Star Trace Gate

On the second floor of the shopping mall, inside Tianhai Tea House.

Ren Ye stood in front of the treasure display cabinet, reached out and picked up a pack of very exquisite tea cakes, and softly recited the words on the card: "Thousand-year-old Huiyuan tea, taken from the fourth-grade Tuoshan secret realm. One sip will lead you into the immortal gate, and Huiyuan will gain immortality. This is a unique divine tea for the enlightenment of the Yin-Yang system, and one gram contains 2000 star sources."

Xiao Shuai stood aside, looking at the tea cake and said, "The oil paper is filled with fragrance, which makes people feel more energetic. It's a good thing."

"Ah."

Ren Ye smiled coldly and turned his head to look at him: "Your family conditions are quite good...!"

"It's okay." Xiao Shuai was stunned: "What's wrong?"

"It's okay."

Ren didn't say anything else and just put the tea cake back into the display case.

After a while, a middle-aged man in a suit came out hurriedly: "Who's looking for me?"

A service staff pointed at Ren Ye and Xiao Shuai and said softly, "Patrol in the building."

"These guys are really haunting."

The middle-aged man in a suit muttered irritably and walked towards Ren Ye: "Sir, why are you here again?!"

"Any questions?" Ren Ye looked at him.

"It's not a problem." The middle-aged man in a suit replied with a slightly impatient look on his face: "It's just that you have come three or four times regarding Old Yan's matter, and I have said everything I should say. There are really no new clues. If you keep asking like this, it will affect my business... Outsiders will think that I have committed a crime."

"Old Yan really just sat in the box and drank a pot of tea that day. He stayed there for no more than 20 minutes. No one saw when he left or who he left with. Besides, our surveillance cameras were broken, so there was no footage."

"Master Patrol, this is all I know."

"Do you have anything else to do?"

"...!"

Ren Ye only said one sentence, but the other party responded with a lot of gibberish as if he had stepped on a cat's tail.

"You should behave properly." Xiao Shuai raised his eyebrows coldly and said, "When the inspector asks you questions, just answer them."

"Haha, okay, then you can ask." The middle-aged man in a suit replied in a perfunctory manner: "Anyway, my answer is just now..."

Ren also looked at him: "Are you the boss?"

"Yeah. What's the matter, is the boss breaking the law?" He replied in a tone very much like a professional butcher.

"I'm here to talk to you today, not just about Old Yan's matter." Ren Ye's face suddenly turned cold: "There's another thing. Are you selling fake tea in your store? You're really brave. The wife of the top craftsman in the Ministry of Industry comes to buy tea, and you dare to give her fake tea?!"

The boss was a little confused for a moment and blinked his eyes: "No... No. Who is spreading rumors? You didn't buy it from me?!"

Ren Ye showed his patrol ID and said calmly: "We'll know if it's a rumor or not after we take a look. Take me to your tea warehouse, right now..."

"Uh, this... the key to the tea storehouse is not with me." The boss suddenly said with sweat dripping down his back, "It's with my wife."

"Then there's no need for the key. I can open it myself." Ren Ye waved his hand and urged, "Lead the way."

After saying that, he took a step and walked into the tea shop.

Xiao Shuai looked at Ren Ye in astonishment, then smiled thoughtfully.

The boss was stunned for a moment, then immediately chased after him, stretched out his hand to grab Ren Ye's arm, and said softly: "Mr. Patrol...!"

"Hey, don't do anything, otherwise I will have reason to suspect that you want to attack the law enforcers." Ren Ye pointed at him instantly.

The boss immediately loosened his grip, and said with sweat on his forehead: "There must be a misunderstanding here."

"I'm giving you two choices now. First, take me to the tea warehouse and investigate the case of fake tea first; second, talk about Old Yan's matter, and the fake tea can be kept for a few hours." Ren Ye spoke in a lot of official language, looking like a real "honest official".

The boss was silent for three seconds, then he immediately grinned and extended his hand to invite him, "Come on, sir, let's go to the tea room and talk about Old Yan. Xiao Li, brew a gram of the opened Huiyuan tea... Hurry up...!"

"Ah."

Ren also took a step and followed.

Xiao Shuai looked at the back of his head in astonishment, and immediately asked in a voice transmission: "Brother, how did you know that fake tea is sold in this store?"

Ren Ye replied calmly: "You open it, and you sell it."

……

In a quiet tea room.

Ren Ye didn't even touch the teacup, he just intervened and asked, "What time did Lao Yan come?"

"I remember...it should be around 11:." The boss thought for a moment and replied.

"Aren't you closing at 11:?" Ren Ye asked curiously.

"That's right. The shopping mall closes at 12 o'clock, but people often play cards in my teahouse, and some leaders and craftsmen in the building come here to sit and drink tea, so it usually closes at o'clock." The boss replied.

"Does Old Yan come here often?" Xiao Shuai suddenly asked.

"He seldom comes here." The boss shook his head, "But I know him. Or rather, most of the people in this building know each other."

Xiao Shuai blinked: "Does Song An come here often?"

“That little bastard…!” The boss was stunned for a moment and immediately changed his words: “Oh, no, Mr. Song… did come here to buy some goods, but he is not a regular customer.”

"Does Song Mingzhe come here often?" Ren Ye asked.

"Master Song, of course he comes here often. He is one of the main leaders in this building. Although my shop... although it is not so pure, whether it is the environment, the goods, or the decoration of the private room, it is first-class." The boss said proudly: "Mrs. Song also often brings some friends here."

"Oh."

Ren also nodded slightly: "What time did Lao Yan leave?"

"Around 23:45, because it was almost closing time, so I have some impression." The boss said softly: "He came in and didn't sit for long, and didn't even have tea."

"Then describe in detail the scene when he left." Xiao Shuai said.

The boss rubbed his palms and recalled carefully: "I was clearing the accounts at the front desk and asked the tea master to cut some fruit for Lao Yan. But unexpectedly, he suddenly came out of the private room and ran straight to the back door... I also reminded him that the elevator at the front door was not closed and he could go upstairs directly. He replied that he knew, but still left through the back door."

"Back door?" Ren also raised an eyebrow: "Is there any video record?"

“This is really not the case.”

The boss looked around furtively and said in a low voice: "This is... a private space that serves the upper class. If you want to do good business, you can't just install cameras casually. Otherwise, if you take pictures that you shouldn't, wouldn't that cause trouble for you? And customers won't want to come here anymore...!"

"Oh, what a clever profiteer."

Xiao Shuai commented in his heart.

Ren Ye slowly stood up and said, "Come on, take us to the back door."

"Would you like to have a sip of tea?" The boss invited, "It's really good."

"Hehe, I'm afraid I'll get an upset stomach if I drink it." Xiao Shuai replied sarcastically.

"You must be joking!"

Soon, the three of them walked to the security door behind the tea room.

Ren also looked around and found that the window in the corridor faced the small square on the first floor, so he asked: "Did you see Old Yan go that way after he left here?"

The boss nodded and said, "I didn't see it, but the guy who was cleaning up here saw it and said he went to the south."

"There are a lot of things you don't know, right? Then why didn't you want to tell someone when they asked you about it before?" Xiao Shuai looked at him with his hands behind his back.

"A warehouse manager of the inner warehouse is no small figure. He suddenly disappeared. Who knows what unspeakable secrets are hidden behind it." The boss lowered his voice and said, "I am a businessman, and the first thing a businessman should learn is... to keep his mouth shut. To be honest, if you two hadn't come and we had a good chat, I really wouldn't have mentioned this matter..."

"Okay, let's go down and take a look first."

Ren also pointed downstairs and said, "If there are any new questions later, I will come up to you. You'd better not leave work before twelve o'clock, because you can leave, but the tea warehouse cannot."

The boss was stunned for a moment, then immediately nodded and said, "I understand, I understand. We just get along well, whatever you say is what's right."

"Walk."

Ren also greeted.

……

Soon, Ren Ye and Xiao Shuai walked up the stairs of the tea room and arrived at the patio square on the first floor.

"This way, this is South."

Xiao Shuai identified the direction and walked ahead.

At the back, Ren Ye looked around suspiciously, his brain working rapidly.

After a while, the two passed through a fountain garden and walked into a main road on the south side.

Xiao Shuai stared ahead and suddenly frowned: "There is fog rising ahead, it should be the barrier of the star gate here. We can't go forward anymore, this should be the end of the south side of the building..."

At this moment, there were fewer people in the square, and the surroundings were quiet and silent.

Ren Ye was standing on the main road, but suddenly turned his head to the left, staring at a deep alley, and was in a daze for a moment.

"what happened to you?"

Xiao Shuai returned and asked.

Ren Ye licked his cracked lips and suddenly felt goose bumps all over his body. He stared at the alley and saw a pile of ashes and some offerings.

"What's wrong, speak up?!"

Xiao Shuai urged.

"...If nothing unexpected happens, Old Yan is already dead."

Ren Ye said in a daze: "We will never find him."

"Why?" Xiao Shuai didn't understand.

"Because... this is the last stop for me to complete my mission for Mrs. Wang. I was the one who prepared the sacrifices for the A set meal for room 3999."

Ren Ye replied in a hoarse voice and immediately called out, "Come on, go in."

"it is good!"

Xiao Shuai followed in immediately.

Ren Ye walked to the ashes of the yellow paper, looked at the offerings he had placed, and suddenly said, "Look around here to see if there are any bloodstains, remains, or anything obviously abnormal... Quick!"

"it is good."

Having said that, the two of them took action.

About ten minutes later, Xiao Shuai suddenly stood up from the trash can and shouted excitedly: "Brother, you are a genius! It's amazing, look, there is a mobile phone here..."

"brush!"

Ren Ye turned around suddenly: "Quick, open and check the call records!"

"Come on, I rarely use this thing."

"You're not from Blue Star?" Ren was a little confused.

“…Not entirely.” Xiao Shuai scratched his head and for the first time seriously mentioned his life experience: “I’ll tell you later…”

"Oh."

Ren Ye lowered his head and opened his mobile phone, quickly looked through the communication records, and saw a string of numbers.