Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
At noon, in Linshe County, Zhaoyun Province.
Linshe County was under the jurisdiction of Feng Ping City. It was named after the vast forest in its north. Although the county had a large geographic area, it was not highly populated and was not very rich.
As Zhao Yu drove, he explained the area to Cui Lizhu. “Its location is very important. It is surrounded by mountains on three sides. It’s a geographical hub, which people used to say is the place strategists should fight for. The Japanese built hundreds of fortifications and six military fortresses in the mountains on the north and west sides. The most famous one is Yishan Fortress. Have you heard of it?”
“Yishan Fortress…” Cui Lizhu nodded. “I have seen it on the Internet. It seems that it has become a tourist attraction, right?”
“Yishan Fortress is as big as that of Halongjiang. It used to be an important feature of the Japanese puppet regime. According to the records, Yuan Juncheng had visited Yishan Fortress no less than ten times, and there are detailed records of the fortress in his work logs,” Zhao Yu said.
“What? Do you mean that we’re going there, too? I thought we are going to look for the people recorded in his work logs. An empty fortress? What can we find out there?” Cui Lizhu asked. She shook her cell phone. “It costs 45 yuan for one ticket. It’s not worth that much.”
“We are not there for the scenery,” Zhao Yu replied. “We need to find the administrator in charge at that time and ask them about Yuan Juncheng. But we don’t have to go there right away. Let’s find our interviewees first. If it’s too late, we’ll go tomorrow.”
“You are the boss. Of course, you’ll decide for me.” Cui Lizhu searched on her mobile phone and said, “But have you heard about this? Boss, Linshe is famous for its stew. It’s better than what they have in Golden City.”
Zhao Yu smiled and said, “Well, I’m starving.” Before long, Zhao Yu had driven the police car to a famous local stew shop, and they finally had a good meal. They then visited the people recorded in the work logs, following the order they were listed in.
They didn’t encounter many difficulties. The first several interviewees were all alive and remembered Yuan Juncheng. However, the information provided by these people was not of great value. They said that Yuan Juncheng had many people accompanying him and they asked some questions. The questions and answers were all recorded in his work logs.
Zhao Yu and Cui Lizhu asked many detailed questions about Yuan Juncheng, but the interviewees all said that they didn’t have too much interaction with him and knew little about him. In the evening, Zhao Yu and Cui Lizhu found another stew shop. It seemed that the local stew lived up to its reputation. After dinner, they went to see two other interviewees, but the result was not much different than earlier. No progress was made in their investigation.
Later, they encountered an embarrassing situation. To make sure that Cui Lizhu was safe, Zhao Yu had to share a room with her in a hotel. This was not the first time that the two of them had slept in the same room. They seemed to have gotten used to it. They slept in separate beds and didn’t feel too embarrassed.
After washing his face, Zhao Yu began to collect information from the other teams. Unfortunately, the situation Wu Xiumin and Liu Zhanbing found themselves in was not much different than his own. They found that Yuan Juncheng and those people were purely working partners and had not had many interactions with each other, so they either couldn’t remember Yuan Juncheng or didn’t know much about him.
Zhao Yu expected this to happen. He knew that Yuan Juncheng had been looking for the treasure for eight years and had worked with a large number of people, so it would not be easy to find out what happened to him in a short time.
After receiving the information from the other teams, Zhao Yu prepared for tomorrow’s visit and investigation by sorting out Yuan Juncheng’s work logs. Cui Lizhu helped him sort out the materials. After checking the people’s information, they chose seven people in Linshe. If they made the best use of their time tomorrow, they would be able to complete the interviews in one day.
Zhao Yu planned to go to Yishan Fortress once the interviews were done. He wanted to know if he could find any new clues there. The previous night, Zhao Yu had little sleep. He had also been driving for most of the day. He was so exhausted that he went to bed early. In the past, whenever there was a Qian or Kun hexagram, Zhao Yu always felt nervous and was unable to fall asleep, but this time it was different. Maybe it was because he was overly tired that he fell asleep immediately after he lied down. He didn’t even dream.
The next day, Cui Lizhu got up early and woke Zhao Yu up. Otherwise, he would probably have slept through the day. After getting up, Zhao Yu’s first move was to check the system to see if the Kun Gen hexagram was over. He knew that if it was, it meant that what he did was completely wrong. If it didn’t end, it meant that he was on the right track.
After he started the system, he saw the two characters Kun Gen was still in the center of the system interface. Good. For the first time, Zhao Yu felt the kindness of the Kun hexagram and immediately regained his confidence. He set out with Cui Lizhu. With the experience they had gained the day before, their work went smoothly. By about 4:00 in the afternoon, they had completed all the interviews they needed to do. The results were pretty much the same as yesterday. The interviewees didn’t have much to say about Yuan Juncheng.
Sticking to the plan, they started to drive to Yishan Fortress, looking for the person in charge there when Yuan Juncheng had visited. In the car, Cui Lizhu pointed to her cell phone and said to Zhao Yu, “Boss, I checked online. Yishan Fortress became a tourist attraction about eight years ago. When Yuan Juncheng was there, it belonged to the Feng Ping Museum. Most likely, the guy who was in charge at that time was not in Linshe but in Feng Ping.”
“Oh?” Zhao Yu frowned. He didn’t know that.
Cui Lizhu pouted her lips and said, “I’ll let Li Beini check for us. Are we still going?”
“Well…” Zhao Yu looked at the phone’s navigation app and said, “it’s only a few kilometers away. We have nothing to do now anyway. Maybe we can get some inspiration from the fortress.” Zhao Yu’s phone rang as he finished speaking. It was from a strange number. He took the call. “Hello?”
“Zhao Yu.” Li Jing’s voice came from the phone. “Are you still in Linshe?”
“You… Um…” Zhao Yu didn’t expect Li Jing to call him now. Because of their personal grudges, Ma Jichun was usually their main point of contact. “Captain Li, I’m not in Linshe. You should know this.” Zhao Yu looked at the Jeep behind him, which was still following him closely.
“Good. Then I won’t make this call too long,” Li Jing said. “My colleagues told me that they found a small problem when they were in Yuning yesterday.”
“Oh? What was that?” Zhao Yu asked.
“There is a man named Tian Zheng in Yuan Juncheng’s work logs. He was half Japanese. When Yuan Juncheng met him, he was the director of the Geological Bureau of Yuning. He had a close relationship with Yuan Juncheng because of work at that time. However,” Li Jing continued, “Tian Zheng has since passed from illness. Our team members went to visit his family yesterday and found something strange. Tian Zheng’s two sons were missing.”
