Chapter 571: Old Man, Don't Be Excited!

Guan Guan Zhengzhang, Zou Zou Maoqing, Cao Cao Dayong.

The three people were in three rooms, being questioned by Li Li Banfeng, the phonograph, and Xiang Xiang Hongying respectively.

Li Li Banfeng in the main room: "What level are you in the Ferry Gang?"

Guan Guan Zhengzhang replied: "I am the Chief Tracker. Trackers don't usually go into the water, which means they don't have to do business, but if something happens, they have to find a way to drag the boat out."

Chief Tracker—Guan Guan Zhengzhang's status was not low.

"Who has a higher status, you or Du Du Wenming?"

Actually, this question was obvious. Guan Guan Zhengzhang didn't dare to mention Du Du Wenming's name, which was enough to show that Du Du Wenming's status was higher than Guan Guan Zhengzhang's.

Li Li Banfeng's purpose in asking this question was to see how much restriction Du Du Wenming had on the members of the Ferry Gang. At Guan Guan Zhengzhang's level, he should be able to tell some inside information.

Unexpectedly, Guan Guan Zhengzhang didn't dare to mention anything related to Du Du Wenming.

In every sentence he said, words like "Director Du," "Boss Du," "Big Brother Du," or "that person surnamed Du" could not appear. Even words like "dujue" (to put an end to), Guan Guan Zhengzhang didn't dare to mention easily.

Li Li Banfeng asked: "If you mention these things, will you explode on the spot?"

Guan Guan Zhengzhang nodded, not daring to say more.

Li Li Banfeng took out the materials Shen Shen Jingye gave him: "You just said that trackers don't participate in business,

but as far as I know, some time ago, someone sent a batch of ghost servants from Like Puluozhou, and they were sold through your hands."

Guan Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head: "This was his instruction; I had no choice."

"Whose instruction? Du Du Wenming's?"

Guan Guan Zhengzhang nodded repeatedly: "Recently, the gang has needed money, and the business in the black market hasn't been easy to do. Good ghost servants can't be sold for a good price, so quite a few businesses could only have me come forward to bridge the gap."

"When did the Ferry Gang start to be short of money?"

"Before there was a Ferry Gang, everything was fine. It was precisely because the days weren't easy that the Ferry Gang was formed."

"What does this mean? Before there was a Ferry Gang, you already knew Du Du Wenming?"

Guan Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head and said: "I was also a person of Snowflake Pier. Snowflake Pier was short of money, so it joined hands with that group of foreigners to establish the Ferry Gang."

"Have you been to Like Puluozhou?"

"I have, we went together." This sentence was only half said, because there was a name Guan Guan Zhengzhang couldn't say. His complete meaning was that he went with Du Du Wenming.

"How many residences does that person who went with you have in Yuezhou?"

Guan Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head and didn't speak.

Li Li Banfeng asked again: "You only need to tell me the most critical one. Find a way to tell me."

Guan Guan Zhengzhang thought for a long time, and out of prudence, he still chose silence.

Li Li Banfeng took out the blood-containing pendulum: "If you don't listen to advice, we'll have to change to another method of communication."

The phonograph in the Second Room asked: "Did you take medicine or were you hit by a technique? What method did Du Du Wenming use to cast the curse on you? Tell me the truth, and I might be able to help you resolve the curse."

"We don't have a curse on us," Zou Zou Maoqing looked at the phonograph, his tongue tripping over itself when he spoke.

The phonograph used steam to scald a blister on Zou Zou Maoqing's body: "I only asked you to talk about the curse; I didn't ask you to mention Du Du Wenming. Leaving yourself a way to live—isn't that good?"

Zou Zou Maoqing endured the severe pain and shook his head repeatedly: "There really is no curse. We don't—"

Xiang Xiang Hongying in the Third Room pierced Cao Cao Dayong's left shoulder with her sword: "Since it's death either way, don't you want to die quickly?"

"Just say one true word. Does Du Du Wenming have any other hideouts in Yuezhou? If he does, tell me the address. The more you say, the faster you'll explode, and the more quickly you'll die."

Cao Cao Dayong didn't want to die, gritting his teeth and refusing to speak.

Xiang Xiang Hongying laughed: "I really admire this backbone of yours. I'll pick out your bones and see how much 'qi' is inside."

The three people were interrogated for two hours, and a total of nine hideouts were asked out. The phonograph asked out five,

and Li Li Banfeng and Xiang Xiang Hongying each asked out two.

It wasn't that these three people had hard bones and refused to speak; it was that as long as they actively mentioned the location of a hideout,

they would explode.

The phonograph had interrogation techniques, circling around dozens of times, letting Zou Zou Maoqing mention three more addresses. Li Li Banfeng put the nine addresses together for comparison, and four of the addresses were duplicates, while the remaining five addresses were actually all different.

Catching three people was just to verify each other's confessions to avoid being misled. Unexpectedly, it was this kind of situation.

Which of these five hideouts had value? The phonograph wasn't sure, and Xiang Xiang Hongying couldn't say for sure either. Ever since sending Green Flower to the Knife-Dao Guiling, Du Du Wenming had become the most difficult opponent Li Li Banfeng had ever encountered.

There was no other way. Li Li Banfeng decided to go through them all.

The first hideout was in a residential building, closest to the city center, a residence of over fifty square meters.

This area clearly wasn't suitable for placing large equipment. Li Li Banfeng deduced that this should be for storing some key materials.

The residence was one bedroom and one living room, with a very compact layout. As soon as he entered the door, the glove discovered several secret compartments.

There were some in the wardrobe, under the floor, and in the walls.

The secret compartments weren't large, and they were empty inside.

Li Li Banfeng was late. Du Du Wenming should have come to this hideout and transferred everything away.

The second hideout was a warehouse in the Baiyuan District.

In this warehouse, there was a storage room long-term rented by Du Du Wenming. Entering the storage room, Li Li Banfeng found several boxes of radio equipment. Most of these devices hadn't been unpacked and should have been just purchased by Du Du Wenming.

Having a scientific hobby wasn't a crime, and these devices were also obtained through legal channels.

The glove didn't find anything valuable in these devices, meaning these devices hadn't been modified and didn't contain good things like Heart-Sky Stones.

Du Du Wenming hadn't had time to transfer the things in the warehouse, perhaps because these things didn't have the value worth transferring.

The third hideout was a basement.

This basement was in an urban village and had been rented by someone before, but was later wrapped up by Du Du Wenming.

Entering the basement, although he didn't find useful materials, Li Li Banfeng saw the purpose of the basement.

This was a conference room—long tables, leather chairs, white porcelain cups, and thermos flasks. Just seeing these things made Li Li Banfeng feel sleepy.

The Ferry Gang should have often held meetings here, but Du Du Wenming definitely wouldn't have the mood to hold meetings for a period of time in the future, so this conference room basically had no use.

The first three hideouts had no value. Li Li Banfeng patted the dust on his pant legs and continued on his way.

Thanks to being a Traveling Cultivator, if he had been a Lazy Cultivator, let alone walking through five hideouts, just thinking about the locations of the five hideouts would have made him feel physically and mentally exhausted.

The fourth hideout was a fish pond.

Du Du Wenming rented a fish pond and even hired a worker to raise fish there.

According to regulations, Du Du Wenming's position strictly prohibited business activities. Was raising fish a violation?

Not really. According to the fish pond worker, Du Du Wenming never sold the fish he raised; he just did it for fun.

Even if this matter was a violation, Li Li Banfeng was too lazy to care. He was interested in this fish pond because the glove sensed something good.

In the evening, the worker got off work. Li Li Banfeng sneaked into the fish pond and, according to the glove's judgment, dug out something very valuable from the silt at the bottom of the pond.

This valuable thing was money.

A full eight million in cash, sealed in waterproof bags, was buried at the bottom of the pond. This money was for emergencies, and Du Du Wenming hadn't had time to take it away.

"Ah Tao, we ran for a whole day, and we only got this little money?"

"Accept it, Master. It's better than nothing. Isn't there one more place?"

The last hideout was a factory in the far suburbs.

This factory produced cement boards. After arriving at the factory, the workers had long since gotten off work. After walking around the factory, he didn't find anything. Li Li Banfeng couldn't even think of what the purpose of this factory was.

There was one thing that had a response: the Begging Bowl.

There was a Dark Dimension space here.

Behind the factory building, Li Li Banfeng found the location of the Dark Dimension space. He turned the spoon in the bowl and opened the entrance to the Dark Dimension space.

This was a type of Dark Dimension space with the best closure; the inside couldn't be seen from the outside, and the outside couldn't be seen from the inside, completely isolated from each other.

Entering the space, Li Li Banfeng borrowed the firelight of the projector to see the full picture of the space.

Spectrometer, resonance instrument, interferometer—

For a moment, he suspected he had come to the wrong place. He felt he had arrived at Yu Yu Yaoming's laboratory again.

The layout of the equipment here was almost exactly the same as in the laboratory.

Finally found the most core hideout. This was Du Du Wenming's own laboratory!

But where was the power source for this laboratory?

As far as Li Li Banfeng knew, the power consumption of several pieces of equipment in this laboratory was very astonishing.

"Ah Tao, is there anything valuable here?"

"Yes, it seems very valuable!" Ah Tao was estimating the price and couldn't give a specific amount for a while.

"Are the good things all in these machines?" Li Li Banfeng still thought the situation was exactly the same as the previous laboratory.

The glove shook its index finger: "There's nothing in the machines. These machines are about the same as those in the laboratory, but there are no good things inside."

The key components might have been taken away, or of course, they might not have been installed.

Not being installed was a good thing, proving that Du Du Wenming hadn't returned yet. If they had been taken away, this place would have been a wasted trip again.

Passing through various experimental equipment, Li Li Banfeng first saw a wall, then saw a door.

There were walls and doors?

Du Du Wenming had renovated this Dark Dimension space.

There was almost no dust on the cement walls, which proved that he had come not long ago and was diligent in cleaning. What was on the other side of the door?

The glove spent ten minutes opening the door lock. Pushing open the heavy iron door, Li Li Banfeng saw a deep corridor. On both sides of the corridor were iron doors of exactly the same style.

The glove opened the first iron door. Behind the iron door were two rows of iron cabinets. Each iron cabinet was about the size of a trash can at an elevator entrance, and the cabinets had screens on top, with various parameters displayed on the screens.

Laymen would think these were high-end experimental equipment. Li Li Banfeng had seen these things in his university days; these were DC battery packs, which were the power source for the laboratory.

Judging from the parameters, the power of these battery packs had been drained. This was very likely because Du Du Wenming had exhausted the stored power when he left.

Leaving the battery room, the glove opened the next room, which was the power distribution room.

Moving to the next room, Li Li Banfeng entered the bedroom, where there was a bed with bedding still left on it.

This should be Du Du Wenming's residence.

The projector suddenly spoke: "There is a friend of mine here."

Li Li Banfeng looked along the firelight and saw a ceiling lamp on the ceiling of the bedroom, and next to the ceiling lamp was a camera.

The projector communicated with the camera for a moment and said to Li Li Banfeng: "Seventh Director, my friend said that a middle-aged man once lived here. Last night, this middle-aged man was taken away."

"Who took him away?"

"He said it was the owner of this place."

The owner of this place was Du Du Wenming. Then who was the person living here?

"Can you let me see what that middle-aged man looks like?"

The projector communicated with the camera: "Seventh Director, the camera is powered off; there is no way to present the image."

Actually, there was no need to present the image; Li Li Banfeng could also deduce a rough idea. Yu Yu Yaoming originally lived here, and Du Du Wenming had imprisoned him here.

After the laboratory battle, Du Du Wenming realized the situation was bad and picked Yu Yu Yaoming up.

Besides Yu Yu Yaoming, according to normal deduction, Du Du Wenming would take away everything of value.

Since everything was taken away, why did the glove still say there were valuable things?

Li Li Banfeng returned to the corridor and checked each room one by one.

He saw the warehouse, the bathroom, the machine room, and the shower room.

There was also a spacious dance room here, with mirrors on all four walls, dance-specific flooring on the ground, and various lamps on the ceiling.

In a situation where the outside world was almost completely isolated, Li Li Banfeng found it hard to imagine how Du Du Wenming had completed such a large project.

It definitely wasn't done by himself; there must have been a Craft Cultivator helping him, and it was likely a high-level Craft Cultivator, very likely a member of Snowflake Pier.

And it was precisely because of this Craft Cultivator that Du Du Wenming could be dressed up exactly like a marionette.

There was a cabinet in the dance room. The cabinet wasn't locked, and quite a few dance textbooks were placed inside.

Purely from the perspective of value, these textbooks definitely couldn't be considered precious, but for a Dance Cultivator,

these might be equivalent to their martial arts secret manuals.

Li Li Banfeng really did notice one set of textbooks. This set of textbooks explained exactly the "Silk-Thread Marionette Dance."

There really was such a dance.

Li Li Banfeng collected these dance textbooks, thinking he might find a way to deal with Du Du Wenming inside.

The data room next to the dance room was empty, leaving nothing behind.

Li Li Banfeng no longer held any hope for this hideout. When he reached the end of the corridor, he saw the last iron door.

The glove looked at the door lock: "Master, this lock is not easy to open. You have to wait for me a while longer."

A plain and unremarkable door lock, showing no special features on the surface. The glove worked for half an hour, but still couldn't open it.

He said there were valuable things behind the iron door. What kind of things were they? Why did Du Du Wenming leave things here?

"Brother, stop opening the door. I'll just pass through the wall."

"Master, don't be reckless. You don't know what the situation is on the other side of the wall."

"Then I'll open a path first."

"Master, this is someone else's territory, especially an 'Unknown Place.' We'd better be prudent. If you open a path and the whole house collapses, we'll suffer a big loss!"

Click~

After waiting for ten minutes, the door lock finally opened.

Li Li Banfeng carefully opened the room door, putting the "Seek Good Fortune and Avoid Disaster" technique to its maximum during the process, carefully sensing the danger on the other side.

The space outside the door seemed much larger than inside the door.

There was indeed danger on the other side of the door, but it was within a controllable range. When Li Li Banfeng completely opened the room door, he saw those two treasures and also understood why Du Du Wenming didn't take them away.

These two treasures were too big.

Two spheres with a diameter of over ten meters were suspended in the space outside the door, slowly rotating.

They rotated themselves and also orbited each other, as if they were two planets drifting in the universe.

Li Li Banfeng couldn't tell what material these two spheres were made of; they looked like stone, but still flashed with some metallic luster.

It wasn't reflection; the two spheres themselves flashed with faint light, and threads of light halo seemed to slide slowly across the spheres like layers of veins.

"Are these the treasures you mentioned?"

"Yes, Master!"

"Come, let's bring them into the Leaving Suishenju."

"They can't fit in; how big is our house!"

Just as the glove finished saying this, Li Li Banfeng suddenly heard a sharp whistle.

Woo, woo-ow!

The Old Man woke up?

So anxious just after waking up.

The glove reminded him: "Master, we don't need to do it ourselves for good things. The Old Man has fast hands,

and his hands are also big. You walk a little closer, and I estimate the Old Man can take them away himself."

Li Li Banfeng walked two steps toward the two spheres, and the spheres acted like magnets, sucking Li Li Banfeng toward them.

Where did this force come from?

Even if these two balls were really magnets, Li Li Banfeng wasn't made of iron; why could he be sucked over?

He used his own strength to resist the force of the spheres, carefully walking two steps toward the spheres. When he was about three meters away from the spheres, Li Li Banfeng stopped.

He couldn't get any closer; if he got any closer, he might not be able to come back.

If this were a Earth-level cultivator, they would already be stuck to the sphere by now.

The glove saw something stuck to the sphere. That thing was worth a lot and should have been made of gold.

It also flew toward the sphere, its body about to lose control.

Li Li Banfeng grabbed the glove and dragged it back with all his might.

"What are you doing?"

"Master, I got a good thing. You look first—"

The glove didn't wait to show the good thing before the two spheres suddenly shrank and then disappeared.

The space became empty and pitch black. Li Li Banfeng heard a long whistle.

Woo~

The whistle was mixed with some laughter.

Hahaha!

The glove shook its index finger and said to Li Li Banfeng: "The Old Man got his hands on them. We shouldn't go back empty-handed either. This is the thing I just picked up. Master, you take a look; it's pure gold."

Li Li Banfeng took a piece of gold from the glove. Judging from the shape and size, it seemed to be a leaf.

A gold leaf?

No, it wasn't a leaf; there was a pattern on it—it was a tree.

There was also a pattern on the trunk, which seemed to be two eyes.

What kind of tree would have eyes on it?

A birch tree!

This was a badge; it should be the badge of the Birch Hidden Cultivation Society.

Why would this badge appear on the sphere?

Li Li Banfeng left the Dark Dimension space, walked out of the factory, found a patch of grass nearby, hid the key, and entered the Leaving Suishenju.

"Old Man, you're awake?"

"Hmm, awake!" the Leaving Suishenju replied happily.

Li Li Banfeng asked: "What treasure did you encounter just now to make you so happy?"

"Heart-Sky Stones, two complete ones!"

"The ones just now were Heart-Sky Stones?" This was completely different from the concept of Heart-Sky Stone in Li Li Banfeng's imagination.

"That's right, those were two complete Heart-Sky Stones, complete!"

"Didn't the parts I brought back before also have Heart-Sky Stones?"

"Those were all fragments; they were far off. Back then, when Chu Shaoqiang sent Knife-Dao Guiling to Sage Peak,

he used this kind of complete Heart-Sky Stone."

Li Li Banfeng recalled the appearance of the two spheres: "These things are also too big."

The Old Man sighed: "Fortunately, there were two; if there were only one, it would be troublesome."

The glove laughed: "Old Man, you're too greedy. If there were one, wouldn't it also be a big profit?"

"This isn't a matter of profit; two Heart-Sky Stones have their gravitational forces cancel each other out, so you can still stand beside the Heart-Sky Stones. If there were only one, you would definitely be sucked onto the stone, and it wouldn't be easy to save you then."

"Sucked onto the stone?" Li Li Banfeng listened, confused.

The phonograph understood a bit: "The suction force the Old Man mentioned should be what the Outer Continent calls gravity."

"Can the gravity of two spheres be so great?" According to the gravity formula, gravity is related to mass and distance.

For these two spheres to produce such great gravity, how high must their density be?

There was too much information. Li Li Banfeng needed to clear his thoughts. After thinking for more than half an hour, Li Li Banfeng figured out the entire process of the event.

After Du Du Wenming abducted Yu Yu Yaoming, he placed him in this hideout and, according to Yu Yu Yaoming's requirements, rearranged the laboratory.

The missing key components in the laboratory were because these components were mixed with Heart-Sky Stone. Because the material wasn't easy to obtain, Du Du Wenming chose to steal the components from Yu Yu Yaoming's laboratory.

No.

He had two complete Heart-Sky Stones here; why didn't he take materials on the spot and make the components directly?

The time to make the components was estimated to be very long, but stealing components from the laboratory carried a great risk.

In fact, Du Du Wenming's action had already failed. He didn't manage to steal the components from the laboratory,

and he himself was injured and in a very unfavorable situation, with his identity ready to be exposed at any time.

He didn't use the Heart-Sky Stones in the Dark Dimension space as materials to manufacture the components. The only reasonable explanation was that these two complete Heart-Sky

Moreover, these two Heart Stones have other uses; if they can move the Dao Dao Guiling, they can certainly make this dark-dimensional space move as well.

The clues have connected.

Du Du Wenming wanted to use the Heart Stones to move this hideout, but he failed, and the birch badge on his body was even sucked away by the Heart Stones.

Why didn't he succeed?

"Only a Craft Cultivator can use Heart Stones to move a plot of land, right?"

The old man thought for a moment: "Practitioners of other Daoist sects could try, but unless their cultivation base is ridiculously high, they might not succeed even after trying a thousand or a hundred times."

Du Du Wenming tried, and clearly, he didn't succeed.

So what is he doing now?

He is a man of Snowflake Pier, and also a man of the Birch Hidden Cultivation Society; at a time like this, he should be looking for helpers.

Helpers who can move the laboratory away.

In an unfinished office building, Du Du Wenming stood at the stairwell on the twenty-eighth floor, looking at a man on the stairs.

The man held a caliper in his hand, a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his mouth, and kept a distance of half a floor from Du Du Wenming, asking, "What do you want with me?"

Du Du Wenming said, "There is something I need your help with; it's my experimental base, I want to—"

Before he could finish, the man waved his hand: "I don't remember you having any experimental base. Whatever it is, let's talk about it another time."

Du Du Wenming took two steps up: "My current situation is extremely dangerous, there's no time—"

The man signaled for him to stop immediately and not come any further up: "I know you're in danger, so it's best not to come looking for me during this time."

Du Du Wenming shifted his weight on the stairs: "Is it appropriate to talk to me like this?"

The man rubbed the caliper in his hand: "I'm not a man of the Ferry Help, nor am I a man of Snowflake Pier. I think it's quite appropriate to talk to you however I like."

Du Du Wenming smiled, "I only wish to use our friendship to exchange for a bit of trust and help."

The man shook his head: "I don't trust you. I've already received word that you are silencing witnesses everywhere, and three people have already gone missing.

If I went to your laboratory, I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to come back alive."

"I don't know where you heard those rumors; I haven't silenced anyone, and I haven't killed anyone in the last two days." Du Du Wenming took two more steps up.

Bang!

Two floor tiles bulged on the stairs, trapping Du Du Wenming's right foot.

The man gave another warning: "Don't come up any further. Didn't I tell you? I don't trust you.

I can guarantee I won't report you, so hurry up and leave."

Du Du Wenming darkened his face and said, "What if I don't leave?"

The man closed the two jaws of the caliper together: "Do you really want to fight here?"

Du Du Wenming was silent for a moment and gave up the idea of using force.

He wasn't afraid of this Craft Cultivator, but this office building was in the city center; if he caused a scene, it would be difficult for Du Du Wenming to get away.

Du Du Wenming left with Yu Yu Yaoming. The man let out a long sigh and carefully checked the various mechanisms in the building, fearing that Du Du Wenming might kill his way back.

While checking the eighth floor, the man suddenly heard footsteps.

He turned his head abruptly, the caliper spinning rapidly in his hand.

The footsteps approached. It wasn't Du Du Wenming, but a middle-aged man with a lean build, a square face, thick eyebrows and big eyes, no beard on his chin, and a mustache on his upper lip.

The man had a false alarm, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and asked, "Boss Lu, why are you here?"

Boss Lu carried a book: "The books you ordered at my shop have arrived, so I've brought them to you."

Walking on the street, Yu Yu Yaoming's stomach growled incessantly: "At least ask your friend for some money to use; we don't even have money for food anymore!"

Du Du Wenming sneered: "Didn't you see his attitude just now? To ask him for money in this situation, do you have no dignity?"

Yu Yu Yaoming shook his head: "Not a single copper coin, can't even afford a bowl of noodles, and you're still talking about dignity?"

"I have plenty of money; I just don't want to risk taking it. I'll take you there now; you can take as much as you can."

Du Du Wenming brought Yu Yu Yaoming to a fish pond: "Can you swim?"

Yu Yu Yaoming shook his head.

"Then wait on the shore, and whatever you do, don't run around."

Du Du Wenming went into the water himself, and before long, he walked out of the fish pond covered in silt.

"Where's the money?"

Du Du Wenming caught two fish from the pond: "The money is gone, but we still have fish to eat."

Returning to his residence, Li Li Banfeng lay on the sofa, quietly looking at the calendar.

By tomorrow night, the coloring agent will fade, and Du Du Wenming can go back to work directly.

He has many things to explain, but he will certainly be able to explain them away. He lost two Heart Stones and must be heartbroken; after the heartbreak, he will still have to continue risking his life against me.

Having fought so many times, a few more rounds don't matter, but to force him to this point and still have him escape unscathed makes Li Li Banfeng very dissatisfied.

At the very least, I cannot let him regain his position, and I cannot let him use his official status to target me again. There is one more day left; what else can be done?

The phone rang; it was Tang Tang Changfa calling.

"Shopkeeper, that group of foreigners is here again. I see they are acting all mysterious and don't seem to be here for business; it looks like they're looking for trouble again."

Looking for trouble in the black market? Could it be another trap?

Li Li Banfeng looked at the golden badge and pondered for a moment.

They've set so many traps for me; should I cooperate and jump into one for once?

PS: These two complete Heart Stones are about to be of great use!