Chapter 600: Chapter 600 News about Lü Zong_1
Li Qing made use of his connections with the Secret Agency, but failed to turn up any leads.
According to Hong Fang Zhenren, there hadn’t been any other cultivators active in the Tongcheng region recently.
Although this news couldn’t be considered good, it did indirectly corroborate a possibility.
The ones who had abducted Lü Zong were not cultivators active in the public eye.
In other words, these people were either always skirting the edge of the law, engaging in illicit activities, or they were cultivators not recorded in any register.
Li Qing then had Gong Ge personally make a trip to his house to fetch the computer provided by the Secret Agency.
Gong Ge’s description of the appearance of those few individuals was so vague, Li Qing found it very hard to pinpoint what someone with big eyes, thick eyebrows, and a large nose would look like. He decided to directly pull up the Secret Agency’s criminal database and let Gong Ge look one by one to see if he could spot the person he described.
Though what he was doing was certainly against regulations, Li Qing had no choice, as Gong Ge’s descriptions of a person’s distinguishing features were simply too fantastical.
He would ramble on with a bunch of details and add all sorts of additional descriptions, but no one could guess what the person he was talking about actually looked like.
It wasn’t just Li Qing who couldn’t guess – the several key company figures who came with Gong Ge were also completely clueless.
And to make matters worse, because the perpetrator wore a kind of head covering, only Gong Ge managed to get a vague glimpse of their appearance.
The others were beaten up so badly they didn’t see anything at all.
"Qingzi, where did you get this data from? How come it’s recorded in such detail?" Gong Ge suddenly asked in astonishment after looking for a while.
"Don’t click on the details!" Li Qing hurriedly said, "Just look at the photos."
"I just thought this thing seemed... very official. Qingzi, how did you get a hold of it?" Gong Ge pressed.
Li Qing immediately put on a dark face, "If you ask any more questions, we’ll both end up eating prison meals, got it? Just look at the photos, and don’t randomly click anywhere else. If you do... it will cause trouble."
Gong Ge’s expression instantly turned serious, and he shrank his neck, saying, "Got it, got it, it’s from a special channel. You should have warned me earlier. I almost got into trouble because I couldn’t resist clicking."
"Hurry up and look," Li Qing said. "Remember, this has never happened, and you’ve never seen this before."
Gong Ge nodded repeatedly, "Understood, understood."
After nearly two hours, Gong Ge still hadn’t located the person he felt resembled the description.
On the other hand, the police station brought some good news.
After reviewing surveillance footage, they had mostly confirmed the route of the van, but pinning down the specific path would take some time.
After Gong Ge reported the crime, Li Qing suddenly remembered that he seemed to have some minor authority at his disposal to request assistance, so he directly called Wang Baichuan and asked him to take charge of the case personally.
Wang Baichuan gladly agreed.
Although he always held some prejudice against Lü Zong and Gong Ge, with a kidnapping case like this one, even if Li Qing hadn’t personally mentioned it, the case would necessarily be transferred to their serious crime squad, and he would have to take it on personally.
Shortly after the phone call, Wang Baichuan rushed to Lü Family Restaurant himself.
"Qingzi, we’ve found something."
Wang Baichuan, dressed in plain clothes, walked into Lü Zong’s office, didn’t even glance at the people around him, and directly whispered to Li Qing.
Gongge glared with his mismatched eyes, filled with shock.
He knew that Li Qing had sought help after he made the police call, but he never imagined Li Qing would turn to his old nemesis, Wang Baichuan.
That guy, he was on extremely familiar terms with Lü Zong.
Upon hearing this news, Li Qing suddenly stood up and exclaimed in surprise, "Where?"
"The van last turned into North Fifty Stores Village, I have already collected the available surveillance from the vicinity, and there has been no trace of it leaving," Wang Baichuan said gravely, "If nothing unexpected has occurred, they should still be in North Fifty Stores Village right now."
"Is there a possibility they switched vehicles?" Even as Li Qing was preparing to take action, he still asked redundantly.
Wang Baichuan shook his head, "That’s unlikely; I’ve considered this as well."
"Based on your descriptions, there must be at least six people, plus Lü Changxi, an ordinary car simply wouldn’t be enough. Also, the cars entering and leaving North Fifty Stores Village are quite rare, only thirteen vehicles have left since this morning, and that includes two tricycles. So, I am fairly certain they are still in North Fifty Stores Village, but as for the exact location, we need to do some more reconnaissance."
Li Qing nodded, but quickly raised his own doubts, "With a total of seven people, any car could fit them really, Lü Zong was taken by them, they definitely wouldn’t care whether Lü Zong was comfortable or not, they could have just stuffed him in the trunk."
"We can’t rule out that possibility, but no matter what we need to go to North Fifty Stores Village first for a look. I’ve already sent someone to keep watch; any vehicles entering or leaving North Fifty Stores Village are within our scope of scrutiny," Wang Baichuan said.
Li Qing nodded and said in a deep voice, "Then let’s not delay any longer, and hurry there."
"Alright!" Gongge immediately responded in a grave tone.
Wang Baichuan glanced at Gongge and then said to Li Qing, "I meant us, this case is now under my jurisdiction, they should stay here and wait for news. I’ve already dispatched someone to survey the scene."
"Then you do your thing, and we’ll do ours, without interfering with each other, I never asked for you to take the lead," Gongge murmured gruffly.
Wang Baichuan gave a grim smile, "If due to your rashness, Lü Changxi ends up with a torn ticket, will you take responsibility?"
Gongge got sternly choked up, hesitated for quite a while before muttering sullenly, "I can’t just sit around here doing nothing."
"Officer Wang, how about this, I will act independently with Gongge, guaranteeing not to affect your plans," Li Qing suggested upon seeing this, "I don’t really have a status to be joining your operations; it’s indeed inappropriate for me to be with you all."
He did have a status, even enough to directly mobilize Wang Baichuan’s assistance for himself.
But his status couldn’t be revealed outright, at least for the time being, he couldn’t let Gongge and the others know.
The thick stack of confidentiality rules from Division Nine wasn’t for nothing.
Wang Baichuan then realized the situation, nodded with some reluctance, "Then, be careful on your own. If you find any clues in North Fifty Stores Village, don’t act rashly, and remember to notify me immediately."
"Since they dared kidnap in broad daylight, they must be relying on something, probably even armed," he cautioned.
Li Qing nodded, "We will be cautious and careful."
"I’m leaving now, call me if anything comes up," Wang Baichuan said.
Gongge watched his retreating figure and scoffed softly, "Putting on airs, if it wasn’t for his quick tracing of Lü Zong’s whereabouts, I definitely wouldn’t have given him any face just now, I would have had to argue with him, looking down on people like that."
"Qingzi, how come you’re so familiar with this guy?"
Li Qing touched his nose and smiled, "I’ve had a few incidents before, and he was always the officer on call, so we became familiar after a few of those encounters. After talking more over time, we naturally got closer."
