We searched the village for Shi Jing Tong but found no trace. With no surveillance cameras here, we figured he must have escaped.
This was a headache! Now, we could only question the drug lords.
Gao Mingqiang and his team interrogated the villagers separately throughout the night, while I requested to join the interrogation of Yang Liangchou.
As a consultant, I could participate in interrogations anytime without conflicting with my forensic work.
Liu Yuning sat beside me. Yang Liangchou, now like a wild beast that had been caged for too long, sat listlessly on the interrogation chair. He lowered his head, his body trembling slightly. He didn't seem like a defiant criminal; on the contrary, he appeared extraordinarily scared in this position.
A solitary, dim light shone on him, making his lonely figure seem even thinner.
"Speak up, Yang Liangchou. When did the village start dealing drugs?" I asked first.
"I... I don't know..." Yang Liangchou replied cautiously.
"We found your fingerprints on the poppies. There are human remains behind your house. You not only dealt drugs, but you also killed people, didn't you?" Liu Yuning presented a stack of photos and several lab reports to Yang Liangchou.
With so much DNA and fingerprint comparison data, the drug trafficking was an open-and-shut case, and the chain of evidence was completely sealed.
With no other recourse, Yang Liangchou finally said, "It's been about three years. Actually, my wife and I are not from this village. We were brought here. At first, we thought we were going to find jobs, but then we found ourselves on a sinking ship."
From Yang Liangchou's account, we learned that they were a couple from a neighboring village. Someone from Tai Fu Village had introduced them, saying they were opening a factory here. When they arrived, they were imprisoned. The people of Tai Fu Village forced Yang Liangchou and his wife to cultivate poppies. Initially unwilling, they eventually compromised to survive and for the immense profits. Over time, they gradually became like the people of Tai Fu Village.
The drug trafficking case would be handed over to the anti-drug team. I then shifted the topic, "Alright, Yang Liangchou, you now have an opportunity to atone for your mistakes!"
Hearing this, Yang Liangchou's expression turned excited. "What is it? Officer?"
"Do you know someone named Shi Jing Tong?"
"Shi Jing Tong? Isn't that Aunt Huang's nephew?"
"Aunt Huang? Who is she?"
"She should have been brought back by you. I didn't notice her whereabouts when I left the village before!"
"What's her name?"
"Huang Yi Qing!"
I quickly sent a message to He Xin, asking her to urgently look up information on Huang Yi Qing. I wanted to ask Yang Liangchou for her photo, but he said he didn't have one and that he wasn't very familiar with her.
I could tell Yang Liangchou wasn't lying, so I let it go for now. I asked Liu Yuning to leave the interrogation room with me and head to the technical department. With He Xin's help, she managed to find this Huang Yi Qing.
However, she hadn't been brought back with us. Liu Yuning remarked, "Could it be that she escaped early before our police force surrounded the village?"
"Highly possible. She must have heard something and fled with her nephew."
"Are these two in cahoots?" He Xin asked.
"Probably. Regardless of whether Huang Yi Qing was involved in the crime, given her current situation, she has already committed the crime of harboring a fugitive. He Xin, thoroughly investigate their whereabouts. We must find these two scoundrels!" Liu Yuning said angrily.
He Xin tapped furiously on the keyboard. Then, seemingly unsatisfied, she loosened something from her shoelace and skillfully plugged it into her laptop. Seeing her action, Gao Mingqiang next to her exclaimed, "He Xin, what are you doing? It's work time!"
"You wouldn't understand, Mingqiang. This is my imported Sky Eye scanner. Combined with the computer and the suspects' photos, it can quickly pinpoint their location!"
As soon as she finished speaking, He Xin, with what looked like a spasm, transformed the 36 grids on the large screen into 18, then into 9.
Finally, only one image remained.
The screen showed Huang Yi Qing getting into a taxi with a man and driving away.
"Investigate the taxi's route! Use your technical skills, and you should be able to see the license plate number!" I said.
"Dad, have you watched too many novels? In reality, there's no such method to make surveillance footage clear; that's just artistic rendering. I can only zoom in, but based on the Sky Eye and the N system's search, I can track this taxi."
"I'm tracking the car's dashcam. Hmm, it suddenly changed direction at an intersection!" He Xin continued.
"How could that happen?" Gao Mingqiang asked curiously.
I tapped my fingers on my cheek, intently observing everything on the screen. "It seems the driver was taken hostage!"
"What?" Liu Yuning replied with a hint of surprise.
I analyzed, "They didn't make any moves when they first got in the car, but then they suddenly acted. The driver didn't anticipate it, so he had no choice but to comply. The driver has likely been taken with them now!"
"These two bastards are truly causing so much trouble!" Liu Yuning stomped her foot in anger.
I sighed, "Don't just get angry here. We can only try our best to track the taxi's final destination as quickly as possible. He Xin, can you speed things up?"
"I'm already going as fast as I can. My hands can barely keep up. Everyone, put in some extra effort!"
"Yes, Section Chief He!" All the technical police officers, encouraged by He Xin, seemed to be injected with adrenaline, pounding on their keyboards as if they had a vendetta against them.
Tap, tap, tap – they broke countless keyboards. Finally, an image appeared on the screen, showing a lot of trees and a barren mountain. The surveillance footage ended at this point.
"They probably know this area well. There's no surveillance coverage in this region, so you'll have to venture into the mountains to investigate," He Xin explained confidently.
I nodded. "Captain Liu, Mingqiang, let's go together!"
"Alright! This time, no matter what, we must rescue the driver and apprehend the two suspects!"
With Liu Yuning's command, the entire criminal investigation team filed out of the office, got into the cars in front of the police station, and headed straight for the location He Xin had sent us.
Arriving near the barren mountain, the mountain roads here were extremely rugged. If not for He Xin's superb skills, we would never have found this place.
If this case is solved, He Xin will deserve no small credit.
We all equipped ourselves with individual police gear: service pistols, flashlights, stun batons, protective gloves. Dozens of criminal investigators, along with the K-9 unit, headed into the deep mountains.