Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Cough! Nothing big! It’s just that saying it out loud makes people intimidated.” The chief of the attraction, who was wearing spectacles, said, “A week ago, our workers in charge of taking care of the water lilies realized many water lilies in the pool were touched by somebody, and there was mild damage!
“We thought it may have been some tourists, so we wanted to find out who through the surveillance footage. Who knows, when we went through the surveillance video, we found out that footage during the time frame has been removed!
“We were worried if there was something wrong, so we filed a police report!” The chief creased his eyebrows as he said, “But we looked all over the attraction and found nothing missing! You tell me, isn’t this weird?”
“I came here today for this matter.” One of the policemen said, “The technician that brought the surveillance hard drive back for inspection said that it was a brand new hard drive and it didn’t belong to the attraction! In other words, someone changed the hard drive! They intentionally removed that part of the surveillance video!”
“Although it didn’t seriously affect anyone, it seemed a bit fishy. So,” the other policeman continued, “we came over today to investigate further.” He looked towards the chief of the attraction and said, “Is there any internal problem? Fight, robber, or any other situation? Otherwise, who would remove surveillance video out of the blue? And the record stated that there were people on duty in the surveillance control room!”
“Aiya, Officer, that’s quite impossible. If there is something wrong with our staff, how could we not report it? Regarding this, we have thought about it too, and we asked around, there was no problem!” the chief said. “Yes, there are supposed to be guards on duty every night, alternating in patrolling the attraction and guarding the surveillance video room. But, as we know, besides the water lilies in the lotus pond which are worth some money, what else would the thieves want? So—”
“So…they went to sleep? No one patrolling and no one in the surveillance video room?” Zhao Yu suddenly cut him off. The chief’s face flushed from embarrassment.
“From what I see, there must be someone behind this!” Zhao Yu said solemnly. “Out of nowhere, why would they change the hard drive to remove the surveillance video?”
“Theoretically, yes!” The chief of attraction pushed up his spectacles and said, “But we really checked, and there was nothing missing! Not even one water lily! So…there’s no point…and…police detectives…” The chief thought Zhao Yu and Liang Huan came for that reason, so it seemed unreasonable.
Zhao Yu and Liang Huan exchanged a glance, and Liang Huan seemed not to be too bothered but Zhao Yu was different.
“A week ago, the surveillance video hard disk in Golden Buddha Temple was swapped. Why swapped? They didn’t want anyone to know what happened in the Golden Buddha Temple,” Zhao Yu thought. “During the day, there were tourists so it must have happened during the night! So…what would have happened? The staff stole something? Was there a fight? Or they were trying to hide something? Maybe…is it related to the case that I am investigating?” Zhao Yu knew that the thought was unconvincing, but because he had gotten the “Gen” hexagram” that day, he didn’t want to give up the chance! He was willing to try any line of thought.
Zhao Yu took out his police badge again, and told the chief of the attraction, “We are here today not to investigate such a small matter. We are here to investigate a big crime case, so I need you to cooperate with me!”
“Big crime case?! What crime?” The chief was confused and the two local policemen were puzzled too.
“Comrade, what you mean is, regarding the hard drive, there are other reasons behind it… Then…” The other policeman’s eyes opened wide, and he looked extremely curious.
“Alright, it’s none of your business!” Zhao Yu said impolitely. “We are investigating a highly classified case. You know the rules, please cooperate!”
“You!” The two policemen were unhappy but they dared not stop the detectives from investigating. In the end, they could only step back from the case.
“Zhao Yu…” Liang Huan seized the chance to pull Zhao Yu aside and awkwardly ask, “You…what are you trying to do?”
Zhao Yu didn’t bother with him but ordered the chief of the attraction, “Hurry up, call the two guards that were on duty and the worker that found there was something wrong here. I have questions!” Zhao Yu was very rude. The chief was shocked by Zhao Yu and quickly ran to call the people, his head dripping with sweat.
“Hey, Zhao, what are you thinking of? You can’t think that this is related to the Ancient Tomb Case, can you?” When he left, Liang Huan quickly shook his head and objected, “How could it be possible? Don’t waste any time on this, okay?”
Zhao Yu didn’t bother with Liang Huan but raised his head to look around. He took a careful look at the situation around. In the attraction, there were woods surround it, and the environment was tranquil and peaceful. Via the stone pathway in the middle, they could see the Hall of Sakyamuni in the Golden Buddha Temple and the pagoda on its right.
He heard that although the Golden Buddha Temple had been rebuilt later, they hired experts to design it according to the authentic appearance of the Golden Buddha Temple during construction. The pagoda by the side maintained its original name, but as it was passed down orally, it became known as the Golden Buddha Pagoda! The ancient lotus pond was right below the Golden Buddha Pagoda. It was said in the entire Golden Buddha Temple, only the ancient lotus pond was the real historical site.
“Alright, Zhao Yu, let’s relax and not take this seriously!” Liang Huan was still trying to persuade him. “How about this, let me tell you what happened to the surveillance video!”
“What? You know?” Zhao Yu looked at Liang Huan suspiciously.
“One night, a couple was looking for excitement and climbed over to have sex near the ancient lotus pond. In the end, the guard found them. When they were trying to escape, they fell into the pond and damaged the water lilies!” Liang Huan said confidently, “Then they were caught by the guards, and the guards wanted to send them to the police! However, the couple spent a lot of money to buy them off, so the guards released them. They even made the guard change the surveillance hard drive. The process was that simple!”
“The f*ck, like that’s true!” Zhao Yu said with disdain. ” Is it…the man who had sex in public was you, right? and the girl was not sis-in-law, right?”
“F*ck f*ck f*ck…” Laing Huan smiled. “Only guards can enter the surveillance video room, so the hard drive definitely removed by them!”
“Not necessarily,” Zhao Yu refuted. “You knew that there was a camera, and you decided to have sex in front of the camera.”
“Then…maybe the guards were the ones who were having sex in public!” Liang Huan guessed. “He found a woman randomly and did it at the lotus pond. Then, to destroy the evidence, he removed the video!”
“Liang, I would have never have guessed that your thoughts are even more despicable than mine.” Zhao Yu shook his head. “If it was the guards, they could have turned the camera off for a while. And, did they need to do it in the lotus pond? Are they sick?”
“Possibly. Some people have those kinds of fetishes.” Liang Huan argued. “Why don’t we place a bet! Wait and see, it’s definitely something small. So, we’d better not waste time here!”