Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 649 Acquaintance
Following Li Yiduo's actions, the video folder from a month ago was found. Based on the approximate transaction time given by the old thief, Li Yiduo opened that part of the video.

The video clarity is average, but the smoothness and sound are very stable.

"Is it this person?"

The video fast-forwarded through a scene of an old man scrolling through his phone, smoking, and drinking alone. Soon after, a thin, balding middle-aged man sneaked in and began a vulgar chat with the old man that had no substance whatsoever.

"Pooh!"

Sun Chang and Li Siyu spat in embarrassment and anger, "Those two old scoundrels!"
However, the man nicknamed "Wei Gou" came with serious business. He took off the green Submariner from his wrist and placed it on the counter, then silently watched the thief without saying a word.

Three hundred yuan!

The old man was even more shameless than they had imagined; he offered a watch worth two or three thousand yuan for only one-tenth of its value.

"not enough!"

Wei Gou's voice was hoarse. He said in a deep voice, "Old Ghost, I owe someone two thousand yuan. I'll sell you this watch for a discount, one thousand yuan will be enough. I bought it for a high price back then, and it's no different from the real thing. I wouldn't sell it to you, you bastard, if I didn't urgently need the money."

"Three hundred and five!"

"Nine hundred!"

"Three hundred and eighty-eight, that's enough to make a fortune!"

"Eight hundred..."

The two eventually agreed on a price of 500 yuan, with Wei Gou selling the replica green Submariner to the old thief. He seemed genuinely in a hurry for the money, turning around immediately after receiving the cash, which conveniently exposed his face to the surveillance camera.

"Ok?"

Lin Ge paused for a moment, vaguely feeling that this person looked familiar, but he couldn't remember where he had seen him before.

Moreover, upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that this familiarity doesn't mean he actually knows Wei Gou, but rather that his features and that indescribable aura give Lin Ge a feeling that he's seen him somewhere before.

To give an example, some people can be identified as being from Guangdong Province at a glance, while others can be identified as being from Northeast China just by their voice; this person had some small details that made Lin Ge feel that they were familiar, and that's roughly what it was like.

"Li Yiduo, can you copy the video? We'll send it to Lü Caotang and the Zhuzhou Information Center right now."

Zhang Yong gave Li Yiduo his instructions, then turned to the old thief, who was covered in cold sweat, and said, "This Wei Gou, you know him well? You should know what he does and where he is now, right? What does he usually do?"

"This one……"

The old man chuckled dryly, wiping the cold sweat from his brow. "Actually... we're not that close. It's just that occasionally... when he loses money gambling, he'll bring his things here to pawn for cash. Of course, I would never accept stolen goods; this guy doesn't have the skills to be a thief, they're all just his own unused items. So, officer, I really don't know what he did! I've seen him wear this watch for years, how he got it has nothing to do with me!"

So...where is he now?

Zhang Yong knew that the old man would never tell the truth about everything, but that didn't matter. He could catch the man first and then figure things out later.

He glanced down at Ringo; it was unbelievable that this cat could smell traces of something from over ten years ago on a watch.

"No... I don't know, I'm really not familiar with it."

The old man remained defiant, as if the whole affair had nothing to do with him as long as he didn't confess.

However, seeing Zhang Yong's serious expression, the old man thought for a moment and then hesitated, saying, "All I know is that he usually plays mahjong at a few teahouses near the neighborhood committee. But because he has bad manners and always curses and throws things when he loses money, those teahouses don't welcome him. So sometimes he goes somewhere else to have some fun before coming back, and then he's in a better mood than usual."

"What is his real name?"

"do not know……"

"where do you live?"

"I'm just an old man who runs the shop. I don't go out much, so how would I know where someone like that lives?"

"..."

Seeing that the old man knew nothing when questioned, Zhang Yong was at a loss. After all, even if he forced the old man into being suspected of human trafficking, he could only patiently wait for the support team from Zhuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau to arrive.

After instructing the old man not to wander off and to be ready to be summoned at any time, the group confiscated the green water ghost as evidence and went outside the shop.

"Brother Zhang, what do we do now?"

Zhang Ke had a headache.

The main issue is that as police officers from out of town, there's not much they can do in Zhuzhou. If this were Zhangzhou, they wouldn't care about hiding anything; they'd find out even what underwear you wore last month.

Zhang Yong wasn't flustered at all. For his team, finding someone was a very simple matter. Other police officers needed to search for clues, key points, and even conduct a roundup to find suspects; but with Mimi around, all he needed to do was give her a clue, and she would automatically follow that information directly to the suspect's location. Unless the person had some way of completely eliminating their presence, they wouldn't be able to escape Mimi's pursuit.

"Mimi?"

"Ow!"

Lin Ge nodded, indicating that he could indeed smell the scent of the person carried by the green Submariner.

"Li Yiduo, you and Li Siyu stay here and watch over this old man. When the Zhuzhou police arrive, we'll hand over the situation to them. I'll take Zhang Ke and Sun Chang and leave first. You can contact us again after you've completed your mission."

Zhang Yong quickly made a decision to split his forces into two groups to try and catch the thug before the Zhuzhou police could act.

Li Yiduo is skilled in computer technology, so staying here to protect the video footage and cooperate with the Zhuzhou police is definitely the best option. Li Siyu stayed behind to accompany him and protect each other, while the others quickly set off with Lin Ge.

Following the directions given by the gang leader, the group quickly arrived near the neighborhood committee and found the several teahouses that were clustered together and bustling with activity.

"Excuse me, do you know this person?"

Zhang Yong, Zhang Ke, and Sun Chang split up and took out the images they had just taken on their phones to question the owners of several teahouses.

Then they discovered that the old thief hadn't lied after all; the people in the teahouses around here were all familiar with Wei Gou. This old bastard was indeed a regular at the teahouses, and he certainly had a bad temper and a terrible personality, which made everyone complain.

Surprisingly, neither the teahouse owner nor the mahjong players knew Wei Gou's real name or where he lived.

Everyone usually just calls him "Wei Gou" (meaning "Wei Dog"), and he never gets angry. Even though the word "dog" carries a hint of contempt and mockery, he responds without hesitation, as if it were his real name. Although he has a bad temper, he's surprisingly honest when it comes to gambling. Losing money is losing money, borrowing money is borrowing money, and although he often makes a scene and upsets everyone, he never goes back on his word or fails to repay debts. He might leave cursing after losing a game, but the next day he'll be back cheerfully waiting for another three. If he borrows money from the teahouse owner, he'll repay it quickly within a few days, and might even have more money left for a big gamble.

"What does he do normally? And where does he get his money? Don't you know?"

Zhang Yong raised an eyebrow.

The group looked at each other and slowly shook their heads.

He's just a complete stranger playing cards; who cares what he does for a living? Besides, he looks like an old man of retirement age; maybe he has more pension money than he can spend?

"This guy is even more mysterious than we imagined!"

Zhang Ke shook his head with a sigh.

Zhang Yong suddenly sneered and said, "Perhaps it's not mysterious, but rather that the work he does is shady! Mimi is certain that this guy is related to Ai Yun, and these card players also say that Wei Gou is a big spender who always gambles. Where do you think he got his money all these years?"

"You mean he's still doing it now..." Zhang Ke and Sun Chang looked at each other in bewilderment.

Zhang Yong nodded slowly.

"Damn it!"

Sun Chang gritted his teeth and cursed.

Lin Ge's expression was also not good.

Human traffickers are far more despicable than any other criminal. Those who commodify people should not exist in this world!
"Sun Chang! Mimi!"

Li Siyu's voice drifted over from afar, followed by several Zhuzhou police officers. It seemed that Lü Caotang hadn't delayed when he received Zhang Yong's warning, but had quickly dispatched backup.

The leader was Chen Song, who was also leading his beloved dog. It seems that Lü Caotang also knew that police dogs were needed to help with this kind of missing person search, so this time he also brought in the Zhuzhou City Police Dog Squadron to join this crackdown campaign.

Zhang Yong didn't hide anything and recounted what he had just learned to these people.

Upon learning that Zhang Yong suspected Wei Gou might still be involved in human trafficking, everyone's expressions turned grim. Unlike Sun Chang and Lin Ge, as local police officers from Zhuzhou, the shame and embarrassment of knowing that human traffickers were brazenly operating in their jurisdiction was almost unbearable. Having their own police station exposed to outside colleagues' shortcomings was far more painful than seeing someone win the lottery.

"We must catch him immediately!"

Chen Song made the decision through gritted teeth.

"Then let Mimi and your police dog work together to search! Since Wei Gou is often around here, we should be able to find quite a few clues about him. Also, how's it going with the technical center? Have they found out Wei Gou's real identity yet?"

Zhang Yong stopped the indignant Zhuzhou police officers from becoming agitated.

"Li Wei, nicknamed Wei Gou, also known as Li Er Gou or Li Du Gou, had a criminal record after being caught by the police for gambling. But we really didn't expect that he was also a human trafficker!"

One of the accompanying police officers, both angry and frustrated, slammed his fist into his palm before continuing, "We contacted the community and learned that he lives not far from here, in a house he bought two years ago. He claims that his son bought the house for him to live in his old age. But according to the community, his son has long since disowned him! Ever since his wife committed suicide by drinking pesticide twenty years ago, his son has become his enemy. The community hasn't seen his son come back to visit him in all these years, making the story of him buying the house even more suspicious. Now, thinking about it, the money he used to buy the house does seem to have some dubious origin, and this person is highly suspicious."

"Suicide by taking poison?"

Sun Chang was stunned for a moment.

What kind of despair and anger would drive someone to commit suicide by forcibly swallowing pesticide?
"Maybe she found out that her husband is a human trafficker, a fact that is both despairing and shameful?"

Lin Ge muttered to himself.

Led by the policeman, the group left in a grand manner, with five or six police cars moving together under the watchful eyes of passersby, and soon arriving at Li Wei's new house.

The security guard at the entrance of the residential compound was startled to see such a large group of police officers arrive. After confirming with the police that Li Wei did indeed live there, he eagerly led everyone to Li Wei's door.

I knocked on the door, but no one answered.

They sent someone to inquire with the property management and check the surveillance footage, discovering that Li Wei hadn't returned for over a week.

Chen Song called Lü Caotang and received permission to break down the door. He then called a locksmith to open the door to Li Wei's new house and went inside to conduct a thorough inspection.

Upon entering, they found the house to be more spacious than expected. Although the hard furnishings were complete and looked quite nice, the soft furnishings were very basic. Apart from a sofa, bed, dining table, and basic furniture, there was nothing else noteworthy. Such a spacious house was also very easy to search. Seven or eight police officers were assigned to their respective areas and quickly found out the general layout of the house.

"Nothing unusual was found."

Several police officers emerged from the room, bathroom, and kitchen, their brows furrowed in disappointment.

Having already established Li Wei as a suspect, the lack of any leads is not a good thing. It suggests that either Li Wei is extremely cunning and experienced in evading the police, or he has multiple hideouts and other locations specifically for handling criminal activities.

Li Yiduo, who was reviewing the surveillance footage at the property management office, returned with two police officers, shaking his head to indicate that he had found nothing.

“Li Wei only used this house as a place to sleep. He left early and returned late every day, and hardly had any contact with anyone. I contacted his next-door neighbors and the people upstairs and downstairs, and they all said they had no impression of Li Wei. The residents upstairs even said that they had only seen someone in the house when it was being renovated in the past two years, and they had never seen this family come in or out since. They hadn’t even seen Li Wei once in two years, which is outrageous.”

Li Yiduo shook his head, and seeing everyone's disappointment, he quickly continued, "However, I've noticed something amiss. Li Wei goes on a long trip almost every month or so. Judging from the surveillance footage, it usually lasts seven to ten days. This trip shouldn't have been to a very far location, because I noticed he didn't even bring a suitcase. And combined with the description from the teahouse earlier, it's safe to say that every time he goes out, he returns quite well-off. When he's short of money, he gambles for a few hundred yuan, but after his business trips, he usually bets thousands or even tens of thousands. And even if he loses a lot these past two days, he doesn't get angry."

"This shows that he made his money easily, and in large amounts! That bastard must have contacted a buyer in the last few days and is eager to go out and make a fortune!"

A policeman angrily interrupted Li Yiduo.

"But where did he go?"

No one doubted the possibility of Li Wei's crime, but now was not the time to consider that. There was no point in staying here any longer; the real questions were whether the police's actions had alerted him, and whether Li Wei would return to walk right into their trap.

"Mimi?"

Li Siyu noticed that Lin Ge was still in the bedroom and hadn't come out. Thinking that her cat might have discovered some clues again, she quickly chased after him.

Upon entering Li Wei's master bedroom, the smoky and foul smell made Li Siyu frown, confirming that it was indeed a room for a man living alone. However, Li Siyu noticed that Mimi wasn't checking anything; it was just staring blankly at a framed photo on the bedside table, lost in thought.

She leaned closer to take a look and found that the photo was a group picture of several men. The background was an ordinary suburban landscape, a grove of trees and a fishpond, nothing special.

There were seven people in the group photo, of varying ages; Li Siyu recognized him at a glance. The one standing in the middle, smiling brightly with his arms around the necks of the two men on either side, was the slightly younger Li Wei. At that time, he looked to be only in his thirties or forties.

Without a doubt, everyone in this group photo is connected to Li Wei, and their relationship should still be very good to this day.

Otherwise, Li Wei wouldn't have put this group photo on the headboard of his bed every night.

But there are only seven people, and their identities can only be determined through the police system. What's the point of Mimi staring intently here? Their names and identities aren't even written down.
Imagine Li Siyu picking up the photo frame and carefully disassembling it to take the photo out.

Looking at the back, there was indeed no name tag. The photographic paper used was also very ordinary; it wouldn't be easy to find out where the photo was developed based on it.

"Mimi, what are you looking at?"

Li Siyu felt that Mimi must have discovered something, or perhaps there was a special smell in the photo?

"Ow!"

Lin Ge responded, gesturing for Li Siyu to quickly put the photo down.

Regarding her doubts, Lin Ge stated that he had indeed discovered something. Or rather, from the very first moment he saw Li Wei in the surveillance footage, Lin Ge sensed something was amiss. And now, seeing this photo, he finally understood.

In this photo, Lin Ge recognized not only Li Wei, but also two other people he also remembered.

Thinking for a moment, Lin Ge jumped off the bedside table, came to the living room, and tugged at Sun Chang's trouser leg, signaling her to come and take a look with him.

"Woo~!"

The police dog Chen Song brought whimpered, sounding somewhat aggrieved. Its boss hadn't even glanced at it once since they met; did the dog have a problem with it?

"I'll talk to you later!"

With important business at hand, Lin Ge gave a brief reply and impatiently urged Sun Chang to hurry up and go over.

(End of this chapter)