Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty

A Pai crawled to Kanya's side, looking at the shadowy village below, "Is that it?" Kanya nodded, and glanced at the other subordinates behind him.The group had dispersed and surrounded the village from all directions.Those who live here raise saltwater prawns and sell them at the fish market in the City of Angels. The houses here are all built on bamboo rafts.Now the bamboo rafts are still placed on the ground. When the flood season comes, the flood and silt will submerge their rice and fish ponds, but these bamboo rafts and the houses on them will float up.Years ago, her own home in the Mekong region was built in a similar way, but General Pracha destroyed it all.

"It's a good head," she murmured. Latana was ecstatic.One connection, one clue: Fish mites were found between the toes of the third body. The fish mite clues point to the prawn farm.Among so many prawn farms, the scope can be narrowed down to those with villagers who have gone to Bangkok to work, and then select the villages with recent deaths of villagers.That's how Kanya and all her men arrived at the semi-floating settlement near Thonburi.They lurk on the surrounding dikes, ready to take advantage of the darkness to launch a surprise attack. In the village below, a few candles glowed weakly and unsteadily in bamboo huts.A dog barks a few times.Everyone is wearing protective clothing.Latana believes that the possibility of this disease spreading among the population is not high, but it is still necessary to be careful.A mosquito buzzed in Kanya's ear.She shooed it away, pulling down the hood that came with the suit.She is already sweating profusely.

Laughter came from across the fish pond.It was a family, guarding a simple, warm house.Even in the face of so many difficulties, people can still laugh.Not so with Kanya.Something inside her seemed to have completely died. Jaidi has always claimed that the Kingdom of Thailand is a country full of joy. In the past, this land was called the Land of Smiles.But now Kanya can't imagine anyone who is as carefree and happy as the people she sees in the photos in the museum.There were times when she thought the people in the photographs were acting, and perhaps the National Gallery was trying to frustrate her that way.But then again, at that time, people might actually be able to laugh without qualms.

Kanya put on the mask, "Tell them in." A Pai gestured to the team, and his subordinates walked towards the village and surrounded it—this was a regular procedure before the white shirts carried out the incineration work. When burning her own village, White Shirt appeared suddenly between two huts, belching flames, blazing and hissing.But this time is different.There were no flamethrowers, no houses of bamboo and weatherproof timber inflamed, no police officers stepping in ankle-deep water to drag screaming villagers from the flames. General Praca asked that the operation be quiet.When issuing the quarantine order, he said: "If it was Jaidi, he would definitely call for a state of emergency for the whole city. But we cannot do this while dealing with the poisonous snakes of the Ministry of Trade. The state of emergency will be used by them, and it will be used against them. We are at a disadvantage. It must be dealt with as quietly as possible."

"Of course. Quiet." The dog barked wildly.As the white shirts approached, people shouted in the village.Several villagers came out of the house with torches and peered out into the darkness.Seeing the white uniforms that stood out at night, they immediately shouted warnings to their families; meanwhile, Kanya's men started sprinting. Jaidi knelt beside her and watched the scene. "Pracha made me sound like a giant elephant trampling through the paddy fields," he said. Kanya dismisses the phantom, but Jaidi doesn't shut up. "You should have seen him when we were all cadets," he said. "He'd be shitting his pants if he did this job."

Kanya glanced at Jaidi, "Don't do this. Even if you die, it doesn't mean you can disrespect him like this." Her subordinates turned on the hand-cranked LED torch, illuminating the whole village brightly.People were running around like chicks trying to hide food and livestock.One man broke through the cordon desperately, waded into the water, jumped into the fish pond, and flopped to the other end—but there were more white shirts there.The man was in a dilemma in the middle of the muddy fish pond, at a loss for what to do. Jaidi asked, "You are actually loyal to the other side. We both know that. Why are you still so respectful to Pracha?"

"Shut up." "Two people riding a horse must be hard, right? They both ride you, it's like..." "Shut up!" A Pai was startled, "What's wrong?" "Sorry." Kanya shook his head, "My fault, I was distracted." A Pai nodded to the villagers below, "It looks like they are ready to welcome you." Kanya stood up, and she, Pai, and Zaidi—the ghost was smiling and triumphant even though he wasn't invited—went down together.She carried with her a photograph of the man who had died of the blight, a black-and-white photo enlarged in a laboratory.She illuminates the picture with her hand-cranked LED torch for all the village to look at, trying to find signs among them of identifying the man.

To the white shirts, their white uniforms represent opportunity, but to the fishermen who raise fish and shrimp, it means fear.She knew these people, she could see the calluses on their hands, she could smell the fishponds from their scent.She saw herself in their eyes.She knew that, to them, she was no different than a Calorie employee looking for a gene-hacking product, but she had to keep the crossword game going.Everyone shook their heads.Kanya passed the photo to each person in turn, lighting it up with a flashlight.One by one, all the villagers turned their eyes away. Finally, she found a man, "Do you know him? Didn't his relatives look for him?"

The man looked at the photo, then at Kanya's uniform. "He has no relatives." Kanya was taken aback, "You know him? Who is he?" "So he's dead?" "Doesn't he look dead?" The two looked at the pale image in the photo together, and the deformed face, "I told him to find a better job than working in a factory. He didn't listen to me." "You mean he works in the city?" "right." "Do you know where it is?" He shook his head. "where does he live?" The man pointed to a building on stilts hidden in the shadows.Kanya waved to his subordinates. "Check that house."

She pulled her mask tighter and was the first to go in, shining her flashlight around.It was very dark inside, and the place where the beam of the flashlight fell was flying dust.The fact that the homeowner was dead gave her a sense of foreboding.That person's soul may still be here, his hungry soul is lurking here, and he is full of resentment-someone made him sick and die, it can be said to be murder, so his soul can only stay in this world.She checked the man's meager possessions, walked around the house twice, and found nothing.She came out of the house.In the distance was the towering city, with its green halo—that's where the dead went when they discovered that fish farming had become unsustainable.She went back to the man just now, "Do you really know nothing about his workplace?"

The man shook his head. "Don't know anything? Don't even know the name? Any information is fine." She tried hard to hide her despair.The man shook his head again.She turned away in frustration and continued to investigate the village engulfed in darkness.Crickets chirped and ivory beetles gnawed and creaked the trees.It was the right place, and she was very close to the answer.But where exactly is that factory?Gibson was right, she should burn down the entire factory complex.Back when the White Shirts were strong, this wasn't a difficult task. "You want to set it on fire now too?" Zaidi sneered next to her, "Now you finally understand where I stand?" She ignored his sarcasm.Not far away, a young girl looked at her eagerly.She averted her eyes quickly when Kanya met her gaze.Kanya patted Apai on the shoulder, "That." "The little girl?" He was taken aback.Kanya was already walking towards the girl.She seemed to want to run away, but Kanya got down on one knee and motioned for her to come, far away from her, "You, what's your name?" The girl was at a loss.She wanted to run away, but Kanya's majesty could not be refused, "Come here, tell me your name." She waved to the girl again, and this time, the little girl slowly moved forward a few steps. "Amai," the girl whispered. Kanya held up the photo, "You know where this guy works, don't you?" Amai shook her head, but Kanya knew the little girl was lying.Children are always bad at lying, and Kanya herself was one of them.When the white shirts asked her family where they hid their farmed fish, she told them it was south, and they headed straight north, with adult sly grins on their faces. She handed the photo to the girl, "You understand how dangerous the situation is now, don't you?" The girl hesitated, "Are you going to burn the village down?" Kanya tried to keep his expression the same. "Of course not." She smiled again and said without hesitation, "Don't worry, Amai. I know this kind of thing is scary, I grew up in a village like this, and I know how hard life is here. But you must help us find the source of the disease, otherwise more people will die." "The boss told me not to talk." "Yes, it's a good thing to respect your boss." Kanya paused, "But we should all be loyal to Her Majesty the Queen, and Her Majesty hopes that all of us will be safe. Your Majesty must hope that you can help us." Amai hesitated for a moment, and then said, "Three other workers in that factory got sick." Kanya leaned forward, trying to hide her eagerness, "Which factory?" Amai is still hesitating.Kanya continued: "If you don't speak out, more people will die. Think how many ghosts will come to you by then?" Amai is still hesitant. Appie said, "Break off her fingers, and she'll tell us." The little girl was terrified, but Kanya reached out and comforted her, "Don't worry, he won't do anything. He's a tiger, but I've got him on a rope. Please, help us save this city Go ahead. You can help us save the City of Angels." The girl turned her eyes and looked at the green halo of Bangkok city on the other side of the tide, "That factory has been closed. It was closed by you." "That's fine. But we have to make sure the disease doesn't spread further. What's the name of that factory?" The little girl reluctantly gave the answer: "Strong spring factory." Kanya frowned, trying to recall the name, "Is it a factory that makes twist springs? Is it run by people from Chaozhou?" Amai shook his head, "It's Fran, a very rich Fran." Kanya sat down beside her, "Go ahead."