162: Yao Shengli, the owner of the transportation company

The person who reported it, surnamed He, said that his car, which he had parked at a chicken farm, had been stolen.

The time of the report was exactly the evening before the sulfuric acid truck accident, and thanks to the efforts of the local police, the car was found in an abandoned factory at 6:00 PM the next day.

Lei Zhen immediately took everyone to that abandoned factory. By then, the car had already been driven away by comrades from the police station and returned to its owner.

There were other tire tracks left at the scene. It was obvious that the car had been driven here on purpose, and then those two people took the child and left in another vehicle.

This abandoned chemical plant had been derelict for many years, and there was no surveillance nearby, which was why they chose this place to switch vehicles.

In other words, the trail had gone cold.

Lei Zhen could only pin his hopes on the stolen white car, hoping to find traces left by the two men inside, such as fingerprints or hair.

However, to his surprise, after the car was recovered, the owner had given it a thorough cleaning. There wasn't a single fingerprint, let alone hair, left in the car.

Zhu Xiaojun was puzzled: "Even if it was cleaned, it shouldn't be completely devoid of fingerprints, right? And there weren't even any of the child's fingerprints."

"It is highly likely that those two wore gloves, and the child might have been put inside something like a bag," Lei Zhen analyzed. "We are not dealing with ordinary criminals."

The child had been missing for nearly a week, and they didn't even know if he was dead or alive.

But Lei Zhen knew very well that for every minute they delayed, the child was in greater danger; he had to find him as soon as possible.

For a moment, the investigation lost its direction, and everyone began to feel a bit lost.

And for this kind of case, Lei Zhen's Eye of Sin was almost useless.

"Come on, keep me company for a smoke." Zheng Wenchang came over and patted Lei Zhen on the shoulder.

Lei Zhen nodded and followed his master to the smoking room.

Once inside the smoking room, Zheng Wenchang pulled a pack of a brand of premium cigarettes from his pocket, opened it, and took out two cigarettes. He handed one to Lei Zhen and put one in his own mouth.

"How is it still new? Haven't you smoked a single one yet?" Lei Zhen asked.

"They cost over five hundred yuan each; how could I bear to smoke them casually?" Zheng Wenchang laughed. "I've had them in my pocket for days and couldn't bring myself to open the pack."

Lei Zhen laughed: "It's fine, I'll help you get a few more cartons when I have the chance."

Lei Zhen nodded, took out a lighter to light his master's cigarette, and then lit his own and took a puff.

Both of them closed their eyes to savor it, making clicking sounds with their tongues: "Good smoke, really good smoke!!!"

Zheng Wenchang took a few deep drags and then asked: "Lei Zhen, what do you think about this case?"

Lei Zhen said: "It's obvious that the child was taken by those two people. Moreover, they had been following that sulfuric acid transport truck ever since it entered Jiangcheng. They even forced Xie Yongxing's car to stop. I suspect that after Xie Yongxing stopped, he had an argument with them, then he drove away, and those two chased after him. That's why Xie Yongxing was still accelerating on the downhill section."

Zheng Wenchang said: "That's about the same as my analysis. His wife and child were in the car, yet Xie Yongxing still chose to accelerate and flee. It must have been extremely critical at the time, even severe enough to threaten his whole family's lives. Something must have happened that we don't know about."

Lei Zhen said: "I can't figure it out for now. How about this, Master: could you make a trip to Caiyun Province and thoroughly investigate this Xie Yongxing to see if there has been any unusual activity with him lately? Meanwhile, I'll go back to the scene and check that vehicle again to see if I can find anything."

"Alright," Zheng Wenchang said. "I'll set off immediately."

After they finished smoking, Lei Zhen had Zhu Xiaojun take his master to the airport first, then he went with Yin Yong to conduct interviews near the abandoned chemical plant to see if anyone had seen those two people, while he himself took Gu Qingcheng back to the accident scene.

When they arrived at the scene, Lei Zhen found that the tanker truck was gone, and there were many workers repairing the guardrails. Upon asking the people on site, he learned that the transport truck had been towed away by the traffic management department and was parked in a scrap car lot in the suburbs.

Lei Zhen quickly took Gu Qingcheng to the parking lot.

Sure enough, the truck was parked in a corner on the east side.

Lei Zhen put on a pair of gloves and began a comprehensive inspection of the vehicle.

Soon, he made a new discovery.

Right on the door, Lei Zhen found a hole the size of a little finger.

"Why is there a hole here?" Lei Zhen quickly called Gu Qingcheng over to take a look.

"This looks like a bullet hole." Gu Qingcheng was startled. Looking at the other side of the car, the entire door had been pierced through.

The two looked at each other. Could this vehicle have been shot at before?

If that were true, Xie Yongxing's desperate flight would be completely explained.

The two of them continued to search the car, but they didn't find any bullet heads.

"Strange, where did the bullet heads go?" Gu Qingcheng looked puzzled.

They continued searching for another half hour but still didn't find any bullet heads.

In the end, the two had to give up.

Lei Zhen said: "We need to get professionals to take a look, and also get more people to remove the cargo compartment and search carefully."

"Alright, I'll call Captain Wan right now and have him bring some people to support us." As Gu Qingcheng said this, she took out her phone.

Lei Zhen stared at the transport truck and muttered to himself: "I didn't expect this vehicle to have been shot at!! This truck must have a problem; I'll check it again carefully."

After speaking, he began a carpet-style inspection of the entire vehicle, even crawling under the truck to look inch by inch.

Soon, the ballistics expert sent by Captain Wan arrived, along with several criminal police officers carrying tools.

After a brief look, the expert said with certainty: "This was left by a gunshot. To determine the specific type of gun, we might need to find the bullet, but judging by the size of the hole, this was likely caused by an 8mm bullet."

Lei Zhen said: "Then please, everyone, help remove the cargo compartment and search carefully."

After that, Lei Zhen continued to crawl under the truck to inspect.

More than an hour later, Lei Zhen actually found something.

"Damn, there really is a hidden mechanism under this truck." Lei Zhen shouted from under the truck.

Gu Qingcheng quickly bent down to look under the truck: "What did you find?"

"The underside of the truck's tank has been tampered with." Lei Zhen said while taking out his phone to take pictures: "There's actually a groove inside."

"Ah?" Gu Qingcheng was startled: "You really found it?"

A while later, Lei Zhen crawled out from under the truck.

He pulled up the photos to show Gu Qingcheng: "The tank of this truck was specially modified. It actually has a sealed space inside that can be used to hide things, and it was done so seamlessly that you wouldn't notice it if you weren't paying attention."

Gu Qingcheng took a look, and sure enough, there was an inner groove at the bottom of the tank that could be used to hide things.

"This truck, it wouldn't really be used for drug trafficking, would it?"

Lei Zhen said: "Nine times out of ten, that's the case. That's why there was a car following it the moment it entered Jiangcheng."

"But that's not right." Gu Qingcheng remembered something: "If Xie Yongxing was involved in drug trafficking, he must have made a lot of money. His family shouldn't have such little savings, right?"

Lei Zhen said: "Xie Yongxing might not even know he was transporting drugs. Look closely; the mechanism inside the tank was clearly not a later modification, but designed that way from the start. This means the truck was a custom-made drug-smuggling vehicle. Xie Yongxing bought the truck from the transport company, so there must be something fishy about that transport company."

"Uncle Zheng went to Caiyun Province, didn't he? Let him investigate it thoroughly," Gu Qingcheng said.

That afternoon, Zheng Wenchang called back: "Lei Zhen, this Xie Yongxing has indeed been acting a bit strange lately. He had been trying to sell his truck a while ago, claiming he wanted to change careers and go into business, but I think he must have discovered something. Also, regarding the transport company you asked me to investigate, it's ostensibly run by someone named Yao Shengli. Later, I saw a photo in Yao Shengli's office that actually showed him with the son of one of our leaders in Jiangcheng. Guess who that person is?"

Lei Zhen was stunned: "Who?"

"Kang Minghao, it's Kang Minghao, who you beat up a few days ago!!!"