"If the first text message was sent at the wrong time and Grandma didn't receive it, she would have come out to look for Mao Xiaotian. During the search, Grandma might have encountered something across from the restaurant, which is why she lost her phone."
"Mao Xiaotian's second text message was to comfort his grandmother and create the illusion that he was living a happy life. Under what circumstances would Mao Xiaotian want his grandmother to mistakenly believe that he was living a happy life and not to contact him again?"
Xia Chuhe described it in such detail that even Bao'er, who was sulking, couldn't help but chime in: "He met with misfortune..."
"Yes, Mao Xiaotian was in danger and didn't want his grandmother to come looking for him, but he also wanted to leave some clues, so he specifically pointed out the name of the movie - Hannibal."
Bu Yi asked, "What's so special about this movie?"
Xia Chuhe: "..."
The five-star hotel dungeon was a real challenge for the wastelanders; how could they possibly know any of those old movies?
Xia Chuhe said, "Hannibal is a very famous cannibal in literature."
Bu Yi and Bao'er looked shocked.
Only Li Yue, though she didn't understand what "Hannibal" meant, had already found the answer in her heart when she saw the "two-legged sheep" in the restaurant.
Xia Chuhe continued, "Perhaps Mao Xiaotian wants to keep Grandma calm first, so that she won't come looking for him and encounter danger instead. After she calms down, she might report it to the authorities, and the authorities can quickly find the murderer hiding in the hotel based on the clues in the text message... no, the gang hiding in the hotel."
The scenes in the hotel kitchen and basement clearly indicate that this was a gang crime. The stack of receipts Xia Chuhe found in the archives likely all belonged to the gang's crimes.
Xia Chuhe pointed out the key information, and the other three people in the living room also understood what was about to happen.
Bu Yi said, "You destroyed the Bluetooth headset because 23 used it to monitor our movements. And I accidentally revealed the child's situation."
Li Yue continued, "23 is in cahoots with the hotel gang. In order to mislead us, they had to divert our attention away from the phone, so they created a fake Mao Xiaotian so that we could get the phone back immediately and cut off this lead."
Xia Chuhe laughed, "In order to accomplish this, they took the opportunity to abandon the pursuit of Mao Mao, using Mao Mao to bring back Mao Xiaotian and lower our guard. It's just a pity..."
Bao'er's eyes lit up: "It's a pity that they didn't expect the real Mao Xiaotian to send two important text messages, while the fake Mao Xiaotian didn't even have basic family information."
Xia Chuhe ruffled Bao'er's hair: "Are you not angry anymore?"
Bao'er lowered her head to avoid her hand, and said angrily, "I'm angry, but I can't let it interfere with important business."
Xia Chuhe smiled, knowing that the matter was over.
Li Yuechong raised her chin at the locked door: "Should we tell Mao Mao?"
“Let him get some rest for the night. If he hadn’t drawn them away, the hotel gang would probably have just caught the three of us when they saw us, and we wouldn’t have had to go through this whole ‘cut off the trail’ thing,” Xia Chuhe pondered. “They still want to stay hidden and don’t want to run into us head-on. Why is that?”
With this question in mind, the four spent an unsettling night.
The next day.
Xia Chuhe followed "Mao Xiaotian" to return the phone. He lived with his grandmother in room 406.
Grandma pushed "Mao Xiaotian" into the room, pretending to be worried: "You child, running around everywhere without even telling Grandma."
After Xia Chuhe finished performing with the two, he handed the phone to the old man.
The old man fiddled with his phone: "Strange, why can't I open it?"
"It was probably out of power; it wasn't in good condition when we found it," Xia Chuhe said.
After dealing with the two, Xia Chuhe immediately returned to the nineteenth floor—waiting for Hummingbird to bring back the real video.
The moment "Mao Xiaotian" knocked on the door, the hummingbird had already slipped inside unnoticed.
As for the phone that couldn't be turned on, it was the model phone that Xia Chuhe had Bao'er give her back in 02. It was originally meant to prevent others from stealing the superpowered phone, but unexpectedly it ended up being used in this instance.
The real phone is still in Xia Chuhe's hands.
About two hours later, the hummingbird returned.
Mao Xiaotian shouted from inside the room, "Where's the candy? I want candy! Give me candy now!"
Grandma pointed to the bedside table: "Don't bother me."
(His voice stunned everyone watching the video; the grandmother was actually a man.)
"Grandma" stayed in the bathroom for a while, then came out after removing her makeup, transforming into a short, middle-aged man.
The man looked at "Mao Xiaotian" on the bed, who was completely absorbed in the moment: "At such a young age, you're already controlled by sugar. You'll be eaten to death sooner or later."
Mao Xiaotian didn't care at all: "As long as there is candy to eat, I would be willing to die tomorrow."
"Fool, what a pity. If only Mao Xiaotian were as easy to control as you." The man clicked his tongue. "Let's go. We need to find Mao Xiaotian as soon as possible, before those busybodies beat us to it."
Mao Xiaotian said lazily, "They have completely believed our performance and will not go looking for anyone else."
The man snorted coldly, grabbed "Mao Xiaotian's" clothes, and dragged him to the last room in the corridor.
The man fiddled with the wall of the last room for a few moments, and the wall opened, revealing the elevator inside.
(No wonder there were no windows at the end of the corridor; there was an elevator hidden in the wall.)
As the elevator descended, the man asked "Mao Xiaotian," "Have you found out which machine butler malfunctioned?"
Mao Xiaotian shrugged: "They are very cautious."
"Useless thing," the man scoffed.
"However, if you give me a few more candies, I might be able to vaguely recall some clues."
The man took something out of his pocket and tossed it to "Mao Xiaotian." "Mao Xiaotian" said, "Although there's no specific number, I heard something about 23."
The man nodded thoughtfully.
The elevator quickly descended to the second basement level, revealing a panoramic view of the basement and a central control room. There were over thirty people bustling about inside.
The hummingbird circled around for a long time before finally finding a gap where someone was exiting the elevator. Therefore, it took a considerable amount of time.
During this time, the group waiting at the hotel told Zhao Maomao about the deductions they had made the previous night.
Xia Chuhe said, "There are three important points in the video. First, Mao Xiaotian is still alive, and we need to find him first. Second, it answers the questions from last night. The hotel gang kept us alive to test the traitor in the robot butler. 23 has been exposed. Third... the candy that the fake Mao Xiaotian ate seems to be addictive."
Li Yue nodded repeatedly: "Shall we go find someone first?"
Bao'er asked a question: "Are the people in the basement non-evolved?"
"It seems so." After two days in the instance, the people in the hotel were no different from those in modern society.
Bao'er interlocked her fingers, wiggled them a little, and looked at Xia Chuhe: "Sister, they are bad people, right?"
Before Xia Chuhe could answer, Bao'er continued, "Eliminating evil is the greatest good. Kill the bad guys, then slowly look for Mao Xiaotian, isn't that better?"
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