Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1173: Chapter 14: The First Bullet

When Zhou Yusheng woke up, he felt a splitting headache, but it wasn’t the usual kind of headache he suffered from… This hangover headache somehow made him feel relaxed.

Gao Wen wasn’t here, but he had left a note.

“I went to school, there’s breakfast downstairs, help yourself. Also, I prepared some clothes for you to change into; take a shower when you have time, you do smell a bit bad. Remember to lock the door when you go out. Gao Wen.”

Zhou Yusheng smiled subconsciously.

Perhaps due to sleeping more, Zhou Yusheng felt that he was in better shape now.

He looked around and hesitated for a moment before starting to search for something in Gao Wen’s study—soon, he found a small bottle in a drawer of a bookshelf.

Zhou Yusheng stuffed the small bottle into his clothes, but after thinking for a moment, he decided to open the bottle and pour out some pills, wrapping them in a tissue, before putting the bottle back in its original place.

He went downstairs, took a shower, ate a little, and then left.

From here, he drove straight to the department… Home, naturally, didn’t seem necessary to return to.

…

…

Gao Wen’s class was still the one with the most students—in a relatively serious place like the University of Political Science and Law, few people have such a star-like effect.

Initially, students didn’t know about Teacher Gao Wen’s past. Later, it was revealed that Gao Wen used to be the team leader of the city’s Second Criminal Police Squad, and the achievements he had made, the cases he solved, gradually became familiar to the students.

A man with high knowledge and plenty of experience, not just theories but also charming, it was easy enough to stir the feelings of the young female students—though Gao Wen was honestly married and never had any negative news.

Attending Gao Wen’s class, one could hear many practical cases, most of which were investigations he handled before.

In class, the students listened attentively, but Gao Wen couldn’t completely concentrate.

He saw the male student who stayed late yesterday to ask him questions—sitting alone at the back of the classroom, his face calm.

This made it difficult for Gao Wen to fully focus.

However, with his strong professional skills, Gao Wen managed to deliver the class as planned at an acceptable level… The bell rang for the end of class.

As usual, students quickly left, and many crowded forward… Among the crowd, Gao Wen looked to the back of the classroom—the quiet male student was already out of sight.

“Teacher Gao, what are you looking at?” The students asked curiously, noticing Teacher Gao seemed absent-minded, an unusual occurrence.

Gao Wen pondered for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Earlier, the male student sitting at the back by the window, do any of you know which class he belongs to?”

“Earlier?” The students were suddenly stunned, seemingly plunged into thought.

Finally, a female student slowly said, “Teacher Gao, I remember no one was sitting in that spot earlier, right?”

“No one?” Gao Wen was taken aback.

“Yes, likely no one, honestly.” Another girl replied affirmatively.

“Oh…” Gao Wen nodded, “maybe I was mistaken. Class is over, everyone can leave now.”

Gao Wen packed his things and swiftly left the classroom under everyone’s gaze.

…

…

“Team Leader Zhou!”

In the hallway, the busy officers passing by greeted Zhou Yusheng—though after greeting, they quickly moved on.

This was entirely the behavior of subordinates seeing a superior; no one intended to chat more… Unlike Officer Ma in the department, who can chat at length with anyone.

Thinking about the dismemberment case, Zhou Yusheng quickly approached the special task force set up by two teams—at this time, a reception officer found Zhou Yusheng.

“Team Leader Zhou, someone outside wants to see you.”

“See me?” Zhou Yusheng was taken aback.

“He said his name is Chen Mingming, said you would see him upon hearing his name.” The officer said.

Zhou Yusheng opened his mouth, with some hesitation seemingly on his face… Finally, he said, “First, take him to the reception room, an individual room, I’ll be there soon.”

The officer followed Zhou Yusheng’s instruction and left—after this, Zhou Yusheng quickly ran back to his office, took a bag of items from a drawer, and headed to the bathroom—he shaved the beard on his face clean here, then tidied up his clothes and hair.

In front of the reception room door, Zhou Yusheng placed his hand on the doorknob and paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and opened the door.

Just as instructed before, the officer had brought Chen Mingming alone into this room.

“Why did you come here yourself?” Zhou Yusheng looked at the young man in front of him.

Not tall, having just turned nineteen recently, got into the University of Political Science and Law a year ago, performed well academically, liked sweet foods, didn’t particularly dislike anything, but relatively tidy.

Chen Mingming, his son… Three months ago, after divorcing his wife, his son changed his surname to follow his mother.

At this moment, Chen Mingming was gazing out the window, watching the officers in the courtyard coming and going, and said calmly without turning around, “People here come and go, walking quickly. I heard about yesterday’s dismemberment case; you’re racing against time with the case, looking at the busy situation.”

Zhou Yusheng frowned; he had never gotten used to Chen Mingming’s attitude.

“That’s our internal affair; you’re just a student.” Zhou Yusheng snorted coldly, “I told you during work hours, you can’t come looking for me!”

Chen Mingming turned around, tilted his head, studying his father, expressionless, “I went to your house once and found the fish tank gone and you weren’t there. I tried calling you, but no one answered all night. Later, Teacher Gao picked up and said you’d drunk and fallen asleep. I could only come here to find you.”

“You… what’s your reason for finding me.” Zhou Yusheng turned his head, saw the chair nearby, and conveniently sat down, “Sit and tell me, don’t stand.”

Chen Mingming shook his head, “I’m leaving later. I just came to tell you I’ll be leaving next month. Mom’s arranged things mostly; next month I’ll emigrate to Canada with her.”

Zhou Yusheng opened his mouth, wanting to say something, yet no words came except one, “So soon?”

“I remember your formal divorce with Mom was three months ago.” Chen Mingming said calmly, “Before that, you’d already been separated for a year… Do you still think it’s fast?”

“Why do you want to go abroad? Isn’t it good here?”

Zhou Yusheng frowned and said, “Gao Wen has accepted you as a student. Can’t Gao Wen teach you? The domestic situation is not worse than abroad… In a foreign land where you know no one, I really don’t know what your mother is thinking! No way, I don’t agree, I’ll talk to her about this later.”

At this moment, Chen Mingming suddenly took out a phone and handed it over.

“What are you doing?” Zhou Yusheng instinctively asked.

Chen Mingming said calmly, “Didn’t you say you want to have a good talk with Mom? If you call her, she probably won’t pick up, so why not use mine… Should I call for you?”

Contacts, Mother, Call.

Watching the phone screen interface switch, Zhou Yusheng slapped Chen Mingming’s hand away with a smack, and the phone flew off as he angrily said, “Adult matters are none of your concern!”

“Is that so.” Chen Mingming held his wrist, glanced at Zhou Yusheng, then picked up the phone from the ground, turned around, and walked out the door, “Goodbye, Team Leader Zhou.”

“Wait…” Zhou Yusheng opened his mouth but ultimately didn’t say anything, sitting alone in the reception room, covering his face… Suddenly, he felt his head start to ache again.

It felt as if there was a bomb in his head that could explode at any moment, and Zhou Yusheng’s face turned pale.

Instinctively, he reached into his pocket, took out a crumpled piece of paper, unfolded it, and took out a pill, swallowing it directly.

…

Chen Mingming walked alone in the corridor. Although the passing officers were curious, they didn’t ask much—no idle person could easily come in here, so since he was here, he must have a legitimate reason.

Moreover, everyone in the bureau was busy at the moment, so no one paid too much attention to this young person.

Chen Mingming suddenly stopped, looking at the bulletin board hanging in the corridor.

This month’s outstanding officer, superior affairs, recent solved cases, etc. — Chen Mingming saw a commendation for a solved case, the solver was Zhou Yusheng, and the captured criminal was an online car-hailing driver who, after assaulting the victim, disposed of the body under a bridge.

As Chen Mingming looked at the criminal’s name, he blinked—suddenly, a few words appeared in his eyes.

9.9 days.

Chen Mingming’s pupils suddenly contracted.

…

After a while, Zhou Yusheng felt the headache had passed and hurried to the task force’s office.

At this moment, Officer Ma was slurping instant noodles while looking at the constantly updated reports.

Seeing someone coming, Officer Ma looked up, paused for a moment, then nodded, “Hmm, although you still look like a salted fish, at least it’s better than looking like a dead fish yesterday.”

Zhou Yusheng chose not to hear that, sat down directly, picked up a file in front of Officer Ma, and began to read it, asking, “Any new developments?”

“We checked all the major station information, and during this time, there was no purchase record for Wang Liang,” Officer Ma casually said, “The phone positioning was also done, this Wang Liang hasn’t left at all, but is hiding.”

While speaking, Officer Ma took out another file and tossed it in front of Zhou Yusheng, “Last night, we organized an operation at midnight, based on Wang Liang’s phone location, we found an abandoned building site.”

“Did you catch the person?” Zhou Yusheng looked up.

Officer Ma shook his head, “Found the phone, but not the person.”

Zhou Yusheng frowned, “As expected, Wang Liang is highly suspicious. He resigned and created the illusion of going home, but there was a body hidden at home… Should we issue a wanted notice?”

“I was just about to file the documents with the chief.” Officer Ma wiped his mouth as he stood up, put a cigarette in his mouth, and cursed before lighting it, “Damn… made me eat several cups of instant noodles!”

Zhou Yusheng watched and smiled… Officer Ma always appeared lazy in the bureau, unambitious, but when it came to a case, he was the most dedicated.

Probably didn’t leave the whole night?

“Officer Ma, Zhou Sir!” Just then, Lin Feng hurriedly ran in, looking anxious, “There’s a new discovery!”

“What?” Officer Ma frowned.

Lin Feng quickly said, “Xiaobao has confirmed it, the identity of the dismembered case’s deceased… the victim is Wang Liang!”

Officer Ma opened his mouth, and the cigarette dropped, “What? The victim is Wang Liang?”

Lin Feng nodded, “Yes. Inside the freezer’s body, there was a preserved finger bone and a metal pin. The deceased had undergone surgery. We traced the serial number on the pin to its corresponding hospital and found the patient’s personal information… It’s Wang Liang!”

“Sure it’s the Wang Liang we’re looking for, not someone else with the same name?” Officer Ma instinctively asked.

“Confirmed, it’s the Wang Liang we’re looking for!”

“It’s over.” Officer Ma sat down directly upon hearing this, “Great, we’ve wasted an entire day of effort.”

But Zhou Yusheng frowned, “Officer Ma, now that we can confirm the deceased’s identity as Wang Liang, things have actually become clearer.”

Officer Ma turned to think, then nodded, “True… at least we can start from Wang Liang’s life. Someone dismembering Wang Liang’s body like this either had a psychological disorder or held a great grudge against him… let’s start with potential enemies of Wang Liang.”

Zhou Yusheng nodded, “Lin Feng, according to the records, Wang Liang had previously committed fraud, scamming several women out of their money, right? Wasn’t there one woman who reported him, but due to insufficient evidence, a case couldn’t be filed?”

Lin Feng quickly leafed through the documents, “Yes, the woman who reported him is surnamed Zhang, named Zhang Xiaoqin, and works as a hostess at a nightclub.”

“Investigate Zhang Xiaoqin first,” Officer Ma directly ordered, “Also, not just Zhang Xiaoqin, but others who had financial disputes or personal grudges with Wang Liang should also be thoroughly investigated… Damn it, more overtime work!”

At this moment.

“Not good, not good!!!” Suddenly, a police officer burst in, shocking everyone, “Someone’s dead! Officer Ma, Zhou Sir, someone’s dead!!”

“Another murder case?” Officer Ma immediately exclaimed.

“No, no, it’s a detainee who died in the detention center!” The officer looked at Zhou Yusheng with a face of terror, “Team Leader Zhou, it’s the online car-hailing driver you just caught!”

Zhou Yusheng frowned, “Did he commit suicide?”

The officer’s expression was strange and flustered, “It seems… they say he was shot!”

“What?!”