Black Silk Female Police Detective Exorcist

"In short, we shouldn't alert them yet... By the way, I asked you to investigate the people around Wei Bin who fit the criteria, have you got any results?"

Chapter 22 The New Suspect

"This... should be considered a result."

Xiao Liu hesitated for a moment before saying:

"As you know, Sister Yu, the high school next to the commercial street in the ancient city—that is, Baiguang City No. 16 Middle School—is not a key high school, and its college entrance rate has always been abysmal. Every year, not many of the candidates can even pass the undergraduate admission line, let alone get into a key university."

"And the financial services company where Wei Bin works, regardless of its performance, has really high requirements for the education of its employees. Almost all of them are graduates of key universities or have postgraduate degrees. Even the receptionist who answers the phone has a master's degree in philosophy."

“In our first two rounds of screening, we didn’t find anyone who met the requirements. The people in the human resources department of that financial company even made sarcastic remarks, basically saying that their company would never hire someone who graduated from a low-quality high school.”

"In the end, I couldn't swallow my anger, so I forcibly took all the old files from their human resources department as a police officer. I also went to Baiguang No. 16 Middle School to get the list of graduates from previous years. Only after comparing them did I barely make a discovery."

What do you mean by "barely making a discovery"?

Qin Huanyu frowned, indicating her dissatisfaction:

"The criteria I gave you for the investigation should have been very clear, right? If it meets the criteria, it meets the criteria; if it doesn't, it doesn't! You know I'm a numbers person; I only want precise answers, and I hate ambiguous word games the most."

"That means it fits."

Seeing Qin Huanyu like this, Xiao Liu quickly explained:

“I did find someone who fit the criteria, but that person was fired from the company almost four years ago, so I don’t think he’s very suspicious.”

"Expelled?"

This word made Qin Huanyu raise an eyebrow:

"It's a dismissal? These days, companies rarely fire people. Even if they want you to leave, they'll just bully and ostracize you to force you to resign, because dismissal means paying compensation... That person must have some special circumstances, right?"

"As expected of Sister Yu, she thought of that right away!"

Xiao Liu offered a rather awkward compliment before continuing his reply:

"That person's name is Shui Haohua. He studied at No. 16 Middle School in Baiguang City for about a year and a half before transferring to a key high school in the neighboring city with military-style management. He achieved good results in the college entrance examination and returned to his hometown to work after graduating from a key university."

"It's a pity that Shui Haohua worked at Wei Bin's financial services company for less than two years before getting involved in an economic crime case and being sentenced to three years. He was just released recently."

"Just released?"

Qin Huanyu's eyes lit up immediately.

Because she clearly remembered that Tian Tian, ​​who was directly involved in framing Qian Mengyao, had also just been released from prison not long ago.

If Shui Haohua is indeed a direct participant in framing Wei Bin, then the biggest connection in this case has likely been found!

"I need detailed information on Shui Haohua, Wei Bin, and their company's human resources department! Quickly, send it to my office!"

Qin Huanyu immediately gave the order.

"Yes, Sister Yu."

A few minutes later.

Qin Huanyu sat in her office chair, her two long legs in black stockings crossed, her left foot dangling in the air, gently swaying her toes, while her right foot would occasionally lift halfway up and lightly touch the ground.

She was carefully reading the detailed investigation report that Xiao Liu had sent over.

From these reports, Qin Huanyu received one piece of good news and two pieces of bad news.

The good news was that her intuition was right: Shui Haohua and Tian Tian were serving time in the same prison, and their release dates were less than a month apart, which was highly suspicious.

The bad news is that it was only suspicious, and no further clues or evidence were found.

Although Shui Haohua and Tian Tian were serving time in the same prison, they had no contact with each other, at least not before their release.

The prison where they were serving their sentences was called Red Mountain Prison, one of the largest prisons in Saint Zhou. It was about a two-hour drive from White Light City, which was relatively convenient. Criminals from several nearby counties were basically sent there to serve their sentences.

Hongshan Prison is located in the suburbs far from the town. It has many factories and supporting facilities that can easily accommodate 10 prisoners to operate sewing machines and screw screws. The male and female prisons are separate.

Qin Huanyu had visited Hongshan Prison before and knew that the management there was very strict. Male and female prisoners had no chance to communicate. In particular, Tian Tian was a minor when she was imprisoned, so the supervision and protection she received would only be more stringent.

So even if Tian Tian and Shui Haohua are accomplices, they wouldn't have gotten together in prison.

It would be even more impossible before he went to prison, as Tian Tian was just a junior high school student before Shui Haohua went to prison.

Then there are only two possibilities... Tian Tian and Shui Haohua either met during this period after their release from prison, or there is some kind of connection that brought them together.

The other bad news is that Shui Haohua is different from Tian Tian. Tian Tian and Qian Mengyao sat at the same desk for a year back then. It's normal for them to have conflicts, since one was an excellent student and the other was a poor student.

But Shui Haohua and Wei Bin have no conflict, at least not on the surface. Xiao Liu has already questioned several long-time employees of that financial services company, and they are all certain that the two do not have any major conflict.

Qin Huanyu also considered other possibilities, such as whether Shui Haohua might have been wrongly accused... After all, the real money-making business of that financial services company was helping politicians launder money, so it was normal for them to push a newcomer who had just joined the company to take the blame after something happened.

Qin Huanyu even went so far as to request the case files from the Economics Department to review, only to discover that she had been overthinking things.

Shui Haohua's imprisonment is no one's fault but his own. He was greedy and wanted to use the company's resources to make extra money for himself. As a result, his skills were lacking and he messed up, which was discovered by the company, and that's why he went to jail.

The entire case had nothing to do with Wei Bin, and Qin Huanyu couldn't believe that Shui Haohua would resent Wei Bin and have a motive for retaliating against him.

'This is troublesome.'

Qin Huanyu nudged the desk with her knee in frustration and sighed.

'But we still need to investigate, even if it's troublesome, since this is currently the most valuable lead.'

Thinking this, Qin Huanyu tossed the documents in her hand onto the desk, stood up, and casually picked up the motorcycle keys from the desk:

"Xiao Liu, you two split into two groups. One group goes to the telecommunications company to check if Tian Tian and Shui Haohua have any contact records after their release from prison. Check their phone numbers and all kinds of social media, and it would be best to check their friends in games as well."

"The other group investigated whether they had visited any of the same places after their release from prison based on their mobile phone payment records."

"Yes, Sister Yu!"

Xiao Liu immediately accepted the order, then, seeing that Qin Huanyu was also preparing to leave the office, he asked with some curiosity:

"So, Sister Yu, where are you planning to investigate?"

"I plan to go to Hongshan Prison in person."

Chapter 23 Red Mountain Prison

hum!hum!

Amidst the roar of the Kawasaki HR2 luxury motorcycle engine, a beautiful policewoman dressed in hot pants, black stockings, and long boots sped along the highway, weaving through traffic at speeds exceeding 160 kilometers per hour, attracting many eyes. Some even took out their phones to secretly take pictures through the car window.

Qin Huanyu didn't care at all.

If anyone who secretly photographs her with their phone were to go to jail and work as a sewing machine, Hongshan Prison would probably be overflowing long ago.

Qin Huanyu was already used to being stared at by strangers and could recognize these gazes as compliments on her looks, which made her feel even better.

Qin Huanyu was now even less concerned about those who were spying on her and taking pictures of her. With her mind focused on driving, all she could think about was investigating the case.

Hongshan Prison is a large prison built by the Holy Zhou Kingdom with a great deal of resources. It has very complete facilities and management systems, and even contingency plans and measures for supernatural powers.

After all, most people who end up in prison, unless they have been wrongly convicted, are people with evil intentions.

If these people with evil intentions gather together and are not managed properly, leading to internal bullying or even injuries and deaths, there is a high probability that they will accumulate resentment and trigger extraordinary supernatural phenomena.

To prevent this from happening, all prisons in the Holy Zhou Kingdom now operate under stricter military management than the military, and special measures are in place to quickly suppress any supernatural events that do occur.

The same applies to Hongshan Prison. Moreover, some of the measures taken by Hongshan Prison to prevent paranormal events originated from the research institute, which gave Qin Huanyu a lot of confidence in Hongshan Prison.

Qin Huanyu did not believe that the extraordinary power given to Yu Tiantian and Shui Haohua behind the scenes, which enabled them to frame Qian Mengyao and Wei Bin, was in Hongshan Prison.

But it's better to be safe than sorry. The biggest similarity between Tian Tian and Shui Haohua is that they both served time in Hongshan Prison. We should conduct another check-up to be completely at ease.

In addition, Qin Huanyu had a vague intuition that the person who framed Fu Wenguang was likely also connected to Hongshan Prison.

She needed to personally check whether the special equipment in Hongshan Prison was functioning properly, and to thoroughly investigate those who had recently been released from prison to see if any of them were suspects who had secretly framed Fu Wenguang.

These matters can no longer be investigated by Xiao Liu and his team.

Xiao Liu and his colleagues were merely assisting Qin Huanyu in the investigation; they were essentially just ordinary police officers from the Baiguang City Police Department. Investigating normal interpersonal relationships and social records was no problem for them, but they lacked the authority to handle actions involving supernatural powers.

Only Qin Huanyu herself could come.

Although Qin Huanyu has not yet officially joined the special department in the Holy Zhou Kingdom that is responsible for cases involving extraordinary powers, she is already a member who is about to enter the assessment process. She is also the project leader designated by higher authorities, and her temporary authority is very high, even higher than that of the police chief.

Indeed, after arriving at Hongshan Prison and identifying herself, Qin Huanyu received a very respectful reception.

The deputy warden of Hongshan Prison, who is in charge of operations, will personally accompany her to inspect the prison's special facilities for preventing supernatural forces. The list of recently released prisoners that she needs will also be produced quickly.

The deputy warden was a bald man with a thick beard, and he was also a big, burly man who looked more like a criminal boss than a prison guard.

However, he was not frivolous at all; he was serious, earnest, and rarely smiled. He was a rare healthy adult male who was completely unmoved by Qin Huanyu's beauty.

This even made Qin Huanyu wonder if the deputy warden was gay.

Led by the deputy warden, who appeared to be gay, Qin Huanyu quickly witnessed the first measure Hongshan Prison had taken to deal with supernatural forces.

This is a bathhouse built near the prison entrance, divided into men's and women's sections.

Every new prisoner entering the prison needs to wash their body clean here and have their hair almost shaved off.

The bathhouse itself was ordinary; what was extraordinary was the bathwater, which contained a reagent developed by the research institute.

If someone possesses extraordinary powers, washing their body with this bathwater will cause their sweat and grime to react with the water, producing a unique glowing phenomenon that reveals their identity.

Criminals with extraordinary powers certainly cannot be locked up with ordinary criminals. Once someone exposes their identity in the bathhouse, the prepared armed personnel will take coercive measures.

If they cooperate well, they won't suffer any physical pain, but will be transferred to a smaller prison specifically for detaining superhuman criminals.

If you don't cooperate, you'll most likely be shot dead on the spot. If all else fails, you can detonate the bombs located under each of the individual shower stalls.

Most people with supernatural powers, despite their bizarre abilities, are still made of flesh and blood. Even if they are not afraid of a barrage of automatic rifle fire, they will still die instantly if hit directly by a bomb from below.

According to the deputy warden's recollections and the records of Hongshan Prison itself, since the prison was built, a total of 6 individuals with supernatural powers have attempted to infiltrate and cause trouble. All of them were discovered, 5 of whom resisted and were killed on the spot, while only 1 person obediently cooperated and accepted the transfer.

The deputy warden was quite confident in this measure, believing that it was impossible for any criminals with superhuman strength to be lurking in Red Hill Prison.

Qin Huanyu also agreed with the deputy warden's judgment. After all, the reagent that could detect spiritual residue was produced by the research institute, and she had a lot of trust in her own products.

So they went on to check the second set of measures in Red Hill Prison to prevent supernatural forces.

This measure is both conspicuous and inconspicuous; it consists of white streetlights that can be seen almost everywhere throughout the Red Hill Prison.

Compared to ordinary streetlights in ordinary towns, these streetlights are noticeably thicker, with larger top lights that emit a pale blue glow when turned on.

Streetlights are also one of the research institute's achievements, and they are likely to be the second achievement after meat and cabbage that will be widely used by the public. However, their stability and safety are not yet up to standard, so they can only be tested in prisons.

In addition to their lighting function, these streetlights also store a large amount of electricity in their thicker poles.

Once the concentration of spiritual energy in the area where the streetlight is located exceeds a certain standard, the electricity stored in the streetlight pole will burst out instantly, mimicking a lightning strike in nature, and shatter the accumulated spiritual energy.

Despite very strict management measures in prisons, fights and bullying among inmates are difficult to completely eliminate.

The devil is always one step ahead of the saint. Those people have plenty of ways to exploit loopholes, and eventually some criminals will be bullied, leading to the accumulation of resentment and spiritual energy.

Once this spiritual energy accumulates to a certain level, it can easily trigger paranormal phenomena. Since the root cause of the resentment cannot be completely eliminated at present, we need to find a way to disperse the resentment that has just accumulated. This is the original design concept of the magnetic storm street light.

Chapter 24: All the clues match up!

Using lightning to slay demons and monsters is a common trope in many folk tales, stories, and dramas.

No matter how powerful, terrifying, or bizarre something may be, it will be reduced to ashes by heavenly lightning.

While there are elements of artistic exaggeration involved, it's not entirely without reason.

Based on the experience recorded in ancient books and the research conducted by the institute over many years, electricity can indeed effectively kill most bizarre creatures.

It doesn't have to be natural lightning; artificially generated electricity works too.

To be precise, what truly kills the bizarre is not simply electricity, but the electromagnetic phenomena that always accompany electricity.

The specific scientific principles behind this are not yet fully understood by humankind, but in most cases, the gathered spiritual elements are subject to a dispersing effect when electromagnetic phenomena occur.

Just like the repulsion of like poles in magnetism, when the electromagnetic phenomenon is strong enough, it is enough to completely disperse the spiritual element clusters that have not yet gathered to a sufficient strength.

The institute's ultimate goal in developing the magnetic storm streetlights is to install these streetlights along the streets of every town, so that bizarre and other supernatural disasters can no longer threaten human settlements.

Unfortunately, streetlights that store large amounts of electrical energy are inherently very dangerous and can easily cause fires due to various accidents.

Before the technology is further optimized and improved, it is impossible to promote the use of magnetic storm streetlights, but it is still possible to try them out in prisons.

It has been proven that as long as strict military-style management is implemented to eliminate fire hazards, the shortcomings of magnetic storm streetlights are not unacceptable.

At least in the years since Hongshan Prison was built, there has not been a single fire caused by a street light during a magnetic storm.

However, it is impossible to get ordinary people to accept military-style management, so the successful trial at Hongshan Prison cannot be used as a basis for promotion, and the technology still needs to be optimized and improved.

Qin Huanyu was very patient. She even stayed overnight at the reception area of ​​Hongshan Prison and carefully inspected all of the thousands of magnetic storm streetlights in the entire prison.