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Chapter 173 Advancing as a Form of Retreat
After resting for a while and waiting for the flush on his face to completely fade, Hu Yingshao said, "I came to turn myself in this time not only to expose Wang Youcai's evil deeds and reflect on myself, but also for another reason."

"What is it?" Tian Hao picked up the notebook again.

"Although they came to me last night wanting my help to settle the murder case, I left the living room once during the conversation to get some tea."

When I returned, I overheard their escape plan, which basically meant that if I couldn't help them resolve their troubles, they would leave Qianhua City.

"What did they say?" Shi Hongfang asked.

Hu Yingshao raised his eyelids and tried to open his bloodshot eyes wide: "I didn't listen for long, and I was discovered not long afterward."

However, I heard Wang Youcai mention the name Song Jie. It seems he's planning to have someone named Song Jie help them plan their route out of the city.

Song Jie?

Tian Hao paused for a moment as he took the statement.

Tian Hao was familiar with this name, because the police had many informants who had worked under Song Jie.

He was one of the top figures in Qianhua City, and the only one who could be compared to him was Zhang Feng.

The exact time when Song Jie rose to prominence is unknown. By the time the police learned about him, he was already a powerful figure in the area, and many well-known bounty hunters were his subordinates.

Most of his men operate in a gray area, sometimes helping criminals cover up evidence of their crimes, and sometimes providing crucial clues to the police.

It's not exactly good, but it's not particularly bad either.

For example, ten years ago, criminals who wanted to make a name for themselves flocked to Nevada. The police in Thousand Flower City wanted to take this opportunity to eradicate the local criminal gangs, but Song Jie blocked their way.

What they did at the time included, but was not limited to, providing shelter for criminals, interfering with police intelligence networks, and assisting criminals in erasing key evidence.

In many cases, the person is arrested, but due to a lack of evidence, they are detained for a few days and then released without charge.

It infuriated the police.

However, seven years ago, a large number of criminals fled Nevada, and many of them returned to their hometown of Chihuahua.

They changed their course of action again.

They proactively connect with the police, providing intelligence on the black market, helping the police cultivate informants, or simply offering existing informants to serve the police.

This reversal left the police completely dumbfounded.

Many police officers had suspected that some guy who had been in power for three years or more had brought down Song Jie and become the boss himself.

If we had to compare Song Jie's power to something, it would be the weights on a scale.

When the Red team becomes too powerful, they will side with the Black team; when the Black team's power begins to expand, they will switch sides and side with the Red team.

In short, I help whoever is weak; I'm a seasoned balancer.

Over time, both sides came to regard Song Jie as a buffer.

While taking notes, Tian Hao pondered the credibility of Hu Yingshao's statement.

Wang Youcai is definitely going to fall from power after this incident.

Given Song Jie's consistent behavior, if Wang Youcai were to ask him for help, he might actually lend a hand.

Wang Youcai can help, but not unconditionally; he can only help a little.

After all, the current situation is one of black dominating and red declining.

Tian Hao silently memorized this information and then buried it deep in his heart.

The main task now is still to interrogate this old man.

"Is there anything else to add?" Tian Hao asked, putting down his pen.

"That's all, Comrade Tian Hao. That's all I wanted to say."

Hu Yingshao shook his head, his face full of sincerity.

Tian Hao asked in a deep voice, "You don't mind if I ask you a few questions, do you?"

After receiving Shi Hongfang's approval and Hu Yingshao's nod, Tian Hao began to ask questions.

Don't think this is unnecessary.

Hu Yingshao, that old fox, kept saying he would turn himself in, but the "crimes" he spouted were too much trouble for the police to handle.

If matchmaking and inviting people to dinner are illegal, then no one in the world is clean.

His so-called "surrender" was simply listing a whole host of Wang Youcai's crimes and then trying to absolve himself of any responsibility.

As the saying goes, old people are shrewd, old ghosts are clever, and even an old rabbit can kick an eagle.

Hu Yingshao, that persistent old bastard, knew very well that once Tao Jun was caught, the police would find him sooner or later, and who knew what methods they would use to interrogate him then.

Therefore, his voluntary surrender today is to turn the tables and take the initiative, to advance by retreating, and to seize control of the situation.

According to the regulations of the Asian Union, surrendering oneself should be subject to the same trial procedures as surrendering oneself.

However, the "crimes" that Hu Yingshao described did not constitute any crime at all, and Tian Hao could not use the same forceful approach as when interrogating criminals.

This is a true old fox; his words and actions are completely watertight, leaving no room for error.

Tian Hao said with a stern face, "Please briefly describe your entire itinerary for July. We need to verify it."

Hu Yingshao nodded: "No problem, I'll do the same thing as usual in July..."

The trial ends.

As expected, Tian Hao failed to extract any useful information from Hu Yingshao.

Whenever he asked what he did on a particular day, Hu Yingshao would brush him off by saying he was too old to remember.

Unfortunately, this old man really does have amnesia.

Even when Tian Hao mentioned Tao Jun's testimony from yesterday, the other party only paused for a moment before quickly returning to normal, adopting an innocent stance, and angrily accusing Tao Jun of slander.

Without any substantial evidence.

Tian Hao could only detain the man for now, because he still had to go to Wang Youcai's club to arrest someone today.

According to Tao Jun's confession, several of the young women were sent there by Hu Yingshao, and perhaps some crucial clues could be obtained from them.

This hearing was added to today's schedule at the last minute.

Who would have thought that Hu Yingshao, that old bastard, would actually turn himself in right after Tao Jun was arrested?

Hu Yingshao's lightning five-strike combo, a combination of deception and a sneak attack, caught Tian Hao completely off guard.

This effectively killed Tian Hao's entire plan to interrogate him before it even began.

This situation is quite interesting.

Tao Jun claimed he was working for Hu Yingshao, but Hu Yingshao stated that he knew nothing about those matters and that Tao Jun was making baseless accusations.

Both sides stuck to their own opinions and neither was willing to back down.

From an objective point of view, Tao Jun himself has a history of abuse and does not seem like a good person; Hu Yingshao, on the other hand, is a well-known calligrapher and a public figure with considerable prestige and influence.

Then, setting aside personal testimonies and focusing on the proven facts, the Wang brothers, Wang Youcai and Wang Jun, committed murder and were preparing to flee. Tao Jun broke into Wang Youcai's house, stole his USB drive, and attempted to usurp his position.

Everything was an internal conflict within Wang Youcai's faction, and had no overt connection with Hu Yingshao.

Based on this alone, most people who don't have in-depth knowledge of unrelated individuals would choose to believe Hu Yingshao.

That's precisely where his brilliance lies.

If the police officers present hadn't learned from Tian Hao about Hu Yingshao's support for Wang Youcai back then, they might have actually thought this hypocritical old man was a good person.

Even the police officers in charge of the case could be deceived, let alone the general public who can only see the surface information.

"That old man is really hard to deal with."

Jiang Kaiji returned to his desk, grumbling, and stuffed his police ID into his coat.

"It's okay, I have a solution."

While they were taking Hu Yingshao to detention, Jin Ping'an had already gone back to the rest room to change his clothes: "Old Tian, ​​can we search Hu Yingshao's house?"

Tian Hao nodded: "He turned himself in, and according to him, he had an argument with Wang Youcai last night."

Even if it's just to investigate the whereabouts of the Wang Youcai brothers, we have the right to search his house.

Jin Pingan breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Then there's no problem."

"What do you mean no problem? Since he came to turn himself in, he must have cleaned up the evidence before he came. There's no way we'll find any clues now."

Jiang Kaiji muttered a couple of things to himself, then put on his holster and prepared to go to the armory to get a gun.

Jin Pingan and Tian Hao exchanged a glance and smiled without saying a word.

"Although you may not be good at other things, I admire your ability to find clues."

Since you're going to investigate, then let Lao Tian go with you. I'll take some men and raid Wang Youcai's club...

"Speaking of which, is their club open yet this early in the morning? Or have they not closed yet?"

Jiang Kaiji muttered to himself as he walked toward the warehouse.

In the past, when Jin Ping'an used his retrospective ability to find key evidence, Tian Hao would try to come up with a reasonable explanation, so everyone always regarded Jin Ping'an as a tool for finding clues.

They didn't suspect much about the fact that the person was actively going to investigate Hu Yingshao's family.

Since Tian Hao had just been reinstated yesterday and hadn't handed in his gun, he didn't need to follow Jiang Kaiji to the warehouse. Instead, he took Jin Ping'an directly to the parking shed.

"Old Tian, ​​what happened to that Prosecutor Gao from yesterday?"

Jin Pingan asked from the passenger seat.

Tian Hao stared at the screen on the navigation system, and after confirming that there was no one behind the car, he began to reverse.

"He's a prosecutor sent by higher-ups to assist in the investigation, not one of our criminal investigation team. Who knows where he is?"

Tian Hao glanced at Jin Ping'an: "What, even our captain has to act according to his wishes? You expect him to come with you to investigate the case?"

"No, no, I was just curious."

Jin Pingan quickly waved his hand: "Look at yesterday, he exposed Tao Jun's lies in just a few words, and he even knew the testimony that Hu Yingshao had prepared for Tao Jun. Do you think he might have already obtained evidence of Hu Yingshao's crimes?"

Jin Ping'an became more and more excited as he spoke: "That Prosecutor, was he sent here specifically to investigate related cases because the public security situation in Qianhua City is getting worse and worse?"

"Don't dream about it. They're here to investigate the bank robbery, but they can't find a breakthrough yet, so they're investigating this kidnapping case instead."

Tian Hao ruthlessly shattered Jin Ping'an's illusions: "If I hadn't gotten the Supreme Prosecutor's contact information from Liu Yuan yesterday and sent him the prepared materials, it's uncertain whether he would even know about this serial kidnapping case."

"I was just saying," Jin Ping'an said dejectedly.

He knew in his heart that these cases might cause a sensation locally, but that was all.

Given the size of the Asian Union, similar incidents are bound to occur frequently, and it's impossible for those above to handle every single one personally.

Otherwise, what are local government units for?

But after a while, he perked up again: "Since Prosecutor Gao is involved in this case, it will definitely be difficult for Hu Yingshao to operate. At least we don't have to worry about this case being ignored."

"Moreover, something we've been investigating for so long and still haven't figured out, he only looked at the documents for a few hours and knew that Tao Jun was Hu Yingshao's man. This prosecutor must have incredibly powerful criminal investigation skills!"

"...That's true, but I still can't figure out how he figured out that Tao Jun was Hu Ying's man."

On the surface, the two are clearly unrelated; we only learned of Tao Jun's betrayal recently through a messenger.

Tian Hao frowned and pondered.

Jin Ping'an said disdainfully, "Alright, doesn't this just prove that he has real skills? Otherwise, why is he a prosecutor and you're just a criminal police officer?"

"...You still have the worst way of talking!"

…………

The two chatted casually along the way and soon arrived at the entrance of Hu Yingshao's residential area, where they swiped their cards to enter.

The ID card was provided voluntarily by Hu Yingshao.

He seemed very confident, certain that the police would not find any clues in his home.

Normally, unless they are criminals with unusual fetishes.

For example, they may like to collect victims' personal belongings, hair, nails, or other items as souvenirs.

They would not bring anything from the crime scene home.

Take Hu Yingshao for example. Given his personality, even if he accidentally brought it back, he would have definitely cleaned it up last night.

Since this old fox is cooperating with the investigation so readily.

Then what you find out is definitely what he wants you to see.

The truth is still buried in some unknown corner.

"Luckily you have this ability to be unreasonable, otherwise it would take one or two years to catch him red-handed."

Tian Hao put down the evidence collection and investigation kit and said.

He placed the box at the door and took out gloves, masks, shoe covers, tweezers, ultraviolet lamps, flashlights, and other evidence-gathering tools.

Jin Ping'an put on the equipment that Tian Hao handed him and sighed, "It's just that it's really dangerous to use."

The thought of the aftereffects of using his abilities made his head start to ache again.

A hint of worry flashed in Tian Hao's eyes. He turned his back to Jin Ping'an and said, "Why don't you rest for another two days? After all, you were only discharged from the hospital not long ago."

Today, let's focus on collecting items that can be traced back. Anyway, we've already caught the perpetrator, so there's no need to worry about new victims..."

Before Tian Hao could finish speaking, Jin Ping'an directly refused: "No, it's better to find evidence as soon as possible. Nobody knows if Hu Yingshao has left any backup plans."

"makes sense."

Tian Hao nodded in agreement, but he didn't want Jin Ping'an to use his time-travel ability right now: "You'd better rest for a couple of days first. This ability is unique to you, and nobody knows if it will leave any serious aftereffects in the future..."

Jin Ping'an ignored Tian Hao's advice.

His intelligence, which had been absent for a long time, once again took the lead: "Hu Yingshao's voluntary surrender and severing of all contact with the outside world means that he must have already arranged everything for his funeral."

It's possible that someone was helping him destroy crucial evidence at that moment, and since he dared to send the victim to Wang Youcai's club, it means he must have something to rely on and isn't afraid of those witnesses.

"Now the only one left to deal with this old fox is me, the guy with cheat codes."

Jin Ping'an stood at the doorway, took a deep breath, looked into the living room, and strode inside.

Although the aftereffects are painful, they are temporary, and he is the only one suffering.

If Hu Yingshao succeeds in destroying the evidence, the victims will suffer the most, and they will be condemned to a lifetime of darkness.

Jin Ping'an would rather stay in the hospital for a few more days than watch Hu Yingshao continue to evade justice.

(End of this chapter)