The warehouse was located inside a long - abandoned factory on the outskirts. Since the city didn't pay much attention to the development of this area and the factory owner had run away after gambling, this place had temporarily become an unnoticed empty factory.
Li Qiang, also known as Officer Lao Li, held his gun and walked carefully in the factory building. At his strong request, he took the lead in this operation.
Xiao Chen was on his first real - life mission. He had simulated countless times before, and now it was finally time to put his skills to use. Needless to say, he was extremely nervous. He could even hear his heart pounding in his throat, as if it was about to jump out at any second.
He was just too tense.
It was said that one should remain calm in the face of danger, but this didn't apply to Xiao Chen. His ability to react quickly in an emergency was a bit lacking.
So Lao Li had arranged for him to stay a bit further back.
Together with the three police officers from the Buhai Police Department who had all made some contributions, Li Qiang was quite satisfied. There was not only a generation gap between him and Xiao Chen.
When the five of them tiptoed in, controlling their steps, the two groups began to disperse and check every corner to prevent any suspects from slipping through.
The two teams searched the dusty warehouse up and down many times. Even Lao Li was visibly tired. However, standing in the place where the hostage had once been and feeling the atmosphere, Xiao Chen was extremely excited.
After searching thoroughly, they were sure that there was no one there.
Lao Li had come up empty - handed again, and he wasn't in a good mood. Just as he was about to take out a cigarette to relieve his fatigue, Xiao Chen's voice came from downstairs: "What's this? Brother Li!"
Li Qiang couldn't help but feel a bit dejected at first. Just as he was trying to figure out how to get ahead of the murderer instead of being led around, Xiao Chen's voice came again: "Come quickly!"
Since Xiao Chen had called out, Lao Li trusted him. If he wasn't sure, he wouldn't have shouted like that.
So, with Lao Li leading the way, the other three followed him to find Xiao Chen.
When they reached the place where Xiao Chen had made the sound, Lao Li didn't see the lively young man at first.
This place was indeed not very safe, and it was better to be careful.
By the time they got there, Xiao Chen had stopped making any noise, and he wasn't even there.
"Xiao Chen? Xiao Chen?" Li Qiang was a bit panicked. This young man had come out with him, he wasn't married yet and didn't have any kids. He hoped nothing bad would happen to him here.
"I'm okay!" Xiao Chen's familiar voice finally came again.
Li Qiang finally breathed a sigh of relief and looked in the direction of the sound patiently.
Xiao Chen was beside a very hidden table, looking down at the ground, as if deep in thought.
It was pitch - black, so Li Qiang quickly shone his flashlight in that direction.
His voice echoed in the empty warehouse: "What are you doing there?"
After confirming that there was no one there, Li Qiang wasn't as cautious anymore. He was rather curious about what mysterious thing Xiao Chen had discovered there, as if he had found some clues.
Xiao Chen was just looking around out of habit to see if he could find any physical evidence. Unexpectedly, behind a stack of templates, something was shining.
He thought there was someone there and didn't say a word. He pointed his gun and walked over, only to find that it was a mobile phone.
He was sure that there would be no need for a fight tonight.
The others didn't know that Xiao Chen had found some physical evidence. They only thought that there was nothing left in the warehouse, just like last time.
"What's this?" Li Qiang had brought Xiao Chen along, so he naturally cared about him a lot. Seeing Xiao Chen's expression frozen, he stepped forward first to take a look.
Xiao Chen looked at the phone carefully. His round eyes suddenly widened, and he said happily to the others: "It wasn't a wasted trip. If I'm not wrong, this should be Wang Lin's phone."
These words caused quite a stir.
The victim's phone?
What was going on? Did it mean that Wang Lin had been here?
After searching again and again, they found that there really wasn't any useful information here. So the team had to call it a day.
By the time they returned to the Buhai City Public Security Bureau, it was already midnight.
After arranging for everyone to go and rest, Li Qiang and Xiao Chen still stayed in the bureau. They had been following this case from the beginning, and now that they finally had a clue, they naturally didn't want to go and rest.
Xiao Chen was a master of electronic technology. It was no problem for him to crack a mobile phone.
After he tinkered with the computer for a while, he smiled at Li Qiang confidently and said: "Done!"
Li Qiang didn't dare to pick up the phone. Instead, he handed it to Xiao Chen and said: "Xiao Chen, you take a look. I'm not very familiar with this. I might accidentally delete some important information."
Xiao Chen didn't decline. He opened the phone and carefully browsed the information on it.
Wang Lin's social network was simple. Apart from messages from classmates and parents, there were just a bunch of random advertisements.
Suddenly, a message that was disguised as an advertisement caught Xiao Chen's attention.
He clicked on it and took a closer look. Then he had an epiphany.
"Brother Li, look. I think I know how Li Ming lured Wang Lin here."
"How so?"
Xiao Chen pointed at a message on the phone and slowly explained: "Do you see this message? Although it's a part - time job recruitment message, the code it was sent with is wrong. It wasn't sent from the official background. Instead, someone used code conversion to hide the real phone number and made it look like an advertisement."
Although Li Qiang didn't understand much, he roughly got the idea.
The part - time job information clearly stated that they were recruiting summer student workers. The treatment was excellent, with insurance and performance - based bonuses.
The conditions seemed very attractive, but that's exactly what made it seem fake to adults.
Most summer job recruitments targeted students and were just ways to exploit cheap labor. There was no way the treatment could be that good.
It was likely that Wang Lin had been tempted after receiving this message and had fallen into Li Ming's trap, and finally into the hands of these crazy beasts.
Xiao Chen was young and hot - tempered. Out of anger, the veins on his hand holding the phone bulged. He almost wanted to crush the phone in his hand.
Li Qiang looked at him worriedly and tried to persuade him earnestly: "This is not the time for personal feelings. This is our job. We need to find those criminal gangs and send them to court. If Wang Lin knew in the afterlife, she should be grateful to you."
Xiao Chen finally let go of the phone and nodded in compromise.
In struggle and suffering, Xiao Chen spent the most difficult night of his life.
As a result, he came to the bureau with panda eyes the next day, and everyone in the bureau gave him sidelong glances.
A kind - hearted auxiliary policewoman gave him a can of black coffee and kindly told him: "You clearly look stressed. Young people, don't be in a hurry. Take your time."
Xiao Chen really needed the coffee, so he wasn't polite. After taking the coffee, he even shyly smiled and thanked her.
The auxiliary policewoman was completely charmed by him.