Chapter 18 Chapter 2 Pattaya: Dreamgirls
After leaving the restaurant, I took Sakai's car again, took the expressway, and drove all the way to Pattaya.
"Have you been to Pattaya before?" Sakai silhouetted in the darkness asked.
"Well, once, for sightseeing."
"That should be no stranger to this place," the detective thought, "Pattaya is a good place, let's start with the hotel inspection at night."
"Of course." As if to ease the atmosphere, Sakai asked casually: "The last time you came was for sightseeing, right? Where did you go?"
"Pattaya? I remember taking a semi-submarine tour in the Gulf of Siam, and also went to Grand Island and Monkey Island."
"Hmm, Monkey Island? It's quite impressive. Those monkeys look a little annoying."
"I remember taking a yacht from the beach for about 15 minutes, only stopping not far from the shore, and throwing food to the monkeys."
"It's an interesting experience... haven't you watched a ladyboy show?"
"That time was watching the Golden Tony show in Bangkok."
"If we have time, let's go see Tiffany again..." Sakai said mysteriously, "The ladyboys there are really beautiful!"
In less than two hours, the car drove into the urban area of Pattaya; now it was close to eleven o'clock in the evening, which was the time when the nightclub business was booming, and the shadows of Family Mart and Carrefour flashed outside the car window.There are these shops in Pattaya, but he didn't notice them when he came here a few years ago.
Arriving at the destination—Royal Land, Sakai drove the car into the parking lot and parked it, Ruoping opened the door and got off.
The huge building is matched with shining neon lights, which is particularly conspicuous in the deep night.
"In order to facilitate the investigation, I booked a room in this hotel. Our investigation funds are only enough for us to stay for a week. Let's go."
Ruo Ping followed Sakai into the empty hall with his luggage, but there was no one in the rest area, only a head appeared behind the counter, crouching down and doing something unknown.
Sakai stepped forward and checked in for the accommodation; suddenly he said something in a low voice, and the man at the counter looked up with a look of surprise. It was a young boy.Sakai took out his wallet and shook it in front of the boy, who had a look of fear on his face; then Sakai said a series of words in a row, and the boy answered obediently, and the two continued to ask and answer for a long time.
Because he couldn't understand Thai, Ruoping had no choice but to find a sofa in the rest area and sit down.He didn't expect Sakai to be so fluent in Thai. A real detective is not an easy-going lamp.It seems that this investigation must rely on Sakai, otherwise he will be in a hard fight alone.
After an unknown amount of time, the Japanese detective came back with a triumphant expression, holding a bunch of keys in his hand.
"I'm sorry I didn't tell you my plan first. I also decided to do this on the spur of the moment. When I just checked in (registered), I suddenly realized that Michai was on the night shift on the day of the incident, so I asked the boy if he was Michai. Luck That’s great, he is Michai himself, I said that I am the police, I want to re-investigate the swimming pool incident, I want him to tell what happened before, and confirm many details.”
"So that's the case, what's the result?"
"What he said is the same as what we know, nothing new."
"That's it..."
"I got the key to Room 7 on the tenth floor, let's go up and have a look first!"
They got into the elevator, and after pressing the button, Sakai said: "Michai mentioned that after these things happened, the business of the hotel got worse, and some employees were also laid off. Although he was retained, he often had to work overtime. There is no overtime pay. In fact, after the Chen Shanjun incident, the number of tourists in the hotel dropped by half, and now it is more like a dead city.”
When Ruoping was about to talk, the elevator door opened, so the two walked up the corridor on the tenth floor and began to look for room number seven.
A dead city-like silence filled the air, and the doors lined up on both sides of the empty corridor stood like wax figures, immersed in expressionless silence.
Before coming to room No. 7, Sakai opened the door with the key and turned on the light.The pattern inside is exactly the same as that recorded in the notes.On the left hand side of the door is the wardrobe, on the right hand side is the bathroom; further forward, there are two parallel beds on the right side, and tables and chairs are scattered against the wall on the left side; after crossing the room, there is a balcony.Chen Shanjun and Dong fell from here.
"The police should have searched it all," Sakai said. "Michai said that no one has lived in this room since then. If there are any hidden clues, they may not have been destroyed. Let's search."
Apparently, after the fire incident, the hotel cleaned up the room. The sheets and pillowcases were removed, revealing the bare bed; burnt marks remained on the dresser, wooden chairs and other furniture, and the carpet also had scorch marks. It seems that the hotel does not plan to open this room for the time being.They quickly searched the scene. Sakai's speed and efficiency were unmatched by Ruohira. With skilled movements, he cleared most of the room in a few minutes.
"There is nothing suspicious," Sakai concluded after searching the bathroom, and said, "Let's go to the balcony and have a look."
The detective opened the balcony door to the left and right, and stepped into the narrow rectangular space that was as wide as the room.
The height of the wall in front of him only reaches between Sakai's abdomen and chest; in the middle of the wall there are two protruding cylindrical stone carvings, which look like marble carvings.Ruo Ping and Sakai stood side by side overlooking the night view of Pattaya.As far as the eye can see is the south coast, but at the moment it is so foggy that nothing can be seen clearly.
Sakai lowered his head and looked down, only to see a faint outline of a square at the bottom of the tenth floor, but because of the weak light, he couldn't see clearly.There is no doubt that it must be the swimming pool.
Raising your head and looking forward to the right, the other half of the hotel's L-shaped building stands proudly, with neatly arranged balconies criss-crossing like a checkerboard.Sakai looked at the building diagonally across and said, "Shen Zhaopeng should have taken the photo from a balcony opposite; it's a pity that he is dead, otherwise he could tell us more inside stories."
"It's possible." Ruoping replied, staring at the building on the right with his eyes, suddenly lost in thought.
"I guess we should go down and look at the pool?" Sakai said.
"...Okay, that's an important scene, let's go." Sakai turned and took the lead to leave. Ruoping glanced at the building outside before catching up with him.
The periphery of the swimming pool is exactly the same as the description in the notes, except that there is not a drop of water in the pool now, but there are more unsightly garbage lying in it. It can only be observed by the light in the corridor of the building and the light in the bar, although it is not very bright, it is enough. Wakahira walked around the pool, while Sakai jumped straight down, searching the bottom of the pool like an eagle pouncing on its prey. "There is no secret passage at the bottom of the pool," he announced disappointedly after a long while, "It should be the eyewitnesses who got it wrong." "No, no, absolutely not," Ruoping said to Sakai who had climbed ashore, "You seem to have a laptop in your car, right? I'll show you a video when you go back to your room. It's a new clue that Police Officer Li found. It can be proved that after Chen Shanjun fell into the water, no one left the pool until the water in the pool was drained." Sakai stared at Ruoping, "In that case, do you have any reasonable explanation?" "No one at the moment..." There was no one around the swimming pool, imagining the tragic scene of Chen Shanjun falling from the building that day, Ruoping couldn't help shivering.In the dark night, the human body swallowed by fire, the screams, the swimming pool that can eat people, and the ghost figure that can only be shown through the camera... This scene is so real, but the drama staged is so real. Illusion, everything hidden behind, what is it... The cigarette in Sakai's mouth was slanted to one side, and he frowned and said: "This whole thing is really weird. It's a ghost photo and a ghost disappears. It can be adapted into a horror movie. I don't think it will work." The good murderer is really the ghost in that picture." "Do ghosts exist in the real world?" "Ah? It's better to believe what you have than to believe what you don't have." He smiled weakly. "There is such a sentence in Chinese." Ruoping stared at the square space without water, and asked, "Sakai, how do you distinguish dreams from reality?" "Well... isn't it obvious?" Sakai scratched his head. "I used to think for a period of time that the so-called life is actually a dream, a big dream of personal illusion, and the time of waking up is the time of death. Therefore, dreams in the general sense we have now can be said to be dreams in dreams. A dream is a dream within a dream of reality. And the illusion presented by this supernatural event, as I said, is also the best example of a dream within a dream; but such a dream is Waking dreams are qualitatively different from sleep dreams. Whatever the forces behind the manipulation of the event must contain delusional qualities. The person is living in their own dreams, denying reality. Dream, he wants to be the director of the dream, and lay out a bold and dreamy plan. This kind of extreme characteristic that deviates from the routine will only appear in the dream. The person we are looking for is a person who will make the dream come true. In the dream , People and ghosts can coexist, which is just in line with the logic of dreams, and it is also the keynote of this whole thing. Let me make some guesses, usually people who are so extreme in favor of dreams, although they are extremely yearning for a complete sleep, are easily affected by it. Reality is disturbed, and this is because they still have nostalgia and anxiety for reality, and nostalgia and anxiety come from the uncertainty of choosing dreams, and this uncertainty reveals a certain degree of inferiority and cowardice." "So what we're looking for is someone living in a dream?" "You can also put it this way...the rest of the bar over there hasn't been investigated yet, let's go see if there are any more clues."
The layout of the bar is not big. It is located on the southernmost side of the hotel, that is, on the south side of the swimming pool. It is a rectangular one-story building with the entrance on the west. The rectangular bar inside faces the glass window on the north side, and a small wine sales area is surrounded on the left hand side. Several tables and chairs are placed by the window, which looks quite elegant overall.At this moment, only the bartender stood behind the bar, wiping a tall glass. "Let me do it." Sakai walked to the bar and began to chat in Thai.Since Ruoping was not involved, he had no choice but to pick a chair and sit down, staring at the swimming pool outside the glass window.Not long after, Sakai came back with information.The bartender’s statement confirmed the narrative in the notes. When the two incidents happened, he happened to be chatting with the camel tour guide in the bar; the first time the two were in the bar, after hearing the screams, they only saw the swimming pool through the window. There was a flash of blue light, and then it was all black.The second time outside the bar, they also heard screams first. The two looked up and saw a ball of blue fire falling down. After a closer look, it turned out to be a person with two feet sticking out of the flames, struggling, and fell head and foot into the pool. Afterwards, there was a splash of water, which was consistent with the contents of the notes. Without any new information, Ruo Ping and Sakai dragged their tired bodies from downstairs to carry their luggage back to the guest room. They live directly opposite Room 7 on the tenth floor.As soon as he entered the room, Ruohei immediately urged Sakai to set up the laptop, and pulled out a CD from the folder. "Officer Li found this from Shen Zhaopeng's apartment," he explained, "Jiang Mengli didn't remember it until later, when Shen Zhaopeng accidentally took the photo of the falling building, and immediately grabbed the camera that was put aside. Shooting in the swimming pool below. Police officer Li dug up this roll of tape from Shen Zhaopeng’s apartment, converted it into a video file and then made it into a CD, and delivered it to me. Now let’s take a look.” Put the CD into the computer, start playing the program, and the picture of the swimming pool immediately appeared on the screen. It was a bird's-eye view from top to bottom. The surface of the pool was pitch black, with only spreading ripples. Obviously, the picture was taken just a few seconds after falling into the water; the falling point was closer to the north side of the pool, and the ripples were just beginning. Spread out to the outside. Ruo Ping and Sakai stared at the screen closely. After a while, people gradually gathered by the pool, and what happened next was as described in the notes: camel guides, administrators dived in turn to search, the pool was released, and so on.It took nearly 15 minutes from the start of filming to the start of releasing the water, and the process of releasing the water also lasted about 15 minutes.After the water is released, the video also ends here. The two people in the room fell into silence for a while, and the whole room suddenly became empty and cold. "No one climbed out of the swimming pool," Sakai said dryly, "but there was a few seconds of blank time between when Chen Shanjun fell into the water and the camera started shooting. Is it possible to use this time to leave the swimming pool?" "I don't think so. Jiang Mengli said that Shen Zhaopeng couldn't sleep at that time, and he had already prepared his camera, and the camera was about to shoot. It happened that he happened to meet Chen Shanjun falling from the building. He immediately picked up the camera after taking the picture. Ten seconds. And don’t forget, the camel guide and the bartender witnessed the whole process of the fall, and they can prove that no one left the pool during the blank time you mentioned!” "Yes, I almost forgot that there were already two witnesses by the pool during this time." "This video confirms one thing. After Chen Shanjun fell into the water, no one left the swimming pool, and nothing unusual happened. It was as natural as a stone falling into the water." Ruoping pointed to the last frame of the computer screen, then Hollow swimming pool. "So, where did Chen Shanjun disappear to?"
Early the next morning, Ruoping was woken up by Sakai's alarm clock. He looked sleepily at the electronic clock beside the bed. At 7:30, he clearly remembered that the alarm clock was set at 7:45, and Sakai's cell phone was from Thailand. As for the time, it seemed that the electronic clock was slow, but he didn't bother to adjust it. "Is it morning?" Sakai yawned, "Good times always go by so fast, let's go have breakfast." After the two of them washed up, they went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.There were so few tourists that no one could compete with Ruoping for the toaster. He toasted two slices of toast, spread butter, and sandwiched ham and eggs; Sakai poured a glass of fresh milk and packed some croissants and bacon.No one brought a case during the meal. After dinner, I got into Sakai's car and went to the police station in Pattaya.Sakai identified himself and explained that the police in Taiwan should have contacted them to assist in the investigation.After a series of identity verifications, he finally obtained permission to look up the files and photos, only to find out that the police officer responsible for the swimming pool incident had been reassigned, and he was replaced by a fat man named Srilo who looked malicious and taciturn. .Apparently he was not very enthusiastic about helping others and knew very little about the case. However, this search was not fruitless, and they obtained a new piece of information that they did not know before. Dong and Chen Shanjun each found two empty bottles with labels on them, which were a kind of vodka produced in Poland. "Both of them drank too much, they must be crazy." Officer Srillo shook his head impatiently. The fat police officer just kept frowning, staring at Ruoping and the others as they left angrily; it seemed that a paper clip was stuck between his eyebrows. "Except for the wine bottle, there is nothing to gain." After leaving the police station, Sakai sighed, "All the data only confirmed the narrative in the diary, and did not provide new clues. The police's cooperation attitude is not optimistic, maybe I received a sum of money from the person in charge of the hotel..." He glanced at his watch, "It's almost twelve o'clock, what do you want for lunch?" "Let's eat something mild. You know, I've been squatting in the toilet for a long time this morning." "Then, is it acceptable to order meals?" They came to a large department store with a western restaurant on the first floor and a movie theater on the second floor, where the latest movie of Thai martial arts superstar Tony Jia was showing. After entering the western restaurant, the two ordered pork chops and fish steaks; while waiting, they briefly discussed the case and their actions in the afternoon. "What do you think of that bottle?" Sakai asked. "It's not accidental." "What is the necessary connection?" Ruoping smiled mysteriously, "This explains the will-o'-the-wisp." "Oh? What..." "Let's not talk about this for now, have you arranged your itinerary for the afternoon?" Sakai glared at Ruoping a little angrily, took out his laptop, and said, "I'm going to have an interview with Mr. Qiu in the afternoon—his name is Qiu Shiling. I called him yesterday." His mobile phone, which is the data found by the police officer from the travel agency, is turned off. The only way we have contact is the e-mail he used when he submitted the article to "Travel" magazine. I wrote an e-mail to him yesterday I made an appointment and received a reply this morning. Apparently he either had a laptop or used the hotel's network system." "Well, the Internet is everywhere now. What do you say in the reply?" "He has returned to Pattaya and is willing to meet us, but he hopes that it will be more convenient after nine o'clock in the evening. If possible, we will meet at a restaurant at half past ten. The number of his other mobile phone is attached to the letter. " "Another phone? Did he travel with two phones? Then why isn't the other one turned on?" "Probably because I didn't bring the charger!" Sakai took a sip of Coke, "Is such a trivial matter so important?" "Well, have you forgotten that the Wuyingzhuang case was solved with a piece of paper?" "Well, I can't do anything about you... By the way, I have also contacted Tuo Zhen, and I should talk to him if I have time, but he said that he has something to go to his brother, so let's talk to Qiu Shiling first." "OK, the meal is here, let's eat first." Since the meeting with Qiu Shiling was at 10:30, Sakai proposed to go to the Tiffany show at 8:30 as a small pastime, Ruo Ping did not refuse, and the schedule was scheduled So be it. They killed some time in the cinema, and soon it was almost half past eight, and the two came to the Tiffany show in Pattaya.Tiffany Show is the most famous ladyboy show in Thailand. Founded in 1974, it is the oldest and largest ladyboy show in Southeast Asia.At the beginning of its establishment, there were only three professional ladyboy actors, but because of the realistic and professional imitation of Broadway cabaret performances, it was warmly welcomed.Today, the Tiffany Song and Dance Troupe has more than 100 transvestite actors, with a huge lineup and international reputation.
This magnificent theater is constructed in a luxurious antique Greek style white, and there is an elegant water fountain ring square outside. The audience seats in the theater amount to a thousand seats. It is not the first time that Ruoping has watched this kind of performance, but after so many years, it is still quite fresh.Those beauties who are more women than women on stage are impressive; if you don't know their true gender in advance, you will definitely make a wrong judgment based on your eyes. As soon as the performance time came, they entered the show; the seat structure inside was actually very similar to a movie theater, with distinct levels, the cushions were comfortable to sit on, and there was a ring for placing drink cups; the performance stage was at the front, The present curtain is lowered. Ruoping settled himself in the seat, relaxing the long-stretched emotions.The lights of the show dimmed, the curtain rose, the spotlight hit the stage, and the beautiful protagonists appeared. Although the singing performance of the song and dance show is in the form of lip-syncing, it still does not reduce the splendor of the performance; the gorgeous performers on the stage are so beautiful that even women will be jealous when they see them.As for the content of the performance, it is mainly national dances and representative songs of various countries, so it is not surprising when Chinese songs flow from the mouths of the singers.It's really hard to imagine that "they" are men. Thai law stipulates that ladyboys are men, so unless they have undergone sex reassignment surgery, it is more appropriate to refer to performers as "he"... One of the lead singers on the stage is a "beauty" in a white dress. His long chestnut hair is curly and cascading onto the fragrant shoulders, and a pink ribbon is tied around the head, and he is playing A bowknot; under the low-cut white dress, it stretches like an umbrella, standing on the stage like an elegant jellyfish; along the half-exposed breast, there are colorful flowers studded with chips, which are slightly V-shaped and very gorgeous; His eyes are shining, his facial features are delicate, and his face is oval like a classical beauty, paired with heavy makeup that adds a noble atmosphere. The beauty in front of him, from a distance, looks like a fairy who has transcended the world and stepped out of a fairyland. Since the performance is divided into several sections, the scenery on the stage needs to be changed, and the performers also need to change their clothes. The curtain will be lowered during these empty times; Attract the audience's attention until the curtain rises again. They even walked to the banquet while singing, went around the venue, and shook hands with the audience; when the beauty in a white dress walked past Ruohei and Sakai's seats, Sakai stretched out his hand without hesitation and shook hands with the audience. A few times.Ruo Ping avoided the other party's sight and pretended to be studying the floor. Then he heard Sakai whisper to him: "Fortunately my tigress is not here." "Yes." He replied vaguely, and was overwhelmed by the charm of these beauties; especially with that face just now, it was difficult to keep people's eyes on just once. Transvestites have a coquettish charm, which is indescribably peculiar. Although they are products that violate nature, they have also opened up a world-renowned sky with their tenacity. It is said that such a life is very hard... Ruoping stared at the performer wrapped in a white dress, and fell into another moment of contemplation.
After watching the ladyboy show, Ruoping and Sakai went directly to the restaurant designated by Qiu Shiling and waited. As soon as they stepped into the restaurant with soft lighting, they ordered drinks first and took a short rest. When the agreed time came, Ruoping saw their guests entering the restaurant at a glance. It was a man with long hair and shawls. The reason why he could be recognized as a man at a glance, apart from his attire, was the eye-catching beard, the red lips in the center, and the long black hair. His hair looked unnatural and lacklustre; he wore a pair of thick-rimmed brown glasses, and behind them a piercing gaze with a single eyelid peered them coldly. "Mr. Sakai and Mr. Lin Ruoping?" he asked. "Yes, is it Mr. Qiu? Please sit down." "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," Qiu Shiling sat down in front of the two of them, brushing up his messy hair, "I think you have a lot of questions to ask, and I will do my best after ordering." can answer." Ruo Ping and Sakai ordered cold papaya shreds and yellow egg noodles, while Qiu Shiling also ordered lemon shrimp soup and hot and sour raw shrimp.It felt as if they hadn't eaten dinner, and the three of them ate it up. "First of all," Sakai said after the meal, "I would like to ask about the "Travel" magazine. Why did you want to write that note?" "The reason for this is actually very simple, because the things encountered during the journey are too weird, I want to leave a little record. And I also stated at the beginning of the notes that I am a person who likes traveling very much, so I often write down some travel miscellaneous feelings But this is the first submission, and I would like to say that the content is rather special, so it should be adopted. Sure enough, luckily, the magazine agreed to publish it.” "So that's it, then the content of this note is completely a factual description?" "Of course, all the details are 100% true, including the weird events inside." His eyes showed a little anxiety, and he took out a cigarette and lit it, "At least, I will faithfully describe what I experienced and saw. " "About the fire incident in Chen Shanjun's room and the incident of disappearance, could you please describe it again in detail?" Qiu Shiling said the two things again, but the content was the same as the notes, and there were no new clues at all.After the dessert was served, an hour passed quietly. "Then what do you think about the disappearance incident?" Sakai asked. "No...it's too weird, isn't it? The swimming pool can eat people, and there are will-o'-the-wisps..." Qiu Shiling laughed a few times to himself. The three chatted for a while, and finally Sakai concluded the interview. "I think everyone is very tired today, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Qiu, I think that's it for tonight." Sakai shook hands with Qiu Shiling. After paying for the meal and leaving the restaurant, the two got into Sakai's car and were about to return to the hotel. "Are you okay?" Sakai turned his head to look at Ruo Ping with a dignified face while driving. "Fortunately..." He rubbed his forehead, "Sorry, I'm probably too absorbed in thinking." Sakai originally wanted to say something, but couldn't think of any complete sentences. He could only tentatively believe that Ruoping was immersed in some kind of profound thinking, and stopped asking.
Back in the hotel room, Sakai turned on the computer and sent and received emails; Ruohei sat by the bed, constantly flipping through "Travel". "Ruoping, can you tell me what you think?" Sakai asked while typing on the keyboard. "I have some ideas, but none of them have been confirmed." Sakai turned around and stared at him, "If we want to cooperate, we must share each other's ideas, so that it makes sense, even if it is not yet formed Ideas can also be brought up for discussion.” "...Okay." Ruoping finally said after thinking about it, "I think I know the truth about the disappearance of the swimming pool." "What!" Sakai jumped up from the chair. "I wanted to search for more complete evidence, but I'd better tell you first..." Suddenly, he remained silent. Although his eyes were looking at Sakai, they were obviously out of focus. "What's the matter?" Ruoping raised his right index finger to his lips, Sakai fell silent, then the young man stood up and tiptoed towards the door, but still said: "It's nothing, I just I found that my answer should be correct, in fact, it is impossible for a swimming pool to eat people, and..." Ruoping had already come to the door, put his right hand on the doorknob, and continued: "And the truth of this matter is..." With lightning speed, Ruoping opened the door, and at that moment In the instant picture, he caught a glimpse of a black figure flashing across the corridor, rushing towards the elevator.Due to the dim lighting in the corridor, all the features of the man could not be seen from the back.Ruoping wanted to chase after him, but because of his haste, his left foot accidentally got stuck on the door frame and fell down.When he got up, the figure disappeared instantly like lightning.He chased all the way to the elevator, and Sakai rushed behind him immediately. There are two elevators, and at the other end of the corridor is a long corridor leading to another building.Ruoping looked up and saw that the floor lights of the elevator on the top right were switching, the eighth floor and the seventh floor... "I'll go to the first floor to block him!" Sakai shouted, "You search down the first floor to prevent him from leaving on the middle floor!" So the two ran towards the stairs beside them; Sakai's speed was astonishingly fast, dozens of stairs were skipped in less than three seconds.Soon, the detective's figure disappeared from Ruoping's sight.He did his best to get to the eighth floor, then the seventh floor... he kept glancing at the floor lights as he passed the stairwells of each floor; he always slowed the mystery man by two floors.Gradually, the gap widened to three floors. When Ruoping came to the lobby on the first floor, panting, Sakai yelled something at the counter to Michai, and the latter seemed to be justifying, babbling in Thai that Ruoping could not understand. "Oh, you're here!" Sakai said wearily, "I got here one step ahead of the elevator, but when the elevator door opened, there was no one inside!" "what?" "Michai said that he didn't see any suspicious people coming in and out, at least no one left the elevator in front of the counter just now, and in fact it's impossible!" Ruo Ping looked back at the two elevators in front of the counter, the one on the right was inspected by Sakai, and the light on the one on the left stayed at "ten". "Sakai, I don't think we can catch him. Just now he must have pressed the button on the first floor of the elevator on the right, jumped out of the elevator before the door was completely closed, and hid in the elevator on the left; or slipped to another building Now, leave by the elevator or stairs over there. The elevator just now is at the L-shaped corner of the building, and the other end of the corridor leads to another building." "So now he either hides in his room or sneaks out of the hotel," Sakai sighed, "Who could this person be?" "An intriguing question... I think we need to use our brains." Ruopin said with his chin resting, his eyes fixed on the silver-white door of the elevator.
The periphery of the swimming pool is exactly the same as the description in the notes, except that there is not a drop of water in the pool now, but there are more unsightly garbage lying in it. It can only be observed by the light in the corridor of the building and the light in the bar, although it is not very bright, it is enough. Wakahira walked around the pool, while Sakai jumped straight down, searching the bottom of the pool like an eagle pouncing on its prey. "There is no secret passage at the bottom of the pool," he announced disappointedly after a long while, "It should be the eyewitnesses who got it wrong." "No, no, absolutely not," Ruoping said to Sakai who had climbed ashore, "You seem to have a laptop in your car, right? I'll show you a video when you go back to your room. It's a new clue that Police Officer Li found. It can be proved that after Chen Shanjun fell into the water, no one left the pool until the water in the pool was drained." Sakai stared at Ruoping, "In that case, do you have any reasonable explanation?" "No one at the moment..." There was no one around the swimming pool, imagining the tragic scene of Chen Shanjun falling from the building that day, Ruoping couldn't help shivering.In the dark night, the human body swallowed by fire, the screams, the swimming pool that can eat people, and the ghost figure that can only be shown through the camera... This scene is so real, but the drama staged is so real. Illusion, everything hidden behind, what is it... The cigarette in Sakai's mouth was slanted to one side, and he frowned and said: "This whole thing is really weird. It's a ghost photo and a ghost disappears. It can be adapted into a horror movie. I don't think it will work." The good murderer is really the ghost in that picture." "Do ghosts exist in the real world?" "Ah? It's better to believe what you have than to believe what you don't have." He smiled weakly. "There is such a sentence in Chinese." Ruoping stared at the square space without water, and asked, "Sakai, how do you distinguish dreams from reality?" "Well... isn't it obvious?" Sakai scratched his head. "I used to think for a period of time that the so-called life is actually a dream, a big dream of personal illusion, and the time of waking up is the time of death. Therefore, dreams in the general sense we have now can be said to be dreams in dreams. A dream is a dream within a dream of reality. And the illusion presented by this supernatural event, as I said, is also the best example of a dream within a dream; but such a dream is Waking dreams are qualitatively different from sleep dreams. Whatever the forces behind the manipulation of the event must contain delusional qualities. The person is living in their own dreams, denying reality. Dream, he wants to be the director of the dream, and lay out a bold and dreamy plan. This kind of extreme characteristic that deviates from the routine will only appear in the dream. The person we are looking for is a person who will make the dream come true. In the dream , People and ghosts can coexist, which is just in line with the logic of dreams, and it is also the keynote of this whole thing. Let me make some guesses, usually people who are so extreme in favor of dreams, although they are extremely yearning for a complete sleep, are easily affected by it. Reality is disturbed, and this is because they still have nostalgia and anxiety for reality, and nostalgia and anxiety come from the uncertainty of choosing dreams, and this uncertainty reveals a certain degree of inferiority and cowardice." "So what we're looking for is someone living in a dream?" "You can also put it this way...the rest of the bar over there hasn't been investigated yet, let's go see if there are any more clues."
The layout of the bar is not big. It is located on the southernmost side of the hotel, that is, on the south side of the swimming pool. It is a rectangular one-story building with the entrance on the west. The rectangular bar inside faces the glass window on the north side, and a small wine sales area is surrounded on the left hand side. Several tables and chairs are placed by the window, which looks quite elegant overall.At this moment, only the bartender stood behind the bar, wiping a tall glass. "Let me do it." Sakai walked to the bar and began to chat in Thai.Since Ruoping was not involved, he had no choice but to pick a chair and sit down, staring at the swimming pool outside the glass window.Not long after, Sakai came back with information.The bartender’s statement confirmed the narrative in the notes. When the two incidents happened, he happened to be chatting with the camel tour guide in the bar; the first time the two were in the bar, after hearing the screams, they only saw the swimming pool through the window. There was a flash of blue light, and then it was all black.The second time outside the bar, they also heard screams first. The two looked up and saw a ball of blue fire falling down. After a closer look, it turned out to be a person with two feet sticking out of the flames, struggling, and fell head and foot into the pool. Afterwards, there was a splash of water, which was consistent with the contents of the notes. Without any new information, Ruo Ping and Sakai dragged their tired bodies from downstairs to carry their luggage back to the guest room. They live directly opposite Room 7 on the tenth floor.As soon as he entered the room, Ruohei immediately urged Sakai to set up the laptop, and pulled out a CD from the folder. "Officer Li found this from Shen Zhaopeng's apartment," he explained, "Jiang Mengli didn't remember it until later, when Shen Zhaopeng accidentally took the photo of the falling building, and immediately grabbed the camera that was put aside. Shooting in the swimming pool below. Police officer Li dug up this roll of tape from Shen Zhaopeng’s apartment, converted it into a video file and then made it into a CD, and delivered it to me. Now let’s take a look.” Put the CD into the computer, start playing the program, and the picture of the swimming pool immediately appeared on the screen. It was a bird's-eye view from top to bottom. The surface of the pool was pitch black, with only spreading ripples. Obviously, the picture was taken just a few seconds after falling into the water; the falling point was closer to the north side of the pool, and the ripples were just beginning. Spread out to the outside. Ruo Ping and Sakai stared at the screen closely. After a while, people gradually gathered by the pool, and what happened next was as described in the notes: camel guides, administrators dived in turn to search, the pool was released, and so on.It took nearly 15 minutes from the start of filming to the start of releasing the water, and the process of releasing the water also lasted about 15 minutes.After the water is released, the video also ends here. The two people in the room fell into silence for a while, and the whole room suddenly became empty and cold. "No one climbed out of the swimming pool," Sakai said dryly, "but there was a few seconds of blank time between when Chen Shanjun fell into the water and the camera started shooting. Is it possible to use this time to leave the swimming pool?" "I don't think so. Jiang Mengli said that Shen Zhaopeng couldn't sleep at that time, and he had already prepared his camera, and the camera was about to shoot. It happened that he happened to meet Chen Shanjun falling from the building. He immediately picked up the camera after taking the picture. Ten seconds. And don’t forget, the camel guide and the bartender witnessed the whole process of the fall, and they can prove that no one left the pool during the blank time you mentioned!” "Yes, I almost forgot that there were already two witnesses by the pool during this time." "This video confirms one thing. After Chen Shanjun fell into the water, no one left the swimming pool, and nothing unusual happened. It was as natural as a stone falling into the water." Ruoping pointed to the last frame of the computer screen, then Hollow swimming pool. "So, where did Chen Shanjun disappear to?"
Early the next morning, Ruoping was woken up by Sakai's alarm clock. He looked sleepily at the electronic clock beside the bed. At 7:30, he clearly remembered that the alarm clock was set at 7:45, and Sakai's cell phone was from Thailand. As for the time, it seemed that the electronic clock was slow, but he didn't bother to adjust it. "Is it morning?" Sakai yawned, "Good times always go by so fast, let's go have breakfast." After the two of them washed up, they went downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.There were so few tourists that no one could compete with Ruoping for the toaster. He toasted two slices of toast, spread butter, and sandwiched ham and eggs; Sakai poured a glass of fresh milk and packed some croissants and bacon.No one brought a case during the meal. After dinner, I got into Sakai's car and went to the police station in Pattaya.Sakai identified himself and explained that the police in Taiwan should have contacted them to assist in the investigation.After a series of identity verifications, he finally obtained permission to look up the files and photos, only to find out that the police officer responsible for the swimming pool incident had been reassigned, and he was replaced by a fat man named Srilo who looked malicious and taciturn. .Apparently he was not very enthusiastic about helping others and knew very little about the case. However, this search was not fruitless, and they obtained a new piece of information that they did not know before. Dong and Chen Shanjun each found two empty bottles with labels on them, which were a kind of vodka produced in Poland. "Both of them drank too much, they must be crazy." Officer Srillo shook his head impatiently. The fat police officer just kept frowning, staring at Ruoping and the others as they left angrily; it seemed that a paper clip was stuck between his eyebrows. "Except for the wine bottle, there is nothing to gain." After leaving the police station, Sakai sighed, "All the data only confirmed the narrative in the diary, and did not provide new clues. The police's cooperation attitude is not optimistic, maybe I received a sum of money from the person in charge of the hotel..." He glanced at his watch, "It's almost twelve o'clock, what do you want for lunch?" "Let's eat something mild. You know, I've been squatting in the toilet for a long time this morning." "Then, is it acceptable to order meals?" They came to a large department store with a western restaurant on the first floor and a movie theater on the second floor, where the latest movie of Thai martial arts superstar Tony Jia was showing. After entering the western restaurant, the two ordered pork chops and fish steaks; while waiting, they briefly discussed the case and their actions in the afternoon. "What do you think of that bottle?" Sakai asked. "It's not accidental." "What is the necessary connection?" Ruoping smiled mysteriously, "This explains the will-o'-the-wisp." "Oh? What..." "Let's not talk about this for now, have you arranged your itinerary for the afternoon?" Sakai glared at Ruoping a little angrily, took out his laptop, and said, "I'm going to have an interview with Mr. Qiu in the afternoon—his name is Qiu Shiling. I called him yesterday." His mobile phone, which is the data found by the police officer from the travel agency, is turned off. The only way we have contact is the e-mail he used when he submitted the article to "Travel" magazine. I wrote an e-mail to him yesterday I made an appointment and received a reply this morning. Apparently he either had a laptop or used the hotel's network system." "Well, the Internet is everywhere now. What do you say in the reply?" "He has returned to Pattaya and is willing to meet us, but he hopes that it will be more convenient after nine o'clock in the evening. If possible, we will meet at a restaurant at half past ten. The number of his other mobile phone is attached to the letter. " "Another phone? Did he travel with two phones? Then why isn't the other one turned on?" "Probably because I didn't bring the charger!" Sakai took a sip of Coke, "Is such a trivial matter so important?" "Well, have you forgotten that the Wuyingzhuang case was solved with a piece of paper?" "Well, I can't do anything about you... By the way, I have also contacted Tuo Zhen, and I should talk to him if I have time, but he said that he has something to go to his brother, so let's talk to Qiu Shiling first." "OK, the meal is here, let's eat first." Since the meeting with Qiu Shiling was at 10:30, Sakai proposed to go to the Tiffany show at 8:30 as a small pastime, Ruo Ping did not refuse, and the schedule was scheduled So be it. They killed some time in the cinema, and soon it was almost half past eight, and the two came to the Tiffany show in Pattaya.Tiffany Show is the most famous ladyboy show in Thailand. Founded in 1974, it is the oldest and largest ladyboy show in Southeast Asia.At the beginning of its establishment, there were only three professional ladyboy actors, but because of the realistic and professional imitation of Broadway cabaret performances, it was warmly welcomed.Today, the Tiffany Song and Dance Troupe has more than 100 transvestite actors, with a huge lineup and international reputation.
This magnificent theater is constructed in a luxurious antique Greek style white, and there is an elegant water fountain ring square outside. The audience seats in the theater amount to a thousand seats. It is not the first time that Ruoping has watched this kind of performance, but after so many years, it is still quite fresh.Those beauties who are more women than women on stage are impressive; if you don't know their true gender in advance, you will definitely make a wrong judgment based on your eyes. As soon as the performance time came, they entered the show; the seat structure inside was actually very similar to a movie theater, with distinct levels, the cushions were comfortable to sit on, and there was a ring for placing drink cups; the performance stage was at the front, The present curtain is lowered. Ruoping settled himself in the seat, relaxing the long-stretched emotions.The lights of the show dimmed, the curtain rose, the spotlight hit the stage, and the beautiful protagonists appeared. Although the singing performance of the song and dance show is in the form of lip-syncing, it still does not reduce the splendor of the performance; the gorgeous performers on the stage are so beautiful that even women will be jealous when they see them.As for the content of the performance, it is mainly national dances and representative songs of various countries, so it is not surprising when Chinese songs flow from the mouths of the singers.It's really hard to imagine that "they" are men. Thai law stipulates that ladyboys are men, so unless they have undergone sex reassignment surgery, it is more appropriate to refer to performers as "he"... One of the lead singers on the stage is a "beauty" in a white dress. His long chestnut hair is curly and cascading onto the fragrant shoulders, and a pink ribbon is tied around the head, and he is playing A bowknot; under the low-cut white dress, it stretches like an umbrella, standing on the stage like an elegant jellyfish; along the half-exposed breast, there are colorful flowers studded with chips, which are slightly V-shaped and very gorgeous; His eyes are shining, his facial features are delicate, and his face is oval like a classical beauty, paired with heavy makeup that adds a noble atmosphere. The beauty in front of him, from a distance, looks like a fairy who has transcended the world and stepped out of a fairyland. Since the performance is divided into several sections, the scenery on the stage needs to be changed, and the performers also need to change their clothes. The curtain will be lowered during these empty times; Attract the audience's attention until the curtain rises again. They even walked to the banquet while singing, went around the venue, and shook hands with the audience; when the beauty in a white dress walked past Ruohei and Sakai's seats, Sakai stretched out his hand without hesitation and shook hands with the audience. A few times.Ruo Ping avoided the other party's sight and pretended to be studying the floor. Then he heard Sakai whisper to him: "Fortunately my tigress is not here." "Yes." He replied vaguely, and was overwhelmed by the charm of these beauties; especially with that face just now, it was difficult to keep people's eyes on just once. Transvestites have a coquettish charm, which is indescribably peculiar. Although they are products that violate nature, they have also opened up a world-renowned sky with their tenacity. It is said that such a life is very hard... Ruoping stared at the performer wrapped in a white dress, and fell into another moment of contemplation.
After watching the ladyboy show, Ruoping and Sakai went directly to the restaurant designated by Qiu Shiling and waited. As soon as they stepped into the restaurant with soft lighting, they ordered drinks first and took a short rest. When the agreed time came, Ruoping saw their guests entering the restaurant at a glance. It was a man with long hair and shawls. The reason why he could be recognized as a man at a glance, apart from his attire, was the eye-catching beard, the red lips in the center, and the long black hair. His hair looked unnatural and lacklustre; he wore a pair of thick-rimmed brown glasses, and behind them a piercing gaze with a single eyelid peered them coldly. "Mr. Sakai and Mr. Lin Ruoping?" he asked. "Yes, is it Mr. Qiu? Please sit down." "I'm sorry to keep you waiting," Qiu Shiling sat down in front of the two of them, brushing up his messy hair, "I think you have a lot of questions to ask, and I will do my best after ordering." can answer." Ruo Ping and Sakai ordered cold papaya shreds and yellow egg noodles, while Qiu Shiling also ordered lemon shrimp soup and hot and sour raw shrimp.It felt as if they hadn't eaten dinner, and the three of them ate it up. "First of all," Sakai said after the meal, "I would like to ask about the "Travel" magazine. Why did you want to write that note?" "The reason for this is actually very simple, because the things encountered during the journey are too weird, I want to leave a little record. And I also stated at the beginning of the notes that I am a person who likes traveling very much, so I often write down some travel miscellaneous feelings But this is the first submission, and I would like to say that the content is rather special, so it should be adopted. Sure enough, luckily, the magazine agreed to publish it.” "So that's it, then the content of this note is completely a factual description?" "Of course, all the details are 100% true, including the weird events inside." His eyes showed a little anxiety, and he took out a cigarette and lit it, "At least, I will faithfully describe what I experienced and saw. " "About the fire incident in Chen Shanjun's room and the incident of disappearance, could you please describe it again in detail?" Qiu Shiling said the two things again, but the content was the same as the notes, and there were no new clues at all.After the dessert was served, an hour passed quietly. "Then what do you think about the disappearance incident?" Sakai asked. "No...it's too weird, isn't it? The swimming pool can eat people, and there are will-o'-the-wisps..." Qiu Shiling laughed a few times to himself. The three chatted for a while, and finally Sakai concluded the interview. "I think everyone is very tired today, thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Qiu, I think that's it for tonight." Sakai shook hands with Qiu Shiling. After paying for the meal and leaving the restaurant, the two got into Sakai's car and were about to return to the hotel. "Are you okay?" Sakai turned his head to look at Ruo Ping with a dignified face while driving. "Fortunately..." He rubbed his forehead, "Sorry, I'm probably too absorbed in thinking." Sakai originally wanted to say something, but couldn't think of any complete sentences. He could only tentatively believe that Ruoping was immersed in some kind of profound thinking, and stopped asking.
Back in the hotel room, Sakai turned on the computer and sent and received emails; Ruohei sat by the bed, constantly flipping through "Travel". "Ruoping, can you tell me what you think?" Sakai asked while typing on the keyboard. "I have some ideas, but none of them have been confirmed." Sakai turned around and stared at him, "If we want to cooperate, we must share each other's ideas, so that it makes sense, even if it is not yet formed Ideas can also be brought up for discussion.” "...Okay." Ruoping finally said after thinking about it, "I think I know the truth about the disappearance of the swimming pool." "What!" Sakai jumped up from the chair. "I wanted to search for more complete evidence, but I'd better tell you first..." Suddenly, he remained silent. Although his eyes were looking at Sakai, they were obviously out of focus. "What's the matter?" Ruoping raised his right index finger to his lips, Sakai fell silent, then the young man stood up and tiptoed towards the door, but still said: "It's nothing, I just I found that my answer should be correct, in fact, it is impossible for a swimming pool to eat people, and..." Ruoping had already come to the door, put his right hand on the doorknob, and continued: "And the truth of this matter is..." With lightning speed, Ruoping opened the door, and at that moment In the instant picture, he caught a glimpse of a black figure flashing across the corridor, rushing towards the elevator.Due to the dim lighting in the corridor, all the features of the man could not be seen from the back.Ruoping wanted to chase after him, but because of his haste, his left foot accidentally got stuck on the door frame and fell down.When he got up, the figure disappeared instantly like lightning.He chased all the way to the elevator, and Sakai rushed behind him immediately. There are two elevators, and at the other end of the corridor is a long corridor leading to another building.Ruoping looked up and saw that the floor lights of the elevator on the top right were switching, the eighth floor and the seventh floor... "I'll go to the first floor to block him!" Sakai shouted, "You search down the first floor to prevent him from leaving on the middle floor!" So the two ran towards the stairs beside them; Sakai's speed was astonishingly fast, dozens of stairs were skipped in less than three seconds.Soon, the detective's figure disappeared from Ruoping's sight.He did his best to get to the eighth floor, then the seventh floor... he kept glancing at the floor lights as he passed the stairwells of each floor; he always slowed the mystery man by two floors.Gradually, the gap widened to three floors. When Ruoping came to the lobby on the first floor, panting, Sakai yelled something at the counter to Michai, and the latter seemed to be justifying, babbling in Thai that Ruoping could not understand. "Oh, you're here!" Sakai said wearily, "I got here one step ahead of the elevator, but when the elevator door opened, there was no one inside!" "what?" "Michai said that he didn't see any suspicious people coming in and out, at least no one left the elevator in front of the counter just now, and in fact it's impossible!" Ruo Ping looked back at the two elevators in front of the counter, the one on the right was inspected by Sakai, and the light on the one on the left stayed at "ten". "Sakai, I don't think we can catch him. Just now he must have pressed the button on the first floor of the elevator on the right, jumped out of the elevator before the door was completely closed, and hid in the elevator on the left; or slipped to another building Now, leave by the elevator or stairs over there. The elevator just now is at the L-shaped corner of the building, and the other end of the corridor leads to another building." "So now he either hides in his room or sneaks out of the hotel," Sakai sighed, "Who could this person be?" "An intriguing question... I think we need to use our brains." Ruopin said with his chin resting, his eyes fixed on the silver-white door of the elevator.