Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The next morning, when Zhao Yu’s team members came to the temporary office of the Special Investigation Group, they witnessed an amazing scene. Ten whiteboards leaned against each other and papers were scattered on the floor. Zhao Yu, the leader of the group, lay on his back and snored like thunder.
“Team leader, team leader…” Li Beini put down her breakfast and rushed over to check on him.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Hearing the commotion, Cui Lizhu also ran in from the duty room. When she saw the rickety desks and chairs, she was shocked and asked, “Boss, you didn’t have a big fight with anyone here, did you?”
“Oh ah…” Zhao Yu woke up from all the noise and yawned lazily. “Well…” Zhao Yu opened his eyes and saw his team members standing in front of him. Wu Xiumin, Li Beini, Cui Lizhu, and Liu Zhanbing were all there, as well as Ma Jichun from the Secret Service. “Hey? All of you are here?” Zhao Yu immediately stood up from the ground. “It’s good to have you all here. Hurry up, hurry up, come here… ” he said excitedly, his eyes wide. Zhao Y’s sleepy eyes brightened. He quickly rushed to the front of the office and opened the big screen.
When they saw that Zhao Yu was excited, they had no idea what he was thinking about. They quickly put down their own things and went over to the big screen. When the screen turned on, a map filled with different colors appeared on the big screen.
Zhao Yu picked up the laser pen, pointed to the map and said, “Come on! Have a look at this. Yesterday, I suddenly thought of something important. A brilliant detective used to tell me that the truth is often hidden in very small clues. Look! This is the map of the northeast. Here… Pay attention to the colors. Following the Secret Service’s work logs, I used five different colors to show the routes taken by the five experts. Do you see anything here?”
“Ah? This… ” The group members obviously didn’t get it. Looking at the map, they were speechless. Only Ma Jichun from the Secret Service noticed something. After a while, he said, “It looks like there is little overlap in their routes?”
“That’s what I’m looking for.” Zhao Yu pointed at Ma Jichun and said, “No wonder Li Jing sent you here. You are right. After I marked out their treasure hunting routes, I found that there were few overlaps.”
“Yes.” Ma Jichun frowned and said, “Experts worked in different teams and had different duties. They avoided repeatedly searching in the same area to make the best of their available resources. Group leader Zhao… So, you are…”
Zhao Yu tried to make himself appear calm and said, “Last night, I suddenly thought of something. Is it possible that the five experts’ death is related to their treasure hunt? Is there something that happened while they were looking for the treasure that we don’t know about?” He pointed to the big screen and said seriously, “So, I wanted to see if their routes overlapped at all. We know that they worked for the Secret Service at different times. If they all started their work from the same region, then that place would be our target.”
“But…” Zhao Yu pointed to the map again. “I soon found that their routes were totally different from each other. Some had crossed others, but it was just a few. Other than cities, I can’t find a place where these people have all stayed during their hunt for the treasure. So, what do you think?”
“Well…” Everyone frowned. Cui Lizhu thought for a moment then said, “Boss, the Secret Service has explained this to us. Because of the division of labor, their routes were different from each other. So, what exactly did you find? Don’t keep us waiting!”
Zhao Yu’s eyes lit up. “The time to witness a miracle is coming for you guys. When I found that the routes of the experts hardly crossed, I was very disappointed, and I just thought that I was wasting my time. But just at that time, guess what? My luck came to me,” he said proudly. Cui Lizhu and Li Beini both wiped the cold sweat from their foreheads.
“It suddenly occurred to me that it was exactly because their routes do not coincide that I am not wasting my time.” Zhao turned around and searched for something on his whiteboards. He found the whiteboard with the five experts’ information on it and pushed it to the center. “Take a good look. This is the information we have on the experts. Look at their routes. Do you have any ideas?” The others thought carefully about Zhao Yu’s words. They had read the experts’ information many times, but they hadn’t found anything unusual.
“Here’s the answer.” Zhao Yu pointed to Yuan Juncheng’s picture and said, “In fact, the one thing we overlooked this whole time was the truth serum. Think about it. Why did the killer use the truth serum on the experts?”
“Truth Serum? Of course, it was for obtaining the information he wanted from the experts. We’ve talked about this before. But…” Cui Lizhu still didn’t understand what Zhao Yu wanted to say.
“Yes. We’ve analyzed the truth serum and what the killer really wants to know. But…” Zhao Yu pointed to Yuan Juncheng’s picture forcefully. “But we’ve overlooked something about the truth serum. We never questioned whether or not the murderer would continue to kill if he had gotten what he wanted from the first person.”
“Ah?” Hearing this, everyone had goosebumps. Indeed, they were all so focused on the identity of the murderer that they overlooked the murderer’s reasons for using the truth serum.
“This… So…” Li Beini thought and then asked, “Just because the killer didn’t get the answer he wanted, he continued to kill?”
“Oh…” Cui Lizhu stared as she began to tremble. “I understand. No wonder you showed us Yuan Juncheng’s picture. Yuan Juncheng was the last one to die. That is to say, the key problem lies with Yuan Juncheng?”
“Yes.” Zhao Yu put his hands behind his back, shook his head, and said, “I guess the murderer only knew that the answer he wanted was related to these five people, he wasn’t sure which one was the correct guy. So, he followed the order of the names on the list and used the truth serum, but he was unlucky. None of the first four knew the answer.”
“Truth serum works on the nervous system,” Wu Xiumin said. “Unlike other hallucinogens, it can stimulate the peripheral nerves of users and make a deep impression on the brain. Therefore, the murderer was worried that the police would find out about the truth serum, so he had to kill them.”
“Yes.” Zhao Yu nodded and said, “We are sure of at least two things now. First, the murders of the experts were absolutely related to the treasure. Second, the key reason why they were killed is because of Yuan Juncheng.”
Zhao Yu pointed to the area marked red in the large screen and said, “So, next step. We will take Yuan Juncheng’s route and try to find out what happened to him. That’s what led to his death.” He sighed heavily and said to everyone gathered, “Let’s get ready as soon as possible. This may be our last chance to solve the mystery.”
