Zhang Chiguo (Four Thousand Words Requesting Monthly Tickets)

"Little Han, wash your hands, let's eat."

Soon the food was ready, and the three of them sat down to eat. Unexpectedly, at the dinner table, Zhang Chiguo didn't talk about anything related to ten years ago or his work at the Disaster Management Bureau. Instead, he kept asking Han Su if his cooking skills had declined.

Han Su answered by eating two large bowls of rice. He was very satisfied with the meal, and Zhang Chiguo also seemed very pleased.

After they finished eating, Cui Qiao went to wash the dishes. The kitchen was a mess of clattering sounds. Zhang Chiguo, seemingly not hearing anything, slowly took out his cigarette case and lit a cigarette.

He didn't rush to speak, and Han Su simply brought him a can of cola.

There was no tea at home, only this cola bought with instant noodles. He placed it in front of Zhang Chiguo and then sat quietly opposite him, waiting.

Zhang Chiguo glanced at Han Su, then nodded. Secretary Cui, who had been fiddling with the bowls, immediately seemed relieved. She stood up, shook the foam off her hands, and turned to go outside the house.

No one knew what she did, but the lights in the room suddenly began to flicker, as if there was a loose connection. Even the high-end television inexplicably turned on, but without a signal, the screen kept flickering.

However, looking out the window, they could see that only their house had changed; the surrounding buildings were still brightly lit.

"Is it really necessary to go this far?"

Han Su watched, speechless and amused. Of course, he understood that Secretary Cui had followed him to clean up the cameras and listening devices planted in the room, all for this conversation between him and Zhang Chiguo.

But to see that even before starting the conversation, Secretary Cui had to go out and stand guard, and even use her abilities to create an isolation zone, seemed a bit exaggerated.

"Of course, it's necessary."

Zhang Chiguo glanced at Han Su and nodded gently. "Once you become familiar with this circle, you'll understand that sometimes, it's not just certain conversations being overheard that are dangerous."

"Sometimes, the conversation itself is a dangerous act."

"..."

Han Su listened quietly, reached for the cola in front of him, pulled the tab with a hiss, and pushed it back in front of Zhang Chiguo.

Zhang Chiguo looked at the cola, put down his cigarette, letting it burn between his fingers. He looked thoughtfully at Han Su and said, "Little Han, your performance at the Disaster Management Bureau has exceeded my expectations. I admit I underestimated your talent. You are qualified to know some things."

"But before we begin, I still want to ask you one thing."

"Once you know some things, you'll never be able to extricate yourself. Are you prepared?"

"..."

Han Su looked at Zhang Chiguo earnestly and said, "Uncle Zhang, this kidnapping case found me, and it still hasn't let me go.

"So, I have to understand it."

Zhang Chiguo looked into Han Su's sincere eyes and finally gave up trying to persuade him, sighing softly, "Actually, it's the same for me. For so many years, has there been a day I haven't thought about this case?"

Han Su's heart began to race, but he maintained a calm expression. "Then..."

"At first, I just wanted to figure out this case and find the missing children. I never expected that this case would affect my entire life..."

Zhang Chiguo slowly opened his mouth, a bitter smile seeming to form on his lips. "In fact, even my joining the Disaster Management Bureau is related to this matter."

"Back then, you saw what I was like, desperately trying to investigate this case. But honestly, I didn't believe your talk about monsters and such back then."

"I was more inclined to believe you were drugged or subjected to some other method that affected your mind. After all, you looked confused even then, unable to clearly state your own identity or family information."

"So, talk of kidnapping was naturally even less believable."

"..."

Han Su indicated he understood and only cared about one question: "Then... what happened later?"

"Later..."

Zhang Chiguo's expression dimmed when he mentioned this, and he said in a low voice, "I tried everything I could – the school, the school bus company, Qinggang's underground forces, even some of the victims' families – just to find clues related to this kidnapping case."

"But it was strange, there were no clues."

"Or rather, all clues disappeared in a bizarre way, as if a road suddenly reached its end."

"However, I did find some strange things. For example, I also collected the time you disappeared from surveillance and the time you reappeared, and I made a detailed deduction of the entire kidnapping case."

"I even thought what you said was reasonable and submitted a report."

"But after submitting that report, everyone around me thought I was crazy. My superiors told me to rewrite it, but I refused. So, I was forcibly put on leave by the Public Security Bureau."

"But even then, I was still using my own connections and relationships to continue the investigation, until someone found me and asked if I was willing to work in a new department."

"..."

Han Su listened and moved slightly. "Secretary Number 5?"

"Yes!"

Zhang Chiguo's expression became somewhat solemn. "At the time, I even thought I had met a scammer, because there was no Secretary Number 5 in Qinggang."

Han Su could guess Zhang Chiguo's thoughts at the time. So, he was also noticed by Secretary Number 5 because he was too close to these matters during his investigation?

"What happened after that?"

"After that, I no longer lived a normal life."

Zhang Chiguo sighed softly. "The Disaster Management Bureau wasn't fully established back then, and many people had to take on multiple jobs. I, too, finally witnessed the strangeness and absurdity that shouldn't have appeared in reality."

"I have to say, the impact on me at the time was so great that I even began to doubt myself and temporarily put aside your kidnapping case."

"I cooperated with the people dispatched by Secretary Number 5, recruiting staff, establishing regulations, and encountered more and more unreasonable things. Everything I had once trusted finally crumbled..."

"..."

"Ouch..."

Listening to Zhang Chiguo recount all of this, Han Su couldn't help but feel a bit surprised.

"So, if you're saying that, the Disaster Management Bureau was only established five or six years ago?"

Zhang Chiguo glanced at him and said, "To be precise, it's been three years. For the preceding years, we didn't even have an official name. It was just a group of us, fumbling around in confusion, busy with everything, while also trying to make sure we weren't going crazy."

This suddenly made Han Su feel a sense of sudden realization. "No wonder I always felt like the Disaster Management Bureau was just a makeshift operation?"

"And another thing, I thought Old Zhang was amazing, but I didn't expect him to be a veteran of the Disaster Management Bureau?"

"..."

Zhang Chiguo didn't try to guess Han Su's thoughts. He just slowly shook his head and said, "Of course, I've always kept that kidnapping case of yours in mind. At the time, I even deeply believed what you told me."

"My feelings were the same as yours when you questioned me a week ago:"

"Since there can be so many grotesque things in this city, why can't the monster that kidnapped the child be real?"

"..."

Hearing this, Han Su immediately asked with concern, "And then?"

Zhang Chiguo let out a low sigh. "Then, just as I was trying to include that kidnapping case as one of the grotesque phenomena that the Disaster Management Bureau needed to focus its resources on investigating, I received a warning."

"What warning?"

"It was simple, just a criticism."

Zhang Chiguo's face was expressionless as he spoke of this matter.

But Han Su knew him well. Perhaps this was the moment the old detective was most displeased but had to feign indifference:

"Someone 'above' said that the Disaster Management Bureau had limited energy and should focus on more important, more meaningful work, rather than believing the ramblings of a child..."

"..."

Han Su remained silent, suddenly recalling his own feelings from a week ago.

Unconvinced, unwilling.

If he hadn't encountered the ghost truck, he might have understood why others didn't believe him. After all, the so-called monster kidnapping case was too far removed from reality.

But after seeing the ghost truck, and even discovering that many people were already very familiar with such grotesque things as ghost trucks and treated them as commonplace, he exploded.

Why could those things exist, yet the monster kidnapping case was dismissed as just his hallucination?

"At that time, the Disaster Management Bureau was compiling all possible cases and clues related to bizarre, strange, and inexplicable phenomena that had occurred in Qinggang in recent years. My job was to add your kidnapping case to it."

Zhang Chiguo continued, his voice filled with helplessness. "But because of that one sentence, the kidnapping case was excluded and not included in this list of cases awaiting investigation."

"At that time, I even thought my collected information wasn't convincing enough and was planning to search for more information to submit a report again."

"But the subsequent developments were different from what I expected."

"..."

Having said this, Zhang Chiguo finally lit his cigarette. Amidst the wisps of smoke, his eyes seemed weary.

"That kidnapping case of yours had a wide impact."

"It wasn't just me who submitted a report; many investigators and researchers who joined the Disaster Management Bureau around that time also tried to submit reports, believing it might be related to our work."

"But..."

He paused before sighing. "Without exception, they were all rejected."

Han Su looked up slightly. "Was there no other explanation?"

"Initially, no."

Zhang Chiguo slowly shook his head. "It was just that the reports we submitted weren't convincing enough to gain the approval of those above."

"Until later, someone meticulously collected all the data and submitted it to the higher-ups. But this report was different from ours; it didn't confirm a connection to the grotesque. On the contrary, it argued that it had nothing to do with our work."

"Indeed, this is also part of an investigator's job: to categorize the matter first before deciding whether to pursue it!"

"I never saw that report, but I believe it must have been full of loopholes. I can hardly imagine someone speaking with such certainty and spouting nonsense."

"However, that report received approval from the higher-ups. From then on, there was no possibility of it being included in the investigation list. We were even criticized and forbidden from investigating the case any further."

"..."

At this point, Zhang Chiguo's face even showed a hint of anger. "I, and everyone else who held opposing views, finally understood."

"The more complex and inexplicable a problem is, the simpler the answer often is. Why was this kidnapping case so difficult to categorize?"

"Because someone didn't want it categorized!"

"..."

Han Su deeply understood this statement. He slowly raised his head and said, "Uncle Zhang, then, who is this person who didn't want this case categorized as a grotesque incident...?"

"Don't ask."

Zhang Chiguo shook his head, looking seriously at Han Su. "Or rather, I don't know the answer either."

"I was personally recruited by Secretary Number 5, so I basically know the identities of the Disaster Management Bureau and the big figures who can influence it. But the person who stamped this report, even I can't easily guess their identity."

"I just, truly, from that point on, understood that I couldn't do it."

"All I know is, if I were smart enough, the most correct thing to do would be to forget about this kidnapping case."

"..."

Han Su could imagine Zhang Chiguo's psychological state at the time, and even understood his choice. He didn't feel any emotional fluctuations.

He just smiled and said, "Uncle Zhang, if that's the case, then the only thing that interests me is this: who wrote the report that was submitted upstairs, which ruled out the supernatural suspicion of this kidnapping case?"

"It was an investigator with considerable seniority."

Zhang Chiguo's gaze deepened slightly, and he slowly said, "You can easily find out his identity. Once you have the authority, you can check it yourself. But I think that might not be important."

"He was likely just someone carrying out orders."

"..."

Han Su remained silent, his fingers unconsciously tapping on his leg. He already understood the message Zhang Chiguo was trying to convey.

So, this investigator now is also someone he can't afford to offend, right?

"But these aren't the main points."

Unexpectedly, Zhang Chiguo suddenly spoke again, his expression grave. "At the time, I naturally understood the meaning from above and knew what the smart move would be. But..."

"...After all, I'm not a smart person."

Seeing his serious expression, Han Su's heart trembled slightly. "Then you..."

Zhang Chiguo slowly said, "Even though I understood the meaning from above, I didn't give up."

"The investigations in all aspects had reached a dead end, and I could no longer utilize some of the Disaster Management Bureau's high-logic resources. But after some consideration, I still found a new direction for the investigation."

"That is, your mother."

"..."