Chapter 73: You

Half an hour later.

“Why didn’t we stay overnight at that Nongjia Academy just now?”

Zhang Sen had already parked the car on a vacant patch beside the road.

“The time since they went missing is too recent,” Yu Dazhang lowered his seat and lay back:

“From now on, no matter who we meet or what their status is, don’t fully trust them.”

Zhang Sen also adjusted his seat and lay beside Yu Dazhang:

“I get that—I’ve got enough vigilance. I just don’t understand why you stopped here.”

In his mind, they should’ve either stayed at the Nongjia Academy or kept driving southeast.

Yet Yu Dazhang had chosen this exact spot—nowhere near either option.

It was bad for rest and a waste of time.

“No reason.” Yu Dazhang closed his eyes, clearly not wanting to discuss it.

Seeing he didn’t want to talk, Zhang Sen didn’t press further.

Early the next morning.

While Zhang Sen was still asleep, he suddenly felt someone beside him sit up.

Then came the sound of a door opening and footsteps stepping out.

He instantly woke up, glancing first at the passenger seat.

When he saw Yu Dazhang was no longer there, he looked out the window.

There, the Fatty was struggling to climb onto the hood of the car.

He’s climbing again… Zhang Sen’s anger flared at the sight of his clumsy antics:

“Hey! Why do you keep climbing on the car? Got some kind of obsession?”

Yu Dazhang acted as if he hadn’t heard, continuing his motion.

By the time Zhang Sen opened the door and stepped out, Yu Dazhang was already standing on the hood.

Under Zhang Sen’s gaze, he stared at the direction they’d come from for about a minute.

Then he did the same motion he’d made at the industrial park—cupping his thumbs and index fingers into a triangle.

He aimed it toward the direction they’d come from, peering through the gap into the distance.

This time, unlike last time, Yu Dazhang didn’t move in one direction—he held the pose and turned slowly in a full circle.

Uncertain, he paused, thought, then turned back the opposite way.

Zhang Sen watched below, grimacing.

The hood’s dented. Fuck.

This car belongs to our Second Squad, and I drove it out—how the hell am I going to explain this?

Say the Fatty climbed up and did it?

Zhang Sen couldn’t even open his mouth.

That’d be like snitching—something he simply couldn’t bring himself to do.

Looks like getting reprimanded is inevitable.

Whatever. Every time I’m with this kid, something bad happens anyway.

As Zhang Sen brooded, a hand landed on his shoulder.

“Hey, don’t—”

Before he could react, Yu Dazhang used his shoulder as a pivot, leapt up, and landed smoothly.

Zhang Sen lurched sideways, barely avoiding a fall.

He slapped away the hand on his shoulder and glared angrily at Yu Dazhang:

“I warn you—never touch my body. Not a single part!”

“Don’t be so stingy,” Yu Dazhang, knowing he was in the wrong, chuckled:

“Get in the car. Let’s analyze the case—I’ve figured out where those two officers went.”

Hearing it was about the case, Zhang Sen immediately took it seriously, opened the door, and slid into the driver’s seat.

After getting in, Yu Dazhang pulled a file from his bag and handed it to him:

“This contains the clues provided by Zhou Zizhe. Take another close look.”

Zhang Sen had already read this file before departure.

But only once—he hadn’t analyzed it. He didn’t think anything useful could be drawn from it. After all, it was the memory of a five-year-old, sixteen years ago.

In his view, it had no reference value.

Still, since Yu Dazhang mentioned it, he took the file and examined it carefully.

Unfortunately, from start to finish, he found nothing noteworthy.

“Look at this line,” Yu Dazhang said, reading his expression and prompting him:

“After Zhou Zizhe sneaked out, he descended the mountain overnight, walked another full day and night, then collapsed at the entrance of a construction site.”

Zhang Sen nodded and replied:

“I know. The construction site mentioned here is the industrial park we visited before.”

Yu Dazhang spoke in a low tone:

“That’s just the outcome. The key is what came before.”

At his prompting, Zhang Sen focused on the phrase: “descended the mountain overnight, walked another full day and night.”

As if a lamp had lit before his eyes, he suddenly felt a profound clarity.

The clue he’d dismissed as worthless now became crystal clear.

Please... collect... 6...9...books....!

Like clouds parting to reveal the sun, he felt a door opening before him.

Seeing Zhang Sen lost in thought, Yu Dazhang stayed silent, quietly opened the car door, and stepped out.

Outside, he pulled out his phone and called Lu Zhongxin.

As soon as the call connected, he asked directly:

“Master, how’s it going on your end?”

“It’s going smoothly—we found that the two officers visited the industrial park,” Lu Zhongxin’s voice sounded weary:

“And they asked around in the park about what mountains were nearby.”

“Anything else?” Yu Dazhang pressed.

“Yes,” Lu Zhongxin said quickly:

“We gathered information along the route where the officers went missing and confirmed they took a remote back road.”

He paused, as if thinking, then continued:

“That’s all for now. Where are you now? What have you found?”

Yu Dazhang then told his master what he’d discovered and his current location.

“You found the Nongjia Academy where they stayed the day before going missing?” Lu Zhongxin’s tone betrayed unmistakable delight.

Though phrased as a question, it was clear he had absolute faith in his disciple’s accuracy.

“Master, the information you found is truly valuable.”

Yu Dazhang wasn’t flattering—he meant it sincerely.

If only he and Zhang Sen were investigating, he could never have bypassed the industrial park and the officers’ disappearance site to head straight to that village.

That would’ve missed too many valuable clues, caused information asymmetry, and prevented cross-verification.

After ending the call, he returned to the car.

Zhang Sen had come back to himself, staring at him with wide, fixed eyes.

“I get it,” he exclaimed excitedly:

“I know why you stopped here.”

“You’re looking for a mountain!”

“There are two key points in that phrase.”

“First, ‘descended the mountain overnight’—it means Zhou Zizhe escaped from a mountain, or rather, from a mountain village.”

“Second, ‘a full day and night’—on the surface it’s time, but it’s actually distance.”

“A five-year-old child walking for a full day and night—that distance can be estimated.”

“No wonder you climbed onto the hood and kept gesturing with your hands—you were trying to find which nearby mountain matches that distance.”

“Wow, you really…”

“You’ve got too many sneaky tricks!”

See? Once you tell someone there’s a clue somewhere, they’ll quickly analyze it.

Unfortunately, not everyone can spot the key points.

The same sentence—some glance over it, others see something entirely different.

“Sen-ge, I need to correct you,” Yu Dazhang said seriously:

“I didn’t subjectively decide to do anything. I’ve been simulating the investigative mindset of those two missing officers.”

(End of chapter)