After the meal, we left Mr. Xu the room number of the guest house where we were staying, and made an appointment with him to set off to the village early tomorrow morning to find out.
After Mr. Xu knew that we were willing to help, he was very grateful to us. Not only did he pay for our bill, but he also escorted us out of the restaurant. He said that if we could really help him get his wife back, then we would be his benefactors in the future.
If you need anything, just say hello and I won't refuse.
After bidding farewell to the emotional Mr. Xu, we did not go to the restaurant to rest immediately. Before going to the village that Mr. Xu mentioned, I wanted to go to the police station to confirm a few things.
Halfway through, Lin Qianyi saw that Mr. Xu was no longer in our sight, and then asked me: "Sijiu, what's the matter with you? Do we really have to help Mr. Xu find his wife tomorrow?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"What about our mission? And Mr. Xu's words are really hard to believe. To be honest, let alone others, even after listening to his words, I couldn't help but doubt the relevance of his words.
Is what happened about his wife true? I heard that there is a mental illness in the world that makes people imagine that there is a companion of the opposite sex next to them. Maybe this is the case for Mr. Xu? "
I stopped and looked back at Lin Qianyi: "Is there really such a disease in this world?"
Lin Qianyi nodded and said: "Yes, although I forgot the specific name, I do remember it. So I think maybe Mr. Xu has never been married at all, and his wife is just his
It’s just an illusion.”
I shook my head and said: "No, although I don't know whether Mr. Xu is really sick, but he did not lie to us, that is, he definitely did not go on this trip alone. With Mr. Xu by his side
, there should be another person."
Lin Qianyi was stunned and asked me why I said that. I asked her to recall the photos that Mr. Xu saved in the digital camera that we had seen in the hotel.
I asked her: "Sister Lin, do you remember? In Mr. Xu's camera, there are some photos taken in the past few days. The contents of the photos are all photos taken by Mr. Xu on the edge of some cliffs. Those are the photos that Mr. Xu took on the edge of some cliffs.
The photo made me feel that Mr. Xu was not lying."
"How come?" Lin Qianyi said in surprise, "I remember those photos, but I only saw Mr. Xu in them, but not his wife. Although Mr. Xu has explained to us that this is because of his wife
All the photos have been deleted, but it is also possible that Mr. Xu is lying to us. In fact, he is just traveling alone."
I shook my head and said, "No, Sister Lin, have you ever thought about a question, that is, who took those photos you saw?"
"Who took the photo? It wasn't all Mr. Xu..." Lin Qianyi got stuck in the middle of her words. I understood that it was obvious that she had also thought of the most critical issue.
That is who took the photos that Mr. Xu showed us?
First of all, the possibility that the photographer of the photos is Mr. Xu himself must be ruled out first. Because in those photos, some of the photos were taken from angles that were obviously impossible to capture with a tripod.
For example, there is a photo of Mr. Xu sitting on a rock, taken from the bottom up at an angle of almost 70 degrees. This angle cannot be taken with a tripod, so it can only be taken by someone else.
of this photo.
Secondly, these photos may also have been taken for Mr. Xu by mountain people or tourists he met on the mountain. But there is also a problem here. It may be because he likes to take pictures. Mr. Xu left many photos in his camera, and
Almost every photo has a different background. If these photos were taken by others for Mr. Xu, then there is a problem. That is, in this kind of place that is neither a scenic spot nor a tourist attraction.
How could Mr. Xu meet so many people and take those photos of him?
To sum up, there is only one most likely conclusion, and that is that when Mr. Xu was traveling, there was actually another person who was traveling with him, and it was this person who took those photos of Mr. Xu.
After listening to my explanation, Lin Qianyi suddenly understood and nodded repeatedly.
But then she thought of another question: "If that's the case, why do the villagers and the police think that Mr. Xu has been traveling alone? And those surveillance videos, why did they only capture Mr. Xu alone?"
"I don't know..." I shook my head and said, "Sister Lin, you have been in the bureau for so long, have you ever heard of similar cases?"
"This..." Lin Qianyi thought for a while and said: "I once heard Zhang Mo talk about a case. In a certain place, there was a series of missing children in a village. Those children were basically the same.
In the blink of an eye, he disappeared in front of the adults. Later, someone in the village found a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain to check, but it turned out that those children were actually kidnapped by a mountain spirit."
"Shanjing, what is that?"
"According to Zhang Mo, the mountain spirit is a strange creature that lives in the mountains. It looks like a human, but it is not human. I'm afraid I have to find out more about it from Zhang Mo. Sijiu, what do you mean this time?
Could the incident be caused by mountain spirits?"
I say it's possible, but I can't be sure because the information we have is too sparse at the moment, and most of the content is actually just what we heard from Mr. Xu, which may not be completely consistent with the facts.
I finally said: "No matter what, this matter involves a human life after all. Since we have encountered it, there is no reason to let it go. Sister Lin, what do you think?"
Lin Qianyi also nodded in agreement: "You are right."
In this way, the two of us arrived at the police station amidst the conversation.
When we came, most of the policemen in the station were off duty, and there was only one young policeman on duty. Because we had dealt with their chief before, the young policeman already knew that we were from the police station.
The people in the department were very polite to us and asked us if we needed help.
So, I explained my purpose to him and asked him to see some surveillance videos related to Mr. Xu.
"Is it that Xu Yuanlong again? Don't you two be deceived by him too?"
During the conversation, we realized that the young policeman in front of us was actually the person who went into the village with Mr. Xu to investigate that day.
The young policeman in front of me also has the surname Xu. He looks to be in his twenties. Let’s call him Xiao Xu here.
After knowing our purpose, Xiao Xu has been urging us not to believe that Xu Yuanlong easily. In his opinion, Xu Yuanlong either has mental problems or has some ulterior motives. Otherwise, why would the people in the village
No one has seen his wife? And most importantly, even the surveillance video in the town did not capture Mrs. Xu.
I thanked Xie Xiaoxu for his kindness and said that we would consider his words, but before that, we still wanted to see those surveillance videos with our own eyes.
"Are you doubting us?" After hearing my request, Xiao Xu's face immediately became unhappy.
I quickly said that I didn’t mean it that way, but just out of professional habits, we prefer to believe our own eyes.
Seeing my persistence, Xiao Xu had no choice but to stand up, take us to the surveillance office, and play back the surveillance video for us.
This surveillance video was taken from a surveillance camera on the main road of the town. That main road is the main entrance and exit of the town. Vehicles and pedestrians basically use this road to enter and exit the town.
What Xiao Xu showed us was the video captured by this camera on the day Mr. Xu entered the town. Fast forward and rewind the scene, and we were indeed at the time Mr. Xu said he entered the town.
, we saw Mr. Xu staggering into the town carrying a travel bag. However, in the video, we did not see any trace of Mr. Xu’s wife. In the video, Mr. Xu clearly entered alone.
Another person left the town.
After playing the video, Xiao Xu repeated his guess to us. He told us that Mr. Xu was probably crazy. Although we didn’t know why he kept saying that he had a wife, he advised us not to be with such a person.