a ghostly revenge?

Only three people are still alive.

Lu Zhongyue didn't know where he was absconding, the only thing that was certain was that the life of a wanted criminal would definitely not be easy.

Si Wang pointed to the name on the wall and said, "Who are the *Song and Ouyang Xiaozhi?" ”

"*Song was a math teacher at Nanming High School at the time of the crime." Huang Hai was also reminded by him, and he hadn't paid attention to these two people for a long time, "Ouyang Xiaozhi said that three days after the crime, he said that he might be a girl in the witch area. ”

"These eight people are all directly and indirectly related to the deceased, right?"

"A month after Shen Ming's death, I drew this diagram. The most suspicious is Lu Zhongyue, who is actually married to the fiancée of his dead friend. He was an engineer at the Nanming Road Iron and Steel Plant, and he was on duty at the plant that night, and the place where the crime occurred was no more than 200 meters away from the duty room. At the time, Lu Zhongyue's father, who worked for the district government, insisted that he had slept all night and that there was no evidence that he had anything to do with Shen's death. I've been keeping an eye on him all these years, and two years ago I found He Nian's body, and I also looked for Lu Zhongyue a few times. Unexpectedly, he really became a murderer, and now every public security bureau in the country has a wanted warrant for him. ”

"You're putting all the stuff in this room and not allowing anyone to enter, because it's your off-limits zone and it's a shame for you as a police officer?"

"Look for death!" He kicked Si Wang out of the small room and poured another glass of cold water on top of his head, "I leaked too many secrets tonight, if my mother knew, she would definitely not let you come to my house again." ”

"Are you feeling better?"

"I'm fine, I just think you're horrible — sometimes, you don't look like a child."

"Everybody says that."

"Why should you care about the 1995 case? You weren't born yet! ”

"For you."

This answer surprised Officer Huang Hai, who looked out the window at the twinkling Christmas tree and said, "What a terrible boy you are." ”

Suddenly, the doorbell rang.

Who visits on Christmas Eve? Huang Hai locked the small room again, but Si Wang opened the door like a master.

Outside the door stood a man in his fifties, with half-white hair, his body was no longer as tall as before, his wrinkles had increased a lot, and his whole face was thin and haggard. He furrowed his brows and looked at the house number: "Little friend, is this the home of Officer Huanghai?" ”

"Yes."

"Sorry to interrupt, is your dad home?"

actually regarded him as Huang Hai's son, Si Wang did not deny it, nodded and said, "He is at home." ”

Huang Hai immediately pulled him behind him, took a towel to wipe his wet hair, and said in a rough tone: "Old Shen? Didn't I tell you not to come to my house? ”

"I'm sorry, Officer Huang, I've been on the phone when I called you, so I came straight to the door. Because it's so important – I have a new clue! ”

"Say it!"

"Last night, he bought a book in the bookstore, guess what? The Da Vinci Code! I've read this book countless times, novels about religion, history, art, and murder, as well as the Knights Templar and the Xunshan Retreat. ”

Huang Hai was completely dizzy, scratched the back of his head and said, "What mountain? ”

“Priory of Sion！”

This man in his fifties actually spoke a fluent English term.

"Lao Shen, you see that you are old, and you don't fart in front of me."

Si Wang's eyes were a little strange when he looked at this man, and he pulled the corner of Huang Hai's clothes at the door and said, "Let him come in and talk." ”

"Shut up!" He touched the boy's head, "Go to the kitchen, children don't care about adults!" ”

"Cut!"

But he was a policeman after all, and Si Wang obediently hid in the kitchen, but he didn't know if he was eavesdropping.

"Sit down."

Huang Hai made a cup of tea for this uninvited guest on Christmas Eve.

"Officer, I quietly followed the man, who was sitting on the subway reading The Da Vinci Code, while also taking detailed notes, his fingers were still drawing crosses, and many strange shapes, and he didn't know what was reading in his mouth, maybe it was a mysterious instruction from their organization."

"You weren't discovered, were you?"

"Don't worry, I'm hiding it carefully, wearing a mask and a hat, he can't see my face."

Huang Hai scratched his head and lit a cigarette: "Damn, I'm afraid that he will call 110 to call the police again, or directly complain to our director!" The director's daughter is going to take the college entrance examination next year, and she has been tutoring with him recently! ”

"It's too dangerous! Tell you the director that he must not be allowed to touch the child! I suspect that he is a member of the Xunshan Hermit or the Rosicrucian Society, or at least a Freemason! ”

"You're a good police officer, and I'm a senior prosecutor, we both have the same experience in handling cases, and the guy with a ghost in his heart, no matter how well he disguises it on the surface, can't escape the eyes of both of us. I can guarantee – he's no ordinary math teacher! ”

"Yes, he is a well-known special teacher in the city, of course he is not ordinary."

The more the senior prosecutor spoke, the more excited he became: "There is a demonic evil aura hidden in his eyes!" You have to trust my instincts, even though everyone thinks he's friendly. After Shen was killed, your police have not been able to solve the case for a long time, and I often go to the city library to look for information on forensic science and forensics. Once, I ran into that guy in the reading room, and directly revealed his identity, including my relationship with Shenming. I asked him if he was borrowing a teaching book. He embarrassedly denied it, and covered the cover of the book he had borrowed with his hand. I asked again what happened to the school after Shen Ming's death? He only said that the principal was removed because of this, and the teachers and students were under a lot of pressure, so he hurriedly said goodbye and fled, obviously deliberately avoiding it, if there was no ghost in his heart, why do this? So, I used the relationship of the procuratorate to investigate *Song's borrowing records in the library, and found that most of what he read was religious semiotics, as well as many detective novels about murder, such as "No One Survived", "Murder in Mesopotamia", and even professional books on forensic science. ”

"Lao Shen, listen to me......"

"Don't interrupt me! When my son was killed by him, he was already in his thirties, and now he is in his forties, but he has never married, his conditions are so superior, is it not easy to find a wife? Therefore, it is highly likely that psychopaths! ”

"Catch the wind."

"Also, I investigated the three generations of that perverted ancestor, what are the results? His grandfather worked with foreign missionaries and belonged to the 'ministry' of The Da Vinci Code. In 1949, this fake foreign devil was publicly executed as an imperialist spy, and before his death, he recited a long list of foreign words, said to be incantations in Latin, to curse the cadres and masses at the anti-rebellion public judgment meeting. Officer Huang, do you understand? His grandfather was a member of an evil organization abroad, and it was naturally passed on to him. His father had died by suicide twenty years earlier, in a very strange way, by locking himself in a stone house and setting him on fire, which I think was some kind of self-sacrificial ritual. ”

"Shen Yuanchao, you are an old prosecutor, you should know that you must pay attention to evidence in everything. I'm grateful for the clues you gave to the police, but I've heard you say it countless times in the past ten years! I can almost recite your entire set of so-called evidence verbatim, and I have investigated and verified it several times, and each time it proves that you are talking nonsense! You have to call me every week, run to my office in the Public Security Bureau, and today you came to the door to block me. ”

"Because last night's discovery is so important! It is proved that he is connected to the mysterious organization in The Da Vinci Code. ”

"I suggest you go home and have a good rest, don't do these dangerous actions again, people have already found out that you are following him, I don't know how many times I have called 110 to call the police, I don't want to arrest you in the detention center with my own hands!"

Shen Yuanchao hurriedly added: "There is another reason!" The last one! Listen to me, although he is a special teacher, he is not a member of the Communist Party, nor has he joined a democratic party, and his political identity is very suspicious! ”

"It's so good at fabricating accusations! It's a 'Cultural Revolution'! Fortunately, my Lao Huang only knows how to solve cases, and never takes bribes and corruption*, otherwise it will be miserable in your hands! Ten years ago, when you first ran up to me and said that the man had a serious suspicion, I immediately investigated and found that he had ample alibi evidence — on June 19, 1995, he attended an academic conference of the education system, in a hotel on an isolated island, where at least forty people could testify. It was raining heavily that night, the only ferry on the island could not go to sea, everyone was stranded at sea, how could he go back to school and kill people when he slept in the same room as the director of education? ”

"I've read countless mystery novels over the years, even if it's a perfect alibi, it may be forged or false, I didn't expect that such a senior police officer as you was deceived by him!"

On the night of Liu Man's murder, he was giving make-up lessons to two junior high school boys until 2 a.m., and he was also not qualified to commit the crime. Although, he has never been married, there has never been a shortage of the opposite sex who pursues him. His family background is good, and he is a highly talented student who graduated from Tsinghua University, and his vision is too high to fancy a suitable person, such a person is very common. ”

Shen Yuanchao's voice trembled more and more: "I have been following this murderer for ten years, and there is no one in the world who knows him better than me. Officer Huang, I don't blame you, for ten years, you have also been looking for the murderer, and I am very grateful to you. But I'm the affirming father, and I can feel his soul that hasn't been reincarnated, but has been floating around me – you know what? This morning, Shen Ming gave me a dream, and I saw him standing by a river, still twenty-five, with a bowl of thick soup in his hand. He asked me to avenge him, and he said that the murderer was that person! ”

Dreaming?

Huang Hai was completely speechless.

"Let's go, Lao Shen, you go back and have a good rest. I promise, I'll catch the killer, unless—I'm dead! ”

The police officer opened the door and invited Shen Yuanchao out, and the old prosecutor trembled at the elevator and said: "Remember to search his house, you know his address, he lives on the ground floor, there is a small yard, dig up the ground, and a large number of bones will definitely be found!" ”

Seeing the other party enter the elevator, Huang Hai returned home and found that Si Wang was already at the door.

"You kid is eavesdropping!"

He angrily pushed the boy into a corner, and Si Wang looked at him innocently, as if frightened: "Who is he?" ”

"Si Wang, I'm playing a game with him." He swallowed the dirty words back into his stomach and said lightly, "He's just a ...... Friends. ”