SOTC Chapter 1

“The investigation into the Yulin County Agricultural Credit Cooperative’s armored vehicle disappearance case that occurred half a month ago has made significant breakthroughs. At approximately 4:00 AM today, the County Criminal Investigation Brigade discovered the missing armored vehicle in a remote rural area of Poshui Township. The bodies of the two security personnel responsible for escorting the vehicle were also found in a nearby pond, suspected of dying from gunshot wounds. Currently, the missing 50 million in cash is still unaccounted for. Police indicate that the case is under further investigation. This is the latest report from Yulin County Legal Daily reporter Xu Qing. We will continue to follow up on the progress of the case.”

Xu Qing put down the microphone and nodded to the photographer beside her.

She had been working at Yuzhou Cultural Media Company for four years. From a fledgling college student to being able to stand alone as the editor-in-chief and reporter of the Legal Daily, few people can understand the hard work involved.

However, Feng Bing especially understood why Xu Qing was able to achieve such success.

It was already 7:00 PM on the eighth day of the second lunar month.

In just five more hours, the most important festival for the Chinese people would arrive.

As a girl who grew up in a big city, it was incredible that she didn’t go home to reunite with her family at this time, but instead ran to such a remote and impoverished place for an interview.

Moreover, as the editor-in-chief of the Legal Daily, Xu Qing could easily stay in the office instead of running around like this.

“Sister Qing, it’s getting late. Why don’t I just take you home today?”

Before the recording ended, Feng Bing put down the camera and turned to Xu Qing.

“No need, just drop me off at the bus transfer station.”

Xu Qing shook her head and said casually.

“How can that be? Your family must still be waiting for you to celebrate the New Year together, right?”

Feng Bing asked again.

“No, my brother is preparing for the Gaokao, and my mom is afraid of affecting his studies, so she didn’t bring him over. I originally planned to go back for the New Year, but because of work, I’ll go back after the Lantern Festival. Don’t worry about me, go reunite with your family early.”

Xu Qing spoke gently, not at all like a resolute and vigorous woman.

But Feng Bing was still a little worried, so he asked one more question –

“Don’t you need to take a vacation?”

“Really don’t need to.”

Xu Qing waved her hand with a smile.

Feng Bing glanced at Xu Qing gratefully and didn’t say anything more, neatly packing up the equipment beside him.

The journey from Poshui Township back to Yulin County was somewhat long.

Although highways and railways are ubiquitous in this era, there are still many places that can only rely on rugged mountain roads to travel to and from each other.

Clearly, it was only dozens of kilometers, but it often took several hours to arrive.

Fortunately, the whole day of work had already made Xu Qing a little tired, so she didn’t feel like it took too much time in her half-dreaming state.

It was already 2:00 AM when Xu Qing got home.

Even the noise of firecrackers had stopped at this time.

When Xu Qing walked down the stairs, the entire corridor was so quiet that she couldn’t hear any sound.

The only thing left was the “click” sound made after the key rubbed against the lock.

At this time, a strange sense of unease suddenly rose in Xu Qing’s heart.

She didn’t know if it was because the potted plants outside the entrance seemed to have been moved, or because she had been busy reporting all kinds of bizarre cases since being promoted to editor-in-chief.

A strange feeling flashed through Xu Qing’s heart.

But the fatigue of the past few days had prevented her from continuing to think about these things.

Xu Qing habitually pushed open the door, then groped for the light switch on the wall.

But at this moment, an even stronger fear permeated her heart.

“Who’s there?”

A black shadow suddenly flashed in front of Xu Qing.

She couldn’t be sure if it was her illusion, but her heart convulsed violently at this moment.

Xu Qing instinctively wanted to run, but the moment she turned around, she suddenly found that her body seemed to have hit another wall.

Then, an icy hand reached out from the darkness and pressed hard on her mouth.

“Don’t move.”

A hoarse voice entered Xu Qing’s ears.

Her whole body stiffened, feeling a fear she had never felt before, and immediately struggled desperately.

However, the person who attacked her had already firmly locked Xu Qing’s joints, making her completely lose the ability to resist.

After a while, Xu Qing could only be forced to give up struggling, but she was still trying to make a sound in her mouth.

Until that voice sounded again, saying chilling words.

“I don’t mean to hurt you, but if you don’t cooperate at all, then don’t blame me.”

“Ugh… ugh…”

Xu Qing made a whimper from her throat, then began to nod desperately.

Because until now, she didn’t know the identity of the person or their purpose.

In this case, continuing to struggle would only further stimulate the other party.

So Xu Qing could only be forced to stop resisting and choose to cooperate.

The person didn’t say anything more. He kicked the door shut and forced Xu Qing to walk forward.

Then he pushed her onto a chair and used the hemp rope he had prepared in advance to tie her hands and feet together, and then stuffed a large wad of cotton cloth into her mouth.

After doing all this, the person’s movements stopped.

He stood in the darkness, as if thinking about the next step.

Xu Qing was about to cry, she thought of countless possibilities.

Without any means of resistance, no matter how strong a person is, they will start to panic.

But what Xu Qing didn’t expect was that she heard a faint sigh from that person.

Then, the living room lights were turned on.

A burst of dazzling light swept away the darkness in front of her.

After the dazzling sensation gradually subsided, Xu Qing began to see the woman’s appearance clearly.

At that moment, she could hardly suppress the huge shock in her heart, and kept making sounds in her throat under her suddenly widened eyes.

But the woman, after leaving the darkness, became a little uncomfortable.

She didn’t even dare to look Xu Qing in the eye, but turned her gaze to the side, and then said somewhat stiffly –

“We’ve met before, I really don’t have good intentions. I will take out the cotton cloth, but can you promise me not to shout?”

Xu Qing started nodding desperately, because after seeing this man, she was even more puzzled as to why all this was happening.

Everything seemed to be deep in a fog, it was as if the world had been turned upside down.

The man still turned his gaze to Xu Qing.

He hesitated for a moment, and finally took away the cotton cloth that was stuffed in Xu Qing’s mouth.

And at this moment, the astonishment in Xu Qing’s heart finally climbed to the top, uncontrollably shouting his name –

“Gu Zheng.”

————————————————–

Time returned to August 16, 2014. At this time, no one could have imagined that in the short half year that followed, so many incredible and malicious events would occur in Yulin County.

And this day was also Xu Qing’s first day as the editor-in-chief of the Yulin County Legal Daily under Yuzhou Cultural Media.

The person she was interviewing was a household name in Yulin County. That person’s name was Gu Zheng.

“Hello, I am Xu Qing, the editor-in-chief of Yuzhou Legal Daily. Today, I specially invited you here to interview you about your thoughts on the cross-regional mobile robbery case that was just solved?”

“This is my responsibility as a policeman, but this is my first time being interviewed. Can I know where this interview will be published?”

Gu Zheng smiled shyly. He didn’t feel like a typical criminal police officer.

He seemed to have more humor and more affinity.

“We will publish the content of this interview on the front page of Yuzhou Legal Daily, so can you tell us how you thought of their next criminal target at that time?”

“Just be one step ahead of them.”

Gu Zheng said as a matter of course.

“Imitate their way of thinking, think about what they would think in advance, and understand the reasons why these people commit crimes in essence, so that you can catch them faster.”

“I seem to be a little confused.”

Xu Qing looked at Gu Zheng with some confusion.

“Generally speaking, when arresting criminals, wouldn’t you deduce the process of the crime through the evidence left at the scene, and find the criminals by following these clues? But what Officer Gu said seems to be different from what we understand?”

“Actually, it’s not much different, it’s just that some things may not be particularly understood by everyone. For us, there is one more important thing after solving the case and arresting the criminal suspects, and that is to do our best to prevent their next crime and protect the property and lives of the people. You can think that this matter is parallel to solving the case, but if you must put it first, it must be after solving the case. So often, some flexibility is needed.”

This was his first time being interviewed, and Gu Zheng didn’t feel nervous at all. He said some things that Xu Qing didn’t know at all, which made Xu Qing extremely curious.

“Can Officer Gu describe in detail what kind of flexibility it is?”

“It is to try to understand them, not only their identity information, but more to understand their growing and living environment, and understand their inner thoughts. From the perspective of criminal psychology, the method and means of committing a crime can deduce the character characteristics of the suspect, and from these aspects, we need to summarize their thinking mode as much as possible, and deduce the next possible crime location and method based on their thinking mode.”

“In that case, will Officer Gu’s pressure be particularly high? I heard that this case was because Officer Gu judged that the suspect would choose to hide in the mountains after committing the crime, so he took the Second Squadron to wander around several mountain villages, without sleep for three days and nights, and finally caught the exhausted suspect hiding in the mountains. Is this true?”

“That should be a rumor. You still need to maintain your physical strength to arrest criminals. Even an iron man can’t stand not sleeping for three days and nights, so at that time, I and my brothers in the team took turns to rest.”

Gu Zheng replied with a smile.

“Then I also heard that Captain Gu was injured while arresting the suspect. Was it because he fought with the suspect?”

“Who said that?”

Gu Zheng showed a little surprise in his expression after hearing this.

He shook his head repeatedly and said –

“I was injured because I accidentally ran into a tree while chasing. And I wasn’t the only one present when arresting the suspect. It was the joint efforts of the entire Second Squadron that caught the criminal, so if you want to talk about credit, it should belong to the entire squadron.”

Gu Zheng’s answer made Xu Qing feel extremely good about him.

Reporters always encounter many kinds of people, and most people hope that their image in front of the camera will be more glorious and easier to be praised.

Xu Qing rarely met people who told the truth without any modification.

She couldn’t help but smile and said –

“There is one last question. Your Legal Daily has recently opened a new column called the Public Legal Education Column. Is Captain Gu willing to participate in this column in your spare time and contribute to the legal education construction of Yulin County?”

“Yes, if the superiors allow it, I also hope to popularize some legal knowledge for the masses in Yulin County, and this should be within the scope of every police officer’s responsibilities.”

“Good, then I really look forward to cooperating with Captain Gu in the future.”

This was a very brief interview. Xu Qing had always hoped to make some changes to the Legal Daily after taking office as editor-in-chief, so she specifically asked Gu Zheng’s thoughts during the interview.

But she didn’t expect that their second meeting would take place in such a peculiar way.

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