186: Chapter 186 Traffic Accident Three Years Ago

Chen Guoliang sat on that old sofa.

He had no weight; the sofa cushion did not even have a single depression.

The temperature in the entire living room dropped extremely low, and a layer of fine white frost even formed on the wall plaster. This was the Yin malevolent aura of a vengeful spirit whose grievance remained unresolved.

Gu Changan sat upright opposite him and threw the thin file onto the coffee table.

"Speak," Gu Changan looked at him, "How did you die back then?"

Chen Guoliang lowered his head, intense black aura rolling within his grayish-white eyes.

"I was a technician at the Municipal Planning Bureau."

His voice was hollow, carrying a deep echo, as if speaking from underwater.

"Three years ago, the Bailu Lake wetlands in the east of the city were to be developed. That land was the city's ecological red line, with explicit regulations stating it absolutely could not be touched. But the Donghai Hongda Group had their eyes on it and wanted to fill the lake in the center of the wetlands to build a high-end villa complex."

Chen Guoliang's fingers scratched unconsciously on his knees, even though he couldn't touch anything.

"I went to the site to survey it. They discharged sewage overnight and secretly dumped soil. They forcibly destroyed a large area of the wetlands. I took photos and obtained their on-site survey data regarding their illegal trespassing."

"I submitted the report to the leaders of the bureau, but the report sank without a trace. The next day, people from the Hongda Group came to my house carrying a suitcase of money."

Chen Guoliang raised his head, his eyes staring fixedly at the direction of the city center outside the window.

"One point two million. To buy the backup data in my hands, to buy my silence."

"I didn't take it. I drove them out. I said I had already burned the data onto a disc and was prepared to go to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection the next morning to report them under my real name."

The temperature in the room dropped again.

"That night, I was heading home after working overtime. Not even two intersections away from the Planning Bureau, a heavy truck fully loaded with construction waste ran a red light and crashed directly into me from the side."

Chen Guoliang's voice began to tremble.

"I slammed on the brakes at the time and desperately turned the steering wheel. But that truck seemed to have eyes; wherever I dodged, it would crash in that direction."

"In the end, it crushed me and the car against the bridge pier."

Gu Changan leaned back in his chair, expressionless.

He picked up his phone and dialed Chen Xiaobei's number.

"Xiaobei, pull all the case files regarding Chen Guoliang's traffic accident from three years ago. Send them to my tablet within five minutes."

Five minutes later.

Gu Changan opened the encrypted file on his tablet.

The case file was very thin. The closing opinion was written very concisely: The driver was driving while fatigued at night and, upon encountering an emergency, operated the vehicle improperly, leading to a loss of control, resulting in a collision with a normally driving construction waste truck. He was held fully responsible.

Gu Changan's fingers slid across the screen, stopping at the photos of the on-site investigation.

The photos were taken very blurrily, as if the focus was intentionally not set. But the brake marks on the ground were still clearly visible.

Gu Changan stared at that black tire mark, which was over ten meters long, for a long time.

"This is what they call 'loss of control'?"

Gu Changan sneered and threw the tablet onto the coffee table.

"The brake marks form an arc from left to right, and the tire marks are extremely deep. A person who loses control due to fatigue, out of instinct, would either not turn the steering wheel or subconsciously veer toward an open area."

Gu Changan pointed at the location of the bridge pier in the photo.

"The angle at which he turned the steering wheel was forcing himself into a dead end. This was not a loss of control; this was being forced into a corner to avoid the collision."

The screen on the tablet flickered.

Chen Xiaobei's video call cut in.

"Director Gu!" Chen Xiaobei's eyes were bloodshot; he had clearly just finished digging through the System database. "I re-pulled the wreckage inspection report of the accident vehicle from back then and performed a cross-comparison."

Chen Xiaobei stuck a data chart in front of the camera.

"The traffic police team's inspection report from back then stated that the braking System was destroyed in the collision. But I just hacked into the internal database of the scrapyard from back then and found high-definition photos of the vehicle before it was crushed and scrapped."

"Zooming in, the cut on the brake line is as smooth as if it were cut by a knife! This wasn't broken by the collision at all; it had been artificially cut more than halfway through before the accident occurred. As long as he slammed the brakes to the floor at that moment, the oil line would have instantly burst, and the brakes would have failed immediately!"

Chen Xiaobei gritted his teeth.

"The group of people who did the inspection back then were either blind, or... they simply never intended to find it."

Gu Changan didn't speak.

He picked up his thermos and took a sip of water.

"I see."

Hanging up the phone, Gu Changan turned to look at the door.

"Old Wei."

Old Wei, the head of the Yin and Yang Coordination Team who had been guarding outside the door, pushed the door open and walked in.

"Director Gu, your orders?"

"Contact the Yin Division Reception Office." Gu Changan pointed at Chen Guoliang on the sofa. "File an application for an extension of his obsession for him. The purpose is to assist in solving a case, and the reason is that the person involved is a key witness to an unresolved grievance."

Old Wei froze for a moment, then fished a black communication terminal out of his pocket.

He tapped on it a few times, his expression somewhat strange.

"Director Gu, the Yin Division replied. The System indicates that a written application needs to be submitted, and it requires layer upon layer of review, saying it is expected to reply within three working days."

Old Wei was speechless.

"How come the Underworld is now doing this set of administrative procedures from the mortal world?"

Gu Changan stood up and zipped up his jacket.

"What do you think? The System down there was originally learned by copying the one up here. Mark it as urgent, and stamp it with the special approval seal of our Bureau of Anomalies. Tell them that this case involves the national laws and discipline of the current world. If they don't approve it, I will go down there myself to have a talk with their supervisor."

Old Wei hurriedly lowered his head and tapped the Keyboard: "Understood."

As expected.

The next morning, the approval document from the Yin Division was faxed directly to the Bureau of Anomalies' intranet.

Because it involved a major grievance in the mortal world, and with the Bureau of Anomalies providing a guarantee, the Yin Division made an exception and approved Chen Guoliang to remain in the mortal world for no more than thirty days. During this period, he must register and report to the Bureau of Anomalies, was strictly forbidden from acting independently, and was even more strictly forbidden from contacting ordinary people privately.

Old Wei printed out the electronic pass with the ghostly blue seal and handed it to Chen Guoliang.

Upon receiving this thin piece of paper, for the first time, a smile that was uglier than crying appeared on Chen Guoliang's grayish, defeated face.

He carefully pressed the pass against his chest, then quickly composed his expression again.

"Thirty days." Chen Guoliang looked at Gu Changan, his voice tight. "Is that enough?"

Gu Changan stuffed the thick, reorganized case file into his black briefcase.

"It's enough."

On the outskirts of Donghai City, in a dilapidated urban village.

The alleys here were so narrow that even a small car couldn't drive in; everywhere there were haphazardly built shacks and flowing sewage.

A bald man with a fleshy face was carrying two boxed meals, stealthily taking out a key, preparing to open a rusty iron door.

His name was Sun Qiang. He was the driver who caused the accident with the construction waste truck three years ago.

At the time, the case was classified as an accident, and since he was driving normally, he was only sentenced for the crime of causing a traffic accident, paid a little money, and was released after serving two years in prison.

Now he didn't even have a proper job, spending his days playing cards and idling away his time in this urban village.

Sun Qiang had just inserted the key into the lock.

A hand suddenly reached out from the side and pressed firmly against the door panel.

Sun Qiang was startled and whirled around.

Gu Changan was wearing a black jacket, standing behind him. Beside him were several plainclothes Special Police.

"Who are you?" Sun Qiang's eyes flashed with malice, and he subconsciously reached for his lower back.

Gu Changan kicked Sun Qiang in the shin.

With a crisp "crack" sound.

Sun Qiang screamed and fell directly to his knees on the ground, the boxed meals in his hands spilling all over the floor.

Two Special Police immediately lunged forward, twisting his hands behind his back and pressing him firmly against the wall.

"Quiet down." Gu Changan brushed the dust off his body and walked in front of him.

"Sun Qiang. That construction waste truck you drove at the Bailu Lake intersection three years ago—you hit your target very accurately."

Sun Qiang's face instantly turned pale, but he still feigned calmness.

"Stop spouting nonsense here! That case was closed long ago! The traffic police team determined it was his full responsibility! I've already served my time, what else do you want?"

Gu Changan ignored his sophistry entirely.

He took the high-definition enlarged photo of the brake line being cut back then directly out of his bag and slapped it onto the iron door in front of Sun Qiang's face.

"Deliberately sabotaging the vehicle's braking System, waiting at a fixed point, and intentionally colliding to cause death."

Gu Changan's voice was as cold as ice.

"This is the crime of intentional homicide. At the very least, it's a suspended death sentence."

"Now." Gu Changan bent down slightly, staring into Sun Qiang's eyes. "Tell me the name of your employer. Do you intend to say it here in this stinking ditch, or back at the Bureau of Anomalies interrogation room, sitting on the tiger bench?"

Sun Qiang looked at that photo, his whole body going limp like a puddle of mud.

He thought this matter was seamless; he had done it so cleanly back then, and even the people at the traffic police brigade had been taken care of. How was it dug up by someone three years later?

He lasted less than twenty minutes before his psychological defenses completely collapsed.

"I'll talk... I'll talk..."

Sun Qiang was covered in sweat, his lips trembling.

"It was Chairman Zhao from Hongda Group... Zhao Hongda. He gave me 1.2 million to crash that car. The money is still in my wife's card in the countryside; I didn't dare to touch much of it."

"The deputy captain of the traffic police brigade who handled the scene back then also took money. He was responsible for erasing the surveillance footage and classifying the case as an accident..."

Gu Changan held his phone to record the entire time.

He saved the recording and sent it to Chen Xiaobei.

"Transcribe this recording into a statement and have him sign and fingerprint it." Gu Changan turned to instruct the Special Police behind him.

Then he took out the red classified mobile phone and dialed the direct line to the Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection.

"I am Gu Changan from the Bureau of Anomalies."

"There is an urgent set of Materials regarding organized crime and corruption of national public officials, which will be sent to your intranet mailbox in three minutes."

"I have already moved on the person; you guys follow up."

That night.

The banquet hall of the top-tier Hilton Hotel in Donghai City.

Chairman Zhao Hongda of the Hongda Group was holding a wine glass, chatting and laughing with several bank presidents.

The villa complex at Bailu Lake had already sold for an astronomical price, and his net worth had skyrocketed; he was currently in high spirits.

Just as he was preparing to down the Romanée-Conti in his glass in one gulp.

The doors of the banquet hall were pushed open by several Discipline Inspection Commission staff members wearing black suits.

The entire hall fell silent.

The staff member in the lead walked up to Zhao Hongda and showed his identification.

"Zhao Hongda, come with us. The case of Chen Guoliang from three years ago has been exposed."

The wine glass in Zhao Hongda's hand smashed onto the floor with a "pop," and the scarlet wine splashed onto his leather shoes.

The color drained from his face instantly.