Empreinte de main en sang

Chapitre 46

Qin Ge asked the police station to find the household registration officer, who had been in contact with Yang Zheng and might be able to provide some information about him. However, the police station said that he was on holiday for the Spring Festival and was not at the station, but they could contact him immediately.

The call went unanswered. Before Qin Ge left, the police station told him that once they contacted the household registration officer, they would immediately send him to the criminal investigation team.

On the other hand, an investigation into the members of the killing group was launched simultaneously. QQ chat logs couldn't display the IP addresses of individuals offline, making it impossible to determine their identities. The only way to find them was to deduce their identities through chat content. At the same time, they contacted Tencent in Guangzhou, requesting their cooperation in providing the login IP addresses of those numbers.

On the other hand, of the four people killed by the detective, the identities of two have been confirmed, leaving only the lawyer and the real estate developer, and the search for them has also begun.

Qin Ge returned to the team at dusk. He had just sat down when he received a phone call.

The call was from Hongmian.

It turned out that Chu Yan had returned to the criminal investigation team with He Lan and was placed in a rest room. Qin Ge and He Lan then went to the back streets and alleys, and in their busyness, they almost forgot about her. Just as they were looking for Yang Zheng, Chu Yan came out and made a phone call to Ma Nan's house. Hong Mian, who was on the other end of the line, was both surprised and delighted to hear her voice, knowing that the sisters hadn't seen each other for many years.

Chu Yan said that what she wants to see most right now is Hongmian.

Hongmian was eager to see Chu Yan, tell her her address, and ask her to come home right now. But Chu Yan said that they should wait until Qin Ge returned before discussing it.

Therefore, Hongmian called Qin Ge to ask him when he would send Chu Yan over.

Qin Ge knew from Hongmian's words that Chu Yan was definitely not an imposter. Although he still had some doubts, he figured there was no reason not to let Chu Yan see Hongmian. Besides, there were two comrades from the team at Hongmian's house. So, he agreed to Hongmian's request over the phone to send someone to take Chu Yan there immediately.

Standing at the window, Qin Ge saw Chu Yan get into the car behind a colleague.

He Lan burst in without knocking: "Captain Qin, we've found someone from the group of killers."

While Qin Ge led his men to find Yang Zheng, He Lan stayed behind with the team. She was quite familiar with the internet, so she logged onto her QQ account and, referring to the printed list of names and numbers in the kill group, used QQ's search function to check their information one by one. Coincidentally, when she searched for one number, she discovered that the number's profile picture was in color, meaning the owner of that number was currently online.

Helan immediately sent a friend request, which was quickly accepted, and the person appeared in Helan's friend list. Helan's QQ could see the other person's IP address, and with the IP address, she quickly found out the phone number and address they were currently using to access the internet.

Qin Ge had barely settled into his office when he immediately led the team out again.

This time it went smoothly; they found the man in an apartment in a residential complex. When he opened the door, the criminal investigation team pinned him against the wall. Qin Ge rushed into the study; his computer was still online, and the QQ account was still logged in.

Qin Ge sat down on the sofa in the living room and gestured for the man to sit down as well. The man's name was Li Jianjun. He had a broad forehead, wore gold-rimmed glasses, and looked refined and scholarly. He appeared very angry about the police's arrival and their rough handling.

"We're just here to get some information from you. If you're not willing to cooperate, then we'll have to find somewhere else to talk."

“I haven’t done anything illegal. If you do this, I can report you to the Inspectorate,” he said.

“You know what you’ve done. This is all over. I can drive you to the Inspectorate.” Qin Ge said sternly, putting on an authoritative expression. “But now you have to answer my questions honestly.”

Li Jianjun fell silent, tilting his head to one side, clearly still unconvinced.

Qin Ge handed him a photo, a picture of Luo Bin and Xu Wen together: "Have you seen this man before?"

Li Jianjun's eyes darted around behind his glasses, and he immediately became obedient, but he was still clearly hesitant.

"Don't even think about it. If we didn't have evidence, would we be here looking for you during the New Year?" Qin Ge glared at him. "It's not that I'm looking down on you, but if you don't talk now, come back with us, and I guarantee you'll confess everything in less than three minutes."

"What happened?" Li Jianjun started to panic. "Whatever happened has nothing to do with me."

"No matter what happens, just tell us what you know."

Li Jianjun lowered his head and pondered for a moment, then took a deep breath, as if he had made a great decision: "Something must have happened. If I don't explain myself clearly, you definitely won't let me off the hook. But I have one request: you must not tell my wife what I've said."

"That depends on what you're talking about. If you've really committed a crime, we can't hide it from you even if we wanted to."

“I didn’t commit a crime, I just did something shady,” Li Jianjun said dejectedly. “I know this guy, his name is Luo Bin. I’ve only met him a few times, and we’re not close. We’re in the same circle, and anyone who wants to have their picture taken goes to him. He knows a photographer. I saw other people going to have their pictures taken, so I contacted him and went to have my picture taken once.”

"Please be more specific about what kind of photos you want to take."

Li Jianjun lowered his head even further, stammering for a long time before finally managing to explain himself. Only then did Qin Ge understand why he didn't want his wife to know, and looking at him again, she felt a growing sense of disgust.

"Think again, is there anything else?" he asked.

"It's gone, really gone. I only saw Luo Bin once when I went to film that movie, and I haven't contacted him since."

"Then how did you know something had happened?"

"Didn't a video surface online a while ago? A masked man killed a woman. Later, that man appeared in our group once, saying he was looking for accomplices and that he had something big planned."

Have you contacted him privately?

“I don’t have the guts.” Li Jianjun was a little anxious, afraid that the police wouldn’t believe him. “I really didn’t contact him, but I know that there must be others in our group who would be willing to be his helpers.”

"Who else in that group have you contacted privately?" Qin Ge asked.

Li Jianjun hesitated for a moment, then shook his head: "It's gone, really gone. I've only been in that group for a few days, and apart from Luo Bin, I haven't met anyone else. You know how people on the internet are, they never tell the truth, especially in our group, no one will easily reveal their secrets."

Qin Ge noticed the boy's unfocused gaze and knew he was definitely hiding something.

“I’m giving you a chance. If you don’t cooperate, I’ll call your wife and have her ask you,” Qin Ge said.

"No, I've told you everything I know." Li Jianjun waved his hands frantically. "You don't know my husband. He's a big, burly man. When he gets angry, he beats me up like it's nothing."

"Then don't try to play tricks on me." Qin Ge was both annoyed and amused, but still kept a straight face and said, "You're not going to take photos alone, are you? Who is that woman?"

Li Jianjun shuddered and pleaded with a bitter face, "This really has nothing to do with her, it's no use you finding her."

"Then tell us something useful," Qin Ge shouted.

Li Jianjun kept his head down and didn't say anything. After a while, he suddenly raised his head and looked like he was ready to go all out: "In that group, I also contacted someone who was willing to spend 1,000 yuan to buy the photos I took."

Qin Ge was taken aback, realizing that this situation was quite important: "Who is that person? What's the situation? Tell me in detail."

“Normally, I wouldn’t have paid any attention to this kind of thing. But that person is different. I feel at ease giving him the photos.” Li Jianjun paused for a moment and said, “That person is the administrator of the killing group. His online name is Mask.”

Qin Ge perked up and asked, "How did you make the deal with that administrator?"