Chapter 174 Plan A and Plan B
When Zhou Yi was interrogating Sun Kun before, he said something like, "Everything you do will leave a trace."
Now, Wu Yongcheng said the same thing to them.
"Criminals are not gods. Where do they come from? Where do they live? Where do their motorcycles come from? As long as they don't just appear out of thin air, everything they do will leave traces. The essence of criminal investigation is to follow these traces."
Wu Yongcheng checked the wall clock and said to the men from the Third Brigade, "It's eight o'clock in the evening. Qian Hongxing still has twelve hours until he goes to collect the ransom. These twelve hours are crucial to determining whether the hostages can survive."
"Right now, a massive police network has been deployed across Hongcheng. But we all know this is only the first step in the manhunt, and a large-scale, blanket search is inherently a helpless move because we still lack key clues. Therefore, the next focus of our Third Squadron is to uncover these key clues."
Wu Yongcheng asked Zhou Yi to track down clues about the van, and asked Jiang Biao to continue tracking down the woman named Nana. Chen Yan was responsible for Liu Jianshe's line, especially to find out what Liu Jianshe had in his hands that the kidnappers must have.
Then Qiao Jiali was responsible for assisting the command center in dispatching police forces and integrating clues, and at the same time making an emergency application to the provincial department to screen similar past cases and suspicious persons with criminal records across the province.
After making the arrangements, Wu Yongcheng said to Zhou Yi, "Zhou Yi, the ideal scenario is to find the kidnappers before Qian Hongxing goes to collect the ransom at 8 o'clock tomorrow. But this is only Plan A. We also have to consider that if we don't find these guys before then, we will have to arrange Plan B. What are your ideas?"
Zhou Yi said, "If it really comes to this, we can only deploy our defense around Qian Hongxing. We can track Qian Hongxing the entire time, especially after he withdraws the money from the bank. This is crucial. The kidnappers have never stated the time and place for the ransom payment, so we can't rule out the possibility that they will rob him on the way there after he withdraws the money."
Zhou Yi paused and said, "If the criminals really have guns, Qian Hongxing's personal safety may not be guaranteed."
Wu Yongcheng nodded. This was also what he was most worried about.
He said, "You're absolutely right. Judging from the Ducheng case, these kidnappers don't even have the basic ethics of the underworld. They got the ransom but still killed the hostage."
The so-called underworld morality is the word "righteousness" spoken by people in society and gangs. There is an old saying that "even thieves have their own code of conduct", such as paying with one's life for a murder, paying one's debts with money, etc. In the case of kidnapping, it means paying money to release the person.
Zhou Yi knew that Wu Yongcheng was not endorsing these underworld ethics, but was endorsing what he said. This group of people didn't even follow the underworld ethics and had no bottom line at all.
Wu Yongcheng continued, "Qian Hongxing was indeed in great danger after withdrawing the money. There's a high possibility that these shameless bastards will go from stalking to robbery, because they don't care about other people's lives at all; their only goal is the ransom."
If this is true, Qian Hongxing was killed, the hostage was killed, the ransom was lost, and the kidnappers ran away, then the world will collapse for the Hongcheng police.
Jiang Biao said: "We can follow Qian Hongxing throughout the process to prevent this from happening."
Zhou Yi raised a finger and shook it. "Brother Biao, have you forgotten the Suiyuan case? The local police were exposed while following the family to pay the ransom, which led to the kidnappers killing the hostages. I don't think it's the Suiyuan police who are weak. It's probably because the kidnappers have a strong anti-detection awareness. Any slight disturbance will cause them to take extreme measures. In the Suiyuan case, the ransom was not paid in the end, which shows that the kidnappers would rather give up the ransom than risk exposure."
Everyone nodded, but at the same time fell silent.
This criminal gang makes a living by kidnapping, and their ransom demands are shockingly high. They move from one location to another after each shot. Once alarmed, they will immediately become kites with broken strings, and it will be difficult to find them again.
Wu Yongcheng thought for a moment and said, "If it really doesn't work, we can only adopt a segmented tracking method, maintaining the maximum safe distance and not arousing the kidnappers' suspicion."
Zhou Yi did not say anything, because he knew that in Hongcheng, which was built in the 1990s and had few vehicles on the road, there would be a high risk of exposure even if segmented tracking was used.
"Captain Wu, there is still a big risk here," Zhou Yi said.
"What?"
"So far, the kidnappers have made two calls to Qian Hongxing's landline. But if they knew about Qian Hongxing's family situation by getting close to Liu Jianshe from the beginning, how could they not know Qian Hongxing's mobile phone number? Why did they have to call the landline? Are they trying to confuse us?"
"What if Qian Hongxing withdraws the money tomorrow morning and on his way back, the kidnappers suddenly call his cell phone and demand he go to a designated location to deliver the ransom? A sudden turn or a sparsely populated area would expose him to being tracked."
Zhou Yi's words made Wu Yongcheng gasp.
Because Zhou Yi's analysis was correct, this situation was very likely to occur, and if it did occur, they would either continue tracking regardless of the safety of the hostages, just to catch the kidnappers, or they would have to give up tracking.
Once Qian Hongxing and the ransom are out of the police's sight, everything will be over.
"So, do you have any better idea?" Wu Yongcheng asked Zhou Yi.
"I can have Qian Hongxing sync up with me immediately after receiving the kidnappers' request. Given his current level of trust in me, I'm sure that won't be a problem. This way, we can quickly mobilize police forces to surround the transaction location. However, the safest approach would be to have someone directly in Qian Hongxing's car to respond."
Wu Yongcheng immediately denied it and said, "No, it will be exposed."
At this time, Qiao Jiali suddenly said: "Let me do it. I can hide in the trunk and follow, so I won't be exposed."
Chen Yan blurted out subconsciously: "No, this is too dangerous, I'd better do it."
Wu Yongcheng and Jiang Biao didn't say anything, and Zhou Yi didn't say anything either, because he had already thought of this when he raised this point.
Qiao Jiali laughed and said, "With all your big bodies, there's no way you could possibly fit into the trunk. Only I can do this."
"Besides, I'm a professionally trained detective, okay? You're looking down on me."
Zhou Yi said, "Sister Qiao, I will tamper with the trunk of Qian Hongxing's car tomorrow morning so that you can open it directly from the inside."
"no problem."
Wu Yongcheng said, "Any other questions? If not, hurry up and take action immediately to deal with these desperadoes in Plan A."
Chen Yan raised his hand and asked, "Master, I have a question. We have blocked all the main roads, but how can we be sure that the kidnappers are still in Hongcheng? What if the kidnappers just took the hostages and left Hongcheng? After all, the kidnappers don't care about the hostages' lives at all."
Wu Yongcheng pointed at Zhou Yi and said, "Zhou Yi, you answer his question."
Zhou Yi nodded and said, "The kidnappers may not care about the life or death of the hostages, but they care about the ransom. The essence of kidnapping is to make money, and getting the ransom is the kidnappers' biggest criminal motive. So the kidnappers must still be in the city because they want to collect the ransom."
"Because the kidnappers don't care about the lives of their hostages, there's no need to take the risk of taking them out of the city. This can be seen from the Ducheng and Suiyuan cases. The bodies of the victims were all found in this city."
"Finally, one more point: a criminal gang like this, responsible for so many deaths, must have incredibly complex internal relationships. It's not loyalty that binds them. Captain Wu just said, they don't respect the code of conduct. What truly binds them is the crimes they've committed. Each of them has committed a capital crime, leaving them with no recourse but to be bound together, like the proverbial grasshopper on a rope."
"But similarly, this kind of tying up will lead to serious mutual suspicion, so they will definitely act together. It's impossible for someone to stay in Hongcheng to collect the money while the rest of the group leaves Hongcheng early. This seems safe, but what if the person who collects the ransom pockets the money? What if the person who stays behind is arrested or surrenders himself in exchange for a reduced sentence and his life?"
"Human nature is very complex. Just like in Sanpo Village, we all saw how villagers who had protected each other for decades now turned on each other for a few hundred yuan reward. That's human nature."
Zhou Yi's words enlightened Chen Yan and shocked Jiang Biao and Qiao Jiali. Is this really the insight that a 23-year-old young man can have?
Wu Yongcheng wanted to praise him, but the atmosphere was not right, so he didn't say anything.
But he was no longer that surprised. He seemed to have begun to get used to the fact that Zhou Yi always showed maturity and insights far beyond his age.
Either this guy is really gifted, or he was really a criminal police in his previous life.
Wu Yongcheng clapped his hands and said, "Let's get moving!"
All members of the Third Brigade stood up and took action.
"Oh, by the way, Xiao Qiao, go to the Forensic and Technical Department and ask them if they've found anything about the shoebox and severed finger that Zhou Yi brought back?"
"Okay, Captain Wu, I'll go right away."
When Zhou Yi left Qian Hongxing's house, he put the cardboard box, the severed finger inside, and the original filling paper into a bag, hid them in the repairman's toolbox, and took them out.
They also used transparent tape to preserve the fingerprints of Qian Hongxing and the security guard who had touched the box for screening.
Qiao Jiali first found the forensic office. Xu Nian said that there was nothing special found in the severed finger. It could only be confirmed that it was the finger of a child about seven years old and it had been cut off not long ago.
The only suspicious point is that analysis of the wound on the severed finger shows that it was not caused by a conventional knife. They are still trying to figure out what it was.
Xu Nian said, "In addition, we have properly refrigerated this severed finger. If reattachment surgery can be performed promptly, there is hope that it can be reattached. However, current technology can only effectively preserve it for 24 hours at most. Otherwise, the nerves in the severed finger will die and it will be impossible to reattach it."
When Qiao Jiali heard that there was still hope of reattaching the severed finger, she was overjoyed. This was also good news for Qian Lailai, a seven-year-old child.
But it also means that the police must rescue the people as soon as possible.
Then the technical department extracted fingerprints from the cardboard box. After excluding the fingerprints of Qian Hongxing and the security guard, they extracted a complete fingerprint from the waste paper filling inside the shoe box.
Qiao Jiali immediately reported this key clue to Wu Yongcheng, who immediately arranged for the remaining staff in the bureau to prioritize matching with people with criminal records in the city. If no one was found, he would ask the provincial department for assistance to check people with criminal records throughout the province.
Unexpectedly, despite the lack of computer technology and the use of the most primitive human eye recognition and manual matching, they finally found the origin of the fingerprint after less than two hours of effort.
Wu Yongcheng looked at the information of the released prisoner in his hand and felt that he had seen this name somewhere.
Murmured: "Su Jun..."
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