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墨書 Inktalez
Wu Zui led the way, guiding the donkey forward as he spoke, "You always seem to be a step behind. Do you remember when we only asked for a million dollars? That amount was far too little, and who even uses cash these days? The real money was already in our hands when we kidnapped Liu Yinyan."
"That's how I ended up with a substantial amount of startup capital. Liu Yinyan is undoubtedly one of the top figures in the venture capital industry. His personal assets alone are beyond your imagination. On the surface, he might only be worth ten billion, but in reality, his wealth is far greater than you can conceive. A cautious person like him would certainly keep his wealth hidden."
After hearing Wu Zui's words, I fell into a long silence.
I had previously thought that Wu Zui's actions were merely for fun, but now it seemed that was just part of the reason. Every step he took was meticulously calculated. It was like the mountain before us; I had been here before and was quite familiar with it.
Not far up the slope, there was a gravestone. This was where Wu Xiufen had visited before; we had tracked down this location. It was also here that Guan Zengbin was captured by Wu Zui and his associates. Now, after all the twists and turns, we found ourselves back at this very spot.
Everything was interconnected; Wu Zui had already anticipated the current situation while working on each case.
Wu Zui sought out Lai San, Old Zhang, and Scarface for this very moment. Everything had been planned meticulously, all to rescue Shi Huacheng.
At this moment, we stood beneath the gravestone. The last time we were here, Wu Xiufen's body hung from a tree near this gravestone, but this time felt different. Wu Zui kicked the donkey hard in its rear end, startling it into a run until it vanished into the woods, not to be seen again.
The others followed suit; soon, all four donkeys had disappeared without a trace. I didn't know where those donkeys had come from, but I understood they wouldn't be coming back. This way, our position wouldn't be exposed. I imagined the police would never suspect we would appear here.
At the base of the gravestone, I noticed two trapezoidal shapes carved into it. I didn't recall seeing them last time and wasn't sure what they were for.
Wu Zui exchanged glances with Jasmine, and together they pushed against the gravestone until it toppled over. As it fell, an entrance appeared before me. This opening looked much newer compared to the gravestone, indicating that Wu Zui must have rebuilt it after the Wu Xiufen case.
In that previous case involving Li Ai, we had descended from this very spot. Below lay a labyrinth where I had chased a shadow into a sealed space. But by the time I entered, that person had already vanished, leaving behind a dead police officer on the ground.
After that incident, I found myself in court where Liu described my uncontrollable state to the judge. Faced with arrest, I escaped and became a criminal. Yet now we were back in this place that felt somewhat familiar to me.
Wu Zui helped Shi Huacheng down first while Jasmine pulled me along after him. The entrance appeared hastily constructed; it seemed more like an efficiency project than anything else. At that moment, Wu Zui removed his belt. I noticed two slightly protruding hooks on it; their edges weren't sharp but trapezoidal in shape so that fastening them wouldn't cause discomfort.
Wu Zui crouched at the entrance and hooked the protruding trapezoidal part onto the gravestone. Then he gripped his belt tightly and pulled hard. With a muffled sound, the gravestone lifted up. Instantly, darkness enveloped the tomb chamber; nothing could be seen.
After a moment, light flooded in as Jasmine turned on a flashlight.
At this point, Wu Zui used a knife to cut off the protruding part of his belt so that it became an ordinary belt again. He fastened it around his waist and moved forward. After taking a few steps around a corner, he spotted a coffin and immediately flipped its lid open.
Inside the coffin lay a corpse, which should belong to Grandpa Li Ai. It had already turned into a pile of bones, with not a trace of flesh remaining. Beside the body was a small black plastic bag. Wu Zui pulled it out and shook it vigorously, revealing several magazines filled with bullets—at least five or six of them.
The two of them replaced their magazines and secured the rest on their bodies.
"Let's go." With their magazines loaded, they did not linger.
They walked through a simple passage for about twenty minutes. The passage only turned once at the beginning; afterward, it was a straight path. Following this route led them to a large open space.
After emerging from here last time, our Special Operations Group had nearly fallen apart. I thought the case had come to an end, but I never expected this place was used by Wu Zui for his operations. We hadn’t investigated this underground space again afterward, so we had no idea what its structure was like.
This place was vast, with many forks in the road. In the dim light, one could easily lose track of where they were. Even someone familiar with the layout could get lost here. The darkness and the identical enclosed spaces stripped away any sense of direction, making it one of the most perilous aspects of this location.
One could imagine that if a playful child wandered in, they might become eternally lost within.
At that moment, I suddenly recalled having a similar feeling in another place. I tugged at my hair as an image froze in my mind. This sensation had also occurred during the Six Brothers Tomb Robbery Case; in that Tomb belonging to the Grave Robber Master, the layout was just as disorienting. If one didn’t know the exact path, stepping inside meant they would never find their way out again.
I remembered back then when Zhao Mingkun and I hadn’t revealed our identities to each other. At that time, Zhao Mingkun had even looked at my backside while we let Wang Er Gou track us by scent. The Tomb was filled with blood and corpses; following the bodies led us to the exit.
Perhaps because of this experience, I hadn’t realized it when I first encountered this underground space.
Zhao Mingkun had gone to Linfen to find someone—Lai San. At that time, we had just cracked our first drug trafficking case and followed leads to Lai San. However, he had received word ahead of time and fled; cornered, he must have been taken in by Wu Zui.
It was during that time that Lai San sought out the Tomb Robber Six Brothers to acquire their unique skills for constructing this underground space.
This thought sent chills down my spine because that case happened over a year ago. This meant that Wu Zui had already begun his plans long ago to rescue Shi Huacheng. Each case had Wu Zui pulling strings behind the scenes.
Perhaps it all started years ago when I began assisting the police in solving cases; Wu Zui must have set his sights on me then, making me the focal point of his schemes—either actively participating or being drawn into them passively. Over these years, every move I made was likely under Wu Zui's watchful eye.
It was terrifying to think about—when someone is constantly surveilling your life and you have no secrets left, how frightening that is! He knows what you’re doing, who you like, what you want to do. I suppose those months as a fugitive were some of my most vulnerable days.
"I need to figure something out!" I said aloud.
"Mm?" Wu Zui replied without turning back as he continued to walk ahead.
I spoke up, "Did you not send Lai San to Linfen over a year ago to obtain the construction methods for the maze? Then, based on the underground pits you dug in Wu Xiufen, you spent more than a year creating this underground space, all for today?"
Wu Zui snorted coldly and said, "The perspective from which one stands determines the world one sees. I approach tasks from a holistic perspective while also paying attention to every detail. Therefore, things always unfold according to my expectations. And you? You and your team are so immersed in individual cases that you can't see beyond them."
"Do you know how I describe you?" Wu Zui continued. "A clown, each of you thinking you're so clever. Your life, your world, everything you believe in is merely what I've arranged for you. Without me, you'd be nothing but a clueless fool who has achieved nothing in life."
I didn't hear anything else he said; my mind felt blank, as if something had been pulled away from it. Suddenly, I recalled a movie I had watched called The Truman Show, where the world was fake, and everything was a lie. What I took pride in was merely something others had casually bestowed upon me.
You think everything you stand for is meaningful, but without even the most basic truth as a foundation, what significance do my actions hold?
Perhaps I still have friends—Guan Zengbin, Gu Chen, Mary, Captain Shao, and even Zhao Mingkun. Even if this world is fake, as long as these people are by my side, everything will be alright.
I must remain rational; only then can I possibly save the others.
In the midst of chaos, we found ourselves back in that underground space where a police officer had once died and the murderer had vanished.
Now, I stood here once again.
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