Chapter 99 99 But it was because they were so close that they were destroyed...

Xu Nian's procedures went smoothly, but they couldn't leave until the day after tomorrow. When they were about to book the plane tickets, Guan Xia received a call from Ji An.

The moment the phone rang, Guan Xia was stunned for two seconds when she saw the caller's name before she came to her senses and quickly picked up the phone.

Before she could say anything, she heard a lazy voice from the other end, "Good evening, Guan Xia."

It turned out to be a man's voice, and it sounded familiar. Guan Xia took two seconds to react, "Lu Tingfeng? Why is it you? Where is Sister Ji?"

Before Lu Tingfeng could answer, Guan Xia heard Ji An's somewhat helpless voice on the other end of the line, "I'm here."

This sentence sounded much clearer than what Lu Tingfeng said just now. Guan Xia realized it after a quick thought. Lu Tingfeng was with Ji An at the moment. Seeing her making a phone call, he came over to say hello to her.

Guan Xia couldn't help but laugh, but then countless questions came to her mind. After a few pleasantries, she got straight to the point.

Guan Xia asked, "Have you concluded the case you're investigating? Are there any injuries? And what about your two missing friends..."

Guan Xia only briefly mentioned the last question and did not dare to draw a conclusion. She was afraid that the final result would not be good.

She asked as tactfully as possible, but after she finished speaking, the two of them were silent for a long time. Ji An finally said in a deep voice, "The case is over, but too many things happened during this period. It's hard to explain them all at once. We can discuss it in detail when we meet. As for those two friends..."

Ji An was silent for a moment before he said in a hoarse voice, "One has just finished emergency treatment and is still in critical condition, and the other one has already..."

Ji An didn't tell her the final result, but Guan Xia had guessed it just by listening to her tone. She suddenly felt her heart heavy. She wanted to say something comforting, but she opened and closed her mouth, but couldn't form any suitable sentences for a while.

The atmosphere was momentarily stagnant, almost suffocating. Ji An was the first to shake off his negative emotions, pulling himself together and asking Guan Xia, "How are you? How have you been lately? I'm so sorry I promised you something but couldn't make it last minute."

Ji An apologized earnestly, but Guan Xia interrupted her, "No need to apologize, Sister Ji. You couldn't get away because you had something important to do. Besides, didn't you entrust Xu Nian with the task? We just came back from solving two cases."

"Two cases?" Ji An's voice sounded a little surprised.

Guan Xia responded and briefly described the two cases. Ji An was impressed and said, "You are improving so fast. According to the frequency of your previous investigations, after a few days of rest, you will be taking on a new case again."

The two had been working together happily since they met, and Guan Xia had no intention of hiding anything from her. However, it was all just her intuition, and without any concrete evidence, she said vaguely, "I have an idea about a case, and I'm about to book a flight to investigate."

"Which city are we going to?" Ji An asked.

Guan Xia said: "Linshan City."

"Linshan City?" Ji An said in surprise, "What a coincidence! Lu Tingfeng and I are in Linshan City right now. When can you come over? We can meet up."

Guan Xia was also a little surprised, but then she happily agreed, "Okay, I'll call you when our plane lands."

Guan Xia and her friends arrived in Linshan City at around 11 a.m. and hurriedly checked into the hotel. By the time they saw Ji An, it was already past three in the afternoon.

Following the ward number given by Ji An, Guan Xia arrived at the destination. She originally thought that she had made an appointment at the hospital to keep the patient company, but when she entered the ward, she saw Ji An and Lu Tingfeng both lying on the bed.

One had his head wrapped and the other had his hand wrapped. Because they were wearing hospital gowns, it was impossible to tell whether other parts of their bodies were injured, but just from their pale faces, it was clear that they were at least seriously injured.

Compared to Guan Xia's surprise, Xu Nian's expression remained unchanged. However, he still put down the things in his hands with some helplessness, looked at Lu Tingfeng and asked, "What happened? Are you injured again? Where are you hurt this time?"

Lu Tingfeng put down the phone he was playing a game on and said nonchalantly, "It's okay, it's just a minor injury, don't worry."

Xu Nian walked to his bedside and looked at him expressionlessly. He didn't say anything, but raised his hand.

Guan Xia was a little confused about what Xu Nian was going to do when she saw Lu Tingfeng shudder and move closer to the bed. He lifted a corner of his clothes as if surrendering and said helplessly, "You try this again. Okay, okay, let me show you. It's really a minor injury."

Because Xu Nian was blocking the view, Guan Xia couldn't see anything clearly. She was also worried that Lu Tingfeng's injury was somewhere hidden, so she didn't go over. Instead, she walked to Ji An's bedside and carefully looked at her head wrapped in bandages.

Guan Xia felt relieved after confirming that there was no blood seeping out, but she still couldn't help but ask worriedly, "How did you get hurt? Is it serious? What did the doctor say? How long will I have to stay in the hospital?"

Guan Xia opened her mouth and asked several questions. Ji An listened patiently and answered seriously, "I got some minor injuries while fighting with the gangsters. I have a minor concussion, so I'm staying in the hospital for observation. It's not serious, and I'll probably be discharged in a few days."

Guan Xia had never seen Ji An's skills, but he was a criminal policeman after all. He could injure both Ji An and Lu Tingfeng. Just thinking about it made her imagine that the criminal must be very cruel.

From the corner of her eye, Guan Xia noticed that the water cup on Ji An's bedside table was empty. She picked up the thermos and refilled it for her. Then she sat down on the stool beside the bed and asked, "Where's the criminal? Did he catch him?"

Before Ji An could even open his mouth, Lu Tingfeng on the side rushed in and said, "With both of us out there, how could we let them get away? Of course we caught them, without missing a single one."

Guan Xia heard something from Lu Tingfeng's words and looked at Ji An and asked, "Are there a lot of criminals? Are they a gang?"

Ji An nodded. "The composition of that criminal gang is a bit complicated. They're considered the underlings of a drug trafficking group. There aren't many core members, but there are many small groups scattered around them. To avoid being dragged into the mud, they are in disguised form united to obstruct us. The case our friend has been pursuing is also because they accidentally witnessed their transaction scene that year. In order to kill and hide their true motive for the murder, they simply wiped out the whole family."

Although Guan Xia guessed that the case was complicated, she didn't expect it to be this complicated, and she couldn't help but gasp.

This case was actually related to drug trafficking. No wonder there had been no news for so many days since Ji An left, and they were all injured. Guan Xia now felt that they were lucky to have successfully concluded the case and only suffered minor injuries.

But then Guan Xia thought of their friend who sacrificed his life for this case, and the expression of relief that had just appeared on her face immediately calmed down.

They stayed in the hospital until the evening. Guan Xia saw that Ji An and Lu Tingfeng looked tired, and they couldn't help but cover their mouths and yawn every once in a while, so she said goodbye and left.

As soon as he left the hospital, Pang Le couldn't help but let out a long sigh and whispered, "I'm really not used to this kind of atmosphere. I didn't dare to speak, for fear of saying something wrong and making them sad. Sister Ji looked very calm, but her eyes were a little red. She must have cried before."

Guan Xia saw that Ji An had also discovered it, but she didn't dare to say anything, nor did she dare to ask about the person's situation in detail. She only knew that the missing man and woman were a couple. The man had lost vital signs when he was found, and the woman was used as bait for fishing. Although she survived, Ji An didn't say anything, but Guan Xia could guess with her toes that how could she not be tortured after falling into those hands. It was already a blessing that she was still alive after being missing for so many days.

Xu Nian, however, knew more than them. After getting in the car, he whispered, "That couple was a classmate of one of the victims who was murdered that year. All three of them had the same professor as their graduate advisor. The girl even lived in the same dormitory as the victim, and they grew up together."

Guan Xia suddenly understood. No wonder they were still persistent in investigating the case several years after the murder of the deceased's family. Such a deep friendship would be impossible for any normal person to let go.

"It's a pity for that boy," Wang Yu sighed. "He was already on the edge of the truth, but because he was so close, he was silenced. That girl is also very lucky."

Although the truth of the case was uncovered, people did not feel happy because of the sacrifice. Instead, they were in a heavy mood. Even Guan Xia and the others who had only heard about it were depressed and had no interest in chatting.

The next morning, Xu Nian went out with a few people from the second squadron. Qi Bai didn't come this time. After several times in a row, Guan Xia was somewhat accustomed to his howling in the group.

Guan Xia and Pang Le went to the hospital to see Ji An and Lu Tingfeng again. It was not until Xu Nian called and said that they had obtained the surveillance video in and around the community on the day of Meng Lan's accident that they said goodbye to the two and returned to the hotel.

It was already dark when they came back. The three of them were in Wang Yu's room, eating the takeout they ordered while watching the surveillance video on the laptop they brought.

He opened the door for the two of them, and after they came in, Xu Nian asked as he closed the door, "Did you have dinner? I was worried you didn't, so I ordered a little more. It's okay if you've already eaten, you can still have it as a midnight snack later."

Guan Xia casually placed her bag on the cabinet and said, "I've already eaten. I ate with Sister Ji and Lu Tingfeng. How was your day? Did everything go well?"

Jiang Yingyao swallowed the food in his mouth and said, "The procedures are complete. Apart from taking a little time, everything went smoothly."

Pang Le walked over to the small table where Xu Nian and the others had placed their takeout and took a look. Seeing nothing he wanted to eat, he sat down on a stool and asked, "Are there a lot of surveillance videos? If there are a lot, we can arrange shifts so that everyone doesn't have to waste time here."

Because there was no substantial evidence this time, and it was an accident, and the case was closed and not a backlog, although Xu Nian's application was approved quickly, the equipment he could bring with him was not as complete, and he only had one laptop.

Wang Yu was engrossed in reading, still staring at the computer intently, and said casually: "Then I'll go first. I slept well last night, so I should be able to stay up a while tonight. Then let's do two o'clock. Who of you will take over the shift at two o'clock in the morning?"

Guan Xia and Pang Le looked at each other and were about to speak when Xu Nian said, "Then I'll be the second one. I'll be there until 6 o'clock in the morning, and then it will be Brother Jiang."

Xu Nian glanced at Jiang Yingyao and said, "6 o'clock in the morning, is it okay, Brother Jiang?"

Jiang Yingyao nodded and said with a smile, "Thank you very much for taking care of an elderly person like me. I'm a little tired after running around all day. I'll go back to my room and take a shower. I'll set the alarm for 5:50 and wash my face before coming back. It's just in time."

Seeing that they had allocated the most difficult time to stay awake, Guan Xia could only helplessly say: "Then Pang Le and I will come over at 9 o'clock. We just bought breakfast and we can eat together."

Although this was the assignment, the few of them still stayed with Wang Yu in her room for a while. It was almost dawn when the two of them said goodbye to Wang Yu and went back to take a shower and go to bed.

The next morning at 9 o'clock, Guan Xia and Pang Le knocked on Wang Yu's door on time with takeout. It was Wang Yu who opened the door. While rubbing his eyes, which were a little difficult to open, he said, "You are here."

Guan Xia greeted him and placed breakfast on the small table. She looked around the room and saw that only Wang Yu was there. She asked, "Why are you the one opening the door? Where are Xu Nian and Brother Jiang?"

Wang Yu yawned again, stretched lazily, and said, "Captain Xu took the computer back to their room last night to look at it. Anyway, the next person to take over the shift is Brother Jiang, so it saves two people running back and forth. At this time, I guess Captain Xu is still asleep, so Brother Jiang should be here soon."

Sure enough, more than ten minutes later, Wang Yu had finished washing up and was eating breakfast when there was a knock on the door. When he opened it, it was Jiang Yingyao, holding a laptop in one hand and a USB flash drive containing surveillance footage in the other.

After entering the room, Jiang Yingyao put the things in his hand on the empty bed, washed his hands and came over to have breakfast. While eating, he talked about what he saw during the surveillance video last night.

Jiang Yingyao said, "Captain Xu and I spotted some suspicious individuals and vehicles last night, but we'll have to investigate further to find out the details."

Jiang Yingyao said, looking at Wang Yu, "What about you? Did you find anything?"

Wang Yu ate rather voraciously and nodded, "I've noticed it too. I've written down the license plate number so we can check it together later."

Guan Xia and Pang Le had already eaten. After listening to what the two had said, they walked to the empty bed in tacit understanding. Just as they were about to reach for the computer, they heard Jiang Yingyao say, "We have marked the surveillance videos we have watched on the USB drive. If you have nothing to do today, stay at the hotel and watch it. Call us if you find anything."

Guan Xia understood what Jiang Yingyao meant and looked up to ask, "Are you going out during the day? For an investigation?"

Jiang Yingyao took a big bite of his pancake and said vaguely, "Yes, since we already have a suspicious target, let's do a basic investigation during the day."

Jiang Yingyao glanced at the time and said, "According to Captain Xu's habits, he will probably wake up in more than an hour. Anyway, there is only one computer, and waiting in the hotel is a waste of time. It's better to go out for a run."

Guan Xia was deeply impressed. Maybe it was because he had become accustomed to it after working as a criminal police for so long, but the way he stayed up late amazed Guan Xia.

Wang Yu and Xu Nian were fine, as they were young and in good physical condition. But Jiang Yingyao was already in his forties. If she remembered correctly, he left Wang Yu's room in the early morning last night. He slept for less than six hours in total and watched the surveillance video for such a long time, yet he still had the energy to run around outside.

Perhaps Guan Xia's expression was too obvious, so Jiang Yingyao added with a smile, "Compared to investigating cases before, this is already very easy. If nothing else, isn't it also much easier than investigating cases in Daqu County before? Besides, I'm used to being busy, so I really can't rest a bit."

Guan Xia couldn't empathize with him at all. She subconsciously turned to look at Pang Le for approval. Pang Le looked approving and said, "Indeed, although I've been running around lately, to be honest, the amount of exercise isn't very much. I kind of miss the days of climbing mountains. After I'm done with this, I'm going to go bungee jumping twice to get that thrill."

Guan Xia immediately withdrew her gaze. Well, she was the only lazy person in this group.