Tian Li brought over two bottles of mineral water and handed them to Han Bin and Li Hui.
Li Hui twisted his open and gulped down more than half the bottle in one go.
"Hui-ge, slow down. Chugging that much water at once is hard on your kidneys," Zhao Ming reminded him.
"No girlfriend, no problem for the kidneys," Li Hui snorted.
Everyone burst out laughing.
Han Bin took a few sips to moisten his throat. "How's your search going, you two?"
"Not great."
Zhao Ming shook his head. "The surveillance in the urban village is sparse. There's no camera coverage near He Yan's house, so it's hard to figure out what transport she used."
"Don't slack off, or if Captain Zheng finds out, he'll have your hide," Li Hui warned.
"Come on, I wouldn't do that," Zhao Ming protested. "If we really wanted to check thoroughly, the workload would be massive. We'd have to check every vehicle passing in that time window. I can't do it alone, and we don't have enough manpower in our team. What do you expect me to do?"
"Tian Li, how's it on your end?"
"I went to the local telecom company. Aside from those ransom texts, there weren't any suspicious calls or messages," Tian Li replied.
"What about WeChat and QQ?"
"I checked her chat history—nothing unusual in her contacts recently," Tian Li said.
"Looks like the suspect planned ahead and only used the Bubble app to contact the victim. That app isn't common, and it's harder for police to trace," Han Bin analyzed.
Just then—creak—the van door opened, and Zheng Kaixuan stepped inside.
"Captain Zheng, what did the leadership say?"
"They're still making calls. We'll wait for instructions," Zheng answered, then pointed at Han Bin. "I gave them your phone number. The Pengcheng police might contact you."
"Yes, sir."
"After I got out of the car, Lu Wen called me. They've pinpointed where the ransom texts were sent from."
"Where?" Everyone perked up.
Once they had the suspect's approximate location, they could set up a perimeter and prepare to move in.
"Cell tower data places it near the train station."
"Fuck!" Li Hui slapped the table.
Qindao was a tourist city, and the crowds near the train station were massive.
"Could the suspect have already taken a train and left Qindao?" Tian Li speculated.
"This suspect has some counter-surveillance skills. Even if we know they were at the station, it's hard to screen people there—too many officers needed, and even then, no guarantee we'd find him," Han Bin said.
"Han Bin's right," Zheng nodded thoughtfully. "Instead of wasting manpower combing the station, better to chase other leads before we lose the golden investigation window."
Right then, their food delivery arrived.
Zhao Ming went out to collect it.
They were all hungry, so they tore into the packaging quickly.
Each person got a lamb soup with flatbread and a roujiamo meat sandwich.
Hot broth, plenty of meat—filling and satisfying.
Han Bin took a sip of the soup. "Not bad."
Li Hui bit into his sandwich. "Delicious!"
"Some of the roujiamo have hot peppers, some don't—watch out," Zheng reminded.
"Doesn't matter, as long as it's filling," Zhao Ming mumbled through a mouthful. "Once we crack this case, dinner's on me."
"You can step aside. I'm still waiting for Bin-ge's famous kidney dish," Li Hui winked.
"No problem. Once we wrap this up, I'll treat everyone to good meat and good wine," Han Bin grinned. Being single and thrifty, he had some savings.
His family was well-off: father in the police station, mother and grandfather both with pensions. He was busy with work and didn't spend much.
Knock knock. Someone rapped on the door.
Zeng Ping came in.
"Captain Zeng," everyone greeted.
"Wow, smells good in here," Zeng sniffed.
"We got you some too," Zheng said.
"I'll eat later—let me report first." Zeng swallowed hard; he was hungry too.
Zheng sipped his soup. "How'd it go with the bank?"
"Took all afternoon and several hoops to jump through, but we finally got the bank card holder's info," Zeng said with exasperation. "The efficiency… tsk tsk…"
"Regulations are regulations. Let's hear it," Zheng said, wiping his mouth with a wet wipe.
"Captain Zheng, how'd you finish eating before me?" Li Hui complained.
"Years of practice," Zheng smirked.
Zeng took out a document and read:
Name: Liu Jingxiang
Gender: Male
Age: 45
Contact: 134552XXXXX
Address: 602, Building 1, Liu'an Community, Guangming Road, QD District, Qindao City.
"Who's done eating?" Zheng asked.
"Me," Li Hui said, wiping his mouth.
"Drive."
"Yes, sir."
Zheng called the tech unit to come with warrants and asked the local police station to assist with the arrest.
Zeng, Han Bin, Tian Li, and Zhao Ming stayed in the van to finish eating.
The command van had a table, making it feel like a mobile diner. They ate comfortably.
Cases came one after another; eventually you just got used to the pace.
When they reached Liu'an Community, the local police arrived right after them.
Zheng began setting up the operation—confirming the suspect's presence and arranging the arrest.
The tech team arrived later, bringing both an arrest warrant and a search warrant.
The arrest began.
Inside Apartment 602, Building 1, Liu'an Community
A man in his forties, shirtless, sat on the couch watching TV. On the coffee table were plates of cucumber, duck neck, mantis shrimp, and braised ribs with beans.
He poured himself a small glass of liquor and sipped happily.
This was Liu Jingxiang, the man of the house.
Tap tap tap.
A middle-aged woman came in carrying a plate of chive-and-egg stir-fry. "Jingxiang, should I cook the noodles now or later?"
"Later. Come sit and eat," Liu beckoned.
This was his wife, Cui Xiaofang.
She bent to set the plate down in front of him.
Liu gave her a playful smack on the rear. Smack!
"What's with you?" she said.
Liu chuckled. "Hey beautiful, how about a little fun tonight?"
"Don't be ridiculous. We've been married forever," Cui scoffed.
"I'm still young," Liu flexed his arm to show off his muscles.
"Not wasting breath on you."
"I'll take that as a yes," Liu grinned, taking a bite of the chive-and-egg to "replenish his strength."
Knock knock.
"Who is it?"
"Gas inspection."
"Hold on," Cui called back as she headed for the door. "Find the gas card."
"Where is it?"
"In the drawer under the coffee table."
Creak. The moment Cui opened the door, a group of people rushed in.
"Police! Don't move!"
Before either of them could react, they were restrained.
"Why are you arresting me?" Liu demanded loudly.
"You tell me—don't you know what you've done?" Zheng barked.
Liu's face twitched, a tremor in his voice. "Come on… it's not that serious, is it?"
"Take him away!"
(End of Chapter)