Reborn in 97, I solved a cold case at the Municipal Bureau

Chapter 245 Don't Try to Get Closer
Tao Cong said that they had swindled a total of over 100,000 yuan, but he didn't know the exact amount; it was all recorded by Meng Qingtong.

Some of the money they swindled was squandered by the two of them on a life of extravagance and debauchery.

But most of it still ended up in Meng Qingtong's hands. His reasoning was that if he wanted to deceive more people, he had to prevent anyone from becoming suspicious and demanding a refund.

So he'll keep the money for now, and the two of them will split it when it's almost gone.

Tao Cong said that his family's courtyard was full of thieves and not suitable for hiding money, so he agreed without much thought.

That evening, Tao Cong waited at the train station for Meng Qingtong to bring the money, but he waited all night and no one came.

His first reaction wasn't that he'd been scammed, but rather that he suspected Meng Qingtong had already been arrested by the police.

He was so scared that he wanted to run away, but he had no money on him and was reluctant to give up the tens of thousands of yuan that he was entitled to.

Meng Qingtong had told him where she rented a house, but this guy couldn't remember it. When it really came down to it, he just couldn't recall it.

The next day, he ran to the vicinity of the dilapidated building with dark circles under his eyes, but he didn't dare to go up, fearing that the police were waiting for him inside.

His original intention was to wait for Meng Qingtong to appear, but instead he encountered several people who had been fooled. He was almost discovered, which frightened him so much that he ran home and hid in the courtyard for several days without daring to show his face.

Because no police came to arrest him, he slowly came to his senses.

It seems like I've been scammed by Meng Qingtong too. That bastard has most likely run off with the money!
He was so angry he jumped up and down, but all he could do was rage helplessly.

Until recently, one day he was wandering around his neighborhood when he came across a TV in a shop that was showing Journey to the West, specifically the part where Sun Wukong descends from the Dragon Palace.

Upon hearing the words "Dragon King of the East Sea," he suddenly remembered that the place where Meng Qingtong rented a room also had the words "East Sea" in it: Donghai Community!
He was so excited that he jumped for joy, and only after asking around did he find out where Donghai Community was.

But when he arrived at Donghai Community, he was dumbfounded.

There were police everywhere, and a huge crowd had gathered outside.

He instinctively thought they were there to arrest Meng Qingtong, and he ran away in fright.

Little did they know, that day was also the day they retrieved the body parts from the septic tank.

Because he had no money, he hid at home and started sponging off his parents again, until Zhou Yi suddenly came to his door and he was arrested.

Seeing the way he gritted his teeth when he mentioned Meng Qingtong, Zhou Yi knew he wasn't lying this time.

At the same time, Zhou Yi thought that the Economic Investigation Department should have also found out about Tao Cong's existence, since those who were deceived had all given statements.

However, based solely on the information that he is a local with the surname Tao, it is difficult to pinpoint Tao Cong.

Moreover, the fact that Tao Cong remained at home without being arrested fully demonstrates one thing: Meng Qingtong was not caught.

Otherwise, he would inevitably have to confess to Tao Cong to lessen his own responsibility.

Did this person run away, or did they die?

What is the connection between the other person's body parts found in the septic tank and this person?
It seems that we still need to conduct an on-site inspection of the house he's renting.

Then, Zhou Yi asked Tao Cong about the crime he committed in Luohe.

Although Tao Cong found Zhou Yi's question strange, he still explained it to her.

Basically, when he went to Luohe, he was with a gangster. This gangster was well-connected and had many connections; he specialized in selling stolen goods.

In the 1990s, pickpocketing was rampant, especially in downtown areas and train stations, where pickpockets were practically everywhere.

On buses, the morning and evening rush hours are when pickpockets are busiest.

These thieves are very clever, and many people don't even realize they've been robbed.

Besides cash, there are other items that can be converted into cash, especially gold jewelry, mobile phones, and pagers.

But thieves are only responsible for stealing; there are people specifically responsible for selling stolen goods.

Because regular stores won't take these kinds of things back; you need to know the ropes.

The older brother that Tao Cong works with specializes in this kind of thing.

The reason they were arrested was because a group of thieves had robbed a gold shop in Luohe and then tried to sell the stolen goods to them. As a result, one of them was arrested and implicated everyone else.

Following the clues, the Luohe police dismantled the entire stolen goods distribution chain.

Tao Cong was among them, but he was a minor figure and was only sentenced to one year.

His older brother was sentenced to five years and is still in jail.

As for the robbers, he knew nothing about them.

Zhou Yi estimated that he wouldn't lie about this matter, and that the Luohe police must have investigated the matter thoroughly at the time.

He was unaware that Luohe actually had such a black market industry chain.

"So you've never been to the house Meng Qingtong rented?" Zhou Yi asked.

Tao Cong gritted his teeth in hatred and said, "If I had gone there, I would have gone to settle accounts with him that very night."

Seeing that the interrogation was almost over, Zhou Yi decided to hand the person over to the Economic Crime Investigation Department, since he wouldn't be of much use to him anyway.

After he checked the record and signed it, Zhou Yi said, "Congratulations, you're going to eat prison food again. This time, try the prison food from your hometown and see which tastes better, the one from Luohe."

Tao Cong looked dejected, clearly not wanting to be congratulated.

Qiao Jiali was quite familiar with the Economic Crime Investigation Department, so she went back to her office and called them to ask them to complete the necessary procedures to take the person away.

Zhou Yi then took the person to the detention room and locked them up.

On the way, Tao Cong asked curiously, "Officer, are you really my junior high school classmate?"

"What do you think?"

"It's hard to say, I don't think I've ever seen you before, you look unfamiliar. But you know Han Jiajia, right? Are you really in Class 3? To be honest, I actually liked Han Jiajia from your class back then, but I was too shy to say it." Zhou Yi patted his shoulder and said, "Alright, stop trying to get close to her. Just be a good person in the future, that's more useful than any connections."

By the time I finished dealing with Tao Cong, it was almost evening, and the office building was still too deserted on the weekend.

Zhou Yi was somewhat disappointed, because based on the signs and observations from the interrogation so far, Tao Cong didn't seem like someone capable of robbery and murder.

This also means that the leads in the June 14th savings bank robbery and murder case have so far gone cold.

"As expected... it's impossible to check this far in advance." Zhou Yi scratched his head.

Then I saw a person in the corridor, disheveled, but judging from his build, he should be Song Yiming.

"Teacher Song," Zhou Yi called out.

Song Yiming seemed not to hear him, and walked forward with his head down, muttering to himself, "This shouldn't be."

Zhou Yi didn't chase after them. Judging from his expression, he definitely hadn't figured out why there were other people's parts among the body parts.

For Song Yiming, this is probably a serious professional challenge.

Zhou Yi was about to ask Shi Tao how the investigation was going and whether they needed to go and help when he saw Shi Tao escorting someone in.

"Team Leader Shi, what's this?" Zhou Yi asked hurriedly.

The person being held by Shi Tao was a young man in his early twenties with long hair that covered his face; if it weren't for his figure, one would mistake him for a woman.

As Zhou Yi got closer, he noticed that the man had heavy dark circles under his eyes and sunken eye sockets, making him look sickly.

"A drug addict?" Zhou Yi asked.

Shi Tao said, "You've got a good eye, kid. Not only is he a drug addict, but guess what other good stuff we found in his house?"

Zhou Yi blurted out, "Poppy?"

Shi Tao's lips twitched. "Tsk, this is getting boring. How do you know everything? Couldn't it just be drugs?"

“If it were really drugs, Captain Shi, you would have contacted the anti-drug unit immediately. Why would you bring it back?” Zhou Yi said with a smile.

If drugs are discovered in possession, the narcotics enforcement agency must be notified to investigate.

However, ordinary drug users are usually detained and punished by the local police station, unless an investigation or interrogation reveals that they were involved in drug trafficking or other important clues.

As for routine anti-drug publicity and the illegal cultivation of poppies, these are usually the responsibility of the local police station.

"That bastard has six pots of poppies in his house, no wonder he doesn't dare to open the door. I might as well bring them back for interrogation and see if I can find out anything else."

Shi Tao sighed, "Even a mosquito's leg is meat, and lately your Third Brigade has been getting all the attention."

Zhou Yi smiled, and it was clear that Shi Tao really wanted to improve.

"Team Leader Shi, do you need any help?"

"No need, no need. By the way, how's the investigation into Meng Qingtong going?"

"There's still no progress."

Zhou Yi's words put Shi Tao at ease.

But then Zhou Yi said, "However, we also uncovered a fraud case, and Sister Qiao has already contacted the Economic Crime Investigation Department."

"What?" Shi Tao was immediately annoyed. If he had known that it could also lead to a fraud case, he definitely wouldn't have let Meng Qingtong's lead go.

Cases involving cross-departmental collaboration are more likely to gain exposure and a greater sense of presence.

"Hurry up and get going, stop dawdling." Shi Tao shoved the addict toward the interrogation room. "You'd better give me something useful today."

Zhou Yi smiled to himself, thinking that this was one of the good things about Captain Shi—he was straightforward and his thoughts were written all over his face.

More than half an hour later, Shi Tao walked into the office of the Third Brigade, where Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali were comparing the tenant information compiled by Gu Changhai.

Zhou Yi glanced up and knew that Shi Tao hadn't gained anything, as it was written all over his face.

“I’ve notified the Qishan Road Police Station. We’ll detain that kid in the detention room tonight and let them handle it tomorrow.” Shi Tao plopped down and said dejectedly, “Guess why he grows poppies.”

Zhou Yi and Qiao Jiali shook their heads.

Shi Tao immediately perked up and said to Zhou Yi, "Hehe, you never expect this, do you? Let me tell you, it's because this kid tried to buy goods with counterfeit money before, but he got caught and now they won't sell to him. He had no choice but to grow his own. Hey, he's a real genius!"

Zhou Yi laughed too, "What, is he planning to become a drug lord himself?"

"Forget it, a drug lord, my foot. I've interrogated him, this kid doesn't know anything, he doesn't even know how to extract morphine. I bet he'll only be able to eat fruit in the future."

At this moment, the second team members returned, all looking exhausted and parched.

I asked hundreds of households in one day, and everyone was so angry they could breathe fire.

"Captain Shi, we've done the tally. We checked a total of 346 households. The remaining 150 households were unoccupied. We're unsure if they moved away or were just not home. We've noted them all down," a policeman said in a hoarse voice.

Zhou Yi was startled to find that nearly a third of the residents' homes were empty.

"You've worked hard, have some water to soothe your throats, then sit down and rest for a while. I'll have the canteen cook a few dishes and put it on our Third Brigade's tab." Qiao Jiali poured water for everyone.

"Team Leader Shi, there are a few suspicious establishments here. We just checked them out on the way back and circled them all." As he spoke, the man placed a notebook on the table and pointed, "Besides those from this morning, there are a few more suspicious ones this afternoon."

"Especially this one..."

　Thank you to everyone who voted for me yesterday. There were so many, I won't list them all. Thank you.

　　This volume is a mix of two relatively minor cases, plus slice-of-life scenes. Readers who want to continue reading can save it for later. I will add a note to the title of the last chapter when this volume ends.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)