Chapter 586: Twenty-Seven Seconds

Why was the upper age limit set at 40?

Yu Dazhang had based his reasoning on the brothers' ages.

Qi Jiandong was 29, Qi Jianhua was 27 — both were in their youth.

Between people of the same sex, a five-year gap basically means they can't hang out together, and a ten-year gap puts a generational wedge between them.

And 40 happens to be the dividing line.

Below it is youth, above it is middle-to-old age.

So in Yu Dazhang's view, keeping the age range between 18 and 40 was just right.

Younger ones might be sweet-talked into things, but people over 40 had a relatively lower chance of being conned.

Most importantly, there wasn't that much time left.

With only one day remaining now, he had to narrow the scope of the investigation as much as possible.

Lu Zhongxin immediately adopted his disciple's suggestion and reported it to the team right away.

After he finished reporting, Yu Dazhang proposed:

"Time's a bit tight. Best we split into two now — I'll head back to the branch bureau and stop by the tech section, see if we can lock down the other party's location. You wait here for the team's backup."

Someone definitely had to stay here to arrange the investigation tasks, so Lu Zhongxin replied at once:

"Go ahead. Contact me anytime if anything comes up."

Back at the branch bureau, Yu Dazhang went straight to the tech section.

Coincidentally Qian Cheng was also there, saving him the trouble of finding someone else.

Why not have the old man come back and cooperate with the police by making the call?

Yu Dazhang had already considered this back in the village.

Father and son had fallen out so badly that they hadn't been in contact for nearly three years. Calling at this critical moment — any fool would guess the police had already traced things back to the family.

"Brother Qian, I have the other party's phone number now. I want to get a location on it."

As he spoke, Yu Dazhang handed over his phone.

Qian Cheng took it:

"Give me a moment."

Ten minutes later, he walked back with another officer.

"Try to keep the call going as long as possible." Qian Cheng handed the phone back to Yu Dazhang and instructed:

"Minimum thirty seconds. The longer the call, the smaller the margin of error."

While he was speaking, the other officer sat down and placed a laptop on the desk.

After a series of operations, he gave Qian Cheng a nod.

"Go ahead." Qian Cheng turned and said to Yu Dazhang.

After a moment's thought, Yu Dazhang decided to dial Qi Jianhua's mobile number first.

Wasn't Qi Jianhua dead?

The man was indeed dead, but his phone hadn't been found at the scene — clearly it had been taken by an accomplice.

Not just the phone — every item on Qi Jianhua that could prove his identity had been taken, not even a key left behind.

As the ringtone began, Yu Dazhang's heart clenched. This was his first time calling a dead man — he hadn't expected it to actually go through.

He now both hoped the other side would pick up and feared hearing the person claim to be Qi Jianhua himself.

The ringtone played all the way through with no one answering, and Yu Dazhang couldn't help but let out a breath.

He dialed again, and the phone played the power-off prompt tone.

At least this proved Qi Jianhua's phone was in the other party's hands.

After thinking it over, Yu Dazhang dialed Qi Jiandong's number as well.

The same number, calling both brothers in a row — he didn't believe the other side wouldn't get curious.

This time the ringtone rang for just as long. Just as Yu Dazhang thought the other side wouldn't answer, the ringtone suddenly stopped, and a man's voice came through the phone:

"Hello?"

This caught Yu Dazhang off guard, but luckily he had already prepared his cover story before making the call.

"You're Qi Jianhua's brother, right?"

"Yeah, who are you?" Qi Jiandong's voice on the other end sounded fairly amicable.

Yu Dazhang introduced himself in a calm tone:

"My name's Qian Cheng, I'm your brother's friend."

After saying that, he paused, waiting for the other side to respond.

This was also to stall for time — by normal logic, he should have stated his business directly.