"Comrades, the lead suspect will be temporarily placed in your care."
"Thank you police comrades for assisting us in our work. After the suspect has finished questioning, we will exchange him back."
"Well, this case is a bit strange. Never mind. I won't talk about it anymore. I wish you good luck in handling the case."
…
In the brightly lit hall, five people escorted a man wearing a hood and handcuffs past the police badge. Two men in suits took the man to the car. A man and a woman shook hands and said goodbye to the policemen who saw them off. They went down the stairs and went to the parking lot. Liu Qingyue tidied a strand of hair that hung on the side of her face, and looked at a row of sycamore trees illuminated by street lamps, whose withered yellow leaves were swaying in the wind. A trace of uneasiness appeared in her eyes.
"Yulin, get in the car. What are you still standing there for?" The SUV was backing up, and Afeng called out to her through the rear window. The woman came to her senses then, smiled, opened the door, and sat in the passenger seat without saying a word.
The vehicle drove out of the police station, and the two men did not ask about the case on the way. The city was brightly lit at night, and occasionally drunk people came out of the bar, talking nonsense and shouting loudly in groups of three or four on the street.
The vehicle then whizzed through the street, turned the intersection ahead, and stopped in the alley behind an old residential area. Liu Qingyue opened the car door and walked straight inside, following several shops facing the street. When she came to the fifth shop, she knocked rhythmically on the rolling door with her fingertips. After a moment, the lights came on inside, and the door curtain rose up with a rustling sound.
Inside the shop, an old man glanced at the woman outside the door and the ID card in her hand, then silently turned aside to make way for two sturdy men and a young man with handcuffs on his head who came in from behind. He went outside to take a look, then came back and pulled the door curtain down again, took out the key to lock it, slowly sat down on a recliner, turned on the radio on the small cabinet next to him, listened to the "Yiyayaya" opera in it, and hummed along with his head shaking from time to time.
Behind the swaying recliner, several people entered and closed the door. There was a slight "click" sound of the switch, and a dim light came on in the room. The man with handcuffed hands was pressed down on a chair in the middle by two big men. Ah Feng lit a cigarette and raised his chin at the two team members.
"Take the hood off him."
One of the big men on the left and right of the chair reached out and pulled off the man's hood, revealing a full beard, squinting eyes, and a strong smell of alcohol on his breath. He wanted to get up, raised his hands and struggled for a few times, but was patted on the back of his head by the man in a suit next to him.
"Be honest."
The slap made him sit back down. He looked at the small room, the young man leaning against the wall and puffing out smoke, two burly men, and a woman sitting in the corner looking at him. He came to his senses and felt a little panicked.
It was clearly the police who arrested me before, how come a different group of people suddenly came into play
"Who are you? I really didn't do anything wrong. How could that money be fake? I can't even tell the difference between real and fake. Everyone, do you agree?"
"Don't worry about what we do. We know your background too." The young man leaning against the wall came over with a cigarette, pressed it on the table, leaned over, stared at the drunkard in front of him and blew a puff of cigarette, "As a loan shark, you must be able to tell the real money from the fake, otherwise you wouldn't accept it. It's just... didn't you see the serial number on the face of the money? More than 200,000, all with the same number. Tell me, who should we arrest if not you?"
The man swallowed, stared at the young man in front of him with wide eyes, and his body began to tremble slightly.
“How many years will the sentence be?”
"Even if it's not life imprisonment, it'll be at least 10 to 20 years." Ah Feng sat sideways on the table and patted the man on the head, like an adult comforting a child. "But if you report truthfully and answer whatever we ask, maybe you can get a reduced sentence."
"I'll tell you what I'm saying, you guys ask."
The man nodded repeatedly. He knew very well where the money came from. It was just that he had encountered such bad luck that might not happen to him in decades. He could only say that it was destined. This afternoon, after receiving the money, he took a group of people to a club in the city to spend money. He used the interest money to pay the bill. However, not long after he went out, he was caught playing mahjong in a nearby teahouse.
Liu Qingyue came over with the recorder, glared at Afeng, asked him to get down from the table, and then looked at the man on the chair.
"We won't ask what the police have asked. We know what your occupation is. Where did you get the money from, and from whom?"
"The loan shark... I got it from a family called Lu Jun. The one who gave me the money was his cousin, probably in his twenties, very handsome..."
"name?"
"These... comrades, I don't know what to call him. At that time... I was so happy that I didn't have the chance to ask. I only know that he is Lu Jun's cousin."
Liu Qingyue pressed the button of the recorder and stared into the man's eyes, pleading and regretful, which did not seem to be fake.
"Okay, let's assume that what you said is true. Then let me ask you again, what are the characteristics of Lu Jun's cousin? How tall is he? When I met him, was there anything different from ordinary people?"
The man on the chair shook his head, not daring to meet the woman's gaze. He just stared at the table, lost in thought. After a while, he suddenly raised his face.
"Damn...clean...that person is too clean, so clean that he doesn't look like a human..."
Liu Qingyue exchanged a glance with the young man, put away the recorder, turned around and left, and told one of the two strong men: "Send him back to the police station and say that he used counterfeit money."
"Hey... you said the sentence was reduced."
However, the man and woman who went out ignored him, and said hello to the old man rocking on the recliner with another strong man, then walked out of the store and the alley, got in the car, turned around and left, speeding away to the address given.
The street lights were dim, and above the night sky, the night clouds moved around, revealing a crescent moon. The cold silver light sprinkled on the foothills that stretched toward the sea, and the vast woods swayed gently in the wind.
The sound of rustling branches and leaves.
There is an open inner space in the mountain. An iron plank road is built along the cave wall. Patrolling figures walk past with the sound of clanging metal. There is a human statue standing in the middle below. There are winding paths on all sides, and various pipes along the cave wall lead to several or even more cave chambers.
"Team leader, why is this happening?" "Strange energy."
"From Z9, the entire image has no energy, except for the blurry figure that has positional energy."
"Are the murals in the cave related to this?"
"It's hard to say. Be careful to verify it."
Murals were slowly displayed on the huge display on the cave wall. Several people wearing white coats were examining the moving pictures. If there was a subtle detail, they asked the staff to zoom in and examine it carefully. At this time, someone came out from another cave entrance and whispered, "Team leader, the ion barrier is ready."
"Open."
The man standing in front pushed up his glasses and turned his head to the console not far away. “Play the video from Z9 and zoom in on the blurry figure.”
"Yes!" The staff over there pressed the button.
The huge screen across the cave wall in front of them suddenly changed its picture to the scene where Liu Qingyue and others had paused before. A blurry figure was standing under a tree on the hillside. As the staff gradually zoomed in on that part of the hillside and used high-definition restoration to distinguish the particles, the figure became clearer and clearer as the picture was zoomed in.
"Team leader, an unknown energy is colliding with the ion barrier."
"Don't worry about it, just keep zooming in."
The moment the image on the screen zoomed in again, the figure under the tree suddenly became clear, and several surprised words rang out instantly.
“This person…” “The one on the mural.”
"Oh My God… "
"No, it's really a god, right?"
The researchers present stared in amazement at the handsome young face under the tree. He looked identical to the scholar in the cave murals photographed by Z9 before. Even his clothes were almost exactly the same.
"Capture the character's image! Quick!" The team leader shouted, waking up the surprised researcher over there. The next moment, there was a 'click' sound, and cracks appeared on the huge screen. The display across the cave wall went out instantly.
"Team leader, the ion barrier is destroyed."
The middle-aged man with glasses nodded to indicate that he heard it, and let out a breath. If there hadn't been a barrier to block the unknown energy just now, they would have been killed or injured under the impact. Thinking back on it now, he felt a little scared.
"Did you capture the footage?"
“It has been saved.”
"Seal the original painting. No one is allowed to retrieve it without the above file." The middle-aged man took off his glasses and rubbed his nose bridge. He calmed down and asked someone to print the saved character picture for him. Then he waved his hand and said, "It's getting late. You guys should go down and have a rest."
After sending his men away, the man took the printed photo and walked to a nearby cave. He pressed the password and stepped into the slowly opening mechanical door. He passed through the narrow passage. There were iron racks around him displaying various sealed objects, including pottery jars with talismans attached, eerie puppets, and long knives stained with blood...
The man walked past the sealed items one by one. After a moment, he stopped in front of a wall. He looked up at the wall and saw a yellowed ancient painting hanging there.
In the scroll: Under an old pine tree on a cliff, a scholar in a green shirt and white robe is playing chess with a Taoist priest whose back is only visible.
There was disbelief in the man's eyes and his lips trembled slightly.
"Yes...he...is back."