Chapter 90

The young soldier received the order and was about to leave, but Lu Weiguo stopped him. “First, go to the institute and check if they’ve issued any recommendation letters for Wei Jian recently.”

Recommendation letters from the institute weren’t easy to obtain; they were mostly for technical personnel, and unless absolutely necessary, they wouldn’t issue one for routine matters.

If there was no recommendation letter, Wei Jian wouldn’t be able to get on the vehicle.

Unless Wei Jian found a contact to arrange a fake recommendation letter.

Sure enough, the young soldier went to the institute and returned saying they hadn’t issued any recommendation letters for Wei Jian in nearly a year.

Lu Weiguo went back home and left a note for Shi Tingyu, then brought out the Lijian.

The Lijian had met Wei Jian before and had a more acute sense of smell than the average military dog.

Whenever there was a competition at the military dog base to search for items, it always led the way, finding things quickly and accurately.

Lu Weiguo handed the Lijian’s leash to the nearby young soldier and returned to the institute. He latched the institute gate from inside, climbed over the wall, and took the Lijian back from the young soldier before following him to the residential compound of the institute.

The young soldier quietly entered Wei Jian’s house to retrieve his clothing.

Lu Weiguo couldn’t help but glance towards the Shi family’s location.

Shi’s house had been sealed off. Normally, he wouldn’t bring Shi Tingyu here for fear of upsetting her.

He walked a few steps towards Shi’s direction, then suddenly noticed that a crack had appeared in Shi’s window.

Frowning, Lu Weiguo recalled being present when Shi’s house was sealed, and he was certain the window had been closed.

He handed the Lijian to his subordinate and headed towards Shi’s place.

The Red Committee’s seal was still on Shi’s front door.

Shining his flashlight, Lu Weiguo carefully examined the position of the seal and discovered an additional layer along the edge.

He peeled back a portion of it to find another piece of sealing paper underneath.

This discovery put him on high alert.

Why would the Red Committee affix two seals?

He returned to his position outside the window, inspected the adjacent wall, leaped onto the balcony of the first floor, and then agilely climbed to the front of Shi’s window.

With one hand gripping the window sill and the other following the seam of the window, he opened it and climbed inside.

The flashlight illuminated a completely transformed interior of Shi’s house.

Furniture was missing, and the empty house had its floorboards pried open, even the bed had signs of disturbance.

This wasn’t how the Red Committee conducted searches.

Clearly, someone had entered after the house was sealed, apparently searching for something.

Lu Weiguo brushed dust off the floor, indicating it had been some time since someone had entered.

He descended, grabbing a handful of soil to cover his tracks, and re-entered the house, using his mouth to blow the soil from his pocket to obscure his footprints.

Only when his traces were erased did he return the window to its original position.

Back downstairs at Wei Jian’s house, the Lijian and military dogs had already finished sniffing Wei Jian’s clothes.

Seeing Lu Weiguo return, the Lijian wagged its tail towards him, its gaze slightly urgent, indicating it had finished sniffing.

After the military dogs finished, Lu Weiguo led them to begin the search.

The Lijian ran briskly at the front.

There were fewer cars now, so people mostly used bicycles or walked, making tracking easier.

Finally, the Lijian led them to a deserted old house.

From the outside, it looked like a dilapidated residence.

There wasn’t anyone around.

Several scouts went forward to inspect and returned saying, “Captain, it’s empty inside. Judging by the activity traces, they left not long ago.”

The young soldier holding Wei Jian’s clothes let the military dogs sniff again.

However, this time, the military dogs just circled in place.

In such cases, it usually meant that the scent had disappeared here.

At that moment, nearby scouts came over. “Captain, there are tire marks nearby, likely from a car.”

That explained why the military dogs couldn’t track well.

The smell from the car was strong and could often mask a person’s scent.

Plus, with fast speeds and short stops, it was nearly impossible to trace.

Lu Weiguo looked at the Lijian and said, “Lijian, come here.”

The Lijian ran over and, at Lu Weiguo’s direction, sniffed Wei Jian’s clothes again.

It seemed a bit restless, like a student struggling with an exam paper.

After a while, it barked a few times towards the north and ran in that direction.

A flicker of surprise passed through Lu Weiguo’s eyes. “Follow it.”

This tracking was slower than before; Lijian almost had to pause occasionally to carefully discern the direction.

Over an hour later, they unexpectedly followed Lijian to Zhu Family Village.

Almost upon reaching Zhu Family Village, Lu Weiguo understood Wei Jian’s plan.

Zhu Family Village was by the lake. Without a recommendation letter, he couldn’t take trains and such. To leave Jinling, traveling by waterway was an option, less prone to being tracked.

He sent two men to find the battalion commander to check if anyone had recently requested a boat.

Meanwhile, he continued tracking with Lijian and his men.

The battalion commander was startled awake when he saw the two soldiers in military attire at the door.

This commotion suggested something serious was afoot.

As for the soldiers’ inquiries, he knew nothing; they slept early.

According to the results found by scouts near the old house, the people there hadn’t left long ago, so they couldn’t have been in Zhu Family Village for long.

At that time, everyone in the village was asleep.

“I know a few families with boats. I’ll take you to find someone,” the battalion commander said promptly after understanding the situation.

Most villagers were fishermen, but there weren’t many boats suitable for long journeys. The best one belonged to Liu Wang’s family.

Accompanied by the battalion commander, the two soldiers were taken to Liu Wang’s house first.

They had just knocked when Liu Wang’s wife came out, muttering, “Didn’t you just leave? Why are you back? Did you forget something again?”

“I’m the battalion commander. Is Liu Wang home?” the commander asked.

Liu Wang’s wife looked surprised for a moment, then quickly opened the door. The two young soldiers quickly hid.

“The battalion commander is looking for my husband Liu Wang? He just left less than ten minutes ago.”

“Why did he go out in the middle of the night?” the battalion commander asked.

Liu Wang’s wife didn’t conceal anything. “Someone had an urgent matter tonight and couldn’t get a ticket, so they wanted my husband to take them by boat to the neighboring city.”

Upon hearing this, the battalion commander felt a pang of concern. If Liu Wang had really taken someone out, it could spell trouble.

Money like that was hard to resist.

The battalion commander didn’t explain further, simply saying, “Alright, since Liu Wang isn’t home, I’ll find someone else to help. Please go inside.”

Rubbing her head, Liu Wang’s wife obediently returned inside.

As soon as the door closed behind her, the two young soldiers emerged.

“The Liu family’s boat is parked near the small pier. I’ll take you there,” said the battalion commander.

The small pier here was just a platform built years ago by the villagers for washing and other purposes.

When they arrived at the small pier, Lu Weiguo and his team were already there. Dozens of meters offshore, a small civilian fishing boat was heading towards the center of the lake.