The Brain Science Case 149

Chapter 149: The Blazing Fire (Part 2) – 7

As a big boss, Yan Ruiyang’s schedule was almost always full, and his free time was mostly spent in the car. So on the way to his next location, reading briefings, meeting minutes, or contacting company executives had become the things he did most often in the car.

Because his schedule changed a lot, if it weren’t for a confidant, it would be very difficult to pinpoint his whereabouts. The only relatively fixed thing was going to the company in the morning and his insistence on his fitness activities. But he would not just use the same fitness center. Being targeted by anyone was a big no-no—whether it was an enemy or a friend.

This habit made it particularly difficult for his driver to adapt, especially since the driver could only find out his entire day’s schedule at seven in the morning. And he hated it when his schedule was disrupted.

But… so far, this young driver had been doing a pretty good job. This, on the other hand, surprised him a little.

“Is the boss going to the Minquan East Road branch today?”

“Yes.” His phone received an attachment from the director. It should be to discuss the ribbon-cutting ceremony and the process for the official opening of the medical research park.

Led by the municipal hospital, the medical research project he had heavily invested in was mainly located in Linkou. Besides research, what was more important was the attached hospital, which was a forerunner in the strategy of promoting “medical tourism.”

This “life-saving” business was expected to bring him more income and to build his reputation for sponsoring charity and medical care.

Wealth, fame. There was never too much of either.

The stretch limousine drove into the basement, and he was replying to other messages until the car stopped.

He got out of the car with his briefcase. “You have forty minutes to relax. Be in the car at four sharp.”

“Understood.”

Yan Ruiyang changed his clothes and came to the weight training room. At three in the afternoon, it was not yet the peak time for use, and the huge equipment room only had a few people.

He was used to using the flywheel first, and after his body had warmed up a little, he would do other activities.

But in the gym, the flywheel was unexpectedly popular. A lady in a white tracksuit was occupying the middle of the three flywheel machines, and Yan Ruiyang climbed onto another one. Unexpectedly, she smiled at him.

A completely strange face.

And then, she said to him, “Long time no see.”

“Have we met?” What kind of new scam or pickup line is this?

“Of course we have,” she said with certainty, “I’m not surprised that you don’t recognize my face, but to even forget my voice, that makes me a little sad.”

The action of pedaling the flywheel paused slightly. He stared at her coldly, and she jumped off the flywheel with a light movement.

“Your memory has gotten worse.” She lowered her voice and clearly called out the name she had used a long, long time ago. “Angus.”

**

When Yingli returned to the special task force room, what she saw was a busy—and even chaotic—scene.

“Officer Zhou?” Why are there so many newspapers on the desk? “What are you guys doing?”

“You’re finally back.” Jinglin didn’t look up, her hand holding a red pen as she kept flipping through the pile of newspapers in front of her, and Chen Huomu, Jian Minggui, and the others were also doing the same thing.

“Where did these newspapers come from?” she casually grabbed a copy.

“They were in the room where my mom was when she was talking to you and watching you.”

“You guys went to search?” Yingli remembered that they had already been there once.

“Yes, we found this pile of newspapers there. And the person who rented that room was a high school dropout who had been away from home for several years and was living by working at a gas station.” Jinglin briefly recounted the search process. “…A young person’s room is piled with so many newspapers? I think it’s very strange. After a careful check, I found that the newspapers were bought from February 18th until April 24th, which was three days before the explosion.”

More than two months.

“And February 18th, do you remember what day that was?”

Yingli rested her chin on her hand. “Yes… the day you were hospitalized. The first day of Keys’ performance in Taiwan, which was the third day of the new year.”

“That’s right. Shi Changyun was arrested, I was hospitalized again, and that afternoon, the director was shot by my mom.” Jinglin’s eyes were like burning flames. “Have you found any connection in the timing?”

Yingli quickly scanned the entertainment headlines, which recorded the “electrical fire” accident backstage at the Taipei Arena. “But if the tenant is your aunt’s person, it’s not incomprehensible for them to track the news through the newspapers.” From a criminal profiling perspective, it was indeed common for criminals to pay special attention to news reports after they had committed a crime.

“But he bought them for more than two months in a row, and on a young person who is not supposed to pay special attention to traditional media. After carefully looking through these newspapers, I found that certain specific pages have been folded back.”

“Oh?”

“Look at this finance section from March 20th,” Jinglin pointed to the part she had circled in red, “when I found this newspaper, the sports section was facing up, and when I flipped it over, I found this news.”

Yingli looked at the circled headline. The content was about a certain domestic car manufacturer’s sales decline due to competition from imported cars. “Yes.”

“And then look at this, this is the lifestyle section from early April, and there’s a news report about a professional Go player returning to the country for medical treatment. The back is also the sports section. And the front page of that day was the news of a certain doctor jumping from a building and being sent to the hospital for emergency treatment.”

Yingli bit her lip, her mind quickly thinking about the connection between the two news articles. “Also, in mid-March, there was a three-day interview with the owner of a certain car factory, which was all in the lifestyle section, and the back was just…”

“Also all the sports section?”

“Yes, the person who bought the newspaper seemed to be paying attention to the sports section, but in reality, the key was the news on the back. These red circles… are the evidence.”

‘Cars, I think… his own brand of cars.’

The information Jinglin had found coincided with the result of her inquiry with Xiao Shunfan.

“So, your aunt’s real target was actually the subjects of these news interviews?”

“The possibility is high. Of course, some of the folded-back marks did not have any related reports, probably because of the year-end election, and the political and social sections were also often paid attention to, but not as much as the finance and lifestyle sections.”

In the process of hiding, Li Yuejiao was very cautious. Although technological products like mobile phones were convenient, they could easily become a loophole in information security, which was why she had removed the SIM card when she had left her hiding place…

On the contrary, buying a newspaper would hardly attract anyone’s attention.

“Wu Jianxiong’s human resources agency was emptied before.” Yingli frowned. “These newspapers… could it be that they were only moved and piled up in the room at that time?”

“It’s possible. Also, after we thoroughly checked the entire pile of newspapers, we found that two days of newspapers were skipped.”

“Which two days?”

“April 6th and 14th.”

Yingli quickly returned to her computer and began to prepare to search for the news data from these two days.

“Tang Yingli, no need to look.”

“Why not? Do you think your aunt was missing these two days of newspapers just because it was raining and she was too lazy to go out, like an ordinary person?”

Jinglin pressed her hand on the keyboard. “Ah Wei has already gone to get them, those two days of newspapers.”

The warmth of her palm made Yingli tremble slightly.

“Oh, I thought of what you were thinking. I’m not as green as you think.” she pouted and said, leaning closer to Yingli.

“Okay… but since we can find so many clues from here, why did we completely miss them during the first search?”

“Well…” Jinglin’s index finger on her lips, she deliberately glanced at the two big men across from her, “let’s not pursue it. After all, we’ve finally found a breakthrough, haven’t we?”

“Ah, you’re right about that…”

“By the way, where did you go just now?” Jinglin’s eyes were filled with curiosity. “It’s not Wednesday, and you said your classes at the university are all cleared. Your return time is also very strange.”

Her rose-colored lips parted slightly. “Yes… I went to a place I don’t usually go.”

“No wonder your schedule is different from usual. And then?”

“I…”

“I got it.”

With an excited cheer, Cai Yuwei opened the door to the team room and shocked everyone.

“I got the newspapers from those two days. Oh… the newspaper office said they didn’t have any extra copies, so I went to the library to get them.”

“I’ll tell you later.” Yingli held Jinglin’s hand back and reached for the newspaper in Cai Yuwei’s hand.

“Uh, Teacher?”

She quickly checked the sections Jinglin had specifically pointed out. In the finance section of April 6th, she found the news of the chairman of a well-known car factory announcing an increase in capital to assist the municipal hospital’s medical team in forming a medical research team. The news headline had his photo, and the headline was a big “fame and fortune.”

‘He’s quite tall, and very handsome.’

Yan Ruiyang, and also Yan Kaiwei’s father. This capable and shrewd image was completely different from that of the gentle young man.

“Could it be that Xiao Shunfan… was talking about him?” she muttered to herself.

Jinglin opened the other day’s newspaper, and unlike Yingli’s discovery, the front page news of that day was occupied by a photo of a famous movie star’s wedding, and the figure of a fat man in the background was surprisingly familiar.

“Tang Yingli… look here.”

“Ah…” her index finger on her glasses, she squinted, “it seems we’ve already found the reason for collecting these two newspapers.”

The person captured in the photo was Shi Jingde, who had died in the explosion.

**

That “Angus” had awakened his memory, and he had called out, “Lisa?” with some uncertainty.

She sighed with a laugh. “You finally remember.”

Because of the plastic surgery, her appearance was completely different from before. “So that’s what you meant by a new face… it’s a wonder you were able to get in here.” He snorted. “What do you want?”

“If I said I was here to settle the score, would you believe me?” she was still smiling, but her eyes turned cold, and she put her hands in her tracksuit pockets, “‘Hacker’ died in vain.”

“Ah, I almost forgot… do you like the gift?”

“You really killed him?”

“I just treated him to a few drinks, and then I reenacted the way you dealt with that Wei guy. My skills haven’t gotten rusty, have they?” he grinned.

“You’ve cost me an important source of information. Also, was it you who poisoned the ‘reporter’?”

“The ‘reporter’ is dead too?” he shook his head, “no, I really don’t know about that… it wasn’t me.”

“Someone put ricin in the drugs he was using. Without him, forging documents has become a big problem for me.”

“When have I ever used a small thing like poison to kill someone?” he frowned in dissatisfaction, “alright, you’ve gone to so much trouble to get in here. You’re not just planning to hold me accountable, are you?”

She snorted. “I’m just here to give you a piece of advice.”

“What?”

“Stop your insane plan.” Li Yuejiao gritted her teeth. “Don’t think I’ll believe that what you’re doing is for the development of medical research.”

“No way. You’ve really changed your ways? I thought you were here to ask me to find a way to get you a fresh liver.”

“You think all those doctors will just do as you say? Don’t think everyone is as greedy as you.”

“Oh, of course not. But as long as eight out of ten are willing to cooperate, that’s enough. This is a major breakthrough in medicine. A lot of people will be willing to come to Taiwan for medical tourism with a lot of money for fresh organs.” He raised an eyebrow and lowered his voice with a smile. “You don’t know? Rich people are afraid of death.”

“Ha, a breakthrough? In all these years, haven’t you done enough ‘good’ things?”

“We’re in the same boat. Oh, I almost forgot. The Lisa who committed crimes with me back then has had a change of heart. After getting rid of two old farts in a row, could it be that her next target… is me?” he took a step back, his eyes on her right hand, which was hidden in her pocket, “I advise you not to take it out, because the one who will be lying here will be you.”

She, who was at the end of her life, was no match for him.

Li Yuejiao, who knew this very well, gripped the folding knife, as if to vent her inner unwillingness. “I will do everything I can to stop you… and then, I will hold you down and make you kneel before the grave of the innocent victims who died at your hands back then.”

“If you can, then try.” He crossed his arms and looked at the clock on the wall. “Let’s stop here with the small talk. You can either disappear from my sight, or I can have your daughter come and get you. A daughter pointing a gun at her mother, that’s a scene I’d really like to see with my own eyes.”

She turned to leave, and after a few steps, she stopped.

“By the way,” Li Yuejiao said without turning, “she’s still alive.”

“Who?”

“The little girl you and I searched the whole house for and couldn’t find back then, she’s still alive.”

Gan Shuohong and Xu Shengya’s daughter?

“Impossible.” His expression suddenly became ferocious. “You’re lying.”

“It’s true.” Li Yuejiao smiled. “That one that got away, the one you saw as the only stain on your agent career, is still alive and well. She and I have the same purpose… which is to make you pay for what you did back then.”

“Where is she?”

“Don’t be in a hurry. She’ll come to you herself. You just wait.”

Yan Ruiyang’s jaw twitched, and he watched as Li Yuejiao calmly disappeared from his sight. For a moment, he had wanted to just grab her and interrogate her, but that would undoubtedly be saving the police the trouble, and that would be a shame. He had already promised Zhou Zengxiang that he would not interfere in this case.

That girl is still alive?

Back then, the two of them had searched the entire house, and he had even suspected that it was Lisa who had hidden her, but it was later confirmed by Zhou Zengxiang that when they had acted, the six-year-old girl had not been at home at all.

The six-year-old had only appeared in the newspapers for a fleeting moment, and when he had followed the trail to finish the job, she had already been gone from the municipal hospital. For so many years, he had painstakingly investigated, including building a wide network in the municipal hospital, but he had never gotten a clear answer.

And then, Li Yuejiao had suddenly blurted out, “She’s still alive.”

“Interesting…” he tightened his palm, “interesting.”