Chapter 292 Sleeping on the Floor Today

Chen Yan added, "It's just too far away. It's inconvenient. I only came back during the winter and summer holidays. It takes a whole day and a night to take the green train."

Zhou Yi quickly said, "I must find one closer, otherwise I won't be able to take care of both."

"I understand. Unfortunately, our local police academy in Hongcheng only has a junior college program. Let me ask my classmates if there are any seniors working at a university in our province, and then we can consult them."

"Okay, thank you, Brother Yan."

"It's just a small favor, don't be so polite."

From this point of view alone, Zhou Yi discovered the difference in personal connections brought about by the difference in academic qualifications.

Among my classmates who are in the provincial police force, except for a few who have family connections and can get into a police station, the rest are basically working at the grassroots level.

As far as I can remember, it is already very impressive for most people to become a director by middle age.

Graduates from the People's Public Security University are highly sought-after talents in prefecture-level cities. Zhou Yi estimated that Chen Yan's classmates all had good developments.

When I returned to the bureau, Jiang Biao and Qiao Jiali had not returned yet.

Chen Yan told Wu Yongcheng what he had learned, and Wu Yongcheng immediately called the phone number left in Anyuan City on hands-free mode.

"Hello, who is this?" The phone was picked up after a while, and the person who answered the phone sounded a little hurried.

"Hello, I'm Wu Yongcheng, deputy chief of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Hongcheng City Public Security Bureau. I'm looking for Officer Xia. I have information regarding the investigation into the missing person, Li Youqiang."

Upon hearing this, the other party excitedly said, "Hello, Deputy Captain Wu, hello, I am Pan Hongjie, Xia Yu's leader. You can tell me directly that I am the captain of the second team of our municipal bureau, and this case happens to be my responsibility."

"That's great, Captain Pan. After receiving your request for assistance today, we immediately visited Li Youqiang's family and learned some information. First, Li Youqiang is 1.72 meters tall and weighs around 58 kilograms."

Pan Hongjie nodded and continued listening.

"He doesn't have any distinctive tattoos or birthmarks, but his family provided us with a key piece of information: seven years ago, Li Youqiang broke his left calf and underwent surgery. We have his medical records and X-rays from that time, and we can fax them to you, but the X-rays might be a little difficult to fax."

As soon as Wu Yongcheng finished speaking, Pan Hongjie on the other end of the phone exclaimed: "Oh my God, this is such a coincidence."

The three people on the other end of the phone looked at each other, and Wu Yongcheng asked: "What's going on?"

Pan Hongjie said, "Deputy Captain Wu, you may not know that just before I answered the phone, I received the official autopsy report from our forensic doctor, which mentioned that the deceased's left lower leg had a fracture and had been healed after surgery."

The three of them were all surprised. What a coincidence? Was it really Li Youqiang who died?

Pan Hongjie added: "We were planning to go to several major hospitals in the city to check medical records, and we didn't expect to receive your call. Thank you so much, it really helped a lot."

"Then, Captain Pan, we'll fax you Li Youqiang's medical records and detailed personal information. We'll also take photos of the X-rays and fax them back to you. Please confirm whether the deceased is Li Youqiang. If so, we may need to work together on the case."

Pan Hongjie nodded repeatedly and thanked Wu Yongcheng.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yi said, "I'm afraid it's almost certain. The location matches, the height matches, and now the fracture point also matches. It must be Li Youqiang."

Wu Yongcheng said, "Chen Yan, fax Li Youqiang's information to them first. Although the possibility is very high, we still have to wait for them to confirm it."

"Okay, Master. I'll go right away."

Wu Yongcheng added: "But looking at the situation, it's really not optimistic. I'm afraid we need to make preparations early."

In fact, Zhou Yi had guessed this result when he first heard Sister Niu talk about Li Youqiang's condition in the hospital.

There was no online fraud in 1997, otherwise Li Youqiang's case would particularly meet the characteristics of online fraud.

However, even in the era of rampant online fraud, most of the cases occurred in industrial parks outside the border. After all, if it happened in China, it would have been a first-class crime and would have been wiped out.

"Zhou Yi, what are your thoughts on this case? It's your job."

What else could Zhou Yi do? He could only smile bitterly.

"Captain Wu, I think the most crucial question is why Li Youqiang wanted to go to Anyuan. We know from his mother and wife that Li Youqiang has no relatives or friends in Anyuan, and he has never been to Anyuan City before."

"I previously suspected he might have been murdered after being involved in drug trafficking, but now it seems less likely."

Wu Yongcheng asked: "Why?"

"If the body found in Anyuan City is Li Youqiang, that means he died between 20 days and a month ago. But Li Youqiang actually left Hongcheng for Anyuan on February 12th, which was the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, well before the Spring Festival holiday."

"Niu Fengxian said two months before, but she actually calculated it based on February and March. When I learned that Li Youqiang was missing, he had only been gone for a little over a month."

"He might still be alive at that time, if that body was Li Youqiang."

"The basic logic of drug trafficking is to transport drugs from their production sites to other locations for sale in order to generate profit. But in Hongcheng, I don't recall any major drug lords or major drug-related cases, right?"

Wu Yongcheng nodded. There were plenty of drug addicts, and selling drugs to support their addiction was quite common. But he didn't recall any large-scale drug production and wholesale in Hongcheng. After all, that wasn't something ordinary criminals could do.

Zhou Yi had no recollection of this happening, and it had never happened since then. After all, how many places like Tazhai could there be in the whole country?

A large amount of drugs flow in from abroad, and both Hongcheng and Anyuan are sales areas.

"And if Li Youqiang was doing the work of a mule, or if he died in an accident during transportation, in this case the local public security authorities would surely find out and contact us."

The so-called mule is the person responsible for transporting drugs. They are usually either drug addicts or people who take risks for money.

There are also many ways of transportation. Hiding it on the body is the most basic operation. Many people put the goods in a condom, tie it up, swallow it, and then pull it out at the destination.

This method is called hiding drugs in the human body, and the mules transporting the drugs are not allowed to drink water or eat during the entire process.

But the scary thing is not this, but if the condom breaks in the middle, the mule will die instantly.

If a large amount of drugs is absorbed instantly by the gastric mucosa or intestinal mucosa, people will suffer from acute poisoning, and even the immortals would shake their heads when seeing this.

Zhou Yi remembered reading a news report before about a Korean mule who had dozens of ecstasy pills burst in his body. He instantly convulsed and died. The final test showed that the drug content in his body was two hundred times that of a normal drug user.

Zhou Yi continued, "Or he was silenced after being sent there. But even if you take a bus from Hongcheng to Anyuan, it wouldn't take more than a day. How could he be silenced after more than a month?"

Wu Yongcheng said, "Is it possible that Li Youqiang got his hands on drugs and ran off with the gang? His wife said he had a lot of bad friends, so it's reasonable for someone like him to come into contact with drugs."

"I think it's unlikely. Li Youqiang told his mother and wife that he was going to Anyuan City to make money and could earn 10,000 yuan a month. This shows that Li Youqiang already knew how much he was going to earn before he left. Although I don't know how much money a mule can make, even if he could really make that much as a mule, the fact that he told his family the amount in advance shows that he was quite satisfied with it. Why would he change his mind halfway through and rob others?"

"The information we have so far doesn't indicate that Li Youqiang has a history of drug abuse. If he's not even an addict, then even if he hijacked the shipment, he wouldn't be able to cash in." Zhou Yi said with a smile, "It's impossible for him to go out and shout on the street."

Wu Yongcheng nodded: "That makes sense. If he really did commit a crime, the drug dealers would be unable to find him and would definitely take revenge on his family."

Drug dealers are different from any other criminals. They are people who make money all the time. If they are really robbed by a mule, they will definitely tear Li Youqiang's family into pieces to vent their anger.

Although Wu Yongcheng is not a drug enforcement officer, he has witnessed the cruelty of drug enforcement police.

"Then what do you think might be the situation?" Wu Yongcheng asked.

Zhou Yi said: "My current thinking is that it might be a pyramid scheme."

"Is it a pyramid scheme? I don't think there has ever been a pyramid scheme in Hongcheng."

It was normal that Wu Yongcheng didn't know much about pyramid schemes, because pyramid schemes were just in their infancy at that time, and it was a time of chaos.

Pyramid schemes were introduced from overseas in the early 1990s, and then entered a stage of gradual germination and lack of supervision.

It was not until 1998 that the state officially issued a document to completely ban pyramid schemes.

However, there are too many people with low awareness and who are eager to get rich quickly, which has led to pyramid schemes not only being unable to stop but also becoming more and more rampant.

Zhou Yi remembered that the most rampant period was around 2005. At that time, the public security department held special lectures on legal education, and he heard a lot of information from the lectures.

At the beginning, pyramid schemes were just like infectious diseases, spreading from person to person. They recruited people to invest money, and then used sunk costs to lure people in to continue developing downlines and recruiting more people.

The latter industry also took off. Free-style recruitment was too volatile and unstable, so it developed into a detention-style pyramid scheme, where people were tricked into joining under various pretexts, then locked up, forced to sleep on the floor and eat cabbage, and subjected to daily brainwashing slogans. Once the brainwashing was complete, they were told to call friends and family to solicit investment and defraud them of their money.

Want to escape? There's no way. Once you're in, you generally can't get out. Their ID and all your personal belongings will be confiscated. You have no freedom until you get your money.

In his previous life, Zhou Yi had handled a homicide case and finally uncovered a pyramid scheme organization by following the clues.

When the police went in and arrested them all, there was a huge, eye-catching slogan on the wall.

"Sleep on the floor today, be the boss tomorrow!"