They watched the items for some time. Then Shannchyuan took the notebook and brown envelope and placed them on the table. He let Yihshyong put the pile of clothes, whiskers, and towels back into the bag. Shannchyuan opened the notebook. He paused, staring at the pages in the book. Iren sat right next to him so he could see plainly the contents of the sheets.
"What letters are these?" A confused look was clearly visible on Iren's face.
The sheets in the notebook contain writings they do not understand. They couldn't read the letters. Shannchyuan looked at Jenqyih while handing him the book.
"Look at this. Can you recognize it?"
Jenqyih was an expert in languages. He knew many ancient languages and characters. After observing the letters in the book, Jenqyih shook his head, saying, "I've never seen writing like this. It's like a cursive version of the Etruscan script. But it's not an Etruscan script. It's just that some parts look a bit alike."
<
Yihshyong laughed inwardly. But he still tried to put on a serious face.
"Why did Songfei write notes using letters like this?" Shinnshiow rubbed his forehead.
Shannchyuan sighed, then said, "First, we know Songfei likes mysterious things. Perhaps he used secret letters to record personal things. Although I have never seen Songfei write in foreign writings like this."
He paused his words. Looked at his friends' faces. He seemed to want to make sure that everyone listened to what he had to say.
"Second, we don't know exactly who owns this notebook. Songfei could have found this book and kept it."
"What if we ask Songfei's friends?" Shinnshiow looked at everyone.
"Do we know the addresses or telephone numbers of Songfei's friends?" Iren asked Shinnshiow back.
<
Yihshyong could only shake his head.
They all fell silent. Clearly, the question was rhetorical. It was true that so far, Songfei had often invited them to take part in his activities. There, they encountered people who had the same interests as Songfei. But outside of these activities, they never met Songfei's friends from the detective and mystery club. Even they also didn't know the identities of Songfei's comrades. For example, their full name and phone number.
"What if we go to Songfei's residence to ask the people there?" Shinnshiow didn't seem to give up on questioning the people who most likely had frequent contact with Songfei.
Iren looked at Shinnshiow. "Three months ago, Songfei has moved from there. He promised to take us to visit his new house. Until our last meeting with him two months ago, he had not told me his new address at all."
They just realized Songfei was more mysterious than they initially thought. So far, they only ever visited Songfei's home once. The place was far away. Close to the border of this city with other towns in the west. Their meetings with Songfei usually took place at some places other than his house. Namely, Dahfeisy Tower, the places he held mystery games, and public places that he often went to when he was planning things, such as restaurants, cafes, city parks, and so on.
"Talking about Songfei, I thought of Tsaehorng. He asked about Songfei when we met two days ago," Iren said.
"Yes. If it wasn't for the event arranged by Songfei, we wouldn't have found Tsaehorng on time. In fact, maybe we would never meet him at all," Yihshyong said. He remembered the first time they'd met Tsaehorng. They'd were taking part in one of the mystery and detective game shows held by Songfei.
Apart from indoor games, Songfei also sometimes designed outdoor games. This small forest right on the outskirts of this city, to be precise in the northern part of this city, was indeed a perfect place to host such a game. About six months ago, while playing the game and exploring the forest, they found a small hut in the middle of the woods. There they found Tsaehorng bound and starving. Songfei then stopped the game because they all had to take Tsaehorng to the nearest hospital.
At that time, Tsaehorng was a member of a gang of delinquents. After joining for some time, he felt he did not fit in, so Tsaehorng wanted to leave the group. This made the other members angry. They kidnapped Tsaehorng and took him to a hut in the middle of the forest. Tie him up and leave him without food or drink. Luckily, Shannchyuan and his friends came to help him. Thanks to Songfei. After all, he was the one who insisted on playing the game in the forest. So, it made sense if Tsaehorng had always felt indebted to Songfei.
"We must not involve Tsaehorng in this matter. He has already helped us to get those amazing lockers. It's inappropriate if we ask for help with anything else," said Shinnshiow.
"I don't think we can call this matter as 'anything else.' Tsaehorng also knows Songfei. In fact, he feels indebted to him," replied Jenqyih.
"Maybe we should tell this to Tsaehorng. Regarding the matter of whether he wants to help, let him decide himself. I think Tsaehorng has the right to know about this matter," said Iren.
"But if we tell him about this, maybe it makes him have no choice but to help. If we are in his position, and we know what happened, wouldn't we feel bad if we don't help?" said Yihshyong.
"This is a delicate matter. We need to ponder carefully before we decide," Shannchyuan tried to intervene. Then he continued his words. "But for sure, we all have to meet Tsaehorng to say thank you. We'll talk about this further. Now let's continue the discussion about the items in this Songfei's bag."
They all agree with Shannchyuan's words. The priority now was to analyze the items on their living room table.