Police officer Chen Shu

Chapter 394 Discovering the Suspect

Inside a Porsche on the street.

"Where to?" Chen Chuan asked, his hands on the steering wheel.

Sitting in the passenger seat, Chen Shu held his phone, scrolling back and forth through the chat history between the madam and the client that he had just saved in the private room.

"Quite cautious; you can't tell this person's identity information from WeChat." Chen Shu stared at the screenshot of the client's personal information, feeling uncertain.

The client's WeChat profile picture was the most basic kind, a blank half-body silhouette without any uploaded image. The location on the right side of the picture was labeled as a tourist city abroad, and the Moments section below was also blank.

Sitting in the back row, Yan Chenxi stretched out her finger, the tip of her nail touching the "WeChat ID," and whispered, "Brother Shu, can't we just locate the account directly once it's confirmed?"

Chen Shu put down his phone and patiently explained, "This software can indeed locate you, but their company won't grant us that permission."

"Oh."

"Since we have his WeChat, why don't we use a prostitute's account to directly add him as a friend and lure him out?"

When Chen Shu was in the security team of Zhongshan Police Station, in order to handle cases, he kept five or six fake accounts on hand, which were disguised as prostitutes, clothing sellers, food deliverymen, plumbers, etc., by fabricating daily content on their WeChat Moments.

This method is unique within the city bureau. To avoid it becoming overused, Chen Shu didn't spread it around, and only a few close classmates knew about it.

Chen Shu thought for a moment and said, "Now that Sister Hua is in his hands, he can't possibly go to a prostitute anymore. If he waits until he really wants to go to a prostitute, it will mean it's too late."

Chen Chuan sighed: "Well, then we can only wait for the investigation from Zhongshan Institute or for a warning from the bank."

Chen Shu locked his phone screen and pursed his lips. He knew in his heart that Sister Hua, who had been missing for three days, was likely in an extremely dangerous situation. The longer she was gone, the less likely the suspect would let her go alive; she might even be dead by now.

"The last location the client sent to the 'mommy' was on Lianhua Road. Let's go there and take a look."

All signs pointed back to Lianhua Road as the suspect's location.

Desperate measures, Chen Shu decided to go back to square one and try his luck.

At the entrance of a food stall on Lianhua Road.

In Dongzhou, there are many such small restaurants, each only about a hundred square meters in size, offering fast-food style meals. To avoid the opening hours of large fast-food chain restaurants, they usually offer 24-hour service.

The main target customers are people who work at night.

Chen Shu and Chen Chuan circled the area a few times but found nothing unusual. They stood on the sidewalk not far from the food stall, chatting idly.

Chen Chuan said, "Why don't we have the people from Zhongshan Institute come over and pull up all the surveillance footage in this area and check it carefully? We can roughly determine the time, and we should be able to find some clues."

“I’ve already been transferred out of Zhongshan, and this case originally belonged to them. My interference at their office this afternoon was a bit overstepping my bounds. They’re busy too; the branch office’s ‘100-Day Action’ is pushing them hard lately. If it weren’t for our past relationship,” Chen Shu said slowly.

The special police unit did not have any "100-day operation" quotas. It's annoying when someone who hasn't worked overtime themselves comes along and demands that others work overtime for tasks outside their assigned duties.

Large police stations typically have dedicated video investigation teams to assist officers in solving cases, composed of experienced auxiliary police officers. Special police units do not have such specialized teams dedicated to assisting in crime-solving.

"What should I do?"

Just then, a slender figure ran from the street corner. Upon closer inspection, it was Jiang Hai, who had just left that afternoon.

As soon as the rear door of the Porsche parked on the side of the road opened, Yan Chenxi stepped out.

She stopped Jiang Hai and scolded him in a low voice, "What are you doing here? Brother Shu and the others are handling a case. What are you doing here?" Jiang Hai rubbed his hands together and said aggrievedly, "I wanted to see how the police handle cases before filling out my college application, so I could have some reference."

"What do you think this is? A game? You think you can come and go as you please?"

Seeing that Yan Chenxi's voice was getting louder, Chen Shu, who had been pushed by Chen Chuan, walked to the two of them and advised, "It's alright, it's not a top secret. Jiang Hai can look if he wants. But it's a deal, you have to follow us around in everything, understand?"

Chen Chuan, who was listening attentively from a short distance away, couldn't help but chuckle. His usually meticulous and safety-conscious classmate was now bringing women and children along when solving cases; it was quite amusing.

There's always something that can subdue another!

Upon hearing Chen Shu speak, Jiang Hai immediately thanked him and left his sister behind to run over to the more approachable Chen Chuan.

Yan Chenxi looked at Jiang Hai, who had run off into the distance, and said apologetically, "Brother Shu, I'm sorry. When Jiang Hai asked me if I wanted to go home for dinner, I accidentally let it slip."

"It's okay, why don't we eat something first?"

"Okay, okay, we haven't even had dinner yet!" Chen Chuan agreed first. "Books, food is essential for life, a little extra time won't make a difference."

Chen Shu glanced back at the brightly lit LED sign on the food stall and nodded in agreement.

Although it was a bit late, the food stalls were doing brisk business. Some people who looked like taxi drivers each picked a small table and started eating, while a few young men in suits also huddled around a small round table near the door.

As the four entered, a man wearing a baseball cap and a kitchen skirt greeted them: "Would you like to eat?"

Chen Shu pointed to several dishes on the counter, both meat and vegetables.

"okay."

The man at the food stall reached out his right hand and took a few empty plates from the shelf above the counter, then used his left hand to spoon the food into the plates one spoonful at a time.

"That's all. Chen Chuan, Chen Xi, see what you want to eat and order a few of each. Jiang Hai, you take a look too."

"Brother Shu, I really like all the ones you ordered earlier," Yan Chenxi said with a smile as she walked beside Chen Shu.

"I'll do anything!" For Jiang Hai, being able to solve cases with Chen Shu, a police officer he admired, was like a dream. At this moment, he would do anything asked of him.

"Chen Chuan, what about you?" After waiting for a while and seeing that Chen Chuan did not respond, Chen Shu turned around and asked Chen Chuan behind him again.

Chen Chuan, who had been staring at the man at the food stall, winked at Chen Shu, who had turned around, and then gestured with his lip towards the direction where the man serving the food was.

Chen Shu immediately realized what was going on.

NB baseball cap, black T-shirt, left-handed!

The two locked eyes and lunged at the man at the food stall, then grabbed him tightly and pinned him down.

The plate of food was smashed on the ground, and the dishes inside were scattered all over the floor.

The man at the food stall cried out twice, struggled a few times, and then stopped moving.

The guests sitting inside, upon hearing the noise, put down their bowls and chopsticks and turned to look at Chen Shu. However, no one got up or asked any questions.

Chen Shu, who was pressing down on the man's back, suddenly realized that he didn't have any plastic buckles with him. He muttered a few complaints about his carelessness and then asked Chen Chuan to go to the vegetable counter to get a few transparent bags to use as ropes to tie the man up.

(End of this chapter)