The Vanished Wife (18)
Jian Tanxi murmured, "I don't understand either... I have a vague feeling that we can't trust the people we've met since we entered the game, or the things they say."
"Could it be that our investigation has gone completely in the wrong direction?"
"Maybe, I can't figure it out right now... Sister Qin Man, did you discover anything else?"
“My invisibility ability only lasts for 20 minutes, so I didn’t dare stay at Yu Antai’s house for too long. However, I overheard some of what he and his mother were saying. And what they said was very strange.”
"What did you say?"
"Yu's mother said, 'Are we almost successful?'"
Yu Antai said, "That's right, we've definitely won. However, until everything is settled, please continue to remain hidden."
Yu's mother said, "If I had known it would be this hard, I wouldn't have agreed to this plan."
Yu Antai said, "You, old man, can just hide the whole time; it's so easy. If you get bored, you can sleep. Unlike us, we have to act."
Yu's mother said, "Okay."
Yu Antai then asked, "Could you help tidy up the house?"
Yu's mother said, "Can't you tidy up yourself?"
Yu Antai said, "I'm sure I can't organize things as well as you. Why don't you show me your skills and broaden my horizons?"
Yu's mother agreed.
I left after hearing that.
Jian Tanxi pondered, "What do these words mean... Yu Antai said 'unlike us, we still have to act,' so what is he acting? Is he acting in front of us detectives? Who does 'we' refer to? Does he have accomplices?"
Qin Man: "I think it's possible... and I feel that the tone he used when talking to his mother didn't sound like that of a mother and son, it was a bit strange..."
Jian Tanxi said, "I felt it too..."
"If Yu Antai lied to us, then were Jin Meigui, Mr. Liang, and Jin Mingyue also lying?"
"Probably, I can't tell how much of what they're saying is true and how much is false..."
Qin Man said, "I want to know one thing now: do Mr. Liang and Jin Meigui know that Yu Antai's mother is not dead?"
"I don't know either... If they all knew, then they were all in cahoots to lie to us... But why?"
Neither of them had any clue for the time being.
Jian Tanxi then asked, "Sister Qin Man, besides the situation at Yu Antai's house, what else did you discover?"
Qin Man said, "There are no additional clues. I also met a family who were renovating on the road. Their walls didn't have any corrugated iron either, and the walls were quickly chipped away. You also discovered this clue."
Professor Pan returned the next morning.
Jian Tanxi asked, "Professor Pan, have you found any clues?"
Professor Pan said, "I passed by a luxurious house and saw that the old lady was airing out her letters. Her granddaughter was also helping her, but the granddaughter was a little reluctant, saying that these letters were old antiques and could be thrown away, and there was no need to keep them."
The old lady said that these letters were written to her by her friends, and she would keep them forever.
The granddaughter said that since there was no way to contact them anymore, keeping these things would only add to the sadness.
The old woman said that she didn't feel lonely because of these letters. Her granddaughter didn't say anything.
I hadn't paid any attention at first, but then I noticed that several of the letters were signed 'Golden Rose'.
Jian Tanxi exclaimed in surprise, "Golden Rose? How could someone so young be friends with an old lady?"
Professor Pan said, "I'm not sure either. I'm wondering if it's someone with the same name. But the old lady was dressed very elegantly, obviously a wealthy lady. Her friends must also be rich. There can't be two rich people named Golden Rose in City B, right? It must be the one we know."
Qin Man said, "Why don't we ask Golden Rose herself?"
Professor Pan said, "Wait a minute, I don't think we'll get any real results by asking like this. I always feel that City B is shrouded in mystery, not as simple as it seems to us."
Jian Tanxi said, "That's right, your feeling is correct. Qin Man and I have also discovered some important clues that are enough to prove that Mr. Liang and Yu Antai seem to be lying to us."
As she spoke, Jian Tanxi recounted her conversation with Qin Man from the previous day to Professor Pan.
Professor Pan said, "Yu Antai's mother is still alive... This is truly unexpected... But Yu Antai has been putting on a pitiful act of losing his mother in front of us... Why would he do that?"
Jian Tanxi said, "Perhaps it's to mislead us... I now feel that no one we've met is trustworthy. So, if we have any questions, let's find the answers ourselves and not ask them, otherwise we might be misled even more."
Qin Man said, "That makes sense. Professor Pan, have you made any other discoveries?"
Professor Pan said, "Indeed, there is another discovery that I think is quite important... All the people I have met in the past two days are cooking their own meals, and not a single household is taking nutritional supplements."
Jian Tanxi said, "Speaking of which, the people I met all ate ordinary food, but I overlooked that..."
Qin Man frowned: "Mr. Liang previously said that nutritional supplements are very common and cheap in City B, and that many people take them. However, the reality is completely the opposite of what Mr. Liang said. I suspect that only the Jin Mingyue family, the Jin Rose family, the Wu Yaoyao family, and the Yu Antai family take nutritional supplements, and that no one else takes them."
It seems Mr. Liang has lied to us again; he's not as simple as he appears.
Jian Tanxi said, "Have you noticed that Mr. Liang, Jin Meigui, Jin Mingyue, Yu Antai, and Wu Yaoyao who went abroad, all seem to have many conflicts, but also some special connections? For example, they all repainted their walls, there are strange iron pieces in their walls, and they are all taking nutritional supplements instead of eating normal meals..."
Professor Pan said, "Yes, perhaps there is a deeper connection between them, but we don't know what that connection is."
Jian Tanxi: "The old lady who was drying the letters is Jin Meigui's friend. When we can communicate with ordinary people tomorrow, we can ask that old lady about Jin Meigui, and we can also ask about other things related to the Jin family."
But why did the old woman's granddaughter say that her grandmother could no longer contact the friends who wrote to her?
Qin Man said, "Could it be that the old lady has fallen out with her friends? Perhaps the old lady realized that Golden Rose is not a good person, so she stopped associating with her."
Jian Tanxi: "That's possible, but I think there might be a deeper reason..."
At this moment, Xie Wei returned.
Everyone asked him if he had made any discoveries.
Xie Wei said, "After you left, Jin Mingyue used a powerful disguise rouge to dress up as Wu Yaoyao. Then she didn't do anything, either spacing out or sleeping. But when she was awake, she seemed very anxious. Also, I watched her for two days and found that she neither cooked nor took any nutritional supplements."
Jian Tanxi asked, "She didn't eat anything? Isn't she hungry?"
"She doesn't seem hungry at all, and she's quite energetic. Don't people in City B rely on nutritional supplements to stay alive? Don't they eat them every day? I find this very strange."
"No, the people of City B are not like what Mr. Liang described..."
Jian Tanxi and the others also told Xie Wei about the clues they had discovered.
Now, there's one more person feeling confused.
Xie Wei asked, "Why are there so many complicated things? What should we do now?"
Professor Pan said, "Tomorrow we can talk to the people of City B. We can ask them then and maybe we can clear up some of their doubts."
Jian Tanxi said, "I still have a 'good guy' card. I'll try to see if I can use it directly on Mr. Liang."
Jian Tanxi arrived at Mr. Liang's door and knocked.
Mr. Liang opened the door and asked, "Detective Jian, have you come to see me because there's been any progress in the case?"
"Yes, soon. I'd like to know what high-end places there are in City B? I think Ms. Jin is likely to go to those places."
"I and the police have searched those places, but we couldn't find it."
"Maybe she didn't go before, but she'll go now? Could you tell me about her?"
"Okay, come in first."
Mr. Liang took out a map, preparing to explain it to Jian Tanxi.
Jian Tanxi suddenly threw a "good guy" card at him and said, "You're a good guy, please open the metal sheet in the wall."
All the newly painted walls in Jin Mingyue's house had been broken open, including this bedroom. So, in this bedroom, the sheet metal was exposed on every wall.
Mr. Liang took a sapphire ring out of a briefcase and tapped it three times on a piece of metal. The metal piece then automatically dropped down, revealing what was behind it.
Behind the sheet metal were several compartments, and sure enough, some items were placed inside. However, at a glance, it was impossible to tell what they were.
Jian Tanxi understood the secret behind their wall painting: they hadn't simply repainted the old walls, but rather thickened them, creating latticework in the thickened sections to hide things. Then, they covered them with a layer of sheet metal to conceal these items.
Next, they continued building walls on the outside of the sheet metal, adding another layer of wall.
In this way, even if the outer wall is broken open, others can only see the sheet metal in the middle. And the sheet metal is very hard, so hard that even an interstellar triangular pyramid cannot break it, thus effectively concealing the items behind the sheet metal.
The "good guy" card has a short validity period. Jian Tanxi couldn't let Mr. Liang find out what she had done, so she took the ring from Mr. Liang's hand and tapped the descending metal sheet three times.
At this moment, the sheet metal slowly rose again, returning to its original shape. Jian Tanxi was overjoyed; this restoration method was something she had figured out herself, and she hadn't expected it to actually work.
Jian Tanxi hid the ring and put the briefcase back in its unopened state.
After a while, Mr. Liang came to his senses and said, "How could I have been daydreaming just now..."
Jian Tanxi said, "It's probably because you didn't sleep well last night."
"Possibly. I'll now mark the high-end places in City B for you."
Mr. Liang circled a few places on the map, gave them a brief introduction, and then handed the map to Jian Tanxi.
Jian Tanxi said, "Thank you, Mr. Liang. What are your plans for today?"
"I don't have any plans, so I'll probably just stay at home."
"OK."
Jian Tanxi left Mr. Liang's room and secretly went to the study.
Taking advantage of the fact that no one was around, she used her sapphire ring to open the metal sheet on the study wall and discovered that there were quite a few things hidden inside.
She couldn't carry it all in one trip, so she grabbed a few things at random and then put the metal sheet back together.
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