Li Banfeng sat in his office, reviewing the files on Gourd Village. Shen Jingye was feeling unwell and had taken a sick day.
From what the files showed, Gourd Village was the Dark Star Bureau's nightmare—from local branch offices all the way up to headquarters, it was a subject no Bureau member cared to bring up.
Based on the case records and Li Banfeng's own understanding, Gourd Village was a stealth space with unique properties. Whether it qualified as a dark-dimension space could not yet be determined; after all, dark-dimension spaces were merely one category of stealth spaces, and Li Banfeng knew little about other types.
The most defining feature of this stealth space was its shifting entrance. Li Banfeng had encountered something similar in Puluo Province—the entrance to the City of Fools could also shift.
If he could master this technique, he could not only construct a concealed laboratory for his lady wife, but perhaps even build an entire secret, unknown city.
That would be a vital foundation!
He had to learn this technique, and he had to find Gourd Village.
Still, why would such a bizarre stealth space appear in the Outer States rather than in Puluo Province?
It was precisely because Gourd Village was in the Outer States that Xiao Shen had been frantic over it, giving Li Banfeng his full backing for every aspect of the investigation.
According to the records, the entrance to Gourd Village appeared every year between December and the following January—right around the eve of the Lunar New Year. That was what Shen Jingye had referred to as "opening for business."
Specifically, the entrance manifested as two to ten women of exquisite proportions standing at the threshold of the stealth space, luring passersby inside.
Women of exquisite proportions.
Li Banfeng patted the liquor gourd. "Elder Sister, you really don't know anything about this place?"
The liquor gourd sighed. "Little brother, stop patting! You've slapped me red already. Your elder sister truly doesn't know. Or maybe I used to know and can't recall right now. The moment I remember, I'll definitely tell you. If you still want to pat, switch sides—don't keep smacking the same half!"
Ever since her covenant deed with Old Yao had been severed, the liquor gourd had been completely loyal to Li Banfeng. If she knew the inside story, she wouldn't keep it from him.
Besides, this was Outer States territory, and the liquor gourd belonged to Puluo Province. He really shouldn't expect her to know.
Li Banfeng continued perusing the files.
Last year, Gourd Village had appeared in the north, resulting in thirty-one disappearances: twenty-five men and six women.
Women?
Were they lured away by handsome men?
There was no mention of handsome men in the records.
The year before that, Gourd Village had appeared in neighboring Minyue Province, leaving fifty-five people missing, seventeen of whom were women.
That proportion was even more striking.
Why would women with exquisite curves attract so many women?
Li Banfeng flipped further back into the records. One question had been bothering him all along. "Why call this place Gourd Village? Just because the girls standing at the village entrance have hourglass figures shaped like gourds? Even if that's why, why not call it Gourd Shop, Gourd House, or Gourd Garden?"
Tangyuan brought out a document. "Because there was a survivor."
"There was a survivor from Gourd Village?"
"Yes. The name 'Gourd Village' comes from the survivor's own account."
"Why didn't you give me such important material sooner!" Li Banfeng took the file box.
Tangyuan stuck out her tongue. "To be honest, the information isn't worth all that much."
Li Banfeng opened a file. The survivor was named Wu Nianping, a native of Guangle City in Minyue Province. He had disappeared on December 16 of the year before last and returned home on January 21.
Wu Nianping was a food delivery courier. According to his own account and eyewitness statements, he had picked up an order from a restaurant, and as he was mounting his electric scooter, he noticed two women at the restaurant entrance inviting him inside.
Assuming something had gone wrong with the order, he followed the women inside, only to discover that the interior of the restaurant was a village. The women told him that this place was Gourd Village.
Tangyuan explained, "Seventh Master, that is his only surviving memory of Gourd Village. According to medical evaluations, extreme fright induced severe psychiatric illness. He went mad, and his memory was terribly damaged—"
Li Banfeng interrupted her. "Suffering from a psychiatric disorder doesn't mean a person is simply crazy. Be precise with your words!"
Tangyuan nodded and continued, "The other survivors were basically in the same state. They could only name Gourd Village; they were unable to provide any useful descriptions of anything else."
Li Banfeng still reviewed the survivors' information with meticulous care, with Tangyuan assisting him in analyzing key details.
Zhong'er's investigative focus was not on these records; he had focused on the victim of the current case.
The man who had vanished at the pharmacy was named Zhang Peiwen, twenty-six years old, currently unemployed. Zhong'er had spotted an issue with his address: "Zhang Peiwen lives only one street away from the pharmacy. After buying medicine, it's just a fifteen-minute walk back home. There was no need for him to hail a cab."
Mijian didn't quite agree. "Some people just hate walking, and a fifteen-minute walk isn't exactly short."
Zhong'er produced the pharmacy owner's statement transcript. "According to her, Zhang Peiwen once waited outside the shop for a long time over a single yuan in change. He's introverted and frugal; he wouldn't choose to hail a cab for a fifteen-minute walk."
Lightbulb frowned. "Isn't that a bit too arbitrary? Just because someone is frugal doesn't mean they don't appreciate a little convenience."
Zhong'er said no more. In terms of family background, he was far worse off than Lightbulb, and their perspectives on taking a cab naturally diverged.
Li Banfeng hadn't considered the matter either; back in his student days, he had almost never taken a cab on his own.
After spending the morning reviewing files, Li Banfeng decided to visit the victim's home that afternoon.
Taking Tangyuan, Lightbulb, Mingxing, and Zhong'er along, he arrived at Zhang Peiwen's residence.
Zhang Peiwen's residential compound was on Disheng Road, built near the end of the last century. It was a walk-up building with no elevators, and Zhang Peiwen's family lived on the seventh floor.
Zhang Peiwen's father, Zhang Qinghai, was formerly a factory worker who had lost mobility in his right leg following an accident; disabled, he had spent years confined to the home.
His mother, Ai Xiafen, was a middle school teacher who had taken early retirement on medical grounds five years earlier. The couple's pensions were the family's sole source of income.
The mother, Ai Xiafen, opened the door. Li Banfeng showed a forged credential.
This was a legally sanctioned forged badge. The general public knew nothing of the Dark Star Bureau, and Bureau agents were forbidden from disclosing their true identities.
Ai Xiafen invited them in. "Officers, please sit down. My son—"
Zhang Peiwen's father, Zhang Qinghai, hobbled over to Li Banfeng on crutches. "Is there any news of my son?"
"Not just yet," Li Banfeng said. "We came today primarily to ask you a few questions."
As he spoke, Li Banfeng looked around the layout of the apartment.
Two bedrooms and a living room. The living room was relatively spacious, while the bedrooms were somewhat cramped.
Facing north, the interior was somewhat dim and gloomy.
"Which one is Zhang Peiwen's room?" Li Banfeng asked.
Zhang Qinghai pointed toward the room on the right side of the hallway. Li Banfeng glanced over.
The apartment's furnishings were exceedingly plain, dominated by basic wooden furniture. Only Zhang Peiwen's bedroom door stood out.
Because it was made of glass.
Zhong'er said to the elderly couple, "I would like to examine the victim's room to gather evidence."
Ai Xiafen stood up. "I'll go with you. We'll cooperate fully with your work."
Li Banfeng looked at Zhang Qinghai. "Then I'll speak with you first."
Ai Xiafen sat back down on the sofa. "Officer, you'd better speak with me. My husband has gone senile; he can't explain anything clearly."
While Zhong'er went to look for evidence, Li Banfeng asked about what had happened that day.
Tears welled in Ai Xiafen's eyes. "That afternoon, at three o'clock, he went to the pharmacy to get my medicine. In fact, he shouldn't have gone that day—he should have gone the day before. But the pharmacy was closed the day before. If only it had been open, none of this would have happened!" At that point, she broke down sobbing.
"Ma'am, please try to stay calm. We're doing everything we can to investigate," Tangyuan comforted her, and Ai Xiafen quieted down a little.
Li Banfeng asked, "You mentioned you originally planned to buy the medicine the day before, but postponed it because the shop was closed. I noticed there are many pharmacies near your compound. Why did he have to go to that particular one?"
Ai Xiafen sighed. "Blame this useless body of mine. There are a few medicines that only that shop carries."
Li Banfeng told Tangyuan, "Note down the names of Ms. Ai's medicines in a bit. We can help procure some."
"No, no," Ai Xiafen shook her head repeatedly. "How could I trouble you with that?"
Tangyuan smiled. "Don't worry, ma'am. It's our duty."
Despite repeated inquiries, Ai Xiafen remained unwilling to divulge the names of the medications. She continued recounting that afternoon:
"My son went out at three to buy medicine. He always came back by three-thirty. I was at home preparing dinner, making his favorite stir-fried carrots—"
"I want to find my son!" Zhang Qinghai leaned on his crutches and abruptly stood up. "I'm going to look for him right now!"
Tangyuan moved to restrain him, while Ai Xiafen yelled, "Old Zhang, stop making a scene! They're helping us find our son right now!"
Zhang Qinghai hung his head and said nothing. Ai Xiafen continued, "That day, I waited until three-forty, and he still wasn't back. I was frantic, so I rushed to the pharmacy to look for him."
"Doesn't he have a cell phone?" Li Banfeng asked.
Ai Xiafen let out a sigh. "I don't mind you laughing at us, but my son studied himself silly. He doesn't know how to do anything except read books. He can't use cell phones or computers at all.
"When I reached the pharmacy, the boss lady said she saw him leave after buying his medicine. I'd always trusted her, so I didn't think much of it.
"It wasn't until the police officers went to investigate later that I found out she'd lied to me! She saw my son standing outside her door, yet she didn't tell me! She's no decent person—she's the one who harmed my son!"
At this, Ai Xiafen wept even more bitterly.
Lightbulb listened half-heartedly; he didn't feel there was much useful information to be gained from Ai Xiafen.
Mingxing, always quick to read the room, promptly handed Ai Xiafen a tissue.
With a grave expression, Li Banfeng asked, "Ms. Ai, why do you think the pharmacy owner would want to harm your son?"
Tangyuan glanced at Li Banfeng. That question didn't sound like something Seventh Master would ask. Ai Xiafen was clearly traumatized by her son's disappearance and lashing out recklessly; how could anyone take her accusations seriously? Presumably, because Puluo Province had very different customs, Seventh Master wasn't quite accustomed to things here.
Ai Xiafen answered, "I buy medicine there all the time. That woman must think our family is rich, so she wanted to kidnap my son and extort money from us!"
Tangyuan raised her eyebrows at Li Banfeng, signaling him not to take it seriously. She had seen similar cases before: the psychological trauma of her son's disappearance had left Ai Xiafen suspicious of everyone and everything around her.
Li Banfeng continued chatting casually with Ai Xiafen. Zhong'er finished collecting evidence in the bedroom and opened the refrigerator.
Ai Xiafen was puzzled. "Do you need to gather evidence in the fridge, too?"
Zhong'er shook his head. "I was thirsty. Just checking if there's anything to drink."
Tangyuan frowned, blushing with embarrassment on Zhong'er's behalf.
Mingxing suppressed a smirk. He really couldn't fathom what Zhong'er was thinking. Rummaging through someone's fridge at a time like this—wasn't that humiliating the Dark Star Bureau? Then again, the elderly couple had no idea they were with the Dark Star Bureau anyway.
Lightbulb found the situation unusual. Zhong'er's way of thinking was indeed eccentric, but he was not the type to freeload or do something completely pointless.
Li Banfeng also knew Zhong'er had an ulterior motive, but he still put on a show and scolded, "What kind of work attitude is that? Do you have no sense of discipline whatsoever?"
Ai Xiafen hurried to her feet. "It's my fault for being absent-minded. We don't have any cold drinks, but let me pour everyone some tea."
Li Banfeng stood up. "We've learned pretty much everything we needed to know, so we should be on our way. Ms. Ai, please take care of your health."
Zhang Qinghai stood up again. "I want to find my son! I want to find my son!"
Ai Xiafen scolded her husband a bit and saw Li Banfeng and the others to the door.
The moment they reached the doorway, Li Banfeng heard the projector's voice: "Director Seven, I'm suffocating. The light and colors in this place are choking me."
After leaving the compound, Li Banfeng went to the pharmacy and asked the boss lady what medications Zhang Peiwen usually purchased.
Beside him, Mingxing asked, "Bureau Chief Li, are we really going to help her buy medicine?"
Li Banfeng glared at him. "Isn't that what we're supposed to do? Where is your sense of public service?"
Mingxing fell silent. The boss lady checked her ledger and wrote down the names of the medications.
Not knowing much about medicine either, Li Banfeng had Tangyuan forward the names directly to the Medical Department.
Lightbulb blinked. "Bureau Chief, you're not trying to buy medicine for her—you're investigating her?"
Tangyuan didn't quite get it either. "Why investigate her?"
Zhong'er said, "I think Bureau Chief Li's line of thought is sound."
Mingxing frowned. "Stop always harping on the Bureau Chief's line of thought. Stop playing the yes-man and tell us what you're thinking for once."
Zhong'er hesitated, holding his tongue. Once everyone was back in the car, Sui Qijun, head of the Medical Department, sent his reply.
"Bureau Chief Li, the functional indications for the drug names you provided are rather vague. From these products, it is very difficult to deduce what illness the patient is suffering from."
"What kind of answer is that?" Li Banfeng said, displeased. "The prescription is right in front of you, and you still can't tell what the ailment is?"
Sui Qijun sounded embarrassed. "Bureau Chief Li, I don't want to make an arbitrary judgment, but based on what I can see, strictly speaking, the items you provided can't be classified as medicines."
"If they aren't medicine, what are they? I found all of these in a pharmacy."
"They ought to be considered health supplements. They claim some therapeutic benefits, but their ingredients are relatively complex, their efficacy is uncertain, and their prices are quite exorbitant."
Li Banfeng hung up and fell silent for a good while.
Mingxing piped up from the side, "People can take whatever they like; that's none of our business. But since they're just health supplements and not essential medication, we don't have to go out of our way to buy them for her."
Lightbulb pondered for a moment. "Section Chief Sui said these supplements are quite expensive. Looking at their living conditions, they didn't seem like wealthy people."
Tangyuan said, "That just shows you don't understand how things are. Many elderly folks have a blind faith in supplements. Even if they don't have money, they'll scrape together enough to buy some."
Zhong'er shook his head. "It's not that simple."
Li Banfeng looked at Zhong'er. "What evidence did you find just now?"
Mingxing said, "In that home, I doubt there was anything valuable to find."
Ignoring Mingxing, Zhong'er handed the evidence to Li Banfeng. Looking it over, Li Banfeng found his suspicions further confirmed.
Back at the Bureau, they headed into a conference room, where Zhong'er produced a plastic bag. "Earlier, I speculated that Zhang Peiwen would never be willing to spend money on a taxi. I found this tucked inside a slit in his mattress."
Lightbulb took the plastic bag and looked inside. It was filled with loose change of various denominations. The largest was a single ten-yuan note; the rest were one-yuan and five-yuan bills, along with several uncommon coins.
"This is probably change left over from buying medicine." Mingxing made a rough tally; all together, the loose change came to just over a hundred yuan.
"Or leftover change from grocery shopping," Zhong'er said, holding up a schedule. "This daily schedule was taped to his desk. It took quite a bit of effort to peel it off."
Lightbulb held the schedule, reading through it, and his brow furrowed.
Monday:
7:00 AM – Wake up
7:15 AM – 7:30 AM – Bathroom
7:30 AM – 8:00 AM – Breakfast
8:00 AM – 10:00 AM – Walk Dad around the compound
10:00 AM – 11:00 AM – Market for groceries
11:00 AM – 12:00 PM – Cook lunch with Mom
12:00 PM – Lunch
12:30 PM – 2:00 PM – Afternoon rest
2:00 PM – 3:00 PM – Watch television
3:00 PM – 3:30 PM – Buy Mom's medicine
3:30 PM – 4:00 PM – Watch television at home
4:00 PM – 5:00 PM – Market for groceries
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM – Cook dinner with Mom
6:30 PM – 7:30 PM – Clean house
7:30 PM – 8:30 PM – Wash laundry
8:30 PM – Bedtime
Tangyuan looked at the change in the plastic bag and said to Li Banfeng, "Chief, regarding the matter of hailing a taxi, I still stand by my view. I don't believe the cab driver lied. Zhang Peiwen is a frugal person, but that doesn't mean he lacked the ability to spend."
Zhong'er shook his head. "Even if he had the spending power, he would never have spent it on a cab. You can see from the schedule that every Wednesday afternoon, his mother reviews the receipts with him. Even this change is accounted for by Ai Xiafen."
Tangyuan had already scanned the schedule. "This schedule doesn't prove anything. Maybe his family just has a very rigid sense of time. Everyone has different ways of living, different pursuits. We shouldn't judge other people by our own standards."
Zhong'er produced a flyer. "This was found inside Zhang Peiwen's pillow—a flyer for smartphones. The cheapest phone on it costs only six hundred twenty-eight yuan. He circled the number 628 several times. If he had money to spend, what he longed for was definitely this phone, not a taxi ride!"
Mingxing said, "Nobody said he definitely wanted to hail a cab. The driver said Zhang Peiwen kept staring at him, so he thought Zhang Peiwen wanted a ride and that's how the misunderstanding happened."
"There wouldn't be that kind of misunderstanding!" Zhong'er shook his head repeatedly. "When I don't have money to take a cab, I never dare to stare at one. I imagine everyone here has had a similar experience."
Lightbulb chuckled. "Not necessarily. I'd dare to look."
Li Banfeng asked Lightbulb, "When was the last time you took a cab? You've had a car to drive ever since you graduated."
"Perhaps..." Clues were beginning to surface, but Tangyuan was still trying to defend Ai Xiafen. "As a mother, her way of treating her child might have its flaws, but that doesn't negate her love for him. I saw ingredients in the kitchen—she prepared the stir-fried carrots her son loves most, and she's still waiting for him to come home."
"Stir-fried carrots," Zhong'er said, turning to Li Banfeng. "Bureau Chief Li, do you remember how Zhang Qinghai reacted when carrots were mentioned?"
Li Banfeng remembered the scene vividly. "He wanted to find his son. His reaction was intense, as if he couldn't wait to burst out of that apartment."
"He did want to burst out, but not necessarily to find his son. He probably just couldn't stomach another bite of carrots—he wanted to escape that house." Zhong'er produced a stack of receipts. "These are the supermarket receipts for this month's groceries. Their household bought carrots every single day.
"When I opened their fridge, there were several plates of stir-fried carrots inside, along with a mountain of fresh carrots. Eaten like that, who could possibly stand carrots? How could Zhang Peiwen genuinely love them?
"That was Zhang Peiwen's life: eating the same food every day, doing the same chores, with his every move monitored and controlled by Ai Xiafen. Even his bedroom door was transparent."
Tangyuan fell silent for a long time. She truly couldn't comprehend how such family dynamics could exist. "If Zhang Peiwen were willing to find a job on his own and support himself with his own income, he wouldn't have to submit to so much control."
Zhong'er held up the schedule. "Captain You, you heard Ai Xiafen's account. He left at three to buy medicine, and if he wasn't back by three-forty, Ai Xiafen went looking for him. The buffer Ai Xiafen gave Zhang Peiwen didn't exceed ten minutes. He couldn't even go straight to buy groceries after returning from the pharmacy—he had to sit at home for half an hour before going out for groceries. Under that degree of control, do you think Zhang Peiwen could find a job? Would Ai Xiafen ever allow him to look for one?"
Tangyuan said nothing more.
Zhong'er gathered the evidence. "Captain You, growing up in different environments leads to different perceptions of things. I've seen situations like this in people I know, so these findings don't surprise me. But on one point, we share common ground: I also think there's no need to investigate that taxi driver any further."
Lightbulb blinked in surprise. "What are you talking about? Didn't we spend all this time trying to determine if the cab driver was suspicious? Now that you've found the discrepancy, you're saying not to investigate?"
Zhong'er shook his head. "Investigate him for what? To rescue Zhang Peiwen? For Zhang Peiwen, going anywhere is better than staying in that home. Rather than dragging him back into the fiery pit, we'd be better off doing something actually useful."
Tangyuan disagreed. "We can't substitute an isolated case for the big picture. Once Gourd Village opens for business, many people will go missing. Their situations won't be like Zhang Peiwen's."
This time, Zhong'er didn't speak. Everyone turned their eyes to Li Banfeng; in the end, the decision rested with him.
Li Banfeng was pondering an important question. "What does it actually look like inside Gourd Village? Do any of you want to go take a look?"
Chapter 595