126: Chapter 126 The Veteran Detective's Legs Gone Weak

Li Li pressed the hang-up button.

The background static from the speakerphone vanished.

Officer Zhao's pen hovered above the paper, a drop of ink congealing without falling.

Officer Fang was stunned.

Cheng Songyan leaned against the back of his chair, arms crossed over his chest, silent.

The three of them reacted in uncanny unison.

"You hung up?"

"You're being strange just like that?"

"No, is this person sick?"

Officer Fang spoke first, her voice rising by half a tone.

"Mr. Li, why didn't you continue communicating with the other party? He called you voluntarily; you should have found a way to make him talk more. The longer the conversation, the more accurate the technical triangulation of his location based on language habits, background noise, and call duration..."

"Wait a second."

Li Li interrupted her.

Officer Fang's words stuck in her throat.

"I need to make a call."

Li Li found a number in his call history.

No contact name, no profile picture, just a pure eleven-digit number.

Officer Fang glanced at it; the prefix wasn't a common carrier format.

Officer Zhao's hand hovered back over the walkie-talkie on his waist.

He dialed.

Beep, beep.

It connected.

"Hello, please state your identification information."

A female voice, standard and devoid of any emotional fluctuation, enunciating with such precision that every syllable was of equal length. It wasn't a voice assistant, but it was trained to sound even more mechanical than one.

Cheng Songyan lowered his arms from his chest.

Li Li stated his name and a string of numbers.

"I have a situation that needs to be reported."

"Please wait."

Wait.

Officer Zhao silently mouthed to Officer Fang: What kind of phone call is this?

Officer Fang shook her head.

The red light on the voice recorder was still flashing.

Thirty seconds.

Much faster than last time; last time it took four minutes, this time someone answered in half a minute.

"Mr. Li Li."

A male voice, middle-aged, steady, devoid of any superfluous tone particles.

"We have been monitoring your phone."

Li Li: "..."

Fine.

Expected, but hearing it said directly was still quite a shock.

Privacy? What privacy?

Ever since he returned from Dubai, his phone had essentially been a public channel, which was why he chose to chat with Jiang Rumu on WeChat.

It would be monitored regardless, but the feedback was slower, so as long as he felt no third party was listening at the moment, it wouldn't be awkward.

"We have already intercepted and analyzed that incoming call."

The other party's speech rate was neither fast nor slow, delivering one piece of information per sentence.

"The other party used top-tier hacking methods to breach the SUV's onboard system, remotely activated the autonomous driving module, and rammed into the target location at 180 kilometers per hour. The impact caused the battery pack to experience thermal runaway."

Li Li leaned against the back of his chair, not interrupting. He had already deduced this at the scene.

"But the battery pack alone was insufficient to cause an explosion of that scale."

The other party paused for a beat.

"We suggest you have the fire investigators focus on inspecting the interior of the restaurant. There is a high probability that gas canisters were placed there in advance. The impact igniting the battery was just the surface; the gas canisters were the key to expanding the fire."

Cheng Songyan stiffened.

A community restaurant would naturally have gas canisters.

But the implication of the words "placed there in advance" was completely different.

Someone had entered that restaurant before the explosion, set everything up, and waited for that car to crash in.

Officer Zhao finally couldn't hold back.

He put down his pen, gestured to Li Li, pointing at the phone and then at himself, his lips clearly forming three words: What phone call?

Li Li spoke directly into the phone.

"There are two criminal police officers from the Luohu Branch at the scene."

There was silence on the other end for two seconds.

"Let them listen."

Li Li pushed the phone to the center of the table.

Officer Zhao sat up straight and cleared his throat.

"This is the Criminal Investigation Brigade of the Luohu Branch of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau. My surname is Zhao, badge number XXXXXXXX."

"Officer Zhao."

The other party interrupted his introduction.

"It is inconvenient for me to fully disclose my identity over the phone. You can understand it as... the relevant departments."

The relevant departments.

Good grief, as a police officer, to be told "the relevant departments."

With those four words placed on the table, Officer Zhao's mouth, which was about to recite his badge number, slowly closed.

He had been a policeman for twenty years and had heard the words "the relevant departments" more than fifty times, but only twice had it truly made the back of his neck go cold.

Once was the knife attack incident in front of a foreign consulate in Shenzhen thirteen years ago.

The second time was now.

"You will receive official notification shortly. This matter needs to be handled as a special case."

Officer Zhao's hand moved away from the walkie-talkie, his five fingers lying flat on the table.

"The autonomous driving situation of that SUV cannot be made public. For the media and the public, use a unified statement: the driver jumped from the vehicle to escape before the impact, and we are currently investigating."

Officer Fang's pen stopped on her notebook, half a character written.

"The scene requires corresponding forensic processing. Detailed procedures will be included in the notification. The core principle is one thing: do not cause panic."

Officer Zhao opened his mouth.

"Then Li..."

Beep, beep, beep.

It hung up.

The speed at which "the relevant departments" hung up was highly consistent with their speaking style: accurate, efficient, and giving you no room to ask follow-up questions.

Officer Zhao held the phone, the question of "What exactly is Mr. Li's identity?" stuck in his throat.

Officer Fang looked down at the voice recorder; the red light was still on. She hesitated for a moment and didn't turn it off.

Then, the phone in Officer Zhao's pocket rang.

He took it out and looked.

Shenzhen Public Security Bureau.

Not the branch. Not the brigade.

The Municipal Bureau.

He answered faster than usual.

"Zhao Desheng?"

He recognized the voice on the other end of the line—not that he knew the person, but he recognized the voice, the voice that spoke from the very center of the podium at the city-wide public security system conference.

The head of the Municipal Bureau.

Officer Zhao popped up from his chair with a "snap."

"Here, sir!"

He shouted out of conditioned reflex. Officer Fang was so startled by the commotion that her pen dropped onto the table.

The bureau chief spoke for less than thirty seconds.

Officer Zhao replied with only four words the entire time.

"Understood."

"Received."

The call ended.

Officer Zhao stood in the middle of the conference room, the phone still pressed to his ear, his body slightly leaning forward—it was the preparatory movement for a salute—but the other party couldn't see it, and this phantom salute remained frozen for two seconds.

Officer Fang looked at him.

Cheng Songyan looked at him.

Li Li leaned against the back of his chair, not moving.

Officer Zhao slowly lowered his phone, tucked it into his pocket, looked down at the open notebook on the table, and closed it.

He turned to Li Li.

He glanced at Li Li's face.

That look was complex: confusion, wariness, and a sense of bewilderment like "what kind of pit did I fall into tonight."

"Mr. Li, thank you for your hard work today."

Officer Zhao tucked the notebook under his arm.

"We will handle the rest. You... don't need to cooperate anymore."

He bit off the words "don't need to" very lightly, but very clearly.

Not "don't need to for now." It was that the higher-ups said, no need.

Officer Fang stood up, and the voice recorder was finally turned off. She followed Officer Zhao toward the door, her footsteps slowing by half a beat as she passed Li Li.

Twenty-five years old, having just finished putting out a fire, half of his face still covered in uncleaned black soot, his left sleeve wrapped in medical tape.

An internet celebrity with nearly 100 million followers.

An internet celebrity who could call "the relevant departments" directly.

An internet celebrity whom the bureau chief personally called to care for.

Officer Fang withdrew her gaze and followed Officer Zhao out the door.

In the corridor, the sound of their footsteps faded.

After turning the corner at the stairwell, Officer Fang finally couldn't hold back.

"Brother Zhao."

Officer Zhao made an acknowledging sound.

"What did the bureau chief say just now? Why did he stop asking?"

Officer Zhao's footsteps paused. He scanned the corridor left and right, confirmed no one was around, and lowered his voice.

"The bureau chief said it was a call from the Central Military Commission notifying the Secretary, and the Secretary notified him."

Officer Fang's footsteps froze.

"The Mili..."

She didn't dare say the word that followed.

Officer Zhao didn't stop, continuing to walk downstairs, his voice drifting back.

"Don't ask, just do your job."

Officer Fang stood at the stairwell, holding the railing, and swallowed.

That TikTok influencer.

Was he really that incredible?

She shook her head and quickly chased after Officer Zhao's silhouette.

Only two people remained in the conference room.

Cheng Songyan and Li Li.

The air conditioner hummed, and Officer Zhao's unfinished cup of water was still on the table.

Cheng Songyan stared at Li Li.

A full ten seconds.

Li Li felt the scrutiny but didn't move. What couldn't be explained shouldn't be explained; what could be explained didn't need to be explained.

Cheng Songyan stood up, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a harsh friction sound.

He walked to the door and pulled it open.

"Training tomorrow as usual."

He paused.

"You can be a bit late, nine o'clock, let them rest a bit."

The door closed.

Li Li sat alone in the eight-seater conference room.

Outside the window came the low rumble of engines from the reinforcement fire trucks, the whistles of traffic police, and the crowd of onlookers dispersing.

He looked down at the medical tape wrapped around his left arm; the bloodstains had stopped seeping.

He took out his phone.

The chat box with Jiang Rumu was still on that meme of a husky carrying a Band-Aid.

He typed a few words, then deleted them.

He typed again.

"Don't scroll TikTok about today's events, and even if you do, don't read the comments."

He sent it.

Three seconds.

The other side replied with two words.

"Too late."

The next message popped up immediately.

"Already finished reading, it's the number one trending topic, Dean Li."

Li Li stared at this line of text, no name and surname used, thankfully.

His thumb rested above the input box, hovering without falling.

Outside the window, a fire truck started its engine, the roar coming from the direction of the garage, and the whole building shook.

On the phone screen, the cursor flashed in the input box.

He typed five words.

"We'll talk in person next time."

There was no instant reply.

One minute later, a voice message popped up.

Li Li hesitated for a moment, then clicked it.

Jiang Rumu's voice was very soft, so soft it didn't quite sound like her.

"Then you owe me more and more."