Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 658 Discovering clues

On their way to a nearby hotel, Lao Liu and Glasses unexpectedly ran into the three people. After all, the two of them plus the Chinese man all lived nearby, so they were quite conspicuous on the street.

Naturally, they were hoisted up from a distance behind them.

Old Liu was looking forward to fishing after work and wanted to check things out as soon as possible before calling it a day. Glasses was more cautious, considering it was a relatively dangerous situation involving three people in a group. He suggested calling for backup and waiting for more people before approaching to investigate.

This is a mature perspective. After all, the job of a police officer may seem like it doesn't involve many big incidents on a daily basis. It mainly involves mediating neighborhood disputes or dealing with fights. Even when arresting violent criminals, there is basically no danger due to the intimidation of guns and police uniforms.

But what if? Police officers are always worried about the worst-case scenario. What if they encounter something unfortunate? Even while handling a traffic accident, they could be hit and killed by a passing car. So being cautious is definitely the right thing to do; a little extra waiting time won't make a difference.

Old Liu nodded in agreement.

Just as the two followed them all the way to the passenger transport center in Yiwu City, they saw the three suddenly turn in a different direction and dart inside, then disappear into the crowded station.

The two looked at each other, and had no choice but to bite the bullet and follow.

after an hour.

They wandered around the station for a long time but couldn't find anyone. Even waiting for reinforcements to arrive was of no use. With such a large flow of people, unless they checked everyone one by one at the front and back entrances, it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

"Old Liu, there's no record of any buses leaving from the station this morning. I guess those three people probably left through the back door and didn't take a bus." Glasses, who had just returned from checking information at the station office, handed Old Liu a stack of documents.

There are bus schedules and passenger information forms with real-name registration, etc.

Old Liu casually flipped through the documents, a sense of foreboding creeping into his heart. He said, "These three people clearly have a strong counter-surveillance awareness; they're probably not good people. They must have discovered the police's presence, which is why they fled midway. Let's go to their hotel right now and see if we can find anything. Maybe we can even stake out their place."

He adjusted his glasses on his nose and chuckled, "You said they already knew we were following them, so how could they possibly go back to the hotel?"

As Old Liu walked, he said, "Then let's get ahead of them and see if we can intercept their luggage. I remember when we followed them last time, they weren't carrying any luggage."

The group immediately went to the hotel and first checked the check-in information of the three suspicious individuals at the front desk, as well as the current occupancy status of the room.

After confirming that the three people had not returned to the hotel, he called a waiter and went upstairs, threw away the "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging on the doorknob, and swiped the universal room key.

Old Liu eagerly opened the door.

Upon entering the room, everyone could smell a faint odor of blood.

"bathroom."

Old Liu squinted at the closed bathroom door, then reached out to block Glasses, who was about to enter, saying, "Wait, this could very well be a murder scene. Notify the forensic lab first."

Old Liu had seen many murder cases, but this was the first time he had encountered one, and it was impossible for him not to be curious.

Staring at the tightly closed toilet door, Old Liu's mind kept replaying the torture videos he had watched in QQ groups and QQ Spaces when he was young.

A pickup truck was parked on a sandy area. Several hooded men dragged a hostage with his hands tied behind his back and his eyes covered out of the trunk and threw him on the ground. Then they pressed him down on his back, pressed one knee against his back, and began to cut his head off from behind, starting from his throat.

In the end, only the skin and flesh at the back of the neck remained loosely connected to the hostage's head. Xiao Liu, who was only 15 years old at the time, was completely devastated after watching the video.

Even now, Lao Liu still can't help but tremble with gratitude for the country's control over the internet; finally, all that messy stuff on the internet is gone.

For some reason, Old Liu always felt that behind that door, there might be a mutilated corpse that had been torn apart by five horses, or beheaded and dismembered, or even several such corpses.

These are all his specialties.

Car firebombs, human firebombs
"matches!"

In that instant, Lao Liu suddenly remembered the police report he had received earlier, which involved collecting matches from all around the area. The collection was so frequent that some businesses had called the police.

He took out his phone from his pocket and quickly searched for relevant information online. A few minutes later, he obtained conclusive evidence.

“A large number of matches can be used to make gunpowder.” Old Liu stared blankly at the ground and shook his head slightly. “This is beyond our control. We’ll probably have to report it to the counter-terrorism unit.”

"By the way, Glasses, you need to go find the hotel management right now and get the CCTV footage from this side of the corridor, and then..."

Just then, Lao Liu's phone rang again.

The visual surveillance team.

(PS: The video surveillance team specializes in identifying clues to illegal and criminal activities by reviewing video surveillance footage, and then reporting the results to investigators. They are not responsible for actual on-site searches and arrests, nor do they have law enforcement authority; their role is solely that of video surveillance investigators.)
"Hello, Officer Liu. We reviewed the surveillance footage around the bus station and found that these three people boarded a bus bound for Dongzhou at the back gate of the station. The license plate number is Hai G23125, and the bus is already on the highway."

"Damn it, looks like they got on the bus through a scalper!" Old Liu cursed under his breath, wondering how these newcomers could have such sophisticated counter-surveillance skills, knowing to take the shortcut through scalpers.

By using the ubiquitous scalpers in China, they not only avoided the real-name registration process, but also, guided by scalpers familiar with the roads, they could sneak directly into the alleys outside the station and board the bus to Dongzhou without anyone noticing.

If it weren't for Lao Liu and his team going out to investigate the merchant's report of the other party collecting matches, modern police officers, who are used to screening through big data (checking the real-name ticketing system for airplanes, high-speed trains, and buses), might have thought that this group of people were still staying in Yiwu City.

Thinking of this, Old Liu's eyes suddenly narrowed. He remembered the information the railway police had sent for assistance. It stated that the group's destination was Dongzhou!

Based on these people's prior counter-surveillance awareness, Lao Liu was quite certain that they must have also noticed the railway police's suspicions, which is why he got off the bullet train ahead of time.

However, in the end, they still traveled to Dongju by bus.

I'm afraid something big is going to happen!

We must notify the Dongzhou Public Security Bureau immediately!

Detective Lao Liu hung up the phone, looking worried.

The wind whistled through the half-open window of the room.

(End of this chapter)