Chapter 342: The Internet Age Makes Crime More Convenient

If controlled for over 48 hours, responsibility must be shouldered once something goes wrong.

"I think the problem isn't big," Yu Dazhang analyzed, saying:

"When we spoke with the other party yesterday, it was already two hours after the operation."

"If the news leaks out, within one hour, everyone in that organization will know the police have controlled the Yancheng Industrial Zone."

"Two hours is enough for them to cut ties with this side, so the other party probably still doesn't know what happened here."

The logic is very simple.

The hidden sentry only has a chance to send a message at the very beginning.

Once the police jamming vehicle approaches, contact with the outside world is immediately severed.

Plus, the subsequent blockade of the industrial zone means the hidden sentry simply cannot leave.

Since the phone to the handler could be dialed two hours later, it shows that by the time the hidden sentry realized what was happening, it was already too late.

"That makes sense," Captain Hua heard this and clearly breathed a sigh of relief, saying:

"I hope the other party shows up today."

It was clear he was under immense pressure right now.

If so many police forces were deployed to block news in the industrial zone but the handler wasn't caught, it would be hard to explain.

"How many of the 22 factory managers were caught?" This was the main reason Yu Dazhang came to see him.

"It was during work hours at the time, so most managers were in the factories," Captain Hua replied, saying:

"17 people were confirmed on-site; 4 hid and were later found inside the factories."

"The last one was discovered to be out of contact with the factory and was caught by us when he returned to the industrial zone at night."

All 22 people were caught... Hearing this, Yu Dazhang couldn't help but feel relieved in his heart.

"Did you extract any useful information?" he continued asking.

"Not for now," Captain Hua helplessly shook his head, saying:

"They all have single-line contact; the other party contacted those factory managers in need via internet phones, and specific requirements were negotiated over the phone."

Single-line contact? Yu Dazhang quickly spotted the logical flaw.

"Then how did the other party know the phone numbers of those factory managers?" he looked at Captain Hua and asked:

"Also, how did the other party know who had needs?"

When interrogating those three "legs" yesterday, provincial department officers specifically asked about contact matters.

The answers given by those three people were very uniform: they only transported; they didn't care about anything else.

They certainly wouldn't pass along any messages.

At the time, Yu Dazhang thought the handler of the "legs" had contact with the factory bosses, but now it seems he was thinking too simply.

"The Tieba," Captain Hua explained, saying:

"They used the city-specific Tieba to pass contact methods, then negotiated specific requirements over the phone."

"This method was taught to the first two factory bosses seven years ago by someone, and then they spread it."

City-specific Tieba can be used like this? Yu Dazhang simulated it in his mind and felt this method wasn't very feasible.

He often browsed Tieba content when he was in school.

Especially the city-specific Tieba, which was where he killed time and wore away his boring life.

The content inside was all over the place, and the refresh speed of posts was very fast.

Often, just after finishing reading one post, when he tried to look at it again, he found it couldn't be found, so he could only scroll to the next page to search.

If a factory boss posted a thread and the other party didn't discover it in time, that thread would sink down before long.

The factory boss couldn't just do nothing and keep posting threads with the same content on Tieba forever.

"Tell me in detail how they used Tieba to pass contact methods."

At this moment, Yu Dazhang wore a face full of curiosity:

"Explain the specific method."

If an outsider were present now and saw the two of them talking this way, their jaw would surely drop.

A regular criminal police officer and the deputy head of the Criminal Investigation Corps talking like this—crazy!

Even more strangely, Captain Hua didn't care at all, as if the person standing before him was a colleague of equal rank.

"Post threads at fixed time slots and set up prefixes."

After quickly formulating his words in his mind, Captain Hua explained in detail, saying:

"If there is a need, they will post a recruitment thread on Saturday night at nine o'clock; the format and prefix follow a fixed pattern, and anyone who knows the inside story can spot it at a glance."

While speaking, he took out his phone, flipped through photos in the album, enlarged one photo, and handed it to Yu Dazhang:

"Look, this is it; I specifically found it in the city-specific Tieba yesterday."

Yu Dazhang didn't take it; he just stared at that photo and silently recited the content on it in his mind.

【Recruiting loaders, 6 AM to 10 PM, monthly salary 800, no days off all year...】

Just by reading the beginning, he understood how the other party could distinguish it.

With these recruitment conditions, even if someone was desperate for money, they wouldn't apply.

6 AM to 10 PM, working 16 hours a day, leaving only 8 hours for eating and sleeping; this is equivalent to resting only when eyes are closed and working the moment they open.

And it's physical labor.

With this work intensity, even a donkey couldn't stand it, let alone a human.

Looking at the salary again, 800 a month... With this monthly salary, who wouldn't grit their teeth?

Begging on the street earns more than this.

The "no days off all year" at the end was even more challenging to human endurance limits.

These conditions screened out everyone who genuinely wanted to apply, and the people browsing the forum for gossip would only treat this post as a joke.

But at the very end of the post, a phone number was left behind.

Fixed posting times, demanding hiring conditions...

Just by watching these two points, one could precisely locate the designated post and see the phone number left by the factory boss.

And there was no need to keep checking constantly — taking a look once a week was enough.

Over seven years, 22 【factories】 were developed in the Yancheng industrial zone, which works out to about 3 a year. Judging by the time span, this pace of development was actually already very slow.

Really steady… Yu Dazhang realized the other party had put thought into every single step.

It would not be an exaggeration to describe it as meticulously careful.

"So you're saying the bosses of those 22 factories all lost contact with the people from that criminal organization?"

When Yu Dazhang asked this question, he had already given up hope.

The reason the other party came up with this method of contact was precisely to keep their own contact information from being exposed.

"That's right." Captain Hua nodded:

"The way they collect money is also very special."

"On payday, the factory would transfer the funds to the same account, and then that account would use online shopping to purchase high-priced items online."

"For example, antiques, calligraphy and paintings, curios, and so on — items whose specific price can't be determined."

"After this little maneuver, the funds had a legitimate payment purpose, effectively evading the suspicion and intervention of the big-data system."

By the time Yu Dazhang heard all this, his eyes were wide open.

Pretty thorough~

That criminal organization even had someone who understood finance, who even knew how to evade big-data surveillance.

Online trading platforms often list curios like walnuts, prayer beads, and sky-eyed beads, with prices that are absurdly high.

Anyone who sees them will most likely mutter to themselves: only a fool would buy that.

But wait a few days and check again, and you find the item has been sold.

You think the buyer is a total sucker.

But the other party just smiles and says nothing…

Others laugh at me for being mad; I laugh at them for not seeing through it.

(End of chapter)