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墨書 Inktalez
So when Sister Mao said that, I ultimately did not refuse. I suddenly thought of Widow Wang, who chose suicide out of loneliness. The difference between Sister Mao and Widow Wang was that Sister Mao still had hope, while Widow Wang had completely lost hers.
Both were women, both sleepless nights.
Sister Mao drove me to the Dongxing City Public Security Bureau. I knew her intentions; she wanted to make an impression in front of the leaders, which might help Huang Erge a bit. Ever since Huang Erge was taken in, Sister Mao's life had been reduced to making money and waiting.
"Wu, what kind of case is this?" Sister Mao chatted casually in the car.
I smiled lightly. "I can't say anything until the case is clarified."
Sister Mao snorted and said, "Do you think I wouldn’t know if you didn’t tell me? I guess it’s about Liu Fei'er going missing. It's been all over Dongxing City lately, so naturally, news has reached here. Am I right?"
I shook my head and remained silent. The car was quite warm. Leaning against the leather seat felt like nestling into a large pile of sand in front of a fireplace; there were no other sounds, just the gentle hum of the engine, almost like a lullaby that made one drowsy.
I felt my eyelids beginning to fight each other. Although I hadn’t done much work today, it was when one relaxed that overwhelming sleepiness set in. Conversely, when one was highly alert, even three days could be endured.
Sister Mao continued, "It seems your confidentiality work is quite good. Let’s talk about something else then. Do you have a girlfriend now? Is there someone you like? Should I introduce someone to you?"
By this point, my consciousness was already quite hazy; all I wanted was to sleep quickly. Sister Mao's last words echoed in my mind, and suddenly two people appeared in my thoughts: Guan Zengbin and Zhao Mingkun. It felt as if they were standing right in front of me, wide-eyed and staring at me.
Could these be the people I liked? Am I really so fickle that I could like two people at once?
I closed my eyes; I was too tired.
I don’t know how long it had been when I felt someone gently nudging me. When I opened my eyes, the sky had already brightened, and Sister Mao was looking at me with a cheerful smile. "You sleep well alone, but I've had a tough time driving for over two hours by myself."
I smiled apologetically at Sister Mao and said, "Since we're here now, why don't you come along? With Mary here, we’ll soon find the owner of this Cigarette."
Sister Mao had been thinking the same thing, so she naturally did not decline and followed me into the City Bureau.
Although it was still dimly lit, the people at the City Bureau had already arrived for work. I brought Sister Mao into the office and made a brief introduction, after which Mary began to enlist Sister Mao's help with her tasks.
Captain Shao was still staring at the Whiteboard in the office, but now the names and figures on it had significantly decreased, making it look much cleaner. I walked over to Captain Shao's side and looked at the few remaining figures on the Whiteboard. Noticing my presence, Captain Shao set down his teacup and asked, "Have you found anything?"
I nodded, then shook my head, feeling somewhat conflicted as I said, "These robbers can be ruthless. Based on the situation in Liu Fei'er's room, we identified a suspect named Chen Lin and confirmed his identity. However, just as we were about to use Chen Lin as a breakthrough point for our investigation, he was already dead."
Captain Shao nodded and replied, "I know about that. Chen Lin used Liu Fei'er's lipstick and left behind the only piece of evidence at the scene. So, to ensure their safety, the kidnappers killed him; this was actually expected. The murderer is too cautious; this is the third time now, and they still haven't made a call."
I sighed and continued, "However, there has been a new breakthrough. We found a special homemade cigarette in the vehicle driven by the kidnappers—it's a type of tobacco called Davidoff, which is quite rare in Dongxing City. That's why I rushed to bring Sister Mao here; she is considered an expert in this area."
Both Captain Shao and Sister Mao nodded slightly.
I went on, "By the way, Mary, did you find anything in the surveillance footage you were investigating?"
Mary shook her head and said, "The murderer is very cunning; I never saw that car enter at any point. The only blind spot occurred when someone was holding a large bunch of helium balloons that blocked the camera. I suspect that car drove into the parking lot at that moment."
"Helium balloons?" I asked.
Mary nodded with some frustration and explained, "Yes, those kinds of helium balloons that are often sold on the street—like those from Pleasant Goat or Bald Qiang—just a huge bunch that blocked that person's upper body completely; all we could see was their lower half. But such lower halves are too common; how can we find them? That's why I'm still comparing footage and haven't notified you yet."
"It must have been done by the kidnappers," I sighed. "These people really have a lot of tricks up their sleeves."
Mary added, "Exactly. If they wanted to destroy surveillance or steal footage from the monitoring room, they would inevitably leave more traces behind. But using this method to obscure the camera means that even if someone at the monitoring center saw it right away, they wouldn't suspect anything. After parking the car and walking out, that person just left with their helium balloons without leaving much evidence."
"Right!" I said. "At that point, if they just handed out those helium balloons to kids on the street, there would be no evidence left—it's truly clever."
"Enough about that," I turned back to Captain Shao and asked, "How's your investigation going?"
Captain Shao pulled over a chair to sit on and pointed with his finger as he said, "From all those people we initially had, based on our investigation so far, we still can't rule out these four suspects."
Captain Shao pointed at the information on the whiteboard.
He introduced each suspect to me one by one: "Suspect One, Zhao Dong! Zhao Dong is the chairman of East Group and has been a longtime rival of Liu Yinyan. Years ago, Liu Yinyan worked at this large company. However, decades have passed, and Rongding Group has far surpassed East Group, taking the top position in Dongxing City's Venture Capital Firm. Over the years, Liu Yinyan has poached many talents from his former employer, which has caused Zhao Dong to lose his temper repeatedly."
"He has both the motive and the means to hire someone for kidnapping because if Liu Yinyan gets flustered, Rongding Group's stock is sure to drop," Captain Shao said. "Although there is currently no substantial evidence, we cannot overlook him."
Captain Shao then pointed at the next person: "This is the Second Suspect, Cao Jie. Cao Jie is the one who previously rejected Liu Yinyan's request to join his team at High-Rise Management. Initially, Cao Jie thought he simply failed to recognize Liu Yinyan's talent. However, Liu Yinyan's personality is one that seeks revenge; he would go after any client of Cao Jie’s. Recently, Cao Jie’s company is facing bankruptcy and needs a large sum of money to stay afloat."
"He has the motive to hire someone for kidnapping but lacks financial support," Captain Shao explained. "So we are still investigating."
"The third person is Hou Yao. She is a classmate of Liu Fei'er and one of the Campus Four Major Beauties. Coincidentally, they are in the same class." Captain Shao pointed at an eighteen or nineteen-year-old woman. "Hou Yao has a crush on Zhang Yunhu, who likes Liu Fei'er instead. Liu Fei'er once tried dating Zhang Yunhu for a while, which infuriated Hou Yao."
Captain Shao took a sip of tea. "Hou Yao's father is just over forty and is the chairman of a burgeoning internet company. Although he isn't as wealthy as Liu Yinyan, he is still quite affluent. Not long ago, in front of many people, Hou Yao demanded that Liu Fei'er disappear forever. So don’t let her age fool you; she has both the motive and the means to hire someone."
"Then what about the last person?" I asked.
"Take a good look at the last photo," Captain Shao said, his gaze lingering on it.
I looked closely and realized that this person seemed somewhat familiar. Suddenly, it dawned on me—this was none other than Lai San, who had fled from Takizawa City.
"Could it be him?" I asked.
Captain Shao remained silent for a moment before responding: "After Lin Shuluo's network was dismantled, Lai San's drug operation came to an end. Those involved in this matter almost immediately fled; even Old Zhang, who was involved in body trafficking, took the opportunity to leave. Months have passed; how have Lai San and Old Zhang been surviving?"
"It’s easy to go from frugality to extravagance but hard to go back from extravagance to frugality; Lai San and others are fugitives without family or children, so they naturally lack saving habits," Captain Shao lightly tapped on the table. "Therefore, they have both the motive and capability to do this."
I nodded; I had suspected this possibility before.
Captain Shao rubbed his teacup thoughtfully: "These kidnappers are ruthless yet bold and meticulous. If they were ordinary kidnappers, they wouldn’t resort to murder just to achieve their goals. But now, without making a single call, two people are already dead. This indicates that these individuals are definitely fugitives—the type who think killing one is breaking even but killing two is profit."
"From the information we currently have, the most likely person capable of organizing so many fugitives near Dongxing City is Lai San. This guy can be quite erratic at times, but other times he's incredibly sharp. It seems he was born to walk the path of crime."
I fell silent for a moment and asked, "Is there really someone who is born to commit crimes?"
Captain Shao also paused before responding heavily, "From my years of experience in solving cases, yes. The world is vast; don't be too shocked."
I sat down and said, "Then we need to investigate these four individuals."
Captain Shao nodded. "Yes, the City Bureau has already begun their investigation. However, if you wish to get involved, that's fine too. I've informed everyone at the City Bureau about this authority. You can deploy most of the police force to conduct a thorough investigation. This matter now involves more than just Liu Fei'er and Liu Yinyan. With such professional kidnappers, if we don't arrest them quickly, it will lead to even bigger troubles in the future."
"Then..." I hadn't finished my sentence when suddenly Mary shouted.
We were all startled and quickly turned to look at her.
Mary exclaimed, "An unknown number just called Liu Yinyan's phone. If I'm not mistaken, it should be the kidnappers calling. I've already connected with Gu Chen; we can directly control the conversation on Liu Yinyan's end. You need to decide how to proceed."
We nodded in agreement.
"Hello, good morning."
A sharp voice came through the line.
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