Chapter 1: Liu Xia'er disappears, the trail is cut off

  I didn't call Guan Tingting, because it just so happened to be the weekend, and yesterday on Mei Mountain she had that attitude again. I just hugged her, what's the big deal? But thinking of Guan Tingting's soft body, her large "chest equipment" in front, I still can't help but have some improper thoughts. This woman, with a holy and untouchable appearance, isn't she just a woman, a wild horse? Even the most ferocious wild horse will be tamed by men.

  But I absolutely won't be her kept man. Tian Ji isn't, and I think Lin Jie isn't either.

  At nine o'clock, I met Tianji at Xiangxi Woshigu Bar.

  This guy seems to have recovered quite well, looking spirited. As soon as they met, he asked: "I'm saying, bro, you're not cheating me, are you? Where's Guan Tingting?"

  I burst out laughing: "Are you really having ulterior motives towards Guan Tingting? She's a rose with thorns, and you've experienced her ferocity before. You dare to pick a rose with thorns, have you been blinded by lust?"

  The pheasant sat down opposite me with a thud, looking very disappointed: "Forget it, I knew you were cheating me. Buddy, if there's something to say, then say it, otherwise I'm out of here!"

  What's wrong with this girl, her attitude is different from usual?

  I laughed and said: "You rascal, how can you be so infatuated with girls and neglect your buddies' lives?"

  Two small green bean eyes stared at me and said, "Brother, since you came back here, I haven't had a good day. Either being chased by the white-clothed fierce ghost or almost strangled to death by an invisible ghost, what's wrong with me? In my opinion, all these misfortunes are brought by you. I've told you before, you're born with five elements lacking three, a born-to-be-ghost-attracting fate. Wherever you live, there are ghosts; wherever you go, you encounter ghosts! Brother, just let me off the hook!"

  Damn it, Tianji's words aren't entirely unreasonable, I did drag him into this. The conversation had reached this point, and I couldn't use force, so I sighed and said: "Tianji, you also understand the danger of this investigation case. Alright, since you're not willing to go, I won't force you, but your breakfast is still on me."

  The paddy bird patted me on the shoulder and said, "Buddy, thanks for understanding."

  After having breakfast, Tian Ji wiped his mouth and really left.

  Watching the pheasant disappear into the crowded street, I shrugged my shoulders. No way, only one person went. Tomorrow is Monday, report to Captain Zhou again and try to get their support.

  I parked my car by the Hongqiao Bridge and walked down under the bridge. To my surprise, there was no one under the bridge.

  What about those vagrants who drew many graffiti on the bridge piers?

  Oh, right, these vagrants have to go begging on busy streets or make up strange stories for money during the day, and only return to the bridge piers at night to avoid wind and rain.

  Hongqiao is the most prosperous area in the old town of the whole county, but now there isn't a single vagrant, and under the bridge is empty, what's going on? Even during the day, I feel it's not normal.

  I walked around in circles under the bridge like a headless fly, then left the bridge and got on the bus.

  I have to find another bridge hole, I have to find those vagrants, in order to find that eyewitness Liu Xia'er.

  A few minutes later, I appeared under the bridge hole of Xixi Bridge. The light under the bridge hole is very dark, the air is wet and humid, and the river wind blows in, giving people a cool feeling.

  I walked in and saw two tattered quilts, a large backpack and a sack of hemp, two people sleeping together.

  As I walked quickly towards them, I startled them. One of them stood up and looked at me vigilantly, while the other rolled over and continued to sleep.

  I was prepared, pulled out a pack of cigarettes and tossed two over, asking: "Brother, lend me a light?"

  The man standing there looked at me and didn't seem like someone from their circle, lowered his head to glance at the cigarette butt but didn't pick it up, and said: "You're here to borrow a light?" His tone was foreign, filled with strong doubt and vigilance.

  Next to him, there was a rustling sound, the man tilted his head and saw that his companion, who had been lying down, had picked up a cigarette and lit it.

  "Ah, lend me a light." I waved the cigarette in my hand and smiled, but didn't know if he saw my smile clearly.

  The man thought for a moment, squatted down, picked up another cigarette and sniffed it in front of his nose, tucked it behind his ear, and tossed the lighter to me.

  "Thanks." I took out a lighter, lit a cigarette, and threw the whole pack back together without taking another step closer.

  That man was still staring at me coldly, took my cigarette, but didn't relax his vigilance in the slightest.

  I'm properly dressed, not a vagrant, an ordinary city dweller. Who would normally bother with such a vagrant? And I suddenly appeared here, wouldn't people be on their guard?

  "Brother, I'll leave after finishing this cigarette. By the way, can I ask you something?" I tried to make my tone sound friendly and easy-going so they could accept it more easily.

  The man standing there was still looking at me with a puzzled expression, his dull eyes showing high vigilance.

  "It's like this, I have a friend whose relative is with you all. My friend has entrusted me to find him, have you guys seen him?"

  The man asked coldly: "What's your name?"

  "Liu Xiao'er..." As soon as I finished speaking, something unexpected happened. The man who had been sleeping suddenly jumped up, and the man who was standing shouted "Ah" loudly and ran away, dashing wildly towards the outside of the bridge cave without looking back.

  I instinctively pounced on him, grabbing a man who was about to escape and easily pinning him to the ground. I said, "Brother, I don't have any malicious intentions, if you know something then tell me."

  The man's wrist was pinched by me until it hurt, and he started yelling "Ah yo ah yo".

  At this time I didn't even have the energy to think about why these two vagrants were so terrified when they heard Liu Xiao'er's name, that man was struggling desperately under my body.

  Suddenly, a gust of wind rose from behind my head, it was the sound of a stick splitting the air.

  I lowered my head and dodged to the side, a club swung through the air with a "thwack" sound and struck the cement ground under the bridge, it was that man who had run out earlier coming back to attack me.

  The three years of wrestling and judo I learned at the police academy were all put to use at this moment, I swept a whirlwind kick over, instantly sweeping that man to the ground, the club fell to the ground.

  I stood up and shouted: "Who are you, why did you run? And why did you attack me? I just wanted to ask if you knew my friend's relative Liu Xia'er!"

  These two men seemed to have been scared out of their wits by my beautiful moves, lying on the ground with their heads shrunk into their shoulders, staring at me with terrified eyes, revealing an even more fearful expression than before.

  A detective once said in a book that when someone is afraid or wants to escape from something, they often shrug their shoulders and tuck their head in, with terrified eyes, like a startled turtle.

  Their behavior implies that something out of the ordinary has happened under this bridge.

  My eyes shot towards them like sharp swords.

  One of them stuttered and said: "Don't ask me, I...I...don't know..."

  His eyes couldn't escape mine, he obviously knew but didn't dare say it, was he afraid?

  For a moment, I felt that I was overstepping my bounds. They weren't my suspects, and I had no right or qualification to interrogate them. I softened my tone and said, "Sorry, brothers, it was my mistake earlier. My friend is in a hurry and wants to find his relative as soon as possible. If you know something, please tell me; if not, then never mind."

  The two men exchanged a look and one of them glanced around before whispering, "Brothers, it's not that we don't know, but rather we dare not speak..."

  "You said! There's no one here, just the three of us. We won't tell anyone, and nobody will know." As expected, these two men knew where Liu Xiao'er had gone.

  The man lowered his voice so low that only the three of us could hear: "Just last night, Liu Xiao'er...Liu Xiao'er..., he was taken away in a sack..."

  My heart sank, Liu Xiaoer had gone missing, taken away in a sack by someone. It was just last night's incident. This is too suspicious, Qin Su'er only discovered this clue last night, and now he's in trouble.

  I anxiously asked: "Then did you get a clear look at the appearance of those people who took Liu Xiao'er away with a sack?"

  "It's too dark, we can't see clearly. Last night at 12 o'clock, my brother and I came back from outside, just walked to the side of the bridge hole, and heard Liu Xia'er's shouting and struggling coming from under the bridge hole. We didn't dare move, hurriedly hid behind the pier and looked inside. Then we saw two people, one tall and one short, with a sack covering Liu Xia'er's head, dragging him away..."

  "We were all scared, Liu Xiao'er usually got along well with us, didn't talk much, and we don't know how he got into trouble...". One of the men added from the side.

  I remembered Qin Su'er telling me that Liu Xiao'er had witnessed Qin Yu'er being chased and killed because she saw something she shouldn't have, so I quickly asked: "Has Liu Xiao'er ever mentioned anything to you guys before?"

  The two men shook their heads and replied: "No."

  Damn it, Liu Xiaoer has gone missing and the trail has been cut off. How are we going to investigate Qin Yuer's murder case now?

  I lit a cigarette, took a hard drag, and then stamped it out on the ground with my foot. After thinking for a moment, I said: "You guys need to be careful, absolutely cannot mention what just happened, got it?"

  A man said: "Brother, thank you for your concern. We've already discussed it and we're leaving here to go back home today... damn it, it's too scary, if we stay here any longer, I'm worried that one day we'll also disappear or become a cold corpse under this bridge..."

  Damn it, these two are already preparing to leave, then who will testify that Liu Xiao'er was taken away by someone with a sack? Can I persuade them to stay?