Yu Hanjiang drove to Qingshui Town Criminal Police Officer Division.
At 11:40 PM, the office lights were on, and Captain Liu and his team were working overtime investigating the vehicle that had driven out of the Jinxiu Villa garage. Seeing Yu Hanjiang enter the office, the young Criminal Police Officer quickly stood up and said, " Captain Yu's here!"
Yu Hanjiang nodded, strode to the monitor screen, and asked, "Have you found any suspicious vehicles?"
"After 4 PM this afternoon, a total of 84 vehicles left the underground parking garage of Jinxiu Villa. Among them, 71 were owned by residents and 13 were temporary vehicles. The resident vehicles were relatively easy to check; I have already contacted the property management to confirm them one by one, and I haven't found anything suspicious. Of the 13 temporary vehicles, the owners of 10 have been located through the traffic management bureau, but the owners of 3 have not been able to be contacted…" Captain Liu frowned and pointed to the surveillance screen, saying, "Moreover, these 3 vehicles have also disappeared from the surveillance footage."
"Let me see." Yu Hanjiang took the documents, glanced at them, leaned over, gripped the mouse, and quickly rewound the surveillance video.
Captain Liu identified three private cars, one black, one white, and one red, which left the Jinxiu Villa residential complex at 16:45, 17:10, and 17:30 respectively, leaving a record on the security camera at the entrance.
Strangely, after driving around the town, the three vehicles disappeared from the surveillance network.
Yu Hanjiang paused the screen by pressing the mouse. The screen showed the last location of the black sedan, a residential area west of Qingshui Town, where the security cameras were all broken. On another screen, the white sedan last appeared east of Qingshui Town, while the red sedan disappeared to the south.
The three cars drove in different directions and, quite coincidentally, drove into a blind spot of the surveillance cameras.
Yu Hanjiang said decisively, "They did it on purpose."
Captain Liu paused for a moment, then stroked his chin thoughtfully: " Captain Yu means that they deliberately drove at different times and on different roads to confuse the police and make it impossible for us to determine their exact departure direction?"
"Hmm, they're operating in three groups, which makes the investigation more difficult. These people are very professional in counter-surveillance." Yu Hanjiang zoomed in on the surveillance footage, carefully examining the tire tracks of the three vehicles. He repeatedly switched between the footage, leaving the young Criminal Police Officers standing behind him dazzled.
"Road construction is underway around the town, so some sections are in poor condition and there are no security cameras," Captain Liu explained hastily when he saw Yu Hanjiang freeze the camera on a sandy road.
"It's a red sedan." Yu Hanjiang straightened up and pointed to the tire tracks in the picture. "Vehicles with different loads will leave different tire tracks when they go over dirt roads. This red sedan must have been full of people, because the tracks are much deeper than the other two cars. If I'm not mistaken, the kidnapped people were sitting in the back seat of the car at the time."
"..." Captain Liu slapped his forehead. "That's right, on a dirt road with bad conditions, you can see the tire tracks more clearly. They made a mistake in their plan, which allowed us to pinpoint the car that took the hostage!"
" What's the situation around Qingshui Town?" Yu Hanjiang asked in a low voice. "Give me a detailed map."
"Oh, okay!" Captain Liu found a map and handed it to Yu Hanjiang.
Yu Hanjiang picked up a pen and quickly drew three red crosses on the map: "The three cars disappeared in the east, west, and south of the town, respectively. The red sedan carrying the hostage disappeared in the south. The black and white cars were probably driven erratically to mislead the police; the red car is the key." Yu Hanjiang looked up, his gaze sharp. "There are absolutely no surveillance cameras in this area?"
"Yes." Captain Liu nodded vigorously. " The area around Qingshui Town is still undeveloped. There are more than a dozen villages bordering it on the east, north, and south sides. Although the economic conditions are not good, the natural environment is beautiful. The city has already issued a document to develop it into a tourist area."
"How many villages are there to the south?"
"Six." Captain Liu gave a brief introduction to the situation of each village.
In this semi-rural area, there are no wide highways, only gravel country roads. Several forks in the road south of the town lead to six different villages, which are quite far apart. Without surveillance cameras, nobody knows where that car went.
Yu Hanjiang glanced down at his watch—23:55, just 5 minutes until midnight.
The surveillance footage provided limited information; he could only deduce that Xiao Lou and the others had been taken south. He couldn't waste any more time. Thinking this, Yu Hanjiang immediately turned and said, "I'll go find that car."
"Do we need to send reinforcements?"
"No need." Deploying a large number of police officers would alert the suspect and lead to the killing of the hostage, and Yu Hanjiang dared not take that risk. He waved his hand and said, "Thank you all for your hard work. Captain Liu, if you find anything, contact me immediately."
Yu Hanjiang turned and left the detachment, drove his black private car, stepped on the gas, and the car shot off like an arrow towards the south of Qingshui Town.
In the dead of night, with few pedestrians in the small town, Yu Hanjiang, his face grim, sped up to top speed and quickly arrived at the spot where the red sedan had disappeared from the surveillance footage. The road conditions here were terrible; he spotted the last surveillance camera flashing its infrared light by the roadside. Beyond that lay only country roads, without streetlights or surveillance cameras.
The pitch-black country lane was like a wild beast with its jaws wide open, almost ready to devour you.
Yu Hanjiang parked the car at the intersection and opened the map.
The headlights illuminated a three-way intersection ahead. If you go left for 10 kilometers, you'll reach a T-junction leading to two villages; if you go right and straight for 10 kilometers, you'll also encounter a T-junction leading to four different villages.
In other words, the road leads to six villages, and Xiao Lou could have been taken to any of them. Even if he drove at top speed, it would take 30 minutes to reach the nearest village, and checking each village one by one would take a total of 180 minutes.
There's simply not enough time.
If he went to the wrong village, he might have missed the best time to rescue them, leading to the brutal killing of Xiao Lou and the other two.
This isn't a maze where you can go back to where you started if you get lost; it's a life-or-death choice.
He simply cannot afford the consequences of making the wrong choice.
Of the six paths, which one is the right one?
The car disappeared into the area around 6 p.m., which was rush hour. Many villagers were going to work in the town, so the roads were busy with vehicles, and the tire tracks were very messy, making it impossible to see the tire tracks left by the red car.
The trail went cold again.
Yu Hanjiang returned to his car with a somber expression. Just then, his phone lit up with a message: "Arrived at Xishan Cemetery."
It was posted by Shao Qingge.
Yu Hanjiang replied: "Be careful."
Shao Qingge: "You too. We'll contact each other via Telepathic Connection as soon as it hits midnight."
After saying that, he completely deleted the chat history, carried a box of ransom, and went with several teammates to the location designated by the other party.
Xishan Cemetery, row 18, tenth tombstone from the left.
In the early morning, the pitch-black cemetery was deserted. The willow trees beside the cemetery swayed in the wind, and under the hazy moonlight, their jagged shadows on the ground looked like dancing demons.
Going to a cemetery in the middle of the night is already unsettling, let alone the fact that they have no idea who is secretly watching them.
Shao Qingge turned on his flashlight and led his teammates quickly to the tombstone, where they put down the box full of cash.
He shone his flashlight on the tombstone, only to find a printed A4 sheet of paper pasted on the cold tombstone: "Put down the box, leave the cemetery, and turn left after you go down the mountain."
Shao Qingge frowned, took out his phone and sent a message: "We agreed on cash on delivery, where's my friend?"
The other party said, "Follow the instructions, otherwise you will only see their corpses."
Shao Qingge had no choice but to leave a box of gold coins and lead his teammates out of the cemetery.
At midnight, all card skills were refreshed. No one noticed that a figure suddenly appeared and disappeared in the darkness— Shao Qingge summoned Qin Guan.
At the same time, Shao Qingge's voice rang in Yu Hanjiang's mind: the Telepathic Connection channel had been established.
"We've been under surveillance the whole time; there should be hidden cameras near the cemetery. Judging from their reaction, Xiao Liu impersonating you and having Little Red Riding Hood follow behind hasn't aroused their suspicion yet. The ransom has been placed in front of the designated tombstone, and they told us to drive to the left after leaving the cemetery." Shao Qingge quickly relayed the situation at the cemetery to Yu Hanjiang.
"Left?" Yu Hanjiang took out the map and saw that CEO Shao was currently at Xishan Cemetery. After going down the mountain, turning left would lead to a country road. Continuing along that road would bring them to the fork in the road south of Qingshui Town.
"Act according to their instructions," Yu Hanjiang whispered in his mind. "They might lead you to the place where Xiao Lou and the other two are being held, and then kill everyone involved."
"Okay, stay in touch." Shao Qingge led his teammates down the mountain, started the car, and turned onto the small road on the left.
***
At the same time, inside a dark, sealed room.
Xiao Lou and Lao Mo were discussing the case when their contact was suddenly cut off.
Both were fully conscious and chatting in their minds. The iron gate on Old Mo's side hadn't been opened, ruling out the possibility of him being drugged. The Telepathic Connection was broken, so it could only mean—at midnight, the card skill refreshed.
Telepathic Connection can only be maintained for 24 hours, and the target can be changed after the skill refreshes at midnight every day.
It is exactly 24:00 now.
Xiao Lou took a deep breath and called out towards the door, "Is anyone home?"
There was no sound outside.
Most of the cards in his card holder, such as Li Qingzhao and Tao Yuanming, need to be held in his hand to be activated and summoned. At this time, his hands are tightly bound, and he cannot use these cards.
However, there are two exceptions – Qin Guan's Telepathic Connection and Xiao Yu's Passive Protection.
Because " Telepathic Connection " establishes a mental channel, this skill can also be controlled mentally. Xiao Yu's protection of her brother is passively triggered; if someone tries to kill Xiao Lou with a knife, Xiao Yu will immediately appear to help her brother. However, so far, Xiao Yu hasn't appeared, proving that Xiao Lou is not in an extremely dangerous situation.
With no one outside, Xiao Lou took a deep breath and immediately used his mental powers to release the " Telepathic Connection " skill signal.
Yu Hanjiang received the signal.
CEO Shao has already passed the test, so the other VIP card can only come from Xiao Lou!
Yu Hanjiang's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly answered the call.
A familiar voice echoed in my mind: " Hanjiang, are you there?"
The man's voice was as gentle as he remembered, though tinged with anxiety. Yu Hanjiang felt a surge of joy, and suppressing his excitement, he whispered, "I'm here! Xiao Lou, how are you? Are you hurt?!"
Hearing his concerned voice, Xiao Lou felt a warmth in her heart and quickly said, "I'm fine, I just don't know where we're being held. How are things on your end? You haven't been arrested, have you?"
"No." Yu
Hanjiang quickly explained, "They used your phone to send a message asking CEO Shao to bring the ransom. Currently, CEO Shao, Qu Wanyue, Long Sen, and Liu Qiao are on their way to deliver the ransom. I'll be looking for you at the intersection south of Qingshui Town."
Time was of the essence, and the two didn't have time for a proper greeting. Yu Hanjiang quickly moved on to the most crucial point: " Xiao Lou, could you describe the surrounding environment as best you can?"
"A concrete floor, a sealed room, an iron door. There are three people on the other side, two men and one woman. The two henchmen call the leader ' Brother Rong,' which is very likely the Brother Rong we're looking for." Xiao Lou closed his eyes, carefully sensing his surroundings. Although he couldn't see anything, his hearing and sense of smell had become exceptionally acute because of his blindness. "When those three were checking if I was conscious, I smelled a strange scent, a light, cool fragrance, it must be… plum blossom."
At first, Xiao Lou couldn't quite identify the scent, but upon closer reflection, she realized that the delicate fragrance was clearly floral, and on a man, it didn't resemble perfume; it was more like a natural floral scent. For example, the fragrance emanating from a flowerbed.
Not many flowers bloom in February. Xiao Lou carefully searched her knowledge base and confirmed that it was the cool fragrance of plum blossom.
" Plum blossom?" Yu Hanjiang hurriedly picked up the map, which he had marked based on Captain Liu's description. There are six villages near Qingshui Town, one of which, called " Qinghe Village," has a large number of plum blossoms. The city is planning to develop it into an eco-tourism destination with " plum blossom " as its theme.
At this time, early spring is approaching, which is the season when plum blossoms are in bloom.
If those people had walked through a large plum blossom forest, they might have picked up the scent of plum blossoms and brought it to Xiao Lou's attention. The scent of plum blossoms is not strong; rather, it is light and cool, which Xiao Lou was fortunate enough to notice.
"Take care of yourself, I'm coming to rescue you right away." Yu Hanjiang folded the map and stuffed it into his pocket, left the car behind, activated his Lightness Skill card, and sped off towards Qinghe Village!