After breakfast, except for An Zai who stayed behind to continue the surveillance, everyone else returned to L Province first.

In the car on the way back, Qi Yun looked at the materials sent by the Ning County police. As he had deduced, the couple's bank and WeChat accounts had no large deposits over the past few years.

This trip wasn't in vain. Although he didn't directly contact Yao Fengjuan, Qi Yun had already figured out a way to make Yao Yuzhong talk through clues.

....

Returning to the First Prison of L Province, Warden Wang tactfully did not ask many questions. After a brief chat with Qi Yun, he had someone lead him to meet Yao Yuzhong.

The iron door of the interrogation room closed with a clang, and Yao Yuzhong looked the same as always. He sat hunched over, his eyelids drooping, seemingly disinterested in everything.

Qi Yun got straight to the point. After sitting down, he pushed his phone over. On the screen was the wedding photo of Yao Fengjuan and her husband.

"I went to your hometown."

Yao Yuzhong glanced at the screen, his eyelids barely lifting, and although his eyes showed no emotion, his throat moved slightly but he said nothing.

"Your daughter drives a car worth two or three hundred thousand, lives comfortably, and keeps more than a million in cash at home. She's living well."

"But I have a question I'd like you to help me answer." Qi Yun said as he pulled out the materials from his bag and pushed them over. "Where do you think that more than a million came from?"

"There are no transaction records, and no taxes paid. I'm quite curious."

Upon hearing this, Yao Yuzhong's thumb and forefinger involuntarily pinched together on the table; a subconscious sign of nervousness.

Qi Yun keenly caught this detail, further confirming his suspicions.

"You're asking the wrong person."

Yao Yuzhong finally spoke, explaining, "When I was arrested, she wasn't married yet. I haven't seen her in a long time and don't know her current situation."

"Is that so." Qi Yun chuckled softly, staring intently at him with a hint of meaning.

This kind of tomb raider usually has good psychological resilience. Qi Yun had seen it when he helped Shi Feng with a matter in Bird City before.

These people live recklessly, caring little for tomorrow, and are stubborn to the core.

Qi Yun casually lit a cigarette, continuing to pressure him.

He pulled Guo An's badge from his jacket pocket and handed it over: "Even someone with sharp eyes can be misled sometimes. Do you recognize this?"

The moment Yao Yuzhong's eyes landed on the badge, his formerly hunched body instantly froze. Upon seeing the national emblem, for the first time, panic appeared on his aged face.

"Guo... Guo An."

That was a department he'd only heard about in rumors...

"Good that you recognize it." Qi Yun took back the badge, flicked the ash from his cigarette leisurely, and said, "You hid the looted artifacts at a location, and three years ago, when Yao Fengjuan first visited, you told her where."

"Am I wrong?"

Yao Yuzhong lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly, lips quivering: "I don't know what you're talking about..."

"Oh~ Old Yao, we're all smart people. Whether you admit it or not makes no difference to me."

"Smuggling artifacts is a serious crime. If I have them brought back for investigation, I'm sure they'll cooperate soon enough, don't you think?"

"Then I could arrange for them to serve time in this prison, and you could all get a bit of fresh air together, right?"

Yao Yuzhong's face turned instantly pale, his mental defense completely broke down, and he slumped in the chair as if all his strength had been drained from him.

He had indeed hidden a lot of treasures outside, thinking he had done it without anyone knowing, but hadn't expected to be found out...

Qi Yun wasn't bluffing. That department didn't need evidence to investigate someone—just suspicion was enough.

After weighing his options internally, Yao Yuzhong finally made a choice, sighed, "What do you want me to do to let them go?"

Seeing him relent, Qi Yun's tone returned to calm as he held up two fingers, "It's simple, two things."

"First, reveal all the locations where you've hidden the artifacts."

"Second, answer the question I asked you last time."

Yao Yuzhong took a deep breath and nodded helplessly: "Fine, I'll cooperate."

Qi Yun took out paper and pen from his bag. After Yao Yuzhong wrote down all the hiding places, he took a photo and sent it to Xiao Hanguang's secretary, Xiao Han, briefly explaining the situation in a text.

"Can I have a cigarette?" Yao Yuzhong asked Qi Yun with a complex expression.

Qi Yun didn't rush him and tossed him a cigarette and lighter, waiting quietly as he smoked.

With trembling hands, Yao Yuzhong lit the cigarette, took a few deep puffs, and finally began his tale, "The Ai Lao Shan treasure you asked about last time, I do know where it is."

"In all my years of traveling, that was probably the most dangerous place I've ever been to. When we went, we were six, and I was the only one who came out alive..."

Amid the swirling smoke, his eyes grew distant as if traveling back to that forest.

"We started into the mountains in the morning and soon encountered miasma. It was indistinguishable from ordinary fog. We didn't pay much attention at first, but within minutes of breathing it, someone in our group got delirious, heading straight off a cliff."

"All of us were affected then. We had brief blindness; we couldn't grab him in time and watched him fall off the cliff."

"Then we realized it was the mist and quickly covered our mouths and noses with wet cloths, barely stabilizing ourselves."