Mei Qian was actually a very cautious person. Although he had only been in Hechuan for a month, he had already gained a preliminary understanding of the city through a series of cases.
He didn't actually appreciate Ping An. To be honest, he disliked Ping An's pretense and didn't approve of an outsider participating in the investigation of cases. Although, during his more than a month in Hechuan, almost everyone he met said that Ping An was good at solving cases.
"He's really good! He got himself arrested while solving a case!" Mei Qian was exasperated.
Regarding the case, he approached it with caution. Perhaps he never thought of relying on Ping An, this "layman." Therefore, although he generally cooperated with the "weird combination" of Gao Xiaofei and Ping An, as the captain of the serious crime brigade, he insisted on his own methods.
Right now, perhaps only he could help Ping An. Although he didn't like that guy much, he had a likable girlfriend, and they would be family in the future, so he had to help.
Walking out of Ping An's house, Mei Qian suddenly felt like a savior at this moment. It wasn't his narcissism playing tricks, but because as soon as he left Ping An's residential area, he bumped into someone he never expected.
"Chen Nairong! How dare you come here! Stop!" With a low growl, Mei Qian lunged at Chen Nairong, who looked terrified.
"Great! As long as Chen Nairong is caught, all the mysteries can be solved!" Mei Qian thought this as he lunged at Chen Nairong.
As for Chen Nairong, he was indeed out of luck. Having lost his broken tricycle and being penniless, he wandered around the seemingly small but actually quite large neighborhood, trying his best to see Ping An. But he never dreamed that just as he was about to reach Ping An's house, he would encounter the police.
"If I get caught now, it will be too late for anything I say." Seeing Mei Qian pounce, Chen Nairong gritted his teeth and burned his fat, running in the opposite direction.
In the late autumn, on a moonlit and cloudless night, under the fence of a high-end residential complex, two figures flashed by. Following the whistling sound of the wind, many night wanderers finally heard clearly: "Stop! Stop!"
Oh, should I call the police? Maybe they're catching a thief!
The people of Hechuan, in general, are always willing to help! Without any organization or notification, seven or eight mobile phones were dialing "110." In less than five minutes, the police station in charge of the sports district quickly dispatched a team, rushing in the direction provided by the enthusiastic citizens.
Scientific theorems point out that a certain amount of quantitative change will inevitably lead to or influence qualitative change.
Chen Nairong, who had been plagued by "eight lifetimes of bad luck," couldn't run anymore. But Mei Qian behind him was like a wild leopard on stimulants, darting left and right, almost getting caught. Fortunately, relying on his advantage of being a local and familiar with the area, he managed to shake off Mei Qian by several tens of meters with a few sharp turns.
He was about to reach the ring road. Once on the ring road, unless he jumped off the bridge, he could only wait to be caught. The sky was dark and the clouds were thin, with no yellow to provide cover. What to do?
"There's a trick to chasing people. If one person chases another, as long as their stamina is equal, the possibility of getting caught in the end is very high. But if two people chase each other at the same time, even if they are running in the same direction, the chaser will be distracted. This distraction will inevitably affect their speed. Uh, yes, this is a scientific theorem; quantitative change will change or affect qualitative change. Yes, that's the reason."
As Chen Nairong thought he would be captured, a passage previously spoken by Ping An suddenly popped into his mind. It was when he was still a police officer and couldn't catch a hit-and-run driver, Ping An had comforted him. At this moment, a group of night runners was running towards him, so he joined them without hesitation...
Meanwhile, Mei Qian, with the mentality of "what comes easily won't be cherished," was about to catch Chen Nairong. But in an instant, he watched helplessly as the other party blended into a group of night runners in various attire. He also rushed into the crowd, but couldn't find him. When he came to his senses, he shouted "Halt!" but found that nearly 80% of these dancing elderly night runners were wearing headphones and seemed to disregard his command, twisting and leaving.
"Damn it, he got away!" Mei Qian, whose body was also nearing exhaustion, could no longer endure due to his old injury. He finally couldn't hold back and sat down on the ground.
The director of the Sports Street Police Station was a fat man in his 40s named Gu Dashan. His associates called him "Mount Tai," and because he loved to smile at everyone, his colleagues in the police force called him "Laughing Maitreya." Although he was stout, one would be mistaken to think he was just an ordinary police station chief who only dealt with trivial matters. That would be a big mistake, because before he was injured, he was a criminal investigation expert whose name would make criminals in Hechuan city wet their pants. In recent years, he had been assigned to the police station, away from the front lines of criminal investigation. However, in the past few days, there was news from above that he, an "old general," was to be activated and appointed as an instructor in the Serious Crime Brigade of the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment. At this moment, after receiving this report, he thought it was just an ordinary theft case and rushed to the "crime scene" without a second word.
Gu Dashan followed the pointing fingers of the enthusiastic citizens, bypassed a group of night running enthusiasts, and arrived at the ring road, where he saw Mei Qian sitting on the ground, catching his breath.
"Are you the one who called the police?" Gu Dashan asked, shining a powerful flashlight on Mei Qian's face after getting out of the car.
"I'm from the Municipal Bureau's... Criminal Investigation Detachment, Serious Crime... Brigade, Mei Qian." Mei Qian, panting, explained with difficulty as he looked at the fat police officer in front of him.
"Oh, so who were you chasing..." Gu Dashan continued to ask.
"A fugitive, Chen Nairong!" Mei Qian pointed in the direction the police car had come from and said, "He mixed in with the night runners and just ran past here. Hurry up and chase him."
Hearing that it was the most wanted fugitive, Gu Dashan, who had initially thought it was a petty thief, immediately dropped his amiable expression—
"Notify all police officers in the station to report for duty and prepare for action!"
"Notify all neighborhood watch points to keep a close eye on every intersection in their area."
"Notify the district bureau and report truthfully word for word, requesting support from the district bureau's criminal investigation detachment."
"Personally call the head of the taxi 'Lei Feng' team and ask them to pay attention to safety when carrying passengers at night, and send them an electronic version of Chen Nairong's wanted poster."
After a series of orders were issued, Mei Qian, who was still sitting on the ground, was stunned.
"You must be Mei Qian from the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment, Serious Crime Brigade, right?" Gu Dashan pulled up Mei Qian, who was sitting on the ground, and said, "Let's get acquainted. My name is Gu Dashan. For disciplinary reasons, I won't tell you that I will become the instructor of the Serious Crime Brigade in a few days."
Hearing this news, Mei Qian was taken aback.
"Isn't my instructor studying out of town?" Mei Qian asked.
"Oh, he directly replaced the unlucky Su Xia and went to the River Valley District Bureau to become the captain of the criminal investigation detachment," Gu Dashan said nonchalantly.
"Alright, tell me about the situation!" Gu Dashan said. "I'm still the director of the Sports Street Police Station. If Chen Nairong appears in my jurisdiction, I won't let him go. If I'm lucky enough to catch him, I won't have to get involved in the messy affairs of the Municipal Bureau."
Mei Qian, having come to his senses, recounted the situation he encountered after leaving Ping An's house in the simplest terms and then got into Gu Dashan's police car.
Chen Nairong's sudden appearance not only alarmed the Municipal Bureau but also the Provincial Department. At 11:30 PM, the Municipal Bureau's action command center was brightly lit, with people bustling about.
Wang Shizai, the Deputy Mayor of Hechuan City, Secretary of the Municipal Public Security Bureau's Party Committee, and Director, personally took the lead, sitting in the foremost position of the command center. Yan Qing, the Deputy Secretary of the Municipal Bureau's Party Committee and Executive Deputy Director, held a cup of hot tea, leaning back in his chair, listening to what Gao Xiaofei, sitting behind him, was saying.
Because the case was of great importance, Huang Sha and others, who had previously represented the Provincial Department, had now become supporting roles, as Du Yang, the Director of the Provincial Department, had personally come to the scene and was currently reviewing various documents.
"Mayor Wang, Director Du, Director Yan, all the major detachments under the Municipal Bureau's Criminal Investigation Detachment have been deployed to the front lines, with the special task force primarily composed of Mei Qian, the captain of the Serious Crime Brigade, and Gu Dashan, the director of the Hegou District Sports Street Police Station, as the main pursuit force," Gao Xiaofei said, after briefly reporting to Yan Qing, he picked up the microphone and introduced the case.
"According to the technical investigation report, the last place Chen Nairong was captured by surveillance cameras was in the Huaxiang Hutong area. Our people have already rushed there. In addition, we have set up checkpoints at the administrative boundaries of districts and cities, and established checkpoints at transportation hubs such as airports, high-speed rail stations, bus stations, and ferries," Gao Xiaofei said. "To cooperate with the arrest operation, three helicopters from the Police Aviation Detachment have also taken off three minutes ago to assist in the ground search."
"There's nothing else here. You can lead your team to arrest him," Mayor Wang said, nodding at Gao Xiaofei. After exchanging glances with Director Du Yang of the Provincial Department sitting beside him, he pointed to Huang Sha sitting in the back row and said, "Please, comrades from the Provincial Department, also participate."
Countless drills were ultimately for a real combat that might only happen once. Currently, Hechuan City was experiencing the largest drug trafficking case ever investigated since its establishment. Harboring the suspicion that "behind every serious crime there must be a protective umbrella," and revolving around this complex and major case, that night, police sirens wailed throughout the city. Nearly a thousand police officers were deployed to the front lines, with various high-tech equipment including helicopters, drones, and urban surveillance systems all put into use, with only one objective – Chen Nairong.
"Have you seen Chen Nairong before?" In Hechuan City, at the entrance of a long, narrow alley, a police car sped past. In the car, Gu Dashan, who was steering, suddenly asked this question.
"No, I haven't been in Hechuan for long," Mei Qian said, his initial excitement long gone. Although he was nominally in charge of this search team, he calmly understood that a grassroots police officer who had been on the beat for many years seemed more useful to him than this outsider.
"We were discharged from the same unit, assigned to the Public Security Bureau in the same year, and had the same master. Later, he went to traffic police, and I did criminal investigation," Gu Dashan said.
"So, you have a good relationship?" Mei Qian asked.
"Not good. We argue nine out of ten times we meet," Gu Dashan said with a chuckle.
"So, there was one time it was good, wasn't there?" Mei Qian teased.
"That one time, we fought," Gu Dashan said.
"I heard that Chen Nairong used to be an upright man, a respected veteran traffic policeman," Mei Qian said thoughtfully. "How did he lose his police uniform?"
"Aren't you quite close to Gao Xiaofei and his group? Didn't they tell you?" Gu Dashan said, somewhat surprised.
"No," Mei Qian thought for a moment, he really hadn't asked them.
"There's a consultant in the bureau named Ping An. You should know him, right? Didn't you just meet him today coming out of his house?" Gu Dashan said.
"I know him," Mei Qian said.
"A few years ago, during the critical period of the city's 'crackdown on organized crime' campaign, Ping An, single-handedly, reported by name that Niu Erbao, the director of Jinsha Village, Jinsha Town, Heshui District, was involved in organized crime. At that time, this Niu Erbao was a real local tyrant. If someone offended him during the day, someone would drive a BMW to kill that person at night," Gu Dashan lit a cigarette and took a deep puff. "Ping An was just a small reporter back then. For some reason, he got into a dispute with this Niu Erbao. The two of them fought back and forth for several months, going all out, with each having their victories and defeats. The police intervened several times, but due to insufficient evidence, they had to give up. Once, Niu Erbao arranged for 20 cars to kill Ping An while he was alone in the mountains. At a critical moment, Chen Nairong found out about this and, risking losing his police uniform, illegally stopped these 20 cars, blocking them for an hour to the death until Ping An safely entered the city, and then let them go. Niu Erbao naturally wouldn't let Chen Nairong go. He reported Chen Nairong for abuse of power and sent people to deal with Chen Nairong. During a brief confrontation, when Chen Nairong was almost beaten to death, Ping An saved him with a slingshot. However, in that skirmish, Chen Nairong accidentally killed two thugs, and then he lost his police uniform..."
In a few light words, a past event from those years was brought up, and the "friendship" between Ping An and Chen Nairong was revealed to Mei Qian for the first time.
"What happened later?" Mei Qian continued to ask.
"Later? Later, Chen Nairong started his business, and then he started dealing drugs," Gu Dashan said.
"I mean Ping An and Niu Erbao," Mei Qian said.
"That's legendary. The two of them agreed on a location. Ping An brought three pots of arrows and a bow, and Niu Erbao brought a Tibetan mastiff, a hunting rifle, and hundreds of bullets. The two of them fought from day to night, and from night to the next morning. If the patrolling forest rangers hadn't called the police, no one would have known," Gu Dashan said as if telling a story. "Finally, Ping An escorted Niu Erbao, carrying a bag full of evidence, and reported him by name again. The police took over, and Niu Erbao unexpectedly pleaded guilty in court. Ping An was administratively detained for fifteen days for violating public security regulations. Later, Ping An's fame soared, Gao Xiaofei's career advanced rapidly, and even that old fox Yan Qing became the executive deputy director."
After listening to Gu Dashan's narration, Mei Qian finally understood why his cheap brother-in-law was so fearless in the face of so many hooligans in the disco and why he had such a high standing in the local police force.
"With such a friendship! Could Chen Nairong still have harmed Ping An?" Mei Qian sighed with emotion.
"Things are unpredictable! It's hard to say. How do you know he wasn't going to kill you that night? Ping An was fine too!" Gu Dashan said coldly.
"You mean?" Mei Qian asked in surprise.
"Don't hang out with Gao Xiaofei and that group. No one knows what's going on until the very end," Gu Dashan said. It was a simple case. The top criminal quietly went to someone's house. Even a rookie police officer would know that this person was connected to the criminal and would control that person first. Why didn't they do that?
"You?" At this moment, Mei Qian finally understood that the senior police officer in front of him, his future partner, like Huang Sha from the Provincial Department, suspected Ping An of being the mastermind.
"Alright! Captain, give me some advice. The higher-ups are waiting for us to catch him easily. That grandson Chen Nairong is probably hiding and won't come out again. He used to be a police officer, so he knows running out at this time is suicide," Gu Dashan said.
Indeed, where would Chen Nairong be now? Why did he come to find Ping An? Was it for revenge? Or? Thinking of this, Mei Qian broke out in a cold sweat. As an outsider, he should have been investigating these cases freely, but all along, due to the trust of Yan Qing and Gao Xiaofei, or perhaps because of An Jing's identity, he had never suspected Ping An. But Gu Dashan's words were reasonable and well-founded. Where had Ping An been all day? He disappeared for a day, and Chen Nairong showed up at his door at night? Was it really revenge? And what about the weapon? Did he come empty-handed? What kind of revenge is this? Then why did he come?
Gu Dashan had already stopped the car by the roadside. Seeing his future partner deep in thought, he wasn't in a hurry. He got out of the car to buy some food at a small store nearby and then sat on the curb, eating heartily.
Mei Qian naturally didn't care what his future partner was eating as a snack at the moment, because his mind was racing. If he assumed Ping An was guilty, then the existing chain of evidence was too...
The initial tip-off call;
The headless corpse at the construction site and Ping An's night visit to the murder scene;
The explosion at Jianzi Park, which he followed Ping An to;
That night's assassination attempt at the hospital, Ping An was unharmed;
Ren Liu, whom he couldn't find no matter how hard he looked, was easily apprehended by Gao Xiaofei, whom Ping An accompanied;
Before he could even intervene in the investigation, Ren Liu died under mysterious circumstances;
The Niu family's report by name;
That photograph;
Ping An's furtive movements...
Didn't he suspect Ping An from the very beginning? When did it start...
Who was leading him into more and more complexity in what seemed like a simple murder case?
Ping An! What was he up to?
Ping An! What should I do about you?
"Kedou, where are you now?" After thinking for a long time, Mei Qian finally made a decision. He knew he needed absolute neutrality and calmness now, otherwise, he couldn't solve the case. So, he called Liu Kedou.
"Captain Mei, I'm at the Municipal Traffic Management Bureau's monitoring center!" Liu Kedou said over the phone.
"Anything happening?" Mei Qian asked.
"No, I've been watching the surveillance, and nothing's happening," Liu Kedou said.
"Now, I want you to retrieve Ping An's whereabouts during the day today. Let's start from, let's start from the warehouse on Airport Avenue." Mei Qian said, word by word.
"What? Check Ping An's whereabouts?" Liu Kedou's surprised voice came from the other end of the phone.
"Check it immediately. This is an order," Mei Qian said calmly. "I want to know where he went and who he met today."
"Yes!" Liu Kedou replied.
Breathing, after rapid breaths, Mei Qian slumped back in the seat, exhausted. Gu Dashan, squatting on the curb and smoking, threw away his cigarette butt, turned around, and got back into the police car.
"Do you have any leads?" Gu Dashan asked, squinting at Mei Qian. "It's a simple matter, no need to complicate it. Just follow the procedure, go with your gut feeling, and you'll find that the case becomes easier to investigate."
"We've known each other for less than a few hours, so I can't make a judgment about you. But I respect your suspicion, so let's see if Ping An is innocent," Mei Qian said, feeling a little guilty.
"You shouldn't say that. I'm not explicitly saying Ping An is a bad person. I just want you to make a simple judgment on this case. Do what you should do, and don't feel pressured, otherwise, you'll lose your impartiality as a police officer," Gu Dashan said. "As for Ping An, although I'm not on the front lines, if we start the investigation from Chen Nairong's social network, the first thing we should do is control Ping An. You're a detective, a sleuth, this is not an excessive request."
As Mei Qian was engaged in his conflicted investigation, Gao Xiaofei was also making a difficult decision. In order to comprehensively search for Chen Nairong, a pile of miscellaneous information came from the Municipal Bureau's intelligence center. However, one piece of information that seemed completely unrelated to Chen Nairong caused headaches for Gao Xiaofei, Yan Qing, and even Mayor Wang.
This intelligence came from Su Xia.
It turned out that after Su Xia was demoted, his surveillance was not lifted. Considering his relationship with Chen Nairong and the previous reports about him, the police had been secretly monitoring his financial information.
Among this pile of intelligence, a piece of information about a deposit of 100,000 yuan into Su Xia's bank account successfully attracted everyone's attention.
Where did this money come from? A loan? Could it be related to Chen Nairong?
Just as everyone was pondering the origin of this money, new information came from the Municipal Traffic Management Bureau.
"Report, the Traffic Management Bureau has sent an application to view surveillance. Captain Mei requests to view the whereabouts of an ordinary citizen named Ping An during the day today," a police officer reported to the leaders gathered in the command center.
"Let him check. I also want to know what this Ping An did today," Yan Qing said, banging the table.
The original text comes from the Tudou Novel App, download the Tudou Novel App for more free good books.
Within a few minutes, Ping An's daytime whereabouts were presented to everyone.
"After Ping An left the warehouse, he first went to Liu Juan and Gao Min's supermarket, then met with Su Xia, had lunch, and gave Su Xia a package of items, suspected to be a large sum of money..." Gao Xiaofei reported while checking the video footage. "Also, when Ping An and Su Xia parted ways, a person riding a tricycle nearby was suspected to be Chen Nairong, judging from the back view captured in the photo."
"Why did Ping An give Su Xia money? Why give him money at this critical juncture? What was Chen Nairong doing at that location?" Yan Qing clutched his teacup, muttering unnaturally.
Mei Qian, who also received this intelligence, naturally had his doubts. However, he keenly discovered other problems.
"Director Gu, this supermarket looks familiar!" Mei Qian said, holding his phone and pointing at the supermarket visited by Ping An in the recently received video footage.
"Yes, it looks familiar. We just passed by there. They're all in the same block, aren't they? They're actually not far away," Gu Dashan said after thinking for a moment.
"Let's go! Come with me to this supermarket. Let's take a gamble. Hurry up, don't turn on the siren!" Mei Qian suddenly had a flash of inspiration and wanted to go to that supermarket. He vaguely felt that whether it was revenge or an "accomplice," Chen Nairong would not let go of Liu Juan, who had reported him. Since he had finally entered the city, why wouldn't he do that? Moreover, according to the map, the last place Chen Nairong disappeared was exactly where there was a "Tianjie" mall. This mall spanned two intersections, and through the subway station passage inside the mall, it was connected to another underground game city. And coming out of the north gate of this game city, then passing through a residential complex, led directly to this supermarket. Both the mall and the underground game city would have blind spots in their surveillance equipment, making it the best escape route for Chen Nairong.
It was already close to midnight, and Liu Juan's supermarket had long been closed. Gu Dashan, who had been driving quietly all the way, habitually placed his right hand on the gun tucked behind his waist and followed Mei Qian, tiptoeing to the supermarket door.
"Hush!" Mei Qian, with his face almost pressed against the supermarket door, suddenly turned to Mi Dashan and made a shushing gesture. Then, he put his ear to the door, listening carefully.
As an experienced old detective, Gu Dashan understood Mei Qian's investigative actions and consciously took on the role of guard, looking around vigilantly.
"You damned bitch, I... you are the biggest scourge, I must..."
Faintly, a man's scolding could be heard intermittently, and a woman's hesitant plea for mercy also came through from time to time.
"There's really something going on!" Mei Qian turned to Mi Dashan and said, "I'm not sure if it's Chen Nairong, but there's something going on in here!"
"Break in!" Mi Dashan drew his gun from behind him.
"The door is locked, and inside the door is an anti-theft iron gate. Without tools, we can't get in, and we'll alert them. You call for backup, and I'll go around to the back and take a look," Mei Qian patted Gu Dashan's shoulder and went around to the back of the supermarket.
The building of this small supermarket was a typical row of connected houses. Each house was divided into two sections: the front section was larger and used for business, while the back section was smaller and used for living or storage.
This supermarket was located in the second unit of the row of connected houses. The houses to the east and west were connected. Mei Qian, who had gone around to the back, found that there was only a small window at the back of the supermarket, covered by curtains inside, and an anti-theft railing outside.
"The only exit is in the front," Mei Qian noted the architectural features carefully and then turned back to the front of the supermarket.
"Support is coming soon!" On this side, Gu Dashan said to Mei Qian after putting down the phone.
"I hope the situation inside is not too complicated," Mei Qian prayed.
"Bang!" At this moment, a gunshot was heard from inside the supermarket.
Mei Qian and Gu Dashan rushed towards the supermarket almost at the same time, kicking at the supermarket door, but the door, although deformed, did not open.
"Damn it, don't tell me it's a dead person!" Mei Qian thought angrily.