I Got Together With the Fake Heiress - Chapter 55

With both parties reaching a friendly agreement, Fu Sanqiu very readily brought Fu Liu into the investigation.

Consequently, when Lu Zhiming drove her car to the designated spot, she saw Wen Yunqing and Wen Yimeng standing with the two Fox Spirits, which startled her so much that she nearly instinctively reached for her weapon in the trunk.

“Taoist Priest Lu, we are all law-abiding citizens. Please don’t act rashly,” Fu Sanqiu could sense that Lu Zhiming’s aura was not weak, and if they fought, the outcome would be about fifty-fifty.

Lu Zhiming took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “I know, but I only drove one car, and there’s not enough room for that many people.”

“It’s fine. We’ll drive our own car,” Fu Sanqiu signaled to Fu Liu with her eyes.

Fu Liu nodded, disappeared for about ten minutes in front of everyone, and then reappeared driving an SUV. She had also reverted to her female appearance, wearing a simple T-shirt and cargo pants.

“According to the clues we have found so far, the deceased had an online girlfriend whom he met in person one month before the incident,” Lu Zhiming said. “The real-name authentication information of the other party is fake, so we can only roughly estimate the location. We need to conduct further screening.”

Wen Yunqing nodded. “Is this the only suspect?”

“Yes, only this one at the moment. However, I have performed a divination, and the true culprit should be found by following this lead,” Lu Zhiming said.

Lu Zhiming’s car drove in the lead. Because they were following navigation, they had to take a detour to reach the destination, a small village where a minority ethnic group made up more than half the population.

“Next time, you can actually just tell me the place name directly. I’m familiar with the roads around Dali,” Fu Liu said, getting out of the car behind them.

Lu Zhiming smiled but didn’t respond. She was not the type to easily trust non-humans she had just met.

Fu Liu didn’t mind. Strictly speaking, she and Fu Sanqiu were just helpers hired by Wen Yunqing. It didn’t matter whether Lu Zhiming trusted them, as long as they could get their payment.

Relying on the photo found online, Lu Zhiming adopted the most tedious method first: taking the photo and going door-to-door to ask people.

Since Wen Yunqing and her group had already come, they each took a printed copy of the photo and split into four groups to look for people.

“Hello, have you seen the person in this picture?” Wen Yimeng asked.

The person being questioned was an elderly man wearing glasses. He pushed up his spectacles and stared carefully at the picture for a long time. “This girl looks familiar, but I can’t recognize her. The picture is not clear enough.”

“Then is she from this village?” Wen Yimeng quickly followed up.

The old man shook his head. “I don’t know, but I might have seen this girl. She should be from this area of ours.”

Wen Yimeng nodded and then proceeded to the next household to inquire.

Wen Yunqing followed behind Wen Yimeng. She did not take a picture to ask people but pulled out a pen from somewhere and was drawing something on the back of her drawing.

After inquiring at five households in one go, Wen Yimeng felt a bit discouraged. “Yunqing, is there any special spell that can help us find someone using a picture?”

Wen Yunqing stopped writing. “If the picture were very clear, or if we had something the person had handled, we might be able to try, but this picture is too blurry and incomplete. It probably won’t work.”

“Then let’s keep going,” Wen Yimeng cheered herself up. Since she decided to get involved, she couldn’t give up halfway.

Wen Yunqing didn’t stop her. While Wen Yimeng continued her inquiries, Wen Yunqing pulled up the phone map and slowly completed the drawing she was working on.

An hour later, the five people met at the village entrance, and everyone’s expression was a little serious.

Lu Zhiming spoke first. “I asked twenty-five households. Seventeen had no impression, and the remaining eight said they had seen her but couldn’t remember who she was.”

Wen Yimeng sighed. “I asked thirteen households, and the results were similar to Teacher Lu’s. No one could accurately say who this person is.”

“We had similar results, but with this screening, the possibility of the person being in this village is relatively small,” Fu Sanqiu said. “Don’t the police have some internal system? Can’t we just pull a list of people in this area who fit the age profile and continue the investigation?”

“Pulling up a list isn’t a big problem, but if the person is a minor without an ID card, we won’t get a picture,” Lu Zhiming said, frowning slightly at the image in her hand. “There are only eight nearby villages in total. At worst, we ask them one by one…”

“Perhaps that won’t be necessary,” Wen Yunqing said, and then took out the freshly completed drawing.

Wen Yimeng looked at it curiously. “What is this? A simplified map?”

Lu Zhiming raised an eyebrow and quickly recognized it. “This is a Feng Shui map. The places circled with flowers are what are commonly known as Feng Shui Treasure Lands (Fengshui Baodi).”

“Aren’t we looking for a person? What’s the use of looking for a Feng Shui Treasure Land?” Fu Liu asked, a little confused. “And the people who live in these Feng Shui Treasure Lands…”

“Ahem, never mind, you two continue,” Fu Sanqiu covered Fu Liu’s mouth, warning her with a look. There’s an official person here. What if she finds out and takes people to catch demons?

Lu Zhiming let out a slight huff, ignoring what Fu Liu had said. “Gu Worms, although they don’t require spiritual energy to drive, are more easily nurtured into high-quality Gu Worms in these marked places. If the person is truly a professional, they will definitely appear in these locations.”

“Wen Yunqing, is that what you meant?” Lu Zhiming asked.

Wen Yunqing nodded. “More or less. Let’s not rush the village screening first. If we can’t find clues in these places, we can take our time then.”

“Fu Liu, are you familiar with these places?” Lu Zhiming asked.

This time, Fu Liu didn’t answer directly but consulted Fu Sanqiu with her eyes.

What else could Fu Sanqiu do? Most of the words had already been spoken, and it was too late to stop her. “Just tell them what you know.”

Fu Liu nodded. A total of six places were marked on the map. Fu Sanqiu quickly helped eliminate four. “Four of these places are where my friends live in seclusion. Ordinary people or cultivators generally won’t go there.”

“Then two places are left,” Lu Zhiming said. “Neither of these places is far from here. Should we go together, or split up?”

“We’ll follow her lead,” Fu Sanqiu said, pointing to Wen Yunqing and stating her position.

“You three go here, and Yimeng and I will go here,” Wen Yunqing said, marking the closer spot for herself.

Lu Zhiming nodded, then suddenly reacted. “You two should have just come of age, right? Can you drive?”

“Yes, driving is very simple,” Wen Yunqing replied, then added, “Although we haven’t had time to get our licenses.”

“No, absolutely no driving without a license here!” Lu Zhiming was a public servant, and she couldn’t knowingly break the law. More importantly, the mountain roads here were truly winding, and she was worried that Wen Yunqing might accidentally drive the car off the road.

Under Lu Zhiming’s repeated emphasis, Wen Yunqing had no choice but to abandon her plan to drive, instead pulling Fu Liu over to serve as the driver and getting into her car to head toward the destination.

The area Wen Yunqing circled was basically near the mountains, surrounded by undeveloped forest. Fu Liu was forced to stop the car more than two kilometers from the destination.

“The road ahead is only small trails. The car can’t go through, so we’ll have to walk,” Fu Liu said, getting out of the car. “Do you need walking sticks?”

“Give me one,” Wen Yunqing took one, adjusted its height, and handed it to Wen Yimeng. “We might need to walk on small paths here. Tell me if you get tired.”

Wen Yimeng nodded, slowly exhaling as she looked at the forest stretching for thousands of meters ahead. “I feel like I’m on an adventure.”

“The spiritual energy here is richer than in other places. Although there are no powerful demons residing here, there should still be fierce beasts,” Fu Liu said. “I’ll walk in front. You two follow me closely.”

Fu Liu only knew that Wen Yunqing was more powerful than herself, but she wasn’t sure exactly how powerful, so she chose to remind them a few more times.

Wen Yimeng only had a partial understanding of this kind of knowledge, so she nodded in agreement to all of Fu Liu’s reminders and kept them firmly in mind.

And so, with Fu Liu taking the lead, Wen Yimeng in the middle, and Wen Yunqing bringing up the rear, the three quickly set off towards the Feng Shui Treasure Land in the middle of the mountain range.

After advancing for about half an hour, Fu Liu discovered a small wooden cabin on the mountainside. Seeing the cabin covered in centipedes and certain venomous insects, she adopted a defensive stance.

“This place is very suspicious,” Fu Liu warned. “Be careful. These venomous insects have been refined.”

Wen Yunqing nodded, directly slipped three freshly made Protection Talismans into Wen Yimeng’s pocket, and then tentatively threw an offensive talisman towards the small wooden cabin.

“Bang—” A flash of fire exploded around the wooden cabin. The insects on the cabin immediately began to riot and started burrowing inside.

Wen Yimeng felt she couldn’t help much, so she obediently stood next to Wen Yunqing, took out her phone, and turned on the video recording mode.

“I’ll go in front; you go to the back,” Wen Yunqing said.

“Okay.” Fu Liu nodded. With a flash, she appeared behind the small wooden cabin. At the same time, her right hand transformed into a fox claw, ready to attack.

“3, 2, 1, Go!” Wen Yunqing counted down. As soon as her voice dropped, she kicked the door open. Ignoring whatever was inside, she immediately gathered spiritual energy and aimed it directly at the living creatures inside.

Wen Yimeng obediently stayed away, only adjusting her position to better film the scene happening inside the cabin.

These venomous insects were not strong. Even attacking together, they were no match for Wen Yunqing. The only downside was their overly ugly appearance, which made Wen Yunqing subconsciously step back and conjure blades from thin air, swiftly harvesting these venomous insects.

After about three minutes, Wen Yunqing walked out with a frown. Fu Liu followed behind her, single-handedly carrying a book.

“What is this?” Wen Yimeng asked.

“This should be the wooden cabin owner’s possession. It records the methods for refining various Gu Worms,” Wen Yunqing explained. “If there are no surprises, this person should be the one we are looking for.”