Yihshyong looked alternately at the two people sitting with him on the stone bench. The two of them looked back at Yihshyong with a look of astonishment in their eyes.
"Do you have a reasonable guess as to the real reason the criminals put on a show like this?" Jinqkang said.
Yihshyong nodded. "What if this is their way of getting the police out of here?" He let out those words at a slow tempo.
"You mean, the criminals hope the police conclude that tonight the real criminals will not come? After the police left, then the criminals came," said Jinqkang.
"That's exactly what I meant," said Yihshyong. "Is that not possible?"
"The possibility is always there." Jinqkang nodded. "But what if things don't go the way they want? If you believed what the police said earlier and then you went home, wouldn't the plans of the criminals fall apart?"
Yihshyong scratched his head. "What if they are sure that I won't be home so soon?"
"How can they be so sure?" Jinqkang raised his eyebrows.
"Because they know how Shyongge thinks," said Iren.
Jinqkang nodded. "It means that they, or at least one of them, are familiar with Mr. Shimen."
Yihshyong nodded. "That's probably the case."
"One member of the kidnapping group is someone who knows your character. Does that mean that person is quite close to you?" Jinqkang said.
"I don't know how close that person is to me," Yihshyong said. "Maybe he knows a lot about me, but I don't know much about him."
"Do you have many friends in this city?"
"I've only been living in this city since a year ago. I don't feel like I made friends with many people."
"What about the people where you come from?"
"I didn't have many friends there either."
"If you don't have many friends, then maybe things will be easier for us," said Jinqkang. "There aren't too many people we have to do background checks on."
"Not necessarily. I said earlier that I don't necessarily know much about people who know a lot about me." Yihshyong sighed. "This really pisses me off."
"I guess." Iren also opened his mouth. "That person not only knows you, but knows all of us. So we just need to check the people we know in this town."
"Maybe you're right," Yihshyong said. "The number of people who know all of us is not so much."
"We live in the same house. This can be a strong clue, right?" said Iren.
"You mean, that person lives in a place not far from your place," asked Jinqkang.
"Do you have any idea who that person is?" Yihshyong looked at Iren.
Iren shrugged. "I have absolutely no idea about it. We don't hang out with our neighbors much."
"That's just one possibility," said Jinqkang. "Mr. Shimen, let's talk about your friends first."
Yihshyong instantly cut off Jinqkang's words. "Even though I'm not a person who has many friends, I still have a hard time understanding all of my friends."
"There is another possibility," said Jinqkang. "It could be that that person is not your friend. But someone who has the opportunity to learn about your personality and traits."
"We return to the initial discussion," said Iren. "That person believes that Shyongge can't just go home. If so, we should just wait for the kidnappers now. Like Shyongge said, maybe they will only appear after the police withdraw," said Iren.
Yihshyong didn't answer. He took out a paper from his coat pocket. The paper was a copy of the original message written by the kidnappers. He looked at the message again.
"I didn't have time to pay attention to the pictures," said Iren. Turned out he was peeking as Yihshyong looked at the things written on the paper.
"I, who copied these pictures, didn't really understand either," Yihshyong replied. "This smaller pentagon may represent the pool in front of us. The larger pentagon represents the surface of the ground we are on."
"Then what do these other pictures, according to Shyongge, represent?" Iren pointed at various other shapes painted on the paper.
"What if we now try to solve this?" Jinqkang said. "Who knows? Maybe these pictures are the real clues."
Yihshyong looked at the strange shapes. He really regretted that earlier, when he copied the message, he had just drawn it. Many details of the pictures he did not copy. If Jinqkang was right that the pictures were the actual message, then it was likely that they would never be able to decipher the riddle.
Apart from the two pentagons, there were five other pictures. The five shapes were located at the bottom of the paper.
"Shyongge, what kind of pictures are these?" Iren asked as he began to pay attention to the shapes painted on the paper.
Yihshyong looked at the pictures once more. He wished he could remember the details of the pictures in the original message so he could explain it to Iren and Jinqkang.
"The pictures that are painted here are a little strange. Maybe because I didn't copy it well," Yihshyong said.
"Is this a picture of a house, Sir?" Jinqkang pointed to one picture on the paper.
"You're right," Yihshyong said. "I've tried to draw it as closely as possible. Earlier I also thought that the picture I copied was a picture of a house. If you think this is indeed a picture of a house, then I had not guessed wrong."
"Then, this one," Iren tried to guess, "is this a drink bottle?"
"That's right," Yihshyong laughed. My drawing skills are indeed on a par with elementary school children's drawing skills.
"Then this one is a table," said Jinqkang.
"This is like a picture of a stove," guessed Iren, pointing to another picture.
Yihshyong smiled widely. "Apparently, the picture I made was quite clear. The proof is that you guessed correctly."
"Then what is this?" Iren asked. The last picture did look abstract.
Jinqkang brought his eyes closer to the paper. Yihshyong laughed. Jinqkang was funny. No matter how close he looked at the picture, if it wasn't an excellent picture, he wouldn't be able to recognize it.
"I don't know what this picture is," said Jinqkang. "Maybe you don't know either."
"I don't know for sure, but I have a strong impression that this is a crowbar. Or at least iron-related tools," Yihshyong said.
"Is this a crowbar?" Iren was wide-eyed. "From what angle does this look like a crowbar?"
Yihshyong laughed again. "Right!"
"I know now!" Jinqkang suddenly shouted.
"Know about what?" Iren's voice sounded hopeful.
"These five objects represent the five elements. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water."