WWY Chapter 78
by VolareThey really slept until the next morning.
However, Tuxi Ling woke up at five o’clock. One arm was numb from Lan He’s head resting on it, but looking at his unguarded sleeping face, he didn’t dare to move.
It wasn’t until after seven o’clock that his phone, which was on the bedside table, vibrated several times in a row. Lan He was probably disturbed by the vibrations and slowly opened his eyes.
“Awake?” Tuxi Ling feigned innocence. “We slept for sixteen hours.”
Lan He turned over, hugged his torso with all four limbs, buried his head in his arms, looking like he hadn’t had enough sleep. His little brother boldly poked his thigh through his pants.
Tuxi Ling: “!”
He tried to move his body back. “Lan He, let me check my phone.”
Lan He opened one eye and looked at him for a few seconds, then closed it again. At the same time, he yawned and turned to the other side.
Tuxi Ling breathed a sigh of relief and picked up his phone.
[Xia Shengbo: Ling, are you up?]
[Xia Shengbo: Why aren’t they letting you work again? Are those grandsons trying to sideline you? Ke Yaojin must be doing something. He’s openly trying to snatch the branch captain’s position from you!]
[Xia Shengbo: Last night, the criminal investigation branch of a neighboring city received a tip that an arms deal was taking place in an abandoned factory. The information was confirmed, and a shootout occurred. They wiped them out in one fell swoop. Too bad, they only caught the buyers. Qi A and the others hadn’t gone yet.]
[Xia Shengbo: They were interrogated there. They should have been tricked. The seller didn’t arrive, and there were no arms. These people are also problematic. If they hadn’t opened fire, we wouldn’t have been able to do anything about them!]
[Xia Shengbo: Funny, isn’t it?]
Tuxi Ling shook his head, automatically ignoring the first two lines of nonsense.
[Ling: Qi A appeared at the scene of He Si’nian’s death, right? How could he have run to a neighboring city? A smokescreen?]
[Xia Shengbo: Captain Tian also said it was a deliberate smokescreen. So which one do you think is the smokescreen?]
[Ling: How did the buyers contact Qi A and the others? Can you confirm that it was Qi A?]
[Xia Shengbo: These buyers are middlemen. They said they’ve done business with them more than once. A friend on the streets helped them make contact a few years ago. That person is said to have moved abroad a long time ago.]
[Xia Shengbo: Since then, they’ve always contacted each other by phone, agreed on a place to pick up the goods, left the cash there, and never had any problems.]
[Xia Shengbo: This time, that person also called, saying there was a large batch of goods to sell, asking if he could handle it, and that two people would go to trade in person.]
[Xia Shengbo: Because this was a large sum of money, they were already uneasy. Moreover, the other party said there would be two people, but they heard a lot of our people’s footsteps. It was dark, and they couldn’t see that it was the police. They thought the other party wanted to double-cross them, so they opened fire.]
[Ling: Who chose the transaction location?]
[Xia Shengbo: The other party.]
[Xia Shengbo: An abandoned factory, similar to the one near Yuan Village.]
[Ling: Do they also make guns there?]
[Xia Shengbo: No, they don’t have such complete equipment.]
[Ling: Do you have photos of the scene?]
[Xia Shengbo: Image message]
…
“Xia Shengbo” sent a series of photos. Tuxi Ling looked at each one carefully, and finally his finger stopped on one of them, zooming in, zooming in again.
The factory was piled with discarded materials. This photo was of a pile of dark steel pipes.
Tuxi Ling quoted this photo and sent it back to Xia Shengbo, asking him what it was. The other side replied after a few minutes.
[Xia Shengbo: I just asked, deep quenched chromium-molybdenum steel.]
[Ling: Did you see the standard number?]
[Xia Shengbo: ?]
[Xia Shengbo: Oh, I see it!]
[Ling: The same kind of carbon steel, but the standard number is different from ours. It’s not domestic.]
[Ling: We also have this kind of material in our country. There’s no need to import it at all. If I remember correctly, it’s usually only used for high-stress parts. There are very few civilian uses. Maybe they’re using it to make gun barrels! Check the source with customs!]
[Xia Shengbo: Okay!]
Seeing Tuxi Ling’s serious face, Lan He asked curiously, “What’s wrong? Something happened again?”
“I have to go.” Tuxi Ling licked his lips, lifted the quilt and got out of bed, intending to go to the bathroom to wash up.
“What!” Lan He sat up with a “thump”, took out three neat little pockets from his pajama pocket. “I thought we could renew our relationship today! I only got them from Old Ni with a thick face yesterday!”
Tuxi Ling glanced back and ran faster, leaving Lan He with only the back of his head with red earlobes.
Lan He smiled and put the condoms back in his pocket. Hearing the sound of water in the bathroom, he suddenly felt a little lost.
He laughed self-deprecatingly: Why do I look a bit like an ancient resentful woman stuck at home?
–
The police checked the customs import manifest and found that an import and export trading company called LME had imported this kind of steel pipe from abroad two months ago. However, when the company was investigated, the person in charge hesitated and couldn’t say what the batch of goods was used for, so he was taken back to the bureau.
After interrogation, the person in charge quickly confessed.
He had met Da Sang himself abroad and secretly discussed cooperation, promising to help him buy metal raw materials in China in the name of the company, but he didn’t know the specific purpose.
Recently, Da Sang came to China and they met once. Later, a woman with a very young voice came to meet him. According to his description, the portrait artist drew the woman’s appearance: long hair, wearing a mask and sunglasses, slender figure, and a height of about 164-167.
At this moment, a total of six portraits of the person from various angles were stacked and placed next to Qi A’s wanted notice photo, along with other clues, all taped to the whiteboard in the office, densely packed with lines and arrows.
Shengbo Xia stared at the portrait for a long time, his teeth hurting more and more, feeling like his cheeks were about to swell up: “Ling, what can you see from this? Covered up so tightly, you can only confirm the height, right?”
Wu Li interjected: “Height is the least accurate thing to draw. It’s most affected by the subject’s subjective impression!”
Tuxi Ling propped his chin: “Why do I feel… like…”
“What?” the two asked in unison.
Tuxi Ling ignored them and took photos of the six portraits one by one, sending them to Ba You.
[Branch Ling: Ba, take a look, does it ring a bell?]
[Ba: Sounds familiar.]
[Ba: Oh, it seems to be the person who saved the gunman at the dock that night.]
[Ba: I thought it was a bit weird at the time. Turns out it was a woman?]
[Branch Ling: Yes, now there are clues pointing to her again. I’m worried I’m being too subjective, so I’m confirming with you.]
[Branch Ling: Thank you!]
[Ba: /OK]
[Ba: Good luck, Master! /fist]
[Branch Ling: Don’t.]
[Ba: /grin]
Shengbo Xia leaned over: “What’s wrong, Ling? Who is it?”
“Ba,” Tuxi Ling replied, while clicking on the “Rich and Noble Flowers Bloom” profile picture at the top.
[Ling bun: Lan He, help me recognize someone.]
[Ling bun: Image message]
[Lan He: ?]
[Lan He: Who is it? I can’t even see their face!]
[Ling bun: That’s why I’m asking you to recognize them if I can’t see their face. See if it rings a bell. It’s one of Da Sang’s subordinates.]
A full three minutes passed before Lan He replied “No.”
Lan He had a photographic memory and was good at drawing. If he said he had no impression, then he probably really had no impression. Maybe this woman was a newcomer who joined the Da Sang Group after he left.
[Ling bun: Thank you.]
[Lan He: ?]
[Lan He: Are you coming back today?]
[Lan He: Image message]
Tuxi Ling’s eyes swept over it, and with a “slap” he slammed the phone onto the table, his face flushed and his heart racing uncontrollably.
Shengbo Xia asked suspiciously, “What did He send? I didn’t see it clearly!”
Tuxi Ling: “…”
He glared sternly at Shengbo Xia, meaning: aren’t you going to handle the case? Shengbo Xia stuck out his tongue and immediately slipped away.
After making sure that no one was around, Tuxi Ling dodged the surveillance camera above his head and twisted his body to open the picture.
Twelve neat little pockets.
Super double?
His mouth twitched, he hesitated for a few seconds, but still long-pressed the message and clicked “Delete.”
After research by higher authorities, Tuxi Ling was finally allowed to return to the task force again.
He was used to being kicked around like a ball, and it wasn’t that he had no temper at all, but he wanted to catch Da Sang and his gang as soon as possible so that he could ensure 100% safety for Lan He, so he still put the overall situation first and endured.
Although he understood that Qi A had no malice towards Lan He, Lan He should no longer have any involvement with those people no matter what. As long as they existed for one day, he would not be able to feel at ease.
During the case analysis meeting, Tuxi Ling firmly believed that Da Sang and his gang were still in this city.
Whispers arose in the large conference room. Some people were not convinced. They had stayed on the highway for so long and then spent two days in a neighboring city. Now he was actually saying that the people were still in this city.
Tian Kun, the leader of the task force, tapped the table, signaling for silence: “Ling, tell us your reasons?”
“I believe that the so-called arms deal in the neighboring city last time was just their smokescreen. Now that the situation is tight, it’s difficult for their guns to be sold smoothly. If they don’t want to give up the remaining goods, they can only find a way to transport them out of the country to sell and reduce losses.”
Someone questioned: “Maybe they want to avoid the limelight temporarily and then continue?”
Tuxi Ling glanced at the person who spoke, and found that it was someone from the special police detachment who came to participate in the meeting, so he nodded to him as a greeting and explained: “After the last batch of cultural relics failed to go to sea, we reported it to the International Criminal Police Organization. After research, Da Sang has become a red notice person. He doesn’t have many options to go abroad, and there are many affairs that need to be handled. He must be very anxious.”
This news caused the surrounding people to discuss it in a small range, and they all had a feeling of seeing the light.
Tuxi Ling continued: “If this is the case, maritime smuggling is still the most convenient way for them to leave the country illegally. Only our city is near the sea. I think we should put all the police force on searching the rural areas, barren mountains and ports and docks outside the urban area.”
His opinion was given considerable importance. After all, the progress of the previous case was inseparable from him, so he had to be convinced.
Director Liu glanced at Tian Kun, cleared his throat, and stated: “My opinion and the opinions discussed by several provincial department leaders earlier are almost the same. Then we will follow what Xiao Ling said and start a large-scale investigation around the counties and cities. In addition, the source tracing of the technical team has yielded results. They have found the other party’s hacker and infiltrated the other party’s system. The local police have ambushed around his foothold. They promise that as long as the hacker makes another move next time, they will immediately cooperate with us to arrest him! As for our side, as long as we find the whereabouts of this gang, we will take action immediately. If we encounter armed resistance again, in addition to the main culprit Da Sang, the remaining criminals can be shot dead on the spot depending on the situation!”