Chapter 258: Border Hall

Sultry, endlessly sultry.

This is the climate of Yuanxi, at the southwesternmost tip of China, bordering the countries of South Asia.

Just as Zhong Kui said, after several bouts of travel, they finally arrived at this remote border.

Qi Fei stepped onto the rust-red mud, knowing he could not turn back from this high-stakes gamble—everything came from the hints Xi He gave him, and all he could rely on was the tacit understanding he had with Xi He in his hazy childhood—the tacit understanding of a marble game.

Not far away, five or six children were chanting nursery rhymes in a local dialect, playing their own game. In this intense sunlight, it made him feel as if he had returned to the distant past.

"Let's go, to the pier. Xi He won't let us wait too long," Zhong Kui said behind him. Having arrived in the tropics, she followed local customs and changed into a breathable gauze dress, which had a unique charm.

However, this beauty made Qi Fei wary.

His question, Zhong Kui had never answered him—why she knew the deceased in the white building was Feng Yongshou.

The salty, fishy sea breeze blew in his face. The border line was always busy. Qi Fei watched the weaving crowd entering and exiting the port, carrying large and small bags of luggage, and for a moment, he felt as if Li Yang'er was among them.

"Let's assume Xi He brought Qi Dongjun to the place where the first batch of smuggled fabric was traded, the only waterway from Vietnam to Yuanxi..." Qi Fei said.

Before he could finish, Zhong Kui interrupted him: "There are no assumptions. Since we are here, it is a fact."

Qi Fei understood what she meant. If this "assumption" did not hold, they no longer had extra time to find Qi Dongjun elsewhere—Xi He must be hiding Qi Dongjun nearby.

It's just, where could it be?

Before they set off, they had already sent a request for assistance to the Yuanxi police, but so far, there were no clues about Xi He or Qi Dongjun.

"Hiding a living person for a long time without being discovered is not an easy task," he murmured.

Zhong Kui, who was beside him, smoothed her hair blown messy by the sea breeze and said with a plan already in mind: "I thought you already understood that this is not an investigation, but a game."

Qi Fei turned to look at her, puzzled: "What do you mean?"

"He used Qi Dongjun's account to send messages to everyone in the company. Isn't that obvious enough?" Zhong Kui said, handing him a slip of paper.

Qi Fei took it and saw an account number and a string of initial passwords written on it.

The account number was: 0002

"This is the Dongjun Industrial company account I had Lu Man register before we left. Instead of looking for them in the vast sea of people, it's better to tell Xi He directly that you have arrived in Yuanxi. If you make no progress, he will only feel bored.

I know Xi He; he cannot endure the boredom of life, and he cannot refuse the pleasure of dealing with you." Zhong Kui said, and suddenly seeing what Qi Fei handed her, she couldn't help but open her eyes wide, revealing a rare look of panic.

What Qi Fei handed over was just a hair tie: "I asked Shanqiu for it. During this time, you have always been smoothing your hair intentionally or unintentionally. Zhong Kui's hairstyle, you aren't used to it, are you?" As he spoke, he stared fixedly at "Zhong Kui," waiting for her reply.

She froze for a moment, then lowered her head with a light laugh, reached out and took the hair tie Qi Fei held in his palm, and nimbly tied her long, black hair behind her head: "What? Is my imitation not good enough?"

"Hmm, very good. After all, you created her; you know what she should be like. But yesterday when you mentioned the crimes Xi He committed against the Zhong family, you mentioned 'family.' You severed Zhong Kui's emotional connections; she is a shaman who walks alone without father or mother. Only Zhong Xiaoyu has family, oh no, had family," Qi Fei said calmly. These words seemed to have been brewing for a long time. "This looks like a contest between me and Xi He, but in fact, I am just a chess piece of yours. The final victory is between you two, not between me and him."

Zhong Xiaoyu was slightly surprised, then sneered: "I didn't expect you to think so clearly."

"It was Zhong Kui who taught me that this world is not just black and white. Sometimes things are just like this. I have figured it out, but I still have to be used by you. Your goal is winning or losing, my goal is just to rescue Qi Dongjun, my father. No matter what kind of person he is, I have never thought about killing him. This is the difference between me and Xi He. The difference between a normal person and a psychopath." Qi Fei said, handing over his phone, his eyes deep as he looked at Dr. Zhong. "Dr. Zhong, what wording should be used for the message sent to employee ID 0001 to make Xi He show up?"

Heavy rain was about to fall, and the dazzling sun appeared and disappeared behind the rapidly moving clouds.

"Very simple, tell him you're here." Zhong Xiaoyu's eyes were a mix of light and dark, far from the thorough clarity of Zhong Kui.

However, there was no reply to the message sent. Everyone sat in the border hall, and outside, the heavy rain poured down, and water mist rose everywhere, just like the hesitation in Qi Fei's heart—what if he was wrong?

There were more and more people in the hall. The sudden rainstorm caused the scheduled ferry to be delayed.

Qi Fei was staring at the clock on the wall, feeling extremely anxious about every passing second, when he suddenly heard Wu Shanqiu's voice in his ear: "Hey, is that person Feng Yongfu?"

Following where Wu Shanqiu pointed, he saw a hunched little old man mixed in the crowded crowd. When he turned his head, the side profile he revealed was none other than Feng Yongfu.

Just at this moment, Feng Yongfu also saw them and immediately walked towards them: "Officer Qi, that's great, I found you."

"How did you know we came to Yuanxi?" Qi Fei was not surprised.

"It was someone from your police station who called me, saying there was progress in my brother's case and that you had come to Yuanxi. I was worried, so I rushed over without thinking much. I didn't expect to really find you." Feng Yongfu had greasy sweat on his head, making his already sparse hair stick to his scalp in strands, looking even more aged than before.

"You're quite capable of causing trouble at your age," Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but say from the side.

"I have no worries in this life, only Yongshou's matter weighs on my heart. If I can see the person who killed him pay the price before I die, I can close my eyes in peace," Feng Yongfu said, his eyes filled with turbid tears about to fall.

Qi Fei was silent. He couldn't explain to him that, according to the investigation so far, all clues pointed to a person who was no longer in this world—Xi Ziyun.

However, this was not the time to dwell on it. Everyone responsible for investigating this case was in the hall, which made Qi Fei suspicious, so he asked Feng Yongfu: "Before coming to Yuanxi, I didn't let anyone notify you. Do you know who called you?"

Feng Yongfu immediately said: "They said it was Xia Qiao from the Nancheng Police Station."

"Xia Qiao? There's no such person in our police station, okay," Wu Shanqiu said immediately.