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Having resolved this matter, our spirits lifted considerably. However, due to procedural issues, we still couldn't take Wang Xiaobao away. His parents had already arrived at the Police Department, and upon seeing Wang Xiaobao in the room, they broke down in tears, unable to contain themselves several times.
At first, Wang Xiaobao stubbornly held back his tears, but by the end, he too was sobbing uncontrollably. He had no idea what he had done; his parents had never taught him about such things. Raised in their indulgence, he had developed a mindset of doing whatever he wanted. When the three of them reunited, only tears flowed freely.
Mary said, "Many times, people don't realize what they've actually done. There are many children like Wang Xiaobao in our country; some succeed while others fail."
I nodded and replied, "Regardless, Wang Xiaobao's situation should be coming to a close. Our main task now is with Guo Guoqing. It's already six in the evening. This morning, Guo Guoqing's accomplice abducted Boss Lady. No matter what tricks Guo Guoqing has up his sleeve, this time has given his accomplice enough preparation."
"Boss Lady is a good person," Mary said somewhat sadly. "She took us to the scene. Without her, it might have taken us much longer to reach that abandoned park. Moreover, she walked away with that person right under our noses; if we had discovered it sooner, she might not have been taken."
From the very beginning, Guo Guoqing had been guiding us on how to proceed. First, we learned of a woman's death and followed that lead to investigate further. We then discovered the identity of the deceased and naturally sought to find out who she had interacted with and investigated her relationships.
After uncovering her social connections, we understood the true nature of Roland and went to find the Beggar Gang. They provided us with a lead to a coffee shop, which led us to Prison Island Cafe where we encountered Boss Lady. She gave us another clue that directed us to the abandoned park. There, we found information about Guo Guoqing and subsequently went to his home to apprehend him.
If you think deeply about this entire process, you will realize it forms a continuous and complete chain of clues—each link connected seamlessly—as if someone were guiding us along. If any part of this chain were missing, we would never have been able to locate Guo Guoqing.
Moreover, looking at the locations of these key clues, they all converged in the northern part of the city, almost forming a single area. The scope was very small; it hardly seemed like a coincidence. If that were the case, it indicated that everything was orchestrated by Guo Guoqing.
At this thought, I couldn't help but feel a chill run down my spine. To calculate everything so precisely was truly impressive for Guo Guoqing. He managed to account for every detail of the situation and knew exactly what clues we would find at the scene and what answers we would derive from them. In fact, those answers were precisely what Guo Guoqing wanted us to see.
At that moment, a detective suddenly approached us and said, "Captain Shao and team leader, Guo Guoqing requests to see you!"
"See us?" Yuzelin asked.
"Yes!" The detective replied. "He said he has something important to tell you. If you arrive too late and he loses interest, he won't say anything further!"
We were unsure what kind of scheme Guo Guoqing was plotting but simultaneously realized he likely wanted to discuss Boss Lady's situation. As previously mentioned, regardless of what Guo Guoqing intended to do, an entire afternoon had passed; whatever arrangements needed to be made should have already been set.
We entered the interrogation room and saw Guo Guoqing sipping water through a straw. Upon noticing our arrival, he appeared quite pleased and asked, "I heard you've been busy all day; have you found my friend? Have you located Boss Lady from Prison Island Cafe?"
I remained silent while Yuzelin spoke up: "Guo Guoqing, I warn you that my patience is limited. You may be a minor, but for particularly serious cases like this one, we have many ways to deal with you. If we conduct a psychological evaluation and label you as mentally ill, you'll spend your life in a psychiatric hospital—much more tormenting than being in prison."
Faced with Guo Guoqing's disdainful demeanor, Yuzelin couldn't help but threaten him. But I knew she was merely bluffing; given the gravity of this case, there was no way we could resort to such tactics—methods like that have always been beneath my contempt. Even though the person before us was an atrocious criminal, if we responded with violence ourselves, that would be true tragedy.
Guo Guoqing paused for a moment before laughing and saying, "I don't believe you'd go through with that. I know you're just trying to scare me; honestly speaking, I've been inside Tianlan City Second People's Hospital before—it's just a mental hospital after all. My brothers are in there too; do you believe me?"
Guo Guoqing was unyielding, almost infuriatingly so. Yuzelin slammed her hand on the table and said, "Of course I'm telling the truth. For someone like you, being executed ten times wouldn't be excessive. If you provoke me, I won't hesitate to use the connections I've built over the years. Even if it means stripping me of my clothes, I won't let you off the hook."
At that moment, I realized Yuzelin was serious.
Guo Guoqing fell silent for a moment before responding, "Alright, it seems you really mean business. Boss Lady has been missing since this morning, and it's been nearly ten hours now. I can provide you with a clue, but I won't reveal everything. However, I advise you not to send me to a mental hospital; otherwise, I won't say another word."
Yuzelin's words had an effect; whether Guo Guoqing was feigning weakness or not was something we could consider later. What mattered now was to hear what Guo Guoqing had to say.
"Then we need to see if what you say has any value," I replied coldly.
"Okay, here's a hint: go to Tiansen Supermarket in the northern part of Tianlan City. In locker number 382, there are some things I need to tell you. If you follow my instructions, you'll find that the hostage is safe. How does that sound?"
"And then?" I pressed further.
"That's all for now. It's best not to say too much," he said before taking another sip of his water and ignoring us.
Yuzelin and I exchanged glances and prepared to leave. As we were walking out, Yuzelin pointed at Guo Guoqing and warned, "I advise you to be careful and not pull any tricks."
Guo Guoqing looked at Yuzelin with a mysterious smile but ultimately remained silent.
I immediately gathered the Special Investigation Team, and Yuzelin brought her squad along. The seven or eight of us took two cars to the largest chain supermarket in the northern part of the city—Tiansen Supermarket. Upon arriving at Tiansen's entrance, it was clear that this supermarket was quite large, spanning three floors. In one corner of the bottom floor stood many automated storage lockers.
The green light next to a locker indicated it was empty; if it were red, it meant there was something inside. To store an item, one would press a button beside it, and a ticket would be dispensed from the outlet. When leaving the supermarket later, one would simply scan the ticket at the infrared scanner to unlock the locker automatically.
Locker number 382 was lit with a red light, indicating it contained something. However, Guo Guoqing hadn't provided us with a ticket to open it. Yuzelin stepped forward to pull on it, but I stopped her and said, "Be careful; if there's a bomb inside, we could all be done for."
Yuzelin nodded and stepped back; this was indeed a possibility. The area was crowded with tens of thousands of people; if there were a bomb inside, casualties could easily exceed ten thousand, and we couldn't bear that responsibility. Given Demon Boy's title—Guo Guoqing—he certainly had both the motive and capability to pull something like that off.
Juan Juan took out a medical stethoscope and listened intently outside the locker for quite some time, nearly being mistaken for a lunatic. Finally, Juan Juan sighed in relief and said to us, "It's fine; there's no movement inside. It shouldn't be a bomb; it's likely something static."
Only then did Yuzelin approach and tug at the locker; it was sturdy and wouldn't budge. I turned to Dezi and said, "Dezi, go find someone in charge here; they should have a way to open this locker."
After about half an hour, the manager finally arrived on site. After we identified ourselves, he cooperated fully and used a master key to unlock the locker. Peering inside revealed that the spacious locker contained only a thin piece of letter paper lying flat within.
Everyone was filled with suspicion. Did Guo Guoqing go to such lengths just to tell us something he could have shared in prison? Why did he insist we travel all this way to see him? Was Guo Guoqing deliberately toying with us, or was there some secret at play? With these thoughts swirling in my mind, I picked up the piece of stationery.
The note contained very simple information; it only had an address written on it—Heavenly Palace Bathhouse.
Aside from that, there was nothing else. We were all puzzled about what Guo Guoqing was trying to achieve. He could have easily told us those six words while in prison, so why make us come all this way? What connection did the Heavenly Palace Bathhouse have with this case and the disappearance of Boss Lady?
We knew we were being led by the nose by Guo Guoqing once again, but we had no choice. If we didn't follow his line of thought, we wouldn't be able to uncover any new clues or understand what game he was playing with us.
"Heavenly Palace Bathhouse," I said. "We should check it out. Does anyone know the address?"
"It's in the northern part of the city!" Yuzelin replied.
"Also in the northern part?"
The scene shifted abruptly as the narrative took a different turn.
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