Archives: The Nanyang Mystery Episode 20 Recap
> Archives: The Nanyang Mystery Recaps
Adjutant Zhang Changlin escorted Zhang Haiqi and Zhang Hailou into Zhang Qishan’s residence. Zhang Qishan invited them to sit, dryly noting that while he rarely welcomed members of the Zhang family, he could not simply throw them out since they had already arrived. Zhang Haiqi skipped the pleasantries and prompted Zhang Hailou to state their business.
Zhang Hailou tried to play on their shared surname to claim they were distant relatives, suggesting that since they were short-handed after the events in Xiacheng, Zhang Qishan should lend them several military divisions. Unimpressed by the humor, Zhang Qishan threatened to have them both dragged away if another joke was made. Zhang Haiqi immediately steered the conversation toward Mo Yungao. She revealed that she knew Zhang Qishan was investigating him and had sent his men to the Archives.
Zhang Qishan did not deny it, explaining that he had intercepted one of Mo Yungao’s telegrams several days prior and discovered he was searching for the Archives. Knowing how secretively the Zhang family operated, Zhang Qishan realized that Mo Yungao's sudden awareness of the Archives meant its security had been compromised. He had sent his adjutant to investigate and protect its secrets from being leaked.
Realizing they were working toward the same goal, Zhang Haiqi suggested they share their information rather than waste time. Zhang Hailou explained their findings, noting that Mo Yungao had destroyed the Southern Archives and was preparing to unleash toxic weeds across the country. Zhang Qishan offered a deal: if they could provide the exact deployment sites and secure the evidence, he would report to his superiors to forcefully seize Mo Yungao's command, freezing his forces.
Otherwise, the higher-ups would refuse to mobilize the Changxiang defenses for an attack on Beilian. When Zhang Haiqi agreed to the cooperation in exchange for Mo Yungao's details, Zhang Qishan revealed that Mo Yungao was extremely cautious and eccentric. He had no permanent residence and lived exclusively on a heavily modified, fast-moving armored train that never stopped before reaching its destination. Zhang Qishan laid out a map of the train, explaining that it consisted of twelve carriages.
The second and twelfth carriages served as rotating gun turrets with a 360-degree firing arc and a range of up to ten thousand meters. Two other carriages housed twelve heavy machine guns that fired through side ports. Mo Yungao’s exact location among the middle seven carriages remained a mystery, and guards kept watch around the clock. Any unauthorized target attempting to approach would be annihilated by heavy fire.
Despite the danger, Zhang Hailou insisted there had to be a way to board, prompting Zhang Haiqi to point out that while others could not find the train, Zhang Qishan certainly could. Zhang Qishan traced the train's route on a map, showing that Mo Yungao was traveling from Guangchuan to Nanling.
The train would soon pass Changxiang Station, clear Chuhan Station by three in the morning, and reach Nanling Station by early afternoon, aligning perfectly with the stops Zhang Haixia had deduced. Zhang Qishan then shared a story Mo Yungao had told him years ago. During a bandit suppression mission in Nanqiang twenty years ago, Mo Yungao’s platoon was ambushed, leaving him as the sole survivor. While lying wounded among the dead, Mo Yungao encountered a mysterious man named Zhang Qiling.
The stranger ignored Mo Yungao's pleas for help, stating he was there to deal with a dangerous creature emerging from the mountains. Mo Yungao watched in terror as Zhang Qiling used his own unique blood to destroy the beast, after which Mo Yungao fainted. He awoke days later surrounded by decomposed bodies, convinced he had met an extraordinary being. He spent the next two decades searching for him.
Zhang Haiqi sent Zhang Hailou out of the room to speak with Zhang Qishan in private. She deduced that Mo Yungao's men had raided the Archives specifically to find File 003 in order to locate that mysterious man. Zhang Qishan admitted his knowledge was limited but agreed to wait for their update at their designated meeting point. Zhang Haiqi promised they would locate the exact deployment sites of the Twilight Grass so they could strike together.
Zhang Changlin handed the address of their temporary lodging to the pair before departing. As they walked, Zhang Haiqi revealed to Zhang Hailou that Zhang Haixia had been sent to the Xiao River to assist Zhang Qishan's forces, as he was currently the only one who understood the properties of the Twilight Grass. Zhang Hailou became deeply anxious, pointing out that Zhang Haixia's mental state was highly unstable.
Zhang Haiqi reassured him that Zhang Qishan's troops would step in if any issues arose. When Zhang Hailou asked if they would kill him, Zhang Haiqi replied that if he were so easily killed, he wouldn't be Zhang Haixia. She warned Zhang Hailou not to go after him, emphasizing that they had to focus on the bigger picture. After arriving at their lodgings, Zhang Hailou studied the regional map of Nanling.
He noticed that twenty li before reaching the terminal station, the train would pass through a five-hundred-meter-long cave tunnel. He proposed that they could wait inside the tunnel and leap onto the roof of the train, though they would only have a twenty-second window to do so. Zhang Hailou questioned whether Zhang Qishan could be trusted. Zhang Haiqi explained that while Zhang Qishan helped them, he would also gain control over Mo Yungao's defenses in Beilian.
Once they captured Mo Yungao and learned the deployment sites, Zhang Qishan would take Beilian, and they would take down Commander Mo. Zhang Hailou noted that just as the Twilight Grass had struck multiple Nanyang villages simultaneously, Mo Yungao likely planned to trigger outbreaks across all four target cities the moment his train arrived at Nanling Station, causing irreversible damage to local water and land resources.
He further reasoned that the Panhua Reef case, the Nanyang poisonings, the Nan'an trap, and the destruction of the Archives were all connected, pointing back to the Nanyang Evil God Case from a decade ago where bodies were hung to collect corpse fluids. He wondered what secrets the Zhang family held that could drive someone to conspire for twenty years.
Zhang Haiqi praised his maturity, jokingly attributing it to her excellent teaching, though Zhang Hailou corrected her, saying it was Zhang Haixia who had taught him. Meanwhile, Zhang Haixia and Zhang Qishan's squad arrived at the outskirts of Mo Yungao's hidden base deep in the Xiao River area. Investigating the perimeter, Zhang Haixia examined a discarded piece of human skin, identifying black fuzz on it as residue from burnt Twilight Grass roots.
He explained that Twilight Grass mixed with corpses produced a distinct, unforgettable stench. He identified the base's overseer as Li Pinrui, a strange military officer who had returned from Denasien to serve as Mo Yungao's henchman. Li Pinrui had personally executed the previous Nanyang poisonings, which had claimed thousands of lives.
The death squad's commander explained that the base housed an entire battalion of troops, but the Twilight Grass cultivation area inside a massive mountain cave was lightly guarded due to the hazardous nature of the plants. The forces mainly used the cave to periodically force local villagers to harvest the grass.
The commander emphasized that they had to eliminate the Mo faction forces, rescue the villagers, and destroy the Twilight Grass before Mo Yungao's train reached Nanling to prevent any warning from being sent. The squad successfully eliminated the cave guards and forced their way inside. They found cages of captured villagers who had been forced to harvest the grass before being killed and used as fertilizer.
The commander ordered his men to burn the area, but Zhang Haixia intervened, instructing the soldiers to gather all the Twilight Grass and pack it into crates. When the confused commander protested, reminding him of their mission to destroy it, Zhang Haixia replied that he had his own uses for the poisonous plants. He assured the hesitant soldiers that they would be safe, noting that he had survived an infection from the grass before. The soldiers began harvesting the plants, while Zhang Haixia vowed that he would not let those who died pass in vain.
