I work as a security guard at a cemetery, and I overhear the dead chatting about getting rich quick.

Lin Ye stared at the monitor screen for a long time without moving.

The grayish-white shadow of the nameless tomb lingered in the corner of the screen.

When the wind blows, the pine branches sway.

The tombstones on the screen also shook.

It's like someone is standing there.

It's like the night vision image is just too blurry.

The call hadn't ended yet.

Gu Wantang didn't say anything either.

The last sentence of the letter from Nanqiao Warehouse was like a nail driven into Lin Ye's mind.

I kept the other copy in Qingshan Cemetery.

He looked down at his feet.

Qingshan Cemetery.

He's right here.

He patrols the place every day, eats instant noodles, and listens to the dead arguing.

Gu Wantang spoke first.

"Don't move."

Lin Ye's throat was a little dry.

"I didn't move."

"Weren't you guarding the door just now?"

Lin Ye remained silent for a second.

"I took a look."

"Sit back down."

Lin Ye sat back down in his chair.

This girl can now control him even over the phone.

Gu Wantang said, "Let Tao Shuang investigate. Don't leave the guard post."

Lin Ye looked at the monitor screen.

"That person just went into the West District."

"Um."

"He probably knew the tent was in the cemetery."

The sound of pages turning came from Gu Wantang's side.

"not necessarily."

"What do you mean?"

"Liu Changhai's letter only mentions Qingshan Cemetery. There are still water stains near Nanqiao, and the rest of the text is incomplete. Jiang Cheng's men may have only obtained half of the clue."

Lin Ye stared at the screen.

A partial clue.

Qingshan Cemetery.

Number 7 in row 19.

Old cemetery in the western district.

He suddenly reached out and pulled the notebook over.

Nanqiao Third Warehouse, Row 19, Number 7.

He wrote another line below this one.

Number 7, row 19, west section?

After he finished writing, he stopped writing on his own.

Gu Wantang asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Lin Ye put the pen cap in his mouth and then took it off.

"That person probably didn't come to the nameless grave."

Gu Wantang didn't urge him.

Lin Ye continued, "He probably only knew number 7 in row 19. The old cemeteries in the west area were renovated before, and the numbering is messed up; many tombstones are unnumbered. He went to the unmarked graves, perhaps looking for the old numbering."

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

Gu Wantang said, "Let Tao Shuang look at the old register."

Just as Lin Ye was about to call Tao Shuang, he heard footsteps outside the window.

He looked up.

Tao Shuang had already reached the window.

A man in a black coat, holding a cell phone in his hand.

She glanced at him through the glass.

Lin Ye opened the window a crack.

A cold breeze swept in, making the draft paper on the table tremble.

Tao Shuang asked directly, "What did you think of?"

Lin Ye turned the notebook over.

Tao Shuang glanced down.

"West section, row 19, seat 7?"

"possible."

Lin Ye said, "It might not be a burial plot, but an old storage locker. Cemeteries used to have convenient storage facilities where families could rent small lockers to store things like incense, photos, and tomb-sweeping permits. They stopped operating after that."

Tao Shuang asked, "Where is the register?"

"Office building archives. The duty room has a spare key."

As soon as Lin Ye stood up, Tao Shuang said, "You sit down."

Lin Ye sat back down.

He felt like a dog being held down in its den.

I want to go everywhere.

They're not allowed to go anywhere.

Tao Shuang handed a walkie-talkie through the window.

"Here you go. Press this if the line is busy."

Lin Ye took it.

The edges of the walkie-talkie were worn white, and the buttons were a bit loose.

He glanced at it twice.

"I'm starting to look more and more like a real security guard."

Tao Shuang looked at him.

"You always were."

Lin Ye remained silent.

I almost forgot.

Tao Shuang led her people to the office building.

In the surveillance footage, their flashlight beams swept across the side of the tomb passage, in light, intermittent beams.

Lin Ye sat in the chair, his eyes fixed on the screen.

The people in the East District started talking again.

Boss Wei asked in a low voice, "Why hasn't Xiao Lin made a move tonight?"

Old Li said, "They've probably made a fortune again."

Grandma Zhao said slowly, "This isn't the look on your face when you're getting rich."

Boss Wei asked, "Did you see his expression?"

Grandma Zhao said, "I guessed."

Principal Chen said, "Judging from the recent situation, it seems more like he's in trouble."

Boss Wei clicked his tongue.

"Old Chen, even in death you're still so analytical, aren't you tired?"

Principal Chen said, "It's a habit."

As Lin Ye listened to their argument, his fingers slowly loosened.

At least dead people arguing isn't scary.

It's the living who are scary.

A few minutes later, the walkie-talkie crackled to life.

Tao Shuang's voice came through.

"We've got the key. The archives are open."

Lin Ye pressed the intercom button.

"The last row of gray metal cabinets. The old district's registration book should be on the bottom two shelves."

The sound of a cabinet door being pulled open came through the walkie-talkie.

With a creak.

Lin Ye's teeth ached from listening to this.

He used to hate this sound the most when he was on patrol.

Listening to it tonight, it felt like someone was opening a blind box for him.

Tao Shuang quickly replied, "There are many registers."

"Looking for something from about three years ago."

Lin Ye paused for a moment.

"There was also a year before and after. The day before Liu Changhai's incident, Zhou Qin rented a cabinet in Nanqiao, and it was probably around that time at the cemetery."

They started flipping through the papers over there.

Page by page.

The sound was very slow.

Lin Ye was getting restless.

He glanced down at the anti-floating bottle.

The anti-floating bottle stands upright on the table, and the flowers are very stable.

Lin Ye reached out and tapped the bottle.

"Do you think there is or isn't?"

The bottle didn't react.

Lin Ye felt that his question was unnecessary.

If it could really talk, its first sentence would most likely be the after-sales hotline of the craft factory.

The walkie-talkie suddenly rang.

Tao Shuang said, "Found it."

Lin Ye sat up straight immediately.

"What?"

"West District Old Storage Registration. 19.7, Registrant: Zhou Qin. Remarks: Old District Temporary Storage Locker, not cleared out after being discontinued."

Lin Ye's heart skipped a beat.

"Not a burial plot?"

"no."

Tao Shuang flipped through the papers.

"There was another line written after that, the handwriting was very faint. West Reserve."

Lin Ye closed his eyes.

Western Reserve.

The old service room in the West District.

Uncle Zhao said it before.

Years ago there was a row of cabinets over there, but they were later abandoned, and the doors have been locked for years.

Many of the new security guards didn't know that.

If that person only knows "West District" and "19 out of 17" tonight, they might indeed go to the old cemetery first.

Lin Ye pressed the intercom button.

"Next to the old cypress tree in the West District, there is an old service room. The door says 'Convenient Storage,' but half of the words are missing."

Tao Shuang said, "I'll go over there."

"Bring two more people."

Tao Shuang didn't answer immediately.

Lin Ye stared at the monitor screen.

"That person just ran from the west wall. Don't think I'm being long-winded, but this place is really unsafe."

Half a second later, Tao Shuang said, "I know."

This time, she didn't argue with him.

Not long after, several beams of flashlight light appeared in the western district's surveillance footage.

There were five people in total.

Two people are guarding the intersection.

Tao Shuang led the other two people toward the old service room.

The old service room was at the edge of the frame, so only a corner of the entrance could be captured in the shot.

Inconspicuous during the day.

At night, it looks like a small house forgotten in a corner of a cemetery.

Lin Ye used to patrol there, and he could walk faster than elsewhere.

It's not that I'm afraid.

The main problem is that the few damaged characters on the door are really unethical.

Convenient luggage storage.

The character "便" is missing half of its radical.

From a distance, it looks like a "ghost village."

When he first saw it, he almost broke the stun gun switch.

The walkie-talkie crackled to life.

Tao Shuang said, "The door lock wasn't pried open."

Lin Ye said, "There should be one key in the keychain that says 'Xi Chu'."

A few seconds later, the lock clicked.

The door opened.

The sound of the door scraping against the ground came through the walkie-talkie.

Tao Shuang coughed.

"There's a lot of dust."

Lin Ye couldn't help but say, "This house hasn't been cleaned for at least two years."

Tao Shuang asked, "Aren't you a security guard?"

Lin Ye was asked.

He forced a smile and said, "Our main concern is safety, not the mood caused by dust."

Tao Shuang ignored him.

Footsteps came through the walkie-talkie.

There was also the soft sound of a flashlight hitting a metal cabinet door.

"I see the lockers."

Lin Ye gripped the walkie-talkie tightly.

"Find 19 out of 17."

They searched for quite a while over there.

The cabinet doors were illuminated one by one.

Many of the serial numbers have been lost.

Some had only half a sheet of paper left.

Some people use markers to write, but the writing gets so smudged that it's unrecognizable.

A few minutes later, Tao Shuang said, "Found it."

Lin Ye held his breath.

"What's inside?"

"Locked."

"Can it be opened?"

Try it in the keychain.

There was a moment of silence over there.

Only the sound of keys clinking.

a bit.

a bit.

Another one.

Finally, with a click.

Tao Shuang said, "It's open."

Lin Ye didn't say anything.

There was silence on the other end of the walkie-talkie for a few seconds.

Then, Tao Shuang lowered her voice a little.

There's something there.

"What?"

"A biscuit tin."

She paused.

"There was also a stack of paper money for burning outside."

Lin Ye: "..."

This combination looks like something out of a cemetery.

He wasn't surprised at all.

Tao Shuang continued, "The tin box was wrapped with tape, and there were words on it."

Lin Ye asked, "What character?"

Tao Shuang said, "To Chairman Gu personally."

The security booth fell silent immediately.

Lin Ye looked at the anti-floating bottle.

The anti-floating bottle remained quiet and still.

His heart was pounding wildly.

"Don't open it."

After he finished speaking, he felt that it was not his place to say such things.

Tao Shuang spoke up: "Don't open it. Take a picture and seal the bag first."

She's more stable than him.

Lin Ye picked up his phone and sent a message to Gu Wantang.

The old service room in the West District, with 19 bays and 7 bars.

Find the tin box.

It was addressed to Mr. Gu.

This time, Gu Wantang called directly.

"Is it open yet?"

"no."

"Have Tao Shuang taken back to the security booth first, and wait for Attorney Shen to arrive."

Lin Ye glanced at his small, shabby security booth.

"Is this place a bit shabby?"

"There are lights, surveillance cameras, and guards there."

Lin Ye glanced at the anti-floating bottle.

"And a vase for warding off evil spirits."

Gu Wantang paused for a moment.

"What?"

"It's nothing."

Lin Ye immediately shut up.

Tao Shuang quickly returned the tin box.

She didn't go inside; instead, she passed it in through the window.

The tin box wasn't very big.

Blue tinplate with faded cookie patterns printed on it.

The tape was wrapped three times.

There was a yellowed piece of paper pasted on it.

To Mr. Gu.

The characters are a bit shaky.

It's like the person writing the words had an unsteady hand.

Tao Shuang put the tin box into a transparent bag and placed it on the table.

"Attorney Shen will be here in fifteen minutes."

Lin Ye stared at the metal box.

He waited for many minutes tonight.

three minutes.

Eight minutes.

Ten minutes or so.

Each one of them is horribly long.

Tao Shuang stood outside the window, not leaving.

She glanced at the anti-floating bottle on the table, then at the metal box.

"Can this bottle still hold its own?"

Lin Ye sighed.

"Try your best."

Tao Shuang's lips twitched slightly.

It quickly returned to its original state.

"Don't open the door."

After saying that, she turned and went to stand guard at the door.

Lin Ye sat at the table.

The tin box was in front of me.

The anti-floating bottle is next to it.

It's a fake.

This is really troublesome.

He suddenly felt that Old Man Ma's fake revolving bottle had also done something worthwhile.

At least it serves as a reminder whenever a major financial matter arises.

Don't get carried away.

Getting carried away can lead to disaster.

From the East District, Old Master Gu suddenly spoke up.

"Liu Changhai is timid."

Lin Ye stopped holding the pen.

Grandpa Gu's voice was very low.

"But he's meticulous. If he keeps a second copy, he won't just keep the account book."

Boss Wei asked, "Then what's the point of keeping it?"

Grandpa Gu said, "Keep people who can understand the accounts."

Lin Ye looked at the iron box.

Someone who can understand accounts?

Nanqiao Warehouse has accounting records.

If it's not an account book, what could be inside this iron box at Qingshan Cemetery?

List?

key?

Or was he the person Liu Changhai feared the most back then?

Grandpa Gu slowly continued, "The day he came to see me, he mentioned a driver."

Lin Ye's pen tip landed on the paper.

"His surname is Liu."

Grandpa Gu paused for a moment.

"Liu Jiankun".

Lin Ye wrote down this name.

Liu Jiankun.

Grandpa Gu continued, "Gu Mingyuan doesn't like to speak up when he needs something. Jiang Cheng drafts the documents, and Liu Jiankun runs errands. One writes, the other drives. What Liu Changhai is afraid of isn't Jiang Cheng."

Boss Wei asked, "Then who is he afraid of?"

Old Master Gu gave a cold laugh.

"I'm afraid of the people sitting in the car."

Lin Ye felt a chill run down his spine.

He wanted to listen some more, but then he heard the sound of a car outside the door.

Attorney Shen has arrived.

Tao Shuang went out to meet someone.

When Attorney Shen came in, her hair was a little messy, and she was wearing a dark coat over her suit.

It's obvious they were woken up in the middle of the night.

But he was carrying a file bag and his expression remained calm.

Upon seeing Lin Ye, he adjusted his glasses.

"Mr. Lin, it's nice to see you again."

Lin Ye nodded.

"Attorney Shen, thank you for your hard work."

Attorney Shen glanced at the security booth.

"Your night shift has a lot of work to do."

Lin Ye was silent for a moment.

"I never expected the security industry to have such a promising future."

Attorney Shen's lips twitched, but she didn't smile.

He asked Tao Shuang to turn on the recording and then asked Lin Ye to step aside.

"You don't need to participate in Kaifeng."

Lin Ye immediately stepped back.

He likes to hear this sentence the most right now.

No need to participate.

Those four words are reassuring.

Tao Shuang wore gloves.

Attorney Shen takes photos.

The tin box was placed in the center of the table.

Lin Ye quietly moved the anti-floating bottle to the side.

Attorney Shen glanced at it.

"Should this be in the shot too?"

Lin Ye quickly shook his head.

"No, it's just for emotional support."

Attorney Shen did not ask any further questions.

Lawyers probably encounter more eccentric people.

The tape was cut.

The lid of the metal box got stuck.

Tao Shuang gently pressed down on the edge.

Click.

The box is open.

There were no ledgers inside.

There was no USB drive either.

The top one is an old photo.

There are three people in the photo.

The man is thin and wears glasses.

The woman's face was a little pale.

The little girl hugged the red painting tube, smiling and revealing a small tiger tooth.

It should be Liu Changhai, Zhou Qin, and Liu Nian.

Below the photo is a kraft paper envelope.

The envelope read:

If Zhou Qin and Liu Nian get into trouble, please look at this business card inside.

Attorney Shen looked at Tao Shuang.

Tao Shuang nodded, and the recording continued.

The envelope was opened.

An old business card fell out.

The edges and corners have been worn white.

A name is printed on the front.

Jiang Cheng.

Lin Ye frowned.

Tao Shuang said in a low voice, "Should we send someone to find Jiang Cheng?"

"wrong."

Gu Wantang's voice came through the phone.

She didn't hang up the phone.

"Flip it over."

Attorney Shen turned the business card over.

There is a line of handwritten text on the back of the business card.

It wasn't him.

He only handles paperwork.

There is another name below.

Liu Jiankun.

Lin Ye's fingers tightened instantly.

Grandpa Gu just mentioned this name.

Liu Jiankun.

Attorney Shen continued to look at the envelope.

There was also a folded piece of paper inside.

Only a few lines were written on the paper.

Attorney Shen read it aloud.

"Jiang Cheng is only responsible for handling the documents."

"The accounts and items do not pass through his hands."

"Liu Jiankun drove for Gu Mingyuan."

"He knows A17."

A17.

When those three characters appeared, no one in the guard booth spoke.

Lin Ye looked at the paper, his throat feeling a little dry.

It went around in circles.

Gu Family Conference Room.

The used furniture market in the north of the city.

Nanqiao Warehousing.

Qingshan Cemetery.

Finally, we returned to A17.

Tao Shuang put the paper into the evidence bag.

Attorney Shen told her to continue taking photos.

It was very quiet on Gu Wantang's side.

After a few seconds, she whispered, "Seal it off first. Investigate Liu Jiankun tomorrow."

Lin Ye looked at the piece of paper that had been put into the transparent bag.

The transparent bag was pressed very flat.

The letters A17, however, seemed unable to be suppressed.

Over in the East District, Grandpa Gu was still talking.

His voice drifted slowly over on the night breeze.

"Liu Jiankun keeps his mouth shut."

"He knows not to ask questions he shouldn't ask."

"I know I shouldn't look at what I shouldn't."

Boss Wei asked, "Then why did Liu Changhai bring him up again?"

Grandpa Gu said, "Because drivers are the easiest to be mistaken for shadows."

He paused.

"But sometimes, a shadow sees more than a person."

Lin Ye lowered his head and wrote in his notebook:

Liu Jiankun.

driver.

A17.

After writing the last word, he looked up at the window.

The old cemetery area in the west is still dark.

The unmarked grave stood motionless in the corner of the surveillance camera.

Lin Ye suddenly realized that Gu Mingyuan was not the end of this line.

He was just the first opening they managed to make.