I am a super cop

Chapter 3032 Missed Calls

In the car, Gu Chen agreed with Lu Weiwei's analysis.

After all, the watch originally belonged to Zhang Meng. It was out of consideration for his feelings that Zhang Meng returned the watch, which Wang Tianming's lover had given him as a keepsake, to Wang Tianming.

Now that Zhang Meng has spent a lot of money to buy the watch, perhaps he doesn't want to have any more entanglements with Wang Tianming, so naturally he's unwilling to return it.

Now that the reason was clear, Gu Chen naturally wouldn't make things difficult for Zhang Meng, so he reminded Lu Weiwei:
"Senior Sister Lu, why don't you give Zhang Meng a call?"

"Understood." Upon hearing Gu Chen's words, Lu Weiwei took out her phone and dialed Zhang Meng's number, which she had obtained earlier, intending to explain the situation to Zhang Meng and relieve him of the burden of the matter.

The phone rang again and again, but Zhang Meng didn't answer, which made Lu Weiwei feel a little strange.

After hanging up the second call, Lu Weiwei sighed and said:

"No one answered the phone on Zhang Meng's end; he probably put it aside."

"It's okay, we can just call him again later to explain. We're going back to the branch office now to handle the follow-up of Hu Xue's case."

“Okay.” Hearing Gu Chen say this, Lu Weiwei nodded silently, and then the two drove back to the Furong Branch together.

In Hu Xue's case, the recovery of the stolen goods was very smooth because their source could be traced back.

Because Hu Xue was very frugal, she barely used the money she got from selling the stolen goods.

Hu Xue's assistant is just like her; she doesn't spend much of her earnings and saves them.

In this way, the police can effectively recover the stolen goods and refund the money spent by those who bought them.

Therefore, work efficiency is greatly improved.

……

……

At 8 p.m., Gu Chen breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the final recovery of the stolen goods come to an end. He put the file aside, picked up the thermos next to him, and prepared to take a sip of tea.

Suddenly, Gu Chen remembered something and quickly looked at Lu Weiwei, asking, "Senior Sister Lu, have you called Zhang Meng?"

"Zhang Meng?" Upon hearing Gu Chen's words, Lu Weiwei was taken aback at first, but quickly recovered and said:

"Oh, Zhang Meng? No, we haven't heard from him yet."

"Isn't it because we've been so busy recovering stolen goods here? I almost forgot about it."

"Let's give him a call," Gu Chen said.

"Okay, I'll call now." Upon hearing this, Lu Weiwei immediately picked up her phone and began dialing Zhang Meng's number.

But the phone was switched off. Lu Weiwei hung up and said helplessly, "Zhang Meng turned off his phone. He probably needs to rest. Why don't we call again tomorrow?"

"Okay." Gu Chen nodded in agreement after hearing Lu Weiwei's suggestion.

……

……

The next morning, the air was incredibly fresh because of a short downpour that had fallen late the night before.

However, due to the continuous high temperatures, people still found it difficult to endure the sweltering heat outdoors.

Early in the morning, Officer Wang walked in wearing a neck fan and went straight to Gu Chen.

"Gu Chen, do you have a small screwdriver?"

"There's one, let me look for it." Upon hearing Officer Wang's words, Gu Chen quickly opened the bottom drawer and began rummaging through a toolbox.

Before long, Gu Chen found the small screwdriver and handed it directly to Officer Wang: "Senior Brother Wang, here you go."

"Thank you." Officer Wang took the small screwdriver from Gu Chen, returned to his seat, and began to tinker with the neck fan.

Seeing this, Lu Weiwei asked curiously, "Old Wang, what are you up to?"

"Isn't this neck fan broken? I've only used it for two days, and one of the fans stopped working. I had to tap it a few times to get it to turn on, but now it's stopped working again. I need to see what's wrong."

"Just send the fan back. You can return it for this kind of quality issue," Lu Weiwei suggested.

"It can't be returned." Officer Wang sighed and said slowly, "Because it was bought a long time ago, but it has never been used and has just been sitting at home."

"It's been so hot lately, going out on fieldwork is really tough, so I thought of this neck fan, but it broke down after only two days of use."

"I definitely can't return it now, but the after-sales service said that hair must have fallen in and gotten caught in the motor, and told me to send it back for repair myself."

"But I'd have to pay for postage to send it back. I was thinking, if I could take it apart myself and remove the hair from the motor, wouldn't that be fine?"

"The problem is, this neck fan doesn't have a single screw, it's all clips, and there's only a small gap. How am I supposed to take it apart?"

“Sigh, nowadays, in order to save costs, most businesses no longer use screws, because screws cost money, and installing screws costs even more. Clips are so convenient; you just press them down,” Lu Weiwei said.

"Of course!" Officer Wang replied enthusiastically.
"These days, especially electronic products, are really like that. Basically, if you want to take them apart, you can't even find a screw. There's just such a small gap that you don't know where to start."

"I figured I could only try using this kind of small screwdriver."

"Can we take it apart?" Yuan Shasha asked.

"It's difficult." Officer Wang sighed helplessly. "This kind of screwdriver is still very difficult to disassemble. I guess their after-sales service will definitely require special tools to pry it open. In any case, a screwdriver won't work."

"I just feel that nowadays, electronic products are really only concerned with installation in order to save costs, without considering the ease of maintenance."

"The molds are made with seamless snap-fits, which make them difficult to disassemble once installed, and you can't see any screws."

"So the cost is greatly reduced, but the maintenance is a real pain."

Shaking his head, Officer Wang sighed and helplessly continued operating the system.

"If all else fails, just return it. Or ask the seller to cover the shipping and repair costs; it's clearly the seller's fault," Lu Weiwei suggested.

“But the merchant disagrees,” Officer Wang said.

"Sigh." Lu Weiwei sighed and said helplessly, "Old Wang, you're too honest. This is obviously a quality problem. Let me tell you, I encountered the same problem last time, and I filed a complaint."

"The platform didn't need me to cancel the order. Instead, they gave me a no-threshold coupon with the same value as the product, so I could buy another one from another store."

"That's possible?" Officer Wang's eyes lit up when he heard Lu Weiwei say that.

“Yes, because I’m a valued customer of the platform and I’ve spent a lot of money on it,” Lu Weiwei complained.

Officer Wang flicked his finger: "It has to be you, Lu Weiwei. Okay, I'll communicate with them again and see how the platform handles it."

With Lu Weiwei's advice, Officer Wang stopped making things difficult for himself and began contacting the platform's official after-sales service.

Meanwhile, Gu Chen took a sip of tea and then asked Lu Weiwei, "Senior Sister Lu, about Zhang Meng's phone call..." "Oh dear, I forgot again. I'll call him now." Lu Weiwei suddenly realized when Gu Chen brought it up.

After all, we need to ensure that all stolen goods can be recovered, and we also need to deal with any special circumstances.

Therefore, Zhang Meng's involvement became the key to closing the case; simply notifying Zhang Meng would complete the final task.

Of course, it was also the police's duty to call Zhang Meng, since Zhang Meng had the stolen goods he had bought.

However, after verifying the facts, Wang Tianming, the owner of the stolen goods, stopped pursuing the matter and tacitly accepted that the expensive watch was now Zhang Meng's property.

After all, this watch should have been his, but Zhang Meng still spent 32 yuan on it in the end.

Even if Wang Tianming wanted to get it back, he felt he couldn't bring himself to do it, since the matter was dishonorable and Wang Tianming was a person who cared a lot about his reputation.

On Zhang Meng's side, the amount involved was relatively large, with a transaction amount of 32 yuan.

Even though Wang Tianming has given up on recovering the stolen goods and explained the situation, the police still need to make the necessary notifications and see things through to the end.

"Junior Brother Gu, Zhang Meng's phone is still switched off." Lu Weiwei hung up the phone, looked at Gu Chen, and sighed.

Gu Chen glanced at the time on the wall; it was already 9:30 AM. He looked puzzled and asked:

"It's already 9 o'clock, why hasn't Zhang Meng turned on his phone yet? Is he still sleeping?"

"Who knows?" Lu Weiwei sighed.
"Since you turned off your phone so early last night, you must have had enough rest by now, right?"

“After all, we live in that remote residential area. Even if he goes to bed early, he should be up by now.”

"Besides, nowadays, people, whether old or young, can't live without their phones. Does that mean he won't turn it on?"

"Could something have happened?" Yuan Shasha asked, adding her own words.

But when everyone turned their attention to Yuan Shasha, she quickly explained:
“I’m not being cynical, I genuinely feel that someone like Zhang Meng, a retired chemical plant worker who’s getting old and living alone, would have no one to take care of him if he got sick or something.”

"That makes sense." Officer Wang nodded silently upon hearing this, and said without further ado:
"It is indeed possible for someone like Zhang Meng to experience this situation."

"What should we do then? We can't reach them by phone. Do we have to go there in person?" Lu Weiwei looked at Gu Chen.

Gu Chen put the documents in his hand aside and said, "The case needs to be concluded properly. Now all that's left is for Zhang Meng to sign off."

With a sigh, Gu Chen said again, "Let's go after all."

"Okay." Seeing that Gu Chen said so, Lu Weiwei immediately asked, "Junior Brother Gu, do you have time now?"

"Yes, go now. Who knows what might happen later? It's better to deal with it quickly." Gu Chen quickly picked up the water glass on the table, took a sip of tea, and then went to get the police equipment.

Seeing this, Lu Weiwei quickly followed behind Gu Chen.

The two drove to Zhang Meng's residence again.

When Gu Chen arrived at the courtyard, he got out of the car and went to the gate. Just as he was about to knock, he smelled a bloody odor in the air.

Gu Chen stopped knocking and frowned.

Seeing this, Lu Weiwei, who was standing behind him, asked curiously, "Junior Brother Gu, what's wrong?"

"Something's not right. There seems to be a bloody smell in the yard," Gu Chen said seriously.

Upon hearing this, Lu Weiwei quickly went to the door and sniffed around.

A moment later, Lu Weiwei frowned slightly: "That's right, the smell of blood is very obvious, and there's also a foul odor."

"The smell is very strong even on this hot day."

Turning to look at Gu Chen, Lu Weiwei asked anxiously, "Junior Brother Gu, could it be that Zhang Meng has really gotten into trouble?"

"Don't rush, let me take a look first." Gu Chen took a deep breath, quickly went to the wall, half-squatted down to gather strength, and then jumped up.

Gu Chen leaped high into the air like a spring, instantly seeing the scene in the courtyard.

As he landed, Gu Chen was also stunned.

Seeing this, Lu Weiwei quickly asked Gu Chen, "Junior Brother Gu, what did you see?"

“It’s Zhang Meng’s dog. His dog died in the yard,” Gu Chen said.

"His dog died? Then...why didn't they do anything about it?" Lu Weiwei looked puzzled, but after blurting it out, she paused, then turned to look at Gu Chen:

"Could it be that something happened to Zhang Meng?"

"Never mind, I'll climb over the wall." Gu Chen didn't care about anything else at the moment. He could only take a few steps back, then push off with his right toe, and with a short running start, he quickly climbed over the wall with skillful movements.

Then, with a flourish, he turned and jumped inside.

Before long, Lu Weiwei, who was standing outside the gate, heard the sound of the bolt being pulled off the iron gate of the courtyard.

When the iron gate opened, Gu Chen waved to Lu Weiwei, signaling her to come in quickly.

Lu Weiwei immediately turned on her body camera and followed Gu Chen into the courtyard.

At that moment, Lu Weiwei was stunned by what she saw in the courtyard.

The little dog that was resting with Zhang Meng in the yard yesterday is now dead next to the rocking chair.

Flies swarmed all around the dog's carcass.

After shooing the flies away, Gu Chen quickly put on white gloves and checked the puppy's wound.

"It's a knife wound. Someone cut his neck with a knife," Gu Chen said with a serious expression.

"That definitely wasn't Zhang Meng who did it. He's Zhang Meng's dog. He would never kill his own dog. It must have been someone else who did it." Lu Weiwei also became agitated, her whole body filled with anger.

Gu Chen quickly checked the surroundings and found that Zhang Meng's door did not seem to be locked.

Gu Chen quickly reminded Lu Weiwei, "Senior Sister Lu, be careful."

"Okay." Realizing what was happening, Lu Weiwei immediately went into alert mode and quickly followed behind Gu Chen.

Then, Lu Weiwei pulled out her mechanical baton, swung it forcefully, and was ready to fight at any moment.

Gu Chen, on the other hand, also swung out his mechanical baton and cautiously approached the doorway.

After changing into shoe covers, Gu Chen began searching the room.

However, what puzzled Gu Chen was that the room was very clean and tidy, with no signs of a struggle.

……