Chapter 646

The maritime police unit and the maritime rescue team launched a joint search-and-rescue operation, searching for a whole week, but in the end still failed to find any trace of Xu Jijun.

One week later, the task force concluded that the main suspect, Xu Jijun, had been shot and fallen into the sea, resulting in death.

The case closure report stated in black and white: "Xu Jijun was hit by a sniper while controlling the hostage, fell into the sea, went missing, and is presumed dead."

For the anti-corruption task force, this is not an ideal outcome.

Over the past few years, Xu Jijun, acting as G Xiansheng, played the role of a political broker, having helped many corrupt officials who deserved the death penalty flee abroad.

Xu Jijun's death is not conducive to the anti-corruption bureau launching a manhunt operation.

That evening of the case closure, the meeting room of the Haishan Shi Faction was filled with smoke. The task force was finishing up the final work handover, and they would withdraw early the next morning.

Chen Shaokang sat alone in the corner, repeatedly flipping through the on-site investigation report, his brows furrowing tighter and tighter.

"Peng Team Leader, may I have a word?"

Chen Shaokang grabbed Peng Tianhua, who was about to leave, and the two walked to a secluded fire escape, where there were no idle people around.

"Section Chief Chen, anything else?"

Peng Tianhua raised his wrist to check his watch; it was already ten o'clock at night, and he had been so busy he hadn't even eaten dinner.

From the start of the meeting to its end, Chen Shaokang had been torn over whether to be a "buzzkill," and even now he still felt a bit hesitant.

He lit a cigarette and took a deep drag.

In the end he still voiced his inner doubt: "Do you think it's possible that being shot and falling into the sea was actually Xu Jijun's 'golden cicada shedding its shell' ploy?"

"How did you suddenly come up with this idea?"

Peng Tianhua looked at Chen Shaokang doubtfully.

(He thought) "You punk, you stayed silent before the case was closed, now that the handover is done you suddenly pull this—are you trying to slap my face? Or Lin Dongfan's?"

No wonder Director Lin said your ceiling is just Section Chief.

You're missing a brain!

Out of respect for your acquaintance, Peng Tianhua kindly reminded Chen Shaokang: "Section Chief Chen, the case is already closed; some things just shouldn't be spoken about randomly."

"I know, but this case really has doubtful points."

Chen Shaokang took a sullen drag on his cigarette, still the same old pain-in-the-ass who insists on seeing things through to the end without bending.

He didn't even glance at Peng Tianhua's expression.

He muttered to himself while analyzing:

"There are mainly two doubts.

First, the deck is surrounded by railings; under normal circumstances, even if shot, one wouldn't fall into the sea. No matter how powerful the sniper rifle, it couldn't blast a person through the railings...

Without letting Chen Shaokang finish.

Peng Tianhua said: "There are movable railings on both the left and right sides of the deck, used to release the gangway when docking. At the time of the incident, those movable railings were open, effectively meaning there were no railings. And Xu Jijun happened to be standing exactly where there were no railings; being hit by a powerful sniper rifle, falling into the sea is quite normal."

"The problem lies here," Chen Shaokang said: "At that moment the ship was at sea, preparing to set sail; the deck's movable railings should have been closed, so why were they opened?"

"Most of the crew had been driven off the ship; at that time there was nobody aboard to handle these details," Peng Tianhua explained.

Chen Shaokang shook his head: "That doesn't make sense—on such a huge ship, the deck area is enormous. While holding hostages, Xu Jijun had plenty of places to stand; why did he choose to stand in that dangerous spot without railings? That goes against common adult safety sense; if it were me, I definitely wouldn't stand there..."

"During the police–criminal standoff, the situation was pressing. Xu Jijun faced the police encirclement, his nerves were taut; he couldn't worry about so many details. Perhaps his moving to the spot without railings was just a coincidence."

Peng Tianhua tried to use logical reasoning to persuade Chen Shaokang to stop questioning in a reasonable way.

But it was utterly useless.

The more they talked, the more fired up Chen Shaokang became: "What kind of person is Xu Jijun? He's G Xiansheng—he's seen all kinds of big scenes; I feel he's unlikely to throw his own formation into chaos."

He paused for a moment.

Chen Shaokang continued his analysis: "There's also a second doubt. On the day of the incident, Director Lin had issued a clear order at the scene: without his command, no one was to fire arbitrarily. Why would the sniper risk defying orders to shoot? Xu Jijun had no grudge against the sniper; this is very suspicious..."

Upon hearing this, Peng Tianhua's scalp went numb.

"Damn it, I just finished closing the case a second ago, and you jump out the next second to nitpick—and you do it so reasonably! You're just trying to keep me from getting a good night's sleep."

Before Peng Tianhua could figure out how to plug this investigative loophole,

Chen Shaokang added: "I seriously suspect that being shot and falling into the sea was a setup Xu Jijun prepared in advance. That night, on a pitch-black sea, perhaps someone was secretly rendezvousing with Xu Jijun. This is also the main reason why the maritime police and rescue team dragged for seven days and found no corpse—because Xu Jijun simply isn't dead."

"!!!"

Peng Tianhua felt his scalp about to explode, inwardly cursing: "Your grandpa's, you didn't nitpick earlier or later, but you had to jump out and find fault right after I closed the case."

"That hits home, old buddy!"

"I was still hoping to take the case closure report back to claim credit, cling to Director Lin's thick thigh and rise smoothly to the clouds, but now I'm screwed—there's probably no chance of a smooth ascent."

Peng Tianhua asked gloomily: "Chen Shaokang, have you reported these doubts to Director Lin?"

Chen Shaokang shook his head, took a slow drag on his cigarette, and slowly exhaled two words: "No." Peng Tianhua instantly felt a flare of anger.

Peng Tianhua asked: "Although I'm the head of the task force, the person in charge is Director Lin. Why didn't you go report to him instead of coming to stab my heart?"

"It's not that there's no evidence; I'm just guessing too." Chen Shaokang took a puff of his cigarette, then added: "Besides, I can't even tell whether Director Lin wants to close the case or not, so I had to come to you."

"It's not a matter of whether we want to close the case or not; the case is already closed."

Peng Tianhua looked at Chen Shaokang, both laughing and crying, thinking: "You little rascal, you do have a bit of cleverness, and you even know you're just making wild guesses without any basis."

Actually, a more important doubt is:

In this matter, is it really only you, Chen Shaokang, who has caught the loophole? Or could it be that someone is pretending to be confused while actually understanding?

If you can't figure this out, then the position of Section Chief truly is the pinnacle of your life, Chen Shaokang.

Peng Tianhua earnestly advised: "Section Chief Chen, I don't deny you're a conscientious and responsible good detective, but you're overruling Director Lin's decision—that's a bit muddle-headed."

"Can't we even speak about doubts?" Chen Shaokang looked bewildered.

Peng Tianhua slapped Chen Shaokang's shoulders heavily twice: "You can talk, of course you can; our case work stresses seeking truth from facts. My point is, doubts also need evidence. If there's no supporting evidence and you just chatter on aimlessly, that's just being bored and looking for a fight."

"All right, I understand; I'll shut up."

This time Chen Shaokang truly understood, because he saw a flicker of anger in Peng Tianhua's eyes—it was obvious Peng Tianhua really wanted to strike him.