SOTC Chapter 49

“Nonsense! Utter nonsense! Take a look at what you’re doing day in and day out?!”

In the Yulin County Public Security Bureau’s meeting room, Li Yigang was slamming the table, roaring at Liu Chuyun, Sun Tao, and Liu Yuxi who were seated before him.

However, Li Yigang couldn’t be entirely blamed, because just yesterday, online media had widely republished Xu Qing’s reports on the cases of Chen Fan and Wang Nongxin, and between the lines, expressed dissatisfaction with the Yulin County Public Security Bureau’s handling of the cases.

Now the matter had caused a great uproar throughout the province. According to Xue Yan’s assessment, if these three cases couldn’t be resolved, the province would definitely send a major crimes unit to Yulin County to investigate. At that point, not only would Li Yigang lose face, but the entire Yulin County Public Security Bureau would be disgraced.

But Xue Yan had never understood who had arranged this.

The *Legal Daily* only circulated within Yulin County. If someone hadn’t intercepted the articles and deliberately found other media outlets to promote them, it would have been impossible to attract the province’s attention.

He had specifically spoken to Sun Tao about this last night, but Sun Tao didn’t seem to care at all, only saying a simple five words – “Wait and see tomorrow.”

But the next morning, they were all summoned to the meeting room.

“Speak up! Why has everyone turned into a mute?! What exactly is going on? Who wrote the articles in the *Legal Daily*? And who spread this matter to other media?!”

Li Yigang, seeing that no one spoke, slammed the table again.

Xue Yan felt a little guilty. He secretly glanced at Sun Tao, but Sun Tao still had an indifferent look on his face.

In fact, Sun Tao was also anxious. Now the case was at a critical moment. Once they were caught red-handed, the problem would be huge.

But as anxious as he was, he couldn’t show the slightest hint of vulnerability on the surface. Although he knew that if Li Yigang didn’t know anything, he wouldn’t be throwing such a fit here.

“Sun Tao! Are you going to make me say it?”

Sure enough, after a moment, Li Yigang called out Sun Tao’s name.

“What does Director Li want me to say?”

Sun Tao slowly stood up from his chair upon hearing this.

“The case is still under investigation. Are you an old criminal police officer? Why would you tell a reporter the details of the case? On what basis did you accept the interview? Who do you represent? Yourself or the entire public security image?!”

These three consecutive questions were all impossible for Sun Tao to answer.

He knew from the very beginning that he had violated discipline, but the situation was pressing.

Sun Tao had no choice but to choose this, and had long anticipated this day.

“This matter…”

Sun Tao hesitated for a moment, and was just about to take the blame entirely on himself, when Liu Chuyun suddenly spoke up.

“This matter was arranged by me for Sun Tao to do. Xu Qing is one of our people, responsible for helping us investigate the problems with Yuzhou Cultural Media Company. So for some necessary reasons, I had Sun Tao accept her interview. Director Li, do you think that’s inappropriate?”

“Investigating Yuzhou Cultural Media Company?”

Li Yigang’s eyes were as wide as copper bells now.

“Liu Chuyun, what exactly is your problem? You don’t investigate the armored car case, but instead recruit people to investigate Yuzhou Cultural Media Company. Yuzhou Cultural Media Company is a star enterprise in our county, and it’s about to go public. What exactly do you want to do? Do you think you can do whatever you want just because you’re the captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade? Also, do you remember what you said last month?”

“I remember. You promised me that if the whereabouts of the huge sum of lost money couldn’t be found within a month, you would take responsibility for the poor handling of the case and resign.”

Liu Chuyun said to Li Yigang with utmost calmness.

“Good.”

Li Yigang nodded.

“So, are there any results from the investigation now?”

“No, so when you called me here today, I had already prepared my resignation letter.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Liu Chuyun suddenly took out an envelope from his pocket, and then placed it on the table.

Xue Yan was stunned when he saw this.

He immediately wanted to say something, but suddenly saw Sun Tao giving him a look to stop him.

The entire meeting was now filled with a strange atmosphere, and all four people present remained silent.

Until Li Yigang suddenly snorted coldly, and slowly picked up Liu Chuyun’s resignation letter from the table.

He didn’t open it, just glanced at it, and then said –

“I will truthfully report my matter to the higher authorities, and you can patiently wait for the decision. As for Sun Tao, Liu Chuyun will be responsible for his own problems, then my problems…”

“I am completely ignorant of these matters, and only obey the orders of my superiors. The entire First Squad is still using the location where the armored car was found as the center point for searching. You can ask Lao Xue about this, his people are also there. Now, apart from Lao Xue and me, the other members of the two criminal police squads have been busy for more than a month, and haven’t even had time to go home and see their families during the New Year.”

Sun Tao had already preemptively said these words before Li Yigang could finish speaking.

“Then what have you two been busy with?”

“Captain Liu told us to stay outside the bureau to investigate the Agricultural Credit Cooperative’s affairs. But Director Li, you also know that you and Captain Liu have always had some disagreements. He thinks that cases should be investigated one by one, and that the most urgent thing now is to find the lost cash, and then talk about other problems. So I even had a fight with Captain Liu some time ago, and everyone outside the bureau knows about it. I originally wanted to go to the front line to continue investigating the armored car case, but who knew that something happened to Da Lin in the back two townships, and Lao Liu went to examine the body, confirming that Da Lin had been murdered. I couldn’t pretend that I didn’t know about this, so I had to stay and investigate, at least to give his family an explanation, right? As for Lao Xue, I asked him to help out, otherwise Lin Shu’s family would have caused trouble at the bureau, and then things would have been even uglier.”

Sun Tao’s smooth lies were simply astonishing to Xue Yan, and also left Li Yigang speechless.

After Liu Chuyun had taken all the responsibility on himself, he obviously couldn’t continue this topic, and could only nod his head, saying –

“What you say is also correct, but the focus of the work is still the investigation of the armored car case. From now on, I will personally lead the Criminal Investigation Brigade to launch an investigation into the case, and we must get to the bottom of this case before the superior investigation team comes to our county. Sun Tao and Xue Yan, since you two are already investigating Lin Shu’s case, then continue to follow up. After the meeting, I will personally go to Poshui Township to see the progress of the work. As for Liu Chuyun, go back and think carefully about your own responsibilities, and then wait for the results of the bureau’s discussion, meeting adjourned.”

Xue Yan rarely saw Li Yigang working so hard, which made him feel suspicious. So before the meeting ended, he followed Sun Tao all the way.

But Sun Tao didn’t speak, and just walked to the parking lot. At this time, Xue Yan finally couldn’t bear it anymore and asked Sun Tao –

“Lao Sun? What’s the situation now? What’s going on?”

“Get in the car, you drive, I need to think carefully.”

Sun Tao only said this, then directly opened the car door and sat in the passenger seat.

Xue Yan had no choice but to get into the car, and then asked –

“Where to?”

“Anywhere.”

Sun Tao sat in the car with a worried look on his face, not saying a word. It wasn’t until the car had traveled a long distance that he finally said –

“Lao Xue, let me ask you something, who do you think has the bigger problem, Director Li or Captain Liu?”

“You’re asking me?”

Xue Yan was stunned when he heard this, then quickly shook his head.

“I don’t know, today’s matter is strange everywhere, and I still haven’t come to my senses yet. What do you think of this, Lao Sun?”

“What do I think?”

Sun Tao suddenly smiled.

“I’m not really familiar with Captain Liu, he was transferred from another county three years ago. At that time, it was said that they wanted to implement some standardized system, and that the criminal police team couldn’t be directly led by the director, so Captain Liu took over as the captain. You’ve been following Lao Gu all along, so you might not be very clear about this. Before Captain Liu came, we would report any problems directly to Director Li. After Captain Liu came, no one reported anything anymore, do you know about this?”

“I don’t know about that, but since you took over Lao Gu’s position, you haven’t reported anything to Captain Liu… We thought we were all like this, so we didn’t pay attention to it.”

Xue Yan looked at Sun Tao with a confused expression. He couldn’t figure out what was going on, and didn’t know why Sun Tao would bring up this topic.

“Indeed, you are all like this. Captain Liu is a very strange person. I used to admire him very much, because I had heard about his deeds in other counties, and he had indeed solved a lot of major cases. But I don’t know why, after he was transferred to our place, he basically didn’t participate in any case investigations, but only assigned the cases to the team, and the reports were often submitted after the case was closed. And if there were any problems with the case investigation, he would never ask about it. Lao Gu and I had discussed it before, saying that we couldn’t figure out Captain Liu, and that he was bureaucratic, but he gave us enough freedom to investigate the cases. Although he didn’t like to listen to reports, he would still cautiously discuss any problems with us. But Director Li is different. Before Captain Liu came, Director Li would often ask you and Lao Gu to inquire about the progress of the case investigation. That’s why I said that after Captain Liu came, not only were there no more reports, but there were even more cases, and many cases were handled directly by the police station without going through our criminal police team at all. Until this time… Hehe.”

Sun Tao gave a meaningful smile.

“Then you think Captain Liu has a problem?”

“Hard to say, hard to say, hard to say. But I really didn’t understand Captain Liu’s performance today. This matter doesn’t make sense at all. Why would Captain Liu cover for me? He couldn’t possibly know about Xu Qing’s matter, but he said that there was a problem with Yuzhou Cultural Media Company, which means that Captain Liu at least knew that Liu Yuxi was problematic, but how did he know? Lao Xue, have you reported to him?”

“Of course not.”

Xue Yan immediately shook his head.

“That’s strange… Lao Xue, let’s make an assumption, let’s assume that Captain Liu has a problem. Then, if Captain Liu doesn’t have a problem, then how did he know that Liu Yuxi was problematic?”

“He could only have found out through investigation, how else would he know? It couldn’t be that Liu Yuxi told Captain Liu himself, right?”

“Captain Liu investigated alone? The dignified captain of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, with two criminal police squads at his disposal, then investigated the case alone, without telling anyone, why?”

“Your question is a bit interesting, Lao Sun.”

Xue Yan suddenly blinked, then looked at Sun Tao with a very strange expression.

“According to you, Captain Liu doesn’t care about any cases, and his work is just like drifting with the tide, but he’s secretly investigating a case alone. That means he came specifically for this matter, and doesn’t trust the two of us. No, not the two of us, you and Lao Gu. But, that logic isn’t right. According to you, Captain Liu stopped communicating with you about work from the beginning of his transfer, that means he didn’t trust you from the beginning. In other words, Captain Liu already knew that there was a problem in the bureau before he was transferred? So Captain Liu was deliberately transferred to investigate our Yulin County?”

“Hard to say, I just need to have an idea in my own mind. In the current situation, we also can’t trust anyone, only by finding solid evidence can we possibly bring these people to justice. Let me tell you some good news, I might have found a clue about Brother Lang.”

“What did you say, Lao Sun? You found a clue about Brother Lang?!”

Upon hearing this, Xue Yan’s whole body suddenly shook, and he quickly turned his head to look at Sun Tao.

“Watch the road! Watch the road, Lao Xue!”

Sun Tao was also startled, because just as Xue Yan turned his head, a truck darted out from the corner, and was about to crash into them.

Xue Yan quickly turned the steering wheel and slammed on the brakes, finally managing to stop the car without any danger, but also heavily collided with the curb.

“Lao Xue, are you trying to kill people and silence them? And even drag yourself down with them?”

When Sun Tao came back to his senses, he still had a look of lingering fear on his face.

Although he wasn’t afraid of death, he definitely didn’t want to die in this kind of situation.

But Xue Yan didn’t respond to Sun Tao’s words at all, and didn’t even care that his leg had been bumped hard, and continued with the previous question –

“Where’s the clue about Brother Lang?! Tell me!”

“You… you’re really like Lao Gu, as soon as you find a clue, you immediately become like a desperate person. Alright, alright, let me tell you, I found the car that Lin Shu was driving on the day he died.”

Sun Tao sighed, and seeing Xue Yan’s impatient look, he could only tell him about this.

“Where did you find it? Are there any fingerprints of the murderer?”

Xue Yan eagerly asked.

“That’s what I wanted to tell you, before there were any clues, I hoped to find clues by stirring up the grass and scaring the snake. Although you didn’t agree with my approach, and Lin Shu was killed because of it, the flaws of that group of people were left behind. But now that there are flaws, I don’t want to continue stirring up the grass and scaring the snake.”

“Okay, I agree with whatever you say, you just want to know where the car is now?”

Xue Yan nodded like a chicken pecking rice.

“Outside a garbage disposal plant, I said that the more you hope to be comprehensive, the easier it is to reveal flaws. Between the time before Lin Shu was killed and 12:00 PM the next night, there were three or two large container trucks that entered a 4S shop under a subsidiary of Yuzhou Cultural Media Company, one of which drove from a road without surveillance. It arrived at the 4S shop at around 7:00 AM the morning after Lin Shu was killed, then at around 11:00 AM that morning, another container truck arrived, stayed for about half an hour, and then left, heading towards the expressway, and finally arrived at a garbage disposal plant in Lin County. I asked Li Xia to rush over overnight to retrieve the public surveillance footage near the garbage dump, and finally saw a scene of the container truck unloading goods from a street corner angle. Although I couldn’t see the license plate clearly, I can confirm that a black car with the exact same model as the car that Lin Shu was driving was taken to that disposal plant.”

“That’s it?”

Xue Yan had a disappointed expression on his face.

“I thought you really found a clue, but you only found a loose end. That car must have been torn into pieces, if we continue to investigate, it’s impossible not to stir up the grass and scare the snake. According to the way those people act, once they find out that we’ve found evidence, they will definitely destroy the evidence as soon as possible.”

“That’s not necessarily true.”

Sun Tao shook his head mysteriously.

“Liu Yuxi is indeed watertight, but that doesn’t mean that the people under him can also be watertight. Even if the people under him can be watertight, that doesn’t mean that unrelated people can be watertight. Lao Xue, let me think, why didn’t Liu Yuxi dismantle the car in his own 4S shop? Isn’t it because he can’t bribe everyone? Yuzhou Cultural Media Company has so many subordinate enterprises, could it be that each one has a connection with the underworld forces? Look at Xu Qing, she’s very clean, so Liu Yuxi chose to transport the car to a neighboring county for processing, just to cover people’s ears and eyes. But Lin Shu’s car isn’t cheap, so I’m saying, a perfectly good car, transported to a waste disposal station to be dismantled, what would the boss of that processing station think? Even if the boss is willing, what would the workers who dismantle it think? That’s tens of thousands of dollars, Lao Xue.”

As Sun Tao finished speaking, he patted Xue Yan’s shoulder meaningfully.

Xue Yan understood, and the expression on his face was even more excited than an immortal descending to earth, and even his voice was trembling a little.

“Lao Sun, could it be…”

“That’s right, I found that car in a nearby used car black market, and then asked Li Xia to buy it for you. A total of 70,000, Lao Xue, are you considering it?”

“Considering what? I’ll pay for the money, I’ll transfer it to you later.”

Xue Yan said these words without hesitation, causing Sun Tao to burst out laughing.

“Lao Xue, have you made a fortune? You’re not planning to support your son anymore?”

“What’s more important than supporting a son? Besides, if this case can’t be solved, I won’t be able to explain it to my wife and son, right?”

“Alright, alright, keep that little money for your son, I was just joking with you. If I want to take the money, I’ll have to get it from Lao Gu. But there’s also a troublesome thing about this, since Lin Shu died, I’m increasingly suspicious that Liu Yuxi has placed more than one mole in our side, and now I don’t dare to trust the Forensic Identification Section.”

Sun Tao frowned and expressed his worries.

But Xue Yan didn’t seem to have any worries about this.

“What’s the big deal, Lao Sun, we’re both old criminal police officers, we’ve lived through the days without a Forensic Identification Section, can’t we just do it ourselves now? I’ll have Zhang Rui bring two sets of equipment over now, those little guys from the county are clean and won’t have any problems. Or, why don’t you take care of the evidence collection today, so as to avoid any complications?”

“Alright, since you, Lao Xue, have spoken, then I can only accompany you at the risk of my life. I’ll call Xiao Zhang now, let’s meet here.”

Sun Tao smiled, but didn’t say anything more, revealing a particularly certain look.

Until two hours later…

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