Police officer Chen Shu.

Zhongshan Police Station, observation room.

With the departure of the Major Crimes Unit and Chen Shu, the observation room, which was originally crowded with police officers, was now only occupied by Zeng Hong and Ren Da.

Zeng Hong raised his chin, gesturing for Ren Da to sit down and speak: "Old Ren, what's wrong? Is your Criminal Investigation Division so short-staffed that you have to drag people from our police station to do crime scene investigations for you?"

After Ren Da sat down, he said with a smile, "He has the makings of a criminal police officer."

Zeng Hong curled his lip, looking disdainful: "Fine, the person's still with me, and you're already trying to get on my good side?"

"Please, do me a favor. Consider it a favor I owe you." Ren Da raised his forearm with his palm facing up, as if raising his arm.

Zeng Hong refused with a smile: "Your favor is worthless."

He outwardly refused, but he knew the truth in his heart. Chen Shu had worked diligently and conscientiously in the station for several years, handling many cases. However, police officers without criminal investigation experience or major case solving skills rarely receive rapid promotions.

Moreover, once you reach a certain level, if you don't have criminal investigation experience or any major cases to handle, you'll be considered relatively incompetent, which will be detrimental to your future advancement.

Zeng Hong thought for a moment and added, "If there's no room on your end, Chen Shu won't go."

The "position" Zeng Hong was referring to was actually a leadership position. He hoped that Chen Shu could be promoted one level and then take up a post at the Criminal Investigation Department.

As a deputy section-level cadre in the Criminal Investigation Department, Ren Da actually has neither the power nor the qualification to arbitrarily promote or transfer police officers. However, as the head of the unit, if he were interested, he could still do a great deal of favor in the future.

Therefore, Zeng Hong's use of "position" to make it clear actually had a bit of a probing meaning in it.

Ren Da frowned: "Bringing in a mid-level manager who has never handled a major case will definitely cause resentment among the subordinates. I suggest they come work in our brigade for a while first, achieve some results, and then everything will fall into place naturally. True gold fears no fire!"

"Come on, Lao Ren, I'm an old man, what haven't I seen? You're still trying to make empty promises to me." Zeng Honggang said, then suddenly remembered the scene when Ren Da arranged for Chen Shu to go to the site to investigate.

"Old Ren, you just sent Chen Shu to investigate the scene. Did you intend to transfer him to this task force and then take the opportunity to..."

Ren Da smiled mysteriously. His smile contained appreciation, but even more so, satisfaction.

......

"Fatty, change into casual clothes first."

After getting into the black Santana 2000, the vehicle provided by the police station for the crime brigades, the two men immediately changed out of their police uniforms and stuffed them under the car seats.

"Is this a big case?" Chen Shu, who had changed into civilian clothes, sat in the passenger seat, feeling a little dazed, his mind filled with Ren Da's instructions before he left.

Logically speaking, no matter how serious the kidnapping case was, it shouldn't have made the head of the Criminal Investigation Division come to the police station.

There's probably more to this case than meets the eye; the criminal investigation team may have already connected the cases within those few short hours.

As usual, Zhu Chaoran sat steadily in the driver's seat with his chubby body, left hand on the steering wheel and right hand shifting gears. In no time, the car sped up on the highway, heading straight for Chen Shu's tentative location of the crime—Tianjia Garden on Binhe Road.

If the veteran detective Ren Da, who has weathered many storms and fought his way through countless battles, personally gave instructions, this case must be anything but simple.

Is the suspect a vicious and hardened criminal with a long criminal record? Is the ransom as high as ten million? Are the criminals likely involved in multiple crimes, operating across different regions? We know nothing about the suspects—who they are, how many there are, whether they are men or women—and the only witness's statement is still waiting at the police station…

Too much information and questions flooded into Chen Shu's mind all at once.

Regardless, we must first determine the location and time of the incident!

Otherwise, we wouldn't even know where to begin with preliminary investigations.

He suppressed the big questions that were popping up in his mind, forced himself to concentrate, and then took out his pen and paper and began to carefully analyze the on-site report record and Zhao Hu's interrogation record, planning to carry out the next step of the investigation.

------

Zhao Hu's first interrogation record (partial):

Last night I was out having dinner and drinks with friends when my wife, Liu Yan, called me at 5:50 PM to ask if I was coming home for dinner. I told her I was drinking with friends and wouldn't be home. Then she told me she was going out for a walk later.

After I hung up the phone, I continued drinking with my friends.

From the time I hung up the phone until I got home around 2 a.m., I had no contact with Liu Yan.

When I got home, I was wondering why Liu Yan hadn't come home yet, so late. I called her but her phone was off, so I assumed she was sleeping in the guest room because she didn't want me to disturb her sleep. This had happened before.

Perhaps because I had drunk too much, my head was spinning and I was really sleepy, so I didn't investigate further.

Later, I went back to my bedroom, lay down on the bed, and fell asleep immediately.

I was woken up by a phone call from an unknown number around 10 a.m. the next morning. When I answered the phone, I was still groggy and didn't react immediately.

The caller was from an unknown number. Judging from the voice, it was a man. He spoke in a deep voice, and his Mandarin wasn't particularly standard, but he spoke very clearly and logically, and seemed very calm.

At first, I was still asleep and not fully awake, but after we talked for a while, I could tell from the man's accent that he was probably not a local.

After confirming my identity as Liu Yan's husband over the phone, he told me that my wife Liu Yan had been kidnapped and that I needed to prepare 10 million yuan in old RMB within two days to ransom her. He said he would contact me in two days.

Then they told me not to call the police, saying they were professional kidnappers, and they emphasized this twice at the end of the call. I remember this quite clearly. They hung up immediately after speaking, without giving me a chance to reply. When I called back, their phone was switched off.

------

The interrogation transcript came to an abrupt end.

Chen Shu tapped the documents in his hand with his pen, thinking to himself: It's also possible that Liu Yan was kidnapped when she left home this morning.

In any case, we must first determine the location and time of the incident; otherwise, the scope is too large, and it will be impossible to conduct an investigation.

The car came to a sudden stop.

"Brother Shu, we've arrived."

Chen Shu looked up at the white Lamborghini sports car parked quietly by the roadside, reflecting the sunlight.