Whether it was a clear conscience or prior preparation, Lu Yingshi was very cooperative, speaking freely about everything concerning Warehouse 32.
The problem was that he didn't really manage his properties much; Warehouse 32 was just a gift from a wealthy businessman on his 90th birthday, and it had always been managed by his eldest disciple, Wang Xiaohu.
Fortunately, Wang Xiaohu had accompanied him for this investigation, so Yu Xian and the others met Wang Xiaohu again.
Unfortunately, Wang Xiaohu also didn't provide any valuable clues; now, warehouse rentals are simply listed on an app called 'Baozuke,' and there's no need to personally meet tenants.
After seeing the two of them off, Zhang Shou asked, "Do you think what they said is true?"
"There shouldn't be any issues. Although the Lion Gate is not a particularly strong sect, it has many properties under its name. Lu Yingshi wouldn't care much about a warehouse given as a gift," Qing Niao analyzed.
Yu Xian then said calmly, "Alright, let's go see Hu Weijie's family and see if they can provide any clues."
If Hu Xian'er and the others were just as clueless as Lu Yingshi, then this lead would be dead.
Everyone entered the opposite reception room. When Hu Tu'er saw Yu Xian enter, her eyes immediately lit up, and she stood up excitedly, saying, "Handsome guy, it's you!"
"You two know each other?" Qing Niao asked curiously.
Yu Xian gave Hu Tu'er a speechless glance and calmly said, "Same school, we met once."
"Handsome guy, I want to report a missing person. My dad is missing," Hu Tu'er said, her eyes sparkling, with no hint of sadness in her tone.
Zhang Shou asked curiously, "How many days has your dad been missing?"
"Officer, Brother Jie went missing the day his restrictions ended," Hu Tu'er's mother, Hu Xian'er, said.
Although Hu Xian'er was married and had a 17-year-old daughter, she looked very young, like sisters with Hu Tu'er.
Moreover, her temperament was quite good; every move she made possessed a breathtaking charm. Most young men would definitely not be able to resist her allure.
If one had to describe it, it would probably be: seeing her made one understand why Cao Cao liked married women.
"Brother Jie? Aren't you his wife?" Yu Xian nudged a dazed Zhang Shou and asked Hu Xian'er.
Hu Tu'er probably didn't want Yu Xian's gaze to linger on her mother, so she quickly answered, "Handsome guy, I've heard it since I was little. My mom has always called my dad that."
"Alright, can you tell me about Hu Weijie's behavior before he went missing? For example, any unusual actions," Yu Xian didn't dwell on this question, as it might just be a little quirk between the couple.
Hu Tu'er shook her head and said, "No, my dad is quite taciturn, and his presence at home is very low. Also, he used to disappear frequently and then return after some time."
"Then why do you think he's missing this time?" Qing Niao asked, puzzled.
Hu Tu'er looked at Yu Xian and the others in confusion and retorted, "Because you're looking for him! My mom and I didn't know where he went before, but you're police officers, so you should know, right? But now that you're all looking for him, he must be missing!"
That makes so much sense.
Completely unrefutable.
Gong Qian and the others remained silent, not expecting Hu Tu'er's answer to be so simple.
"Actually, we don't know if Hu Weijie is missing. We're looking for him to understand something. Do you know if he ever rented Cloud Warehouse 32?" Yu Xian coughed and continued.
Hu Tu'er shook her head with a curious expression and said, "Never heard of it. Why would he rent that warehouse?"
"..."
Everyone was speechless; they also wanted to know the answer.
Qing Niao looked at Hu Xian'er, who also shook her head, indicating she didn't know. She said, "Brother Jie is a wanderer. He only comes back to rest. Tu'er and I don't really know what he does outside."
"He doesn't earn money to support the family?" Zhang Shou couldn't help but ask.
Hu Xian'er explained, "The bathhouse we own was a gift from Brother Jie. With the bathhouse, Tu'er and I are never short of money, so we never asked him for any."
She had always been in charge of running the bathhouse; Hu Weijie hadn't been involved.
"Then, are there any of Hu Weijie's clothes at home? Or things he frequently uses?" Yu Xian was unwilling to let the lead end like this, so he thought for a moment and asked.
Hu Xian'er shook her head, but Hu Tu'er spoke up, "He has a pair of slippers."
"..."
Yu Xian's face darkened, and he didn't want to speak anymore.
He had planned to use his extraordinary sense of smell to try and find some clues, but smelling someone else's slippers... he'd rather not.
A minute later, the four saw off the Hu mother and daughter and stood at the office entrance, looking at each other. As expected, the lead was broken.
Back in the office, Zhang Shou sat on a chair, doubting, "Do you think Hu Weijie might be 'cleaning up'?"
There's a lot of strange knowledge online that happens to be true. For example, in the underworld, cleaners dealing with bodies and erasing crime scene traces are called 'cleaning up.'
Usually, after doing such work, cleaners hide for a period of time, only reappearing when they are sure the heat has died down.
"That's certainly a possibility. Generally, cleaners should have their own safe houses, or perhaps we can contact all Security Bureaus in the city and have all Security Bureau officers search for him together?" Qing Niao said.
Security Bureau officers are ordinary people; in most cases, they only handle cases involving ordinary people. However, when it comes to searching for someone, they actually have an advantage over transcendent beings because they... have more people.
"Could Hu Weijie have already been silenced, and then the other party used Hu Weijie's phone to rent Warehouse 32?" Zhang Shou speculated.
Yu Xian looked at his phone and said, "Warehouse 32 was rented by Hu Weijie before the lockdown."
"It's too difficult! There are no clues at all. How can we investigate this?" Zhang Shou immediately wailed.
Gong Qian, on the other hand, was not in a hurry at all. Seeing Zhang Shou almost rolling on the floor, she finally spoke, "You seem to have misunderstood something. We are not Security Bureau officers; we don't need to investigate step by step. We are the Evil Extermination Squad, affiliated with Qilin Headquarters. In situations like this, we just apply for assistance."
"But we don't have any clues. Will applying for assistance be useful?" Zhang Shou doubted.
Gong Qian confidently said, "Of course it's useful! At least we now know that Hu Weijie rented Warehouse 32. We just need to apply to the Headquarters to pinpoint Hu Weijie's location. Once the Headquarters uses the River Diagram and Luo Shu to pinpoint Hu Weijie and sends us the location, we'll be able to find him."
"It's very expensive to apply once. We don't want to end up losing money," Yu Xian frowned.
The River Diagram and Luo Shu are a special Dragon-level tool. Its main body is a giant turtle shell with a map of China on it. The Qilin Headquarters can use it to pinpoint any target located in China.
However, because activating the River Diagram and Luo Shu requires a large amount of spiritual energy, applying for it as a squad requires a large amount of merit points. If the merit points rewarded after solving the case are too few, the squad will instead incur a loss.
Under normal circumstances, various squads would rather not apply if possible, preferring to investigate themselves rather than waste merit points.