It wasn’t convenient to discuss confidential matters in the hospital. After confirming Xiao Shitou was fine, the group left the hospital. Yuan Maoqiu wanted to find a nearby hotel to rest, but Lin Heyu instructed them to head back to Nanyi.
Anyone could see that Lin Heyu was thoroughly exhausted tonight. The fatigue was evident in his expression. Sheng Guoning also suggested, “Captain Lin, why don’t we sleep first? We’re doing alright, but you’ve been swimming in the river multiple times…”
“There’s no time.”
Lin Heyu’s tone was calm. Yuan Maoqiu glanced at his phone. Indeed, there wasn’t any time left. Once midnight passed, it was already the 29th— the deadline was looming.
Sheng Guoning, however, wasn’t so sure. Didn’t he know how their leader operated by now? When a deadline passed, they would just push it back again. At worst, they’d deduct some of his bonus. A demotion was absolutely out of the question. He didn’t believe there was anyone in Haijing more capable than Lin Heyu.
There definitely wasn’t. So, he didn’t understand why his future brother-in-law was so determined. After all, it wasn’t like they hadn’t caught anyone. Zhao Chenghu had been escorted back to Nanyi overnight, so they could just hand him in for now.
But Lin Heyu, being as stubborn as he was, insisted on heading back to Nanyi. He opened the car door and got into the driver’s seat. Yuan Maoqiu promptly kicked him out, telling him to go rest in the back and look after the child.
The drive would take an hour and a half—not too long, not too short—just enough for someone to take a nap. Xiao Shitou leaned into Lin Heyu’s arms, and the bumps on the road soon made him drowsy. Lin Heyu held him close, his phone lighting up and locking repeatedly, still without the message he so desperately hoped to see.
“…Really, don’t worry too much…” Xiao Shitou mumbled, lightly grasping Lin Heyu’s right hand.
Lin Heyu looked down, his gaze filled with the sight of soft black hair and a slightly upturned nose. He smiled and didn’t withdraw his hand.
The streetlights on the highway flickered past the car windows, the small space shifting between light and dark. Xiao Shitou slept soundly, having let down all his defenses, relying completely on Lin Heyu. In the passenger seat, Sheng Guoning was still studying the strange note, turning back to say, “Captain Lin, do you think this on the note could be…”
His voice gradually trailed off. In the backseat, Lin Heyu had his eyes closed, his chin resting on Xiao Shitou’s head. The two of them, one big and one small, seemed to have both drifted into a sweet slumber.
Sheng Guoning tucked the transparent bag back into his pocket. “I knew they wouldn’t be able to hold out. If he keeps working like this, it’ll take ten years off his life.”
Yuan Maoqiu glanced in the rearview mirror and lowered his voice to avoid waking them. “Lao Lin has always been like this—taking on the hardest tasks and shouldering the heaviest burdens. I feel bad for him.”
“Is it that cutthroat in Haijing?”
“The main issue is with the leadership. The guy above my dad—he’s not a good person. I’ve already calculated it; sooner or later, he’s going to be taken down.”
“I’ve heard a bit about it. Your Director Liu isn’t exactly an easy guy either. Didn’t he come up through the criminal investigation team? But moving up the ranks shouldn’t mean tearing down his own house.” Sheng Guoning leaned back with his hands behind his head. “If I ever get promoted to leadership, I’d always look out for my people. I’d sign off on operations that others wouldn’t dare to approve, and take the blame for cases others wouldn’t touch. That’s the kind of loyalty I believe in.”
Yuan Maoqiu was surprised. He hadn’t expected Sheng to have such convictions. Judging by his tone, it seemed like Sheng really was leaning toward becoming a hands-off boss who mainly focused on offering guidance.
“Captain Sheng, are you planning to step back already?”
“Step back? No way! I’m still young and in my prime! At least wait until I’ve got a wife and kids…” He trailed off.
Hmm, so he’s planning to wait until after marrying Lin Zhizhi. Yuan Maoqiu understood now. That definitely aligned with Lin Heyu’s thoughts, and Sheng Guoning winning over his future brother-in-law seemed just around the corner.
Under a starry sky, the group finally arrived at a hotel next to the Nanyi police station. As soon as the car stopped, Lin Heyu opened his eyes. After a short nap, he looked much more refreshed. Gently, he carried Xiao Shitou out of the car and took him to the standard room where he was staying. Sheng Guoning remarked, “Even his real father couldn’t do better than this.”
Lin Heyu glanced at him but didn’t intend to respond.
In Jian Ru’s room, six people gathered to study the note found in Yi Shi’s clothing. Besides Lin Heyu, Yuan Maoqiu, and Sheng Guoning, Jian Ru, who returned with them, and Zhou Bin and Wen Huabei, who were called up in the middle of the night, were also present.
Lin Heyu took out a pen and paper, copied the characters from the note, and showed them to everyone again.
－·－·－·－·－
〓﹌〓 ▲
The four others were confused by what they were seeing. Sheng Guoning, curious as ever, asked, “Captain Lin, why did you reverse the drawing?”
“…It’s reversed,” Lin Heyu replied.
Wen Huabei picked up the transparent bag, examining it from all angles, still unable to understand Lin Heyu’s reasoning.
Yuan Maoqiu coughed lightly and said, “The clothing belongs to someone important to Lao Lin… his friend. Trust him—he’s not wrong.”
Zhou Bin and Wen Huabei remained calm, but Jian Ru was completely shocked: the person who fell into the river was a man, right??? And their normally stern and uptight Captain Lin is this open-minded?!
Sheng Guoning was the first to speak, supporting his future brother-in-law. “What I wanted to mention earlier was that this horizontal structure could be deciphered using Morse code, but since there’s no separator between the characters, we’d have to break it up ourselves.” He pulled out a small notebook from his pocket and handed it over. “I’ve listed all possible combinations. Take a look.”
Lin Heyu carefully reviewed the combinations but found that no matter how the characters were split, they couldn’t form anything coherent. It seemed unlikely that it was Morse code.
Yuan Maoqiu rubbed his chin. “Huh, what’s the deal with the thing at the bottom? Looks like an emoji. Actually, it’s kind of cute.”
Whatever message Yi Shi left would have nothing to do with “cute.” Lin Heyu was used to Yuan’s unseriousness, and he now looked at him with a mixture of fondness and exasperation, as one might regard a clueless child.
Jian Ru scratched his head. “I’m not sure if this is right, but could it be a simple sketch?”
Zhou Bin tore off a piece of paper and handed it to Jian Ru, who, after thinking it over, completed the “〓﹌〓” as a drawing of a house, with horizontal lines added as railings. Five pairs of eyes were fixed on the paper in his hand when Wen Huabei pointed at the “▲” symbol. “And what about this?”
“Uh… a haystack? A pile of grain?”
“You know, now that you’ve drawn it, it really does have a rustic, countryside feel.” Yuan Maoqiu chuckled. “Maybe we need to head out to Qinghu Village for a visit.”
Qinghu Village?
A sudden realization hit Lin Heyu. He examined the characters more closely and, without warning, gave Sheng Guoning a pat on the back. “Bring me the map of Nanyi.”
“A map? What do you need a map for?”
“Hurry up.”
Sheng Guoning dared not disobey his future brother-in-law. Fortunately, there was a map in the car, so he handed the keys to Zhou Bin, who went down to retrieve it. Yuan Maoqiu leaned on Lin Heyu’s shoulder and said, “Come on, Lao Lin, tell us what’s going on. Don’t keep us in suspense—it’s already so late.”
It wasn’t that Lin Heyu didn’t want to explain; he simply wasn’t entirely sure yet. He changed the subject by asking about Zhao Chenghu. Sheng Guoning answered, “He was escorted back earlier, before we arrived. I had Lao Yan interrogate him. I just called, and Lao Yan said he’s being difficult—keeps swearing and refusing to cooperate.”
“Hmph, still acting tough even after being locked up? Didn’t the detention center give him a taste of reality?”
“Oh, they did, but it didn’t work!” Sheng Guoning shrugged. “This guy is a seasoned pro. Being in a holding cell is like being at home for him. He’s used to all the standard tricks, so what can we do? It’s a new society now, we’ve got to follow civilized procedures. We can’t use the old methods like the tiger bench or chili water.”
“Hmm… yeah, that’s true. He should’ve been thrown back into the ‘90s to enjoy the darker systems of that era.”
“No rush. Even if he won’t talk, it doesn’t matter. We’ll get whatever we can out of him,” Lin Heyu said.
For him, the most urgent task was finding the hostages, as that was information Yi Shi didn’t have, which made the situation more unpredictable. As for the cases that were yet to happen, they already had the specifics of the time and place. In theory, they could prevent the crimes as long as they set up adequate surveillance.
Zhou Bin returned with the map and shut the door behind him. They cleared a spot on the table to spread the map of Nanyi. Wen Huabei asked, “Captain Lin, what’s the connection between this note and the map?”
Sheng Guoning glanced at the map’s legend in the bottom-right corner, then slapped his forehead. “Damn! So that’s what it is!”
Yuan Maoqiu stared at it for a few seconds, suddenly enlightened. “Oh… that’s how it works. Okay, I’ll search on the right side, Sheng, you check the townships below.”
What exactly is going on? The other three exchanged puzzled looks. Could they stop speaking in riddles already? Do the rest of us not deserve to solve this case with you guys??
They waited for a while, but no one explained, so Zhou Bin couldn’t help but cough lightly. “Captain Lin, Captain Sheng, Brother Yuan, we’re still here.”
Jian Ru and Wen Huabei looked completely innocent—they were genuinely in the dark and badly needed some guidance from their captain.
“This note is indeed a simple drawing, but not the kind Jian Ru drew.” Yuan Maoqiu picked up the note and pointed to the horizontal lines. “This isn’t Morse code or a grid—it’s the boundary lines between counties and districts!”
“…Huh?”
Sheng Guoning pointed to the map legend. “It’s right here.”
The three others leaned in, and sure enough, the boundary lines on the map’s legend matched exactly with the ones on the note. Wen Huabei pointed at the “▲” symbol. “This represents a building. So what are those two equals signs next to it?”
Lin Heyu suddenly spoke. “Also a building, next to the boundary line by the river.”
“The river…” Jian Ru had an epiphany. “So what we’re looking for is a place by the boundary, with a river and these three buildings?”
No one answered, which was as good as confirmation. Jian Ru scratched his short hair, thinking the search area was too large. The entire city of Nanyi had fourteen districts and five counties and towns under its jurisdiction, all situated in a water-rich region of the Jiangnan area. There were rivers everywhere, and the note didn’t indicate what kind of buildings they were, making it much harder to narrow down the location.
The six of them worked on the map together, and they had already circled more than twenty places. Yuan Maoqiu rubbed his shoulder. “Honestly, where does Nanyi get all these rivers?”
“Well, that’s why they call it the ‘water town.’ These are just the rivers marked on the map with names. There are still many unnamed, smaller ones, or even man-made rivers, that aren’t shown,” Sheng Guoning explained. “That’s why, in the summer, there’s a flood of drowning cases. Every few days, we get a report that someone’s fallen into the water.”
“And with the river so close, what happens when the rescue teams can’t keep up?”
“Then we step in to help. We can’t just let the people fend for themselves, right?”
Jian Ru picked up the note again, thinking that the wavy lines must represent the river, and those two equal signs placed together seemed oddly familiar, like he had seen them somewhere before.
Lin Heyu circled the boundary of Lifeng Town with his pen and spotted a familiar place name. “Why is the Nanyi Machinery Factory here?”
As far as he knew, the Nanyi Machinery Factory was located in the development zone near Qinghu Village, just ten minutes away by bike from Guibei Mountain. That’s why Pang Daozi had been willing to “lower himself” and work there for a while. However, he hadn’t expected there to be two Nanyi Machinery Factory locations on the map.
Sheng Guoning leaned over. “That’s the new factory. The old one had some incidents before, so the city government decided that land was unlucky and allocated a new plot near Lifeng for the factory.”
“Is the old factory still operating?”
“Of course. But I heard only a few departments remain, and it seems like they’re planning to fully relocate in the next couple of years.”
If that was the case, then the location should still be correct, and the explosion incident that would reoccur was likely still going to happen at the old factory. Jian Ru mumbled a few words, then suddenly slapped his thigh. “I remember now!”
Everyone turned to look at him. Jian Ru was a bit excited. “I knew this looked familiar! These two things look just like the big chimneys at the Nanyi Machinery Factory! And the wavy lines behind them—they look like smoke, right? No, wait, behind the Nanyi Machinery Factory, there really is a river…”
Now that he mentioned it, Zhou Bin chimed in. “That’s right, that’s right. The two of us have been driving back and forth to Qinghu Village for the past few days. We’ve passed that road dozens of times, and every time we see those two big chimneys, white with two red bands on them.”
Lin Heyu immediately stood up. “Let’s go—let’s check it out now.”
