Chapter 37: A Cautious Person

The scope was getting smaller and smaller... By all rights Yu Dazhang should have been happy, but he was growing more and more tense.

These were the moments when one was most likely to let down one's guard; in his previous life he had had similar experiences.

Whenever a case was drawing to a close, people would naturally start to relax.

Subconsciously believing that as long as they let things take their course, the case would be cracked.

But reality often ran counter to imagination; the closer to the end, the easier it was for leads to break.

And once they broke, to reconnect them was harder than hard.

Therefore, as long as the true culprit had not been caught, Yu Dazhang did not dare to relax for a single moment.

After another while, the people from the technical division arrived at the scene.

After a round of explanations with Zhang Yan's mother, the investigation work officially began.

Before this, Yu Dazhang had already had Qian Cheng take segmented photographs of the entire bed, and take separate photos of some key spots for preservation.

Extracting traces, making comparisons and verifications, reconstructing the scene — these tasks were naturally left to the professionals.

Qian Cheng was originally from the technical division, so he naturally joined their ranks.

Yu Dazhang and Lu Zhongxin went to the living room and sat down on the sofa next to Zhang Yan's mother.

"Auntie, is Uncle at home?" Yu Dazhang asked.

"In his room," Zhang Yan's mother pointed at another room: "He's taken ill."

Yu Dazhang's heart tightened a little, and he asked with concern:

"Why not go to the hospital?"

Perhaps sensing Yu Dazhang's concern, Zhang Yan's mother's tone was no longer ice-cold:

"We've been. Nothing serious, just a flare-up. In the evening a community clinic person will come to the house to put up an IV drip."

Lu Zhongxin sat beside them, watching the two of them chat on and off, never interjecting.

After these few days of working the case, he had found that this disciple basically had no superfluous moves.

Whenever Yu Dazhang took action, there was bound to be a payoff.

Just like the casual chat happening before his eyes, Lu Zhongxin had an inexplicable feeling that this disciple definitely had a purpose in mind.

Sure enough, after a few lines of chat, Yu Dazhang suddenly shifted the topic:

"Have any outsiders come to the house these past few days?"

Perhaps the question came too suddenly; Zhang Yan's mother was stunned for a moment before answering:

"Just my brother came to the house once."

"Your own brother?" Yu Dazhang pressed.

"Yes." Zhang Yan's mother nodded instinctively:

"He only learned what had happened to the child after he came to the house."

Hearing this, Lu Zhongxin's heart sank slightly.

Could Zhang Yan's uncle be the culprit?

His disciple wouldn't ask this out of nowhere — he must have thought of something.

But to everyone's surprise, Yu Dazhang didn't dwell on Zhang Yan's uncle at all, and switched to a different question directly:

"Then did anyone call to ask about the progress of the matter? Even if it was under the guise of concern."

"Well..." Zhang Yan's mother also caught on that this fat policeman was using her to look for leads, so she tried hard to recall.

After a long while, she shook her head and said:

"No, not a single one."

Truly no ordinary criminal... Yu Dazhang was secretly startled.

Since it was a crime by someone familiar, the culprit most likely knew Zhang Yan's parents too, yet he had managed to hold out for so many days without coming to inquire.

He was a cautious person.

After that, Yu Dazhang said nothing more, but sat quietly, his unfocused eyes fixed on the coffee table before him.

After a while, he gave Lu Zhongxin's thigh a light pat, then stood up and walked outside.

Lu Zhongxin knew this was his disciple summoning him to talk outside, so he stood up as well.

In the corridor, Yu Dazhang looked at him and said quickly:

"Go check the vehicles that drove out of the compound between 2:30 and 3:00 in the afternoon on the day Zhang Yan disappeared."

"As long as they're private cars, record every license plate number — don't let a single one slip."

Lu Zhongxin immediately guessed his disciple's intention.

To slip past the surrounding surveillance and leave the compound, the most direct, most convenient method was to drive away.

The reason for zeroing in on private cars was that a taxi driver, upon seeing a young girl being carried into the car unconscious, would certainly call the police.

After all, no one wants to become an accomplice out of nowhere. "Leave it to me."

Seeing Lu Zhongxin about to leave, Yu Dazhang immediately reached out and grabbed him.

"Hold on, I haven't finished."

After thinking for a moment, Yu Dazhang continued:

"Then rule out the vehicles that entered the compound before one o'clock in the afternoon — no, narrow the time to one-thirty, rule out all of them before one-thirty."

"For the remaining vehicles, investigate the owners' information, rule out the residents within the compound, and keep only the information on outside vehicles."

After confirming nothing was missed, Yu Dazhang finally let go, signaling that his master could go investigate.

Why rule out the residents within the compound?

The reasoning was simple — Yu Dazhang didn't believe that anyone with money would still live in this kind of old, run-down compound.

A well-off family might not necessarily buy luxury goods, but it would definitely spend in four areas... clothing, food, housing, and transportation.

After Lu Zhongxin left, Yu Dazhang took out his phone again and called the two team members who had been investigating Zhang Yan's social background.

"Come to Zhang Yan's place, I'll wait for you here."

Please... bookmark 6... 9... book.... bar....!

"We just uncovered a few leads."

"Come over and talk, your assignment is going to change a bit."

Half an hour later, the three met downstairs.

The two team members glanced at the police car parked downstairs.

"That's the tech division's car — what are they doing here?"

"Inspecting the crime scene," Yu Dazhang replied.

"You mean the crime scene is right at Zhang Yan's home?"

"Mm, I only just found that out today myself."

"……"

The two stared at the big fatty in front of them as if he were some kind of immortal.

In just two days without seeing him, he'd already tracked down the primary crime scene!

Does it have to be this efficient?

You know you're putting a lot of pressure on us, right?

"Tell me about the situation on your end first." Yu Dazhang ignored their stunned expressions, figuring they just hadn't seen much of the world.

"Honestly, we didn't find any particularly important leads either," one of them replied.

It wasn't false modesty — they had actually learned a few things over the past two days.

But compared to the fatty in front of them, it felt as if they'd done nothing at all in those two days.

"Then tell me about the less important stuff." Yu Dazhang suspected these two had been slacking off.

"Uh, that…" One of the team members thought for a moment, then said:

"We're still trying to find a breakthrough through Zhang Yan's classmates — do you remember that boy from the neighboring class named Zhou Yewei we mentioned last time?"

"I remember." Yu Dazhang had excellent memory, especially in this life, and he said quickly:

"The one who had a bit of a flirtatious thing going on with Zhang Yan."

"Right, that's him." That team member went on:

"We dug up some more things between them."

"Just a few days before Zhang Yan's incident, someone snitched on her and Zhou Yewei's affair and reported it to the teacher."

"Then the teacher called both sets of parents in, asking them to supervise their own children."

That teacher's move was pretty underhanded… Yu Dazhang grumbled inwardly.

It saved the teacher trouble and solved the kids' puppy-love problem in one go.

The only thing not considered was how the two kids felt — wasn't this basically a public execution?

At least find out how far they'd gotten first before you strike.

Seeing that team member pause, looking as if he were thinking about how to continue, Yu Dazhang prompted him:

"Just get straight to how it relates to Zhang Yan's disappearance later."

"This thing doesn't have a direct connection to Zhang Yan's disappearance, but after that there is something suspicious…" That team member stalled again, seeming to have trouble finding the right words.

(End of chapter)