Chapter 864: Clues Approaching

Translator: Azza

When Chen Shi left the interrogation room, Peng Sijue rushed in and asked Qi Rui with a look of anger, "The drug that blinds the eyes. Is it a deworming essence, Anlubao, DK5 liquid, or methanol? Tell me the ingredients and dosage. I’ll take it now. Let her go!"

Qi Rui shrugged nonchalantly. "How would I know? He broke the puzzle apart in advance, so if you want to blame someone, blame him, hahaha!"

Peng Sijue glared at him with widened eyes. Chen Shi understood him. This was the angriest expression he could make. Chen Shi also noticed that there was a needle hidden in the pocket of his white coat. Did Peng Sijue intend to lynch Qi Rui?

Peng Sijue took his hand out of his pocket. Chen Shi grabbed his hand and shook his head to persuade him. "Don't be stupid!"

"It's just a low concentration of sodium thiopental."

𝐟𝕣𝕖𝐞𝐰𝕖𝚋𝐧𝗼𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝗰𝐨𝐦

"Truth serum? It doesn't work at all. Now is not the time to be impulsive. If you’re suspended, who can replace you?!"

Peng Sijue clenched his fist and Chen Shi forcefully pulled him out.

When they got to Peng Sijue's laboratory, Chen Shi said some comforting words but Peng Sijue couldn't listen. He said, "I know exactly what will happen. I don't need your comfort. You just need to tell me the progress of the investigation truthfully."

"We will definitely get Miss Gu back!"

Peng Sijue shook his head. "You should go. I will continue to work!"

Walking out of the forensics department, Chen Shi saw a little policeman standing in the corridor calling his family. Concern was disorderly; the little policeman’s tone was almost like he was quarrelling with the other person. Right now, the entire second team was in a state of unprecedented panic. If it weren’t for Lin Qiupu as their unwavering backbone, chaos would have erupted collectively long ago.

Chen Shi suppressed the negative emotions in his mind and continued to focus on the investigation.

At 3:00 in the afternoon, two and a half hours before Old Zhang’s family would come to harm, the police brought back what they found from Qi Rui’s residence for careful inspection. There were no sounds in the office. Everyone was looking down to check what they had on hand. Xu Xiaodong said, "I found a parking receipt!"

Everyone leaned over. The receipt was found in the wastebasket. It was used by Qi Rui to wrap a piece of chewing gum. The address on it was Baisha Mall. The time of the printed receipt was yesterday afternoon.

Chen Shi said, "I’ve been there. It’s supposed to be a commercial area planned ten years ago, but because of the location and traffic problems, it can't be rented out at all. It's basically in a semi-abandoned state."

Lin Dongxue expressed suspicion. "Just blatantly throwing key evidence in the trash can?"

"Qi Rui may not have thought that he would be arrested at all." Xu Xiaodong speculated.

Lin Qiupu said, "The location of Baisha Mall is within the scope of our reasoning. This clue should still be taken seriously. Let’s do it like this. Half of the people will go there and the other half will stay to continue the investigation."

Old Zhang said, "I must go!"

Thus, a group of policemen and Chen Shi rushed to Baisha Shopping Mall. On the way, Chen Shi said, "Qi Rui and Zhou Xiao are a couple."

"Huh?" Lin Dongxue was slightly surprised. "He said that himself?"

"I sounded the information out. I don't know if it can be considered a breakthrough point."

"So it was like that. That old lady said that she saw two men come out. It was them. If you look at it this way, Qi Rui and Zhou Xiao are partners while Ling Shuang is acting alone?"

"Zhou Xiao is definitely stronger in action. Ling Shuang tends to be the brains behind the operations, but they’re both wanted criminals. They can't walk outside blatantly. They definitely needed a new face. Qi Rui is this newcomer. I think we can start to investigate from Qi Rui to see how he met Zhou Xiao."

"According to Qi Rui's resume, it seems that he wouldn’t have joined for over three months. He has been trained to be so loyal in such a short amount of time? What magic power does Zhou Xiao have?!" Lin Dongxue pondered.

"It's not that he was trained. They’re essentially the same kind of people."

Lin Qiupu's voice came over the radio. "We’re almost there. Everyone should check their pistols and bullets. If you encounter a suspect, you’re allowed to shoot at the torso… You can't let them run away, dead or alive!

"Understood!", "Understood!" Everyone responded.

After a moment of silence, Lin Qiupu said again, "If you see Song Lang, do the same!" Even through the radio, they could hear that Lin Qiupu couldn’t bear it.

"Song Lang!" Lin Dongxue shook his head. "I can't imagine that a former police captain would change like that."

Chen Shi felt all five flavors[1] whirling in his heart. He could say to the radio right now, "That Song Lang is fake. The real one is right here!" To say this, he only needed to move his mouth, but it was almost impossible for him.

He thought again that if Zhou Xiao was really crazy enough to have plastic surgery to look like Song Lang and then he was shot dead here, would Song Lang be completely dead?

Then, he thought of a disgusting thing. Zhou Xiao looked like Song Lang. Zhou Xiao and Qi Rui were a couple, so that meant…

Shaking his head to shake off these thoughts, Chen Shi took a deep breath and readied himself to deal with what came next.

The Baisha Mall as a whole was a square-shaped structure with an entrance at the front and the back. The interior was as deserted as a ghost market. Only a few wholesalers rented the premises. When they saw the police coming in, a store owner sat on a chair by the door to watch the drama unfold.

Lin Qiupu was talking with a person who looked like a property manager. The property manager pointed his finger in a direction and Lin Qiupu beckoned everyone to follow.

When they got to the first floor of Unit 13 in Block B, everyone stood beside the door on each side with their pistols in their hands. Lin Qiupu knocked on the small door on the rolling gate. No one responded. He picked the lock open and opened it. The inside was empty and miscellaneous items were piled up.

"Damn, did they move?" Lin Qiupu wondered, "Or maybe they didn’t use this place."

"What is this…"

Chen Shi opened a bag. It contained nitric acid fertilizer. There were magnetic graffiti boards for children to play with on the ground. There was also a cleaning solution and soap. No warehouse would pile these things together. An astute person would see at a glance that these were the raw materials for the manufacture of explosives.

Chen Shi rubbed the powder on the ground and said, "They’ve been here!"

Lin Qiupu thought for a few seconds and said, "Go find the surveillance footage and witnesses. Ask if any suspicious vehicles have left today."

Old Zhang said, "Everyone, hurry up! There’s only twenty minutes left!"

Several police officers went out to investigate as Chen Shi asked, "Can you find an EOD dog? There are a lot of empty rooms in this place. There’s hundreds of them at the very least. Zhou Xiao doesn't need to take them away. He can hide them in another room."

"Only the SWAT team has EOD dogs. It's too late… Do you really think so?"

Chen Shi said firmly, "If I were him, I would do it like that!"

Staring at Chen Shi's eyes for a few seconds, Lin Qiupu said, "The rest of the people need to search the empty rooms around us. If there’s no one there, just kick the doors away!"

So the police kicked open the doors one by one, calling out the names of Old Zhang’s family members. Time passed by and everyone’s hearts were tense. When only the last three minutes were left, a sudden explosion shook the entire commercial city. Everyone followed the noise, only to see a room upstairs was smoking.

There was Old Zhang's cry over the radio. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"

Everyone understood what had happened in an instant.

1. Salty, sugary, sourness, bitterness, and spiciness. This refers to the mixed emotions people feel.