Chapter 32

Fuyang District, He Ping Police Station

At noon, the sun was ablaze and the violent thunderstorm last night disappeared as though it never happened. The long alleyway was bustling with activity, brimming with the sounds of hawkers hawking, cars honking, voices shouting, and the rustling of fabrics as shoulders brushed past one another. There was an endless stream of people running errands at the local police station, causing a long line of electric cars to extend from the parking lots all the way to the main road.

A young lady in a white dress stumbled to a stop at the mouth of the alley.

"…" Her chest heaved rapidly, in tandem with the indistinct pants spilling past her lips. Widening her eyes, she gazed towards the entrance to the police station. A few students walked past, swinging her backpacks as they curiously glanced back a few times to look at her.

Finally, as though she had firmly set down a resolution of sorts, she shakily took a single step forward.

"BEEP BEEP——"

The honking car squeezed out a path in the winding alley, unheeding of the pedestrians' curses and swears. It rolled to a slow stop beside the girl. Suddenly, the window lowered, and a fierce and low voice drifted out from within.

"Get on!"

As though stabbed by a heated needle, the young lady froze in her steps.

The person in the car cursed under their breath. Shortly after, someone from within opened the car door and grabbed the girl, pulling her into the car in one swift motion!

"…!"

The young lady yelped softly, then didn't let out any more sounds, as though she didn't dare to make a single peep.

The car door slammed shut and the window rose. Driving by the bustling entrance to the police station, the car made its way out of this small winding alleyway.

Jianning City, Public Security Bureau

"How the hell did you guys carry out my instructions? A few big men like you guys letting a little girl run away from under your noses, do you have shit for brains?!"

With a loud bang, Yan Xie slammed the thick stack of case files heavily onto the conference table. His three subordinates sat before him, not daring to raise their heads, fully flushed from their neck to their ears.

"Blockheads! Idiots! Played for a fool by a little girl!" Yan Xie pointed at their heads one by one, his vicious scolding ringing across the entire floor. "Don't stay on in the investigation team next quarter, scram back to your logistics team and eat dirt! Come back when you rank in the top three of the examination; if you don't, then prepare to spend your entire life in a patrol station!"

The door swung open. Covering his mouth with one hand, Qin Chuan coughed awkwardly.

"That… Lao Yan, we've arrested Ding Jiawang and his wife. They're currently being interrogated in two separate rooms."

Yan Xie snorted coldly, then turned around and walked away. The few officers let out a synchronized shiver.

"I don't know." Ding Jiawang sat in the shadows of the interrogation room. His eyebags sat distinct on his face, his voice hoarse yet laced with steel. "Ding Dang may be my daughter but she is already a grown woman. She stays in the school dormitory usually as well, so I don't question her much."

Yan Xie stood behind the one-way window, arms crossed and a bluetooth earpiece in his ear. The temperature of the air surrounding him was so low that one could almost expect summer frost to form.

The state he was in obviously affected his subordinates in the interrogation room; when Ma Xiang spoke, the power behind his words could not even match up to Ding Jiawang's, "According to our mapping survey, your daughter, Ding Dang, was seen driving in and out of the mall in a red Toyota Camry on multiple occasions. Yet this car was registered under your wife's niece's name using unscrupulous means, whose name is Liu Wanqiu. Did you somehow not know anything about it?"

"I don't know. I don't know what car she has."

With a loud crash, Ma Xiang leapt to his feet and slammed a HD photograph of a surveillance photo in front of Ding Jiawang. "Lies!"

Ding Jiawang's breathing took on an urgent note.

—In the photo, a red Toyota Camry was parked in front of the International Financial Trade Center and the Ding couple could be seen alighting from an open car door.

"This is an image from the building's surveillance camera from Chinese New Year this year," Ma Xiang informed him icily. "You don't know what car she has? Were you traveling in a fucking hearse then?!"

"…I thought it belonged to her classmate," Ding Jiawang replied, his lips trembling. "She told me that was her classmate's car, so I didn't ask much about it."

This behavior of his could truly be deemed shameless. Ma Xiang squinted at him through slitted eyes from high, adjusting the collar of his police uniform stiffly.

"Let me tell you—those two students under your care? Feng Yuguang died for reasons unknown, Chu Ci's fate is hanging in the air. This case is no longer something you can handle by being stubborn. Now that your daughter is missing, regardless of whether she absconded herself or was kidnapped by the drug traffickers, the chances of her remaining unharmed are extremely slim. It's best if you cooperate with the police immediately, so at least in the best case scenario, we could save your daughter's life…"

Ding Jiawang, who looked like he would collapse with a single hit any time, suddenly retorted hoarsely, "How are you so sure that it's not Chu Ci who kidnapped my daughter?"

"You—"

"My daughter's missing and I, as the father, am the one most anxious. Yet you police are not rushing to solve the case and help me find my daughter, but instead arrest my wife and I inexplicably. What do you mean by this?"

Ma Xiang tapped his finger on the table heavily. "We have sufficient evidence…"

"Even if my daughter really committed fraud and pretended to be her cousin to purchase a car, that's still not a criminal offense, right? How many years is vehicle fraud worth? Go ahead and sentence her straight!"

Ding Jiawang's face was deathly pale and both his hands under the table trembled incessantly, but the fear that came with having his entire life upended in a single day provided him with a certain type of strength that enabled him to withstand Ma Xiang's vehement questioning. "Claiming that my daughter participates in drug trafficking based on a single car? I even said that the car doesn't belong to my daughter! Do you have proof? A plate number? Who knows if you police officers are simply nabbing someone guilty of another crime to take the fall just because you guys can't solve the case?!"

Yan Xie angrily kicked over the chair in the observation room.

He had no chain of evidence!

The red Camry had its license plate removed before it was burned, and its engine and car frame's codes had long since been worn away. The relationship between this vehicle and the Ding family—and even the suspicion placed on Ding Dang herself—were all built upon a nebulous premise, which was Jiang Ting's speculation regarding the license plate number.

However, speculations were not investigative in nature. Speculations placed emphasis on exemplary thought processes, the various twists and turns of events, and a beautiful finish. Criminal investigation, on the other hand, involved a lot of mundane and repetitive work, spending all available human and material resources on the pursuit of empirical evidence, as well as organizing a complete chain of evidence.

If they wanted to nail Ding Jiawang completely, they needed something more concrete.

The phone in his pocket vibrated briefly. It was a text message from that Lu guy.

"Found the electrician?"

Yan Xie's face was dark with displeasure as he waved off the officer who mustered enough courage to step forward, righting the chair he kicked over by himself. Walking over to the window in the corner of the room, he pressed down on the voice recording button and said quietly, "Found him. There were eight or nine technicians responsible for the maintenance of power lines within the chemical plant. One of them, Wang Le, missed two days of work. According to his family, he had lost a few hundred thousands in gambling some time ago, all owed to loan sharks. He had sufficient motive."

Another text flashed across the screen. "Phone location?"

"Tsk, do I even need you to fucking tell me this? Two nights ago, he called his wife at eight thirty and said he wouldn't be home for dinner. That was the last call from his phone. Lao Huang's getting someone to triangulate that location urgently!"

The phone sank into silence.

Yan Xie stared at the dimmed screen. Out of nowhere, a thought suddenly sprung to his mind. Why isn't he replying to me anymore?

Was my tone too harsh, did I upset him?

As soon as the thought took shape, Vice-Captain Yan nearly shocked himself to bits by his delicate, girly heart. Immediately after, his phone buzzed again and lit up in front of him.

"Ding Jiawang isn't talking?"

…This person. Yan Xie unconsciously heaved a small sigh of relief and commented in his heart, Why does it feel like this guy mastered the art of clairvoyance?

"That's right, he refuses to admit it no matter what," Yan Xie replied in a hushed voice. "I've already sent people to investigate the Ding household's bank accounts, as well as all the surveillance cameras that caught Ding Jiawang's own operations. However, even if we find evidence that he secretly took more controlled substances than what he applied for, it's still hard to pry open this bastard's lips immediately. Hey, Captain Jiang, any ideas from your side? Letting the air-conditioner's refrigerant leak and facing the air outlet towards the suspect to spray them with ice shards can't be counted."

The Lu guy didn't respond. There wasn't even a "typing…" prompt on the screen.

Thirty seconds passed. One minute passed.

The minute hand moved two to three steps forward.

…No way, Jiang Ting is at a loss too? Yan Xie thought, surprised.

"I really don't want it, take it back." Seated in the hotel's restaurant's booth, Jiang Ting pushed Yang Mei's spoon away several times, frowning. "I'm not Yan Xie, what did you hope this big bowl of pig brain could supplement me with?"

"Stop texting on your phone and focus on your meal. That Yan asshole's practically using you as his hired hand, Jiang-ge…"

Yan Xie couldn't resist the urge to glance at his phone every few seconds, a peculiar expression upon his face. After glancing at it for more than ten times, there were two loud knocks on the door before Chief Huang rushed in. "Say, Lao Yan! That Ding lass—"

Bzzt—

Voice message!

Yan Xie nearly stuffed Huang Xing's mouth with a case file, bringing his phone to his ear to listen to the message immediately. Jiang Ting's voice rang out, steady as always.

"Ding Jiawang's wife, Zhang Jiao, is a housewife who has never worked for a day in her life. She has limited knowledge and social connections. It is unlikely Ding Jiawang would tell her the specific details regarding the situation with Chi Rui and the rest. That is to say, whether we're dealing with a case of gun manufacturing, drug trafficking, or rape and murder with this gang of outlaws, she wouldn't be able to comprehend."

"As a mother who gave birth to an exceedingly beautiful daughter, what could be her biggest worry? You might as well decide to start from that angle and get to the heart of a mother's biggest fear, after which it would be effortless to disrupt or even break down her defenses."

The voice message ended here. Yan Xie slowly put down his phone, sucking in a thoughtful breath.

"Lao Yan!" Huang Xing finally seized the opportunity to speak, his tone urgent, "Don't be shocked, but Fuyang District and Heping Road's police stations just received notices to assist in our investigation, and they've just informed us that they had found traces of that Ding Dang lass—she boarded a black car less than a hundred meters away from the police station's entrance! We've received the surveillance video!"

Quick as a flash, Yan Xie interrupted, "What was she doing at the station?"

Huang Xing was unable to respond in time.

"She either went to turn herself in, or to expose someone," Yan Xie murmured to himself. "But as she was on her way to do so, she boarded the black car… Perhaps she was followed or even physically stopped from doing so, or maybe there were several men in that car, a situation much more dangerous than whatever Zhang Jiao imagined…"

Huang Xing was confused. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I have no time to explain, just listen to me." Yan Xie patted Chief Huang's shoulder with one hand, making his way out of the room with large strides. "Send me the surveillance footage obtained from Fuyang District's station. I'll interrogate Zhang Jiao personally!"

In the restaurant booth, Jiang Ting released his hold on the recording button, put down his phone, and had just picked up his spoon again when he sensed a cold and resentful gaze radiating from the other side of the table.

"…" Jiang Ting asked cautiously, "What's wrong?"

Today, Yang Mei had donned a light green dress from an international brand's spring line, with light makeup, girly perfume, and the legendary maneater's red lipstick. A pair of eyes blinked at him from behind the huge bowl of boiled pig's brain soup with asparagus for a while before she asked slowly, "Who's beautiful?"

"?"

"Sometimes, I feel like I'm quite beautiful too… Don't you agree?"

Jiang Ting: "…"

It was unusually quiet in the booth. Jiang Ting's spoon was suspended in midair as he pondered for a very, very long time under the weight of the expectant gaze from the other side of the table.

"That lady's suspected of drug trafficking, you're someone who chose to order pig brains for dinner." Jiang Ting smiled faintly, going in for the kill, "Yan Xie's the most beautiful."

With a whoosh, the door to the interrogation room was flung open. Like a ghost enclosed in a formless prison, Zhang Jiao shuddered violently and raised her head.

Yan Xie swung the door shut behind him, strode into the room, and placed his laptop on the small metal table. "Zhang Jiao?"

"…"

"My colleague told me that you've only said one sentence from the moment you stepped into the bureau. 'My throat is in discomfort, I can only speak after meeting my lawyer', right?"

Zhang Jiao tightly pressed her lips together, crinkling the faint wrinkles around her mouth. She shrank back, timid yet alert.

She was indeed in poor health, and her long-term chronic illnesses prevented her from going out to work, but Ding Jiawang's income as an engineer in a private company was not enough to support a pampered housewife. Yan Xie's stern gaze swept across the crow's feet decorating the corners of her eyes, taking in her sagging eyebags and the deep creases carved bitterly into both sides of her nose. Ignoring the way she shrank away from him, Yan Xie let out a cold bark of laughter as he adjusted the laptop on the table, pulling up the surveillance video on the screen and letting it run.

"No need to speak. Watch it yourself."

On the screen was a crowded street at high noon, captured by a HD surveillance camera. A girl in a white dress was wrapped in the ebb and flow of the crowd, stumbling inconspicuously, her weak figure like an ant that could be crushed any time.

Zhang Jiao's drooping eyelids gradually lifted as her eyes widened, her pupils constricting into pinpricks—

A black Suzuki Alto stopped in front of the girl. A man's arm reached out from within and dragged her daughter in with one tug!

"…Dang…Dang Dang!"

Zhang Jiao's sudden exclamation was unusually hoarse from all the hours she spent silent in the interrogation room, but Yan Xie ignored her. He extracted a few pieces of paper from the laptop bag and slapped them down onto the table in front of her. "Do you know the people in that car?"

Zhang Jiao glanced in his direction. Through the gaps between his fingers, she caught a glimpse of the headings printed in bold across the top of the few sheets of paper: Official Request for Assisted Investigation.

She clamped her mouth shut.

"How did Ding Jiawang phrase it? 'These days, it doesn't pay well to be in the chemical industry so I'll do some business with my friends who know their way around, so don't go blabbing about it'? Or. 'those who are officials are greedy, those bosses aren't any better either, if I can make it big with those friends of mine, our family would've been rich long ago'?"

Yan Xie watched as Zhang Jiao's face got progressively paler and said mockingly, "But Ding Jiawang probably didn't tell you that those friends of his who 'know their way around' are all ex-convicts, right?"

He moved his hands away. Right before Zhang Jiao's widened eyes, several clear portraits jumped into view.

Wang Le, Chi Rui, Hu Weisheng—right, she was familiar with these people, or at the very least seen them by her husband's side a few times. But underneath those familiar faces were unfamiliar words, such as "child molester", "rape and robbery", "rape and murder"…

Zhang Jiao's mind buzzed as black spots clouded her vision.

"Your daughter was taken away by them right in front of Heping Road Police Station. What did she intend to do? Turn herself in or lodge a report?" Pausing, Yan Xie chuckled scornfully. "But it doesn't matter what she thought any more. This young girl in her prime has been missing for almost four hours; I suspect everything that should've happened has already happened. If your throat continues to be in discomfort, as the police, we can only pray that we're lucky enough, seeing how there's only a one percent chance of recovering a complete corpse…"

"Save—save her!" Zhang Jiao screamed desperately, "Please save her, I beg of you! I'll speak, I'll speak! She's innocent, she doesn't know anything!"

Yan Xie slowly straightened to his full height, staring down into Zhang Jiao's teary eyes.

"Wuhai, they have a 'laboratory' in Wuhai," Zhang Jiao sobbed uncontrollably. "I don't know its exact location, but it should be a factory building, rented in the name of chemical processing, mold processing and packaging. Please save my daughter—Dangdang was harmed by her father, those men were people her father brought home, she's really very very innocent…"

Yan Xie finally raised his head and gestured towards the one-way glass window that blocked out the outside world.

In the room beyond the window, countless officers and investigators leapt into action.

"How did Ding Jiawang harm her?" Yan Xie asked in a grave voice. "Does he know about Ding Dang and Hu Weisheng's relationship?"

Zhang Jiao seemed to struggle with her answer and nodded instead, trembling.

"Hu Weisheng's older than Ding Dang by more than ten years and doesn't have much money. What did Ding Jiawang like about him? His drug trafficking channels?"

The moment she heard the phrase "drug trafficking", Zhang Jiao's trembling increased in intensity, like a withered leaf on the verge of falling off its branch, but she still managed to squeeze out her response with great difficulty, "H-Hu Weisheng had a packet of powder. It's v-very strong and very, very expensive. They said if they could break down its chemical structure and manufacture the exact same thing, they could earn enough money and not work a single day for the rest of their lives…"

Yan Xie's expression underwent a drastic change instantly, as did those of the officers outside the interrogation room.

"What powder? Is it blue?" Yan Xie shouted breathlessly. "How did Hu Weisheng get his hands on this packet of blue powder?!"

"I don't know, I don't know what exactly happened—" Zhang Jiao burst into tears, alternating between shaking and nodding her head, looking like a mess.

"I only h-heard that as long as a tiny bit of that powder is applied—even if it has been dissolved in water—it would be extremely addictive. Hu Weisheng got drunk once and bragged that he used to work for an extremely influential big boss, and he stole this packet when everyone was distracted. As long as they figured out the components of it, they can make a f-fortune in the next half of their lives—please hurry up and save my daughter, I'm begging you, I really don't know anything else, Dangdang is truly innocent!…"

Yan Xie hurried out of the room. Several officers rushed up to him at once, but his footsteps didn't slow at all as he waved the freshly printed notices of assistance in his hand.

"Quickly get somebody to shred these pieces of paper. This time, you must remind me to give the media department's editor a big treat! Da Gou! Lao Gao, tell Da Gou to hand me the packet of copper hydroxide from that time, then follow me to interrogate that bastard Ding Jiawang! Ma Xiang, go interrogate Diao Yong next door!"

All his men responded in a flurry of activity. Only Gao Panqing suddenly turned around after taking a couple of steps, as though recalling something, "Hold on, Yan-ge, we did fool Hu Weisheng with the packet of copper hydroxide, but Ding Jiawang is a professional chemist, we might not…"

"You know shit all," Yan Xie replied impatiently. "Who told you I was going to bait Ding Jiawang with copper hydroxide? Our target has always been Diao Yong from the start, understand?"

"!" Gao Panqing was instantly enlightened, almost ascending on the spot. He turned around and left, seemingly floating away on the balls of his feet.

"—Right, there's still you." Yan Xie's gaze abruptly alighted on Han Xiaomei's figure on the other side of the table. A thought suddenly occurred to him, and he dragged her over to the corner of the room.

"V-v-vice-Captain Yan…"

"Do not breathe a single word about anything Zhang Jiao said earlier about the 'blue powder', including that supposedly extremely influential big boss she mentioned, to Consultant Lu." Yan Xie glared at her. "You hear me?"

With a shudder, Han Xiaomei snapped her heels together at attention. "Yes Sir!"