“Through this inner projection, the executioner hinted to the police that there might be more kidnappings like that.”
——With only twenty-nine hours left in the detection time, the life of the hostages has entered the critical juncture of the countdown stage, which shakes the entire investigation direction of the Municipal Bureau.
Yan Xie didn’t say a word. He seemed to have fallen into consideration, and slowly stood up from the computer.
Following his action, Jiang Ting also stood up; the two of them stared at each other face to face for a while before Yan Xie spits out a sentence:
“You say, I’ll listen.”
Jiang Ting stretched out his hand and gave high-fidelity headphones to Yan Xie, put on another one himself, and replayed the phone call from the beginning. The recording rustled, and the first sentence was: “Two hundred million, how are you preparing?”
Jiang Ting pressed the pause button, “The kidnapper repeated this sentence several times when he was negotiating with Shen Xiaoqi’s father. According to my memory, the voice tone during each repetition was thick and low, and the fluctuation was very flat. The word ‘le’¹ was used as a question without raising the voice at the end of the sentence. It is a more mechanical tone without emotional factors.”
Yan Xie nodded.
“But when you started negotiating with the kidnapper, his voice changed.” Jiang Ting cancelled the pause, and a clear “ha” came from the headset, followed by:
“I’m right here, come and catch me, I’ll wait for you.”
“Did you hear that?” Jiang Ting stared at Yan Xie’s eyes: “He gave a very disdainful sneer before the provocation, and the end tone was obviously raised. What do you think this means?”
Yan Xie murmured, “Emotions.”
“Yes, the tone that was mechanically flat just now suddenly became emotional, and then continued on.”
“If you can’t get the money, it means you don’t want this child’s life!… That little brat was unlucky, so he is tied up, …..You want to spare one without spending any money? Dream on!…”
Jiang Ting pressed pause again.
“If you don’t know the background of the kidnapping case, and completely remove the blood-soaked jacket, white-tailed sea eagle, sky-high ransom, precise execution time and other abnormal factors and just listen to the above recording, you will have a preliminary idea of the kidnapper in your brain. What’s it like?”
Yan Xie pondered: “A greedy, vicious, ruthless traditional kidnapper.”
Jiang Ting nodded in agreement: “Yes, it is traditional and typical.” Immediately after he clicks to play the recording for the third time.
Following his movements, the electronic voice rustled out the last sentence left by the kidnapper, cold and emotionless: “Before the execution time… Twenty-nine hours.”
The recording ends.
“Now.” Jiang Ting said, “Remove the established image of greedy, vicious and ruthless from your mind, and only remember this last sentence; then contact the bloody jacket, sea eagle, sky-high ransom, etc. Did your judgment on the kidnapper change? Or is he still the traditional kidnapper?”
“……” Yan Xie suddenly looked at him.
The air on the command car tensed bit by bit.
“No, he has changed.” Yan Xie said softly, every word seemed unbelievable: “He has become… an executioner.”
Jiang Ting’s expression remained unchanged: “Or maybe, a cold-hearted execution officer.”
“This kidnapper has always been elusive to the police because he expressed very contradictory intentions. But if we divide the kidnapper’s abnormal behaviour into two parts and treat him as two different characters, everything can be explained.”
Jiang Ting rested his waist on the back of the seat, took off the headset, and raised an index finger at Yan Xie: “First, he kidnapped Shen Xiaoqi to extort money from the Shen family, and eagerly demanded ransom in the form of threats; and was full of malice towards the police. When he appeared in this role, keywords such as ‘two hundred million’ and ‘execution’ would never appear. Instead, ‘you don’t want this child’s life’ — the usual phrase the kidnappers used when they threaten to kill the hostages was obviously more inclined.”
Yan Xie was thoughtful and nodded silently.
“But when he was the executioner, his motive seemed to have nothing to do with money. On the one hand, he couldn’t run with 200 million in cash, but he didn’t ask the police for any means of transportation, not even the banknotes without consecutive numbers; no basic conditions were put forward. On the other hand, he rejected the common sentiments of traditional kidnappers such as ferocity and greed, and repeated the execution period ruthlessly, again and again, showing an extremely strong desire for execution; at the same time, his accuracy of time seems to have a strong sense of ritual.”
Yan Xie suddenly realized something: “… a sense of ritual?”
“Yes.” Jiang Ting said, “My personal opinion is that the role of the executioner whose motive has nothing to do with money is the real identity of the kidnapper.”
Yan Xie took out a cigarette, rubbed it subconsciously between his fingers, and repeated, “Motive.”
He seemed to ponder on these words carefully, and muttered to himself for a moment: “If the pursuit of execution is his real motive, then kidnapping is only a link leading to the final result — only through kidnapping, the ‘execution’ can be achieved. The ultimate goal…”
Yan Xie stopped speaking and rubbed his frown with his knuckles. A certain guess seems to be coming into his mind, but it is vaguely elusive.
“Kidnapping is a part of the ritual. ‘Ritual’ is to externalise an individual’s inner emotions about a certain thing, and has the characteristics of emotional traction, displacement, subconscious picture projection and so on.” Jiang Ting paused for a while and said: “Generally speaking, the pursuit of ritual represents people’s desire to project their inner picture into reality, and commemorate, mark and identify with them. And kidnapping, as the executioner’s inner picture, is also a necessary way to satisfy his desire for punishment, indicating that it is very possible —”
“This is not the first kidnapping case.” Yan Xie suddenly said.
He suddenly looked at Jiang Ting: “— every time he gave us the exact time, continuously repeating 8:09. Which means this executioner is projecting what had happened before!”
Jiang Ting was noncommittal, and after a long time, he nodded lightly.
Yan Xie did not delay at all, and immediately took out his mobile phone and dialled the number of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
“Hey Chief Wei, I’m Yan Xie… There is no progress in the search and rescue, and the kidnappers do not accept communication at all… Listen to me Chief Wei, I have a new investigation idea here…”
“What? What did you say?” Deputy Director Wei was devastated by a bunch of phone calls in the conference room: “What time is it? Why do you want to mess with me?!”
“I want to focus my manpower to look through similar case files in the past three years across the whole province,” Yan Xie said word by word. “This is probably not the first time the kidnappers have committed a crime.”
……….
The sun gradually went west, and time passed minute by minute.
On the highway, three police cars whizzed past and rushed towards Jianning City, which was busy during the evening rush hour.
With a bang, the door of the outer office of the Criminal Investigation Division was pushed open.
Yan Xie was followed by a large group of temporarily recruited personnel from technical investigation, map investigation, and data department, etc.; while striding forward, he turned his head and ordered: “The scope of the investigation includes the entire province in the past three years. Pair of young men and women who were kidnapped, both with a certain social relationship between them are listed as the primary screening focus, and only one hostage’s family received an extortion call with a huge amount of money is listed as a secondary focus; priority is given to reviewing the old records of unsuccessful hostage rescues. The old case does not necessarily take place in Jianning, and sub-bureaus and police stations under all levels in cities, counties, and towns under this province are more likely to…”
Everyone followed quickly, and a map investigator raised his hand timidly and asked: “Vice-Captain Yan, it is rare to kidnap two people at once. Does the hostage have to be a young man and a woman? Is it Ok for a man or a woman?”
Yan Xie said impatiently: “Okay! Just find it out! I’m not surprised what children do these days!”
Bang——
Suddenly Yan Xie bumped into something and almost stumbled, only to hear a cold voice in front of him:
“We are also not surprised by what you did!”
Yan Xie covered his head and looked, only to see Fang Zhenghong, the leader of the anti-drug division next door.
Fang Zhenghong still had that sickly complexion, with a very bad expression on his face. Yan Xie glanced at him and his heart sank slightly. But over ten years of professional criminal investigation has tempered him to be more tactful. He didn’t answer him immediately; just smiled, nodded and then walked away.
Unexpectedly, Fang Zhenghong reached out and stopped him just after he passed by:
“There are only more than 20 hours left until the time is over, and you have drawn everyone back to overturn the case file; do you think there is too much time to pass?!”
Here we go again.
Yan Xie stopped and thought about it for a moment in his mind, but the pleasant expression on his face did not change: “Oh, this matter. The team doesn’t know anything, and Chief Wei thinks there is a very high possibility that this is not the first time for the kidnapper to commit the crime, so we hope to find a breakthrough through the previous clues.”
He didn’t fight Fang Zhenghong, but only brought Chief Wei out as a shield. Sure enough, Fang Zhenghong didn’t continue to dwell on this topic. He snorted from his nose, opened Weibo on his mobile phone, and threw it:
“Then this is what Deputy Director Wei asked you to do?!”
Yan Xie looked down.
A big V with millions of fans posted: Jianning traffic police in the City centre whistle to clear the way for a luxury car, and the hot search was withdrawn for no reason. Where did the luxury car come from? The local traffic police did not dare to respond directly, and netizens were banned in waves. What is it that needed to be hidden?
The accompanying picture shows the coded S450 arrogantly going away under the red light. It wasn’t unexpected that the crowd was furious. It was retweeted 6,000 times and liked more than 10,000 times.
“……” Yan Xie said with a smile: “Daben is considered a luxury car. If I didn’t know it, I would have thought that I had driven a Bugatti Veyron…”
Fang Zhenghong pulled back his phone: “Why didn’t you immediately report to Chief Lu and Chief Wei, and ask the official account of the Municipal Bureau to come forward to clarify? You used your own network to withdraw the hot search in seconds, but it caused bigger and worse problems. Who doesn’t say that you have a ghost in your heart now!”
The half-smiling expression on Yan Xie’s face disappeared, and he said lightly: “Now everyone knows how to manipulate public opinion. Just find a few big Vs to buy a water army, and the excitement will pass after two or three days. If we care about online public opinion, the case will not be solved. Why do you care so much about the water army?”
“Tell this to the traffic police brigade next door!” Fang Zhenghong scolded sharply: “The captain of the traffic police brigade came to the city bureau to scold all morning! He hasn’t gone yet!”
This is the place of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. Fang Zhenghong can be said to be scolding and his face shows no mercy. Not only did everyone in the office stand up with ugly expressions, but even the trainee police officers outside the corridor in the distance stopped in fear.
Not far away, in the Vice-Captain’s office.
Hearing the movement, Jiang Ting suddenly got up from behind the desk, walked to the door, and looked out sideways through the glass.
Captain Fang is usually very strict in discipline and diligent. So for him, Yan Xie is not pleasing to the eyes, who have a slightly slippery wrist and extravagant living habits. It is not a secret in the city bureau — but private views are private, and the working relationship between the two must be maintained on the surface. So there haven’t been many problems over the years.
Yan Xie didn’t know why since captain Fang came back from an illness his temperament seemed to have changed drastically. Seeing that he had found himself today, did he fall ill again today? But what he knew was that the criminal investigation of Jianning under the sub-provincial system was half a level higher than that of the anti-drug. In theory, he and Caption Fang were equal. If he was still scolded by Fang Zhenghong on his own territory, then he as Unit deputy leader will not have any dignity in the future.
“Captain Fang,” Yan Xie took a breath, crossed his hands in front of him, and asked with a slight smile, “Which bureau chief do you want to question me today, Chief Lu? Chief Wei?”
“You—”
“I didn’t handle this matter properly. But it happened suddenly, and there is no other way. If director Lu or Deputy director Wei have any opinions, then I will accept their criticism and I will pay attention to it in the future.”
Fang Zhenghong’s bloodless face, which had just recovered from his injury, became flushed: “Don’t carry Director Lu and the others out to talk about things. You know how many things you have done in secret! In the last drug production case, everyone watched you slip away from the scene…”
“I went to catch the sniper, and I explained it to the two directors afterwards.” Yan Xie interrupted him coldly, “Captain Feng may have been out of action for too long, and I’m afraid these words have been forgotten ‘matters are urgent just followed in a hurry’.”
Fang Zhenghong raised his voice abruptly: “Follow in a hurry? I’m just afraid that no one knows what kind of ghost is hiding in vice-captain Yan’s office!”
Yan Xie’s aura didn’t give in, but his heart froze for a moment.
What does he mean?
Does he know something?
Yan Xie retracted his gaze and sneered. When he looked up again and quickly glanced at the door of his office not far away.
——He knew that Jiang Ting was standing behind the single-sided glass door, and he instantly met his line of sight.
“Look at what you said,” Yan Xie said jokingly with a smile, “If someone who doesn’t know listens to it, they will think I have a little lover in the office.”
Fang Zhenghong disliked his casual appearance the most. He got angry on the spot: “I’m telling you, Yan Xie, heaven’s net has wide meshes, but nothing can escape from it². You…”
Suddenly, a steady and familiar female voice came from behind everyone:
“There are only more than 20 hours left in the kidnapping case. If you aren’t looking through the case file, what are you doing here?”
Everyone turned their heads in unison, and Yan Xie’s eyes lit up.
At the door of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, a female police officer in her 50s with short hair stood with her hands behind her back, with a thin body and a peaceful face. Everyone in sight lowered their gazes involuntarily, and buzzing discussions sounded in a distance from the office hall.
From Fang Zhenghong’s expression, he was extremely surprised. His sparse eyebrows were tightly wrinkled as if he suspected that he had seen it wrong:
“…Captain Yu”
Yan Xie just wanted to step forward, but before he had time to move, he was stopped by Captain Yu.
“Captain Fang’s opinion is very correct. Today’s young people are not stable enough. If they see criminals, they dare to chase up alone, and don’t take their own safety seriously.” Captain Yu walked into the office while everyone avoided them. She raised her hand and nodded to Yan Xie, her expression was a bit stern: “Be sure to pay more attention in the future!”
Yan Xie nodded in agreement.
“However, since the time for kidnapping cases is getting less and less, the older generation still has to focus on the overall situation, and shouldn’t distract these young people from criminal investigation for the time being.” Captain Yu’s tone slowed down and she smiled at Fang Zhenghong like this: “Am I right, Captain Fang?”
There seems to be an invisible string in the void that is gradually tightening, and no one dares to let out a single breath.
The flush on Fang Zhenghong’s face gradually faded, and it turned into a sickly and blue complexion again. He looked up and down at Captain Yu, wondering what she was thinking about, and after a long time, he snorted:
“It’s just as you said.”
Captain Yu nodded in approval.
Fang Zhenghong turned around and left, and suddenly stopped at the door. He turned his head in the eyes of everyone, looked at Captain Yu with a deep meaning, and asked, “However, that energy should really be focused on business, isn’t it Captain Yu?”
Then, without waiting for her to answer, he walked away and went straight out of the door of the Criminal Investigation Detachment.
The string suddenly loosened, and the gloomy pressure in the air suddenly lightened.
“What are you doing around here! Why don’t you go to work soon! Hurry up! Hurry up!” Yan Xie’s roar resounded through the office, and the policemen hurriedly ran away with the case file in their hands.
“Youth hostages! Have social connections! It’s 8:09! Every kidnapping and disappearance case in the past three years that was suspected to be a fraud case! Don’t be stunned, hurry up!!”
The entire Criminal Investigation Detachment was shivering with yelling, and everyone wished they could learn to apparate in an instant. It wasn’t until there was no one around that Yan Xie changed his face in an instant, and hurried forward to meet her: “Captain Yu, I heard about your heart bypass surgery…why are you here today?”
Yu Zhu, the head of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Jianning City Public Security Bureau, who is in his early fifties, raised her thin hand and pressed the position of her heart, and said with a smile, “I’m old, and finally the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dry.”
Yan Xie’s pupils shrank slightly.
Captain Yu patted him on the shoulder: “I came to the bureau today to talk to Director Lu about my retirement because of the illness.”
“Through this inner projection, the executioner hinted to the police that there might be more kidnappings like that.”
——With only twenty-nine hours left in the detection time, the life of the hostages has entered the critical juncture of the countdown stage, which shakes the entire investigation direction of the Municipal Bureau.
Yan Xie didn’t say a word. He seemed to have fallen into consideration, and slowly stood up from the computer.
Following his action, Jiang Ting also stood up; the two of them stared at each other face to face for a while before Yan Xie spits out a sentence:
“You say, I’ll listen.”
Jiang Ting stretched out his hand and gave high-fidelity headphones to Yan Xie, put on another one himself, and replayed the phone call from the beginning. The recording rustled, and the first sentence was: “Two hundred million, how are you preparing?”
Jiang Ting pressed the pause button, “The kidnapper repeated this sentence several times when he was negotiating with Shen Xiaoqi’s father. According to my memory, the voice tone during each repetition was thick and low, and the fluctuation was very flat. The word ‘le’¹ was used as a question without raising the voice at the end of the sentence. It is a more mechanical tone without emotional factors.”
Yan Xie nodded.
“But when you started negotiating with the kidnapper, his voice changed.” Jiang Ting cancelled the pause, and a clear “ha” came from the headset, followed by:
“I’m right here, come and catch me, I’ll wait for you.”
“Did you hear that?” Jiang Ting stared at Yan Xie’s eyes: “He gave a very disdainful sneer before the provocation, and the end tone was obviously raised. What do you think this means?”
Yan Xie murmured, “Emotions.”
“Yes, the tone that was mechanically flat just now suddenly became emotional, and then continued on.”
“If you can’t get the money, it means you don’t want this child’s life!… That little brat was unlucky, so he is tied up, …..You want to spare one without spending any money? Dream on!…”
Jiang Ting pressed pause again.
“If you don’t know the background of the kidnapping case, and completely remove the blood-soaked jacket, white-tailed sea eagle, sky-high ransom, precise execution time and other abnormal factors and just listen to the above recording, you will have a preliminary idea of the kidnapper in your brain. What’s it like?”
Yan Xie pondered: “A greedy, vicious, ruthless traditional kidnapper.”
Jiang Ting nodded in agreement: “Yes, it is traditional and typical.” Immediately after he clicks to play the recording for the third time.
Following his movements, the electronic voice rustled out the last sentence left by the kidnapper, cold and emotionless: “Before the execution time… Twenty-nine hours.”
The recording ends.
“Now.” Jiang Ting said, “Remove the established image of greedy, vicious and ruthless from your mind, and only remember this last sentence; then contact the bloody jacket, sea eagle, sky-high ransom, etc. Did your judgment on the kidnapper change? Or is he still the traditional kidnapper?”
“……” Yan Xie suddenly looked at him.
The air on the command car tensed bit by bit.
“No, he has changed.” Yan Xie said softly, every word seemed unbelievable: “He has become… an executioner.”
Jiang Ting’s expression remained unchanged: “Or maybe, a cold-hearted execution officer.”
“This kidnapper has always been elusive to the police because he expressed very contradictory intentions. But if we divide the kidnapper’s abnormal behaviour into two parts and treat him as two different characters, everything can be explained.”
Jiang Ting rested his waist on the back of the seat, took off the headset, and raised an index finger at Yan Xie: “First, he kidnapped Shen Xiaoqi to extort money from the Shen family, and eagerly demanded ransom in the form of threats; and was full of malice towards the police. When he appeared in this role, keywords such as ‘two hundred million’ and ‘execution’ would never appear. Instead, ‘you don’t want this child’s life’ — the usual phrase the kidnappers used when they threaten to kill the hostages was obviously more inclined.”
Yan Xie was thoughtful and nodded silently.
“But when he was the executioner, his motive seemed to have nothing to do with money. On the one hand, he couldn’t run with 200 million in cash, but he didn’t ask the police for any means of transportation, not even the banknotes without consecutive numbers; no basic conditions were put forward. On the other hand, he rejected the common sentiments of traditional kidnappers such as ferocity and greed, and repeated the execution period ruthlessly, again and again, showing an extremely strong desire for execution; at the same time, his accuracy of time seems to have a strong sense of ritual.”
Yan Xie suddenly realized something: “… a sense of ritual?”
“Yes.” Jiang Ting said, “My personal opinion is that the role of the executioner whose motive has nothing to do with money is the real identity of the kidnapper.”
Yan Xie took out a cigarette, rubbed it subconsciously between his fingers, and repeated, “Motive.”
He seemed to ponder on these words carefully, and muttered to himself for a moment: “If the pursuit of execution is his real motive, then kidnapping is only a link leading to the final result — only through kidnapping, the ‘execution’ can be achieved. The ultimate goal…”
Yan Xie stopped speaking and rubbed his frown with his knuckles. A certain guess seems to be coming into his mind, but it is vaguely elusive.
“Kidnapping is a part of the ritual. ‘Ritual’ is to externalise an individual’s inner emotions about a certain thing, and has the characteristics of emotional traction, displacement, subconscious picture projection and so on.” Jiang Ting paused for a while and said: “Generally speaking, the pursuit of ritual represents people’s desire to project their inner picture into reality, and commemorate, mark and identify with them. And kidnapping, as the executioner’s inner picture, is also a necessary way to satisfy his desire for punishment, indicating that it is very possible —”
“This is not the first kidnapping case.” Yan Xie suddenly said.
He suddenly looked at Jiang Ting: “— every time he gave us the exact time, continuously repeating 8:09. Which means this executioner is projecting what had happened before!”
Jiang Ting was noncommittal, and after a long time, he nodded lightly.
Yan Xie did not delay at all, and immediately took out his mobile phone and dialled the number of the Municipal Public Security Bureau.
“Hey Chief Wei, I’m Yan Xie… There is no progress in the search and rescue, and the kidnappers do not accept communication at all… Listen to me Chief Wei, I have a new investigation idea here…”
“What? What did you say?” Deputy Director Wei was devastated by a bunch of phone calls in the conference room: “What time is it? Why do you want to mess with me?!”
“I want to focus my manpower to look through similar case files in the past three years across the whole province,” Yan Xie said word by word. “This is probably not the first time the kidnappers have committed a crime.”
……….
The sun gradually went west, and time passed minute by minute.
On the highway, three police cars whizzed past and rushed towards Jianning City, which was busy during the evening rush hour.
With a bang, the door of the outer office of the Criminal Investigation Division was pushed open.
Yan Xie was followed by a large group of temporarily recruited personnel from technical investigation, map investigation, and data department, etc.; while striding forward, he turned his head and ordered: “The scope of the investigation includes the entire province in the past three years. Pair of young men and women who were kidnapped, both with a certain social relationship between them are listed as the primary screening focus, and only one hostage’s family received an extortion call with a huge amount of money is listed as a secondary focus; priority is given to reviewing the old records of unsuccessful hostage rescues. The old case does not necessarily take place in Jianning, and sub-bureaus and police stations under all levels in cities, counties, and towns under this province are more likely to…”
Everyone followed quickly, and a map investigator raised his hand timidly and asked: “Vice-Captain Yan, it is rare to kidnap two people at once. Does the hostage have to be a young man and a woman? Is it Ok for a man or a woman?”
Yan Xie said impatiently: “Okay! Just find it out! I’m not surprised what children do these days!”
Bang——
Suddenly Yan Xie bumped into something and almost stumbled, only to hear a cold voice in front of him:
“We are also not surprised by what you did!”
Yan Xie covered his head and looked, only to see Fang Zhenghong, the leader of the anti-drug division next door.
Fang Zhenghong still had that sickly complexion, with a very bad expression on his face. Yan Xie glanced at him and his heart sank slightly. But over ten years of professional criminal investigation has tempered him to be more tactful. He didn’t answer him immediately; just smiled, nodded and then walked away.
Unexpectedly, Fang Zhenghong reached out and stopped him just after he passed by:
“There are only more than 20 hours left until the time is over, and you have drawn everyone back to overturn the case file; do you think there is too much time to pass?!”
Here we go again.
Yan Xie stopped and thought about it for a moment in his mind, but the pleasant expression on his face did not change: “Oh, this matter. The team doesn’t know anything, and Chief Wei thinks there is a very high possibility that this is not the first time for the kidnapper to commit the crime, so we hope to find a breakthrough through the previous clues.”
He didn’t fight Fang Zhenghong, but only brought Chief Wei out as a shield. Sure enough, Fang Zhenghong didn’t continue to dwell on this topic. He snorted from his nose, opened Weibo on his mobile phone, and threw it:
“Then this is what Deputy Director Wei asked you to do?!”
Yan Xie looked down.
A big V with millions of fans posted: Jianning traffic police in the City centre whistle to clear the way for a luxury car, and the hot search was withdrawn for no reason. Where did the luxury car come from? The local traffic police did not dare to respond directly, and netizens were banned in waves. What is it that needed to be hidden?
The accompanying picture shows the coded S450 arrogantly going away under the red light. It wasn’t unexpected that the crowd was furious. It was retweeted 6,000 times and liked more than 10,000 times.
“……” Yan Xie said with a smile: “Daben is considered a luxury car. If I didn’t know it, I would have thought that I had driven a Bugatti Veyron…”
Fang Zhenghong pulled back his phone: “Why didn’t you immediately report to Chief Lu and Chief Wei, and ask the official account of the Municipal Bureau to come forward to clarify? You used your own network to withdraw the hot search in seconds, but it caused bigger and worse problems. Who doesn’t say that you have a ghost in your heart now!”
The half-smiling expression on Yan Xie’s face disappeared, and he said lightly: “Now everyone knows how to manipulate public opinion. Just find a few big Vs to buy a water army, and the excitement will pass after two or three days. If we care about online public opinion, the case will not be solved. Why do you care so much about the water army?”
“Tell this to the traffic police brigade next door!” Fang Zhenghong scolded sharply: “The captain of the traffic police brigade came to the city bureau to scold all morning! He hasn’t gone yet!”
This is the place of the Criminal Investigation Detachment. Fang Zhenghong can be said to be scolding and his face shows no mercy. Not only did everyone in the office stand up with ugly expressions, but even the trainee police officers outside the corridor in the distance stopped in fear.
Not far away, in the Vice-Captain’s office.
Hearing the movement, Jiang Ting suddenly got up from behind the desk, walked to the door, and looked out sideways through the glass.
Captain Fang is usually very strict in discipline and diligent. So for him, Yan Xie is not pleasing to the eyes, who have a slightly slippery wrist and extravagant living habits. It is not a secret in the city bureau — but private views are private, and the working relationship between the two must be maintained on the surface. So there haven’t been many problems over the years.
Yan Xie didn’t know why since captain Fang came back from an illness his temperament seemed to have changed drastically. Seeing that he had found himself today, did he fall ill again today? But what he knew was that the criminal investigation of Jianning under the sub-provincial system was half a level higher than that of the anti-drug. In theory, he and Caption Fang were equal. If he was still scolded by Fang Zhenghong on his own territory, then he as Unit deputy leader will not have any dignity in the future.
“Captain Fang,” Yan Xie took a breath, crossed his hands in front of him, and asked with a slight smile, “Which bureau chief do you want to question me today, Chief Lu? Chief Wei?”
“You—”
“I didn’t handle this matter properly. But it happened suddenly, and there is no other way. If director Lu or Deputy director Wei have any opinions, then I will accept their criticism and I will pay attention to it in the future.”
Fang Zhenghong’s bloodless face, which had just recovered from his injury, became flushed: “Don’t carry Director Lu and the others out to talk about things. You know how many things you have done in secret! In the last drug production case, everyone watched you slip away from the scene…”
“I went to catch the sniper, and I explained it to the two directors afterwards.” Yan Xie interrupted him coldly, “Captain Feng may have been out of action for too long, and I’m afraid these words have been forgotten ‘matters are urgent just followed in a hurry’.”
Fang Zhenghong raised his voice abruptly: “Follow in a hurry? I’m just afraid that no one knows what kind of ghost is hiding in vice-captain Yan’s office!”
Yan Xie’s aura didn’t give in, but his heart froze for a moment.
What does he mean?
Does he know something?
Yan Xie retracted his gaze and sneered. When he looked up again and quickly glanced at the door of his office not far away.
——He knew that Jiang Ting was standing behind the single-sided glass door, and he instantly met his line of sight.
“Look at what you said,” Yan Xie said jokingly with a smile, “If someone who doesn’t know listens to it, they will think I have a little lover in the office.”
Fang Zhenghong disliked his casual appearance the most. He got angry on the spot: “I’m telling you, Yan Xie, heaven’s net has wide meshes, but nothing can escape from it². You…”
Suddenly, a steady and familiar female voice came from behind everyone:
“There are only more than 20 hours left in the kidnapping case. If you aren’t looking through the case file, what are you doing here?”
Everyone turned their heads in unison, and Yan Xie’s eyes lit up.
At the door of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, a female police officer in her 50s with short hair stood with her hands behind her back, with a thin body and a peaceful face. Everyone in sight lowered their gazes involuntarily, and buzzing discussions sounded in a distance from the office hall.
From Fang Zhenghong’s expression, he was extremely surprised. His sparse eyebrows were tightly wrinkled as if he suspected that he had seen it wrong:
“…Captain Yu”
Yan Xie just wanted to step forward, but before he had time to move, he was stopped by Captain Yu.
“Captain Fang’s opinion is very correct. Today’s young people are not stable enough. If they see criminals, they dare to chase up alone, and don’t take their own safety seriously.” Captain Yu walked into the office while everyone avoided them. She raised her hand and nodded to Yan Xie, her expression was a bit stern: “Be sure to pay more attention in the future!”
Yan Xie nodded in agreement.
“However, since the time for kidnapping cases is getting less and less, the older generation still has to focus on the overall situation, and shouldn’t distract these young people from criminal investigation for the time being.” Captain Yu’s tone slowed down and she smiled at Fang Zhenghong like this: “Am I right, Captain Fang?”
There seems to be an invisible string in the void that is gradually tightening, and no one dares to let out a single breath.
The flush on Fang Zhenghong’s face gradually faded, and it turned into a sickly and blue complexion again. He looked up and down at Captain Yu, wondering what she was thinking about, and after a long time, he snorted:
“It’s just as you said.”
Captain Yu nodded in approval.
Fang Zhenghong turned around and left, and suddenly stopped at the door. He turned his head in the eyes of everyone, looked at Captain Yu with a deep meaning, and asked, “However, that energy should really be focused on business, isn’t it Captain Yu?”
Then, without waiting for her to answer, he walked away and went straight out of the door of the Criminal Investigation Detachment.
The string suddenly loosened, and the gloomy pressure in the air suddenly lightened.
“What are you doing around here! Why don’t you go to work soon! Hurry up! Hurry up!” Yan Xie’s roar resounded through the office, and the policemen hurriedly ran away with the case file in their hands.
“Youth hostages! Have social connections! It’s 8:09! Every kidnapping and disappearance case in the past three years that was suspected to be a fraud case! Don’t be stunned, hurry up!!”
The entire Criminal Investigation Detachment was shivering with yelling, and everyone wished they could learn to apparate in an instant. It wasn’t until there was no one around that Yan Xie changed his face in an instant, and hurried forward to meet her: “Captain Yu, I heard about your heart bypass surgery…why are you here today?”
Yu Zhu, the head of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Jianning City Public Security Bureau, who is in his early fifties, raised her thin hand and pressed the position of her heart, and said with a smile, “I’m old, and finally the oil is exhausted and the lamp is dry.”
Yan Xie’s pupils shrank slightly.
Captain Yu patted him on the shoulder: “I came to the bureau today to talk to Director Lu about my retirement because of the illness.”
