Chapter 251

Sorry, everyone, the chapter release order was wrong! Please skip this chapter, read the next chapter first, and then read this chapter! Sorry! Sorry!

The cooling tower of the Huasheng Chemical Plant spewed out bursts of white mist in the night, like the parotid glands of a giant beast wriggling.

Gu Changzheng signaled the police car to stop under the plane tree three hundred meters away. The words "Built in 1984" on the dark red factory sign not far away flashed by in the car lights.

"Zhou Shichang's office is in the southeast corner of the factory area." Luo Fei pulled out the drone aerial map. Thermal imaging showed the wastewater treatment workshop was dazzlingly bright, "Six monitoring probes, two of which are facing the hazardous chemicals warehouse."

Gu Changzheng adjusted the walkie-talkie to the encrypted channel: "Xiao Sun cut off the monitoring signal, Gao Ye take people to block the west exit." When he grabbed the tactical flashlight, his knuckles made a slight clicking sound, "Remember, we only need the sampling bottle."

At this time, the dialogue of a TV series was coming from the iron gate guard booth. Luo Fei crouched and passed through the bushes, and the military dagger drew a half-meter-long gap on the wire fence. The night wind wrapped in a pungent sour smell, and the low hum of the centrifuge came from afar.

The iron gate of the wastewater treatment workshop was ajar. Ye Lin scanned the door gap with a laser thermometer: "43.6 degrees, there is a continuous heat source inside." Gu Changzheng put on a gas mask, his fingers rubbing a layer of greasy oil on the door handle.

The fluorescent light suddenly brightened.

The twenty-meter-long assembly line was swallowing and spitting out dark green liquid, and the pressure gauge pointer on the reaction kettle was shaking wildly. There was no one in front of the console, but the computer screen showed a real-time data stream, and a running document was named "Complexation Reaction-7.12".

"They are remotely controlling!" Gao Ye rushed to the main control computer. Just as the USB flash drive was inserted into the interface, the alarm suddenly made a harsh sound.

The discharge port of the reaction kettle opened with a bang, and the steaming wastewater surged towards the emergency diversion tank—the pipeline that should have been connected to the treatment pool was now extending towards the Longhu direction.

Luo Fei hurriedly kicked open the ventilation duct cover and shouted: "Chase!"

The dark red liquid surged in the buried pipeline like a waking blood vessel. Gu Changzheng's flashlight beam swept over the pipe wall nameplate, and there were brand-new welding traces next to the blurry "DN300" steel stamp. Ye Lin used a sampling bottle to catch the dripping liquid, and the test paper instantly turned indigo.

"pH value 1.8, strongly acidic wastewater." Her voice was tight, "Contains a large amount of suspended metal particles."

The sound of iron ladder vibration came from the front, and three black shadows were climbing towards the ground inspection port. Luo Fei stepped on the protrusion of the pipe wall and jumped up, the soles of his tactical boots rubbing sparks on the cast iron pipe.

The man in the jumpsuit was just about to push open the manhole cover when a cool breeze suddenly struck the back of his neck—when Luo Fei's tiger's mouth clamped his throat, he caught a glimpse of the nameplate on the other's chest which read "Technical Director Wang Zhen"...

———

The fluorescent lamp in the interrogation room hummed. Wang Zhen's work pants were still stained with sodium hydroxide crystals. This was the thirteenth time he had pushed his glasses: "We were just testing the newly installed wastewater treatment system."

Gu Changzheng pushed the Longhu water quality report over and said: "Last week, the aluminum ion concentration suddenly soared to 2.8mg/L, and the emission standard you declared was 0.5mg/L."

His finger pointed at a certain place on the data table and said: "Do you know what this concept is? Longhu is now equivalent to soaking in thirty tons of alum!"

Wang Zhen's pupils suddenly contracted. This micro-expression was accurately captured by Old Zheng behind the one-way glass. The old forensic doctor knocked on the microphone, and a rustling sound came from Gu Changzheng's earpiece: "Old Gu, ask him about the complexation reaction."

"We found the purchase order for EDTA disodium salt in the residue of your document shredder." Gu Changzheng suddenly changed the subject, "This kind of complexing agent is usually used to..."

"Treat heavy metal wastewater!" Wang Zhen blurted out and then bit his lip fiercely.

———

An urgent report came from the technical department at 3:00 AM. Xiao Sun rushed into the conference room with dark circles under his eyes: "Cloud backup of Wang Zhen's computer!" Densely packed molecular formulas jumped out on the projection screen. Ye Lin suddenly stood up and said: "This is an aluminum ion complexation reaction model!"

Old Zheng circled a chemical formula with a red pen: "When EDTA forms a stable complex with aluminum ions, it will release a large amount of hydrogen ions." He drew the reaction equation on the whiteboard, "Acidic environment plus specific temperature can reactivate industrial waste deposited at the bottom of the lake for thirty years."

Gao Ye suddenly realized: "So when the deceased entered the water, they were not just in contact with water, but a strongly acidic solution!"

Gu Changzheng stared at the annotation at the end of the equation, where "Phase transfer catalyst" was written in bold.

At this time, his mobile phone suddenly vibrated. It was the latest test report sent by the physical evidence department: the pink substance in the deceased's fingernails was cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin!

When the morning light pierced the mist, Gu Changzheng stood on the Longhu floodgate. The undercurrent surged under his feet, and the edges of his leather shoes were stained with dark brown algae.

Luo Fei walked over with diving equipment and said: "Master, sonar shows there are metal objects at the bottom of the gate."

At this time, the diver surfaced for the sixth time, holding a twisted titanium alloy tank in his hand. German letters were etched on the tank body, and blue-green crystals remained at the pressure valve interface—exactly the same as the substance on the chocolate foil.

"Temperature-sensing release device." Old Zheng put on double-layered gloves and turned the valve core, "When the water temperature exceeds 15 degrees, the valve opens automatically." He suddenly used tweezers to pick up the transparent film at the valve mouth, "Hydrogel protective layer, it just needs four hours to dissolve."

Gu Changzheng looked towards the Huasheng Building on the opposite bank of the Longhu Reservoir, and the glass curtain wall was refracting the morning sun into cold golden light. He took out the deceased's mobile phone, and the mysterious call record from the early morning was reorganized in his mind: 2 minutes and 19 seconds, enough to remotely start a device.

When Zhou Shichang's Rolls-Royce drove into the factory area, the broken cordon was still fluttering in the wind. This chairman of the chemical group stroked his gold-plated lighter, his smile like gears coated with lubricating oil: "I heard there was a misunderstanding last night?"

Gu Changzheng placed the titanium alloy tank on the coffee table, and the metal collided with the marble to make a clear echo. "At the 2014 Hannover Chemical Exhibition in Germany, Company M once exhibited a similar container." He opened the entry and exit records, "As a special guest at that time, you should have seen this kind of timed poisoning device."

Zhou Shichang's action of lighting the cigar had a 0.3-second lag, and the smoke swept over the platinum tail ring on his left hand: "Captain Gu has a lot of research on chemistry?"

"Not as professional as you." Gu Changzheng suddenly spread out the scene photos, the deceased's pink skin looking like fresh shrimp meat in the morning light, "When cobalt tetraphenylporphyrin meets acidic wastewater, it will produce an oxygen-deficiency effect similar to carbon monoxide poisoning—this is why Professor Chen breathed frantically after entering the water, right?"

Luo Fei pushed the door in at the right time and slapped the sealed bag on the desk. The bag contained barium chloride extracted from the chocolate crystals, which glowed with a beautiful luster like peacock tail feathers in the sun.