Daomu Biji: The Southern Archives

Zhang Haiyan ran to the second floor of the South Sea Maritime Affairs Office and sat in front of an old supervisor who stated the facts three times. Each time, Zhang Haiyan shook his head.

“That’s absolutely impossible. I underwent training at the South Sea Archives and have been a maritime supervisor for a long time.” Zhang Haiyan pushed his ID card towards the old supervisor.

The man turned the card over and shook his head. “We’ve never issued such an ID card. Moreover, we’re in charge of shipping. We don’t do any investigations.”

When the old supervisor looked at him again, Zhang Haiyan continued, “The person who trained us is called Zhang Haiqi. She raised us.”

“It’s obvious that this person who raised you has lied to you.” The old supervisor took out a key and handed it to a clerk. “Sir, I don’t know what you’ve been through. This is the key to our archive room. You can check all the information. I can guarantee that you won’t see any paper with the words ‘The South Sea Archives’ written on it.” Zhang Haiyan looked at the old supervisor and then took the key.

“When you’re finished, please put the documents back where they belong,” the old supervisor said to him. “We’ve been kind to you, so don’t cause us any trouble.”

The clerk accompanied Zhang Haiyan to the archive room, where he stayed until dusk.

There wasn’t a single piece of paper with the words “The South Sea Archives” written on it. There weren’t even any records of the Maritime Affairs Office having any subordinate agencies since its establishment.

Zhang Haiyan quietly thanked the clerk and then put Zhang Haixia on his back and left. The sky was a bloody red and his mind was blank as he wandered to the Haili bank’s entrance.

The bank was closing, but he walked in anyways. Under the watchful eyes of the employees, he found that all the decorations had changed and even the structure itself was completely different.

If it hadn’t been for the fact that some of the details outside still looked the same, he would’ve really wondered if he had gone to the wrong place.

When the security guard asked him to leave, he walked to the corner of the street opposite the bank and sat down. As he and Zhang Haixia leaned against the wall, he looked at the bank and started to recall his childhood.

The South Sea Archives was a direct subordinate of the Maritime Affairs Office, so he only needed to report to his godmother.

Since they were little, their salaries, benefits, clothing, and education had all been provided by the South Sea Archives. They never doubted that they might not be working for an official agency of the Maritime Affairs Office.

“Is it possible that Godmother lied to me?” Zhang Haiyan couldn’t understand it.

Why would she lie to me? If I never worked for the government and I killed all those people over the years, does that mean I’m just a killer like those assassins on the ship?

Now way. A giant entity must have completely erased the South Sea Archives. Are they also the ones behind the plague?

That old supervisor seems like a good man, and I’ve checked all the information myself. But can the South Sea Archives really be erased so thoroughly?

Zhang Haiyan looked at Zhang Haixia.

I must be really stupid, he thought to himself. He went to light a cigarette and suddenly saw the note in his pocket.

Miss Dong’s note.

Miss Dong wasn’t an ordinary person. She must have known that there were killers on the ship. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have killed without an ounce of hesitation. She even took advantage of his presence to directly take over Warner’s gunmen and clear the ship.

When this woman got on the ship, she didn’t have any helpers by her side. She waited patiently for an opportunity and then used Warner’s greed to achieve her goal.

But this matter originally had nothing to do with her. The assassins wanted to kill people from the South Sea Archives, so why did she take such a big risk to kill them all?

Could it be that she was also related to the South Sea Archives, just like Zhang Ruipu?

Zhang Haiyan looked at the note. Since the bank was closed, there was nowhere else for him to check right now. But if someone really was trying to erase traces of the South Sea Archives, then surely the bank wouldn’t have anything there. There wasn't even a single clue in the South Sea Maritime Affairs Office to begin with.

Zhang Haiyan felt as if he had been abandoned as he looked at the note again. This was something he really hadn’t expected.

Just as he was thinking he needed to figure out what to do next, he saw a simple sketch drawn at the corner of the note. It was very abstract, but easy to identify. It was a hermit crab.

He looked at his watch, which also had a hermit crab on it. This was the South Sea Archives’ logo.