Chapter 254 - The Boar's Brother

Qing Chen and Qing Lok were hard at work. A whiteboard had been pulled in the room and there were marks everywhere on it. Feng Xuan dropped down on the seat next to Wuming.

"You're right, I don't think I'll be able to keep up with them," she said.

"What did I tell you? Just let them figure it out. We'll move when we're needed." Wuming was just busily tilting his phone to turn the car on his phone. 

"I mean, a friend of mine used to send me some mystery manuscripts before but I never did bother to try to break some of the codes and riddles there. I just wait for the answers to be given to me."

"Right?" Wuming sympatized. "There's an answer in the end anyway. You just have to wait to get there." He nodded towards Qing Lok and Wuming. "They're going to figure that out. They're really smart."

Feng Xuan huffed a breath. She hated feeling useless so she got up. "I'm going to ask them how they're doing."

Qing Chen was in front of the board where a huge world map was attached. His hand was on his chin, thinking intently and staring at the map. Feng Xuan looked from behind his shoulder.

"Are you seeing something that I am not seeing?" she joked. She knew she was not supposed to be making them but she wanted to lighten the air a little.

Qing Chen kindly smiled to her, "We're having progress. We know that three-twenty meant the 20th of March."

Feng Xuan thought back to the riddle. "So on 30th of March I will be 'suffer greatly'."

"If our interpretation is correct, then yes," he answered grimly.

She ran a hand through her hair. Just how would The Zookeeper get to her. There was no one else that he could harm apart from her father. He had always said that he was one who played dirty. So he probably would not touch anyone else apart from them.

Feng Xuan bit her lip, "We have to get to him before March 20."

"That is the plan. I don't think he knew there was a tracker on the letter we sent him. That was why he was so confident to give us clues. We've had hits all over the world. Once we figure this out it'll narrow everything down."

"But are we sure that three-twenty meant March 20?" she asked again, suddenly feeling her stomach tilt. As much as she did not want to think about it, there was a prospect of her dying by the end of next month.

"It's the nearest date and he said that we should not think too hard on it or we'll miss what he wanted to tell us. Yeah, we are right on that."

Unexpectedly, Qing Chen's certainty made her scared. "Does that mean he would kill your dad on the 20th?"

"That's what he said." Qing Chen shrugged then whispered so Qing Lok would not hear. "At least I know he'll still be alive by then." Qing Chen pressed on his jaw, forcing his mind to think.

The sun rises in the west… he had heard of that on a TV show before but he could not make the connection. He closed his eyes and pressed in between his eyebrows. "There has to be something in this."

"You know," Qing Lok suddenly said, his eyes were trained on the paper where the riddle was printed. "I don't think The Zookeeper wrote this. Do you get what I mean? All his letters before had been short and direct. Now it was long and had a riddle."

Qing Chen nodded. "I kind of sensed that earlier too. Didn't he say he was not feeling well? Or something like that?"

"Do you think someone else took over?"

"So he's also taking over The Zookeeper's revenge on Feng Xuan?"

Qing Lok shrugged. "I don't know… maybe. Or maybe The Zookeeper is not one person, you know? Like, it's not a title. Maybe someone else there wants us."

Qing Chen closed his eyes. There were too many faces staring back at him on who wanted to have their heads. "Let's not think about that as of the moment."

"Boss," said Clown when he entered the room. He carefully stepped over the cords on the floor. "Your father took men with him. But he's clearly off-grid. The men nearest him that has connection to him are ten miles away from him and could only be reached through a radio. Now, we have another team close to them—they have a telephone. You can call them later at two in the morning."

Qing Chen looked at the clock. It was almost midnight. "Okay," he answered. "Thanks, Clown. And please get me a list of the people we're in alliance with. Squeeze them for answers. I don't care who knows who… I need a connection."

"I'll be back tomorrow to report," nodded Clown and left.

Qing Chen was about to turn back to the whiteboard when one of the IT people suddenly exclaimed. "I got something!!"

They quickly rushed over and looked at the picture on the screen. It was a face of a middle-aged man with thick beard, a strong round face, and glaring at the camera.

"That's him," Feng Xuan said.

"Who?"

"The Boar." Memories flickered in her mind, taking her back on that house… to the death of her mother… and how she used the heel of her hand to drive this man's nose to his brain. Now that she thought about it, she shivered. "He's The Zookeeper's brother."

Feng Xuan was just about to read the information when the IT person closed the window. A familiar logo of a famous secret service agency showed on the screen. "What happened?"

"We can't stay long, they'll find us."

"But I was reading that!"

"Don't worry. I read it all already. The Boar… he was a brother."

"So where's the brother?"

"He is dead."