Free Web NovelChapter 687: Chapter 654: Fang of the Wolf_2
The kitchen was on the right, featuring a long wooden cabinet without doors, just white lace curtains hanging in front. Zhou Ning glanced at it, noting that the cabinet inside was still there, covered in a thick layer of dust, completely empty.
One didn’t need to think too hard to know that many people had come searching. Any place that seemed fit to hide things would have been thoroughly searched, probably taken away for examination long ago.
Zhou Ning didn’t enter the kitchen. The living room sofa was in tatters, springs and sponge spilling out from the sides and face, all rusty. The back cover of the television was gone, and the cabinet below the TV and the coffee table were both empty.
Mr. Zhao went to the bathroom, and Xu Dayuan to the secondary bedroom, while Zhou Ning headed straight for the master bedroom with a balcony to the south. Back then, his mother had barricaded the door with a tall cabinet and chairs, but now the area was clean, the door was gone, and so were the cabinet and chairs.
The only things left were a broken, collapsed bed and a wardrobe, also with its doors missing, completely empty inside. However, there was plenty of rubbish on the floor, clearly left behind by those who had emptied the place in search of evidence, leaving behind only a few large Lego blocks.
As for the floorboards, many had been torn up, and even those left in place had uneven, bumpy gaps when stepped upon.
All the switches and light fixtures in the room had been dismantled. The ceiling light of the master bedroom was reduced to a ring mark; the covering back panel was gone, leaving a large hole exposed. These were all traces left by the search.
The glass sliding door between the master bedroom and the living room was completely shattered, with glass shards littering the floor. Along the top, hung a line of cranes wind chimes, adorned with colorful beads and little stars, some ending with bells and others with stones.
Years of exposure to sun, wind, and rain had caused some to crack or lose color, turning dark. They swayed with every cold breeze, and some had fallen to the floor.
Just as Zhou Ning was about to turn away, sweeping his flashlight over the wind chimes, he suddenly froze.
Zhou Ning swiftly turned back, his gaze fixed on the last few wind chimes to the far right, where instead of bells, there were sharp stones, long and short. Seeing their shape, Zhou Ning’s breathing became unsteady.
They were teeth!
Although unsure if they were wolf teeth, they were definitely fangs. Zhou Ning rushed over, trembling as he picked up the last few, gently rubbing off the dust with his finger. There should have been stickers attached, leaving behind dark adhesive marks.
But in his memory, it was a pendant on a leather string, and the wolf tooth was quite large, whereas these were no larger than four centimeters in length.
Footsteps approached from behind, and without looking back, Zhou Ning knew Mr. Zhao had come over.
"What are you looking at, Zhou Xiaozhou?"
As he spoke, Mr. Zhao drew closer with his flashlight, which trembled when he saw the teeth in Zhou Ning’s hands.
"Wow, are these wolf teeth?"
Zhou Ning shook his head. freewёbn૦νeɭ.com
"I don’t know. I remember it being very large, with a leather string. This seems too small."
Mr. Zhao waved his hand.
"Don’t worry. You’ve mentioned there was writing on it, the name Xiao Ning, right?" frёeωebɳovel.com
"That’s what he told me, but I’ve never seen it myself."
Zhou Ning nodded, and hearing movement, everyone else gathered around. Mr. Zhao had already opened the investigative kit, found the evidence box, and cut the teeth off. They all retreated to the living room where there was still a tea table.
Mr. Zhao placed the evidence box on the tea table, washed the teeth with a reagent, and meticulously cleaned the dirt and adhesive marks. The passage of years made them easy to wipe clean.
Then, after drying them, Mr. Zhao picked up a tooth and examined it through a magnifying glass. Zhou Ning’s heart was racing, unable to calmly look as his hands were shaking violently.
Going through them one by one, and as he rotated the largest one, Mr. Zhao exclaimed with surprise.
"Hand me that purple bottle, Xiaozhou. I’m not sure if these are engravings."
Zhou Ning took out a bottle, opened the lid and dipped a needle into it, then passed it to Mr. Zhao. Mr. Zhao touched the tooth with the needle tip, then rinsed it with water. As they waited, Zhou Ning grew impatient, rifled through the investigative kit, and found a portable LED magnifying glass. He turned it on, eager for its higher magnification.
"Let me have a look, Mr. Zhao. You get ready to take a photo."
With an acknowledgment, Mr. Zhao passed the tooth and needle to Zhou Ning, who carefully turned it beneath the magnifying glass. Indeed, there were letters visible, but they seemed like many words, almost like micro-engravings. As he turned it, he began to make out the start of the message.
Xiao Ning:
I hope you never have to read this, meaning you could grow up safely. Mom and Dad love you and wish to be by your side as you grow, but we are burdened with a mission. The matter we are currently dealing with is perilous, nine in ten chance of death. I hope you can carry this wolf tooth with you safely back to your grandfather’s side.
We also hope that the person your father contacted can visit you at the earliest, notice the secret on the wolf tooth, and transport it away. Your mom and dad are already being watched, Feng Tianxun has betrayed us, resulting in the loss of nearly twenty comrades in Longyou.
