Chikso is more than 60 kilometers away from Komsomolsk-on-Amur. It is a town with only one main street, and its main source of income is providing services to passing truck drivers.

Most shops in these places are guesthouses, offering both food and lodging.

Although my Chinese face was conspicuous here, fortunately, this is a service-oriented town, and Zhou Peng made an excuse that we were timber merchants from abroad, so it didn't attract any attention.

As I was sitting in the inn's restaurant waiting for dinner, the security guard who had gone out to gather information returned and, through Zhou Peng's translation, said, "We investigated Zhukovsky this afternoon. He was indeed the mayor of this town, but he died more than ten years ago."

"Dead?"

I couldn't help but feel a little annoyed: "Could we find a way to contact the current mayor and have him investigate the past records?"

“We have tried this idea, but the current mayor of Chixor is the former district sheriff, and we are worried that investigating him rashly might arouse his suspicion.”

The security guard glanced at his watch: "We didn't bring back all bad news. Zhukovsky's son, Yevgeny, is still living in this town as a lumberjack. He's an alcoholic. We contacted him through a neighbor, pretending to be a reporter for a geography magazine, offering to interview him for a fee. He agreed and said he would arrive here in half an hour."

I still had some concerns: "Zhukovsky has been dead for over a decade. Would Yevgeny know about his work?"

The security guard nodded: "Yevgeny used to be the town government's archivist, but he was later dismissed due to his alcoholism, which is why we approached him."

Hearing this answer reassured me a bit, and I replied, "We are Chinese, so he will definitely be wary of us. You can call him now and urge him to come to the interview later. We can book a separate room for him. I will give you an outline of the questions you need to ask, and Zhou Peng will correct and supplement any deficiencies through a Bluetooth headset."

At this point, the waiter brought over the black bread, borscht, and steak we had ordered.

While the others were eating, I asked for a pen and paper and started outlining my questions. I first wrote down some useless questions about local customs and traditions, and then got to the point, asking questions about the artifacts in the City Development Museum.

Song Laosan sat on the side watching and added a few points for me, while Zhou Peng was responsible for translating the outline I had drawn up into Russian and copying it again.

I finished writing the outline and was about to eat when the security guard sitting opposite me suddenly sat up straight, pressed his Bluetooth headset and said something, then waved his hand repeatedly at Zhou Peng.

Zhou Peng stood up at this moment: "Mr. Duan, the bodyguards outside saw the police cars from the town coming. You don't have any identification, and it will be very troublesome if you are caught. We need to go out and hide."

We chose this guesthouse because it had a back door. We were prepared, and when we heard about the police inspection, we left quickly. The security guard in the room stayed to eat, so as not to attract too much attention when we left together.

Our six security guards were divided into two groups: one group provided close protection, while the other group was responsible for perimeter security.

As I left through the back door and followed the road next to it, I saw two police cars parked in front of the inn. Several fully armed police officers got out of the cars and hurriedly walked into the rooms.

Seeing this, a bad feeling suddenly arose in my heart: "Third Master, do you think these policemen look like they're conducting a random inspection?"

“There are six or seven inns on this street. If they were really conducting a surprise inspection, they wouldn’t choose the one in the middle first.”

Although Song Laosan was wary, he didn't think anything was wrong: "Maybe they know there are foreigners in the shop, so they want to come and extort money from them. Years ago, I had a friend who worked as a middleman here. He said that Chinese people were the main targets of extortion by the local police. I wonder how it is now."

I nodded slightly: "For safety's sake, let's try not to show our faces in public. After the interview, we'll go somewhere else. If that doesn't work, we can go straight outside the town tonight and stay in the car."

Everyone assumed the police would leave after their check, so the driver who was picking us up didn't drive too far, but instead parked in the parking lot in front of a restaurant across the street.

We waited for almost ten minutes, but the police in the inn didn't leave. Song Laosan turned to Zhou Peng and said, "Could it be that we guessed wrong, and the police aren't here to check on us? Yevgeny is almost here. Contact the people inside and ask what's going on. If the police really won't leave, then we should meet somewhere else."

Just as Zhou Peng took out his phone, an ambulance sped past us, stopped at the inn across the street, and several doctors carried a stretcher and rushed inside.

Old Man Song craned his neck to watch the commotion: "What's going on? Police and doctors everywhere. Has a murder occurred at the inn?"

"They're our people!"

Zhou Peng quickly hung up the phone and turned it off: "The person who just answered the phone was a policeman. He said our people have fallen into a coma and the initial suspicion is food poisoning. He asked me to help contact their families."

"Food poisoning?" I was filled with doubt: "Isn't the timing too coincidental? If our people really were going to suffer from food poisoning, why would the police arrive right on cue?"

Old Song exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no! Look, it's a monkey!"

I turned my head and saw that the monkey was leaning back in the seat and not responding at all.

The security guard beside him reached out and patted his cheek, then lifted his eyelids to look at him, and said through Zhou Peng's translation: "He has been poisoned, but so far there is no fatal reaction. It should be some kind of anesthetic."

"Something's not right!"

I looked towards the inn and saw that the arriving doctor, with the help of the police, was already lifting the remaining security guards into the ambulance. He quickly said to Song Laosan, "This is clearly a trap set for us. Someone poisoned us first and then called the police. This way, when the police arrive, we won't be able to escape and will be caught in one fell swoop!"

"Could it be one of the other two doors?"

Song Laosan was also startled: "We have limited enemies. If it were He Hai's gang targeting us, they could have just poisoned or attacked us. There would have been no need to use drugs and involve the police! Do you think our whereabouts have been exposed?"

I instinctively responded, "Yevgeny! If someone is really watching us, their other actions probably won't escape their notice! Contact Yevgeny immediately and ask for his location. We need to find him before our enemies do!"