37: Under tremendous pressure

Qi Huaiyi's special task force had, from the very beginning, categorized this case as a hijacking, as the plane had suddenly disappeared, and no plane fragments or wreckage had been found yet. Furthermore, there was a Fusang People culprit on board, making the possibility of a hijacking very high.

He still trusted Geng Yun a great deal. After all, both the Qi Family and the Geng Family were among the five great super Families of the Southern Imperial Capital, and the two had known each other since childhood. He understood Geng Yun's character and work ability well. Therefore, he believed it was impossible for Geng Yun himself to be the problem. The problem could only lie with the five great Families or the personnel within the County Government.

As a result, the five Family heads were summoned to the County Government in rotation for questioning. In addition, personnel within the County Government, from the chief clerk and steward down to the house servants and maids, as well as the County Government guards who participated in escorting the culprit and the families of the flight crew, all became suspects. Everyone had to undergo investigation, and to clear their names, they had to provide strong evidence themselves. For a time, Fengyang County was in an uproar, with everyone fearing for themselves!

The Great Ming people naturally knew how formidable the Embroidered Uniform Guard and the Jianxuan Envoy Department were. The power of these special task forces was virtually limitless. As long as they suspected you, they could even arrest, torture, and interrogate you without a judicial arrest warrant. Sometimes, even if you were beaten to death, there would be no repercussions; they could act first and report later.

The five great Families also became alarmed at this point, scrambling to use various means to curry favor with Qi Huaiyi, hoping to extricate themselves from this incident as soon as possible. Otherwise, if, by some oversight, their Family was found to be connected to this matter, then at best, individuals would face severe punishment or be beaten to death with a staff. At worst, the entire Family would be at risk of collective punishment!

Once collective punishment was truly enforced, it would be utterly over. All personnel and the foundation of the entire Family would be destroyed in an instant. This was what terrified all the Families the most! In Great Ming, no one wasn't afraid of this charge…

However, even if the various Families exhausted every means to prove their innocence, with national reporters scrutinizing them and the public discussing it daily, and Qi Huaiyi being someone who took pleasure in solving cases, how could he be easily swayed by their sugar-coated bullets?

Therefore, this special task force was stationed in Fengyang County for over a month, tormenting the five great Families and other suspects daily, causing immense stress for each of them, with many visibly losing hair…

On a related note, Qi Huaiyi himself was under no small amount of pressure, as his superiors had given him little time. The plane had still not been found, making the possibility of a hijacking increasingly likely, and his pressure was accordingly growing. After more than a month of investigation, he had still failed to find the true culprit or the insider who leaked information. This had brought the case to a complete standstill, preventing him from making any progress whatsoever, which was absolutely unprecedented in his past case-solving experience!

Of course, his investigation over the past month was not entirely fruitless. After the Xuanwu Guard and the County Government guards assisted in the investigation, he still relied on his intuition to focus on the Ye Family. In his opinion, the Ye Family was the most suspicious because they had the motive!

Ye Yuhuang, the head of the Ye Family, had shown a strong desire for revenge during the last County Government meeting, wanting to keep the Fusang People culprit at the Ye Family and personally handle the punishment and revenge. Therefore, after learning the news that the County Government was escorting the culprit to Yingtian Prefecture, they might have first tried to find out the departure time of the special plane and the information of the escort personnel, and then arranged to hijack the plane midway…

But suspicion aside, did the Ye Family truly possess such great capability?

To hijack a special plane in broad daylight and evade official investigation, disappearing without a trace?

Regarding this, Qi Huaiyi was somewhat disbelieving. In his opinion, if this matter were orchestrated by one of the super Families of the Imperial Capital, it would be no problem. However, the Fengyang Ye Family was merely a third-tier Family. Even if they were slightly stronger and had help from the higher-level Ye Family, it would be very difficult for them to achieve this. After all, to achieve such a goal, a great deal of resources would need to be mobilized, which also meant a huge cost. For the Ye Family, paying so much just to keep a Fusang People culprit for revenge seemed disproportionate.

Moreover, for great Families, the focus should be more on interests rather than simply satisfying grudges, otherwise a Family would find it very difficult to endure long-term.

If it wasn't the Ye Family, then it was highly likely to be the Fusang People themselves. They certainly had a greater motive to rescue that culprit. However, it would not be easy for the Fusang People to achieve this, as they were committing a crime in a foreign country. The resources and cost required to carry out this matter without anyone knowing would be unimaginable. Furthermore, it's not impossible that they succeeded with the help of certain domestic forces. If that were truly the case, then this matter would be even more intriguing, and what it implied behind the scenes was something even Qi Huaiyi himself probably dared not delve into…

"Could it really be the Fusang People? They should have left some clues if they did this, right? It's impossible for me not to have found anything at all!" Qi Huaiyi pondered to himself.

Thinking of this, he suddenly remembered another special task force from the Southern Division that went to investigate the scene of the special plane's disappearance. They had not found anything before, and he wondered about their current progress. So, he called their leader, Hai Xiang, and asked, "Brother Hai, how are things on your end? Have you found the plane?"

"Brother Qi, not yet! We've already mobilized people across the country online to provide information, but we still don't have any concrete intelligence…" Hai Xiang said.

"How is that possible? Such a large plane couldn't just vanish into thin air, could it?" Qi Huaiyi said incredulously.

"Sigh, I don't believe it either! But on the day the plane disappeared, there was a massive downpour in the Copper Ridge area. The cloud cover was extremely thick. You know the capabilities of our official radar; it's perfectly normal that it didn't detect the plane. It's just that the public is unwilling to believe that Great Ming's radar would be so poor, and you know we can't tell them that…" Hai Xiang sighed.

Qi Huaiyi fell silent upon hearing this. There was nothing he could do; it was indeed a fact that Great Ming's radar System was very poor, with little difference between having it and not. Sometimes, it was even less clear than the soul sense detection of powerful individuals. Relying on the radar System for information was less reliable than relying on information provided by the public. This should also be the main reason why Hai Xiang placed his hopes on unexpected discoveries from the public across various regions.

"Then what should we do? Director Yu has only given us one week left! If we don't give him an answer, I'm afraid we'll be reprimanded when we go back!!!" Qi Huaiyi sighed.

"Brother Qi, this time it might really be over! Our pressure is actually nothing; Director Yu and their pressure is truly immense! I heard that even the Great Emperor has been alarmed by this matter and has sent an imperial envoy to inquire about it! Also, half a month ago, the Fusang Country sent diplomatic envoys to our Ministry of Foreign Affairs, demanding that we hand over that Fusang People culprit. Their argument is that it has not yet been confirmed whether this culprit is even Fusang People, and we cannot just pin the blame on them like this. Therefore, this culprit must be handed over to them for interrogation, and if it truly was their person who acted, then the punishment must also be carried out by the Fusang Country themselves. Listen to the garbage they're spouting…" Hai Xiang said angrily.

"This is truly outrageous!!!" Qi Huaiyi was also filled with indignation.

"Brother Qi, have you found the insider on your end? Now we can only rely on your side!"

"This… there is no insider…"

"How is that possible? How did they manage it without an insider?!"

"I mean, we haven't caught the insider yet…"

……