Chapter 61
Yu Lei once again confirmed the name of the welfare home where Liu Wei and Han Yixiao had stayed, and was basically certain that Liu Wei, Han Yixiao and Zhao Zheng had lived in that welfare home at the same time.
What does this mean? Yu Lei's mind was in a mess at the moment, and he couldn't figure out the connection between the relationship between these three people and what was happening now.
Is Zhao Zheng still alive? Is he connected to Tang Ruxin's disappearance? What's the relationship between Liu Wei, Han Yixiao, and Tong Jiayu? Tong Jiayu seems like an outsider, with no commonalities in origin or background with these two.
But the most important thing right now is to find Tang Ruxin first.
"Captain Yu, someone provided a tip-off. They said someone was eavesdropping outside Liu Wei's dormitory last night. They thought it was a thief, so they chased him out, and then he disappeared."
"Who provided the clue?" Yu Lei took the interrogation record from the police officer.
"She lives across from Liu Wei and is also an employee of Donghe Refining. He said it's a woman, wearing black-framed glasses and a baseball cap, with short hair. She matches the one we found outside the dormitory."
Yu Lei called Chen Jingzhou and went to the Donghe Refining Dormitory again to meet the person who provided the clue.
After careful questioning, the man recalled that after the eavesdropper ran away, he returned to his dormitory, but Liu Wei never came back. In his haste to chase the person, Liu Wei forgot to close the dormitory door when he ran out.
"It was quite strange. The door was left open all night. I got up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, and the door was still open, and the light was on. I didn't know if Liu Wei had his key, so I left the door open for him. But when I got up in the morning to wash up, the door was already closed."
"When Liu Wei was chasing that person, did he call the other person's name?" Yu Lei asked.
"No. He probably didn't know me and said I was a thief. Otherwise, I wouldn't have chased after him."
"Besides you, who else was chasing him?"
"No. There are only a few people left in this building now. Most of them went back to their hometowns for the New Year. Liu Wei and I chased him to the dormitory gate. Two passersby helped search for a while, but they dispersed when they couldn't find him."
"Then you went back to the dormitory, right?" Chen Jingzhou asked as he took notes. "Do you remember where Liu Wei went after that?"
The man frowned and thought for a long time, then hesitantly said, "I'm not sure. I seemed to hear him calling someone's name. The voice was a bit far from me. He must have been calling from across the street."
"Could you please recall whose name he called?" Yu Lei asked. "Don't worry, take your time to think about it. Even if you can remember just one word, it'll be fine."
Seeing Yu Lei's seriousness, the man frowned again and tried again. After two minutes, he shook his head and said, "I really can't remember. I had already entered the dormitory gate. His voice was not loud, and it felt like... it seemed like a two-character name."
Two characters—Han Yixiao and Tong Jiayu both had three characters. Could it be… Zhao Zheng?!
Yu Lei felt like he had gone mad, blaming everything on Zhao Zheng. Even if Zhao Zheng was still alive and had already arrived in Donghe City, what reason did he have to kidnap Tang Ruxin? With just one word from him, Tang Ruxin would naturally follow him. Was there any need to resort to violence?
Back in the police car, Chen Jingzhou opened the log book and said, "Liu Wei stayed outside at least until late at night, and Han Yixiao was away all day and hasn't returned to the dormitory yet. They are very suspicious. Should we go meet them?"
Yu Lei pondered for a moment and said, "Let's contact the telecom operator first to see if their cell phone signals have been connected to any other signal towers since last night."
Chen Jingzhou stepped on the accelerator and drove straight to the Donghe Town Telecommunications Building.
Yu Lei didn't follow. After getting out, he came back to Tang Ruxin's car. Judging from the surveillance camera on the dormitory gate, Liu Wei did go diagonally across the street. Judging from the angle of his movement, he should have come directly to where Tang Ruxin parked.
He certainly didn't call Tang Ruxin's name, which means that Tang Ruxin was already confronting another person next to the car. Liu Wei probably identified that the person eavesdropping was Tang Ruxin, and what she heard must be very important, so she had no choice but to run away.
She didn't run too far. Han Yixiao was tall and had long legs, so it wasn't difficult for him to catch her. If she hadn't been trying to avoid surveillance, she might have been caught by Han Yixiao before she could even get a block away.
Yu Lei went to where Tang Ruxin had dropped her phone, trying to replay the entire incident in his mind. However, the words "Zhao Zheng" would pop up from time to time, interrupting his thoughts. He squatted on the ground, lit a cigarette, and took several deep puffs before he could barely calm down.
After a moment he walked into a side alley.
The alley wasn't narrow, meeting the minimum fire safety distance required by building regulations. A fire truck should have been able to pass through, but there were no lights or security cameras. The snow on the ground had been cleared, leaving only a thin layer of white in some uneven areas. This thin layer of snow bore traces of drag, extending intermittently from the outside of the alley.
Yu Lei checked the time. Fifteen hours had passed since Tang Ruxin disappeared. He let out a long sigh and sat cross-legged at the end of the dragging trail. The snow here was tangled and disoriented, a clear sign of a struggle. Tang Ruxin must have been knocked unconscious here, then doused with alcohol so they could legitimately take her away.
The phone suddenly vibrated. It was Director Xu calling.
Yu Lei suddenly felt irritated and calmed down before answering the phone.
"Why didn't you report Tang Ruxin's disappearance?" Public Security Bureau Chief Xu Qinghong demanded harshly, his teeth clenched. "Yu, I have no problem taking the blame for you, but don't I have a right to know?"
"The adult has been missing for less than 24 hours, and the family hasn't filed a police report. What is there to report?"
Yu Lei was being stubborn, but in reality, he hadn't even thought about it. He'd clearly heard Tang Ruxin's exclamation during their phone call last night, and his mind was instantly thrown into disarray. There was no way he could even remember to report it.
"Tang Jiulin has even called the provincial department! Are you trying to mess with me because you don't like me?!" Xu Qinghong roared like a lioness on the other end of the line, slamming the table loudly. "Come back here right now, and let's go to the provincial department to make a report together!"
"Is it more important to rescue the victim or to make a report?" Yu Lei asked in a deep voice.
"What? You can't save them without you? You've got the guts to keep it a secret until now, and you're afraid to face the provincial government? The Donghe Refining case has been unsolved for so long, and even Zhou Jiyao's confession was incomplete. The procuratorate hasn't been able to file a prosecution even after reviewing the evidence. Do you know how much pressure I'm under? And now you're pulling this trick on me. If you don't want to do this, then don't do it!"
Xu Qinghong hung up the phone angrily.
Yu Lei looked at his phone quietly for a while, then slowly stood up with a smile on his lips.
——It did remind him that there are ways to not do something.
Near dusk, Chen Jingzhou came out of the telecommunications building and immediately handed Yu Lei a letter. Judging from the signal tower his cell phone was connected to, the two men had not left Donghe Town since last night.
Chen Jingzhou also checked the two's call records for the past week and discovered that they hadn't spoken by phone, but had both received various internet phone calls, the duration of which far exceeded the average duration of typical online marketing calls. He attempted to investigate the source of these calls, but discovered that the callers were using VPNs to hide their true IP addresses, making it impossible to confirm their physical addresses.
Tang Ruxin had been missing for over nineteen hours, leaving less than five hours of the golden rescue window for kidnapping cases. Once this time was exceeded, the victim's chances of survival would plummet.
The officer who was following Liu Wei reported that he had been at work all day and had just returned to the dormitory after work and had not left since. Han Yixiao, who had been missing since then, had appeared at the dormitory gate two hours ago, then gone out for a meal and returned to the dormitory without leaving again.
"Okay, you guys retreat first." Yu Lei arranged.
"Retreat? We haven't found any useful clues yet..."
"Director Xu didn't approve the tracking and surveillance, so we can't continue."
"Uh, okay."
After hanging up the phone, Yu Lei sat on the roadside three blocks away from the crime scene and smoked. The thick fur of his brown down jacket fluttered in the wind in the afterglow of the setting sun. The collar of his jacket was wide open, and the hem of his jacket was folded in the snow on the roadside, leaving a stiff mark.
When only the last trace of red remained on the horizon, seven or eight motorcycles roared around from the main road with their lights flashing, and rushed straight towards Yu Lei without slowing down. Then, with the harsh friction sound of the tires, the motorcycles stopped.
The man in the lead propped one leg on the ground, provocatively touching Yu Lei's shoe with his toes. He flipped up the goggles on his helmet, revealing only his eyes as he smiled at Yu Lei, who was sitting on the curb.
Without looking up, Yu Lei pulled a pack of cigarettes from his pocket and tossed it to him. The man caught it, then lowered his goggles, twisted the throttle, and rode off with a roar.
The rest of the group followed him and quickly disappeared around the corner.
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