Chapter 81: Brother Sen, You're Too Ruthless

Take Zhou Zizhe, for example—if he hadn't escaped, there's no telling where he'd be right now, and he certainly wouldn't have been able to provide leads to the police.

Ordinary human traffickers don't have that kind of ability, nor do they have the channels to get people out of the country.

But these people who run ships year-round are different.

They have transport channels at sea and sales channels abroad.

You have to understand that in many countries, special services are legal.

So all they need to do domestically is find a source of goods.

Actually, what Yu Dazhang worries about most is that the people up on the mountain have firearms.

Doing this for years, they'd definitely prepare weapons to prevent people from escaping.

Given the current domestic gun control in the country, getting their hands on a handgun isn't an easy thing for them.

But in the nineties, getting a few hunting rifles wasn't hard.

And the two service pistols belonging to the missing officers very likely fell into their hands.

At this moment, Zhang Sen's eyes had gone bloodshot; the emotions he'd forcibly held back finally burst out.

"Just tell me—are you coming with me or not?" he stared at Yu Dazhang and asked.

He looked just like a frenzied gambler.

"I'm not going." Yu Dazhang's attitude was very firm:

"And you're not going either."

"There's no time left!" Zhang Sen's voice carried urgency, agitation, worry, and many other emotions, as if he were enduring tremendous pain:

"Counting today, my master and the others have been out of contact for three days."

"If we delay any longer, their chances of survival will only get smaller and smaller."

"You know, he just became a father—his baby just turned one month old last month."

"If something happens to him, what will his whole family do!"

By the end, the muscles in Zhang Sen's face had twisted with agitation, and the whole man looked especially ferocious.

He's about to go crazy… Yu Dazhang sensed something bad was about to happen.

Zhang Sen's current state was very off—clearly he'd already lost his reason.

He hadn't expected Zhang Sen's feelings for his master to run this deep.

No—better to say Zhang Sen is a person of deep feelings; someone like that treasures every bond.

But letting emotions call the shots is a cardinal sin in criminal investigation—it's very likely to lead to a fatal mistake.

Yu Dazhang couldn't go along with his madness, especially something like delivering himself as a freebie.

So all he could do now was try to soothe Zhang Sen, get him to be more rational.

"Brother Sen, in this world, every feast must break up." Yu Dazhang sighed and said with regret:

"You'll get used to it eventually."

"I…" Zhang Sen was about to retort when he suddenly felt something was off.

What he said was clearly meant to comfort, but why did it sound so awkward?

Seeing it was working, Yu Dazhang went on:

"Even if I went up there with you, it wouldn't help—we only have a rough idea of that mountain village's situation."

"What specific people are there, whether they have weapons, how many of them—we don't know any of that."

"Even if we go investigate, we need a direction to investigate in, right?"

"And right now we don't have any evidence to prove those two went missing up on that mountain."

Although he could already be certain the people had their accident on the mountain, he couldn't say that to Zhang Sen.

He could see it—Zhang Sen couldn't wait even one more minute.

All he could do now was keep him steady, then wait for the detachment's people to arrive.

"Fine, I'll listen to you." Zhang Sen actually did calm down—just watch him take a deep breath, and his tone was no longer as agitated as before:

"You contact the detachment—we'll wait here."

After saying that, he sat down on the bed, took out his phone, swiped the screen a few times, then his thumbs tapped rapidly across it.

Looked like he was typing out a chat. Brother Sen actually takes advice pretty well… Seeing him like that, Yu Dazhang set his mind at ease too.

Going to the window, Yu Dazhang thought it over, and finally decided to report the current situation to Brigade Commander Wei Qian.

Originally he'd wanted to tell his master, Lu Zhongxin.

But time was too tight now—letting his master relay it would inevitably cost time.

After getting Wei Qian on the line, Yu Dazhang quickly reported all the leads he had.

He laid special emphasis on a few key points.

Someone like Wei Qian, who could serve as commander of the elite-packed First Brigade, naturally had a mind beyond the ordinary.

Yu Dazhang believed that with his IQ, he should be able to understand.

"So you're saying all of this is your inference?" Wei Qian's voice came from the other end.

"Yes." Yu Dazhang was also helpless:

"No direct evidence has been found yet."

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The situation was urgent—he simply had no time to go looking for direct evidence.

If there were time to spare, the most urgent thing now would be to trace the tracks the two missing officers had left behind in Fenglin Town.

For instance, which restaurant they'd eaten at, where they'd stopped to rest, who they'd come into contact with.

Once those pieces of evidence were nailed down, the sub-bureau would send people over to back them up, and then naturally they'd go investigate Sailor Camp Village.

But doing so will take at least a day.

By then, the branch office will have to report it, and the two missing officers will likely be dead.

Don't be fooled by how calm Yu Dazhang appeared when he urged Zhang Sen—he was just as anxious inside.

"Alright, I'll send the nearest few teams to support you first." Wei Qian, as a squad leader, thought swiftly and made his decision immediately:

"Don't take any rash actions. Keep investigating in town."

With those words, Yu Dazhang felt reassured.

If colleagues can arrive to assist, the time needed to find evidence will be drastically shortened.

After Yu Dazhang agreed, Wei Qian hung up the call.

He glanced at the time on his phone.

11:30 a. m.

Let's eat first… Yu Dazhang never advocated working on an empty stomach.

The body is iron, rice is steel; skip one meal and you're starving—how can you solve a case without filling your belly?

"Brother Sen, let's go eat—"

As Yu Dazhang spoke, he turned around—but the sight froze him in place.

Zhang Sen, who had been sitting calmly on the bed, had vanished without a trace.

Yu Dazhang's heart leapt—he quickly scanned the entire room, but saw no one else besides himself.

A premonition of doom surged over him like a tide, and his face turned grim.

He frantically searched the room's belongings—Zhang Sen's bag was gone too.

When did he leave?

Yu Dazhang frowned, straining to recall, then roughly estimated the time.

His conversation with Wei Qian had lasted about ten minutes.

In such a short time, Zhang Sen couldn't have gone far.

Thinking this, Yu Dazhang seized it like his last lifeline and quickly found Zhang Sen's phone number on his phone.

Just as he was about to dial, a brief alert tone sounded.

It's from him… Yu Dazhang immediately opened the message.

The first line.

【I can't be as rational and cold as you. I know the consequences of acting alone, but I can't care anymore.】

Just reading that opening line, Yu Dazhang felt his heart contract violently, as if gripped by a crushing hand.

So he hadn't been chatting—he'd been composing a message!

(End of Chapter)