NOS Chapter 53
by VolareChapter 53: Beilin Village (3)
One o’clock tomorrow morning was the scheduled rendezvous time.
This person was very cautious, and would never leave any traces on the internet for people to find until the last moment. But he didn’t expect that Ai Hua would fall into the hands of the police in a “self-inflicted” way.
“How is it? Can you track it?” Na Fei leaned closer and asked.
“There’s no feedback from the operator yet. We can give him a reply first to stabilize the person on the other side,” a colleague from the technical team replied.
“I’ll do it.” Guan Yao sat in front of the computer. He turned the monitor and said to Na Fei, “Bring Ai Hua’s confession. It has the secret code for their meeting.”
According to Ai Hua, this “H166” was extremely cautious. Before each online conversation, he had to make a confirmation, and the information used for each confirmation was sent from a disposable phone card he purchased.
This time, the code Ai Hua received was: Snow Plum.
“Snow Plum.” Guan Yao said while typing, “Pretty romantic.”
Na Fei smiled: “The last code was ‘Bai Shan’. It seems that this He Wang, whose ID card was issued by the Sui City Public Security Bureau, is indeed from our Northeast.”
Guan Yao’s typing hand paused: “The last code was ‘Bai Shan’?”
“Yes, ‘Bai Shan’.” Na Fei responded.
Guan Yao “tss”ed: “Bai Shan, Snow Plum, these two words together… seem to be the nickname of Jiang Min’s character in the drama *My Hometown Jin A Lin* from the old art troupe.”
Na Fei was stunned: “*My Hometown Jin A Lin*?”
“Have you seen it?” Guan Yao asked, “This is a drama written and performed by our Linchang art troupe. It is said that it was also performed at the Songlan Grand Theater. The heroine Li Hongge’s nickname was ‘Bai Shan Snow Plum’.”
“This…”
Ding–
Before Na Fei could finish speaking, there was a reply from the other side. The reply was three words: Old Place.
“Where is the Old Place?” Han Chen, who had come after hearing the news, asked.
Guan Yao immediately opened the confession record and searched: “Ai Hua said that the ‘Old Place’ is… Danfeng Pass, about ten kilometers away from the national border.”
Sixty kilometers north of Za Mu Er city, in the former mountain range, there is an ancient city wall defense project about 300 meters long, which locals call “Danfeng Pass”.
There are five small villages below Danfeng Pass, two of which are now uninhabited. The remaining three have some elderly forest farm residents.
That is the closest settlement to boundary marker No. 725, and also the last stop for smugglers after the Blackwater River freezes.
It seemed that Ai Hua and the smuggler’s confessions were correct. He Wang was indeed going to leave the country.
“Immediately assemble the police force, first see where the IP address is. This time, we must bring the suspect to justice.” Han Chen said loudly.
Guan Yao was about to respond, when his cell phone suddenly rang inappropriately. The caller was Wang Zun, the deputy director of Linchang Police Station.
“Something happened,” before Guan Yao could speak, Wang Zun said hastily, “This evening, Xiao Meng and Fang Wang went missing on the way to Qianjinping.”
The road to Qianjinping was really difficult to walk. Today, Meng Changqing and Fang Wang had just walked halfway when they heard villagers who came out of the mountain to buy supplies say that a section of the road was blocked by fallen trees. If they wanted to go further, they had to go around and turn onto another mountain road. Meng Changqing and Fang Wang disappeared on this section of the road.
When Guan Yao hurried back to Linchang Police Station, three waves of police officers had already left to search. Li Xiaotian and Shu Wen were putting on police equipment and cotton coats at the door, preparing to follow the fourth car. Yu Chunming was also behind them, seemingly planning to go together.
“You stay and watch the house.” Guan Yao grabbed him.
Li Xiaotian glanced at the two, his face unfriendly, and said, “That’s right, you should stay and wait here. Don’t go to the front line, otherwise if the suspect’s bullets hit you, our Captain Guan will be very upset.”
Guan Yao had no intention to argue with Li Xiaotian. He lowered his voice and said, “The task force has found traces of the suspect and is about to implement the arrest. I always feel uneasy. Don’t go. Stay with Chief Zhang.”
Yu Chunming frowned. He pushed Guan Yao’s hand away and continued to walk forward: “I was originally supposed to go this afternoon. Meng Changqing is taking my place.”
Guan Yao took a deep breath and chased after him again, grabbing Yu Chunming: “He’s taking your place because I asked him to. What does it have to do with you?”
Yu Chunming stopped, wiped his frozen face, and turned to look at Guan Yao.
Guan Yao tried to squeeze out a smile. He said softly, “Maybe the car broke down on the road and there’s no signal. Don’t worry too much. Didn’t Deputy Director Wang tell everyone? Before we lost contact, Xiao Meng sent a message saying that the car seemed to be broken. You also know that our station’s official car always has problems when we change to snow tires. Everyone is used to it. And the few people on duty at Qianjinping are still there. If we look for them together, we’ll definitely find them. It’s okay, don’t overthink it. You stay and watch the house. Let, let… Xiaotian and the others go. I still have to follow the task force to catch people.”
Guan Yao rarely spoke so gently. At least Li Xiaotian and Shu Wen had never heard it in the ten or so years they had known him. But now, this person who used to be so far from gentle was embracing Yu Chunming’s shoulders and half-pushing him back to the station.
“Don’t worry, that kid Xiao Meng is very clever. He’s the kind of person who can play dead to fool a bear. Do you need to worry about him?” Guan Yao said, and then asked, “Have you eaten dinner yet?”
Shu Wen casually listened to these words, but Li Xiaotian took them to heart. He pulled Shu Wen with a strange expression and said, “Guan Yao is not normal.”
Shu Wen was surprised: “What’s not normal?”
Li Xiaotian had been a straight man for thirty or forty years. How could he explain exactly what was not normal about his good brother? But not normal was not normal. Anyone with eyes could see that Guan Yao was not normal.
“Too mushy.” Li Xiaotian said softly, “Two grown men, why does it look so awkward?”
Guan Yao didn’t think he was awkward. He escorted Yu Chunming upstairs before saying, “Just now He Wang’s account came online. The IP is located in an old forest farm station in the suburbs of Za Mu Er, which is a long distance from Danfeng Pass, where he agreed to meet Ai Hua. We have already asked the railway station police to investigate, but he was very vigilant. By the time we got there, he had disappeared. So now we can only follow that line to Danfeng Pass to surround and arrest him. We have deployed along the way. This time, we will definitely bring him to justice and put your mind at ease.”
Yu Chunming’s originally furrowed brows eased slightly.
“Here’s a two-way radio for you,” Guan Yao smiled, “Let’s stay in touch in real time. I’ve been assigned to set up a checkpoint on Dan’an Highway, and I won’t be more than 20 kilometers away from you. If anything happens, just say something on this end.”
Yu Chunming twitched the corner of his mouth: “Say something.”
“Yes, say something.” Guan Yao bent down and solemnly pressed Yu Chunming’s shoulder, “When you come back… when you come back, I have something to tell you.”
Yu Chunming’s mind was still in a mess at this time. He couldn’t think about what Guan Yao was going to tell him, so he responded haphazardly: “Okay, I’ll wait for you to come back.”
The police car drove away from Linchang Police Station, and the flashing police lights were reflected on the window glass, casting several intersecting red and blue shadows on Yu Chunming’s pale face.
When it gradually became quiet outside and it was dark, Yu Chunming leaned back on the swivel chair, exhausted. The image of Zhang Lei, who used to shout every day that he wanted to be his apprentice, before he went to the auto repair shop more than a year ago, involuntarily appeared in his mind.
“When I come back, can you be my master, Officer Yu?” The child leaned next to Yu Chunming and asked weakly.
Yu Chunming was focusing on verifying Yi Jun’s address. He casually replied, “We’ll talk about it later.”
“What ‘talk about it later’? You said ‘talk about it later’ last time! Team Wang has already agreed to take me!” Zhang Lei said angrily.
Yu Chunming smiled and pointed to Han Chen: “Team Wang agreed to let you be his grand-apprentice, but he didn’t say which of his apprentices would take you. Why don’t you become Officer Han’s apprentice? It’s the same.”
“Can it be the same?” Zhang Lei shouted.
Han Chen immediately became unhappy. He put his arm around Yu Chunming and raised his chin: “What’s the difference between me and your Officer Yu? Why are you being so picky?”
Yu Chunming had already forgotten what Zhang Lei muttered in a low voice. He only remembered the scene when he woke up seriously injured and supported himself to walk to the ICU to find Zhang Lei, but only saw his white-haired mother.
“He shouldn’t have gone that day. He took a leave of absence to go with his fiancée to pick out three pieces of gold jewelry. They were supposed to get married at the end of the year, but Han Chen didn’t have enough manpower, so I lied to him and told him that I would accept him as my apprentice when he came back from the auto repair shop. He took it seriously.” Yu Chunming truthfully answered in front of the political review personnel. He said, “It’s all my fault.”
It’s all my fault…
Whether acknowledged or not, everything was Yu Chunming’s fault. As time passed, even the faults that were not originally his eventually became his regrets.
What about this time?
Yu Chunming stared at Meng Changqing’s empty work station, where a self-criticism was still placed on the desk. He suddenly felt a burst of panic in his heart. He had a feeling that Meng Changqing and Fang Wang’s disappearance was not as simple as a car breaking down or a phone running out of battery.
–Someone was staring at him in the dark.
“Someone needs to take a police report!” A shout from downstairs interrupted Yu Chunming’s chilling speculation.
He hurriedly got up and went out, and saw the director Zhang Hui standing in the hall.
“A minority hunter from Beilin Village reported that his two hunting guns were bitten by his neighbor’s wolfhound, and they had a dispute.” Zhang Hui had just finished a phone call. He glanced at Yu Chunming and said unhappily, “Hurry up and see if the situation is serious… There are really too many things happening today.”
Yu Chunming’s face changed slightly. He asked, “Beilin Village? Where is Beilin Village?”
Zhang Hui replied impatiently: “Beilin Village, don’t you even know that it’s in our jurisdiction? It’s just outside the city, next to the second exit after turning onto Dan’an Highway. Hurry up and go!”
Dan’an Highway, it was Dan’an Highway again.
To go to Qianjinping, you had to take Dan’an Highway, and to go to Danfeng Pass, you also had to take Dan’an Highway. Yu Chunming quickly recalled the three routes of escape for the suspects that he had drawn. One of them was from Jianzhong River Bridge, Shibali Village Health Center to the north, and finally directly connected to Dan’an Highway and Qianjinping.
And No. 18 Beilin Village, located on the side of Dan’an Highway, was where the suspect in the Mopan Mountain dismemberment case had once stayed.
Yu Chunming’s heart was beating extremely fast. He asked, “Can I apply for a gun?”
Zhang Hui frowned: “What do you want a gun for?”
“In case something happens, and they have hunting guns in their hands…”
“They said they were just having a dispute with their neighbor!” Zhang Hui was annoyed when he saw Yu Chunming. He randomly pointed to a policeman who was on duty in the station and said, “Go on the police call with him.”
Yu Chunming was speechless.
Beilin Village was located at the fork of Dan’an Highway and the road to Qianjinping. Although the place was remote, there were many people in the village. Going south, there was also a small furniture factory with good economic benefits.
Maybe I’m just overthinking it, Yu Chunming said in his heart.
He put on his cotton coat, put on his equipment, and hung the two-way radio left by Guan Yao on his chest.
“Let’s go, I’ll drive.” He nodded to Liu Sheng, the young policeman who was following him.
But just as the two were about to leave, Jiang Min, who had just left in the afternoon, returned for some reason.
She saw Yu Chunming at a glance and went up to him and asked, “What are you going to do?”
Yu Chunming was stunned: “On a police call.”
“Where are you going?” Jiang Min was wrapped in a furry long mink coat, and her face, covered with a thick layer of makeup, was blown red by the wind. She said, “I made dumplings and brought them to you. Have you eaten dinner?”
Dumplings made by Jiang Min? Jiang Xin had never eaten them.
Yu Chunming held the car door and was stunned for a long time before answering: “You… put them in the office, I’ll eat them when I get back.”
Jiang Min stared at him without saying a word, wondering what she was thinking.
“Let’s go.” Yu Chunming said to her.
Late at night, the cold wind howled.
Za Mu Er had entered a world of ice and snow before the beginning of winter. Snowflakes were like fine sand, swirling down all over the sky. At the dark highway checkpoint, several police officers huddled in a small car, quietly waiting for a criminal suspect who might appear, or might not appear.
“It’s snowing heavily.” Someone said softly.
Guan Yao immediately looked out the car window.
Under the dim yellow street lights, countless tiny snow sands came with the wind, and glittering ice crystals had accumulated on the treetops in the forest. In the dark mountain range, there were faint howls, whether it was the wind wailing in the mountain pass, or wild beasts running wildly in the snowy night.
Tzz–
The two-way radio suddenly made a crackling sound.
Guan Yao woke up with a jolt. He pressed the button and asked, “Chunming?”
Yu Chunming didn’t expect Guan Yao to answer so quickly. He laughed and replied, “Which section are you on patrol? I just saw an SUV parked at the exit of the city. Is that Min Da’s car?”
“I’m at…” Guan Yao was about to speak, when he suddenly realized something was wrong. He frowned and asked, “Why did you come out?”
Yu Chunming sighed: “I’m on a police call, Captain Guan. You’re not here, who will take the call when the people report it?”
“On a police call?” Guan Yao frowned even deeper. “Where are you going on a police call?”
Yu Chunming was driving, glancing at the looming birch forest beside the road. He replied: “Just in our jurisdiction, some residents have a dispute, nothing serious.”
Nothing serious…
Guan Yao’s heart pounded. He felt a layer of cold sweat on his back for no reason. His many years of police intuition told him that something was definitely wrong with Yu Chunming.
“Lao Guan?” Someone was calling him in front.
Yu Chunming also heard it on the two-way radio. He smiled and replied, “Go ahead and do your job, I’ll be there soon.”