Zhengyi held out his hand. Instinctively, Yiren caught the hand promptly. Zhengyi then pulled Yiren out of the hole.

"Now it's your turn. Come on up," said Yiren from above to Xinxiu, who was still at the bottom of the hole.

"Your voice is too soft. Maybe he didn't hear," said Zhengyi.

Yiren picked up the iron rod on the side of the hole with his flashlight. A signal for Xinxiu to rise to the surface right away.

"Isn't it necessary to wear a rope?" Zhengyi asked.

"No need. I just rode without a rope. Xinxiu can do it too."

Yiren's words were not wrong at all. Xinxiu rose faster than him.

"What's wrong? Why isn't Yige standing guard at the edge of the hole?" Xinxiu immediately asked as soon as he reached the edge of the hole.

Zhengyi looked confused. Clearly visible, he had a hard time answering Xinxiu's question. Yiren frowned. Something wrong must have happened. Without waiting for Zhengyi's answer, Yiren walked toward the kitchen door straight away. After entering the house, he carefully checked every room in the house.

The girl is not here!

"Where did Miss Lüqiu go?" Yiren felt a little panicked. Shanquan rarely got angry. But he could look terrifying when he was angry.

This is terrible!

"Dage already ordered Miss Lüqiu not to go anywhere." Xinxiu also panicked.

Zhengyi said nothing. Instantly, he instead walked into the living room. Yiren and Xinxiu followed him without hesitation. It turned out that the television in the living room was still on, even though the volume was very low. Zhengyi directly pointed at the television set. They saw the news of a great calamity.

"Where did this fire happen?" Xinxiu stepped closer to the television.

On the television screen, there was an important report about a great fire that had engulfed a luxury housing estate. The show was a live broadcast. Yiren could hear the reporter. He said that even though it had been more than three hours since the fire broke out, the fire department still could not tame the blazing fire. Even in some parts, the fire was even bigger.

"There was a big fire in Yueming. Miss Lüqiu said that the location of the fire was very close to her relative's house. So when she saw this news, she went there directly!"

Yiren was shocked to hear Zhengyi's words.

How could a coincidence like this happen?

"Yige just let her go? She can't go alone. In an emergency like this, Yige should go with her."

"Right! How will we be accountable to Dage," said Xinxiu.

"She didn't go there alone," Zhengyi said.

Yiren was even more surprised to hear that. "What does Yige mean? Who else was here? Was Qiuzhen home yet?" Yiren asked questions in succession.

"You guys sit down first. Let me explain," Zhengyi said.

Yiren could see that Zhengyi seemed to be trying to calm Xinxiu and him. Xinxiu did look panicked. Yiren guessed Zhengyi thought he was also panicking. In fact, this assumption was not entirely wrong. Yiren did panic, but not as much as Xinxiu.

After they all sat down, Zhengyi began to explain. "Right after you guys went down there, there was a knock on the door. It turned out that Caihong had come here. He wanted to know how we were. Since I'm not allowed to tell him about the whereabouts of our secret passage, I said that you guys left early in the morning to find our new abode. Of course, I couldn't stand guard at the edge of the hole because I had to accompany him in this living room."

Yiren gaped at Zhengyi. Caihong coming to their house was a surprise. Three days ago, Yiren did give him their home addresses. But he didn't think that Caihong would actually take the time to visit them. Moreover, lately, he had been swamped because he had to meet a lot of people at the painting exhibition. Apart from that, Caihong also has a business to deal with.

"At that time, Miss Lüqiu also sat in the living room. In accordance with what we agreed, I introduced Miss Lüqiu as Dage's distant relative. Suddenly, in the middle of our conversation, Miss Lüqiu turned on the television on a whim. When she saw the news of the fire, she looked anxious instantly. She said that the location of the fire was very close to his relative's house. Impulsively, she wanted to go there."

"Why don't you suggest her to call her relatives from here? That’s a lot more practical, isn’t it?" asked Xinxiu.

"She's already called there. No answer."

"Why don't you try to stop her?" Xinxiu frowned.

"I tried to stop her from leaving. I told her to wait for Dage to come home first. But she didn't want to hear what I said. Caihong happened to come with a private car. He even had a driver. So he offered to take Miss Lüqiu there. I couldn't refuse the offer. After all, it would be much better for her to go there with Caihong than to go alone."

Zhengyi's explanation did not satisfy Yiren.

"Still, Yige shouldn't just let him go with Caihong. Yige should have gone with them. You could have written a message on a piece of paper to explain your departure," said Yiren.

"I'm sorry. Situations like that have made me feel panicked, so I couldn't think straight. I was afraid you would suddenly appear while Caihong was still here. It would be complicated for us to explain."

"Things like this have happened. There's no point in making a fuss anymore," said Xinxiu. "Now, what are our next steps?"

"I have a suggestion," said Yiren. "Maybe we should just change our plans a bit. Yige sticks to our original plan: to go to the station far away from here to pick up the backpack he left there. Then, immediately move the backpack's contents to the Xindongchang warehouse at Jongharng Station. Shiowdi, you should catch up with Caihong and Miss Lüqiu. I saw Dage had copied the address that Miss Lüqiu gave. Take a look in the notebook in his room."

Xinxiu nodded. In a flash, he walked to Shanquan's bedroom. He quickly disappeared behind the bedroom door.

Zhengyi patted Yiren's shoulder. "But, aren't Dage and Xiongge also heading there?"

"Dage and Xiongge don't know about this incident yet. Since Miss Lüqiu and Caihong took a private car, they most likely got there much earlier than Dage and Xiongge."

"So, you want Xinxiu to meet with Dage and Xiongge to explain this before they meet Caihong?"

"Something like that."

"Does Xinxiu understand your intentions?"

"I'm sure he has the same intentions."

Zhengyi was silent. He seemed to rack his brains.

"Who did Caihong come here with?"

"Only with his driver. But the driver didn't come into our house. He was just waiting inside the car."

There was the sound of a door opening. With a bright face, Xinxiu came out of Shanquan's bedroom. He had a piece of paper in his hand.

"I'm leaving now!" said Xinxiu.

"When you get there, look for a payphone, and you call me right away," said Yiren.

Xinxiu nodded.

"Yige, when you arrive at that distant station, you should also call me as soon as possible. Then, after you finish putting your things in the Xindongchang warehouse, you call me again."

"Okay! I'll be going now too." Zhengyi said.

"You'd better leave the house together. You two separate to your respective destinations later when you get to the highway."

Zhengyi and Xinxiu speedily stepped out of the house without wasting much time. Yiren escorted them to the gate. Xinxiu fumbled in his shirt pocket.

"You didn't bring a pen?" Yiren asked.

Xinxiu shook his head.

"You take this!" Yiren took out the pen in his trouser pocket and gave it to Xinxiu. No more time to go in and grab another pen.

After the two friends left, Yiren went back into the house. He sat on the long sofa in the living room. The television was still on. With great curiosity, Yiren watched the broadcast about the current situation of the big fire.

"I hope everything will be fine!" Taking a deep breath, Yiren turned around and walked toward the dining room.