Murder Bureau within Bureau

  When we got back to our place, Ah Feng was almost about to pass out, probably because of the commotion earlier. I put him on the bed, covered him with a blanket and let him rest properly.

  But Lu Yifeng pinched his arm and forcibly opened his eyes, saying to me, "I can't sleep yet, there's still one more thing I haven't done."

  It's also my fault for being careless, I thought to myself, since the fake Liu Wei has been caught, and the fat old lady and the murder weapon have all been eliminated, what else is there to worry about?

  Lu Yifeng turned his head to look at the backpack and said that there was a syringe in it, one of which contained morphine. He asked us to feed him morphine and then go to the mountain valley together.

  I see, he wants to send a signal to contact the police.

  I hold a neutral view on this, although it's urgent to let the police handle this matter, Ah Feng's body is more important, I'm afraid that if we rush over tonight, his body will be exhausted in the end.

  Lu Yifeng became stubborn and refused to listen to my advice. In the end, there was no other way out, so Panzi gave him an injection and carried him on his back again.

  We walked quietly through the night, and actually, Lu Yifeng wasn't tired at all on this road. It was Panzi who was carrying a big living person on his back, when we arrived at the mountain valley, his eyes were already somewhat bloodshot, clearly overexerted.

  We crouched down in a circle again. Lu Yifeng didn't have the energy to fiddle with the equipment, so I took over since I had seen how to use it before.

  I first set up the antenna and adjusted it well, then turned on the device, opened the dialogue box, and said to Lu Yifeng, "What are you going to write later? Is Ghost Hand calling?"

  Lu Yifeng shook his head and said, "This time you should say 'yes', ' Guilty as charged!'"

  I suddenly heard a difference, and I thought it was just drunken eyes? Is this another alias for Lu Yifeng? But how can such a weird alias be explained?

  Lu Yufeng spoke with difficulty, I didn't ask much, just followed his meaning and sent a sentence, "Drunk eyes are calling!"

  I thought it was late at night and the contact person on the other end of the device would have to wait a while to respond, but as soon as I sent out my message, the other party immediately replied, "Please speak!"

  As I gaze at these two words "guilty eyes", a strange fluctuation emerges in my heart, and that familiar feeling returns once again.

  I didn't dwell on this matter and asked A Feng what he would write next. Lu Yifeng said, "The culprit has been caught, come quickly to support!"

  I sent out this message again, and the other party replied with a sentence "Received". This communication is over.

  The wind in the valley changed again at night, not only was it particularly strong, but also brought a damp air. Panzi and I were suffering, let alone A Feng. We didn't stay long, packed up quickly and left.

  As Ah Feng said before, I thought the police would arrive only after tomorrow, but I found out he lied to me. On the second day in the afternoon, a large number of police arrived at Suifeng Village.

  It's actually a bit inaccurate to call these people police officers; they're all wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying miniature assault rifles, making them look more like soldiers.

  I and Pan Zi didn't know these people, and it was embarrassing to show our faces. Lu Yu Feng had slept for a night and his body still felt weak, but he had recovered somewhat. He came to the village in a daze, bringing these people to deal with the aftermath.

  This way, Panzi and I had nothing to do, so we just sat in the house.

  Pan Zi looks quite relaxed, puffing on a cigarette and eating dried meat at the same time. I don't know what I was thinking, but looking at Pan Zi brought back memories of that night when he fainted by the well.

  I think both he and Lu Yifeng were bitten by the ear-piercing insect, but after being bitten, Lu Yifeng didn't immediately faint. The way he fainted that night was so strange, he must have been scared into a faint by the eerie laughter coming from his own brain. These guys are fine in every other way, they're just a bit timid.

  Along with it, I couldn't help but think about that eerie laughter and everything that had happened over this period of time.

  Panzi looked at me, not speaking, he nudged me and held up the dried meat saying, "Xiaobai, what's wrong? Eat some dried meat, we can chat for a bit, it'll be great."

  I wonder if this guy is still okay? Lu Yifeng gave me the nickname Xiao Bai, and he also called out to me with a smile. I didn't indulge him, so I also gave him a nickname, Xiao Shou, which means "despicable beast"!

  And besides, I don't see anyone else around, so I just keep telling him all the things that come into my mind.

  "I said, 'Little beast, don't you think it's strange? From Li Feng reminding us to be careful all the way, to the old man who drove the carriage, and even Lu Yu's arrival, everything seems to have been arranged, and we two are mixed into a situation, just like two chess pieces.'"

  Pan Zi put all his energy into the second half of my sentence, and didn't dwell on his nickname "Little Beast". He thought for a moment and said, "Right, now that you mention it, I also feel like something's off."

  I continued, "And think about it, the stone monument with 'Forbidden Zone' written on it, and the photos found in the house across from us, and those notes hidden behind the copper mirror, none of these have been explained clearly until now."

  Pan Zilian said, "That night, that stinky Ah Feng, insisted on making me face the mirror to comb my hair. He must have been playing a trick on me! The copper mirror itself had a mechanism, and inside it was hiding an earwig insect. The talisman he burned was actually an insecticide, and the candle was just a timing device. When it went 'ding', it meant the mechanism had been broken. Do you think my analysis is correct?"

  I found that Panzi also had a clever moment, and I nodded in agreement, adding, "That candle must have mixed with dyes, causing the light to change color. And those few explosions, it means... when it burned to a certain place, there were salt particles mixed in the wax, which made the atmosphere so eerie."

  I found that the two of us analyzing together really has a kind of "three cobblers surpassing Zhuge Liang" feeling, which makes me even more interested, and we continue to guess further.

  The whole village, especially the students of that school, must have something to do with eating the powder made from grinding the poisonous insects. It's those "black sesame seeds" we see in the soup when we eat. Ah Feng also said that eating a small amount of poisonous insects can actually strengthen one's physique. Moreover, after we entered the village, False Liu and others didn't have malicious intentions, but rather let us eat the "black sesame seeds" with a bit of kindness. That day, she even got caught in the rain and said it was to cleanse her mind, which made me feel that False Liu's nature wasn't bad.

  While Panzi and I were still discussing in a low voice, Lu Yifeng came back. He must have been tired from work and wanted to take a break. My partner and I couldn't possibly tell him what we had just discussed, so we stopped talking immediately.

  Lu Yifeng plopped down on the bed, pulled out his backpack and rummaged through it, finding a recorder.

  All the informants had to report on their situations. I thought he was going to do this, so Panzi and I didn't feel too good listening from the side, we went outside to avoid it for a while.

  We didn't go far and just lingered at the entrance, watching these troops and police interrogate the villagers, and continuing to spout nonsense.

  I found that what we said earlier, in Panzi's view, was just casual chat. According to his idea, since we are pawns, let's just be pawns, anyway, once the task is done, we will be thoroughly reduced sentence and go back home to live a good life, who cares about this situation? I somewhat disagree with his point of view. My purpose as an undercover agent is to regain freedom one day, which is correct, but I also don't want to get trapped in this situation, until later it becomes unclear and confusing.

  Unconsciously, I turned back to take a look. I found Lu Yifeng frowning, standing by the window looking at us, with the recorder still in his hand and earphones on his ears.

  I was initially puzzled and thought to myself, "This guy is recording audio, so why wear headphones?" But then I turned my brain around and thought of a possibility.

  This might have scared me to the point where I broke out in a cold sweat, and suddenly I felt that Lu Yifeng's recorder had just recorded everything Panzi and I said. As a special informant, Lu Yifeng must have had the right to listen to the recording at any time, and he discovered the secret of our conversation.

  I don't know how Lu Yifeng will deal with us two "smart" people, and even in the midst of tension, I pretended to tie my shoelaces and took out the spring knife, hiding it in my sleeve.

  My movement was naturally captured by him, and when I stood up, he walked out of the house with a smile.

  Pan Zishen didn't know anything, and he foolishly greeted Lu Yifeng, saying, "A'feng, you're done recording so quickly?"

  Lu Yifeng nodded and looked at me again. I didn't avoid his gaze, bluntly saying that I was staring coldly at him.

  I didn't even think about what might happen next, would Lu Yifeng find these troops and police, use some fabricated crime to secretly eliminate us? Or would he take direct action and kill us instantly?

  I was quite scared, but I also held on, and we stared at each other for a little while.

  Lu Yifeng suddenly let out a strange sigh, and with a smile said something even stranger, "Xiaobai, the case in Suizhong village has already ended! We've been through thick and thin together, we're brothers now. Don't you think that when we get back, we should find some time to have a big feast together?"

  Pan Zi chimed in beside me, saying it was good, but I carefully pondered the meaning behind his words.

  If I only consider the content of what he said, Lu Yifeng's words might just be a comforting lie, but looking into his eyes, what he showed me was genuine kindness. I felt that he truly didn't blame us from the bottom of his heart.

  I thought of this and laughed, thinking that I must have overthought it. Lu Yifeng is a special informant after all, no matter how much his authority surpasses ours, he's not a member of the police force, there's no need to target fellow colleagues like that.

  We talked about something else and completely let it go.

  After passing by for a day, there was indeed nothing to do with us in Suizhong Village. The two of us carried our backpacks and walked outwards. This time, we didn't have a donkey cart, and we walked for a whole day. At night, we had another wind and dew lodging.

  I thought that after leaving this place where birds don't poop, Lu Yifeng would part ways with us, but he said he still had a task to complete next and it just so happened that taking the train was on our way too. It's just that my friend and I got off at Wuzhou, while he still had to ride for another segment of the journey.

  I counted it once, two people also sat down, three people also sat down, and we gathered together again.

  Who would have thought, next there will be even more big trouble waiting for us!