"Oh my goodness, Captain He! Are you secretly paying close attention to Zhao Simeng? How else could you know so much about her work?" Xiao Yuande quipped.
"We went to the same university. I was close to her back then."
"Ah! So you're classmates! Captain He, you must have had some impressive skills to get close to someone like her!"While we were chatting, Zhang Huilong, the father of the missing Zhang Jiye, arrived on the scene with his wife.The moment he saw me, he grabbed my collar and yelled, "Have you found my son?""No, we're still searching. Let go!""A bunch of useless good-for-nothings! It's been days, and you haven't even found a strand of his hair!" Zhang shoved me aside and stormed toward the riverbank, where the white Porsche was parked nearby.He turned to Chief Liu and asked, "Have you found a body nearby?"A police officer answered on behalf of Chief Liu, "No, nothing. Neither in the car nor the river.""Damn it. Where could he have gone? We've already searched his school, and the teachers confirmed he hasn't attended classes. I've frozen his bank accounts. With no money, he should have come home by now.""This is all your fault! Always hitting him for no reason! Now look what's happened! If anything happens to him, you'd better give me my son back!" Zhang's wife broke into sobs, and the two began quarreling by the riverbank."Stop embarrassing us in front of everyone! Captain He, listen up! You'd better find my son soon, or you'll be out of a job!" Zhang bellowed as he stormed toward me. It seemed his influence even surpassed Chief Liu's, as he constantly tried to intimidate me.Back to work.I approached the white Porsche and asked Gao Qiang, the forensic technician examining the vehicle, "Any findings?""Nothing so far.""Search again. Be thorough.""Alright, I'll keep looking."I straightened up, watching the flowing river in the distance, then glanced back at the car. If Zhang Jiye had accidentally driven into the water, his body should be nearby. Given the circumstances, it seemed more likely someone had deliberately driven his car into the river.I pressed my foot into the muddy bank but found nothing unusual. Left with no other leads, I instructed the officers to continue processing the scene.On the surface, it looked like Zhang Jiye lost control and drove into the river, but the lack of a body ruled out that theory.Meanwhile, reporters swarmed Zhang Huilong, bombarding him with questions about whether his son's disappearance would affect his latest business collaboration. Zhang replied, "I know how to distinguish between work and personal matters."One reporter pressed further, "Some say you hired a police consultant to investigate this case. Isn't that bribery?"Zhang dismissed the claim. "That's nonsense spread by tabloids. The only people I trust are Chief Liu and Officer He Sheng!"The mention of my name drew the reporters' attention, and a group of them immediately surrounded me. Good grief, would this never end? One particularly attractive female reporter asked, "Officer He Sheng, it's said that Zhang Huilong specifically hired you as a criminal investigation consultant for this case. You look quite young—do you really think you can solve it?""No matter who's involved, I'll do my best. Consider me the people's criminal investigation consultant. I'm confident we'll crack this case. Please await good news!" My words seemed to reassure them, and they finally calmed down.Back at the police station, with the help of our technical expert, Xie Deguang, we traced Zhang Jiye's phone signals to specific times and locations. Another call log revealed a contact named Huang Xueming, a classmate of Zhang Jiye's.Their conversation seemed to be about trivial matters.Aside from calling the police, Zhang's last outgoing call was to Huang Xueming.This classmate became our first lead, but when I tried to contact him for questioning, I learned he was out of town for an event. For now, we had to set this clue aside.We also began investigating the German shepherd mentioned earlier, but in a city like Fuming, with so many such dogs, it was like searching for a needle in a haystack.As for the wrench, finding the specific tool used was equally challenging.With no better options, we decided to visit Jiaoyu Town—the last known location of Zhang Jiye.Jiaoyu Town was even more remote than Fuming City, which was already desolate. Upon arriving, we stepped off the car into a low-lying settlement surrounded by mountains. The dense broad-leaf forest and barren hills cast a constant gloom over the area, perpetually shrouding it in low visibility. The oppressive atmosphere weighed on us as we entered, affecting our mood.From a distance, the town appeared lifeless, an eerie silence enveloping its decaying buildings.Suddenly, someone patted me on the shoulder from behind, making me jump and shiver."Hungry, Captain?" Xiao Yuande's somber face appeared close to mine, startling me further. Only after realizing it was him did I curse him under my breath.Embarrassed, he handed me some food. I had no appetite, so he took a bite of his bread and followed me as we continued our search.The dropping temperatures prompted me to tighten my coat. As we walked, I marveled at how this felt like a ghost town.After some time, we spotted a simple, run-down restaurant near the town's entrance. It faced the road leading into the town. We decided to go inside."Boss, have you seen any luxury cars here recently?" I showed the owner a photo of the white Porsche."Luxury cars? Lots of vehicles come through every day.""Have you seen this white Porsche?" I pressed."White Porsche… it does look familiar. Oh, that's right! Yesterday morning, I heard a car pull up. I saw a man driving away in that white Porsche."