WWY Chapter 19

Chapter 19: The Informant – “Then can you tell me…”

Upon receiving information about the suspect, the officers present were all energized. Tuxi Ling called out to Shengbo Xia and headed outside, “Let’s go, let’s take a look!”

At that moment, his phone rang. It was Chief Liu. Coincidentally, he was about to report.

“Chief Liu!”

“Ling, are you busy over there?”

“I was just about to report to you. We found a suspect in the Qin Man case at Global City and are heading over there now!”

“Is that so? That’s perfect. Just now, the 110 dispatch center received a report of a gas leak at Hetian. After investigation, the situation is confirmed. The Special Patrol Police Brigade is seriously understaffed and asked me for help. Check the situation and send some people along the way to help evacuate the crowd and maintain order.”

“Chief Liu, we have to catch the suspect!”

“Just take a look at the situation. Hetian is also very urgent. Not to mention there are already many people in that building, if the leak can’t be stopped, the losses to the surrounding area will be even more immeasurable!”

“Yes, I understand!”

Shengbo Xia was dumbfounded: “What? We’re not catching him then?”

Tuxi Ling shook his head helplessly: “That person is very cunning. In reality, rushing over there won’t be very effective. Let the technical investigation team keep an eye on him first, and let our investigators in the vicinity continue to track him, but be careful not to expose themselves.”

A few minutes later, three police cars drove out of the Criminal Investigation Brigade and merged into the massive sea of cars.

Shengbo Xia sped quickly towards Global City with the siren blaring. Li Wu took out her phone and opened the local news. The top image was the uniquely shaped Hetian.

After clicking on the link, a large list of posts with the keyword “Hetian” popped up. The first few were similar, all about the gas leak accident.

The situation was still relatively optimistic. The leak point had been found, and the fire department was working with the gas group to deal with it urgently, but for safety reasons, everyone in the building was evacuated.

Li Wu muttered, “Do they even need us to go?”

Tuxi Ling, in the passenger seat, glanced back but said nothing.

Then he heard Li Wu exclaim excitedly, “Hey? Hey, hey, hey? Isn’t that, who, that young master He? Is he also at Hetian?”

Tuxi Ling was taken aback: “What?”

Li Wu proactively stretched her phone forward for Tuxi Ling to see: “Hahaha, what an old-fashioned gossip headline! Look, Ling!”

[Talented and Beautiful! Gu Family’s Female CEO Has a Private Date with He Family’s True Young Master, Radiating Romance Under Candlelight!]

Shengbo Xia glanced at it: “You don’t understand, do you? This kind of cheesy headline is great because the vocabulary is simple and clear, the information is specific, attracting people’s attention and making them unforgettable!”

Li Wu rolled her eyes: “If you’re so knowledgeable, why don’t you become a tabloid reporter?”

The accompanying picture to the headline was indeed romantic.

Next to exquisite candlesticks, Ya Gu stretched out her arms to cover the back of Lan He’s hand, looking at Lan He’s eyes with a flowery smile, incredibly affectionate. And Lan He wore a white turtleneck sweater, with more of a scholarly air than usual, smiling faintly as he met her gaze.

Tuxi Ling stared at the screen, not wanting to pay attention to it, but couldn’t control his hand, took it over to view the post.

Seeing that the indicated shooting time was an hour ago, he didn’t know why he felt relieved, and absentmindedly swiped down. One by one, secretly photographed dating pictures that were like artistic masterpieces slid past his fingers. When he quickly flipped to the bottom, he returned the phone to Li Wu.

Li Wu chuckled: “It’s really rare, there are still people who fall in love after getting married these days, haha!”

Shengbo Xia said: “The happiness of the rich, you don’t understand!”

Tuxi Ling didn’t care what the two were arguing about. He turned his head towards the window, his gaze unconsciously wandering over the street scene, his heart suddenly feeling blocked.

His hand was in his windbreaker pocket, tightly gripping the phone inside, wanting to take it out, but hesitating.

In the end, he still took it out.

–

A turquoise Bentley drove on the ring expressway, towards the East Suburb.

Lan He’s coat was ruined, he simply threw it aside, then vigorously patted the dust from the fight off his pants, again and again, very hard, as if venting his anger.

The narrow space soon filled with dust, Jiu Ya slightly opened a crack in the car window, thinking that this young master was really uninhibited, even he, a rough person, felt choked.

The phone rang, and the young master in the back seat finally stopped patting. When he took out his phone from his coat, the cold, destructive feeling in his eyes gradually faded away.

Jiu Ya inexplicably breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hello, Officer Ling?”

“Are you at Hetian?”

Lan He was stunned, paused for a few seconds, and asked, “How do you know?”

The voice on the other end obviously became nervous: “You know about the gas leak at Hetian, right? Have you evacuated?”

Lan He paused again for a few seconds: “Evacuated.”

The voice on the other end obviously relaxed again: “Good that you’re out. Go home quickly!”

Lan He leaned back easily in his seat, and pressed, “How did you know I was at Hetian?”

“Saw, saw it online, just asking.”

Tuxi Ling on the other end stammered. Lan He could imagine his bun-like appearance, slowly touching his aching neck, his face smiling: “Thanks for your concern, Officer Ling!”

“You’re welcome. Go home quickly, don’t linger around, it’s still somewhat dangerous!”

“OK!”

He hung up the phone readily and ordered Jiu Ya: “Go back.”

Jiu Ya glanced at the navigation on the phone holder: “Young Master Lan, don’t worry, we can be home in eight minutes.”

“Go back where? I told you to go back to Hetian!” If he didn’t see that his skills were tested and true, Lan He really wanted to immediately replace this bodyguard whose brain circuits weren’t on the same frequency as his.

“Ah? Ah…” Jiu Ya reacted slightly, immediately exited the expressway at the next ramp, and turned in the direction back to the city.

Not bad, not particularly stupid, at least he didn’t ask why they were going back.

Due to the accident, the area around Global City was completely blocked, with Hetian as the center, radiating out to six or seven streets.

Seeing that he couldn’t get closer, Lan He got out of the car on the street and walked back alone.

Hetian had already been evacuated, and a long cordon was stretched across the entire street, surrounded by a crowd of onlookers, which the police couldn’t manage.

It was said that the leak point had been blocked, and the cause of the leak was determined to be man-made. They were still checking if there were other dangers.

Lan He lifted the cordon and was stopped by a special police officer: “Sir, you can’t go in!”

He pointed inside: “I’m looking for Officer Ling.”

“Officer Ling?” The special police officer sized him up, “Officer Ling from the Criminal Investigation Brigade?”

“Yes.”

The special police officer picked up the walkie-talkie and said a few words, asking Lan He, “What’s your name?”

Lan He said with a smile, “I’m the informant.”

Soon, Shengbo Xia trotted out, stunned when he saw Lan He: “Mr. He?”

Lan He waved at him: “Hello, Officer Xia.”

Shengbo Xia looked around: “You’re the one who reported it?”

After receiving an affirmative answer, he muttered “Good heavens” and led Lan He inside.

Mobile phone numbers were all registered under real names. If they wanted to investigate, they could find the informant sooner or later, so Lan He simply proactively used it as a pass.

Shengbo Xia didn’t take him into the building, but led him to the temporary command center set up in the square.

Not long after, Tuxi Ling came out of the building, walking over hurriedly, taking off his investigation gloves as he walked, asking the same question as Shengbo Xia: “You’re the one who reported it?”

Lan He thought, was it necessary to be so surprised? He didn’t answer but asked, “Did you find anything?”

“Not much. A very small cut was found on the gas pipeline, cut out by a sharp metal object. It’s uncertain whether it was intentional or unintentional. We’re retrieving the surveillance footage from the parking lot, we should have results soon.” Tuxi Ling brushed the dust off his sleeves, and asked Lan He, “How did you discover it?”

“Just happened to pass by and saw it, how else would I have found it?”

“No, what I mean is, why would you be walking in the fire escape?”

“I…” Lan He scratched his nose. Although he knew that the news of his date with Ya Gu must be all over the place, he still found it a little difficult to say in front of him, “I came here to eat with Ya Gu today.”

“I know, but you don’t need to take the stairs, right?”

“Her car was parked on the first basement level, mine was on the third basement level. I sent her off first, then found it troublesome to wait for the elevator, so I took the stairs.”

“Oh, I see.”

Reasonable.

“What have you guys found?”

“There’s nothing suspicious at the scene. We’re waiting to see the results of the surveillance. After the gas company’s inspection, there are no other leaks in other locations in the building. I personally believe that we can rule out a targeted attack, it might just be an accident.”

Lan He smiled: “Exactly, there aren’t that many anti-social personalities.”

With the danger investigation completed, the police force of the fire brigade and special police brigade gradually withdrew. Under the strong request of the Hetian management department, the cordon was removed, and Hetian resumed normal business except for individual blocked areas.

Li Wu ran over to report, looking a little excited: “Ling, near the time the pipeline was damaged, besides Mr. He, a total of two people entered the fire escape. One of them has a 90% similarity to the suspect in the Qin Man case!”

Tuxi Ling’s heart, which had just been put down, was suspended again. He stood up with a “thump” and snatched the stack of printed papers from her hand, flipping through them one by one.

The top one was Lan He, captured by the camera at the entrance of the fire escape in the first basement level. Tuxi Ling looked at the time, 12:45.

When he flipped to the second one, Tuxi Ling immediately tensed up.

The person in the photo was about 190cm tall, with broad shoulders and a thick back, wearing a hooded sweatshirt, a medical mask, and sunglasses, revealing a scar running towards his ear above the mask.

Almost exactly the same as the one captured by the surveillance at Purple Jade Sea View. He didn’t know how many times he’d seen this figure, he wouldn’t be wrong.

The photo was taken by the surveillance in the same location on the second basement level, the time displayed was 12:44.

Tuxi Ling found it incredible: “Lan He, have you seen this person in the stairwell?”

Lan He shook his head: “Didn’t see anyone else.”

Tuxi Ling thought, with a difference of one minute, maybe he went down after entering from the second basement level, it’s normal that Lan He wouldn’t encounter him.

Continuing to flip through, he indeed saw the suspect’s photo of leaving from the third floor, but he frowned, because the time displayed was 12:52.

8 minutes?

His hand paused, continuing to flip through, Lan He knew he was looking for the time he left the parking lot, his mind racing, his eyes constantly shifting with those photos.

Tuxi Ling found the photo of him and Jiu Ya leaving the fire escape together, the time was 12:55.

He seemed to realize that there was another person, and flipped back to see Jiu Ya’s photo of entering the fire escape from the third floor, the time was past 12:49.

Li Wu looked at Lan He: “The surveillance at the parking lot exit saw this person driving Mr. He’s car, he should have come with Mr. He.”

Lan He readily admitted: “That’s right, he’s my driver, Ling has seen him.”

He pointed at Tuxi Ling, but saw his expression was unusually serious. Although it was under the clear sunlight, everything seemed to have returned to that rainy night.

He pulled out the clearest photo of Qi A from a stack of printed papers: “Lan He, surveillance shows you were in the stairwell for 11 minutes, haven’t you seen this person?”

Lan He insisted: “Never seen him.”

Tuxi Ling stared into his eyes: “Then can you tell me, why were you in the stairwell for so long?”