732: Chapter 724: The Sound of the Bell 732: Chapter 724: The Sound of the Bell Although he was asking someone else, Gao Yang was quite certain of his own guess.
Li Jinfang was not someone who could keep things hidden, but if he genuinely had a secret buried in his heart, then it would stay with him for life, never to be spoken to anyone.
If Li Jinfang really had known that girl for a long time, then it was hard to say what trouble might ensue.
Guessing was of no use; the most direct and final solution was to find Li Jinfang, as only by doing so could everything come to an end.
Sighing with frustration, Gao Yang picked up the phone to contact the people Li Pengfei had sent to Pointe Noire.
As soon as he made the call, someone picked up quickly.
The person speaking seemed to have their thoughts in order, but the way they handled things made Gao Yang mistrust them somewhat.
The death of a Huaxia girl he wasn’t aware of, not mentioning the sequence that the Huaxia person killed the gang member after the girl’s death—a straightforward message was conveyed all jumbled up.
To say he was useless was not an exaggeration.
But if it was time to make contact, he still had to do so; at least he had to ask what Li Jinfang had been up to these past few days.
Gao Yang had already inquired of Li Pengfei.
The person who had come to Pointe Noire with Li Jinfang was from Ethiopia, working at their security company, and Li Jinfang’s task this time in Pointe Noire was supposed to be to train some locally recruited armed guards, but then such an incident occurred.
He got through on the phone but couldn’t get to the bottom of things.
The Ethiopian could only speak a bit of French, had communication issues with the locals, and lacked the flexibility to find a local translator.
That’s why he sent back such a mixed-up message and also had been unable to provide any useful information.
After briefly speaking with the Ethiopian, who wasn’t reliable, Gao Yang still managed to learn something, at least that Li Jinfang had come across that Huaxia girl while buying things on the streets of Pointe Noire with the Ethiopian.
He asked about Li Jinfang’s recent situation, then hung up the phone and fell silent.
Gao Yang was skilled at warfare, but he wasn’t a detective.
He knew how to track prey in the grasslands by the slightest of traces, but he didn’t know how to find a person hiding in the city.
As Gao Yang was silently pondering what to do, he received another call.
After hanging up, he said to everyone, “Rabbit will only arrive tomorrow; the time should be tomorrow morning.”
Glolov also spoke seriously, “Lucica can get here tonight, and I haven’t had the chance to tell you yet.”
Then Rafael said solemnly, “Boss, we alone can’t find Toad.
I think, we still need to gather information from the police.”
Gao Yang nodded and said, “My mind is a bit disorganized, which is inappropriate.
Now is not the time to worry about Toad, but to make an effort to find him.”
Turning to Pascal, Gao Yang said sternly, “Buddy, you’ve really helped us a lot, and I’m grateful for everything you’ve done.”
After speaking, Gao Yang took all the cash he had with him out of his pocket.
He had brought twenty thousand US dollars in cash when he came, and had only spent a small part of it.
Grabbing Pascal’s hand, he slapped all the remaining money into Pascal’s palm and said with a grave voice, “This is nearly twenty thousand US dollars, all yours now.
I just need you to do one thing: go to the police station, use all your skills, and as long as there’s any news about the person we are looking for, call us, okay?”
Pascal received much more than his best estimate, twenty thousand dollars.
After stuffing the money into his pocket, Pascal nodded vigorously and said, “Give me a phone number, and I’ll head to the police station right now!”
Rafael’s phone was disposable, and he stepped forward to leave his number with Pascal.
Then, Pascal turned and ran, but after running just two steps, he came running back, hurriedly saying, “You’ll need cars.
I’ll have someone bring them to you, two alright?
Three thousand dollars each.
Don’t pay too much; the cars will be delivered soon.”
After Pascal said that, he ran off again, calling as he jogged.
With Pascal gone, all Gao Yang and his group could do was to wait; wait for Li Jinfang to continue his killing spree at their location, or wait for news from Pascal.
An hour passed, and Gao Yang was growing restless, but just then two aged sedans arrived one after another outside the shack they were in.
An old man with a white beard peered at them twice cautiously before approaching softly and said, “My friend said, someone is willing to buy our cars for three thousand dollars each.”
Gao Yang nodded, and Frey immediately began counting money, handing over sixty notes straight into the black man’s hand.
The man was overjoyed and shouted, “Thank you, thank you!
The car runs fine, and I just filled up the tank.
The keys are left in the car, goodbye, gentlemen.”
After signaling to the other car, both people hurried off.
Looking at the two beat-up cars, Frey said with resignation, “Well, no matter what, these cars came to us running; at least we don’t have to rely on taxis now.”
Just then, Rafael’s phone rang.
He answered it and immediately called out urgently, “Boss, the police have found the car Toad drove off with.
They also just received the news and haven’t had time to set off yet!”
The car arrived just in time, and after murmuring a word of gratitude to himself, Gao Yang immediately stood up and shouted loudly, “Let’s go, Tyrannosaurus and Fork, you drive.
Do you know the place, or do we need to find a local to guide us?”
After taking out a GPS from her hands and giving it a shake, Eileen immediately ran to a car and got in.
The car was fast, with the right sounds not sounding, and the wrong sounds blaring erratically, but it actually moved quite swiftly.
The only concern was that both cars had brakes that didn’t seem too reliable.
Eileen’s driving was much like her piloting style; the term ‘newbie female driver’ shed its novice connotations and ‘devil incarnate’ seemed more fitting.
She charged through haphazardly, squeezing through any gap, flooring the gas whenever possible.
Although the car was old and battered, it had the demeanor of land-based aviation.
In fifteen minutes, and without causing any accidents, they had arrived at the spot where Li Jinfang had abandoned his car, and not a single police car had arrived yet.
A car was parked by the road with its doors wide open, and the driver’s seat was covered in blood.
There was a crowd around the car, and an open vehicle with keys still in the ignition hadn’t been stolen—not because of the bloody driver’s seat, but because the car’s front end was almost entirely smashed.
One look at the car, and it was clear it was the one Li Jinfang had driven away in.
Making a gesture to indicate others should stay in the car, Gao Yang and Eileen got out and approached the wrecked automobile.
After a glance, Gao Yang whispered, “Ask these people if they’ve seen Toad.”
Eileen asked around in French.
Responses quickly came with people gesticulating vividly as they described what happened to her.
Eileen didn’t listen for long, and soon turned to Gao Yang, saying, “The car hit a utility pole on the side of the road.
After that, a person covered in blood got out of the car and walked that way.”
Gao Yang looked at the street Eileen was pointing to, and immediately gestured with his hand, “You all drive, I will go on foot.”
Gao Yang ran towards the direction Eileen had pointed to.
Since Li Jinfang was covered in blood, there should’ve been bloodstains on the ground, but the gathered crowd and vehicles had disturbed any nearby traces, and Gao saw nothing.
After running down the street for a bit, Gao Yang discovered a small patch of blood.
This invigorated him, and after signaling to the people in the car that he had found a trace, he immediately picked up his pace.
The dirt road was a muddy one, and although bloodstains weren’t very distinct on the soil, they were clear markings to Gao Yang’s eyes.
Even if there were occasional breaks, he was always able to find the bloodstains again quickly.
There was a lot of blood, which wasn’t good news, but fortunately, Gao Yang could discern from the size of the stains that Li Jinfang’s blood loss didn’t seem particularly severe.
The blood trail extended several hundred meters and turned into an alley by the roadside.
The area had left the commercial district and was a residential area consisting of houses.
The planning wasn’t bad, with small square residential plots.
The alleys weren’t very long; passing through quickly led to another street and then more residential areas looking almost alike.
After crossing three or four clusters of residential blocks, Gao Yang again reached a small street wide enough for two cars to drive side by side.
But this time, when he came out of the alley, he could no longer see any bloodstains.
There was no one around, nor could Gao Yang see the thing he most wanted to see—Li Jinfang.
Put another way, Gao Yang didn’t see what he most feared to see, which would be Li Jinfang’s body, of course.
After looking around briefly, Gao Yang waved to the two cars following him.
Once everyone got out, he shouted loudly, “Spread out and search!
If you find any blood, call out!”
After giving the instruction, Gao Yang didn’t randomly search in a direction.
He intended to save time, so he let others search for bloodstains while he started observing around the last known point of the trail.
The ground was still muddy, but in the Equator’s heat, after rainfall followed by direct sunlight, the earth was baked hard.
Footprints were difficult to discern by eye due to the absence of loose dust, but after meticulous inspection, Gao Yang could still make out some traces of footprints.
The footprints were chaotic, but after expanding his search slightly, Gao Yang found two sets of footprints at regular intervals and following the same direction.
He immediately followed them.
It was tough to make out the footprints, and after walking a few dozen meters, Gao Yang lost track of them again, now at a crossroad.
Just as Gao Yang was about to search for the footprints from scratch, he suddenly heard the sound of a bell.
The tolling wasn’t very loud, but Gao Yang heard it clearly, and there was something inexplicably familiar about the sound.
Gao Yang felt strangely affected by the bell that chimed several times, resonating as if within his own heart.
After taking a deep breath, he no longer searched for traces and instead quickly ran towards the source of the bell sounds.
(To be continued.
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