Chapter 145: Three Years and Then Another Three — So You've Got an Informant Inside the System, Huh

His private life was very simple, and he had never offended anyone.

Yu Dazhang thought it over and over, and the most likely possibility was the cases he had handled before.

The first thing that came to mind was the substitute-driver case.

But after thinking it through carefully, he quickly ruled out that possibility.

After all, Zhou Zizhe and his father had long since confessed to their crimes and accepted the legal punishment they deserved.

Given their situation and abilities, they simply had no way to plan any act of revenge.

The kidnapping-and-trafficking case was possible, but the main suspects all seemed to have been killed by him.

And the other people involved had all been caught and sent to prison one after another.

Now those people could barely protect themselves, so where would they find the spare time and energy to come after him?

That left only the Sanjia Hospital case.

The three ringleaders had once threatened him, swearing they would definitely come for revenge.

Although not a single one of them was left alive, what about the people behind them?

Without a doubt, the backgrounds of those three were far bigger than he had imagined.

"Three to seven days…" Yu Dazhang muttered as he drove.

It seemed the National Security people had moved against them.

And judging by the timing, they had used overwhelming force this time.

He just had to hold out until they were wiped out.

No big deal… After working it out, Yu Dazhang's mood actually relaxed.

Back at the Qingpu branch bureau, he went straight to the conference room that had been cleared out for the task force.

Not a single person back yet? Staring at the empty room, Yu Dazhang was a little disappointed.

He had expected at least one team to return first, but not one of the three teams had come back.

Then he called them one by one to ask about the current progress.

Only the team looking for the car had made any real headway — they had not only found that van, but had also contacted the traffic police department for cooperation.

Still, the earliest they would have a result was tomorrow.

When it was time to get off work, just as Yu Dazhang was wondering whether to go home, Qu Tuotuo called.

"Let's have dinner together tonight."

"No, I'm working overtime tonight." Yu Dazhang turned her down flat.

"You haven't worked overtime in a while." Qu Tuotuo sensed something was off and asked worriedly:

"Did you run into another tricky case?"

When they were together privately, they rarely talked about anything work-related.

Qu Tuotuo knew how special his job was, so she had never asked him about it face to face.

But some things couldn't be hidden — recently Yu Dazhang had become quite a rising star in the Songhai police force.

Anyone who knew someone inside the system could easily dig up whatever information they wanted.

Besides, Yu Dazhang's repeatedly cracking major cases was hardly a secret.

Qu Tuotuo was not the type to be love-struck and stupid.

She knew that getting to know someone from the side often yielded more accurate and complete information.

"You investigated me?" Yu Dazhang was no fool — he caught the loophole in Qu Tuotuo's words right away.

Why had she added that word "another"?

It meant she knew he had run into tricky cases before.

Yet he had never told her about any of them — not even the Sanjia Hospital case she had helped with, which he hadn't brought up with her afterwards either.

"It's not really an investigation." Qu Tuotuo heard the chill in his tone and hurried to explain:

"I have a friend who works at the municipal bureau. She mentioned you in casual conversation."

Three years and then another three — so you've got an informant inside the system, huh… Yu Dazhang suddenly thought of that very famous film, *Infernal Affairs*.

She must have used her connections inside the system to look into him.

Who was it, with such a loose mouth.

Did that person have any professional ethics left at all.

Knowing Qu Tuotuo meant no harm, Yu Dazhang didn't get angry.

A girl, after all — protecting herself was only right.

He didn't press her on who it was, but shifted the subject:

"I'll be very busy for the next few days. Once this stretch is over, I'll get in touch with you." He couldn't see her for at least a week… Yu Dazhang added silently to himself, his mood sinking a little.

Li Mingzhao's warning was definitely not groundless — he must have gotten reliable intelligence before telling Yu Dazhang to be careful.

If his own affairs ended up dragging Qu Tuotuo down, Yu Dazhang would never forgive himself.

"Are you angry?" Qu Tuotuo jumped to the wrong conclusion and explained again:

"I really didn't go out of my way to dig into your affairs."

I don't buy it… Yu Dazhang couldn't spell it out for her, so he could only soothe her:

"I'm not angry, you're overthinking it. I've really been busy lately. Wait a few days — when the time comes, I'll cook for you myself."

"Really?" Qu Tuotuo hadn't expected him to know how to cook.

Yu Dazhang replied with a smile:

"Have I ever lied to you? Relax, I guarantee you'll love it."

In his previous life, as a textbook bachelor, he had spent all his spare time studying food.

He was the one who usually did the cooking during holidays and festivals.

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Although Li Xuehe cooked every day, when it came to skill, her food really wasn't as tasty as her son's.

"Alright then, I'll be waiting."

Chatting like this, Qu Tuotuo really did relax and didn't press any further.

Another day passed, and the vehicle information for that Jinbei van was finally traced.

The original owner was the boss of a small supermarket in Hongkou District.

At the end of July, he sold this van to a car dealer for five thousand yuan.

Because the vehicle had been modified, it couldn't pass the inspection at the vehicle management department, and in such cases, ownership transfer wasn't allowed.

The original owner had removed all the back seats of this van to free up space for hauling goods.

This was a textbook case of illegal modification.

At the time, the car dealer promised that he would later modify it back to proper specifications and then come find him to handle the ownership transfer.

After receiving the money, the original owner didn't think much of it — after all, money and car were exchanged on the spot; only the paperwork still needed to be completed.

"This means the car was sold on the black market." After hearing the report, Yu Dazhang immediately offered his own conclusion.

"That's what we figured too." The team member looking for the car immediately nodded in agreement:

"Based on the owner's description, we've already put together a profile of the car dealer, and we'll track him down next."

The buying and selling of illegal vehicles has always been hard to stamp out.

In some places, they can even use salvaged parts to assemble their own vehicles.

Let me put it this way — just go to any used car market and look for those tiny shops tucked away in the corners.

As long as the money's right, they can meet every requirement you have for a vehicle.

Most importantly, they don't ask about your identity.

The whole point is seeing through it without saying it out loud.

The gangsters you imagine are all about fighting, killing, arson.

That's just bandits.

The real gangs have long since transformed.

Construction materials, microloans, pawnshops…

The triads in Xiangjiang are even more outrageous — they've already started selling boxed lunches.

This lead was a dead end… Yu Dazhang knew in his heart that even if they found the car dealer, it wouldn't help.

Since the other party chose to buy a car on the black market, they had certainly prepared a fake identity in advance.

He guessed they didn't even go themselves when buying the car.

There were no other leads for the moment, so Yu Dazhang didn't stop them either.

Over the next two days, the other two teams also brought back good news separately.

The team that went to the hospital to investigate doctors, after screening, had locked onto one doctor.

After interrogation, the doctor admitted that someone had previously added him on WeChat using a phone number.

They promised that as long as he provided the specific information on the body, they would pay him a corresponding fee.

The fee for one body was ten thousand yuan.

(End of chapter)