The man took a puff of his cigarette, then replied, "Two of them are hiding at the ranch over by Nanshan now; it was them who took care of Qiu Jiahao recently."

"I don't know about Brother Biao and the other three; we usually communicate by phone and rarely meet face to face."

Qi Yun frowned slightly, "Then how do you know about the two in Nanshan?"

"One of those two is from my hometown, and he usually likes flirting with web streamers. He called me to borrow money yesterday, so I casually asked him where he was."

"Do you have the transaction record?"

"Yes, it's in my phone."

Qi Yun exchanged a glance with Niu Da beside him, who had already re-tied the cloth in Liu Jinshan's mouth, picked up a phone from the table, and asked the man, "Password."

"699298."

Niu Da unlocked the screen, clicked on the green bubble under the man's guidance, and sure enough saw the other person transferred money yesterday.

Qi Yun withdrew his gaze and continued asking, "Why kill Qiu Jiahao?"

The man shook his head, "I don't know the specifics; maybe only Brother Biao knows. It seems it was to force information out of him."

"Then what was the purpose of surveilling me?"

"I don't know either; they only said to monitor you and your family 24/7 to figure out your daily routines."

Qi Yun sighed inwardly, realizing he couldn't get more useful information, and then stood up, "What you've said doesn't help me much."

The man panicked, his mind racing, "Wait! There's something else! Brother Biao has a loan company managed by a woman! We laundered all the money we received through that loan company."

"That woman is quite pretty; she might have an affair with Brother Biao!"

"What's the company called?" Niu Da asked from the side.

"Lixin Finance!"

"Do you know anything else?"

The man shook his head, looking pitifully at Qi Yun, "That's all I've got to tell you!"

"I've admitted my crimes; you can kill me or hand me over to the police! But please save my family!"

Qi Yun glanced at him, "Where is your family?"

"In Guangdong Province..."

After questioning, Qi Yun and Niu Da made their way outside.

"How do we handle these two?" Niu Da asked in a low voice.

Qi Yun thought for a moment and replied, "Keep them here for now; I'll notify the police later to come and take them away."

"Brother Wei can come back tonight; then you can take people to follow the loan company to find Brother Biao and pin him down for me!"

"Okay." Niu Da responded, then hesitantly asked another question, "Why not hand them over directly?"

Qi Yun shook his head silently, not offering much explanation.

At this moment, a phone ringtone sounded, and Qi Yun took out his phone to see that it was Hong Weize calling.

"Hello, Brother Hong."

Hong Weize's hearty laughter came from the other end, "Qi old buddy, I looked into the matter you mentioned; indeed, someone is selling the Celestial Pearl, but they are quite cautious, and even the middlemen aren't clear about their background."

"Moreover, their asking price is high, but to be honest, there are many fakes; the black market doesn't necessarily have genuine stuff."

"Thanks for the heads-up, Brother Hong; I'll be careful." Qi Yun replied with a laugh, then quickly asked, "How much do they want to sell it for?"

"They're quoting two thousand pieces; they have quite an appetite."

After hearing this, Qi Yun was silent for a few seconds, "Can we talk to the seller face to face?"

"The counterpart doesn't want to show themselves." Hong Weize sighed, "I'll have the middleman talk to them again; after all, it's not like this expensive thing is just anything."

"Alright, then I'll trouble Brother Hong." Qi Yun thanked him.

"Don't mention it, old buddy; I'll call you if I hear anything."

"Alright."

...

Elsewhere, in a small guesthouse within the city village of the New District, three men were staying there, one around forty years old, while the other two appeared a bit younger.

The skin on these three men's faces didn't look good, covered with lots of spots, obviously from long exposure to ultraviolet rays.

One of them wore a baseball cap, and the back of his head had no hair at all.

"Damn it, we spent three years stealing the Celestial Pearl; are we not going to be able to sell it?" the bald one wearing the hat asked.

The bearded man known as Nima glanced at him and calmly took a sip of his drink.

The other person beside also chimed in, "Why not lower the price a bit, get the money quickly so we can run; it would be troublesome if the police found out."

Upon hearing this, the bald man seemed even more worried, "Exactly; if the temple realizes I'm gone, they'll definitely suspect me. The police might even be after me by now."

"Hey, I think asking for twenty million is too much..."

Nima listened to the two of them rambling on, a chilly spark flashed in his lowered eyes.

At this moment, his ancient Oppo phone beside him received a text message, and Nima picked it up to glance at it, then said to the two, "Let's go, the middleman has arranged for a buyer; we'll go for a face-to-face transaction."

Upon hearing the news, the bald man's joy was overwhelming, "See, I said a face-to-face transaction would sell better; how can we sell anything if we don't show ourselves..."

Nima had a smile on his face, "Yeah, you two go wait in the car, I'll buy two packs of cigarettes."

"Sure, don't buy White Sand, it's harsh on the throat." The man beside reminded.

"Alright." Nima replied gently.

He put on his shoes and walked out of the inn, heading straight to a small shop opposite.

"What do you need?" the shopkeeper asked.

Nima scanned the shelf, "Two packs of White Sand, please."

The shopkeeper took down two packs of cigarettes and handed them over, "Fifteen bucks. Anything else?"

Nima put the cigarettes into his pocket and asked, "Do you have a fruit knife? The kind for cutting watermelons."

The shopkeeper pointed to his right hand side, "You can check yourself; there are only short ones here, for longer ones you have to go to a specialized knife shop, and those require registration."

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