Zhengyi stood up again. He steadfastly walked over to the pay phone he had just left.

"Hello," Zhengyi said in a loud voice when the phone line was connected.

"Hello! Ah, it's you, Zhengyi." The person on the other end immediately recognized Zhengyi's voice.

"Right, it's me."

"How are you? Do you want to come to my house again?"

"It's a good thing you're still home. I was worried before that you had left for work or something. I have something important to tell you."

"I was just about to leave the house. Can you call back this afternoon?"

"I can't. It's an emergency."

"What's wrong? Your voice sounds so weird. Are you still being followed?"

"That's not what I wanted to say. There's one thing that's far more serious."

"What is the problem?"

"One of my friends was kidnapped."

"Where are you now?"

Zhengyi said the name of the station where he was now. The distance between the station and the station near the friend's house is not far. Only fifteen minutes away by train. Traveling by motorbike will, of course, take a little longer.

I hope the traffic isn't so heavy right now.

"Stay there. I'll be there in twenty minutes."

"Where should I wait for you? Inside the station or outside the station?"

"We'd better meet outside the station. The waiting room inside is too wide and scattered. It'll take a long time because I have to look for you."

"Okay. I'll be waiting near the entrance."

"Which entrance?"

"The main entrance. It's the easiest place to get to from the highway."

"Okay! Be careful. Don't stay away from the crowd."

Zhengyi then hung up the phone. Twenty minutes wasn't a long time, but it wasn't a short time either. One clear thing was that there wasn't enough time to go to lunch at one of the nearby stalls. He remembered the original purpose he came to that place. Zhengyi stepped into the luggage storage area. At first, after picking up the backpack he had put there yesterday, Zhengyi would immediately leave the station. But, the hunger that was so excruciating made him change his plans a little.

Zhengyi then stopped at a bakery. He bought some bread. Some he ate right away, some he put in the bag he carried on his back. Then Zhengyi rose to the surface speedily and waited near the door where he entered the station last night.

Zhengyi's friend came just at the time he promised. He rode the motorbike he rode with Zhengyi yesterday.

"What is that?" The friend pointed at the giant backpack that Zhengyi was carrying.

"Just a few things I left yesterday here."

"Okay. Don't waste any more time. We have to hurry."

Looks like he's really ready. Had he predicted this incident?

"Come up!" Zhengyi's friend seemed impatient when he saw the frozen Zhengyi. He held out a helmet.

Zhengyi nodded. After receiving the helmet, he put it on right away and jumped onto the motorbike.

"Are you ready?" The friend said.

"Where are we going?" Zhengyi patted his friend's shoulder.

"Don't ask too many questions. Please, just come along. Later, there, I'll explain!"

The motorbike was traveling at high speed. Zhengyi's friend took the vehicle through roads that Zhengyi did not know well. It could be said that Zhengyi had absolutely no idea where they were. After about twenty minutes, the motorbike they rode into the garage of a beautiful house. The garage door closed automatically when the vehicle they were riding had stopped in the garage.

"Just put your backpack here first." Zhengyi's friend pointed to the floor to their left.

"Whose house is this?" Zhengyi looked left and right as he got off the motorcycle.

Zhengyi's friend did not answer. Instead, he opened the door that connected the garage to another room in the house. The two of them soon entered the house through the door. Zhengyi followed his friend, who, without stopping, continued to walk deep into the house. It turned out to be an enormous house. From the outside, one could only see that the width of the house was only about twenty meters. But apparently, when people went inside, they would realize that the house was really long. They passed a garden, which Zhengyi estimated was in the center of the house. Behind the garden, there was a relatively large hall. A man sat behind a large table at the end of the hall. He wore an expensive-looking suit and a black hat, which also looked luxurious.

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When the two of them arrived right in front of the table, the person stood up. He took off his hat. Zhengyi could see the person's face clearly.

"Instructor Shentu!" Zhengyi nodded respectfully.

"How are you, Dongfang?" The man smiled faintly.

Shentu Zhongyi was one instructor who trained Zhengyi when he joined a secret society decades ago. Among some instructors who were there. It was this person who left the deepest impression on Zhengyi's mind.

"I'm fine, Sir!" Zhengyi saluted once again. "You look old."

The person laughed at Zhengyi's words. "Of course I look old. Decades have passed. If I still looked the same as before, wouldn't it be scary?"

Shentu Zhongyi was an instructor figure that was very frightening to everyone who underwent training there. At least that's what stuck in Zhengyi's mind. Zhengyi never felt comfortable at all when that person was around him. Even now, when that person looked old, his appearance was still so frightening and scary.

"That's right, Sir! I mean, you look very dignified right now!" Answered Zhengyi.

The man laughed again. In the past, when that person stood in front of her, Zhengyi always trembled. After decades, Zhengyi thought he could control himself. But unexpectedly, he was still shaking. It turned out that there were things that were very difficult to change.

"Both of you, please have a seat," Shentu said.

"Thank you, Sir." Zhengyi sat down straightway. In the slightest, he didn't want to delay doing what Shentu said. His friend also did the same. The two of them sat on the same side of the table.

"I've heard the things that happened to you and your friends. Zhongli has told me everything so clearly."

In a short time, Zhongli had told him everything? That's almost impossible. I'm sure that whoever the mob did this, they must have been on this old man's radar for a long time!

Zhongli Zhiren, the friend who brought Zhengyi to the house, nodded respectfully at Instructor Shentu. Zhengyi could only remain silent. His tongue was numb. Erratically, he didn't know what to say. Shentu Zhongyi must have known everything. It seemed there was nothing more to add.

"What should we do now, Sir?" Finally, a sentence came out of Zhengyi's mouth.

"Of course you have to call the police!" Shentu Zhongyi said.

"What about my friend's safety?"

"Your friend wasn't the target of the thugs. So it's very likely that he won't be harmed. Besides, the police will definitely act professionally."

Zhengyi was not at all convinced that it was the best way. The criminals didn't want a ransom. Most likely, they need information about something. Something they didn't know yet. Explaining this to the police might not be a simple matter.

"Do you want us to interfere in this case?"

Shentu Zhongyi's question sounded a little strange to Zhengyi's ears. He was almost one hundred percent certain that the agency must have interfered in the matter. Either since Zhengyi met Zhongli Zhiren yesterday, or it could be long before that.

"What are we really into, sir?" Zhengyi ventured to dig up further information.

"Do you think we know more than you?" Shentu asked.

Zhengyi did not answer right away. He knew Shentu had not finished speaking.

"We don't have the proper facilities and infrastructure that we can use to conduct a proper investigation." Shentu laughed again.

"But I think you must know about what happened," said Zhengyi. "At least a little more than we know."

"Okay. You're right. Regarding this matter, we do know a little more than you guys. But still many things are not clear to us. It's like seeing a snake. We only saw the tail."

"Director Shentu, I don't think we should be too rigid about this." Zhongli Zhiren, who had been silent all this time, started to open his mouth.

Director Shentu? Oh, of course. Decades have passed. There is no way this old man is still only serving as an instructor there now! Then, what is Zhiren's position?

Zhengyi turned to Zhongli Zhiren. His friend's face was tense. Perhaps, just like Zhengyi, Shentu's presence also made him feel intimidated.

"I'll help you guys," Director Shentu said. "But as usual, I don't want the police to know that we are involved in investigating this."

Zhengyi looked at Director Shentu. At first, he didn't understand what the man meant. It occurred to Zhengyi that they had to trick the police. The secret service might set up traps to trick the police into barking at the wrong tree. The working method between the police and the secret service was entirely different. So the presence of the police might actually interfere with the course of their investigation. But then he understood that they just shouldn't mention the involvement of other agencies when talking to the police.

"Can your friend be trusted?" Director Shentu asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Duanmu Shanquan. Do you think he would be willing to cooperate with us?"

"Do you know him?" Zhengyi tried his best not to sound strange in his tone.

Dage is a Duanmu. So it wasn't strange if something had happened in his life, which made him have to deal with people like this old man.

"If I told you I knew him, would you be surprised?" Director Shentu stared with sharp eyes.

Zhengyi would not be surprised. So many mysterious things he felt from his dahge. Among them, perhaps the one who knew the most about Shanquan was Qiuzhen. He had known Shanquan since he was little. He was even friends with one of Shanquan's relatives, so Zhengyi felt it was only natural that the contact between Shanquan and Qiuzhen was more intense than the contact between Shanquan and the other friends.

Director Shentu was still glaring at Zhengyi. His gaze was sharper than the razor Zhengyi used to clean his chin. It seemed that the old man was still waiting for Zhengyi's answer.

"I don't know if I should be surprised or not." This time Zhengyi did something that she had never thought of before. He returned Director Shentu's gaze. Although his gaze was not as sharp as the old man's gaze. "There are many mysterious things about him."

"Alright. But do you think Duanmu Shanquan would be willing to cooperate with us?"

Had there been an incident previously that made Dage probably unwilling to accept this person's help?

"There are indeed many things about Duanmu Shanquan that I do not know. But there is one thing that I am absolutely sure of." Zhengyi stopped talking for a while. "Duanmu Shanquan is a very loyal friend. He will definitely not hesitate to cooperate with you for the safety of our kidnapped friend."

I hope there's nothing serious problem between Dage and this guy!

"Good," said Director Shentu. "Zhongli. Now you take Dongfang back to Pingyuan. After that, you have a little talk with Duanmu."

"Okay Sir," replied Zhongli Zhiren in a firm voice.

Without wasting much time, Zhengyi and Zhiren returned to the garage in a flash.

"Don't forget your backpack," said Zhongli.

Zhengyi just smiled a little.

They then rode the motorbike to Zhengyi's residence in Pingyuan.