Chapter 66: Completely Clueless

  This girl looks like she loves talking a lot. Maybe it's because I suspected her identity before, the girl doesn't really want to talk to me, but keeps chatting with Liangzi nonstop.

  Liang Zi didn't even need to say anything, and with a few words of flattery, he had the girl completely bewildered. The two of them chatted more and more happily, until they almost became sworn brothers.

  I didn't see anything happening, so I just smiled to myself and closed my eyes to continue resting. Thinking that after going back tonight, I can call out to Liu Bao and Lao Lu, and we'll have a good drink together.

  Around 11 pm, as I had expected, our car finally entered Shenyang city.

  After walking a bit further, the girl named Li Duier told the driver to pull over and stop the car, probably because she had arrived at her destination.

  Liangzi was still a bit reluctant to part, after getting the phone number from the other person, he personally got out of the car to open the door for the girl, and they waved goodbye. Only when the girl had disappeared from view did Liangzi get back in the car with some sense of loss.

  I'm going to surprise Liubao first, so I let the driver continue driving and then teased Liangzi: "What's wrong, you've taken a liking to someone? You old cow still wants to eat tender grass?"

  "Come on, don't you know what kind of person I am? My relationship with Rui is a pure and innocent one between a man and a woman, it's not as dirty as you think."

  "Haha, still teasing me, I'm going to your sister's..."

  The two of them made a fuss for a while, and seeing that they were not far from Liu Bao's restaurant, I asked the driver to pull over and said we had arrived.

  Just as Liang Zigang was about to speak, I stopped him. After so many unexpected events, I had thoroughly learned to be cautious. Although the driver seemed fine, I still didn't want him to know our destination.

  Liang Zifu paid the money, and after exchanging a few pleasantries with the master, we pulled the trunk towards Liu Bao's restaurant.

  Liubao's restaurant is in a hutong, the streetlights are not very bright, when I arrived at the door, I unexpectedly found that it was closed and locked, apparently it had already closed.

  I thought to myself: This isn't right, although it's likely there won't be any more business at this hour, but I know Liubao's habits - they definitely won't close before midnight.

  "What's going on? Where did that kid go?" Liangzi muttered and went to knock on the rolling shutter door of Liu Bao Restaurant.

  But after smashing for a long time, no one came out. At this time, the owner of a tobacco shop next door walked out.

  I and Liang Zi often eat and drink in Liu Bao's store, and also buy cigarettes from this tobacco shop, so the boss is very familiar with us.

  The boss of the tobacco shop saw us and said: "Ah, I haven't seen you for a long time! Where have you two been making a fortune recently?"

  I didn't have the mood to accompany him in his antics, so I asked directly: "Big brother, why did Liubao's store close so early?"

  "Ah, you two don't know?" The owner of the tobacco shop said in surprise.

  "What's up with you? My friend and I just went out and came back today."

  "I told you, but this thing is strange enough. A few days ago, Liubao came to my place to buy cigarettes. I thought his face didn't look good and asked him what was wrong, but he didn't say anything. He also gave me a package and asked me to pass it on to you. I don't understand what's going on either. The next day, Liubao's store closed down, and he never came back."

  I was surprised to hear the owner of the tobacco shop, what's going on? This is really unexpected, so I borrowed a phone from the tobacco shop owner and called Liubao.

  But the phone on the other end prompted that it was turned off. I wanted to call Lao Lu again, but for a while, I couldn't remember his cell phone number.

  I racked my brains for half a day but still couldn't figure it out, so I asked the owner of the tobacco shop to bring over the handbag that Liu Bao had left behind.

  After opening the handbag, I found that there was nothing inside, it was just an empty bag. After pulling open the internal zipper, I discovered a piece of paper tucked inside.

  I felt something was wrong, so I quickly opened the paper to take a look. As soon as I saw it, my head swelled up - how could such a thing happen?

  Liang Zi saw the cold look on my face, took over the paper to read it, and after reading it, he was also at a loss. He asked me: "What does this mean? What happened to Liu Bao?"

  Actually, the note left by Liubao only had a few sentences, which said: 'If you see this letter, quickly leave the city and find a place where no one knows you to live. Don't guess or get involved in anything else, because the truth is too cruel, so cruel that we can't accept it.'

  I'm speechless...

  What's going on here! Liangzi and I studied for half a day but still didn't understand, I reckon Liu Bao must have encountered some serious trouble, otherwise he wouldn't leave without saying goodbye.

  Saying goodbye to the owner of the tobacco shop, Liangzi asked me what to do next. I asked him if he knew where Lao Lu's home was. Liangzi said he had been there once before, so we didn't waste any more time and took a taxi to head towards Lao Lu's residence.

  The old road home is in a relatively old community. We found the unit door and went upstairs, facing the old road home door and banging for half a day, still no response.

  Maybe it was because we were too loud, the old lady next door opened the door and stuck out half of her head, asking: "Who are you looking for? It's so late, knock softly."

  I hastily went forward and said: "Old lady, have you seen anyone living here recently?"

  "Ang, you're talking about the old road, this old man seemed to have made a fortune before, but only occasionally came back once, however, recently he hasn't been seen for a while." The old lady said.

  Damn it, I've seen a ghost! What exactly happened during the time we were walking? How did two people go missing at the same time?

  I thanked the old lady again, and then I went downstairs with Liangzi. He asked, "Looking at this situation, it's possible that they encountered something and hid, or maybe they were caught by someone."

  "What could have happened to make both of them leave without saying goodbye?"

  "Speaking of which, I wonder if it's Zhang Zhuang's people who are causing them trouble?"

  Liangzi said that, and I think it's possible too. We offended this underworld big brother last time, although Zhang Zhuang disappeared in the mountains later, but if he comes back alive, it wouldn't be strange for him to cause us trouble.

  "I said, 'It's no use thinking about it tonight, let's go home and talk about it tomorrow.'"

  Then the two of us dragged the suitcase and hailed another taxi back to my rental apartment.

  I still remember the last time my home was haunted, I saw that terrifying big pancake face, now I'm still a bit scared. Two people checked the house from front to back and found nothing else, finally to boost our courage, we all slept on my bed together.

  It's okay, nothing unexpected happened tonight...

  The next day in the afternoon, we first found our ID cards and bank cards, dispersed the money into different banks' cards, leaving only a few tens of thousands yuan for backup.

  Then I and Liangzi returned all the previous rental houses, found an inn and booked a standard room, thinking of temporarily living here before things are cleared up.

  After dealing with these things, we started making various phone calls and asked everyone who knew us and also knew Liu Bao, but still there was no news.

  Liang Zi finally asked someone to inquire about Zhang Zhuang's news, unexpectedly, Zhang Zhuang also completely disappeared in this city. Some people said he was dead, some people said he ran away, for a while it really made me feel somewhat regretful.

  I had no choice but to ask Liangzi to call his old man again for help, trying to pull some strings and see what was going on.

  Liangzi very reluctantly gave his old man a call, and then we both quietly waited for news.

  That night, after I and Liangzi found a restaurant to eat dinner, just as we were leaving the door, a sedan stopped in front of us, and when I looked down, it was actually Liangzi's father's driver.

  I asked Liang Zi what was going on and he surprisingly couldn't understand it either, having no idea how the driver found us.

  The driver walked up and politely said to Liangzi: "The leader asked me to come pick you up, saying that you should go home for a while, there are things to discuss with you."

  Liang Zi asked him what was going on, but this person only followed orders to pick people up and knew nothing about anything else.

  So Liangzi told me to go back to the hotel by myself first and said he would go home to ask in person, to see if there was any news about Liu Bao and Lao Lu.

  After he got on the bus and left, I returned to the hotel alone. Thinking about this matter still had no clue, turning over and over again, I couldn't sleep either.

  It's almost midnight and Liangzi still hasn't come back. I gave him a call, but unexpectedly his phone was also turned off.

  I'm going crazy, what the hell is going on?! If I lose Liangzi too, I'll really collapse. What people fear most are these inexplicable things, it's simply taking my life away.

  I didn't sleep all night and finally endured until dawn, then took a taxi to Liangzi's home.

  Liang Zilao lived in a separate family courtyard in the military district, with soldiers standing guard at the door. I was refused entry no matter how hard I tried to persuade them, and if I continued to make a fuss, they would turn against me. I had no choice but to return to the hotel reluctantly.

  For several days after that, Liang Zi's phone was still turned off. I went to his house several times but couldn't get in. Gradually, I felt something big must have happened and thought about whether I should follow Liu Bao's message and find a place to hide for the time being.

  Now, apart from me, everyone else related to the recent events has gone missing, leaving me at a loss. In the end, I decided to visit the orphanage where my foster grandmother lived and then find a place to hide.

  I grew up in an orphanage since I was a child, completely unaware of who my parents were. After I came of age, it was the auntie from the orphanage who raised me, and she had the surname Qiu, so I followed her surname as well.

  I remember when I was a kid, all I knew was that Liu Bao's father was an official and Liang Zi's father was a soldier. They seemed to often do good deeds, always bringing Liu Bao and Liang Zi to the orphanage to deliver goods. Gradually, we kids became good friends and basically grew up together.

  Who would have thought that things would turn out so well, Liubao's father is in prison, Liubao has gone missing, and Liangzi's father doesn't know what to do either. After calling Liangzi back, he also disappeared, leaving only me with no clue.

  That day, I packed up my luggage and bought a lot of things, then took a taxi to the orphanage where I grew up.

  This orphanage is far away from Shenyang city, in a remote area on the outskirts of town, with only one road leading to it. The surrounding areas are all wasteland, without any buildings.

  But when I arrived at the orphanage, I was completely stunned. It had been about half a year since I last came back, and now I found that the gate of the orphanage was tightly closed, with iron railings all overgrown with weeds, and it's unknown how long it has been abandoned.

  I asked a taxi driver and he said this place is also his first time here, completely doesn't know what's going on?

  I paid for the ride and let the driver go back. I climbed into the orphanage's big iron gate alone, and walked towards that empty big house.