Chapter 346: People Are Upstairs

The group looked at one another: training bears for grave-robbing was unheard of.

Lin Sicheng indicated: stay calm.

For the Dingzhou Wang Clan, training bears to dig holes was already a sign of unworthy descendants resorting to tricks, greatly devaluing their ancestral craft.

Take a guess: what did Wang Shaoyi and his son, who dug up five imperial tombs at Qing Dongling multiple times, train?

Badgers!

The kind that looks like a pig, digs holes incredibly fast, and is the "cha" for which Lu Xun coined a new term.

In his youth, Wang Shaoyi was originally a "Monkey Stand" (animal taming performer) in the Color Gate underworld; his specialty was animal taming: training dogs, monkeys, and pigs.

Later, after killing someone and fleeing into the mountains, he accidentally stumbled upon an ancient tomb dug open by a badger, which gave him the idea for grave-robbing. Only then did the Nine Dragons King, who dominated Hebei for decades, come to be.

To him, training a bear was just child's play.

At the pet shop, when Lin Sicheng saw the snake scales and the blood on the clothes, he also thought that Qi Hao was raising a badger.

But not until he saw that hair: a badger's hair isn't that long, and besides, a badger couldn't eat such a large guinea pig.

Then, arriving here and seeing the finger-long golden hair again, Lin Sicheng suddenly realized: what Wang Chun was training was a bear...

Captain Xing was half-skeptical: smuggling bear cubs is understandable; first, they are rare domestically and hard to catch. Second, it's illegal domestically but legal in Russia, so rather than poaching, smuggling is better.

The former carries a sentence of three years at least, or seven to ten years at most, while the latter only results in a fine if caught.

But why use pet mice and snakes as feed, and even open a dedicated pet shop—wouldn't pork, beef, or mutton work?

Lin Sicheng said concisely: "Because to train a bear's ability to dig holes, you must use live creatures that can dig!"

The group suddenly realized: what is most abundant in a tomb, if not snakes and rats?

Captain Xing stroked his chin: "So you mean, Wang Chun is raising the bear in Beijing?"

Lin Sicheng nodded: it's highly likely.

Looking at Qi Hao's activity route, and then at that pet shop: nine times out of ten, it's in Shihe Tianjia City.

This is the largest flower, bird, and fish market in Beijing, but it doesn't just sell birds and insects: it also sells chickens (fighting cocks), dogs, turtles, and crocodiles.

Building a pet breeding farm in the vicinity can be used to train the bear, serve as the bear's feed, and mask the scent.

The key is that they also sell antiques here. Even if someone discovered a lot of freshly excavated cultural relics appearing in the breeding farm, it wouldn't arouse suspicion; they would just assume they were artificially aged imitations.

"Captain Xing, investigate it. Check where those pet shop's mice come from, and secondly, check the snake pet shops: there aren't many people who dare to keep snakes as pets, so check if there is anyone in the market specializing in this."

"If there is, that's basically another one of Wang Chun's dens; if not, check where they were bought. Once these two leads are found, we can basically find the place where the bear is trained. Once the bear is found, there's a high probability of finding the initial storage location for the cultural relics: because after robbing a tomb, they would inevitably bring the bear and the relics back together..."

"Secondly, to make the bear accurately find the tomb chamber and the relics, one must train the bear's sense of smell and let it form olfactory memory. Therefore, the place where the bear is raised must contain some freshly excavated cultural relics, or even coffins and remains..."

Lin Sicheng pointed at the footprints on the ground and the Qi Lian Jade Buddha on the shelf: "Third, check these traces: whoever can come here is at least a core confidant. It could be Qi Hao, or even more likely Qi Song. The key is that the traces are so fresh—either from today or yesterday."

"Then check the warehouses associated with this shop, especially this Serpentine. This stuff is sold by the ton, and carving it into jade won't make much money. If it were only used to smuggle bear cubs, it could have been disposed of after use; there's no need to specifically pile it here. Let me take a wild guess: is it possible they are reusing it, assembling it, and using it to smuggle cultural relics abroad again..."

Captain Xing nodded vigorously.

If it were about cultural relics, Lin Sicheng could leave them eight blocks behind. But when it comes to looking at traces, conducting on-site investigations, and using clues to deduce, the police are naturally more professional.

The arrow is on the string and must be fired; the leadership is taking this operation more than usually seriously. Just the scouts in Shihe Tianjia City alone consist of three squadrons.

The efficiency was lightning-fast; in less than ten minutes, the investigation team first found the two warehouses belonging to this jade shop.

They were right in the basement, on the second floor below ground.

At the same time, the trace examination team performed a trace comparison: the footprints on the ground and the fingerprints on the Buddha statue were left by Qi Song.

Simultaneously, the technical investigation team pulled up the mall's surveillance footage.

The bad news was that this shop was in a surveillance blind spot; the good news was that the mall's several entrances and exits all had cameras.

Watching the two figures in the surveillance, one behind the other and wrapped up tightly, the eyelids of several leaders "jumped" repeatedly.

They work in this line, and have done so for half a lifetime; their experience is undeniably rich. They didn't even need to see their faces: looking at the body proportions and the way they walked, they were one hundred percent certain that the man was Qi Song and the woman was Ren Danhua.

The key was the time: about an hour and a half ago, right when Lin Sicheng had just arrived at the pet shop.

What does that mean?

Even if these two aren't hiding in Shihe Tianjia City, they must be hiding nearby...

In the command vehicle, Yu Guang looked excited and clapped his hands forcefully.

Why such a big operation today?

Because Tu Jun lost the trail, and even more so because that idiot Yan Wenjing was negligent, turning a perfectly good feast into half-cooked rice.

Of course, the people won't get away, like Wang Chun, and even more so the two bosses above her. But catching people isn't enough; they have to find a way to secure a conviction: if core members like Qi Song and Ren Danhua run away, it could lead to an incomplete chain of evidence.

Originally, they deserved to be shot ten times over, but in the end, they only got sentenced to a dozen years, or even just a few—which police officer could stand such an insult?

And they must find the stolen goods... oh no, they must find the cultural relics. Because the relics are not only evidence for conviction, but also national treasures.

To be honest, when Lin Sicheng said earlier that these two points might not conflict—that there was a high probability that both the people and the items were in Shilihe—the General Team leaders were only half-convinced, and Yu Guang was among them.

Even Lin Sicheng himself wasn't very certain, which is why he said "treat a dead horse as if it were still alive."

But who would have thought that after Lin Sicheng's frantic efforts, the dead horse, which had already stiffened and hardened, would suddenly catch its breath?

Having found the jade raw material used as a carrier for the cultural relics, how far away could the relics be?

No matter how far, they couldn't be outside of Shihe Tianjia City.

As for those two core members, appearing so brazenly in Shihe Tianjia City, how far could they run?

Exhaling forcefully, Yu Guang picked up the Police Communication: "Old Qin, Lao Han, it all comes down to this final push, the two of you please help out!"

At the Command Center, Branch Chief Han remained silent, while Branch Chief Qin accompanied him with a smile, apologizing incessantly. After finishing the call, the two looked at each other.

Immediately, with a "thud," the Police Communication was thrown onto the table, and Branch Chief Qin's face turned dark: "A bunch of idiots!"

Branch Chief Han sighed; the group of technical investigators were silent, not daring to lift their heads.

Why, with so many Special Duty Team members conducting perimeter control and reconnaissance in the market, did they not discover Qi Song and Ren Danhua?

Because Shihe Tianjia City covers a full thirty thousand square meters, with a daily foot traffic of twenty thousand; how many plainclothes officers would need to be arranged to achieve one-on-one surveillance?

Although only the main passages were equipped with cameras, the entire mall still had over eighty surveillance points; even if the entire Municipal Bureau's technical investigation team were brought in, it wouldn't be enough for real-time monitoring.

But why did Yu Guang's team find the location so accurately and so quickly?

The two detachments exchanged a glance, recalling the words the General Captain had once said: This kid is a bit uncanny.

And it's not just ordinary uncanniness: it seems like hitting a nail here and a hammer there, with threads so tangled and messy that you can't tell which is the main point at all. But only at the very end do you realize that these threads all hang from the same rope...

While they were sighing with emotion, the technical investigator in charge of monitoring stood up to report: "Captain Qin, as of now, we have only seen Ren Danhua leave the Jade Center on video; we haven't found Qi Song leaving, so he should still be in Ruyi City."

Detachment Captain Qin's face darkened: "Did you see clearly?"

The technical investigator puffed out his chest: "I stake my reputation on it!"

You damn well said the same thing to me before...

He was just about to curse, but meeting the gaze of Vice General Captain Sun, he swallowed the words that had reached his lips: "Report to Detachment Captain Yu!"

"Yes..."

After finishing the call, Captain Xing blinked his eyes and stared at Lin Sicheng: "Teacher Lin, good news: Qi Song is still in Ruyi City!"

Tianjiao City is quite large, but specifically for Ruyi City, which specializes in jade, it is less than five thousand square meters, divided into five floors, with each floor less than one thousand.

The point is, the mall has already closed for the day, there are basically no people in the building, and even if we search shop by shop, we can find him.

"Hmm, catching a turtle in a jar!" Standing in the corridor, Lin Sicheng looked up: "But where is the bear?"

It certainly couldn't be kept in the Jade Center, but if even you don't know, how would we know?

Captain Xing squeezed a smile onto his face: "Teacher Lin, how about we arrest the person first?"

It's not his fault for being so anxious: if the Special Duty Team hadn't lost the person, the operation wouldn't have been moved up. Therefore, Yan Wenjing has to take seventy percent of the blame for this, and Deputy Detachment Captain Tu has to take at least thirty percent.

It is never too late to mend the fold after the sheep are lost.

"Fine." Lin Sicheng expressed his understanding, "Arrest him!"

Knowing what he was worried about, Detachment Captain Xing patted his chest: "Teacher Lin, don't worry, there won't be a big commotion, and it won't take long!"

Lin Sicheng wasn't too worried: there were technical investigators on site, and there were plenty of high-tech methods.

He nodded: "I'll go take a look at those two storerooms!"

"Alright, I'll arrange for people!"

Fearing an accident, Captain Xing arranged two groups and specifically brought over a set of bulletproof vests from the command vehicle.

Since the arrests had already begun, it might force them into a corner, and since his life was important, Lin Sicheng obediently put one on.

The storeroom was on the second basement level, and the property management was very cooperative, sending someone to lead the way.

It was just an ordinary basement, with walls built of aerated concrete blocks and fitted with anti-theft doors.

Confirming there was no one inside, the technical personnel broke the door directly; Lin Sicheng had already lifted his foot, but then he suddenly paused.

Behind the anti-theft door was another door, but it wasn't an iron door; it was the kind of sliding electric fiberglass door.

Lin Sicheng paused for a moment: This thing is bulletproof, but what kind of place would use this type of door?

A bank, a vault?

He let out a sharp breath: "Break the door!"

Once he said break, they broke it; the technical personnel were unusually efficient: two wires were plugged in, and the electric password lock became a decoration. After fiddling with two steel needles for a moment, with a "click," the glass door opened in response.

Then, another door appeared. But it wasn't fiberglass; it was an alloy airtight door.

The key was that there were several gauges from left to right: temperature, humidity, pH value, and a small password keypad.

Several members of the Special Duty Team looked at each other: they had seen an identical one just that afternoon.

A nitrogen-controlled cold storage?

This time it was a mechanical lock; between prying and breaking, it took nearly ten minutes. The moment the door was pushed open, a wave of cold air mixed with the smell of wax oil, the stench of rotten eggs, and the rot of decaying cabbage rushed toward them.

Lin Sicheng covered his nose, turned on his flashlight, and then secretly said: As expected.

Several members of the Special Duty Team poked their heads in to take a look, and then their eyelids couldn't stop twitching.

The place was extremely large; it must have been two basements combined and turned into a cold storage. Half of it was jade that had been carved or was half-carved, and the other half was boxes of various sizes.

But that wasn't the point; the point was the white plastic barrels placed in several corners: they were clearly filled with liquid, and even though the temperature in the cold storage was near zero, one could still smell the pungent odor of gasoline.

Subconsciously, Su Ye remembered that at the logistics center, just after catching Yu Jichuan and Yu Jiyao, Deputy Detachment Captain Yan asked Lin Sicheng: Teacher Lin, if this group of people is driven to a corner, what will they do?

Lin Sicheng: Of course, destroy the stolen goods; it doesn't need to be complicated, a few barrels of gasoline would be enough.

Looking at this now, isn't this exactly a few barrels of gasoline?

The Group Leader was quick-witted and ordered the team members to carry the gasoline barrels out. Fearing there might be some mechanism, Lin Sicheng didn't dare to turn on the lights rashly and walked in using his phone light.

Scanning left and right, he tapped the jade on the shelf beside him with his finger; it was a White Jade Virgin Mary Statue, about twenty centimeters high and as thick as a fist.

The sound was extremely crisp: "Dang~ dang..."

After listening, Lin Sicheng pinched the head of the Virgin Mary Statue.

But just as his fingers touched it, with a "clatter," the head fell off.

Shining the flashlight inside, a figurine lay in the belly of the Buddha statue:

It wasn't large, about the thickness of an egg and about the length of a finger. It was unclear if it was jade or ivory, but it was lifelike and charmingly naive.

Liu Guojun took a look: "Teacher Lin, what is this?"

"A stationery incense holder, used for inserting incense!" Lin Sicheng picked up the figurine, "A Qing Dynasty Ivory Lacquer Painted Sleeping Lion, imitating Western figures..."

Before he could finish, Lin Sicheng suddenly paused.

Inscribed on the lion's back were two lines of poetry: "Indifferent to favor or humiliation, calmly watch the flowers bloom and fall before the courtyard; indifferent to staying or leaving, follow the clouds as they roll and unfurl in the sky."

The key was the Manchu-Han bilingual mark below: Kangxi Imperial Manufacture.

Without looking at the soil deposits, without looking at the era, just by looking at the material and the form, Lin Sicheng dared to conclude: the tomb owner was at least of the rank of Concubine.

After looking at it for a few moments, Lin Sicheng put it back. Then he tapped them one by one, uncovering one after another; every piece of jade contained something inside:

Dancing Horse Holding Cup Lacquer Pot, Concubine.

Luan Bird Lacquer Bowl, Noble Consort.

Hundred Children Treasure Box: Imperial Concubine, and an Imperial Concubine who had given birth to a prince.

Gold-Inlaid Book Case: Prince.

Python Pattern Lacquer Throne: Prince.

When seeing a black lacquer gold-tracing brush pot with a nine-tailed phoenix pattern, Lin Sicheng paused and picked it up.

There was a mark on the bottom in Manchu, which translates to: Zhen.

This was the title of Empress Xiaozhenxian of the Xianfeng era, and also her posthumous title.

If nothing went wrong, this brush pot should have been buried in the tomb of Empress Dowager Cian...

Lin Sicheng sighed and stopped.

Several members of the Special Duty Team did not dare to stop, uncovering items one after another; the Group Leader suppressed the palpitation in his heart and reported to Yu Guang, his voice trembling:

"Branch Chief Yu, we found it... Cultural Relics, so many Cultural Relics... there are lacquerware, Calligraphy and Painting, and silk... no, that is a phoenix robe..."

"Ah, how many? At least fifty or sixty pieces... yes, yes, I will let Teacher Lin..."

As he spoke, the Group Leader handed over the phone, using both hands: "Teacher Lin, Branch Chief Yu asks you to take the call!"

The use of the word "asks" sounded quite distant.

Lin Sicheng wanted to say something, but the words reached his lips and he swallowed them back: Forget it, we've reached this point anyway.

He took the phone, and just as he put it to his ear, a strange sound came from the receiver: "Hiss... hiss..."

It sounded like a snake flicking its tongue, or like a balloon leaking air.

Lin Sicheng was stunned for a moment, then realized what it was.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, there is a condition called melancholy syndrome, and one of its symptoms is Qi stagnation: chest congestion, with the Qi rising and invading the chest. To put it simply: so angry that the stomach bloats.

When the knot in the heart suddenly opens, this strange sound will emit from the chest and abdomen.

To tell the truth, it is more effective than any medicine...

After waiting for a while, until the movement subsided, Lin Sicheng spoke: "Branch Chief Yu!"

With the stagnant Qi dissipated, Yu Guang, who had originally been bursting with words, suddenly did not know what to say.

He sighed deeply: "Teacher Lin, thank you!"

Lin Sicheng smiled: "Branch Chief Yu, we haven't caught the person yet, it's a bit early to say thank you!"

"It's only a matter of time..."

Just after replying, before he could finish his sentence, a voice came from the phone: "Branch Chief Yu, the signal is too weak, we couldn't locate it!"

Lin Sicheng paused: "Branch Chief Yu, what signal, mobile signal?"

"Yes, twenty minutes ago, the mall's surveillance detected a mobile signal, roughly in Area C. But it was very short, fleeting, and then it disappeared completely..."

Area C, isn't the place under our feet Area C?

Including Qi Hao's studio, and even more so that Jade shop.

The key lies in the "twenty minutes ago": at that time, the technical staff used a short circuit to break open the glass-steel door here.

Lin Sicheng's eyelids twitched, and he had a bad premonition in his heart: there is a lookout here, and nine times out of ten, they knew the door here had been broken open and immediately sent a message to report it.

They probably just sent a text message, which is why the signal was so weak, and then turned the phone off directly.

But before coming in, the scout was very certain: there was no one in the Treasury, and no mobile signal.

Lin Sicheng's heart stirred, and he looked up: but it was useless, with only a Flashlight, and it was so messy here.

He turned his head: "Su Ye, is there that kind of camera that doesn't flash and doesn't need mobile signal transmission?"

Su Ye was half-informed and didn't dare to answer, looking at the technical investigator accompanying the group.

The technical investigator understood instantly: "Teacher Lin, yes: infrared hidden ones, low-light full-color ones, and even more advanced thermal imaging ones won't flash. As for the signal, it can be transmitted directly via cable..."

Before he could finish speaking, the technical investigator suddenly froze: "Teacher Lin, do you mean there is surveillance here?"

"Nine times out of ten!" After replying, Lin Sicheng raised the Flashlight and shone it toward the ceiling.

In the corner of the room, right next to the shelf, a black wire went up.

The technical investigator's face changed: "Above... Teacher Lin, there is someone above..."

(End of this chapter)