Chapter 94

At this moment, Zhu Xiao and Cheng Xiaobing had already arrived at an old car lot located in the outskirts of Nancheng, based on the information provided by the Traffic Bureau.

The place was extremely large, with no end in sight. All that could be seen were various old cars parked around, some dismantled, some still relatively intact, resembling a huge graveyard of cars.

Under the sunlight, the steel reflected heat, turning this place into a massive oven.

Zhu Xiao shielded his eyes from the glaring sun and explained to Cheng Xiaobing, “Although this place isn’t officially registered as a scrapyard by the vehicle management office, it’s the largest scrap car recycling center in Nancheng.”

Cheng Xiaobing remarked, “So, the folks at the Traffic Bureau aren’t all bad after all. They found the suspected hit-and-run vehicle so quickly. Isn’t that cooperating well with our work?”

Zhu Xiao sighed, “Well, you don’t know the whole story. Those people got reprimanded by Captain Song for their negligence, and now they’re just trying to make amends.”

As they spoke, a staff member led them to a spot and pointed to a car frame, saying, “It should be this one.”

Before arriving at the scene, Cheng Xiaobing thought the Traffic Bureau’s claim of finding the wreckage of that car might have been exaggerated. However, upon seeing it here, she had to admit that the car had indeed been completely dismantled.

In front of them, almost all car parts had been removed, there was no license plate, the four tires were missing, and even the steering wheel and seats were gone. All that remained was a steel frame covered in thick dust, awaiting disposal.

Cheng Xiaobing, holding the appraisal box, blinked in surprise. “Are you… sure this is the one?” To her, many of the car frames here looked almost identical, and she couldn’t understand how the staff member could be so sure that this particular one was the one they were looking for.

The young man working there nodded confidently, “Absolutely sure. The timing matches what you told us. This car has changed hands a few times, and the auto repair shop was eager to get rid of it, offering a suspiciously low price. With so many cars here, it would have been queued for further processing. You’re lucky; if it had been another half a month later, this car would probably have been taken away.”

Cheng Xiaobing curiously asked, “These cars all look pretty much the same after being dismantled. How did you recognize it?”

The young man rubbed some dust off the car, revealing a hint of its original blue color. “Mastery comes with specialization. Porsche craftsmanship is still top-notch. The feel of this paint is different from other cars. I won’t make a mistake. We work here, and we’ve seen all kinds of old cars. Not to boast, but we know more about cars than those folks at the vehicle management office.”

Zhu Xiao inquired, “Can we find the other parts of this car?”

The young man shook his head. “No, we can’t. We didn’t dismantle those parts; they were taken apart by a previous auto repair shop. When they sold it to us, it was just a shell. Those parts might have been recycled and installed in other cars by now.”

Zhu Xiao was curious. “Can this shell still fetch a price?”

“Not much. It’s just a little better than scrap metal. The key is that we take care of it, so they don’t have to bother.” The young man wiped his sweat and added, “Take your time looking around. Just say goodbye to me when you leave.”

After the staff member left, Cheng Xiaobing reached into the evidence box and took out two pairs of gloves, handing one pair to Zhu Xiao. “Let’s get to work.”

Zhu Xiao nodded. Recently, there had been a major case in the city, and the forensic and evidence collection teams were very busy. Today, he could only bring Cheng Xiaobing, who was on duty.

Clearly, manual labor wasn’t suitable for a girl. Zhu Xiao helped open the deformed car door and then went to the back to open the trunk. Although the car was very dirty now, it was obvious that the dust had settled later. The car had been dismantled and cleaned before being brought here, erasing many traces.

Cheng Xiaobing walked around the broken-down car, contemplating how to extract useful evidence.

Zhu Xiao stood aside, still interested in the place.

He took out his phone and struck a pose, taking a few pictures. Still not satisfied, he said to Cheng Xiaobing, “Hey, your camera is good. Take a few shots for me, and send them to me later.”

Cheng Xiaobing looked at him, somewhat unwillingly lifted the camera, and reluctantly pressed the shutter a few times. “What’s there to photograph in this dump?”

Zhu Xiao spread his arms. “Don’t you think it’s cool? So many scrap cars, all the products of human evolution. This place naturally has a post-apocalyptic vibe, just like the set of a {{Transformer (franchise)}}. Standing here, I’m the male lead.”

Cheng Xiaobing curiously asked, “Isn’t Optimus Prime the main character in Transformers?” She sneered and whispered, “With your attitude, this movie is sure to flop. If it were Captain Song and Officer Lu, it would be better, preferably with two male leads.”

Zhu Xiao leaned on the car and whispered back, “Hehe, handsome guys belong to handsome guys, not you. Let’s get to work.”

With the photos taken, Cheng Xiaobing put away the camera, crouched and entered the car through the open door, carefully examining the traces on the chassis. She remarked, “This place is so clean; there are very few traces.”

Next was the long and patient process of collecting evidence. However, the place was indeed quite clean; Cheng Xiaobing almost had to use a magnifying glass to inspect it.

There were no fingerprints, footprints, or other common traces, and it seemed that the car had deliberately been cleaned of any signs of modification. Many distinctive features had been intentionally removed.

After searching inside and out, Cheng Xiaobing only found a few very small bloodstains. After checking for over half an hour, she rubbed her sore waist and crawled out of the car, feeling discouraged. “I’ve looked around enough. Besides a few suspected bloodstains, there’s not a trace here, not even a spider.”

Zhu Xiao tried to tease her, pointing to a spot beside the car door. “Who said there aren’t any? Look, a spider!”

Cheng Xiaobing was startled by his remark, instinctively shrinking back. Although she wasn’t afraid of corpses in her line of work, she was quite afraid of spiders. She followed Zhu Xiao’s pointing finger and saw only a sticker. She took a picture and said, “That’s a cold joke; this isn’t a spider.”

Zhu Xiao was very satisfied with her reaction. “It’s Spider-Man, isn’t it? Why doesn’t that count as a spider?”

Cheng Xiaobing examined the sticker closely. It had been washed and sun-damaged several times, leaving only half of the adhesive still stuck to the car. She identified a little bit of red and curiously asked, “How did you figure this out?”

“The classic pose of Spider-Man, isn’t it?” Zhu Xiao squatted down, pointed his finger forward, and mimicked shooting a web. “Mastery comes with specialization, just like how the young man earlier recognized the car model. People like me, who have seen many movies, are more sensitive than average.”

Cheng Xiaobing chuckled at his antics. “But… this thing does look familiar… Wait a minute, I remember…” After speaking, she sat on an old tire nearby, took out her phone, and started searching.

Zhu Xiao thought she was just taking a break due to fatigue, but Cheng Xiaobing sat there without moving for five minutes. “Hey, as the only forensic evidence collector at the scene, can you please speed up? Put away the gossip and start dusting for fingerprints.”

“I’d love to, but first, we need fingerprints… The only fingerprints on this car are the ones left by that guy earlier.” Cheng Xiaobing scrolled through her phone, showing Zhu Xiao. “See, is this the same car?”

It was a photo of an internet celebrity, featuring a luxury car with a beautiful woman holding a dog inside. The selfie angle happened to reveal a part of the car emblem, indicating it was an expensive luxury brand.

Zhu Xiao looked at the photo and said, “Isn’t this just a beauty taking a selfie? Can you tell what car it is? Oh, the girl’s name is Zhao Liu’er, right? I remember she’s an internet celebrity. I’ve watched a few of her live broadcasts, and the car model does seem somewhat familiar…”

Cheng Xiaobing replied, “Take a closer look; this photo was taken last year.”

Zhu Xiao enlarged the picture, confirming the Porsche logo on the steering wheel. In the bottom right corner of the photo, inside the car, was half of a Spider-Man sticker. “Damn, the sticker is the same! Well done! How did you notice?” The same car model, the same sticker – the coincidence was too small. Zhu Xiao could now confidently assert that this car was the one they were looking for. Confirming the photo meant finding the internet celebrity, which would lead to identifying the car owner.

Cheng Xiaobing chuckled, “Mastery comes with specialization. Don’t underestimate a woman’s gossip abilities.”

Zhu Xiao gave her a thumbs up, “Hmm, I think your gossiping elevates your appearance.”

Having packed up all their tools, Cheng Xiaobing and Zhu Xiao returned to the police station. Their first task was to report the progress to Song Wen.

“The car was specifically cleaned, leaving minimal traces. There are a few small bloodstains inside and outside the car. We also found a sticker on the car door, which seems to have appeared in a photo of an internet celebrity named Zhao Liu’er.” Without even sitting down, Zhu Xiao rushed to report.

Song Wen took the phone, examined the online photos, and then looked at the on-site pictures Cheng Xiaobing had taken. “It does seem like the same car.”

“If this is indeed the actual hit-and-run vehicle, then the car owner must be related to Zhao Liu’er’s accident.” Zhu Xiao unscrewed a bottle of mineral water and handed it to Cheng Xiaobing. “Do you need to call this broadcaster and ask whose car it is?”

Song Wen said, “Let’s not be hasty. First, let’s summarize the information and check the specific details about this Zhao Liu’er.”

“Well, this broadcaster is quite famous. There’s a lot of information about her online. She frequently livestreams and, at one point, claimed to be the number one on a certain internet celebrity platform.” Zhu Xiao opened his laptop while talking and searched for a while before showing the results to Song Wen. “Look, it’s just as I said, and you won’t find this information on the Ministry of Public Security’s website.”

Song Wen walked over to examine the online information. Though some of it had gossip elements, there was also valuable information.

The internet has memory; even if people may forget at times, the words spoken online, the uploaded images, and videos remain.

Cheng Xiaobing sipped her water and said, “I was able to find that photo because this broadcaster was once rumored to be dating a male celebrity. Some starstruck fans dug up this photo and speculated whether it was that celebrity’s car. Later, someone seemed to have found out the real owner…”

“With so much information to compare, based on the list of purchases provided by the Traffic Bureau, we can basically confirm the original license plate number, and the owner should be this person,” Zhu Xiao said, pulling out the list. “Huo Shaoqing.”

This time, Lu Siyu, who had been silent on the side, interjected, “I seem to know this person; he’s a rich second-generation from a wealthy family.” He didn’t like gossip, but he wasn’t closed off to it either.

“Yes, yes,” Zhu Xiao nodded quickly. “His father is a well-known developer. He relies on his family’s wealth, indulges in all sorts of vices, and enjoys sleeping with various internet celebrities. For someone like him, getting into a car accident after a night of drinking at a bar is just too normal, and… it’s highly likely to involve drunk driving or driving under the influence.”

Song Wen turned to Lu Siyu and said, “Regardless, it’s good news. Perhaps Chen Yanqiu’s side has obtained some evidence about this car owner, and the owner, in order to silence them, killed him. At least now, the case is finally moving forward, and we have a decent suspect.”

“I still think there are some issues with this, but I believe he should at least have some connection to Chen Yanqiu’s death,” Lu Siyu rubbed his temples and concentrated his energy to say to Song Wen, “Now, the most crucial thing is to quickly find Huo Shaoqing and ask him about the situation.”