Card Room (Rebirth)

This was the second time in the 18 years of her life, that Liu Qiao witnessed an accident up close. She couldn’t help recalling the accident where she was sitting on the school bus with her sister. The memories she didn’t want to recall popped up and the stress response made her mind blank out.

This lasted until a shrill alarm sounded in her ears. It was completely dark and a police car sped over and stopped in a nearby emergency lane. Yu Hanjiang flew under the bridge with the light footwork card and lowered his voice. “Liu Qiao… Liu Qiao, where are you?”

Only then did Liu Qiao recover and while still being the size of a thumb, she fell lightly on Yu Hanjiang’s shoulder, her voice trembled as she answered. “I’m here. Sorry, Group Leader Yu. It was too sudden just now and I didn’t have time to save them…”

Yu Hanjiang was relieved to hear her familiar voice.

In fact, he had seen the car with the license plate Bin A-67158 from a distance. Just as he was speeding to catch up, it collided with a large truck coming diagonally from a side ramp. It was directly hit, fell beneath the bridge and exploded! At that moment, Yu Hanjiang’s heart almost stopped beating—Liu Qiao was still in the car!

If Xiao Liu was killed then how could he explain it to his teammates?

He sent the young girl Liu Qiao to monitor Chen Yehua. He thought Chen Yehua had a clean background. She was an illustrator and Cheng Shaoyu’s mistress. There shouldn’t be much information and the task of investigating Chen Yehua wasn’t very dangerous. Who knew that Chen Yehua’s boyfriend was actually Cheng Shaofeng and he would suddenly appear to take her away? In addition, the two of them got into a serious car accident on the way!

Fortunately, Liu Qiao was fine…

Yu Hanjiang took a deep breath, picked up the little girl from his shoulder, placed her in his pocket and comforted her. “It isn’t your fault. You could do nothing more. If it was changed to someone else, they wouldn’t have done better than you.”

Normal people wouldn’t be able to react, confronted with such an accident. Liu Qiao being able to fly out the window and escape unscathed was excellent enough. Asking her to save two adults when the speed exceeded 120 kilometers/hour was really too much.

The traffic police and criminal investigation police would soon arrive so it was inconvenient for Liu Qiao to change back to her original form. She stayed in Yu Hanjiang’s pocket and said, “Group Leader Yu, I think Cheng Shaofeng was killed.”

“That is my guess as well,” Yu Hanjiang whispered. “Don’t worry and stay in my pocket at ease. You can tell me what you know later.”

“Yes.” Liu Qiao also calmed down and thought carefully about what she had heard and seen.

Within a minute, the traffic police, criminal investigations police and ambulances had arrived. The traffic police quickly closed the road to investigate the scene. The driver of the large truck was a middle-aged man with a stubborn face. He cried while saying, “It was too dark. I really didn’t see the car next to me…”

Yu Hanjiang didn’t believe his words. He walked up to the traffic police team leader and said, “The person in the car is an important witness in a criminal case I am investigating. I have reason to suspect they were killed. This driver caused the accident and I need to arrest him for a detailed inquiry.”

The traffic police team leader was very cooperative. “Group Leader Yu, you can take him back after we finish the transcript. A traffic accident and intentional homicide are two different things. The sentencing is completely different. We understand.”

Cheng Shaofeng’s car suddenly exploded and Cheng Shaofeng in the front row had been blown to pieces. However, it was only the front of the car that had been burned. Chen Yehua who was unconscious in the back seat was still breathing. The emergency doctor who came with the ambulance exclaimed, “This woman can still be saved!”

Yu Hanjiang was surprised and immediately walked over. “Please do your best to rescue her. Once she wakes up, notify me as soon as possible.”

Yu Hanjiang brought up the surveillance that the traffic police had found. “Why did you stop in the nearby emergency lane for five minutes?”

The driver scratched his head. “I just stopped and went to the toilet…”

“Parking at the emergency lane on a highway to use the toilet? Can you make up an even more ridiculous excuse?!” Yu Hanjiang stared at him coldly, “After going to the toilet, you drove forward and just happened to hit Cheng Shaofeng’s car?”

The driver felt numb due to these sharp eyes and looked away. “This… it can only be said that Mr Cheng was too unlucky. I didn’t mean it. I really didn’t see him. I really needed to go to the toilet…”

He was too stubborn. Yu Hanjiang had to detain him first to check his background. After questioning the driver, Yu Hanjiang dragged his exhausted body and went to the hotel with Liu Qiao to meet his teammates.

Long Sen and Qu Wanyue had narrowed the range of suspects from 50 to 10. They saw Yu Hanjiang walking in with Liu Qiao who had transformed back to normal and Qu Wanyue immediately got up to hold Liu Qiao’s hand, asking her nervously, “Xiao Qiao, are you okay? I saw Professor Xiao saying in the group chat that Cheng Shaofeng’s car exploded and you were still in the car. We were all scared to death!”

Xiao Lou had learned this information through the heart channel and shared it with the team members.

Liu Qiao replied with a pale face, “I’m fine. Fortunately, there was a hole in the car window and I flew out. However, I couldn’t take Cheng Shaofeng away. This clue line is broken…”

Long Sen comforted her. “Don’t feel responsible. This is obviously the keeper’s arrangement. If we could successfully catch Cheng Shaofeng then this case would probably be too easy to solve. He must know a lot.”

Qu Wanyue also said, “Yes, we can slowly check the clues. The only thing that matters is that you’re fine.”

Liu Qiao’s heart warmed. She took a few sips of the warm water Qu Wanyue handed her and said, “Cheng Shaofeng might not be caught but I learned a lot of information from his conversation with Chen Yehua.”

She spoke about the grievances between Cheng Shaoyu and Cheng Shaofeng, about how Cheng Shaoyu slept with his younger brother’s girlfriend and how Chen Yehua went abroad. After returning with her daughter, she asked Cheng Shaofeng for help.

Yu Hanjiang heard this and frowned slightly. “So Cheng Shaofeng was the one to help find a heart source for Chen Yehua’s daughter?”

Liu Qiao nodded. “I was also shocked when I heard it. I originally thought that since Chen Yehua was Cheng Shaoyu’s daughter, she would find Cheng Shaoyu to help. I didn’t expect her first love to be Cheng Shaofeng and that he was really willing to help.”

Long Sen sighed. “This Cheng Shaofeng’s feelings for Chen Yehua are quite deep.”

Liu Qiao agreed. “He knew his girlfriend’s child wasn’t his and was still willing to help find a heart. He really has a deep affection for her. I suspect that Cheng Shaofeng is an important high level member in the organ trafficking organization. He knew too much and was killed.”

She took a deep breath and sorted out her thoughts. “Cheng Shaofeng graduated from medical school, which we have known for a long time. He can help find a heart for the little girl and perhaps knows where his brother’s heart came from. He mentioned a person ‘Brother Rong’ and also called this Brother Rong on the way to the airport. He was hit shortly after the call and Brother Rong should be a senior member of the organization.”

“It seems that the driver was arranged by Brother Rong. He waited in advance at the emergency lane at the high-speed fork on the highway. Once Cheng Shaofeng arrived, he drove the car and deliberately slammed into it.” Yu Hanjiang’s voice was cold. “Brother Rong must’ve given the driver enough benefits. As long as he insists it was a traffic accident, he will be sentenced to three years in prison at most since he didn’t do a hit and run.”

“So short?” Qu Wanyue was startled. “Hitting someone to death is only sentenced to three years?”

“Yes, a traffic accident doesn’t depend on whether anyone is dead but if you run away afterwards. Those who take the initiative to call the police or wait for the traffic police won’t be sentenced for a long time, even if they are fully responsible.” Yu Hanjiang paused before continuing, “Brother Rong just needs to give the driver enough benefits. For example, if he gave millions of gold coins to kill Cheng Shaofeng then the driver just needs to claim it was an accident, spend three years in prison and then get millions. Some people are willing to take the risk.”

“However, if it is found that he intentionally killed someone, it will be an execution right?”

“Yes.” Yu Hanjiang nodded. “The key is that the evidence is difficult to collect. The driver is obviously a master. The traffic police’s investigation also concluded it was an accident. Cheng Shaofeng happened to hit the side of the truck. Due to the strong collision force, he was hit and fell down from the bridge. The driver even stepped on the brakes. It doesn’t seem like intentionally killing someone.”

“I don’t believe this was an accident. There can’t be such a coincidence.” Liu Qiao thought about it before suddenly recalling something. “Oh yes, Cheng Shaofeng mentioned that he transferred 80% of the assets of his father’s company. I think their organization might also be involved in money laundering and it might involve the unequal distribution of profit. Could Cheng Shaofeng be responsible for the money laundering while Brother Rong is responsible for the sale of organs?”

“That is possible.” Yu Hanjiang looked at Liu Qiao appreciatively. “This line will be handed over to the Economic Investigation Bureau for investigation. Cheng Shaofeng’s accounts must be carefully checked to see where he transferred it. Xiao Liu, what other clues are there?”

“Cheng Shaofeng went to his brother’s house on a rainy day. He saw a man in a black raincoat walking out from his brother’s door carrying a garbage bag. He suspected that the man’s garbage bag contained his brother’s body.” Liu Qiao answered. “If it rained, can you calculate the exact time of death for Cheng Shaoyu?”

“This is very important.” Yu Hanjiang picked up the phone and checked the weather forecast. “For the past two weeks, it rained heavily at night only on January 25th, a week ago. We found parts of Cheng Shaoyu’s dismembered body but we haven’t been able to determine the exact time of death. Now it seems he died on the rainy night of January 25th. We can go back and investigate the man in black.”

“Yes, that person should want revenge,” Liu Qiao agreed.

Xiao Lou listened to their words through the heart channel and got a splitting headache.

This case was like stripping off layer upon layer from a cocoon. Finding one suspicious person would often lead to more suspicious people. The more they investigated, the more complicated it became…

At first, it was just the case of Cheng Shaoyu. Then it was followed by the deceased such as Liu Renyuan, Qi Zhaoming, Chen Yuqing and Wang Wei. Later, they discovered Yu Fugui who was imprisoned for theft and this was followed by the speculation that Chen Yehua and Chen Yuqing were related to the Cheng brothers. Now Cheng Shaofeng finally appeared only to be suddenly silenced by the people behind him.

The key word that connected everyone together was: organ trafficking.

Xiao Lou took a deep breath and typed: [There is another clue that I just found today.]

He paused and sent a photo to the WeChat group. [Today, I checked the medical school’s website for information about Cheng Shaofeng when he was in school. I accidentally found that Zhao Sen and Cheng Shaofeng were students from the same medical school. Zhao Sen was Cheng Shaofeng’s senior and they participated in a scientific research competition together on the same team. The two of them went to the stage to accept an award and took a group photo.]

Everyone, “……”

They all looked at the photo of the young Zhao Sen and Cheng Shaofeng and couldn’t help feeling numb. Zhao Sen once brutally dismembered his cousin and killed his wife. Cheng Shaofeng might be involved in organ trafficking. Once the two men stood together and smiled, the effect was really creepy.

Xiao Lou reluctantly came to a conclusion. [Zhao Sen knows Cheng Shaofeng. It seems I have to meet with Dr Zhao and have a good chat with him, maybe this way I’m able to find out if he knows whether Cheng Shaofeng had a close friend during school.]

Shao Qingge had a headache. [Every time Zhao Sen is mentioned, my heart doesn’t feel right. Every time I recall he gave me the two stents, my heart is almost going on strike.]

Xiao Lou: [Chief Shao, stop thinking about Zhao Sen doing the surgery on you.]

Shao Qingge sent a row of helpless emojis.

Yu Hanjiang said: [He was the murderer in 2 of Hearts but in this secret room, he is instead an important witness.]

Xiao Lou had to bite the bullet. [Leave Zhao Sen to me. After all, I am his colleague and it is better for me to investigate. The case might be complicated but we are very strong. Jiayou.]

Ye Qi used a child’s mobile phone to send a message. [I and Old Mo have already arrived. We sat on the long-distance bus for three hours and my butt hurts! It is dark and there are no people on the streets of the small town. We will start acting tomorrow.]

Old Mo: [It is an old man and child combination. I hope we can find something.]

Yu Hanjiang reminded them: [Cheng Shaofeng has just been killed. The two of you must be careful. If Uncle Zhong knows a lot, he might also be killed. Remember to ensure your own safety!”]

Ye Qi and Old Mo sent nodding emojis.

Yu Hanjiang gently exhaled. There were many clues but fortunately, the emergence of Cheng Shaofeng touched the core of the organization.

At present, there were the three lines of Uncle Zhong, Yu Fugui and Cheng Shaofeng to be investigated. Liu Renyuan’s kidney was also transplanted to a woman. Xiao Lou would continue to investigate this line. They just needed to catch the secret ‘Brother Rong’ and everything could be solved!

Proofreader: Paranoid Kitten & Fictional Reality