Chapter 579: At Least One of Them Uses His Brain

A craftsman too... Yu Dazhang heard the report and immediately drew his conclusion.

Private cars cannot be privately repainted to look like taxis, because that would raise suspicion of intending to disguise as a taxi for illegal operations.

Nor would any shop dare to take on such a job.

Therefore, the kidnappers must have done the repainting themselves.

If it were just random spray-painting, any ordinary person could do it.

But if it were repainted into a fixed pattern, that would require a professional to complete.

Clearly Lu Zhongxin realized this too, and he glanced at his disciple without changing his expression.

Working cases together during this period had made master and disciple even more in sync than before; with just one look, Yu Dazhang understood his master's intention.

"Master, I think we should report upward."

Yu Dazhang suggested:

"Have the bureau deploy personnel to search the road sections where the taxi went missing."

"Based on my deduction, the other side should have prepared a private car in advance; after switching vehicles, they would abandon the taxi in the suburbs."

"They don't care whether they leave traces, as long as they can evade police tracking."

Like in the movies, burning the abandoned car or pushing it into the river — all that is useless effort.

In real life, nobody does that.

The more you do, the more traces you leave; wanting to leave not a single trace is almost impossible.

So a normal person would consider how to shake off police tracking, rather than how to clean up every trace.

And even if cleaned up thoroughly, it's useless — footprints and tire tracks would still be left behind.

"Mm, you're right." Lu Zhongxin nodded, very satisfied with his disciple's suggestion:

"I'll apply to my superiors for support right now."

He merely adopted his disciple's suggestion; the one in charge of the case was still him, at least as far as outsiders could see.

Having become a master, some dignity still had to be maintained — Lu Zhongxin was no exception.

One hour later.

The police car drove into the suburbs and stopped at a residential dwelling.

At a glance, all the houses in this area had been abandoned; few were intact, and several had only two walls left standing.

In front of one of the dwellings, a taxi was parked, and officers from the technical division were conducting an on-site investigation.

After the four members of Lu Zhongxin's team got out of the car, they walked over.

Seeing them arrive, Qian Cheng immediately went to meet them.

"Any findings?" Lu Zhongxin asked.

Hearing the question, Qian Cheng did not answer right away; he first glanced at Yu Dazhang, then turned back to look at Lu Zhongxin, as if unsure to whom he should report.

"Brother Qian, what are you spacing out for?" Yu Dazhang spoke up to smooth things over:

"My master is asking you a question."

That one sentence jolted Qian Cheng back to his senses; he quickly looked at Lu Zhongxin and answered:

"From the footprints and fingerprints collected at the scene, we can confirm that seven people were active here — six men and one woman."

"After the investigation, no signs of any struggle were found, nor was any blood discovered."

Finally, Qian Cheng took a deep breath and continued:

"Besides this vehicle, another set of tire tracks was discovered; the tread pattern has already been lifted, but identification will still take some time."

Tire tread patterns are also one of the important clues.

Tires of different brands and models each have their own distinctive tread patterns.

By analyzing the tire tread pattern, one can roughly determine the general type of tire, and thereby identify the brand and model of the vehicle using that tire.

After hearing Qian Cheng's brief report, Yu Dazhang also had a rough judgment in his mind.

Six men and one woman — excluding the two who were kidnapped, there were five kidnappers in total, a number close to his earlier deduction.

The fact that footprints of seven people could be lifted indicated that Su Mi and Bai Jincheng were conscious during the vehicle switch and were cooperating with the kidnappers.