Chapter 82 Non-Existent Case
Early railway technology was immature and poor coordination led to frequent daily accidents. If I remember correctly, there were hundreds of train accidents in China in the second half of last year alone. And lost his life, thus earning the title "Fatal Speed".
In the writings of those sentimental writers, this giant metal monster that appeared in the new era has been given many unkind adjectives, such as "chaotic", "dilapidated" and "crumbling". Of course , they use these words more to describe the fragmentation and chaos caused by train construction, and they attack this new type of creation from the perspective of the natural environment.
Similar articles can often be found in newspapers.
However, in addition to some villages and beautiful scenery that are separated by railways, there are also areas like Innsmouth that have developed rapidly because of the existence of railways.
Therefore, from Milo's forward perspective, compared to the acceleration effect that trains bring to an era, the unnecessary moaning of literati is basically negligible.
The earliest Innsmouth town was just a few shabby huts located on the eastern outskirts of Nanwei City. Its size could only be regarded as half a village, with just a few lonely families.
Then look at what Innsmouth looks like now. Anyone with eyes can understand how powerful the railway is.
As for the station in the western city that is mainly responsible for freight business, it does not have the beautiful scenery of Innsmouth Station.
But in this era, taking the train is not yet a universal and convenient mode of transportation. The high ticket price and long journey time have discouraged ordinary people.
For the upper class, taking a train and going on a journey are the same concept. To put it simply, taking a train is a "rich person's behavior". You can only take a train if you wear the most elegant coat and lift the most expensive suitcase. , enjoy hotel-level services on the train, socialize, play games, smoke, and do everything.
In Milo's memory, the concept of trains of this nature had long been eliminated in his original era, but now he was able to experience this different kind of journey for himself.
On the most luxurious trains, you can even see carriages decorated in rococo style. The interior is as elegant and luxurious as the living room of a noble manor, but the train Milo and Rebecca took was more "New", its interior basically abandons the complicated and cumbersome classicism style, and adheres more to the new art, advocates mechanized beauty, uses more straight lines and geometric patterns, and almost reaches the level of certain symmetrical graphic compositions. The degree of obsessive-compulsive disorder is, to some extent, similar to the brutal aesthetic of the law enforcement system.
......
In the evening, at the urging of the steward's whistle, Milo and Rebecca each carried a suitcase and entered the third carriage of the train.
This is the best first-class carriage on the train, with independent compartments that can accommodate four to six people at the same time.
The first and second carriages closest to the locomotive are set to be the lowest carriages because they are close to the locomotive and contain soot and noise.
The third carriage behind is a mid-level ordinary carriage.
……
“It seems that the law enforcement system is indeed not short of money.”
Milo and Rebecca pushed their respective suitcases onto the shelves and sat opposite each other in the cubicle.
He found a thick menu of drinks and meals on the table. The catering standards in it were no better than the tea in top hotels. Of course, these require additional payment.
"There are even options like escort girls." Milo saw some strange things on the menu with a sharp eye: "All expenses incurred in the field can be reimbursed, right?"< br>
“You can order whatever you want, but it’s up to me to decide whether to reimburse you or not.” Rebecca took off her hat and hung it on the barb by the window, but did not take off her mask.
"Just kidding." Milo closed the menu and pushed it away.
At this time, Rebecca took out the leather-covered notebook and pen and began to write and draw on it. She occasionally stopped to think about it, and her attitude was very serious.
Milo poked his neck and probably caught a glimpse of the word "Ikem" scrawled in the notebook.
“You started writing a report so soon?”
“It’s not a report.” Rebecca stopped writing, turned the notebook around and pushed it in front of Milo:
“ I have sorted out the missing persons cases in the small town of Ikem in the past 50 years, and the most intensive disappearances occurred in the spring of 24 years ago.”
Rebecca pointed at the timeline on her notebook with the end of her pen. There were a total of 12 missing cases in the 1814 period, and these cases were basically concentrated in the first half of the year.
“Not a single case has been solved in 24 years?” Milo took a look and found that almost all the names of those cases had an obvious “unsolved” mark.
“None.” Rebecca shook her head.
"The senior law enforcement officials did not organize a special investigation?" Milo frowned because he suddenly saw a non-disappearance case in the second half of 1814, that is, in November at the end of the year. But there are only a few words in the label - "Delaman Family".
“What is this?”
Milo scrolled back and found that in the more than 20 years since the "Delaman Family" case, there seemed to be no clearly recorded cases of artificial disappearance. Even if there were disappearances, they all existed. Clear results, such as records of a missing person being found or murdered. This normal situation lasted until the second year after the Great Plague, when Nero said that the Solomon Gang began to enter the town of Ikem, and then inexplicable disappearances occurred again.
In other words, in such a long half-century, the "Delaman Family" incident was an obvious watershed, which separated before 1814 and after. There have been a series of disappearances in the first half, but not in the second half.
……
“You noticed it too, right?”
Rebecca highlighted the words "Delaman Family" with her pen.
“I applied to investigate many files, but I have never been able to find any relevant information about the Delamain family. There are no records of this case, including the persons involved, the victims, and the investigation report. There is not even a qualitative record of the case. No, if the detailed information is not deliberately hidden or erased, then the case was blocked at the beginning, but I believe it is the former, because if the case is not even filed, there is no need to record it in the case records. Wouldn't it be better to just leave the word 'Delaman Family' and let this non-existent case disappear?"
"I understand what you mean." Milo nodded, his current thinking was different from Li's. Becca is completely in sync.
"Fungi--Carl's death--Solomon Gang--Missing Persons Incident--Draman Family Incident, this is the right order, right? We have to start with the Delaman Family. Because there are too many missing persons incidents, it is unrealistic to trace them one by one, and we only have two people and a few days. The most direct way is to start with the Delamain family incident. If this direction is wrong, You can only admit it.”
“I think so too,” Rebecca said firmly:
"It took me most of the night to finally find this key point. If it is a mistake in judgment, then I have no choice but to admit it."
"Delaman." Milo held the back of his head with both hands and leaned back. He closed his eyes on the back of the seat and searched for the name Delamain in his mind.
But he found that he had never heard of this last name, not only in his own memory, but also in the memory fragments of Robben, Karl and Anna.
Milo is a little strange.
Because logically speaking, the person who knows the most about the town of Ikem should be Karl, but Karl himself knows nothing about the surname Delamain. Could it be that he and Rebecca judged the investigation Is there really a problem with the direction? Or maybe Karl has never investigated in this direction.
However, judging from the timeline of the disappearance, the Delamain family incident is too conspicuous. It does not require a keen sense of smell for criminal investigation. As long as you are a little more careful, you can detect its criticality. It is impossible for Karl to ignore it. Nothing is known.
Whether it is the problem of poor information in the materials or the confusion of Carl’s memory during his lifetime.
There must be some details in this that Milo has not captured yet.
As for the truth, they would only have a chance to find out the truth after they arrived in the small town of Ikem.
……
"I'm sure I've never heard of this last name, but don't you think it sounds a bit... familiar?" Rebecca put her elbows on the table and supported her temples with her fingers.
"It does sound familiar, but I can't remember where I've heard it before, or... a similar last name." Milo also felt the same way.
This last name does sound a little smooth to pronounce, so much so that he would think that Delaman should exist in the memories of the three undead perspectives that do not belong to him.
But this is not the case...
What went wrong?
A case with no record and only a name left Milo and Rebecca feeling familiar at the same time. This is very unreasonable no matter how you look at it...
...
The sound of train wheels and rails crisscrossing each other, as well as the collision and bumping caused by the rails being interrupted every short period of time, made Milo and Rebecca unable to settle their thoughts for a long time.
For Milo, who has experienced a truly smooth and reliable high-speed train, this kind of train full of noise has nothing to do with "luxury".
The poor air quality made people drowsy. Milo closed his eyes to rest and roughly calculated the time it would take to reach the small town of Ikem at a train speed of 20 to 30 kilometers per hour.
"I'm going to the back to get some air."
Milo stood up.
Rebecca put away her notebook:
“Together.”
(End of this chapter)