Chapter 345: I Think I've Found You

This was just one of his observation points… Yu Dazhang quickly reached a conclusion.

Right, this was the safest option.

Whether or not the police had been spotted, this place was not suitable for a meeting.

Next, the other party would test those three men and refuse to meet — a common tactic.

He wouldn't leave; instead, he'd stay put and keep observing.

The reason was simple: the police were most likely to let their guard down during withdrawal.

If those three men had really been taken in by the police, then when they left, the police would certainly escort them away.

That would expose the police completely.

A bit of brains, but not much… Yu Dazhang felt a little relieved.

As long as it stayed within the bounds of logic, in his eyes it wasn't anything clever.

"I'm done playing with you."

Yu Dazhang looked at the parking lot, a smile curling at the corner of his mouth:

"Today I'll show you what it means to dig your own grave."

He then took out his phone and called Lu Zhongxin.

Once connected, he immediately ordered:

"Have those three men press him again. This time make it clear — if he doesn't come, they're leaving."

"Understood." Lu Zhongxin replied at once.

This step was necessary; otherwise they might startle the target.

Before making an arrest, the first thing to do was keep the other side steady, letting him believe everything was going according to his own wishes.

Two minutes later, Lu Zhongxin called back:

"The other side seems to have figured us out. He just questioned that man, asking why he was cooperating with the police to catch him."

"Good thing that man didn't admit it — his answer was steady enough — but the other side refused to meet."

"I just feel like something's off. What do we do next?"

At some point he couldn't quite pinpoint, whenever he was working with his apprentice, he'd instinctively turn to him whenever he hit a snag.

As if only by doing so could he find a solution.

Nailed it… Yu Dazhang's heart leaped with joy.

Then the rest would be simple.

"Where's Zhang Sen?" He suddenly thought of that master of disguise.

It seemed that from getting out of the car to entering the hotel, he hadn't caught a glimpse of Zhang Sen the whole way.

Had he disguised himself as an old lady again?

"Sitting on a bench at the edge of the plaza." Lu Zhongxin answered:

"The hunched-over old lady with a walking stick beside her — that's him."

Just as he thought… Yu Dazhang felt like laughing.

From that day on, Province N gained one more unidentified lonely old man.

"Have Zhang Sen and the provincial bureau officers move toward the parking lot." Yu Dazhang ordered:

"The target's attention is on the hotel entrance. Approach from the sides and the rear as much as possible."

Zhang Sen he wasn't worried about — no one would ever expect a hunched-over old lady to be a cop.

The provincial bureau officers surely had their own set of disguise skills and tricks.

There were no rookies among them, so he didn't need to worry too much.

"Should we just surround the parking lot?"

Lu Zhongxin suggested:

"We have enough manpower. Just block the entrance and exit with cars and search vehicle by vehicle."

He didn't ask why the target had been pinned down to the parking lot.

Because he trusted his apprentice's judgment enough.

Facts proved that every time Yu Dazhang took part in an investigation, he could accurately spot the suspicious points and find clues from them.

"That's not safe enough." Yu Dazhang rejected his suggestion:

"If we search car by car, the target will notice soon enough, and then he might do something desperate."

They had to prevent the target from ramming a car through; if anyone got hurt, they'd be derelict in their duty.

Time was running out… After Yu Dazhang finished speaking, he put down his phone and measured the parking lot's position with his hand.

Then, using his own vantage point as the center, he scanned the parking lot.

Over thirty cars, scattered across the lot.

Analyzing from the angle.

The cars near the east side had their line of sight partially blocked — the trees along the road cut off the view over there.

The target had come here to observe, so he definitely wouldn't pick a blind spot.

That could be ruled out… Yu Dazhang silently made his judgment.

The middle had fewer cars parked.

Because people had a habit when parking: when there were spots on both sides, they'd park as close to the edges as possible.

The middle spots were a bit conspicuous — the likelihood wasn't high, and it didn't fit the target's mindset either.

Yu Dazhang counted — there were five cars parked in the middle in total.

He immediately picked up his phone and held it to his ear:

"Master, let Zhang Sen go to the middle of the parking lot to check those five vehicles. The other officers should slow their movements and gradually close in from the west side."

Hearing Lu Zhongxin's reply, he set his phone down again, then turned his gaze toward the west side of the parking lot.

That spot faced the intersection at an angle, with no trees blocking the view—perfect for taking in the hotel's main entrance, and even the surrounding shops were fully visible.

Most importantly, the west side was close to the exit, so if anything unusual was spotted, they could drive away immediately.

If it were me, I'd pick this spot too… A smile crossed Yu Dazhang's face.

The range can be narrowed further.

Then he turned his attention to the vehicles' license plates.

This was the benefit of eyesight far beyond ordinary— even across a wide road, Yu Dazhang could still read the contents of the license plates clearly.

His gaze swept quickly over those fourteen cars on the west side, not missing a single plate.

One of them was Captain Hua's car, which he automatically ignored.

This time the main goal was to see whether the vehicles were locally registered.

People with guilty consciences usually don't choose modes of travel that require recording identity information.

For example, trains, high-speed rail, long-distance buses, and similar transportation.

Even in 2014, buying a ticket required identity registration.

If you don't want to register your identity for travel, it's simple—just drive yourself.

Could they have switched cars after arriving in Yancheng?

The moment this hypothesis surfaced, Yu Dazhang dismissed it.

Even renting a car leaves identity information on record—it's like taking off your pants to fart, utterly pointless.

So the license plates became a key lead.

The reason the other party dared to park a car with out-of-town plates here to observe was because of one more factor.

He believed the police wouldn't lock down the parking lot in a short time.

According to Lu Zhongxin, the other party kept every call under thirty seconds.

The purpose of doing so was nothing more than to prevent the police from pinpointing his location.

Actually, it was completely unnecessary—a call has to last over 30 seconds to obtain a rough location.

The margin of error is several hundred meters.

Precise positioning requires GPS, but the user has to turn it on actively; it won't be enabled by default during a call.

From this point, it was clear the other party was someone who placed great importance on time management.

He wouldn't leave the police time to lock down his exact location.

Among those cars, there were actually four with out-of-town plates… this ratio exceeded Yu Dazhang's expectations.

But on second thought, it made perfect sense.

After all, it was right across from the hotel—out-of-town visitors driving in for tourism would naturally park their cars in the nearby lot after checking in.

Yu Dazhang thought it over, and finally fixed his gaze on a plate beginning with Xiang B.

During the past few days of stakeout, he'd taken the time to get a rough understanding of the situation in N Province, including which areas the license plates belonged to.

Plates beginning with Xiang B are registered in Jianning.

When interrogating that man earlier, he'd said that in the earliest stage, the people had been brought over from Jianning.

So that car was the most suspicious!

(End of chapter)