Left arm (has been replaced, can be viewed with peace of mind)

  He took a deep breath and recounted what had just happened. Gao Cheng walked over to the tree, squatted down, and pinched a piece of mud with his fingers. I went over to ask him, "Is there something wrong with this soil?"

  "Soaked with gasoline."

  "It must be due to the car leaking oil later." As soon as I brought it up, I felt that something was off. The burnt-out car was only a little over a meter away from this tree. If gasoline had flowed here, wouldn't it have burned everything in sight? I asked: "Has there been any investigation into why the car caught fire?"

  "Spontaneous combustion."

  I was stunned, the car was self-igniting? Turning around, "Wasn't there any sign of arson or ignition source found?" But this can't be confirmed as self-ignition yet." Gao Cheng stood up straight: "Self-ignition can also be man-made. Let's wait until they find that severed arm and then make a conclusion." Just now when Xu Jianglun and I were rescued, the severed arm that was in the grass had already rolled off somewhere, Zhang Ji ordered someone to search for it after finding out.

  During the wait, Gaosong asked me for the answer sheet.

  I stared at the mark on the tree, saying word by word: "Before, we were wrong in our direction, thinking that both the head and tail were letters, so the middle must also be a letter. I had thought that lmk might mean let me know, or refer to Wu Yan, Yu Xiuping, and Du Xiangyuan, but it wasn't until just now that I realized we were completely wrong. The middle one is not m, nor any letter, but the symbol &. After that, there are thirteen more strokes, he must not have thought of it, no matter how much disguise, can be stripped layer by layer to reveal the underlying truth." For me, every stroke's order, starting and ending can be clearly identified.

  I used to think that holding a brush was just about personal preference, wanting to paint things in my imagination. But just now, I realized something - everything around me is a painting, from the vast sky to a small scratch, and it can all be recorded and distinguished with my professional skills.

  Just then, a voice came from beside his ear, "No, he thought of it. It's just beyond his estimated time."

  "Is he doing it on purpose?"

  Gao Cheng didn't answer and instead asked back: "Tell me, why couldn't you see these things from the previous mark?"

  "Because you carved the mark on the printing plate, the strokes are messy. No, you said that person was in a hurry when he carved it, he didn't have time to make many disguises, so it was originally a continuous stroke. I understand what you mean now, the marks inside Wu Yan's house may not have been disguised due to urgency, but this one on the tree, there must be enough time, and if that person wanted to conceal something, there would be plenty of methods and opportunities. But he deliberately only worked on this middle character, with a clear purpose."

  "Bold yet restrained, daring yet cautious, understanding the advantages of heaven and earth, like a shadow following a form." The high castle's eyes flashed with sharp light, "Finally met an opponent who is somewhat interesting."

  With a stern expression, he was able to affirm that the high wall was like this for the first time. To know that in the Wu Yan case, he saw through the whole case at a glance, and the mastermind Du Xiangyuan couldn't even enter his eyes.

  At this time, the police officer who was searching below the cliff came up and did not find the arm, but found another male corpse at the foot of the cliff.

  Forensic and trace investigators immediately descended to the first scene, Zhang Ji came over to ask if Gao Cheng wanted to go down together. I thought he would refuse, but unexpectedly he said: "Go take a look." And with a low bow, he instructed me: "You wait up here, don't mess around." To be efficient, all the detectives were sliding down from my position holding onto the rope, they had received special training and it was not surprising. But Gao Cheng also grabbed the rope without any hesitation and slid down quickly, soon disappearing into the woods.

  As I thought back to the night when I followed him to Wu Yan's floor, he completely controlled me with just a raise of his hand. It was clear that he was an expert in this area, so I let it go. Anyway, given his personality, he wouldn't do anything he wasn't confident about.

  While waiting, I kept looking at the people crying and hugging each other. The child was sadly holding onto a middle-aged woman, wiping away her tears. It must have been her who had startled me earlier by falling to the ground. But I didn't blame her - no mother would not be grief-stricken upon seeing her daughter's body torn apart. It was clear that the emotions between these three family members were very deep.

  My heart aches with sadness, for the tragic fate of the mother and daughter, and also for myself. How long has it been since I last spoke to my mother on the phone?

  The first time someone analyzed me, they actually hit the sore spot in my heart, because I didn't even want to admit that my family relationships are indeed very thin. If I don't take the initiative to contact her, my mother can go a whole year without calling me, and even when I call her, her attitude is extremely cold. After trying many times, I gave up, maybe our mother-daughter relationship is really shallow after all.

  As he came up to the high wall, everyone's face was very gloomy, but he had a relaxed expression, with a hint of excitement in his eyes. When he walked up to me, his voice was barely containing his excitement: "Do you know how he died?" I shook my head in confusion, and he suddenly reached out to tug on the hair hanging over my shoulder, then quickly withdrew his hand, his eyes shining brightly: "He fell to death."

  I don't get why that guy is so happy after falling to his death?

  He continued, "The man's left arm and left leg are both prosthetic." I was taken aback, this was unexpected. Suddenly thinking of something, I slowly turned my head to look at the corpse covered with a white cloth. If I remembered correctly, Tong Ziqi also had an injury on her left foot with two nails that were not removed, but what she lost was... her left arm.

  Since being indoctrinated by the high wall, the two words "coincidence" are no longer casually cited. He vaguely understood his excitement and must have figured out something again. At this time, the subsequent police had already pulled the male corpse up from the cliff, and Xiaotong and his mother were called over to identify the corpse. It was a man, slightly fat, with a completely disfigured face. I don't know how to describe it, that face looked like it had been smashed, or as if something had gnawed at it, and its original appearance couldn't be seen at all. And whether it was because the prosthetic limb fell off when it fell, or because the forensic doctor removed it during the initial examination and didn't put it back on, the left arm and left leg were gone, making it look particularly eerie.

  The little girls were very scared and hastily looked over and said they didn't recognize him. Indeed, who could identify a corpse like this?

  The sky gradually darkened, and the scene had basically been surveyed and recorded. The police were doing their follow-up work. Arrangements were made for people to take turns sending the mother and daughter of the deceased child back to the city, along with the two bodies. The evidence collectors also had to return immediately to conduct further investigations. I returned with Gao Cheng.

  On the way, I saw Gao Cheng always looked like he was deep in thought, so I didn't disturb him. Only when the car quietly entered the city did I whisper to the police driver in the front seat. Gao Cheng suddenly asked: "Why go to the hospital?" I turned around and looked at him, "Today, two people were injured and taken to the hospital for me, I have to go see them before I can rest assured."

  "Hmph, still a policeman, doesn't even understand the principle of grabbing a snake at seven inches."

  I knew he was talking about Xu Jianglun, I retorted in a low voice: "The police also have to consider the situation and act accordingly. If he had hesitated for a moment at that time, it would have been me who got bitten by the snake." Gao Cheng sneered: "Wanting to be a hero saving beauty, but not having the ability."

  I pursed my lips, and my eyes drifted out the window: "Where was your master at that time?" The one who flashed through my mind as I prepared to call for help was him, but it was Xu Jianglun who arrived. Beside me, silently, I turned my head back, seeing his face unusually dark.

  After hearing the doctor say that Xu Jianglun's snake venom has been completely cleared, the heavy stone in his heart was finally put down. In the ward, Xu Jianglun was sleeping soundly, with an intravenous drip on his head and his injured hand wrapped in gauze. The nurse said he would have to sleep until tomorrow before waking up, as his body needed a rest after the toxin was cleared.

  When I left the ward, I didn't see Gao Cheng's person, and walked to the other side by myself. Jiang Yan's complexion was still not very good, her face as white as paper, but her spirit was much better than when I left before. Behind the glamorous appearance, Jiang Yan is just an ordinary woman. She held my hand and whispered softly about a woman's hardships from starting a business to gradually succeeding, and these hardships were not worth the pain of emotions that could not be expressed openly. She said she might spend her whole life like this, slowly swallowing the bitterness and hardship into her heart, and putting laughter and strength on her face.

  If I had any biased views of her before, they have completely disappeared now. The collision of minds is probably like this, and I also understand why she values utility so much - it's because only by standing in front of people and being the focus of attention can she eliminate the darkness at the bottom of her heart.

  Before leaving, Jiang Yan asked with a faint smile: "Xia Zhu, are we friends now?"

  I just smiled and said, "Isn't it late already?"

  Friends, without any special definition, maybe there were still some complaints about her in my heart the moment before, but the next moment we touched each other's hearts, a moment of feeling, a collision of souls.

  Walking out of the hospital building, I didn't see Gao Cheng's figure anywhere. I thought for a moment and took out my phone to call him: "Where are you?"

  "Behind you."

  He turned his head and saw him walking from the elevator, and couldn't help but ask: "Where did you go?"

  His response was: "Just take a stroll." I looked up and saw the bright lights of the building, then looked at him again and gave an evaluation: "Your taste is really unique." He hummed softly and walked away with a dark face.

  This evening was destined to be unpeaceful. As soon as I got into the taxi, Gao Cheng's phone rang. He glanced at it briefly and hung up. But just a minute later, another mobile phone rang in the car, this time mine. It was an unknown caller, I hesitated for a moment before answering, a cold voice with a hint of chilliness: "Is Mr. Gao by your side?"

  After the call, I looked at Gao Cheng and said, "Zhang Ji just called and said that a ring was found in Tong Ziqi's body, which is the piece of evidence that has been missing from the Wu Yan case all along."