58: Chapter 58 Here We Go Again 58: Chapter 58 Here We Go Again Thank heavens, we finally made it through the night safely.
No one had had a good sleep as we were all on edge.
We quickly started to pack, unsure of what had happened, but there seed to always be people walking on the street below last night.
Even late at night, there were still people chatting over drinks, making everyone too wary to sleep.
Now it was dayti, around nine o’clock, and the streets were bustling with many people.
So were locals from the ancient town, so were tourists, so this was the safest ti for us.
We packed up and rushed out, ready to fight our way out if necessary.
The situation was complicated, and everyone felt it was better to leave as soon as possible.
However, Gu Fan looked back at the old man’s shop, feeling slightly regretful that he didn’t get to see the old man this ti.
He hasn’t obtained any valuable information or leads, which ant he was still on the defensive when he returned.
As they walked, Gu Fan suddenly spotted a familiar figure amidst the crowd.
His side profile was even more familiar.
Yet, the figure was quickly obscured by the crowd, igniting a spark of hope in Gu Fan’s heart.
“You guys go ahead, I’ll be back soon,” Gu Fan said, then took off after the figure.
The others were left in confusion, unsure of what he was planning, and they worried for him.
“I’m going too!” Lu Yi followed after.
With him by Gu Fan’s side, as long as Gu Fan didn’t run off recklessly, nothing bad was likely to happen.
In the crowd, Gu Fan quickened his pace, but that figure seed to be playing hide-and-seek with him, leading him on a wild goose chase through the streets and alleys.
It exhausted Gu Fan, but he didn’t cover much ground.
“Wait up, Gu Fan.
What’s the rush?
You didn’t seem to be in such a hurry when you were chasing after Lin Xi,” Lu Yi shouted as he chased, eventually catching up to Gu Fan.
They trailed the figure until they found themselves in an increasingly unfamiliar environnt with fewer and fewer people around.
Worried, Lu Yi advised, “If we don’t want to be the eighth and ninth people to go missing, we better turn back now.”
“Trust , we won’t be the eighth or the ninth, because we haven’t entered that secret room,” Gu Fan assured.
For so reason, he was becoming increasingly certain about his conjecture.
The secret room, the map, the missing classmates—all of these were intertwined.
They followed the figure to a small river.
There were only a few people around, and they saw an old man sitting by the river, nonchalantly sipping tea and pretending to fish.
Wasn’t this the man they were looking for?
Just like finding a treasure, Gu Fan and Lu Yi walked towards him.
From the back, they could not confirm, but now, having walked to his front, they were sure—it was the old man.
Upon seeing that Gu Fan and Lu Yi were approaching, the old man smiled and nodded approvingly.
But when he opened his mouth to speak, Lu Yi interrupted, “Speak clearly, don’t be vague or cryptic.
Be straightforward, express the central idea directly and speak human language.
Otherwise, don’t bla for biting you.”
“Y-you guys…” The old man was rendered speechless by Lu Yi, who continued, “If there’s anything you can’t say, can you write it down instead?
I can provide you with paper and pen for free.”
“I…” The old man tried to speak again, but Lu Yi cut him off, “If you have nothing to say, it’s also okay to give us sothing valuable or so clues.
We’re not greedy, anything you give us will do.”
Gu Fan, unable to stand it any longer, interjected, “What nonsense is that?
Old man, don’t listen to him.
I ca to find you on purpose this ti, and I believe you had a premonition that we would co back for you, right?”
In response, the old man nodded, and chuckled, “To be honest, I didn’t expect you to co back for .
I don’t know what you discovered that led you to decide to return to this place.”
“It’s that painting.” Gu Fan took out the painting and continued, “Does this painting have a connection to a foreign country?
Is this painting telling that everything that happened is related to this foreign country?”
On hearing this, the old man rely smiled and remained silent, casting his gaze on his fishing rod, once again putting on a cryptic facade.
Lu Yi was now exasperated, “Just say the word, Gu Fan, and I will bite him.
He’s too good at playing mysterious.”
“Calm down, calm down, we’re the ones asking for help here.” Gu Fan soothingly placated Lu Yi, then turned to face the old man graciously, “I apologize, grandpa, I admittedly have much to learn.
Please enlighten .”
“Enlighten what?
I’ve said all I can, I’ve given you everything I could, you even got what I couldn’t give,” the old man sighed after finishing his sentence, “An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth.
Sotis, to reel in the fish you must have bait.
The joy of fishing lies in patiently waiting for the fish to bite.”
“Here we go again!” Lu Yi slapped his forehead, feeling a headache coming on.
Couldn’t this old man just speak clearly?
Gu Fan thought for a while, then pulled out the key he obtained last night.
After contemplating for a mont, he made an astonishing move—Gu Fan actually threw that rustic-looking key into the river.
All Lu Yi saw was a splash before she was dumbfounded.
“Gu Fan, what are you doing throwing things around, it’s so polluted.”
Gu Fan just shrugged, and the old man just smiled, “I lost a fish yesterday.
I suspect it was a feral cat that did it, but I don’t know where that cat is.
Still, I heard that my neighbor saw that cat yesterday, so I asked him about it.
Unfortunately, my neighbor moved away, but he had a notebook which had detailed records of the cat’s whereabouts.
According to that notebook, I found the cat and got my fish back.”
“Well, although I didn’t quite understand, thank you old man.” With that, Gu Fan turned to leave, but Lu Yi kept prying, “Old man, I promise I would respect the elderly and cherish the young more if you were a bit more straightforward.
Truth is, that’s what I’m best at.”
Unable to listen any longer, Gu Fan quickly dragged Lu Yi away, leaving her to grumble, “What for?
I am just having a warm and friendly conversation with this old man.”
As they walked away Gu Fan whispered, “Haven’t you noticed the changes in our surroundings?”
“Surroundings?” Lu Yi looked around and then said, “Looks like there are more people here.
Could it be…”
“Yes, this place is usually quiet with not many passersby.
But after our arrival, more people started to appear.
They seem to be locals and tourists.
Do you realize what it ans?” Gu Fan’s comnt made Lu Yi shudder.
Lu Yi gingerly said, “Could you be overthinking this?”
“At first, I thought I was being paranoid.
That’s why I threw the key into the water and observed the surroundings.
Many people imdiately showed interest.” Gu Fan said, with a smirk.
“Ah, I see.
You did this to test if those people are following us.” After pondering for a while, Lu Yi suddenly felt regret, “By throwing out the old key, that was a bit…”
“An innocent man gets into trouble because of his wealth.
You’re familiar with that saying, aren’t you?” Gu Fan replied with a serious look and added, “I don’t know what this key signifies, but if everything can’t proceed without this key, does that an there would be no point for them to kidnap us?”
“That’s quite a perspective, it seems to make sense.” As Lu Yi was still pondering, she heard Gu Fan say, “What if this key was ant to end up in our possession?
What if soone wants to use us as bait?”
“No way, did the old man an that?” Lu Yi felt a chill run through her and broke out in cold sweat.
Gu Fan strode on, his face growing more serious, “Think about it, the events last night were too illogical.
Two groups encountering each other in the woods, fighting over a key, and then the key ended up in our hands.”
Lu Yi had a sudden realization, “Yeah, why on earth would I carry a key around in the middle of the night?
And the key, even though a bit old, is clean.
It doesn’t look like it was just dug up from the mountain.”
Gu Fan nodded, “That’s right.
If you know you have an enemy lurking around, don’t you need bait to lure them out?”
“Yeah, why didn’t I think of that?
Once the key got into our hands, we beca a target.” Lu Yi shivered at the thought.
With a furrowed brow, she added, “We haven’t gained anything from this trip.
Instead, it seems like we’ve got ourselves in more trouble.”
“No, we did gain sothing.
The old man made two comnts.
The first was reminding us of our current situation and the second pointed us in the direction of our investigation.
The fish, the bait, the feral cat, the neighbor, these are the clues.” Gu Fan’s words confused Lu Yi.
Just as she was about to ask for more explanation, they had almost reached the edge of the old town.
By then, Su Hui, Lin Xi, and Jie had long grown impatient.
Worried about Gu Fan and Lu Yi, Jie had used a drone to keep an eye on them.
Seeing them return safe and sound, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
“Sorry to have kept you all worried.
I think it’s ti for us to head back.” Just as Gu Fan finished speaking, he noticed Su Hui’s worried face and an ominous feeling surged up.
Gulping, Gu Fan quickly asked, “What happened?
Why are you all looking so worried?”
Lin Xi spoke, “Soone tampered with Sister Su’s car.
It must’ve happened last night.”
Su Hui nodded, “Fortunately, I checked before leaving.
Otherwise, breaking down in the middle of nowhere.
Can you imagine what would have happened?”
“Good heavens, our adversaries are really going to great lengths.” Gu Fan sighed and noticed everyone’s faces filled with anxiety and fear, as if they felt it would be near impossible to safely return from this venture.
However, Gu Fan reassured them, “Don’t worry, I guarantee we will return without a scratch on us.
If the car is confird to be fine after inspection, then let’s hit the road.”
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