Chapter One Beginning

  Culver Academy, Sherlock Detective Agency.

  All members of the detective agency gathered in the conference room, where Zheng Hanfei and Ouyang Xiuyu both had thoughtful expressions. The extremely quiet atmosphere made others feel a chill.

  "What do you think about that phone call?" After a long time, Ouyang Xiuxiu finally spoke slowly, letting the other members of the company breathe a sigh of relief. If they had continued to be trapped in that atmosphere for much longer, they would all have gone mad.

  "It's better to believe it exists than not. Let's not discuss this anymore, the most important task now is to figure out what to do." Zheng Hanfei pointed to the note on the table.

  "What to do? Haven't they cracked the code yet?" Gu Jie scratched his head, he couldn't believe that this code could stump Zheng Hanfei and Ouyang Xiuxiu, two super high IQ individuals.

  "No, I've already cracked this code. It's just that..." Zheng Hanfei said, glancing at Ouyang Xiu, who nodded and took the paper strip.

  "Let me explain!" said Ouyang Xiu, "First of all, PTE, does everyone know what it means?"

  "What's the children's English exam?" Nan Ruoxi said without thinking, "Pearson English!"

  Unfortunately, her answer was despised by everyone, especially Ouyang Xi, who even patted his head, and finally understood what Zheng Hanfei meant by saying that she was sometimes naive like a child.

  "Perhaps it's the Portuguese Escudo, the currency of Portugal." Dilo suddenly spoke up, "And the 26 behind refers to coins with denominations of 20, 5 and 1, the patterns on them are the key to solving the riddle."

  "Not bad! Unfortunately, you're overthinking it." Ouyang Xi nodded in approval, indicating that he shouldn't be discouraged, and at least his answer was more reliable than the naive girl's.

  "What's the answer?" Nan Ruo Xun looked at Ouyang Xiuxiu with a somewhat disgruntled expression, as if saying "you don't know either".

  The whole audience was shocked, they did not expect Ouyang Xiu to give this answer. What's more surprising is that Zheng Hanfei nodded in agreement on the side, meaning what Ouyang Xiu said was the correct answer.

  "So that's it. And this move." Qu Menghan smiled, "Periodic Table of the Elements, translated is chemical element cycle, the number behind is the 26th element, which is iron."

  "So that means the first character of the destiny road is iron. As long as we find a street that starts with iron, it's okay?" Gu Jie continued to say, "I remember..."

  "Useless!" Zheng Hanfei interrupted his thoughts, "There are many streets in Huaxia Country, and just in our province, there are over 300 streets that start with 'Tie', can you try them one by one?"

  "Just give me three days and I guarantee the task will be completed!" Gu Ze patted his chest and said confidently.

  "No way!" Zheng Hanfei vetoed his proposal, "Although the riddle left by the residual shadow did not tell us the time, it's better for us to go as early as possible. So, if none of us can solve it, your proposal is simply impossible to succeed."

  Gu Ze didn't say anything else and sat down listlessly. It seemed that Zheng Hanfei's denial was still a considerable blow to him.

  "Go on," Zheng Hanfei said irritably to Ouyang Xiu.

  "As for the second sentence: 'will be inherited by two little ones', it reminds me of a riddle, which is yuan." While saying this, Ouyang Xiu was solving it with his pen on paper, "The meaning of 'two' can be understood as 'two', and the meaning of 'little one' can be understood as 'child', combined together, it becomes 'yuan'!"

  Upon hearing Ouyang Xiū's explanation, everyone suddenly understood. Letting a high-IQ person answer this riddle makes it seem not difficult at all. At the same time, they also realized that someone who can come up with such a riddle must have a high IQ as well.

  "So it seems that the road of fate is indeed 'Tieyuan Road'!"

  "That's right! As for the poem that points out the leader later, it is also composed of word puzzles. '鸳鸟失伴草底眠' (mandarin ducks lose their companions and sleep at the bottom of the grass) can get the character '苑' (garden) according to the meaning of the words. And '丛中剩下残月影' (the remaining moon shadow in the thicket) can get the character '翠' (jade). Finally, combining them together is '苑翠'."

  "Miss Green?!" Kitty exclaimed, "How could it be her?"

  "No need to be surprised!" Zheng Hanfei said, "When I deciphered one or two sentences, I thought of her. She once told me that her home was at No. 32 Tieyuan Road."

  "Have you proved it?" Katie asked.

  "No." Zheng Hanfei shook his head, "I don't know her family's phone number, and besides, I can only be considered a stranger to her, so I couldn't get too much information. That's why I want you to make the call and gather more intelligence."

  "It turns out I was just being used as a tool!" Katie said with annoyance, but she still followed Zheng Hanfei's request and picked up the phone to dial Yuan Cui's number. After all, she was a member of the detective agency, and the organization had been challenged so greatly - did she have any reason not to put in effort?

  "Hello, Granny Yu Cui, it's me, Kitty." Within seconds, the phone was answered and Kitty hastily asked, "I wanted to ask you if you've received any strange letters or anything signed with the name 'Lingying'. Uh...uh... Zheng Hanfei got his riddle, then... okay, I know, Granny Yu Cui, goodbye."

  At this time, everyone in the organization looked at Kitty who had hung up the phone, wanting to hear the intelligence she had obtained. Especially Zheng Hanfei and Ouyang Xiu, both of whom had confident expressions on their faces.

  "Zheng Hanfei is right!" said Katie slowly, "This Saturday night at 7 o'clock, an exhibition will be held at Granny Yu Cui's house, and the protagonist of the exhibition is a gemstone called 'Star in the Shadow'. Two days ago, they received a notice from the Shadow, whose meaning has not been deciphered until now, so she wants to invite us to guard the gemstone."

  "I don't have time on Saturday," Gu Zhe said first. "I'm going to attend my grandmother's birthday party."

  "I don't either."

  "I don't either."

  ……

  In the end, only Zheng Hanfei, Ouyang Xiu and Qu Menghuan were left on Saturday. The three of them looked at each other in dismay, unable to help but sigh, they understood each other's helplessness.

  "Sorry!" The rest of them laughed awkwardly.

  Zheng Hanfei waved his hand, indicating that he didn't care about this at all. As long as the most critical person, Ouyang Xiu, who was roughly equal to him in ability, had time, it would be fine. Of course, his intention wasn't to say that others were not capable; if he said so and was misunderstood by everyone, the consequences... He knew them clearly.

  "It's settled then." Ouyang Xiu slapped the table and said in a loud voice, "This time, I, Meng Huan, and Zheng Hanfei will attend. As for the others, after hearing our results, you must write a report of over 2,000 words. Zheng Hanfei, don't be late!"

  "You think I'm you!" Zheng Hanfei snorted a few words in disdain.

  "Dismissed!" After finishing speaking, Ouyang Xiustood up and left the conference room. The others also walked out of the room one after another, leaving only Zheng Hanfei and Qu Menghuan with thoughtful faces.

  "Huh? Why aren't you leaving?"

  "I want to hear your thoughts and see how you look like, you still have doubts about this matter, right?"

  "Indeed," said Zheng Hanfei, "I'm not confident about this date."

  "Is that you?" Qu Menghan was somewhat surprised, she seemed to have never heard of Zheng Hanfei being uncertain about something before. "When did you start having no confidence in yourself?"

  "Because I have a premonition! At that time, I will use my second persona."

  "If you don't want to, then Hui and I will just use the same method as last time."

  "It's not the problem." Zheng Hanfei shook his head, he understood that no matter how he described it, Qu Menghan would not understand, because this was his intuition, and nobody could be clearer than him about it.

  ……

  Saturday, No. 32 Tieyuan Road, two hours before the exhibition starts.

  At this moment, the entrance of Yu Cui's house was crowded with people, which reminded Zheng Hanfei of his own experience attending an exhibition organized by Sterling. This time, however, there were fewer celebrities than before. Of course, this wasn't because Yu Cui was unknown, but rather that she herself didn't like too much commotion.

  "Han Fei, over here!" Just as Zheng Hanfei and Wang Bo were about to squeeze into the crowd, he heard Qu Menghan's voice. He looked back and saw Qu Menghan and Ouyang Xiu standing not far away, with a young man in his early twenties beside them.

  "Meng Han, you look really beautiful." Looking at the beauty in front of him, Zheng Hanfei couldn't help but say that she was too stunning. The blue evening gown brought out her gentle side even more, and paired with her looks, it seemed as if a celestial being had descended to earth.

  "Thank you. I didn't expect Old Wang to come over too, looks like he's still as healthy and strong as ever." Qu Menghan smiled slightly.

  "I didn't expect it to be you, this little girl! This is a case of 'a woman changes eighteen times before she's eighteen', getting more and more beautiful with each change. I almost couldn't recognize you!" Wang Bo said with some surprise, "Thinking back to how you left without saying goodbye, it scared the other three people half to death, especially Young Master..."

  "Right!" Zheng Hanfei interrupted Wang Bo, whether intentionally or unintentionally, and saw Ou Yangxiu's face show some disappointment. "Still don't know who this is..."