From 11 a.m. to late evening.

Marco told a lot of stories about his wife and son, and the two finally arrived in the center of the small town of Reno.

It's not too big to sit next to the Truckee River, but the streets are lined with art galleries, shopping, dining, casinos and other entertainment venues, while the river is dotted with nature-filled greenery and scenic attractions.

There aren't as many high-rise buildings as Las Vegas, and there's no crowds.

Clean streets, sophisticated, deserted and laid-back.

"Have you been to Reno before?" Marl looked leisurely at the scenery on both sides of the sweeping window, and temporarily changed the topic to a relaxed topic,

Dean shook his head,

"I thought Nevada was all hot desert and loess, but I didn't expect there to be green mountains and green waters."

"That's just right, put Luben's annoying idiot aside. I'll introduce you to my hometown," said Marco with emotion, "and there is no other town in our country more famous than Reno." ”

"Is it because of the scenery and the sun?" Dean recalled the geography in his mind, "I've heard that Reno has more than 300 days of sunshine a year, and it's not as hot as Las Vegas, and it's close to the Sierra Nevada, so it's great for hiking and climbing, biking, boating, and by the way, isn't there a Lake Tahoe?" A huge ski slope? ”

"Well, but Reno is so famous not only because of the beautiful scenery, but also because of a special history..."Marco rested his right elbow on the window frame of the car window, his palm supported his chin, and his eyes sighed,

Dean slowed down and listened,

"Before the 50s, couples in our country were not as free as they are now, and there were a lot of messy rules, which was very troublesome and dishonorable. But in order to develop his own economy, Reno has created a kind of 'no-liability divorce'. ”

Marco said,

"There is no reason for divorce in Reno, as long as you live for a certain amount of time and pay a certain fee, you can immediately get rid of the intolerable other half. So, in those days, thousands of couples flocked to get divorced. ”

"It's really a genius idea," Dean admired, adding that this kind of law would certainly be a big hit in the Celestial Empire in the future, but of course it is impossible to achieve, and the experts will not allow people to divorce easily.

"Yes, the people who came to divorce in those days filled up hotels, ranches, farms, and cottages, and some people couldn't find housing, or even lived in tents they set up, anyway, it wasn't for long, and a few weeks of sin could be exchanged for a lifetime of freedom to marry."

"What kind of tent?" Dean turned his head to look out the window, and there was a lonely tent popping up on the edge of the green water on the riverbank, and behind the tent sat an old old log cabin from time to time.

"Well, it's 90 percent less now, but back then there were rows of divorce tents along the banks of the Truckee River, and behind the tents were divorce huts, which was one of the great sights of Reno."

"Young women, in particular, come to get divorced, and they live in these characteristic buildings, waiting for the divorce decree and having fun at the same time, which is called 'sad romance'."

Dean couldn't agree anymore, and in later years, at the end of a marriage, most of the time it was women who filed for divorce, and to put it mildly, they seemed to have more courage to change the status quo.

The car turned a corner through the street, and Dean saw an arched bridge across a choppy river.

Marco, who was originally gushing, suddenly flashed a trace of unnaturalness on his face as he stared at the bridge, but quickly returned to normal, and continued,

"That's the great Virginia Street Bridge... It is significant in Reno's divorce history. ”

"In the past, a woman who had just successfully divorced would stand on the bridge, take off the wedding ring on her finger, throw it into the Truckee River under the bridge, end a marriage, say goodbye to the past, and embrace a beautiful new life."

"A woman who is single again can meet a handsome cowboy in a nearby tent, a Yinzhou hut, and perform a classic romantic love."

Just threw away the wedding ring and immediately welcomed a new love.

That's a bit too fast, isn't it?

Dean shook his head, curious again,

"The wedding ring is worth a lot of money, right? No one jumped into the river to salvage it. ”

Marco glared at him when he heard this, and warned unhappily, "Reno prohibits such shameful behavior, which is a blasphemy and trampling on fine traditions, and a violation of the law. And the Truckee River is by no means a tame beauty, not afraid of drowning, you can go down and give it a try. ”

Dean shrugged his shoulders and slowed down further.

The car drove up the bridge.

Dean looked through the window.

The evening sky opened up a fiery orange-red cloud, and the turbulent river under the bridge was gilded with a wonderful golden red, and the scenery was wonderful, but unfortunately there was not a single tourist empty.

Puff –

A black cloud suddenly flew from under the bridge, swept over the beams above the bridge, and flew under the bridge at the other end.

"Bats?"

"This bridge is often infested with bats, which is also a major feature, but no matter how special it is, it can't keep people." Marco's face sank and sighed, "After the 60s, the divorce policy in the United States was relaxed across the country, and people no longer had to go to Reno to get a divorce. The divorce capital of the world is no longer what it used to be. ”

"There will never be a spectacular scene of hundreds of women losing rings together on the Virginia Street Bridge."

Dean suddenly felt a shock to the system, and after Marco's introduction to the "Divorce Capital" and the "Virginia Street Bridge", the progress of the investigation jumped from 10 percent to 15 percent.

This is definitely a hint from the system.

Is the disappearance of the difficult road related to the historical background of this divorce capital?

Dean fell into deep thought.

……

Soon it was getting dark.

The low-hanging night casts a hazy black veil over the quiet town, which also awakens from its daytime slumber and rejuvenates.

The streets are deserted and full of pedestrians.

There are also a lot of casinos in this small town, with a bunch of neon-lit signs that lure visitors from all directions, like the red lips of a mysterious banshee.

Marco walked through it, found a luxury hotel for Dean to settle the car and luggage, and took him to enjoy a meal of local caviar bread and smoked trout, which tasted good...

After eating and drinking, the two walked along the center of Virginia Street to the lover's bar where Luben had stayed before his disappearance.

Dean stayed at the door of the bar for a short quarter of an hour before he found several pairs of wild mandarin ducks leaning against the wall or gate, or the guardrail intimately, moving very hard.

From God's point of view, the interior of the bar is even more overplayed, and young men and women can be seen hugging each other everywhere.

"So, this place is dedicated to young people to vent their passions?" Dean glanced at Marco beside him, and the old man's face was very complicated,

"Well, most of the customers are energetic young men and women."

"Then I don't understand, I remember Ling mentioned before that Lu Ben didn't hold a girl's hand much," Dean frowned and looked at the old man questioningly, "But he often drinks in this bar, is it difficult to pick up girls?" ”

"If he's willing to find a wife, even if it's one of these women who hang out in bars, and leave a descendant for the family." Marco sighed and explained, "I will also willingly provide for their husband and wife." ”

"But Luben patronizes and drinks in the bar, gets inspiration to write, and doesn't talk to him at all."

"Ahem, I don't mean to be offended, I just want to ask if Lu Ben has anything unspeakable, such as not liking women?"

"He is in good health and has a normal sexual orientation. But he's a perfectionist, and he's extremely critical of his other half. ”

The old man sighed,

"It's also my fault that when Luben was very young, I repeatedly instilled in him that his mother, Mary, was the most perfect and greatest woman in the world, who gave him life at the expense of herself."

Luben took this to heart, and since puberty, he told me that he wanted to find a girlfriend like Mary, but he never got his wish.

"I didn't expect him to be so dead-eyed, so he never had a girlfriend for this, and waited for his true daughter with an iron heart."

Dean looked at the system in silence after listening, and the progress of the investigation inexplicably jumped from fifteen percent to twenty percent.

What's the situation?

Is Luben's determination to find the perfect girlfriend like his mother an important clue?

"Marco, to put it mildly, I think you have to bear a certain amount of responsibility for the reason why Luben's life has become so down."

Call... Suck...

Marco's face was stunned, and his forehead was wrinkled.

"I don't deny it."

"Forget it, let's go, after the Lover's Bar, where did he pass by?"

"Why don't you go in and take a look, aren't you afraid of missing clues?" The old man frowned,

"I don't like to repeat, and the police and private investigators have searched the bar repeatedly, and half a year has passed, so why should I waste time by going in and doing more."

"Dean, the way you investigated really opened my eyes."

……

The two of them walked down the street past a small casino next to the bar, the scale and decoration of which could not be compared with the casino side, and there were fewer customers.

"Did Lu Ben go in and play before?" Dean asked,

"The Van Hersin family rules strictly prohibit spinach and grass sucking." The old man's voice was fierce, "If he dares to touch it, I would have broken his leg a long time ago, so although he has no talent and likes to get drunk, he still sticks to the bottom line." ”

The old man paused and emphasized,

"In the future, if there is another generation in the family, I will add a family rule, prohibiting alcohol..."

……

Walking from the bustling center of Virginia Street to the riverside promenade, the noise and hustle and bustle are far away, the lights are dimming, the pedestrians are gradually disappearing, and the buildings on both sides are turning into green lawns and low trees.

The cool night breeze blew through the long empty street, and both of them pulled their necklines.

"We're already in the mile where Luben is missing, and there's very little people and no surveillance."

"This kind of dark place is the most prone to accidents, and the police and detectives didn't find any clues at the time?"

Dean slowed down and turned his head to look,

"Nope."

Continuing on, a magnificent arch bridge suddenly appeared at the end of the street,

"Wait, didn't we drive past this Virginia Street Bridge when we came?"

Marco nodded with difficulty,

"Those returning from the Lover's Bar to the apartment had to cross this bridge, which was also the center of that mile of missing sections."

Dean was surprised, "Why didn't you tell me by the way when you passed by before, you were deliberately hiding this important information from me?" ”

"What to hide?" The old man pretended not to know, "I don't understand what you mean?" ”

"This Virginia Street Bridge represents a possibility."

Dean walked up to the arch bridge and touched the guardrail between his waist and abdomen.

The road itself is more than 1.9 meters high, and the height of this guardrail is too low for the road, and the center of gravity is unstable and will be overturned.

Moreover, the bridge is 20 meters above the water, and if you are not a professional diver, you may break bones, dislocate, or even fall into a coma and die.

"At twelve o'clock in the night, Luben left the bar and walked all the way through the street to the Virginia Street Bridge, he lay on the side of the bridge to breathe, but unfortunately at a certain moment he was in a trance, his body was unbalanced, he couldn't stand firmly, he fell from the guardrail, and his body was washed away by the turbulent Truckee River, naturally he couldn't find any evidence!"

"And he was drunk and delirious at the time, so there was a better chance of an accident."

"It can't be!" Marco shook his head violently, the tension on his face wrinkled exploded, "The Reno Police Department sent a large number of police to go down to the river, and I even paid for a professional water search and rescue team... Searched for half a month along the lower reaches of the Laki River. ”

"No remnants of the roadbook have been found."

"I'm 100% sure that Luben's disappearance has nothing to do with the river!"

The old man's widening eyes were bloodshot, his facial features and wrinkles were twisted like knotted hemp rope, and his fists were clenched tightly, as if he would throw a punch when he heard a "NO".

But Dean clearly saw a faint plea in this anger.

The sixty-year-old father did not dare to accept such terrible speculation.

Dean moved his lips silently, turned his head, rested his elbows on the guardrail, and looked down at the silver-carpeted Truckee River.

The police and the search and rescue team have been looking along the river for half a month, and there is a high probability that he will be ineffective if he looks for it again along this road, and the seven-day investigation time given by the system is not enough.

He can only believe in another scenario.

"Well, let's just assume that Luben is missing for another reason."

The old man took a deep breath, his thin chest under his big coat rising and falling, and his anger was restrained.

"But the road must have had an accident near this Virginia Street bridge." Dean continued with a squint as he opened God's perspective to inspect the bridge up and down, "This bridge is the most striking structure within a mile... Well... While I can't see exactly what the problem is at the moment, it's worth paying attention to. ”

"Don't mention the damn bridge, I'll take you back to the apartment where Ben used to live?" Marco obviously didn't want to dwell on, "There's no point in staying here all the time. ”

The two walked forward and left the bridge.

Dean turned on the recording function of God's perspective, looking back on the experience and harvest of communicating with Marco and visiting Reno today.

There are only a few clues that make a noticeable change in the progress of the investigation -

1. Luben van Hersin was a destitute writer who lived on the relief of his father, Marco.

2. Reno is the "divorce capital of the world" and has a long history of poignant romances, and the Virginia Street Bridge is significant in that history.

3. Luben has always been determined to find a perfect girlfriend like his mother, the dead Mary van Hersin.

……

There was very little information, and Dean couldn't see the connection between the clues for the time being.

"Tonight, it seems, is a sleepless night."

(End of chapter)