The Brain Science Case 148

Chapter 148: The Blazing Fire (Part 2) – 6

“You’ve been here before, and you want to see it again?”

“Yes, because I’m afraid there are still some clues that were missed here.”

The landlord glanced at Zhou Jinglin, who had spoken, and Cai Yuwei, who was next to her, was bowing and smiling. The woman muttered a few words and threw the two of them back into the house.

“It feels like it’s been a long, long time since I’ve done a search with you.” Although it was a general evidence collection, and he had also come last time, the feeling of being with Jinglin was different. Cai Yuwei was smiling, and his mood was extremely cheerful. “When was the last time?”

“It should have been… when we were protecting Jingxun.”

“That’s right, that’s right. At the new year, ah, I can’t believe two months have passed.”

“Yes, it’s already hot.”

While they were talking, the landlord returned to the door, holding a key. “Here, take it. I have to feed my grandson, so I won’t go up with you.”

“I understand. We’ll return the key as soon as we’re done.”

Taking the elevator up to the fourteenth floor, Cai Yuwei was talkative, as if he were worried that the atmosphere between the two of them would get cold.

A smell of smoke came with them as they entered the room. Jinglin covered her mouth and nose and turned on the light. “…At that time, we had this place, and the alley on the other side, completely sealed off. I still can’t figure out how they were able to escape…”

“Hold on a minute.” Jinglin looked around the room. “Who did you come here with to collect evidence before?”

“Senior Ah Gui, and then it was Senior Ah Mu who was in charge.”

The tenant’s information was that of a high school dropout. The landlord had said that he had rented this place two months ago, for only three months. This place was about a fifteen-minute drive from the Yonghe city center, but because it was a family-style apartment, the rent was also high. She was very surprised that a young man in his early twenties would want to rent here, but the rent was paid very readily, so she didn’t ask any more questions.

It was conceivable that this had become the best observation post for monitoring Shi Jingde and his family. Through the large glass windows, they could still see the charred and chaotic scene, and they could also see workers installing new glass windows for the residents across the street.

“To be able to survive such a powerful explosion…” she muttered to herself.

“Who are you talking about, who could survive an explosion? The teacher?”

Jinglin took back her gaze. “Yes, the teacher.”

“Didn’t she say your mother gave her thirty seconds to escape?”

“Yes, but even so, I’m still very surprised.”

The previous evidence collection had found a discarded SIM card and a cigarette butt at the scene. It was only through a saliva comparison that Li Yuejiao, who had been lying in wait here, was completely confirmed.

“By the way, where did the teacher go today? Didn’t she say she had recently suspended her classes at the university?” Perhaps because she also found the smell of smoke unpleasant, Cai Yuwei opened the window a little.

“Her? She seems to be investigating a previous case recently, and she plans to find another person involved.”

“Is that so?” he had no idea about the case Yingli was focused on. “Hey, it’s not that I want to say… I think this is too explosive.”

“In what way?”

“You and the teacher. To put it this way, you two were involved a long, long time ago.”

The action of collecting traces suddenly paused. “What do you want to say?”

“You… uh, you have a deep connection.”

‘I don’t blame you at all.’

Remembering Yingli’s smile, Jinglin couldn’t help but smile. “That’s right, but I’d rather not have this kind of connection.” She took a deep breath. “For both her and me, it’s a painful memory… especially for her.” Jinglin couldn’t even imagine how many times Yingli’s heart had been torn and pulled during her growth to become the person they saw today.

“That’s true.”

The whole house didn’t have much of a human touch, and probably besides surveillance, the person who had rented the house had not been living here all the time.

“Setting aside the case, it feels like this is just a typical otaku’s room.”

She also agreed with this statement. Turning to the computer desk by the bed, the computer had already been moved, leaving only a dusty outline.

However, there was one thing that made Jinglin curious—a large number of newspapers were piled under the computer desk.

“Have you guys gone through this pile of newspapers?”

“Oh, yes, and the sports section was folded up inside. It’s clear that this guy is very concerned about sports news. Young people are young people.”

“Aren’t you a young person?” she pouted in rebuttal.

“But I’m not interested in sports news. Besides, everyone just looks at their phones now. Who would go and read a newspaper?”

Everyone uses their phones now… they wouldn’t read a newspaper?

If that’s the case, then isn’t that the opposite of the tenant’s age and habits?

Jinglin immediately knelt down and took out all the newspapers.

Lifting the quilt, Cai Yuwei pinched his nose and said, “Tsk, tsk, I’m sure this person doesn’t have a girlfriend.”

“You don’t have a girlfriend either.”

Why am I being dissed again? Cai Yuwei’s face was filled with bitterness. “That’s because… the Criminal Investigation Division is more demanding. And there aren’t many female colleagues…” the only one had rejected his pursuit.

“What, you regret it now?”

“N-No, of course not. I love it here. To be able to investigate cases with you, the teacher, and the chief and the others, I’m really very happy.”

He’s changing his tune quite quickly. Jinglin smiled faintly and continued to search through the newspapers. He scratched his head and continued, “By the way, Jinglin, after you and the teacher made up… what stage are you at now?”

“Stage?” she frowned, “that’s a strange way to put it. What do you mean, what stage?”

“Well…”

“Well, what? Why don’t you say it?”

“Um, it’s nothing.” He went around the bed. “Did you find anything?”

Jinglin paid special attention to the back of the sports section he had mentioned. Because it was the same newspaper, the layout was also relatively fixed, and the sports section was almost always with the finance and lifestyle sections, sometimes finance, and sometimes lifestyle, depending on the size of the sports section.

“The layout has been folded back on a regular basis…”

“Senior Ah Gui also noticed that before. He just took a few glances and concluded that this guy was a sports fan.”

A sports fan, is that so? she bit her lip slightly, “I don’t think so.”

“W-What’s not right?”

“Look here. The sports section is followed by the lifestyle section, right?”

“Yes.”

“If someone was really interested in the lifestyle section, how would you put it down after you’ve finished reading?”

He was taken aback and took the newspaper. “Of course, I would fold it in half and cover it…” he folded the long side of the newspaper and then flipped his palm and threw it down.

Suddenly, his eyes widened.

“The sports section is on top.” Jinglin smiled, and from the pile of newspapers that had already been searched, she pulled out a newspaper with a folded back. “You just said that young people pay attention to the sports section, but you also said that they usually don’t buy newspapers. The two are contradictory. I think that person did buy newspapers, but not to follow the sports section, but to pay attention to the lifestyle and finance sections.”

“So the person who was reading the newspaper was really interested in these two sections?”

“Yes, and he only skipped one or two days in two months, which means someone was very, very concerned about the recent finance and lifestyle news…” Jinglin carefully looked at the finance and lifestyle news from the few days before and after the missing days and found a dense trend.

A certain domestic car company’s sales report, the release of a new car model, and an interview with the chairman of that car company, this newspaper had done a series of brand reports. In the lifestyle section, she had also seen the news of the same company injecting funds into the municipal hospital and establishing a medical park.

“I was just thinking… could it be that the two days that were skipped were not because he didn’t buy them…”

“But because they were taken away.” Jinglin took the initiative to continue. “The newspaper may have reported on something that person was very, very concerned about, so it wasn’t left here.”

“That’s it.”

The two of them looked at each other, and Cai Yuwei took the initiative to take out his phone. “I’ll contact the newspaper.” As long as he requested the information from the newspaper, the truth would soon be revealed.

**

When Xiao Shunfan heard that someone had requested to see him, his eyebrows shot up.

It had been a long time since anyone had specifically asked to see him.

“Who is it?”

“The person claims to be your friend, a woman.”

A woman?

“Is she pretty?” he asked with a slightly lewd smile.

The police officer shrugged. “You’ll know when you see her.”

Since it was a rare occasion for someone to come and see him, it was a good opportunity to get some fresh air. He followed the police officer into the visiting room and found a young woman with glasses and a fair complexion sitting outside the window.

So pretty. This baby face is totally his type. But Xiao Shunfan frowned. “I don’t know you.”

“Ah, that’s natural, but it’s fine. I know you.”

“You only have fifteen minutes.” The police officer nodded to her before he closed the door.

“Who are you?” he sat down, “what do you want from me?”

The woman across from him took out a piece of paper from her bag. “Here, this is the list of your fellow National Security Bureau agents.” The A4-sized paper was pressed against the transparent wall, and his column had been specially circled. “Gary, born in 1967, used to be in a gang and has multiple prior offenses for drug trafficking, theft, and so on. He was later recruited by the National Security Bureau, and the things he did were more or less the same. He retired in 1998, and he was also the last on this list… setting aside Lisa, who was not included.”

At the mention of Lisa, Xiao Shunfan’s expression immediately changed. “You know her?”

“Yes, she has committed a major criminal case, and the police are currently in full pursuit.” Tang Yingli put away the list. “After you retired, your shop was not doing well, and you went back to your old ways, joining your original gang, and now this is your third time in prison. You’re going to be in for three years this time?”

“Time passes quickly.” Xiao Shunfan clasped his hands, and it was clear that he was very relaxed. “Alright, you’ve investigated my background very thoroughly. You just said Lisa is being pursued? What crime did she commit?”

“There’s not much time, so I’ll be brief… Li Yuejiao has formed a criminal organization and has killed several former retired officials by recruiting former members of the National Security Bureau. Including the Nanshijiao bombing that happened just a week ago, and the target was the former director, Shi Jingde.”

“That fatso. She got him?” he showed his yellowed teeth, “oh my god, she’s so bold… wait, isn’t she a club owner? I went to that shop for a few drinks a few years ago… I didn’t expect her to have changed so much in just a few years.”

She nodded. “Basically, all the people from her time have either been killed or recruited by her.”

“It’s a shame I’m not outside.” He pounded the table in excitement. “Since that fatso is gone, then Zhou Zengxiang is definitely not going to get away, right?”

“Yes.” Yingli pushed up her glasses. “That’s all for the small talk. There’s only one key point I want to ask. You still remember the Gan family massacre that happened in 1990, right?”

At the mention of this, Xiao Shunfan’s excitement immediately disappeared. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know anything.”

“Besides Lisa, who was the other person on that mission?” Yingli’s gaze was locked on him. “Just the code name will do.”

He put one foot on the chair. “Wait a minute, you look so young… why are you investigating this case? It’s been so long.”

“Because the cases Lisa has committed all vaguely point to the Gan family massacre. Shi Jingde, Zhou Zengxiang, and the person who was on the mission with her back then must also be a target. I have to grasp her intentions before she acts.”

“You don’t look like a police officer at all.”

“I’m helping the police to thoroughly investigate this case.” During the conversation, her expression was blank. “That list is the proof.”

Indeed, the list was not something anyone could get. “I probably know…” he sighed, “I’ll say this first, actually, in the National Security Bureau back then, agents were in principle forbidden from having private relationships. So I’ve heard of a lot of people, but I’ve never had contact with them.”

“You’ve had contact with Lisa?”

“She’s an exception. As one of the few female agents, and she’s also beautiful. There’s no man who doesn’t know her… it’s a shame she was pushed into a fire pit by her superior.” He shook his head with regret.

“Then who on earth was the other person involved back then?”

“Tsk, tsk… that deadpan face of yours, you’re completely unmoved.” Xiao Shunfan’s face was filled with a lack of interest. “His name is Angus.”

A name that had never appeared on the list. “What do you know about Angus? Including his appearance, his build, his reputation, and so on… tell me everything.”

“He’s quite tall, and very handsome. Although he’s a little worse than me…” he lazily scratched his protruding belly, “but his reputation is not very good. The superiors almost always give him the dirtiest jobs… it should be said that even if the mission is not dirty, he will make the process very dirty.”

“The ‘dirty’ you’re talking about, does that mean killing?”

He nodded. “No survivors.”

“Everyone knows his habits?”

“Yes, he’s not particularly close to anyone, and he’s like a lone wolf… to say wolf is still nice. More often than not, he’s nicknamed ‘mad dog’.”

Mad dog.

“So for the Gan family massacre, Zhou Zengxiang deliberately sent him?” hearing Xiao Shunfan’s evaluation of this person, Yingli couldn’t help but feel a tightness in her chest.

“Probably. Actually, I’ve never understood why he would let Lisa be in charge alone, and then suddenly add the mad dog before the execution.”

“The process of the incident, are you clear about it?”

He shook his head vigorously. “I’m really not clear… I only know that they were on a mission at the same time, and the other details are not something I can ask.”

“Then do you know where he went after he changed his identity?”

“I don’t know. I’ve barely spoken to him, and so have the others. We would never know what identity the other person had changed to, or where they had gone.”

It seemed… these were the only clues.

“But…”

This hesitation drew her attention. “What’s wrong?”

“I think I saw him on TV a few years ago.”

She tightened her palm, her jaw twitching slightly. “What kind of show?”

“An interview. He was talking about his entrepreneurial journey, and I was thinking, this kid is doing so well.”

“What kind of business does he do?”

“Cars, I think?” he clapped his hands, “his own brand of cars.”

At this time, a police officer opened the door to the visiting room. “Time’s up.”

“I probably understand.” Yingli stood up from her seat. After seeing her pretty dress, Xiao Shunfan blew a loud whistle.

“Hey, I’ve helped you so much… shouldn’t you show a little something?”

She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”

“I’m about to be released from prison. If you have time, little sister, how about a date with uncle?”

That gaze was so lewd it was disgusting. Facing this kind of harassment, Yingli just smiled faintly. “Congratulations. So smoothly. I hope you won’t have to serve the rest of this year’s sentence.”

His face changed slightly. “Hey, what do you mean…”

“Literally.” She picked up her bag. “Thank you for the information. Goodbye.”