It was 1:30 pm.
Zhao Yu and the others finally arrived at the location of the exploration team’s base, which was a barren wasteland. The geological exploration team’s mission was to help tartein find mineral deposits in this wasteland.
The base was built on the side of a huge rock. Although it was Leeward, the temperature was close to zero, which made Zhao Yu feel the cold of winter in advance.
As they walked, their breath could form a cloud of white mist …
Under Bian Dong’s lead, Zhao Yu went straight to the simple room of the exploration team and met with the commanders of both sides of the central tower.
The commander sent by China was called Lu Kaixuan. He had been the head of the Secret Service in Central Asia. At the time of the incident, he was attending a meeting in the nearby Kazakhstan so he arrived a day earlier than Zhao Yu.
Moreover, due to the difference in their ranks, Lu Kaixuan had taken a military helicopter and flew directly from the capital of tartein, which saved him much more time than Zhao Yu.
To Zhao Yu’s surprise, the commander of tarstein’s side was a female officer in her forties, named anar.
The woman had the typical characteristics of a Central Asian woman. She was tall, had long legs, and had a strong body. She had thick eyebrows, long eyelashes, and big eyes. She was also very beautiful.
Even though she was from the military, her smile was very sweet.
“Thank you for your hard work, officer Zhao!” When Zhao Yu entered the room to meet everyone, Lu Kaixuan was the first to shake Zhao Yu’s hand and say hello.”Actually, the last time we were in Feng ping, we met once. However, I was sitting behind the director …”
“Oh …” Zhao Yu tried to recall, and seemed to have a vague impression. He asked,”you were wearing glasses last time, right?”
“That’s right.” Lu Kaixuan nodded.”As expected of a super detective. Your memory is really good! She was getting on in years and her eyes were blurry, so she had to wear glasses when reading documents.
“At that time, the officers all praised you!” Lu Kaixuan complimented,”a talent like you who is well-versed in both literature and martial arts is really rare.
“It’s great that you’re here to help me this time!
“Come, let me introduce you.” As he spoke, Lu Kaixuan pointed at the beautiful female officer and said,”this is the commander of tarstein, anar!”
As she spoke, the female officer took the initiative to reach out and shake Zhao Yu’s hand.
“I’ve heard a lot about you,” anar said in fluent Chinese.”Just Call Me Anna!” Our tarstein’s investigation level is really limited. I hope that officer Zhao can guide us!”
“You’re welcome, you’re welcome …”
In fact, although Zhao Yu was good at talking, he was very resistant to these kinds of official social interactions. So, after exchanging a few simple words with the two commanders, he went straight to the point and discussed the case with them.
“During the day, we’ve already checked the environment around the exploration team,” Lu Kaixuan said.”We didn’t find anything suspicious.
“The ground here is hard, the weather is dry, and it’s windy all year round. It’s difficult for ordinary vehicles to leave any traces, which is very bad for our investigation!”
“We can only suspect that someone took advantage of their deep sleep to control and kidnap the 12 members of the exploration team and took them away.
“But …” Anna pointed to the map on the wall and said,”they could have escaped in any direction. The tawotz wilderness is vast and accessible. It will be difficult to find them.”
“Where are the surveillance cameras?” Zhao Yu asked,”doesn’t the exploration team have surveillance cameras?”
“No,” Lu Kaixuan replied straightforwardly.”They’re all simple mobile houses. There’s no need for surveillance at all.”
“Our highway equipment is also very simple,” Anna added.”There are only a few checkpoints with surveillance. I’ve already sent people to get all the surveillance videos we can find!”
“To be honest, this case is indeed a little strange!” Lu Kaixuan was puzzled.”We didn’t find any traces of fighting in the base. Everyone’s resting room looks normal.
“Their phones, wallets, and other personal belongings were also untouched. It’s obvious that they were after someone!”
“Yes,” Anna said.”I’ve dealt with a few armed robberies in China. The scene was usually very chaotic. Anything valuable would be taken away. It shouldn’t have been like this!
“The sleeping bag was wide open, and their clothes were missing. It felt like …” Anna frowned.”It was as if they put on their clothes and walked out!”
“I suspect …” Lu Kaixuan said.”This kidnapping was done by a professional team. Someone hired an expert! After all, we have four experienced security personnel among them. If they were kidnapped, they should at least have left some clues …”
“Expert?” Zhao Yu thought quickly and seriously. Was Lu Kaixuan’s idea correct?
“We were just discussing this,” Anna said bluntly.”I agree with officer Lu’s speculation. It may not be difficult to take twelve hostages, but it’s not so easy to do it quietly!”
“Tartein’s general election is around the corner, and the undercurrents are surging,” Lu Kaixuan said.”I think someone must be trying to use the disappearance of the exploration team to achieve their own goals!”
“So many China citizens have gone missing in our country,” Anna said.”This will definitely put the political party in a difficult position and cause them to lose in the general election!
“So, our current goal is to find out who will benefit the most after the ruling party steps down. “Look …” Anna pointed at the cards on the table for Zhao Yu to see.”These are the most powerful factions in the country. We plan to use our Intelligence Agency to find clues from these factions!”
“Wow … That many?” Zhao Yu picked up the card and looked at it. Although he couldn’t understand the words, he could see the number. There were as many as six cards.
“Among them, these three factions are currently the most popular,” Anna said as she pulled out the three cards.”They are also the primary targets of our investigation …”
As he listened to Lu Kaixuan and Anna’s introduction, Zhao Yu’s thoughts went in a completely different direction.
He had a feeling that the disappearance of the exploration team seemed to have nothing to do with any faction struggle!
This was because using 12 exploration members as a bargaining chip to threaten the election seemed reasonable. However, if one thought about it carefully, it was not appropriate for a multi-faction struggle like in tartein.
Think about it, if this incident was really done by a non-political party, then they might be able to use this incident to make the political party step down, but how could they guarantee that they would come to power?
Moreover, kidnapping a Chinese man was no small matter. Once it was exposed, it was bound to be destroyed overnight. The gains did not make up for the losses.
So, Zhao Yu was more inclined to believe that it was a terrorist. Perhaps, this case was just a case where some terrorists wanted to take advantage of the election to kidnap and blackmail the authorities!
But … If it was done by terrorists, why hasn’t anyone called to blackmail us yet?
Furthermore, the level of the terrorists was limited. Could they have done it so cleanly and quietly? Also, they were all poor owners, so how could they not take their phones and wallets?
Tsk tsk …
Suddenly, Zhao Yu remembered what Captain si Rui had said. It seemed like the kidnapping case of the exploration team was not that simple!