Chapter 17: A Twist of Fate

Zizhen City is bisected by the Qing River. Along the riverbank in the East District, which stretches for dozens of kilometers, a sand-dredging boat in Mangniu Town, under the jurisdiction of the East District, was fully loaded with freshly dredged river sand and preparing to dock. Suddenly, the hull lurched. As the boat leaned toward the shore, it swayed slightly. The experienced boat owner immediately realized there was something on the riverbed.

This dock hadn't seen much traffic lately. The boat owner, Yang Jun, didn't know what kind of obstacle was underwater, so he ordered a crew member with good swimming skills to go down and check.

Before long, the crew member surfaced and shouted to Yang Jun on the boat, "Boss Yang, there's a small car stuck vertically underwater! It's hitting the bottom of our boat. We have to clear it, otherwise, we can't dock!"

Upon hearing this, Yang Jun felt something was wrong. He associated sunken cars in the river with either accidents or crimes. He decided he had better report it to the police immediately!

An hour later, a salvage boat was in position, and a seven-tenths-new black Toyota emerged from the water.

On the shore, police officers from the sub-bureau's technical division were already prepared to examine the vehicle.

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Neither the busy police officers nor the salvage crew noticed that, at this moment, in a building facing the river at the Jiangpan Haoting complex about 500 meters from the dock, a telescope was poking out from a room. A tall man was intently watching the scene through the lens...

At the Jiangdong Sub-bureau, Gu Changzheng looked at the trace evidence report in his hand. The tire tread patterns and wear on the Toyota salvaged from the river dock matched the tire tracks found at the scene of the 6.23 charred corpse case perfectly!

"Haha!" Gu Changzheng laughed to himself. It seemed the day for the true mastermind behind the 6.21 case and the perpetrator of the 6.23 case to face justice was not far off!

Now, as long as they could confirm the Toyota belonged to Ren Jiahe and find his traces on the car, they could arrest him! Would he still be able to refuse to confess then?

Just as he was thinking this, the office door was pushed open. Luo Fei hurried in: "Captain Gu! The owner of the car has been identified. It's a woman named Qin Lingli. She is Ren Jiahe's ex-wife!"

"Oh? Interesting! Is Ren Jiahe trying to rekindle an old flame with his ex-wife, or what? He actually used his ex-wife's car to commit a crime!" Gu Changzheng laughed. "Find this Qin Lingli immediately!"

Qin Lingli's workplace and home address were quickly identified, but the interrogation results proved she had nothing to do with it. The car was indeed registered in her name, but Ren Jiahe had been the one using it all along. Moreover, she had solid alibis for the days around the June 23rd case, proving she had been at work and at home; she had no opportunity to commit the crime.

This result was within Gu Changzheng's expectations. It seemed Ren Jiahe hadn't expected the car to be discovered so soon. Perhaps, at this very moment, Ren Jiahe was preparing to flee Zizhen City!

Gu Changzheng immediately summoned the members of the Criminal Investigation Brigade. One team headed toward Ren Jiahe's company, while another headed toward the Fenglinyuan residential complex. At the same time, he reported the situation to Gao Jianjun, coordinating with the local police stations and armed police to set up checkpoints at the train station, bus station, airport, and highway, provincial, and national road exits. They were determined to capture Ren Jiahe!

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The man spying on the salvage scene at Jiangpan Haoting was indeed Ren Jiahe. Ever since Gu Changzheng's last visit, he had understood that the other side already suspected him, or rather, had already determined he was involved! His biggest worry now was that the car would be discovered. Although the dock where he sank it hadn't been used for a long time, he feared the car wouldn't be washed away by the current in the short term. For safety's sake, he had made an excuse about it being inconvenient to live at the company and rented a room at Jiangpan Haoting that offered a full view of the riverbank, watching the activity by the river every day.

That day, after discovering many people gathered by the river, he realized the car might have been found! When he saw the car being salvaged, he knew he didn't have much time left! Not only were many of his traces left on the car, but the gasoline drum and wrench were also inside!

"Heh! It's all that Hong Kong guy's fault! Forcing me so hard! I didn't get the compensation, so where am I supposed to get the money to pay him the balance? Hmph! Too greedy! Wouldn't it have been better to just take the 500,000 and go back to Hong Kong? He had to force me to kill! Damn it!" he cursed in his heart!

In his hand was a brown messenger bag containing the 500,000 in cash he had retrieved from Xi Gui, as well as a dagger, a roll of thin steel wire, gloves, and a wig left behind by Xi Gui. He looked at the gray-white wig, thought for a moment, and took it into the bathroom. A moment later, a tall, gray-haired old man appeared in the mirror.

"Hmph, this Xi Gui is quite professional. He actually prepared so many disguises. Truly cunning!" He stuck a gray mustache onto his lip. At a glance, even he was stunned; he didn't recognize himself in the mirror!

"This is great! I bet the police won't recognize me right away!" Thinking this, he grabbed the cash from the bag, hurried downstairs, and got into a Volkswagen. He started the engine and drove straight toward the Fenglinyuan complex. There were important things there; he had to retrieve them!

Ren Jiahe knew he had to leave Zizhen City by tonight at the latest. Once the car was salvaged, they would quickly trace it to Qin Lingli. Once the police confirmed the car had appeared at the sand pit and found the wrench and oil drum, they would definitely arrest him. By then, his photo might be all over the streets! So he had to return to Fenglinyuan 301 before tonight and get his things!

Of course, if Ren Jiahe could predict the future, even if the things in 301 were 100 times more valuable, he would have chosen to give them up and flee Zizhen City immediately! But how could a person have a premonition about an extremely accidental event in the future? Besides, the value of those things held no small temptation for the current Ren Jiahe! So, believing the risk was controllable, he chose to make one last trip to Fenglinyuan!

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Although the Fenglinyuan complex wasn't large and its facilities were average, its superior location—less than 500 meters from the Zizhen City commercial center, Ginza Building—meant property prices were relatively high. The residents were mostly well-paid civil servants and various small-to-medium business owners.

Zhang Hongyu had also bought an apartment in this complex. Although he was just a local police station officer, his family background was good. After he got married, his parents funded a two-bedroom apartment for the couple in Fenglinyuan. However, his wife was a teacher at the Jiangnan District No. 2 Middle School and was very busy with work. It wasn't convenient for her to run back and forth to the East District every day, and given the nature of his job, he couldn't pick her up every day either. So, the young couple was temporarily living at his father-in-law's house in the Jiangnan District, and the Fenglinyuan apartment was rented out. Usually, his father-in-law helped collect the rent and pay the utilities.

As luck would have it, his father-in-law had sprained his ankle while going downstairs a few days ago and was resting at home.

That day, the property management company reported to the old man that the water bill for their Fenglinyuan apartment had been overdue for a long time. Because they knew the apartment was rented out but couldn't find the tenant, they called the old man. The old man couldn't go out easily, so he had to notify Zhang Hongyu to take the time to go to Fenglinyuan.

And so, what was supposed to be Zhang Hongyu's father-in-law's task became Zhang Hongyu's. Just like that, through a twist of fate, a shocking major case was triggered! ===== CHAPTER 18 =====