Jingkang nodded. "That's right, Sir. I did speak with Mr. Beihai. He was fine. He told me earlier that he had an ostrich omelet for breakfast."

Good grief! Perhaps Xinxiu thought that this kidnapping was some kind of vacation or picnic!

"Did Xinxiu not suspect at all that you weren't Dage?" Zhengyi joined the conversation. His voice was squeaky.

"I don't know, Sir! His voice sounded normal. Maybe he was suspicious because the choice of words I use was most likely not exactly the same as the choice of words that Mr. Duanmu might use in conversation. It could be, even though he already had a guess. But Mr. Beihai didn't show it, so the kidnappers wouldn't get suspicious."

"What else did Xinxiu say?" Yiren was very curious.

"He said nothing else. He had no chance. As soon as Mr. Beihai said those things, the kidnappers immediately took over the phone. They said they would give me details on what to do around four o'clock this afternoon," Jingkang said.

"What did the police say about this?" Yiren asked.

"They just said that we have to wait for further instructions from the kidnappers. So, the police must first see what the details of the ransom demand the kidnappers are asking for," Yixiong replied.

"I mean, what the police said about the fake Shanquan talking to the kidnappers? Did the police just let you guys try to trick the kidnappers? What if Jingkang fails to convince them he is Dage? Isn't there a chance they might hurt Xinxiu?"

Yixiong chuckled at the barrage of questions Yiren asked.

"If I put that crazy proposal to the police, then like you said, they would definitely reject it. So I didn't say anything. The police themselves were fooled earlier, too. They thought Dage was back. Through Huaxiang, I could hear the instructions they gave Jingkang. At that time, the police believed they were whispering directly to Dage. After the kidnappers hung up, I told the police that it wasn't Dage who spoke to the kidnappers, but Dage's distant relative."

Hearing Yixiong's words, all eyes turned to Jingkang.

"That's right. I am still related to Mr. Duanmu." Jingkang's voice sounded so steady.

Yiren smiled. Such a thing was by no means a surprise. Shanquan had told him a lot about his family background. There were only sixteen Duanmu family clans in this new world. Six of the sixteen clans actually came from one big family. So the possibility that Shanquan and Jingkang were still distantly related was very high.

Added to that is the fact that most of the members of the Duanmu family are protective of each other. The Duanmus do not hesitate to consider the other Duanmus to be their cousins. Even though their kinship is so far away.

"The policemen were also shocked. But then they just said that improvisation like that should not happen again. If there is a change of plans, we must involve the police. We can't make decisions by ourselves," Yixiong said.

"So the kidnappers will call again at four in the afternoon?" asked Qiuzhen.

"They didn't say that, Sir. They just said that around four in the afternoon, they would tell me in full what I have to do."

"This is very interesting," said Qiuzhen.

"Which part did you find most interesting?" Caihong asked.

"In the first place, what's the point of them insisting on speaking directly to Beaushu? If they just want us to exchange Shiowge for Songfei's goods, then it shouldn't matter who talks to them."

Qiuzhen is right. Maybe they have a certain purpose!

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"The second thing is, how did they know it was Biaoshu who was speaking?"

Ah! Did that mean that they, or at least one of them, had come face-to-face with Dage?

Qiuzhen hadn't finished speaking yet. "They already know who lives in this house. Is it possible that they already know the habits of the people in this house?"

Qiuzhen was silent for a moment. He looked at the faces of the people there.

"How did they know that?" Qiuzhen opened his mouth again. "Surely through careful scrutiny. They must have watched this house and its occupants for a long time. They have studied the movements of the people who live in this house well. But how did they know Biaoshu's voice? It is impossible to recognize people's voices by observing from a certain distance. Actually, that person has to interact with Biaoshu to know clearly how Biaoshu's voice, accent and his style of speech."

"So you're saying that the person behind the kidnappers is someone who knows Dage personally?" Yiren wanted to know if Qiuzhen really had the same guess as him.

"Right." Qiuzhen nodded with a powerful gesture. "You probably know this person, too. So you should focus on who the people who have appeared in your life over the past six months!"

"Why only the last six months?" Jingkang asked.

"Because they don't know about me," Qiuzhen replied. "I moved from here about six months ago. So after that, there are only five people living here. People who don't know that there is a sixth person living here is the one who has been watching over this house and its occupants since six months ago or less than that."

"Your analysis makes sense," said Yiren. "We have to start listing everyone we've known for six months or less."

"I also know the uncles here since about six months ago," said Caihong.

"If you were the one behind all this, then you couldn't have sent Jingkang here," Yixiong said.

"We can't rule out the possibility," argued Caihong. "I could have sent Jingkang here to make people unsuspecting of me."

"If you're really the mastermind behind all this, you can't possibly tell us to suspect you or give any clues that lead to you," said Yiren.

"What if I'm a crazy psychopath who enjoys torturing their victims? It's possible that I purposely told the Uncles who were here to suspect me. It's part of the torture process that I really enjoy." Caihong looked at them all with sharp eyes.

Yiren, Zhengyi, Qiuzhen, and Yixiong looked deeply into Caihong's face. The young man's face looked normal.

Could this kid really be crazy? If that's true, maybe in the past six months, his madness has not healed, but has actually gotten worse!

Yixiong looked at Caihong's face with a look that was no less sharp. "You're saying that we should also suspect you because you chose to be here with us? This is consistent with the theory that criminals who are usually smart and brave will tend to involve themselves in the investigation of their crimes. So it's possible that your hard work to help us is part of your efforts to insert yourself into this investigation."

This is really crazy!

"Okay. Don't worry. We've officially added you to the suspect list." Yiren nodded while looking at Caihong. He laughed out loud.

"A good investigator will not rule out the possibility that someone close to them is the mastermind behind a case they're working on." Caihong gave Yiren a thumbs up.

"You sound exactly like Songfei. I'm starting to suspect that this is a very sophisticated Songfei game," Zhengyi said.

"Do you suspect our Caihong is conspiring with Songfei to force us into his game?" Yiren asked.

"Is that not possible?" Zhengyi asked.

"What about Linghu Weideng? Didn't he lose the thing that Songfei left him?" Yiren asked.

"But it's possible that the theft had nothing to do with Songfei's disappearance," Zhengyi said. "Even we don't have any evidence that Linghu Weideng actually lost the wooden box."

"If this was just a pretense, could Songfei be that reckless? This is no joke! The police have also been involved in this case!" Yiren tried to argue.

"Why not? How can we be sure that the cops we've seen, heard, and met so far are real cops?" Zhengyi said.

Qiuzhen smiled. He then said to Yixiong. "Xiongge, when you gave a statement to the police, did you do it at the police station?"

"Of course not. We were afraid that I was being watched, so the police questioned me inside a building that obviously wasn't a police station."

"Did any of us actually meet the cops working on this case at the police station?" Qiuzhen looked at his friends.

They all looked at each other.

"But Caihong had contacted police officials directly. So indeed we didn't report to the police station in a normal way," Yixiong said.

"But if it turns out that Caihong conspires with Songfei to force us to play in this game, then this all makes sense. It could be just a game. The cops are just actors who are paid to pretend to be cops," Qiuzhen said.

The crazy theory that Zhengyi and Qiuzhen put forward seemed to make sense, too. Yiren scratched the crown of his head, which was actually not itchy.