Wenjie did not know how he had gotten to the bed when he awoke from a deep slumber. Xu Zhengqing had probably decided to let him sleep downstairs and carried him over. 

They were still in the motorhome, heading toward their unknown destination. The watchmaker was sitting at the table writing something. Wenjie could not see what it was from his position. As he sat up, Xu Zhengqing lifted his gaze and looked over at him. 

"We will reach our new hiding place soon."

Wenjie's gaze drifted to the curtain that obscured the view from the back window. 

"You kept your word," Mister Xu said. "The numbers I determined from the positions of the stones lead to coordinates that add to the numbers on the other artifact." By the other artifact, Xu Zhengqing undoubtedly meant the Tears of Moongoddes. 

"Go ahead and look out," he continued. "We're in an area without camera surveillance, and there's not much going on."

The sudden friendliness irritated Wenjie, but if he was already allowing him to find out where they were, he wouldn't question it. Probably, he only allowed him to do so because he assumed Wenjie didn't know what to do with the information. 

Wenjie felt the man's piercing gaze on the back of his neck as he turned to move the curtain aside a bit. The light of the evening sun blinded him for a moment. Then he spotted the watercourse they were riding along. The area reminded him of Linjiang Road, but why would they go around in circles back to the city? Xu Zhengqing had certainly chosen a new hiding place outside Qingcheng, one that no longer fell within Captain Luo's department's area of authority. 

Wenjie pulled the curtain back closed and dragged himself to the table. 

The watchmaker packed away the paper and gave him a friendly smile, as he had often done before the kidnapping. A lump formed in Wenjie's throat.

"Oh, before I forget. You've been asleep for a long time. There's already news from Qingcheng." There it was again, that sly smirk that didn't bode well. 

Xu Zhengqing put a mini radio and smartphone on the table. "I recorded the last radio message for you." He unlocked the phone and played the audio file. 

The beginning was missing, but the message that mattered was fully preserved. "Two officials were recovered from the rubble and are currently in the hospital."

Wenjie felt a chill run down his spine. His eyes widened and visibly paled at the report. 

"Don't worry. I'll leave it up to their luck whether they survive." As if through absorbent cotton, Xu Zhengqing's words reached his ear. The criminal either did not have enough resources at his disposal, or simply took pleasure in continuing the cat and mouse game with Captain Luo when the opportunity arose.

Wenjie's hands shook uncontrollably. 

"They said that Captain Su Ying is now in charge of the investigation. That should make it easier for me to convince the police that you're dead."

"What?" gasped Wenjie. The world was spinning before his eyes again. How long would his body withstand this stress? 

Xu Zhengqing smiled. "I scattered some clues that will lead them to Linjiang Road. There, I laid tracks indicating that a car had gone into the water. It wasn't hard to break the windshield from the inside. To the police, it will look like someone was thrown out on impact. They should be able to find scattered shreds of your jacket. Your body, unfortunately, was washed away by the current."

That was exactly how his father had died. Wenjie gasped for breath. Each word pierced into his body like a sharp arrow, reopening the wounds of the past. "This is sick," he croaked. "Just sick. I gave you what you asked for. I didn't try to escape after you punished me. What's the point anymore? You think they'll stop looking for me now?" His voice grew louder again before abruptly falling silent. 

Dumbfounded, Wenjie stared at him. "You still think my father is alive? You're doing this because you want to provoke him?"

"If he were alive, he would hardly have allowed me to get my hands on you," Xu Zhengqing retorted. "But Ding Shenghuo is right. It would be surprising if he had not survived the accident. A man like your father is not so easily caught dead." He reached across the table and grabbed Wenjie's hands. 

"There are two possibilities that explain why he has not tried to meet you. Either he can't because he's being held in an undisclosed location. Or he is in the witness protection program and is not allowed to contact you. In the second case, the police would have lied to you."

Wenjie pulled his hands back. The backs of his hands burned as if he had been electrocuted. Xu Zhengqing had already given him hope once that his father might still be alive. That he was trying a second time now was certainly part of his plan to manipulate Wenjie. Mister Xu was aware that Wenjie would have liked to confront his father personally about the past and why. Because despite the pain and frustration he felt, he still loved his father. Xu Zhengqing took shameless advantage of that. 

At the same time, he drove a wedge between him and Captain Luo with his words. The deep meaning behind these speculations was clearly to diminish Wenjie's confidence in Luo Jian. He should stop pinning his hopes on the captain. 

The motorhome stopped. 

Xu Zhengqing gathered his things and stood up. "We're here. Come on."

Wenjie dragged himself to the door. Every step felt like he had lead on his feet. 

The motorhome parked in a garage. There was no trace of the driver. Even if the police found them, the unknown accomplice would still be at large, posing a threat to Wenjie. 

The garage door was down, making an escape impossible. Wenjie had no choice but to follow Xu Zhengqing inside the house, which was obviously not a residential building. The hallways reminded him rather of the department store from which Mister Xu had freed him.

Again, his captor took him down to the basement, where rooms had already been prepared for his accommodation. Here, too, Wenjie discovered no means of escape. 

Wenjie sat down on the mattress in the room that Mister Xu had prepared for him. On the floor was an old, battery-powered cassette recorder. Wenjie did not use it. Instead, he tried to gather his remaining strength and use the time alone to go over his escape options. At some point, Xu Zhengqing had to make a mistake. However, it looked like the only way was to pretend that the manipulation attempts would work.

to be continued...