Chapter 260: The Missing Classmate

After hearing it all, Yu Dazhang merely nodded and offered no opinion.

"I've also recorded one collective incident here…"

After that, another officer mentioned a few more things, but Yu Dazhang showed no reaction, as if he were an outsider.

He only had to hear those matters once to know they had nothing to do with the severed-finger case.

Because they were nowhere near severe enough to warrant revenge.

Whether it was a brawl or fighting over a girlfriend, it wouldn't have festered for over a decade into a desire for revenge — let alone a fight to the death.

Even if the suspect ultimately carried out his revenge, his life would be ruined.

For a vicious case like this, the police would certainly investigate to the end.

As the discussion went on, the meeting room fell quiet again.

It seemed every squad had reported the incidents that fit the criteria.

The smoke inside the room grew thicker and thicker, so dense that Yu Dazhang even felt his vision beginning to blur.

After a while, an officer sitting to his left said:

"I do have something recorded here, but it has a beginning and no ending — you could say it's a memory point for my wronged party."

"That's fine." Yu Dazhang waved his hand:

"Anything related to their entire group is a lead worth analyzing."

That officer nodded, glanced at his notebook, then began:

"According to my wronged party's recollection, back then there was a classmate he was very close with in their class, who was abducted by that gang on the way home from school."

"The reason was that during class, that classmate had been chatting and laughing with a girl, and that girl was in a romantic relationship with one of them."

At this point, the officer observed Yu Dazhang's expression.

Seeing that he was listening attentively, he continued:

"In his view, those people just made up an excuse to pick a fight. His classmate was very honest and very introverted — he wouldn't have been flirting with a girl."

"The next day the police came to ask him about the situation, and questioned him about the details of when that classmate was abducted."

"After that, he never saw that classmate again — supposedly he transferred schools."

Seeing Yu Dazhang still staring at him, the officer immediately waved his hand:

"That's all I've got, which is why I said it has a beginning and no ending."

Something's off, very off… Yu Dazhang quickly realized something.

The police came to investigate the next day, which meant the incident had blown up.

In the late nineties, student fights rarely drew the police in.

Unless…

One side was seriously injured!

A gang abducted one person — no need to guess, the injured party was obvious.

That classmate was very honest~

He probably couldn't even fight back.

A gang beating up one person…

An image slowly formed in Yu Dazhang's mind.

This is the internet age — one search brings up endless videos of school bullying, which induce not only physical discomfort but, more than anything, a sense of anger and helplessness.

There was another thing that didn't add up…

After that, the abducted classmate never appeared again.

Clearly, the transfer-schools story didn't hold up.

Getting beaten up and then transferring schools — logically, it just doesn't make sense.

So the transfer was just a cover story to throw people off.

Yu Dazhang could think of two possibilities:

1. That classmate was unable to attend school.

Or rather, the injuries he suffered forced him to recuperate at home.

2. The incident was suppressed.

Every member of that little clique came from no ordinary family — they had money and they had connections.

A force like that smoothing over an assault case was no difficult feat.

As long as they got the other party's forgiveness and offered some compensation, they could shrink a big matter into a small one.

Those people probably didn't even take the incident to heart back then… Yu Dazhang analyzed inwardly.

If a life had been lost, they would have adopted a different method of handling it.

Destroy the body, erase the traces, frame someone else…

In fact, that whole routine was old hat to them. "What was the name of that abducted student back then?" Yu Dazhang asked.

Since the wronged party and that classmate were close, he would definitely remember the name.

If he could even recall that incident from back then, Yu Dazhang didn't believe he could have forgotten the name.

The officer glanced at his notebook and answered:

"Han Lianwen."

Having a name makes things easier… Yu Dazhang said in a commanding tone:

"Your squad's next task is to investigate that case from back then, and to find this person, Han Lianwen."

The more an incident has a beginning and no ending, the more it must be clarified.

The fact that they chose to suppress it back then means the matter was definitely very serious.

Yu Dazhang even felt that this matter could very well be a breakthrough.

!

Seeing that the group truly had nothing left to report, Yu Dazhang reassigned the tasks.

Captain Xu would lead one squad to stand by temporarily, while the remaining squads continued investigating the other wronged persons.

There was one wronged person previously missed, and another wrongful case Ma Jian had just uncovered—both required contacting the parties involved to understand the situation.

Now that manpower was sufficient, not a single detail could be overlooked.

After the meeting adjourned.

Yu Dazhang took Ye Zhiyu and hurried to the city where Liu Miao was.

That still-living "Twelve Young Masters of Xicheng"—he wanted to meet him personally.

Moreover, he had to hurry.

That was a man who could drop dead at any moment.

If it hadn't been for the meeting scheduled for today, he would have set out to find Liu Miao long ago.

Three hours later, Yu Dazhang met Liu Miao at the hospital.

"This is his personal file. Take a look first."

Yu Dazhang took the document Liu Miao handed over, found an empty seat by the wall, and sat down.

He Tianxin, male, 34 years old, a native of Xicheng, later settled in Tongcheng, owner of multiple chain supermarkets…

Five minutes later, Yu Dazhang closed the file and looked at Liu Miao:

"Did you check his criminal record?"

"Checked it. Clean." Liu Miao answered quickly:

"Didn't find any points of suspicion."

In the country, as long as one commits a crime or has a record of illegal behavior, a criminal record is left behind.

For adults, once sentenced to criminal punishment, that criminal record cannot be erased through any means.

To put it bluntly, no matter who you ask, it won't help.

When Yu Dazhang had reviewed the case files before, he had noticed that the nine victims of the severed-finger case all had criminal punishment records to varying degrees.

Someone with such a clean background was still the first.

A cautious man… Yu Dazhang mentally assessed this person named He Tianxin.

"Take me to see him." he said to Liu Miao.

Five minutes later.

The two arrived at the door of the hospice care ward.

The room door opened, and a woman walked out from inside.

The woman appeared to be just over thirty years old; even with a haggard face, one could still tell she was good-looking, above average in appearance.

She first looked at Liu Miao, an displeased expression crossing her face, then shifted her gaze to Yu Dazhang and asked with a puzzled look:

"And you are?"

"Police." Yu Dazhang took out his credentials and showed them to her:

"I need to see He Tianxin. There's a case that requires his assistance in the investigation."

His tone was flat, yet carried an unquestionable hardness.

The woman frowned slightly:

"Your colleague here has already come several times. Everything that should be asked has been asked. You'd better not waste any more effort."

"You do have a child, don't you." Yu Dazhang looked at her, his gaze deep and sharp:

"What I'm here to investigate is a homicide case."

(End of this chapter)