Chapter 1197: Was It an Accident?
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“I have another question…” Zhao Yu suddenly asked the boatman, who was familiar with Bai Sha River, just as everyone was rowing their boats back to the shore. “On this river, do many cargo ships pass by? Especially late into the night around midnight?
“I’m thinking…” Zhao Yu said in earnest. “If the criminal had really modified a big ship, then that night, they must have docked the big boat somewhere in the middle of the river!
“If that was the case, then once another ship passed by, wouldn’t it obstruct the way of others? Then wouldn’t their business be discovered?”
“Well…” the boatman replied, “It’s hard to say, really. There are no passenger ships in Bai Sha River, but the occasional cruise company will pass by. But those are usually during the day. As for cargo ships, there are a lot of them!”
“Yeah!” Another boatman added. “As some of the bay areas have very shallow waters, even if it’s an urgent case, they are not very willing to leave at night. But… it’s tough to say. If there is an urgent delivery service, or they encountered delays in other areas, and sometimes there might even be night cruises!”
“Yup, I have operated an overnight ship before,” the first boatman replied. “Although there are not many night ships on the Bai Sha River, it cannot be said that there are none!”
“Oh…” Zhao Yu nodded. “It seems like if you intended to use a ship to transport the corpses, it’s not as simple as one would imagine…”
…
An hour later, Zhao Yu had returned to the police station and began arranging new investigation tasks.
Zhao Yu sent Xiong Wendong to the Bai Sha River near the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin to retrieve all the surveillance footage. He then let Wang Rong and the other ship experts screen the boats in the Bai Sha River one by one to see if there were any suspicious ships.
At the same time, he also arranged for the boatmen to inquire and see if there were any clues between them.
At that point, the people on the special investigation team had also been sent out for their respective missions.
Xi Ran Tao had been sent to Xia Kou to investigate Master Zhang’s list of names.
Cui Lizhu went to the provincial capital, Fu Lai City, to investigate the fengshui masters in secret.
Wu Xiumin and Zeng Ke remained in the north harbor. Wu Xiumin would interrogate the suspect, and Zeng Ke was responsible for collecting information about the deceased.
In addition to Captain Fang Kaiyu, who had captured Bai Lang, as well as Gao Facai’s team, who were still patiently examining the corpses in the autopsy room, the entire team had been deployed by Zhao Yu, and everything was proceeding in a structured and orderly manner.
Through training in the special investigations team, Zhao Yu’s experience with handling cases was becoming richer and richer and had improved drastically.
He had transformed from his old ways of working solo into a leader who could command the overall situation and had become more and more mature.
Naturally, as the team leader, he wasn’t sitting around idly either. As the investigation of the hanging coffin case became more and more extensive, Zhao Yu had sent someone to get him several whiteboards. Since returning, he had begun to fill in all the information.
Some whiteboards were used to record the detailed information of the victims, while others were used to record information about Bai Lang. Others still were used to analyze the various clues of the ships and lifting machines.
Just like that, on that hectic day, the sun was soon setting.
Today, Zhao Yu had basically not eaten much, but he had had a set of local pancakes in the car at noon. When he finished writing the information on the whiteboard, he realized he was hungry when he heard his stomach growling.
A few days ago, because Xiong Wendong had been there, there would at least be somebody to deliver his meals to him. But now that Xiong Wendong was away and most of his men had been dispatched, who else would bother with such matters?
At that moment, Miao Ying opened the door and walked in. When she saw Zhao Yu, she hurriedly took out a stack of information she wanted to report to him.
However, Zhao Yu grabbed her and said, “Miao Miao, I noticed a few days ago that they seem to be selling spicy crayfish right next to the police station. Let’s go have a bite and we’ll talk as we eat!”
“Uhm…” she said.
Miao Ying had initially wanted to reject him, but in fact, she herself had not had any proper meals that day either. So, the two went out together and quickly found the restaurant that Zhao Yu had mentioned.
It turned out that the restaurant not only had spicy crayfish, but many other local snacks from Wuqing. Zhao Yu went ahead and ordered most of the dishes on the menu, regardless of whether or not he could finish them.
The restaurant itself was not very big, but it seemed to be very popular. The two of them had to wait for some time before they were served.
Wuqing was exposed to direct sunlight during the day and the temperature could get pretty high. However, at night, winds blew over from the mountains, which caused a stark difference between the temperatures.
At that moment, Zhao Yu felt refreshed after eating delicious food and drinking a few glasses of cold beer.
“How…” Miao Ying didn’t drink but poured a glass of cold sour plum soup. While eating crayfish, she asked Zhao Yu, “Has this case drained your energy? I said this before, but once the murderer saw that the corpses had been found, he would escape immediately!
“So, you didn’t have to be too anxious. People who are supposed to be caught can never truly escape!”
“That’s true to a certain extent, but…” Zhao Yu said as he drank another glass of beer. “After all, there were two murderers involved with the seven female corpses, so the truth of the matter must be ascertained as soon as possible!”
“Understood!” Miao Ying said, smiling as she began to talk about the case. “You asked me to investigate the list of people who had recently died and to find people who matched the eight characters. I managed to find a few, but the family conditions of these people are very common. I’m afraid they won’t match the one we had wanted to find!
“Uhm, but I’ve also sent someone to follow up, so we will just have to wait for the news!”
“Okay, wow!” Zhao Yu said, fanning his mouth. “This crayfish is really spicy! There’s enough of a spicy kick, it feels great! Haha…”
As he said this, he tilted his neck again and gulped down a large glass of beer.
“I heard that you are looking for a ship?” Miao Ying said. “I do not deny your speculations, but wouldn’t it be too eye-catching if the criminal had really used a fire truck’s ladder? And… it shouldn’t be that difficult to check that out, right?”
“Whether if it’s easy or difficult, we still have to cover our bases! I’ve already asked Zeng Ke to do it!” Zhao Yu said, holding up two fingers. “There are only two manufacturers in the whole of China that can produce this kind of extension ladder!”
“But…” Miao Ying asked curiously. “Would the criminals really spend this much? Wouldn’t it be way too obvious to buy a fire truck ladder that was worth over 10 million yuan?”
“News from Xia Kou and Fu Lai came back,” Zhao Yu said, taking a bite of the crayfish. “Their fire brigade does indeed have that kind of large ladder equipped to their fire truck, but they guaranteed that since the purchase of their truck, other than for a drill, they have never used it!”
“So…” Miao Ying said. “The criminals went to buy one because of that? That’s insane! Dear, I think that we can’t just drop everything we’re doing and focus on the fire trucks. Maybe there are other ways to place the bodies in the hanging coffins…”
“Actually, speaking of this,” Zhao Yu said, putting down his beer glass. “One thing is for sure. These people must be familiar with the method of opening the hanging coffins!
“It’s a pity that President Pang Zhihui said that the cultural relic bureau had compiled an article about the Seven Stars Hanging Coffin and that the opening of the coffins was also made public. Thus, people who knew about the mystery of the hanging coffins were also in the minority and could no longer be traced.”
While talking, Zhao Yu’s cellphone rang.
The call was from Zeng Ke, but the speaker on the phone was Captain Fang Kaiyu.
“Leader, through the footage we obtained, we have discovered the movement of Bai Lang after stealing Su Lan’s body! He is driving a white van from an unknown origin and has been driving southeast!
“But after the car drove out of the city, it suddenly disappeared in a place called Bai Ping Town. The car never appeared again. We suspect that he might have changed his car…”
“Ah? Bai Ping Town?!” When they heard this, Zhao Yu and Miao Ying were stunned. Zhao Yu hurriedly said, “Bai Ping Town? Isn’t that the place where female corpse number six lived? Don’t tell me…”
“Yes, yes!” Miao Ying said excitedly. “It was the exact same day! The day when Su Lan’s body was stolen coincided with the day Geng Yaai disappeared! That means to say…”
“Geng Yaai’s car accident…” Zhao Yu said in surprise. “It was caused by Bai Lang?! Is this all a coincidence?”
