This was an unknown number, but the tone was one Ji Xun was familiar with.
“At 7:00 PM, near the Jingshan abandoned recycling station, a black Jetta.
I will be trading a woman kidnapped this evening to the other party.
Find a way to rescue her yourself, and do not alert the snake in the grass.
Do not reply.”
A photo was attached at the end of the text message. Ji Xun checked the time: 6:50 PM.
Good heavens, getting to Jingshan from here would take over forty minutes. Unless there was an instant teleportation portal, even flying wouldn’t get them there in time.
Without needing to think, he knew the sender was Meng Fushan. But why had he kidnapped someone? And what did he mean by ‘do not alert the snake in the grass’? Everything was so vague and unclear, like he was speaking in riddles.
Ji Xun really wanted to call back and ask, but he was afraid the ‘do not reply’ meant there were other people around the sender.
“Contact the Qin City police,” Huo Ranyin made a calm judgment.
“We definitely have to find the police. Right now, even if we didn’t want to find the police, we don’t have the means to handle this ourselves.” Ji Xun rubbed his temples with his fingers. “But what kind of rhetoric should we use when talking to them?”
The so-called ‘rhetoric’ referred to the underlying subtext of why Meng Fushan had contacted Ji Xun—he did not want to expose himself.
“These injuries are a perfect excuse.” Huo Ranyin pointed to his back. “However, us helping him this once doesn’t mean we’ll do whatever he tells us to. Ji Xun, what exactly is he trying to do?”
“I don’t know,” Ji Xun said.
Huo Ranyin remained silent.
“I really don’t know. Whether it’s because he doesn’t want to drag me into it, or because deep down he doesn’t trust me, he won’t tell me the specifics.” Ji Xun sighed and shook his phone again. “Let’s not talk about this right now. Let’s solve the imminent problem first.”
The two had no other choice. The taxi, which was originally supposed to head to the high-speed rail station, turned around and headed straight for the police station.
Coordination between colleagues was faster than usual. Furthermore, because of Huo Ranyin and Ji Xun’s injuries, Zhao Wu, the captain of the First Criminal Investigation Detachment of Qin City, had originally wanted to thank them anyway. Upon hearing this vague, head-and-tail-less description of a kidnapping case, he still took it very seriously and immediately accessed the police station’s database.
Zhao Wu, the criminal investigation captain of Qin City, was a man in his thirties or forties. He had a scar under his eye and his head was shaved very short. Even though he was a people’s police officer, he had a very fierce face. He looked like the kind of thug who licked blood from the edge of a knife, someone who would roll up his sleeves to reveal an azure dragon tattooed on the left, a white tiger on the right, and a bloody qilin right in the middle.
However, despite his outward appearance, his mind was actually finer than a strand of hair. Who knew how many high-IQ criminals had been easily brought to justice by him just because they preconceitly judged his face, assuming him to be a man of mere brute courage and no brains, and consequently let their guard down.
Many animals in nature possess mimicry. Zhao Wu’s mimicry was probably that fierce-looking, seemingly not-so-smart skin of his.
To Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin’s surprise, the victim’s family had actually already reported the case just half an hour ago. They were currently giving their statements at the nearest police branch and were constantly urging the police to officially open an investigation.
Zhao Wu said, “The family member stated that he normally picked the victim up at six o’clock sharp. He didn’t expect that after waiting fifteen minutes past the usual time, he still wouldn’t see her, and her phone wouldn’t connect, so he reported it to the police.”
“Reporting to the police after just fifteen minutes?” Ji Xun frowned. “Isn’t that an overreaction?”
“When you’ve been a police officer for a long time, you see all sorts of things. This isn’t exactly an overreaction. At most, it’s a bit of a waste of police resources. But the victim’s situation is special, so it’s normal for the family to have this kind of reaction… We can talk about the specifics later.”
Zhao Wu touched the scar under his eye thoughtfully and led them to check the surveillance footage.
The surveillance footage of the incident location reported by the victim’s family had already been assigned to the branch office personnel to review. What Ji Xun and the others needed to check now was Jingshan, the location provided by Meng Fushan.
Just outside Jingshan was a highway leading straight out of the province, alongside a national road; the transportation was very convenient.
Although this abandoned recycling station covered a large total area and had no cameras inside, the surrounding roads accessible to small vehicles were covered in surveillance. Finding a car with specific identifying markers wouldn’t be very difficult.
While the technicians were busy, Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin requested a high-definition satellite map.
Huo Ranyin said, “If they wanted to avoid surveillance, they could use motorcycles to take these small paths.”
“Motorcycles are highly mobile and flexible within Qin City, but to transport someone out of Qin City, the contact person would definitely still need to use a sedan or larger vehicle capable of long-distance travel.”
Huo Ranyin shook his head: “Look, next to Jingshan are the highway and national road. But just a short distance from Jingshan, if the motorcycle takes the small paths for another half an hour to an hour, they would reach scattered rural villages, which are more open and safer. Why choose a transaction location where surveillance is so easy to check?”
“If he chose the location to make it easy for us to find, then it makes sense.”
He meaning Meng Fushan. Meng Fushan had to carry out the kidnapping for a certain reason, but didn’t want the kidnapping to actually succeed, so he left a gap in the surveillance for the police to investigate. This logic was just as sound as that text message.
Huo Ranyin did not agree. Unlike Ji Xun, he didn’t have a long-standing friendship with Meng Fushan, so even though he had been saved by the other party once, he still habitually maintained his vigilance and suspicion.
“Found it!” After about half an hour, the technicians finally found the black Jetta among over thirty complex surveillance feeds.
At 7:18 PM, a camera located near the northeast entrance of the abandoned recycling station captured it. It didn’t immediately head towards the highway or national road, but instead turned back towards a nearby gas station, a small clustered commercial and residential area. Because of this reverse choice, the technicians had to repeatedly cross-reference several similar vehicle models before finally confirming it was the suspect vehicle.
At 7:25 PM, the vehicle drove into a surveillance blind spot.
At 7:40 PM, the vehicle drove out of the surveillance blind spot. By this time, it had changed its license plate and drove straight toward the national road, and was currently still heading south.
This time, Ji Xun also frowned like Huo Ranyin. He asked, “What’s going on with this surveillance blind spot? There are pedestrian walkways here on the map; how could it be a blind spot?”
The technician checked and answered seriously, “Just last night, two nearby cameras malfunctioned. Because it’s located in the suburbs, the maintenance personnel haven’t had time to get out there yet.”
“That’s a bit strange,” Ji Xun muttered. “The suspect was able to accurately drive into the area with the malfunctioning cameras. Without a doubt, the cameras were broken by the suspect or their accomplices. Breaking them yesterday and showing up today means they calculated that the municipal government couldn’t possibly repair and replace the broken cameras in just one short night… But why go through all this extra effort to break the cameras just to change a license plate? Obviously, swapping cars in a surveillance blind spot or applying some disguise to the car’s paint job would be much easier to think of and execute.”
The suspicious points Ji Xun raised definitely existed. The rest of the people in the room fell silent for a moment, each deep in thought.
At this time, a technician who had been holding it in for quite a while blurted out, “It’s also possible that the criminals just didn’t think of it. Most criminals actually have a very low level of education; they just get hot-headed and are inherently brutal. They can’t come up with layer upon layer of intricate schemes…”
Ji Xun and Huo Ranyin didn’t say anything.
Zhao Wu glared impatiently at his subordinate and scolded, “Use your brain! Going through so much trouble to break the surveillance proves they had their own set of plans beforehand. The purpose definitely wasn’t just to change a license plate. Which secluded alley couldn’t they use to change a license plate? There must be something inside this surveillance blind spot. How about this: we split into two groups. One group chases the car, and the other goes to check inside the surveillance blind spot.”
“Do you have a map of that area?” Huo Ranyin asked.
“Of course we do.”
The map of the surveillance blind spot was brought up. The area covered by the two broken cameras was a normal street. Although it was in the suburbs and not that bustling, it still had a certain amount of foot traffic. There were about a dozen storefronts on both sides, and even a small-scale inn. Between the storefronts and the street, there were also some parking spaces or small alleys formed due to a lack of unified planning.
In short, it wasn’t a simple place where one could see what was wrong the moment they arrived at the scene. If people were really sent over, they would probably have to conduct a detailed search and ask each shop one by one.
There was no problem with Zhao Wu’s handling of the situation.
If this were in Ning City, Huo Ranyin would presumably have handled the matter the exact same way.
But Ji Xun always had a vague sense of unease in his heart… That phrase ‘do not alert the snake in the grass’ from Meng Fushan’s text message flashed before his eyes from time to time.
Am I being too biased towards Meng Fushan because of my relationship with him?
If Meng Fushan had malicious intentions, he hadn’t needed to save him and Huo Ranyin 20 days ago at all; as for deliberately luring the police over, that also didn’t make sense. It was the suburbs but not secluded, an area densely packed with pedestrians, with transportation extending in all directions. It was simply a bad place to prepare and make a move.
Since Meng Fushan had no malicious intentions, and all the information he provided added up, why did this surveillance blind spot look so bizarre no matter how he looked at it? Why did it look so much like an alluring net bag, hooking people in to investigate…?
“Ji Xun,” Huo Ranyin called out to him.
Ji Xun looked up, only to see that the Qin City police had already efficiently prepared everything and were just waiting to depart.
“Why don’t you two wait here for news?” Zhao Wu looked at their injuries thoughtfully. “I will personally lead the team. I guarantee we won’t drop the ball, and I’ll communicate with you in real-time if anything happens.”
There were only four parties involved in this kidnapping case.
The Qin City police, him and Huo Ranyin, the kidnappers, and Meng Fushan.
Assuming his feeling wasn’t wrong, and the area without surveillance was indeed a baited trap, then if the trap wasn’t used to catch the Qin City police, and it wasn’t used to catch him and Huo Ranyin, it could only be used to catch… Meng Fushan!
Meng Fushan was being suspected!
The suburbs of Qin City were very different from the urban area.
Take this Qinyuan Road, for example; its name set it apart from the roads in the urban area. The roads in the city were named Tianqin, Aiqin, but here, only the word ‘Yuan’ (Far) could be used. That single word ‘Yuan’ explained everything.
Because it was far, many rules gradually didn’t need to be strictly followed. For example, street vendors could set up their stalls casually, and vehicles could be parked haphazardly.
Zhao Wu’s car was parked diagonally on the concrete ground in front of a food stall, and nobody told them not to block the storefront or to park properly.
They got out of the car, ordered three bowls of noodles from the boss, and sat near the entrance to wait. Then Ji Xun told Zhao Wu that he was going to buy something to eat.
If this is a trap, Ji Xun thought slowly as he walked along, there must be a lookout here. Once the police come here and search one by one, it can prove that Meng Fushan tipped them off.
Because the family’s report had initiated the investigation starting from the location of the incident. Tracking it all the way to Jingshan like that would take who knows how much effort; it was impossible to pinpoint this location accurately in about an hour like they had.
This lookout had never been here before and had only arrived today.
He had to choose a position where he could stay for a relatively long time. A restaurant wasn’t very suitable; the boss would rush him. The window seats in cafes and convenience stores were good, but there were no cafes here, and there was currently nobody in the convenience store.
So, excluding those, the ones with a good field of vision were the street vendors.
There were four stalls on the street: one selling fried skewers, one selling roasted sweet potatoes, one selling fruit, and the last one selling popcorn.
Ji Xun walked straight toward the young man selling fruit. The two carrying poles were filled with oranges, quite full; he basically hadn’t sold many.
“How much is a jin of oranges?”
The man was quite enthusiastic: “15 yuan a jin. Want to taste one? They’re very sweet.”
“Grown by your own family?”
“Ah… right, right, nearby.”
“Over there? I saw an orange orchard earlier.” Ji Xun casually spoke as he picked up the oranges, his gaze sweeping over a small piece of a white sticker remaining on the bottom of an orange.
“Right, right.”
“I’ll take these. Wrap them up for me. WeChat or Alipay?”
“Oh man, I only take cash.”
Ji Xun cast a glance at him, didn’t say anything, and paid the money.
He returned to the noodle shop, placed the oranges between the three of them, and said, “There’s a problem with that fruit seller. They’re clearly wholesale fruits, some of the stickers inside aren’t even peeled off clean, yet he claimed they were grown by his own family. I pointed to a random place, and he agreed, and he kept looking at the inn across the street. I think it’s entirely possible that the victim never left Qin City at all, but was placed here by them taking advantage of the surveillance blind spot.”
He paused, then voiced his guess:
“Since their target wasn’t the victim, maybe the victim can go back on her own.”
But at this moment, Zhao Wu, who had been quite respectful of them all along, spoke up.
“What if?”
Deploying the police force had a very high probability of finding the victim, but it would expose Meng Fushan; if they didn’t deploy the police force and something genuinely happened to the victim, who would take responsibility? Whose conscience could bear it?
