You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 121 Cat, it's your turn to make a move! (Seeking monthly votes)
"Did you see this girl after 7 PM on July 8th?"

Jiang Bala took out Ma Weiwei's photo and handed it to the gatekeeper.

The other person took a puff of their cigarette, leaned closer, squinted, and smirked.

“Someone just asked me about this, Ma Weiwei, right?”

“Yes, that’s the girl.” Jiang Bala nodded.

The old man rolled his eyes and said, "If you ask me, these girls have all been taken away by vengeful ghosts."

Yang Jinwen asked, "What do you mean?"

"In 92, there was a girl who went missing. She was never found. The girl's mother couldn't bear it, so she sneaked into the girls' dormitory and jumped off the balcony of her daughter's dormitory."

She was wearing a bright red dress at the time. This was so creepy, so eerie.

Since then, every year female students have gone missing from our nursing school. It must be that this girl's vengeful spirit is haunting us, taking other people's daughters with her!"

The old man paused, then pointed his cigarette butt across the street: "You should know, just a few days ago, Ma Weiwei's mother, a rural woman, was hit and killed by a car over there."

Just wait, two vengeful spirits will come to claim lives soon; this school is likely to face dire consequences.

Yang Jinwen blinked: "It's not that scary, is it?"

"Young man, you are too young. You young people don't understand these things. I have worked in schools for so many years. What haven't I seen?"

The year before, when I was on patrol at night, just as night was turning into day, I saw a woman in a bright red dress floating around downstairs in front of the girls' dormitory..."

The old man suddenly raised his right hand: "It suddenly floated up to the locust tree and hung on the treetop, staring at the girls' dormitory. It almost scared me to death."

He spoke with such conviction that, even in the sweltering summer heat, Jiang Bala felt a chill run down his spine.

If it were his previous life, Yang Jinwen would have been a staunch atheist. Confucius said, "I do not speak of strange phenomena, physical prowess, disorder, or spirits." If such a thing really existed, how come the Japanese are still alive?

But Yang Jinwen was reborn. How can this be explained?

He couldn't explain it, he could only say that the events of his past life were all a dream, and that his memories were almost completely fading away. He was increasingly unable to remember what was real and what was fake.

"Sir, that's not what we're asking. Did you see Ma Weiwei leave the school gate on the afternoon of July 8th?"

The old man frowned: "See that?"

“Every afternoon after school, many students leave the school gate, how did you remember her?”

"Then I didn't see it." The old man shook his head: "I can't remember either."

Where do students usually buy their daily necessities?

"There are many shops on these streets, it just depends on what she buys."

Yang Jinwen replied, "Things that girls use during their menstrual period."

Hearing this, Jiang Bala looked at him in surprise.

The security guard squinted and said, "What do you mean by 'menstrual period stuff'? Explain yourself."

"It's sanitary napkins, which girls use every month."

"You mean this? It should be sold everywhere outside, I don't know much about it."

Yang Jinwen nodded: "Have any suspicious people been loitering around the school recently? Especially men over 25 years old, well-dressed, good-looking, polite, and the kind who smile at you often?"

The old man shook his head: "Dressed well? Those must be a few school leaders."

"Okay, thank you. I'll definitely bother you again in the future."

After Yang Jinwen finished asking his question, Jiang Bala pulled out another Hongtashan cigarette and handed it to the gatekeeper.

After the two of them walked a few steps away from the duty room, Jiang asked, "How did you know Ma Weiwei went outside the school to buy that thing?"

Yang Jinwen, who was staring at the shops on both sides of the street, replied, "Her roommate told me that these few days every month are Ma Weiwei's period."

"Shouldn't the school sell these kinds of things?" Jiang Bala seemed very reluctant to say those three words.

Yang Jinwen shook his head: "Shy girls are too embarrassed to buy things at school."

Jiang said, "Then shall we investigate according to this?"

"Row."

Night had fallen, and the last rays of summer sun hung in the western sky.

It was rush hour, and the number of people in the blocks around the nursing school began to increase, with the sound of bicycle bells ringing everywhere on the streets.

Yang Jinwen and Jiang Bala searched for more than an hour, but after it got completely dark, they still couldn't find Ma Weiwei's whereabouts from that day.

Both of them were covered in sweat, and Jiang pulled up the hem of his shirt to wipe the sweat from his face.

"None of the small vendors on these three streets have ever seen her before."

Yang Jinwen let out a breath. A few days ago, it was already the dog days of summer, and the weather was scorching hot and unbearably humid. The road surface was baked by the sun during the day, just like an oven. Even the slightest movement would leave you covered in sweat.

He bought two bottles of chilled soda and handed one to Jiang Bala: "Have some."

Jiang Bala took it, inserted the straw, and drank it all in one gulp.

Yang Jinwen did the same. After finishing his drink, he returned the two empty soda bottles to the shop owner and got his 60-cent deposit back.

This small shop also sells sanitary napkins, but they are placed at the very back of the shelf. The shop owner is a man, and most women don't buy such things from him.

Jiang said, "There's a night market over here, shall we go check it out?"

Yang Jinwen asked, "Does the night market sell sanitary napkins?"

"Yes, there are stalls selling them. I've seen them when my wife and I were shopping before."

The night market is located four blocks away, on a relatively spacious old street.

The houses on both sides are very low. Looking up, there are messy power lines overhead, and then there is the deep blue night sky with a moon the size of a soapberry hanging in the sky.

The night market was dimly lit, and it sold all sorts of things. Some of the larger stalls had even illegally strung up electrical wires and hung a dim light bulb on a bamboo pole.

If Yang Jinwen from his previous life had seen what these vendors were selling, he would have arrested them immediately, not to mention the various controlled knives and highly toxic pesticides.

You can also see people openly buying and selling "earth dragons," which are pangolins, as well as the incredibly impressive bear paws.

In this era, although legislation has been enacted to protect key wild animals, the laws are imperfect and difficult to enforce. For example, how many years would one be sentenced to for poaching ten earthworms?
At most, it will take a year.

Jiang Bala knew these people were breaking the law, but he didn't even glance at them.

It is indeed difficult to deal with.

Yang Jinwen looked at the earthworms in the cage, thought for a moment, and decided to call the forest police later; he would save as many as he could.

The night market stalls are very long, and many people stroll around with their bicycles. Most of them just look and don't buy anything. If they do buy, it's usually household necessities like pots and pans.

At the very back, there were stalls selling clothing and daily necessities.

Yang Jinwen saw that the stall was neatly stacked with women's sanitary napkins.

Jiang Bala noticed it too. He quickly walked a few steps and greeted a middle-aged woman at the stall, saying, "Hello, I'd like to ask you something."

A middle-aged woman sat on a small wooden stool, a bag tied around her waist, which was as thick as a bucket. She glanced up at Jiang Bala and said, "Can't you see I'm doing business? If you're not going to buy anything, then leave."

Jiang Bala pursed his lips, squatted down, and picked out a keychain: "How much is this?"

"Five cents."

Jiang Bala took out his wallet, bought it, and then asked, "Are you free now?"

The middle-aged woman chuckled and said, "Speak, what is it?"

Jiang Bala handed Ma Weiwei's photo to her: "Have you seen this girl before?"

"Move it closer, I can't see it."

Yang Jinwen took the photo from Jiang Bala's hand, walked around the stall, came to the woman, and handed it to her.

After looking at her carefully, the middle-aged woman thought to herself, "I think I recognize her."

Jiang Bala immediately became excited: "Look carefully, you really know her?"

The middle-aged woman pointed to the sanitary napkins on the stall.

"She came to buy this, and she even bargained with me. This is a big brand, Shuerme."

It's already 50 cents cheaper than in the store, how can I give her less?
After she bought it, she asked me to put it in a black plastic bag for her.

Most of the sanitary napkins sold at these stalls are substandard products, either made from waste medical gauze or refurbished cotton wadding.

The hygiene conditions are extremely poor. It may contain industrial talcum powder, be bleached with formaldehyde, or contain insect eggs.

Little did people know that some women had suffered great harm from using these inferior products for a long time, such as cervical erosion and even the removal of their uterus.

Ma Weiwei chose to buy her things at the night market not only because she was poor, but also because she wouldn't be seen by her classmates or teachers.

Yang Jinwen asked, "When did this happen?"

The middle-aged woman replied, "Just a few days ago, but I can't remember the exact date."

"Is she alone, or with someone?"

"One person, who seemed to be a student from the neighborhood, was quite shy."

After buying the items, which direction did she leave in?

"Over there."

The middle-aged woman pointed to the opposite side of the stall, where there was a lonely cement pole street lamp, and behind the dim yellow light was a deep and narrow alley.

Jiang said, "That road is the shortcut back to the nursing school."

Yang Jinwen asked again, "Auntie, can you be sure what time she left the stall?"

"It's past seven o'clock, isn't it?"

"Besides sanitary napkins, what else did she buy?"

The middle-aged woman picked up a round object from the stall and handed it to Yang Jinwen: "A thimble. Girls usually don't use this. This is probably for her mother to sew shoe soles."

"Okay, thank you." Yang Jinwen stood up and noticed that Jiang Bala had already walked to the telephone pole.

He walked over and saw many small advertisements pasted on the cement utility pole.

Advertisements for renting apartments, advertisements offering large sums of money for a child, and advertisements for breeding purebred wolfhounds.

These advertisements were layered on top of each other, with a missing person ad at the very back being covered by the others.

Jiang pulled out the front advertisement and tore it off, revealing the missing person notice inside.

There were only a few dozen words on it, and the paper had already yellowed.

On May 21, 1996, my cousin Qin Xuelan and aunt Zhang Huiqun disappeared. My cousin was a student at Chengnan Health School, and my aunt was from the countryside. They were 19 and 42 years old respectively. Before they disappeared, they were carrying bamboo baskets on their backs. Their heights were...

The bottom half of the paper has been torn off, so you can't see what's written on the other side.

Jiang Bala's hands were trembling. He pursed his lips, his heart pounding.

He murmured, "These were put up by my apprentice. He was searching for them all his life..."

Yang Jinwen remained silent.

The dim streetlights cast long, long shadows of the two of them.

On the other side was a bustling night market, with vendors hawking their wares and men and women pushing bicycles...

　You guys are awesome!

　　I am truly ashamed that you were able to deduce the range of perpetrators in just one Tuesday. The young author sat in front of the computer for hours, still unable to understand how you came to that conclusion.

　　I didn't borrow from any novel or TV series. I even asked other authors, and when I mentioned it, none of them knew anything about it. How did you know?
　　Suddenly, my desire to write plummeted by more than half, sigh...

　　Never underestimate anyone's wisdom; there are experts among the masses!

　　This month has been quite busy, but I promise to update with 6,000 words each time. Once this month is over, I promise to update more next month!

　　I'm begging for your monthly votes.

　　or2
　　
　
(End of this chapter)