Chapter 291: No, This Isn't a Coincidence!

Ru Yao was born in a poor little mountain village; her parents were both farmers, so it's fair to say her life from childhood onward was very difficult.

Isn't there a saying — children of the poor learn to run a household early.

In the past, this saying was explained as: children from poor families learn to be sensible earlier.

In today's terms, the poorer the family, the earlier the child becomes a workhorse.

From a young age, Ru Yao helped out with a great deal of housework at home and had barely ever left the village.

This trip to Songhai for work was her first time in a big city.

Would a person like that be willing to spend money on a taxi?

Especially in Songhai, a super first-tier city, taxi fares are far more expensive than in other cities.

And the surveillance footage shows that after leaving the train station, Ru Yao took a bus to the mall — which fits her usual behavior.

Why hadn't the earlier officers, just like Yu Dazhang, considered that Ru Yao might have taken a taxi to leave?

That's the reason.

Including now, Yu Dazhang still doesn't believe Ru Yao would have hailed a cab on her own.

Unless…

The price!

Suppose the taxi driver used a low fare to catch Ru Yao's attention.

Out on her own, a young woman barely twenty, with little experience of the world, could very easily be tempted and take the bait.

And compared to the bus, the biggest advantage of a taxi is that it can take a person directly to a designated location.

In this big city where she knew no one and nothing, that was exactly what Ru Yao needed most.

"Two years ago, taxi, low-price lure…"

Yu Dazhang muttered to himself, feeling something was off, as though he'd run into something similar before.

Right!

He suddenly recalled that Fang Peng had started driving a taxi exactly two years ago!

Was it possible that the one who picked up Ru Yao in that surveillance blind spot back then was him?

Too much of a coincidence.

No, this isn't a coincidence!

Many cases are like this — they sit at the bureau without a lead for a long time, but sooner or later they connect up with some criminal.

The timing matches, and Fang Peng happens to drive a taxi, and also…

Yu Dazhang immediately pulled his notebook out of his bag; when he'd spoken with Zhou Zizhe earlier, he'd written down the nicknames of the three victims.

"Xiaoyao, Xiaojia, Xiaoyue."

Yu Dazhang stared at the names in his notebook and murmured to himself:

"The names match too. The Xiaoyao Fang Peng mentioned is very likely Ru Yao."

And the fact that Ru Yao has been neither seen alive nor found dead in over two years also fits the profile of someone being held captive.

If that's the case, then there's no harm in being a little bolder.

Yu Dazhang looked up at Ma Jian and Liu Miao, who were flipping through the case files.

Could the other two cold cases also be Fang Peng's doing?

At the mere thought of that possibility, Yu Dazhang couldn't help getting a little excited.

Fang Peng named three victims by their nicknames, and these three cold cases at the branch bureau also happen to involve three victims.

And the timing was all two years ago.

And the victim of another missing-person case was also a girl, named Shu Rujia.

That lines up perfectly with the nickname "Xiaojia."

Unfortunately, the other cold case is an unidentified-body case — the police never managed to track down the victim's personal information.

But one thing can be confirmed: that unidentified body was also a young woman.

Too many similarities… the more Yu Dazhang thought it through, the smoother it ran.

If this unidentified body is also connected to Fang Peng, then he really can't confess.

The sentencing for unlawful detention also depends on the severity of the circumstances.

For lighter circumstances, under three years.

If the case involves beating or humiliation that results in grievous bodily harm, then over three years and under ten.

If it results in death, lethal injection or firing squad.

If he confesses, the circumstances would certainly fall into the especially severe category, so the ending isn't hard to guess.

Bold hypothesis, careful verification.

Yu Dazhang stood up and said to Ma Jian and Liu Miao:

"You two wait for me downstairs."

He then went to the detachment commander's office.

"Captain Li, I need to go to the detention center to see Fang Peng."

That's the polite way of putting it — Yu Dazhang was actually going to interrogate him.

"Didn't I tell you to stay out of this case?" Li Jun's face showed displeasure:

"I admit you're very capable, but cases have to be handled one at a time. Don't you understand the principle of biting off more than you can chew?"

That really was what he was thinking.

On top of that, Yu Dazhang had only just gotten back from Province S not long ago, and he didn't want him overworking himself.

"I'm going to see Fang Peng because he's connected to the cold cases."

Yu Dazhang explained:

"The disappearances of Ru Yao and Shu Rujia also happened two years ago. I suspect it's very possible that Fang Peng abducted them both while he was driving a taxi."

Li Jun knew both of those names.

After all, the cold case had been sitting at the branch bureau for over two years, and he had followed it during the earlier investigation.

"I'm finding your imagination getting richer and richer these days."

Li Jun was afraid that his eagerness to crack the case would lead him to a wrong judgment, so there was a note of concern in his words:

"How about you take two more days off?"

Ability was one thing, but age was right there in the open—Li Jun was genuinely afraid something might happen to Yu Dazhang.

Failing to solve a case was a small matter; mishandling a case would be a big one.

"Captain Li, listen to me first…"

Yu Dazhang then gave Li Jun a detailed account of the situation he had analyzed.

Li Jun nodded after hearing him out:

"I see. If what you're saying is true, it really is quite possible."

Since there were doubts, there was no harm in checking them out first—perhaps there would be an unexpected gain.

As the detachment commander, he knew very well that not a single trace could be overlooked.

After getting Li Jun's approval, Yu Dazhang immediately went downstairs and stepped outside.

By then, Ma Jian and Liu Miao had already started the police car and were waiting at the gate.

Why not go straight to the detention center?

Because Li Jun had already explicitly told him not to get involved.

If he went straight to the detention center to see Fang Peng, Li Jun would very likely take it as him disobeying orders and acting recklessly.

Such behavior—violating discipline and offending his superior—was something Yu Dazhang would never do.

Arriving at the detention center.

The three of them showed their credentials and met Fang Peng in an interrogation room.

Hm?

Yu Dazhang was a little surprised the moment he saw Fang Peng.

The man's appearance was just too distinctive.

He was short and thin, with wide-set eyes, a sunken nasal bridge, very Heavy and coarse eyebrows, but rather sparse hair.

At a careless glance, he looked like a patient with Down syndrome.

In short: intellectually disabled.

But Yu Dazhang knew this man's IQ had to be normal.

The detachment's officers had already interrogated him for two days—if he were truly intellectually disabled, Li Jun would have told him so first thing this morning.

Still, it was indeed rare for a normal person to look like this.

Looking at Fang Peng sitting across from him, Yu Dazhang could not help marveling at the wonders of nature.

"Name?"

"Fang Peng."

"Age?"

"Forty-six."

"Occupation?"

"Officer, you've already interrogated me for two days," Fang Peng complained:

"Why are we starting all over again?"

His speech was logically clear, his thinking orderly—his IQ was fine… Yu Dazhang made his judgment inwardly.

Asking up to this point was actually enough; it counted as running through the procedure once.

As for Fang Peng's file, he had already read it before coming.

Yu Dazhang looked at him with a half-smile:

"Then tell me, where did we get to last time?"

(End of chapter)