Chapter 9: Picking Apart the Cocoon

At the hospital entrance, Lu Zhongxin slammed the brakes and pulled over to the curb.

"The First Brigade will definitely arrange medical care for the injured suspect first—after all, it's a gunshot wound, and without police present, no doctor would dare take the case."

"Master, you, you you you…"

Yu Dazhang had done nothing to shame himself in two lifetimes; doing it once out of the blue short-circuited his brain.

"Your master is here. In a bit, if you don't know what to say, just stand guard at the ward door. I'll go in and talk to her."

Seeing Lu Zhongxin push open the car door to get out, Yu Dazhang hurriedly grabbed him:

"Don't, don't go yet. Think it over, let me think it over again."

"What's there left to think about? This is the only way." Lu Zhongxin glared:

"There's no time!"

Why so stubborn… Yu Dazhang suddenly felt he barely recognized this master of his.

Principles? Bottom line?

In Yu Dazhang's memory, Lu Zhongxin had always been a rigorous, rigid, rule-abiding man.

Even in his previous life, his funeral portrait was unsmiling.

How did he become so bottomless after starting over?

Could it be that meeting this life's version of me, he lowered his bottom line… Yu Dazhang really couldn't come up with any other reason.

"Master, let's just forget it." Yu Dazhang gripped Lu Zhongxin's arm tightly:

"Wrong is wrong. Even if I can never be a cop again, I'll accept it."

Yu Dazhang simply couldn't get past that mental hurdle. If he really did this thing, he'd have nightmares every night.

"Thought it through?" Lu Zhongxin looked at his apprentice, his face utterly expressionless.

Yu Dazhang nodded hard:

"Mm, let's leave it at that."

"Alright then, let me tell you the consequences of this matter." Lu Zhongxin paused, his tone turning grave:

"Your response in that situation was correct. Mistaking the person was because I hadn't briefed you on the case beforehand. If anyone is to be held accountable, I will bear full responsibility."

????

Yu Dazhang was dumbfounded.

"Then all that stuff you said earlier…"

"Was just testing you." Lu Zhongxin rare showed a faint smile:

"Ability is one thing, but doing this criminal investigator job, you have to have a scale in your heart. Once that scale tilts, the stronger the ability, the greater the harm."

Right—Lu Zhongxin really wasn't at ease about this apprentice of his.

When the new recruits first joined, he investigated three people, Yu Dazhang among them.

Overall, these three had no major issues, and none of them had done anything out of line.

But this Yu Dazhang alone had a less-than-stellar reputation.

He had even had a private chat with this new apprentice about it.

"Why do you always pick on this Xiao Zhao? He didn't provoke you during his internship, did he?"

"He's sneakily rotten. You'll see later—that guy is the most inhuman of all."

"I heard that during your internship at the Public Security Brigade, you took the initiative to ask a wayward woman for her contact info. Did that happen?"

"I wanted to challenge my weak spot."

Who could feel reassured hearing that?

This apprentice—if you don't test him, you don't dare use him!

In the end, Yu Dazhang didn't get out of the car, and then went back to the brigade with Lu Zhongxin.

He didn't want to see that woman either. With her fierce streak, meeting her would probably be a fight to the death.

Breaking free, snatching the gun, firing back…

That whole sequence—not to mention ordinary people, even the veteran criminal investigators at the brigade might not necessarily pull it off.

She not only did it, she succeeded!

How scary is that, tell me, how scary.

Just as they arrived at the brigade, Yu Dazhang made a request:

"Master, I want to look at the case file for that kidnapping case just now."

Case files aren't something you can just look at whenever you want—there are confidentiality principles, especially for new recruits like Yu Dazhang.

Once an ongoing case leaks, it can easily cause unnecessary losses and casualties.

But for Lu Zhongxin, pulling up a case file wasn't hard. Trust is something built up over time.

"I'll go ask the First Brigade."

Lu Zhongxin didn't overthink it, assuming Yu Dazhang wanted to study it.

This kid had just suffered for not having read the case file, so he must be feeling frustrated. He guessed right—Yu Dazhang did feel aggrieved. If he didn't see this case file, he wouldn't sleep well tonight.

In no time at all, Lu Zhongxin came back, a folder in his hand.

"Read it quickly. The case isn't over—the First Brigade still needs it."

"Understood."

Although the person had been caught, Yu Dazhang knew it wasn't time to close the case yet.

Only after interrogating those four kidnappers and confirming there were no accomplices could the closing procedure begin.

Yu Dazhang opened the case file and began to study it carefully…

Qu Tuotuo, 22, only daughter of Qu Wannian, chairman of Yisheng Group, sole heir of the Qu family.

Studied abroad three years ago, returned to the country on May 3, 2014, and was picked up at the airport by someone, never to return.

On May 4, the Qu family received a ransom call, then reported to the police...

Qu Tuotuo? Yu Dazhang fixed his gaze on these three characters.

Please... you.... collect 6... 9... book.... please....!

This name, her father must have given her at a KTV.

Picking up the photo clipped to the case file, Yu Dazhang frowned.

How could she be so beautiful?

In the photo, Qu Tuotuo smiled like a blooming flower, her eyes clear; she looked like the kind of girl who was pampered and raised in the palm of someone's hand.

Especially that mouth, beautiful and exquisite.

"Promise me you'll only use it to eat," Yu Dazhang said, moved by the sight.

Having just seen her in person, she gave the impression of being disheveled and grimy; Yu Dazhang simply could not connect that woman with the Miss beaming brightly in the photo.

Did the kidnappers abuse her during the kidnapping?

No, Yu Dazhang immediately rejected this thought.

That lady, if she had truly been abused, those four kidnappers would have been killed by her long ago.

Even if someone tried to take a small advantage of her, she would have shot between her own legs.

The back of the case file recorded the relevant evidence and investigation process collected by the First Detachment.

Among them was mentioned phone triangulation.

Much like Yu Dazhang's earlier speculation, when the kidnappers contacted Qu Wannian for the third time, the First Detachment used technical means to lock down their location.

Reading to the end, Yu Dazhang had roughly figured out this kidnapping case.

The case was not complicated, the method of solving it simple and effective; at present, there seemed to be no oversights.

Yu Dazhang flipped the case file back to the first page.

Next came the sorting.

List every clue of this case one by one, sort through it from beginning to end, and see if there are any doubts.

This was one of Yu Dazhang's habits.

Read the case file at least three times or more, conducting a thorough analysis of the entire case.

Returned to the country on May 3, 2014, picked up at the airport by someone and never returned...

Seeing this record again, Yu Dazhang suddenly raised his head, his eyes becoming sharp and deep.

Today is the 5th; so to speak, only two short days have passed since Qu Tuotuo was kidnapped.

Put another way, Qu Tuotuo had just returned to the country.

To know her specific return flight so precisely, and then to successfully take her away...

An acquaintance did it!

And an acquaintance with an extremely close relationship at that.

To obtain such critical information, this person must have had contact with Qu Tuotuo's parents.

Moreover, the entire Qu family clearly had no guard up against this person.

Is this person one of those four kidnappers?

"Master!" Yu Dazhang suddenly stood up and said urgently:

"Quickly contact the First Detachment and ask them to check if Qu Tuotuo knew those four kidnappers before; she must be awake by now."

(End of this chapter)