Qin Zimo was a quiet middle-aged man. His eyes were gloomy and his cheekbones were high. His hair was always messy as if he had just crawled out of bed.
Xia Fan and Qin Zimo left his father's house and took the elevator downstairs. They walked out of the neighborhood and walked in the direction that the cripple had left. They walked side by side in the quiet night.
"Did you find the killer's scent?" Qin Zimo asked Xia Fan curiously.
Xia Fan shook his head. "There are 12 families on my father's floor. There are dozens of people living there. Even if I have the superpower of smell, it would be difficult to find the killer's scent in such a complicated environment."
Qin Zimo was puzzled. "Then how do you plan to find the killer? He has been gone for more than an hour. I don't know where he went. "
Xia Fan smiled and stretched out his arm. Immediately, two mice hiding in the dark climbed onto his shoulder. "Of course, we'll rely on them. As long as there are people, there will be these little guys. They are smart and good at hiding. As long as we give them a little something, they will provide us with the information we need."
Qin Zimo was speechless. He was not used to Xia Fan calling the mice "little guys". To most people, mice were filthy, disgusting creatures that carried a lot of germs.
Squeak!
The two little mice chirped noisily as they ate the frosted nuts that Xia Fan had brought from his father. They seemed to be communicating with Xia Fan.
Qin Zimo had also heard from Chu Yan that Xia Fan could control more than one type of animal, but the one he was best at controlling was rats.
Along the way, Xia Fan kept whistling to the mice, asking them if they had seen the cripple. After about 40 minutes, Xia Fan and Qin Zimo arrived at a viewing pier by the sea.
"Did you find the killer?" Qin Zimo asked Xia Fan.
"No. The little ones hid well, but their range of activity was limited. We lost them when they were about two kilometers away," Xia Fan replied.
"What a pity." Qin Zimo frowned and shrugged.
Xia Fan raised his chin and said with a smile, "It is a pity, but don't you think the mother and daughter on the pier are very strange?"
Xia Fan looked down at the time and said, "It is already 1: 35 am."
Upon hearing Xia Fan's words, Qin Zimo looked up at the pier.
Fisherman's Wharf was a relatively well-known scenic spot in this city. The waves on the shore were relatively rapid, constantly crashing against the wharf made of gray rocks, producing rumbling sounds and splashing white water several meters high.
At the end of the pier was a lighthouse, and under the lighthouse was a sea-view restaurant for tourists to rest and eat.
It was already early in the morning, and the lights in the restaurant had long been extinguished. However, on a bench near the sea sat a mother and daughter.
From the back view, the mother was quite thin, and the daughter had two naughty braids with a red bow on them. She might be sleepy as she nestled in her mother's arms.
"It is quite strange." Qin Zimo said, "They didn't sleep in the middle of the night and brought their children to such a place. But we're not looking for them. We're looking for an old man with a cripple. Maybe they're poor homeless people."
Xia Fan shook his head. "My mother is wearing a cashmere windbreaker. Such a high-end item would cost at least tens of thousands of Alliance dollars. They may be pitiful, but it's definitely not because they have nowhere to stay."
"Anyway, the trail is broken. Let's go and take a look."
Qin Zimo was startled and nodded slightly, annoyed that his observation skills were not as good as Xia Fan's.
The two of them strolled toward the mother and daughter, walked around the bench, and stood in front of them.
In the middle of the night, the mother was wearing a pair of huge black sunglasses. What was even more strange was that the little girl, who was no more than five or six years old, also covered half of her face with a pair of black sunglasses like her mother.
Xia Fan suddenly thought of Liang Fala, the annoying guy who caused a lot of trouble for his father. He also wore those huge sunglasses all the time, whether it was day or night, indoors or outdoors. Xia Fan had never seen him take them off, not even once.
"At this time, Liang Fala and his temporary investigation team should still be busy at the station, right?" Xia Fan thought to himself.
Qin Zimo secretly touched Xia Fan's arm, then frowned and said to the mother and daughter, "We are investigators from the Special Task Force. Why aren't you home at this time of night? Do you need help?"
The thin woman with the sunglasses raised her head and looked at Xia Fan and Qin Zimo through the black lenses. Suddenly, the corners of her mouth curled up, which looked strange to Xia Fan. The expression seemed to indicate that the woman knew Xia Fan and Qin Zimo.
"Oh, I'm really sorry to have caused you two trouble," the woman said in a well-mannered manner.
As soon as she finished speaking, she raised her right hand and used her slender fingers to gently pull down the sunglasses.
In an instant, Xia Fan and Qin Zimo were completely stunned.
God, what a pair of eyes. Xia Fan could feel Qin Zimo, who was beside him, trembling uncontrollably.
.....
A bucket of cold seawater fell from the sky, carrying a salty smell. It rushed into Xia Fan's head, causing him to shiver uncontrollably and wake up from his dazed state.
Opening his eyes, Xia Fan saw Chu Yan. She was holding an empty bucket in her hand, and beside her was Dunn. Xia Fan clearly remembered that he did not see Dunn at his father's house, and he did not know when the elusive Dunn suddenly appeared.
Qin Zimo, who was beside Xia Fan, did not fare much better. He was also drenched. The two of them looked at each other and smiled bitterly.
"We were tricked by that woman."
"Yeah."
"If she's the murderer, why didn't she take the opportunity to kill us?"
"I don't know."
Xia Fan and Qin Zimo's question and answer made Chu Yan furious. She shouted at the two of them, "What's wrong with the two of you?! Sitting on this chair like two idiots. Fortunately, Dunn found you. Otherwise, what would have happened if something had happened to the two of you? "
Xia Fan laughed and scratched his wet hair. "Sister Yan, can you keep your voice down? My head is hurting."
From the corner of his eye, Xia Fan suddenly saw the brown envelope in Dunn's hand. It was the same envelope that his father received before midnight.
"Old Deng, what's that in your hand?" Qin Zimo also noticed the envelope and asked hurriedly.
"When I found you, the envelope was between the two of you. I didn't have time to open it," Dunn said.
Qin Zimo immediately gave Xia Fan a look. Xia Fan stretched out his hand and took the envelope. He put it in front of his nose and took a deep breath, then closed his eyes.
"It smells like that woman."
"Open it and take a look."
"Okay."
Qin Zimo and Xia Fan started talking to themselves again. Chu Yan was anxious at the side. She did not know what strange thing Qin Zimo and Xia Fan had encountered.
The envelope was opened, and inside was a photo. It was a photo of the living room wall of Wu Jie's house.
Phew!
Everyone gasped at the same time. This was the evidence they had been looking for for a long time. Why would it suddenly appear here?
On the wall of the living room, a line of words was written with a red ink pen.
"Ariane, 5,493 lives. A debt of blood must be paid in blood."
Qin Zimo felt a sweetness in his throat. His heart raced and he almost jumped out of his chair!
It was the Ariane again. The tragedy caused by the military's failure was the reason why Wu Jie's family of five were killed!
Suddenly, while everyone was still in shock, Xia Fan shook his head and said, "Something's wrong."
"What's wrong?"
"Six years ago, in the Ariane tragedy, there were 5,482 passengers and crew members on board. Including the military's 12-man operation team, a total of 5,494 people were killed. The number of victims written on this wall is missing one person," Xia Fan said solemnly as he raised his head.
.....
When they returned to Papa's house, it was almost four o 'clock in the morning. Qin Zimo and Xia Fan sat by the sea like fools for more than an hour without noticing anything.
Chu Yan had called Papa in advance to tell him what had happened to them, so when Xia Fan entered the living room of Papa's house, Papa did not ask why he and Qin Zimo were drenched. Instead, he handed Xia Fan a freshly printed document that was still a little warm.
Xia Fan flipped through the document and Chen Chen sighed and said, "It turns out that this isn't the first murder case. The intelligence officer in charge of the Ariane operation, Blair, and the technical officer, Strong, have both been killed. The time was half a year and three months ago respectively. Wu Jie is the third victim in the entire serial murder case."
The document in Xia Fan's hand was the report on the murder of Blair and Strong. He did not know where Chen Chen got it. Xia Fan felt that Papa must have used his connections in the headquarters.
Putting down the document, Xia Fan said, "According to the message left by the murderer on the living room wall of Wu Jie's house, she obviously doesn't think that the Ariane tragedy was an accident, so she carried out a crazy revenge.
"According to this inference, there will be more victims in the future. At least the commander of the operation and the accident investigator will be the murderer's main targets.
"The reason is very simple. Wu Jie, the commander of the scene, only took action after receiving orders from the commander. The accident investigator is responsible for concluding that the murderer thinks that the Ariane tragedy was not an accident and must hate these two people to death.
"As long as we find these two people in advance, we can stop the murderer from continuing."
"What a coincidence." Chen Chen smiled mysteriously and took out another list and handed it to Xia Fan. "The commander and the investigator are now in Britannia. We even know the investigator."
Xia Fan was slightly taken aback. He took the list that Chen Chen had sorted out and looked at it. In the column of accident investigator, the name "Liang Fala" was written.
"It's him!?" Xia Fan did not expect that Liang Fala was the investigator who determined that the Ariane tragedy was an accident!
Xia Fan's brain was working at high speed and an idea that shocked Xia Fan rapidly formed.
"Give me the list of the members of the military's twelve-person action team," Xia Fan said quickly.
Chen Chen pulled out a piece of paper from the pile of documents and handed it to Xia Fan.
Xia Fan pointed his finger down the list one by one. When he pointed to one of the names, Xia Fan's finger stopped and he unconsciously whistled softly. Then, he raised his head and looked at his father with burning eyes.
"Dad, I think I know the truth," Xia Fan said.
"Oh, tell me then."
"I can't say it now. We have to go back to the station immediately and see Liang Fala again," Xia Fan said seriously.
"It's four in the morning." Chen Chen yawned and looked at his watch.
"The task force won't rest because they're running out of time. According to the information, the chief commander of the Ariane tragedy, retired Lieutenant General Zhang Qichao, is celebrating his eightieth birthday today. If I were the murderer, I wouldn't let go of this opportunity.
"According to my judgment of the murderer, the death of Wu Jie, Zhang Qichao, and the others was only a secondary outcome. She wanted the truth to be revealed to the public, so she took the initiative to send us the information regarding Ariana's tragedy. When Qin Zimo and I found her, she let us go and kept that photo."
"If we don't stop her soon, tonight will be the death of Lieutenant General Zhang Qichao."
After hearing Xia Fan's words, Father Chen nodded slightly. His eyes glowed brightly again.
"Speaking of you and Qin Zimo meeting the murderer, what's going on?"
Qin Zimo and Xia Fan looked at each other. Qin Zimo lowered his voice and said, "Dad, that woman's eyes are too special, like the eyes of a demon. There's an irresistible power. Dad, you know me, there aren't many things that can scare me. But to be honest, I don't want to meet that woman again. It was pure luck that Xia Fan and I came back alive."
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