Chapter 419: Loss of Manpower

Translator: Azza

Editor: Conspiracing

After waking up the next morning, Chen Shi went to pick up Lin Dongxue. Instead of rushing to the bureau, they went to a Cantonese restaurant. Chen Shi ordered a bunch of shrimp dumplings, crystal buns, crispy egg tarts and sliced-fish congee.

Lin Dongxue asked, "How come we have the leisure time to eat this today?"

Chen Shi said, while pouring tea, "Guess!"

"Are you tired?"

Chen Shi smiled. "I'm really tired. To be precise, I can’t muster up any zeal. I wanted to put the murderer into the hands of the police. You all managed to find that evidence after a thorough investigation. I just didn't expect to encounter such an opponent."

Chen Shi shook his head, "It's hard to mess with the rich!"

"If you don’t want to investigate, let the task force do it. The identity of the deceased hasn’t been determined yet and the complete body hasn’t been found. The female cleaner is also missing. These investigations are laborious and inconsistent with your elegant style."

"Am I elegant?"

"In everyone's mind, you are the same as God, always pointing to truth when we’re confused."

Chen Shi smiled bitterly. "The light of epiphany is also based on systematic and comprehensive investigation. In fact, there are no genius detectives in the world. It’s just a difference in experience and way of thinking."

"We don't have a brain like yours."

Lin Dongxue pulled out her mobile phone to read Weibo. There was no news of Luo Zuyu being taken to the bureau yesterday. Everyone was still avidly discussing the gossip and news of other stars.

Through this incident, she discovered that the scandals exposed by the entertainment industry were really just the tip of the iceberg.

When breakfast arrived, Chen Shi ate with gusto. The food healed his exhaustion and he planned to continue his investigation that day. He must investigate until the water recedes and the rocks appear[1].

After eating, the two went to the bureau. The meeting room was completely full. Lin Dongxue thought that she was late. At that moment, Lin Qiupu came and said, "Drop Luo Zuyu’s case for now!"

"Wh- what?" Lin Dongxue suspected that she had heard it wrong. "Why aren’t we investigating it?"

"I’ll explain in the meeting."

"No, you have to make it clear now. Why shouldn’t we check it? Did the higher-ups exert pressure? Or is it the influence of public opinion?"

"What are you thinking about?" Lin Qiupu frowned. "If the police suddenly stop investigating a case, it’s because there’s an even bigger one that appeared! Last night, a triad weapon-carrying car was knocked over. There are a dozen guns missing. It’s very likely that they will be scattered around the city. There may be shootings at any time. The chief immediately ordered the establishment of a task force and all other cases will be shelved for now!"

Lin Dongxue was shocked and speechless. Did something like this have to happen right now?

Chen Shi said, "I'm not going to participate in any gun-hunting case."

Lin Qiupu mocked, "Do you think it's boring?"

"I don't like to give up halfway. And besides, I’m not a policeman. Why should I listen to your assignment? I’ll investigate Luo Zuyu's case even if I have to do it alone!"

Lin Qiupu sighed. “Are people who have already died or people who could die at any given time more important?”

"Bye!"

Chen Shi turned away. Lin Dongxue looked questioningly at Lin Qiupu and Lin Qiupu said helplessly, "Hurry up and catch up with him!"

When Chen Shi heard this, he turned around and said, "I want Dongxue and Xiaodong. At least two police officers are required to obtain legal testimony. You can take away all the others!"

“You’re taking a mile when I’m giving you an inch?"

Chen Shi walked back. "I investigated some things in order to understand Luo Zuyu's motive for committing the crime. He was also involved in the disappearances of other girls before. In the end, he was released due to insufficient evidence. I have reason to believe that this isn’t the first time he’s done this. If we give up at this juncture, he might really go unpunished. He has a professional team to help him wipe his butt, so he will continue to kill without fear. But next time he won’t be facing us. We only have this one chance to be his opponents! If we can’t figure it out, would the police in other cities be smarter?”

Lin Qiupu said earnestly, "The dozen guns lost right now..."

"You haven’t been a criminal police officer for a day or two. You know that a case has a hot period of one week. Once the time has passed, it will become more and more difficult to investigate. And it will eventually become a pile of wastepaper in the archives. How many ancient cases have been thoroughly investigated?! Many cases are just waiting for a death row prisoner to confess in return for a meal of roasted chicken. That’s how they get solved!"

Lin Qiupu thought it over again and again. Then he reluctantly took a step back. "I can only give you these two people. I can’t provide any more help. We really don’t have enough manpower.”

"Thanks!" Chen Shi cupped his fist in his other hand in gratitude.

"But there is a condition. After Luo Zuyu's case is over, you have to come over and help us investigate this case."

"I’ll try my best!"

"What do you mean that you’ll try? Give me a definite answer."

"Of course, of course!"

While the others were holding a task force meeting over in the conference room, Chen Shi, Lin Dongxue, and Xu Xiaodong sat in the deserted office. Lin Dongxue said, "There are only a dozen guns. Why did they ask the criminal police to investigate? And they assigned two teams at the same time at that?"

Xu Xiaodong replied, "You don’t know about the situation. The criminal left a letter at the scene, saying that these guns would be mailed to a dozen strangers. This was the most terrible part. Now ordinary citizens may have received the guns. No one knows how many people would die!"

"No way?"

Chen Shi asked, "What else did the letter say?"

"There seems to have been a symbol. A butterfly with a skull on it. I don't know what it means."

"Ghost Face Butterfly?!"

"Brother Chen, what is that?"

Chen Shi’s mind kept running. This Ghost Face Butterfly has actually resurfaced again, and he concocted such an unprecedentedly major case in one go. His and Luo Zuyu’s cases happened at the same time. Could it be a coincidence? Or was it intentionally done to divert the police's attention?

Xu Xiaodong asked again, "Brother Chen, what is this Ghost Face Butterfly?"

"I’ll tell you later. Let’s investigate our case first. We only have the three of us. One of us has to do the work of ten!”

"Huh?!"

Lin Dongxue hit Xu Xiaodong and said, "Huh, what? Whether we can find out the truth or not depends on us."

Chen Shi put a USB flash drive on the table. "When I went to the hotel yesterday, I took this thing from the suite where Luo Zuyu is currently staying."

"Isn’t that stealing?" Lin Dongxue said.

"How can you say that it was stealing? I saw it fall to the ground and picked it up... Let's see what's in it."

Chen Shi inserted the USB drive into the computer and opened it. There was only one audio file in it. He clicked the play button. It was a song. Xu Xiaodong bounced his legs to the rhythm and said, "Not bad. I haven't heard this song before. What is it called?"

Lin Dongxue said, "Doesn’t the phone have a shake function where you can find out what song it is?"

𝑓𝘳𝘦𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝘷𝘦𝓁.𝑐𝑜𝑚

"Let’s try it!"

Xu Xiaodong shook his phone to the music, but the screen showed that the song couldn’t be found. Chen Shi smiled and said, "This should be a new song that hasn’t been released yet. Listening to it, it seems like Luo Zuyu’s the one singing."

"Oh, it’s almost finished. The arrangement is already there." Xu Xiaodong exclaimed in admiration.

"Return this thing. We shouldn’t let them use this against us."

"Next time. We’ll use it as a reason to visit again." Chen Shi said, "Come. Help me make a few calls. Let's check this kid’s background!"

1. A popular expression that describes the truth coming to light. It’s because when the water recedes, rocks can be seen.