CH 19

“Wasn’t that awesome or what!”

Wang Chao slapped the pause button, and the picture froze on the young man blowing a kiss at the screen.

The young technician exclaimed excitedly and, to no one’s surprise, received a KO from his captain.

“You think this is interesting?” Cong Lian asked, staring at the young man in the video.

“Hijacking a bus just to rob candy. It’s not just creative, it’s too creative…” Wang Chao continued blabbering but noticed the atmosphere wasn’t right. He looked up to see Xing Cong Lian’s livid expression, “Boss, don’t be so serious. No one was injured, it’s cool, yeah?”

“No one was hurt? It’s lucky no one was hurt!” Cong Lian took over the mouse and dragged the cursor over the duration bar to pause at the moment the young man shot the gun. “Ever thought that if he missed or if the bullet ricocheted, someone might have been killed?!”

On-screen, the young man’s hand was steady as a rock.

Only people in certain parts of society would have that kind of experience handling guns. This young man had to be involved with that world.

The passengers on the bus might not have noticed, but it was clear to them that the young man’s gaze never left the surveillance camera since he raised his gun.

He was looking at the camera——at the people monitoring them.

At this lecture, Wang Chao didn’t argue and could only drink his tea, gulping down most of it. Fortunately, the icon at the lower right on his taskbar flickered and inadvertently saved him. He clicked open the chat and found the latest pictures of the crime scene sent by the survey team.

The pictures showed the bullets from the hijacking.

Cong Lian leaned over and took a look. “Another 9mm revolver?”

Wang Chao pulled up the video again and enlarged the young man’s gun.

“Looks like the same one.” Wang Chao gritted his teeth. “This is so strange, ah. Is there something wrong with that little bastard? Do we need to consult an expert?” he asked, tentative.

Since Lin Chen had fallen into the river, the police’s actual psychological consultant went on to be a visiting scholar at the provincial university because he couldn’t handle the blow.

The psychological consultant post was vacant, and to fill that vacancy, their superiors appointed another expert who was said to be a new star in criminal psychology.

Cong Lian stared at Wang Chao. “Are you telling me to go see that afro-head?”

“He called me hyperactive, and I didn’t know what it meant at the time.” Wang Chao slapped the table, furious. “I checked it when I got home, and guess what? He said I have ADHD, how could Laozi have ADHD?”

He leaned back in his chair angrily, playing with a pen in one hand, and swatted ashes off Cong Lian’s shoulder with the other. Pinching the soot, he asked, “Did you visit Lin Chen’s grave again?”

“Can you concentrate when trash-talking someone behind their back?” Xing Cong Lian stood up awkwardly and brushed the ashes from Wang Chao’s hand.

It had been quite a while since Lin Chen fell into the river, and it seemed like the man had never lived in this city. He occasionally visited Lin Chen’s grave and stayed for a while, mostly when he had strange or complicated cases and no clues.

This serial robbery case was one of them. Stranger than even Feng Pei Lin’s case. A criminal with a gun that rubbed buses on the highway, highly skilled, and could control the situation inside within thirty seconds. The funny thing was, he did it all just for candy.

The young man was lively and colorful, like skittles. The media even gave him the nickname “Candy Robber.” Children liked him, and girls were starting to admire him. Even the victimized bus company’s business only got better because of it. The only thing seemed to be a group playing the public.

Xing Cong Lian felt uneasy, but he couldn’t tell where the feeling came from. He couldn’t shake the feeling this case was like dismantling a bomb. Cut a single wire wrong, and it would explode in a heartbeat.

He shook his wet hands, damp from the sweat of the cold ice tea’s cup, and prepared to leave.

Coincidentally, his vision was blurry, and the thought of Lin Chen was nowhere in mind.

But, when his eyes aimlessly passed over the computer screen, he noticed a man in the backseat, and his heart started to beat out of control.

The man sat on the aisle side wearing a black cap and looked as if he was asleep. But to Cong Lian, it was obvious he wasn’t.

Because just before the young criminal took out the gun, the man had looked up to stare at the youth’s back.

It was very small, but it also demonstrated his sharpness.

Even in 0.1 seconds, a prediction was still a prediction.

This proved it wasn’t a coincidence, but that didn’t matter. What mattered was that Cong Lian was very familiar with the man’s face.

Though it was a black-and-white surveillance video with low pixel count, and even with just one eye visible, Cong Lian could recognize him anywhere.

That was Lin Chen.

He pressed a key, and the video paused. The picture was somewhat blurred due to the excessive whiteness. Cong Lian circled the face with his finger.

The technician stared at the screen for a while and asked, “Boss, you mean there’s an accomplice on the bus?”

“This is Lin Chen!”

Wang Chao immediately took a screenshot and enlarged the picture. But, even if the pixels were enlarged to the size of a nail, he couldn’t connect the person in the video with Lin Chen.

Therefore, he could only look back at Cong Lian and solemnly say, staring at him, “Boss, I think that expert is right. You should go to the hospital for a checkup.”

The older man swatted the back of his head.

The technician held his head, crying without tears.—

——

No matter how many times the police watched the video, the hijacker still dashed into the field of reeds and disappeared. The rescued passengers were sent to the nearest R&R station to eat a simple meal and wait to record their testimonies.

The food court was a bit on the cold side.

So most of the passengers sat by the French windows and basked in the sun. They chatted with each other and didn’t seem to be in a panic about the hijacking at all.

Near the back of the crowd, a young man took off his scarf and draped it on an old lady with heavy luggage.

The old lady seemed happy to have such a good looking young man beside her. She touched the scarf around her neck and pulled an orange from her luggage and placed it in his hand.

The orange was cold.

If Wang Chao were there, he would have knelt and swallowed the words he said earlier.

This was Lin Chen. The one whose body couldn’t be recovered after falling into the river with Feng Pei Lin.

Lin Chen gripped the cold orange and looked at the entrance casually.

For the first time, he felt his fortune wasn’t that good.

Having deceived people, even friends concerned for you, by pretending to die, you’d be terrified to see them again.

Maybe, in a vast sea of people, you’d meet again. Perhaps, that was the best reunion one could have.

However, meeting under the circumstances of a robber hijacking a bus on a highway under said friend’s jurisdiction was nowhere close to ideal.

This setting was too far-fetched.

Fate was heartless.

——

Someone else also lamented the ruthlessness of fate. The mixed-blooded police officer who had spent half a year in misery.

“Tell the brothers to rest at the R&R station. The police will arrange transportation for them. Remember, before I get there, no one, absolutely no one, is allowed to leave,” Cong Lian fired off his orders in rapid succession.

He turned, about to leave, but someone pushed in the door before he could pull it and stepped inside.

It was an elite-looking corporate man in a knee-length camel-colored trench coat with a smoky plaid scarf around his neck. He shook hands with Xing Cong Lian and took out a gold-embossed business card. He handed it over with both hands. “Yang Dian Feng, manager of Tu An Intercity Bus Company’s head office.”

Cong Lian had dealt with the public relations department of the Tu An Company several times because of this serial hijacking case. These stubborn people were uncooperative with the investigation, so Cong Lian glanced at the card and sat on his desk, lighting up a cigarette as he asked impatiently, “Yes, what is it, Manager Yang.”

“Sorry to trouble you, Captain Xing, but it’s about the case on the Hong Jing Highway.”

At this business-like tone, Xing Cong Lian inhaled and puffed out a ring of smoke. “In fact, you guys seem quite happy.”

“Why do you say that, Captain?”

“This bus hijacker, it’s comparable to a prime-time ad.”

“So, in Captain Xing’s opinion, this serial robbery is our company’s doing?”

Yang Dian Feng’s scarf had a trademark printed on it, which showed it belonged to a limited exclusive product line from a high-end store. This one scarf alone was worth half a year of Xing Cong Lian’s wage.

“How could I,” Cong Lian replied absent-mindedly.

“Captain, you think this is a marketing plan for business. This kind of marketing is not cost-effective and puts us at great risk just to increase our market price by a mere few percent.”

“Manager Yang came to see me just to say this?”

“I’m actually here to provide a clue.” Yang Dian Feng took out a silver notebook from his briefcase. “All our buses are equipped with autonomic call systems based on GIS and MEMS accelerometers. Today, the installed computer on the A7645 bus was taken by the hijacker, but we’ve discovered the signal hasn’t disappeared.”

Wang Chao stood and abruptly took the device from Yang Dian Feng. He worked on it for a while then suddenly said, “Boss, Heping North Road, heading south.”

Yang Dian Feng leaned back in his chair with his arms folded over his chest. He raised his eyebrows, smiling.