Restarting life by going to the countryside to support medical work

Chapter 672

"Suppose a new department store opens now, and all the sales staff there are kind and gentle. They smile before even speaking to customers and are always very polite, making customers feel right at home. Zhihai, which department store do you think you would go to to shop in the future?"

"Of course, it's the newly opened one. I don't like being lectured by others. Since I'm spending money to buy things anyway, why not go to a place where I feel comfortable?"

"That's right. Selling things and producing things are the same. You have to cater to the customer's psychology. It's very simple. Just observe and think more in daily life."

We criminal investigators are the same; we need to observe more, understand people's hearts more, and learn to put ourselves in others' shoes. That way…

Just then, a series of hurried footsteps interrupted Li Yancheng before he could finish speaking. Hearing the sound, the two turned to look back.

The people sitting in the pavilion, who had come to their senses, also heard the footsteps and stopped talking, standing up and looking in the direction from which the footsteps came.

Soon, a figure appeared in their line of sight; it was Guan Weidong.

Seeing his hurried manner, everyone knew that something urgent had happened. Li Yancheng and Jin Zhihai exchanged a glance, and saw a look of seriousness in each other's eyes. They then took a few steps forward to meet him.

"Boss, General Manager Jin..."

After Guan Weidong ran over, he first saluted, and before the leader could ask any questions, he lowered his voice and reported: "The general duty room contacted us by radio and reported that a theft occurred at the Chengxi Sports School last night. Five air pistols used for training were stolen, along with several rounds of ammunition. The exact number has not yet been determined, but it is definitely over several hundred. Director Cai and Political Commissar Zhu, the leader on duty at the brigade today, have already gone there."

The Director Cai he mentioned is the deputy director of the municipal bureau in charge of criminal investigation, who happens to be the duty leader of the municipal bureau today. He previously worked in the Fifth Criminal Investigation Bureau of the headquarters and was transferred here last month.

Upon hearing the report that five air pistols and an unknown quantity of accompanying ammunition had been lost, Li Yancheng felt his scalp tingle instantly.

Although the air pistols used in sports school training are very limited in terms of shooting range and lethality, even with these limitations, they are still offensive weapons, especially since there are so many of them.

More importantly, this year marks the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and a grand military parade has been scheduled for National Day. With less than five months to go, the sudden emergence of this case at this crucial moment has left him with no choice but to think carefully.

"Zhihai, you go first, I'll be there soon."

"it is good"

Jin Zhihai didn't waste any words. He didn't even bother to greet his wife and children. After nodding, he walked towards the connecting corridor leading to the front.

He drove himself here today. As the head of the Criminal Investigation Division, he has to be present in person for cases like this.

"Wei Dong, go prepare the car."

"Yes"

In ordinary criminal cases, Li Yancheng doesn't need to go to the scene in person; he only needs to listen to the report. Given his current status, if he had to go to the scene for every case, it would only cause the frontline investigators to make mistakes due to nervousness.

But today's case is different. Considering the serious incidents it might cause, he had to go there and urge the Criminal Investigation Corps to actively assist the Chengxi Branch in solving the case as soon as possible, recovering the lost air pistol and all ammunition, and eliminating all potential hazards.

Seeing Jin Zhihai leave in a hurry, everyone in the pavilion knew that something must have happened again. When Li Yancheng walked over, Xing Lihua was about to say something, but before she could speak, the other person had already spoken first.

"You guys play here. Zhihai and I have to go take care of something over there. Xiaomin, you take everyone to that restaurant at the intersection for dinner later."

Seeing his wife nod in agreement, Li Yancheng then looked at Xing Lihua, who had been about to speak, and said, "Lihua, you can bring the child to my house to play this afternoon."

"it is good"

Hearing him say that, Xing Lihua didn't ask any further questions, but nodded in agreement.

Police officers, especially criminal investigators, are destined to be called away at any time for work-related matters. Over the years, she has long been used to it. Just now, she wanted to say that she would take the child back later. Now that she has said that and the child is having fun here, she might as well leave it at that.

After greeting the others, Li Yancheng walked to the lakeside and said hello to the children who were happily boating on the lake before leaving the back garden.

While others were simply complaining about not being able to rest properly on Sundays and having to work, Luo Min and Xing Lihua looked much more serious.

Because they knew very well that a case that could attract Li Yancheng's personal attention was definitely not a small case.

But if a major case or important case occurs, it means that her husband will be busy, and it will be common for him not to come home.

Ugh……

Both women sighed silently in their hearts. There was nothing they could do; they had been stuck with men like these.

……

Meanwhile, twenty minutes later, Li Yancheng arrived at the scene of the crime, the Chengxi Sports School.

When he arrived, the criminal investigation team of the Chengxi Branch and its leaders, the leaders of the sports school, the main leaders of the district, Deputy Director Cai of the Municipal Bureau and Political Commissar Zhu Dongjun of the General Team, Jin Zhihai who had arrived before him, and the deputy leader of the city responsible for liaising with the Public Security Bureau were all already there.

As the leaders who came because of the case were all of increasingly higher rank, the leaders from the sports school who had also rushed over stood there with long faces, looking as if they had lost their parents.

Without exchanging pleasantries, Li Yancheng got out of the car, briefly greeted the deputy leader from the city and several key leaders from the western district, and immediately began to inquire about the details of the case.

The leaders of the Chengxi Branch immediately raised their hands and beckoned the head of the local police station who was the first to arrive at the scene of the crime.

"Old Zhan, please report the specific situation to Director Li and the other leaders."

When Chief Zhan of the local police station, who had jogged over, heard the branch bureau chief instruct him to report the case to the leaders, his face flushed with excitement. After responding, he gave a proper salute to Li Yancheng and the other leaders.

"Leaders, the specific situation is as follows: at 9:10 this morning, we received a call from the staff on duty at the sports school reporting that their air pistol storage room had been burglarized. They did not know exactly how many were missing when they reported the theft."

The security guard on duty who reported the incident was from the sports school. He knew a bit about the procedures for investigating a crime scene and knew we needed to look for footprints and fingerprints, so he didn't dare go into the storage room. The scene was relatively well-preserved. After receiving the report, I notified the criminal investigation team and rushed over with some people. The scene was in the back..."

Director Zhan pointed to the location of the scene and was about to continue speaking when Li Yancheng interrupted him.

"Director Zhan, take us to the scene and we'll talk as we go. Are the criminal investigation team members investigating the scene?"

"Yes, Director Li, the stolen warehouse cannot be entered from the outside. The warehouse door is inside the changing room. When we arrived, we found that the lock on the changing room door was intact. The first two people to discover the warehouse theft this morning were athletes from the sports school."

They said they used a key to open the locker room door and didn't find anything unusual when they opened it, which suggests that the criminals likely also had a key to the locker room door.

However, one strange thing is that this person had the key to the changing room but not the key to the warehouse. The criminals entered the warehouse through the changing room and smashed a large hole in the warehouse wall.

According to our inquiry with the sports school leaders, the warehouse only stored small-caliber air pistols and their ammunition for training. Management wasn't very strict; for example, each athlete participating in air pistol training had their own key to the locker room and warehouse doors.

At that time, the management of air guns was indeed not strict. You could buy long-barreled air guns and matching lead bullets in bookstores. The power of these air guns was even less than that of the air pistols used in sports school training. They were okay for shooting birds, but you had to be close to them. If you were too far away, even if you hit them, it wouldn't be a big deal. But if you shot at close range, they could still be lethal.

"Director Zhan, what did you say? The criminals smashed a hole in the warehouse wall?" Hearing this, Li Yancheng stopped in surprise and looked at the director of the local police station to ask.

"Yes, Director Li, I was also very shocked when I saw it. The hole was about two meters below the ground. There was a stool under the hole on the side of the changing room. The hole was about fifty centimeters wide and thirty centimeters high. A relatively complete footprint was found on the stool. It was a number 25, and it should have been left by a yellow rubber shoe."

As they spoke, the group arrived at the crime scene, outside the changing room.

When the captain of the criminal investigation team of the Chengxi branch, who was directing the investigation at the scene, saw the leaders coming over, he also rushed over.

As soon as you enter the locker room, you can see the hole in the east wall. Just as Director Zhan said, the hole is about two meters off the ground.

Why did you carve the hole so high? Wasn't that a lot of work?
Upon seeing the cave entrance, this question immediately came to Li Yancheng's mind.

In his view, there must have been a reason why the criminals made the opening so high.

"Captain Zhang, what's the situation inside the warehouse? Have you collected any fingerprints?"

"There were no fingerprints; the criminals were wearing gloves when they committed the crime." Captain Zhang's tone was full of helplessness when he mentioned this.

I don’t know when it started, but it seems that everyone knows that fingerprints are one of the most important pieces of evidence for the police to solve cases. So criminals wear gloves when they commit crimes, which makes it much more difficult for the police to investigate cases.

"However, a relatively complete footprint was extracted from the stool. According to the comrades from the technical section of the brigade, the criminal should be a male, about 1.65 to 1.7 meters tall, and of slender build."

Additionally, trampling marks were found on the wall below the opening inside the warehouse, likely left by the criminals after they entered and stole the items. These marks can be identified as the same as the footprints found on the bench outside.

"Captain Zhang, where are the bricks that the criminals knocked down?"

"Inside the warehouse."

Can you tell what was used to smash it?

"It should be a hammer, but it wasn't found at the scene. This criminal was very careful; apart from the shoe print, he didn't leave anything else... uh, no, I misspoke."

Captain Zhang was about to say that no other traces were left when he suddenly realized something was wrong and quickly added, "We didn't find any scratches on the locker door of the changing room, so we judged that the person must have opened the lock with a key."

This means that this person had access to the keys, but the strange thing is, if he had access to the locker room keys, why didn't he touch the storeroom keys?

"I think I might know the reason."

Just then, a vice principal from the sports school who had come with Li Yancheng stood at the back of the crowd and said weakly.

"what reason?"

Feeling Li Yancheng's piercing gaze, the vice principal who had spoken swallowed hard and stammered in response.

“I suspect this person may have been here three years ago. At that time, the warehouse door was still outside and had not been moved to the changing room. Only the warehouse manager had the key to the warehouse door.”

At that time, the warehouse contained not only these low-powered air pistols used for training, but also a small-caliber 'Dongfeng-3' pistol and its matching ammunition.

Three years ago, in the summer of 1981, for safety reasons, we separated the two types of guns because our school had a small staff, and the warehouse manager of this warehouse had moved to that warehouse.

To make management easier, we sealed off the main gate of this warehouse and moved it to the changing room area. That way, there are two doors. The warehouse door is still made of iron, and we thought it would be safer, but who could have imagined…”

Who would have thought that this criminal would not break down the door or pick the lock, but instead smash the wall? It's truly an eye-opener.

The vice principal who spoke was the school leader who had been with the sports school the longest. The principal and several other vice principals had only been transferred here last year and the year before, and had no idea that the warehouse had been modified like this.

After listening to the vice principal's explanation, Li Yancheng pondered for a moment, then raised his finger and pointed to the hole, asking the vice principal who had spoken.

Was that originally a window?

"Uh...you know, I was just about to say that, there was indeed a window here before, probably in that spot, but they blocked it up when they moved the door, and it was about the same size as this opening."

The vice principal arrived after receiving notification of the incident at the school. Because his home was a bit far from the school, he arrived only two or three minutes earlier than Li Yancheng. He didn't see the scene and knew nothing about the situation.

The other school leaders who arrived earlier were questioned by the criminal police officers, and none of them knew anything about it, including the security officer on duty, who had only arrived here in 1982, by which time the warehouse renovations had been completed in 1981.

After arriving with the leaders, the vice principal who was speaking stood on tiptoe outside the door to get a clear look at the situation inside before seizing the opportunity to tell them everything he knew.

(End of this chapter)