Lüqiu Yingyue suddenly stood up. "Can I go outside to look at the plants in your backyard?"

Maybe this girl has grown tired of hearing our conversation. Or it could be that she feels that all this has nothing to do with her. I can't blame her.

Yixiong had thought chatting with them made Yingyue thrilled. But this time, they were about to have a serious conversation. It's about the fate of their friend. He realized Yingyue knew nothing about Songfei. Maybe she was afraid her presence would only interfere with their discussion.

"It just so happened that I am fond of plants. I will only be here for three days. So I better take this opportunity to have a look." The girl's voice was very cheerful.

Yixiong nodded. From the look in Yingyue's eyes, it wasn't hard for Yixiong to guess that the girl really liked plants. The girl was telling the truth when she said she wanted to take a look at their yard.

The house they lived in was indeed full of plants. There were two yards. The front yard and the backyard. People could see that the front yard was not big but quite beautiful. The backyard was much more expansive than the front yard. Everyone would admit it was amazing. Both courtyards were overgrown with various plants was very refreshing to the eyes. Some plants grew in pots.

The land was about three hundred and fifty meters. It was thirty-five meters long and ten meters wide. Their house was fifteen meters by ten meters. It was rare for a house with a vast yard to be in the middle of the city. Moreover, the location was very strategic.

"So you want to take a look at the garden in the backyard?" Shanquan smiled at the girl.

"Hmmm." Yingyue nodded. "It looks so beautiful. So I wanted to take a close look."

"Oh yes, please!" said Shanquan. "But aren't you afraid your clothes will get dirty?"

Yingyue laughed. "It's just dirt. If my clothes get dirty, I just need to wash my clothes. No big deal." She approached the shoe rack. Her hand reached out to pick up her shoes.

"No need." Shanquan got up from his seat and approached the girl. "On the terrace in the backyard there's a shoe rack like this too. There are slippers you can wear when you set foot in the backyard."

Yingyue nodded. The girl's face lit up.

"Xinxiu, please take Yingyue to the backyard. After that, you come back immediately."

"Okay, Dage!" Xinxiu at once stood up. He led Yingyue away from the living room. The two of them headed straight for the kitchen in the back.

There was silence as they waited for Xinxiu to return. After Xinxiu returned, they resumed their conversation.

"Yesterday, before arriving at Dafeisi Tower, I coincidentally ran into Linghu Weideng." Shanquan cupped his palms and placed them in front of his mouth.

"Linghu Weideng? Is that Songfei's very busy friend?" Yiren's mouth remained slightly open after he finished launching the question.

Linghu Weideng rarely appeared at events that Songfei organized. Yixiong had heard Songfei say that his friend was a very busy person. It was almost impossible for him to take the time to attend the games that Songfei had planned. But as far as Yixiong could tell, Songfei never looked annoyed, irritated, or disappointed. The young man always invited all his friends who were not the detective and mystery club members, even though he knew most of them would definitely not come.

"That's right," said Shanquan. "He said that one week ago, Songfei had called him."

Shanquan then told his friends what he had heard from Linghu Weideng. Or at least, that's what he said. Yixiong had reason to suspect that there were things Shaquan didn't say. He couldn't explain it logically. However, one year of living with Shanquan had made Yixiong more sensitive to Shanquan's body language and behavior. Even so, he didn't blame Shanquan at all. Yixiong believed Shanquan must have had a valid reason if it was true that there were still things he was hiding.

"Do Dage think Songfei's current situation is similar to the situation he was in before?" Yixiong tried comparing what was happening now with the previous situation when Songfei was being chased by a debt collector.

"I don't think Songfei's situation this time is the same," said Shanquan. "He asked Mr. Linghu and me to keep his things. That means someone is after those things. Moreover, Songfei's belongings that he entrusted to Mr. Linghu were taken by someone. So now, let's just discuss matters related to the things that Songfei left with us."

"You have opened this bag, haven't you?" Yixiong looked at Shanquan. He pointed to the large bag that Shanquan had brought home.

"Yes. But I only took the iron handcuffs. I have not examined the other items in there," replied Shanquan.

Then they started to open Songfei's bag. They took the items inside the bag out one by one and placed those stuff lined up on the floor. Apart from the iron handcuffs that Shanquan had used to bang on the side of the elevator, there were several pieces of clothes, a mustache razor, a toothbrush, a towel, a notebook, and a large brown envelope.

They watched the items for some time. Then Shanquan took the notebook and brown envelope and placed them on the table. He let Yixiong put the pile of clothes, whiskers, and towels back into the bag. Shanquan opened the notebook. He paused, staring at the pages in the book. Yiren sat right next to him so he could see plainly the contents of the sheets.

"What letters are these?" A confused look was clearly visible on Yiren's face.

The sheets in the notebook contain writings they do not understand. They couldn't read the letters. Shanquan looked at Zhengyi while handing him the book.

"Look at this. Can you recognize it?"

Zhengyi was an expert in languages. He knew many ancient languages and characters. After observing the letters in the book, Zhengyi shook his head, saying, "I've never seen writing like this. It's like a cursive version of the Etruscan script. But it's not an Etruscan script. It's just that some parts look a bit alike."

Let alone the cursive version. I don't even know what Etruscan is!

Yixiong laughed inwardly. But he still tried to put on a serious face.

"Why did Songfei write notes using letters like this?" Xinxiu rubbed his forehead.

Shanquan sighed, then said, "First, we know Songfei likes mysterious things. Perhaps he used secret letters to record personal things. Although I have never seen Songfei write in foreign writings like this."

He paused his words. Looked at his friends' faces. He seemed to want to make sure that everyone listened to what he had to say.

"Second, we don't know exactly who owns this notebook. Songfei could have found this book and kept it."

"What if we ask Songfei's friends?" Xinxiu looked at everyone.

"Do we know the addresses or telephone numbers of Songfei's friends?" Yiren asked Xinxiu back.

Under normal circumstances, it sounds like a good idea. But the situation is not normal.

Yixiong could only shake his head.

They all fell silent. Clearly, the question was rhetorical. It was true that so far, Songfei had often invited them to take part in his activities. There, they encountered people who had the same interests as Songfei. But outside of these activities, they never met Songfei's friends from the detective and mystery club. Even they also didn't know the identities of Songfei's comrades. For example, their full name and phone number.

"What if we go to Songfei's residence to ask the people there?" Xinxiu didn't seem to give up on questioning the people who most likely had frequent contact with Songfei.

Yiren looked at Xinxiu. "Three months ago, Songfei has moved from there. He promised to take us to visit his new house. Until our last meeting with him two months ago, he had not told me his new address at all."