Special Forces Medic-Chapter 748 - 715: Half a Footprint

"Everything else makes sense, but what about the footprint?" Marshal shone the beam within the circle. "The whole room is too clean. If someone lived here, why is there only this half footprint?"

"The room's owner didn't leave traces of their life because they didn't want anyone to know who they were, and this half footprint belongs to someone else." Xiao Lin asserted his thoughts confidently.

"Why?"

"Get a pair of socks." Xiao Lin instructed the person closest to the wardrobe. "Though the footprint is blurry, the toe position is still visible. It's definitely a woman's footprint because she was wearing stockings, while the owner of this place prefers cotton socks." Xiao Lin put the sock over his hand, pressing fingerprints onto the ground, but only a part was visible, not as clear as the toe prints in the circle. "Who just searched the cabinets? Did you find any women's stockings?"

"No, only cotton socks."

"Xiao Mei is a hostess; they all wear skirts. How come there are no stockings?"

"Who says hostesses must wear stockings? Most of them don't, because it's more convenient for work."

"I see." Marshal nodded, understanding a bit. "Did we find any clues we wanted?"

"The items aren't here, but quite a few clues were left. Let's pack up." Xiao Lin was satisfied; as he left, he didn't remove the marks he drew but deliberately left them to tell the owner that they had been there.

"Boss, should we head straight back to the office now?"

"You guys go first. I have another place to visit."

"I'm coming with you." Marshal didn't want to leave just like that; he wanted to follow Xiao Lin.

Xiao Lin nodded, as the place he was heading was downstairs. "Got your police ID?"

"Yeah, I carry it every day." Marshal patted the police ID on his chest and chuckled stupidly.

"You guys go back and download the photos we took today while waiting for us to return." After giving instructions, Xiao Lin headed in the direction of the hardware store.

"Boss, when you mentioned the footprint earlier, I had a sudden inspiration." Marshal followed Xiao Lin with a spring in his step; this was his first time executing a task alone with Xiao Lin, and he couldn't be more thrilled.

"What idea?"

"Do you think the body we found is really Xiao Mei's?" Marshal's words stopped Xiao Lin in his tracks, and the person who had been looking down bumped right into him.

"Why did you stop suddenly!" Marshal rubbed his forehead; the boss's back was rock solid, like a stone.

"What did you just say?" 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

"Just now?" Marshal was taken aback by Xiao Lin's question. "I didn't say anything, did I?"

"What do you mean by saying the body we found might not really be Xiao Mei's?"

"Oh, I was just daydreaming!" Seeing Xiao Lin's serious expression, the smile that was halfway on Marshal's face faded, and under Xiao Lin's dark gaze, he awkwardly scratched the back of his head.

"I was just thinking, since Xiao Mei died, when the body was found, it was assumed to be hers. But what does Xiao Mei look like, what are her physical characteristics, is there any point of reference? Also, we just mentioned that things in Xiao Mei's place had been changed, but the person remained the same. Are there two Xiao Meis in the world? Otherwise, it must be a ghost."

Xiao Lin fell silent because of what Marshal had said, standing in place as all his preconceived notions were shattered. Yes, he hadn't considered that the corpse they found might not be Xiao Mei's, because Mu Rongyun had concluded that this person was Xiao Mei, and so he assumed it was her. He realized that at some point, his trust in Mu Rongyun became more profound than ever, or perhaps it was an inexplicable dependence.

"Boss, did I say something wrong?" Marshal saw Xiao Lin not speaking and silently cursed his own big mouth.

"No, you reminded me of something." Xiao Lin continued walking in the direction of the hardware store. Guo Guo had mentioned that Ah San was waiting for Xiao Mei in the hardware store, and after Ah San left, he returned to the store to search for rope constantly. Is the key related to the rope? "Once we're inside the hardware store, remember to look for anything related to ropes."

The lights in the hardware store were still on. This was Xiao Lin's first time entering the store after Guo Guo. Naturally, the people inside didn't recognize Xiao Lin, nor did they recognize Marshal.

"What do you two need?" The girl watching the store was a lot more normal compared to Guo Guo, not dressed in anything frightening, clean but not pretty, and spoke quite politely.

"It's past midnight, why are you still open? Who would buy hardware at this hour?" As he answered, Marshal took out his police ID to show the girl. "We're the police, you don't need to worry, just answer our questions."

"Can't I keep my store open after midnight?" The girl wasn't afraid of the police, answering Marshal's question with a rebuttal. There's nothing wrong with that – it's her business, what right does he have to tell her when to close?

"The girl who used to work here, where is she now? I have some personal business with her, why don't I see her?" Xiao Lin smiled at the girl, craning his neck to peer into the back, while Marshal started rummaging through the boxes on the shelves.

"What girl? I think you must have me mistaken!" The girl's angry expression didn't seem fake. "I've been here the whole time, never seen you before!"

"Uh…" That stumped Xiao Lin. He hadn't expected the girl to lie so smoothly without blinking an eye. "Did I make a mistake?" He said as he backed out of the hardware store, glanced around, and then walked back in. "No, I'm sure last time I spent more than a million here to buy two kinds of medicine!"

"Officer, are you joking? This is a hardware store, not a gold store, and you think you paid by card here? Have you lost your mind?" The girl glared at Xiao Lin, then shouted at Marshal. "And you, what are you rummaging for? Pretending to be police in the middle of the night, be careful or I'll call the cops on you!"

The girl pushed Xiao Lin and Marshal out as she spoke. "If you're not buying anything, then leave. I'm closing." She took a metal hook, hooked it onto the door handle, and yanked it down hard. With a loud clatter, the shutter door dropped halfway. She locked the door in front of them, and soon the lights inside went out, leaving no light at all.

"Boss, what's going on!" Marshal looked dumbfounded as they were thrown out.

Xiao Lin stared at the iron door for a long while, then leapt up and landed on the roof of the hardware store. After waving to Marshal, he disappeared from his sight.

Oh my God! That's at least two or three meters high, yet he went up without a sound. Marshal was impressed, full of admiration. The boss's hint was to let him go back first, but he didn't want to go back empty-handed, how embarrassing! With that thought, he climbed up from the wall.

The top of the hardware store was made of sunshades and grates, certainly not sturdy enough to hold a person's weight. Marshal didn't dare stand in the middle. He cautiously stuck to the side; there was a wall below offering footing, but the boss had landed in the middle. He saw him move just a little, the top trembled slightly, then he was gone, but there was no bend at all. Marshal tried to put his foot up, and immediately heard a creaking sound, pulling back his foot in fright.

"Damn it, how can anyone live in such a rundown place!" The girl never came out, so there must be a place to sleep in the back, right? Marshal cautiously tested the spots for footing step by step, distanced only half a meter from where he had climbed up. One side was a wall, the other was open space; he mapped out the layout in his mind, making a noise of surprise.

From where they entered, the hardware store seemed like a straight line, you could see through to the end, and from the roof, it seemed right. But the girl never exited, so such a small space couldn't fully accommodate a person, meaning the store should be L-shaped, with a back compartment. However, the roof suggested otherwise.

Marshal backed away from the position and leapt to the ground, pressing his ear to the door to listen for any sounds inside, but it was completely silent. "Ah, I won't give up without a look!" he muttered to himself, picking up a wire-like object from the ground and fiddling with the door lock. The wire was a bit stiff and not easy to manipulate. After a long struggle, he finally heard a clicking sound. He pushed the door open; without lights, the hardware store was truly impossible to make out anything. Based on memory, Marshal took a step and a half forward and reached out, able to touch the shelf.

"That girl isn't here! Is there a back door?" Marshal took out his phone to light up the whole store; there was nothing special, no so-called secret passage, just a wall. He tried pushing it, but there was no reaction; mapping out the position, this wall should be the rear of the building. "Damn, must be haunted!" Marshal cursed, then began searching. The boss said to look everywhere related to ropes, but what exactly were they looking for?

The store was full of wires, close to ropes, right? Marshal searched the loops of wires, thinking he might find something, but nothing turned up apart from wires and more wires. Frustrated, he turned off his phone, then turned it back on, searching each shelf two or three times, but couldn't find anything that seemed like evidence.

"Shouldn't the ledger look like a ledger?" Marshal sat on the ground despondently; he felt powerless. Lao Xu had said Xiao Mei left a ledger, but there was only metal here. Restlessly, the phone continued to dart its light around when suddenly, a faint gleam caught his eye on a shelf. Marshal stood up, approached the source of the light with his phone.

Inside the box were several electrolytic capacitors and a small chip that had fallen into it. "What's this?" Just as Marshal picked it up, he felt someone behind him. Before he could react, he was struck hard on the back of the head, the world went black, and he knew nothing more. (To be continued. If you like this work, please visit Qidian (qidian.com) to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.)