I couldn’t help but laugh. I drove to the beach and rolled down the window. The early summer sea breeze brought along heatwaves and salt.
I opened the car door and walked out. I let out a long sigh of relief, studying the sea expanding before me.
“Sister Xing, is there something on your mind?” Da Xiong asked carefully.
I looked at him. “Brother Xiong, are you afraid of me?”
Da Xiong nodded without hesitation. “Of course!”
I was quite hurt. “But why are you afraid of me? Am I that scary?”
Da Xiong shook his head and then nodded. Then, he smiled embarrassedly. “Sister Xing, you’re not scary. You’re just too clever. We feel too much pressure being in your presence.”
Da Xiong scratched his head. He looked so innocent and naive.
I felt comforted. I turned back to look at the sea. “Brother Xiong, I’m looking for a group of people, but they are not in the database. I didn’t know what to do, so I came out to take a breather.”
I made this comment offhandedly, but Da Xiong treated it seriously. He frowned and said, “There are people not recorded in our database?”
Brother Xiong pondered. “If they aren’t in our database, how about we ask Brother Mang and Brother Si? Our database is wide-ranging, but I don’t think we have any recording of prison inmates.”
I looked at him in shock.
Brother Xiong was confused by my gaze. He muttered, “Well, in the last letter Brother Mang sent me, he mentioned a world-class assassin who he met in prison. The assassin was tracked by every country, but he disappeared. Brother Mang didn’t expect to find the legendary assassin in prison either. He has been hiding there all these years. It’s true that the most dangerous place can be the safest place.”
My heart jumped, and I looked at Brother Xiong in surprise.
I opened the car door and urged him, “Quick, get in the car!”
Brother Xiong was confused, but he hopped into the car. I drove back to Huan Yuan. I rushed to the computer room and asked Brother Xiong to come with me.
Mai Qi and Jing Ni were confused as we ran in. I told them. “Put down your help and help me go through all the detained criminals after my kidnapping case!”
The two of them looked at me in a daze.
My eyes were filled with excitement. “Are we sure all the kidnappers have been killed? If not, where have they been? Why couldn’t we find any trace of them?
“Brother Xiong has inspired me. The safest place is the most dangerous place. Could the surviving kidnappers have been sent into prison by committing another crime? The prison is their safe haven, no one would think to check there and they’d be protected by the police!
“It’s brilliant!” I exclaimed.
“We couldn’t see it because it’s too close?” Jing Ni hesitated.
I nodded.
Mai Qi pulled up a website. “Nanxing, that is not a bad idea. We’ll start by locking onto the criminals who have been captured a year and a half after the kidnapping. Then we can deduce who might have participated in the kidnapping.”
I nodded vigorously and gave her a thumbs up. “Once we have our targets, we can get Brother Si and Brother Mang to approach them. They are still in the slammer. This is a good opportunity. I can feel it. I’m one step closer to the truth.”
