Shanquan was still standing there. Even though the car carrying Yingyue had disappeared behind the turn, his hand was still waving towards the turn. Suddenly he heard the beeper again. Shanquan turned his head. He saw Caihong pull the pager out of his pocket. The young man's brow furrowed as he read the message he had just received.

"Sorry, Uncle. Something happened at the exhibition. I'll take a look over there for a bit. I'll be back before ten o'clock."

"Is the exhibition still open at this hour?" Zhengyi asked.

Zhengyi is so weird today. It's not too late yet! We know most public places will still be open.

"That place is still open, Uncle! It closes around nine."

"Do you want us to order a taxi now?" Shanquan asked.

"No need Uncle! Soon one of my employees will come and pick me up here," said Caihong.

"Does your employee know the address of this place?" Yiren asked.

"He already knows, Uncle. I already told him this afternoon."

Just after Caihong finished speaking, there was a motorcycle speeding toward them. The motorcycle then stopped right in front of them.

"Eh! He came so fast." Yiren was amazed.

"That means the person who sent the news to Tsehorng's pager is not the same as this employee who just arrived." Yixiong pointed at the motorcyclist.

Caihong nodded. "The guy who just texted me is still at the show. He sent the message long after he told this clerk of mine to come pick me up here."

"Alright! Be careful on the way," said Shanquan.

The biker held out a helmet for Caihong. The young man put the helmet on his head straight away. After that, he got on the motorbike. Shanquan and his friends waved their hands. The motorbike sped away quickly, away from their house.

They all went back into the house. While waiting for a call from the kidnappers, they sat in the living room and dining room. Anxiety radiated from their eyes. Even under normal circumstances, waiting was a tedious job. Especially now, when they didn't know for sure what would happen to their friend.

After about ten minutes, Shanquan stood up. He patted Zhengyi and Yixiong's shoulders. They both stood up in a flash.

"You stand guard in the living room," Shanquan looked at Yiren.

Even though his face showed disapproval, Yiren still nodded. He forthwith lay down on the sofa.

Shanquan walked to the backyard. The other two friends followed him. Shanquan and Yixiong then sat down on chairs on the kitchen terrace in the backyard. Zhengyi sat on the terrace floor.

"I want to talk about your friend." Shanquan faced Zhengyi. "What efforts have they made?"

"Before we came here, they had started an investigation. So I think they are a few steps ahead of the police," said Zhengyi.

"Do you think we were wrong or not?"

"About what?" Zhengyi asked.

"The police do not know that other agencies are also conducting investigations. What if this interferes with their performance?"

"We don't know for sure that the police don't know. It's not impossible that the police actually already know. Maybe something like this is a normal practice here," said Zhengyi.

"Competition between police agencies and secret agencies is commonplace?" Yixiong looked at his two friends.

"Could be." Shanquan sighed.

"What's more important is that the agency my friend works for seems to have looked into this for a long time. They already know a lot more than we do. I wouldn't be surprised if they actually knew what the kidnappers wanted."

"So you suspect that your meeting with Jongli six months ago wasn't a coincidence at all?" Shanquan raised his eyebrows.

"I don't know if it was a coincidence or something he had planned. I also don't know when exactly they started investigating this. Maybe a year or six months ago, they had been after these people. But it could also be that this just started three or two months ago. To be sure, it didn't start in the last few days."

"Jongli said what?" Shanquan leaned forward.

"He didn't say anything specific. He just advised us not to act rashly. Even though they most likely won't harm Xinxiu, still we shouldn't pretend to be heroes, wanting to settle this matter with our own hands. He asked us to just entrust this matter to be handled by the institution where he works, and also the police."

"Is that all? Did he say anything else?"

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Ah! He did say that they had found one of their hideouts. Their agents seem to be on their way. But he didn't know the mob had Xinxiu locked up there or somewhere else."

Yixiong gasped. He seemed to remember something important. "What about Songfei? Is your friend also investigating it?"

"They think these two things are related. So they are also investigating Songfei's current whereabouts. However, since Songfei told Dahge that he was hiding outside the city, Jongli said that other units are currently investigating his whereabouts. Songfei," Zhengyi replied.

"Other units in other cities?" Yixiong asked.

"I don't know what my friend meant by other units in another city or other units in this city," Zhengyi said.

"What about you? What did you talk to the police about?" Shanquan looked at Yixiong.

Yixiong straightened his seat. "Exactly as we agreed. I'll tell them everything, except the parts related to Miss Lüqiu."

"Didn't the police ask for the things we found in Songfei's bag?" Zhengyi asked.

"Oh yeah, they said they had to check the contents of the bag," Yixiong said.

Suddenly, the door that connected the kitchen to the back porch opened. Yiren appeared from behind the door.

"Why are you here? Dahge asked you to stay in the living room," Zhengyi said.

"You guys are gathered here to discuss something that I feel is very important. Should I stay in the living room?"

"I'll explain to you later what we're talking about here," Zhengyi said.

"Okay," said Shanquan. "You sit here with me. I think nothing terrible will happen before ten o'clock."

Yiren sat next to Zhengyi right away.

"Let's continue our conversation," said Shanquan.

"When will the police be here?" Zhengyi looked at Yixiong.

"They didn't say they would coming here to get the things. They just said that the things in the bag might be a precious clue. I didn't quite understand what their plan was. It turned out that the police were very careful. They choose to avoid things that can provoke the kidnappers. So I think the police want us to take the stuff to their place."

"When should we do it?"

"Maybe tomorrow morning the police will contact us to explain their plan. In addition, the police also need information from all of you. So when you go to the police station, you might as well bring those things," said Yixiong.

"Isn't it risky if we go to the police station?" Zhengyi asked.

"I think what the police mean is the place they use as a place for them to be on standby to monitor the case. So it's not really a police station. Most likely, it's not far from here," Yixiong said.

"Shouldn't we discuss what we should say to the police?" Zhengyi looked at Shanquan.

"Tell me what you mean?" Yixiong opened his mouth before Shanquan could answer.

"What I mean is don't we need to compose the words that we are going to tell the police? So that our stories are not different," Zhengyi said.

"No need," said Shanquan. "If our stories are exactly the same, the police will actually be suspicious. Let's just tell us all the things we saw and experienced. What we shouldn't tell is about the kidnapping incident that Miss Lüqiu witnessed. We agreed not to involve the girl. Apart from things related to Miss Lüqiu, we also don't need to say anything about this secret passage beneath our house. I don't think it has anything to do with our case at all."

"Is there anything else we should do?" Yiren asked.

"Of course! Right now, we have to get ready," said Shanquan.

"Getting ready to do what?" His friends asked in unison.

"The police said they would check the items that Songfei left. What if they hold the items and have no intention of returning them to us? To the police, those items are evidence. If that is the case, then we have no clue at all, "Shanquan said.

"So we still intend to investigate the Songfei case?" Yiren asked.

"I made a promise to Songfei. I think I should try to keep it," said Shanquan.

The three friends looked at Shanquan deeply. Shanquan didn't know what they were currently thinking. Then they looked at each other.

"All right! We'll go along with it. What should we do now?" Zhengyi issued the sentences at a slower tempo.

"Let's copy the writings in Songfei's bag first," said Shanquan.

"Ouch!" The notebook is quite thick. We don't have time to copy everything. After all, the results of the copies that we make may differ greatly from the original," said Yiren.

"We will not copy it by hand. We can duplicate it with a photocopy machine. Around here, there are several shops that serve document copying," said Shanquan.

"The notebook doesn't need to be photocopied. Just the things in the envelope. I mean, a photo, a piece of paper full of scribbles, and a map," Yixiong said.

"Why not?" Yiren asked.

"Because I didn't say anything to the police about the notebook. I only said about the three things that were in the envelope," said Yixiong.

Shanquan laughed at Yixiong's confession. Sometimes Yixiong did do such unexpected things. Actions that were sometimes wholly unreasonable.

"Then right now I'm going to the document-copying shop," said Shanquan.

"Could it be, apart from the kidnappers, the police are also monitoring our surroundings? It is not easy to get out of our housing complex," said Yiren.

"I will try to change my appearance," said Shanquan. "Maybe I'll wear a hat, a mask and a leather jacket."

"Yes, but they will still see when Dahge comes out of this house," said Yiren.

"Have you forgotten? I can get out through the underground secret passage!" Shanquan smiled widely.