Free Web NovelChapter 692: Chapter 655 Guessing the Identity_1
Zhou Ning also took a deep breath. He knew Xu Dayuan wouldn’t turn on him—at this point, their job was to make these people slip up; otherwise, it would be tough to clean up the whole mess. After all, the most effective way to permanently rid of an abscess was to force it all out at once. Only by digging deeply could they remove the rotting flesh and enable new growth.
He glanced at Mr. Zhao and gave him a meaningful look, holding his cellphone behind his back with the name "Qu Heping" on the screen. Without any hesitation, Mr. Zhao quickly went inside to look for Mr. Qu and report all of the evidence, as Mr. Hu and the others were waiting for exactly that news.
Across from him, Huang Yubin and Xing Shusheng were puzzled by the no longer smiling Xu Dayuan, but he didn’t give them much time to react and went straight to the point.
"On the way here, I picked up some things. Bai Qishan can’t escape. There will be a special case meeting at eight, followed by the hearings. We should grab something to eat first. Would you two care to join us?"
Huang Yubin looked at Xing Shusheng, who shook his head, and Huang Yubin then smiled and declined with a wave of his hand.
"You go ahead, we’ve really been exhausted these past few days. I’ll take Director Xing and the others to the meeting room and get things ready for the meeting. We’ll see you in a bit."
Xu Dayuan nodded and was just about to turn away when he stopped Huang Yubin and said,
"By the way, Mr. Huang, since you are the deputy leader of the special case group, I want to ask about the three aspects you’re in charge of. How are they coming along? Have you found the purchasing channels for mercury? Have you found the source of the missing persons? Have you clarified the details regarding Yagelangha?"
Huang Yubin was stunned.
"This... this... this..."
He opened his mouth but found himself unable to produce a second word.
Xu Dayuan knew he wouldn’t be able to summarize everything. The purpose of forming the special case group was to investigate the findings around the hole Zhou Ning and his team fell into, especially the eight children who were victims twenty years ago, which was the group’s initial goal.
The subsequent discovery of the treasure in the coffins and that pile of items, and the link to Zhou Xiangrong’s murder, as well as the missing Ganzhou City Bureau files involving so many Minjin and Sapporo undercover agents, all stemmed from this origin.
Moreover, Xu Dayuan had been continuously reporting to leadership on both sides. Although many issues involved the National Security Department, the case was deeply intertwined with Longyou Province, making it impossible to determine how many people were involved, especially since they suspected Zhou Xiangrong’s superiors had already defected at that time.
That’s why the case investigation hadn’t been transferred yet. In just six days, the nature of the case had kept changing, with reports from both sides constantly being amended, leading to delayed reactions from the department.
But it was only a delay, not a failure to report. Xu Dayuan had just informed Mr. Hu that Qindao was deeply involved in the findings, and their initial assistance with the inquiry could now become proactive control over the progress. After all, involving a plan to destroy the city and poison the entire population, once implemented, would result in unimaginable casualties among the citizens.
Xing Shusheng looked at Xu Dayuan and directly laughed.
"Director Xu, don’t be hard on old Huang. If he had your ability, we wouldn’t have asked for your help in the first place."
Huang Yubin felt a bit awkward.
"We did investigate, but much of the information is hard to verify due to the age of the cases. For example, the mercury—back then, it wasn’t like now where you need to register and have various certificates to sell. There were many wild workshops back in the day, especially around Mingjia Mountain of Hui County.
At that time, there was rampant illegal mining and I believe that the goods were obtained from these people. After all, according to our estimates, their consumption wasn’t more than a few hundred pounds, and getting ten or so tons from here is not a problem.
As for the missing persons, we found some files regarding the pursuit of missing persons reported to the provincial hall, with Ganzhou assisting in a few cases. All leads point towards a few private mental hospitals and orphanages in the Tianshan area, but this is still being investigated.
Our investigation into Yagelangha didn’t yield much information, just some records of notifications with various tourist bureaus, suggesting it’s a temple fair with distinctive ethnic features. Of course, we don’t rule out the possibility that the temple fair’s format is being used for other purposes. Especially since the investigation here is heating up, I rushed back to help."
Xu Dayuan smiled again, noticing Mr. Zhao outside the restaurant door gesturing two fingers towards him. He nodded and said,
"Indeed, things are busy here. If you didn’t come back today, I would have had to call you to hurry things up. Many of our findings have gone beyond what we can control, and we need the help of multiple departments. Why don’t you go to the meeting room first, and we’ll be up in about ten or fifteen minutes after we finish eating."
Xu Dayuan’s sudden shift caught both men off guard, but having received an invitation from him so smoothly, they didn’t waste time and quickly nodded, heading to the meeting room upstairs.
Upon reaching the cafeteria, they found a corner to quickly have breakfast. Everyone was in tune with one another, not discussing too much, as Mr. Qu had already set up a group, providing a detailed introduction of the recently reported information, including screenshots.
Then Mr. Hu was forcibly added to the group, and upon his entry, he sent out a few question marks, causing even Xu Dayuan to laugh as he gave Mr. Qu a thumbs up.
"You’re ruthless, kid!"
While speaking, he entered a string of text above.
[Mr. Hu, when we returned from collecting evidence at Zhou Xiaozhou’s home this morning, we noticed a change in the guard personnel at the Ganzhou City Bureau. They weren’t the officers we arranged yesterday. Both Xing Shusheng and Huang Yubin were present, and Huang Yubin’s reaction was completely different from when we first arrived in Ganzhou. I’m not sure if it’s related to our investigation.
In addition, you mentioned the special task force from the department, when will they arrive? If they come, we’ll step back, after all, we got nothing conclusive from Bai Qishan’s interrogation, and now the nature of the case has completely changed, requiring the National Security Department to conduct an internal investigation.
We couldn’t find out who Zhou Xiangrong’s superior was back then, as well as the true identity of An Liwei and the whereabouts of An Lishuai. As for the superior of Bai Qishan, the Hyena, and that assassin, I guess they are in Ganzhou, possibly even within the Ganzhou City Bureau itself. We need the special task force for the arrest.]
Mr. Hu: [After receiving your call, I reported it immediately. The information I have is that a special investigation team has been established by both departments and they’ve already set out. They should arrive in about two hours. We have a coordinated operation planned here, which I can’t disclose. Be careful and watch out for desperate actions.]
After reading the message, everyone put away their phones and Xu Dayuan and his team started to walk out first, while Zhou Ning tidied up the trash on the table. Mr. Qu, being closer, quickly passed him the trash bin. Together, they finished cleaning up, Zhou Ning with his head down.
"Mr. Qu, let’s set up one of those signal-jamming devices here. I remember you rigged one before. We might need a one-button jam at any moment, especially now with so many people around and all the important evidence and witnesses here, just in case..."
"Director Zhou, I understand. I’ve placed several control terminals in the main building and the annex, and even in the cafeteria and those decrepit warehouses. The moment there’s any hint of trouble, I’ll shut it down in a second."
Zhou Ning nodded, feeling slightly less worried.
The results of the interrogation in Qindao, Mr. Hu only mentioned to Xu Dayuan in the car. If those two didn’t confess anything, there is no way they would have talked for so long and said so much. Xu Dayuan kept responding affirmatively, he definitely didn’t want the content of the conversation to leak, but what exactly did they manage to find out?
Zhou Ning was highly curious, especially thinking about that man with slanted eyes, a hooked nose, thin lips, and a face full of pock marks, between 182-184 cm tall, weighing around 110 pounds. This familiar feeling made Zhou Ning scratch his head.
Thinking all this, he followed Xu Dayuan into the main building through the north gate. Ahead, two young lads were walking towards them, tugging at each other as they quickly greeted Zhou Ning and his team.
"Boss, have you had lunch yet? Do we have any tasks coming up?"
Zhou Ning waved his hand.
"We’ve finished all the work we needed to do here, just waiting for Mrs. Cui’s report. Also, did the samples collected here yesterday get sent out to the provincial capital and Qindao via courier?"
Zou Jialong and Pang Tianhang nodded, with Pang Tianhang speaking first.
"I checked with the courier company, and I saw the information this morning. Both parcels have been dispatched, one will arrive this morning and the other should reach Qindao by afternoon."
Zhou Ning hummed in acknowledgment.
"Follow me upstairs. Let’s all listen to the special case meeting."
The two young men hurried upstairs while Zhou Ning slowed down his pace. From behind, Zou Jialong and Pang Tianhang appeared to be quite tall and thin. They were of similar age and frequently interacted, making their silhouettes and side profiles look even more alike. ƒrēewebnovel.com
He quickly took out his tablet, which had screenshots of the surveillance footage from yesterday and the arrest photos forwarded to Xu Dayuan last night. Seeing Zhou Ning’s actions, Mr. Zhao came from behind, raising his hand to block the screen of Zhou Ning’s phone.
"Don’t look at it here, go over there."
After speaking, he dragged Zhou Ning around the corner on the second floor straight into the observation room. Fang Mu noticed this from behind and quickly walked faster to whisper something to Xu Dayuan—who then instructed Fang Mu to lead their team in and meet up with Liu Yufei. They would discuss the meeting once he had arrived.
Xu Dayuan moved swiftly to join Zhou Ning in the room, where Zhou Ning was comparing images. Upon seeing Xu Dayuan enter, Zhou Ning lifted the tablet to show him.
"This is Zhu Xingmin, caught yesterday, and last night’s delivery driver’s footage. These two are extremely similar: 182-184 cm tall, skinny, with slanted eyes, high cheekbones, hooked noses, thin lips, and faces full of pockmarks. Their only difference might be a limp.
Based on our analysis, the person who tried to assassinate me has a problem with his leg and is left-handed, which aligns with the delivery driver in the footage. These two images are very close to Huangmao in my memory.
The only difference is that Huangmao is thinner, and I didn’t see whether he has a limp because he rushed into the room behind Wang Guanli and even fell over once. During his escape, he kept bending over to pull Wang Guanli."
Mr. Zhao’s eyes widened as Zhou Ning spoke hurriedly and somewhat chaotically, but he understood.
"You’re saying, this assassin is related to the currently captured Zhu Xingmin, possibly his brother, and the Huangmao who broke into your house back then might be this assassin?"
