I stood inside the house with my hand on my chin, something about this place didn’t feel right but I couldn’t tell what yet. However, since Zhang Bin’s fingerprints were found here, it proved that he had been here. I turned to Zhao Xiaoli, “When would the man in black come every day? How long would he stay each time?”
Zhao Xiaoli pondered for a while. “In the beginning, he was here every day and he’d sleep outside my room at night. But after a while, he started to go out. Before he left, he would gag me and ensure that my bonds were tight.”
“Then how did you eat and drink?” I asked.
“He would feed me food and water.” Zhao Xiaoli answered, “And give me a few minutes every day to use the bathroom.” I watched Zhao Xiaoli as she thought about the details. When she spoke, her pupils would look to the upper right corner, this was a typical sign of the person thinking. Her brows were slightly creased and her arms were weakly placed beside her. All these proved that she was not lying. However, the person Zhao Xiaoli described didn’t sound like Zhang Bin. Would Zhang Bin have such a gentlemanly side?
Guan Zhenglin said, “There is no other trace but the thumb prints. From the cleanliness of the crime scene, it appears like this place has been cleaned.” Someone had cleaned the place but left behind Zhang Bin’s thumbprint? That didn’t sound right, but I didn’t say anything. Guan Zhenglin seemed to share my thoughts too as she turned to me, as if waiting for me to say something. I obliged. “We’ll go find the housing agent and then we’ll check Zhang Bin’s medical records.”
When we arrived at the housing agency, the agent couldn’t ascertain if the renter was Zhang Bin in the picture. The renter had on a mask, and cap. He was dressed in all black. Since this was winter, the agent didn’t find the many layers to be suspicious. Zhang Bin was very cautious when he rented the house. He even cleaned up before he left, but why would he leave his thumbprints behind? He was careless? After Zhang Bin raped Zhao Xiaoli, he left, why?
We had the agent look over the picture again. If he couldn’t recognize the face, perhaps he could match the body. The agent looked again and again but couldn’t come to a conclusion. When we were about to give up, the agent told us something else. The agent reminded the renter that the location of the house was very secluded, which was why it had been left empty for so long. The renter told him that it was fine. Then the agent heard the renter mumble to himself, “After this is done, everything will be over.”
The rental lease was signed less than a month ago. It was right after Du Zigui and Hao Ren’s disappearance and Wang An’s cuts on Zhang Bin’s arm. What happened to these people, how could living humans just disappear like that?
Sister Mary sent us Zhang Bin’s medical record and the record showed that Zhang Bin did visit Elm Tom First People’s Hospital for knife wounds about 1 month ago. The doctor did ask Zhang Bin about the wounds, Zhang Bin said they were the work of a madman.
Wang An was quite strong for his size, the wounds on Zhang Bin’s arm cut deep. If not for the winter coat he was wearing, the two cuts would have dug into his bones. The doctor stitched the wounds together and bandaged them for Zhang Bin. The doctor told Zhang Bin to return to the hospital to clean and exchange the bandage, according to his records, Zhang Bin did do that. The bandage would be changed every 4 days and Zhang Bin didn’t miss any of his appointments. Today was another 4th day, so Zhang Bin might return to the hospital.
Therefore we called a taxi and sent Zhao Xiaoli back to the station. I had already ordered the officer to find accommodation for Zhao Xiaoli and Wang An. The rest of us took another cab to Elm Town First People’s Hospital, it took around half an hour. We immediately located Zhang Bin’s main physician. Currently we were sitting before him. After we identified ourselves, the doctor told us a small detail.
When Zhang Bin came to the hospital for the first time, 3 people came with him. We showed the doctor the picture of Zhang Bin’s group and the doctor confirmed that 2 of them were Zheng Shuai and Chen Yiming. We had no idea who the 3rd person was but the doctor believed that the last person was a drug addict. The doctor was experienced enough to tell with one glance. Then the doctor told us that Zhang Bin called that person Du Zigui.
My brain buzzed. Then I was reminded of the white powder I found at Zhang Bin’s home. That was indeed drugs. Zhang Bin was not a drug user so he must have sourced them for someone else. Suddenly a thought appeared in my mind, one that caused me to shiver involuntarily. If Du Zigui was made a drug addict a month ago, he would have done anything to get his hands on more drugs.
I turned to Guan Zhenglin because she was more knowledgeable about this than I did. I asked her how long a person would take to develop drug addiction. Guan Zhenglin cleared her throat and said, “Narcotic addiction normally manifests in 3 forms, physical dependency, psychological dependency and medical dependency.” I didn’t know anything about this so I listened to her like a quiet student. “Physical dependency refers to the body’s need for drugs to function. The addict’s central nervous system becomes adapted to the drugs and the addict has to keep on taking a certain amount of drugs just to function properly. Once the drug is stopped, the addict will have negative physical reaction to the withdrawal.”
Guan Zhenglin raised her second finger, “Psychological dependency is the high that the addicts feel after a drug hit. The high becomes something the addict cannot live without. Someone has done research on this before. If happiness in life can be quantified, sex is about 3 while taking drugs is about 7.”
“Medical dependency is different from the previous 2 and deserves to be explained on its own.” Guan Zhenglin extended her 3rd finger. “Actually, in the drugs that we talk about daily, there are many components that can cause addiction, for example, painkillers, sedatives and so on. In reality, all medicines are 30 percent toxic. Sometimes, to cut off dependency on one drug, the addict will get addicted instead on another drug…”
We were quite confused by the lecture but the main lesson was drug addiction was a bad thing.
I asked, “What is the quickest number of days for a person to take to drug addiction?”
Guan Zhenglin frowned, “The reason I explained all those things is because your question is hard to answer. Everyone has a different level of dependency and we haven’t even considered external factors. If a drug addict knows for a fact that there are no more drugs in this world, then nothing would happen.” Then Guan Zhenglin shook her head, “But if the drug addict is told that there is a drug that awaits him at the end of the tunnel. He would do anything and I mean anything, to get that drug.”
“In other words,” I looked at Guan Zhenglin, “Basically, no one will be able to quit drugs in real life?”
Guan Zhenglin shook her head. “Only those with the strongest will can do this. This reminds me of a joke. A young man quits smoking because he wants to pursue a girl. But once he manages to do that, the girl’s mother forbids them from getting together.”
“But why?” The physician asked, piqued by the joke. Guan Zhenglin smiled. “Because the mother said, if the man can quit smoking, it means that his will is strong enough to also one day quit the girl.” After a chuckle, Guan Zhenglin continued, “In real life many people talk about giving up smoking but how many succeeded? Giving up drugs is even harder. One touch and you’ll never be rid of it. Therefore, the best way to quit it is not to start it.”
Put it that way, I believed this incident deserved to be looked in further. When we were talking, suddenly the doctor’s door opened. When we saw the new arrival, everyone was shocked because this was none other than Zhang Bin whom we had been looking for. Zhang Bin was wearing the same brown trench coat and the same scarf around his neck.
When Zhang Bin lifted his eyes and saw us, he was startled for a moment before he turned to escape. Gu Chen though moved faster than he was.
Before we even reacted, Gu Chen came back, holding Zhang Bin by the back of his arm. Gu Jun was grabbing Zhang Bin’s left arm, the one which was injured. The pain was clear on the man’s face. Soon his sweat poured like rain.
Clearly Zhang Bin recognized us too. He groused, “Why is it you guys again? Let me go. It’s painful! Unlawful use of police force, I’ll report you to your superior!”
Gu Chen kicked the back of the man’s neck and Zhang Bin fell to the ground. I looked at the man and asked, “You sure are hard to find. You’ve gone missing for quite a while. Humor me, do you know why we’re looking for you?”
Zhang Bin’s black pupils rolled about. “How would I know? Pass!”
Gu Chen looked at the man and said, “Perhaps you’ll be more communicative at the interrogation room.”
Zhang Bin arked back at him, “Why are you arresting me? I know my rights, I have not done anything wrong!”
“Really?” I asked, “Then can you explain where you got the injury on your arm?”
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