Chapter 280: One after another, they all want to scheme against me

"What kind of talk is that—watch it or I'll sue you for slander…" Yu Dazhang was startled, cold sweat breaking out on his back.

The man in front of him was a veteran criminal investigator with over twenty years on the force.

When it came to reading people, Captain Xu didn't even need to think—one glance was enough to reach a rough judgment, and he was almost never wrong.

It wasn't any remarkable ability, just the pure accumulation of experience.

"You can't just say things like that."

Yu Dazhang knit his brows and stared at him, looking very displeased:

"Give me your basis, or this isn't over. I hate it most when colleagues suspect each other."

Of course he couldn't admit it—who would dare take the blame for such a huge accusation?

Deliberately letting the victim suffer retaliation—if that was proven, Yu Dazhang would be guilty of dereliction of duty.

Not only would he be done as a cop, he might even have to bear legal responsibility.

"Don't get me wrong, that's not what I meant."

Captain Xu said, glancing left and right, and only after confirming no one was around did he continue:

"I just felt that once we got to Wan Bo, your way of handling things suddenly changed."

He even deliberately lowered his voice, making it seem as if he were whispering.

Yu Dazhang didn't dare let his guard down.

A man may not harbor the intent to harm others, but he must never drop his guard against them.

Veteran criminal investigators never play by the book when fishing for a confession—the most common tactic is to get chummy, first closing the distance so the other party drops their guard, then leading them right into the trap…

Turn the tables on him… Yu Dazhang deliberately widened his eyes, looking as though Captain Xu's words had piqued his curiosity.

"Tell me more." He too lowered his voice, mimicking Captain Xu:

"What did I become like?"

He also genuinely wanted to know how this veteran investigator was analyzing him.

Captain Xu thought for a moment, organizing his words:

"Compared to before, you were far too indifferent about Wan Bo's case."

"As far as I know, you've had contact with every victim in the Severed Finger case—even the one who died, you went to visit his grave."

"But you never once made contact with Wan Bo…"

A flaw exposed… Hearing this, Yu Dazhang immediately cut in:

"I'd have liked to contact Wan Bo, but he disappeared over three months ago."

From that angle, no one could find fault with Yu Dazhang.

"No, that's not what I mean." Captain Xu shook his head:

"At first I didn't suspect anything either, until Wan Bo's family reported him missing—then it clicked."

"You had long guessed that Wan Bo would definitely stay in touch with his family, and that his family would definitely know where he was hiding."

"All you'd have to do is reach out to Wan Bo's family, and you'd surely find a lead—but you never went even once."

You've used all that cleverness on me… Yu Dazhang looked at Captain Xu with a touch of helplessness.

He's sharp, experienced, quick-witted—but still not enough…

"You're really flattering me. You sat face-to-face with the Wan family and didn't spot a thing—I'd have even less chance of guessing."

Yu Dazhang sighed:

"Right now you're like someone who's gotten too deep into the role—you're starting to hallucinate."

He really wanted to call Ye Zhiyu over right now, have her hypnotize Captain Xu, and make him stop obsessing over this.

Same old saying: it's not the thief you fear, it's the thief who has his eye on you.

Being picked apart and analyzed was an utterly miserable feeling.

"No, you must have guessed it." Captain Xu said with absolute certainty:

"Anyone else might not, but you definitely could. The reason this case has made it this far is entirely thanks to your meticulous foresight."

"You didn't chase after the suspect to investigate—instead you started from the victims and the wrongly accused, and through their testimony, you searched for the truth of what happened back then."

"That's the equivalent of you taking a detour and arriving ahead of the suspect—but then you stopped at the final stage and let the suspect reach the finish line first."

"Right, that's exactly it—you did it on purpose. You clearly could have found Wan Bo first, but you deliberately left him for Han Lianwu."

Will this ever end… Yu Dazhang glared:

"Captain Xu, I've always respected you, but don't push it! If you think I have a problem, feel free to report me—there's no need to beat around the bush with me here."

"As a criminal investigator, you should at least know that you speak with evidence—and everything you just said is pure conjecture."

He couldn't let Captain Xu keep talking; the content he'd just laid out was enough to script a twenty-plus-episode TV drama.

This was a pit no one could fill.

When Yu Dazhang had Captain Xu go investigate Wan Bo, he'd already dug this pit.

You went to the scene yourself and didn't turn up a result, yet you insist on claiming someone else had already figured it out.

That argument wouldn't hold water anywhere.

The only person who could harbor such suspicions would be someone who knew Yu Dazhang and had worked with him.

"I wasn't trying anything."

Captain Xu, like a deflated ball, defended himself in a low voice:

"I just wanted an answer. If you don't want to give one, then forget it—let's pretend we never had this conversation."

!

Respect does not equal trust.

Within the system, the number of people Yu Dazhang could fully trust did not exceed three.

Unfortunately, Captain Xu was not among them.

Another three days passed.

Yu Dazhang had already organized the case files and submitted the report to the Provincial Department.

He wouldn't claim the report was flawless, but it was written strictly according to the factual truth, without the slightest deviation.

Of course, some polishing still needed to be done.

That morning.

Provincial Department Office.

"I believe you have already reviewed the report."

Yu Dazhang stood before the desk and respectfully placed the case files in front of the top leader:

"These are the organized case files; all evidence can corroborate and link with one another."

"One DNA test report proves the suspect and Han Lianwen are full brothers, sharing the same father and mother; based on this, Han Lianwu can be identified as the primary suspect in the severed-finger case."

"There is also physical evidence, documentary evidence, surveillance video..."

Standing before the desk, he spoke for over ten minutes.

As he spoke, he flipped through the case files, allowing the top leader to grasp the entire course of the case more intuitively.

In fact, the moment the task force cornered Han Lianwu in the rental house, it could be confirmed that he was the perpetrator.

After all, the victim Wan Bo was also in the rental house, which served as direct evidence.

"Excellent." The top leader nodded in satisfaction:

"Very detailed and thorough; the facts are clear and the evidence is sufficient."

This evaluation eased Yu Dazhang's anxious heart; he breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to return to Songhai.

Unexpectedly, the top leader shifted his tone:

"You must also continue following up on those wrongful convictions; only when all the wrongly accused are released from prison can this case be considered truly closed."

Boss, are you deliberately messing with me... Yu Dazhang felt he had been played by the other party.

At their last meeting, he had said to ensure a complete chain of evidence; Yu Dazhang had not only accomplished that but also submitted the corresponding report.

He had already assigned the wrongful conviction cases to various sub-teams to follow up; whether he was involved in the subsequent work or not made no difference.

Waiting until all the wrongly accused were released from prison was purely a tactic to drag out time.

Could it be he intended to keep me in S Province?

Very likely!

Stealing talent was unlikely; such a high-ranking leader would not do something so lacking in vision.

Moreover, Yu Dazhang did not believe he was that important.

That left only one possibility.

He wanted to keep the credit in S Province!

(End of this chapter)