Chapter 1135: A Familiar Feeling
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Leader Zhao…” Ma Jichun said awkwardly. “Our decryption experts have already looked into the identity of the woman on the doll, but they have found nothing! You see… this woman seems to have been drawn so abstractly that even if it was a realistic drawing, it would be impossible to compare!”
“Not a comparison!” Zhao Yu said. “Think about it, if the Japanese wanted to draw a Russian beauty on this doll, then the woman would have close ties to them, right?
“If they buried the treasure in Dong Bei, then could this woman possibly have been linked to Dong Bei?”
“Eh? I just thought of something!” Li Beini blurted. “In the 1900s, Russia once invaded Feng Ping, and it became the Cossack troop’s nest. They were there for nearly two-and-a-half years!
“At that time, the Japanese movement in the Dong Bei area was very normal, and it even erupted into the Russo-Japanese war. Do you think this woman was from that era?”
“I… I’ll check it out now!” Zhang Jingfeng said in a hurry, opening his computer to investigate.
“Leader, this deduction…” Wu Xiumin said, seemingly opposed. “It doesn’t seem very likely. Would the Japanese really leave all their treasures to one Russian woman? And this lead seems a little too easy…”
“As long as there’s a sliver of hope we should still pursue it!” Miao Ying said, supporting Zhao Yu. She then turned to Ma Jichun. “You should quickly get in touch with your leader Li Jing. We need to ask those Russian guests to take part. If there really is such a person who existed, then the Russians would know better than us!”
“This…” Ma Jichun appeared to be in a tough spot.
“What’s with the hesitation?” Miao Ying urged. “The longer this drags on, the slimmer the chance to find the treasure gets! If you are still concerned about your international relations at this point, then we will lose an opportune lead!”
“That’s right!” Zhao Yu said. “These terrorists have bombs! I am scared that they may not be finding the treasure to keep it, but to destroy it! Just like at the fortress, they want to detonate the entire area so we will get nothing!”
“Okay, okay…” Ma Jichun said, his temples drenched with sweat. He hurriedly rushed out to make a phone call and ask Li Jing for permission.
Zhao Yu zoomed in to the picture and took a closer look. It felt a little strange. The more he looked at the doll, the more he felt that the details between the dolls’ eyes were drawn with care and did not look like a simple cartoon character. She would definitely be distinguished from the other characters.
She also had a beautiful red veil on her body. No matter how he looked at it, she looked like a bride who was about to get married. This woman… did she really exist? What was the link between her and the treasure?
A few hours passed and Zhao Yu and company faced the huge screen, analyzing the photo of the doll in detail in an attempt to find new clues. Zhang Jingfeng looked through the materials but did not find anybody close to who they were looking for. Just to be sure, Zhao Yu had used an even better search tool, but still found nothing suitable.
Since they could not find any more clues, Zhao Yu opened the map of Feng Ping and thoroughly analyzed Lin She, Jiang City, Yu Ning, and even the distant Huang Jin City. He wanted to find a place that was more secretive and suitable for hiding the treasure than the fortress, but after searching for half a day he still could not find anything.
No matter what angle they looked at this from, the fortress that they found was the best place to bury the treasure. If it hadn’t been hidden there, then where else could it be?
Also… the more Zhao Yu thought about it, the more he felt something was strange about the treasure. The enemy expended so much effort, it was obvious that the treasure really existed!
But to have hidden 19 boxes of gold, plus the rare treasure and gems the Japanese had gathered over the decades, seemed impossible. If they had really hidden this shocking amount of treasure somewhere for over 80 years, would it really have flown under the radar?
From the first person, Bao Tiantai, to the last person, Tao Xiang, so many people had interacted with the Russian dolls, how could there be no leads? Or could there be… another possibility?
Keeping that in mind, Zhao Yu took out the map that depicted the land during the war to compare. Then out of habit, he began to add more information to the whiteboard while adding his own case analysis. He didn’t know why, but the minute he thought about how he had opened such a unique hexagram, the truth behind the treasure seemed to be right in front of his eyes.
Kun Zhen-gen…
The Gen hexagram only appeared at the end which meant that the Zhen hexagram would appear only after a certain point. The Zhen hexagram represented a geographical location. The case details and locations were equally important, yet not more important than the location…
Kun Zhen-gen…
What did such a hexagram represent?
Time was ticking and although both the Special Investigations Team and Secret Services were doing all they could to find any information they could about the Russian dolls, they ultimately found nothing.
At noon, Xu Hai bought lunch for everyone, but nobody had an appetite. They were all busy with their own work.
At that moment, the huge screen was playing a compilation of the details the decryption experts had found. They split, rotated, magnified, made puzzles of the photos, and so on. A lot of the photos seemed to be a mess and had no sequence.
“Lil Cui…” Wu Xiumin said, placing her phone down. “The Secret Services psychologist is here, prepare yourself!”
“Oh…” Cui Lizhu nodded to show she understood, but her eyes darted around nervously.
“It will be fine. I will accompany you throughout the whole process later!” Wu Xiumin said.
“What?” Zhao Yu teased Cui Lizhu when he saw how pale her face was. “Didn’t you do hypnosis last time? What’s there to worry about? Don’t tell me there is something weird you’re hiding from us?”
“No…” Cui Lizhu said, staring at the screen with uncertainty. “I just feel like something is off…”
“Oh?” Zhao Yu asked in a hurry. “Is there? What’s so strange?”
“If I knew would I still be thinking about it?” Cui Lizhu asked, frowning. “Boss, I think… there’s something strange about the doll. From the photo, it seems different from what I played with in the past!”
“What?!” Zhao Yu froze. “What the h*ll! Why didn’t you say something as important as this earlier?”
“But I can’t be sure!” Cui Lizhu said, pulling her hair. “After so many years, my impression has faded. But… I feel like the dolls I played with were a little older, the color was not as vibrant, and at the top, there was a part where the paint was chipped off… wait…”
When she said this, Cui Lizhu seemed to remember something and quickly closed her eyes to urge the memory to come forward. “Right! That’s it! They scratched one of the corners! And… that mark had been made with a small knife!”
“What?” Zhao Yu hurriedly zoomed in on the image, but the photo of the doll was completely fine. There were no marks or chipped paint.
“About that…” Miao Ying said. “It shouldn’t be that hard to figure out, right? Tao Xiang stole the doll, then took a photo of it before deciding to do some research. So, Tao Xiang scratched the part where the paint is chipped.”
“Ah, that’s true!” Cui Lizhu said, nodding. “After scratching it open there was probably nothing, right? If my dad had found a clue, he would have already searched for the treasure!”
“Oh…” Everyone let out a sigh, relieved it was all a false alarm.
“All right, almost here…” Wu Xiumin pointed at the door and signaled to Cui Lizhu. “We need to go!”
Cui Lizhu seemed engrossed in her thoughts and stared, fixated on the screen.
“Lil Cui…” Zhao Yu noticed Cui Lizhu acting strangely and asked, “What happened, did you remember something else?”
“No, no… it’s not that…” Cui Lizhu shook her head without blinking. “It’s more like… familiarity? I feel like I’ve seen this woman’s clothes somewhere before…” she said, pointing at the lady on the doll.
“Ah? That can’t be?” Zhao Yu was shocked and asked urgently “Where have you seen it before? When you were younger?”
“No, not that long ago!” Cui Lizhu turned her gaze towards Zhao Yu and said with certainty. “I saw it recently! And boss, you were there as well!”
“What?!” Zhao Yu was confused. “When was this? How do I not have any recollection of it?”