God's chessboard

Al caught up with Wang Yao on the road illuminated by decorative lights.

"Hey! Wait a minute, Yao!" Al pulled Wang Yao back.

"You lunatic! What are you doing? Doing this kind of thing where I work!" Wang Yao was still furious, but he was not ready to run away anymore. Like Al, he wanted to find a place where no one was around to speak clearly.

"I'm out of breath, I admit it," Al showed as much sincerity as possible, "I just want you to know that I'm here. I've been in China for 12 hours, and I haven't found you all day. I finally saw you when I got here. You hug that little boy!"

"Why didn't you call my cell phone?" Wang Yao just finished speaking, suddenly remembered something, and immediately took out his cell phone to check.

"That's right, you shut down, and you made such a mistake!" Al smiled sarcastically.

Wang Yao put the phone back into his pocket, and reasoned about another question in Al's words: "As for that little boy, I don't think I need to explain it to you! Instead, it's you, and your behavior has already constituted sexual harassment!"

Al slowed down his tone: "Yao, I wanted to pursue you. I didn't want to do that at first, I swear, but I couldn't help it when I saw you."

"Do normal pursuits start with sexual harassment?" Wang Yao said angrily.

Al helplessly covered his forehead: "I apologize to you, it really shouldn't be like this to pursue normal people, but you are not a normal person after all!"

"It's obviously you who is abnormal!" Wang Yao was dumbfounded by Al's stupid apology.

"Damn! Anyway, I didn't deliberately embarrass you, it's true!" Al was clumsy at this critical moment.

Wang Yao also lost his temper. He pulled Al away. At this time, there were many citizens walking at night, and some people were already watching them.

The two walked slowly along the street like ordinary pedestrians, blending into the walking people and no longer being conspicuous.China has a rich nightlife, and Xi'an is a city that attracts more foreign tourists, so people are not surprised by foreigners.

"What do you want to come to me, other than pursuing me in an abnormal way?" Wang Yao asked in a low voice.

"There is some progress, but I'm not sure yet, what about your side?" Al asked Wang Yao back.

"I can't be sure," Wang Yao frowned and thought, "I feel that Chunyan has been looking for something, but I can't confirm her target."

Al looked at Wang Yao in disbelief: "You haven't found anything in China for 4 years? I've never seen anyone less efficient than you!"

"Hey! I'm not a detective!" Wang Yao argued.

"But you were very efficient in Antonio's case," Al pointed out.

"This is different, this is..." Wang Yao couldn't think of an excuse.

"Admit it, Yao, you are being lazy," Al hit the nail on the head, "The easy life has made you lazy."

Wang Yao had nothing to say, Al poked his sore spot.

"I'm really lazy, but it's not just because of a comfortable life," Wang Yao clarified, "The more important reason is frustration. I found that Chunyan is smarter than me, and she always keeps me from grasping the most important things."

"From her murder record, she is indeed very clever," Al said. "I also thought about starting from other places. I interrogated the Burmese who killed Wang Chunyan, but he refused to reveal anything."

"The Burmese Lord Army is a group of desperadoes. They are not afraid of any threats, and they are very difficult to deal with." Wang Yao said, "I want to wring his head off!"

"Well, we can't be on the road all the time, I think we'd better find a place to sit and talk," Al said, "like where you live."

"My residence?" Wang Yao suddenly became vigilant, "Wait, you didn't book a hotel?"

"Of course not, I'm sure I can find you." Al took it for granted.

"Are you also sure that I will take you in?" Wang Yao asked in a bad tone.

"That's right." Al smiled roguely.

In the end, Wang Yao still took Al home. Although he scolded Al for being an asshole, Wang Yaoning could bear the anger and bring him home rather than let Al cause trouble where he couldn't see.

The house Wang Yao rented was very small, with only one bedroom and a small living room. The kitchen and bathroom were not even considered rooms, but only small corners that were separated.

"Nice place, huh?" Al walked into the bedroom without the consciousness of being a guest, and threw himself on Wang Yao's single bed. skeleton.

"I didn't say you can sleep on the bed." Wang Yao folded his arms and looked down at Al who was spread out.

"But you have no other place to sleep here, this is the only choice." Al adjusted his comfortable posture, propping his head with both hands, "and lying like this is just right for you to study your clues." He freed up a finger Refers to the various materials pasted intricately on the opposite wall, which is as chaotic and disorderly as the one in his New York apartment.

"But I only have one bed!" Wang Yao pointed out the current predicament.

"So?" Al asked knowingly.

Wang Yao suddenly jumped up and threw his body on Al: "So you have to get used to this."

"Oh! It hurts!" Al yelled dissatisfied, pushing Wang Yao who was lying flat on him.

However, Wang Yao comfortably pressed his back on Al's chest: "Well, this angle of view is much better. I seem to have found a new clue. I have always felt that there is something wrong with the report from 10 years ago." He faced the wall of clues Pointing.

"If it's not written in Chinese, I can study it with you." Al grinned half-sit up and leaned against the head of the bed, letting Wang Yao rest on his chest, wrapping his arms around Wang Yao to stabilize his body.

"Then you can't help here at all." Wang Yao adjusted his posture and sank into Al's arms more comfortably. "I have been an English teacher enough, and now I don't want to be a Chinese teacher."

"You just need to be a translator." Al put his chin on top of Wang Yao's head.

Wang Yao sat up suddenly and hit Al's chin with the top of his head. Although Al was prepared, he was still hurt by the bump: "Oh! Do you want to knock my teeth out?"

"Your reaction has slowed down, kid!" Wang Yao jumped off the bed briskly and said with a smirk.

"Hey! You did it on purpose! It was from the beginning!" Al held his chin, "Just wait for me!"

"Huh? I didn't use much force." Wang Yao pulled up a blanket and walked out of the bedroom triumphantly.

But in the living room, Wang Yao couldn't feel complacent, he barely lay down on the simple sofa, his body couldn't straighten like a prawn.Although he resented that Al had taken his bed, he would rather back down for a while than choose to go back and squeeze with that fool.

The next day, under Al's repeated pestering, Wang Yao still had to act as an interpreter.In fact, through the pictures and some English materials, Al has basically connected the clues on the wall, but still needs Wang Yao's translation in some key links.They spent the whole morning on the data wall, and Al even memorized some Chinese vocabulary, which could be deduced by memorizing characters and symbols.

"Your conclusion is correct. Wang Chunyan is indeed very smart, and she hardly left any information about her identity." Al finally said.

"But recently I'm about to track down her parents," Wang Yao said. "It's basically among these few couples, but I don't see any of them look like her, and I don't think any of them look like her."

"I see Asians all look the same," Al said.

"I will investigate one by one, but I can only do it secretly." Wang Yao pointed to one of the photos, "Start with this family."

"Then the top priority right now..." Al's words were interrupted by a grunt.

"It's to fill your stomach," Wang Yao said, "I'll order a pizza delivery."

"No, no pizza delivery! We're in China, shouldn't we go out and find a real Chinese restaurant?" Al pointed out the window.

"You won't like it, American." Although Wang Yao said so, he still grabbed his phone and keys, "Let's go gourmet, the Chinese restaurant is calling for you."

Al jumped for joy and rushed to the door first.Wang Yao felt that Al was really unreasonable. He had the impression that Al was not very interested in Chinese food, or at least not that much interested. He didn't understand why this person was so excited about a lunch in China.

Xi'an's day and night are completely two styles, and the ancient and heavy side of this ancient city can only be seen in the sun.The sound of bells and chimes from the bell tower came from afar, as if it came slowly from thousands of years ago.The street leading to Yanta Square was exactly what they walked through last night, and now the row of bars was listlessly sluggish under the sun, while the restaurants of various styles across the road were bustling with business.

The two were about to cross the road when a car whizzed by, blowing the wind into their faces.

"Hey! Look at people!" Al shouted angrily.

Then, another car nearly brushed Al's nose and sped away.

"What's the matter with these people? Obviously someone is going to cross the road, didn't they see it?" Al pointed to the rushing cars in front of him, expressing his incomprehension.

Wang Yao gloated and said with a smile: "Welcome to China!"

Arriving at a restaurant with an exquisite facade but a rough interior, Wang Yao picks out a table that is fairly clean. Al is helpless with the lines of Chinese characters on the menu, but Wang Yao simply ignores the menu.

"Four catties of crayfish, two catties of spicy, two catties of minced garlic, and two bottles of cabins." Wang Yao said to the young and beautiful waitress who kept posting on Moments.

"Okay, wait a moment." The waiter never took his eyes off the phone screen.

"What did you order?" Al asked worriedly.

"Horrible Chinese food, specially poisoned to Americans." Wang Yao smiled rascally.

"Stop joking, I'm asking you seriously!" Al felt that Wang Yao deserved a beating.

"Mantis shrimp, it's delicious." Wang Yao said.

"Is that kind of thing edible?" Al frowned.

"You can be the first American to eat crayfish." Wang Yao shrugged.

"It sounds good and challenging." Al had to compromise.

Two bottles of wine came up first, and Al expressed doubts after a sip: "This is not wine, it is obviously a drink!"

"I think we'd better stay sober during the day, besides it contains alcohol, you have to admit that it is wine!" Wang Yao pointed to the 2% on the bottle label and said, "Okay, we have been talking about it all morning My situation, tell me now, all the progress on your side."

After taking a sip of wine, Al put down the glass, put one hand on the table, and said slowly: "I didn't find much. I interrogated the Burmese killer, and I got very limited information from him." He took out a worn old photo from his pocket: "This is the most useful clue I have found."

The photo shows a blurred figure walking briskly, with a street view behind it.

"This is... Chunyan?" Wang Yao struggled to recognize the face in the photo.

"I'm afraid it's her," Al whispered.

☆、Chapter 5

When two large plates of crayfish were served, Al was telling Wang Yao how he interrogated the Burmese killer Thayer.

Al couldn't take his eyes off the prisoners across the table for a moment.

Thayer's hands were handcuffed to the table, but that didn't make him any less threatening, and the Burmese looked at Al playfully, as if Al was the one being interrogated.

"You're going to waste another night." Thayer smiled coldly.

Al hated Thayer's smile, the womanly pretty Burmese killer who had a knack for turning everyone off, as if he was born to be the enemy of the world.

"That's not sure." Al was unmoved.

Al pushed a scuffed photo up to Thayer, but kept it out of reach of Thayer's hands. "Where did you get this photo? Your employer gave it to you?"

Thayer didn't even glance at the photo, he knew it was one of the evidence found on him, a photo of Wang Chunyan: "I don't know this woman."

"Do you want to go back on your word? You admitted that you killed her in Tokyo!" Al continued to ask.

"I never admitted to killing anyone," Thayer said quietly. "You have no proof that I killed her."

"Don't do this with me!" Al stared at Thayer's face closely, carefully observing every detail of his expression, "You killed more than one person in Tokyo, and you committed crimes many times before that, your methods have already exposed."

"What do you want me to say? Let me personally admit the crime you framed on me?" Thayer looked at Al indifferently, "Do you want me to tell you that I received a call from Charlie just like your angel friend, Then go and kill."

Thayer was leaning on the table as comfortably as possible, with a cynical smile on his face.But Al could see that his hands were trembling slightly.

Al narrowed his eyes and looked straight at Thayer: "Have you not eaten for a few days?"

"Are you worried about my health?" Thayer sneered. "Are you afraid of losing an important clue? Or are you afraid that an innocent person will die in prison?"

"You're not innocent." Al stated the facts.

"It's not up to you to decide." Thayer looked contented as if enjoying a vacation.

In the end, Al failed to get any valuable information, and to make matters worse, Thayer was released on bail shortly afterwards.Whoever Thayer's boss is, it's clear he or she still sees value in the killer.The fact that Thayer was subjected to inhuman abuse in prison also made his bail process very smooth: his food was often taken away by other prisoners, so that he often starved; In one of them, he was dragged into the laundry room by several strong prisoners for several hours and almost lost his life. Sympathy and pity soon developed for him, and the terrible murderer was set free.

"I know this is all his trick!" Al said angrily to Wang Yao, "He planned it long ago, and of course there are people behind him to support him, as long as he pretends to be vulnerable, he will be easily beaten and beaten." □□, so that he can pretend to be pitiful with those scars, and escape before I have sufficient evidence!"

Wang Yao has been peeling crayfish during Al's narration, and now he puts a plate of peeled shrimp in front of Al: "Then have you heard of him in the past 4 years? After he was released? "

"No, it seems that he hibernates, or the people behind him temporarily sealed him." Al picked up a piece of shrimp meat, "This thing looks good."

"It's not bad to eat, try it." Wang Yao urged.

Al put the shrimp meat into his mouth, chewed it a few times and swallowed it: "It tastes good."

"I told you." Wang Yao smiled.

"I thought Chinese food was the same as the food in American Chinese restaurants." Al sent another piece of shrimp meat to his mouth.

"It was improved for your American taste, but I think it's worse." Wang Yao said while peeling the prawns neatly, his fingers were shiny with oil, so he put them in his mouth to suck from time to time, At the same time, he looked at Al badly.

Al understood what he meant, but he didn't intend to let him succeed, so he directly took the freshly peeled shrimp meat from Wang Yao's sucked fingers and threw it into his mouth: "It tastes better this way."

"Hey!" Wang Yao was very dissatisfied, he just wanted to take advantage of Americans' habitual cleanliness to disgust Al, but it was counterproductive, he angrily stuffed another peeled shrimp into his mouth.

"Wang Yao, there is something I wanted to tell you last night," Al looked into Wang Yao's eyes seriously.

"What?" Wang Yao's finger stopped on his mouth.

"It's good that you grow your hair long again, I like the way you have long hair." Al said affectionately.

"..." Wang Yao was at a loss for words for a moment, and opened his mouth stupidly, the shrimp in his hand was still pressed between his lips.

Taking advantage of Wang Yao's stunned time, Al quickly reached out, took the shrimp meat from Wang Yao's lips, and stuffed it into his mouth triumphantly: "Mmm, it's so sweet!"

"You are too much!" Wang Yao became angry.

The surrounding guests have begun to pay attention to the behavior of the two of them, and some people took out their mobile phones to take pictures.

"Do you have to let everyone look at us?" Wang Yao lowered his voice and reprimanded, "If you don't want to eat well, let's go now!"

"Okay, okay, I promise I won't do anything else, I'll talk about it when I go back." Al also followed Wang Yao's example to peel the prawns, making himself oily, "It's best to do this kind of thing with a pair of small hands. "He said looking at Wang Yao's hand.

"This is a matter of proficiency, and my hands are not small." Wang Yao retorted casually, frowning and thinking, "That Thayer, who is he working for?"

"People we can't afford to mess with," Al said thoughtfully, "All the cases about Thayer are not simple cases, and the case about Wang Chunyan is the same." He thought for a while and then said: "You told me before Say, have you investigated that twin sister in Wanwan?"

"That's right." Wang Yao nodded.

"I looked into that girl too," Al said, "but the information I got didn't match what you said."

"Which ones don't match?" Wang Yao stopped what he was doing, looked at Al and asked.

"From the information I got, she was born in Nanjing, she is an only child, and her mother is Taiwanese." Al said, "The part of the same information we got is her experience from Taiwan to the United States."

What Al said is consistent with what Wang Chunyan said to Wang Yao in Tokyo, and Wang Yao has always been skeptical: "So? What do you think?"

"Obviously someone forged the first half of her resume. Forging a stowaway's identity is not surprising, but it is unnecessary," Al said, "and her identity is complete and true, who would do such an unnecessary thing ?”

Wang Yao also realized this problem: "Why did you say it now?"

"I wasn't completely sure before, but after seeing your wall of clues, I'm basically certain." Al said, "There is a powerful pusher behind Thayer, and Wang Chunyan may have been the same, but her behavior was out of that hand." Her pursuit of Thayer should be the direct cause of her becoming an abandoned child."

"So they lured her in turn, and then sent Thayer to kill her." Wang Yao continued following Al's words.

"That makes sense." Al nodded.

"But it seems that Thayer is different from Chunyan. He knows the purpose of his boss, at least partially, while Chunyan probably doesn't." Wang Yao continued to analyze.

"That's right, that's probably the case. With Wang Chunyan's personality, she can only be a good pawn if she doesn't know it. And as her actions become more and more out of their control, she begins to become a threat to them ’ said Al.

"In other words, in the process of avenging her adoptive father, Chunyan began to gradually understand the true purpose of the mastermind behind the scenes, so they used her desire for revenge to lead her on the path of self-destruction." Wang Yao put the last one on the plate. The crayfish took it out, "Thayer took on the role of clearing the discarded pieces in the Chunyan incident, he may be a professional white blood cell." He put the crayfish back on the plate: "He has a different meaning from other chess pieces."

"We'll know when we track down the boss behind this scene." Al drank the remaining rum in the glass in one gulp.

After lunch, Wang Yao took out his mobile phone to pay for the meal, and the amount he spent made him sigh.

"I'm a poor man now." Mr. Wang Yao has been used to a life of poverty.

"It's hard to earn clean money, isn't it?" Al said sarcastically.

"To hell with you!" Wang Yao had no intention of arguing with him.

In the afternoon, at Al's insistence, Wang Yao took him to visit the Banpo Ruins Museum. Al wanted to take a look at the city where Wang Yao lived for a long time. According to Wang Yao, this city is very old, so He asked to see the oldest thing.

"What's this?" Al asked, pointing to a special symbol displayed in a window.

"Early characters, or not yet called characters, are just the embryonic form of characters." Wang Yao explained.

Al suddenly sighed: "Words are like passwords. The history of the development of writing is the process of human beings coding their lives. The passwords are getting more and more complicated, and the decryption process is getting more and more difficult."

Wang Yao also felt emotional: "Everyone has become part of the code unknowingly, thinking that they have chosen a unique path, but in fact they have always followed the rules and played a fixed role."

They walked to the huge ruins pit. The primitive village ruins that were once exposed on the surface but are now sunken deep underground are like huge tombs, with a kind of ominousness, as if they want to suck people in.

The real tomb site is not so depressing and terrifying, even if the remains of primitive people lie inside.Wang Yao and Al are both people who are used to seeing corpses, such a peaceful death is not worth fearing.However, there is a tomb that is very special. It is not a real tomb, but a cellar, in which a corpse with its head down and feet is buried obliquely, indicating that this person died abnormally.

"She must have been killed." Wang Yao said.

"What was the reason for her being killed?" Al speculated with interest.

There are only a few reasons for human beings to kill their companions, such as hatred, guilt, profit, and entertainment. Is there any other reason besides this?Al couldn't think of more for a moment.

The burials of the Banpo people preserved their funeral culture: the living would put parts of themselves or other dead bodies into the tomb of a certain dead person, indicating that they would accompany the dead forever, and what was buried with them might be a few fingers or a whole body. hand.

"If I die, which part of yourself will you cut off and put in my grave?" Al leaned over and asked Wang Yao's shoulder.

"I will definitely die before you." Wang Yao thought this question was meaningless.

"Then which part do you want me to cut off to be buried with you after you die?" Al didn't give up.

Wang Yao was thoughtful after hearing this, and glanced at Al from head to toe: "I have to think about it."

When the sun began to slant to the west, the two walked on the city wall. There were not many ancient traces left in the ancient city. Only when walking on the city wall could they feel the desolation accumulated over thousands of years.

Al leaned against the rough stone wall, looked at the clock tower in the distance, and asked Wang Yao, "Do you like this place?"

"I like it," Wang Yao said, "I haven't been like this for many years, living like an ordinary person, familiar with and adapting to a city."

"Yeah, like normal," Al put the emphasis on "like." "You've never been 'normal', not even now."

"You're right." Wang Yao narrowed his eyes and looked at the golden city reflected by the lowering sun.

Al, however, turned his body and looked at Wang Yao's haloed side face: "Will you go back to the United States?"

"I don't know, I haven't thought about the future." Wang Yao really didn't plan for the future. In this dangerous secret he pursued, there are too many uncertain factors and dangers everywhere, "Who can guarantee that I can live to that time? "

Al approached him and said dissatisfiedly: "First Wanwan, then Wang Chunyan, have you never thought of a life other than caring for others?"

"No." Wang Yao dodged the breath blowing to his side, but he didn't move away from Al's envelope.

"Still, you are afraid to think that once the matter of Wang Chunyan is over, you will no longer have the motivation to live." Al quietly held Wang Yao's hand on the wall, "You don't know how to live for yourself."

"I only think about the goal in front of me." Wang Yao pulled his hand out unnaturally.

But Al held his hand again, tighter and harder: "You dare not accept this possibility, because you are afraid that after everything is over, you will no longer have the value of existence."

Wang Yao finally turned his head to look at Al, Al's eyes were so serious and eager, Wang Yao had never been stared at by such eyes, which even made him mistakenly think that he was a treasure.

Al saw that Wang Yao's pupils dilated obviously, and this seemed to be the first time Wang Yao looked at him seriously.

Al's voice became deep and affectionate: "Wang Yao, you should know that you are worthy of being cherished."

Reflected in the setting sun, the two tall and straight figures leaned close together, Al surrounded Wang Yao with his arms, and brought him into his arms. He lowered his head and solemnly kissed Wang Yao's lips.

Bursts of drums came from a distance, announcing the arrival of dusk.In the empty world, the noisy sounds of the city gradually fade away, only the eternal flowing clouds set off the background of the embracing lovers.

Suddenly there was a very impolite complaint: "Hey! Look at those two people, why don't you kiss them home? I can't even get this scene!"

Embarrassed for a while, Wang Yao hurriedly pushed Al away.He looked up and saw two men holding photographic equipment not far away. It is very beautiful to take pictures of the city under the sunset from this angle. Many photographers will choose this time period to take pictures, so he should remember it.

"What's wrong?" Al, who couldn't understand Chinese, didn't know what to do.

"Let's go back first." Wang Yao blushed in embarrassment, and quickly dragged Al down the city wall.

"Okay, we'll talk about the rest later." Al smirked.

tbc

☆、Chapter 6