Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 167 Different Roads
With just a few words from Lu Zhengqi, Nie Guoqiang understood the troublesome aspects of the case.

It's not that the case is difficult to solve, but rather that solving it requires a significant amount of manpower and resources. The simplest method, without a doubt, is a comprehensive search of the entire mountainside. Given enough time and patience, some evidence can always be found.

The reason is simple: even the most vicious criminals cannot carry a corpse's head, limbs, and feet for an extended period of time.

Whether it's to destroy the evidence or to hide the body elsewhere, it definitely needs to be disposed of.

However, any action taken will inevitably leave traces. Given enough time, manpower, patience, and funding, along with sufficient trust from above, solving this case shouldn't be too difficult.

But...

Zhuzhou City in Hunan Province has a hilly environment, with half of it covered by the Taihang Mountains on geographical maps. This landform, half plains and half hills, also reflects the population distribution of Yexian County.

Whether due to economic or transportation reasons, the end result is that most areas around the mountains are sparsely populated with few villages, and the majority of the population has migrated to the plains and urban areas. Without eyewitnesses, it is impossible to define the search area.

Under these circumstances, a thorough search of the mountains for clues is beyond the capabilities of a few dozen or even a hundred people. The Yexian police station is short-staffed and underfunded, and its requests for assistance from higher authorities have been met with various excuses, leaving them with no choice but to resort to other methods.

“If I were a leader in the municipal bureau, I wouldn’t agree to this either. Searching the mountains sounds simple; it’s only about half a palm’s width on a map. But if we really had to do it, I estimate that one or two thousand people probably wouldn’t be enough. Plus, to prevent any clues from being missed, we would have to search again and again, which would consume a massive amount of resources and time. A headless case sounds serious, but it’s really impossible to have all the police officers in the city and even the surrounding cities collectively abandon their responsibilities.”

Nie Guoqiang understood Lu Zhengqi's predicament.

Lu Zhengqi nodded and smiled wryly, "That's the problem! The Municipal Bureau did a rough calculation, and even if we only use a thousand people for a ten-day operation, it will still cost nearly eight million. The Yexian Police Station can't come up with that money, and neither can the Municipal Bureau."

"Eight million! That's enough to expand the city's police force by one round."

Nie Guoqiang nodded, thought for a moment and said, "But Lao Lu, what use is it for me to do this alone? My cat does have some skills, but it's not a god, it can't sniff 108,000 miles away."

Lin Ge nodded in agreement.

Putting everything else aside, just asking it to search for ten days or half a month in a desolate mountain is simply impossible. Searching the mountain is easy, and climbing slopes is tolerable, but maintaining full concentration for many days at a time would kill a cat.

Moreover, is it really worth it for a murder case involving a headless corpse?
To be honest, it's a very real and frustrating fact that many serious crimes go unsolved every year across the country. Given this, it's not a big deal that the Yexian police station has another cold case going to the archives, right?

Lu Zhengqi glanced at Lin Ge. This cat, which could only nod, surprised him and made him feel a little resentful.

However, when faced with his subordinates, he shook his head and said nothing more, simply changing the subject.

However, after the meeting ended and all his subordinates left, Lu Zhengqi kept Nie Guoqiang and his men behind.

Not afraid of losing face, Lu Zhengqi frankly said, "Old Nie, I can't have such a major case that has been abandoned. Unlike you, I still have ambitions! Yexian is too poor. Next year, some cadres will be promoted in the Municipal Bureau, and I want to move up a bit more."

Nie Guoqiang was stunned for a moment before he realized what was happening.

I didn't see anything wrong with it; after all, striving for higher goals is human nature. Lu Zhengqi has the ambition to work hard, and there's nothing wrong with that. To make his progress more stable, it's only natural to make the data look better.

The political arena is also a workplace, and every step forward is difficult. Sometimes a small problem can lead to failure, so Lu Zhengqi's concerns are understandable.

"So what do you want me to do? Old Lu, I'll say it again: with just these few people, plus a cat and a dog, I don't think we can find any good clues. Solving cases is like a skilled cook trying to make a meal without ingredients, right?"

“I have an idea that, with luck, might narrow down the scope to two hilltops.”

Lu Zhengqi shook his head, held up two fingers to Nie Guoqiang, then bent his index finger and hooked it, then stared at Nie Guoqiang with a smile without saying a word.

Nie Guoqiang immediately understood.

Seeing that Sun Chang and Qian Wei were completely confused, he didn't say anything, nor did he intend to reveal Lu Zhengqi's intentions. In any case, he was just helping Lu Zhengqi out and getting out of the limelight for a few days; being bossed around by him would be over soon.

And frankly, Nie Guoqiang also really wanted to solve this brutal murder case. It had nothing to do with whether it would affect Lu Zhengqi's promotion; it was simply because such a cruel person shouldn't go unpunished. Therefore, Nie Guoqiang didn't care why Lu Zhengqi only sought outside help instead of pleading with colleagues within the city.

All he knew was that Lu Zhengqi was no longer the naive and righteous young policeman he had been ten years ago, and their relationship had subtly changed. Perhaps after this incident, their connection would quietly sever.

That evening, Lu Zhengqi hosted a high-class welcome dinner for Nie Guoqiang and his entourage.

Due to their positions, no one drank alcohol, but amidst Lu Zhengqi's deliberate flattery, the Yexian police officers and Nie Guoqiang's group enjoyed their meal relatively smoothly and were satisfied. Afterwards, they checked into a high-class hotel not far from the police station.

But the more this happened, the uglier Nie Guoqiang and Qian Wei's expressions became.

However, no one really wanted to say anything; it would be quite unethical to gossip about someone after accepting their food and drink. Besides, although Lu Zhengqi's behavior was somewhat inappropriate, who is a saint? If things were really discussed openly, such a small matter wouldn't have much of an impact on him.

However, the opinions of several people regarding Lu Zhengqi were different from when they first met.

"This is the cold-faced cat! They say cats have nine orifices and a clever mind, and it seems there's nothing wrong with that."

Qian Wei sneered disdainfully, and seeing Lin Ge lazily licking his paws beside him, he couldn't resist touching him: "Mimi, will you become like this in the future? After you become an official, will your behavior no longer be that of a policeman, but that of an official?"

Without hesitation, Lin Ge swung his claw at them. Who the hell are you mocking?!
"I should have stayed in Yongshi! Oh well!"

Qian Wei rubbed the back of his hand, looking at the scratches on it, and got used to it, but secretly regretted why he had provoked the cat.

Nie Guoqiang remained silent, his eyes narrowed, seemingly lost in thought.

Sun Chang, on the other hand, had been fiddling with his phone and searching for something ever since he returned to the hotel.

After a while, she suddenly exclaimed.

Seeing Nie Guoqiang and Qian Wei looking over, Sun Chang said, somewhat embarrassed and angry, "I know why Director Lu only let us search two mountains! Because only these two mountains are within his jurisdiction in Yexian County! Even though the case was discovered in Yexian, Director Lu's purpose is probably to use Director Nie's reputation as collateral to ensure that there are no other clues in the mountains within his jurisdiction. So the remaining search tasks and the pressure of solving the case will have to be handled by the neighboring county!"

"Tsk tsk... So it was just a way of shifting blame!"

Lin Ge suddenly realized.

Nie Guoqiang's expression remained unchanged; he had long understood Lu Zhengqi's implication. Or rather, from the moment he heard that the continuous mountain range had become two mountains, he knew that Lu Zhengqi had the idea of ​​shifting the blame and dumping the responsibility for the unsolved case onto someone else.

This is why he went to great lengths to invite Nie Guoqiang over: firstly, because of Nie Guoqiang's reputation, and secondly, because the two sides are located in different provinces, and the neighboring county could no longer pass the buck back to Nie Guoqiang.

Qian Wei clicked his tongue in amazement, saying he had truly broadened his horizons.

"Alright, enough with the unnecessary talk!"

Nie Guoqiang stopped his two subordinates from discussing and said seriously, "We're here to solve the case; other things are none of our business. Whether or not we find clues on those two mountains, we must do what needs to be done. And since we're going to solve the case, we must be prepared to go all out. If two mountains aren't enough, we'll continue to extend outwards and do everything we can. In the end, no matter what others say, at least we'll have a clear conscience, understand?"

"Yes!"

Qian Wei and Sun Chang bowed together.

"Fine! In other words, I still need to be prepared to put in a lot of effort. You bastard Nie Guoqiang, just keep exploiting me!"

Lin Ge jumped onto the bed next to him, feeling dejected, and lay down in the middle. This bed was his tonight; the other two stinky men could just squeeze into one bed and sleep cuddling!

(End of this chapter)