Chapter 44 What sins have I committed?!

The next day, September 6th.

7:30 AM, half an hour before Chen Mo had to be at work.

Outside a lottery shop, Uncle Wang held a fan and looked confidently at Chen Mo beside him.

"According to my calculations, we are both destined for wealth during this period!"

As he spoke, he made a fortune-telling gesture, pinched his fingers a few times, then nodded repeatedly with an expression that said this was a sure thing.

"So confident?"

"You bet! How does that old saying go? 'Seeing a coffin brings wealth!' We didn't just see a coffin, we even saw a corpse!"

Chen Mo nodded; there was indeed such an old saying.

A lottery ticket didn't cost much, so buying one for fun was fine.

Just as the two stepped forward, intending to enter the lottery shop, they heard voices.

"Didn't Old Tian go to the morning market to sell vegetables? His child has no legs and can't move on the bed, so why would there be the sound of a bowl breaking in the kitchen? Could something have happened?"

"I don't care that much. His child is a deformed child; I'm scared to death just being their neighbor."

"Should I buy the lottery ticket for you? What if he committed suicide? Wouldn't that be even more unlucky?"

"Oh my, how could I dare to go by myself..."

The conversation between the two reached the ears of Chen Mo and Uncle Wang without missing a word.

They looked at each other.

It sounded like a case where a deformed child with no legs, who should have been lying in bed, had a bowl mysteriously break in their home.

"Well... shall we go take a look?"

Uncle Wang really wanted to go; his curiosity had been piqued.

If it was a suicide, he wanted to go even more; maybe he could save a life. If nothing was wrong, that was even better.

In any case, he wanted to see.

Chen Mo nodded; he was also quite curious about what was going on.

The two glanced at the lottery shop and decided they could only buy next time.

"I can go with you."

Chen Mo took his police ID out of his pocket to reveal his identity. As a policeman, he had a reason to go.

"Who are you... Officer, hello!"

The middle-aged woman was named Sun Xia, 45 years old, wearing a white floral long dress, with short red hair cut at the ears, and wrinkles on her face from laboring for her family.

And the Old Tian mentioned earlier was her neighbor.

"It's so good that you can go with me. After all, I'm Old Tian's neighbor; if I don't go check the situation, my heart is always pounding, but the way his child looks makes me scared."

Sun Xia's words had no intention of discriminating against the child. It was just a person's nervousness about being afraid of something. The fact that she was afraid but still worried about him showed this.

In his past life, Chen Mo had searched for pictures of deformed children, and most people had the same reaction after seeing the photos.

"Hmm, is it far?"

"Not far, just a few steps away..."

While chatting, Chen Mo and Uncle Wang followed Sun Xia as she wound through the alleys to a house.

The house looked very poor from the outside, the kind that even thieves wouldn't visit. The gate was made of wood, and after years of erosion, the surface of the wooden door was pitted. It didn't use a lock but a bolt-style latch, the kind with an iron rod inserted into a ring.

The roof used tiles, the walls were red bricks, and there was no decoration.

"Old Tian's family used to be quite wealthy, but after the child was born, it got worse day by day."

Sun Xia noticed their gaze and explained from the side. Then she noticed the gap in the middle of the door.

"Eh, is the door unlocked?"

Having been a neighbor for so many years, every time she passed by the door, Old Tian would lock it whenever he went out to sell vegetables. It had happened before that other children snuck into his house to bully the child, so Old Tian was very careful about this.

"Isn't it normal for the door to be unlocked!"

"I also always forget to lock the door when I go out. You should just go in and take a look first."

Uncle Wang urged anxiously.

"Okay, okay..."

Sun Xia hurriedly pushed the door and walked in.

"That... Chen Mo... I won't go in, lest I be misunderstood again."

"Tell me about the situation when you come out."

He had learned his lesson this time. If he didn't even go in, then even if something happened, it had nothing to do with him. This was called learning from experience!

Seeing his smug look, Chen Mo couldn't help but speak.

"You won't be a suspect."

"But since you appeared here, you will definitely have to go back for routine questioning later."

Uncle Wang was stunned, then looked at Chen Mo's serious expression, and then at Sun Xia, who was waiting in the courtyard and didn't dare to go in.

"Is there no other way?"

It sounded nice to call it routine questioning, but every time he went in, no one cared about him. When he could come out depended on luck. To put it bluntly, at his age, how many years could he live? It would be better to spend half his time at the police station.

"Oh my, what have I done to deserve this!"

Uncle Wang's aggrieved voice came out. Then he walked inside like a walking corpse.

"What if nothing happened?"

Chen Mo comforted him. At the same time, he walked into the courtyard and his gaze fell on the door bolt. The iron rod on the door bolt was pushed out completely. This meant that when leaving, the person who closed the door had made the locking motion. It just wasn't aligned with the iron ring, causing the door not to close. After a person repeats an action too many times, muscle memory is formed. For example, when watching Japanese movies, 'standing up' has already formed muscle memory.

Withdrawing his gaze, he also followed into the living room.

"Xiao Bo, are you home?"

"Ah!"

Sun Xia, the first to enter the room, let out a surprised cry.

"Why are you yelling? Isn't it just a broken beer bottle?"

Uncle Wang, who followed her in, was startled and said with dissatisfaction; he thought he had encountered a corpse again. As a result, he didn't see a corpse, only a broken beer bottle on the floor.

"There's also blood!"

Sun Xia pointed to the bloodstain the size of an adult's palm on the ground. Then she hurriedly searched in every room.

"Xiao Bo! Xiao Bo! Are you home?"

"Xiao Bo!"

There were only three rooms, and she had searched all the places she could find. She just didn't see Xiao Bo.

"Could it be that he was stolen by traffickers!"

"Could he have been taken to the morning market by Old Tian to sell vegetables, like you said?"

Uncle Wang analyzed.

"Impossible, you haven't seen Xiao Bo's appearance. Bringing him to the morning market would scare away a large crowd."

Sun Xia shook her head repeatedly, saying that something must have happened, something must have happened. Then she looked at Chen Mo.

"Officer, why don't I find a way to contact Old Tian and notify him to come back!"

"Hmm."

Chen Mo nodded and watched her back disappear. Then he walked forward a few steps to the beer bottle that was only one-third left. There were no tables or chairs around it. This meant the beer bottle did not fall from above. It formed a parabola and landed on the ground, shattering. The blood on the ground... at present, it was very likely to be Xiao Bo's. According to Sun Xia's description, Xiao Bo was only four years old this year. If his father didn't know about Xiao Bo's disappearance, then the person who stole the child was at least an adult. Based on this, it was very likely the blood was Xiao Bo's. When there was no evidence that the trafficker was a minor, he had to reason according to the logic of a normal person. Most traffickers are adults!

[Ding! 'Missing Xiao Bo' Reasoning progress 10%, reward 100 melon points!!!]

Well, another scrap of melon skin.