Chapter 156: To Fall Out or Not?

Blue smoke rose in wisps, swirling under the ceiling light.

The neon lights outside the window passed through the gaps in the blinds, sliced into strips.

The Bureau Chief stubbed out his cigarette, his eyebrows locked into an inverted 'eight' shape, his gaze like a blade, nailed to Chen Peng's face.

"Chen Peng, oh Chen Peng, the Political Commissar and I were gone for a few days, and you poked such a big hole?"

"The seals would be one thing; they could fit in a pocket. But that stele is bigger than you are tall. It was only dug up two days ago, and it's already been transported to the border? Why didn't you help them ship it out?"

"You still have the nerve to call your subordinates good-for-nothings? When it comes to eating for free and doing nothing, you, Chen Peng, are number one!"

Chen Peng lowered his head and didn't make a sound.

The Bureau Chief was his master; he had been scolded for over twenty years, so he was long used to it.

This was still considered mild; at least he didn't bring his parents into it. Sometimes when the Bureau Chief's temper flared, it wasn't as if he hadn't taken a beating before.

"Don't play the coward with me!" Seeing him hang his head and stay silent, the Bureau Chief tapped the table, "Speak to me!"

Just as he opened his mouth, the Political Commissar shook his head to signal him, and handed over a folder: "He really should be criticized. Over a hundred people have been investigating for nearly a month, and there isn't even a single clue? Deputy Bureau Chief Chen, your work initiative is not high..."

The Political Commissar interrupted half-jokingly, and the Bureau Chief swallowed the profanity that had reached his lips.

Afterward, he glared at Chen Peng and took the folder. After a casual glance, he couldn't help but pause: "Huh? Local acquisition, overnight transport, overseas reception?"

"Industrialized Grave Robbery and Fencing: Financiers provide capital—overseas organizations act as intermediaries—hiring domestic grave-robbing gangs to excavate—local collection—emergency border crossing—overseas fencing?"

"Two-Dragon Theft and Fencing: Those who dig don't fence, those who fence don't dig? Twenty-four-hour continuous excavation—Golden Forty-Eight Hours for border crossing?"

Halfway through, the Bureau Chief paused: He felt... as if he had scolded him too early?

Calculating the time: The border station seized the stolen goods yesterday at dawn, they were transported overnight, and arrived at the Municipal Bureau by noon.

It had only been seven or eight hours since then; to be able to sort out the clues so quickly was simply divine speed?

From this, it was clear that Chen Peng could not be blamed for having no achievements: especially this "Industrialized Grave Robbery and Fencing" and "Two-Dragon Theft and Fencing," this was absolutely the newest type of grave-robbing criminal model.

And this "Golden Forty-Eight Hours" for border crossing was also something the Bureau Chief was hearing for the first time.

Yet Chen Peng's people were able to deduce a complete criminal chain in such a short time, and form a closed loop. The logic was absolutely clear, the intuition absolutely sharp; he was definitely a talent...

The Bureau Chief squinted: "Investigated quite fast, haven't you?"

Chen Peng let out a breath in secret: "Bureau Chief, it's just a hypothesis!"

The Bureau Chief glared at him: "Nonsense, do you think I don't know it's a hypothesis?"

But to be able to deduce the complete criminal model, as well as the excavation, transport, and fencing channels so quickly, showed that Chen Peng had done a massive amount of investigative work beforehand, and had certainly not skimped on discussions and deductions.

To be honest, even if this conjecture were wrong, or even completely at odds with the truth, the Bureau Chief felt he should be properly praised...

Turning his thoughts inward, the Bureau Chief flipped the page.

"The gang is organized strictly, with clear division of labor, possessing extremely strong anti-reconnaissance experience..."

"One: Through the fencing network, allow some small artifacts to flow into the black market for cultural relics in other regions, making the public security organs mistakenly believe that the majority of the cultural relics have already flowed out of the province, in order to achieve the goal of dispersing police forces..."

"Two: Lure powerful collectors with low prices to purchase highly iconic stolen goods, and when necessary, report them anonymously to mislead the police's investigative direction, preparing for the grave-robbing gang's rapid escape..."

The Bureau Chief's eyes lit up: So that was why Chen Peng had been investigating for a month but hadn't found anything useful?

This angle was truly devious enough...

He couldn't stop praising: "Not bad, not bad, your subordinate has produced a talent!"

Chen Peng twitched his lips, not knowing how to respond.

After ten seconds of silence, he squeezed out a smile: "Master, um, please don't be angry... this... this hypothesis and proposal, it wasn't proposed by our people..."

What did that mean, not someone from the bureau?

The Bureau Chief's eyes widened: "Who?"

Chen Peng shrank back a little: "It's Lin Sicheng... the one I mentioned to you before: the kid with the Inverted Pot, the jade Paperweight, and the Imitation Xuande Censer..."

The Bureau Chief was stunned: Damn it, was he happy for nothing?

"That student of Wang Qi Zhi from Xida?"

"Yes, yes, that's him!" Chen Peng nodded vigorously, "This case was also reported by him, and the important evidence from the early stages was also provided by him!"

"Yes your head..."

The Bureau Chief was furious; he raised the folder in his hand again and again, nearly slapping it onto Chen Peng's forehead.

He couldn't understand where Chen Peng found the face to nod.

"Is calling you a good-for-nothing a compliment? Chen Peng, count for yourself, how many times has this been?"

The Bureau Chief gritted his teeth, "Are you planning to rely on this kid for promotions and merit for the rest of your life?"

Chen Peng didn't make a sound: Merit was nothing; the key was being able to take the heat.

If it weren't for Lin Sicheng, he would have been sent off to watch the gate at the municipal prison long ago...

No one knows a disciple like his master; seeing this pathetic look, the Bureau Chief knew exactly what he was thinking, and threw the folder like a gust of wind: "You useless thing..."

Chen Peng had been prepared; he caught the folder and gave a sheepish laugh: "Master, then this plan..."

The Bureau Chief looked impatient and pointed at the door: "Get out, get out, get out, get out, get out..."

"Alright, Master... then Political Commissar, you keep busy!"

Chen Peng hunched his waist and didn't forget to close the door on his way out.

The Bureau Chief started smoking again, and the Political Commissar opened the window: "Old Li, your method is wrong; he's already a deputy official?"

The Bureau Chief glared: "He's just a lazy donkey; he won't move even if you beat him. If I didn't scold him, he would have laid flat long ago!"

"He's already not bad!" The Political Commissar smiled, "At least he can step up at critical moments and is reliable."

The Bureau Chief didn't speak and exhaled a puff of smoke.

In truth, he knew very well: if this gang was indeed as written in the proposal, with theft and fencing separated, then it was normal for Chen Peng not to find clues in a short time.

To borrow that kid's words: the organization was extremely strict, the division of labor was extremely clear, the management was extremely rigorous, and they possessed extremely rich anti-reconnaissance experience...

Of course, they would be able to find them sooner or later.

The Bureau Chief paused, his brow furrowing slightly: "Separation of theft and fencing, rapid exit from the country, disposing of stolen goods abroad... remote command by a foreign syndicate? Political Commissar, how is this case so similar to the Yang Bin case?"

The Political Commissar was taken aback: Huh, now that you mention it?

The Yang Bin Grave Robber case could be considered the largest, most arrogant, and most capable grave-robbing syndicate case solved within the province in recent years.

How capable?

The Stone Sarcophagus (outer coffin) of Tang Xuanzong's Zhenshun Empress (Wu Huifei) weighed a full twenty-seven tons, yet this group brazenly stole it.

How arrogant?

Every time they went down into a tomb, they would send experts in advance to stand guard at the entrances and intersections of the nearby Public Security Bureau. Once the Police mobilized, they would scatter and flee.

They would flee just before the Police arrived. The moment the Police left, they would return. Intermittently over a month, using explosives to open pits and steel saws to dismantle it, they stubbornly stole the Stone Sarcophagus.

Every time they loaded it for transport, they would use large cranes, while simultaneously sending people armed with guns to stand guard in the village where the tomb was located to prevent anyone from calling the Police.

How professional?

Yang Bin started grave-robbing in '92; over a dozen years, he managed to turn himself into a renowned appraisal Expert and Artifact Restoration expert in the industry. To provide cover, he spent a large sum of money to buy a building in the center of Xijing City and set up an Artifact Restoration factory that was four stories tall.

Business was even incredibly good.

It's no exaggeration; if you compare Lin Sicheng's two studios to theirs, it's like a sesame seed to a sesame cake...

The reason the Bureau Chief and the Political Commissar felt it was similar was that Yang Bin never fenced stolen goods locally; small items were sold to other provinces, and heavy artifacts were always sent abroad.

Furthermore, every time they robbed a tomb, Yang Bin would first contact foreign buyers and negotiate the price before letting his subordinates go down into the pit. The Yang Bin syndicate was only responsible for digging, and as long as the item was out of the pit, they got paid. As for how to transport it out and how it exited the country, that was entirely the buyer's responsibility.

It perfectly matched the characteristics Chen Peng reported: "foreign organization command," "separation of theft and fencing," and "the fencer doesn't know the thief, the thief doesn't know the fencer."

Coincidentally, this case was only sentenced last month: the principal offender, Yang Bin, received the death penalty.

And the Bureau Chief and the Political Commissar had been on a business trip for over two weeks precisely to recover the Zhenshun Empress Stone Sarcophagus that had already been shipped to the United States, having accompanied the leaders of the Provincial Cultural Relics Bureau to Beijing and Guangzhou.

But the problem was, the case details were still in the confidential stage; no Information had been revealed to the outside world, and even Chen Peng only had a partial understanding.

Moreover, there had been no similar cases before, and the Public Security Bureau hadn't even had time to summarize the case, so how did Lin Sicheng deduce this "separation of theft and fencing" and "industrialization of theft and fencing"?

And summarized it so precisely, as if it were tailor-made for the Yang Bin syndicate case?

As the thought turned, the Bureau Chief was stunned for a moment: "Could this not be... the same group of foreign buyers from the Yang Bin case, having found a new group of Grave Robbers?"

The Political Commissar was suddenly taken aback: Nine times out of ten!

Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence: the same organizational model, the same modus operandi, the same network for fencing stolen goods?

The two looked at each other, stunned for a long time: Doesn't that mean the report and plan Chen Peng just brought, along with the deduction he mentioned, guessed the case details so accurately and coincidentally?

No, how could this be something one could just guess?

The Political Commissar was taken aback: "This kid, he's got something, doesn't he?"

"More than just 'something'? To use Chen Peng's words: it's downright eerie! It feels like as long as it's related to Cultural Relics, there's nothing he doesn't understand?"

The Bureau Chief exhaled a puff of smoke, "Just take this case's 'separation of theft and fencing' and 'foreign organization command'; if you gave it to Chen Peng, could he deduce it so accurately?"

Of course not.

It wasn't that Chen Peng lacked the ability, but that the clues were too few.

But Lin Sicheng could?

The Political Commissar's eyes lit up: "I remember Chen Peng seemed to say he wanted to get this kid into the Municipal Bureau?"

The Bureau Chief thought for a moment and stubbed out his cigarette: "Difficult!"

Working in the Public Security Bureau is so exhausting, and that kid is so capable, why would he seek out hardship?

Furthermore, the key lies with Wang Qi Zhi.

Don't look at how casual Chen Peng seems when he mentions Wang Qi Zhi. That's because the two are already familiar with each other, and Wang Qi Zhi is also easy to get along with.

But if Chen Peng tries to snatch someone else's student, just see if Wang Qi Zhi turns against you or not?