Chapter 15: Old Stories (1)

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I flipped through the next few photos, and the last few photos showed not Zhang Hefang, but several middle-aged men I had never seen before, and each of them had similar-looking tattoos, of course, in different places, some on the neck, some on the shoulder, and some on the back.

I put away the photo, I felt a little surprised in my heart, I never thought that there are so many people in this world with the same style of tattoos, of course, if these people are tattooed a dragon or koi such as a more common tattoo, it is not surprising, it's just that that style of tattoo, obviously not just a graphic as simple, that is a kind of hidden rune, although I still don't know the meaning of these runes, but I have been faintly aware that these tattoos are definitely not simple.

In China, due to cultural differences, many people immediately think of tattoos as people who get tattoos are not good people, and even more extreme people think that tattoos are a sign of the underworld.

I returned the photos to Officer Liu and asked, "Officer Liu, ......what is your intention in showing me these photos?"

Officer Liu took the photo I handed me and responded, "You have noticed the tattoos of these people, too. ”

I nodded.

Officer Liu immediately said: "These people, I have been investigating them for many years, but I didn't expect that just when I was about to give up, this Zhang Hefang appeared again." ”

Officer Liu said this, but now I have no interest in the case in front of me, and all my interest has been attracted by the case that Officer Liu said about 20 years ago, so I asked, "Officer Liu, can you tell me about the case 20 years ago?" ”

Officer Liu looked at me, his eyes were firm and a little erratic, and I didn't know what his eyes meant to me.

After a while, Officer Liu lowered his voice and said to me: "Logically speaking, I shouldn't tell you these things, but, strange to say, Mr. Fan, maybe it's because of your father, I have had an incredible sense of trust in you from the first time I saw you, you know, I have never experienced this kind of complete trust before." ”

I nodded, probably because I was more honest.

Officer Liu said: "I can tell you everything that happened 20 years ago, but there is a precondition. ”

"You say." I replied.

"Exchange of information." Officer Liu said lightly: "I will tell you everything I know about Lu Dao twenty years ago, but you also have to provide me with the corresponding information." ”

"What's the message?" I asked.

"You don't have to worry about this, you just need to make sure that you can tell the truth about everything you know." After speaking, Officer Liu paused again, looked at me twice, and then said, "Mr. Fan, I can deliver all the true information to you, but I also hope that you will not live up to my trust in you." ”

I nodded. The exchange of information and intelligence is a common trick used by the police, but I said in my heart that I was confused, and there was no information to exchange with him, but since he said so, I agreed that there was nothing to lose.

Officer Liu sat back in his chair behind his desk and was silent for a moment, as if looking for an appropriate entry point to tell what he was going to talk about.

However, he thought about it for a long time, and he didn't seem to know where to tell it, so after thinking for a while, he asked me abruptly, "Mr. Fan, do you know a person surnamed Jiang?" ”

"Who?" I was shocked.

"Jiang Daolin." Officer Liu said word by word.

As soon as Officer Liu's words fell, I felt a sigh in my heart. Jiang Daolin? Isn't that the person mentioned in the note Zhang Hefang gave me, could it be that this person also appeared in the case twenty years ago?

I nodded and said, "I don't know this person, but I've heard of it, and it's only been a few days. ”

"Oh?" Officer Liu raised his eyebrows, as if he was a little surprised.

I continued: "Officer Liu, don't be surprised, to be honest, I am more surprised than you in my heart now, because the Jiang Daolin you are talking about is the person Zhang Hefang asked me to find. ”

Unexpectedly, after listening to my words, Officer Liu sneered twice and said, "That Zhang Hefang, there is really a ghost." ”

"How?"

"Because the so-called Jiang Daolin, this person has evaporated from the world." Officer Liu said.

"Evaporation from the world? You mean, Jiang Dao is dying? I asked.

Officer Liu shook his head and said, "Whether it's dead or not, I don't dare to say, because legally speaking, only when you find a person's body can you be sure that the other party is dead, otherwise, it can only be considered missing." ”

I nodded and said, "Please go on." ”

Officer Liu continued: "Twenty years ago, I was just a rookie criminal policeman, and my immediate boss at that time was Jiang Daolin. ”

"Huh?" Although I didn't want to interrupt Officer Liu's narration, I couldn't help but say, "That Jiang Daolin is a policeman?" ”

"That's right, why are you so surprised?" Officer Liu asked.

I remembered that the day before, Zhang Hefang had shown me the surveillance video of my mother's corpse, and told me at that time that if I really couldn't find my mother's body, then I would go to this person named Jiang Daolin, so I almost instinctively thought that this Jiang Daolin should be a Taoist priest or a mysterious and ruthless character like Ryazan. However, I never expected that Jiang Daolin was just a policeman.

I prevaricated Officer Liu and asked him to finish the story in one go, and then I explained it to him.

Officer Liu nodded and continued: "Jiang Daolin is a senior in the police world, although he is very old, but in the bureau, everyone calls him Brother Jiang. Brother Jiang can be said to be a legend in the police world, and compared with him, my criminal police career is much, much inferior. For his deeds, even if I say it for a day and a night, I won't finish it, so I won't repeat it, you just need to know that Brother Jiang is a very legendary policeman. ”

I agreed, and Officer Liu continued: "At the beginning, I have always followed Brother Jiang, what Brother Jiang asked me to do, I have no second words, this is not to say that my character is born to be submissive, but I just sincerely admire those who have real skills." And Brother Jiang has always been very optimistic about me, and I can feel that he seems to be deliberately cultivating me as his successor in a sense. ”

"Successor?" I asked, "What does that mean?" ”

Officer Liu said: "This so-called successor is to take over the case that Brother Jiang has been investigating all along, but has never been solved." And I didn't disappoint him, although at the beginning, I was just an executor in the criminal investigation process rather than a planner, but in many cases, I was able to put forward a lot of constructive opinions, so Brother Jiang also valued me more and more.

"Just when I thought I could keep fighting with Brother Jiang and learn a lot from it, one day, Brother Jiang suddenly called me to his office, Brother Jiang is usually very busy and rarely calls me into the office alone. At first, I thought that Brother Jiang was finally going to delegate some tasks to me alone, but the moment I walked into the office, I was stunned.

"I saw Brother Jiang sitting behind his desk, the ashtray on the desk was full of cigarette butts, like a small mountain bag, and the whole office was also filled with a faint smoke. Through the smoke, I saw Brother Jiang sitting there, and I saw that his face was earthy, as if he was in a state of despair. And when I walked into him, I was surprised to see that he was shivering. That was the first and only time I saw Brother Jiang's frightened expression in my life. Although he was nearly 50 years old at that time, he was still very energetic and had never seen any signs of aging, so I was surprised.

"I stepped forward and asked, 'Brother Jiang...... Y-What's wrong with you? ’

Brother Jiang didn't seem to notice that I had walked into the office at all, as soon as I spoke, he was obviously startled, and even the cigarette in his hand almost fell to the ground.

"'Ah, Xiao Liu, are you here?'

"I nodded and asked, 'Brother Jiang, is there something you are looking for me?'

"'Sit.' Brother Jiang said to me in his usual tone: "Xiao Liu, what do you think of me as a policeman? ’

"At this time, I already understand that Brother Jiang's calling me to the office is not just an ordinary task. He said, "Brother Jiang is the most capable police officer I know of Lu Dao, and I hope to become a criminal police officer like you in the future." ’

"Brother Jiang waved his hand and said, "Needless to say, I have heard too many such words, and I don't want to hear them anymore." Brother Jiang paused, put the cigarette butt into the ashtray, and said to me: "Actually, I also know that in the eyes of you juniors, I am a legend, but do you know how much gray bitterness there is behind these superficial legends? ’

I shook my head.

Brother Jiang smiled bitterly twice and said, "Yes, of course you can't know the Dao."

"I waited for Brother Jiang's words, but I found that he was already immersed in his own memories and completely forgot my existence, I waited for a long time, and when I couldn't help it, I reminded him: 'Brother Jiang, what are you ......calling me for?'

"Brother Jiang just woke up from a dream at this time, and said to me embarrassedly: 'Ah, I'm sorry, I've been absent-minded lately.'

"I asked with concern, 'Is there another tricky case?'

"Brother Jiang raised his head, looked at me for a long time, and said: 'It's not that there is a tricky case again, but that the tricky case has never been solved, and you don't need to be surprised, this unsolved case, not only me, but even all the elite criminal investigators in the whole of China have failed to solve it with their concerted efforts, and I am only one of them."

"'The nation's elite criminal investigators!?' I stood up in amazement.

"Brother Jiang saw that I reacted so strongly, so he hurriedly stepped forward and covered my mouth, and said sharply: 'This is confidential, don't be surprised, be careful that the wall has ears.'

"I realized my gaffe just now, so I hurriedly closed my mouth and quietly listened to Brother Jiang continue to tell, that was also the last time I saw him, the last time I talked to him, and next, he mentioned your father, that is, the famous historian, Fan Jiyun."

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