Rebirth 2014: I, the King of Criminal Investigation

Chapter 638 You've obviously never met an online friend before.
The term "崩老头儿" (bēng lǎo tóu ér) came about later, but the behavior itself existed much earlier.

Don't underestimate these energetic young women, because "beating up old men" also requires a certain level of skill.

First, you need to be good at chatting and able to provide emotional value to the other person.

Many men lose themselves in the constant calling of "brother".

Secondly, you need to know how to seize the opportunity.

Only a fool would give money to someone who asks for it right away.

However, if the conversation continues indefinitely, the time cost will increase, so you need to get the other person into the mood as soon as possible, and then make your request when they are most engaged.

It's 2015 now, and around this time, many young women have entered the live streaming industry.

Those who have done well in the live streaming industry are mostly the masters of "Beat the Old Man" back then.

"Did the technical department find all of this out?"

Retrieving chat logs from messaging apps is definitely a task for the technical department.

Yu Dazhang was curious: now that an investigation had begun, what unexpected things could possibly happen?
"Yes," Lü Zhongxin nodded and said.

"Preliminary investigations show that the two missing persons cases are similar in terms of both time and the characteristics of the victims. Therefore, the team has decided to combine the two cases for processing."

Immediately, a look of helplessness and anger appeared on his face:
"But before we could make a decision to merge the cases, the Criminal Investigation Department arrived."

"They took over these two missing persons cases by force, citing the seriousness of the cases. Isn't that a clear sign that they don't take us seriously?"

Yesterday afternoon was quite lively... Yu Dazhang didn't think the Criminal Investigation Department had done anything wrong.

Two consecutive cases of mass disappearances definitely fall into the category of major cases, so it's normal for the headquarters to take over the case.

Actually, the headquarters should have taken over the kidnapping case earlier.

Yu Dazhang guessed that the brigade was afraid of trouble, so they pretended not to know.

Those within the system know that kidnapping is one of the most troublesome types of cases because the life and death of the hostage are completely out of the police's control.

However, if problems arise with the hostages, whether they are killed or otherwise harmed, the police are often blamed for poor handling of the case.

Therefore, there is an unwritten rule within the system that whoever is assigned to a kidnapping case is responsible for investigating it to the end, and it is impossible to push it out.

Of course, it's impossible for outsiders to take over.

However, these two disappearance cases are different; it is not yet possible to determine why these seven girls went missing.

If the individuals ran away from home together, it falls under the category of civil cases.

However, if it involves crimes such as human trafficking or kidnapping, it falls under the category of criminal cases.

"Master, I reckon the headquarters is also quite helpless."

Yu Dazhang smiled:
"Think about it, they didn't even get involved in the kidnapping case, so it's just not right to pretend they don't know anything about this case."

"They are known as the nemesis of evil, specializing in tackling tough challenges."

His tone became serious:

"The disappearance of seven girls at once is a case that only happens once every few years, even in a top-tier city like Songhai."

Upon realizing the seriousness of the case, both the master and apprentice fell silent again.

Even when the two were gossiping, they were still thinking about the case; it seemed to have become a habit.

For them, as long as they are on duty, solving cases is their top priority.

One thing is certain.

After a moment of silence, Lü Zhongxin spoke thoughtfully:

"Those seven girls were definitely not kidnapped."

He then gave his reasons:
“The seven of them come from poor families. To put it bluntly, it’s no use kidnapping them; you simply can’t get the ransom.”

What if the kidnappers are idiots... Yu Dazhang thought to himself.

However, this possibility is too low.

Kidnapping isn't something just anyone can do. If you're not smart enough, you'll give yourself away with just a ransom call.

"I guess it wasn't a runaway," Lü Zhongxin continued his analysis:

"Judging from these girls' lifestyles, they are not the kind of girls who are pretentious, and they are all very independent. Not going home to live has almost become the norm for them."

"I don't usually go home, so there's no way I could have run away from home."

Yu Dazhang nodded in agreement.

In fact, a large portion of this group simply doesn't want to go to work.

Because there aren't many good jobs available at work.

For girls like them who dropped out of school halfway through their education, most of their jobs are as waitresses.

Those who are open-minded will become hostesses, bar girls, or online live streamers; there are almost no other options.

Instead of doing that, we might as well get together and beat up the old man.

"In my opinion, the most likely explanation is that they were trafficked."

The more Lü Zhongxin spoke, the more convinced he became of his analysis, and his tone grew increasingly confident.
"However, it is extremely rare for so many people to be trafficked at once."

"Moreover, the fact that two groups of people disappeared on the same day clearly indicates that the other party did not act on a whim, but rather made a meticulous plan to be able to strike so precisely at the same time."

He paused briefly, seemingly organizing his thoughts, before continuing:

"There's something I don't understand. Seven girls being abducted in two separate incidents should have caused quite a stir."

“Even if they showed the slightest resistance, there would certainly be witnesses in public, but so far, not a single related report has been filed.”

"You've obviously never met anyone online..." Yu Dazhang thought to himself.

In his view, his mentor's analysis was comprehensive and well-organized, but unfortunately it touched on some of the old detective's blind spots.

Meeting people online is nothing new, but those who have never done it before still don't understand the ins and outs.

That's right, there are some tricks and techniques to meeting people you meet online.

Those young women with a penchant for "spiritual nourishment" don't rely solely on providing "spiritual food" to "bully old men."

If they encounter someone of high quality and generous spending, they will also meet with them offline.

Doesn't it look a bit like a female streamer meeting up with the top male fan?

However, these "spiritual girls" usually travel in groups, even when meeting people they met online, it's a collective effort.

This shows that they have a strong sense of self-protection.

Unfortunately, this time the opponent played the game of wiping them all out.

"The other party did it on purpose."

Yu Dazhang spoke up, and his words hit the nail on the head:
"The suspect knew those girls very well, or rather, he knew their group very well."

"That's why the suspect lured her out by meeting her in person."

"They even anticipated that the girl wouldn't come alone, which was exactly what they wanted."

His face darkened.

"The fact that the suspect abducted two groups of people in succession shows that his initial plan was to target multiple people, with young women as the primary target."

This case is going to be difficult.

In other words, this case is more difficult than a kidnapping case.

In the case of kidnapping, the kidnappers will at least contact the victim's family to demand money, which is a very important breakthrough for the police.

But in the case of human trafficking, after the suspect abducts the person, the next step is to run away with them.

This is also the main reason why the clearance rate for human trafficking cases is low.

"Hopefully, the headquarters can find someone."

Yu Dazhang and his master exchanged a glance, and then both sighed in unison.

(End of this chapter)