travel frog

Jiang Tusu huddled in the corner with the soaked instant noodles, gobbling the noodles into his mouth, staring at the road in front of him, his whole body tensed up.

The streets are full of people and traffic, and the shops on both sides are booming, bustling as usual.

Fortunately, although there were many people, the one he was most afraid of was not seen.

Jiang Tusu relaxed a little bit, but when he lowered his head to drink the soup, and raised his head again, a shadow was cast on the top of his head.

He raised his face to look upwards, and the person standing against the light pushed his glasses casually, and the cold gaze fell on him through the lenses, making him feel cold all over.

Jiang Tusu dropped the bowl and was about to run away.

Qin Jiu quickly grabbed his collar, pulled him back, and wrapped his arms around his neck like a friend hooking his shoulders.

"What are you running for?" Qin Jiu raised his brows slightly, and a smile appeared on his lips, "I said, if you lied to me, I will come to you."

Being stuck at the vital point, Jiang Tusu didn't dare to move, and swallowed hard: "You, I... I don't understand what you said, I didn't lie to you."

Qin Jiu didn't bother to break up with him, so he asked, "Who asked you to lead me to the new hotel last night?"

"No, no one... I saw..."

Seeing that he was still talking hard, Qin Jiu flipped his palm and threw out the blade of the jackknife. Even though he was hiding in the dark, there was a moment of cold light passing by his eyes.

Jiang Tusu's cold sweat dripped from his forehead in an instant, he swallowed the rest of the rebuttal, and his breathing became a little heavier.

"To be honest." Gin put the pocketknife in his cuff, and patted his cheek with the back of his hand, "I'm impatient, I'll give you ten seconds to weigh the pros and cons at most."

"I……"

"Ten, nine, eight..."

Gin started counting down on his own, only looking into the distance, and didn't care about his reaction.

Jiang Tusu was startled and frightened. He was afraid of his threat, and he was also afraid that another person would settle accounts with him after his identity was revealed. He was anxious and tangled in his heart for a while, and the short ten seconds passed in a blink of an eye.

"……one."

At the end of the countdown, Qin Jiu made a gesture to raise the knife. Seeing his serious expression, Jiang Tusu was worried that his knife would really fall, and he couldn't care less about controlling the volume, so he shouted loudly: "Wait! I said...I said. But... can we change places?"

There were so many people nearby that it was really not a good place to talk. Jiang Tusu was also afraid that someone would hide in the crowd and stare at him, so he tremblingly proposed to change the place.

Qin Jiu put the knife into his sleeve, hooked his neck and walked towards the alley next to him.

The alley is deep and winding, most of which are the walls of other people's houses, with fruit tree branches protruding from the top of the wall, holding the cold frost and dew of late autumn on the branches.

Qin Jiu stood still in an open space at a corner, pushed Jiang Tusu away, and looked at him calmly.

"I, I gave the things to that person as you said last night, and I followed him after he left to see where he was going. He did go to the new hotel, but I followed too closely, no Be careful to be discovered by him."

Jiang Tusu rubbed his neck, which was sore from being strangled, and murmured what happened after he separated from Qin Jiu last night.

"He picked me out and asked about you, so he asked me to lead you there. As for the reason, he didn't say anything."

Sure enough.

Gin had already guessed the answer, so he was not surprised: "Have you seen what he looks like?"

"As I said, he covered his face and wore very loose clothes, so he couldn't see his face and figure clearly." Jiang Tusu shook his head, consistent with what he said yesterday, but soon he thought of a detail that had been overlooked , quickly added: "By the way, his voice is a bit familiar, I seem to have heard it before, where did it come from..."

"Describe his voice first." Qin Jiu asked.

"Oh, good." Jiang Tusu described while recalling: "His voice is deep and mature, and he sounds like a middle-aged man. Like the butler of the Su family!"

The moment the sun shone into Qin Jiu's deep eyes, it overshadowed the flashing cold light.

……

Coming out of the alley, Qin Jiu took out the half photo of the male Zhuang Wumei's back, and lightly stroked the blurred face in the reflection of the window with his fingertips, recalling the previous conversation with Su Fei in his mind.

"I asked someone to look for it... That person is the housekeeper of our Su family, the one who brought you to see me last time."

The housekeeper of the Su family found ten private investigators including Gin Jiu for Su Fei, and all ten of them had the exact same face as his lover.The first nine disappeared when they found out the truth. When they arrived at Gin Jiu, the butler even took the initiative to hand over the clues.

Where are those nine people now?What's the matter with this series of inexplicable output from the housekeeper?Was the person who hypnotized him on the train the same person who hypnotized him last night?

Qin Jiu felt that he was already standing on the edge of the truth, and that he could gain something if he took a step in any direction.

But... the sentence in the system prompt made him faintly have a bad feeling.

——I know, you are not him yet.

Yes it is, no it is not, why use "not yet"?Who is that "he" referring to?

In fact, after checking this, the structure of the whole case is already very clear. It is a story of "true and false lovers". This doubt will naturally come to light after pushing the rest of the "plot".

So, what he has to do now is to find the butler?

Qin Jiu frowned and looked at the photo in his hand, the feeling of being pushed into someone else's trap came back.

Putting away the photos, he looked up at the sky, and walked towards the Su family mansion.

Even if it was a trick, he had to jump in and have a look.

The door of the Su family's mansion was always closed. This was the third time Qin Jiu came over, and the door was still closed.But this time is different from the previous two times. Although the door is closed, you can vaguely hear the noise coming from inside. The irritable and high-pitched female voice said a series of cursing words without breathing. I have to admire her righteousness and confidence.

"...You said that he ignored me, a solid person, but he was paranoid about that wild man who didn't know if he really existed. He found so many detectives to investigate, and found out who was ugly? People? It's not surprising that he can dream, but he regards dreams as reality and reality as air, should he see a doctor? Ah? Don't you think so!"

"Of course you don't dare to speak. Now he is in charge of the Su family. You, a little housekeeper, what else can you do other than find a detective for him? I'm afraid you can't even open your mouth to persuade? Tell me, I will With the same face as the lover in his dream, why can't he empathize with me? Because that person is a man?"

"Let go! Let me explain it to him! I want to ask him what he thinks all these years!"

Qin Jiu just heard the end of this one-sided quarrel outside, and just about to avoid it, the door of the Su family opened suddenly, and Zhuang Wumei rushed out on a ten-centimeter height, without even looking at Qin beside her. Liquor, stroking the gauze hat, got into the car on the side of the road, started the car and drove away.

The butler chased out from inside, but failed to catch up with Zhuang Wumei, but bumped into Qin Jiu head-on, and froze for a moment.

"Mr. Butler," Gin said before he could speak, "do you have time to talk?"

"...I'm afraid it's inconvenient to worry about trivial matters at home." The housekeeper hesitated for a moment, but still chose to refuse.

"Then let's talk about it here, anyway, I only have one question to ask." Gin stopped him, "Do you know where the first nine missing detectives are now?"

The butler said without hesitation, "How would I know."

"You don't know, why did the thief lead me to the new hotel last night and give me a folder with clues?" Gin asked again.

"When will I give it to you..." The butler subconsciously denied it, but stopped in the middle of the sentence, as if realizing something, his face turned gray, "Yes, I gave it to you, I hope you can check it soon to the truth."

His reaction was as paradoxical as the folder that suddenly appeared. Gin immediately rang the alarm in his heart: "Finding out the truth means that I will be the next person to disappear. I don't believe you don't understand this. If so, why do you Do you want to continue to find someone to investigate for him according to Mr. Su Jiu's wishes? What is behind this matter?"

"Sir, I think someone warned you." The butler didn't answer a single question, but talked about something else, "You shouldn't ask about this story."

Before he finished speaking, he turned around and entered the door, and quickly closed the door.

The butler's evasion was too obvious, and he didn't know whether he couldn't say it or dared not say it.He is from the Su family, and there is only the Su family in Tianxing Town. The only ones who can make him afraid or want to help hide it are the members of the Su family.

Zhuang Wumei said just now that "he is the master of the Su family now", and it is not difficult to guess that "he" refers to Su Fei based on the previous text. In this case, it is Su Fei who makes the housekeeper dare not tell the truth. up.

Gin slowly walked back and forth.

He and Su Fei only met twice... no, it should be three times.In the memory of his "predecessor", he once saw Su Fei's speech on the news, which actually fit the metaphor of the dream he had on the train - he had seen the face and heard the voice, but he was not familiar with it, so in the dream The man who warned him was blurred.

It is precisely because I have seen his speeches and appreciate some of his ideas that the "predecessor" will accept his commission. After all, there is no remuneration mentioned in the commission letter, and it comes endlessly. Most private detectives are cautious in character Meticulous people will not take it easily.

The boundary between the two hypnotic dreams and reality was the sound of Fengxue knocking on the window. Looking at his discoveries and contacts in the past few days, only Su Fei and the male Zhuang Wumei were related to the image of "Fengxue".

Zhuang Wumei's photos and portraits were all in the snow, and it was winter when she disappeared. All the clues related to him were related to "Fengxue" in one way or another.

As for Su Fei, he doesn't seem to have much connection with "Fengxue", but there is a red plum tree in the place where he lives.Red plums are often placed together with wind and snow, and usually bloom in late winter or early spring, but now it is late autumn, and the red plums outside his house are already in full bloom, which barely makes sense.

From this point of view, perhaps the two hypnosis sessions are related to him. Looking at the butler's reaction to what happened last night, the person who let the thief lead him over may not be the butler, but someone who is familiar with him and can imitate his voice. people.

However, these are just speculations, Gin has no evidence, and he doesn't understand the reason for Sophie's move.

Why did he take such a big turn when he could hand over the clues to him openly?In addition, the person in his first dream warned him not to inquire about this matter, but the second hypnosis caused him to suspect Su Fei. If Su Fei did the two hypnosis, then what is he trying to do?

And, the name of the second ring of the mission is "Thousands of People", which fits amazingly with the setting of ten detectives with the same face, coupled with the hint of sickness in the notes...

I always feel that this is not a suspense story, but a love story that may have gone astray.

Could it be that what he is really looking for is not Zhuang Wumei, but the nine detectives who disappeared inexplicably?

Thinking of this, Qin Jiu suddenly remembered that the props he had obtained after completing the first link of the main task were still useless, so he quickly took out the "Key to Zhuang Wumei's Private House" from the system warehouse.

Before, he thought that the old house of the Zhuang family was Zhuang Wumei's private house, but after seeing the shape of the key, he knew that he wanted to go wrong.

These are two places.

The key was long and heavy, new, the kind you get in the lock on the door.The address is pasted on the back of the key: East New District, Tianxing Town.

Gin held the key and decided to go over there immediately, so he stopped a taxi and reported the address.

"Dongxin District?" The driver was stunned when he heard the name, "It's desolate over there, are you really going?"

Gin didn't think much, and said casually: "Well, drive faster, I'm in a hurry."

"Ok."

The driver pressed a button next to the steering wheel, increased the speed, and rushed eastward at lightning speed.

Ten minutes later, the taxi stopped in a desolate open space.

There is a residential area in front of it. High-rise buildings similar to low-rent housing are neatly arranged in the wilderness, creating a strange sense of disharmony.

Qin Jiu paid and got out of the car. When he saw the large house, he was stunned for a moment. He really didn't expect the so-called private house to be such an ordinary rental house.

The driver was right. This place is very desolate. Although there are many houses, they are not popular at all. They are all empty.

But even so, Gin couldn't find one by one.There are more than a dozen buildings, each building has five or six floors, and I don't know how many rooms there are on each floor. He has to find the Year of the Monkey?

Gin frowned, constantly recalling the clues he had found in the past few days, trying to find relevant hints from them.After a while, he remembered a prop that he had neglected for a long time, and took out a note from the hidden pocket inside his jacket.

It was one of the few things he found on his body when he first came to this world. There was only a string of numbers written on the note: 03059.