novelslam Chapter 61 Barrier
Chapter 61 Barrier
By the time I came out of the investigation building, it was completely dark.
Ling Yue quickly caught up with Gu Huai. "Where are we going now? Should I contact Wang Jun's family now?"
"Tomorrow, it's too late now." Gu Huai stroked his chin. "You guys go to the archives first, we need to clarify our thoughts."
Xia Wanying, wearing a white lab coat, had her hands in her pockets. "And you?"
"I need to find someone," Gu Huai said after a moment's thought. "Our team can't do without him."
Ling Yue immediately understood who Gu Huai was referring to.
So she didn't ask any more questions and pulled Xia Wanying toward the main building.
Gu Huai, on the other hand, walked towards the brigade's office by himself.
Gu Huai pushed open the door to the brigade's office and found it empty.
What Gu Huai didn't know was that because a major case had been solved, all the members of the First Brigade didn't have to work overtime today.
Clearly, no one had informed him of this.
Therefore, there is only one police officer on duty in the corner of the office right now.
Sensing someone enter, he looked up and glanced at them. After recognizing Gu Huai, he silently lowered his head again.
"Where's Hou Hao?" Gu Huai asked.
"He was just here a moment ago, he must have gone to the washroom," the man said in a muffled voice, his head bowed.
Gu Huai ignored the officer's unusual behavior and turned to walk towards the water room.
The water room was at the end of the corridor, and the lights were off, making the hallway pitch black.
As Gu Huai walked over, Hou Hao emerged from the shadows carrying a water bottle.
"Brother Hou." After recognizing the person, Gu Huai called out to him, "Why didn't you turn on the light when you were fetching water?"
"Ah Huai? You haven't left yet?" Hou Hao was clearly taken aback. "You have the night off tonight, aren't you going home?"
"He didn't leave." Gu Huai shook his head, ignoring the trivial matter of no one informing him of his day off. "You know about the missing taxi case, right? Chief Wang asked me to lead the investigation, and I wanted to get you involved."
"Me?" Hou Hao was clearly taken aback, almost dropping the water bottle in his hand. "I...my master..."
"There's no problem with Captain Wu," Gu Huai said. "Chief Wang already spoke with Captain Wu about it this afternoon when we were on site."
Hou Hao didn't reply, but simply shook his head slightly.
Gu Huai didn't urge him. Judging from Hou Hao's reaction, Wu Feilin must have said something after he came back.
Just as the two were silent, the door to the captain's office creaked open.
Wu Feilin walked out of the office, holding a folder in his hand.
When he looked up and saw Gu Huai and Hou Hao, he visibly paused.
"Master," Hou Hao called out softly.
Wu Feilin nodded slightly, then looked at Gu Huai with a scrutinizing gaze and a hint of wariness.
"Monkey, what are you doing here?"
Hou Hao opened his mouth, then closed it again.
He turned to look at Gu Huai, his eyes seeming to be pleading for help.
However, this time Gu Huai did not speak up for him, but instead watched him quietly.
He wasn't Hou Hao's nanny; he couldn't help him with everything.
"Master," seeing that Gu Huai didn't speak, Hou Hao gritted his teeth, stamped his foot, closed his eyes, and said, "Huai said he wants me to go and help with that taxi case on his end."
Wu Feilin narrowed his eyes.
His gaze fell on Gu Huai, who didn't flinch but simply stood there with his hands in his pockets, his expression calm.
"You agreed?" Wu Feilin turned to ask Hou Hao.
"I...I haven't yet."
Upon hearing this, Wu Feilin nodded slightly, a look of relief appearing on his face.
"Go ahead," he said casually. "It's good for young people to get some experience. Since Chief Wang believes that Xiao Gu can handle it, then Xiao Gu must have his own unique strengths. Go with him and learn as much as you can."
Hou Hao was stunned for a moment, looking at his master with some disbelief.
"Captain Wu is joking," Gu Huai said. "Once Captain Wu is done with his work, Branch Manager Wang will definitely let me hand over the case to Captain Wu. I'm just a temporary replacement."
After saying that, Gu Huai nudged Hou Hao.
After regaining his senses, Hou Hao quickly said, "Thank you, Master."
After glaring at Hou Hao, Wu Feilin turned to look at Gu Huai, his lips twitching into a forced smile.
"Xiao Gu, feel free to come to me anytime if you have any problems. I have a whole team of people and equipment available. Just ask if you need anything."
Gu Huai nodded. "Thank you, Captain Wu."
After Wu Feilin finished speaking, he patted Hou Hao on the shoulder and turned back to his office.
Hou Hao stood there, staring blankly at the closed office door.
"Let's go," Gu Huai said.
"Where to?"
"The archives room, Sister Ling and the others are already waiting there."
The two walked towards the archives room, one after the other.
Hou Hao followed behind Gu Huai, walking very slowly, his steps somewhat unsteady.
Gu Huai didn't turn around. He knew very well that Hou Hao needed time to process what happened when he first rebelled against him.
The archives are located on the first floor of the main building, at a corner, and the door was half-closed at the moment.
Gu Huai pushed open the door and went in, only to find Ling Yue and Xia Wanying chatting happily.
"What are you chatting about, you seem so happy?" Gu Huai stepped inside.
"I was just talking about you," Ling Yue looked up. "Xia asked me how you solved the case of the Rain Night Butcher. I was just talking about the part where you asked Luo Xiaojun."
Xia Wanying closed her notebook and glanced at Gu Huai.
"Officer Gu, I'm a little curious, how did you determine that Luo Zhenbang was the murderer? Was it based on intuition?"
Her tone was flat, and Gu Huai couldn't discern any praise or criticism in it.
Gu Huai pulled up a chair and sat down. "It's not entirely based on intuition; investigating people close to the victim in a murder case is standard practice."
Xia Wanying frowned. "But how can you be sure it's Luo Zhenbang? What if you've made a mistake?"
"I'm not sure," Gu Huai said. "As for what if we make a mistake, we can just try a different approach. No one can guarantee they'll never make a mistake."
Xia Wanying frowned even more deeply.
She didn't speak, but lowered her head, turned to a new page in her notebook, and wrote a few words on it.
Ling Yue glanced at Gu Huai and gave him a wink.
That means he should speak more tactfully.
Gu Huai shrugged helplessly.
Hou Hao walked in slowly. "Sister Ling."
"Hail, come sit down." Ling Yue got up and pulled out a chair for Hou Hao.
Seeing that almost everyone had arrived, Gu Huai stood up and took the notepad from the archives.
"Meeting."
After saying that, Gu Huai picked up a marker and wrote a few words on the notepad.
[Taxi driver disappearance case (January 30 case)]
"The currently known information is that there are five vehicles, five people, and they have been missing since October of last year."
"Neither alive nor dead has anyone been found."
As he spoke, he drew a white line on the whiteboard.
"The body found today is preliminarily identified as Wang Jun, a driver for Pengcheng Taxi Company. He had been missing for twelve days, and the motive can be basically determined to be a carjacking followed by a murder to silence him."
Gu Huai said all this mainly to inform Hou Hao.
"Ah Huai, I have a question," Hou Hao said, raising his hand.
"ask."
"I saw in the case file that the victim's genitals were cut off. Why would that be? Could it be a copycat crime?"
"No." Gu Huai shook his head, then glanced at Xia Wanying, "The motive is still uncertain, but I personally lean towards venting my anger."
Upon hearing this, Xia Wanying couldn't help but roll her eyes at Gu Huai.
Hou Hao had no objection to Gu Huai's statement and immediately picked up a pen to write it down in his notebook.
"Now I'll go over the task assignments." Seeing that no one spoke, Gu Huai picked up the notepad and said, "Sister Ling, you'll be in a group with Xia. Go to Wang Jun's house first thing tomorrow morning."
"no problem."
"Xia, I'm entrusting this DNA extraction to you. It's extremely important."
Xia Wanying nodded.
"Should we ask the family about the deceased's condition?" Lingyue asked.
"No need," Gu Huai said with a smile. "I'll go to the Second Brigade with Brother Hou later. They definitely have the family members' information there."