After midnight

A strong wind blew up, clearing the sky of all clouds, as if it wanted to blow away yesterday's sins. Su Ziling fled back and forth in his master's courtyard against the strong wind.

There was a second murder last night, four lives lost. An Yan was called out again early in the morning, so he had to send Xiao Su to school in a hurry and then rush here.

How on earth could he find them? He hated being helpless.

Su Ziling jumped to the left and raised his hand to grab the stick.

"You're distracted." Zhou Licheng stopped.

"I'm sorry, Master." Su Ziling was startled and scratched his hair in annoyance.

Zhou Licheng put away the bamboo pole and threw it aside. "Good! This shows that you have fully adapted to this level of training. It seems that I have to add some more ingredients."

Su Ziling was in a daze just now, but Zhou Licheng was not. He had changed his moves, but Su Ziling was still able to cope with it easily, which showed that his body had adapted to the high-intensity training every day, and his mind had also turned on the combat mode, so he could raise the difficulty of training to another level.

"But having said that, I don't think you can train for the following content in your current state."

"Master?"

"Okay, I know what you're thinking. Come and sit down. It's a nice day today."

The sun was up now, the wind died down, and the sky above the courtyard was a clear, bright blue, as if washed by water.

"Come and sit down." Zhou Licheng took the initiative to say, knowing that the silly boy's mind was not here at the moment. He lay down on the rocking chair, which would soon be moved back to the house and taken out next spring.

"Then Master, let me pour you a glass of water." Su Ziling didn't know what he was hesitating about and was reluctant to go over.

"Sit down, pour some water."

Su Ziling had no choice but to walk to his master and sit down obediently, but after he sat down, his master stopped talking. Zhou Licheng closed his eyes and comfortably enjoyed the sunshine under the clear sky.

Su Ziling was upset, but he had no choice but to look at the calm sky and the roses planted in the yard. Although some of the roses were withered, they were still blooming. As he looked at them, his inner anxiety seemed to slowly subside, although he still couldn't do anything.

"Zi Ling, compared to before, have the things that bother you changed at all?" Zhou Licheng suddenly said, stretching his arms.

"No."

"But you have changed. You need to know what you can do now and what you really need to do. You are the future combat force. You can't get intelligence or deal with certain things on behalf of An Yan."

Su Ziling suddenly realized the real reason why his master asked him to rest.

"I understand, Master. Let's continue."

Zhou Licheng nodded with satisfaction. He stood up, and the two were about to start training when there was a rapid knock on the door.

"I'll go open the door." Su Ziling said as he quickly walked towards the door.

Su Ziling had seen the person standing outside the door several times. Even when he was not in the hospital, he still had a stern face, and anyone who saw him had to succumb to his majestic image.

"Why are you here, kid?"

"Doctor Wang, why are you here?"

The two said in unison, and Su Ziling quickly continued, "I'm here to find Master to learn from me."

"Master?"

"Wang Chaoqi, what are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Hey, you old man, it's already so late in the morning. Besides, is it not okay for me to come and have tea with you?" Doctor Wang didn't care about Su Ziling and walked towards the courtyard. Su Ziling closed the door and walked back to the yard in two steps.

"Zhou Licheng, when did you accept a disciple?" Wang Chaoqi glanced at Su Ziling and said.

"Why? Do I have to let you know before I accept you as my apprentice?"

Su Ziling couldn't help laughing when he heard this. Although these two people said they disliked each other, it was obvious that they had a good relationship because their whole faces were smiling.

"Okay, Zi Ling, accept the tea from your Doctor Wang. He would never come to visit you for no reason."

"It's not enough to just go and have tea with you. I am in good health and have no worries, old man."

"Okay, okay, you have the final say."

Su Ziling took the box of tea that Dr. Wang brought into the kitchen and boiled water in a kettle. As the sound of boiling water came, Su Ziling gradually lost the ability to hear the conversation between the two seniors outside the house. When he came out with two cups of brewed tea, Su Ziling felt that the expressions of the two people were a little serious, as if they were no longer as relaxed and happy as before.

"Your apprentice is very considerate." Seeing him coming, Wang Chaoqi softened his expression and said.

The teacup that Su Ziling brought to Zhou Licheng was an ice-blue porcelain cup, different from the transparent glass cup he brought to Wang Chaoqi. It was the cup that Zhou Licheng used specifically for drinking tea.

"Not bad. Your assistant is very considerate."

"How can they be the same?" Wang Chaoqi said again, and they started a light topic again.

Later, Su Ziling spent the whole morning listening to their conversation. From their conversation, Su Ziling learned that the two were old acquaintances who had known each other for most of their lives. They had experienced a lot when they worked together in the revolutionary army. Dr. Wang had once joined the revolutionary army, but later withdrew because of his family's request.

"Just tell me how many times I have saved you!" Doctor Wang slapped his thigh proudly.

After leaving the revolutionary army, Dr. Wang turned to study medicine. Although this was his family's request at the time, Dr. Wang should be very grateful now, because he could save his brother's life by studying medicine. Su Ziling looked at Dr. Wang's proud and beaming face when he talked about this, and couldn't help but think of himself.

Is there anything I can do to help? Yes, that is to improve my own abilities wholeheartedly, so that I won't be a burden to others, and this is the way to save everyone.

"Okay, it's getting late. I have to go back to the hospital." Wang Chaoqi raised the letter in his hand. The hospital had just sent him a letter.

"Zi Ling, go see Doctor Wang off."

"Okay, Doctor Wang, I'll take you there." After Su Ziling saw Doctor Wang off, he came back and Zhou Licheng asked him to sit down.

"Zi Ling, actually, when you were not here just now, we talked about An Yan's matter."

"What's the matter? Is it related to what happened recently?" Thinking of the expressions of the two of them at that time, Su Ziling immediately became serious.

"It can be said that Chaoqi is the top doctor, and he has his own professional opinions on the matter of water copying ability. But he just talked about it roughly, without going too deep. I didn't quite understand some of the professional terms, but Chaoqi expressed his concern for An Yan between the lines, saying that An Yan's ability might have been developed to a dangerous level."

"What do you mean?" Su Ziling frowned.

"I asked the same question, but he didn't want to say more. You and An Yan live and eat together, and you are currently the closest person to him, so pay more attention to him. I think Chaoqi came to tell me this because of this, but don't think too much about it, An Yan will definitely be fine... Sometimes I don't know what Wang Chaoqi is thinking about." Zhou Licheng also had a thoughtful look on his face.

"I understand, Master. What Doctor Wang said makes sense."

Zhou Licheng nodded and said, "Then let's have noodles for lunch."

"Okay." The topic changed so quickly that Su Ziling didn't know whether to laugh or cry.

"What's the matter? Eat more at noon so that I can better teach you to develop your abilities in the afternoon. When your abilities are developed to a certain extent, pure ability will come naturally."

"Master is right."

When Su Ziling got home that night, he was more tired than usual. He stretched his neck in the small garden and stretched his muscles before opening the door. He didn't want to worry An Yan and Xiao Su. But after opening the door and entering the house, he didn't see An Yan yet, and Xiao Su looked a little depressed.

"What's wrong with my little princess?" Su Ziling asked as gently as possible.

Xiao Su pouted and said nothing, ran over and ran away, as if she was not that unhappy. What was going on? Su Ziling understood as soon as she entered the living room. It turned out that Yin brought He here. He and Jiu were playing together enthusiastically, and neither of them took her to play. The little girl was upset at the moment.

"Brother." Never mind, it was just a child's thing, Su Ziling started calling Yin.

"You're back. How was your day?"

"Very good, Master said we can start the next stage of training."

"Well, that's good."

"By the way, where's An Yan?"

"It is said that the revolutionary army discovered the inn where those people were staying and just called An Yan out."

"So fast? Didn't you say there was no news before?" Su Ziling was very surprised.

"Who knows? But maybe Anyan will be back soon."

"Brother, do you know something?"

"Okay, I've been waiting for you for a long time. What do you want to eat? I'll take you out to eat. Let's talk about other things after An Yan comes back. Don't let the children go hungry."

"Okay." Su Ziling compromised.

An Yan stood in the lobby of a hostel called Hongshi, watching Song Xinjun interrogate the hostel's owner, a hunchbacked and slow-moving old man.

"Please confirm again, have you seen these two people?" Song Xinjun held up two portraits, which were made based on Lin Xuanfeng's description of the two people after he woke up. The old man shook his head.

"What about the others? Do you really not remember their faces? Even if you can remember just one, it will be fine." Song Xinjun asked again. The old man raised his head hesitantly, shook his head again, and then lowered his head silently.

It seemed that no matter how many times he asked, the result was the same, and Song Xinjun was helpless. He sighed and said, "Is there really no one else in charge of the store besides you, old man?"

"No...no..." The old man spoke weakly and reluctantly.

"Xinjun." Zhou Chen came out from the corridor and called him aside and lowered his voice.

"I asked the girl at the front desk. They checked in at night, and the hostel is barely making ends meet. Look, there's not even a light bulb in the lobby."

Song Xinjun looked up at the ceiling according to what Zhou Chen had found, and there was indeed nothing there.

"Not only the lobby, but the entire hostel has no lights at night, only candles. I also asked the front desk, but she didn't see what the person looked like, not to mention that it has been so many days, she has long forgotten."

"That shouldn't be the case. According to what you said, so many people entered this small shop at that time, but she has no memory of it at all?"

"There weren't so many people. I asked about that, too. She said that only one man came to check in six people at a time. After that, she never saw that man again, and rarely saw other people. And I checked, they left directly when they left, without checking out or returning their deposit."

"That's a difficult thing to do. The person who comes to check in may not be one of them."

"Yes, it's very likely." Zhou Chen said.

At this time, the police officers withdrew from the rooms one by one. They had collected almost no evidence to take back. Because they didn't know that the guests had left, the rooms were not cleaned, but they still found nothing. They only removed some sheets to take back.

"An Yan, what do you think?"

Zhou Chen suddenly asked An Yan, who had been standing silently at the entrance. Because Zhou Chen and An Yan had worked together in Beijing Middle School, he inexplicably trusted An Yan, but An Yan just shook his head.

Seeing this, Song Xinjun and Zhou Chen looked at each other in silence and had to return in defeat.

After everyone had left, An Yan walked in. He walked up to the shop owner and asked him loudly, "Old man, your shop's name is very interesting. Why is it called 'Red Stone'?"

"I like stones, red ones." There was a glimmer of light in the old man's eyes, and he answered slowly, looking very happy.

An Yan smiled and then left the quaint inn. It wasn't too late when he got home, but it wasn't as early as Yin said. He, Ajiu and Xiao Su were all sent to sleep, and only Yin and Su Ziling were sitting on the sofa waiting for him to come back.

An Yan came back and saw Yin and Su Ziling waiting for him. He glanced at the clock on the wall and the hour hand was pointing to eleven o'clock.

"Sorry, I'm late."

"What's the result?" Su Ziling asked directly.

"There is one female among the six people, and you don't know anything about the others, right?" As soon as Yin said this, Su Ziling and An Yan looked at him at the same time.

"Why are you looking at me? You have forgotten what I do. I just know that this is really not something I can show you, so I don't want to say it. Besides, I don't want to interfere with An Yan's prediction."

"They are indeed very cautious and leave almost no traces. After staying in dark places for a long time, you will always know where to hide best, but there are still a few places to ponder."

"For example?" Yin asked with great interest. This was why he had to stay and wait for An Yan with Su Ziling today. An Yan always had some different entry points, and he wanted to know them first.

"First, why would they want six people to live together? This is a bit too big a target. Second, why would they suddenly abandon their carefully prepared identities and expose their location to us? Third, since their location was exposed, why didn't they leave us anything?"

"It's quite strange." Su Ziling tilted his head, also puzzled.

"I can't figure it out either. Maybe their logic can't be reasoned like that of ordinary people."

"No, they are actually just..." An Yanzheng said as he suddenly moved closer to the window with sharp eyes.

A thin thread broke through the glass, and the glass embedded in the window shattered to the ground.

The accident happened so suddenly that An Yan didn't have time to finish his words. He wanted to say that those people did it just because they were arrogant and thought it was fun. And he was about to ask Yin, according to the intelligence, Song Yu was neither in Xindu nor Jiudu, so where did he go?