Three people and one ghost solved 43 mysterious cases.

At dusk, old antique cars stopped halfway up the mountain.

There was a broken tree in front of me, and dead leaves piled up on the road ahead.

The driver, wearing a black top hat and white gloves, turned to Yao Ruolan and said, "Madam, the car can only go so far."

Yao Ruolan stepped out of the car and wrapped her windbreaker tightly. She was not cold. Everyone in the city of longing used instinctive movements to disguise themselves.

Her shoes made a sound as they stepped on dead leaves.

There is a foggy lake on the left side of the road. On the other side of the lake is a forest. A woodcutter is chopping down a small tree with an axe. The hummingbirds on the tree are so startled that they flutter their wings and fly in the forest.

There are many old and mottled bungalows on the right, which was once a wealthy area.

Since the murder of Trilis, the rich people on the mountain have gradually moved away.

There is a bungalow every hundred meters. You can still imagine that these bungalows were once so beautiful. Today, vines and wild roses are climbing on the walls, and crows stand on the chimneys on the roofs.

After walking about 500 meters, Yao Ruolan stopped in front of the bungalow with the house number 56.

This is a three-story bungalow, which is the scene of the first murder of Trilis.

In investigating the case, after questioning the experienced detective Paulo and the deceased, she had to come to the scene to take a look.

The window glass on the first floor was broken. Glass fragments were scattered outside the window and outdoors. A clear bloody shoe print of size 42 could be seen.

Yao Ruolan thought that after the incident, the murderer broke the window from the inner room and jumped out of the window to escape.

The shoe print is size 42. John Johnson also wears shoes of this size. Could he really be the murderer?

Yao Ruolan opened the door and saw granular dust floating in the room under the setting sun.

There were dried blood stains all around the sofa in the living room on the first floor. Judging from the splatter marks of blood, Trilis died on the sofa...

Yao Ruolan closed her eyes, as if she could imagine that scene. The drunk Cui Lisi had no time to resist and was beaten to death by the murderer.

But why are there two scars on her head?

One is a blunt instrument, such as a stick, and the other is a sharp instrument, such as a machete.

But the murderer should have been very quick in his attack. He had to attack Trilis with both blunt and sharp weapons at the same time to kill her quickly.

Could it be that there are two murderers? Impossible, Trilis said that she only saw one person, and the murder weapon in that person's hand was neither a stick nor a machete.

It is a short item.

It's an axe!

Yao Ruolan opened his eyes. The murder weapon was an axe.

The front of the ax is sharp and the back is blunt.

The murderer was a man. He was holding an ax in his hand. He raised the ax and hit Trilis on the head five times with the back of the ax. Then he turned the front and chopped Trilis to death.

The first question is solved.

The second question is, is the murderer really Johnson?

He could use such a trick to kill his wife, and Trillis said that she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

No, the murderer should not be Johnson.

Trillis said that she smelled the smell of the murderer, and it was quite smelly.

The odor comes from sweat or body odor. As a doctor of some status, John Johnson should not have this kind of sweat odor on his body.

If it was him, Trilis would definitely be able to smell it. Besides, Johnson had drunk alcohol and had taken a shower. His body smelled of soap and alcohol, definitely not the smell of sweat.

There is another murderer, but how did he enter this bungalow? The servant was there before, and the family members were also there. The door was locked from the inside. This was a secret room.

Suddenly a crow flew past the window, flapping its wings, distracting Yao Ruolan.

Crow, she seemed to have seen this crow just now, standing on the chimney.

Yao Ruolan's brows relaxed and she understood that this was not a secret room.

The murderer is most likely a thief! It was probably a man, because Trillis said the man's hair wasn't long.

At the time of the incident, it was probably [-] o'clock in the evening. The thief saw that the lights in the bungalow were out, and he planned to break into the house and rob it.

The thief's target may be the third floor. He thinks there will be harvest on the third floor.

The thief climbed a tree and jumped onto the roof of the bungalow. He got into the bungalow through the chimney.

He should be quite thin.

The thief circled around the third floor, but found nothing. He heard the snoring coming from John Johnson who was sleeping in the bedroom on the second floor.

The thief finished thinking, there is someone in this house.

The thief wanted to climb out through the chimney connected to the attic on the third floor, but he couldn't climb out despite several attempts.

Helpless, he could only tiptoe downstairs, trying to escape from downstairs.

He went down the stairs to the second floor and heard the sound of Johnson's sleeping snoring coming from the bedroom.

Feeling relieved, I quickened my pace and walked from the second floor to the first floor. As my pace became faster, I made some noises.

Trilis, who was lying on the sofa on the first floor, heard her. Trilis was drunk and said some drunken words in a daze.

The thief thought Trilis had discovered him and seen him.

No, he knew the consequences if he was caught. He was afraid and became cruel. The thief took out the ax he carried with him from his waist and struck it once, twice,

He was too nervous and used the back of the ax. He had to die. He turned the front of the ax and killed Trilis viciously.

The whole process was quick, and Trilis died without any resistance.

No, run away!

The thief put away his ax and prepared to go out through the front door, but he found that the front door was locked from the inside.

He couldn't open the door and saw the window.

So he took out the ax again, broke the glass of the window, jumped out, and fled in panic.

In this way, all the fragments of the window were scattered outside the house, leaving 42 yards of bloody shoe prints on the ground.

This explains why the murder weapon has never been found. The murder weapon was an ax and was taken away by the thief.

When all the scene tracks were explained by the same explanation, Yao Ruolan seemed to have solved the mystery. This must be the truth of the case.

However, she fell into deep thought again.

Even if this is the case, it is still impossible to prove who the murderer is. This case has been in the past 90 years.

What can be judged is that the murderer is a poor man and has some kind of sweat odor on his body.

Could it be that he was really the repairman? When the case was overturned in 1982, he was burdened with another life sentence case and talked nonsense in prison, saying that he was the repairman who killed Trilis?

Yao Ruolan walked to the window. The glass of the window was broken, but there was a knob on the window. Once the knob was turned, the window could be opened.

No, the killer was not a repairman.

If a repairman were to rob a house, he would carry some more dexterous lockpicking tools with him. He had repaired doors and windows here before, and he knew the structure of the house.

He could choose to enter through the window instead of the chimney.

Even if he feels that the chimney is the best way to enter, after the crime is committed, he can easily open the window even if he cannot open the internal lock of the door.

This is his professional instinct skill, rather than choosing to break through the window and escape.

So who the murderer is may not be found.

Yao Ruolan thought for a long time, sighed, and left the bungalow.

On the way back, she continued to think about the clues she had obtained and everything Trilis had said to her in the beauty salon just now.

"It has been 90 years, and you are the first person to ask me, ferryman."

When recalling Cui Lisi's words, Yao Ruolan stepped on the dead leaves and paused for a moment. A certain sound seemed to echo in her ears, the clicking sound of keyboard typing...

?

At 23:56 at night.

A bolt of lightning pierced the night sky of K City.

In an open-air parking lot, inside a container house, the fat man was sitting on a royal blue three-person sofa, looking at the beautiful wax figure in front of him.

To be precise, this is a wax robot that is 90.00% similar to a human.

Using 3D skin printing technology, this robot was cloned to look like Yao Ruolan.

The robot has a receiving device in its brain.

The clock continues to flow, 23:56 minutes, 01 seconds, 02 seconds, 03 seconds, 04 seconds.

With the help of lightning, people can connect the world with the city of longing.

A chip in the robot's brain quickly collects signals.

With a "hoo" sound, the wax figure robot jumped up, and Yao Ruolan came to the world with the help of the wax figure.

"What smell?" Yao Ruolan sniffed, and the machine chip sensed the smell in the room and transmitted it to her brain.

"Yao Ruolan" turned around and saw a pot of black fish with thick soup on the coffee table.

"West Lake Vinegar Fish?" She said, "I've been craving this taste for a long time."

The fat man thoughtfully handed over a bowl of rice, covered it with a piece of fish, and poured the soup over it.

She began to make rice, soup, and rice, and entered Yao Ruolan's "machine esophagus." The test sensor analyzed the throat irritation and taste, and fed back the sensory data to the chip.

Yao Ruolan seemed to have obtained the real pleasure brought by eating. After one bite, it was sour and sweet, and she also felt full.

"Eat slowly." The fat man said, there are still three minutes left, enough for you to eat two bowls of rice.

"No, I want to eat three bowls."

She devoured fish and rice. Since she became a human being, she had to be a rice cook.

The fat man was busy on the side, picking up fish, serving rice, and making soup.

"It's delicious, I made it." The fat man said proudly.

"You did it?" Yao Ruolan was surprised.

"Well, this fish must be eaten while it's hot, otherwise the fish will become too old and lose its elasticity."

In order to ensure that Yao Ruolan could eat the most authentic West Lake vinegar fish, the fat man went to the 18th generation authentic descendant of West Lake vinegar fish, asked for the secret recipe, and bought the fattest fish.

To make this dish, he practiced for three nights.

After eating everything, the machine chip sensed fullness, and Yao Ruolan gave a satisfied burp.

"Thank you." Yao Ruolan said.

She looked up at the time and saw that there were less than 20 seconds left before the end of this journey on earth.

"Long story short, there's a clue to the case. I want you to find two people," she said.

"Who?" the fat man asked.

"I don't know their names either. One is the murderer of the 1942 cinema murder case, which was investigated by Boro, and the other is the repairman who overturned the case for the second time in 1982."

"Are they all dead?"

"Yes, no one misses them anymore..."

After saying this, the wax robot suddenly collapsed on the sofa, no longer alive. Yao Ruolan's journey to the human world was over.

"Every time is so short." The fat man murmured as he looked at the beautiful Yao Ruolan and the beautiful robot.

But he had already guessed the meaning of Yao Ruolan's last words.

·

The next day, the fat guy took action.

He went to the library and dug out the 1942 "K City Daily". On a front-page news item, he saw Chen Lai's photo.

The unkempt young man was kneeling on the ground, and beside him stood Inspector Paulo, who was holding a cigarette butt in his mouth.

This is the photo taken by reporters when Boro announced to the outside world that the cinema murder case had been solved. This is also the only photo of Chen Lai, the "unjustly killed ghost", left in the world.

The fat guy scanned the newspaper.

Then he went to another archive room, which was full of newspapers and magazines from the 80s.

A "Big Pineapple" magazine devoted a full page to publishing photos of the overturned case in 1982. After all, due to Qiao Yuanshan's status as a top rich man and the fact that it was a mystery for decades, that overturned case shocked the whole city.

The repairman was wheeled to the court in a wheelchair. There are many and very clear photos of him.

Are these two men connected to Trillis' murder? Will they know each other? The fat man frowned slightly and thought.

He took the photos of the two of them back to the studio, scanned them on a computer, and restored the photos.

The clear faces of the two people appeared on the screen. The fat man looked at the photos of Chen Lai and the repairman and remembered them.

This is what Yao Ruolan asked the fat man to do. These two people have long been forgotten by everyone in the world.

But as the fat man missed them, they disappeared for decades and then reappeared in the city of missing them.

The city of longing.

Two ragged people suddenly stood in the old K-town in the 30s, exuding the exuberant "light of longing" of fireflies. They looked at each other in surprise and called out each other's name.

"Chen Lai."

"Zhao Shuisheng (repairman's name)."

It turned out that they had known each other since early in the morning.

·

Two days later, the city of longing.

The sky is raining, neon lights are flashing, and a poster is posted on the outer wall of the cinema for the upcoming movie "Trouble in Paradise" in 1932.

Everyone has troubles, and troubles follow us everywhere.

Three streets away from the cinema is the police station, which has empty offices and interrogation rooms. Files of old cases are placed on the table, with ants crawling across them.

Those passionate policemen no longer exist and have been forgotten by the world. The only thing that can be remembered is this "one person".

Boro was sitting in the Inspector General's office, with a wall full of medals behind him. He was holding a cigar and looking through the last case of 1965.

This was his last case before retirement.

After coming to the City of Missing, he either stayed at the police station or returned to the scene of the crime. During the decades in the City of Missing, what he did was to re-examine the 1925 cases he had handled from 1965 to 963. , he wanted to know if there was any wrongful conviction.

Bolo read the dossier carefully word for word, confirming that the details were correct over and over again, and then gently tapped the keyboard of the typewriter.

The keyboard was pressed, and the words were reflected along the typewriter, "Case 963, reexamination completed, correct."

Boro took a puff of his cigarette and finally finished. In his 40 years as a police officer, he had only nine cases in which he was suspected of miscarriage of justice.

It is normal for cases to be tried incorrectly. These nine cases were all minor robberies, which were not worth mentioning compared to the 954 cases he judged correctly.

My life is worthy of that trophy, the "Light of K City" trophy that is glittering on the table and awarded to him by the government. He was sure in his heart.

At this moment, Boro heard footsteps coming from the distance. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and a shadow had a bright face under the light.

She is a stunningly beautiful woman with an elusive expression on her face, Yao Ruolan.

"Ferryman, why are you here?" Bolo asked.

"Inspector Bao, let me see you."

Yao Ruolan entered the room and sat down on the chair, with her pink hair hanging on her face, "Let's talk about the Trilis murder case in 1932."

There was a slight twitch on Boro's face. He quickly took a puff of cigarette to control his emotions. "Haven't we already said in this case that the murderer is Johnson?"

"No, the murderer is not Johnson."

Paulo smiled, "Then who do you think it is?"

"Chen Lai."

After being stunned for a while, Bao Luo asked, "Who is this Chen Lai you are talking about?"

"You know, there was a murder case in a movie theater in 1942. The person who died was an Englishman named Peter. At that time, you arrested a man named Chen Lai. You regarded him as the murderer and he was executed."

Paulo turned the seat so that his waist was tightly leaning on the seat, and he crossed his hands, "Oh, you are talking about him. Regarding the case in 1942, I did misjudge and arrested the wrong murderer. I feel very sorry for this, but." Paulo raised his tone to emphasize, "This Chen Lai died unjustly. He did many wrong things in the past, including fighting and robbery. People can't do wrong things. There will be another retribution for him. He deserves to die."

"Inspector Bao, let's not talk in circles. We are all in this city of longing. We are all waiting to be forgotten by the world and waiting to disappear. Let's all tell the truth."

"The truth, everything I say is the truth."

Yao Ruolan suddenly said, "Actually, you knew a long time ago that Chen Lai was not the murderer of the cinema murder. In fact, you wanted him to die a long time ago, right?" She looked at Bao Luo.

Boro turned his eyes away instinctively, grabbed the golden pen on the table, and held it in his hand. Although he tried to control it, his tone was trembling, "I...I don't understand what you are talking about."

"You understand, you have always understood. Because the biggest mistake you made in your life was that you misjudged the case of Qiao Hansheng in 1932. You made Qiao Hansheng a scapegoat. You initially thought that the murder scene was a secret room, but then one day, you discovered That may not be a secret room, because there is a chimney, and the chimney can enter the house. Only then did you realize that this might be a robbery with another murderer, right?"

Paulo was silent, holding his pen.

"I can solve the answer to this secret room, so as an experienced Inspector Bao, I can also solve it."

"The murderer is Johnson."

"No, the murderer is Chen Lai! I looked for him, and he showed up in the City of Missing. I invited him, and he personally admitted to me that he was the one who killed Cuillis in 1932, but he was not the one who murdered Pete in the movie theater in 1942. .”

"He is a scoundrel, how can you believe what he says!" Paulo slapped the table excitedly, and the pen fell from the table to the ground.

"Yes, he is a scoundrel, and his words cannot be trusted. But what about you, Inspector Bao, you are an experienced detective. There is simply not enough evidence in the 1942 cinema murder case. Why are you so sure that Chen Laiqu will plead guilty? It's just that? Under pressure from foreigners? No, you are not such a person. You have always been a just detective and will not give in. You have also been investigating the case seriously. The only explanation is that you want Chen Lai to die, you want him Accept the sanction of the law." Yao Ruolan said seriously.

A thin line of sweat broke out on Paulo's forehead, "That's not the case." He was organizing his speech.

"Inspector Bao, you are a good detective, you have always been. People make mistakes, and there will be mistakes in the trial of the case. Now all you have to do is face it, tell the truth, and give justice to Qiao Hansheng. He is dead. It’s been 90 years, you owe him an apology.”

Every word Yao Ruolan said went into Bao Luo's heart, like a sharp knife cutting off pieces of stubborn rocks hanging in his heart.

Yes, he was wrong and the trial was wrong.

In 1933, a year after Johnson's execution, one of his men was responsible for a robbery.

The subordinates joked about the robber's method of committing the crime, "What a stupid thief. He climbed up the chimney into the house to steal, but couldn't get out and was beaten half to death by the owner."

When everyone in the police station burst into laughter, Boro's expression suddenly changed, and he recalled the Trilis murder case in 1932.

He always thought it was a secret room, but he ignored the chimney. He returned to the scene of the crime and looked at the chimney on the roof of the three-story house. At this time, a woodcutter nearby was chopping firewood with an axe.

The ax is the murder weapon, the chimney is the entrance, and the window is broken glass.

All the clues gathered in his mind and the mystery was solved, but George Han was still alive or dead.

Did I really wrong him?

Bao Luo began to secretly re-investigate the case. He discovered a repairman named Zhao Shuisheng who had helped Cuillis repair the windows.

He suspected the repairman, but upon investigation he found out that the repairman was not the murderer.

But the repairman has a friend named Chen Lai, who wears size 42 shoes and is a woodcutter. Bad gambling habit.

Chen Lai once sold an expensive pearl necklace on the black market. When Boro found the owner of the black market shop and held the pearl necklace in his hand, he knew that Chen Lai was the murderer.

But the mistake had been made. At this time, Boro was already a famous detective, and he did not dare to admit it or face it.

He was the only one in the world who knew that George Hansheng died in vain. He put away the necklace and hid the secret.

But with a troubled conscience, Boluo began to suffer from insomnia. He spent many sleepless nights thinking, is there any way I can make up for it so that Chen Lai will not go unpunished?

After ten years of waiting, a murder occurred in a movie theater in 1942.

The person who died was an Englishman named Peter. All the evidence at the scene was destroyed and there was no clue. Bolo had no idea who the murderer was.

Foreigners put pressure on him and gave him 72 hours to solve the case.

When he was at his most devastated, he suddenly thought of Chen Lai. This was an opportunity - as long as Chen Lai became the scapegoat, no, he should have died.

Let’s clear up the murder case in this movie first, and then I will slowly investigate it afterwards. When the real murderer is caught in the future, I will think of ways to punish him. This idea came to Paulo's mind.

This idea was further confirmed by the devil in his heart, using this case to punish the previous crime, the bad guys will die, no matter what kind of prison sentence.

He convinced himself in his heart, so Bao Luo captured Chen Lai, beat him up, and Chen Lai was sentenced to death.

This is the truth behind two murders ten years apart.

Boro slowly stated the truth, recalling everything.

In the room, the two were silent for a while.

Paulo took out the necklace that Trilis had snatched away before her death from the drawer, and held it in his hand like beads. No matter what form it was, would it be effective to admit one's mistakes, confess one's fault, or use any object?

"I was wrong." Paulo held the necklace and looked at the shining golden trophy on the table. "I value this K City Light trophy too much. I want to be a good policeman too much, but I am not one." Good cop." He sighed.

Yao Ruolan said, "No, Inspector Bao, you are a good policeman, otherwise, you would not stay in the city of remembrance and be remembered and respected by others."

"I will go and apologize to Johnson, I owe him an apology." Boro made up his mind.

"Thank you for your confession, I got the answer I wanted."

Yao Ruolan stood up and prepared to leave.

Paulo thought of something and asked, "By the way, ferryman, I'm curious, why do you suspect that I know the truth all along?"

"Because you are a good policeman, you stayed in the City of Missing and looked through all the cases you had ever handled. But when faced with such a big case, you never went to Trilis. She told me that it has been 90 years since No one came to her to ask about the case, which makes me doubt, Inspector Bao, you must have known the truth early on."

Paulo was surprised, "Ferryman, what did you do before you died?"

Yao Ruolan smiled and said, "I used to be a psychological counselor." Her smile was so confusing.

?

Another day passed, in the human world, in K City.

Fine white powder fell from the fat man's hand, and the powder landed in the open parking lot.

Qiao Yuanshan, a 93-year-old man, is sitting in a wheelchair in the yin and yang Tai Chi circle painted with white powder.

At 23:56 minutes and 04 seconds in the evening, with the help of lightning, the human world and the city of longing are connected.

Cui Lisi and Qiao Hansheng, who were in their 20s, appeared in the Tai Chi circle, and Qiao Yuanshan finally met his parents.

What will you say when you meet again after 90 years?

Qiao Yuanshan called "Dad, Mom." using the audio device in his throat. He held a photo in his hand, which was taken in 1930.

The newborn was held in the arms of his parents, and the three of them looked sweet and happy.

Trilis and Johansson knelt down and looked at the photo.

The misunderstanding was resolved, and Johansson was not the murderer, but Cuillis and Johansson would never be husband and wife again.

Similarly, Qiao Yuanshan will not appeal for his father again. This illusory proof has no possibility of becoming any legal basis.

The answer is like this. The answer recognized in everyone's mind is the best answer. Sometimes it is outrageous, but as long as you believe it.

"Dad, Mom, can I come and see you every week?"

It only costs 88 to meet an old friend once, and 176 million to meet two people.

This is a luxury for many people, but Qiao Yuanshan is rich, very rich, and he can see him every day.

"It's not that I don't want it anymore, son." John Johnson said, "Your mother and I are fine now, as long as you believe it, as long as we always live in your thoughts."

It is better to miss each other than to meet each other. Sometimes, missing each other is a very mysterious thing, silent and following you like a shadow.