Free Web NovelChapter 368: Chapter 353 Motorboat_1
A moment later, Yang Xuetong’s photos arrived. frёeωebɳovel.com
Just as Yang Xuetong had said, the room was spotless, a very simple two-bedroom with a living room and sparse furniture. The kitchen looked as though it had never been used before.
Zhou Ning, puzzled, dialed Yang Xuetong’s number.
"Go look at the wardrobe and the shoe cabinet, and video call us directly. This house is too clean to look like someone lives in it."
"Alright, Chief, just give me a moment."
Mr. Zhao, standing nearby, hurriedly called out:
"Just video call Zhou Xiaozhou directly, I’ve run out of data."
Zhou Ning glanced at Mr. Zhao, wondering how he had run out of data at the start of the month. This guy was always full of crafty ideas. Mr. Zhao grinned sheepishly.
"Don’t look at me like that, Zhou Xiaozhou. Should we leave Lou Sanfeng’s car here or tow it back?"
"Tow it back. After seeing the situation at Yang Xuetong’s, we’ll head back to the police station. I want to take a closer look at the photos from the initial crime scene investigation. I feel like I’ve missed something."
Mr. Zhao, sensing the mood, didn’t waste words and quickly told Mr. Bai to arrange the tow, avoiding the dirty car that would make him nauseous just by getting close.
After waiting for a short while, Yang Xuetong sent a video call invite. Upon accepting, Zhou Ning could see Yang Xuetong in front of four open wardrobes, where clothes were arranged by season, transitioning from light to dark colors, lengths varying rhythmically—it was indeed very tidy. After a brief look, Zhou Ning asked Yang Xuetong to pause the camera.
"Most of the clothes here are uniforms, like the ones he wore before he retired, and there are his suits and dress shirts. When Lou Sanfeng came up just now, I noticed he was dressed very simply, in a polo shirt, jeans, and sneakers, which doesn’t match the kind of clothing here. First, check the shoe cabinet, and then ask the neighbors when he usually comes home and whether he comes home every day."
"Okay, I’ll go to the shoe cabinet first."
As he spoke, Yang Xuetong had reached the entrance shoe cabinet. Opening it, he indeed found black and camel-colored leather shoes, exactly eight pairs, all polished bright and shiny. There was only one pair of slippers, and the soles of the leather shoes were also clean and dust-free, obviously well-maintained.
Zhou Ning felt even more certain that this could indeed be Lou Sanfeng’s home, but it wasn’t his usual residence.
"Have Mr. Zeng and the others ask the neighbors. You wait for the news, and if you get any information, follow up on it. Bye!"
Just then, Mr. Zhao hurried back, seeing that Zhou Ning had ended the video call, and quickly asked:
"Nothing was found?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Let’s head back to the police station. Although this house is registered as Lou Sanfeng’s residential address, he doesn’t often live here. It’s just maintained."
Mr. Zhao blinked.
"Really odd, he doesn’t live here, yet he cleans it so meticulously. Is this some sort of compulsive cleaning disorder or a mental issue? Or perhaps this house was specifically kept for us to see, prepared by him over many years, in case we ever came knocking on his door to withstand a police investigation?
Man, if that’s the case, then Lou Sanfeng is terrifying. He’s been at that institute for so many years, and although he doesn’t interact much, he doesn’t seem to exhibit any unusual behaviors. Don’t such people usually harm cats or dogs? Could it be that just like Cui Guanglin, he has some kind of multiple personality disorder?"
"Let’s head back for now. After Lou Sanfeng’s mother died, did his father remarry? Or alternatively, when Chen Gang’s biological mother came looking, was his mother still around, suggesting that there wasn’t just Chen Gang’s biological mother?"
Mr. Zhao shook his head.
"During that time, it wasn’t like now, the information was not as accessible. As to why, neither my dad nor my mom knew. They only heard some things when the results were announced. But according to my analysis, it could either be that the review process didn’t pass or the other party’s background wasn’t clean."
Zhou Ning stopped dwelling on these issues and quickly got into the car to rush to the police station.
Upon returning to the technical department, he headed straight for the office. Mr. Zhao jogged to catch up and upon entering saw Liu Yongxin in the room.
"You haven’t eaten yet, have you? Let’s eat first and then talk."
They freshened up, feeling sticky all over from the hot weather after being outside all morning. After eating, Zhou Ning brushed his teeth and then returned to the whiteboard.
Mr. Zhao didn’t dare let Liu Yongxin tidy up, knowing the older man’s blood pressure hadn’t been good recently. Liu Yongxin walked over to Zhou Ning and handed him a bottle of water.
"Director Xu just called me and asked if you were back, he briefly told me about the situation," Cui Guanglin said. "I think there’s no need to rush. Everything will become clear once the tests come back. Even if we can’t find any evidence connecting Lou Sanfeng to the 4.14 kidnapping case, there’s no need to worry; interrogation will yield results."
Zhou Ning was not as optimistic. He took down the photos of the severed fingers and ears from the 4.14 case and grouped them together.
"Lou Sanfeng is not easy to deal with. There’s quite a bit of money on his card, but he can account for it. However, the nearly nine million in ransom just can’t be traced. His house, car, and clothes are all very ordinary, even more so than the average person.
At work, he had an extremely low profile. From around the time of his father’s incident, he used the excuse of kidney disease treatment to take long leaves of absence and did not vie for fame or gain, content to stay holed up in the River and Lake Management Office, peacefully doing his clerical job.
His car was bought when he was transferred; it was like a garbage dump inside. Mr. Zhao found many drugs produced in the nineties, all for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases, high blood pressure, kidney diseases, coronary heart disease.
I always feel that these were his father’s medicines, but the man’s been gone for so many years. Why keep these things? And yet, his home is spotless, and the clothes are not in his style at all. I think he has a hidden residence, and also a hidden personality."
Liu Yongxin listened with furrowed brows. He glanced at the photos Mr. Zhao had taken with the camera and after a moment of silence, he raised his head.
"Are you suggesting that Lou Sanfeng has multiple personalities? The dominant personality is sloppy and accommodating, and occasionally a cold-blooded, ruthless one that doesn’t blink an eye at murder emerges. He takes extended leaves of absence because he can’t control the switching of personalities?"
Zhou Ning sighed. This was a question he could not answer.
"I don’t know. That’s why I decided to come back and go over these photos again to see if there’s anything I missed. Besides, I want to make a trip to Mrs. Cui’s place. The severed finger that Cheng Xinghui sent for examination, she has extracted it several times. I don’t know if she found any information."
Liu Yongxin patted Zhou Ning’s arm. The case was no ordinary difficult one. To connect two cases and track down Lou Sanfeng had already been extremely draining, and Zhou Ning was starting to feel anxious.
"Take it easy, no need to rush. The man is already under our control. All the pacing needs to follow us. I agree with you, this Lou Sanfeng must have a hidden refuge.
Back then when details of the case were leaked, the focus was on the kidnapper’s movements. Yet he was able to move the ransom right under the noses of the police, still murder that family of three, and dump the bodies by the sea. I think these locations can be connected and analyzed."
When Liu Yongxin said this, Zhou Ning’s eyes lit up.
He quickly looked at the printed city map already marked with several locations: one, the kidnappers’ transaction location, one, the drop-off point for the severed finger and ransom note, one for the dumpsite of the ransom, and the last one, the location where the bodies were discovered.
The four locations, aside from the drop-off point for the severed finger and ransom note, were all by the sea.
Moreover, these three points were aligned in a straight line along the seafront Hong Kong East Road, from the transaction location at Polar Ocean World to the ransom discard spot at Xiaofengtai by Yue Lake, some 11 kilometers, and from Xiaofengtai to the beach near Nan Island where the bodies were thrown, 4.1 kilometers.
The old saying goes, ’Qindao is a washcloth with a golden edge,’ which means that houses in the coastal areas are prohibitively expensive, unimaginably so. Does he have a place nearby where he could orchestrate all of this?
Zhou Ning took a deep breath. Like Liu Yongxin said, he was getting impatient. The investigation was at a standstill, facing such a vile kidnapping case without a body to examine. This sense of helplessness was causing his agitation.
However, Lou Sanfeng had been caught, and the pacing was now controlled by the police. Zhou Ning adjusted his state of mind and once again opened his eyes, as if everything before him had become much clearer.
Looking at these three positions, Zhou Ning analyzed:
"Zhu Yantao once said that police had a tight surveillance around Polar Ocean World, but after the transaction time passed in the square, he received a call from the kidnapper saying he had called the police, breaking the agreement, so they changed the transaction location.
As a citizen of Hua Country, calling the police is the first thing you do when in danger. There’s no need for hesitation. So, I don’t think the kidnapper discovered anything. He was betting on human nature.
As a family member hearing these words, your first reaction is self-blame, ditching the police to head to the next transaction location. That’s what the kidnapper wanted to see. And indeed, Zhu Yantao did just that, driving quickly to the next spot, Xiaofengtai, and according to instructions, threw the ransom over the cliff."
Liu Yongxin nodded continuously, following up on Zhou Ning’s words.
"This place is a peninsula of no small extent, the eastern and western parts each about a hundred acres, and rich in vegetation, making it impossible to lay a tight siege. The police followed him in cars straight to the top, but by the time they reached the cliff, Zhu Yantao had already thrown down the ransom."
At that moment, the door was pushed open, and Mr. Zhao and Xu Dayuan walked in. Xu Dayuan’s arrival took Zhou Ning by surprise, especially since Lou Sanfeng had been captured. Had they not gone to interrogate him?
Seeing Zhou Ning and others stopped talking, Xu Dayuan approached.
"I didn’t rush to interrogate after I came back. Don’t look at me like that. I just found someone who was involved in the case back then. He’s retired and not local, he just got back. He said that when they rushed to the edge of the cliff at that time, Zhu Yantao was lying at the edge of the cliff, clinging to the phone and constantly shouting.
Afterward, it was understood that Zhu Yantao had thrown down the ransom as instructed, and when the phone call to the other side went straight to voicemail, this old colleague reacted. They immediately clustered at the edge of the cliff to observe, and although his vision was good, he saw a motorboat heading eastward, but it was too far to see clearly how many people were on it, or whether it was carrying anything."
Zhou Ning opened the calculator and did some quick calculations.
"One hundred-yuan note weighs 1.15 grams. A million is 11.5 kilograms, so eight million would be 92 kilograms. Divided into four packages, plus the weight of the packaging, it would weigh at least 100 kilograms. Can a motorboat handle something that heavy?"
