I received the location information and temporarily left the provincial department, driving to Gao Mingqiang's side. When I saw him, two police officers were still standing downstairs. They told me that Mingqiang was upstairs.
I walked upstairs and saw Gao Mingqiang talking to a police officer. When he saw me, he immediately waved me over, "This way!"
I approached a pillar and noticed what seemed to be small holes on it. Gao Mingqiang told me that the mobile phone was found on a platform in front of this pillar.
"How did you find this place?" I asked him.
"I saw Xiao Yuande's figure appear downstairs just now. I originally told them to surround the area, but he still managed to escape."
"If Xiao Yuande didn't want you to find him, he wouldn't have let you find him..." I paused, "It seems he did it intentionally, but why would he leave his phone?"
"Could he be trying to hint at some information for us?"
"I understand, is he a mole?" Gao Mingqiang's words made some sense. Regardless, I felt that Yuan De was on our side.
"Alright, thoroughly survey the scene. If there's nothing else, leave for now!" I instructed, though I had no intention of leaving myself. I scanned my surroundings, observing the walls, floor, and even the small holes in the wall with sharp eyes. During my observation, I particularly noticed that this third floor seemed to have originally been intended to be designed as two rooms, but the work was stopped for some reason. These air holes did not serve any ventilation purpose; it seemed someone had deliberately put them there.
I took out some yellow wine and sprinkled it around. Immediately, a pattern appeared on the wall. At this moment, Gao Mingqiang and the other police officer walked over, "What is this?"
"This looks like a map? Could it be that Xiao Yuande left it intentionally?" I muttered.
"Take a picture and let He Xin check it!"
"No need, I know where this is. It's Dayushan, in Qiaohe Town, our Guangming City."
"Oh, have you been there before?"
I didn't answer and immediately went downstairs. Gao Mingqiang called out to me from behind, telling me not to rush and that he would go with me. When we got into the car, he informed Liu Yuning about the situation, but she was unable to get away at the moment as she was handling another case, so we set off first.
We contacted the police station in Qiaohe Town. Director Guo here dispatched over 20 police officers to cooperate with us. We headed towards Dayushan. Along the way, we were all armed and accelerated, not daring to be negligent. After an unknown period, we reached the mountaintop. Just as in the "map" Xiao Yuande had left us, there was indeed a residence. This residence was said to have been left from the Republic of China era. Previously, Japanese soldiers had pursued some Eighth Route Army soldiers here. The Eighth Route Army, utilizing the complex surrounding environment, successfully prevented the enemy's pursuit, thus protecting our Guangming City.
Many historical traces were still visible everywhere, looking very ancient. I didn't know why Xiao Yuande wanted to tell us about this place, but since we were here, I had the police officers cooperate with me to surround this Republican-era residence.
Gao Mingqiang, a few other police officers, and I pried open the main door and ran in with our guns drawn. When we reached the entrance of the hall, I don't know what was going on, but a strange "cooing" sound could be heard from not far away. We looked around, our guns following our eyes, and found no immediate situation. Gao Mingqiang directly used his shoulder to ram open the wooden door of the hall and rushed in first!
We quickly followed. The moment we entered the hall, someone tried to escape through the window but was discovered by the police officers we had stationed outside. Several of them went up and pinned him to the ground.
We also crossed through the window to the outside. I went up to the person, "Are you the murderer in these several murder cases?"
"What murder? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm the butler here. I've lived here for many years. Is there a problem?"
"Then do you know a police officer named Xiao Yuande?" I asked.
"Xiao, Xiao, Xiao, Yuande? Is he a celebrity? I haven't heard of him!" The man had a full beard and was wearing a very simple shirt. His hair looked like it hadn't been cut in a long time, and he had dark circles under his eyes, indicating he had been sleep-deprived for a long time. His fingernails were covered in dirt, suggesting he had recently done some manual labor.
"Stop pretending, I know you're involved in this case!" Gao Mingqiang kicked the man.
"I really don't know, sir. I've lived here for many years, and no one has ever come. How could I be a murderer? I haven't been out at all!"
I observed the man's reaction and found that he didn't seem to be lying. I then asked, "What is your name?"
"I don't know my name. I lost my memory when I arrived here."
"When did you arrive here?"
"It... should be about ten years... ago. My ancestors lived here before, but my parents went out to work and took me to the city. Later, we were in a car accident, and they all died. I miraculously survived, but I forgot a lot of memories. However, I still remembered this house. After my parents left, I came back and have been living here ever since."
Listening to his description, Gao Mingqiang looked at me several times, as if asking if I thought the man was lying. I didn't respond until the man finished speaking, then I said, "So you really haven't seen a man like this..."
I described Xiao Yuande's appearance. The man suddenly seemed to recall something and said, "You... you mean those two thieves? They came to my house by accident one day. In the evening, I didn't know what was going on. I heard noises inside. You know, I've always lived alone, and how could anyone possibly be in a place like this? I was terrified at the time, thinking it was a ghost. But I still mustered up the courage, grabbed a baseball bat, and walked towards the source of the sound."
I had originally wondered why he was speaking like this, but observing his movements, I realized that his stuttering habit was innate.
When I reached the hall, two people were sitting on the sofa, acting as if they owned the place. Although my house wasn't particularly fancy, they seemed to like it. Seeing that I was holding a baseball bat, one tall man tried to rush over and subdue me, but the other, who was the gentleman you just described, grabbed him forcefully and said, "Brother, forget it. I don't think he's a threat to us. Let's just tie him up.'"