pertwk Chapter 63 Seaside
Chapter 63 Seaside
The two men left the office, escorted by Zhou Shouzhen.
At first, Hou Hao followed behind Gu Huai without saying a word.
As they were going down the stairs, Hou Hao suddenly spoke.
"Captain Zhou is a very capable person."
"How so?" Gu Huai asked.
"The Second Brigade is mainly responsible for property crimes. In places like Pengcheng, there are many economic crimes, such as smuggling, fraud, theft, and robbery. They are all difficult cases. And Captain Zhou's case-solving rate is among the highest in the province."
Gu Huai slowed his pace. "That's amazing."
"Yes, I've heard my master say that Captain Zhou used to work in the Economic Crime Investigation Department before being transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department. He has a unique way of handling cases: he doesn't like to make a fuss and prefers to investigate quietly until he finally catches the culprit. Last year, there was a case that involved several provinces, and he spent more than half a year on his own, eventually arresting more than a dozen people."
Gu Huai thought for a moment, "Compared to our First Brigade, is the Second Brigade's case-solving rate higher?"
"Uh... I don't know about that," Hou Hao shook his head awkwardly. "The First Brigade is mainly responsible for violent crimes, with many homicides, and their case-solving rate is not comparable to that of the Second Brigade."
Gu Huai nodded and didn't ask any further questions.
He recalled Wang Weiguo's attitude towards Wu Feilin at the commendation meeting yesterday—neither warm nor cold, polite but keeping his distance.
Looking back now, Wang Weiguo must have had his own ideas about who to promote, but the final decision-making power was not with him; he only had the right to make suggestions.
He gradually understood what Lingyue had told him at the entrance of the testing room.
[I don't want to think about it anymore, it's too much trouble!]
The two returned to the archives room, where the lights were still on and Ling Yue was still working.
Xia Wanying, unaware of when, had already changed into casual clothes and returned to the archives.
"How's it going?" Ling Yue looked up at Gu Huai. "Did Captain Zhou give you the information?"
"You've gained quite a bit." Gu Huai handed him the paper. "Captain Zhou gave me his network of connections and also the information he had gathered from his previous investigation."
As he spoke, Gu Huai placed the documents and the piece of paper in his hand on the table.
Ling Yue looked at the paper and frowned, saying, "How long will it take us to get here with just a few of us?"
"I don't know." Gu Huai shrugged. "But since the task has been assigned to us, we can at least do some work. It's better than doing nothing."
Xia Wanying got up and walked over, craning her neck to look at the contents of the note, her brows furrowing as well.
However, she didn't complain. Instead, she picked up the documents on the table and started reading them.
Ling Yue scratched her head in frustration. "Ah Huai, tell me your thought process."
"This is what I think," Gu Huai pulled up a chair and sat down, "Since there are so many things to do, let's start with the simplest one."
"How can it be simple?" Ling Yue asked.
"Let's start with the most basic thing: checking for false positives."
Following that, Gu Huai recounted the investigation directions proposed by Zhou Shouzhen, with a particular emphasis on the speculation regarding the vehicle's whereabouts.
As he spoke, Gu Huai glanced at Xia Wanying and said, "If the suspects have already dismantled the vehicle, I personally believe they will sell the parts to Hong Kong."
Firstly, selling to Hong Kong is more profitable; secondly, once the goods are sold to Hong Kong, we have no way to investigate.
"That makes sense." Ling Yue turned and glanced at Xia Wanying, then took the initiative to speak, "So, according to your logic, how should we investigate?"
"I have a way." Seeing that no one had any objections, Gu Huai stood up. "Sister Ling, Xia, you two should get some rest. Brother Hou, you're coming with me."
"Don't we need to come along?" Lingyue asked.
"No need," Gu Huai said with a smile, waving his hand. "We're just going to scout ahead. Too many people would be a bad thing."
-----------------
The west coast of Pengcheng.
The waves kept crashing against the shore, and the sea breeze howled incessantly.
Gu Huai parked the car behind a windbreak forest, turned off the engine, and turned off the headlights.
Hou Hao sat in the passenger seat, constantly looking around. "Ah Huai, what are we doing here so late?"
"Waiting for someone." Gu Huai rolled down the car window a little to make it easier for him to observe.
"Waiting for whom?"
"I don't know," he said, keeping an eye on the outside. "But someone will definitely come tonight."
Hou Hao opened his mouth, but didn't ask any further questions.
After he left the police station with Gu Huai, Gu Huai drove him all the way from the city to Xixiang.
After arriving, we drove around the coastline several times before finally stopping in this remote, desolate place.
He didn't know how Gu Huai knew about this place, nor did he know what Gu Huai was waiting for.
But he chose not to inquire; some things would only cause trouble if asked.
It's no wonder Hou Hao was suspicious, mainly because the place Gu Huai chose was too remote.
The place was so remote that Hou Hao knew Gu Huai was there to catch smugglers as soon as he arrived.
In fact, many things were secrets at the time, but many years later, even the most secret things became known to everyone.
Gu Huai only knew about this place years later when it was mentioned as a joke during a meal.
By then, everything had changed, and nobody took it seriously.
So the two of them just sat there, neither of them saying a word.
Only a few fishing lights shone on the distant sea, looking like will-o'-the-wisps from afar.
"Ah Huai," Hou Hao finally couldn't hold back any longer, "is smuggling rampant here?"
"It's more than rampant," Gu Huai replied. "The smugglers here are extremely cunning, and the coast guard, border defense, public security, industry and commerce departments are continuously carrying out crackdowns."
Those smugglers know the borders better than we do; they specifically target these gaps.
"Then...then should we take care of it?"
"I can't control that." Gu Huai said decisively. "Besides, we still have cases to handle right now, let's focus on the important matters first."
Hou Hao was silent for a few seconds, then nodded quietly.
He recalled a time when he and Wu Feilin were on a police mission and seized a batch of smuggled electrical appliances at the Xixiang Wharf.
The case was later transferred, and then nothing happened.
He asked his master once, and Wu Feilin only said, "Don't worry about things above," and he never asked again.
"So what are we here for tonight?" Hou Hao asked in a different phrasing.
"Let's find someone to help us," Gu Huai said. "These smugglers have connections; it's better to have them check things for us than to run ourselves ragged."
Will they help?
"Yes!" Gu Huai kept looking at the watch in his hand.
Hou Hao couldn't understand why Gu Huai was so certain, but he didn't press him for an answer and quietly looked out the window.
Time passed little by little.
Finally, just before two o'clock, lights appeared in the distance.
It wasn't the fishing lights at sea, but car headlights.
Several beams of white light turned in from the highway and moved along the dirt road toward the Gu Huai River.
Gu Huai roughly counted; there were three cars and five lights in total.
"Here it is," Gu Huai said, placing his hand on the car door handle.
The three cars stopped at the seaside, less than ten meters apart.
The car door opened, and seven or eight people got out.
Some were wearing rain boots, others were wearing camouflage uniforms; they moved quickly, clearly not doing this for the first time.
"Let's go." Gu Huai pushed open the car door.
Seeing Gu Huai get out of the car so abruptly, Hou Hao was stunned for a moment, and then hurriedly followed.
To avoid alerting the enemy, the two did not turn on their flashlights and proceeded in the dark.
When they were about ten meters away, Gu Huai turned on his flashlight.
A beam of white light shot straight over and hit the face of the person at the very front.
"Don't move! Police!"