Chapter 362: Playing Quite the Fancy Game

Yu Dazhang looked down at the white Nissan surrounded below, and he had already formed a judgment in his heart.

The person in the car was not Zhang Chao.

If it were Zhang Chao, he would never have surrendered without a fight.

Especially since the other party had a fiery temper — he would surely have fought to the death.

As the arrest continued, the walkie-talkie crackled again:

"There is only one suspect in the vehicle, male. He is currently under control. No weapons or hazardous items have been found on him. A full inspection of the vehicle is underway."

About two minutes later, the officer who had just reported spoke up again:

"A phone set to silent mode was found wedged in the gap of the back seat."

Just as expected… this matched exactly what Yu Dazhang had guessed earlier.

Zhang Chao had hidden the phone in the car. He himself hadn't come, but had someone else bring the phone.

Looking at it this way, the person who drove the car here was not Zhang Chao's accomplice — otherwise there would have been no need to hide the phone in the back-seat gap.

"Dazhang, aren't you going down?" Lu Zhongxin couldn't help but ask.

"There's no point in me going down." Yu Dazhang stood by the window, his eyes never leaving the white Nissan below, his tone very calm:

"We should trust our colleagues at the provincial bureau. They're more professional than us when it comes to arrests."

From the coordination just now, it was clear the provincial bureau's criminal investigators were very experienced and worked together seamlessly.

At that moment, Yu Dazhang saw Qi Fang had also come downstairs.

He watched as Qi Fang went straight up to the suspect, pulled him up from the ground, and rapidly asked him something.

A minute later, Yu Dazhang's phone rang.

After he answered, Qi Fang's voice came through:

"Identity confirmed. The person is an employee of a designated-driving company, with no direct connection to Zhang Chao."

"The other party called the designated-driving company's customer service line, and the service randomly assigned a nearby available driver to take the order."

Designated driver?

Playing quite the fancy game… Yu Dazhang had assumed Zhang Chao and his people had found a scapegoat within their own organization.

He hadn't expected them to be so stingy they wouldn't even throw out a fish bait.

This kind of designated-driving pickup order isn't rare, and drivers are quite willing to take them.

Compared to driving a drunk person home, an order like this is much easier, and pays more too.

"Did you check the other party's phone number?" Yu Dazhang asked.

"No need to check." Qi Fang replied:

"It was called from Zhang Chao's phone. He definitely called the customer service line first, then hid the phone in the car."

Hearing his words, Yu Dazhang suddenly felt something seemed off.

Zhang Chao used his own phone to call a designated driver — meaning he only had this one way to contact the driver.

Then he hid the phone in the back seat of the car, which meant his last point of contact was also severed.

The two sides could no longer reach each other…

Thinking of this, Yu Dazhang immediately ordered:

"Check the driver's phone call records, including messaging apps. See if he contacted anyone during the time he entered the residential compound."

"Yes, sir." Qi Fang replied immediately.

Soon, the inspection results came through from the other end — in the last half hour, the driver had not contacted anyone.

Could the driver have deleted his call records?

Deleting them wouldn't help.

The provincial bureau had technical personnel accompanying them too — these little tricks wouldn't fool them.

Hearing this, Yu Dazhang immediately scanned the area outside the window.

One step was missing…

How were Zhang Chao and his people getting their information?

Just sending a car here was useless — they had to know everything that was happening here.

There were two most direct ways:

One, Zhang Chao's phone had been on an active call the whole time.

That way, the other party could hear what was going on here through that phone.

But this method was clearly not stable enough.

First, the battery issue — if the phone died midway, this method would lose its effect.

Also, the phone couldn't dissipate heat while wedged in the gap.

Staying on a call for a long time would easily cause it to shut down from overheating.

There was another point that was hard to resolve.

With the phone hidden in the gap, the earpiece would also be pinched. As the car drove and jostled, it would be squeezed tighter and tighter, which would also prevent sound from being transmitted out.

Clearly the other party had considered these issues too, which was why they hadn't chosen this method.

Two, after the driver arrived, he called Zhang Chao's side.

As long as both sides stayed on the call, then once the police moved in, Zhang Chao's side would immediately hear what was happening at the scene.

But to make this work, the driver had to cooperate.

Encounter someone a bit sharp, and they would immediately spot something fishy. If they called the police, the other party's plan would fall apart on the spot.

Since the other party hadn't chosen either of these two methods, they must have had an even simpler and more covert method.

A third party!

A thought immediately sprang up in Yu Dazhang's mind.

Find another person to come to this residential compound early, and as long as they hide inside one of the buildings, they won't be discovered.

That way the message could be passed out without anyone knowing.

Is there any other way?

Yu Dazhang's mind raced rapidly, while his gaze swept the surrounding environment through the window.

No, there's no better method than this.

"Immediately surround the six residential buildings nearby." Yu Dazhang at once gave the order to Qi Fang:

"Search floor by floor going up; no household can be skipped."

"For empty households, get someone to open the lock. If there are any suspicious persons, arrest them on the spot."

After hearing this, Qi Fang immediately looked around.

What came into view was exactly six residential buildings, which also included the one where Wang Hao's home was.

After he finished looking, he immediately understood Yu Dazhang's intention.

Only these six buildings could see everything happening downstairs!

How could he be certain someone was hiding inside the buildings secretly watching? This doubt unconsciously popped into Qi Fang's mind.

But the current situation left no room for him to question it — speed is precious in war; now was not the time for hesitation.

As one order after another came through the walkie-talkie, all the criminal police and SWAT officers gradually tightened the encirclement, finally confining it within the scope of these six buildings.

From the moment the operation began, this residential compound had been locked down.

In other words, the moment people saw the police taking action, they could no longer get out of here.

Many hands make light work.

The six buildings were searched simultaneously; not a single household was skipped.

For those at home, check their ID. If they aren't residents of this compound, immediately treat them as suspicious persons, unless they can prove their relationship with the homeowner.

By this time it was already four in the afternoon.

It wasn't yet quitting time, so many households had no one home.

But that didn't matter — following Yu Dazhang's instructions, the provincial bureau officers contacted six professional locksmiths, who opened the doors and went in to search without damaging the locks.

Special circumstances call for special measures.

Criminal cases brook no delay.

An hour later, a report came through the police walkie-talkie:

"Building 6 search complete, no suspicious persons found."

A few minutes later, the report came again:

"Building 8 search complete, no suspicious persons found."

Right after that, Building 5, Building 3, Building 7…

Because the searches were conducted simultaneously, the completion times didn't differ much.

Soon, all six buildings had been searched, yet no suspicious persons had been found.

Was the deduction wrong? Yu Dazhang ran through the reasoning again in his mind.

It couldn't be wrong.

He must be inside these six buildings!

(End of this chapter)