Chapter 080
Shimen Yihshyong
Yihshyong looked alternately at the two people sitting with him on the stone bench. The two of them looked back at Yihshyong with a look of astonishment in their eyes.
"Do you have a reasonable guess as to the real reason the criminals put on a show like this?" Jinqkang said.
Yihshyong nodded. "What if this is their way of getting the police out of here?" He let out those words at a slow tempo.
"You mean, the criminals hope the police conclude that tonight the real criminals will not come? After the police left, then those people show their present?" Jinqkang looked straight at Yihshyong.
"That's exactly what I meant." Yihshyong said excitedly. "Is that not possible?"
"The possibility is always there." Jinqkang nodded. But his face revealed a hint of doubt. "But, what if things don't go the way they want? If you believed what the police said earlier and then you went home, wouldn't the plans of the criminals fall apart?"
Yihshyong scratched his head. "What if they are sure that I won't be home so soon?"
"How can they be so sure?" Jinqkang raised his eyebrows.
"Because they know how Shyongge thinks," said Iren.
Jinqkang nodded. "It means that they, or at least one of them, are familiar with Mr. Shimen."
Yihshyong nodded. "That's probably the case."
"One member of the kidnapping group is someone who knows your character. Does that mean that person is quite close to you?" Jinqkang said.
"I don't know how close that person is to me," Yihshyong said. "Maybe he knows a lot about me, but I don't know much about him."
"Do you have many friends in this city?"
"I've only been living in this city since a year ago. I don't feel like I made friends with many people."
"What about the people where you come from?"
"I didn't have many friends there either."
"If you don't have many friends, then maybe things will be easier for us," said Jinqkang. "There aren't too many people we have to do background checks on."
"Not necessarily. I said earlier that I don't necessarily know much about people who know a lot about me." Yihshyong sighed. "This really pisses me off."
"I guess." Iren also opened his mouth. "That person not only knows you, but knows all of us. So we just need to check the people we know in this town."
"Maybe you're right," Yihshyong said. "The number of people who know all of us is not so much."
"We live in the same house. This can be a strong clue, right?" said Iren.
"You mean, that person lives in a place not far from your place," asked Jinqkang.
"Do you have any idea who that person is?" Yihshyong looked at Iren.
Iren shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea about it. We don't hang out with our neighbors much."
"That's just one possibility," said Jinqkang. "Mr. Shimen, let's talk about your friends first."
Yihshyong instantly cut off Jinqkang's words. "Even though I'm not a person who has many friends, I still have a hard time understanding all of my friends."
"There is another possibility," said Jinqkang. "It could be that that person is not your friend. But someone who has the opportunity to learn about your personality and traits."
"We return to the initial discussion," said Iren. "That person believes that Shyongge can't just go home. If so, we should just wait for the kidnappers now. Like Shyongge said, maybe they will only appear after the police withdraw," said Iren.
Yihshyong didn't answer. He took out a paper from his coat pocket. The paper was a copy of the original message written by the kidnappers. He looked at the message again.
"I didn't have time to pay attention to the pictures," said Iren. Turned out he was peeking as Yihshyong looked at the things written on the paper.
"I, who copied these pictures, didn't really understand either," Yihshyong replied. "This smaller pentagon may represent the pool in front of us. The larger pentagon represents the surface of the ground we are on."
"Then what do these other pictures, according to Shyongge, represent?" Iren pointed at various other shapes painted on the paper.
"What if we now try to solve this?" Jinqkang said. "Who knows? Maybe these pictures are the real clues."
Yihshyong looked at the strange shapes. He really regretted that earlier, when he copied the message, he had just drawn it. Many details of the pictures he did not copy. If Jinqkang was right that the pictures were the actual message, then it was likely that they would never be able to decipher the riddle.
Apart from the two pentagons, there were five other pictures. The five shapes were located at the bottom of the paper.
"Shyongge, what kind of pictures are these?" Iren asked as he began to pay attention to the shapes painted on the paper.
Yihshyong looked at the pictures once more. He wished he could remember the details of the pictures in the original message so he could explain it to Iren and Jinqkang.
"The pictures that are painted here are a little strange. Maybe because I didn't copy it well," Yihshyong said.
"Is this a picture of a house, Sir?" Jinqkang pointed to one picture on the paper.
"You're right," Yihshyong said. "I've tried to draw it as closely as possible. Earlier I also thought that the picture I copied was a picture of a house. If you think this is indeed a picture of a house, then I had not guessed wrong."
"Then, this one," Iren tried to guess, "is this a drink bottle?"
"That's right," Yihshyong laughed. My drawing skills are indeed on a par with elementary school children's drawing skills.
"Then this one is a table," said Jinqkang.
"This is like a picture of a stove," guessed Iren, pointing to another picture.
Yihshyong smiled widely. "Apparently, the picture I made was quite clear. The proof is that you guessed correctly."
"Then what is this?" Iren asked. The last picture did look abstract.
Jinqkang brought his eyes closer to the paper. Yihshyong laughed. Jinqkang was funny. No matter how close he looked at the picture, if it wasn't an excellent picture, he wouldn't be able to recognize it.
"I don't know what this picture is," said Jinqkang. "Maybe you don't know either."
"I don't know for sure, but I have a strong impression that this is a crowbar. Or at least iron-related tools," Yihshyong said.
"Is this a crowbar?" Iren was wide-eyed. "From what angle does this look like a crowbar?"
Yihshyong laughed again. "Right!"
"I know now!" Jinqkang suddenly shouted.
"Know about what?" Iren's voice sounded hopeful.
"These five objects represent the five elements. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water."
Yihshyong looked at the pictures. It was true what Jinqkang said. The uppermost picture, the two pentagons, might be an indication of the context of the five pictures below.
"The crowbar definitely symbolizes metal. Then the drink bottle symbolizes water," said Iren.
"The stove symbolizes fire, while the table symbolizes wood," said Jinqkang.
"How can a house symbolize earth?" Yihshyong asked himself.
"Maybe because the house is built using bricks. Bricks are made of soil. Soil is earth," said Jinqkang.
"We managed to solve this riddle," Iren cheered.
"Don't get excited just yet. We haven't succeeded yet," Yihshyong said. "We still don't know what that has to do with this message from the kidnappers."
"Maybe the kidnappers sent us here to get the real message. They realized the police had been watching closely, so they used a secret way to get the message out to us," Jinqkang said.
Yihshyong nodded. He looked at the pool that lay in front of him. Each edge of this pool must represent one of the five elements.
"Let's just ask the people who work in this park. Is it true that the shape of this pool is related to the five elements?" said Iren.
"Who should we ask? Hardly anyone here. The janitors in this park might as well have all gone home." Jinqkang said.
"There's one," Jinqkang pointed to someone who seemed to have just appeared out of nowhere.
"Eh, isn't that the janitor we asked about earlier?" Yihshyong said.
"That's right, Sir! That's him," said Jinqkang.
Jinqkang got up from the bench and walked over to the person. He then engages in a conversation with that person. The person pointed this way and that. It was obvious that he was explaining something to Jinqkang.
Jinqkang returned to where they were sitting while jogging. His face was so bright.
"It turns out that our guess is not wrong! Each side of this pool indeed symbolizes the five elements. In the past, on each side, there was a small statue symbolizing the five elements. The statues were located on each outer side of this pool. Exactly behind the bench in the middle. This side where we are sitting is the side that represents earth!"
Iren smiled widely. He seemed thrilled.
"Let me see the paper again, Sir!" Jinqkang said.
Yihshyong handed the paper to the young man.
"Didn't you change the size ratio of each object in these pictures?" Jinqkang asked.
"No," said Yihshyong. "I copied on a size scale that I tried to be as close as possible to the original image."
"So this picture of the house is indeed much bigger than the other four pictures?"
"Yes. I was also a bit surprised. But I just copy it as is. Indeed, the picture of the house is much bigger. But at first I thought it was because the size of the house was indeed much bigger than the size of other objects," said Yihshyong.
"In this case, maybe size symbolizes priority," said Iren.
"You mean, the original message from the kidnappers, if it really exists, lies on the side that represents earth?" Yihshyong asked.
"There's no harm in trying to find it, right?" Iren said.
The three of them looked at each other. Yihshyong nodded. He agreed with Iren.
They rose from the bench they were sitting on. After inching a few meters, they looked at the outside of the pentagon.
"Where do you think the crooks hid their messages?" Yihshyong muttered.
"The objects on each side of this pentagon are these stone benches. So it's very likely that the messages have a lot to do with these benches.
Yihshyong remembered the basement under their backyard. The place where they got the keys was under a stone bench in the basement. The stone benches in this park were much bigger than the stone benches in their basement. Even if they only focused on one side of the pentagon, there wasn't much they could do. It's still impossible to lift the stone benches on the side of the earth element.
"Let's check the bench in the middle," said Jinqkang.
The three of them then moved to the bench in the middle. The bench they were sitting on was the one on the far left on the earth element side.
"You know this bench is very heavy," Yihshyong said to Jinqkang.
"I know, Sir, but I don't think the criminals left any clues under this stone bench," said Jinqkang. "This is a public park. There's no way they'd come here and then dare to lift this stone bench to put something under it. Their actions will surely attract the attention of many people."
"Look at this!" Iren pointed at the side of the stone bench.
There was a hole in one side of the stone bench. The stone bench turned out to be different from the other stone benches.
"Could it be that the criminals put something in this hole?" Jinqkang asked.
Yihshyong was reminded of the underground passage that led to the basement under their backyard. The hole in the stone bench was about the same size as the dog hole in the secret passage.
"Let me try to enter," said Iren.
"Don't, Sir! Let me do it," said Jinqkang.
Yihshyong grabbed Iren's arm. "I know you're younger than me, so you're most likely still more flexible and fitter. But we have to be realistic. Among the three of us, Jinqkang is the youngest. So, this time, we'd better let him try this."
Iren nodded.
"Thank you, Sir for the opportunity you gave me." Jinqkang looked so excited. He immediately crouched down. The young man then lay down in front of the hole in the stone bench. Slowly, he crept into the hole. After he entered to the limit of his waist, he stopped.
After a minute Jinqkang was in that position, Yihshyong started to worry. But his anxiety vanished as Jinqkang inched backwards. Slowly, he came out of the hole.
After Jinqkang's whole body came out of the hole, he immediately got up and sat on the stone bench. He took a deep breath. His face looked thrilled. There was a plastic package in his hand.
"I think we should go back now. Soon this park will close. All visitors must leave!" Those were the first words Jinqkang said after he came out of the hole.
Yihshyong and Iren nodded. Jinqkang got up from the stone bench. The three of them then walked out of the park.
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