Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

Inside the city taxi company's dispatch center, the electronic screen constantly refreshed the real-time locations of vehicles, with green dots densely distributed across the map, but none of them matched the "clue" Wang Shuai was looking for. He sat on a bench in the dispatch room, clutching Chen Gang's last order record in his hand. Next to him, his team member Xiao Zhang was checking each taxi order related to the "abandoned factory in the suburbs" over the past month on a computer. As per the case analysis meeting's plan, Wang Shuai was leading a team to investigate taxi companies to see if any drivers had seen Chen Gang or the suspicious black SUV, while also tracing the flow of funds from the 5 yuan "ghost account."

“Captain Wang, after three hours of investigation, there are only 7 taxi orders with ‘abandoned factory in the suburbs’ as the destination in the past month,” Xiao Zhang said, rubbing his sore eyes and pointing to the records on the screen. “Five of them are daily trips by nearby villagers, and two are scavengers going to the factory to collect scrap. The drivers can provide clear passenger information, and the timeline does not overlap with Chen Gang’s case. We have not found anything suspicious.”

Wang Shuai took the order records and frowned after reviewing them one by one: "Have any drivers reported seeing a black SUV with broken taillights and scratches on the rear bumper recently on Heping Road or around the factory? Or picking up a suspicious man wearing a black jacket and a baseball cap?" Old Zhou, the head of the dispatch center, shook his head: "We asked more than 20 drivers who frequently drive the Heping route, and only three drivers said they had seen the black SUV, but none of them paid attention to the taillights and bumper features, nor did they pick up a man matching the description—drivers who work the night shift are very cautious now and will actively avoid suspicious passengers."

To further investigate, Wang Shuai led his team to the taxi company's parking lot and inspected each of the more than 100 taxis parked there. "We're focusing on whether any vehicles have been involved in a collision with the black SUV, or have brown mud on their bodies," Wang Shuai said, carefully examining the bumpers and bodies of each car with a magnifying glass. "If the suspect's SUV collided with a taxi while driving, it might have left paint chips or marks."

Team member Xiao Li noticed a fresh scratch on the rear bumper of a night shift taxi: "Team Leader Wang, there's a scratch here, it looks like it was caused by a collision with another vehicle!" Wang Shuai immediately went over to check, but found that the paint around the scratch was the taxi's green, which didn't match the paint color of the black SUV. The driver explained, "It was scratched by an electric scooter at the intersection yesterday, and I've already reported it to the insurance company." After verification, the driver's statement was true, ruling out any connection to the case.

At 2 PM, Wang Shuai and his team went to the bank to trace the flow of funds in the 50,000 yuan "ghost account." With the assistance of the bank's risk control department, they retrieved the account's opening information and transaction records—the account was opened on August 10th, the account holder was a forged "Li Jun," the ID number was invalid, the mobile phone number provided at the time of opening was an unregistered virtual number, and there were only two transactions on August 15th: 50,000 yuan was transferred in at 10 AM and withdrawn in full at 5:30 PM from an ATM on Heping Road.

“This is a typical ‘ghost account’ specifically used for illegal transactions,” explained Xiao Zhao, a bank risk control specialist. “The 5 yuan transferred in came from another anonymous account, which was also opened with forged information, and the source of the funds cannot be traced. The ATM where the cash was withdrawn was located in front of a convenience store on Heping Road, and the surveillance camera had been broken for almost a month, so it was impossible to capture the face of the person withdrawing the cash.”

Wang Shuai asked his team to retrieve footage from the municipal surveillance cameras around the convenience store, hoping to capture the person who withdrew the money. "At 5:8 pm on August 15th, during the evening rush hour, there was a lot of foot traffic in front of the convenience store," team member Xiao Wang pointed to the surveillance footage. "We reviewed half an hour of footage frame by frame and only saw a person wearing dark clothes enter the convenience store and leave 10 minutes later. However, due to the distance, we couldn't see their facial features or body shape clearly, and we couldn't confirm whether it was the person who withdrew the money."

To find more clues, Wang Shuai investigated the bank where the "ghost account" was opened—a small branch in the old city. "On the day the account was opened, the teller recalled that the person opening the account was wearing a mask and a baseball cap, and spoke in a very low voice, deliberately pulling the brim of the cap down," the branch manager recalled. "At the time, the teller felt something was amiss, but the person opening the account provided 'complete' information, and the account only accepted deposits and did not make loans, which met the account opening requirements, so the transaction was processed without leaving any other records."

At 6 p.m., Wang Shuai returned to the Criminal Investigation Detachment with his team. The investigation records in their hands were exactly the same as Yang Lin's findings—there were no crucial clues. "At the taxi company, no orders or suspicious persons related to Chen Gang's case were found; at the bank, the source of funds and the identity of the person withdrawing the money from the 'ghost account' could not be confirmed," Wang Shuai said wearily as he sat in the conference room. "The suspect's counter-surveillance awareness was too strong. He used false information to open the account, chose ATMs without surveillance cameras for withdrawals, and even avoided the taxis, leaving no trace whatsoever."

Lu Chuan looked at the investigation report submitted by Wang Shuai and remained silent for a moment: "It's not your fault. The suspect obviously came prepared and made preparations to evade the investigation in advance." He pointed to the "virtual number" on the report, "Although the clues about the account and the taxi have run dry, the clues about the virtual number have not been fully investigated—can the technical department track the usage of this number through base station signals?"

Old Zhang from the technical department shook his head: "The virtual number only had one brief call with the mobile phone number reserved by the 'ghost account' when the account was opened and at 5 pm on August 15. The call lasted for 1 minute, and the base station was located near Heping Road. But there was no signal after that. It is speculated that it was abandoned by the suspect, and we cannot track any further movements."

The atmosphere in the meeting room became heavy again. Zhang Hui sighed, "Now the three leads—the factory, the taxi company, and the bank—have all gone cold. Only the buyer of the red anti-rust paint hasn't been investigated yet. If we don't make a breakthrough on this lead, the case will really be at a standstill." Wang Shuai nodded in agreement, "Yes, Chen Gang's phone and car haven't been found yet. The suspect seems to have vanished into thin air, without a trace."

Lu Chuan was not discouraged. He looked at the case analysis diagram on the wall: "The clues have gone cold, which means our investigation direction may need to be adjusted. Since the suspect is deliberately avoiding traditional transportation and financial channels, let's start with non-traditional channels—such as the black market, scrap metal recycling stations, or Chen Gang's social circle of Didi drivers—to see if we can find other connections." (End of this chapter)