I could hardly believe my eyes. In my stunned silence, Yaoyao and Bai Qingcheng had already burst in. Bai Qingcheng, I don't know where she got it, but she draped a white towel around the man's neck, and with her strength, she could have slit his throat with a slight pull. Yaoyao, coming from another room to the side, struck out and knocked out the two girls.
"Wh-what are you doing?" the man asked, feigning innocence.
His reaction was wrong, too fake.
Bai Qingcheng didn't say a word. She dragged the man to the window, removed the sheer curtain, and tied him to the window's anti-theft bars.
This hotel is bizarre, an eighteenth floor and anti-theft bars?
It probably wasn't for theft prevention, but to stop guests from having second thoughts and jumping, but wouldn't a limiter be enough? Why go to such lengths to install wire mesh?
I walked to the bedside and unfastened the red brocade, revealing an exquisite wooden box.
"Hey, don't go too far, that's my daddy's ashes!" the man drawled in a voice that was both effeminate and deliberately exaggerated, almost making me want to slap him.
The box had a small lock. I drew the dagger-gun from my waist, this time using it as a blade, and pried open the small brass lock. I lifted the lid of the box to look.
It really was ashes, contained in a sealed bag, the vacuum-packed kind, making it seem like some kind of contraband.
I took out the plastic bag, extracting it thoroughly. It was so taut it could have been used as a brick. Looking inside the box, there was nothing else. Just this one plastic bag. I observed the depth of the box's bottom and compared it to the outside, confirming there was no hidden compartment. This meant the demon core must be hidden within these so-called "ashes."
"You really went to a lot of trouble," I said with a smile, poking the ashes with the tip of my knife.
The vacuum seal was broken, air rushed in with a "poof," and the plastic bag became soft. I pulled out the dagger, and the white powder inside spilled out with a rustle, falling onto the bed, until… it was all gone.
"Where's the demon core?" Bai Qingcheng tightened her grip on the man's neck.
"What demon core? I told you, those are my daddy's ashes!"
His reaction was still unreasonable. If he were truly innocent, he would have asked, "What is a demon core?"
It seemed the demon core had already been transferred before they entered the hotel. We were too late, or rather, they deliberately led us here to give their accomplice, who was actually carrying the demon core, an opportunity to escape Yang Prefecture. Even with the city sealed, there would always be a way if one was determined to get out.
It seemed we needed to apply some pressure.
Bai Qingcheng was much better at this than I was. In less than three minutes, the man confessed. However, he claimed he didn't know the whereabouts of the demon core. He was merely a low-level operative of the Chi You organization, and those two girls were his superiors. When he received the box, it was already in this state, and he hadn't opened it. The women had told him it contained ashes.
Were they really ashes?
I tasted some with my hand. Ptooey! Of course, they weren't ashes, but they weren't flour either! What unclean stuff!
And they moved this kind of thing around like this?
I hurried to rinse my mouth. After I was done, I called Bingbing downstairs and told her to inform the staff at Yang Prefecture's Shabia and ask relevant departments to come over. This was a major case. I have always had zero tolerance for this kind of thing. These scoundrels deserved to be shot a hundred times over.
Before the relevant departments arrived, Yaoyao revived one of the women by immersing her in cold water. Bai Qingcheng took over, and after a few rounds of her methods, the woman couldn't hold out either and confessed. She said the man who was supposed to meet them at the entrance of Yang Prefecture University had transferred the demon core to another car driving parallel to them through the car window while driving. She didn't remember the car's license plate, only that it was a Mercedes, and it should have already left Yang Prefecture by now.
The license plate didn't matter. I asked her for the specific handover location. She wasn't a local and didn't recognize coordinates, only saying that they turned east from the school entrance and handed it over at the second traffic light. This was nearly an hour ago.
When the comrades from the relevant departments arrived, one of them, an experienced man, tasted it. He looked at me contemptuously and asked in a low voice, "Haven't you ever eaten lotus root starch...?"
"Lotus root starch? What's that?" I asked, genuinely perplexed. I had never eaten it.
The staff member filled half a cup with water from the instant water heater and stirred it with the handle of a toothbrush. Soon, the substance in the cup turned from white to a pale pinkish color. The staff member blew on it and took a big gulp in front of us: "Pack up!"
Alright, I guess I had watched too many movies.