Chapter 339: Even Kidnappers Keep Up with the Times

"We're on the side of the road across from Yangcheng Railway Station."

When Ma Jian replied, the background noise grew quieter — probably because he'd cupped his hand over the phone's mouthpiece:

"These past few days the two of us have been working separately. We've already scouted every road section near the railway station and haven't spotted any suspicious people."

Nothing? That was beyond Yu Dazhang's expectations.

In his thinking, even if the ones responsible for grabbing people didn't come out to stake out the spot every single day, they'd still have to show up every few days — they'd turn up somewhere eventually.

Could it be that over these past few years, even they had become more covert?

"Did you check the unlicensed taxis over there?" Yu Dazhang asked.

He suspected those people had blended into the ranks of the unlicensed cabs.

To abduct someone, you'd definitely need a vehicle, and the only method Yu Dazhang could think of was posing as an unlicensed cab hustling for passengers.

That way they could whisk a person away at any moment, and it served as a cover — even if the police caught them, at worst they'd just be treated as unlicensed cabdrivers.

"We checked." Ma Jian replied:

"The unlicensed cabs over here have already formed gangs — there are several outfits. They've even carved up their turf; each one hustles passengers on its own patch and none of them crosses into another's territory."

"Some open their trunks and park by the roadside, some park right under the bridge, others hide away in the alleys."

"An outsider trying to park here and wait for fares is flat-out impossible — these outfits will band together and chase the person off."

The unlicensed-cab trade keeps getting banned and keeps coming back, mainly because there's market demand.

During rush hours the roads jam up, so legitimate taxis can't meet demand, and passengers turn to unlicensed cabs with their lower prices and more flexible service.

Add in the low operating costs, and plenty of people are willing to risk getting arrested to do this line of work.

And once an industry reaches a certain scale, gangs and a set of unwritten rules naturally appear.

"Is it possible those people got chased off by the unlicensed cabdrivers?"

Yu Dazhang wasn't on the scene and didn't know the specifics, so all he could do was raise the question and let Ma Jian and the others work out the details.

"Liu Miao and I thought the same thing."

Ma Jian seemed to have found a spot away from the road — the noise was almost inaudible now, and his voice came through clearer and clearer:

"Five years ago the unlicensed cabs in Yangcheng probably hadn't yet formed a scale, so those people could park by the roadside and nobody bothered them."

"Later, when the unlicensed cabs multiplied, people banded together to claim turf, and when those guys parked by the roadside again they were naturally seen as muscling in on the fares."

At this point, Yu Dazhang already understood.

Even if those people got driven off, they wouldn't dare fight back, let alone explain themselves.

Tell the truth?

I'm not here to steal your fares — we park here specifically to kidnap those mentally disabled people.

Would they dare say something like that?

So they could only swallow the loss in silence and think of another way.

No matter what method they came up with, they couldn't leave the railway station area, because only here was the best place to pick their targets.

Both ends of the line fell silent.

Various mobile occupations suited to a railway station flashed through Yu Dazhang's mind.

Scalpers, people hustling for passengers, street vendors…

In his previous life he'd even seen someone renting out little stools at the railway station ticket window.

Back then there was no electronic ticketing — you had to queue at the window to buy a ticket, and standing that long inevitably made you tired.

Where there's demand, there's business — one yuan to rent a little stool, two yuan for a folding stool, three yuan for a chair.

Supposedly that little business alone pulled in over a thousand a day, easy.

After about two minutes, Yu Dazhang spoke up:

"If I'm not mistaken, they've disguised themselves as those people hustling for guests for the hotels. Only this way would a stranger following them off not arouse suspicion."

Ma Jian on the other end of the line immediately answered:

"That's exactly how it is. These past few days we've noticed it too — the people hustling for passengers at the railway station are especially numerous."

"If they're mixed in among that crowd, it's very hard to pick them out."

This really was a headache of a problem… At this point Yu Dazhang was out of ideas too.

A railway station is already a place where all sorts mix and the crowd is complicated.

On top of that, the foot traffic is especially heavy — trying to find a specific person in an environment like that is just like fishing a needle out of the sea.

And even those people who do nothing but hustle for passengers change up often, so there's simply no way to get a handle on it.

"You two figure out the specifics." Yu Dazhang threw up his hands and washed his hands of it.

As a qualified commander, you have to learn to delegate appropriately, giving your subordinates enough trust and room to exercise their abilities.

Handling everything personally and covering every last detail, on the contrary, makes people feel they aren't trusted.

Besides, Ma Jian and Liu Miao were both veteran criminal police.

Talk seniority, and Yu Dazhang was the greenest of the bunch.

"I have only one requirement." Yu Dazhang added:

"From now on, the two of you must not split up to act separately. Safety comes first."

Those two had been hanging around Yangcheng Railway Station for nearly a week; if the other side hung out there year-round, they might well have already noticed them.

Familiarity with an environment lets a person hide themselves better, and at the same time spot anything out of the ordinary quickly.

That was something Ma Jian and the others didn't have.

Yu Dazhang had no desire for his colleagues who'd come along with him to run into danger.

"They'd dare make a move on police?"

Ma Jian's tone was clearly tinged with mockery:

"They probably don't have the nerve."

You've never seen what they do to cops locked in cellars… Yu Dazhang suddenly recalled his time in Sailor Camp Village.

If it hadn't been discovered in time, those two officers could very well have been killed by those people.

"This is an order." Yu Dazhang's tone was stern:

"Have you already forgotten the incident where two officers from our detachment went missing?"

The moment that was brought up, Ma Jian immediately deflated.

He had taken part in the search operation back then, and he had seen the gruesome scene on the mountain with his own eyes.

"Understood." Ma Jian answered seriously:

"I'll obey the order without question. Don't worry, I'll go link up with Liu Miao in a bit."

Yu Dazhang checked the time again.

It was almost eight in the evening.

"You can't stay at the train station past ten at night."

He reminded them:

"And you can't show up at the train station before seven the next morning either — otherwise the risk of being exposed goes up."

During that window, the foot traffic at the station is relatively light, and the other side most likely won't pick that time to look for targets either.

After hanging up, he ran through the situations Ma Jian and Liu Miao were in once more in his head.

"Should be fine." he muttered softly.

Two on-duty criminal police officers carrying guns — even if the other side had guns, they were absolutely no match for them.

Besides, those two were hardly the soft-hearted type.

Yu Dazhang remembered clearly: when he himself had been ambushed back then, those two had shown no fear, fired decisively, without the slightest hesitation.

If his past life had possessed that kind of decisiveness, he probably wouldn't have died either.

After letting his thoughts wander for a while, he checked the time and found it still early, so he decided to give Seeing Qu Tuotuo a call.

Since coming here, the two of them had only spoken on the phone once.

Five whole days had flown by in a blink, and Seeing Qu Tuotuo hadn't contacted him again.

Stepping out on him? Yu Dazhang didn't buy any of that "absence makes the heart grow fonder" nonsense.

Facts had proven long-distance relationships were the least reliable thing going.

After the call went through, it had barely rung twice before a busy tone came through the receiver.

She hung up?

Just as Yu Dazhang was debating whether to call back, his phone rang again.

After he picked up, Seeing Qu Tuotuo's voice came through:

"It wasn't convenient to talk just now — my brother came to the house."

Yu Dazhang:????

"Hold on a second."

He picked at his ear, then shook his head hard a couple of times before putting the phone back to his ear:

"The signal was bad just now — say that again."

(End of Chapter)