Chapter 12 Chapter 12 The Detective

Four of the five tycoons stared at Fafu tycoon in different ways.Potter is furious, Rooney is amused, Barry is bored, and Sting is terrified. Lune spoke first: "Someone betrayed? Are you trying to scare us with this sentence? What does that mean? Betray you? Betray Potter? Or betray me? Who is the betrayer? How? For Fafu's sake, these meetings have prevented my normal sleep." "It's not just you," Fafu said. "The consequences of this may prevent the normal sleep of many people. I don't mean betrayal of any of us, Rooney, I mean betrayal of Sark." "Zack?" said Potter. "What's Zack without us?"

"Call it a myth, call it whatever the average Sack believes." "I really don't understand." Sting sighed. "You people always seem to be most interested in refuting the other party. Really! I really hope you can solve these things quickly." Barry said: "I agree with what Sting said." Sting seemed very satisfied when he heard it. "I'd be more than happy to explain it to you right away," said Fafu. "I suppose you've all heard about the recent riots in Florina?" Rooney replied: "The Homeland Security agent mentioned that several patrol officers were killed. Is that what you mean?"

The mention of this made Potter even more angry: "In the name of Sack, if we have to have a meeting, let's discuss this matter. Several patrolmen were killed! They deserved to be killed! You mean the locals in Florencia Can a person walk up to a patrolman and smash his head with a stick? Why would the patrolman let a local man with a stick approach him? Why didn't he just bombard the local man from twenty paces away? Lose? "In Sark's name, I'm going to give the Patrol Corps a lesson, from Captain to recruit, that every idiot should be transferred to space. The whole Patrol Corps is just a pile of fat, and they have a good time there. I think we should put Florina under martial law every five years, and clear out all the restless troublemakers above. This will keep the locals safe and keep our people alert."

"Are you finished?" Fafu asked. "Yes, I'm done for the time being, but I will bring it up again. There is also my investment there, you should know. It may not be as big as your investment, Fafu, but it is big enough to worry me." Fafu shrugged, and suddenly turned to Sting: "Did you hear about those turmoil?" Sting was taken aback: "I heard. I mean, I heard you just say..." "You haven't even read the official document from the Ministry of Homeland Security?" "Well, oops!" Sting suddenly became very interested in his long, pointed nails, which were all carefully painted with copper-colored nail polish. "Where do I have so much free time? I don't know that I have responsibilities. I have to read every official document." He gathered all his courage in his hands, looked up at Fafu, "I didn't know you had ordered me to read it. Really!"

"I didn't ask you," Fafu said, "but then again, since you still don't know the details, let me make a summary for you. Others may also find it interesting." It is astonishing how the events of forty-eight hours can be told in a few sentences, and they are very boring to listen to.First, there is a sudden need for reference books on space analysis.Then, a semi-retired patrolman received a severe blow to the head and died two hours later of a fractured skull.A manhunt ensued, but the chase ended when it reached the lair of a Trantor.Then another patrolman was killed early in the morning, his uniform was removed, and the Trantor spy was killed hours later.

"If you want to know the latest news," Fafu concluded, "you can add to this list of trifles the following: A body, or rather a pair of skeleton." "Whose body?" Lune asked. "Take it easy, please. Next to the body there was a pile of ashes, what appeared to be a pile of charred clothing. All metal attachments were carefully removed, but analysis of the ashes proved to be a patrol uniform." "Is that the bogus patrolman?" Barry asked. "It's unlikely." Fafu said, "Who will kill him? And destroy the body?" "Suicide." Potter gritted his teeth. "How long can that blood-stained bastard expect to get away with it? This way of killing him is taking advantage of him. I really want to find out who on the patrol team is responsible for his suicide, call this guy Self-destruct."

"Improbable," Fafu added. "If that person committed suicide, he has only two options. One is to kill himself first, then take off the uniform, blast it to ashes, take out the belt loop and buckle, and then Throw them away. The second is that he strips off his uniform first, reduces it to ashes, takes out the belt loops and studs, walks out of the cave naked--perhaps in his underwear--throws them away, goes back into the cave, and finally puts Kill yourself." "You said the body was in the cave?" Potter asked. "In a landscaped cave in the park, yes."

"Then he's got plenty of time, and plenty of secrecy." Bot was highly motivated, and he didn't like to give up a theory easily. "He might as well take off the belt ring and the mouthpiece first, and then..." "Ever tried to remove the studs from the intact policeman's uniform?" Fafu asked sarcastically. "If the body belonged to the false policeman who committed suicide, can you suggest a motive? Besides, I have received from the coroner A report. They studied the skeletal structure of the body and found that the skeleton belonged neither to any ranger nor to any Florentine, but to a Sac."

Sting cried out, "Ouch!" Barry's old eyes widened.Lune snapped his mouth shut, and the metal dentures, which had been gleaming from time to time to add a little life to the dark space around him, disappeared without a trace.Even Potter froze, unable to utter a word. "Did you understand?" Fafu asked, "Now you should understand why the murderer took away the metal part of the uniform - he hoped that we would mistake the ashes for ordinary clothes and take them off beforehand to wipe out the traces. That way we might think it was a suicide, or a homicide in a personal vendetta, and not think of the bogus cop. What he didn't know, however, was that the ashes analysis could tell the difference between the thistle in Sack's suit and the fibers in the cop's uniform , even without belt loops and buckles.

"Based on the ashes of a murdered Sark man and a pile of patrol uniforms, the only assumption we can make is that somewhere uptown there is a living mayor strutting around in a Sark costume. Our Fro Friend Renner, after pretending to be a patrolman long enough and finding it more and more dangerous, decided to become a Sack, and he did it the only way he could." "Have you got him?" Potter said hoarsely. "No, I haven't caught it yet." "Why? In the name of Sac, why haven't you caught it yet?" "He will be caught." Fafu said indifferently, "At this moment, there are more important things worth worrying about. In comparison, the above-mentioned atrocities are insignificant."

"Speak directly!" Lu Nei immediately urged. "Be patient! Let me ask you first, do you remember the missing space analyst from last year?" Sting chuckled. Potter said in a tone of great contempt: "Again?" Sting asked: "Is there a connection? Or are we just going to rehash that horrible event from last year? I'm sick of it." Fafu ignored it and continued on his own: "The explosive development of yesterday and the day before yesterday began when someone searched for reference books on space analysis in the Florence library. For me, this is enough relevance. Let Let's see if I can get some of you to understand this connection as well. Now I'm going to start with the three people involved in the library case, please, don't interrupt me, let me just say a few words. "The first was a mayor, the most dangerous of the three. He had an excellent record in Sack back then, and was smart and loyal material. Unfortunately, he's now turning those abilities against us. Nothing. There is no doubt that he was the mastermind of these four murders. It is a 'proud' achievement for anyone-four people were killed, including two patrolmen and a Saker-who Would believe it was done by a Florentine? And he's still at large. "The second person involved is a local woman. She is uneducated and completely unimportant. However, as a result of the investigation into the case over the past two days, we know her history. Her parents are members of the 'Ji Ting Soul' I don't know if any of you still remember, but that was a rather ridiculous Florentine peasant rebellion about twenty years ago, which was wiped out with no difficulty. "And that leads to the third man, who is the most unusual of the three. This third man is an ordinary factory worker, and an idiot at that." Potter let out a deep breath, Sting laughed sharply at the same time, Barry's eyes remained closed, and Rooney sat motionless in the dark. Fafu said: "The word 'idiot' is not a metaphor. The Ministry of State Security has used everything, but his history can only be traced back to ten and a half months ago. At that time, he was in a village near the largest city in Florence. Was found in a state of complete blankness of mind, unable to walk, speak, or even feed himself. "Now notice that he first appeared a few weeks after the space analyst went missing. Also notice that within a few months he learned to talk and even got a job at the Thistle processing plant .What kind of idiot can learn so fast?" Sting's interest seemed to be high: "Oh, there is a possibility, if he is properly transformed, he can do this..." His voice became soft again. Fafu said in a sarcastic tone: "I can think of no greater authority on this subject than Sting. However, even without Sting's expert opinion, I would have thought the same way earlier, and that was the only possible Explanation. "But mind reforming can only be carried out in the upper city of Sark or Florina. In order to be safe, we have checked every clinic in the upper city, but we have not found any clues of illegal use of mind reforming devices. Then, our One of the investigators thought there was a doctor who died after that idiot showed up and should check the medical records that doctor kept. For him to think of that, I'm going to give this guy an upgrade. "In that clinic, sure enough, a medical record was found for that idiot. About six months ago, a peasant girl, one of the three mentioned above, had taken him for a medical checkup. Apparently it was a covert operation because she The big break, another pretext entirely. The doctor examined the idiot, and recorded definite evidence of psychic modification. "There is a very interesting doubt here. The doctor's clinic is of the kind that is double-decker, and he is open to the tenth city and the lower city at the same time. He is an idealist. This kind of person thinks that the local people should also enjoy first-class medical care. He is also an organized person, and he has two complete copies of each medical record, which are kept in two clinics, so as not to have to go up and down when looking for them. He never puts the files of the Sac and Florenians Separate, in my opinion, would also satisfy his idealism. But that idiot has only one medical record, and is the only one that doesn't have a copy. "Why is that? If for some reason he made the voluntary decision not to copy this particular medical record, why is it in the upper town and not the lower one? After all, the idiot is a Florentine, take him to beg The doctor was also a Florentine, and the location of the examination was at the Lower Town Clinic. This is clearly recorded in the file we found. "There is only one possible answer to this peculiar puzzle: There were indeed two copies of the medical record, but someone destroyed the copy in the Downtown file, and he was unaware that there was another copy in the Uptown clinic. Now let's Let's move on. "In that idiot's inspection file, there was a clear note stating that the contents of this medical record should be included in the next routine report to the Ministry of Homeland Security. That doctor did it exactly right. The medical records related to mental modification may involve criminals or even subversive elements. However, this report has not been submitted to the Ministry of State Security, because he died in a traffic accident within a week. "It's too much for so many coincidences to pile up, isn't it?" Fafu finally said. Barry opened his eyes: "You told an intense and suspenseful detective story." "That's right." Fafu said loudly in a satisfied tone, "It's a tense and suspenseful detective story. At this moment, I am that detective." "So who's the defendant?" Barry asked wearily in a low voice. "Don't worry, let me play detective for a while longer." Fafu suddenly found himself having a great time in this crisis that he regarded as unprecedented for Sac. He continued: "Let's go back to the other side of the story. Let's forget about the idiot for a moment and talk about the space analyst. The first time we heard about this guy, he sent a notice to the Department of Transportation that his space The ship will be landing soon. He had previously sent a telegram which included this notice. "But the space analyst never arrived, and we couldn't find him anywhere in near space. What's more, the telegram sent by the space analyst was later transferred to the Bureau of Transportation for preservation, and it turned out to have disappeared. The Space Analysis Bureau claimed We intentionally hid the telegram, and the Homeland Security Department believed that they fabricated a fictitious telegram for propaganda purposes. Now I understand that we were both wrong. The telegram was indeed delivered, but it was not hidden in Sarawak. government. "Let's create a character, let's call him X for now. X has access to the Bureau of Transportation records and therefore knows the space analyst and his transmissions. And X has enough brains and abilities to take swift action." He managed to send a secret sub-etheric telegram to the space analyst's ship directing the man to a small private landing site somewhere. The space analyst did and X was there waiting for him. "X is carrying the doomed telegram from the space analyst. There may be two reasons for this. First, by destroying this evidence, making possible investigations impossible; second, or planning to carry it, If the space analyst thinks he can only report to his superiors, and he probably does, then X can use this telegram to trick him. "The space analyst must have said his analysis, there's no doubt about it. No matter how incoherent it was, how crazy, how improbable it sounded, he must have said it. X understands it's an excellent propaganda weapon, So he sent a blackmail letter to the five big tycoons, that is, us. His steps, according to his original plan, are probably what I thought Trantor would do a year ago. If we don't comply, he is ready to use the end of the world. Rumors of coming, paralyzed Florenian cattle production, till we were compelled to surrender. "Not long after, however, he had his first miscalculation. Something terrified him, and we'll discuss what that was in a moment. In any case, he had to wait a while before he could continue. However, waiting involved Another complication. X doesn't believe the space analyst's story, but the space analyst himself is no doubt extremely serious. X has to make arrangements so that the space analyst is willing to let his 'doomsday forecast' wait. "This space analyst can't do it unless his tenacious mind stops functioning. X may kill him, but in my opinion, he needs further information from the space analyst-after all, he knows nothing about space analysis , you can’t just rely on bluffing people to carry out a successful blackmail—in addition, if X fails completely, you may be able to exchange him for your own life. In short, X used a mind reformer. After the transformation, what he mastered is no longer It's a space analyst, but a mindless idiot that won't give him any trouble for a while. After a while, the guy will gradually regain consciousness. "What's the next step? That's to make sure that in this year's wait, the space analyst won't be found; has to make sure that no one of importance will see him, even if he's just an idiot. So X takes A brilliant simple way to bring the man to Florenia. For nearly a year, the space analyst was just a dull-witted native working obediently at the Thistle Processing Plant. "I guess that during this year, X or one of X's cronies visited the village where the idiot was 'placed' more than once to see if he was safe and healthy. During one of his visits, he did not know how to know that The idiot went to the doctor, and of course, the doctor saw mind-altering surgery at a glance. So the doctor died and the medical records disappeared, at least the one at the downtown clinic. That was X's first miscalculation , it never occurred to him that the clinic uptown might have a copy. "And then there was his second miscalculation. The idiot regained consciousness a little too quickly, and the mayor had enough brains to see that it wasn't that simple. I even speculated that maybe the girl who took care of the idiot He once told the mayor about the mind transformation. "The story ends here." Fafu clenched his thick hands, waiting for everyone's reaction. Rooney was the first to respond.The area around him was already brightly lit, and now he sat there, blinking and smiling: "It's a moderately dull story, Fafu. If I stay in the dark a little longer, I'll fall asleep." "In my opinion," Barry said slowly, "the story you created is as absurd as the one last year. Ninety percent of it is conjecture." "Damn boring!" said Potter. "Who is X anyway?" Sting asked, "If you don't know who X is, it's all meaningless." He yawned gracefully, covering his small white teeth with his hand. Fafu said: "Finally someone has seen the key. Yes, X's identity is the core of the whole incident. Let's think about it. If my analysis is correct, then X must have the following characteristics. "First of all, this person X has internal contacts in the State Department. In addition, this person can order the use of psychic modification devices, this person thinks he can arrange a powerful blackmail operation, this person can bring space analysts from Sark without any difficulty. To Florenia, and this man has a way of killing a doctor on Florenna. He is certainly not a nobody. "Actually, he's 100 percent a big shot. He must be one of the top five, don't you think so?" Pot jumped up from his seat, his head disappearing, and sat back hastily; Sting let out a shrill, hysterical laugh; Lune's eyes, half-buried in the fat around them, now glared; Barry shook his head slowly. Potter yelled, "Who the hell are you accusing, Fafu?" "Not yet," Fafu maintained a calm attitude, "no one in particular. Let's see it this way, in Sark, no one can do what X did. There are only five of us, and there is no one else except the five of us." .The question is, which of the five? First of all, it's not me." "We can take your word for it, can't we?" Rooney sneered. "You don't have to take my word for it," Fafu replied, "but I'm the only one who doesn't have a motive. X's motive is to control the Ji Ting business, and I'm already controlling it. I own all of Florenia's land One third, my processing plants, machine shops, and freight fleet are overwhelming enough to knock any or all of you out if I choose. I don't have to resort to sophisticated blackmail tactics." He roared loudly, overshadowing the combined voices of the other four: "Listen to me! All four of you have motives. Lunei's continent is the smallest and has the smallest occupancy rate. I know he's not satisfied, it's just pretending not to come Yes. Barry's family has the longest history. At one time in the past, his family ruled the whole of Sark. He probably hasn't forgotten. Bot is always rejected in the council, so he can't be in his territory. Running his business the way he liked it, with nerve whips and pistols, he had always held a grudge against it. Sting had many extravagant hobbies and was in a bad financial situation with debts driving him down. All possible motives were Here, jealousy, coveting power, coveting wealth, and longing for prestige. Well, which one of you is X?" Barry's old eyes suddenly shot out a malicious light: "You don't know?" "That's all right. Now listen, I said that after we got his first letter, something frightened X—let's just call him X—you know what it was? At one meeting, the need for concerted action was preached. X was there, and X had always been one of us. He knew that concerted action represented his defeat. He had hoped to win us all because he knew we had no self-government for the continents. Having stubborn ideals would make us incompatible until the end. He realized he was wrong and decided to hold back until the situation calmed down before proceeding. "But he's still wrong, and we'll still act in unison. Since X is one of us, there's only one way to keep him from getting his way. Continental autonomy can't go on, it's a luxury we can't afford. Because If X's plan succeeds, it will either go bankrupt for the rest of us, or lead to Trantor's intervention. I, myself, am the only person I can trust. So from now on, I will lead a unified Sack .Do you agree?" The others jumped up one after another, yelling desperately.Potter shook his fist and spattered. But in fact they have nothing to do.Fafu couldn't help smiling, everyone was separated by an intercontinental distance, and others could sit behind their desks and watch them grin their teeth and froth freely. He said: "You have no choice. I have been working on the preparations alone for a year since the first meeting. At this moment, when the four of you are meeting with me, the officers loyal to me have taken over the fleet." "Treachery!" The crowd roared. "The betrayal of the autonomy of the continents," Fafu retorted, "is the loyalty to Sark." Sting's fingers intertwined nervously, the coppery ruddy fingertips the only part of his skin that was colored. "But the culprit is X. Even though X is one of us, the other three are innocent. I am not X," he looked around with a vicious look, "X is one of them." "Those of you who are innocent can join my government if they wish, without any loss at all." "But you're not going to say anyone's innocent," Potter snarled. "Based on this X's story, you're going to shut us all out. By this...by this..." He was out of breath, and had to Stop there. "I'm not going to do that. In twenty-four hours, I'll know who X is. I haven't even said that. I've got the space analyst we've been talking about." The others fell silent, looking at each other with reservation and suspicion. Fafu chuckled a few times: "You're wondering which one will be X. One of them knows, that's for sure. And twenty-four hours later, we'll all know. Now keep it in mind, everyone, you all Powerless, the ships that can fight are mine. Goodbye!" He made a dismissal gesture. The images of everyone disappeared one by one.It was like a dim shipwreck passing by, obscuring the stars of deep space on the picture plane. Sting was the last to leave. "Fafu..." he said in a trembling voice. Fafu raised his head: "What's the matter? Now there are only two of us left, are you ready to confess? Are you X?" Sting's face was contorted, and his expression was extremely horrified: "No, no, it's really not me! I just want to ask you, is it really going to be like this? I mean, self-government and everything else. Really?" Fafu looked at the ancient precision timepiece on the wall: "Goodbye." Sting sobbed softly, raised his hand to press the switch, and the figure disappeared immediately. Fafu sat there expressionless and motionless.The meeting was over, the climax of the crisis was over, and depression soon overwhelmed him.On his broad face, the large mouth with almost invisible lips was like a deep gash. All speculation stemmed from the fact that the space analyst was a madman, and there was no doom at all.But around a lunatic, so many things have already happened.Would Jands of the Analysis Bureau spend a year looking for a lunatic?Would he be so persistent in pursuing a nonsense story? Fafu never told anyone about this, and he hardly dared to face it himself.What if the space analyst wasn't crazy at all?What if Ji Ting's world is at stake? The Florentine secretary quietly came to the wealthy tycoon with a thin and dry voice. "Your Mightiness!" "What's up?" "The spaceship that received the precious daughter has landed." "Are the space analyst and the local woman all right?" "Yes, sir." "No interrogation until I arrive, and they are not allowed to see anyone...Any news from Florence?" "Yes, sir. The mayor has been arrested and is being sent to Sark."