You're supposed to be a security officer, what case are you solving?

Chapter 85 The Landlady.

The woman stiffened, looked up, and said with a fawning smile, "Officer, is there something you need?"

Yang Jinwen picked up the newspaper and showed it to her: "Have you seen these two men before?"

The woman didn't even look at the portrait; instead, she looked suspiciously at the proprietress. Only after the latter nodded did she carefully examine the newspaper.

On July 5th, a serious criminal case occurred in our city. A bus traveling to Shenzhen was involved in an accident at 6:30 AM on the national highway leading to Lingmeng County...

The woman's pupils contracted, and she shook her head warily, saying, "I don't know her."

Yang Jinwen continued, "Besides you, what other women work at this guesthouse?"

"what?"

The woman swallowed hard: "No, I just came to check into the hotel, officer. I didn't do anything."

The woman was almost in tears. The proprietress retorted to Zheng Kang, "No, you can't use us ordinary people as scapegoats just because you can't find the person. We're just trying to make a living, we haven't done anything else!"

She picked up a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes from the counter, softened her tone, and stuffed them into Zheng Kang's arms: "Could you do me a favor?"

After she finished speaking, she instructed the woman, "Lili, go outside and buy three cartons of cigarettes. Buy good cigarettes, don't be stingy with the money."

"Sister Zhang, I'll go right away."

Zheng Kang snatched the Zhonghua cigarettes from the proprietress's hand and threw them on the counter.

"I told you, don't try that on me. We don't care about anything else, we're only here to investigate these two people."

The proprietress noticed his serious and methodical demeanor, which made him seem difficult to persuade, but then she heard him say he wouldn't pursue the matter further.

She immediately smiled ingratiatingly and said, "Yes, yes, we will definitely cooperate with the investigation."

Lili has had a tough life. Her parents were laid off, and she has a younger brother who is still in school. In this day and age, everyone is just trying to make a living, and it's not easy for anyone. I hope the police officers can understand.

"Give me half an hour, and I'll go ask around for you."

Zheng Kang nodded: "You know the nature of this case, so don't try anything funny. If anything goes wrong, we'll all be in deep trouble."

"I see."

The proprietress came out from behind the counter, took the newspaper from Yang Jinwen's hand, and led a woman named 'Lili' out through the back door.

Jiang Jianbing took out a cigarette and handed one to Zheng Kang. The two lit each other's cigarettes and smoked.

Ten minutes later, the proprietress walked in through the back door, dragging along a girl who had just woken up.

She said, "Officer, please give me another guarantee. You said you wouldn't pursue the matter against us, right?"

Zheng Kang glanced at the girl's age and, seeing that she was already an adult, nodded: "Your affairs are none of our business."

"That's enough."

The proprietress pulled the girl over and continued, "On the night of July 3rd, one of the two men called Nana upstairs after his companion went out. If you have any questions, you can ask Nana."

Zheng Kang took a few steps closer and asked in a serious tone, "Your name is Nana?"

The girl didn't answer, hiding fearfully behind the proprietress.

Yang Jinwen was holding a notebook and taking notes with a pen. He reassured you in a calm tone, "Don't be afraid, we just want to ask you a few questions, okay?"

The girl looked up at him and nodded slightly.

Yang Jinwen asked, "Did you see those two men in the newspaper on the night of July 3rd?"

"Yes," the girl answered timidly.

"Which one specifically?" Yang Jinwen took out two sketches from his notebook and showed them to her.

The girl pointed to the man with a buzz cut: "This is the one."

"How long did you stay in his room?" "A little over an hour."

Did he say his name?

The girl shook her head: "He didn't say."

Is his accent local?

"The way they speak is a bit different from what we say here."

Yang Jinwen nodded. The three districts and six counties of An'nan City all have their own accents, and even after crossing a mountain, they are all different.

"Did he say anything to you? For example, did he mention his hometown, his workplace, or anything else?"

The girl shook her head: "He didn't say."

At this point, Yang Jinwen was somewhat discouraged. He looked at Zheng Kang, who asked several more questions, but still got nowhere.

Aside from details about the two criminals' appearances, heights, and the guesthouse they stayed at using an ID card belonging to someone named 'Wang Xi,' nothing else was found.

The two men used the Liang brothers' ID cards to register and board the bus at the bus station, which showed they were very thorough and had a certain level of counter-surveillance ability.

The identity of 'Wang Xi' is definitely fake, but we still have to investigate it.

Immediately afterwards, Zheng Kang and the other two went to room 203 on the second floor of the guesthouse.

This room faces the road, and if you open the curtains, you can see the Workers' Cultural Center and the bus stop outside the center.

According to the confessions of the Liang brothers, they committed the theft on the afternoon of July 1st on bus route 7, and got off at the Workers' Cultural Center after successfully stealing the item.

Later, in the alley near the cultural center, they were robbed of their stolen wallets and their own ID cards.

Moreover, the two men who threatened them with guns were not the two thugs on the bus, but those staying at the guesthouse.

Jiang Jianbing looked out the window at the main road: "So, before the incident, these two people in the sketch had scouted the area? And then notified their accomplices to attack Liang Xiaojun and Liang Xiaobing?"

Yang Jinwen pondered for a moment and said, "If they didn't know the Liang brothers and were also outsiders, how did they figure out that the two brothers were pickpockets?"

Zheng Kang squinted and replied, "Unless they are also in this line of work, or they have no connection with Liang Xiaojun and his brother, but are involved with Tian Xiong, the leader of the pickpocket gang."

This group used the Liang brothers' ID cards, probably to frame Tian Xiong.

Jiang Jianbing said with a wry smile, "Tian Xiong was riddled with holes by Liao Guohua and is beyond dead."

We need to confirm first whether the crime was committed by criminals from our city; otherwise, the Wen branch will not be able to carry out its work in Dayan City.

We haven't found any leads here. We hope Captain He and his team can find something out at the bus station.

Zheng Kang said, "Let's check the surrounding area again. These two people are definitely going out."

"Row."

The three of them went downstairs and saw that only the proprietress was behind the counter. The girl named Nana from earlier had already been sent away by her.

"Officer, are you not going to investigate anymore?"

Zheng Kang took out a pen, wrote down He Jinbo's phone number in his notebook, tore off a piece of paper, and handed it to her: "This is our team's phone number. If you remember anything, just call us anytime."

"Okay." The proprietress smiled.

"Let's go." Zheng Kang called out, then advised with a serious expression, "Don't force good women into prostitution. If there's a chance, help them get back on the right path. Don't let them ruin themselves."

Upon hearing this, the proprietress paused slightly in surprise.

Just as they were about to walk out the door, the proprietress called out from behind them, "Wait a minute, we know what that man's name is."

(End of this chapter)