Embers Ad Infinitum

Looking at the flyer in Shang Jianyao's hand, Jiang Baimian was a little dumbfounded given his psychological quality.

While waiting for Bai Chen and Long Yuehong to take their seats, she had imagined all the possibilities after opening the door, but she never expected to see something that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

"Is the disappearance of Lei Yunsong and the others related to that group of lunatics who preach that knowledge is poisonous?" Jiang Baimian muttered to himself, full of doubts.

Just a minute ago, it looked like there was no connection between the two!

"They gave up thinking?" Shang Jianyao's rhetorical question was a bit abrupt, like a mathematical proof problem without an intermediate step.

"...At present, it is possible." Jiang Baimian thought for several seconds and nodded slightly.

She then added:

"This is just a guess for the time being. We are currently unable to determine whether this leaflet was accidentally left behind by Lin Feifei and others, or whether it was placed intentionally to mislead investigators."

"As long as we can find one member of that organization, the problem will be solved." Shang Jianyao gave his plan quite seriously.

"Then you can sneak in, attend parties, eat and drink, and collect clues to find the truth?" Jiang Baimian helped Shang Jianyao complete the entire plan.

This sounds a bit absurd, like a child playing house, but with Shang Jianyao's ability, anything is possible.

"With their IQ, I can be the one distributing food." Shang Jianyao glanced at the flyer in his hand, raised his right arm and wiped the corner of his mouth.

Jiang Baimian laughed when he heard this and reminded:

“Illiteracy does not equal low IQ.”

"Anyone who believes this rhetoric must be easy to deceive." Shang Jianyao was quite confident.

"That's true. Those who can become a member of this organization are those who have been screened and gullible. Well, they should be easily frightened and led." Jiang Baimian nodded slightly, then smiled, "Aren't you worried about the organizers who deceived them because they were so easy to deceive that they even saved food?"

"That's too much!" Shang Jianyao was immediately filled with indignation.

Jiang Baimian pondered for a few seconds and said:

“Seriously, you still have to be careful.

"Lei Yunsong and Lin Feifei are definitely not stupid, there is no doubt about this, but why do they get together with such a group of people?

"I'm worried that if you really get involved, your IQ will be pulled down to the overall level of that organization.

"This is no joke, the abilities of the awakened ones are quite weird and terrifying."

"Pollution is mutual." Shang Jianyao responded solemnly.

Jiang Baimian was speechless for a moment.

She immediately walked to the window, opened a glass, and waved to Bai Chen and Long Yuehong below, indicating that they no longer need to be on guard.

Then, Jiang Baimian and Shang Jianyao searched the room again, but failed to find any more clues.

Immediately afterwards, they used tools to open the opposite room.

——This is also the place where Lin Feifei is suspected to live.

The room was very messy, with various items scattered everywhere and giving off a faint musty smell.

In comparison, the only table had the cleanest surface. It was mainly filled with books, papers and a pen wrapped several times in the middle with transparent tape.

While searching, Shang Jianyao and Jiang Baimian found that most of the stack of books had the stamp of the Wild Grass City Public Library, and the few that were missing gave people a dank, dirty, old and tattered feel. They didn't know where they collected them. Come.

It didn't take long for them to determine what kind of person lived in this room:

It is a simple family composed of parents and one child. The father seems to be doing manual labor, the mother helps others sew clothes at home, and the child is eleven or twelve years old and is learning knowledge on his own.

"Such people should not believe those lunatics." Jiang Baimian made the final conclusion.

In other words, this is not the target room and you can leave.

Shang Jianyao nodded, suddenly walked to the table and picked up the pen.

"What are you going to do?" Jiang Baimian gave up guessing Shang Jianyao's thoughts.

"Correction of homework." Shang Jianyao said without looking back.

"...It may be too late. If follow-up clues are missed, the investigation may be interrupted." Jiang Baimian did not directly use the authority of the team leader to call Shang Jianyao back, but instead laid out the facts and reasoned.

Shang Jianyao thought for a moment, nodded, lowered his body, and quickly wrote a few words on the paper.

In just a few seconds, he put down the pen and turned back.

Jiang Baimian turned sideways, looked at the table, and saw four more correct words on the paper:

"study well"

Jiang Baimian suddenly chuckled.

After leaving the room and locking the door again, she muttered:

"It'll scare them."

"Fear is also a motivation." Shang Jianyao said calmly.

"..." Jiang Baimian looked sideways at this guy and hissed, "You don't have to make your ideas so complicated all the time."

While talking, the two of them left the building and came to the entrance and exit of the courtyard in Huangjiao Alley.

There is also a guard box here, and sitting inside is an old man wrapped in an old dark blue cotton-padded jacket.

There are many wrinkles on his face, and his skin is as rough as orange peel, but his hair is not sparse at all, not even white.

This makes it impossible to judge his age from his appearance.

Without any further instructions from Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao walked over directly and shouted with a smile:

"uncle."

The old janitor quickly put the military green cotton hat in his hand on top of his head and muttered:

"Don't shout so affectionately. If you have anything to say, just say it. If you have any questions, just give me money."

Shang Jianyao calmly repeated the words "You are a man and I am also a man".

The old man's eyebrows suddenly became active. He raised his finger and pointed diagonally across the street and said:

"Well, there are quite a few in that building."

Shang Jianyao did not correct the other party's "deviation in reasoning", but took out Lin Feifei's photo and said:

"Have you seen this man?"

"I've seen it before." The old man's voice was a little louder, "Don't think about it, don't think about it, she's not here to sell it."

At this point, he lowered his voice:

"I suspect she is the mistress of a nobleman on North Street. A man comes to look for her every few days."

"How do you know?" Shang Jianyao asked curiously.

The old man chuckled:

"She and I live in the same building, on the same floor, how could I not know?"

"Then do you know Lao Zheng?" Shang Jianyao changed the question inexplicably.

The old gatekeeper in Hongluo Lane said that Lao Zheng told him most of the things related to Lin Feifei.

The old man was stunned for a moment:

"I am Lao Zheng."

"Ah, that's okay." Shang Jianyao returned to the topic, "Does she live in the room in Huangjiao Alley?"

"Yes." Lao Zheng was very sure.

Shang Jianyao continued to ask:

"What does the man who always looks for her look like?"

"It's hard to explain. He always wears a hat, a collar, and a mask on his face. He looks sneaky. He looks like he has an identity and doesn't want to be exposed." Lao Zheng recalled. Said, "He is quite tall, uh... he seems to be a few centimeters shorter than you."

Shang Jianyao turned to ask:

"Have you seen the woman in the photo today?"

"I've seen it before. She looked like she was in her early eight o'clock." Lao Zheng laughed. "She was wearing a mask and a baseball cap that was pushed down very low. People who are not familiar with her will definitely not recognize her, but she comes in and out every day. I can tell it’s her just by looking at the outline.”

Obviously, the old man paid special attention to Lin Feifei.

"Where did she go?" Shang Jianyao asked.

Lao Zheng shook his head:

"how could I know?

“I just saw her walking towards South Street carrying a big bag of things.

"It's a black travel bag..."

Hearing this, Jiang Baimian was extremely sure that Lin Feifei had transferred.

Regardless of whether Liu Dazhuang dies or not, she will transfer.

After asking for a few more details, Shang Jianyao took out a bag of compressed biscuits and handed it to Lao Zheng.

"Young man, you know how to be a good person!" Lao Zheng praised him with his eyebrows stretched.

After leaving the yard, Jiang Baimian, Shang Jianyao, Bai Chen, and Long Yuehong met in a quiet corner of Huangjiao Alley.

After listening to the team leader's retelling, Long Yuehong said in surprise:

"It's actually involved in the organization that sends leaflets everywhere?"

No matter how he looked at it, he felt that the organization could not be put on the stage, and it exuded a funny atmosphere.

"Not sure yet." Jiang Baimian said thoughtfully, "But no matter what, we have to contact Chen Xufeng and ask him to send a telegram back to the company and ask for information about similar organizations. Next, we have a certain possibility of encountering those gangs. Crazy, it’s better to prepare early. Well... you guys can walk around the area later. Don’t rush to ask if anyone has seen the woman carrying the black travel bag. The point is to observe the relic hunters and see if they can dig out What clues are there? Shang Jianyao and I will leave a message for Chen Xufeng."

"Yes, team leader." Bai Chen and Long Yuehong answered.

Due to environmental constraints, they are not too loud.

Just when Jiang Baimian was about to give some more instructions, Long Yuehong suddenly asked with some confusion:

"Lin Feifei knew how to disguise when he left the yard. Why was his face directly seen while he was 'waiting' for Liu Dazhuang?"

This is a little unreasonable.

As soon as she finished speaking, Long Yuehong noticed that Shang Jianyao suddenly looked at her, which made him feel a little guilty. He always felt that he had asked another stupid question.

Jiang Baimian was stunned for two seconds, then smiled and said:

"Not bad, you can all notice this.

"Next time you can think more deeply about it, put yourself in that environment and see what decision you will make."

After giving her praise, she explained:

"If you were an ordinary relic hunter, and you went to Hongluo Alley and asked the nearby shop owners if they had seen Liu Dazhuang, what questions would you ask?"

Long Yuehong thought carefully for a few seconds and then said:

"I would ask, have you ever seen anyone more suspicious?"

Jiang Baimian smiled:

"Is that a somewhat pretty woman waiting for someone on the roadside who is suspicious, or is it a person with a low hat and a mask whose face cannot be seen that is suspicious?"

Long Yuehong suddenly realized:

"In that case, too much disguise is a characteristic that is easy to be remembered."

"Yes. Besides, in a short time, except for us, who will ask if they have seen a woman like Lin Feifei?" Jiang Baimian added with a smile.

Then, her tone became meaningful:

"But not necessarily after that."