WWY Chapter 67
by VolareInside the interrogation room of the district criminal investigation unit, Yishi Pan was undergoing interrogation.
Faced with both human and material evidence, he could no longer deny it. He had to confess to colluding with Da Sang’s gang to embezzle and rob the museum’s artifacts.
When questioned about his relationship with them, Yishi Pan admitted that he had been dealing with them for over a decade. Initially, Na Qiu was also brought in by him. He was responsible for making connections, and Na Qiu was responsible for manufacturing fake artifacts to replace the real ones. They split the profits fifty-fifty.
Behind the one-way mirror, Tuxi Ling felt incredulous: “So Da Sang was Na Qiu’s buyer.”
Yaojin Ke glanced at him: “What about your young master He?”
Tuxi Ling’s brow twitched: “What’s wrong with him? He left Da Sang a long time ago!”
Yaojin Ke stared at the ashen-faced Yishi Pan and smiled: “But he said it started over a decade ago. Back then, your young master He was still tied to them. He really didn’t know anything about what was happening here? Do you believe he just randomly contacted Na Qiu? He’s pretty accurate then!”
You Ba, who was also listening in, looked at this person and that person, wondering who this “young master He” was that could change the color of the face of a criminal investigation branch captain.
Tuxi Ling’s face was indeed not good. Emotionally, he wanted to refute Yaojin Ke, but rationally, he knew he was right.
Yaojin Ke seemed to say it casually and then turned his attention back to the interrogation outside the glass.
“The person who contacted me this time was called Qi A, he was very fierce. I was a little afraid of him. He approached me and said he wanted to transport more artifacts out at once. It seemed like they knew about Na Qiu’s death and wanted to abandon this place. Actually, I wanted to quit a long time ago. Of course, I was only too happy to hear him say that. They asked me to help with this, and I knew it was too risky, but unfortunately, they had my weakness, so I had to do as they said.”
The interrogator asked, “How did you do it?”
“When we were discussing it before, they didn’t need me. They said they could handle it themselves, and just wanted me to make sure there was no one else in the museum that day. But later, they said they didn’t want to rob it violently. I was still wondering, but on the day of the incident, I saw Qi A. His leg seemed to be injured, and he wasn’t walking very smoothly. That’s when I realized, he might have been worried that he would get hurt and wouldn’t be able to escape, so he asked me to use my fingerprint to unlock the door.”
“Was he the only one in the gang? Why couldn’t they send someone else?”
“I don’t know about that. I only met Qi A once a few days ago. The second time was on the day of the museum robbery. All other times were by phone.” Yishi Pan paused, his gaze somewhat scattered, “Can I say something personal?”
“Go ahead.”
“I feel like they are in a hurry. If you want to catch them, hurry up…”
“How are they leaving? Did they mention it?”
“No, but Na Qiu has a craft factory near Yuan Village. It’s a small workshop style, without any signs. You won’t be able to find it. That’s where he made fake artifacts and stuff. Of course, I’ve never been there. That Qi A mentioned ‘Yuan Village factory’ to me. I was very surprised at the time that he even knew about it.”
The interrogator became alert: “Provide the specific location?”
“I don’t know, really. I wouldn’t dare to talk about this in detail with Na Qiu, and he wouldn’t be willing to tell me either. After all, we were doing illegal things, and we were all wary of each other.”
Yaojin Ke was still frowning and pondering, while You Ba had already stood up and said to Tuxi Ling, “Ling, I’m familiar with Yuan Village. I’ll take our people from the station over there to take a look first!”
Tuxi Ling nodded: “Remember to wear plain clothes. I need to report to the task force here first.”
You Ba threw down a “got it,” picked up his inseparable handbag, and left.
Yaojin Ke tilted his head to watch him leave, and mouthed, “That young man is alright!”
“Very good, he’s got what it takes!” Tuxi Ling praised without hesitation, and then spoke about the case, “Da Sang smuggling artifacts is a certainty. Yishi Pan also said they were in a hurry, are they in a hurry to transport them out?”
“They should be going by sea, right? Maritime transport is the most lenient. There are too many people like Maohu Li, as long as you’re willing to spend money, you can always find a way.”
“A dozen or so artifacts at once, plus those from the Zijinghua Villa, that’s not a small amount.”
“Correct.”
“I think we should still focus on the docks. After Qi A killed Maohu Li that day, the dock was his primary destination.”
“Tuxi Ling, aren’t you talking nonsense? That gang would at most find a snakehead to go out to sea from a place like Fisherman’s Wharf, they might not even go to the dock. They could just find any place where they can board a boat to run away. What do you take our management departments for? ”
Tuxi Ling frowned.
He knew that he couldn’t convince Yaojin Ke, let alone the task force, but he couldn’t convince himself either, and fell into entanglement and contradiction.
Two hours later, after careful analysis, the task force decided to conduct a large-scale investigation of small workshops near Yuan Village.
Before they could even set off, You Ba’s news came.
They had found the craft factory that Yishi Pan was talking about after inquiring in many ways. That saved them some trouble. After coordination, more than a dozen police cars headed straight for Yuan Village.
It was indeed a small workshop, far from the village, with no one living nearby. The entire courtyard was less than three hundred square meters. All kinds of tools were quite complete. The small warehouse was also filled with unused plaster, wood, paint, metal scraps, and cheap jade. There were also several semi-finished antiques. The workshop was very simple overall and was separated from the abandoned factory next door by a bamboo fence.
Many white plaster dust fell in the yard, and forensic investigators easily found traces of recent movement.
“At least five people. There are traces of dragging goods. They are square boxes, just in the last few days.” The forensic investigator raised the transparent evidence bag in his hand. “We also found bloody gauze, shell casings, and surgical scalpel blades.”
“Surgical scalpel blades?” Yaojin Ke exclaimed, “That’s so professional?”
The forensic investigator agreed, “Yes, most people don’t know how to use these things.”
Tuxi Ling said, “Take them back for testing. It should be to treat Qi A’s wounds. Also, find experts from the museum to take a look at the unfinished pieces by Na Qiu to see what artifacts they were imitating.”
Yaojin Ke took out the walkie-talkie: “They should have only left recently. I’ll take people to visit the surrounding area to see if there are any witnesses.”
Tuxi Ling nodded.
You Ba, who came along, wandered around the yard, his brow furrowed all the time.
After spending a few days together, Tuxi Ling knew that he had severe cleanliness and might not be comfortable with the dusty environment in front of him, so he persuaded, “Ba, why don’t you go back first? Leave this to us.”
You Ba turned the handkerchief over, wiped his nose, sprayed a few times on his handkerchief with a two-inch-long alcohol bottle from his handbag, pressed it on his nose for a while, and continued to smell.
As he smelled, he went straight in one direction.
Tuxi Ling thought he was strange, so he cautiously followed him, without saying a word.
Next to the small workshop was a large factory, which used to be a metal parts processing factory. Now it’s empty. When they came, Tuxi Ling saw that the gate was locked and the weeds in the yard grew very high. It was clear that no one had been here for a long time.
You Ba stopped next to the bamboo fence wall, looking up at the factory.
It was an old factory building with red brick walls and grey cement, two stories high, with thick dust hanging on the small grid glass windows, and cracks on many of them.
“It’s blocked,” Tuxi Ling reminded.
You Ba stared firmly at the factory building, unwilling to give up, and grabbed the fence and shook it.
A crack was unexpectedly lifted at the corner of the bamboo fence. They were both stunned at the same time. Tuxi Ling realized something and quickly went forward to help. One person on each side, they actually lifted the whole piece of fence.
“This…”
Tuxi Ling picked up the walkie-talkie: “Ke, quickly bring a few people to the backyard!”
When several policemen worked together to open the gate of the factory next door, Yaojin Ke was directly stunned when he looked back at You Ba standing in the distance avoiding the dust.
“I go, is he even human? I just smelled a little gunpowder, is he a police dog!”
Tuxi Ling bumped him with his arm: “Ba is cleaner than others, so his sense of smell is better.”
Yaojin Ke wondered, “Are these two things related?”
Tuxi Ling thought for a moment, not too sure: “Probably?”
There were traces of work having been done in the factory. Metal pipes that were half processed were scattered on the lathes. Yaojin Ke picked up a section of black metal pipe and then picked up a smooth metal part from the ground, suddenly shocked: “This isn’t right! They are all gun parts!”
The entire abandoned factory was like a small military factory. From gun parts to ammunition loading of various models, the equipment here could achieve it. However, now the factory was empty, and even the raw materials had been taken away. All that was left were some discarded scraps.
Yaojin Ke quickly reported to Tian Kun and handed the phone to Tuxi Ling: “Team Tian is looking for you!”
“Team Ling, tell me your opinion!”
“Judging from the scene, I have two points of view. First, the suspects are not afraid of us knowing that they are making guns, so they only took away the important things, and they seemed very calm. Second, judging from the degree of processing of the abandoned parts at the scene, the precision of their self-made guns is very high. I suspect that the micro submachine gun dropped by suspect number one, Qi A, was produced here and was not smuggled in as we previously thought.”
“They should have left a long time ago. Is there still a chance to track them?”
“We never considered the issue of self-made guns before. Looking at the scale of this factory, they must be making profits by making and selling guns. The opponent is too cunning and set up many layers of fog to mislead us. The volume of crime is also too large. Now our investigation direction is particularly important. I think tracing back the source from the sales channel is more appropriate.”
“I will immediately re-interrogate Yishi Pan to see if we can find out any useful clues! You continue to investigate the whereabouts of the guns and raw materials!”
“Yes!”
After hanging up the phone, Tuxi Ling took a long breath.
The sky was gloomy, and the mountain wind wrapped in a thick, fishy smell blew wildly. The green mountains were shrouded in a misty fog, and it looked like there would be a rain tonight.
The colleagues around him set up lighting, collected evidence and samples, and were busy until the second half of the night before they knew it.
Just now, news came from the team that Yishi Pan was re-interrogated overnight. He originally held the mentality of a dead pig not afraid of boiling water and showed strong impatience. When he heard the interrogator ask him about “gun manufacturing,” he was immediately so scared that his soul flew away, and he repeatedly said that he knew nothing.
He probably really didn’t know.
Tuxi Ling stood by the door, trying to think hard. Seeing the heavy rain pouring down, he suddenly ran to the car.
You Ba, who was texting, was stunned and called to him, “Team Ling, where are you going?”
“The dock!” Tuxi Ling shouted, slammed the car door shut, and started the car to drive towards the mountain road.