Rebirth 2014: I, the King of Criminal Investigation

Chapter 599 Equivalent Exchange
He only dared to think about such things in his mind.

If they actually did that, the kidnappers would probably have to call the police.

After waiting a while, the other party indeed called an hour later.

To prevent the other party from remembering his voice, Yu Dazhang handed over the task of answering the phone to his master.

"Are the car and money ready?"

It's still that synthesized electronic voice; you can't hear any emotion or intonation at all.

"Ready?" Lü Zhongxin replied, then casually asked:

Where should I send it to?

There was a two-second pause on the other end, followed by the statement:

"Please state your license plate number."

"They're going to pull some tricks halfway through..." Yu Dazhang immediately guessed the other party's intention.

If it's just about delivering money, then delivering the money is enough; there's no need to know our vehicle's license plate number.

It's not like taking a ride-hailing service where we have to verify each other's license plate numbers and the last four digits of our phone numbers.

Although he could guess the other party's intentions, Yu Dazhang couldn't deduce exactly what they wanted to do.

Lu Zhongxin then gave the other party the license plate number of the SUV.

"Go to the shopping center on Xijiangwan Road."

The synthesized voice on the other end said coldly:

"Give me the phone number of the person who delivered the money. I will contact him directly later. If I find that your police are following us, I will no longer guarantee the safety of the hostages."

Now they have enough leverage to threaten the police... Yu Dazhang was somewhat impressed by their cunning.

The other party mailed CDs to both companies early this morning.

On the surface, it appears that the kidnappers are demonstrating to the police that they have no scruples and are capable of anything.

Actually.

They were sending an important message to the Su and Bai families, as well as the police: the hostages are still safe and sound.

Only if the hostage is alive will the Su and Bai families, as well as the police, have reservations and dare not act rashly, and may even cooperate with the kidnappers to do some things.

This was undoubtedly a brilliant move by the opponent.

In this way, they cleverly seized the initiative in the situation.

And that is exactly the situation we are facing now.

Faced with the kidnappers' demands, Lü Zhongxin had no choice but to comply and gave them a string of phone numbers.

However, this number did not belong to Yu Dazhang, but to one of the members of their group.

Because Yu Dazhang had used his own phone to call the two Qi brothers, he had to temporarily switch phones to avoid revealing his identity.

The phone had been technically modified by officers from the technical department; they had not only enabled GPS but also set up a listening device.

Most importantly, this phone has a built-in voice changing function.

Yu Dazhang's voice will be automatically processed to sound like another person.

After Lü Zhongxin gave the phone number, the other party hung up immediately.

Just as he was about to give his apprentice a few words of advice, Yu Dazhang suddenly spoke up:
"Master, Captain Wei, you two take your men and set off immediately. Get to the shopping center before me; there must be people from the other side hiding there."

Wei Qian looked at him and asked:
"Are you so sure?"

The team had handled several kidnapping cases and was quite familiar with the kidnappers' modus operandi.

Generally, kidnappers will give out several different addresses in succession, and then look for a suitable opportunity to collect the ransom along the way.

They had never encountered a situation where the first stop was directly for collecting the ransom.

Moreover, based on the information currently available, these kidnappers do not appear to be impulsive or reckless individuals.

"Since they chose the shopping mall, they must have thought it through carefully."

Yu Dazhang explained:

"They must be trying to achieve something in the shopping mall. Whatever their goal may be, they will definitely have someone observing them from the shadows."

"Moreover, the other side will at least have two eyes observing from different angles."

So far, the impression these kidnappers have left on Yu Dazhang is that they are very purposeful in their actions.

They did almost nothing unnecessary, and everything proceeded methodically. Everyone has their own habits, so Yu Dazhang concluded that the other party's decision to make the shopping mall their first stop was definitely not a casual remark.

Upon hearing this, Wei Qian didn't say anything more, but immediately led his men to the shopping center.

Lü Zhongxin also set off with two team members, following behind the main group.

After they drove away, Yu Dazhang got into the SUV and drove to the location designated by the kidnappers.

Speaking of which, he had visited that shopping center once before with Qu Tuotuo, and his impression of it could be summed up in one word: expensive.

Given Yu Dazhang's salary level, he definitely wouldn't go there to spend money.

On the road.

Yu Dazhang noticed a car following him through his rearview mirror.

It's obvious that it was arranged by the bureau.

He has 20 million yuan in cash in his car, so there's no room for carelessness.

Twenty minutes later.

Yu Dazhang parked his car in a ground-level parking space in front of the shopping center.

Having been here once before, he knew the way quite well.

There are only one reason why there are empty parking spaces at the entrance: parking fees are ridiculously expensive.

After waiting in the car for about five minutes, Yu Dazhang's phone rang.

He wasn't quite used to the ringtone because it belonged to a team member.

I pressed the answer button, and a synthesized voice came from the phone:

"Take the money, go to the gold shop inside, and buy all the gold bars."

Damn, this is going to kill me... At this moment, Yu Dazhang finally understood why the other party had asked him to come here.

Which is heavier, money or gold of equal value?
Money is definitely more important.

A 100-yuan banknote weighs 1.1 grams.

In 2015, the price of 1 gram of gold was approximately 235 yuan.

Therefore, if all the money were converted into gold, the weight would be reduced by more than half while the value remained the same.

"What a cunning scheme..." Yu Dazhang replied through gritted teeth.
"Have you ever thought that buying gold bars from a jewelry store is actually not cost-effective? Jewelry stores also need to make a profit. If you exchange them all, the 20 million will definitely be reduced in value."

He really didn't want to change jobs; he preferred to avoid doing something thankless and exhausting.

Moreover, he knew in his heart that the price of gold would continue to rise in the future.

If the other party succeeds and hides the gold bars they received, these gold bars will be worth far more than 20 million in the future.

"This is not your concern."

The person on the other end urged:
"Go exchange it now, and then put the gold bars you received into the bag provided by the gold shop."

He knew there was a tracker in the money bag... Yu Dazhang was now even more certain that the other party had worked in the system, and was very likely a criminal police officer like himself.

After exchanging the money for gold bars, not only is the weight reduced by more than half, but the tracker in the bag will also be found by the jewelry store staff.

Kill two birds with one stone!
Yu Dazhang's brain was working at a rapid pace.

The fact that the other party contacted me proactively means that they saw my SUV and verified the license plate number.

No matter from which angle the other person observes the car, their line of sight cannot bend.

If that's the case, then we should also be able to see the other side.

The problem is that the other party is hidden in the crowd, making them difficult to identify.

But...

This doesn't seem to be a problem for him.

"What if the jewelry store doesn't have that many gold bars?"

While talking on his phone, Yu Dazhang leaned down and looked out the front window of the car.

His gaze swept across the street, not only on the pedestrians but also on the people in the shops across the street.

Meanwhile, he didn't stop talking; he was still asking the same question:

"I have 20 million in cash in my car. Think about it, which gold shop can keep so many gold bars? So we need to make some things clear beforehand: besides gold bars, can we exchange them for other gold products?"

(End of this chapter)