After contacting Zhang Xiaoling once, Ye Ling purchased a property in Shanghai and settled there temporarily, awaiting a reply from Qingmu.
As Ye You was deliberately avoiding Ye Ling, Qingmu was the only one who could get in touch with Ye You. All Ye Ling could do was wait for news from Qingmu.
During this waiting period, Ye Ling was not idle. He used various methods to investigate Li Xiaoxiao's past.
However, Li Xiaoxiao's relatives and her mother's friends and colleagues had all died, and all their files had mysteriously disappeared.
Ye Ling only knew that Li Xiaoxiao's mother was named Li Xiaomei and her hometown was in Xichuan Province.
But there were countless people named Li Xiaomei in Xichuan. Even if Ye Ling wanted to investigate, he couldn't without more clues.
Li Xiaoxiao's background was too bizarre. Ye Ling even made a special trip to Li Xiaoxiao's hometown, but it had long since become an abandoned mountain village with no living people.
It had to be said that someone had erased Li Xiaoxiao's past too cleanly. Unless Ye Ling could travel back in time, it would be as difficult as climbing to heaven to uncover the truth of this matter.
"I thought Li Xiaoxiao's matter was done by Ye Feng, but after searching Ye Feng's soul, I found no information about Li Xiaoxiao in his memories."
"Although this doesn't mean Ye Feng has nothing to do with Li Xiaoxiao... Li Xiaoxiao was just an ordinary hacker, and Li Xiaomei only had some achievements in the field of computers. Even if she was more powerful, she was still a mortal. Any second or third-grade extraordinary person could have dealt with her. Would the mastermind behind Ye Feng really target such an ordinary person?"
"What did they get involved in? Why was their past erased so thoroughly?"
In the room, Ye Ling flipped through news from Xichuan over ten years ago, muttering to himself, his brows furrowed.
The annihilation of Li Xiaoxiao's family was too strange, its eeriness far exceeding that of his own Ye family...
If Li Xiaoxiao and Li Xiaomei's past was deliberately erased by the mastermind controlling Ye Feng, then what did they know?
What was the mastermind's purpose in keeping Li Xiaoxiao alive?
Ye Ling became even more curious.
"Forget it... There isn't enough information about Li Xiaoxiao yet. I'll leave it to the Dragon Department."
Finding no clues in the past news, Ye Ling closed the computer and stretched.
He had been investigating Li Xiaoxiao's affairs for the past few days, but there had been no progress. Coupled with the lack of news from Qingmu, he felt a sense of emptiness from wasting time!
"There are still a few days until the solar eclipse in Shanghai... I might as well go back to Jiangcheng. I haven't seen Ruoxue for many days."
Ye Ling rubbed the head of Di Zhui, who had nuzzled into his arms, and was about to set off for Jiangcheng when his phone rang.
"Wang Liren's call?" Seeing the caller ID, a hint of surprise flashed in Ye Ling's eyes, and he answered directly, "What is it?"
From the other end of the phone came Wang Liren's excited voice: "Your Majesty, I have news about the matter you entrusted me with!"
"News?"
Ye Ling's eyes lit up slightly, and his tone rose a few decibels.
The only thing he had recently entrusted Wang Liren with was investigating Li Xiaoxiao's background. He had originally planned to put this matter aside for a while, but he didn't expect Wang Liren to give him news at this time!
A new vista opened up.
Abandoning his plan to return to Jiangcheng, Ye Ling immediately asked, "What did you find out?"
Wang Liren quickly said, "It's not clear over the phone. I'm in Xichuan Province. Can you come over when you have time, Your Majesty?"
"Yes, send me the location, and I'll be right there."
"Okay!"
Ye Ling hung up the phone and then received the location from Wang Liren.
Seeing Wang Liren's address, a smile flashed in Ye Ling's eyes. "After dealing with Li Xiaomei's matter in the next few days, the ancient ruins overseas will open. When Ye Feng retrieves the core energy of the Tongtian Tower from there and activates it, it will be time to settle the score with the Hongchen Pavilion."
Putting Di Zhui into his portable cave dwelling, Ye Ling disappeared from the room.
Xichuan Province, a remote small town!
Wearing a floral shirt and sunglasses, Wang Liren was squatting by the roadside, looking like a street ruffian!
Wang Liren had just hung up the phone and sent the location to Ye Ling. Before he could light a cigarette, Ye Ling appeared behind him and asked, "What's your news?"
Hearing Ye Ling's words suddenly, Wang Liren was startled and jumped up, dropping his cigarette on the ground.
"Your... Your Majesty?"
Wang Liren looked at Ye Ling with some trepidation, his voice trembling slightly.
He knew Ye Ling was very fast, but he didn't expect him to be this fast!
Ye Ling was in Shanghai, nearly two thousand kilometers away from here. He had just sent the location to Ye Ling, and he arrived in less than a minute?
Teleportation wasn't even this fast!
Ye Ling ignored Wang Liren's shock and got straight to the point: "Tell me, what did you find out?"
Hearing Ye Ling's question, Wang Liren snapped out of his shock and, not daring to delay Ye Ling, quickly pointed to a dilapidated building across the street and said, "Your Majesty, do you see that building?"
Ye Ling said impatiently, "I'm not blind, just speak."
"Yes... yes..." Wang Liren gave an awkward smile, then said, "That building across the street was built in the nineties and is scheduled for demolition. The government conducted a survey."
"I happen to have a friend working in this county who is responsible for the demolition of this building."
"So, what does this have to do with Li Xiaomei's matter?" Ye Ling frowned.
Wang Liren said, "It has a lot to do with it! There was a homeowner in this building named Yang Qi, who was a student at Xichuan University in his youth and was a classmate of my friend."
Ye Ling raised an eyebrow, "Xichuan University? According to the remaining files about Li Xiaomei, she studied at Xichuan University for a period of time before dropping out. However, I also investigated that school. Li Xiaomei had no acquaintances there at the time. After she dropped out, there was no further news."
"So... what is Yang Qi's relationship with Li Xiaomei?"
"Your Majesty, you don't know, but my friend, Yang Qi, and Li Xiaomei were in the same cohort!"
"Is that so?" Hearing Wang Liren's words, Ye Ling's interest was completely piqued.
He had investigated Xichuan University before, but there were no files about Li Xiaomei in Xichuan University, and he couldn't find any clues there.
Now that he had suddenly found two classmates of Li Xiaomei, how could Ye Ling not be surprised?
Wang Liren continued, "According to my friend, Li Xiaomei only studied at Xichuan University for a few months. She was a solitary person and had no friends at university at the time. All her classmates had no interaction with her..."
"Li Xiaomei's later relatives and friends were all murdered, but the students of Xichuan University were fine. I think this is the reason."
Ye Ling said, "Continue."
Wang Liren continued, "My friend was Yang Qi's classmate and was not familiar with Li Xiaomei. He only knew that on the surface, Yang Qi and Li Xiaomei had no interaction."
"But Your Majesty would never have imagined that one night, my friend climbed over the wall from an internet cafe back to school and happened to see Li Xiaomei and Yang Qi walking hand in hand into a small grove. At that time, my friend was young and vigorous and didn't have a girlfriend, so he followed them. His memory of that kind of thing is quite vivid..."
Ye Ling's eyes narrowed slightly, "Meaning... Yang Qi and Li Xiaomei were lovers in private?"