"Was there a mass murder in 701 or is it a forgotten unjust case?" This was Yan Xie's first reaction.
Jiang Ting glanced at him with a cigarette in his hand, seeming a little helpless: "It's none of that."
"Then…"
"First of all, you need to know why others aren't willing to tell you some things, no matter how simple and irrelevant they seem; no matter from what point of view it's told, it's an answer that's harmless even if it were leaked." Jiang paused and said, "Because the truth has twisted roots and intertwined joints[1]. The truth of this society is like a crime, as long as you tear open a small corner, experienced criminal investigators can follow the clues and dig out countless inside stories from the eighteen layers of hell, especially you."
"A front-line criminal policeman with a large capital force behind him, who presides over the criminal investigation work of public security in the provincial capital and at the same time has a strong desire to solve cases — it's very rare for a person to meet any of the above three conditions, but you meet all three of them? Who can guarantee that you'll always be in a stable condition and will not fall ill? In case you rampage across the battlefield like a flaming tank, who can control the situation?"
Yan Xie was a little stunned by these rhetorical questions, and immediately pointed to himself: "Do I look like a person who can get sick at any time?"
Jiang Ting raised his eyelids to look at him and sighed.
"Hey—" Yan Xie took a deep breath in disbelief, "Then tell me what happened in 701, and why didn't Qi Sihao dare to continue investigating Wang Xingye's fall from the building? I promise that I won't insist on getting to the bottom of this matter."
Jiang Ting lowered his head and flicked the cigarette ash. The action was very subtle, and then he said: "I didn't investigate this matter myself, but rather made some inquiries and someone informed me about it. The person who told me about it also took a great risk, because it happened three years ago after the Gongzhou Plastic Factory Explosion."
—Yan Xie was stunned for a moment.
At that time?
Then how did Jiang Ting find out about it?
"After the failure of the operation, the bureau set up an investigation team. The most important task was to investigate whether the information about the location of the drug traffickers' dealings, which the undercover agent 'Rivet' ventured to pass to the police, was true. Before the operation began, the police confirmed that the information was transmitted to Rivet by the Queen of Hearts through a certain encrypted network. After Rivet was sacrificed, the investigation team got his electronic equipment. After a series of complex decryption, tracking, and positioning, the technical team finally narrowed the scope to this community, followed by this building, and finally to room 701."
"In other words, if the information received by Rivet really came from the Queen of Hearts, then it was first sent by her from room 701 of this apartment building." Jiang Ting suddenly looked at Yan Xie in the smoke: "Don't you think that if they could track all the people entering and leaving this community from the monitoring system, they would be able to find the Queen of Hearts?"
This is indeed what happens normally. 80% of modern criminal investigation work relies on various types of surveillance cameras, so it often leads to a large number of detection tasks, which also shows the reality of a criminal policeman's boring and tedious daily routine of solving cases.
But Yan Xie knew that since he asked this question, it meant that the Gongzhou Investigation Team hadn't been able to use this method.
"After the surveillance was obtained, it was found that some of the vehicles entering and leaving this unremarkable community were registered under the names of private enterprises, and these private enterprises were inextricably linked with the families of officials at different levels: some relationships were far-fetched, but some were also ambiguous. If the monitoring time was further extended to check, then several seniors of the higher-ups would also be found in the community, even the Deputy Mayor of Gongzhou, Yue Guangping, who just retired at the time. "
Yue Guangping — Yan Xie suddenly remembered who he was.
Deputy Chief Wei once said that Yue Guangping was the only one who insisted that Jiang Ting wasn't dead after the explosion, and might even be kidnapped by drug traffickers, so he insisted on leading the rescue operation!
Jiang Ting didn't look at Yan Xie's unpredictable expression. His tone was flat as usual: "These people have their own reasons for entering and leaving the community, such as visiting relatives and friends, simply passing by, etc., which could be regarded as a blessing in disguise. Even so, it was very difficult to carry out the investigation. If the scope of the investigation covered the entire community, it wasn't known how many sensitive and subtle relationships would be exposed in broad daylight, but if it only focused on room 701, then these monitoring conditions couldn't be achieved at that time."
"—Of course, the investigation team three years ago also had many other clues, and it wasn't necessary to put a lot of pressure on investigating this community." Jiang Ting changed the subject and said: "But there were only a very few people who knew the inside story, so these clues gradually faded away. Your Director Lu should've participated in some work outside the investigation team and should know about this."
"…Who was the person who told you about the inside story?" Yan Xie finally couldn't help asking.
Jiang Ting was silent for a moment, then said, "Yue Guangping."
"What was your relationship?"
Jiang Ting seemed to find this a little funny, although there was no smile on his face: "He was an old boss who helped me out, and the one who rescued me from the King of Spades after the explosion. What did you think our relationship would be?"
Yan Xie was very responsive and quickly followed up: "If the investigation team did rescue you back then, then why didn't the government leave any records, and the file even said that you died in the explosion?"
Jiang Ting hadn't touched the cigarette after the first two puffs, and it basically burnt to the end by itself. He pressed the faintly flickering red dot on the trash can to extinguish it, and said with a smile, "Didn't you promise to not insist on getting to the bottom of this matter?"
Yan Xie was a little speechless.
"Whether Wang Xingye jumped down from the building by himself or was coerced into it, he is already dead." Jiang Ting threw the cigarette butt into the trash can and said lazily, "We all know that the one who killed him must be the King of Spades, but the scene was handled very well, and no one could find any clues to investigate… I think that even Wang Xingye himself didn't expect before his death that the psychopath, the King of Spades, would really dare to kill people on the roof of that building."
...…
Han Xiaomei wanted to get out of the car but didn't dare to, being alone in the car felt like she was sitting on pins and needles.
Why did Capitan Yan suddenly get angry? Why did Consultant Lu confront him? On the surface, it seemed that it was only because he couldn't investigate Wang Xingye's fall from the building. However, even she could see that the real dispute between the two was far more than that.
Consultant Lu — no, she corrected the name in her mind — Captain Jiang.
It was almost impossible to find anything about him on the internet. Even if there were still a few words circulating in the system, he was nothing more than a captain who died in the line of duty because of his improper command, or an insider who was vaguely suspected of betrayal. The former was stupid and the latter was a shame, no matter what the truth was, it was enough to be a top-level secret.
But Han Xiaomei felt that this was not the case.
An idiot who ruined the life of his teammates due to improper command would not rush out of the scene to lock down the suspect at the first moment after the sniping, and wouldn't chase the target vehicle for hundreds of kilometers without losing it. A traitor who betrayed public security would not order her, an insignificant trainee police officer, to stay in the car at the time when her life was at stake after the impact, and go out alone to face the vicious gangsters, in order to buy time for Captain Yan to arrive.
"Even if there are many rumors about it, at least I can still secretly have some of my own ideas." She thought to herself, "As long as I don't say it."
Suddenly, a very familiar ringtone rang from the back seat—Yan Xie didn't bring his cell phone when he chased after Jiang Ting, and now Chief Lu was calling him back.
Han Xiaomei's revolutionary determination, which was still very firm just now, was instantly shattered. She turned her head to look at the back seat, and then desperately looked out of the window. In just three seconds, she fought back and forth a hundred and eighty times between "Letting the phone ring until it disconnects" and "Get out of the car holding the phone to find Captain Yan." After a while, she realized that both of these choices were clearly evil, and both would end up in the same way. If the phone was cut off, and Captain Yan came back in a rage, he would tear her into pieces of small dried fish.
"Hel-… Hello," Han Xiaomei finally picked up the phone while trembling just a moment before the phone was about to automatically hang up: "Hello Chief, I'm an intern of Captain Yan…"
Chief Lu on the opposite side calmly said "Oh" and asked, "Where's your Captain Yan?"
Han Xiaomei's mind worked quickly and she said, "He went to the toilet!"
"You're almost in Jiangyang County, right?"
It was true that when you return to Jianning from Gongzhou, you have to pass through Jiangyang County, but they haven't even left Gongzhou yet. Han Xiaomei didn't have the courage to lie to the chief, so she could only vaguely say: "Well, almost… we're almost there, but Captain Yan has been in the toilet, it's… it's been a long time…"
The other side of the phone was silent for a moment.
"Okay." Chief Lu said calmly, "There's progress in the investigation of Fan Zhengyuan in Jiangyang County. Why don't you tell Yan Xie to hold it in for now, and continue when you reach Jiangyang County?"
...….
After ten minutes, the Mercedes-Benz G65 continued to move forward at a high speed.
"According to the investigation, Fan Si's home was in a certain village in Jiangyang County, and he also went back once before the incident. Now they arranged for the local police and public security officers to accompany us to conduct the search?" Yan Xie asked suspiciously, "Are you sure it's Fan Si, not Fan Wu?"
Han Xiaomei nodded vigorously as she drove.
Yan Xie leaned over his upper body and stared suspiciously at Han Xiaomei in the front row: "You must've heard clearly that Fan Wu's gang has weapons and bullets. In case we bump into them, I only have old, weak, sick, disabled," Then he turned to Jiang Ting: "and pregnant people with me. How will we fight?"
Han Xiaomei: "...."
Jiang Ting was immersed in the world of chess, without raising his head: "He got it mixed up, I'm the old, weak, sick, and disabled one."
"But I'm not pregnant?"
Jiang Ting said: "Then you should start being more careful. I think your waistline seems to have gotten an inch thicker recently."
Han Xiaomei said aggrievedly: "..."
Yan Xie suddenly received a new text message. He picked up his phone and looked at it, feeling a little puzzled: "Why did Chief Lu post a popular science article in the criminal investigation group that young and middle-aged men are prone to hemorrhoids after sitting on the toilet for a long time?"
Han Xiaomei immediately turned her head back and pretended not to know anything.
The so-called village under Jiangyang County was actually quite a distance away from Jiangyang County. Because the place is remote and far away from the reach of the government, the local police station has to manage several vast hills, so each village appointed its own public security director who wasn't a part of the police station. Their internal role was to solve problems such as: Today, the east family's dog has bitten the west family's chicken, tomorrow the sheep of the south family ate the grass of the north family; their external role is to use the advantage of being local resident to cooperate with the police in the police station when a "big event" occurs.
A search like this was quite easy for Yan Xie, but for the local police station and the public security director, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event.
Chief Lu had already talked with Jiangyang County and had probably specifically told them that "Time is urgent, let our deputy of the Criminal Investigation Division come back to preside over the work as soon as possible", so when Yan Xie and the others arrived at the local police station, the Chief had personally led a thin middle-aged policeman to wait at the gate with sincere trepidation.
Only a few words were exchanged when they met, and there was no time to drink. Yan Xie gave each person a pack of Chinese cigarettes, said goodbye to the director, brought the policeman who was happily smiling into the car, and then drove all the way to the village. The mountain road was extremely difficult to drive on, so by the time it got dark at the entrance of the village, the local public security director had already collected watermelons from his melon field and was sitting on his tractor waiting for them, waving his big fan while scratching his feet.
Yan Xie told Jiang Ting to sit in the passenger seat while he himself sat in the back seat with the skinny policeman who was chatting the entire way, so he patted him and said, "Go tell this uncle that we know it's hard to lead the way in the middle of the night, but we won't let him work in vain. Tell him to quickly take us to Fan Si's house, and we'll buy all the watermelons."
The skinny policeman was happy to do a favor. He opened the car window and said to the mud-legged director in the local dialect. As a result, the director was very happy when he heard it and repeatedly praised in a loud voice, and immediately took out a sharp long knife from behind his waist.
Yan Xie: "…?!"
Yan Xie stretched out his hand to touch his gun in a conditioned reflex, but the policeman hurriedly stopped him: "Wait, wait, he wants to cut melons for you to eat!"
Yan Xie didn't know whether to laugh or cry: "What eat? It's getting dark! Tell him not to cut any — hey, or just cut a piece, our delicate and expensive consultant Lu hasn't eaten anything for so long. Come consultant Lu, eat a piece of watermelon to quench your thirst…" He took the sweet and red watermelon cut by the public security director and handed it to Jiang Ting in front of Han Xiaomei's drooling eyes.
"Want some?" Jiang Ting asked in a low voice.
Han Xiaomei nodded eagerly.
"Drive," Jiang Ting instructed, "I'll cut some for you when I'm done."
Han Xiaomei was greatly encouraged and started the G65 to catch up with the tractor of the public security director in front.
The lights in the village were turned off at night, and the mountain road was completely invisible. Even if the two headlights on the front of the car were turned on, they couldn't penetrate too far. At this time, the advantages of the local people came into view. The tractor made a lot of laps, and after various twists and turns, it finally stopped in front of a certain slope. The public security director turned around and shouted at the G65.
"You can't drive ahead, so you'll have to walk there on your own." The policeman translated to Yan Xie: "The house where Fan Si lived in the village is just down there."
"Okay, please take us there." Yan Xie took out the banknotes from his wallet that couldn't be counted in the dark. He felt the thickness of the banknotes, then shoved them into the policeman's hand and signaled him to hand them over to the uncle: "Han Xiaomei wait in the car, Consultant Lu will follow me, remember to bring the survey box with you. "
The professional melon farmer and the amateur part-time public security director who sold a whole tractor of watermelons couldn't help but feel refreshed, his steps becoming particularly brisk. He led the other four policemen up the dirt slope and went around a long winding ridge road before coming to a brick house surrounded by broken walls, indicating that this was the house.
"No one inside, right?" Yan Xie confirmed again.
The public security director waved his hand vigorously, and the policeman translated: "He said that Fan Si left the village many years ago. But some time ago, he came back in a hurry and didn't even say hello to the people. He stayed in his little run-down backyard and left again the next day. The village is not big at all, if a new face appears, the whole village will know about it in less than half a day. Fan Si can't sneak back without anyone knowing."
Yan Xie said in his mind, of course, he knew that Fan Si couldn't sneak back. He was so dead that he couldn't be more dead. If he did come back, he would be a ghost — But these days, ghosts are far from scary. Even if he turned into a powerful ghost and came to take revenge, he would look for the King of Spades, why would he come after the police?
So he sent the public security director back, helped Jiang Ting put on his shoe covers and gloves properly, and told the thin policeman to stay outside the yard to guard, then jumped over the wall and entered the house.
This was the building of a typical rural home. The glass was broken and the walls were smeared with cement. As the flashlight flashed around, the home could only be described as "consisting of four walls". Yan Xie pushed open the creaking wooden door, elbowed Jiang Ting to stop, and whispered jokingly, "Hey?"
"What?"
"Are you afraid of ghosts?"
"..."
"If you're afraid, you can hold your husband's hand to seek comfort, here."
Jiang Ting stared at the strong, muscular male arm that was stretched out in front of him. It was obvious at first glance that he had spent a lot of money and time in the gym, and then looked down at his thin arms for some reason and narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
Yan Xie laughed loudly: "I say you, the academic, shouldn't overestimate yourself…"
Before he could finish speaking, Jiang Ting suddenly raised the flashlight to the tip of his chin, letting the light shine on his pale face from below, and stuck out his tongue at Yan Xie gloomily.
Yan Xie: "..."
Then Jiang Ting turned around and left with a blank expression.
The three-roomed brick house was as empty as it appeared, without knives, drugs, guns, bullets, or anything that could be sufficient evidence.
——But this definitely wasn't right. Fan Zhengyuan hadn't been back to his hometown for many years, but he came back once before he tried to kill Jiang Ting. According to the normal criminal investigation logic, he either came to fetch things or hide things. He wouldn't just run around for nothing.
Yan Xie walked around the hall a few times, thinking about getting out of the house, only to hear some rustling sound in the backyard, and then Jiang Ting's voice came: "Hey!"
"Hey what? Later when you go out and are asked, 'What's the surname of the gentleman you married?' Do you want to say 'His surname is Hey?" Yan Xie held the flashlight and walked around the brick house to the backyard, only to see Jiang Ting with his back to him crouching down on the overgrown ground as if trying to lift something from the ground with force.
"Oh, your posture is pretty good. What is this?"
"..." Jiang Ting didn't know if it was because he was using too much force, but his voice felt like he was gnashing his teeth: "The cellar…"
Yan Xie was startled.
"What are you doing? Come and help!"
The cellar was covered with a stone slab, Yan Xie inserted the flashlight into his trousers, and stretched out his hand to prop up the other end of the stone slab, but didn't immediately lift it up completely. Maintaining that position, he raised the corner of his mouth at Jiang Ting and said, "Do you want my help?"
"..."
"Let me pinch you?"
"..."
"Otherwise, you can also pinch me." Yan Xie turned his head and gestured to himself.
Jiang Ting somehow erupted with power, using both hands, Boom! The stone slab was lifted firmly, revealing a tunnel from where only one person could pass.
Translator's Note:
(1) Complicated and very tricky.