186: Chapter 186 Visiting Lin Wan

Under the shroud of night in Heishi Town, Zhu Wenhao's backup plans were unfolding in an orderly manner.

In Jingjiang City, a silent war without gunsmoke was also being waged.

The secret office of the Criminal Investigation Corps of the Provincial Public Security Department.

Deputy Chief of the Criminal Investigation Corps, Deputy Captain Zhang Lin, sat in front of the main control computer, his hands tapping rapidly on the keyboard.

Ever since Captain Xiao Zhan escorted Lei Dong and Wang Xiaoqian to Safe House No. 0 and cracked open a breakthrough, the orders had been handed down to Deputy Captain Zhang Lin.

Investigate Lin Wan.

Investigate the old case from a year ago that had been forcibly swept under the rug.

As the search progress bar on the internal public security information platform reached the end, a prompt popped up in the center of the screen: No matching records found.

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin interlaced his fingers, propped his chin, and stared at the line of words for a long while.

There was no such person in the system.

There were no call logs, no case filing receipts, and not even the most basic police response log existed.

This was the handiwork of Secretary Lei Zhen, who had been deeply entrenched in the political and legal system of Jiangnan Province for many years.

There wasn't even an electronic file on the integrated police platform; the paper files had either been destroyed or locked away in a shady, confidential cabinet.

No wonder during the previous investigation into Lei Zhenzi's social background, his record was cleaner than a blank sheet of paper.

“Boss, we can't find anything in the system,” whispered the female police officer beside him, Officer Chen Qian.

“That's normal.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin stood up and threw on his plainclothes jacket that was hanging on the back of his chair.

“Even if they wiped her clean online, a living person in reality can't just vanish into thin air, can they? Let's go to the Jingjiang University archives. We'll pull her original student records from back then.”

Half an hour later, two unmarked ordinary sedans drove into the Jingjiang University campus, heading straight for the university archives.

After they submitted the paperwork, the staff member found Lin Wan's information on the computer, printed it out, handed it over, and asked in confusion, “Why are you police officers always focusing on this Lin Wan lately?”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin asked, “Hello, did someone from the Municipal Public Security Bureau also come to investigate her a while ago?”

“Just some time ago. It was also two people in plain clothes, and the name on the leader's police ID was Deputy Captain Liang Tao.”

Deputy Captain Liang Tao.

Hearing this name, Officer Chen Qian, who was standing beside Deputy Captain Zhang Lin, couldn't help but clench her fists.

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin didn't show a hint of emotion on his face. He took Lin Wan's files and walked out of the archives.

As the cold wind blew, Officer Chen Qian finally couldn't hold it in any longer.

“Deputy Captain Zhang, wasn't Deputy Captain Liang Tao caught red-handed by the Provincial Public Security Department's Inspectorate Corps and suspended pending investigation?”

Officer Chen Qian's tone was full of resentment.

“According to disciplinary regulations, he should be self-reflecting right now. How can he still swagger out with people to investigate cases?”

“He was bailed out.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin didn't stop, walking straight toward the parking space.

“The interior of the Jingjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau is impenetrable, like an iron fortress. When the Provincial Public Security Department's inspectorate notice was sent down, to them, it was nothing more than a slap on the wrist.”

This was the Jingjiang Municipal Public Security Bureau treating the Provincial Public Security Department's inspection order as waste paper, openly flaunting their power to the Provincial Public Security Department.

“Get in,” Deputy Captain Zhang Lin said, pulling open the driver's side door. “First, contact Lin Wan and her family.”

Officer Chen Qian sat in the passenger seat and dialed the numbers left in the file one by one.

“We're sorry, the number you have dialed is not in service.”

The mechanical female voice rang out twice in succession inside the car.

Both the landline and mobile numbers had been completely canceled and deactivated.

“Let's head to their home address,” Deputy Captain Zhang Lin said, shifting into gear.

Xingfu Community was a family residential compound allocated in the early years by the Jingjiang City Third Machine Tool Factory.

The exterior walls of the building were peeling and mottled, and the corridors were plastered with cheap advertisements for drain unclogging and locksmith services. Power lines tangled overhead like spiderwebs.

Unit 3, sixth floor.

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin led a few people up and knocked on the rusty security door of Room 601.

He knocked several times, but there was no response.

Officer Chen Qian turned to knock on the opposite door, Room 602.

It was equally silent.

Heavy footsteps coming upstairs echoed from below.

An elderly woman carrying a grocery basket was climbing up the stairs step by step, holding onto the rusty handrail.

Officer Chen Qian went down a few steps to meet her, proactively taking the heavy grocery basket from her hand.

“Auntie, I'd like to ask you something. Why is there no one answering the door at 601 on a weekend?”

The elderly woman, whose surname was Wang, instinctively sized Officer Chen Qian up, her eyes showing a hint of wariness.

“What are you looking for the Lin family for? Which unit are you from?”

Officer Chen Qian pulled out her ID from her pocket. “We're from the Provincial Public Security Department. We're here to ask Lin Wan about some matters.”

Hearing that they were police officers from the provincial level, Auntie Wang let down most of her guard. Instead, she let out a long sigh and lowered her voice.

“You've come too late. Old Lin's family doesn't live here anymore.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin walked down the stairs and stood aside to listen quietly.

“They provoked a living devil they shouldn't have,” Auntie Wang said, shaking her head. “The Lin family's girl was such a pretty young lady. What a tragedy, running into those beasts. Last year, the girl was abused. Old Lin took the child to report it to the police, but they said they wouldn't file a case.”

Auntie Wang pointed to the door of Room 601.

“Old Lin couldn't swallow this insult, so he took the child to the Municipal Public Security Bureau to appeal. On the way home, they were intercepted by two unlicensed vans. They were dragged to the wilderness, beaten half to death, and thrown by the roadside.”

“Since then, a gang of thuggish punks came to block their door every single day. How could they live like that?”

“The girl was traumatized and fell ill.” Auntie Wang pointed to her own head. “She hid in the room all day without speaking, drawing the curtains to block out the light. To pay for his daughter's treatment, Old Lin sold this apartment, took his wife and daughter, and moved away. They've never returned.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin felt as if a lump of wet cotton was stuffed in his chest.

“Auntie,” Deputy Captain Zhang Lin asked, “do you know where they moved to?”

Auntie Wang waved her hand. “How could anyone know? When Old Lin left, he didn't even dare to say goodbye, fearing he would implicate us old neighbors.”

At this point, the clue was physically cut off.

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin did not press further.

He gave Officer Chen Qian a look, and Officer Chen Qian slipped a sticky note with her mobile number into Auntie Wang's hand.

“Auntie, if you get even a tiny bit of news about the Lin family in the future, or if anyone else comes to ask about them, please call this number anytime.”

After parting with Auntie Wang, Deputy Captain Zhang Lin led his team downstairs.

Walking out of the building, the biting cold wind dispersed the musty smell in the corridor.

“Deputy Captain Zhang, if we can't find them, we can't push this case forward. The victim's statement and physical evidence are core to securing a conviction,” Officer Chen Qian said with a worried look.

“As long as a living person is still breathing, they must leave a trace.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin's tone was steady as he deployed the next direction of the investigation.

“Lin Wan needs treatment, and Old Lin needs to eat and buy medicine. As long as they are still in the country, they can't avoid using their ID cards, medical insurance cards, and bank accounts.”

“Notify the Technical Investigation Division of the Provincial Public Security Department to go directly through the provincial big data platform. Pull the bank card transaction records of the three members of the Lin family over the past two years, as well as Lin Wan's medical treatment history. Even if they swiped a card just once in a remote county town, find it for me.”

Deputy Captain Zhang Lin turned his head and glanced at the tightly closed window on the sixth floor.

“In addition, focus on Lin Wan's social relationships back then. Find her closest female friend. If we can't find the victim, we will find the accomplice who handed over the knife.”

Leaving a few officers to conduct covert surveillance and continue the investigation around the perimeter of Xingfu Community, Deputy Captain Zhang Lin led his team to get into the cars.

Several sedans started their engines and slowly drove away from this dilapidated residential area of the Third Machine Tool Factory.

As the vehicles disappeared around the corner, silence returned to the corridor of Unit 3, sixth floor.

The security door of Room 602, which had been tightly closed all this time, made an extremely faint sound of metal friction.

The door panel was pulled inward, opening a crack less than two fingers wide. A pair of eyes peered outside, seeing that there was no one around.

A text message was composed on a mobile phone and sent out.

“The Provincial Public Security Department was here, investigating the Lin family.”

After the text message was sent, the door slit closed again.

The corridor was as dim as before, as if no one had ever lingered there.

Twenty minutes later.

The office building of the Jingjiang City Public Security Bureau.

In the office of Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo, the heating was turned up very high.

Sitting behind his large mahogany desk, he was reviewing an approval document for year-end awards.

The mobile phone at the corner of the desk buzzed abruptly.

Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo put down his fountain pen, picked up the phone, and tapped open the text message.

Upon seeing the seven characters on it, his brows knitted together. He pressed his thumb heavily on the power button, and the screen instantly went dark.

Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo threw the phone back onto the desk, leaned back in his chair, and raised his hand to massage his throbbing temples.

The people from the Provincial Public Security Department had finally traced their way here.

As a political and legal cadre personally promoted by Secretary Lei Zhen, Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo knew better than anyone about the sins Lei Zhenzi had committed back then.

Deputy Captain Liang Tao going to the university to retrieve the files was originally a precaution to wipe away the last traces. He never expected that the Provincial Public Security Department's actions would be so swift, bypassing the Municipal Public Security Bureau's layers of blockades to strike straight at the bullseye.

Lei Dong had already lost contact, failing to report his safety every eight hours as required.

Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo fished out another unregistered phone from the bottom of his drawer and skillfully dialed a special number that was not saved in his contacts.

The phone rang for a long time before it was finally connected.

“Old Leader,” Bureau Chief Hao Jianguo said in an extremely low voice, without using any official title. “The Provincial Public Security Department has traced it to the bottom. Regarding the Lin family's matter, their people have already come knocking on the door.”

A long silence ensued on the other end of the line.

Outside the window, the rain clouds over Jingjiang City pressed lower and lower, completely swallowing the daylight on the horizon.