Chapter 395

Chapter 395

After work began, Song Xiaotian and I used flyer distribution as an excuse to visit Uncle Song’s teahouse.

After hearing our request, Uncle Song readily agreed.

“But give me a photograph of this Jin fellow. I can’t be bothered searching surveillance footage.”

“No problem.”

I found a photograph of Jin Wuju on my phone and sent it to him.

“Uncle Song, please have him watched if possible.”

“For how long?”

“Not long. A week at most.”

Uncle Song agreed, put down his phone, and rubbed his fingers together at Song Xiaotian.

Song Xiaotian stared. “What? You’re charging your own son?”

Uncle Song snapped, “Do you expect me to watch him personally? I have to hire someone. Don’t they deserve payment? You’re grown and still understand nothing about favors.”

“Pay them yourself. I seriously wonder whether I’m your son. What’s wrong with using some of your money? Did Mom confiscate your secret savings again, so you’re asking me?”

“Enough nonsense. Give me two thousand. If you weren’t my son, I’d charge at least ten thousand!”

“Fine!” Song Xiaotian reluctantly transferred the money. “You’re too stingy!”

“If you don’t leave me your property, I’ll dump you in a nursing home!”

He jumped up and ran.

Uncle Song chased him. “What did you say? Say it again!”

…

Two days later, Uncle Song sent news.

It revealed little beyond Jin Wuju’s basic information and nothing about his social connections.

He was indeed from another region but rarely returned home.

Uncle Song’s men had begun monitoring him. Jin Wuju was no longer in Lanjiang City. He had traveled elsewhere to ask about the Map of the Sin Realm.

That same evening, Jin Wuju called me.

He confirmed that he was traveling and investigating the map, but few people knew anything. Many had never even heard of the Sin Realm, making information difficult to find.

“Brother, don’t worry. The moment I learn anything, I’ll tell you.”

“We need complete preparations if we hope to save Seventh Master. Understand?”

The call was on speaker. I stared at the screen and carefully produced the tone he wanted to hear.

“I understand, Master Jin. Thank you…”

“It’s no trouble. You sound as though you haven’t slept. You need rest.”

Jin Wuju spoke like a considerate elder brother soothing me. “Besides investigating the map, I’m contacting many friends. They’ll join us in rescuing Seventh Master.”

“So don’t worry too much. Understand?”

“I understand…”

I worked normally over the following days.

About three days later, while we ate boxed lunches at the shop, Song Xiaotian pulled me outside and showed me a photograph.

It had been secretly taken with a telephoto lens by Uncle Song’s people.

The subject was naturally Jin Wuju.

Another man stood with him: Qingyuan.

They were talking happily.

“It seems the friends Jin Wuju mentioned are Qingyuan and members of The Organization.”
I tossed the photograph into a roadside trash can. “Once he finishes investigating the Map of the Sin Realm, he’ll invite me back to the estate, and Qingyuan will imprison me again.”

Song Xiaotian frowned. “Does this map truly exist?”

“Yes.”

“What does it do? If it’s that dangerous, why do they want it?”

No one might understand all of its functions.

There was not even sufficient evidence that it opened a passage to the Sin Realm.

The best way to establish a truth was through verification, but who would dare verify this?

Who would enter the black hole?

Even the map’s origin could no longer be traced. No one knew the period from which it came.

“But it has one use: making people mysteriously disappear.”

I continued, “That’s probably what Qingyuan wants. The map is buried at the estate, but they don’t dare search blindly, so they’re gathering information first.”

“With it, they could kill invisibly. Throw someone into the black hole, and no evidence would remain for police.”

“It also has another function, one already demonstrated by Tan Wannian and his eldest son.”

Song Xiaotian looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“The black hole must be connected to the map. Tan Wannian probably brought the map home.”

Before the Massacre Case, Tan Wannian wrote a letter ordering his brother to leave all seven bodies untouched in the Basement for a week.

That meant he believed he had found a path to immortality.

Leaving the bodies unhandled in the Basement was part of it.

And what appeared in the Basement? The black hole.

My theory was that it would swallow the family’s bodies, after which they would reappear.

But those who returned might not be the original family. Creatures from the hole would replace them. That was the truth behind “immortality,” though Tan Wannian did not know it.

One family member had already been replaced: the eldest son.

Only that explained his strange behavior at dinner.

The creature inside him had lured Tan Wannian into bringing the entire family into the hole.

This was only speculation and might not be completely accurate, but the broad outline should be right.

Mr. Tan’s dreams already proved Tan Wannian was inside the hole.

“What will you do next?” Song Xiaotian asked seriously. “If Jin Wuju invites you back, will you go?”

“Of course.”

I answered solemnly, “Remember what I said? I’ll make every member of The Organization in this city disappear. I wasn’t boasting. I keep my word.”