Siheyuan: I am Banggeng's uncle

Chapter 820 Platinum Seven Taels and Two Hundred Centimeters!
After Captain Hong sat down in the main seat of the conference room, he first glanced at everyone sitting in the conference room before speaking with a serious expression: "Now that everyone is here, let's officially begin today's meeting. First, I would like to ask Comrade Yuan Songping to introduce the two cases that have occurred in their FT district in the past six months."

When Chief Hong called his name, Yuan Songping, the head of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the FT District, immediately stood up from the conference table. He glanced at everyone present and said with a serious expression, "Chief Hong! Comrades, two months ago, an elderly man came to our local police station to report that his two sons had taken all the family's money and said they wanted to use it to join a treasure hunting team to find some kind of treasure. As a result, the two sons have disappeared without a trace."

“Yesterday, another middle-aged woman came to our branch to report a case. A month ago, her husband heard from a friend that the higher-ups were secretly searching for a treasure. Whoever could find the treasure could be given a quota to change their agricultural status to non-agricultural status, receive state grain rations, and also receive a 10% commission, which is ten million US dollars.”

"But to join this treasure hunting team, you have to pay a deposit of three thousand yuan. So she scraped together three thousand yuan and signed up to join the treasure hunting team. As a result, her husband took the money and left home, and then there was no news of him."

Sitting at the conference table, Jia Dongming heard Yuan Songping introduce the case. His first feeling was that this case was familiar, but he couldn't quite put his finger on why. As a result, he fell into deep thought without realizing it.

"Comrade Dongming! What are your thoughts on this series of disappearances?" Just as Jia Dongming was trying to recall where he had heard about this case, he suddenly heard Captain Hong calling his name.

Chief Hong's call to action pulled Jia Dongming back to reality from his reverie. Jia Dongming looked up and saw that everyone's eyes were on him. Somewhat embarrassed, he said to Chief Hong, "Chief Hong! I was thinking about this case when I heard Branch Captain Peng introduce it. I didn't hear the details of what the other comrades said after that."

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's explanation, Chief Hong was not displeased that Jia Dongming had been distracted. Instead, he earnestly explained to Jia Dongming, "Comrade Dongming! According to the clues we currently have, all these missing people have one thing in common: they learned about it by accident!"

After Captain Hong recounted the case details, Jia Dongming was visibly stunned. He finally realized why he felt a sense of déjà vu about this series of disappearances.

In 1981, in Jia Dongming's previous life, in Ningming, a small border town in Guangxi Province, which was close to Hainan Province, the "7.2 taels of platinum" incident that occurred in Hainan Province quickly spread throughout Guangxi Province via Ningming County.

The so-called "Platinum 7.2 ounces incident" was a popular scam at the time, claiming that the bald man had deposited $100 million in an American bank and that the Americans had given him a platinum certificate, supposedly worth 7.2 ounces.

Later, when Bald Head was defeated and retreated to Hainan Province, this certificate was still circulating in Hainan Province. It was rumored that if anyone could find seven taels and two ounces of platinum and hand it over to the state, they would receive a share of an American deposit.

People at the time were single-mindedly focused on getting rich, so such false information easily swayed them. Many people searched for the "seven taels and two mace of platinum," and Li Shangkun, who harbored dreams of wealth, saw a business opportunity in it, succumbing to evil intentions and embarking on a path of no return. Recalling the case from his previous life, Jia Dongming felt that the current case was remarkably similar. He even suspected that the mastermind behind this case might have traveled to Hainan and Guangxi provinces, learned of those cases, and then imitated them, using the so-called treasure to lure victims with dreams of wealth, thus swindling them out of their money.

Jia Dongming didn't know if similar cases had occurred in Guangxi Province in this parallel universe. His intuition told him that the missing people had likely been murdered by the mastermind behind the scenes. Otherwise, even though these cases had occurred for half a year, none of the missing persons had reappeared in front of their families.

With this thought in mind, Jia Dongming solemnly introduced to everyone present: "Captain Hong! Comrades, if my judgment is not wrong, this is a typical case of exploiting people's desire to get rich overnight, using the pretext of forming a treasure hunting team to defraud them of deposits. As for those missing victims, they should have been brutally murdered."

"Comrade Dongming! How can you believe that the so-called treasure hunting team is just a scam and that those who were deceived have been murdered by the killer?" After hearing Jia Dongming's analysis, Captain Hong felt that Jia Dongming's analysis was not without reason, so he asked Jia Dongming.

Upon hearing Captain Hong's question, Jia Dongming recalled the case from his previous life and solemnly explained, "Captain Hong! Do you remember the case of the King Chuang's treasure? Normally, when a treasure hunting team is formed, the person in charge should fund the hiring of personnel. How could they ask the participants to pay money under the pretext of a deposit?"

"Furthermore, my belief that all these victims have been murdered is based primarily on the number of people reported by each branch office. If they haven't been murdered, why haven't any of these victims reappeared after leaving their homes?"

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's analysis, the people present felt that his analysis was not without merit, and so they began to discuss the case among themselves.

"Comrade Dongming! If your analysis is correct, then where do you think we should start in investigating this case?" Zhang Huanchun of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of Dongcheng Branch finally couldn't help but ask Jia Dongming after pondering for a moment.

Upon hearing Zhang Huanchun's question, Jia Dongming solemnly replied, "Captain Zhang! All these missing victims disappeared because of the same information, which means that their source of information must have come from the same place. If we carefully examine the identities of these missing persons and find the commonalities among them, we should be able to find the real culprit behind it all."

Upon hearing Jia Dongming's analysis, Chief Hong felt that it made a lot of sense. So he announced to everyone present, "I think Comrade Dongming's analysis is very reasonable. We can definitely follow this line of thinking and continue the investigation. Now I have chosen to establish a joint task force, led by the Municipal Criminal Investigation Corps, and then drawing personnel from the branch criminal investigation detachment to carry out the investigation of this case."

(End of this chapter)