Welcome to Forge Town

at dusk.Peter who was supposed to be off work.Ron, at this time, was still at the police station.

A box of donuts sits on his table for dinner.In the past, he could always easily solve the two big boxes.But today is extremely rare, he felt unable to eat after only eating the fifth one.As for the culprit that made him lose his appetite, it was the stack of documents on the desktop.It was about Charlie.Bull, and all the odd case files these days.

Ever since he was transferred to Fogg Town, Peter never imagined that this closed land would one day be filled with bloody storms.It has always been indifferent to the world, as if all passions were buried and suffocated in this mist.

So over the years, he has been used to being at ease. If he hadn't assisted his senior, Brandon, who he admired, to commit crimes and be reinstated, he would have swallowed these suspicious cases, pretending that it was just an accident, and those unspeakable secrets of the past. The same backlog is at the bottom of the box in the archives.

As for Bull's death, of course it was not so simple.What Peter told Miranda in the afternoon was still a secondary incident.What he kept secret was that during his visit, he paid special attention to only one detail: in the ward, Lydia said that Bull once said that "it tasted a little weird" after drinking a drink.

And Peter remembers that Bull had a little-known quirk: having a particularly tricky mouth.Although he is familiar with all kinds of fancy bartending, he himself can't bear the slightest impurity in the wine.Even if it's just a drop of raw water, he can tell the difference as easily as the princess and the pea (#Note).

Apparently, as Bull would say, it was the drink that went wrong.

After receiving this useful information, Peter stopped bothering Lydia.After leaving the ward, he immediately called his colleagues in the bureau, asking them to send the glass of wine that was placed on the bed at that time for inspection, and contacted the forensic doctor to start testing the drug reaction in Bull's body—if the devil is hidden in this detail , then this is a typical murder.And it is very likely that, as Brandon said, it is closely related to those consistent unusual cases in the past.

After waiting for an afternoon, the hospital also responded efficiently.

From that glass of wine, they did detect a drug that was highly similar to a rare drug.And the medical examiners told him that after they removed the rags of Bull's blood-stained left trouser leg yesterday, they found a sentence carved in crooked handwriting on Bull's left thigh: "You can't see your real appearance, what you see is only yours. shadow."

Looking at this sentence, Peter pondered over and over again but couldn't figure it out, let alone where it came from.But he had a strong premonition that this text was bound to become one of the important clues in this case.

So he picked up the microphone again and planned to call Brandon again, preparing to report today's new progress during the call, hoping to use the extraordinary professionalism of this outstanding senior to guide a new direction for this ambiguous case.But when he picked up the microphone, Peter recalled the information he had inquired a few days ago, some about Alan.A new discovery of Walton's identity.

After the on-site search ended the day before yesterday, Peter confessed to Brandon everything he knew.And Peter still remembered Brandon's expression at the time, as if he had been hit by a thunderbolt, he left the scene without looking back.So thinking about the back of the day before yesterday, Peter, who was waiting to be connected, prayed sincerely: Brandon would not overreact and lose his ability to think.

But this time, before he finished speaking, Peter just finished talking about the drug and the words engraved on Mr. Bull's left leg. Brandon, who had been out of his mind before, hung up the phone in a hurry.Listening to the busy tone from the microphone, Peter was not sure if Brandon could hear what he said clearly, and was worried that Brandon would get too emotional and then mess things up, which would not be the situation everyone would like to see.

In the end, he still believed that Brandon would handle it properly.After all, as much as Brandon wants to reinstate his job, he will devote as much energy to it.In the past, he was an excellent police officer of the special police unit, and he must be familiar with the power of role-playing undercover.As for Allen, who had known each other for less than two months, Peter believed that Brandon should know the seriousness of the matter.

But then again, Brandon can't be blamed for overreacting this time around.

Picking up the donut again, Peter licked and wiped the icing sugar left on his fingers, thinking: In fact, he didn't even think that the seemingly meek and trustworthy Alan would hide it so deeply—it turns out that Alan Lun.Walton was never his real name, his real name was Eric.winston.And this taboo is related to a social case more than ten years ago.

It was a homicide that shocked the whole country.

■

In the dark house, there is a figure crouching in a corner and rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

Anyone can see Brandon's panic at the moment.For half an hour, he ran back and forth in the house, groping around the corners of tables and cabinets, as if looking for something important.Sweat rolled down from the corner of his forehead and hung densely on the eyelashes, like teardrops, shining brightly in the darkness.For minutes, they made Brandon's eyes water.But he just blinked vigorously and never had time to wipe it away.

As a police officer, Brandon naturally has no plans to change careers as a gentleman, so what he is looking for is not money or other vulgar things.He was just looking for one thing, an important key that could exert absolute influence in the whole chain of events.

I just finished looking for the room, and now I can't find the study.Brandon thought so, and was about to shift his position, standing up from the cabinet with one hand on the leg of the chair.Suddenly, he knocked something off the table and hit the floor with a heavy muffled sound.Frowning, he bent down to pick it up—it was a heavy hardcover book with a slightly dirty white cover, and AW was engraved in dark blue on it.Looking at this book, Brandon felt a little familiar, as if he almost let this book stumble before.He still clearly remembered Alan's reaction at that time, and he brushed the book away from his hand...

Thinking of this, Brandon hurriedly opened the book.

"Found it..." He looked at the things inside and whispered.The weak end sound echoed in the dark room, almost a sigh.

He put on his gloves and carefully picked up the contents inside.It was a bag of slightly transparent granules with fine feather patterns engraved on it - Brandon recognized it, it was generally called "bird" for short, and it was a rare opium ingot.A small amount of consumption can make people hallucinate, and it is mostly used for psychological treatment or criminal thought guidance.However, due to excessive drug effects, it is rarely used in recent years.

And Brandon knew it.Finding this packet of pills now is equivalent to the certainty of the verdict that Alan committed the crime; at the same time, it symbolizes that his reinstatement is in sight.

But strangely, at this moment, instead of feeling relieved, Brandon felt an indescribable sadness.In fact, he has been conflicted in his heart.At the same time, he wanted to solve those shocking cases and return to the capital as soon as possible to resume his job, so as to fulfill his own thoughts.Unexpectedly, in the process of searching for the destination, he met Alan.A person who made him almost willing to abandon everything, just want to embrace him and live a normal life.

So before, even if all the evidence vaguely pointed to that person, Brandon was willing to wear rose-colored glasses (#Note), just wanting to block all unfavorable rumors.But now, God played a joke on him, lifted the curtain to reveal everything, it turned out to be only Eric.The illusion built by Winston - the same name is the abbreviation of AW - but the Alan he admired.Walton, however, never existed.

And from the moment Peter spit out that strange name, these events seem to be connected.Brandon suddenly remembered that night, Alan's joyful humming that still lingered in his ears, and the bewitching words of two different people... If we connect these with the case more than ten years ago, Everything vaguely has the answer.

So before officially unveiling this veil, Brandon planned to go to City A first.By the way, take this bag of contraband and that glass of wine, accept the city's more standard inspection technology, and more importantly, visit the place where the man once stayed, and understand the real Eric.winston.

Even though we're always prone to believe in what we crave (#Note).Now, too, is the time to accept the truth.

#Note 1: Quoted from Andersen's "The Princess and the Pea".

#Note 2: The metaphor looks at reality with an overly optimistic attitude, which leads to being too idealistic and unrealistic.

#Note 3: Wesoonbelievewhatwedesire. -- Geoffrey Chaucer.British poet.

The author has something to say:

Boom~ I haven't added favorites for three chapters in a row, and no one has left a comment m(v_v)m...