WWY Chapter 8

Chapter 8: The car’s hood ornament is like a blooming lotus flower…

Chapter 8: The car’s hood ornament is like a blooming lotus flower…

Leaving the hospital, Tuxi Ling went straight back to the bureau and headed to Director Liu’s office.

Liu Chao, the deputy director in charge of criminal investigations, had broad shoulders and a straight back. Years of hard work had not only taken away half of his dark hair early but also carved deep wrinkles on his face, adding a bit of a tough guy aura to his appearance.

After listening to the case report, he looked grave and immediately issued an official letter.

“Ling, this case has a significant impact. The provincial department requires a swift resolution. If you have any requests, make them as soon as possible. Our criminal investigation team, and even the entire Public Security Bureau, will fully support your work!”

“Yes, thank you, Director Liu. I guarantee we’ll expedite the investigation!”

Tuxi Ling saluted Director Liu and left the office, his mood becoming even heavier.

Director Liu was right; the impact was significant. Public opinion online was constantly fermenting. Perhaps the He and Gu families had hired a team to try to control it, but the negative comments couldn’t be completely deleted.

Lan He, he must be having a hard time these past two days, right?

After obtaining access to the major banks, Tuxi Ling handed everything over to the technician, Xiao Xu, and went to the forensic center.

Qin Man’s pale, swollen body lay on the autopsy table, his face bearing newly formed bruises. His clothes and hair were still wet.

Forensic Section Chief Ai Chongfei hadn’t slept all night. Seeing Tuxi Ling, he took off his gloves and rubbed his brow. “Ling, you’re here.”

Tuxi Ling looked at Qin Man’s body and shook his head. “Sorry for the trouble, Ai. How is it?”

“Poison reactions, drug reactions, pathological reactions – I checked everything. This guy died without any doubt. I even retrieved his physical examination reports from the hospital from two months ago. His body was very healthy. It seems he just didn’t want to live anymore and dragged someone down with him.”

Tuxi Ling frowned. “Dragged someone down? Your statement is fine, but how is it such a coincidence that he came all the way from a distance along the highway, without stopping, only to see an old acquaintance, Lan He, just as he passed in front of the Public Security Bureau?”

Ai Chongfei was stumped by the question, scratching his hair, which had been messed up by his medical cap.

After a while, he weakly said, “Did Qin Man put a tracker on Lan He? Otherwise, how would he know he was staying overnight at the bureau?”

Tuxi Ling thought of the messy media reporters: “Staying overnight isn’t a secret, but going out to eat with Lan He was impromptu. How did he predict it?”

The two thought for a long time together. Ai Chongfei yawned. “Anyway, something is fishy! I haven’t closed my eyes all night. I’m going to sleep. Good luck, Ling!”

Then, he quickly took off his “battle robe” and left.

Tuxi Ling rubbed the stubble on his chin, feeling depressed.

Could it be… an internal mole?

The evidence section also didn’t find anything unusual.

When the incident occurred, the sedan sank to the bottom of the river and was later salvaged. Everything in the car had been soaked. There were very few things in the car: tissues, rags, a defroster, and mineral water.

The items were neatly arranged on a long table. Tuxi Ling looked at them and suspiciously looked at Cheng Ye, the head of the evidence section: “Is that all?”

Cheng Ye felt that Tuxi Ling’s tone seemed to be accusing them of being careless in their work, and he tilted his head. “Yes, what else would there be?”

Tuxi Ling ignored him, picked up the defroster on the table. It was plastic and very soft.

“The car should have a tripod, at least, right? His latest model electric car usually has a toolbox in the hidden compartment of the trunk. How could there be nothing?” Tuxi Ling wondered. “Didn’t you find the hidden compartment?”

“We found it. It’s empty!” Cheng Ye spread his hands, pointing outside the window. “The car is parked in the yard. Should I take you to see it?”

Tuxi Ling didn’t stand on ceremony with him.

The dark gray electric car had been deformed due to falling into the water from a height. The car doors had completely failed and opened with a pull.

Tuxi Ling stuck his head into the driver’s seat and immediately noticed something was wrong: “Why doesn’t this car even have seat belts?”

“They were cut off.” Cheng Ye pointed to the seat belt box above the seat. “The buckles were cut off, and the belts retracted, so you can’t see them.”

Tuxi Ling was puzzled. “Why cut them?”

Cheng Ye shrugged. “Who am I supposed to ask?”

Qin Man’s car had been carefully inspected, and indeed, nothing was left inside.

Tuxi Ling stubbornly searched the trunk. The hidden compartment was indeed empty. He carefully looked again at the front and saw that the entire center console screen was waterlogged, and the car logo on the steering wheel had fallen off halfway.

He recognized the car logo: “This car isn’t cheap.”

Cheng Ye lit a cigarette. “Yeah, 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds, extra-large screen display, self-driving, automatic parking – it’s like something out of a sci-fi movie. We couldn’t even buy a wheel with a month’s salary!”

Tuxi Ling smiled and said in confusion, “Under what circumstances would a car owner take out all the tools?”

“To reduce weight?” Cheng Ye exhaled a puff of smoke.

Tuxi Ling glanced at him and shook his head. “How much weight could a set of tools save? Besides, it’s hard to drive without a tripod.”

He also saw a groove above the center console screen, sticking out abruptly: “What’s this for?”

Cheng Ye answered very confidently, “Sunglasses holder, retractable. A friend of mine has the same car. I’ve seen him use it. It seems like… you use it like this.”

He casually pushed the holder back, and the holder became flush with the platform.

Tuxi Ling closed his eyes in frustration.

The holder was covered with sediment from the bottom of the river. Cheng Ye rubbed his fingers. Turning his head, he saw him looking distressed. “What’s wrong?”

“Where are the sunglasses?”

Cheng Ye was stunned and shrugged again.

Tuxi Ling helplessly closed the car door. “This kind of water damage probably means the electric car is totaled, right?”

“It won’t start.”

Just as Tuxi Ling turned around, he suddenly realized something and looked back at the car door.

At the moment he closed the door, he seemed to hear a very subtle collision sound, not from the door, but from some small object vibrating.

He reopened the car door and carefully inspected it, finally prying a very small black round earpiece from the edge of the door groove.

Cheng Ye opened his eyes wide in disbelief; the evidence section chief’s sky had fallen.

What were his subordinates doing?

“What is this!”

“Wireless communication earpiece, instant communication, wide coverage, wireless bands that can’t be captured. The military and some special departments use them more often. We only issue them during major operations.”

“Can’t be, right? How could Qin Man, a family doctor, use this?”

This also made Tuxi Ling feel a headache.

How was a case that was initially determined to be an accidental death from illness becoming more and more complicated?

Like all electronic products, the earpiece had become a lump of plastic after being soaked in water.

Then he received news from Xia Shengbo that Qin Man had a large amount of financial dealings with foreign countries. The amount of each transaction was not fixed, nor was it necessarily a whole number. They suspected it was gambling.

Initially, the income was greater than the expenditure. Afterward, he lost more than he won. Finally, the transfers became more and more frequent. It could be seen that he was losing his mind.

This was the routine of all gambling: first give a little sweetness, sacrifice small profits, and catch big fish.

It made sense; this was Qin Man’s motive. He wanted to get money from the He family father and son. As a result, he didn’t get the money, and, cornered, he used illegal means but was first discovered by the police.

He couldn’t repay the money, and he was wanted. In desperation, he chose to jump into the river and commit suicide.

He took out his cell phone, opened the text message interface, and the content remained the “okay” that Lan He had sent the night before.

[Are you awake? I’m a little s]

He typed a few words, suddenly stopped, and laughed self-deprecatingly, then deleted them again.

He opened WeChat and searched for a new friend, “Lan,” using the phone number.

The profile picture was a blooming lotus flower, with half of “Heart Like Still Water” faintly visible at the bottom.

Tuxi Ling: “…”

Was he some kind of middle-aged and elderly friend?

If the name hadn’t matched, he would have thought he’d found the wrong person.

–

Lan He lay on his side in bed, looking out the window boredly.

He had just finished breakfast. Qing Gu had left. It was said that the bodyguard hired by Si’nian He would come to complete the discharge procedures and take him home early.

His cell phone suddenly rang. He picked it up and looked at it, and the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up.

[9:27, Tuxi Ling: WeChat, accept it.]

Lan He switched to WeChat, saw the new friend request, and smiled, muttering, “You have good sense,” clicked to accept.

[You have added Tuxi Ling. You can start chatting now.]

[Lan: /smile]

[Tuxi Ling: Have you eaten? I’ll come see you.]

[Tuxi Ling: /smile]

[Lan: Don’t come, I’m fine. I’ll be discharged soon.]

[Lan: Any progress?]

[Tuxi Ling: I was just about to talk to you about that.]

[Tuxi Ling: Voice message 60″]

[Tuxi Ling: Voice message 5″]

Lan He: “…”

Opening the voice message, Tuxi Ling’s steady, slightly magnetic voice came through the earpiece. It was a different feeling from usual, which made him a little uncomfortable.

He used sixty-five seconds to summarize the current investigation gains and finally asked Lan He how long Weiyu He could usually last after an attack and whether Qin Man needed to provide further treatment. He wanted to judge whether it was possible that Qin Man was using the illness to blackmail or extort the father and son.

Lan He felt that his train of thought was very unique, but it was indeed a line of thinking.

[Lan: How to blackmail, explain in detail.]

[Lan: If convenient, don’t send voice messages.]

[Tuxi Ling: What, are there outsiders?]

[Lan: Voice message phobia.]

[Tuxi Ling: /awkward]

After a long period of “The other party is typing” (typing), Tuxi Ling sent a densely packed text message that filled the entire screen.

In short, he presented evidence, reasoned, and concluded that Qin Man deliberately used the wrong medicine to prevent Weiyu He from saving himself. He, as the doctor, delayed until the end to take action. This could highlight his importance and facilitate blackmailing for money or demanding a raise. But he didn’t expect that Weiyu He would actually die. His negligent homicide plus dereliction of duty meant he could only flee, but he didn’t expect Weiyu He’s body to be discovered so quickly. Under the surveillance of Tianyan, he gave up resisting and committed suicide in fear of punishment.

Thinking of Qin Man’s desperate expression in the car that day, Lan He muttered “bullshit” in a low voice and slowly typed a line.

[Lan: Officer Ling is too meticulous! /strong]

[Tuxi Ling: /smile]

[Tuxi Ling: You also think this is possible, right? Next, we still need to investigate further. The details are inconvenient to say, but I suspect he has accomplices, so we can’t close the case yet.]

[Lan: /OK /strong]

[Lan: My family is here to pick me up from the hospital. I’ll talk to you later.]

[Tuxi Ling: Okay.]

[Tuxi Ling: /goodbye]

Lan He withdrew his gaze from the yellow bean emoji with the sinister smile, and his smile gradually faded.

The person who came in was about the same height as Lan He. His muscles were tense, and his eyes were small and bright. It was obvious at a glance that he was hiding some skill.

He reflexively surveyed the ward and bowed respectfully. “You must be Young Master Lan. I am the bodyguard hired by Mr. He to protect you. You can call me Jiu Ya.”

His tone of speech was strange, and coupled with his name, it was clear that he was Japanese.

Si’nian He had gone to Japan on a business trip the past two days. It seemed this bodyguard was a local specialty he brought back.

Lan He looked at him behind him: “Did you come alone?”

Jiu Ya nodded: “Jiu Ya is ordered to take you home!”

Lan He asked impatiently: “Do you know how to complete the discharge procedures?”

Jiu Ya was embarrassed, scratching his head: “Jiu Ya can ask the staff!”

Lan He: “…”

No problem!