Chapter 276: Compet.i.tors
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Just as Liang Huan was reporting everything Zhao Yu had told him to Miao Ying, he suddenly heard commotion on the other side of the phone, as if Miao Ying was being disturbed by someone.
“Oh? What’s wrong, Team Leader Miao? Why is it so loud over there?” Liang Huan asked curiously, “Where are you?”
Hearing Liang Huan ask, Zhao Yu was suddenly very curious too. He immediately gestured at Liang Huan. Lian Huan quickly realized his intention, and put the phone on speaker instead.
“No…nothing,” through the phone came Miao Ying’s agitated reply. The yelling on the other end of the phone could clearly be heard. The voice of other investigators like Zhang Yaohui and Peng Xin could be heard as well.
“I’m at the police station! How about you guys, any new developments?” Miao Ying responded through the commotion.
“h.e.l.lo, Team Leader Miao, are you alright? What’s wrong?” Zhao Yu rushed up and asked.
“Nothing, nothing, just a small situation within the police team.” It seemed like Miao Ying had found a quieter area. She asked, “Zhao Yu, Liang Huan, how about it? Any news?”
Hearing Miao Ying’s question, Zhao Yu could only report what they had discovered. Miao Ying took note of it immediately, and told the two of them to stay at the bank and continue to look for more information. They had to find the stolen goods buyers!
Originally, Zhao Yu wanted to ask her more, but Miao Ying was clearly agitated. She hung up as soon as she finished talking.
“Tsk, tsk.” Zhao Yu furrowed his brow. “What happened in the police station? There’s yelling too?”
“Team Leader Miao didn’t fight with someone, right? I think I heard Bureau Chief Luan’s voice!” Liang Huan said. “Zhao, if the situation is like this, then let’s keep investigating! Let’s get the surveillance footage, and see who recently touched these three boxes, how about it?”
“Mm!” Zhao Yu nodded, but he was still worried about what was happening on Miao Ying’s side.
“Right!” Liang Huan suddenly remembered the records he had just pulled up on his phone. He immediately turned on his phone again and pointed at a certain picture. “This is the record for these three shelves! Here, look! These three shelves were frequently opened! It was opened more than ten times within the last few months!”
“Of course!” Zhao Yu said. “Such a large underground business, obviously it’s popular!” He pointed at all the valuable items on the desk. “This business is super lucrative! Their sale price is usually more than ten times what they buy it for normally. At the peak of business, they even do underground auctions! The prices wouldn’t be lower than any official auction!”
“Woah, amazing!” Liang Bo sighed in amazement. “Zhao, I’ve been in the item collection business for quite a few years, but I’ve never heard of an underground auction before! You’re amazing, how do you know so much?”
“Of course,” Zhao Yu thought. “I’ve seen my fair share of illegal businesses. Except, every time I was usually the bodyguard to keep order in the area.”
“Oh, I think I realized something!” Liang Huan said. “The bank robbers most likely had some sort of grudge against the underground business! They robbed the bank to expose the illegal organization, so we could step in and take care of them!”
“Hehe…” Zhao Yu shook his head as he laughed. He patted Liang Huan on the shoulder. “Liang, how can you be so naïve as a Key Case Investigation Unit Member! How cute!”
“What? What do you mean? I’m wrong?”
“On the streets, this is called a compet.i.tor!” Zhao Yu explained. “Watch, it’s definitely another group of people who wanted to replace the current Qinshan organization, and take over this giant business for themselves! That’s why, they would run the risk of robbing a bank to destroy the previous organization. Then, they could build an even bigger black market!”
“Woah! These people are really merciless!” Liang Huan sighed. “If so, then…if we can find the black market organization’s compet.i.tor, then we would be able to solve the case?”
“Logically speaking, yes! But these people have worked in the business for many years, it won’t be easy to find them!” Zhao Yu spoke conservatively.
“Then what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” Liang Huan spoke excitedly. “The last time the box was opened was a week ago. We can definitely see who opened the box from the security camera!”
Zhao Yu nodded, then followed Liang Huan out of the dark vault.
Yet, just as they returned to the bank lobby, Zhao Yu’s phone rang. The call was from Li Beini. As soon as Zhao Yu picked up, Li Beini’s anxious voice came through the phone, “Senior, here’s your latest inside news, the station is in complete chaos!”
“What?” Even though Zhao Yu already felt wary from his phone call with Miao Ying, he never thought it would be this serious. He immediately asked, “What’s wrong Beini? Tell me!”
“The station’s in chaos for many different reasons! Listen, I’ll go over it slowly with you.” Li Beini paused for a few seconds before speaking, “First, Bureau Chief Tang Zhaolong submitted his resignation letter again. This time, he said he won’t come back no matter what! He said his power is limited, and that he can’t deal with such a difficult mission. He’d rather go back to Tongyang County!
“Apparently, the officials in the city originally didn’t let him quit, but Tang Zhaolong had already made up his mind. He won’t do it no matter what! I heard from above that everything in Rongyang Branch will be taken over by Bureau Chief Luan!”
“Isn’t this good news?” Zhao Yu laughed. “Bureau Chief Luan used to be an investigator. She has ample experience and expertise, so isn’t letting her take over a good thing?”
“Technically yes, but with such a large branch office, like ourselves, with our bureau chief position constantly vacant, it’s not good for people’s mentality! Everyone’s stressed out because of it!” Li Beini signed. “Oh, right! Let’s talk something else. This also can’t be counted as a bad thing, but it’s not good either! The officials have already tranfered Liu Changhu out of Rongyang Branch!”
“Oh? Liu Changhu left?” Zhao Yu thought to himself, “Now that Liu Changhu left, then…is Miao Ying immediately going to be promoted? Maybe I’ll end up as team leader.”
“Not transferred, he’s promoted!” Li Beini said, “Liu Changhu was transferred to the city level Economic Investigation Team as the team leader!”
“That’s amazing!” Zhao Yu exclaimed. “The Economic Investigation Department is quite a good department. From now on, he’ll have quite the support behind him! But regardless of his position, he’s still an economy investigator, nothing to do with us criminal investigators!”
“That’s the idea, but he’s still in a high position. Hopefully he won’t mind you too much…”
“Why would he mind me?” Zhao Yu reminded her, “I didn’t crack his head open. You better tell team leader Miao to be careful!”
“Oh, right, speaking of Miao Ying, there’s still a big problem I didn’t tell you!” Li Beini immediately said, “This morning, a bunch of people came from the city. These people were led by the vice captain of the City Criminal Investigation Team. They said they were here to help us investigate the Bank Hidden Corpse Case!”
“Oh?” Zhao Yu was alerted.
“These people were quite arrogant,” Li Beini said. “When they came, they immediately asked Team Leader Miao Ying to vacate the Team B office for them, and even share all the case resources. Think about it, how could we just take that? That’s why there was some conflict!”
Oh… Zhao Yu finally understood why it had been loud when talking to Miao Ying.
“But, these people came with orders from Bureau Chief Hong from the city office,” Li Beini said. “Even Bureau Chief Luan can’t stop them! Sigh! Who knew that these people were sent over because the officials felt like our progress was too slow? This is to put pressure on us!
“Senior, if we can solve the case, then that’s great!” Li Beini was very worried. “But if those people solve the case instead, then Rongyang Key Case Investigation Unit will suffer great humiliation!”