Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“The car that ‘changed its color’ was found on the highway…” Vice Captain Jin told Zhao Yu. “Unfortunately, there was nothing in it! Jiang Ke is just messing with us! He had us all fooled! But… How did he manage to pull it off? Weren’t they afraid that there would be witnesses? Wouldn’t it be safer if they waited till it was getting dark?”
Cui Lizhu said, “Maybe it’s because of their chosen route. Jiang Ke must have chosen the exact location and time for a specific reason. We just don’t know what it is yet! Captain Jin, I think you’d better focus on suspicious vehicles that passed by that spot. Jiang Ke is playing a complex game, but there must be something that he missed!”
“Yes…” Vice Captain Jin nodded, then said, “Captain Fang has already invested a lot of manpower and gone to great lengths to search for any suspicious cars! Um… We… We’re approaching our destination now…”
Vice Captain Jin looked out of the window after he finished speaking, seeing that they were on the national highway. Although the car was approaching its final destination, Zhao Yu couldn’t stop thinking about the robbery.
He frowned and thought hard about every detail of the robbery. Then, he noticed something. Cui Lizhu’s words reminded him that there must be some reason why Jiang Ke chose the specific robbery site and time.
He wondered… What is the reason?
He then thought about today’s side adventure. His watch showed that it was still half an hour before the side adventure was set to occur.
When he checked the map, he saw that the location of the side adventure seemed to be close to the scene of the truck robbery. Specifically, the side adventure was set to occur in an open space just a little but away from Provincial Avenue.
Suddenly, Zhao Yu saw a sign on the map. After he looked at the sign closely, he saw that it was for a communication base station. Only then did he realize that today’s side adventure was likely to have a close relation to the terrible cigarette robbery!
No wonder I got a Kun hexagram! Numerous ideas started to swirl around Zhao Yu’s mind. From the moment that he had opened the new hexagram, he had thought that today’s Kun Gen hexagram was related to the Devil Case, or at least to Han Kuan. Unexpectedly, it was related to such a big robbery!
Zhao Yu frowned. He thought that since the side adventure was near the robbery site, today’s side adventure must be very important! Even if it had nothing to do with the Devil Case, it would still be a good thing for him to catch Jiang Ke.
As he thought carefully about the side adventure’s time again, he felt very strange. He had to wonder… If the system wanted to help me solve the big case, why didn’t it send me the time of the side adventure in advance? Then, I would have been able to get to the site early and sabotage Jiang Ke’s plan!
But, this was not the case, as the side adventure was 30 minutes after the robbery. Hence, even if the police could find some traces left at the scene, that wouldn’t be very helpful.
Then, Zhao Yu suddenly thought of another possibility. But, before he could act on it, the phone unexpectedly rang. Officer Zhang was calling Vice Captain Jin again.
“Vice Captain Jin, Leader Zhao…” Officer Wang sounded slightly confused over the phone. “I am at the base station now. There are way too many tracks on the ground, so the technical team cannot confirm which of them were left by the truck or where the truck was parked.”
Officer Wang then added, “But, we are sure that the truck hasn’t left this area yet. So, the robbers must have transported the cigarettes from here by some other cars.”
“Officer Wang, take a closer look at the surroundings. Is there a building near the base station?” Zhao Yu suddenly asked.
Zhao Yu’s words immediately attracted Cui Lizhu’s and Vice Captain Jin’s attentions.
“Um… There is only a small hut that is next to the bottom of the base station. It must house the main power switch or something like that, as it’s really small!” Officer Wang answered.
“Okay. Go into that hut and check to see if there are any tunnels and entrances connected to it…” Zhao Yu said.
Officer Wang sounded reluctant as he replied, “But… The base station appears to belong to a communications company…”
Zhao Yu roared, “I gave you an order. Just do as I said!”
Vice Captain Jin slowed down as he drove, then asked doubtfully, “Leader Zhao, do you think that Jiang Ke would hide the loot so close to where the robbery took place? That seems unlikely.”
Cui Lizhu agreed, “Yeah! That’s impossible! That’s taboo for robbers! The rule of thumb for both robbers and thieves is to leave the scene as soon as possible after they commit the theft. If there is any problem, they will simply give up the loot immediately.”
Officer Wang then said, “Um… Leader Zhao, our technical team has just opened the hut as you ordered. There’s nothing inside except an electrical box. In fact, the room is so small that you couldn’t even store a bicycle in it.”
Zhao Yu thought about this for a while, then said, “Did you walk around the scene and see if there is anything else unique about it?”
“Wait a minute…” On the other side of the phone, Officer Wang had a brief conversation with someone from the technical team, who was onsite, then said into the phone to Zhao Yu, “Leader Zhao, I’ve just been told that there is a well in the open space near the sorghum field!”
“A well?” An unusual feeling surged in Zhao Yu’s heart, and he immediately asked, “What kind of a well?”
“It’s just a common well,” Officer Wang said as he squatted down.
He then gasped and said, “The well’s cover is broken. Below it, uh… Let me see…”
Next, there was some background noise heard on Officer Wang’s end of the line. It seemed that Officer Wang was communicating with the technicians.
At this time, Vice Captain Jin slowed the car’s speed down again. He was carefully looking for a place called Big Soldier Car Repair along the road. It was a car repair shop, and Han Kuan’s roommate, Cui Xiaolong, was the owner.
It was around 3 p.m. at this time, so they knew that the shop was open. Hence, Vice Captain Jin thought they could find Cui Xiaolong here, as he was the shop’s owner.
At the moment, as he had his mind on the new details about the robbery, Vice Captain Jin seemed a little absent-minded in regards to Cui Xiaolong’s affairs. At this point, he just wanted to find this guy quickly, ask him some questions, then get to the scene of the robbery.
“We’ve now completely opened the well cover. The well is very deep, and there is water in it. Leader Zhao, the technical team says that this well appears to have been abandoned for a long time!” Officer Wang said.
In the past, there was a village in the east, but since that time, the village people had moved away because of the horrible traffic construction. No one had used the well after that.
“Okay.” Zhao Yu said. He then gave an order without hesitation, “Now, jump down there! See if there’s anything unusual!”
“What?” Officer Wang asked.
He was clearly shocked, as was Vice Captain Jin, who looked back at Zhao Yu in a hurry.
“But… Leader Zhao, there’s water in it, and we don’t know how deep it is exactly yet!” Officer Wang exclaimed.
He was very embarrassed as he shook his head, then added, “Also, there is a sewer underneath it, and it smells so bad! Maybe there’s even biohazardous gas down there! The technician team says that it would be impossible to hide anything down below there!”
“Yes…” Vice Captain Jin quickly agreed, “After all, a truck full of cigarettes was stolen. How could they have possibly hidden it in that little well?”
“Shut up!” Zhao Yu said to Vice Captain Jin with a sulky look.
He then shouted at Officer Wang, “Find a rope and go down there now! Remember to look at every single thing, so that you can report everything back to us!”
