Chapter 50

Chapter 50

Nan Mu and Wen Miao took a taxi to Guiziyuan Square.

Guiziyuan Square was located in Jin’an District. At this time, Jin’an was still an emerging industrial zone in City A. Unlike the congestion of older areas like Lin’an District, the number of vehicles and pedestrians visibly thinned out on the road from the hospital to Jin’an District.

Guiziyuan Square had only been built the previous year, and since Jin’an District was an industrial area, the foot traffic in the park wasn’t particularly heavy.

Wen Miao came to a stop under a streetlamp. “The first streetlamp at the South Gate Intersection… this should be the place, right?”

She used her foot to probe the lawn beside her. Naturally, she didn’t turn up anything in the grass; she knew better, but she still acted on a sliver of hope.

While Wen Miao was looking down to explore her surroundings, Nan Mu was looking up, scanning the area.

Wen Miao asked him, “What are you looking for?”

“Surveillance cameras.”

Right. If there were cameras…

Wen Miao hurriedly looked up to search the area as well.

“Do you see any? There don’t seem to be any here?” Wen Miao said, her voice tinged with disappointment.

Nan Mu rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, then started walking along the small path leading further into the park from the South Gate.

“Where are you going?” Seeing him suddenly head deeper into the park, Wen Miao quickly followed.

“I’m wondering why the person who asked Gu Zhishu to come here would leave a phone in this specific spot.”

Wen Miao didn’t see what was so confusing about it. “To get in touch with Gu Zhishu, obviously… Didn’t Gu Zhishu leave his own phone at the hospital?”

“Then do you think the person who asked Gu Zhishu here actually intended to meet him in person?”

“They should… meet, right? If it’s the killer, how could they kill him without meeting? And if it’s not the killer… they must have asked Gu Zhishu out to meet him face-to-face… otherwise, couldn’t they have just said whatever it was over the phone?”

“Since they were going to meet anyway, why wouldn’t the person just wait for him here? Why leave a phone instead?”

Wen Miao choked on her words, thinking for a moment. “Maybe they were being cautious? Didn’t they say Gu Zhishu’s phone was being tracked? Perhaps they were worried someone was following Gu Zhishu, so they left a phone first.”

Nan Mu hummed in agreement. After a pause, he added, “That makes some sense, but it’s also a bit of a stretch.”

“How is it a stretch?”

“Assuming Gu Zhishu was indeed being followed, even with a new phone, wouldn’t the person following him still be monitoring his movements? Gu Zhishu wouldn’t necessarily be able to shake off a tail, would he?” Nan Mu raised the doubt but didn’t wait for Wen Miao to answer. He quickly continued, “But at least one thing is certain. Since the other party left a phone, they clearly didn’t intend to meet Gu Zhishu directly here. This wasn’t meant to be their meeting point. The other party likely intended to guide Gu Zhishu to a second location.”

“A second location? Lion Mountain?”

That was where Gu Zhishu’s body had been buried.

“If it was Lion Mountain, then the person who called Gu Zhishu out must be the killer… If it’s the killer, I actually hope his second location was Lion Mountain.”

“What do you mean?”

“If it’s the killer, then the claim about the tracking was just a lie to trick Gu Zhishu, right? He also said he didn’t want to see anyone other than Gu Zhishu, so he would have definitely been at Guiziyuan Square to confirm if Gu Zhishu came alone. Otherwise, wouldn’t his prepared murder scene be exposed?”

Wen Miao sucked in a cold breath. “In other words, when Gu Zhishu arrived at the South Gate of Guiziyuan Square, the killer was likely on-site as well, secretly watching Gu Zhishu’s movements from the shadows?”

If that were the case, it would be ideal. What Nan Mu feared more was that the person hadn’t sent Gu Zhishu directly to Lion Mountain, but had instead led him through multiple locations. If that were true, finding this person would be incredibly difficult.
Regardless of the circumstances, if Gu Zhishu wanted to head to Lion Mountain, he had to leave Guiziyuan Square.

Nan Mu opened a map app and pinned Guiziyuan Square. From here, it was nearly ten kilometers to Lion Mountain, which would take almost two hours on foot. Therefore, it was impossible for Gu Zhishu to have walked there. If that person had given him a new address, he would have had to take a taxi.

Guiziyuan Square had four exits: North, South, East, and West. The west side faced an elevated highway with heavy traffic, making it inconvenient for cars to stop. The north side was the furthest from the South Gate. Gu Zhishu was most likely to have exited from the east or returned to the south exit. Judging by Gu Zhishu’s typical movements when he was alive, it was unlikely he had ever been to Jin’an District or Guiziyuan Square before. The probability of him retracing his steps to leave through the south exit was significantly higher than him heading out via the east.

Nevertheless, Nan Mu led Wen Miao on a physical scouting mission from the south to the east. They discovered that the path to the east intersection was quite long and interrupted by a very wide lake, requiring a detour across a bridge.

“What now?” Wen Miao asked, looking at the endless stream of vehicles in a daze.

“To the South Gate,” Nan Mu said decisively, turning back toward the entrance.

Wen Miao glanced at her legs, gritted her teeth, and followed him.

***

The two retraced their steps from the lamppost where the mysterious person had left the phone all the way back to the South Gate.

Wen Miao looked up at the surveillance cameras at the South Gate and managed to find the phone number for the Guiziyuan Square Management Center from someone nearby.

“I’m sorry, we only keep the surveillance footage for Guiziyuan Square for ninety days. I’m afraid the footage from April is already gone.”

“Oh… well… thank you anyway.” Wen Miao hung up the phone in disappointment and turned to Nan Mu. “What should we do? I forgot that public places usually don’t keep their footage for very long. It seems they really only keep it for two or three months.”

Nan Mu scanned the surroundings and noticed a gas station directly across from the South Gate.

“Come on! To the gas station.”

“Huh?”

Neither of them had a car, so why go to a gas station? Wen Miao followed Nan Mu with a look of confusion. “What are we going to the gas station for?”

Nan Mu explained, “Gas stations belong to state-owned enterprises. There are internal regulations for state-owned enterprises that mandate all surveillance footage must be preserved for at least six months. Since the incident happened on April 19th, it’s very likely we’ll still be in time if we go now.”

It was the first time Wen Miao had heard of such a regulation within state-owned enterprises. she looked at Nan Mu with a hint of admiration. “You certainly know a lot.”

“Eh, I’ve just had to deal with them quite a bit.”

Wen Miao arched an eyebrow.

When they arrived at the gas station, they used the excuse that they had come to refuel on April 19th and had accidentally lost something, so they wanted to check the footage from that day.

Initially, the gas station staff refused. It was only when Nan Mu relied on a number from his memory and bit the bullet to call a certain official.

“Hello, Leader Chen? This is a relative of Boss Wang. It’s like this-I lost something at the gas station near Guiziyuan Square in Jin’an District a while back… I was hoping to take a look at the surveillance from that day. I was wondering if you could help me out?”

The official on the other end was likely dazed, unable to figure out who had given his number away. Hearing the name ‘Boss Wang,’ his mind raced through all the company owners surnamed Wang he had met recently.

Hearing the person on the phone repeatedly mentioning a lost item and considering those company bosses, he figured it was just a request to see some footage. There was no need to offend anyone over such a small thing. He relented and told Nan Mu to hand the phone to the gas station staff.

“Right, right. Thank you for the trouble.”

As Nan Mu spoke, he handed the phone to the staff member, secretly breathing a sigh of relief. It was a good thing he had picked a leader known for being a pushover who liked to smooth things over; if he had picked someone more fastidious, they would have demanded to know exactly which Boss Wang he was related to.

Sure enough, after the staff member took the call, they led the two of them inside to view the surveillance footage.