Chapter 116
Dongfang Jenqyih
Jenqyih and Yihshyong ran as fast as they could towards the place where their driver had parked the car. The car park was about four hundred meters from where they had been standing. So, it only took them about seven minutes to get there. When they got there, they found the car's engine was on. The car was ready to go.
"How did you know we'd be here soon?" Yihshyong asked that as soon as they jumped in the car.
The driver smiled. "Earlier, Mr. Mingju said that most likely, the kidnappers would order you to go to another place. So he said that I don't have to turn off the car engine, so that when you come back here, we can leave immediately. "
"So you haven't turned off the car engine since we had arrived?" Jenqyih, who was sitting beside the driver, could hardly believe what the driver was saying. Earlier, before getting into the car, he could hold the hood of the car. Based on the temperature on the surface of the hood, it's impossible that the car's engine had been running continuously since that time.
"Mr. Mingju did order like that. But earlier, I actually turned off the car engine because it turned out that you two didn't come back immediately. Just five minutes ago, I turned on the engine again."
"All right! Now we must hasten to another place," said Yihshyong.
"Where to go, Sir?"
"We have to go to the 'Red Soil River.'" Yihshyong read the writing on the paper he was holding.
"The Red Soil River is quite long, Sir! Where are we headed?" The driver of the car turned towards Yihshyong. He seemed to have a clear idea of the ins and outs of the place they were going to.
"It says here that we should go to the middle of the Red Soil River." Yihshyong brought the paper closer to his face so he could read more clearly.
"Ah! I know, Sir. That place is the widest part." Their driver said that in a very confident tone.
When he first set foot in that gigantic city, Jenqyih had visited the place. Even though the name of that place was "Red Soil River," it was not a river at all. That place was a lake whose length to width ratio was enormous.
The length of the lake was three kilometers, while the width was between fifty and one hundred and fifty meters. The bottom of the lake was overgrown with certain red plants so that from the surface, people could see the red riverbed. Because of its red color and shape like a river, people call this lake the "Red Soil River."
Although the traffic was not heavy, the journey to the place was quite time-consuming. It was half-past five in the morning when their car arrived at the part of the lake the kidnappers had intended. Yihshyong and Jenqyih instantly jumped down from the car.
"You have to be alert. Don't turn off the car engine. There's a chance the kidnappers will tell us to go somewhere else!" Yihshyong said in a firm voice.
"Yes, Sir!" The driver nodded.
Yihshyong and Jenqyih soon approached the edge of the lake. The place was right in the middle of the lake. There was a stone monument erected there as a sign that the spot was indeed in the middle of the elongated side of the lake. Another stone monument that looked exactly the same was also on the other side. The distance from the point where they were standing was one and a half kilometers from the end of the lake on the right, and one and a half kilometers from the end of the lake on the left. The opposite side of the lake was roughly a hundred and fifty meters from the side they were on.
"Now, what should we do?" Jenqyih looked at Yihshyong.
"There should be another clue they're hiding around here."
The two of them started looking around for any potential places where the kidnappers had hidden messages for them. The sky was not yet light. Therefore, even though they had turned on their flashlights, it was still difficult for them to see their surroundings clearly.
Jenqyih stopped looking. He looked around the place. "This place is immense. It'll take time to go through everything. What if by sunrise, we still can't find our next clue?"
"Don't stop looking. Every second counts."
"What do you think if we ask the driver to help us? Need more people to do this."
"No. He has to stay alert in the car. After all, the kidnappers only allowed two people to deliver the ransom."
"What if it turns out we're looking on the wrong side?" It occurred to Jenqyih that perhaps they should have looked elsewhere. If they were wrong, they would have to make a three-kilometer detour to get to the other side.
Hearing Jenqyih's words, Yihshyong stopped his search. He walked over to Jenqyih. His brow furrowed.
"This is the letter you found in the shoe earlier. Pay attention. Maybe there are things that I have missed." Yihshyong handed the paper to Jenqyih.
After receiving the paper, Jenqyih approached a bench on the edge of the lake. He sat down and began to read. He read several paragraphs written on the paper several times. But like Yihshyong, he found no additional clues.
At that time, Yihshyong was already sitting next to Jenqyih. The two of them then looked at the other side of the lake.
"Indeed, the kidnappers mentioned specifically which side they meant. So we are not wrong. But still, this place is too wide. We need more people," said Jenqyih.
"Maybe that's why the kidnappers told us to come together. Imagine if I had to come alone."
"Let's think about it again. Did the two people we met have other clues aside from the shoe problem?" Jenqyih tried to remember the behavior and words of the drunkard and the motorcyclist who picked up the man he admitted as his uncle. But he still couldn't deduce anything from the fragments of memory in his mind.
"The motorcyclist didn't take off his helmet at all. Could that be a clue?" Yihshyong's question was more like a rhetorical question.
"Maybe that meant something. But also maybe he was just in a hurry. If he stayed too long, they'd be afraid the police would surround them."
"So you think they already know we disobeyed them in deceiving the police?"
Jenqyih took a deep breath. "They're not stupid. I think this is all they have calculated. So they do have to be careful."
"There's no way the kidnappers haven't left a clue. We just haven't realized it yet."
"What makes us think that this place is the middle of this lake?"
"Of course, that's because there is a monument as a marker," replied Yihshyong.
Simultaneously, they both looked at each other. Then quickly, they stood up and ran towards the monument that became the marker. There, they examined the object, which was made of very dark granite, carefully. Jenqyih tried to find cracks in the stone surface where the kidnappers might have inserted paper or cloth containing their next clue.
While they were busy looking for clues around the monument, Jenqyih saw their driver running over.
"What's wrong? Shouldn't you be guarding the car?" Yihshyong looked at their driver with a surprised look.
"Sorry, Sir! I have something important to tell you."
"Quickly say it," Yihshyong said.
"Earlier, while I was waiting in the car. An old man who was doing his morning exercise stopped when he saw me. He greeted me so kindly. The old man asked why I stopped there. I replied I was accompanying friends from out of town who want to take a look at the midpoint of this lake."
The driver of the car stopped briefly. It looked like he was trying hard to arrange the sentence he should say.
Was the old man part of those people?
"Then the man said that indeed he often saw people coming here wanting to see the place of the murder."
The words their driver had just said were not something to be trifled with.
"What murder?" Jenqyih was surprised. He took one step back.
"When I said that I didn't know about the murder, the person then said that there had been a murder of a family who were having a picnic by this lake. It was right at the halfway point of this long lakeside."
"So this place is really famous, huh? I didn't know something like that had happened here. Jenqyih, didn't you tell me you were here a few years ago? Don't you know about the murder incident?"
"I don't know. A friend took me here. He just said that this place is unique. That's all."
The driver then added. "That's right, Sir! The old man said that the murder happened about fifty years ago. So, I guess there is a possibility that the younger generation doesn't know about it."
"Apparently so," Yihshyong said. "Then what made you have to rush here to tell us? Can't you tell us about this later?"
"Look, Sir! The old man said that the location of the murder was not here."
"Not here? Didn't you just say that the place where the incident took place is right in the middle of the long lake that runs from east to west?"
"That's right, Sir! But the shape and area of this lake is not exactly the same as the shape and area of the lake fifty years ago."
"Not the same?" Jenqyih jumped. "You mean the shape of the lake changed?"
"The old man also said that the lake, which is now three kilometers long, used to be even longer. He said its original length was around three thousand six hundred meters. The murder location was right at the halfway point of the original length of the lake. So, it is about eighteen hundred meters from either end of the lake. Because there is a part of the lake that has dried up, so now, the length of the lake is only three thousand meters."
"But this monument?" Jenqyih pointed at the monument in front of him.
"It was only established about fifteen years ago. After this lake shrank about six hundred meters."
"Ah! So it's true that we misplaced." Yihshyong spoke those words aloud. Jenqyih felt that Yihshyong really couldn't hold back his disappointment.
"That's right, Sir!" The driver nodded vigorously. "The actual place is about three hundred meters east of this place."
"Let's go there quickly. We've lost a lot of time. I'm afraid we're too late," Yihshyong said.
Jenqyih nodded. If they arrived too late, it was likely that the kidnappers would reschedule the delivery of the ransom again. That would be even more annoying. Jenqyih was worried that Yihshyong would go on a rampage again. The three of them ran to the car. The car engine was still running. Right away, they headed to where they should have been.
It didn't take long to reach a place that was only three hundred meters away from where they were before. Just as they had heard from the driver earlier, that place was indeed the scene of a murder fifty years ago. Jenqyih looked across the lake. The width of the lake in that part was approximately the same as the width of the lake in the lake's part where there was a granite monument, which was about one hundred and fifty meters.
There was also a monument. But the size was smaller. Much smaller than the previous monument. Near the monument, there was a board that looked like a notice board. There were lots of papers stuck there.
"Why does this even look like wall magazines in schools?" Yihshyong pointed at the objects stuck on it.
Jenqyih looked at the notice board. His eyes fixed on an envelope stuck on the far right of the board.
"Just look at that envelope." Jenqyih poked Yihshyong to look at the dark envelope.
"To Duanshann!" Yihshyong read the writing written on the envelope.
"Duanshann? Does that stand for Duanmuh Shannchyuan?" Jenqyih exclaimed.
"Please take the envelope. My hands can't reach it." Yihshyong ordered Jenqyih. With a height that did not reach 170 centimeters, Yihshyong must have had a hard time if he wanted to reach the envelope stuck at the top right corner of the notice board.
Jenqyih reached out to take the envelope straight away. Even though he was 177 centimeters tall, he still had to stand on his tiptoes so that his hand could touch the envelope.
Right after getting the envelope, Jenqyih handed it over to Yihshyong, who immediately opened it impatiently. Yihshyong's brow furrowed even more, much more so than before, as he read the instructions written on it.
"Now, what should we do?" Jenqyih hoped the kidnappers didn't give instructions that were so difficult for them to carry out.
"Follow me," Yihshyong said. He ran to the edge of the lake. There, there was a canoe. The canoe was about one meter wide, while about three meters long. They could only see the two ends of the canoe because there was a blue cloth covering the middle of the canoe. Yihshyong took the cloth covering the canoe. Now they could clearly see what was in the canoe.
"Should we take this boat?" Jenqyih was wide-eyed at the objects in the canoe.
Two pairs of oars were attached to either side of the canoe. Apart from that, on top of the boat, there was still an iron anchor that looked very heavy, and two orange life jackets.
Yihshyong looked at Jenqyih. "You can swim, can't you?"
"I can't swim," Jenqyih answered.
"Neither do I. But there are two life jackets. At least we won't drown. This isn't a flowing river. So we won't get carried away to another place."
"Fine! But wouldn't it be better if we called the driver over here? So if anything happens, he can help right away. The important thing is that it's just the two of us getting into the canoe. So we don't break the rules the kidnappers set."
After Yihshyong nodded, Jenqyih raised his hand. He waved at their driver, who was currently on standby, sitting in the driver's seat. It seemed the driver had been looking at them all along. He got out of the car and ran towards them.
"What's the matter, Sir?" the driver asked breathlessly.
"You can swim, can't you?" Jenqyih asked.
"Yes, Sir!"
"Good! Now we are going to board this boat. So we want you to be on guard here. I don't think anything will happen to us. However, should any problems arise, I hope you can help us," said Yihshyong .
"Yes, Sir! You can count on me."
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