537: The King of Thieves

"What's wrong, Brother Zhong? Are you feeling lonely?" Su Yue said with a smile. "I'm alone in my room all day, of course I feel lonely. Speaking of which, Taoyang has a few attractions worth visiting, have you been?"

"After I arrived in Taoyang, I came straight to the Special Task Force," Qi Si thought for a moment and said. "I passed by a few scenic spots in the past couple of days, but I didn't have enough time or the mood to visit. Let's wait until this is over, after all, I'm here for work, not vacation."

"Brother Zhong, you're not a local of Taoyang, are you? Do you have any scenic spots you can recommend?" Qi Si asked.

Zhong Qi nodded and replied, "I don't have anything good to recommend. Although I think the scenery near my home isn't worse than what's in the scenic spots, no matter what, I grew up in the mountains. Instead of going to scenic spots, it's better to spend more time in the lab. If you have time to go up north, the scenery near my home is also quite nice."

The registered address of the identity Su Yue bought for Zhong Qi was in a remote small mountain village in the north. Since the census didn't cover that area, it wasn't strange for a young man in his twenties to not have identification papers. This was the source of the real fake ID. There were many such villages across the country, so as long as the address Zheng Ziping gave Su Yue remained valid, Su Yue wouldn't have to worry about his identity, at least.

Hearing Zhong Qi's words, Qi Si nodded and said, "The north? If it's further north, I actually quite want to go see it..."

While they were chatting, the host on the TV started speaking, "Next is the follow-up report on the 'Finding Family from Afar' story. We have compiled a special program, which is expected to air between 7:30 PM and 8:00 PM. Dear viewers, today's news ends here. Thank you for watching..."

After hearing this, Qi Si asked again, "Where were we just now, Brother Zhong?"

"You said you wanted to go see the north," Zhong Qi replied. "Perfect, see when you have time, I'll take you on a trip up north, food and accommodation included."

Qi Si laughed heartily and said, "That would be great."

However, Qi Si didn't notice the gleam in "Brother Zhong"'s eyes at that moment. Although Qi Si was very careful not to reveal anything, Su Yue still caught more details. After all, Qi Si's vigilance towards Zhong Qi was not high at this time, especially given that Zhong Qi had repeatedly wanted to resign. However, the clues he left for Su Yue in his words at this moment already doomed the Municipal Bureau's arrest operation to complete failure.

...

In Qingzhou, Chu Qing was waiting for her interviewee at Qingzhou Station. She had arranged to question someone about what happened on train K331 at that time. At this point, she had found out the location where Zhao Ping committed suicide, and now what she needed to do was find out how Su Yue left Qingzhou Station. She only had two hours to complete and submit the draft, otherwise it would be too late for the printing and distribution of the supplement. Her time was very tight, but the railway Officer Si employee she had arranged to meet was late. His phone was off when she called, and it was difficult to find other people involved to interview now. In this dilemma, Chu Qing could only send a message to Yan Xiao saying, "If I don't send you the final draft, then forget it. Just go with the initial draft."

Yan Xiao had also been following this matter, and he was waiting by the computer for Chu Qing's message. He replied, "Okay, I'll wait here."

Chu Qing waited for a long time, until an hour and a half later, the guy in the work uniform finally arrived late. Seeing him come, Chu Qing didn't say much about him being late; she just ordered two cups of coffee and then immediately and quickly said, "Because we have to submit the draft in half an hour, I'll ask quickly, and you answer quickly." After saying this, Chu Qing skillfully took out her laptop and started asking the questions she had prepared one by one.

"Before the arrest operation began on train K331, you were on the train, right?"

"Yes."

"When the search for Zhao Ping was being conducted on train K331, you were also present?"

The person replied, "Yes. I was there. At that time, Zhao Ping was holding an old lady hostage and told us to open the train door. Then he pushed the old lady, and the comrades from the Municipal Bureau pulled the old lady back... But Zhao Ping himself jumped off, I saw it with my own eyes... But later they said he committed suicide in the City... I don't know about that situation."

Chu Qing truthfully recorded his words, and while recording, continued, "Then did you receive news that Su Yue was also on the train?"

"Su Yue?" Hearing this name, the railway Officer Si employee was a little surprised. "The Su Yue you're talking about, is he the one who flies planes? He was on the train at that time!?"

The expression on the face of this railway Officer Si staff member was extremely rich. Seven days ago, the news about He Jiaxin being Su Yue was still trending, and he naturally knew Su Yue's situation like the back of his hand; his level of attention even exceeded that of ordinary people. After all, train K331 passes through Shanghai, and as a crew member on the train, he would naturally pay more attention to the matters concerning Su Yue in Shanghai. However, he never expected that Su Yue was actually on the very train he was working on at that time!

Hearing his surprised words, Chu Qing nodded with a serious expression and then said, "Not only that, but even the matter of Zhao Ping's suicide is very likely related to Su Yue."

These words invigorated the railway Officer Si. He adjusted his sitting posture, leaned slightly forward, and said in a low voice, "Really? Now that you mention it, it does seem a bit like that."

Chu Qing's eyes lit up; she realized the key point had arrived.

"When the train arrived at the station at that time, the people from the Qingzhou Municipal Bureau were already waiting to escort the thieves. But just when we all thought it was over, someone suddenly told us not to move in the lounge. Then there was a lockdown near the train station, which was lifted about thirty minutes later. This... should be related to Su Yue, right? We didn't think much of it at the time, but if Su Yue was there, then these things could indeed be related to him."

Chu Qing's fingers were tapping rapidly on the keyboard. Just these clues were enough to complete the last piece of the puzzle in her mind, forming a whole picture!

"So that means..." Chu Qing's eyes were sharp, and she spoke softly and thoughtfully, "Did Su Yue disguise himself as a crew member? And then left through the staff passage..."

Saying this, she turned the laptop screen to face the other person. The screen showed a satellite map of Qingzhou City. She pointed to the station's location on the map and asked, "Is this the staff passage?"

The railway Officer Si looked carefully and then nodded. Chu Qing immediately marked a point here, and then marked the location of Zhao Ping's suicide. Between these two points, there was clearly a straight path.

At this point, she had almost completely deduced Su Yue's path of action in reverse. However, the more she could personally experience the situation at the time, the faster her heart beat. She could even imagine that at Qingzhou Station, the entire station was surrounded by the Municipal Bureau, yet Su Yue, alone, blended into the crowd, quickly left, and even calculated against Zhao Ping. What was he thinking at that time?

Chu Qing's stiffened fingers didn't pause for too long; after all, time was tight. She immediately saved the document and sent it to Gong Qiusheng, who was still waiting.

"It's done!"

...

On November 13th, a new issue of Observation Weekly was released.

Beijing office workers hurried on their way in the morning, and few people visited the newspaper stands at the subway station entrances. The best-selling items at the newspaper stands were not newspapers and books, but rather grilled sausages, drinks, and bottled water. However, on this day, the newspaper stand unusually attracted people's attention. On the cover of Observation Weekly, two prominent characters were written in red against a black background as the title, and that title was "Su Yue".

"Revealed! Su Yue's Detailed Action Plan from Shanghai to Qingzhou!"

The heat of Su Yue's exposure had not completely subsided, and people still retained curiosity about the Su Yue incident. At this moment, upon suddenly seeing new news, their curiosity, which had just quieted down a bit, was reignited.

Especially after their attention was drawn by the words "Su Yue" and they saw the entire title, they also began to mutter to themselves, "Yeah, how exactly did Su Yue get to Qingzhou?"

At this moment, in front of the newspaper stand, an office worker saw that time was running out, but he still stopped and, after a long time, bought a copy of the publication at the newsstand.

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Just like this, this news spread silently.

On the subway, seeing the book held by a stranger, and seeing the words "Su Yue" on the cover of that publication, people also became curious.

The sales of this issue of Observation Weekly soared!

Just during the morning rush hour, the newly released publication was already sold out!

Observation Weekly immediately chose to print and reprint, but at this time online, the information they had exposed had already been published on Weibo.

Although there was no official media summary report this time, due to people's curiosity, a topic quickly started to heat up!

#The person who beheaded the King of Thieves on K331 was actually Su Yue!#

Su Yue is now comparable to a trending celebrity; although he doesn't have any albums or movies released, the popularity his name brings is far stronger than that of real celebrities!

People were full of curiosity about Su Yue's affairs.

When #The person who beheaded the King of Thieves on K331 was actually Su Yue!# reached the trending topics list, another trending topic, #K331 Incident#, also rapidly climbed in popularity. "So Zhao Ping's suicide was related to Su Yue!"

"It seems Su Yue said something to Zhao Ping at the end, which led Zhao Ping to despair and commit suicide!"

"What exactly did Su Yue say?"

At this time, Su Yue already had a fan base. After the ZC5546 incident, those fans of He Jiaxin also came over to Su Yue's side without any change.

The previous exposure made Su Yue even more popular.

And this time, after Observation Weekly published the matter of Su Yue's journey from Shanghai to Qingzhou, they even began to compile Su Yue's route map! "

"Su Yue's Route Journey, calling for fellow travelers to experience the thrill of Su Yue's journey and personally recreate Su Yue's mental process!"

"I'm signing up! Asking for the same train number as Su Yue!" Some people had even found business opportunities from this matter. The already popular indoor escape room games had new material.

Many indoor escape room Bosses across the country quickly began recreating the scenes related to Su Yue, including the college entrance exam site and the K331 train car. After the advertisements were released, they instantly became a huge hit!

Advance tickets were instantly sold out! Due to the large number of ticket buyers, three carriages had to be added to train K331, but even so, tickets were still hard to come by.

People became enthusiastic. They couldn't experience flying a plane, but they could personally experience Su Yue's train journey.

However, the matter was not over. After this incident was exposed, some careful people raised a question.

"How did Su Yue buy the train ticket?"

"How exactly did Su Yue buy the train ticket?" As soon as this question was raised, it immediately sparked widespread speculation and heated discussion among people.

Since Su Yue didn't have an ID card, how did he manage to board train K331?

Many people began to discuss whether there were loopholes to exploit in the ticket purchasing process.

Among them, an answer on Zhihu gained extremely high attention and likes.

"Regarding the question of how Su Yue bought a ticket and boarded the train, this is what I think. Since he couldn't use an ID card, and purchasing a ticket requires identification, Su Yue's only option was to buy a ticket by obtaining a temporary ID card.

Compared to machines, human eyes are more easily deceived.

For Su Yue to be able to buy a ticket and board K331 without drawing attention, after thinking about it, this seems to be the only way.

However, there's also a question here: How did Su Yue deceive the staff issuing temporary identification?

Applying for a temporary identification requires a certificate from the employer, personal identification, and a photo, which is quite difficult.

But Su Yue is Su Yue after all. If we could guess how he did it, he wouldn't still be at large today.

I've written so much, please give a like."

This answer was not only well-reasoned but also full of room for imagination. People couldn't help but wonder if they could successfully escape using this method if they were in his place.

Because of this, this answer quickly became popular on Zhihu and was screenshotted and reposted by many major influencers, gaining extremely high popularity. The answerer also became famous as a result.

...

At the same time, Director Zhang Shengtong of the Shanghai Municipal Bureau felt overwhelmed. He felt it was time to disconnect the landline on his desk, because ever since he sat in his office, the phone had been ringing incessantly.

"Su Yue isn't even in Qingzhou anymore, so why are there still so many issues?" he complained. "Who leaked these matters? These are classified!"

He picked up the Observation Weekly from his desk and flipped through it, but quickly understood that the secrets hadn't actually been leaked. The article was merely a speculation, and it repeatedly emphasized that it was a speculation from the very beginning. However, aside from some inaccurate details, the article had almost recreated the scene based on the results and process.

Zhang Shengtong gritted his teeth. Now, all he could think about was how to handle this situation. As public opinion fermented, sooner or later someone would call for Su Yue, who had punished villains and saved everyone on a plane, to be acquitted. He felt a headache because he had never encountered such a situation and lacked sufficient experience.

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