Chapter 65: I, the First Emperor, Pay Money

After venting for a while.

Han Fei clenched his teeth, thinking it was only sixteen cars, after all.

Check!

If they act quickly, they could still have time to trace the clues and catch Xu Mo.

Han Fei had the airport staff cooperate.

He sequentially recorded all the license plate numbers of the vehicles appearing in the surveillance.

He had the last Hangcheng police officer staying by his side call to inquire where those taxis went after leaving the airport.

But the next second, the footage on the monitor.

Completely left Han Fei dumbfounded.

Dozens of taxis drove away one after another…

Han Fei: "???"

What's happening?

Huh?

They really think of us as livestock!?

Checking one taxi after another—does this have to go on forever?

Han Fei now feels his head is several times bigger.

Xu Mo is just too hard to deal with.

If it were someone else, the moment they got off the plane and left the airport, they'd immediately hail a taxi and leave.

Xu Mo, however, was different.

He didn't hail a taxi right away.

Instead, he tossed a bunch of Smoke Bombs at the Investigation Team before leaving.

The Investigation Team moved a bit slower than Xu Mo; by the time they arrived at the airport, Xu Mo had already left earlier.

So they could only resort to reviewing the surveillance playback to look for clues about Xu Mo's whereabouts.

But even after watching the footage for so long, Han Fei still wasn't clear which taxi Xu Mo took to leave.

Because during that period, the airport's taxi passenger area had only Xu Mo and Yang Jingxuan.

The two were hiding behind a pillar out of the cameras' view.

And during that time, dozens of taxis came and went.

Xu Mo could have taken any one of those taxis to leave.

The police officer swallowed and looked at Han Fei beside him.

"So many cars... what do we do? We're short on manpower."

Han Fei sighed:

"Even if we're short, we have to look; this is the only clue. Record the license plates and check them one by one. Once we locate a taxi, send someone to ask the driver whether they carried Xu Mo, and if so, where Xu Mo got off."

The police officer scratched his head.

How massive is this workload?

Dozens upon dozens of cars—how long will we have to keep asking one by one?

Unexpectedly, the police officer came up with an idea.

"Han Team, we can look up the driver's phone number from the taxi's license plate! Just call and ask if they carried Xu Mo—that would be done, and it's more efficient."

Actually, Han Fei had thought of the calling method before.

But he quickly ruled it out.

Han Fei smiled at the police officer.

"You've only been on the job a short time, right?"

The police officer nodded, "Yeah."

"It's normal you don't understand the situation yet; I can only say that calling won't work," Han Fei said.

He paused, then added.

"Of course, if you don't believe me, you can try it; after you try, you'll know."

The police officer didn't object.

But his expression showed otherwise.

He truly didn't believe Han Fei's words.

Why not use such a convenient method as calling?

Having to send people to look—doesn't that just waste time?

Seeing the police officer's skeptical face.

Han Fei shrugged, "Give it a try."

The next second, the police officer called a colleague who was working at the bureau.

He had the colleague look up the driver's mobile number using the license plate.

After finding that mobile number,

the police officer didn't waste a word and dialed the number directly.

After about a dozen seconds, the call was answered.

The police officer quickly said, "Hello, hi."

"Hello, hello, who is this?"

"Actually, I'm a police officer, I'd like to ask you about something…"

He hadn't even finished his sentence.

A barrage of insults came through the phone.

"What the heck, you swindled your own father? You damned liar still daring to pose as a police officer?"

Immediately after, a busy tone sounded from the phone.

The call was hung up.

The officer was slightly startled.

He still didn't fully believe it.

So he had a colleague check the phone number linked to another license plate.

He called it.

This time, there was no answer, so he just hung up.

He dialed again.

"Hello, you…"

"I don't buy insurance." He said, and with a snap, hung up again.

The officer was stunned.

I'm not selling insurance, damn it!

He was still not convinced.

He placed another call.

"Hello, good day."

"Hello, who are you?"

"I am a police officer. May I ask you some questions?"

A cold laugh came from the other end.

"Ha, a police officer? I'm still Qin Shi Huang. Actually I'm not dead. I need a travel fund to get back to Xianyang. Transfer me a thousand yuan, and after I unify the world, I'll make you a prince. How about that?"

Officer: "..."

Damn, they thought I was a scammer again.

After three consecutive calls, he finally grasped what Han Fei meant.

Han Fei saw the officer's wry smile, stepped forward, patted his shoulder and said:

"Telecom scams are commonplace, so the public's anti‑scam awareness is very strong; calling and identifying yourself doesn't work."

"Don't think that using your personal number helps; even if you call from an official short number, they won't believe you."

"Being cursed at once or twice is actually mild; you haven't yet met someone truly foul‑mouthed…"

Officer: "..."

Han Fei continued: "Sometimes it's not that we want to go door‑to‑door; the key is that when you call, no one believes you're a police officer. There are too many scammers now claiming to be police."

He hadn't expected this phone‑calling episode.

This method simply doesn't work at all!

Out of the blue, you get a call where the caller claims to be a police officer—who would believe that?

After what just happened,

the officer also realized.

Han Fei's prepared method may look clumsy,

but it is indeed the safest.

Face‑to‑face communication, showing your credentials, is what makes people possibly believe you are a genuine police officer.

Phone calls, on the contrary, simply don't work.

Since the massive anti‑scam campaign, the public's fraud‑prevention awareness has become absurdly high…

…

West Lake.

Shen Manni and Chen Ke found the taxi with license plate "JB35M."

They immediately produced their IDs, stating their identities.

"Driver, may we ask you a few questions?"

"Sure, sure," the driver nodded.

Shen Manni took out her phone, pulled up Xu Mo's photo, and held the phone up to the driver.

"Did you pick up this passenger at the airport just now?"

The driver recognized the photo at a glance.

"So this is the guy who was handed two hundred yuan, the foolish, money‑loving master."

He shook his head.

"No, he gave me two hundred yuan but didn't get on. I came empty‑car from the airport to West Lake."

Hearing that answer, Chen Ke gritted his teeth: "That's Xu Mo!"

Shen Manni also spoke at that moment.

"Call Han Team; Xu Mo didn't get into this car."

After speaking, she didn't forget to say "Thank you" to the driver.

Immediately after, the Investigation Team members left.

…

A young couple out on a trip saw the empty car parked by the roadside.

They walked over, ready to hail a car and go to another place to continue playing.

"Master, are we going to Lingyin Temple?"

"Not going," De Ge said, "Today I'm off, not taking passengers, unless... you pay extra!"

"Add five yuan and go?"

"Go! You two, hop in, sit properly and hold steady!"

……