Chapter 570: Old Man, Don't Get Too Excited

Guan Zhengzhang, Zou Maoqing, and Cao Dayong.

The three men were in three separate rooms, being interrogated by Li Banfeng, Jukebox, and Hong Ying, respectively.

Li Banfeng was in the main room: "What is your rank in the Ferry Gang?"

Guan Zhengzhang replied, "I am the head boat-puller. Normally, boat-pullers don't go into the water, meaning we don't handle business transactions. But if something goes wrong, we have to find a way to tow the boat out."

As head boat-puller, Guan Zhengzhang held a respectable position.

"Between you and Du Wenming, who holds a higher position?"

This question was obvious. Guan Zhengzhang's reluctance to even mention Du Wenming's name clearly showed that Du Wenming's status was higher than his.

Li Banfeng's purpose in asking this was to gauge the extent of Du Wenming's control over Ferry Gang members. Someone at Guan Zhengzhang's level should be able to reveal some inside information.

To his surprise, Guan Zhengzhang didn't dare mention anything related to Du Wenming.

In every sentence he spoke, he couldn't use phrases like "Director Du," "Boss Du," "Brother Du," or "that person surnamed Du." Even the word "dujue" (to prevent/eliminate), which contains the character "Du," was something Guan Zhengzhang hesitated to utter.

Li Banfeng asked, "If you mention these things, will you explode on the spot?"

Guan Zhengzhang nodded, not daring to say more.

Li Banfeng took out the information Shen Jingye had given him: "You just said that boat-pullers don't get involved in business,

but to my knowledge, a while ago, a batch of ghost servants was sent from Puluo Prefecture, and you were the one who sold them."

Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head and said, "Those were his orders; I had no choice."

"Whose orders? Du Wenming's?"

Guan Zhengzhang nodded repeatedly: "Recently, the gang needed money, and business in the black market was tough. Good ghost servants weren't fetching high prices, so for many deals, I had to act as an intermediary."

"When did the Ferry Gang start running short of money?"

"Things were fine before the Ferry Gang existed. It was precisely because times became difficult that the Ferry Gang was formed."

"What do you mean by that? You knew Du Wenming before the Ferry Gang was established?"

Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head and said, "I'm still a member of Xuehuapu. Xuehuapu formed the Ferry Gang with those foreigners because they needed money."

"Have you been to Puluo Prefecture?"

"Yes, I went. We went together." He left the sentence unfinished because he couldn't utter the name. He meant that he went with Du Wenming.

"The person who went with you, how many residences does he have in Yuezhou?"

Guan Zhengzhang lowered his head and remained silent.

Li Banfeng pressed on, "Just tell me the most critical one, find a way to communicate it."

Guan Zhengzhang thought for a long time, and for safety, he chose to remain silent.

Li Banfeng took out the Blood-Stained Pendulum: "If you won't listen to reason, we'll have to communicate another way."

In the second room, Jukebox asked, "Did you take a potion, or were you affected by a technique? What method did Du Wenming use to place the curse on you? Tell me the truth, and I might be able to help you break it."

"We aren't cursed," Zou Maoqing said, looking at Jukebox, his tongue twisting as he spoke.

Jukebox used steam to scald a blister onto Zou Maoqing's skin: "I only asked you about the curse, not to mention Du Wenming. Wouldn't it be better to leave yourself a way out?"

Zou Maoqing endured the severe pain, shaking his head repeatedly, "There really isn't a curse, we, we don't have—"

In the third room, Hong Ying thrust her sword through Cao Dayong's left shoulder: "You're going to die either way, so why not die quickly?

Just tell me one truth: does Du Wenming have any other hideouts in Yuezhou? If so, tell me the address. The more you say, the faster you'll explode, and the quicker your death will be."

Cao Dayong didn't want to die, so he clenched his teeth and refused to speak.

Hong Ying smiled: "I truly admire your backbone. I'll just strip the flesh from your bones and see how much spirit is truly inside."

After two hours of interrogation, a total of nine hideouts were revealed. Jukebox elicited five,

while Li Banfeng and Hong Ying each got two.

It wasn't that these three men were stubborn and refused to speak; it was that if they voluntarily revealed a hideout's location,

they would explode.

Jukebox had interrogation skills. After circling the topic dozens of times, he managed to get Zou Maoqing to reveal three more addresses. Li Banfeng compared all nine addresses. Four of them were duplicates, but surprisingly, the remaining five were all unique.

They had arrested three individuals specifically to cross-reference their testimonies and avoid being misled. They hadn't expected such a situation.

Which of these five hideouts was valuable, Jukebox wasn't sure, and Hong Ying couldn't say either. Ever since Greenflower was sent to Dao Devil Ridge, Du Wenming had become the most troublesome opponent Li Banfeng had encountered.

Having no other choice, Li Banfeng decided to visit all of them.

The first hideout was in a residential building, closest to the city center. It was a residence spanning just over fifty square meters.

This size was clearly unsuitable for large equipment, so Li Banfeng deduced it was likely used to store critical documents.

The residence consisted of one bedroom and one living room, with a very compact layout. As soon as they entered, Glove detected several hidden compartments.

There were some in the wardrobe, under the floorboards, and even within the walls.

The compartments were small and completely empty.

Li Banfeng had arrived too late; Du Wenming must have visited this hideout and moved everything out.

The second hideout was a warehouse in Baiyuan District.

Within this warehouse, one storage room was rented long-term by Du Wenming. Upon entering, Li Banfeng found several boxes of radio equipment. Most of these devices were still sealed, likely recently purchased by Du Wenming.

Having a scientific hobby was no crime, and these devices were also obtained through legal channels.

Glove found nothing valuable within these devices, meaning they hadn't been modified and contained no precious items like Heaven's Heart Stone.

Du Wenming hadn't had time to move the items from the warehouse, possibly because these things held no significant value worth moving.

The third hideout was a basement.

Located in an urban village, this basement was previously rented out but later leased entirely by Du Wenming.

Upon entering the basement, Li Banfeng didn't find any useful documents, but he understood its purpose.

It was a conference room, with long tables, leather chairs, white porcelain cups, and thermos flasks. Just seeing these items made Li Banfeng feel sleepy.

The Ferry Gang likely held frequent meetings here, but Du Wenming certainly wouldn't be in the mood for meetings anytime soon, rendering this conference room essentially useless.

The first three hideouts had yielded little value. Li Banfeng brushed the dust from his trousers and continued on his way.

It was fortunate he was a Traveling Cultivator. If he were a Lazy Cultivator, let alone visiting them all personally, just thinking about the locations of the five hideouts would have left him physically and mentally exhausted.

The fourth hideout was a fish pond.

Du Wenming had leased a fish pond and even hired a worker to raise fish there.

According to regulations, Du Wenming's position strictly prohibited commercial activities. Was raising fish a violation?

Not really. The pond worker informed them that Du Wenming never sold the fish; he simply kept them for leisure.

Even if it was a violation, Li Banfeng couldn't be bothered. His interest in the fish pond stemmed from Glove sensing something valuable.

That evening, after the worker had left, Li Banfeng snuck into the fish pond. Following Glove's guidance, he dug something extremely valuable out of the mud at the bottom of the pond.

This valuable item was money.

Eight million in cash, sealed in waterproof bags, was buried at the bottom of the pond. This money was for emergencies, and Du Wenming hadn't had time to retrieve it.

"A'Tao, we've been running around all day, and this is all we got?"

"Keep it. It's better than nothing. And isn't there still one more place?"

The last hideout was a factory in the distant suburbs.

This factory manufactured cement slabs. Upon arriving, the workers had already left for the day. Li Banfeng walked around the facility but found nothing; he couldn't even imagine what purpose this factory served.

One item registered a sensation: the Begging Bowl.

There was a dark-dimensional space here.

Behind the factory building, Li Banfeng located the dark-dimensional space. He rotated the spoon in the bowl, opening the entrance to the space.

This was one of the most enclosed types of dark-dimensional spaces; one couldn't see in from the outside, nor out from the inside, completely isolated from each other.

Entering the space, Li Banfeng used the projector's light to discern the full extent of the interior.

Spectrometers, resonance detectors, interferometers—

For a moment, he suspected he had come to the wrong place; it felt as if he were back in Yu Yaoming's laboratory.

The layout of the equipment here was almost identical to that of the laboratory.

He had finally found the most crucial hideout: this was Du Wenming's own laboratory!

But where was the power source for this laboratory?

As far as Li Banfeng knew, several pieces of equipment in this laboratory consumed an astonishing amount of power.

"A'Tao, is there anything valuable here?"

"Yes, it seems very valuable!" A'Tao was estimating the price and couldn't give a specific figure yet.

"Are the good things inside these machines?" Li Banfeng thought the situation was exactly the same as in the previous laboratory.

Glove wagged its index finger: "Not inside the machines. These machines are similar to those in the other laboratory, but there's nothing valuable inside them."

The key components might have been removed, or perhaps they were never installed.

Not being installed would be good news, proving Du Wenming hadn't returned. If they had been removed, then this visit would have been in vain.

Moving past the various experimental equipment, Li Banfeng first saw a wall, then a door.

A wall and a door?

Du Wenming had renovated this dark-dimensional space.

There was hardly any dust on the cement walls, indicating he had been here recently and was diligent about cleaning. What was on the other side of the door?

Glove took ten minutes to open the lock. Pushing open the heavy iron door, Li Banfeng saw a deep corridor lined with identical iron doors on both sides.

Glove opened the first iron door, revealing two rows of metal cabinets. Each cabinet was roughly the size of a trash can near an elevator, and they had screens displaying various parameters.

An outsider might mistake these for advanced experimental equipment, but Li Banfeng had seen them in his university days: these were DC battery packs, the power source for the laboratory.

From the parameters, it appeared that the batteries were completely drained, likely depleted by Du Wenming before he left.

Leaving the battery room, Glove opened the next room, which was the power distribution room.

In the next room, Li Banfeng entered a bedroom containing a bed with bedding still on it.

This must have been Du Wenming's living quarters.

The Projector suddenly spoke: "There's a friend of mine here."

Li Banfeng followed the light, spotting a ceiling lamp in the bedroom. Next to it was a camera.

The Projector and the camera "looked" at each other for a moment, then the Projector told Li Banfeng: "My friend says a middle-aged man used to live here. Last night, he was taken away."

"Taken by whom?"

"He said it was the owner of this place."

The owner of this place was Du Wenming, so who was the person living here?

"Can you show me what that middle-aged man looked like?"

The Projector communicated with the camera for a moment: "Seventh Guide, the camera's power is off, so it can't show images."

Actually, Li Banfeng didn't need an image to deduce the general situation. Yu Yaoming had originally lived here, imprisoned by Du Wenming.

After the laboratory battle, Du Wenming realized the situation was grim and took Yu Yaoming away.

Besides Yu Yaoming, it was reasonable to assume that Du Wenming would have taken all valuable items.

If everything had been taken, why did Glove still say there was something valuable?

Li Banfeng returned to the corridor and inspected each room one by one.

He saw a storage room, a restroom, a machine room, and a bathroom.

There was also a spacious dance studio with mirrors on all walls, specialized flooring for dancing, and various light fixtures on the ceiling.

With almost complete isolation from the outside world, Li Banfeng found it hard to imagine how Du Wenming had completed such a massive project.

He certainly hadn't done it himself. There must have been a highly skilled Cultivator of Craft aiding him, likely a member of Xuehuapu.

It was also thanks to this Cultivator of Craft that Du Wenming could be dressed to look exactly like a puppet.

In the dance studio, there was an unlocked cabinet containing numerous dance textbooks.

Purely in terms of monetary value, these textbooks certainly weren't precious, but for a Dance Cultivator,

they might be equivalent to martial arts manuals.

Li Banfeng indeed noticed one particular set of textbooks that explained the Thread-Pulling Puppet Dance.

Such a dance actually existed.

Li Banfeng collected these dance textbooks; perhaps he could find a way to deal with Du Wenming within them.

Next to the dance studio was the data room, which was completely empty, with nothing left behind.

Li Banfeng had lost all hope for this hideout. Arriving at the end of the corridor, he saw the last iron door.

Glove examined the lock: "Boss, this lock is tough. You'll have to wait a bit longer for me."

It was an unremarkable lock, with no obvious features, yet Glove struggled for half an hour and still couldn't open it.

He said there was something valuable behind the iron door, but what was it? Why would Du Wenming leave it here?

"Brother, don't bother with the door. I'll just go through the wall."

"Boss, don't be reckless. You don't know what's on the other side of the wall."

"Then I'll just open a path."

"Boss, this is someone else's territory, especially an unnameable place. It's better if we're careful. What if you open a path and the whole building collapses? That would be a huge loss for us!"

After waiting for ten minutes, the lock finally opened.

Li Banfeng cautiously opened the door, maximizing his "Avert Misfortune, Attract Fortune" technique to carefully sense any danger on the other side.

The space beyond the door seemed much larger than the room they were in.

There was indeed danger on the other side of the door, but it was within a controllable range. Once Li Banfeng fully opened the door, he saw the two treasures and understood why Du Wenming hadn't taken them.

These two treasures were simply too large.

Two spherical objects, each over ten meters in diameter, floated in the space beyond the door, rotating slowly.

They rotated on their own axes and also orbited each other, resembling two planets drifting in the cosmos.

Li Banfeng couldn't tell what material these spheres were made of. They looked like stone, yet they shimmered with a somewhat metallic sheen.

It wasn't merely reflection; the spheres themselves emitted a faint glow, with subtle halos resembling intricate veins slowly traversing their surfaces.

"These are the treasures you mentioned?"

"Yes, Boss!"

"Come on, let's bring them into my Portable Residence."

"They won't fit! Our place isn't that big!"

Just as Glove finished speaking, Li Banfeng suddenly heard an urgent whistle.

Woo, woo-ow!

Old Man woke up?

So agitated right after waking up.

Glove reminded him: "Boss, we don't need to touch good stuff. Old Man is quick,

and his hands are big. If you walk a little closer, I bet Old Man can collect them himself."

Li Banfeng took two steps closer to the spheres. The spheres, like magnets, pulled him towards them.

Where was this force coming from?

Even if these two spheres were actual magnets, Li Banfeng wasn't made of iron, so why was he being pulled?

He used his own strength to resist the spheres' power, cautiously taking two steps towards them. When he was about three meters away, Li Banfeng stopped.

He couldn't get any closer; another step might mean he couldn't return.

If it were a Territory Cultivator, they would already be stuck to the spheres by now.

Glove noticed an object clinging to one of the spheres; it looked valuable, likely made of gold.

It also flew towards the sphere, its body about to lose control.

Li Banfeng grabbed Glove and, with great effort, dragged it back.

"Where are you going?"

"Boss, I got something good. Have a look first—"

Before Glove could display the item, the two spheres suddenly shrunk, then vanished.

The space became empty and pitch black. Li Banfeng heard a long, drawn-out whistle.

The whistle was interspersed with a few laughs.

Hahaha!

Glove wagged its index finger and told Li Banfeng, "Old Man got them. We can't go back empty-handed either. This is what I picked up just now, Boss. Take a look, it's pure gold."

Li Banfeng took a piece of gold from Glove. Judging by its shape and size, it looked like a leaf.

A golden leaf?

No, not a leaf. It had a design on it: a tree.

The tree trunk also had a design, appearing to be two eyes.

What kind of tree has eyes?

A birch tree!

This was an emblem, likely belonging to the Birch Hermit Society.

Why was this emblem on the sphere?

Li Banfeng left the dark-dimensional space, exited the factory, found a patch of grass nearby to hide the key, and then entered his Portable Residence.

"Old Man, you're awake?"

"Yep, awake!" the Portable Residence cheerfully replied.

Li Banfeng asked, "What treasures did you just encounter that made you so happy?"

"Heaven's Heart Stones, two of them!"

"Those were Heaven's Heart Stones?" This was completely different from Li Banfeng's understanding of Heaven's Heart Stones.

"That's right, they were two complete Heaven's Heart Stones, complete ones!"

"Didn't the parts I brought back before also contain Heaven's Heart Stone?"

"Those were mere fragments, far from it. When Chu Shaoqiang managed to send Dao Devil Ridge to Sage Peak,

it was precisely this kind of complete Heaven's Heart Stone he used."

Li Banfeng recalled the appearance of the two spheres: "This thing is too big."

The Old Man sighed: "It's a good thing there were two. If there had only been one, it would have been trouble."

Glove chuckled: "Old Man, you're too greedy. Even one would have been a huge gain, wouldn't it?"

"It's not about how much you gain. With two Heaven's Heart Stones, their suction forces cancel each other out, allowing you to stand beside them. If there had only been one, you would certainly have been stuck to the stone, and it would have been hard to rescue you then."

"Stuck to the stone?" Li Banfeng listened, confused.

Jukebox, however, understood a bit: "The 'suction force' Old Man mentioned is likely what outsiders refer to as gravity."

"The gravity of two spheres could be that strong?" According to the gravity formula, gravitational force is related to mass and distance.

For these two spheres to generate such immense gravitational force, how dense must they be?

With so much information, Li Banfeng needed to clear his thoughts. After thinking for over half an hour, he understood the entire sequence of events.

After Du Wenming abducted Yu Yaoming, he set him up in this hideout and rearranged the laboratory according to Yu Yaoming's requirements.

The crucial parts missing from the laboratory were those infused with Heaven's Heart Stone. Since the material was hard to obtain, Du Wenming chose to steal them from Yu Yaoming's laboratory.

No, that's not right.

He had two complete Heaven's Heart Stones here, so why didn't he use them directly to create the parts?

Making the parts would likely take a long time, but stealing them from the laboratory involved significant risk.

In fact, Du Wenming's operation had failed. He hadn't managed to steal the parts from the laboratory,

and instead, he was injured and in a very disadvantageous position, with his identity constantly at risk of exposure.

The only reasonable explanation for him not using the Heaven's Heart Stones in the dark-dimensional space as material for manufacturing parts was that these two complete Heaven's Heart Stones were simply too valuable.

Furthermore, these two Heaven's Heart Stones had other uses. If they could move Dao Devil Ridge, they could certainly make this dark-dimensional space mobile.

The clues were connecting.

Du Wenming intended to use the Heaven's Heart Stones to move this hideout, but he failed. His Birch emblem was even sucked away by the Heaven's Heart Stone.

Why did he fail?

"Only a Cultivator of Craft can use Heaven's Heart Stone to move a piece of land, right?"

The Old Man thought for a moment: "Cultivators of other sects can also try, but unless their cultivation is extraordinarily high, they might not succeed even after hundreds or thousands of attempts."

Du Wenming had tried, and clearly failed.

So what was he doing now?

He was a member of Xuehuapu and also of the Birch Hermit Society. At this point, he should be looking for help, right?

Help to move the laboratory.

In an unfinished office building, Du Wenming stood at the staircase on the twenty-eighth floor, looking at a man on the stairs.

The man held calipers in his hand, a half-smoked cigarette in his mouth, maintaining a half-floor's distance from Du Wenming as he asked, "What do you want?"

Du Wenming said, "I need your help with something. My experimental base, I want to—"

Before he could finish, the man waved his hand: "I don't recall you having any experimental bases. Whatever it is, let's discuss it later."

Du Wenming took two steps up the stairs: "My current situation is very dangerous; there's no time—"

The man motioned for him to stop immediately, not to come any closer: "I know you're in danger, which is precisely why you shouldn't come looking for me right now."

Du Wenming flexed his toes on the stairs: "Is it appropriate to speak to me like that?"

The man fiddled with the calipers in his hand: "I'm not part of the Ferry Gang, nor Xuehuapu. I think whatever way I speak to you is perfectly appropriate."

Du Wenming smiled. "I just want to exchange our friendship for some trust and help."

The man shook his head: "I don't trust you. I've heard rumors that you're eliminating witnesses; three people have already disappeared.

If I went to your laboratory, I'm afraid I wouldn't come back alive."

"I don't know where you heard those rumors. I haven't eliminated anyone; I haven't killed anyone these past two days." Du Wenming took two more steps up.

Two floor tiles on the stairs suddenly jutted out, trapping Du Wenming's right foot.

The man warned him again: "Don't go up. I already told you, I don't trust you.

I can guarantee I won't report you, so just leave now."

Du Wenming's face darkened: "What if I don't leave?"

The man closed the two jaws of his calipers: "Do you really want to fight here?"

Du Wenming was silent for a moment, then abandoned his intention to fight.

He wasn't afraid of this Cultivator of Craft, but the office building was in the city center. If he caused a commotion, Du Wenming wouldn't be able to escape easily.

Du Wenming left with Yu Yaoming. The man let out a long breath and carefully checked all the mechanisms in the building, fearing Du Wenming might return to kill him.

While checking the eighth floor, the man suddenly heard footsteps.

He whipped around, his calipers spinning rapidly in his hand.

The footsteps grew closer. It wasn't Du Wenming, but a thin, middle-aged man with a square face, thick eyebrows, large eyes, no beard on his chin, but a mustache on his upper lip.

The man was startled for nothing. Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he asked, "Boss Lu, what brings you here?"

Boss Lu held a book: "The book you ordered from my store arrived, so I brought it to you." Walking down the street, Yu Yaoming's stomach growled incessantly: "At least ask your friend for some money. We don't even have enough for food!"

Du Wenming sneered, "Didn't you see his attitude just now? Asking him for money in that situation? Do you have no dignity?"

Yu Yaoming shook his head: "Not a single coin, can't even afford a bowl of noodles. What good is dignity then?"

"I have plenty of money; I just didn't want to risk getting it. I'll take you there now, and you can take as much as you can."

Du Wenming led Yu Yaoming to the fish pond: "Can you swim?"

Yu Yaoming shook his head.

"Then wait on the shore. Don't run off."

Du Wenming entered the water himself. A short while later, he emerged from the pond covered in mud.

"Where's the money?"

Du Wenming pulled two fish from the pond: "The money's gone, but we still have fish to eat."

Back at his residence, Li Banfeng lay on the sofa, quietly looking at the calendar.

By tomorrow night, the coloring agent would fade, and Du Wenming could return to work.

He had many things to explain, but he could certainly account for them. He must be heartbroken about losing two Heaven's Heart Stones. After that heartache, he would undoubtedly come at him fiercely again.

They had clashed so many times, a few more wouldn't matter. But pushing him to this extent and seeing him still escape unscathed left Li Banfeng very dissatisfied.

At the very least, he couldn't let Du Wenming reclaim his position or use his official status to target him again. There was still one day left; what else could he do?

The phone rang. It was Tang Changfa.

"Shopkeeper, those foreigners are back. They seem secretive, not like they're here for business. It looks like they're looking for trouble again."

Looking for trouble in the black market? Was it another trap?

Li Banfeng looked at the golden emblem and pondered for a moment.

They had set so many traps. Should he cooperate this time and walk right into one?