National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 654 - 598: Capture Now

Chapter 654: Chapter 598: Capture Now

a.m.

Chang Pingsi followed the tour company owner to Zoumadao Police Station.

On the way, the two maintained a light conversation until they saw the blue and white station sign, at which point they involuntarily fell silent.

"No big deal, probably just someone who called the cops, the difficult type, and the police want us to help smooth things over," said the tour company owner, seeming well-versed in these situations.

Chang Pingsi didn’t say a word. His company was neither big nor small, not exactly above board but at least an actual business that paid its employees—many small tour agencies had turned into shell companies by then, with seasoned black-market guides simply renting office space to set up their own studios, taking on groups from travel agencies, and keeping profits or losses to themselves.

In comparison, Chang Pingsi’s company at least tried to help, with a boss who was willing to show up in person and contacts to call upon.

"What do you do?" asked a police officer, who had been waiting there and came over, feigning a chance encounter.

Chang Pingsi looked at the boss. Although he was eloquent with tourists, trips to the police station were less common for him.

The boss cleared his throat and said, "Um, is Director Tan in? I know him..."

The police officer was taken aback, then instantly replied, "Then call him."

The officer didn’t leave; he just stood there watching.

They didn’t let Chang Pingsi and the others go inside because the reception hall downstairs hung a photo of Director Tan—they didn’t want Chang Pingsi to recognize him and inform his colleagues. After all, they only had reason to detain Chang Pingsi.

The boss was momentarily stunned by the question; he really had had dinner with Director Tan and was planning to go straight to his office.

Now that he was stopped, he couldn’t exactly make a scene, so he took out his phone to browse through WeChat and his contacts.

Watching the boss fruitlessly make several calls, Chang Pingsi started to feel uneasy.

Under normal circumstances, the boss would have gotten through by now, but of course, that wouldn’t be the case today.

Tan Jing simply placed his phone on the desk, set it to silent, watched the screen light up without expression, and said, "I guess it’s all through someone who knows someone. I don’t have any dealings with them."

"Of course, or else you wouldn’t have had to look for Captain Jiang," Mu Zhiyang logically said. He knew Tan Jing and was familiar with the day-to-day operations of the station.

Jiang Yuan didn’t care about these things; the case had been initiated, and it would proceed accordingly.

"Hurry them up," Jiang Yuan said to someone beside him.

Tang Jia immediately phoned the officer downstairs.

After answering the call with a couple of "mhm"s, the officer packed up the phone and asked Chang Pingsi, "What brings you to the station?"

"Um... I got a call telling me to come to the station," Chang Pingsi obediently responded.

"Let me see the mobile number." The officer went through the motions, checked it, and then said, "Come with me."

The officer turned and left.

Chang Pingsi responded and followed a few steps, then called out to his boss.

The boss hesitated, then waved his hand and said, "You go ahead, I’ll find someone else."

Once Chang Pingsi was out of sight, and no one was in front of the boss, he considered barging into the station.

Of course, he came up empty-handed.

Even if he knew a few officers, under Jiang Yuan’s watch, at best he would get a couple of brush-offs.

Chang Pingsi was first taken to the interrogation room.

Police stations were all working on establishing three separate rooms, with the interrogation room being the most serious, designated only for suspects, fully video-recorded, with various strict regulations. The holding room was for detaining individuals. The interrogation room had a relatively more relaxed atmosphere, where witnesses or victims were interviewed and depositions recorded.

Unlike the mandatory recording in the interrogation room, the interrogation room only allowed recording, not required it.

Meng Chengbiao was in charge of the interrogation, and worried Chang Pingsi might have consulted a lawyer beforehand, he purposefully chose the interrogation room to lower Chang Pingsi’s psychological expectations.

Once Chang Pingsi sat down in the interrogation room, the officer who had entered first was also from the station.

They sat opposite Chang Pingsi and conducted the standard questioning before Meng Chengbiao entered.

Chang Pingsi immediately recognized the dark-faced middle-aged man!

The tour group from the day before yesterday was the worst he had led in recent years.

And the dark-faced man in front of him had been the oldest in that group.

In that instant, Chang Pingsi thought of many things...

"We meet again," Meng Chengbiao said cheerfully, speaking as if a tourist was greeting a guide.

Chang Pingsi clenched his fists and asked, "Are you abusing your power for personal gain?"

"What abuse of power for personal gain?" Meng Chengbiao chatted casually, not in a hurry, as if he was certain of his control over Chang Pingsi.

Chang Pingsi said, "You joined a tour group, weren’t satisfied with the experience despite spending money, and then called me in just to hassle me..."

"Would the police join this kind of tour group?" Meng Chengbiao asked with a smile.

"Wouldn’t they?" Chang Pingsi frowned, "Then why did you join my group?"

"At that time, it was like... we were undercover." Meng Chengbiao said casually.

"Which of you are undercover?"

"All of us."

"All of us, what do you mean by that?"

"Well, if you count it up, except for you, we’re all undercover," Meng Chengbiao said, and before he knew it, he too started laughing.

What a rare experience, he thought. In the future, he could boast about having participated in the largest undercover operation of the 21st century.

Chang Pingsi was completely flustered. How big a case was it that required undercover work from over thirty people?

Chang Pingsi was already very agitated,

"We need evidence to catch you guys," Meng Chengbiao added another sentence.

Chang Pingsi suddenly stood up.

The chairs in the interrogation room were ordinary armchairs, with four legs and rubber ferrules, not designed to restrain.

The police officer in front quickly stood up, hand on his waist, and commanded, "Sit down, did you hear me? Sit and talk!"

When it came to arguing, Chang Pingsi wasn’t scared of anyone. To be honest, he had been to the police station several times, but such a formal interrogation was very intimidating.

Moreover, the people he used to argue with were usually tourists, and most of the time they were old men and women from out of town. Once the money was in hand, playing dead could get him through the situation.

Facing the police officer, Chang Pingsi’s resistance seemed insufficient.

Chang Pingsi slowly sat down.

"We met the day before yesterday, right?" Meng Chengbiao gave a slight smile as his demeanor seemed to relax a little.

Chang Pingsi came to his senses and nodded lightly.

"Two days have passed, do you know how much evidence we can find on dozens of people in two days?" Meng Chengbiao’s expression appeared somewhat terrifying to Chang Pingsi.

Indeed, Chang Pingsi started thinking along the lines that Meng Chengbiao suggested and lowered his head.

Two days wasn’t much time for the police to uncover things, but from a criminal’s perspective, the scenarios were frightening.

At the end of the day, as a black tour guide for all these years, Chang Pingsi knew that what he and others did had many illegal aspects.

"Alright, tell me, how does your gang operate?" Meng Chengbiao’s words were all carefully crafted.

Chang Pingsi’s gaze turned uneasy, and he forced a smile, "How did we get to talking about a gang..."

"In criminal activities, if there’s no clear division of labor but there are relatively fixed members, it’s considered a gang," Meng Chengbiao looked at Chang Pingsi and said, "Of course, if you guys have a clear leader, a defined division of labor, and fixed members, you can consider yourselves a vibrant organization..."

"No, no..." Chang Pingsi quickly waved his hands in denial.

"Actually, you’re quite lucky. We got to know each other through an unfortunate incident, and our encounter the day before yesterday was quite pleasant..."

"Yes, yes, yes..."

"So now is the perfect time for you to make amends. The more people you name, the lighter your own criminal responsibility will be. If thanks to you, the entire gang gets uncovered, you might even get a suspended sentence. A suspended sentence means you don’t have to serve a real prison term, just stay home as usual, and as long as you don’t commit any more crimes, you’ll be fine..." Meng Chengbiao started using the common interrogation technique of telling blatant lies, also known as creating an informational disadvantage to solve a case.

Chang Pingsi’s heartstrings were fiercely plucked. A suspended sentence sounded great. If he could get a suspended sentence, he wouldn’t work as a tour guide once he went home. He had made quite a sum over the years, and he could buy a house, find a partner, have two kids...

Upon further thought, actually having one child was also okay, or even not having children was fine too. Marriage also wasn’t a necessity, or maybe he shouldn’t buy a house at all, just living off the interest from his savings seemed pretty good...

"Let’s start with your boss," Meng Chengbiao gave a clear directive.

Chang Pingsi reflexively began to ponder.

...

The conference room.

Jiang Yuan and Director Tan were looking at the surveillance together and having a friendly discussion:

"We can arrest that boss now."

"The restaurant indeed sells counterfeit cigarettes, let’s go together with the tobacco people."

"Ah, I knew there was a problem, let’s arrest those jade sellers first."