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墨書 Inktalez
Zhong Kui's Diary
Dinglingling, my phone suddenly rang loudly, startling us as we stood dumbfounded next to the trash can.
I pressed the speakerphone button, and on the other end, Mr. Qian chuckled, "So, have you guessed the answer?"
"We're right next to Trash Can No. 1," I said hoarsely. "It seems we guessed wrong."
"Wait, did you find the bomb?" Mr. Qian's surprised voice came through. "My bomb is inside Trash Can No. 1!"
"Stop messing with us; there's nothing in here except a plastic bag that says 'gift,'" I couldn't help but shout.
"Impossible! The bomb is definitely in that plastic bag!" Mr. Qian gasped on the other end. After a moment of silence, he coldly laughed and said, "Zheng Nan, don't try to fool me; I didn't read much."
"Who is fooling you? Do you want me to take a picture right now?" I retorted angrily. "Mr. Qian, we're just here to pay the ransom; stop playing these games."
"How dare you doubt me?" Mr. Qian snorted. "You will pay for this."
Before I could understand what he meant, a loud explosion echoed, seemingly from the direction of the park entrance.
Lingfeng and I exchanged glances and sprinted toward the park entrance.
"Tsk tsk, I heard that soul-stirring explosion; now you know I'm not lying, right? Hahaha." Mr. Qian's voice blared from the speaker, harsh and mocking before he hung up.
When we reached He Park's entrance, we were shocked by the explosion scene before us. The phone booth where we had just called was blown into a big pit, completely destroyed, while nearby booths were toppled over. From this pit as the center, various torn items radiated outwards—shredded cotton and ragged cloth...
At the park entrance, two or three people were already evacuating the crowd; fortunately, no one was injured. These individuals were plainclothes police officers from the River Division Criminal Investigation Team. When we set out from Chaoyang City, these officers had already rushed over from River Division. To capture Mr. Qian, we had mobilized a large number of detectives from various precincts; whenever Mr. Qian moved to a new area, local detectives would lie in wait.
Not far away, a scavenger looked bewilderedly at the explosion site and muttered to himself as he approached, "What did I pick up? It even explodes?"
I exchanged a glance with Lingfeng and immediately guessed the general situation. It seemed that the Scavenger had rummaged through a trash can and found a bomb, mistaking it for scrap metal, which he then stuffed into his tattered sack. When he reached the park entrance, he happened to hear the ringing of a phone booth. After I gave him a beating, he forgot to take his sack and ran off, which is why he managed to escape with his life.
Lingfeng called to notify the other officers to come and handle the aftermath, while we still had to wait for the plainclothes officers to be dispatched. There had already been two explosions; although there were no casualties, the impact was indeed severe.
Before long, my phone rang again, and Mr. Qian pretended to sigh dramatically: "You all better not doubt me. Look, something has happened now, hasn't it? From now on, whatever I say, you better believe I'm serious."
"What should we do now?" I felt my voice filled with helplessness.
"Young man, don't be so downcast. I can even picture you looking up at the sky with tears in your eyes at a forty-five-degree angle. Come on, smile!" Mr. Qian said with interest.
"Heh heh!" I laughed mechanically.
"Your laugh sounds terrible. Forget it; I won't hold it against you. Get in the car now; we need to rush to Kowloon Teahouse in Qingxiu District within half an hour." With that, Mr. Qian hung up.
If we compared the map of Star City with that of China, the location of River District corresponds to the northwestern regions of China such as Xinjiang, Qinghai, Shaanxi, and Tibet. Yuhua District corresponds to the northeastern provinces and areas like Henan and Shandong. Qinghu District aligns with provinces like Sichuan, Yunnan, and Chongqing, while Chaoyang District corresponds to provinces like Hubei, Hunan, Anhui, Zhejiang, and Anhui again. As for Qingxiu District, it roughly matches locations like Guangdong and Fujian on the Chinese map.
In addition to this, the rushing Star River flows through Star City from west to east like the Yangtze River on the map. It passes through Qinghu District and after flowing through Chaoyang District for a while, turns north into Yuhua District. Thus, to get from River District to Qingxiu District, we must cross Star River.
He Park is located in the northern part of River District while Chaoyang City is situated in the southern part of Chaoyang District. We previously traveled from Chaoyang City to He Park, crossing both Chaoyang District and River District. The Kowloon Teahouse is located in the southern part of Qingxiu District; therefore, if we want to get from He Park to Kowloon Teahouse, we must traverse River District, Qinghu District, and Qingxiu District.
The reason I am elaborating on this geographical knowledge of Star City is to facilitate what comes next; however, what happens next catches us off guard.
When we set up temporary traffic control at the traffic lights and sped towards Kowloon Teahouse, Mr. Qian called again and cheerfully redirected us to Golden Peak Building instead. This time he only gave us fifteen minutes. Golden Peak Building is a landmark building in Yuhua District where Golden Blade Advertising Company is located.
With no choice left, we had to rush again towards Yuhua District and temporarily notify the criminal police in Yuhua District to lie in ambush near Golden Peak Building. By the time we hurriedly arrived at Golden Peak Building amidst chaos, Mr. Qian scolded us for being one minute late and mentioned that he had gone to Civic Center Square in Qinghu District. Along the way, he also asked us to stop by an internet café so he could see a video of the money in Travel Bag… Just like that, Lingfeng and I were dragged around by Mr. Qian until after two o'clock in the afternoon.
I pulled out two bottles of water, opened one and handed it to Lingfeng while opening another for myself and gulping it down quickly before tossing the empty bottle into the back seat of the car. I cursed under my breath: "Damn it! What does Mr. Qian want? It's just one million; you'd think it's ten million or a hundred million by how he's acting. Now he wants us to rush back from Jinxiu Jiangnan to He Park; we're running around like headless chickens. Damn it! I'm starting to believe Guo'er's speculation; this guy is a lunatic."
Lingfeng took a big sip of water and casually stuffed the mineral water bottle beside the door, shaking his head with a bitter smile. "Right now, the detectives in each district under me are also running around like headless chickens. This is nothing compared to what’s really important; we’ve been at this for several hours already. Just now, the Secretary General of the Municipal Committee called and scolded Old Jiang so badly that it was almost comical. The Municipal Secretary's car has been stuck on Entrepreneurial Road for half an hour."
There was a moment of silence, and I didn’t know what to say. Mr. Qian might have hidden bombs at all these locations, and if we didn’t follow his instructions, he would detonate them. From the two bombs that had already exploded, it seemed these were remote-controlled explosives; as for that Timer, it was basically just a gimmick.
My phone rang, and I instinctively glanced at the phone Mr. Qian had given me, only to realize it wasn’t that phone ringing.
Lingfeng took out his phone, glanced at me, and pressed the speakerphone button.
“Lingfeng, what on earth is going on?” A stern voice came from the other end of the line.
“Grandpa, I don’t know what’s happening either; we’re investigating it now!” Lingfeng said with a bitter smile. It turned out this call was from Old Master Ling, the head of the Ling Family.
“Several families are involved in this bombing case. I’ve put my old face on the line to get you three days’ time. Within three days, either you solve this Kidnapping Bombing Case and use it as a stepping stone for your career, or you can leave!” Old Master Ling said sternly.
“I just want to leave right now; whoever wants to be the director can take it!” Lingfeng yelled into the phone as he turned the steering wheel and parked by the roadside.
“Lingfeng!” I shouted to stop him.
“What?” Old Master Ling’s voice was filled with astonishment.
Lingfeng didn’t respond; he tossed the phone onto the driver’s stage and leaned back in his seat, staring blankly at the ceiling of the car.
I quickly got up and retrieved the phone. Fortunately, the call hadn’t been disconnected. I hurriedly spoke to Old Master Ling, “Old Master, this is Zheng Nan. Lingfeng is under too much pressure right now; please don’t push him so hard!”
Old Master Ling knew who I was; it was because of me that the Ling Family hadn’t been completely wiped out by Lou Wei’s Dragon Group and had managed to cling onto Number One. You could say I was a lifesaver for both the Ling Family and Yang Family.
“Who doesn’t have pressure? Am I not under pressure myself? That’s why I managed to get him three days’ time?” Old Master Ling sighed. Although his voice carried some annoyance, he didn’t take it out on me.
"Don't worry, we are all helping Lingfeng." Besides this, I didn't know what else to say.
"Then I’ll leave it to you. Also, don’t use traffic control tactics anymore. The traffic police team’s Jiang Minghao has already been criticized by the municipal party secretary and is now suspended for reflection. The acting deputy captain Meng Wei won’t go easy on you." After saying that, Old Master Ling hung up the phone in frustration.
After a moment of silence, I reached out and patted Lingfeng on the shoulder. "Alright, keep driving. There's no point in thinking too much about it now."
Lingfeng rubbed his face vigorously, let out a long sigh, and continued to drive.
Since the traffic control ahead had been lifted, various vehicles began to flow continuously on the road. Previously, Mr. Qian had set our arrival time at He Park for 2:50 PM, and now it was already 2:40 PM. We hadn't even reached Star River Bridge, so making it to He Park within ten minutes was nothing short of a pipe dream.
The phone rang; it was Mr. Qian.
"Ghost Brother, I was just playing cards with someone and had four bombs in my hand! I won so many happy beans; it’s really so much fun! By the way, where are you now?" Mr. Qian asked cheerfully.
"We haven't even reached Star River Bridge!" I replied honestly.
"Ah, it seems like your traffic control has been lifted? That news is really frustrating." Mr. Qian sighed: "Zheng Nan, how are you going to punish yourselves?"
"You can do whatever you want, as long as you don't detonate any bombs," I said bitterly.
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