SFTD -Chapter 404 White Spots Reappeared (Part 45)

On the other end of the phone, Chu Menghan spoke urgently:

“We’ve already found Lotus Mountain in Jiulong Town. We went through all eight nearby villages and located the place where Su Mule used to live.

According to his neighbors, he hadn’t lived there for over twenty years and had been working elsewhere the whole time. Nobody knows whether he ever officially married, but apparently he never interacted with those cousins of his.

He only returned once in the summer of 2004. People said that although his hand was injured, he had found himself a wife and was raising a son. After coming back, he applied for an ID card, then sold the house to a neighbor. However, his household registration was never transferred away, and neither his wife’s nor child’s registration was ever moved there.

We also visited each of his cousins and his younger brother’s family one by one. They said the family had a falling-out when their grandfather died. Because Su Mule wasn’t married, he didn’t receive any inheritance at all, and after that the families completely cut off contact.”

By the time she finished, Zhou Hai was already almost certain that Su Mule was the corpse lying in the first-floor autopsy room — the stand-in for Yang Duxiu. But after so many years, finding proof would be difficult.

“Do you have any photographs?”

“No. But the local police station retrieved his ID photo and fingerprint records. That house was sold eleven years ago, so none of his belongings remain there anymore. Still, I had his brothers give blood samples. We’ll bring them back later.”

“Thank you.”

Hearing that simple “thank you” made Chu Menghan feel miserable. At some point, he had become so distant from her.

After hanging up, she suppressed her emotions and waved at the others.

“Label everyone’s information. We’re heading back to Dongnan.”

Just after Chu Menghan ended the call, Zhou Hai’s phone rang again. This time it was Da Mao. Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes and quickly answered.

“Deputy Director Zhou, we found out who the previous archives administrator at Third Hospital was. The world really is small — I never expected this person to connect to someone we already investigated!”

Zhou Hai looked puzzled. He genuinely couldn’t guess who it could be. If the person had worked there before Yang Duxiu became archives administrator, then he had to be at least Yang Duxiu’s age or older.

“Who was it?”

Da Mao instantly laughed, realizing his explanation had been too confusing.

“When Third Hospital was first established, a neighborhood official was transferred there to serve as archives administrator. That person was Zhu Xiangtao — the father of Zhu Cuiwen, the woman Dong Bin later married. Messy enough for you?”

Zhou Hai quickly found Zhu Cuiwen’s position on the whiteboard. She had always been overlooked in this case. Everyone simply assumed she was a compulsive gambler, someone seemingly insignificant.

But when her father took over the archives room, did he really know nothing about the secrets hidden there?

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“Zhu Cuiwen’s father is already dead, right?”

Da Mao scratched his head in frustration. Once again, Zhou Hai had guessed correctly.

“He’s been dead for years. Zhu Xiangtao was nearly forty before he finally had Zhu Cuiwen, his only daughter. His wife died early, and after Zhu Cuiwen got married, he lived alone on Anshan Road. He worked and retired around Third Hospital.

According to Zhu Cuiwen, they only learned of his death several days later when neighbors mentioned it. It was summer, and the body had already started to rot. Since her father had always been in poor health, they didn’t call the police to investigate and just buried him hastily.”

“When did this happen?”

Da Mao seemed to shuffle through papers before answering.

“He died in August 2004.”

The fingers gripping Zhou Hai’s phone turned pale. He grabbed a marker and wrote Zhu Cuiwen’s father’s name above hers on the whiteboard, adding the dates of his death and employment.

Su Mule had returned to apply for an ID card in the summer of 2004.

Zhu Cuiwen’s father died in August 2004.

The timing was impossible to ignore.

Had Yang Duxiu killed him?

A retired man should no longer have posed any threat to Yang Duxiu. So why eliminate him?

Did Zhu Xiangtao know the secret of the underground basement?

Or did he know the truth connecting Yang Duxiu and Su Mule?

Then who exactly was the person who went back to register the ID?

The neighbor only said Su Mule’s hand was injured — merely something he had heard, not personally seen. That meant no one had actually verified the injury. Once Xu Biao returned, they would know more. After all, fingerprints were required when applying for an ID card at the local police station.

Hu Nan stared at the information and suddenly grabbed Zhou Hai’s arm.

“Doctor Zhou, do you think Yang Duxiu killed Zhu Xiangtao because he was afraid he might reveal the secrets? Maybe Zhu Xiangtao knew absolutely nothing, but was still killed just in case?”

Zhou Hai narrowed his eyes.

“No one knows how Yang Duxiu thought. But from the founding of Third Hospital until Yang Duxiu took over the archives room in 1994, nobody can confirm whether Zhu Xiangtao knew anything.

And whether Yang Duxiu discovered that laboratory by accident or had known about it all along is another question.

After all, he had a grandfather who was a doctor. Even though he was young back then, it’s possible something was left behind for him.”

Hu Nan pursed her lips and pointed at the date of Su Maxiu’s death: February 1969.

“You’re saying someone would entrust such an important secret to a child?

That doesn’t seem right. Back then Su Mukè — meaning Yang Duxiu — was only six years old!

Compared to him, the two sons or the elder son’s four children would’ve been much more mature. If there were secrets to pass down, wouldn’t they have been safer choices? Asking a six-year-old to handle all this — was Su Maxiu insane?”

Zhou Hai waved his hand.

“I carefully inspected that underground basement. Beneath the well entrance we used, all three tunnels showed signs of having been sealed off before. Especially the tunnel leading toward the small two-story administrative building — there were even traces of brickwork blocking the outside. Why would someone do that?”

Hu Nan thought for a moment.

“It means they didn’t intend to use it for a while, so they temporarily sealed it off. Probably to prevent people from accidentally entering, like a barrier.”

Zhou Hai nodded forcefully.

“Exactly. That place hadn’t been used for many years. Doesn’t that indirectly suggest Su Maxiu never explicitly told his family about it? Instead, Yang Duxiu may have discovered clues himself, or overheard something, and then spent years searching for it.”

Hu Nan’s eyes widened as she stared seriously at Zhou Hai.

The theory actually made far more sense.

A six-year-old child could easily overhear conversations among adults while everyone ignored his presence.

And Yang Duxiu — or rather, Su Mukè — remembered those things, and when he reached a dead end as an adult, he finally found the underground city hidden in his childhood memories.

“The more I think about it, the more plausible it sounds!”

At that moment, the office door burst open. Without even knocking, Xu Biao rushed inside, unable to conceal the excitement on his face.

“The two fingerprints are different?”