After more than ten minutes, Chongzong and Van arrived at the YAMATO Transport Company. It was a seven-story building with common white tiled exterior walls, a simple straight-up-and-down design without any special decorations. Only the sign "YAMATO" was hung on the top floor.
After parking the car in the parking lot, Van walked straight through the main entrance on the first floor, while Chongzong sat on a bench outside the door waiting. To avoid suspicion, Van gave Chongzong a book to read titled "The Devotion of Suspect X."
Then came the long wait. When facing the unknown, the sense of time can be stretched. For example, when going to a place one has never been to before, especially during the journey, time seems to pass particularly slowly, taking a long time to arrive. On the return trip, retracing the same route makes it feel quite fast to arrive, spending less time than when going. That is the difference between the known and unknown.
Chongzong couldn't bring himself to read the book. He kept wanting to check the time every now and then but restrained himself from doing so frequently to avoid appearing suspicious. Chongzong waited for over an hour before seeing Van come out from the main entrance. During this time, he wanted to go in several times to check the situation but managed to hold back.
The premise of a successful operation is mutual trust. In the end, Van coming out safely without any issues validated Chongzong's trust. Following the pre-arranged code, Van lightly pinched her right earlobe with her right hand, signaling Chongzong to retreat and regroup at the parking lot.
After Van had walked a distance, Chongzong closed the book and followed her from afar to the parking lot. By the time Chongzong arrived at the parking lot, Van was already waiting in the car with the engine running. As soon as he got in the car, Van stepped on the gas and drove out of the parking lot.
It wasn't until they were on the road that Van spoke. "I'm sorry I couldn't get the information you wanted," Van said. "Although I presented my credentials from the traffic department, they said it involved the privacy of their customers and could not provide relevant information unless it was related to a case being investigated by the police."
"I see..." replied Chongzong.
Do we need to seek the assistance of the police?
As Van mentioned before, it would make things more complicated. Unless absolutely necessary, we should not resort to this method to solve the problem.
At this moment, a brilliant idea flashed through Chongzong's mind.
"Van, please turn back to the parking lot we just left. I have an idea." (Chongzong)
"Sure." (Van)
Without questioning or hesitating about Chongzong's suggestion, the first thing Van did was to find a junction and turn the car around as requested by Chongzong.
Then, Van inquired,
"What do you need me to do, Chongzong? How can I help?" (Van)
With such an attitude, such a teammate, it truly made one want to cooperate with her from the bottom of their heart and work together.
"Since the company is unwilling to disclose information, we can directly locate the corresponding driver and make a breakthrough at that point." (Chongzong)
"I remember we have the license plate number, right? I think it was Osaka 28-40." (Chongzong)
"Indeed, this method should work. You're amazing, Chongzong." (Van)
Suddenly being praised by Van (although the praise lacked emotion), Chongzong really didn't know how to respond.
If it were someone else praising him in such a dry manner, it would definitely be perceived as sarcasm without a doubt.
But when Van said it, Chongzong believed it was definitely a sincere compliment.
"Thank you." (Chongzong)
"You're welcome." (Van)
The car returned to the parking lot amidst this awkward conversation.
