The next morning, Guan Jinsong asked Tang Decao to meet him.
Tang Decao was still his usual self, speaking carelessly, demanding money for information.
However, Guan Jinsong wasn't like Hu Jia, who was extravagant. As a rural youth who had just started working, where would he get so much money?
"If you want money, you have to exchange it for something of equal value," Guan Jinsong took a sip of water from his cup. "I heard from Captain Hu that he got a lot of information from you, spent a lot of money, but very little of it was useful."
Tang Decao's careless expression froze, and he said in a deep voice, "Heh, so you're short on money. If you were short on money, you should have said so earlier. You made me run all this way for nothing."
With that, he stood up as if to leave.
"Wait!" Guan Jinsong called out to him. "Don't use Captain Hu's methods on me. I'm not Captain Hu."
Guan Jinsong glanced at the traffic on the street. "This road is wide, and you can leave anytime. But don't forget, Hu Jia is a captain of the criminal investigation team. He's not interested in catching petty thugs who extort protection fees. But I am different. I rely on my performance to climb the ranks."
Saying that, Guan Jinsong sighed deeply. "Even a fly's leg is meat."
Tang Decao's face turned red with anger. This was a blatant threat. If he didn't cooperate, the other party would come to arrest him. Even if they didn't arrest him, just taking him to the police station to chat occasionally would be troublesome enough.
"Are you threatening me?" Tang Decao was speechless.
"No, how can this be called a threat?" Guan Jinsong took out two silver dollars from his pocket and placed them on the table. "This is cooperation!"
Tang Decao looked at the silver dollars, then at Guan Jinsong, and finally sat back in his seat. "You seem more like a captain than our Captain Hu."
"No, he just doesn't want to bother with you," Guan Jinsong said.
"Tell me, what information do you need?" Tang Decao reached out for the two silver dollars.
"Snap!" Guan Jinsong pressed down on them. "First, help me identify two people."
...
Zhan Ruoxuan, who had just left Lv Qingqing's place, was beaming, walking as if carried by the wind. Seeing his beaming smile, Hu Jia couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy. "What were you two talking about? You're smiling like that."
Lv Qingqing blinked. "A secret."
"Heh, a secret from me?"
"Of course. I don't tell you everything."
Hu Jia's eyes narrowed when he heard this. "You don't tell me, but you tell Zhan Ruoxuan?"
Lv Qingqing burst into laughter. "What? You're allowed to have an informant outside, and I'm not allowed to have a idler?"
Hu Jia was rendered speechless.
The matter of bribing Tang Decao was later embellished by Guan Jinsong and became a joke among everyone.
After all, Hu Jia didn't have many embarrassing past events, so when something like this happened, they had to seize the opportunity to talk about it to their heart's content.
...
At this moment, Luo Wenwu had lost the rage he had when he first woke up. He was eating peacefully, leisurely crossing his legs, and occasionally chatting with his guards.
"Is this your organization's headquarters?" Luo Wenwu looked around. Except for the four walls, there wasn't a single window.
The young man he asked seemed deaf. Although he glanced back at Luo Wenwu, he still didn't say anything.
He didn't dare to.
And he couldn't.
Everyone knew that policemen had the sharpest tongues and minds. Perhaps in just a few sentences, they could lead someone astray.
Luo Wenwu didn't expect an answer, of course. He leaned against the wall quietly, as if lost in thought.
"Alas," he sighed, "it's so quiet here. Not to mention human voices, I haven't even heard the chirping of crickets."
The young man looked baffled, likely wanting to say something, but ultimately remained silent.
Luo Wenwu ignored him. "Let alone crickets, there seem to be no frogs, and no birds chirping either."
Luo Wenwu paused. "It's as if there's a big room outside our room. It's covering our small room and isolating everything."
The young man finally couldn't stand it. "No, are you really not hearing it or pretending not to hear it? It's all water around here, so how could there be crickets or frogs?"
Luo Wenwu smiled. As expected, it was indeed the sound of water. "There's the sound of water? Are we on a boat? No, this isn't swaying."
"Of course, it's not swaying. We're still more than ten meters away from the riverbank," the young man corrected him.
"Oh, oh." Luo Wenwu sighed. "No wonder the food gets cold so quickly. The wind is strong by the river. But speaking of Chongqing, the wind from the Yangtze River is not as strong as the wind from the Jialing River. The wind from the Jialing River is so strong it gives you a headache."
"That's right. I don't even dare to open this door. Once I go out, the cold makes you shiver."
"Cold? Not at all. The Yangtze River isn't windy right now."
"It's the Jialing River outside, and it's blowing with all its might."
The young man had also been cooped up alone for too long, and once he started talking, he quickly engaged in a back-and-forth with Luo Wenwu.
Meanwhile, Luo Wenwu's heart was overjoyed. After all the effort, he had finally determined whether he was in the north or the south.
In Chongqing, the Jialing River and the Yangtze River converge at Chaotianmen.
The north of the city is the Jialing River, and the south of the city is the Yangtze River. Of course, there are exceptions, such as the Yuzhong Peninsula, where the southern part is along the Yangtze River, and the northern part is along the Jialing River.
But no matter what, he had at least confirmed that he was in the northern part of the city. Whether it was the north bank of the urban area or the northern part of the city, it was definitely in the northern direction.
In other words, the headquarters of the "Dao Ren" organization was in the north. He had deliberately mentioned the absence of crickets and frogs earlier to see if they were by the river.
As expected, the young man didn't disappoint him. In a few words, he told him that the place where he was held was by the river, so it definitely wasn't within the city.
This was because there were very few buildings on the north bank of Yuzhong that could be developed into an organization's headquarters.
After all, as introduced earlier, the lower half of the city was all stilt houses, a slum.
With a judgment of the location, Luo Wenwu adjusted his speech in time, no longer continuing to investigate, so as not to arouse the young man's suspicion.
"Who is your boss? I need to talk to him, or arrange a meeting. Whether it's by force or by persuasion, he has to come out and see me."
"Just wait patiently. He'll come to see you when he has time." The young man's attention was piqued when Luo Wenwu shifted to a sensitive topic, and he immediately became alert. As for the topics of the Jialing River and frogs, he had long forgotten them.
Since Luo Wenwu had achieved his goal, he stopped talking. In fact, he already knew who had kidnapped him.
After all, only one person had the ability to abduct him and would want to abduct him.
Sixth Master!
Luo Wenwu even wondered if Sixth Master would appear this time.
...
With Tang Decao's help, Guan Jinsong soon got results.
Tang Decao said that the person who entered the bookstore was named Tang Yingge. He wasn't very clear about his position in the "Dao Ren" organization, but he deduced that his position was not low.
This was because he had once seen Tang Yingge reprimand his own boss.
As for the other person, Tang Decao was somewhat familiar with him. They used to extort protection fees together. Later, this person successfully rose through the ranks and was considered a minor leader in the "Dao Ren" organization.
This person was called Xiao Qi. Tang Decao didn't know his real name, but he knew that Xiao Qi had a sister who was studying under a great scholar.
"What was that great scholar's name? It was, it was..." Tang Decao thought for a long time. "Oh, I remember now. It was Xie Hong!"