Chapter 86

After Zhuo Zhuo left, Song Wen and Lu Siyu sat in the car. It was still a distance from the City Bureau. Song Wen started the car and said, “If what that woman just said is true, and Chen Yanqiu was involved in some work before, then something must have happened on the night of last year’s Christmas Eve to the next morning on Christmas Day…”

It was more than half a year ago, in this city. With so many corners to search through the past, it was like finding a leaf in a forest full of dried leaves, like searching for a grain of sand in a desert, or like finding a fish in the ocean. The difficulty was immense.

Modern technology still had its limitations. Even with various surveillance methods and information sources, it was not enough to see through the truth of the past and reconstruct everything.

Lu Siyu lowered his head, habitually biting his nails. “I think we can deduce this incident in reverse.”

Song Wen pondered for a moment and said, “That woman just mentioned the need for a driver’s license, so it must involve driving.”

Lu Siyu nodded. “The whole process was completed within a few hours, so the location must not be too far. If you were an employer, what would you need a terminally ill patient for?”

“Spending so much money, suddenly hiring a terminally ill patient for work… and it’s urgent and short-term…” Song Wen lowered his brows, thought for a moment, and said in a deep voice, “It could only mean murder, smuggling, framing, or drug trafficking.”

Employers were not fools. The money they spent must be worth it. The more money involved, the higher the risk. If they wanted to hire someone like Chen Yanqiu, a terminally ill patient, it must involve tasks that ordinary people wouldn’t want to do and would require taking extreme risks. Even if they didn’t want to admit it, these dark possibilities were always there.

Lu Siyu nodded again as he sat beside him.

Song Wen quickly made a plan. “So, it seems we need to investigate all relevant criminal cases, traffic conditions, and the movements of the anti-drug team during that time around Christmas last year.”

As the car drove on, Song Wen made phone calls. After all, he had been in Nancheng for several years and knew some people in various departments. After three calls, everything was arranged.

Song Wen hung up the phone and said, “I hope we can catch something in the net this time… Do you have any other ideas?”

Lu Siyu said, “We just analyzed it from the perspective of the employer. I think we can also consider it from Chen Yanqiu’s perspective.”

Song Wen nodded. “I also noticed a detail just now. Zhuo Zhuo said that initially it was Zhang Rui who agreed, and Chen Yanqiu didn’t sign up at all.”

Lu Siyu calmly analyzed, “Hmm, from our analysis of Chen Yanqiu’s background, his early life was disciplined, and he received a good education. Compared to him, Zhang Rui obviously seems more suitable to be a fugitive.”

In his view, Chen Yanqiu was someone who had strayed from the right path in a moment of weakness. He wasn’t a bad person in the traditional sense; he just might have succumbed to greed and done some bad things temporarily. Therefore, for such a person, regular reasoning methods shouldn’t be applied. However, the actions of such individuals often had greater variables and were unpredictable.

Following his line of thought, Song Wen continued, “As a terminally ill patient, Chen Yanqiu’s needs boil down to two points: first, to survive himself, and second, to take care of his sister… So, either he didn’t feel the danger when he was doing the task, or he was coerced into doing it.”

Just as he was saying this, Song Wen’s phone rang. After answering a few questions, he hung up and looked at Lu Siyu. “There was a serious traffic accident on Christmas morning last year. The culprit of the accident was Chen Yanqiu, and he fled the scene.”

Lu Siyu furrowed his brow slightly. “Why didn’t our previous checks find this?”

Song Wen had previously had some communication with the traffic management department and was familiar with the situation inside. “Because Chen Yanqiu fled the scene, it was necessary to retrieve surveillance footage to confirm the driver’s identity. In the days following, Chen Yanqiu was registered as deceased. He didn’t even survive the fifteen days required for accident liability determination, so this incident was not entered into the system.”

This was a special case. In fact, such situations were rare.

In Nancheng, the entire government system was vast. Although they all belonged to the public security sector, they spanned across different departments. Sometimes, internal coordination took more time than external coordination, not to mention various regulations and procedures. If information communication was not timely enough, such situations would arise.

When Song Wen and Lu Siyu arrived at the traffic management bureau, it was already past 3 p.m. Song Wen’s senior greeted them briefly after confirming that there had been an accident that day, then led them to the traffic management detachment’s accident team, and went about his own business.

The traffic management detachment was led by Captain Wang. After they arrived, he called over the traffic officer Li Yi and auxiliary police officer Xiao Zeng to explain the situation. The tone of the traffic officers, however, was not so friendly.

It was understandable. This was a traffic accident that happened half a year ago, already settled and archived. Suddenly, someone came to revisit it, and it wasn’t even the family of the victim but detectives from another department. No one’s heart could remain calm in such a situation.

Regarding that accident, Xiao Zeng still remembered it vividly. Because that day happened to be Christmas, the weather was extremely cold in the early morning.

The deceased victim was a sanitation worker who was hit so severely and dragged for a long time that his body was completely mangled.

Xiao Zeng had only been working for a short time at that point and almost vomited at the scene. He was working with Officer Li at the time, and the whole traffic brigade said that the incident was very eerie. Xiao Zeng had nightmares for a long time afterward. He never expected that someone would come back to revisit it after six months.

“……Well, on the early morning of December 25th last year, this accident occurred. At that time, a middle-aged woman was killed, she was a sanitation worker. The driver fled the scene. Because it was a major traffic accident involving a fatality, we conducted an on-site investigation according to regulations. After the driver fled, we have been trying to confirm the driver’s identity. When we issued the traffic accident liability certificate, we received news that the person had already died and been cremated… Afterwards, the company to which the perpetrator belonged came forward to provide further compensation.” Captain Wang paused here, then continued, “We handled it according to regulations. I don’t know what Captain Song is here for this time?”

Song Wen glanced at the liability certificate and handed several accident photos to Lu Siyu. “This traffic accident involves a victim of a criminal case we are investigating. We suspect that he may have been framed in this accident.”

Captain Wang was a bit puzzled. He opened the liability certificate and furrowed his brows as he read, “The traffic accident liability certificate clearly details all the faults. Chen Yanqiu was hired as a driver by a company. At 3:55 a.m. on the 25th, he was instructed by the company to return some costumes urgently needed for the next day’s event. While passing through Xilian Road, he collided with the sanitation worker, Zhao Youlan, who was up early, resulting in Zhao Youlan’s death. Later, we found that Chen Yanqiu passed away within a week. But… are you saying now… the perpetrator was framed? And he didn’t die afterwards? Then he was murdered, and the case came to your side?”

“He didn’t die; he used his roommate’s body to fake his death,” explained Song Wen. “Considering how close his death was to the accident, didn’t you suspect anything at the time?”

“Well, we obtained the information from the police station as well,” Li Yi said somewhat awkwardly. “The person was already confirmed dead by the police station, so what could we, the traffic police, do?”

This statement clearly shifted the responsibility to the grassroots local police station. When the police station received the report, they issued Chen Yanqiu’s death certificate, which was the biggest oversight. However, the traffic management department also didn’t handle things with enough care.

The multiple layers of loopholes led to this case. And the truth became even more elusive.