A dog's bark was heard from the car, and I immediately recognized it as belonging to the police dog Xiao Niu and Da Hei.
Both of them were in the car.
He Xin patted their heads and said excitedly, "Da Hei, you need to take care of Xiao Niu this time. But you two must find clues for us at the rehabilitation center, otherwise this case can't be solved!"
With that, He Xin opened the car door and let the two dogs out first. It was good that she brought the police dogs, as their sense of smell was very keen. In a place like a rehabilitation center, there might be some contraband left behind.
We walked straight in through a large gate next to the rehabilitation center. It was long abandoned, overgrown with weeds. Row upon row of ancient buildings stood side by side, their shattered glass windows looking particularly desolate. The deep alleyways seemed to swirl with a chaotic and oppressive atmosphere. In some narrow crevices, one could vaguely see strange black hands clawing, as if they were the lingering vengeful spirits of drug addicts who had died there.
I checked my watch; it was already 2 AM. If Gao Mingqiang were here, he would probably be complaining incessantly. This time, we completely ignored him. He Xin, on the other hand, was not afraid of the situation. She led the two police dogs to clear the path, as if she had deliberately come to the rehabilitation center at midnight to walk her dogs.
We arrived at a iron gate. Da Hei first nudged the gate with its large head, and then Xiao Niu clawed at it with its small paws. I quickly reacted and pulled the trigger directly at the heavy lock!
With a loud bang, the lock broke into two halves. He Xin kicked the door open and then turned back, clutching her ankle and crying out in pain. I chuckled and told her not to walk too fast. We entered the rehabilitation center first.
The first-floor corridor of the rehabilitation center looked very narrow and dark, with rooms packed on both sides. Many drug users had been held here in the past. Although it was empty now, the unpleasant smell still lingered. As we walked, He Xin suddenly said, "Dad, I heard there was a poisoning incident here once. The toxic gas seemed to have leaked from underground pipes."
"Why would there be such pipes buried underground? Is there a chemical plant nearby?" Liu Yuning asked.
"Yes, this rehabilitation center is next to a chemical plant. The pipes had problems long ago. Somehow, that drug dealer cracked a section of the floor, and the toxic gas spread out. Some people suspect that guy deliberately wanted to harm people."
"I see. I didn't know the specific situation here before. Alright, let's keep going and don't delay. We must find something tonight!"
As we continued, we saw a light suddenly appear in a single room. Da Hei barked immediately, as if it had noticed something. All the single rooms were dark, except for this one with light!
I told Liu Yuning and He Xin to follow me from behind, but He Xin ignored me, drew her gun, and walked forward. He Xin rarely used a gun, but she could get one from the armory in critical moments.
I wanted to pull her back, but Xiao Niu and Da Hei had already rushed into the room. Amidst a series of heartbreaking barks, we saw a paper lantern in the room. It looked like someone had been here. There were also remnants of burnt paper money on the ground, along with some fruit offerings.
"Someone seems to have held a ceremony here? Did someone die here?" He Xin squatted on the ground to examine it.
Da Hei and Xiao Niu stood guard like sentinels, their eyes constantly alert to their surroundings.
Da Hei had been very active since joining the police force. I remembered its former owner was someone from the special police unit. Later, Director Zhang felt that it could help us, so it was assigned to us. Thus, our Sin Punishment team had two powerful police dogs.
"I agree. This person probably didn't leave long ago! Still nearby!"
As soon as I finished speaking, Liu Yuning and I ran out with our guns. We ran down the corridor and suddenly noticed a figure flash at the end of the corridor not far away. We shouted for him to stop, but he completely ignored us and ran even faster.
We kept seeing a sheep's horn hammer raised on the wall, swinging over someone's head. We chased this person all the way outside the rehabilitation center to a废弃的停车场.
He Xin and the police dogs arrived a few minutes later, but we searched everywhere and couldn't see the person from earlier.
"Why did you run so fast?" He Xin panted.
"Didn't you see him just now?" I retorted, gripping my gun and pointing it around.
"No, you didn't see the Sheep's Horn Hammer Man, did you?"
"Ha, you've already given him a nickname," Liu Yuning said with a wry smile, putting away his weapon.
He Xin looked around and said, "Isn't it fitting? Sister Zhang Keying also likes to give people such names!"
"Oh? It sounds like you know her very well. Don't you two not talk much?"
"You're wrong. We get along well on WeChat, but not in person. Sister Zhang Keying's personality online is completely different from her real life, very open. You probably don't know this!"
At this moment, He Xin didn't know that somewhere, Zhang Keying had just sneezed twice.
"Stop talking. Look, that guy's running away again. But there are footprints here!"
Both of us looked at the ground somewhere, and soon, next to a dilapidated Volkswagen, we found footprints.
"This car is too wrecked. It's probably been here for many years!"
He Xin pointed at a dusty car with a burst tire and said.
"I don't know who drove it in the past. There's only one car here." Liu Yuning said, taking photos of the ground with his camera. I measured it and found that the footprints indeed belonged to a strong man about 1.9 meters tall, who should be the killer. He actually came back to perform a sacrifice. He must have been commemorating someone.
But who could this person be? What was his relationship with the killer? Could it be because of him that the strong man went on a killing spree? Perhaps he was only doing this to avenge that person?
We had no leads for the time being. When we left, He Xin installed an all-angle universal listening and monitoring device behind the main gate, so we could continuously monitor the situation here. I thought the strong man would return.
After finishing the installation, He Xin dusted off her hands and got down from my shoulders. Given her height, she couldn't have reached without my help. "Dad, it's done. I'll observe it closely when I get back. You guys go do something else!"
I also wanted to do something else, but at present, the rehabilitation center was the only place likely to yield clues. I had collected some remnants and fruits from the room where the ceremony was held and planned to analyze them back at the lab.