Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 657 Buying Matches

One day earlier, in the early morning.

Yiwu City Public Security Bureau (county-level city), Command Center.

The policewoman in charge of answering the phone placed a freshly printed A4 sheet of paper on the desk of the duty officer, her expression stern.

"Director, we received a call from the railway police three days ago, saying that two suspicious people got off the train at our Yiwu station. Here is the identification information of these two people."

"Three days ago?"

The balding director was casually scrolling through Douyin (TikTok). When he heard his subordinate's report, he didn't realize the seriousness of the problem and simply said, "I know."

The policewoman frowned slightly, suppressing her anger, and said, "Chief, why don't you take a look? These two people were originally headed for Dongzhou, but they got off the bus here instead."

The director, his gaze still fixed on his phone screen, raised his hand to interrupt the other person, saying casually, "The case from three days ago? Wasn't Lao Hu on duty that day? Just give him these documents when you come to work tomorrow. We just need to mind our own shifts."

As he spoke, he freed one hand and pushed the documents that had been placed in front of him back: "It's been three days, and we don't even know where the person is. To be honest, there's no need to care anymore."

The policewoman took a deep breath and continued to explain, "We just received a report from the public that someone was collecting matches from all over the place?"

"Matches?" The director seemed intrigued, looking up at the ceiling. "Why are they buying matches? For a barbecue? Why don't they buy lighters?"

Seeing that the chief's head had finally left the small screen of his phone, the policewoman quickened her pace and said, "Chief, this is what happened."

The director looked up and turned his head clockwise a few times, then counterclockwise a few times, making a cracking sound in his neck. It turned out that he had been looking down at his phone for too long, which had made his neck uncomfortable.

He didn't even listen to the policewoman, then lowered his head again, his tone impatient: "Why bother with all this? There's no regulation on matches now, let them buy them. Xiaoli, tens of thousands of people come to this place every day, including thousands of foreigners. If we manage everything, what about everyone's rest? To put it another way, imagine everyone's a robot who doesn't need rest, do you think we can manage that?"

Snapped!
The policewoman finally couldn't hold back and slammed her hand on the table, startling the director so much that he almost dropped his phone under the table.

"Director! Someone bought several boxes of matches from us today. What if they start a fire in a densely populated area?"

The director paused, then laughed, finally putting his phone down: "Don't worry, if they were really planning arson, they wouldn't bother buying matches. Think about it, aren't lighters and flamethrowers much better than matches?"

"Then why did you buy so many matches at once?"

"With so many transactions taking place in our city every day, involving scissors, kitchen knives, hammers, and so on, are you planning to investigate each and every one of them?"

"Director, but the railway police also suspect these two people are involved. Do you think we should report this to the anti-terrorism unit?"

"They're just two old men, not even a soldier. What can they do? Oh, right, they can call and report to the anti-terrorism unit."

"Director, passing things back and forth like this is inefficient and prone to errors. Why don't we report it directly to their brigade?"

“How many people are in their team? In the middle of the night, they even report something as trivial as buying matches to their superiors. They'll be laughed at. It's unnecessary.” The director pondered for a moment, knowing that this stubborn guy wouldn't let him rest unless he came up with a solution. “Well then, you can report the situation to the Criminal Investigation Department later and have them send someone to investigate.”

The detachment belongs to the municipal bureau, and any report would require the approval of the county and municipal bureau leaders. To bother the bureau leaders in the middle of the night with such a trivial matter as buying and selling matches would surely earn them a cold shoulder.

Xiaoli is young and naive, and he can't let her cause trouble for him. The Criminal Investigation Division is a unit within his own bureau, so it's the best thing for them to handle it, since they are professional investigators.

The director added, "Just report it to them, saying that there is a suspicion of arson by outsiders, and ask them to send someone to investigate. Also, send them the railway police's information, saying that the case is complicated, the people involved are numerous, and it is very likely to trigger a mass incident. Tell them to make sure they understand the situation."

"Hmm?" The policewoman who was taking notes looked up, puzzled. "Chief, this has nothing to do with a mass incident, does it?"

The bald director gave a greasy smile, like a seasoned veteran: "Just a few more words, write them all down, the more meticulous the better. Trust me, you won't go wrong."

Downstairs, the Criminal Investigation Division, duty room.

"Old Liu, the command center forwarded an alert saying that someone is buying a large quantity of matches and may be suspected of arson. They want us to investigate."

A bespectacled detective put down the phone and waited for the printer to print out the police report. When he got his hands on it, he realized that there were two suspects.

Old Liu, a cigarette dangling from his lips, sat in front of the TV playing the PS5 game "Old Man Ring" with a controller. He scoffed, "Are you kidding me? Starting a fire with a match? This guy must have just been released after serving twenty years in jail. Damn, he's dead again! Ugh, this Valkyrie is really tough!" Glasses shrugged, equally finding the report rather pointless. But since the command center had received the report, they were obliged to dispatch officers to investigate. Whether they found anything, or not, didn't matter.

The procedure must be followed at least once.

Glasses walked over to Old Liu with the documents and stood there watching him play games.

"Old Liu, why are you using a shield to bounce around the BOSS from head to tail? Aren't you tired? Why don't you use a weapon?"

"The night is long, so I'm just killing time."

After losing another round, Lao Liu angrily threw down the controller, then took the police report handed to him by Glasses and quickly glanced through it.

"We should go check. Didn't you find out where they live?" Old Liu flipped through the printed documents, but couldn't find them.

"No. I guess they didn't stay in a hotel; maybe they're staying at a relative's or friend's house."

"Well, the section on related people is also blank, so we can't get started."

"How about we start by reviewing the video footage from the train stations?"

"Alright, let's hand it over to the surveillance team tomorrow morning when we get to work. Wait, use Sky Eye to scan it, that's quick, we'll go through it ourselves first."

Old Liu and Glasses returned to their computer and quickly searched using the SkyEye system. They actually found several videos of the two walking on the street.

Pointing to the latest video, Lao Liu said, "They should live nearby. Let's get up early tomorrow and go take a look around there. Maybe we can find some clues."

The next day.

The two got up early, first leaving a message for the surveillance team to assist in the investigation, and then ran to the street where the suspect was last seen yesterday, which was identified through the surveillance system.

After asking around, I visited all ten or so hotels and guesthouses on the spot. Some of them said that they had indeed received me, but none of them allowed me to check in.

The trail went cold, and the investigation had to be halted. Old Liu secretly breathed a sigh of relief, wondering if he should find something to do in the afternoon, such as going fishing with a few friends.

Old Liu checked the time and it was already past 8:30, which meant he was officially off work. The following time was their compensatory rest time, so they didn't need to continue working.

He beckoned to Glasses to go to the breakfast shop on the street.

The sun was shining brightly, and the streets were bustling with more and more people, yet a reassuring atmosphere was spreading, which also touched the two police officers.

Especially after finishing a shift and keeping watch overnight, I would get up early in the morning to go out and investigate. Even though I didn't find any clues, the feeling of protecting this area could still give me a good mood for the whole day.

After sitting down, we waited for the waiter to bring up two bowls of noodles.

While slurping his noodles, Lao Liu instructed Glasses to make a work record of the investigation process of this police incident, which would close the case and allow the two of them to go home in peace.

After finishing his noodles, Lao Liu wiped his mouth and prepared to pay the bill and leave when he received a call from the team. He saw that it was from the video surveillance squad and knew that there must be a lead in the case.

Before answering the phone, he joked to his glasses, "It seems that the surveillance cameras that our city spends tens of millions of yuan on every year are having some effect."

The man with glasses said confidently, "Of course, the maintenance fee is over ten million every year, but it's worth it. It makes solving cases much easier."

Old Liu answered the phone and hung up a few minutes later.

Over the phone, the auxiliary police officer from the video surveillance team gave a brief explanation of the situation, saying that they had tracked down the whereabouts of a Chinese man who was traveling with them and found out his hotel accommodation information for the past few days, so the two people should be staying with him.

Subsequently, the relevant hotel and personnel information was sent to Lao Liu's mobile phone.

"The compensatory leave is canceled. Let's get to work."

(End of this chapter)