Genius Detective

kk said, "Brother Chen really has a strange way of thinking. How could we trick him back? You mean we should also go to the altar and fight a magic duel with Liao Chunhuang?"

"Can you do it? Since you’re so clever, it should be fine." Chen Shi smiled.

"No, no!" kk waved his hands again and again. "It’s a different industry, so it’s like being separated by a mountain. Even if we know his tricks, he had been trained by a master. His aura and stage presence would completely crush us. It’s like having an amateur like you doing cross-talk on stage with Guo Degang's script. You won’t be able to make it!"

Sun Zhen said, "Why don't you do it, Brother Chen? After all, you’ve 'acted' as another person for four years."

"Are you scolding me? I don’t know how to do it either. Besides, Old Man Lu views me through prejudiced eyes. No matter what clothes I wear, I’m Song Lang in his eyes. The person he is most wary of is me."

"Sister-in-Law……"

"Don't look at me, I definitely can't do it." Lin Dongxue said. She suddenly thought of something and picked up the envelope. "Isn't the person who provided the information in the same industry as Liao Chunhuang? Can he do it?"

"Him? He’s given up on the trade a long time ago and is currently enjoying retirement at home. This kind of person is pedantic and cowardly. He won’t offend people easily, let alone cooperate with the police to destroy the livelihood of people in the same industry."

"Do you know him well?"

"Uh, I don't, I’m just guessing."

Chen Shi said, "Then ask him if he wants to be rich or not. Of course, Wang Haitao will pay the bill."

"I’ll try it!"

Chen Shi glanced at the time and said that it was time to get back to work, so he took his leave. After getting into the car, Lin Dongxue said, "It seems that you really want to help Wang Haitao, or you would have just tossed it to the anti-fraud team."

"I helped him when he was down and out. He felt that he owed me a favor. Later, he treated me really well after he became rich. However, since he had suddenly become the son of a billionaire, I didn't have much contact with him in order to avoid suspicion. Later, I found out that his nature hadn't changed although he had become a rich second generation. This is rare and commendable. I really regard him as a friend. Of course, if a friend is in trouble, I should help him tide over this disaster."

Lin Dongxue smiled, "Poor uncle. I think his life will only have a glimmer of hope if Old Man Lu no longer causes trouble."

"When you mean by no longer causing trouble…"

"Yes, that's what I mean."

"Powerful and influential muddle-headed old people are indeed very scary. Many disasters in history have been caused by such old people. When they were young, they were heroes and great men. They become out of touch with modern times as they get older, but they still want to control everything. Then they’re manipulated by villains and bring endless suffering to the world. This kind of ending really makes one sigh. ‘Zhou Gong was afraid of rumors, and Wang Mang[1] was modest and polite before he usurped power. If they had died early, who would have known their true characters?’ It's a kind of blessing for a person to die at the right moment, for example, Huo Qubing, Wen Tianxiang, and Zheng Chenggong. They’re remembered as great heroes in history." Chen Shi said with feeling.

The two returned to the bureau and found some information about Liao Chunhuang through household registration-related queries. He was indeed born in 1975. The official file didn’t mention that he had been in love with a girl when he was young. This person in the police file was just an ordinary citizen. As kk said, fake Taoist priests will not be exposed and the money is willingly given by the victims. Even if he is arrested, it will be for promoting feudal superstitions.

"If this person is arrested, can he be sentenced?" Chen Shi asked.

"I don't know much about fraud. I’ll talk to the people in the anti-fraud team later."

"We have an anti-fraud team here?"

"It was formed by the local police in Longyang District. You know that the train station and the bus station are both there. Also, fraudsters are more active there, so they set up an anti-fraud team, mainly targeting telecom fraud and elder fraud."

"I see."

The file mentioned Liao Chunhuang’s wife, Xu Rongrong. Checking for Xu Rongrong, there was indeed a person named Xu Rongrong who was of the right age and serving a sentence. She had actually committed the crime of murder, and the victim was her own elder brother. Xu Rongrong had a mild mental disorder, but it was not serious enough to exempt her from the sentence. She had been sentenced to life imprisonment and was serving her sentence in another city several hundred kilometers away from Long'an at the moment.

Noting that Xu Rongrong and Liao Chunhuang were from the same hometown, Chen Shi said, "Could this person be Liao Chunhuang’s first love?"

"It's possible! She killed her own elder brother…" Lin Dongxue paused, "That's outrageous! I definitely won’t be able to do that."

"Haha."

"Liao Chunhuang and Xu Rongrong are still husband and wife. Despite what one may expect, he’s someone who doesn’t forget his old love."

"That's not necessarily the case. To him, the wife who is serving her sentence might as well be nonexistent. I personally don't think much of the morals of swindlers."

"I heard from a policeman friend that there was once an old swindler who donated all the money he scammed to an orphanage. Is this considered good or bad?"

"That's not worthy of recognition. Do the people who have been deceived deserve it?… Does the 'policeman friend' you mentioned refer to Luo Haifeng?"

"Jealous?"

"How could I be jealous of him? I was just curious. Who stipulated that you can't have friends of the opposite sex after marriage?"

Lin Dongxue smiled, "I have more than one friend at the local police station, not just Luo Haifeng. After all, I’m considered more or less a veteran police officer, and I still have some connections of my own."

Chen Shi also smiled. "Okay, that's the end of the investigation of this fraud case. Let's gnaw on our hard bones now!"

"Let's go and question the academy instructors? They should be returning to the army in a few days."

"The instructors probably haven't finished their classes yet? Let's go later!"

Unexpectedly, the plan was unable to keep up with changes. A new clue suddenly appeared. Traces of coal and carbon residue were found on the deceased’s smashed phone. Many places in Long'an burned coal, but these cinder particles were very fine. Chen Shi thought of a place. Power plant. That’s because power plants will use coal mills to grind coal in order to achieve full combustion.

He immediately led a car of police officers and a car of forensic officers to the only thermal power station outside Long'an. After parking, Chen Shi regretted that he had brought too few people. The place was too big and it would take a lot of effort to search.

While considering whether to add reinforcements, someone exclaimed, "Captain, there’s someone over there!" ƒ𝚛𝐞𝚎𝑤𝘦𝚋𝓷o𝚟e𝘭.c𝐨𝙢

Passing through a grove, they arrived at a river, not far from the big chimney of the power plant that was billowing thick smoke into the sky. They saw a few men standing in the clearing. One man strangled another man from behind. The third man was holding a dagger, facing the bound man and pretending to stab him.

The people around were just smoking cigarettes while "watching the show."

"Crime re-enactment?" Chen Shi was surprised. "They’re colleagues of ours!"

The colleagues also saw them, stopped their actions, and Chen Shi said, "We belong to the city’s public security bureau."

"Oh, hello, we’re from the Guchang Branch."

"Excuse me, what are you guys doing? Did a murder happen here?"

The colleague nodded gravely, "A very cruel case happened here two days ago. A woman was killed, her abdomen cut open, and her heart taken away."