Luo Yang shook his head: "He only mentioned one useful thing, that the three people who took Old Ghost away didn't look like they were from the underworld."

Qi Yun frowned slightly upon hearing this; this piece of information didn't seem much of use either.

According to his speculation, those who took Old Ghost away were either from the slick-back group or from the government office.

The people from the slick-back group were definitely bodyguards or similar, and the government office people need not be said, neither was from the underworld.

Qi Yun glanced at the storefronts on both sides and across the street; none had surveillance cameras outside. It seemed unlikely Luo Yang's little brothers would find any useful information.

So he stepped into the small motel and asked the skinny boss, "What time did they take the person away?"

The boss glanced at Luo Yang at the door, not daring to slack off, and replied weakly, "I think it was around nine o'clock."

Qi Yun smiled at him, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, and handed it over: "No need to be nervous, have a smoke."

The boss took the cigarette with both hands and tucked it behind his ear. After furrowing his brow and thinking some more, he said, "It should be around nine-forty, yes, nine-forty!"

"How are you sure it's nine-forty?"

The boss chuckled a little bashfully: "I like that female streamer who starts her stream at nine-thirty in the evening."

"That night, I was watching the live stream when you guys came looking for that person. I had just given him the room key when three more people came in and took him away."

"It all happened in a few minutes, so I said it was nine-forty."

Qi Yun nodded slightly upon hearing this and continued to ask, "Were they driving? Did you see the license plate?"

The boss shook his head: "They drove, but I don't know the license plate. In such situations, I avoid it as much as possible, wouldn't dare to get involved."

"I only saw that it seemed to be a black SUV."

Black SUV, nine-forty...

"Alright, got it. Thanks, boss."

The boss quickly waved his hand: "You're welcome, you're welcome."

After leaving the motel, Qi Yun instructed Chen Wei: "Brother Wei, drive towards the village exit at normal speed. See how long it takes to reach the first traffic light with a camera."

Chen Wei nodded silently and walked toward the parked car.

Qi Yun then turned to Luo Yang and said, "Mr. Luo, maybe let your guys check out the larger stores nearby, see if they have surveillance there. As long as we can find the license plate, I'll contact Director Sun to find a way to track it."

Luo Yang also thought this was the only way for now, so he immediately took out his phone and called his men.

About ten minutes later, Chen Wei returned in the car.

"There aren't any cameras on this side of the road, the nearest is at the fork just outside the village, took me four minutes and fifty seconds to drive there at normal speed."

Hearing this, Qi Yun took out his phone and recorded the time.

At this point, Luo Yang's subordinates also reported back that there was a pharmacy ahead with surveillance outside.

Qi Yun and the others immediately rushed over.

Upon arriving at the pharmacy, the shopkeeper was a young girl, who was startled when several burly men suddenly stormed in.

"Wha... what do you guys want?"

Luo Yang's lackeys had tattoos up to their necks, looking anything but decent. Even though Luo Yang wore a suit, he still had a thug look in his eyes.

Though Chen Wei didn't have those issues, his stern face still made him seem unapproachable.

Only Qi Yun seemed relatively normal, so he cleared his throat and said, "Hey, miss, don't be afraid, we just want to ask you about something."

After speaking, seeing the girl still looking panicked, he said to Luo Yang, "Mr. Luo, how about letting your guys wait outside? They're scaring her."

Upon hearing this, Luo Yang gestured to the men behind him, and the lackeys immediately left.

The girl, now relieved, still clutched her phone, ready to call the police at any moment.

Qi Yun turned back, looking at the girl with a gentle expression.

"Miss, I was wondering if your surveillance outside is working properly?"

The girl nodded in confusion, saying nothing.

Qi Yun continued, "A few days ago, my electric scooter was stolen from outside your door. Can I take a look at the surveillance footage?"

"Huh?" The girl froze, waited two seconds, then asked, "That's all?"

Qi Yun nodded: "Yes, that's all."

Only then did the girl put her phone down, patting her chest: "Oh my, you scared me! I thought you were from the Black Society."

When she spoke, her accent was a thick Northeast dialect, completely different from her earlier delicate demeanor.

Qi Yun awkwardly glanced at Luo Yang, thinking that the girl had a good eye.

Luo Yang quickly looked away, pretending nothing happened.

"You can come see for yourself; the surveillance videos are stored on the computer. Come alone; too many people scare me."

"Alright, thanks," Qi Yun said as he went behind the counter.

The girl vacated the spot in front of the computer but didn't go far, just stood behind watching.

Qi Yun gripped the mouse with his right hand, found the footage from the 1st, and dragged it to nine-forty p.m. to start playing.

The camera angle was facing the rough road outside, not a great angle, and the footage was very blurry, obviously not HD.

The only good news was that there weren't many cars in this urban village; most workers rode motorcycles or electric bikes.

As the video timeline moved along, at 9:43, sure enough, a black SUV appeared in the footage, but it was too blurry to read the license plate.

Qi Yun rewound the video by a few dozen seconds and played it at 0.2x speed.

But even then, he couldn't capture the license plate...

Frustrated, he straightened up, shook his head at Luo Yang, then closed the surveillance video.

"Thank you, miss," Qi Yun said, expressing gratitude before stepping away from the counter.

In the next half hour, they visited another pharmacy and a slightly larger store, with results similar to the first attempt.

Qi Yun sighed, choosing not to rely on those surveillance videos anymore, and said to Luo Yang, "I'll contact Director Zhang to investigate further. I'll let you know if there's any news."

Luo Yang nodded: "Alright, I'll keep looking into it here, too."

"Okay, I'll be off then." With that, Qi Yun waved goodbye, turned around with Chen Wei, and left.

Back in the car, he didn't immediately call Zhang Dayong, watching Luo Yang drive away before instructing Chen Wei, "Brother Wei, drive to that alley ahead."

Chen Wei did as he was told.

Once the car stopped by the alley, the two got out, passed through the alley, and arrived at the rented room Old Ghost had previously occupied.

"Can this door be opened?" Qi Yun asked.

Old Ghost bent down to examine the lock, then pulled out his telescopic baton from his back and struck the lock with a thud, and it opened.

Qi Yun pushed the door open and stepped inside.

Looking around, the room remained as musty as it was on their last visit, a sharp smell of mold in the air.

He had come to test his luck, to see if he could find any clues.

But after searching high and low, he found nothing—no clues, not even anything valuable.

Frustrated, he left the room, re-locking the door.

Back in the car, Qi Yun took out his phone and dialed Zhang Dayong's number.

"Hey, Brother Zhang, any updates on that matter?"

"Nothing yet," Zhang Dayong sighed, "I inquired at the city bureau, but none of the people brought in lately matches the one you're looking for."

"If it's as you suspect, he might not have been brought back to the bureau but secretly detained elsewhere."

Qi Yun nodded in response, "Probably, I also found something here. Let me update you on it."

"What did you find? Go ahead."

Qi Yun immediately recounted the recent events.

Zhang Dayong fell silent for a moment after listening.

"Around nine forty-five, right? I'll have someone check the surveillance from that intersection and get back to you with anything we find."

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