Chapter Eleven: Absent Evidence

  Before we arrived, the contact person had arranged for a handgun for Lu Yifeng, but he didn't tell us about it and secretly got a hand grenade for himself.

  The situation is now critical, he no longer hides, comes up to us, takes out the grenade, and makes a gesture to us.

  I stared at the hand grenade, and suddenly a hatred arose in my heart. I thought that if we hadn't been trapped in the fire scene, I would have definitely given this guy a good kick. He had a hand grenade but didn't speak up early, causing all three of us to hurt our shoulders.

  Look at the connector, it's going to rain, Lu Yifeng urged us to quickly find cover.

  The house was just this big, and there was a huge fire in the middle. We wanted to escape, but we could only stand against the wall corner.

  I had no choice but to put on a posture that could hide as far away as possible and squat down with my head in my arms.

  The detonator saw that we were ready, he pulled the fuse, I found that he was quite accurate, and threw this grenade to the corner of the wall, where it got stuck, emitting a hissing sound.

  As soon as I heard the sound, my heart was racing, who knows if this stone house is solid or not? What if it can't hold up and collapses, what do we do then? We didn't get burned to death, but in the end, we got smashed to death, that's pretty ridiculous.

  But now it's all too late, can only grit one's teeth and wait.

  A loud rumble shook the entire stone house, followed by a wave of heat that blew over me without restraint.

  I can tolerate this heat, but the gravel that comes with it hurts me all over. Especially a few of them, just like small cones poking at my body.

  I clenched my teeth and waited until the blasting was completely over, then quickly got up and ran over to check the situation.

  The stone house didn't collapse, but that wall was also blown a big hole, however no one thought that there would be iron bars inside the wall.

  The grenade shattered the stone, but the iron fence was fine. As I watched the scene in front of me, my heart suddenly fell silent, and I felt that we four brothers were doomed to die here.

  Lu Yufeng looked at the iron railing and exclaimed. He leaned in for a closer look and suddenly burst out laughing.

  He threw his backpack over the iron railing first, then put his head in front of the railing and tried to squeeze out.

  The iron railing on the wall, I guess it was designed to be a framework at first, with big gaps between each root. Lu Yifeng squeezed hard and managed to squeeze himself out.

  So now we've all seen hope, the contact person next, I'm second.

  We two are fine, but when Panzi arrived, something went wrong. He has a big head and also a bit of a belly.

  Watching him desperately squeezing out, especially when he was really stuck on his stomach at the end, I really wanted to mock him a few words, thinking that he would be greedy for food normally, and now he's in trouble?

  During our escape, the situation in the stone house has also undergone significant changes. The kerosene on the floor continued to seep out and the fire gradually spread to the corners of the walls.

  When Panzi's whole body was stuck in the fence, a fire burned his shoes. Panzi rubbed his soles hard and let out a miserable cry.

  Lu Yifeng stared at Panzi, suddenly came up with a fierce momentum, and said to us, "Come on, pull him! Even if we pull out a disabled person, it's better than burning to death."

  I thought it was just as well, the two of us went over together, Lu Yifeng and the contact person each pulled one of Pan's arms, I didn't have a hand free, so I had to pull Pan's neck instead.

  Lu Yifeng also made Panzi desperately collect his stomach, and we both exerted ourselves without any human feelings.

  This method was quite adventurous, but we bet on it and finally with a "hiss" sound, Panzi's entire pants were scratched by the iron fence, but we also pulled him out "naked".

  The four of us sat on the grass, panting heavily, looking back at the scene of the fire.

  I had an idea in my mind that this was the tomb of Heizi, Xigu and Daoke, and a big fire could be considered as their cremation.

  We waited for another half an hour, and a group of police officers rushed over. They must have driven to the mountainous area and then run on foot through the wilderness like we did before.

  These police officers, I've never seen them before, they look very unfamiliar. Especially the contact person has also had a similar experience with us three, he just needs to cooperate with the police and we three will not care about this mess anymore. After waiting for a while, we got up and walked out.

  We drove through the wilderness and got back in the black car, with Lu Yifeng as the driver.

  This time he drove very slowly and his physical condition was not good, looking very tired.

  Actually, Panzi and I didn't have a good time either. I think we were affected by the smoke and also had a cold to begin with.

  I suggested to Lu Yifeng that we go back and continue with the intravenous drip.

  We drove the car to the entrance of our home, went upstairs together and changed into new clothes. Panzi was quite embarrassed at that time, covering his lower body and rushing into the corridor like a thief.

  Then we went to that medical point again, still got erythromycin, only when we were hanging the drip, we fell asleep one after another, if it wasn't for the nurse's dedication, we wouldn't have known our infusion bottles were empty.

  I'm a bit worried, we can all feel it, our bodies are getting worse and worse. After finishing the infusion, Ah Feng called the contact person to ask how things were going on the Shi Tou Fang side.

  The contact person replied that it was handed over to the criminal police and forensic doctor in Musstown, and he is now at the police station, watching the divine brush master being interrogated.

  The two of us were quite interested in the divine brush method, so we discussed it and decided to go to the police station as well, to see what the old Taoist master had to say.

  I had no idea what the informant's true identity was until I arrived at the police station and saw him wearing a police uniform, when it suddenly dawned on me that he wasn't an undercover informant, but actually a policeman.

  Perhaps having gone through thick and thin together, their relationship had become closer. He also introduced himself, saying his name was Yu Qinghang, the captain of the criminal police team.

  I also can't quite put my finger on the feeling, but when I shook hands with him, a policeman by profession, I felt a little estranged in my heart and somehow became more distant from him.

  He led us to the interrogation room, where loudspeakers were installed and could also be heard outside. We watched like we were watching a movie.

  Lu Yifeng also brought some confessions from Shen Bifa, I glanced at them briefly.

  I have always maintained a neutral attitude towards the Divine Brush Master, thinking that he is both suspicious and not suspicious. After reading the Divine Brush Master's confession, I am even more inclined to think that he is innocent.

  He indeed went to the northwest of Muxi Town last night, but didn't leave the town. Instead, he sat by a riverbank for most of the night, accompanying a friend who had been looking for him, and that friend was the rich businessman whom Hei Zi had met before.

  This way, the Divine Brush Master had a very convincing witness. In other words, Hei Zi originally followed the Divine Brush Master, but was later kidnapped by the real culprit.

  After a while, the interrogation was thoroughly over, and the police also wanted to let the divine brush master go. The three of us were not convenient to stand outside the interrogation room anymore, so Yu Qinghang waved his hand and took us to a conference room.

  The four of us gathered together to discuss, Pan Zi and I shared the same view, Shén Bǐ Fǎshī was ruled out, but Lù Yǔfēng held a different opinion, he thought that even if Shén Bǐ Fǎshī wasn't the real culprit, he should be connected to the real culprit, he also asked Yuán Qíháng to show up and increase the surveillance on Shén Bǐ Fǎshī, ensuring 24-hour monitoring.

  Yu Gangying has great respect for Lu Yifeng's ideas, so he arranged manpower. From tomorrow on, the two of us will take over the investigation of another case.

  Since a stone house can appear in the mountainous area, especially with iron railings and kerosene lamps, we thought of making a breakthrough from this aspect. We asked the residents of Zhenxi North if anyone had frequently gone to the mountains with some building materials.

  The plan was set, and we two also bid farewell to Yu Qianghang, returning home together.

  After a day of running around, we were starving early, so we found a restaurant, packed some food and took it back to eat.

  Just as we were wolfing down food in the living room, my phone rang. I picked it up and saw that it was an unfamiliar number.

  I was puzzled in my heart, but I didn't delay, and let the phone connect.

  I shouted out first and asked who it was. The other party remained silent for a moment, then suddenly chuckled and said, "Don't you recognize me?"

  I was stunned, because I suddenly thought of someone. The day before yesterday, didn't I dream about a phone number? And then this number actually called me, I only chatted with him for a few sentences at the time, but his tone was very heavy, which left an impression on me.

  The stranger's phone number called me today, and his tone was very heavy at the end of the sentence, which should be the same person.

  I was still puzzled and thought to myself how did he change his number? After a little deliberation, I understood again.

  This guy is clever and knows we'll definitely investigate the original number, anyway there are so many street vendors selling black cards, he just spends 50 or 100 yuan to get a new card.

  I think he is more likely to be the murderer, at this time I didn't care about anything else, and quickly made a shh gesture to Lu Yifeng and Panzi, and then switched my phone to speaker mode.

  Lu Yufeng suddenly reacted and quickly took out his mobile phone, looking at the screen of my mobile phone, recording this strange number.

  Then he quietly turned around and went into the inner room, presumably to find the organization to check the source of this strange phone call.

  I kept chatting with the stranger. I wanted to stall him, the longer I stalled, the greater the hope that the police would be able to trace the source of the call.

  But he didn't give us a chance at all, and he was also a sensible person. No matter what I asked him, he just said the purpose of his call.

  He told us that he originally wanted to torture us for a few more days, but unexpectedly we were so disobedient and secretly went to his house, even setting his house on fire. He was very angry and tomorrow will make us sign a death agreement, which means letting us wait for death. In addition, he has a gift to give us soon.

  I don't understand what gift he's talking about, and we're just on the phone, haven't even met in person, what could he possibly give me?

  The phone suddenly went quiet, and then a recording came on. The recording was very chaotic, with someone constantly going "uh, uh".

  At this time, Lu Yifeng also came out of the inner room. The two of us leaned together in front of the receiver and listened. I finally couldn't help but ask, "Who's there?"

  The stranger chuckled and asked me back, "A group of fools, Hei Zi's last cry for help, can't you guys hear it?"