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

After Gu Wantang sent those three messages, the security booth remained quiet for a long time.

The person is not inside.

There was blood at the entrance.

There was also half a red seal.

Liu Nian stared at her phone screen, the color draining from her face little by little.

Her lips moved a few times, but no sound came out.

Lin Ye placed his phone face down on the table.

At this point, it's no use making her stare at those few lines of text anymore.

Tao Shuang had already reached the door and was making a phone call.

She kept her voice very low.

"Don't go in yet. Take pictures of the entrance, the roller shutter, and the tire tracks."

Mark the location of the bloodstain.

"Don't touch the seal. Wait for Attorney Shen to arrive."

She hung up the phone and sent a few more messages.

Uncle Zhao stood to the side; the lid of the thermos wasn't tightened, and steam was slowly escaping.

He didn't notice either.

Liu Nian suddenly stood up.

"I want to go to the South Ring Road."

Lin Ye looked at her.

"Even if you go, you won't see your mother."

Liu Nian's eyes were red.

How did you know?

"Because she's no longer there."

Liu Nian clenched her fingers.

"And the blood?"

After those words were spoken, no one in the security booth responded.

Lin Ye didn't answer either.

He is neither a doctor nor a policeman.

Saying "it's nothing" now is just lying to her.

Liu Nian looked at his face, and tears immediately fell.

"None of you will tell."

Her voice was trembling violently.

"You all knew, but you just wouldn't tell me."

Uncle Zhao opened his mouth, but in the end he only muttered a curse.

Lin Ye pushed the paper cup on the table over.

"Please sit down."

"I won't sit."

"You can't save anyone just by standing there."

Liu Nian looked up and glared at him.

Lin Ye did not dodge.

"Your mother went through all that trouble to get you the phone, not so you could rush out now and deliver another person to them."

Liu Nian wanted to refute.

But the words were on the tip of her tongue, and she swallowed them back.

She slowly sat down.

The chair leg scraped against the floor with a soft thud.

Tao Shuang sent the new photos to Lin Ye's phone.

"Miss Gu is showing you."

Lin Ye clicked on it.

The photo of the old repair shed on the South Ring Road is clearer than the one I saw earlier.

The roller shutter door was half-closed.

There was a small patch of dark red bloodstain below the door crack, which had been rubbed open by the sole of a shoe.

Half a red seal was lying nearby.

The seal was only half a finger wide and covered in mud.

The character "青" is still visible above it.

The following words are illegible.

Lin Ye zoomed in on the photo.

The seal edges are uneven, unlike one that broke naturally.

It looked like it had been pulled off and then brushed off to the ground by something.

The black mark at the doorway was also more noticeable.

Pull it out from under the roller shutter and turn to the spot where the gray bread truck had been parked.

Lin Ye handed the phone to Uncle Zhao.

"Uncle Zhao, look at this seal."

Uncle Zhao looked down for a few seconds.

It was caused by something heavy rubbing against it.

Does it look like a human?

Uncle Zhao was about to speak when he glanced at Liu Nian and swallowed his words.

He changed his tune, saying, "No, it doesn't look like that. It looks more like the corner of a box."

Lin Ye nodded.

That's what he thought too.

If Zhou Qin was dragged out, there shouldn't be this kind of stark black mark.

The mark looks more like the bottom corner of a wooden crate rubbing against an old cement floor, bringing out a bit of putty.

Tao Shuang said, "That's the same conclusion reached by the people at the scene."

Lin Ye looked at the red seal.

"They moved boxes around South Ring Road."

Liu Nian suddenly looked up.

"What about my mom?"

Lin Ye paused for a moment.

"Your mother might have been taken away too."

Liu Nian gripped the edge of the chair tightly with her fingers.

She didn't ask any more questions.

Because everyone knows that if you ask any further questions, you won't get any nice answers.

Tao Shuang's phone vibrated.

Her face darkened after reading the message.

"The surveillance cameras near South Ring Road captured that gray van heading towards Huoyun Road."

Lin Ye asked, "Where does the freight route lead?"

Uncle Zhao thought for a moment.

"There are many roads. Going west leads to the new district, and going east leads into the city. If you want to go to Genting Bay, you can also go around there, but it's a long detour."

Tao Shuang said, "The time they gave us was 3 p.m.

Lin Ye glanced at the time.

1:37.

More than an hour.

The time was very tight.

They were so tight it was as if they were deliberately preventing them from examining the details.

My phone vibrated again.

Ningzhi sent me a photo.

The photo was taken from a great distance.

A gray van turned out from the back alley of the South Ring Used Car Market, its license plate half covered in mud.

There is a scratch on the side of the car.

There was an old photo of GG pasted on the back window.

Hongyun Cold Chain.

Lin Ye stared at those four words for a few seconds.

Cold chain.

But the car in the photo looks like an ordinary bread truck from the outside.

Ning Zhi called soon after.

Lin Ye picked up.

Her voice was very soft, as if she were covering the receiver.

"My colleague didn't dare get too close. The truck headed towards the freight road."

"Did you see anyone in the car?"

"Can't see it, the rear window is tinted."

Ning Zhi paused for a moment.

"But when the car turned, he heard a noise inside, like wood hitting the carriage."

Lin Ye looked at the red-sealed photo on the table.

"box."

"You think so too?"

"Um."

There was a moment of silence on Ningzhi's end.

"They used Zhou Qin to force Liu Nian to go to A17, but the car was being used to move boxes."

"right."

"That's not as simple as just replacing someone."

"no."

Someone knocked on Ningzhi's car window.

She started speaking faster.

"I'll send you the location where the car was photographed. You forward this to Gu Wantang. Also, don't let Liu Nian keep looking at the photos."

"I've already seen it."

"Then you keep her calm."

Lin Ye didn't say anything.

Ning Zhi lowered her voice.

"Aren't you quite good at dealing with dead people?"

"Dead men don't need to be coaxed."

"Then try it on a living person."

The phone hangs up.

Lin Ye looked at his phone and muttered, "Reporters are so annoying."

Liu Nian looked up at him.

"What did she say?"

She told you not to act impulsively.

Liu Nian didn't believe it.

Lin Ye remained unfazed.

"They even said that if you rush out now, you'll just be handing your life to the enemy."

Liu Nian was stunned for a moment.

Uncle Zhao looked at Lin Ye.

"Did the reporter say that?"

Lin Ye bent down to organize the photos.

"almost."

Tao Shuang didn't expose him.

She forwarded the location, car body scratches, and other information that Ning Zhi had sent to Gu Wantang.

A few seconds later, Gu Wantang replied.

Check Hongyun Cold Chain.

The second one followed immediately.

Ask Liu Nian to reply to the message on his phone, requesting to see Zhou Qin's live video.

Tao Shuang looked at Liu Nian.

"You send it."

Liu Nian's face was deathly pale.

"What?"

Tao Shuang did not speak directly.

She looked at Lin Ye.

Lin Ye understood what she meant.

This message shouldn't be too cold, nor too stable.

If Tao Shuang wrote it, the other party would immediately know it wasn't Liu Nian.

Lin Ye took the paper and wrote a few words.

Crossed out again.

Liu Nian stared at him.

"You want me to lie to them?"

"It's not a lie."

Lin Ye looked up.

"It's about stalling them."

Liu Nian held her phone.

"Will they hurt my mom?"

Lin Ye stopped writing.

That cannot be guaranteed.

He put down his pen.

"meeting."

Liu Nian burst into tears.

Lin Ye continued, "But if you agree now, they will too. Once you go, they'll have two people with them."

Liu Nian lowered her head, her hands trembling so much she could barely hold her phone.

Lin Ye picked up his pen again.

First write:

I need to see if my mom is still alive, otherwise I won't go.

After he finished writing, he shook his head first.

Too hard.

Unlike Liu Nian's current state.

He tore up the paper and rewrote it.

Mom, let me hear her say something.

I'm begging you.

I'll bring some things with me.

As Liu Nian looked at those lines of text, tears fell onto the paper.

After a long while, she nodded.

"This is it."

She used her own phone to type it out, word by word.

After the message was sent, no one in the security booth spoke.

Time seemed to slow down.

Thirty seconds.

One minute.

Two minutes.

The other party did not reply.

Liu Nian's breathing became increasingly rapid.

Lin Ye reached out and gently tapped the table.

"Look at me."

Liu Nian looked up.

"Inhale."

"I won't."

"Even if you don't know how, you'll still be panting."

Liu Nian looked at him with red eyes.

Lin Ye said, "Slow down. Don't suffocate yourself. Uncle Zhao really knows how to call an ambulance."

Uncle Zhao replied with a cold face.

"Not only will I call you, but I'll also make you pay a deposit first."

Liu Nian was stunned for a moment.

Tears were still on her face, but her breathing had slowed down slightly.

My phone suddenly vibrated.

Everyone looked over.

The other party replied with a video.

Only seven seconds.

Liu Nian reached out to make a gesture, but Tao Shuang stopped her.

"Record your screen first."

Liu Nian bit her lip and nodded.

Tao Shuang turned on the recording before letting her play it.

In the video, Zhou Qin is leaning against the corner of the carriage.

His lips weren't sealed with glue, and his face was very pale.

Looking at the camera, her first words were: "Niannian, don't come..."

Before he could finish speaking, the camera was moved away.

The screen flickered.

All that remained were the gray carriage walls and the corner of a wooden crate.

The wooden crate had a tattered red seal on it.

Someone said in a low voice, "Three o'clock, A17. One minute late, and you'll face the consequences."

The video cut out.

Liu Nian's phone fell onto the table.

She covered her mouth and bent over.

This time she didn't cry out loud.

My shoulders were shaking violently.

Tao Shuang forwarded the video to Gu Wantang.

Lin Ye did not move.

He stared at the last frame of the video.

Gray carriage walls.

A corner of a wooden box.

Red seal.

There was also a half-torn sticker on the carriage wall.

Hongyun Cold Chain.

It's not the old GG from the rear window.

There were also some inside the carriages.

Lin Ye rewound the video and watched it again.

There are horizontal grooves in the carriage wall behind Zhou Qin.

Unlike a regular bread cart.

Uncle Zhao also came over.

"This carriage is not right."

Lin Ye looked at him.

Uncle Zhao pointed at the screen.

"The inner walls are like an insulation layer. In the past, when the cemetery transported flowers, refrigerated trucks came, and the inside was similar."

Lin Ye lowered his head and wrote in his notebook:

Hongyun Cold Chain.

Is it disguised as a bread truck?

Zhou Qin and Xiangzi rode in the same car.

Freight route.

Just then, Grandpa Gu's voice rang out.

Very low.

"Refrigerated truck..."

Lin Ye's pen stopped.

The East District quieted down for a moment.

Grandpa Gu seemed to be struggling to remember something.

"Gu Mingyuan once took over a batch of goods and wouldn't allow ordinary trucks to enter."

Boss Wei asked, "Why?"

Grandpa Gu said, "He said it can't be exposed to light or dampness."

Lin Ye's fingers slowly tightened.

It cannot be exposed to light.

It must not get damp.

It's not like money.

It doesn't look like an account book either.

Grandpa Gu added, "That day, Liu Jiankun was driving a refrigerated truck."

Grandma Zhao asked softly, "Where should I send it?"

Grandpa Gu paused for a long time.

Genting Bay.

Lin Ye wrote these words down.

It was not a word-for-word paraphrase.

He only sent Gu Wantang a judgment:

Check Hongyun Cold Chain. The vehicle may have been modified; the interior resembles a refrigerated compartment. Three years ago, Liu Jiankun may have used a refrigerated truck to deliver boxes to Genting Bay. The goods may be sensitive to light and moisture.

Gu Wantang replied after more than ten seconds.

How did you know?

Lin Ye looked at the screen and thought for a moment.

Reply to her:

Guess.

Gu Wantang did not ask any further questions.

She only replied with one sentence:

Keep guessing.

Lin Ye stared at those three words, and that strange feeling in his chest resurfaced.

She knew he hadn't told her everything.

But she told him to continue.

Tao Shuang's phone rang too.

After reading it, she said to Lin Ye, "We found Hongyun Cold Chain. It was deregistered three years ago, the legal representative is out of contact, and there are still two vehicles registered under its name that haven't been scrapped."

Lin Ye asked, "Is one of them a refrigerated truck?"

Tao Shuang looked at him.

"You're guessing again?"

"Um."

"right."

Uncle Zhao stood to the side, his face growing increasingly grim as he listened.

"Using refrigerated trucks to transport cultural relics?"

News about Lu Zhixia also surfaced at this time.

Lin Ye clicked on it.

For items like woodenware, calligraphy and paintings, and lacquerware, temperature and humidity are very important.

The next one will be here soon.

However, the misuse of refrigerated trucks by private individuals is not necessarily safe, as temperature changes can still damage goods.

Next one.

Did you see the box?

Lin Ye sent over a screenshot of the last frame of the video.

Lu Zhixia replied quickly.

Seeing just one corner isn't enough.

The red seal resembles the old museum's seal.

Don't touch it.

The last two words were sent the fastest.

It was as if I was afraid he would reach out and open the box at any moment.

Linye returned.

I'm in the cemetery, out of reach.

Lu Zhixia returns.

Let's keep this advantage.

Lin Ye chuckled softly as he read those words.

Liu Nian kept her head down.

He stopped laughing.

Gu Wantang called.

Lin Ye picked up.

In the background, she could hear the sound of a car door opening and someone whispering their location.

"The refrigerated truck has been located. There's an old tollbooth on the west side of the freight road. My men have already gone there."

Lin Ye asked, "What about A17?"

"There's also some activity from the property management side."

Gu Wantang said, "At 2:30 pm, a vehicle registered as a maintenance equipment applied to enter Genting Bay. The license plate was fake."

Lin Ye glanced at the time.

1.52.

"They're really going to A17."

"Um."

"Was Zhou Qin in the car too?"

"At present, yes."

Lin Ye was silent for a moment.

"They put Zhou Qin and the box together so that people wouldn't be able to stop the car directly."

Gu Wantang said, "Yes."

"If we stop the car, Zhou Qin is in danger. If we don't stop it, the box might end up in A17."

There was a pause on the other end of the phone.

Gu Wantang said, "You continue."

Lin Ye held his phone, looking at the screenshot.

car.

Wooden box.

Zhou Qin.

Red seal.

3 PM, A17.

He recalled what Grandpa Gu had said: "It cannot be exposed to light, nor can it be exposed to moisture."

Then I remembered what Lu Zhixia had said about temperature and humidity.

This car can't keep circling outside.

The boxes shouldn't be moved around repeatedly.

The South Ring Road is a transit point.

A17 may also be a transit point.

Lin Ye slowly began to speak.

"They may not necessarily be going to put the boxes into A17."

Gu Wantang asked, "Why?"

"If the contents of the box are sensitive to light and moisture, they can't be handled for long periods. The South Ring Road area has already been moved once. Now everyone is being kept an eye on A17 again."

Tao Shuang looked at him.

Lin Ye's voice was even lower.

"It's like they're in a hurry, or like they're trying to change their perspective."

No one spoke in the guard booth.

Lin Ye looked up and glanced in the direction of the western district.

The cemetery is very quiet during the day.

The shadows of pine and cypress trees were cast on the stone path.

He recalled the few fragmented words from the nameless tomb.

Display case.

fake.

Don't take it away.

He used to think it sounded like nonsense.

The more I listen, the more it sounds like an unfinished conversation from a living person.

On the other end of the phone, Gu Wantang asked, "You suspect the real destination isn't A17?"

"Um."

"where?"

Lin Ye stared at the anti-floating bottle on the table.

The vase stood quietly, the flowers blooming out of season.

He did not answer immediately.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Lu Zhixia.

"Has the Qingcheng Museum changed any exhibits today?"

Lu Zhixia did not reply.

About half a minute later, Gu Wantang spoke first.

"Lu Zhixia replied to me."

Lin Ye gripped his phone tightly.

Gu Wantang said, "At 3 p.m., a batch of temporary exhibitions at Qingcheng Museum will be dismantled and stored away."

Lin Ye slowly closed his eyes.

three o'clock.

A17.

Refrigerated truck.

Temporary exhibition to be dismantled or replaced.

These few things together are enough.

Gu Wantang continued, "The prefix of the registration number of one of the exhibits is similar to the number revealed in Liu Jian'an's old photos. Lu Zhixia said that it can't be definitively concluded yet."

Lin Ye looked toward the unmarked graves in the western district.

The one in the display case is fake.

That sentence popped up again.

Liu Nian was still looking at him.

Her eyes were red.

"What about my mom?"

Lin Ye turned his head back.

This time, he didn't dodge.

"Save your mother first."

He said.

"But we can't follow the path they give us."

My phone vibrated again.

It is Ningzhi.

She sent me a photo.

The side entrance of Qingcheng Museum.

A white refrigerated truck was parked outside the unloading area.

The photo was taken from a distance, through trees and a fence.

The vehicle body is printed with four old characters.

Hongyun Cold Chain.

Ningzhi sent a message below.

My colleague happens to work on the cultural and tourism route near the museum.

The second sentence appeared quickly.

It wasn't a coincidence; I asked him to go and see the temporary exhibition being taken down.

Lin Ye stared at the screen and suddenly smiled.

This reporter is stubborn.

But it really can save lives.

Ningzhi sent another message.

If you're going to compliment me, remember to be sincere.

Lin Ye replied to her.

"Reporter Ning is very capable."

Ningzhi replied instantly.

"Like an obituary, rewrite it."

Just as Lin Ye was about to reply, Gu Wantang's call was still on.

She said calmly from the other end, "Let's stop talking."

Lin Ye paused.

He looked up at Tao Shuang.

Tao Shuang remained expressionless.

Uncle Zhao lowered his head to drink water, his lips pressed tightly together in a strain.

Lin Ye put down his phone.

"Let's get down to business first."

Gu Wantang's voice was calm.

"I've ordered people to keep an eye on the museum's side entrance. We'll continue chasing Zhou Qin's car on the South Ring Road. A17 isn't leaving either."

She paused for a moment.

"Lin Ye, stay in the cemetery."

Lin Ye was about to speak.

Gu Wantang intercepted him first.

"It's not because you're useless."

The wind was very soft over there.

"It's because you're there that you can hear things that others can't."

Lin Ye held his phone, his throat suddenly feeling a little dry.

Gu Wantang did not wait for his reply.

So keep listening.

The phone hangs up.

Lin Ye stood in the guard booth, not moving for a long time.

In the eastern district, Boss Wei suddenly chuckled.

"This girl knows how to talk."

Old Li hummed.

"He's better than Kobayashi."

Grandma Zhao sighed slowly.

"Someone feels sorry for you, but you won't admit it."

Lin Ye looked down at the anti-floating bottle on the table.

It's still very colorful today.

He reached out and tapped the bottle.

Don't listen to their nonsense.

The anti-floating bottle, of course, ignored him.

Liu Nian sat in the chair, her voice very soft.

Will my mother still be alive?

Lin Ye looked at her.

This time he didn't say "yes".

They didn't say "I don't know."

He said, "We are dismantling their hiding places, one by one."

Liu Nian gripped the paper cup tightly.

The water has gone cold.

Lin Ye looked at the photo of the Hongyun refrigerated truck on his phone.

The car was parked at the side entrance of the museum.

The carriage doors were not yet open.

He whispered:

"Don't let it open yet."