Chapter 1871 Being fooled by cleverness

Liu Fusheng followed Mr. Guo's instructions and carefully distinguished the two, then nodded slightly. The left and right shoe prints did represent different characters.

Liu Fusheng asked: "What do these words symbolize?"

Mr. Guo said: "In the inheritance of ancient locks, these characters correspond to the approximate shapes of the keyholes of ancient locks. The social class hierarchy of the ancients was very strict. There were strict regulations on what kind of people, what kind of clothes they wore, and what kind of houses they lived in."

"It's the same with locks. For example, this lock with a straight keyhole is used by common people, while the keyhole in the shape of a scholar is used by high-ranking officials. This keyhole in the shape of a lucky character is only used during some festivals. The keyhole in the shape of a dead character is used for funerals."

Liu Fusheng nodded suddenly. If it weren't for Mr. Guo, who had profound attainments in ancient locks, others would probably not think much about it if they noticed the different footprints.

Mr. Guo pondered, "Since Xiao Zhang made these patterns on the soles of his shoes, he must have left some clues corresponding to these shoe prints."

Liu Fusheng said: "Perhaps he met different people and went in different directions, so he left different footprints?"

Mr. Guo nodded and said, "I think so too. Secretary Liu, please wait a moment. I will study it carefully."

Even if you know these four words, there is still some difficulty in understanding their meaning.

Mr. Guo was thinking, since Zhang Maocai used the shape of the keyhole to communicate with him, then the approximate position of the keyhole must be related to the ancient lock making technique.

"What Xiao Zhang left behind are two characters, one is shi (scholar) and the other is ji (lucky)."

Mr. Guo said: "The manufacture of ancient locks has strict specifications. These two characters are very complete and meet the specifications. As for 一 and 亡, they do not meet the specifications."

The characters for "Shi" and "Ji".

Liu Fusheng's eyes lit up, and he already had a rough answer in his mind.

He and Zhang Maocai had discussed before how to deal with the issue of personal safety, and also how to prevent the other party from using trickery, continuing to go around in circles, and leading everyone to explore in the wrong direction.

The word "Shi" represents high-ranking officials and nobles. It is highly likely that Zhang Maocai has met the real boss.

The word "Ji" means that Zhang Maocai is still safe now.

However, there is still too little information to analyze based on just these two words.

Liu Fusheng said: "Let's look around to see if there are any more footprints left by him nearby. It would be best if we could determine whether he eventually left here or is still staying nearby."

Mr. Guo nodded and said, "Let me see if Xiao Zhang left any other information."

As they talked, they followed the footprints on the ground and carefully searched for clues.

To their disappointment, Zhang Maocai's footprints did not lead to any unit door, but disappeared quietly on the roadside.

Mr. Guo frowned and asked, "What's going on? Xiao Zhang's footprints suddenly disappeared?"

Liu Fusheng said: "Maybe he was taken into the car."

Mr. Guo sighed, "That's troublesome. The footprints Xiao Zhang left here are all in the same keyhole shape."

Liu Fusheng immediately answered the intercom and said, "Zhang Maocai is not in this area. He must have been kidnapped."

Zhou Zhi asked: "What is our next move?"

Liu Fusheng said: "Contact all control points in Jiangtou City and take action immediately."

Before Zhou Zhi could say anything, Shi Xingyu said, "Secretary Liu, our people should also take action. With this place as the core, spread out to the surrounding areas. My people will search the areas that you have not covered one by one."

Liu Fusheng advised: "Brother Shi, don't worry, we can't search for Brother Zhang in a big way at the moment."

"Why?" Shi Xingyu was indeed very anxious.

Liu Fusheng said: "We still have to look for footprints."

"Still looking for it?"

Zhou Zhi, Shi Xingyu and others were stunned, not knowing what he meant.

Liu Fusheng said: "This time, our opponents were too clever for their own good. They thought they were being cautious and foolproof, but in fact, their unnecessary actions put themselves in a passive position. I'll tell you the details when I get back to the car."

After hanging up the intercom, Liu Fusheng asked, "Mr. Guo, how long will it take you?"

When Mr. Guo heard that they were leaving, he quickly took out a notebook and drew all the shoe prints on the ground. At this time, Liu Fusheng asked him about his progress, and he waved the notebook and said, "I've finished it!"

After a while, the two returned to the car.

Zhou Zhi and Shi Xingyu were both waiting for Liu Fusheng's explanation.

Liu Fusheng sent them the footprints drawn by Mr. Guo and said, “Take a photo of this and send it to all the surveillance personnel. Ask them to carefully look for similar shoe prints near the surveillance location. Don’t miss any clues and don’t expose your whereabouts.”

Zhou Zhi nodded, took out his phone and started taking pictures. After he was done, he asked, "Is this the secret code left by Mr. Zhang?"

Liu Fusheng said: "Yes, after Mr. Guo's analysis, Brother Zhang has found the big fish, and it is safe for the time being, so we don't need to worry too much."

Shi Xingyu hesitated to speak.

Liu Fusheng said: "Brother Shi, don't worry. Brother Zhang was taken away by a car. In this case, the signal jammer should also be in the car. As long as Brother Zhang leaves the car, the signal may reappear. So what you have to do now is to pay attention to the positioning signal at all times."

Shi Xingyu said: "Don't worry, I'm just staring at the locator without even blinking."

Liu Fusheng smiled and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Brother Shi."

Shi Xingyu said: "This is what I should do. Just now you said that the enemy was too clever for their own good. What mistake did they make?"

Liu Fusheng said: "They could have taken advantage of their plan to kidnap Brother Zhang, because we were casting a wide net and controlling the entire city, so it was difficult to concentrate manpower. As long as they took Brother Zhang away quickly and unlocked the safe within a certain period of time, they would have a chance to escape before we could close in on them."

"But now, in order to ensure safety, they have set up all kinds of mazes and delayed time, which has given us the opportunity to be one step ahead and find Brother Zhang's location. The situation is different now."

Shi Xingyu nodded. The signal can be blocked, but the footprints cannot. As long as the agents around the control location can find the footprints left by Zhang Maocai, then all of them can immediately gather in the same direction and form a dragnet, making it impossible for the other party to escape.

After arranging the surveillance, Liu Fusheng called Zhang Mingliang.

"Xiaoliang, are you in the task force?"

Zhang Mingliang said, "I'm here. What instructions does Secretary Liu have?"

Liu Fusheng asked: "Is Team Leader Qin here?"

Zhang Mingliang said: "Wait a moment, I'll go take a look."

After a moment, Zhang Mingliang said, "Secretary Liu, Team Leader Qin is out for some business. It is said that he received a tip-off and is going to investigate something on the spot."

Liu Fusheng smiled and said, "Okay, I understand."