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墨書 Inktalez
Chapter 79: At a Loss
"Come on, come on, Lame Brother told you to hurry up."
A Lackey shouted at the disheveled Big and Small Gourd Brothers, rubbing his eyes.
It was late morning, not work hours, and the two were yawning as they got into the car. Big Gourd asked if they should prepare their gear; Erhu Lu replied that after a few days of decent living, who the hell would be so impatient as to look for trouble? The Lackey warned them that this troublemaker was not to be trifled with; Big Mao was looking for people, and if they couldn't find anyone, Big Mao would dare to tear down their Cangji shop.
Upon hearing this, Big Gourd shrank his neck, while Erhu Lu felt a bit guilty. Mao Shiping was in the heavy logistics business; they didn't know much else about him, but in terms of fighting ability, he was formidable. The workers in logistics were used to moving heavy items and were as strong as oxen. Mao Shiping could recruit dozens of such workers, and in any group fight, as long as these people showed up, it would quickly determine the outcome.
There was no way to fight back; those guys could grab someone and throw them several meters away. A lever as thick as a bowl could sweep through a crowd. Besides the Migrant Worker team, who could hold their ground for a few rounds, everyone else would simply flee at the sight.
They hurried to Cangji New Village. Old Cripple had a habit of wandering here for tea every morning. Today, the tea wasn’t very good. As the three approached the entrance, they heard shouting from inside: "…Old Cripple, are you doing this on purpose? We’ve always treated you like an older brother, and you’re playing me?"
It seemed that Old Cripple was trying to smooth things over. Bald Mao had a violent temper. Small Gourd and Big Gourd stood at the door, hesitant to enter, exchanging glances.
The Lackey rushed inside. Wait, where were the others?
No time to think about that. In the empty hall with no business going on, Mao Shiping angrily pointed at Old Cripple, cursing him. When he saw people returning, Old Cripple pointed at them like a savior: "Mourning Hair, don’t mess with me! If you don’t believe me, ask around—did I ever say that? You can threaten my life all you want; I won’t even blink."
"Stop talking nonsense! If you weren’t scared out of your wits, would you act like this… Where are the people?" Mourning Hair shouted angrily. He turned around and yelled, startling the Lackey, who pointed outside. With a shout from Old Cripple, Small Gourd and Big Gourd timidly stepped inside.
"Come here… I’m asking you, where’s Young Master Mu?" Mourning Hair beckoned to the two gourds. Erhu Lu, mischievous as ever, quietly pushed Big Gourd forward from behind. In a panic, under the fierce glare of Mourning Hair, Big Gourd stammered out: "He… he went back to… Binhai."
"When did he leave?"
"Yesterday…"
"When is he coming back?"
"I... I don't know."
"What did you go back for?"
"I... I don't know, just said there was something, took that girl back to Binhai... said he would be back in a day or two."
Big Gourd stuttered even more in fear. Despite his tall and hefty build, standing in front of Mao Shiping, he looked like a guilty schoolboy.
Having understood the situation, Old Cripple said, "I heard it; it's not like I hid him away."
"Hmph," Mourning Hair snorted heavily through his nose. He couldn't vent his anger on Old Cripple anymore. Turning around, he pointed at Big Gourd and said, "You remember this clearly; pass on a message for me."
"Okay, got it," Big Gourd nodded eagerly.
With a loud slap, Big Gourd was spun around by the force of the blow. When he regained his stance, Mourning Hair angrily said, "Don't you dare act so shameless... hmph."
With that, he swept away. Big Gourd was dazed, looking at Old Cripple with confusion. He couldn't understand what was happening. It wasn't like he had done anything too serious before to warrant such a harsh reaction. To his surprise, even the usually protective Lame Brother didn't have a kind expression. Limping over to him, he asked seriously, "The night before last, did you take Mourning Hair and Widow Ma to find Xiao Mu?"
"Ah... and Black Steel too," Big Gourd replied honestly while covering one side of his face.
Smack! The other side of his face received another slap as Lame Brother angrily shouted, "Who the hell told you to go? A bunch of idiots."
Along with that, Erhu Lu also got caught in the crossfire as Lame Brother stormed off in a fit of rage, leaving the two hapless brothers stunned in place.
"What the hell is going on? Why do I feel like I'm an outsider here?"
After a long moment, Big Gourd covered his face and muttered resentfully, unsure of why this disaster had befallen him.
"Don't look at me; I don't know either."
Erhu Lu was feeling frustrated; with his intelligence, he surely couldn't explain what was going on.
"Was it you who pushed me just now?" Big Gourd shouted angrily. Erhu Lu vehemently denied it, and soon the two gourds turned against each other, pulling at clothes, choking each other, and slapping faces, creating a chaotic scene in the hall.
In Binhai, on a drizzly morning, a business vehicle was heading towards New Garden Community.
"I want to emphasize a few points. First, pay attention to your methods. The residents here are all public servants; don’t bring your usual tactics into this," Shen Lingchen said. Laughter erupted in the car as Guo Wei and Guan Yiqing sat in the front, while five or six temporary investigators from the Criminal Investigation Bureau occupied the back seat.
As they neared their destination, Guan Yiqing was flipping through a thick stack of resident information. They were part of Group A, and the list of households to be investigated had already been identified. Shen Lingchen stressed, "We need to focus on rental households. Any properties still rented out during the time of the incident must be recorded."
"In addition to those registered through agents or property management, we need to check for any that might have slipped through the cracks—like those rented out by residents themselves or through friends," Guan Yiqing added.
Guo Wei also chimed in, "If any unusual situations arise, notify me immediately so we can verify them together. Be careful with your wording; do not mention anything related to the theft from two years ago."
"What should we say then?" someone asked.
Shen Lingchen smiled and replied, "Just say that our district branch is conducting an evaluation for model communities and top ten neighborhoods, aiming to thoroughly investigate outsiders and enhance security measures... This is directly related to the residents' interests; they will cooperate."
At this point, more laughter followed, but there were no further objections. This was how perimeter investigations typically went; most of the time, they proved ineffective.
Indeed, even Shen Lingchen couldn't gauge the situation accurately. He chatted quietly with the officers seated beside him while his brow remained furrowed, his mind tangled in knots.
Then another unexpected event occurred: Xiao Mu had slipped away without a sound. They still hadn’t found any trace of him and didn’t dare to search too aggressively. He glanced at Guan Yiqing, who shook her head—indicating that there was still no news. Their only means of contact was that phone, which was now unreachable.
So they could only treat this like a dead horse being used as a live one—checking for any overlooked details: rental occupants.
Was it possible? Could someone be renting in the community and waiting for an opportunity to commit a crime?
Shen Lingchen closed his eyes, envisioning a scene deep within his thoughts:
A week before the crime, or perhaps a month, or even longer, outsiders rented a house here, responsible for surveillance and tracking, searching for the best time to commit the act. During this period, they had ample time to arrange everything for entry and exit.
Hours before the incident, or even earlier, they opened the power distribution box and tampered with the circuits... then brought in the suspect in a vehicle, making it as convenient as if a resident of the community was bringing someone in, without raising any suspicions from the property management or security.
Next came the power outage, swiftly entering the target location, unlocking the security door, prying open the Insurance cabinet, and executing the theft. The corrupt official's treasure trove wasn’t frequented by many; they could take their time to carry things away.
“Guo Wei, pay attention; there might be a missing key point.”
Shen Lingchen opened his eyes and glanced at Guo Wei, reminding him, “Check the comparison of vehicles entering and exiting before and after the incident. There should be some vehicles that went missing or were using fake license plates.”
“Yes, I’ll remember that,” Guo Wei replied, sending this information back to the Information Center.
Guan Yiqing wore a puzzled expression. Shen Lingchen smiled at her as if asking if she understood. After thinking for a moment, Guan Yiqing nodded—she understood.
As they delved deeper into this unsolved case, it increasingly relied on big data analysis. She pondered that if what Xiao Mu said was true—that they had concealed their traces in the most ordinary way—then these suspects would indeed set a precedent for the Binhai City Theft Case.
Tracking leaders and officials to find hidden bribes and executing theft so cleanly… she couldn’t imagine how exhilarating it would feel to crack this case.
Upon arriving at their destination, two groups of officers began visiting door-to-door under the escort of property security.
Guan Yiqing had just run a short distance when she dashed back through the rain, catching up to Shen Lingchen as he headed toward the property building. “Master! Master! There’s news!”
“Are you kidding? There’s news before any investigation?” Shen Lingchen said with an incredulous smile.
“It’s not about an investigation; I mean Xiao Mu… there’s just been news.” Guan Yiqing handed over her phone; it was a GPS location just sent to her by the Information Center. Shen Lingchen frowned and asked displeasedly, “Did you forcefully turn it on?”
Guan Yiqing stuck out her tongue in acknowledgment. They had forcibly powered it on; unless he had thrown away his phone, they could always track him. Seeing Shen Lingchen's displeased expression, she whispered apologetically, “I’m sorry, Master. I noticed you’ve been worried these past few days, so I just had them forcefully turn it on for tracking.”
Forget it, Shen Lingchen thought, not wanting to pursue the matter any further. He looked at the location and pulled out his phone to compare, murmuring, "The Western Suburb Bamboo Grove area? What is he doing here?"
Aside from entertainment venues and hotels, it seemed that Young Master Mu had no other interests. This person was currently giving Shen Lingchen a headache; he couldn't afford to keep too far away, nor could he get too close, as he had no way of grasping his psychological tendencies. Shen Lingchen feared that acting rashly would backfire.
"It's hard to say. This person is always acting strangely; one moment he's joking around, and the next he's turned hostile... Too sensitive. The young master has a fragile heart; did you hit him too hard?" Guan Yiqing remarked with a smile as she took the phone.
"If you think that way too, then it means he definitely isn't like that. Go ahead and be busy; I’ll go meet him."
Shen Lingchen seemed to have thought of something and smiled unexpectedly. He turned back as if he was going to take a car.
Guan Yiqing stood awkwardly in the rain, puzzled and wanting to ask but hesitating to do so. She could only return to her post with this confusion. However, she remained unconvinced and zoomed in on her phone map, searching for the terrain around the Purple Bamboo Forest. That area was on the outskirts; it was unlikely there would be anything related to the Case Situation there—there couldn't even be an affair; there were no people around, just halfway along the highway.
Wait, could it be here? As Guan Yiqing zoomed in, she spotted a place name and instantly understood why Young Master Mu appeared in this location and why his eyes held such deep melancholy.
The place name was: Western Suburb Cemetery.
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