Free Web NovelChapter 239: Chapter 236 Military Officer Gaoqiao Xing_1
After a simple meal, everyone got into their respective cars, with Zhou Ning sitting in the Iveco, Xu Dayuan and Mr. Zhao in the front seats, as he dialed Mr. Qu’s number.
"Mr. Qu, can you help me check something? Huang Li Ming, the manager of the administrative department of the Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group, had a blue Honda CR-V that was destroyed on February 14, 2009, by a falling body from a building, but the car has already been disposed of.
See if the car’s accident had been claimed with the insurance company, and if so, whether it is possible to retrieve the photos taken by the insurance company at that time. I want to see the state of damage to the vehicle."
"Hold on, I’ll check now and send them to you in a bit!"
Xu Dayuan turned his head and looked at Zhou Ning.
"Didn’t Chen Wenchi say that Huang Li Ming’s car has already been dealt with? Can the insurance accident record still be checked?"
Mr. Zhao clicked his tongue and patiently explained.
"Boss, who would hate having too much money and bite their own hand? If someone wanted to pacify things quietly and compensated Huang Li Ming for the car, it’s not impossible they secretly had the insurance company take photos. It’s a small expense to resolve such issues, depending on which insurance company it is. I happen to know a couple and could inquire about it."
Xu Dayuan fell silent. Naturally, it would be good if they could get this sorted out. Right now, they needed evidence like photos and videos.
Thinking about this, he took out his phone and sent a message to Liu Yufei, asking her to talk to Mr. Hu and retrieve the previous case files. There must be a record of the police call, and the autopsy report of Cui Haibin should also be retrievable.
He did not expect that one case could involve so much, and Xu Dayuan felt a headache coming on. He closed his eyes slightly.
Ten minutes later, Zhou Ning’s phone rang, it was Mr. Qu’s name flashing continuously.
"I found it. There is indeed a claims record, but it wasn’t for an accident at the Guanghai Pharmaceutical headquarters. It was at a residential building in Liuhe District on February 15. Supposedly, it was due to falling objects from a height. I looked at the photos and videos, and there was no blood on the car, but a broken flower pot on top.
According to the highest compensation ratio, they were reimbursed for 70% of the vehicle damage, after all, there’s a 30% deductible. She received a total of 102,000 yuan in compensation, which seems like a profitable situation for her.
Oh, and I also took the liberty of checking her account information. On February 14, 2009, she received a personal account transfer of 280,000 yuan, and on February 20, she received the insurance payout of 102,000 yuan from Ping An Insurance."
"Whose account was the personal transfer from?"
Mr. Qu chuckled twice.
"Take a guess, Doctor Zhou. I think you can almost guess it."
Zhou Ning frowned slightly. He hadn’t thought much about it before and always believed that the matter was handled by the Guanghai Pharmaceuticals, with someone intending to silence a witness and make the case look like a ’suicide’. There must be a connection with the eavesdropped upon individual. But would Ren Guangzhi personally get involved?
"Ren Guangzhi’s son?"
"Tsk, no fun, you got it right in one guess. It really was a transfer from Ren Guangzhi’s son. But since it’s been such a long time, if we had known about this case earlier, we could have checked their call and message records, which only get saved for six months."
"Is Huang Li Ming still at the Guanghai Pharmaceutical Group?"
"Hold on, let me check... Huh? Where did they go? Oh, here it is. She’s still there but moved to a subsidiary company, a chemical company specializing in import and export. She’s now a deputy manager, in name only without any real power, and she doesn’t even go to work at the company."
Zhou Ning was somewhat surprised. He had previously asked Mr. Qu to check some things, and it seemed they couldn’t yield such detailed information, but today he had managed to discover so much so directly.
"How do you know she doesn’t go to work?"
"Cough, their company uses online check-ins for attendance, and the records can be checked. I just looked at their records over six months — she’s only been in three times, essentially coinciding with the days she filed expenses. Clearly, this person has been kept on the payroll without actually working."
Her car fully compensated for, she herself pocketed some money from the insurance, and even after scrapping the car, she received a subsidy. Being placed in this position, although she had no contact with the upper management, she was essentially getting paid for no work.
It seems she kept her mouth very well and had no knowledge of any insider information, otherwise considering the circumstances of the other victims, silencing them would have been the safest course of action.
Over the phone, Mr. Qu called out twice, bringing Zhou Ning back to reality.
"By the way, Doctor Zhou, I found info on the Scarred Eye Man. He’s a military officer from the Sapporo Country Embassy in China."
Zhou Ning was shocked and replayed Scarred Eye Man’s voice in his head.
Impossible, he can’t be a foreigner because, apart from speaking Hua Language, Scarred Eye Man had a distinct Ludong accent.
Even if you lived in Hua Country for decades, you might mimic the accent, but what about facial features? freewebnoveℓ.com
Ludong people tend to have larger bone structures, broad shoulders and hips even when thin, and notably pronounced brow ridges with slanting foreheads—traits that are not genetic characteristics of the Sapporo People.
There had to be some mistake.
"Mr. Qu, could there have been an error?"
"I’ve screenshot a segment of the video and will send it to you later. It was recorded during a foreign affairs event at the embassy. I was also surprised at the time. The man’s name is Gaoqiao Xing. I will look into his details later, but don’t get your hopes up too much. Embassy personnel tend to hide some of their information."
After hanging up, Zhou Ning felt as though all his strength had left him. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself down. Panicking now would not solve any problems.
On the other hand, if the man with the scar over his eye, named Gaoqiao Xing, really had such a sensitive identity, how could he have come out with Ren Guangzhi?
And with the status of a mere follower?
It wasn’t long before the car arrived at a village. Mr. Zhao, looking at the police car in front, let out a puzzled noise.
"Huh? Why does this place look familiar? Isn’t the location where Fang Wenjie’s body was found not far from here?"
Xu Dayuan also opened the map and recognized the area; indeed, it was the easternmost part of Beizhai Street, just two streets away from where Fang Wenjie was killed. freeweɓnovel.cøm
"It’s actually two adjacent villages. This is Zhang Village of Beizhai, and the nearby Zhang Village River gets its name from this place. As for the demolished one, that’s Wang Village."
As he spoke, the car had already stopped in front of a house at the entrance of the village. Everyone got out of the car and Chen Wenchi had already opened the courtyard gate. An old man inside was watching, and only when he saw Chen Wenchi did he throw away the shovel in his hands.
"Old Li, we’ve come to take some stuff; you go ahead with your work, it’s all fine!"
The old man gestured a few times, it seemed he could hear but couldn’t speak.
Chen Wenchi picked up the shovel and walked to an elm tree at the back of the courtyard. He began digging at the edge of a tree hollow and soon extracted a neatly wrapped cloth package. Unwrapping the outer layer, inside was a small safe.
Seeing the object in his hands, Xu Dayuan’s eyes darkened. He figured this guy must’ve prepared thoroughly; otherwise, that old man wouldn’t have come over with a shovel at the slightest sound.
A few people got back into the car, and Chen Wenchi was brought onto their Iveco.
Xu Dayuan pointed to a bag in the back and said:
"Change into these clothes, and temporarily follow Mr. Zeng. If anyone asks, just say you’ve been assigned for an internship, and that I made the arrangements. Staying with us is the safest option—oh, and wear a mask. The work badge is in the pocket of the clothes."
Chen Wenchi opened the bag, which contained a set of auxiliary police uniforms, including one with the letters XJ on the front and a four-digit number on the back.
He took off his down jacket and put on the uniform, which fit just right. The work badge in the pocket bore the name Chen Qiang, and the photo was very similar to him.
Chen Wenchi was surprised; after all, no one had taken his picture before. These items had been in the car when they left the police station, meaning they had been prepared in advance. After a long silence, Chen Wenchi voluntarily opened the safe.
Xu Dayuan’s gaze caught Chen Wenchi’s expression in the rearview mirror, and the corners of his mouth lifted slightly.
He gave Mr. Zhao a thumbs-up. It was Mr. Zhao’s idea, and Mr. Qu had created the photo using software, capable of simulating even skeletal structures—a surveillance screenshot was a piece of cake.
To protect someone by hiding them was doable, but not conducive to further investigation. It was safer to keep them close at hand, what’s known as ’hidden in plain sight.’ Many who wanted to find this person probably wouldn’t be able to, and even if they did, they would have to think twice.
No matter how powerful someone wanted to be in silencing others, they would not dare to strike at the police station. That would be antisocial behavior.
Carrying the safe, Chen Wenchi walked to the front seat.
"This is the safe my aunt left behind. It contains a hard drive, but I don’t know the password. If you can’t open it, don’t blame me. As for these documents, I’ve looked through them, but I don’t understand their meaning; after all, they are all accounts."
Xu Dayuan nodded and closed the safe.
"We’ll have the professionals look at this stuff once we’re back. First, we’re going to find your sister so Doctor Zhou can perform another autopsy. If her cause of death isn’t suicide, rest assured, on the day we can make the case public, all public officials who concealed the case or protected the suspect will not escape punishment."
Chen Wenchi’s eyes reddened, and he forcefully sniffled, showing the map on his phone to Mr. Zhao.
"It’s not far from here, at my uncle’s place, my aunt’s brother. Their family is in the shroud business, so almost no one visits their home, and we feel safer leaving the freezer there."
Mr. Zhao glanced at the address and sighed inwardly; this case really kept close to Beizhai. Conveniently, it did not require much effort as everything was nearby.
"Settle in, let’s set off!"
After about fifteen minutes, they arrived at a compound with a storefront in front and living quarters behind. Chen Wenchi went in and spoke a few words; an elderly couple came out, their faces wary. After instructing Chen Wenchi, they opened an inconspicuous storage room and moved everything out, filling the yard with paper effigies and buildings. Mr. Zhao shrank his neck.
"Hey, Zhou Xiaozhou, why are you so quiet today? Still thinking about that man with the scar over his eye?"
Zhou Ning exhaled deeply, and Mr. Zhao leaned in, his face full of concern.
"Tell me the truth, has something happened?"
"We’ve identified the man with the scar; he’s a military officer at the Sapporo Country Embassy in China, named Gaoqiao Xing."
Mr. Zhao was stunned, unsure of how to respond to this revelation. Since Zhou Ning had shared it, at the very least, it meant Mr. Qu and others had confirmed the information. What... what was all of this coming to?
Just then, Xu Dayuan’s voice came from the small storage room, his pitch breaking at the end.
"What are you all doing? Come and move the freezer!"
