Chapter 100100 We found something special today
After a busy whole day, Guan Xia and Xu Nian met again in the evening.
Wang Yu was the only one living alone, so her room was relatively less crowded. So everyone gathered in her room again, sitting there eating takeout and discussing the results of their busy day.
Wang Yu said, "Captain Xu, Brother Jiang, and I spotted three suspicious pedestrians and two suspicious vehicles overnight. We've eliminated all three and one of them, but this one is a bit suspicious."
Wang Yu put down the disposable lunch box, wiped his hands with a tissue, dug out the printed photos and information from his bag, and placed them on the bed which was empty but piled with a lot of miscellaneous items.
Guan Xia was originally sitting on a chair, but upon hearing this, he stood up with his lunch box and walked over. Pang Le also followed, and the three of them met face to face with Wang Yu.
Wang Yu pointed to the topmost printed photo and said, "This man's name is Luo Deye, 52 years old, a project manager at Jinsheng Construction Company. He parked his car in Meng Lan's residential complex at 5:01 PM on July 12, 2023, but never left. He remained in the car until a natural gas leak occurred at Meng Lan's home and the police and fire trucks arrived at the scene. He then drove away. Most importantly, we investigated his interpersonal relationships and discovered that he had business dealings with Meng Lan's biological father. The two had a close relationship. His appearance in Meng Lan's residential complex at this time is very intriguing."
Guan Xia and Pang Le both frowned when they heard this.
Although some people speculated that Meng Lan's parents' abnormal behavior was a sign of very low moral character, when this speculation was actually confirmed by evidence, it was still difficult to accept and had a shocking impact on one's world view.
"I didn't expect that the plot in the crime drama would actually happen in real life." Pang Le was eating very happily, but after hearing what Wang Yu said, he suddenly lost his appetite. He said with some understanding and some confusion: "But I am very curious. What are Meng Lan's parents thinking? Aren't they rich? Why would they do such a thing as selling their daughter? Even if they don't have much feelings for their daughter, she has grown up after all. Even if they arrange a marriage, the benefits of marrying her off properly may not be greater than this. Do they have to do such a thing as killing the goose that lays the golden eggs?"
Jiang Yingyao suddenly said, "Time is a bit tight, so we only briefly checked the business dealings between Meng Lan's father and Jinsheng Construction Company. They have been working together for more than ten years and have jointly developed a total of six real estate projects of various sizes in Linshan City. We also found that in addition to the real estate company founded by Meng Lan's father, there are two commercial concrete stations under the name of Meng Lan's brother. We drove by to take a look before returning. They are not large. This may be a bit of a stereotype, but based on my experience, the employees of those two companies are probably not serious people."
Jiang Yingyao's words were a bit confusing, and Guan Xia took a moment to react. "Brother Jiang, what you mean is... maybe Meng Lan's father was held hostage by Luo Deye because of the construction materials?"
Jiang Yingyao nodded. "People's desires will only grow. Once they get money, they will want more."
This time Guan Xia understood it easily. That is to say, this man named Luo Deye may have extorted a lot of money from Meng Lan's father through some leverage, and he also shamelessly targeted Meng Lan. Meng Lan's parents sold Meng Lan to Luo Deye under semi-coercion, but for some reason Meng Lan noticed it in advance, so she took advantage of the situation?
Guan Xia racked her brains, but then she thought of the footage she had seen in the surveillance video before. Meng Lan's behavior was too normal, with that expression of joy mixed with anticipation. Excluding the fact that she was not a professional actor, it didn't look like she knew anything about it. But if she didn't know, how could such a serious accident happen at the time agreed upon by Meng Lan's father and Luo Deye? Not only did Luo Deye's plan fail, but Meng Lan's parents also lost their lives.
Guan Xia was thinking so hard that she stopped eating without realizing it. She only came to her senses when her arms felt a little sore from holding the rice.
Xu Nian said, "This is just some speculation based on the information we found. We'll have to wait for further investigation to know for sure. What about you? After watching the surveillance footage all day, have you found anything?"
Guan Xia glanced down at the clumping rice noodles in her hands and immediately lost her appetite. She casually placed the lunch box on the cabinet beside her and replied, "We also spotted a suspicious person and two suspicious vehicles. I took a screenshot of the suspicious person's face and wrote down the license plate number of the suspicious vehicle."
Guan Xia sent the screenshot and license plate number to the group. Everyone took out their phones and took a look, and they all ignored Qi Bai who popped up almost immediately.
After looking at them for a while, Wang Yu said, "One of these two cars... looks familiar. Let me confirm it."
Wang Yu exited the chat interface and flipped through the photo album on his phone. After a moment, he said, "No wonder it looks familiar. It's indeed the same car. We checked it today and it has nothing to do with Meng Lan's case. The owner of the car had a lover in this community. On the day of the accident, he parked the car at the entrance of the community for an hour and a half. He waited until his lover's husband drove away before parking the car in the parking space at his lover's home in the community."
Guan Xia was a little surprised when she heard this. Thinking about what they said before about checking three suspicious pedestrians and two suspicious vehicles, she couldn't help but ask curiously, "Besides Luo Deye, what are the other suspicious people and vehicles?"
Wang Yu grumbled, "Don't be fooled by the small size of Meng Lan's residential complex. It's a complex mix of people. There are private detectives hired by their employers to investigate mistresses, there are thieves who have scouted the area in advance, and there's even a pervert obsessed with a girl and stalking her. Anyway, the local police station we went to was incredibly busy today. They called back all the people on leave, and they're all out arresting people."
Guan Xia didn't know what to say after hearing this. Meng Lan was really good at finding a place to rent a house. She didn't know if she had given up the lease after the accident. Now that she had inherited her father's estate, she should have her own house. But then Guan Xia thought of another problem.
Since Luo Deye has the leverage over the real estate company founded by Meng Lan's father, even though Meng Lan's father is dead, the company is still there. Based on what Wang Yu has found out and speculated about Luo Deye's poor character, it is impossible for him to let go of such a big piece of fat that is almost at his fingertips. So how does Meng Lan deal with Luo Deye's entanglement?
The last time they met, Meng Lan had naturally matured after going through many things, but as far as Guan Xia could see, she didn't have any particularly obvious negative emotions such as irritability or sadness.
Guan Xia didn't quite believe that Meng Lan's performance, as they had grown up together and been together for more than 20 years, could be completely hidden from her. Excluding her Oscar-level acting skills, all Guan Xia could think of was that Meng Lan had completely eliminated Luo Deye, or that she had enough ability to deal with Luo Deye. But either way, it was beyond Guan Xia's understanding of Meng Lan. She now wanted to know more and more what Meng Lan had experienced in the years she was absent.
In the next few days, the entire Second Squadron was busy because it was a basic visit and investigation. Their previous participation satisfied their curiosity. This time, Guan Xia and Pang Le did not go with them. Instead, they stayed in the ward with Ji An and Lu Tingfeng all day, listening to the two share their experience in solving cases over the years and the process of solving some major criminal cases.
It was another evening. After Guan Xia received a call from Xu Nian, she and Pang Le walked out of the hospital and drove directly back to the hotel.
I don’t know if it was Guan Xia’s illusion, but I felt that after running for a few days, Xu Nian and the others’ skin color had become a little darker.
Guan Xia habitually took the takeaway handed to her by Xu Nian, opened the lid, and while mechanically eating her rice, she listened carefully to Wang Yu’s introduction of their investigation today.
Wang Yu looked extremely hungry. He wolfed down a few mouthfuls of food before speaking vaguely, "We discovered something unusual today. Meng Lan attempted suicide on June 19, 2023. According to the police records, around 10:19 PM, the delivery driver received an order for a high-concentration liquor from a convenience store. On his way, he encountered another delivery driver on a narrow path. Because their destination was near a park's artificial lake with relatively low traffic, he suspected they might be the same customer. He casually asked about it and, upon learning the delivery was for cephalexin, he called the police."
Wang Yu swallowed the food in his mouth and continued, "Today I read the statement recorded by the delivery driver who called the police. According to his statement, after he called the police, he asked another delivery driver about his delivery time and asked him to deliver first. He waited in a secluded place nearby, stalling for time while waiting for the police to arrive. While waiting, he saw a middle-aged woman notice something was wrong with a customer. She walked over and chatted with the customer for a while. I don't know what they talked about, but the customer's emotions gradually calmed down. After the police arrived, he brought her some wine. The customer didn't make any suicidal moves again, and she repeatedly assured the police that she would not commit suicide again."
When Guan Xia heard this, she felt that the scene described by Wang Yu was somewhat familiar. She stopped eating unconsciously. After a few seconds, she realized that it was indeed familiar. Isn't this the same scene as the important clue she provided to Xu Nian about the 2021 Case 129?
They all committed suicide, and someone persuaded them to do something. They all suddenly gave up the idea of suicide after talking about something unknown. After a while, they were all involved in cases involving human lives. The only difference was that Case 129 in 2021 was a major homicide, while Meng Lan's was an accident. However, now that so many clues have been found, it is questionable whether this accident was an accident or not.
Pang Le also remembered it and said in surprise: "Oh my god, this sounds familiar. Isn't this the case we investigated before? The case of the Judgment Angel, I still remember it clearly. Isn't Meng Lan and Guan Xia childhood friends? How is she related to that organization?"
Guan Xia was anxious to hear about the progress of the case investigation and didn't notice it before. Only when she looked at Xu Nian and the others' expressions did she realize that everyone, including Wang Yu, looked very serious. This seriousness was completely different from that of the previous few days, even to the point of being solemn.
Guan Xia was also a bit dazed. Her mind kept flashing back to Zhang Weiyan, the man who appeared to be an accomplice in the 129 case but was actually the main culprit. It was unbelievable. She and Meng Lan had only been separated for a few years, hadn't been in touch for a few years, so how could she have been connected to such a terrifying criminal organization? Was she already part of that organization? Like Zhang Weiyan, had she become a marginal member of that organization through this method?
Perhaps the shock was too great, Guan Xia felt dizzy and black for a moment. Fortunately, she was sitting at the time, and except for almost spilling the takeaway, everything else was normal.
Xu Nian was the first to notice something was wrong with Guan Xia. He almost walked over and took the slightly tilted lunch box in Guan Xia's hand. He casually placed it on the small table in front of Guan Xia and said, "Although it sounds like the two cases do have some similarities, a careful analysis shows that there are still many differences. Judging from the clues we have so far, even if we have some suspicions, we can't prove that the natural gas leak that killed Meng Lan's parents and brother was not an accident. Another point is that Meng Lan chose to commit suicide late at night, and the location was by the lake where there was relatively little traffic. It's so late at night and in a deserted place. The possibility of accidentally encountering a member of that organization is too small. If the middle-aged woman she was talking to was really a member of that organization, then the encounter could not be an accident, but rather the result of previous observation and contact. However, based on the information we have investigated now, it is unlikely that there was prior observation and contact, so I still speculate that the middle-aged woman was just an ordinary kind-hearted person passing by. Seeing Meng Lan crying sadly, she came forward to comfort her."
After Xu Nian's analysis, Guan Xia finally felt alive again. Her breathing became much smoother. She asked impatiently, "Did you get the surveillance footage from the park? We'll know if it's true or not after watching it."
As for the few members of that organization that Guan Xia had come into contact with, without exception, they all had the organization's logo on their bodies. Perhaps it was out of heartfelt admiration, or tattoos, or pendants, or jewelry. Several of them were quite blatant and did not cover it up at all, as if they were proud to be in that organization.
It doesn't matter even if there is no mark on her body. Guan Xia has confirmed through several tests that the system has been upgraded. As long as there is something wrong with the middle-aged woman, her intuition will definitely remind her.
Wang Yu said: "We have the surveillance video and even walked around the scene, but to be honest, it's impossible to determine whether the middle-aged woman who spoke with Meng Lan was a member of that organization based on the surveillance video. We specifically asked the sanitation workers at the park. The park was built a long time ago, more than ten years ago. Even though it has been repaired over the years, there are still many small paths leading in and out without surveillance cameras. When we left, for convenience, we also took a path that could only accommodate one person. We kept looking up as we walked, but we really didn't find any surveillance cameras."
Wang Yu said this, but before he had finished speaking, he had already taken out a few USB flash drives very naturally and connected them to the computer while finishing the rest of his words.
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