Hu Jia was under house arrest, and his long-forgotten fiancée was still working hard to find him.
Emerging from the cabin, Lü Qingqing had already changed into dry clothes.
"Wipe your hair too, be careful not to catch a cold," Ouyang Wen handed her a towel solicitously. He had wrapped these items in oiled paper and brought them into the secret garden, precisely for when Lü Qingqing got wet and had no clothes to change into.
"Thanks!" Lü Qingqing haphazardly wiped her head a couple of times.
Seeing this, Ouyang Wen's lips curled, and he directly took the towel to dry Lü Qingqing's hair.
Lü Qingqing, being carefree, felt nothing unusual. However, as Ouyang Wen looked at the woman before him, his hand brushing her hair, a sense of helplessness welled up within him.
"Dry it yourself. If you don't dry it, we're not leaving!" Ouyang Wen threw the towel back at Lü Qingqing, his expression displeased.
Uh.
Lü Qingqing was speechless. As she wiped her hair, she looked around.
She was surrounded by cliffs on all sides, leaving no room to maneuver.
"According to my investigation, quite a bit of the thatch over there has been cut away, and there are many footprints on the ground, extending all the way to the base of the cliff," Ouyang Wen pointed to a slightly lower rock face. "I suspect they climbed up from there."
Upon hearing this, Lü Qingqing forgot about drying her hair and immediately ran towards the lowest and gentlest of the cliff faces.
She examined it closely. There were indeed many signs of human activity, and she could even find discarded woven straw ropes.
After confirming the direction, Lü Qingqing and Ouyang Wen began to climb.
"Qingqing, this is too dangerous. I'll climb up first. Once I reach the top and identify the terrain, I'll notify you," Ouyang Wen said, looking at the cliff with some apprehension.
"Don't worry about me, I grew up in the countryside," Lü Qingqing refused decisively. She wouldn't feel at ease without seeing it for herself.
Besides, no one knew what the situation was like up there. What if Ouyang Wen couldn't notify her in time?
"But..."
"No 'buts,' let's hurry."
As soon as Lü Qingqing finished speaking, she clung to the rocks and began to climb. Ouyang Wen could only swallow the words he had on the tip of his tongue.
More than an hour later, standing on the mountaintop, they were met with a sea of green, making it impossible to distinguish directions. However, this was not too much of a problem for Lü Qingqing and the others, as the thicker the soil and the more fallen leaves, the more obvious the traces left on the ground would be.
Soon, they discovered the direction Hu Jia had left and followed the trail.
...
Everyone was busy, some searching for people, others for locations.
Only Hu Jia was playing guessing games with Tong Meng.
"Someone who can command our criminal investigation team must have an extraordinary identity, right? A high-ranking official? A tycoon? From the underworld? Or do you have something on them?"
Tong Meng leisurely peeled an orange and fed a segment to Hu Jia. "You, you just can't shake off your curiosity. If you weren't so curious, would all this have happened today?"
Hu Jia smiled. "If I'm not curious about the deaths of my own family, then my life would have been in vain."
"Heh, but you weren't that curious the past two years," Tong Meng said.
"The past two years?"
Tong Meng paused, almost letting slip something she shouldn't have.
The "past two years" Tong Meng mentioned referred to the last two years, while Hu Jia was thinking of the two years after his father was murdered.
The reason Hu Jia hadn't been curious in those two years was that he mistakenly believed the shooting case had been solved.
Besides, he only had seven days of memory. What was there to be curious about? He woke up not knowing his own name, so why would he be curious why cats catch mice?
To avoid saying too much, Tong Meng quickly changed the subject. "Did you see the person kneeling outside?"
"Are you finally going to introduce his identity to me?" Hu Jia had noticed the man kneeling fifty meters outside the door for a long time. His head was bowed, and he seemed not to have moved for ages.
The distance was too great for Hu Jia to see the kneeling man's appearance clearly. However, he was too lazy to guess. He could figure out Tong Meng's intention for making the man kneel with his toes – it was clearly a warning, a show of force to intimidate him.
"He is the person you're looking for. Unfortunately, he's already lost half his life," Tong Meng clapped her hands and even chuckled a couple of times.
Could it be?
Was that Mu Ji Xuan?
A cold glint appeared in Hu Jia's eyes. "What must I do to make you let him go?"
Tong Meng felt a chill at his gaze but quickly recovered her composure. "Simple, tell me where that person is?"
"I don't know!" Hu Jia blurted out the three words.
"It doesn't matter if you don't tell me. We can find him," Tong Meng gestured to the kneeling "Mu Ji Xuan." "It's a pity he doesn't have Captain Hu's considerable influence to have a beauty like me accompanying him in conversation."
A threat!
A typical threat!
Hu Jia's mood became incredibly agitated.
"Do you think he would know something so important? Besides, he can't even read," Hu Jia said sarcastically.
"Can't read? What does that have to do with reading?" Tong Meng asked subconsciously, only to be met with Hu Jia's mocking tone, "Heh heh, it seems you don't know anything either."
Tong Meng felt annoyed. Hu Jia was still as sharp as ever, making her like him!
Tong Meng didn't argue with him. Some secrets were fine to know, and some were fine not to know. After all, the more you knew, the faster you died.
"Since he doesn't know, there's no point in keeping him," Tong Meng glanced at her watch. "He has ten minutes left to live."
Upon hearing this, Hu Jia opened his mouth to curse, but Tong Meng acted as if she hadn't heard him. "Of course, if you want him to live forever, you need to show some sincerity."
"Tong Meng!" Hu Jia glared at her fiercely. "How dare you!"
"What dare I not do?" Tong Meng raised her hand, and the executioner guarding "Mu Ji Xuan" in the distance immediately raised his blade and fiercely stabbed it into "Mu Ji Xuan's" thigh.
A cry of agony!
Hu Jia was so enraged that veins bulged on his arms. He knew perfectly well that these people would do anything to achieve their goals.
In his haste, Hu Jia instinctively struggled to stand up, but because his legs and feet were bound, he fell to the ground.
Tong Meng waved her hand, and someone quickly came to help him up. "When did our Captain Hu become so reckless? Saving someone? That's simple, just don't keep your secret."
After speaking, she deliberately looked at her watch again. "There are five minutes left."
Hu Jia glared hatefully at Tong Meng. "Have Sixth Master come. Tell him he must come. Otherwise, even if you kill me, I won't say a word."
Hu Jia didn't want to compromise, but he had to save the person.
The only way was to exchange the secret for time. Hence, he requested to see Sixth Master, partly because he genuinely wanted to meet the mastermind, and partly to stall for time in case he found a way to escape.
To his surprise, upon hearing that he wanted to summon Sixth Master, Tong Meng laughed so hard that her waist almost straightened. "There are four minutes left."
Uh.
"This Tong Meng is really unyielding," Hu Jia cursed inwardly. In reality, he didn't know that Tong Meng dared not agree to his request.
After all, the Mu Ji Xuan was fake.
"Three minutes left. Have you considered it?" Tong Meng's casual demeanor made Hu Jia grit his teeth.
Hu Jia was in a dilemma. Should he give in? A wise man doesn't fight present losses. He had to save the person first.
But, after revealing the secret, would Tong Meng and the others let him go? This was assaulting a police officer.
Since he was going to die either way, why reveal a secret to them?
"One minute left. It seems Captain Hu really has a heart of stone. Alas, poor Mu Ji Xuan, thinking he was working for you, yet you, the leader, are unwilling to even cooperate a little." Tong Meng seemed to be talking to herself, but her voice carried throughout the hall.
"Alright, proceed!" Hearing Tong Meng's order, Hu Jia was truly panicked.
"Wait!" Hu Jia shouted, conceding defeat! "I can answer your questions, but I have one condition: Sixth Master must be present."
Tong Meng looked at Hu Jia mockingly. "At this point, you still haven't forgotten about investigating the case. I truly don't know if your memory is good or bad."
"Enough nonsense, tell your subordinates to release him," Hu Jia roared.