Love on the Turquoise Land

Yan Tuo returned to the villa that day and had a conversation with Lin Ling. He didn’t dare reveal the crucial details—after all, everyone still had to stay around Lin Xirou for a while. Lin Ling wasn’t good at hiding her emotions, and it wouldn’t be good if any cracks showed in her eyes or behavior.

He only told Lin Ling that preparations were already underway, but to ensure everything went smoothly, they needed more time. During this period, she must act obediently in front of Lin Xirou and verbally agree to whatever was asked of her.

The next day, Lin Xirou and Xiong Hei returned.

Both looked grim. Yan Tuo guessed it was because of the mess with Chen Fu and Han Guan. Good—the more chaotic things were on their end, the more harmonious he needed to appear. Yan Tuo pretended not to notice and even went to the office to clock in, signing a stack of backlogged documents.

Just before leaving work that day, Lin Ling sent him a message:

—Aunt Lin just scolded Xiong Hei.

Yan Tuo replied instantly: Did you hear anything?

Lin Ling sent a voice message.

“I just went downstairs to pick up a package and overheard them in the small living room. It was fragmented, just a few sentences. Aunt Lin said, ‘If you can’t find the people, then find the car. Doesn’t the car have GPS tracking? And aren’t there plenty of traffic cameras? Didn’t any of them catch the car?’”

It must have been about Chen Fu and Han Guan.

Chen Fu’s car did have GPS tracking—but Yan Tuo had disabled it.

There were also plenty of traffic cameras, but when he moved the car, it was at night, and he deliberately took routes not marked on the navigation.

A second voice message arrived. Yan Tuo tapped to listen.

“Xiong Hei sounded helpless. He said, ‘Lin-jie, if the GPS is turned off or not connected to the internet, it can’t send the latest location. Traffic cameras are set up on main roads. If the car went through rural farmland, which camera would catch it?’ Basically, shortly after leaving Shihe County, it just… vanished.”

A third message followed immediately.

“Aunt Lin lost her temper, saying Xiong Hei was brainless for not taking such a big matter seriously from the start. She also said, ‘Don’t just focus on after the disappearance. What about before? Who did they meet? Where did they go? Shouldn’t you investigate that too?’”

Yan Tuo sent a voice reply: “Just now?”

Lin Ling replied: “Yeah, about ten minutes ago. I left when I felt Xiong Hei was about to come out. After I walked away, I heard them mention Lü Xian, but I didn’t catch the rest.”

Her voice noticeably carried resentment when saying “Lü Xian.”

Yan Tuo had meant to remind her to keep up the act—since she had “agreed” to interact with Lü Xian, she shouldn’t show such aversion. But his mind was preoccupied, and his thoughts quickly shifted elsewhere.

—Lin Xirou had told Xiong Hei not to focus solely on after the disappearance but to investigate before it—who they met, where they went.

Before the disappearance, Nie Jiuluo couldn’t avoid suspicion. She had appeared in at least two places quite noticeably.

First, at the hotel front desk, where she had crossed paths with Han Guan. That wasn’t too bad—she was checking out at the time, didn’t know Han Guan, and had left before him.

Second, at the restaurant where she eavesdropped. That was also manageable because after they exchanged information at Liu Changxi’s house, Yan Tuo had called the restaurant to ask. Due to the high number of cameras and large storage usage, their surveillance footage was overwritten every seven days. By now, it was basically impossible to retrieve.The real worry was if Xiong Hei and his team investigated too thoroughly—things like road surveillance cameras or footage from the shop across the street. That was beyond his control.

Also, Lin Ling had mentioned "Lü Xian," which reminded him—he still owed Lü Xian a phone.

After leaving the company, Yan Tuo made a detour to his usual phone store. As a regular and generous customer, he was immediately given one-on-one service by the owner.

The so-called latest model with a foldable screen didn’t particularly interest him, but watching the owner demonstrate its features was still amusing. Just as he was about to scan the payment, a sudden thought struck him. He held off on paying, glanced around, then leaned in and lowered his voice: "Can you install surveillance on this phone?"

The owner froze, then quickly ushered him into a back room.

Seemed like there was a way. Yan Tuo caught the hint.

Sure enough, once inside, the owner put on a mysterious expression. "Mr. Yan, you’re not planning corporate espionage, are you? That’s way too risky—we don’t dare. At most, out of sympathy and justice, we help wives catch cheating husbands or monitor scumbags."

This guy was sharp. Yan Tuo chuckled. "Corporate espionage? Nah. Just started dating this girl, and something feels off. I suspect she’s using my money to support someone else. So, I’m buying her a phone as a birthday gift and figured I’d ask."

The owner nodded sympathetically. "Ran into a gold digger, huh? Rich folks, men or women, all have this problem."

He then gave Yan Tuo the rundown.

Apparently, with tech advancing, physical bugs were outdated. The latest trend was spyware. The owner enthusiastically recommended a model priced at two thousand: "Once this is installed, you’ll need a dedicated number. We’ll pair it so the number can’t call the phone, but if you dial it and the screen flashes, that means the signal’s connected. After that, even if they’re not on a call, you can hear everything around them—meaning with this software, the phone itself becomes a listening device."

This one fit his needs perfectly. Without hesitation, Yan Tuo paid in full and even handed over his own phone for inspection to ensure it wasn’t bugged. He couldn’t help but feel a little ironic—he didn’t want to be monitored, yet here he was, secretly setting up surveillance on Lü Xian.

Then again, he consoled himself—it was all to deal with the Di Xiao. Desperate times called for desperate measures. The rest didn’t matter.

By the time he returned to the villa, it was already dark. The moment he stepped inside, he saw Xiong Hei downstairs on the phone, clearly in a foul mood: "What do you mean the video’s too big to email? Can’t you upload it to cloud storage? All you know is brute force, huh? If you don’t keep up with the times, you’ll be left behind, got it?"

Yan Tuo’s expression darkened. He pretended not to see him and walked past.

Sure enough, within two steps, Xiong Hei’s furious shout came from behind: "Yan Tuo! Stop right there!"

Yan Tuo halted, then after a beat, turned around with an infuriatingly casual smirk. "What’s up?"

Xiong Hei was fuming. "Look at that attitude! You didn’t see me? Didn’t see I’m in a bad mood? Couldn’t even bother to ask what’s wrong?"In the past, he would have been all over me with "Brother Xiong this, Brother Xiong that."

Yan Tuo said, "I saw it, but since I'm not included anymore, what's it got to do with me?"

Xiong Hei was momentarily speechless from his retort.

To be honest, he used to look down on Yan Tuo. But ever since Yan Tuo "bared his heart" to him during the farm incident, his opinion had changed. Sure, the guy was ambitious and a bit of a flatterer, but at least he was "genuine" about it.

He slapped Yan Tuo on the back. "Come on, man, don't be so petty. You don't just cozy up to people when you need them and ditch them when you don't."

The slap left Yan Tuo momentarily at a loss for words.

Xiong Hei's survival meant he undoubtedly had his own "blood bags," and over the years, he must have done plenty of dirty work. But after so many interactions, Yan Tuo had seen the human side of Xiong Hei—even a friendly side toward him. It was hard not to feel conflicted. Just like how, growing up, Lin Xirou had genuinely cared for him. Such accumulated closeness could easily erode one's resolve. Sometimes, he had to deliberately revisit his mother's diaries, drawing and reinforcing hatred from those words.

He steadied himself. "Brother Xiong, what's got you so worried?"

Xiong Hei stayed silent.

Yan Tuo scoffed. "You complain when no one cares, but when I do, you treat me like an outsider. Fine, I’m not worthy. The moon’s out—go pour your heart out to it instead."

Xiong Hei was both annoyed and amused. "What the hell are you babbling about? Ugh, it’s those two brothers I mentioned before—the ones who disappeared in Shihe."

As he spoke, he lit a cigarette and took a drag.

Yan Tuo was surprised. "Still no trace of them?"

Xiong Hei exhaled a slow stream of smoke, as if to say, See how troubled I am?

Yan Tuo asked, "These brothers—they’re from your same bloodline, right?"

Xiong Hei grunted in affirmation.

Yan Tuo said, "Don’t stress too much. With all the surveillance cameras around these days, they shouldn’t be hard to find."

Xiong Hei sighed. "We’ve tried. They vanished on their way from Shihe to Nanba. You know how it is—plenty of cameras in the city, but not so much in the countryside, especially the mountains."

Yan Tuo pondered for a moment. "If that’s the case, I’d suggest looking backward. Don’t focus too much on where they went after disappearing. Figure out what happened before they vanished."

Xiong Hei froze, then stared at him intently for a long moment.

Yan Tuo frowned. "What?"

Xiong Hei gave him a thumbs-up. "Not bad. That’s some sharp thinking. Sister Lin said the same thing. Looks like you’re really trying to help."

Yan Tuo smiled. "Just... is it easy to get the footage?"

Xiong Hei waved a hand dismissively. "No big deal. We’ve got connections in Shihe. Hotels, street cameras—anything from that timeframe, we’ve got copies. It’s just... there’s so damn much of it..."

He rubbed his hair in frustration.

Yan Tuo kept his tone neutral. "Get more people to help review it. That’ll speed things up."

"Already did. Probably pulling an all-nighter tonight."

Yan Tuo offered, "Need a hand? I’ve got nothing better to do. How about I order some late-night snacks and half a jug of beer?"Xiong Hei dragged Yan Tuo along, partly for the food and drinks, but also because watching these tedious videos alone was too dull—he had gathered a few people, but they were Li Yueying, Feng Mi, and Yang Zheng, all still at the farm.

The videos were divided into several parts, each uploaded to different people’s cloud storage: Han Guan’s hotel (Xiong Hei), Chen Fu’s bathhouse (Yang Zheng), Chen Fu’s car within Shihe County (Feng Mi), and Chen Fu’s car outside Shihe County (Li Yueying).

Yan Tuo roughly understood: Han Guan and Chen Fu had arrived in Shihe separately. Han Guan had stayed at a hotel, while Chen Fu had spent the night at a bathhouse getting a massage. The two met up at noon the next day, planning to head to Nanba together.

He had assumed they’d watch on a computer, but Xiong Hei complained that the images were too small and strained his eyes. Instead, he turned the villa’s entertainment room into a makeshift theater, projecting the footage onto an entire wall with the lights off, as if they were watching a movie in a cinema.

Since they were reviewing past footage, Xiong Hei started with the day Han Guan checked out of the hotel.

The 720p high-definition camera generated over 30GB of footage per day, and for easier uploading, it had been split into hundreds of 200MB video files. Opening the folder revealed a dense list that couldn’t even fit on one screen—no wonder Xiong Hei had cursed, “Damn, it’s too much and too big.”

Yan Tuo sipped his beer slowly as Xiong Hei opened the videos, fast-forwarded through them, and moved on to the next after confirming there was nothing substantial.

Suddenly, Xiong Hei said, “Here he comes.”

He paused the footage and pointed at Han Guan’s face on the screen. “See? That’s him.”

In the video, Han Guan was dragging his luggage, likely heading to check out.

Yan Tuo nodded, set down his beer, and straightened up.

Nie Jiuluo should appear soon.

Xiong Hei hit play.

The footage showed a normal checkout line. The camera’s clarity was impressive, especially with the wall-sized projection…

Yan Tuo tensed up.

Sure enough, before long, he spotted a familiar figure—back then, she hadn’t been injured yet…

Remembering how she now had to rely on supports to move around, he couldn’t help but smile faintly.

Xiong Hei suddenly made a surprised noise. “Han Guan talked to this woman.”

Yan Tuo’s heart clenched, but he kept his tone casual. “Probably just letting her go first, being polite.”

Before Xiong Hei could even finish his “Oh,” he blurted out, “Wait—this woman!”

He paused the video again.

Yan Tuo’s scalp prickled.

Xiong Hei stared at the screen, struggling to recall, then suddenly pointed at Yan Tuo in realization. “Isn’t this that woman you hooked up with? The one you spent the night with and then dumped in the mountains?”

Back when Yan Tuo had gone missing and his whereabouts were still unknown, Lin Xirou’s side had put out a reward and tracked down the driver Lao Qian—they had almost started investigating Nie Jiuluo next. So Xiong Hei remembered her. Besides, Nie Jiuluo’s looks weren’t the kind people easily forgot.

Yan Tuo swallowed lightly. “Yeah, she went back.”

Xiong Hei didn’t understand. “Went back where?”

Yan Tuo replied flatly, “Didn’t I tell you? She’s a sculptor. She travels regularly to provinces like Shanxi and Shaanxi, where there are lots of historical sites and clay sculptures. These past few months, she’s been lingering around southern Shaanxi.”

Xiong Hei leaned forward, studying Nie Jiuluo for a long moment. “She’s pretty. Not thinking of getting back together? Even if you don’t marry her, a few more nights wouldn’t hurt.”

He chuckled suggestively.Yan Tuo said to him, "Brother Xiong, if you keep this up, I won't stay up late with you. We agreed to focus on the important matters."

Xiong Hei chuckled, "Alright, alright, important matters, important matters."

Because of this little exchange, Xiong Hei inexplicably felt lighter in mood. As he continued scrolling through the videos, he started humming a tune and complained to Yan Tuo, "Han Guan met up with Chen Fu the next day, which means nothing happened at the hotel, right?"

Yan Tuo was more than happy for him to drop it there. "Yeah, I think if anything happened, it's more likely to be on Feng Mi's side."

Xiong Hei hesitated for a moment but still wasn't used to cutting corners. "Sister Lin gave us the task. I'll finish going through it."

Whatever, let him go through it. At least the part about Nie Jiuluo had been covered up. A weight lifted from Yan Tuo's heart, and he finally felt like having the late-night snack, even downing two cans of beer with the side dishes.

He didn't know how much longer they dragged on. Just as he was bending down to pull the tab on the third can, the sound and images suddenly stopped.

It was a pause—no more sound, no more flickering light. Xiong Hei sat motionless beside him.

A strange sense of oppression rose in Yan Tuo's chest. He looked up.

On the projection screen was still the front desk scene—Han Guan dragging his suitcase, checking in. This must have been the evening of the previous day.

But that wasn't the main point. The main point was that someone was walking through the lobby, heading out.

Xiong Hei finally spoke.

He said, "Yan Tuo, isn't that you?"