Chapter 368: Transportation

The Ningtai County Drug Enforcement Team operates under the county's Drug Control Committee and primarily focuses on publicity, education, and legal awareness campaigns.

When occasional drug cases arise, the team typically seeks assistance from the Qinghe City Drug Enforcement Unit.

In fact, the Qinghe City Drug Enforcement Unit doesn't handle many cases themselves, but they must support all districts and counties, and due to their relatively independent structure, they occasionally get to step forward.

The Ningtai County Drug Enforcement Team, by contrast, leans heavily toward theory—their team leader, Zhang Kun, even brought over a laptop.

Conference room.

After a brief round of introductions, Zhang Kun set down his laptop and said: "From my understanding, this case is a classic example of a separated-transport drug case—the dominant form of drug trafficking in China today. There are multiple methods: the most common involves using long- or short-distance buses to smuggle drugs in small, ant-like increments. Since luggage on buses isn't labeled, even if we find the drugs—or even spot the transporter on the bus—we can't identify or arrest the suspect because we can't link the drugs to a specific person."

Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and the entire Cold Case Task Force listened intently to Zhang Kun's explanation.

Police work is siloed—criminal investigators' daily routines differ entirely from those of public order, drug enforcement, or traffic police. A superficial involvement is fine, even acceptable, but when it comes to solving cases, you usually have to dig deep.

Seeing so many officers listening so carefully, Zhang Kun felt encouraged and continued: "Besides buses, criminals often exploit poorly regulated courier companies. In some areas, they even use private cars—sticking drugs to the undercarriage at night, then retrieving them the next day when the car is parked…"

Zhang Kun described several more methods of separating drugs from transporters, leaving the officers in the room genuinely surprised.

Liu Jinghui frowned deeply: "I never imagined drug trafficking had advanced so quickly—from motorcycle smuggling or pregnant women carrying packages to this."

Zhang Kun nodded solemnly: "Separated-transport methods are spreading rapidly. Cases involving unclaimed drugs are surging, and everyone's frustrated."

"Unclaimed drug cases" refer to those where drugs are found but the owner cannot be identified. Though the owner still suffers massive financial loss, compared to criminal liability, the penalty for losing the shipment is negligible.

Liu Jinghui rubbed his chin, lost in thought.

After just one or two minutes, he said: "If we're to classify this as a drug transport case, the most direct question is: where are the drugs? Hidden somewhere, or already transported away?"

Before anyone could answer, Liu Jinghui continued: "Following Zhang's lead, we should first check bus stations and courier outlets using the identities of Victim One and Victim Two—see if they bought tickets recently!"

This approach was highly practical. Though it sounded tedious, its feasibility was strong—it simply required assigning more officers to verify the data.

Jiang Yuan agreed: "If we can confirm one suspect as the drug owner, the motive behind this case becomes easier to analyze."

"Exactly," Liu Jinghui felt as if half the fog had lifted; he exhaled, relieved.

Zhang Kun continued educating the group on drug control knowledge.

After the meeting ended, members of Jiang Yuan's Cold Case Task Force dispersed, meticulously checking every bus station and courier outlet in the county with their newly acquired insights.

They found nothing—no ID numbers, no phone records.

In a normal case—or even an ordinary drug case—this level of dead end would have led to shelving the investigation.

Without leads, you can't just have the task force sit idle.

But Jiang Yuan's Cold Case Team had more manpower than needed, and since this was a continuation of a homicide case, Jiang Yuan effectively controlled a large pool of personnel.

"Reverse-check the surveillance—focus on bus stations and courier outlets. See if we can spot Victim One or Victim Two."

Sitting at

one end of the conference table, Jiang Yuan devised a crude but determined plan.

Liu Jinghui was startled: "That's an enormous scope."

Ningtai County has countless townships, most reliant on buses for commuting. The bus stations are sizable, routinely holding over twenty long-haul and mid-size buses, with surveillance cameras covering those vehicles and waiting halls numbering well over a hundred.

Liu Jinghui couldn't even imagine how long it would take to review all that footage. As for courier outlets, their numbers were also substantial—searching each one would be at least as time-consuming as reviewing one bus station.

Worse, surveillance systems at bus stations are often incomplete—regular riders frequently skip buying tickets inside and wait for buses on the streets outside.

Meaning, even after reviewing hundreds of cameras, you might still miss something.

Liu Jinghui would never pursue such a method. He'd never fought a case this resource-rich; the most resource-rich investigation he'd ever encountered was when he himself went missing.

Jiang Yuan, famous since youth and a native of Jiang Village, had a mindset unafraid of waste—this was the only lead they had; if it didn't pan out, so be it.

The officers under him didn't complain—they received orders and carried them out.

Soon, the fourth floor of the newly built Ningtai County Criminal Investigation Brigade building was filled with televisions and monitors.

Over twenty officers stayed up all night reviewing surveillance footage for two full days.

The scene left Zhang Kun, who had come to assist, utterly stunned.

Zhang Kun spent his career doing public education and rarely participated in actual cases, let alone major ones. Jiang Yuan was treating this drug transport case with the scale of an active homicide investigation—Zhang Kun felt the resources were overwhelming.

Jiang Yuan didn't care what Zhang Kun thought; to him, this unresolved drug transport case was part of the homicide case itself. Without evidence linking the drugs to the crime, the killer's motive and relationship to the victims could never be clarified.

Jiang Yuan himself reviewed surveillance footage, focusing especially on the blurriest clips.

Several times, figures resembling the victims were only ruled out after Jiang Yuan enhanced the images.

Time ticked away second by second.

The earliest officers assigned to the task force began to succumb to exhaustion, one by one falling asleep.

Jiang Yuan brought in more officers to replace them.

Mu Zhiyang also joined in, found an empty seat, turned on his computer, and began watching.

Not long after, Mu Zhiyang raised his hand: "Chief Jiang, I think I saw someone who looks like Victim One."