Mysterious Hunting Ground

Chapter 124. Chapter 124.
Bronco got on the road heading north, and Marco, who was sitting in the co-driver, took out a stack of documents from his briefcase and began to explain the case.

"Half a year ago, at about 1980 o'clock in the evening on September 9, 2, Lu Ben disappeared."

"The police retrieved the surveillance video of the 'Lover's Bar' where Luben last appeared on the night of the accident and the nearby casinos, and questioned witnesses along the street, and found that Luben drank a lot of alcohol and left in a half-drunk state. Bar... all the way north, back to the apartment where I lived..."

"He disappeared about a mile from the bar to the apartment. There was no surveillance on this section of the road, because the night was too late, and the police did not find any witnesses."

"In addition, after searching, no clothing, hair, wallet...or blood belonging to Luben was found along the way."

"It sounds like the world has evaporated, but there is a good saying. Wherever you walk, you will leave traces." Dean stared at the straight road outside the window and asked in a deep voice, "Before the case of Luben's disappearance, that part of the road Has there been a similar case in the vicinity? Has anyone else disappeared or been killed?"

"No... Reno is a small town famous for tourism, and the folk customs are quite simple." The wrinkles on Marco's face showed a trace of pride. "As far as I can remember, there have been no criminal cases in the past four or five years."

Dean turned his eyes and nodded,

"I know the conclusion of the police investigation. What clues did the private investigator you hired find?"

"It's hard to find clues at the crime scene." The old man took out another document from his briefcase, "So the two detectives analyzed the results from a different angle."

"They thought that Luben might have been kidnapped by force. It happened that Luben was in a state of drunkenness at the time, and he was unable to make an effective resistance when he was attacked." They split their heads chaotically, "And who has the motive for committing the crime? The biggest possibility is that there is an intersection with Luben in life, and there is an interest relationship."

"Luburn's social circle is very small. The only places he hangs out are a Walmart, Krispy Kreme fast food, a lover's bar, the apartment where he lives, and the local publishing house in Reno."

"Employees and customers at all five locations are suspected."

"Then those two guys investigated most of the suspected targets, questioned, investigated the trajectory of their activities, and even sneaked into some of the target's residences to conduct a detailed search."

Marco sighed, his sparse white eyebrows tightened,

"But the results were disappointing and everyone was cleared of suspicion."

"Luben's friend?" Dean turned the steering wheel, and the car drove towards a wider road.

"Lu Ben is only with his college classmate and best friend, Jero Ketton," Marco paused, rubbing his smooth chin, a trace of gratitude flashed in his eyes, "Jero is a good guy, After Luben disappeared, he spent a lot of personal time helping to search. He really cared about Luben as a brother. After the detective investigation, he was also ruled out of suspicion
Marco sighed.
"I spent a lot of my savings, and these two detectives did their best for four months. But to no avail."

……

"The actions of the police and detectives can be called a blanket search. If I remember correctly, you have also sought help from newspapers and TV stations, but you still haven't found anyone." Dean said awkwardly, "Even if I take action, according to the normal Methods and thinking logic to investigate, can't do better."

Dean's voice fell to the ground.

A prompt flashed across the system suddenly.

Event description changes.

Ruben van Helsing

Event Difficulty: Unknown → Moderate
Progress (5/100)

Duration: one week

Reward: 130 experience points + special rewards.

Punishment: none
……

With medium difficulty, Dean's spirit was shaken and he became interested.

"You mentioned that Luben disappeared after being drunk. Does he usually go to that lover's bar to get drunk?"

"According to the testimonies of Jero and the bar staff, that's true." The old man nodded, his sorrow turned into anger, and he said with a beard and stare, "This brat is in his 30s, and he's still not in shape. He visits the bar three times a week. , Four times, get yourself drunk!"

"People in our Van Helsing family are either lawyers, doctors, or big businessmen. We have never had such absurd offspring! We can't even find a regular girlfriend, and we can't leave an offspring for the family!"

The more the old man spoke, the angrier he became, his bark-like old face flushed with blood,
"What a good-for-nothing piece of shit. When he comes back, I'm going to whip him with a belt!"

The old man gritted his teeth loudly, sweat appeared on his forehead, and saliva spewed out from between his teeth uncontrollably.

Dean was taken aback. This old man didn't suffer from cerebral hemorrhage and died in his car, right?

"Relax, Marco, don't be mad at yourself." He hurriedly slowed down the car and stopped on the side of the road, stretched out his right hand and patted his back soothingly, and opened the window to let in the cool breeze.

After 10 minutes, the old man's face returned to normal, and his shortness of breath calmed down.
"Sorry, man, I have high blood pressure and a bad liver, I can't control my temper."

"I understand, but you should think about it a little bit. Some people are born with such a personality that cannot be changed."

Dean put himself in the shoes of a man in his 30s who doesn't work or get married, lives off his father in his 60s, and likes to drink too much to hurt his body. Any family who encounters such a son will have a headache.

"You can't change Luben, it's better to change yourself." Dean handed the old man a bottle of water, and suggested sincerely, "For example, if you cut off his monthly relief fund earlier, he would have to go out to find a job. Support yourself. Only after being beaten up by life will he know your good intentions."

"You haven't seen it before, this kid is a combination of a crab and a turkey." The old man said angrily, and sighed again, every wrinkle on his face was full of helplessness, as if he had been eaten, "If I do, within two weeks I'll find his stinking body in the apartment."

"But he is my only son, I can't be cruel, do you understand?"

Dean wiped the cold sweat that didn't exist on his brow.

This missing Ruben van Helsing is a real gem.

……

After a short rest, the car drove back onto the road, and soon left the crowded Las Vegas full of high-rise buildings and entered the vast wilderness.

The sun is shining.

The field of vision was in vain, and the minds of the two passengers could not help but be clear.

"Marco, I still want to know everything about Luben's past," Dean turned the steering wheel, and said cautiously, "He became so 'depraved', and drank his sorrows all day long. What major blow did he suffer?"

"Is this related to the case?" When talking about his son's past, Marco's face suddenly tightened, and he seemed reluctant to hang his neck.

"It has a lot to do with it," Dean looked directly into the old man's twinkling eyes, "Everyone's future is determined by the past and the present."

"Lu Ben's disappearance, or his own departure, are all the consequences of the combined influence of countless past events in the past."

"Analyze the past well, maybe we can find out where he is."

Marco scratched his smooth chin, was silent for a while, and said,
"Tribeca's right, you're not like the other detectives. Where do you want to start, Ruben's college?"

"It's more than five hours before we arrive in Reno. There's plenty of time. It doesn't matter if you start from his birth. I'm patient."

……

The old man spoke very slowly.

On the first day after Luben was born, his mother died of excessive blood loss.

When he mentioned his wife who had passed away for many years, his eyes were slightly red.

Afterwards, while running a pet clinic, he took care of his son, and was both a father and a mother. He took the child to the clinic every day and left it alone, and he was busy treating small animals.

More than 30 years have passed and I have not found a woman to remarry.

"To be honest, I spend more time looking after those cats and dogs than Luben."

Marko recalled,

"He was born with a relatively reserved personality, unlike other little bastards who like to mess around and cause trouble. He prefers to record his daily experiences and imaginations in his mind by himself, and he became obsessed with writing when he was older."

Dean shook his head. Luben was also a poor child. At the age when he needed company most, his mother passed away, and his father was too busy with work to take care of him. No one could talk to him, and his ability to speak would be gradually blocked.

Personality will naturally be forced to become quiet and introverted.

It's by no means inherently quiet.

"When I was a child, Luben was obedient and likable. He didn't have any bad habits, including alcoholism, and it never affected my work. He did what I said. He was very sensible and obedient." Marko shot nostalgia in his eyes, A warm smile appeared on the corner of his mouth,

"The only regret is that he didn't make any friends, and he didn't have any chances with women. He spent the prom all by himself."

"Judging from the photos, Lu Ben is not bad looking." Dean was puzzled,
"But he has a bad temper and is not good at communicating." Marco frowned, with a look of disgust, "He doesn't have the masculinity of our Van Helsing family at all!"

Dean was displeased and Ning frowned.

How much this guy likes to belittle his own son.

Can't you be gentle and tactful?
"After graduating from high school, Luben studied literature and writing at a local university in Reno." Marco looked sideways out of the window, and gradually left Las Vegas. The green vegetation on the side of the road began to increase, exuding a pleasant fragrance of plants He Tuxuan, "If he can succeed in his studies, and a well-known writer, and even a future great writer, will be born in the Van Helsing family, I will be very pleased. Besides, he is also obsessed with writing."

"It's a pity... It turns out that he is not suitable for writing. After studying for four years, he has not made a name for himself, and he has never won any honor awards."

"The ability has not been tempered, but the temper has grown a lot. For his sake, I asked him to join my pet clinic after graduation, learn some skills, earn money to support himself, and inherit my career in the future. He actually refused. .”

"He rented an apartment, moved in and began to devote himself to writing, dreaming of becoming famous with a book and becoming a best-selling author."

"Lu Ben is a writer?" Dean interrupted righteously. Everyone who dreams of being a writer deserves respect. "Didn't you say he was a vagrant at the beginning."

"What writer? He doesn't deserve it!" The old man shook his head in disappointment. "He graduated from 24 years old and started writing at the age of 36. For 12 years, he didn't earn a dollar from writing."

"Actually, this is normal." Dean pressed the steering wheel tightly, and couldn't help retorting, "Many well-known writers have lived in poverty for half their lives. It's not that they lack talent, but that they lack an opportunity, a talent."

"But at least they know how to find a job to earn money to support themselves, what about Luben?" The old man turned around and glared at Dean, drew a circle with his withered right hand, and then retracted it, as if he was about to hit him on the head just now, "It's delicious and lazy , do not want to work, say anything for fear of being distracted, and spend all day thinking hard on paper and pen, indulging in self-woven spring and autumn dreams."

"But let me tell you, what he writes are all hundreds of years out of date routines. They are all boring garbage and full of nonsense. The editors don't look down on them at all, and no one wants to publish them for him."

Marco spoke too hastily, stroked his chest and took a deep breath, slowed down for a while before continuing,

"When he was 30 years old, I really couldn't bear to see him continue wasting his good life, so I spent tens of thousands of dollars out of my own pocket to help him realize his dream of publishing and let him realize the reality." The old man sighed, annoyed. Said, "As expected, only ten copies of his great book were sold, and the customers were all hired by his only friend Gero."

"He took the remaining hundreds of copies and distributed them to tourists passing by for free on the street, and no one wanted them!"

"He couldn't accept the reality and collapsed. A fire burned those printed manuscripts to ashes."

Dean rubbed his nose,
"What's the story of the published book, and the books he wrote before?"

"It's all about the historical stories of Reno, because Reno is the 'divorce capital of the world', so the book contains a lot of love between men and women, plus some wild, ridiculous fantasies." The old man shook his head with a look of disdain, "Uninteresting and lacking in depth."

"The most important point, as far as I know, this guy Luben has never held a woman's hand a few times since he was a child, and he has never experienced love in person, but he has made up several love stories in the book," Marr Ke Mudi laughed loudly, "He actually has the courage to write about this aspect, you say it's ridiculous."

Dean couldn't understand the old man's attitude of blindly belittling his son, so he retorted,

"Don't customers have to learn how to cook like chefs?"

"Your analogy is not very appropriate! He is obviously a chef, and I am the customer who reviews." Marco glanced at Dean with a critical look, and continued, "Six years after burning the book, Lu Ben has fallen into the world of his own accord. , often go to the bar to get drunk, and fool me, talking nonsense with me in search of inspiration."

"For inspiration, why didn't he eat grass?" Marco blew his beard and glared, "He just followed a demon, drinking heavily and immersing himself in creation until he disappeared half a year ago."

"Then what kind of works has he written in the past six years?" Dean asked curiously, "or Reno's love story?"

Marco hesitated for a moment, the anger in his eyes flashed away, he shook his head,

"I don't know. In the past few years, apart from paying him living expenses on time every month, I haven't had any communication with this... stubborn ass."

"Later, the police and the private investigator I hired searched the apartment where he lived, but did not find any valuable evidence."

"Half a year has passed, is the apartment still there?" Dean asked,

The old man seemed to have been stabbed in the chest, his face turned pale, he lowered his head embarrassingly, his thin back under the big coat slumped, and the whole person seemed to have aged a few years suddenly.

"I've been renting it all the time..." There was a touch of softness and warmth in his blunt tone, "Otherwise, Lu Ben wouldn't have a place he's used to living in when he comes back."

The sun quietly rose overhead.

The car approached the steep, shrubby and grassy eastern side of the Sierra Nevada.

The golden sunlight fell on the old man's short flaxen hair through the car window, and some silver hair shone brightly, causing Dean to squint his eyes.

What an old man with a knife mouth and a bean curd heart.

Dean glanced at the system.

After listening to Marco's long narration, the progress of the investigation jumped from 5.00% to [-]%.

"Can you talk about Luben's mother again, you haven't talked much about her just now."

"She's the best woman in the world, my favorite forever."

(End of this chapter)