Chapter 220

Yu Dazhang no longer knew what to say.

This is the leadership's care.

Showing consideration for subordinates, winning people over with virtue.

"By the way."

Director Wu seemed to recall something and fixed his gaze on Yu Dazhang again:

"Your Cold Case Group doesn't have an office yet, right?"

Yu Dazhang instinctively nodded, not understanding why the leader suddenly asked this.

"Find an office for the Cold Case Group to use as their workspace." Director Wu ordered Li Jun:

"Equip it with computers and office supplies."

"Understood." Li Jun agreed.

Why does it feel like they're putting on a duet act... Yu Dazhang quickly spotted something amiss.

The scene before him looked as if it had been rehearsed.

One surprise followed another.

Clearly, Director Wu and Captain Li had discussed this in advance.

Reimbursing fuel costs is indeed something Director Wu could decide with a single word.

But arranging an office is different.

First, there must be an existing vacant office.

Li Jun agreed without a second thought; he must have already found one.

Then there's the funding. Judging by Director Wu's words, both computers and office supplies are to be provided brand new.

At this moment, Yu Dazhang felt a sense of being overly honored.

Sometimes, receiving special attention isn't necessarily a good thing.

Such attentions can, imperceptibly, turn into shackles, binding a person and making escape impossible.

The bureau leadership treats you so well; how could you bear to transfer away?

They set up a separate office for you and reimbursed your fuel costs; if you don't work hard on the cases, can you live up to the leadership's trust?

Yu Dazhang even felt his recent work had become somewhat slack.

This isn't caring for subordinates; this is winning over hearts!

Time flies.

In the blink of an eye, a month passed.

Although the Cold Case Group now had its own office and received special attention from the bureau leadership, the cases made no actual progress.

Yu Dazhang felt helpless regarding the three cases in hand.

Two were missing persons cases; the most recent one dated back two years.

Moreover, the missing persons were not locals of Songhai; they were all migrant workers who had come to Songhai from elsewhere.

One lost contact with family on the very day they arrived in Songhai.

The other's family had not been in contact for over two months; when they finally thought to reach out, they discovered the person had been missing for over a month.

Both cases shared a common point: the last known location of disappearance was in Hongkou District.

Missing persons cases like this are actually not uncommon.

Especially in a super-tier city like Songhai, with high mobility and dense population, the probability of missing persons cases occurring is far higher than in second or third-tier cities.

The other case involving an unidentified body also occurred two years ago.

The body was discovered in an old residential area undergoing demolition.

According to the forensic identification, the cause of death was multi-organ failure due to prolonged starvation.

Put simply, they starved to death.

Since the deceased was not a resident of the original residential area and the body was suspected to have been dumped there, the police, after preliminary investigation, decided to open a case for investigation.

That investigation lasted two years.

The old residential area where the body was originally found has now been covered with high-rise buildings.

After the civil affairs website published a notice for fifteen days, the body was cremated.

Therefore, the clues currently left for Yu Dazhang are pitifully few, and there is nowhere to start the investigation.

For this past month and more, he, Ma Jian, and Liu Miao had spent their time searching for clues.

Analyzing case files, reviewing surveillance footage from that time...

Watching over and over again, trying to find some new clues.

Alas, they gained nothing, to the point where recently they all felt like giving up.

Inside the Cold Case Group office.

"Dazhang, it's been over a month. Continuing to investigate like this is probably futile; we might as well just drop it."

The speaker was Ma Jian.

His suggestion was not without reason; if they continued, the others in the team would think they were deliberately slacking off. Investigating for over a month with no progress is definitely a situation that requires a pause.

Three active-duty criminal police officers cannot keep burning themselves out on cold cases forever.

"Yes, Dazhang, I think Old Ma is right." Liu Miao chimed in:

"If we continue, the others in the team might have objections."

In fact, there were already rumors circulating within the team.

The reason they hadn't said it outright was to save Yu Dazhang's face.

"What is our purpose in solving cases?"

Yu Dazhang's eyes widened:

"Is this to show the colleagues? Give up when you meet difficulties, then what are we here for?"

He was more anxious than both Ma Jian and Liu Miao.

But that is how case-solving works; nothing ever goes smoothly.

Moreover, such cold cases are inherently difficult to investigate, and with so much time having passed, finding evidence is even harder.

"Then... alright."

No errors, one chapter, one release, one content, all in one place!

Having followed Yu Dazhang for so long, Ma Jian had come to regard him as his own leader.

Besides, the two of them were willing to follow Yu Dazhang on cases.

The reason they proposed temporarily giving up was also for his sake.

"How about this," Yu Dazhang thought for a moment and said:

"Investigate for another half month. If we truly cannot find new leads, I will explain the situation to the team, and then the three of us will return to the detachment."

This was also a move born of helplessness.

Even if he didn't bring it up, the team wouldn't let them investigate indefinitely.

The leadership hadn't asked about it yet; that was trust in the cold case unit.

But that trust also had a time limit.

Another day passed.

As soon as Yu Dazhang arrived at the office, he received a call from Li Jun.

"Come to my office."

His voice was somewhat urgent, and his tone was not very good, as if something serious had happened.

Out of his understanding of Li Jun, Yu Dazhang dared not delay and immediately went to the detachment commander's office.

"Commander Li, what's the situation?" Yu Dazhang asked, looking at Li Jun.

While speaking, he walked to the desk and sat in the chair.

"A first-class criminal case."

Li Jun's expression was serious; he placed the cigarette in his hand to his lips, took a deep drag, and then exhaled a cloud of smoke.

"Did it happen in our district?" Yu Dazhang's face changed.

By rights, if such a big case had occurred in Hongkou District, he should have heard about it long ago.

To be classified as a first-class criminal case, it must be a criminal act that seriously endangers public safety.

It would have to start at major or especially major, or even a case endangering national security.

"It started as a kidnapping case."

Li Jun took another drag of his cigarette before speaking slowly:

"Four days ago, the First Team received a report of a suspected kidnapping."

"The victim was hijacked on the way home and went missing."

Surveillance footage captured the perpetrator knocking the victim unconscious, then directly dragging them into a car and leaving the scene, without any interaction with the victim."

Simple and brutal... Yu Dazhang immediately made a judgment in his mind.

The perpetrator must have scouted the location beforehand and then ambushed the victim on the only road home.

Otherwise, they wouldn't have been able to snatch the person away so smoothly.

Knocking someone unconscious sounds simple, but it isn't that easy to do.

One must possess overwhelming physical force and master certain fighting techniques to achieve it.

A friend asked.

Why is it so complicated? Just hit the back of the head with a stick, isn't that enough?

If you really did that, you would be taking a life.

The brainstem is located at the back of the head; once the brainstem is damaged, it is a fatal wound.

Seeing Li Jun smoking again, Yu Dazhang urged:

"What happened next? How did it become a first-class criminal case?"

(End of this chapter)