Chapter 795: A Million Times for You (157)Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
“Chief has briefly explained the situation to me while on our way here. Now, I’ll need the details of this case. Firstly, I want to know if all six drivers who caused the accidents are affiliated with each other and if there are similarities they share,” said An Xiaoning.
Team Leader Zhang answered, “The average frequency of an accident is once every three days and it always happens at night. However, the timing is not consistent and usually happens within the time frame of between 1800hrs to 2200hrs. All six drivers are male and unmarried, and all of their cars cost more than 300 thousand dollars. The six of them don’t know each other, and the main reasons for the explosions are due to the fact that they were carrying explosives in the car and that the collisions were vigorous. These are the similarities.”
“They’re all unmarried? Do they have girlfriends, then?” An Xiaoning asked.
“Some do and some don’t.”
An Xiaoning knocked her fingers against the table gently and said, “If an accident occurs once every three days since the evening of the four-vehicle collision, that means the next one will be happening tomorrow night.”
Everyone could not help but feel tense and anxious, for they were well aware of that fact.
“Chief, the higher authorities have ordered us to prohibit all vehicles in the city from traveling on the roads for one week, with the exception of police cars and Team Leader An’s car,” said a police officer.
“Really? That’s great,” said Pan Zhenghui, who knew that the rule was pa.s.sed all because of the call An Xiaoning had made to the higher-ups along the way to the police station.
“This week is extremely important and we must stand together to investigate this matter. About the explosives Team Leader Zhang had mentioned, has that been verified yet?” An Xiaoning asked.
“Yes, we discovered that all the drivers of the cars that went out of control have been in contact with illegal firearms traffickers whom the nation has been actively banis.h.i.+ng. The explosives were purchased from those dealers at a high price. After checking all six of their chat and call histories online, we discovered that they really don’t know each other.”
“Seems like the spirit is not from ancient times since she knows how to contact illegal firearm dealers. During the four-vehicle collision that took place two weeks ago, I witnessed with my own eyes a woman dressed in green walking out of the driver’s seat of the black car, who then disappeared within seconds. I couldn’t tell if she was just wearing an ancient costume or if she had really come from that era. Ding Liang, find me more photos of ancient costumes. I’ll verify it,” said An Xiaoning.
“Yes!” Ding Liang answered.
“Team Leader An, you mean the culprit of these accidents… is really a supernatural being?”
“Yes, I’m certain about that.”
Team Leader Zhang smacked his thigh in a moment of epiphany and said, “I was just wondering why we couldn’t nab the culprit given our brilliant brains and wit. Turns out it’s completely beyond our abilities.”
Needless to say, what he meant was that their competence was not to be blamed for the lack of progress.
An Xiaoning ignored him and said, “Seems like the spirit had already chosen her targets way beforehand. Once we restrict the usage of vehicles, I’m predicting two possible outcomes. One would be that the spirit would remain unaffected since there would be more pedestrians on the streets, giving the spirit an opportunity to cause more havoc and casualties by driving out onto the roads. The other possibility would be that the spirit decides to abort her plan and tweak it. If you were the spirit, what would you guys do?”
“The former, obviously. She’s not human anyway, she wouldn’t be afraid of getting caught. Her target is to kill, isn’t it?” said Team Leader Zhang.
“I disagree. Perhaps she prefers to enjoy the thrill of cars colliding, resulting in explosions. Besides, isn’t this the common point of all six accidents?” said Ma Jianguo.
“What Ma Jianguo said is more likely to happen. However, we can’t rule out the first possibility since we have no idea what the spirit’s motive and intentions are.” After pondering for a while, An Xiaoning continued, “We can’t afford any delay. What we have to do now is to find her, though it’ll be harder since she can see us but we can’t see her.”
Ding Liang placed the laptop in front of her and said, “Team Leader, look. These are actual ancient clothing while these are just costumes. There’s a difference between the two.”
“Got it.” She turned to look at her subordinates and said, “Follow me to the simulator room.”
Once the simulation sketch was out, they proceeded to search for a similar-looking face in the database, though they did not manage to find anything in the end. An Xiaoning deduced, “It’s normal for one’s account to be erased from the database after their death. Make a few copies of the portrait right now and follow me to visit all the theater academies, play troupes, and performing arts centers in the city. Bring more men along and investigate carefully.”
Everyone immediately did as instructed, leaving An Xiaoning and Pan Zhenghui alone in the office.
An Xiaoning began scribbling on the map and made six annotations on the locations of where the accidents had taken place before taking a closer look to see if there are roads.
Seemingly having discovered something all of a sudden, An Xiaoning said, “Chief.”
“Huh?”
“Do you think the location points would link together to make a word? If that’s the case, we can try and deduce where the next accident would happen. After much thought, I can only think of one word,” said An Xiaoning, pointing at a line she had traced through the point of accidents.
“What is it?” Pan Zhenghui asked.
An Xiaoning pointed her pen at the other roads and said, “Doesn’t it join together to form ‘Si’ 1?”
Pan Zhenghui was flabbergasted to see that she was right. “Does that mean we can deduce the next possible location?” he asked in shock.
“Yes.” An Xiaoning a.n.a.lyzed the roads carefully and pointed at a spot before saying, “The largest possibility would be this street, according to my conjecture. Regardless of where it may be, it’s always better to prepare beforehand.”
“That’s right, this evil spirit has caused the loss of many innocent lives. We mustn’t let her continue harming others!”
“Chief, send some people to standby along that street and monitor the surveillance cameras’ footage. We’ll wait for the results.”
“Alright, we’ll do as you say.”
―
In the darkness of the night, Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ entered Tuoba Gucheng’s office, only to find that he was not around.
She sat on the chair and casually caught sight of a safe.
She had always been curious about what was inside that safe.
In fact, it had already caught her attention ever since he became the president.
He would vaguely tell her that it contained confidential doc.u.ments every single time she asked about it.
However, she once saw him placing a camera inside the safe.
That was what had piqued her curiosity.
A camera can’t be that precious, can it?
What photos were stored in that camera? she wondered.
Yet, there was no way she could unlock the safe since it was secured with a biometric lock and three different pa.s.scodes.
Tuoba Gucheng entered to see that she was staring at the safe.
“Why aren’t you asleep yet?”
“I can’t sleep well without you by my side. Hubby, don’t sleep in the study tonight, alright?” Lin s.h.i.+s.h.i.+ asked while standing up slowly.