Overly Intense [Criminal Investigation] 135

Chapter 135: It’s Time to Meet

The car entered the highway. It was a weekday afternoon, and there was not much traffic on the highway. It took Wang Xi five hours to arrive.

It was already evening when they arrived. The streetlights were on, and the local police were already in place. Qin Luo had even notified Ni Lifeng, hoping that she could organize the tea farmers to search for Liu Jia and Zhan Luo.

The last time there had been an agricultural aid accident, Qin Luo had been in contact with him. Afterward, she had had dinner with the local leaders and had also specifically thanked this police officer.

Two hours ago, the Shanghai police had issued a wanted notice and had sent a letter requesting the local police to assist. Li Peng had realized that this was a major incident. If he handled it well, he could get a promotion. If he didn’t, he would have to take the fall.

So Li Peng had gathered the police force from several units and had formed a key arrest team on the spot.

When Qin Luo got out of the car, she was taken to a guesthouse. Boxed lunches and tea were all provided, and the setup was grand.

Qin Luo did not want Li Peng to put his mind on this. “President Liu has not been found yet. Let’s not eat first.”

Shen Yiyi, who had just taken two bites of her boxed lunch, put down her chopsticks and took out her police ID. “Hello, I’m from the Shanghai Identification Center, Shen Yiyi.”

“Director Shen, it’s a pleasure. Li Peng.”

Li Peng shook both hands. The Shanghai criminal investigation team had spoken to the county leaders and had said that there was a forensic pathologist with Qin Luo, who was the director of the identification center. But the higher-ups had not been clear about the specific purpose of her visit on the phone, so he had thought that the woman was here to supervise the case. “Deputy director.”

“Director Li, Team Leader Piao said that he had already sent you the materials before we arrived.” Shen Yiyi was wiping her hands. “Have you found any clues from the license plate?”

On the way here, Piao Zheng had checked Zhan Luo’s license plate.

He had confirmed that the white Volkswagen under the name of the car owner, Zhan Luo, had appeared many times at the logistics station near the victim Qi Yingjun’s house. This was basically consistent with the way the police had been investigating the poisoning of the beauty blender, which was through logistics contact. Therefore, Piao Zheng had quickly informed the local criminal investigation team of the license plate information.

“We’ve retrieved it, but there’s not much content.”

Li Peng did not dare to delay and immediately shared the clues he had gathered with Shen Yiyi.

A few screenshots of the vehicle’s driving were played on the phone screen. The route went from the highway, to the national highway, to the second-class road, and then disappeared after entering the mountainous area.

“It just disappeared near this town. We’ve already sent people to look for the car. If the other has changed their mode of transportation, we should be able to locate the specific location tonight.”

“Have you found any sign of the kidnapped person?”

“We captured a picture of him in the driver’s seat from the surveillance at the highway intersection.” Li Peng enlarged the screenshot and pointed to the picture. “He’s wearing a mask and a hat, and is suspected of avoiding the surveillance cameras.”

Shen Yiyi leaned forward and looked carefully. The blurry figure in the photo could not be identified as Zhan Luo at a glance. There was no sign of Liu Jia in the passenger seat or the back row.

Shen Yiyi frowned. Just as she was about to speak, her phone rang.

It was Piao Zheng.

Piao Zheng asked her if she had arrived. He had already reported the situation to the higher-ups. The city bureau had decided through a meeting to restore her right to participate in the case. The documents would be in Old Geng’s hands in a bit.

Rights are like peeling an onion, one layer at a time.

Shen Yiyi turned around, held out her hand to indicate to Li Peng that she had a call to take, and then asked him in a low voice, “How’s the investigation on Zhan Luo’s information going?”

Piao Zheng smiled wryly. “It’s only been three hours. You know, it’s not easy to investigate.”

“And this person is very cunning. He’s wearing a mask, so the accuracy of the facial recognition is much lower. And we haven’t found anything unusual in his trajectory tracking. He hasn’t booked a car, a flight, or a hotel. He even has very little payment information.”

Piao Zheng was also in a difficult position. “And our clues are hanging by a thread. He only appeared near the logistics center and didn’t even enter the logistics station. It’s very difficult to determine his method of committing the crime. We don’t have the conditions to send a letter to other departments.”

Shen Yiyi asked, “What about his criminal record?”

“Oh, he went to the police station a couple of weeks ago.” Piao Zheng retrieved the record. There was only one entry in the system, and he had already clicked on it. “It was a fight.”

“I know about that.” Shen Yiyi had heard Qin Luo say it on the way. “You can check his family relationships. Are his family members all in the country?”

Piao Zheng’s mouse was clicking randomly on the computer, and he opened the household registration system. “His two older sisters don’t live in Shanghai permanently. His dad passed away five years ago, and his mom is currently in Shanghai.”

“What did you just say?”
“Zhan Luo’s mom is currently living in Shanghai.”

Shen Yiyi looked down at her watch. “His dad passed away five years ago?”

Piao Zheng could hear the surprise in Director Shen’s voice. It was a professional vigilance, and at the same time, he also frowned. “What’s wrong? Is there something wrong?”

Shen Yiyi was very sensitive to the timing.

She covered the receiver and pulled the Wang Xi who was standing in the corner to her side. “Just now, on the way here, you said that Zhan Luo came to Logos five years ago, but at that time, he was just a volunteer, not a full-time employee.”

“Yes.” Wang Xi nodded and touched the top of her head. “He also had a very strange bald head at that time.”

Shen Yiyi said thank you and turned to walk out of the conference room.

Shen Yiyi pushed open the corridor window. The cool wind of late October in the mountains was blowing. She opened her coat, hoping that the cold wind could take away the stuffiness in her chest.

She smiled, a smile of sudden enlightenment.

“Three murders in a month.”

For a metropolis with constantly improving public security, the city’s panoramic surveillance had built a safe firewall. No one could escape the streets full of surveillance. As long as you dared to commit a crime in broad daylight, you could be arrested on the spot.

But a poisoning case was different.
The police needed a complete chain of evidence to be able to identify the killer and to arrest them.

Not to mention a murder case with different poisons and completely different modus operandi. Once these three cases were combined, this speed of killing could be called an astonishing speed. Therefore, Piao Zheng did not dare to combine the cases, nor did he dare to imagine. But now they had to face reality.

Shen Yiyi said in a deep voice, “You also know that if he committed all three cases, then with this speed, he can’t be a first-time offender.”

Piao Zheng had already been vaccinated. “I know that. These three cases are too exquisite and skilled for the killer.”

“If it’s really Zhan Luo.” Shen Yiyi smiled lightly and shook her head. “No, if. I think only he fits most of our profile.”

Piao Zheng tacitly agreed with this answer and was silent on the other end of the line with a cold face.

“Then before Shang Yi’s death, he must have killed other people in the same way.” Shen Yiyi said lightly, “No killer is not nervous the first time they kill.”

Even her.
Even though she had had countless dreams of stabbing the shadow to death, even though she was dissecting a corpse, even though she was doing a just thing, she would still feel panicked when she made the cut.

“We got the order wrong.” Shen Yiyi said coldly, “Maybe Qi Yingjun was the first person he wanted to kill.”

Piao Zheng had not yet recovered from the last sentence.

His information was not in sync with Director Shen’s, so his reaction was a little slow. He was puzzled. “What? He’s killed other people? And two of them?”

Qin Luo had not seen Ni Lifeng in a long time. The last time there had been an agricultural aid storm, they had come and gone in a hurry, and the two had only chatted a few times on WeChat. Afterward, Qin Luo had been busy disbanding the reading group and had not contacted her again.

The wind in the mountains was strong at night. Sister Ni was afraid that Qin Luo would be cold and had specially brought an extra set of clean clothes. But she saw that Qin Luo was surrounded by a circle of leaders and police officers and did not dare to go forward to disturb her, just stood on the side and waited quietly.

It wasn’t until Qin Luo, who didn’t want to listen to the police’s official talk, had used the excuse of a phone call to get away that she had had a chance to talk to Sister Ni.

“How is it? Have you asked the people around you? Has anyone seen Liu Jia?”

Ni Lifeng heard that Qin Luo’s voice was hoarse, and her appearance was also anxious.

“There’s no news in our village yet.” She spoke with a thick local accent. “But don’t be in a hurry. I’ve already mobilized everyone in the factory to look. It will probably take a while.”

It was already dark. If they waited any longer, she would be gone.

That was Liu Jia. Qin Luo was so anxious she was pinching the corner of her clothes. “Have you looked in the mountains? Have you asked those who pick herbs?”

Qin Luo had gotten lost in the mountains that year. She knew how cold and dark it was in the mountains. If it weren’t for Ni Lifeng looking for herbs to treat her daughter’s illness, and wandering around with a flashlight in the middle of the night, Qin Luo might have died in a mountain gully at that time.

Ni Lifeng said bluntly, “There are no herb-picking teams now, but a few of the female workers in the factory have asked their husbands to go and look in the mountains. There’s no news back yet.”

“Thanks.” Qin Luo’s heart was suspended, empty and without support. She had to hold Sister Ni’s arm with both hands. “Find more people to look. Don’t worry about the cost. I’ll pay for it.”

Ni Lifeng’s originally dry face suddenly stiffened.

“It’s not about the money.”

Qin Luo held her hand, at a loss. The sky outside the police station was dark, and the streetlights reflected the outline of the mountains. “President Liu has invested a lot in your mountainous area. Without her, there would be no these factories, no logistics companies. You must find her.”

She didn’t know who to beg.

Qin Luo could only pin her hopes on the mountain spirits, on the tea farmers who relied on the mountains for their livelihood. She hoped that all the public welfare they had done for the mountainous area over the years could move the heavens and give Liu Jia a good reward for her good deeds.

“We’ll do our best.” Ni Lifeng nodded and asked with some doubt, “Did Little Zhan really kidnap President Liu? Could it be a mistake?”

“What do you mean, a mistake?”

Shen Yiyi appeared behind Qin Luo, her voice cold. “Do you have much contact with him?”

“This is a police officer from Shanghai. You can tell her everything you know.”

Ni Lifeng nodded. “Before the factory was established, Little Zhan was responsible for delivering books to the school. I saw him a few times at the school. Later, when the empowerment classroom was established, he was always the one who picked up the volunteers to go to Shanghai. I had a good impression of him.”

Shen Yiyi asked, “Does he come to this mountain often?”

Ni Lifeng replied, “He would climb the mountain every time he came.”

Shen Yiyi’s face was cold. This was troublesome.

Zhan Luo was very familiar with this mountain, which meant that there were many escape routes and many choices for kidnapping. Besides, it was not easy for a drone to enter the mountainous area at night. The sound was loud, and the lights were too obvious. But relying on manpower to search the mountain, they would not get any results in the dark, unless they could pinpoint his location.

Shen Yiyi thought of her conversation with Piao Zheng just now and finally made a choice.

“Do you have his contact information?”
“I do.”

Shen Yiyi made a snap decision. “You can inform him that we’re looking for him.”