Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping, accompanied by the old man, arrived at his home.
The old man indeed lived quite close to the ruined house, but it wasn't a particularly convenient proximity. The area surrounding the ruined house was effectively a "vacuum zone" with no residents.
Many empty houses stood near the ruined structure.
Perhaps due to local superstitions, few people were willing to live there, and there were virtually no signs of life.
Even reaching the old man's house required traversing this "vacuum zone" and continuing for several hundred meters before truly arriving.
The old man's home was not occupied by him alone.
Inside, an old woman, the old man's wife, was cooking. Upon seeing her husband return with two unfamiliar men behind him, she inquired about the situation.
The old man didn't elaborate to his wife, simply stating that they had guests.
He then asked his wife to cook more food and invited Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping to join them.
However, just as Ye Tiancheng and the others had been hesitant to accept the kindness of the doctor at the clinic, Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping dared not accept the old man's home-cooked meal.
Therefore, when the old man suggested his wife cook more, Nie Chongyang and the others repeatedly refused.
When asked for an excuse, they cited the principle of not taking a single needle or thread from the common people.
Strictly speaking, according to discipline, this was indeed the case.
The old man persuaded them a few times, but then, remembering Nie Chongyang and the others' identities, he stopped insisting.
For Nie Chongyang and the others, in reality, they would not have accepted such a situation due to discipline. However, here, their refusal was primarily for their own safety.
Even if someone meant well, they couldn't take unnecessary risks.
They were not lacking in provisions anyway.
However, as the old man was about to have his meal at home, Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping felt it would be inappropriate to press him for information at that moment. They decided to wait patiently without disturbing him.
The old man felt somewhat apologetic and invited Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping to eat several more times.
But it was still to no avail.
The old man then finished his meal quickly and proceeded to the living room to sit with Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping, finally ready to discuss matters concerning the ruined house.
Before that, Nie Chongyang and the others had taken a look around the old man's house. They noticed a calendar hanging on the wall. Upon checking the date, it was exactly twenty years ago, not a year more or less.
It was around the time when the style of identification cards for Nie Chongyang's group had just been issued.
Nie Chongyang and his colleagues had joined a bit later, but they received the same style of identification. As there had been no internal updates, the old man was easily deceived.
As for why he recognized them, given that there had been a fatality there, it was highly probable that people in this area had seen their identification cards, so it wasn't strange that he recognized them.
After sitting down to talk with the old man, Nie Chongyang asked with some curiosity, "Speaking of which, when we conduct our investigations, we try to be as discreet as possible and shouldn't have alerted anyone. We arrived there without incident. Sir, how did you discover we were there?"
Upon hearing Nie Chongyang's question, the old man replied, "To prevent people from courting death by repeatedly venturing there, some of us in this area often patrol nearby to check for any activity."
"Indeed, no one noticed when you arrived there."
He paused, took a sip of tea, and continued, "However, while I was strolling around the vicinity to check the situation, I faintly heard some movement inside the building. I wasn't entirely sure if people were actually inside, but in our area, we operate on a 'better safe than sorry' principle, so I went in to take a look."
"As it turned out, I ran into you."
Nie Chongyang and the others neither confirmed nor denied this, simply nodding to show they understood.
The credibility of the people in this area was still uncertain to them. Nie Chongyang and the others dared not believe everything they said, lest they make a mistake.
After hearing the old man's explanation, Nie Chongyang said, "Then, sir, please tell us about that place."
The old man appeared to be lost in thought.
"Let me think, where should I begin..."
The story splits into two threads, each telling its own tale.
Meanwhile, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox found themselves in a stalemate. They were worried about Nie Chongyang and Liang Ping's situation and didn't know how to contact them.
After some speculation, they concluded that Nie Chongyang and the others must be in different spaces, otherwise, they would have likely encountered each other by now.
Furthermore, considering the timeline, what if Nie Chongyang and the others were also left behind in another timeline when they stayed in the room?
Therefore, after discussing it, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox decided to write a letter, briefly summarizing all the information from their end. They would then take this letter to the hotel that had caught fire and try to hide it in Lin Yanqin's former room.
If they were indeed in different timelines, then based on the situation, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox would likely be in the earliest timeline.
By extension, Nie Chongyang and the others would only be in later timelines.
This meant that if Nie Chongyang and the others also encountered a similar predicament and were looking for clues, their first instinct would be to check Lin Yanqin's room. If Nie Chongyang and the others went there, they might receive the letter left by Ye Tiancheng and the little fox from the past timeline.
Without delay, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox immediately conferred, then cross-referenced and checked their work to ensure no details were missed. Finally, they wrote a long letter and placed it in an envelope.
However, while writing the letter, Ye Tiancheng and the others considered the possibility of other entities reading it and thus did not wish to leave their names.
Knowing one's true name to a non-human entity was not necessarily a good thing.
If that non-human entity harbored ill intentions, the situation could become extremely dire.
They couldn't leave Nie Chongyang and the others' names on the envelope. Fortunately, they had an internal code. Ye Tiancheng left the coded symbol, so Nie Chongyang would know for certain that it wasn't a forgery and that the letter was indeed from him and the little fox.
Once the letter was ready, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox found an opportunity to return to the hotel where the fire had occurred.
Given the massive fire, the condition of the hotel at the time was evident. The disaster was so severe that it was unlikely the situation there would be resolved quickly.
The ruins of the hotel after the fire were heavily cordoned off. People were still investigating the situation and counting the casualties, with many entering and exiting.
The little fox whispered to Ye Tiancheng from the side.
He said, "Is it appropriate for us to come at this time? What if, during their investigation or when moving bodies, they accidentally discover the letter we left? Wouldn't that be disastrous?"
Ye Tiancheng also frowned with some difficulty.
"I don't know how long they will be here. It seems we'll have to wait until they leave. At the very least, we must ensure that this letter does not fall into the wrong hands. Even if Nie Chongyang and the others don't receive it, as long as no one else sees it, the situation won't be as bad."
The little fox also said, "That's true. There are too many people here now."
With no other option, Ye Tiancheng and the little fox had to retreat on their first attempt, their plan temporarily shelved. However, they kept a close watch on the situation at the hotel. Later, when they saw that only ruins remained and fewer people were entering and exiting, they finally found an opportunity.
To avoid attracting attention, they used the little fox's talismans. Then, Ye Tiancheng, with the little fox, climbed through a window at night and precisely entered Lin Yanqin's former room.
Ye Tiancheng asked the little fox, who had gone to inspect, "How is it? Did we come to the right place?"
After a long while, the little fox replied to Ye Tiancheng.
He said, "It's burned quite cleanly here, with hardly any traces left. If we hadn't been here before, you wouldn't be able to tell that something bad had happened here. There are no signs of Lin Yanqin's demise."
"However, I found a familiar small item, so we can confirm that this was indeed the room Lin Yanqin was in before."
Ye Tiancheng then said, "It's good that we didn't make a mistake."
They dared not make too much noise or create too much light, lest they attract the attention of others. Even at night, it couldn't be said that there was no one around.
Recently, there had been some unsettling rumors about this building.
Some said that the people who died in the fire had suffered such horrific deaths that people often heard ghostly cries from here at night. Consequently, many were hesitant to approach the area, and no one was investigating or moving bodies there, which allowed Ye Tiancheng and the little fox to come with some peace of mind.
The reason for their extreme caution was that Ye Tiancheng and the little fox were being overly careful.
After all, the principle of "haste makes waste" or "caution ensures safety" was always sound.
Ye Tiancheng and the little fox, each holding a small flashlight in their mouths, relied on the faint light to search for a suitable place to hide the letter.
The little fox also spoke to Ye Tiancheng as they searched.
"Shouldn't we find a more secure place? What if the wind, sun, and rain damage it, or if it's found too easily, or what if Nie Chongyang and the others are in a timeline too far in the future, and our letter cannot be preserved for that long?"
Ye Tiancheng replied to the little fox, "In that case, we can only rely on luck. We didn't have particularly high hopes from the beginning, did we?"
The little fox sighed.
"I'm just afraid it will all be for nothing."
Finally, they meticulously chose a spot and carefully buried the letter.
Upon returning, the little fox, thinking about the hidden letter, asked Ye Tiancheng with some uncertainty, "Speaking of which, we've hidden the letter, but how can we be sure that Nie Chongyang and the others will receive it?"
Ye Tiancheng hadn't considered this issue before.
However, since the little fox had asked, Ye Tiancheng thought about it carefully before speaking, "It's indeed difficult to be sure about something like this, but this isn't a normal place, so we can't apply normal logic. Perhaps if they receive the letter, it will leave some trace on our end as well."
"How about this, we check every few days to see if there are any changes there."
The little fox considered it and felt that there was no other way to confirm, so he nodded.
"Alright, then let's pray they receive the letter."