Chapter 128 The Night's Work

Around 8:30 PM, Fei Zizheng returned to the police station with his team, gathering the core members of the task force, ready for an all-night work session.

Inside the brightly lit office area, over twenty criminal investigation experts stared at the mountain of files and documents piled on the conference table, their expressions bordering on collapse.

Fei Zizheng stood next to the information whiteboard, his expression serious as he addressed the group, "Let me start with my assessment. Based on the information we have, the perpetrator acted alone, from hijacking the water delivery truck, controlling the delivery workers, entering the crime scene to deliver water, planting the explosives, and finally, the escape. In my experience, this modus operandi doesn't seem to originate from a criminal organization. Working alone does reduce the risk for the criminal, since there are no accomplices, but it poses a significant risk for an organization. Just hijacking the delivery workers alone carries a high risk of something going wrong. So, I suspect the core motive here is revenge, and the reason for revenge stems from the mine disaster."

After speaking, Fei Zizheng started drawing diagrams on the whiteboard and continued, "Following this line of thought, the technical team provided us with a very useful piece of information: the method the perpetrator used to manufacture the explosives and the technology used to install the timing device are consistent with that of demolition personnel in special industries, such as demolition engineers from construction companies, blasters in the mining industry, and so on. Therefore, we visited numerous companies today and extracted information from their databases of certified, registered demolition personnel..."

After quickly writing down various pieces of information and relationship diagrams, Fei Zizheng turned to the task force members again, "Tonight's job is to screen. We need to compare the registration information we obtained with the families of the mine disaster victims and the special workers of the three major associations, looking for commonalities, and lock down the suspect as soon as possible! Since the demolition personnel from various companies have not been digitally logged, our workload is quite heavy. Everyone, please bear with it and pull an all-nighter."

Inside the office area, everyone looked at the piles of original registration data, then glanced at the worker information just sent over by Baolong Mining, their heads buzzing. They all felt like they might die of overwork tonight.

Fei Zizheng walked to the conference table, pressed his hands on the surface, and continued, "Personally, I believe that if this is truly motivated by revenge, then he will definitely strike again. The sooner we can find out his identity and lock down the suspect, the more innocent people we can save. My direction may not necessarily be correct. If it's wrong, everyone will have to start all over again, so we don't have much time. Please, everyone, put in the effort."

Everyone nodded in response and began to work.

Fei Zizheng took out a little over a thousand cash from his depleted wallet, threw it on the table, and said to his assistant, "I'm buying coffee and midnight snacks tonight, try to satisfy everyone's requests."

Everyone smiled upon hearing this.

After speaking, Fei Zizheng also sat down and joined the work.

...

Beside a street in Longkou District, Su Tianyu was sound asleep in his car.

"Bang!"

The sound of a car door being yanked open rang out. Li Yuan, carrying a briefcase, got into the back seat and looked at Su Tianyu in surprise, "Sleeping soundly, huh?"

"He hasn't rested in over thirty hours," Bai Hongbo replied, reaching out to nudge Gou Liuzi's shoulder.

"Ah?" Gou Liuzi woke up with a start, his eyes bloodshot, and looked around with a dazed expression.

"Brother Li is here," Bai Hongbo reminded him.

"Oh." Gou Liuzi rubbed his swollen eyes and slowly turned his head to ask Li Yuan, "Did you bring the data?"

"I brought it," Li Yuan reached out and took off his backpack, saying in a low voice, "It's all in here."

"Okay." Su Tianyu took it and nodded, "Alright, let's continue to take care of business."

"Why do you need the registration information of these demolition personnel?" Li Yuan asked curiously.

Su Tianyu picked up a cigarette case and replied, "The police station gave us this lead. They've been investigating this area all day and seem to have found a clue."

"They think the perpetrator might be a professional blaster?" Li Yuan already understood Su Tianyu's meaning.

"Yeah, probably." Su Tianyu lit a cigarette, "It's very likely to be someone from the worker level."

Li Yuan paused for a moment, "Then why don't you just do an internal self-check and find suspicious people? That would be more convenient."

"I already had Da Bai investigate, and I also notified Changqing, but it didn't have any effect." Su Tianyu shook his head helplessly, "We can contact the families of the deceased miners, and very few of them have blasting skills. Da Bai asked them personally, and they don't have any suspicious points."

Hearing this answer, Li Yuan felt a little worried, "If it really is a problem at the worker level, then the regulatory commission will catch someone first, then use this incident to make a fuss and pin the blame on us. Then... the situation of the three associations will be very dangerous."

"Yeah, so we need to investigate quickly." Su Tianyu took a puff of his cigarette and immediately replied, "I won't say anymore, let's get to work."

"Okay, call me immediately if there's any news."

"Yeah, that's it."

After the two finished talking, Li Yuan pushed the door open and left, while Da Bai drove towards Zhanan.

On the way, Su Tianyu briefly read through the data and then contacted Kong Zhengui, preparing to have him start investigating this matter. Because within the union, besides Su Tiannan, he was the most knowledgeable about the grassroots situation, and he knew people well.

When Kong Zhengui answered the phone, he was at the crematorium. Because today was the day Uncle Jiu's wife was cremated. There were no relatives in her family, only a little girl who was still in school, so the union was helping out.

After Su Tianyu finished communicating with Kong Zhengui on the phone, Da Bai drove to the crematorium.

...

North of Dragon City, on the highway leading to District One, there was a mountain tunnel about two kilometers long.

Night, cold wind blowing gently.

A young man, wearing sportswear and carrying a large mountaineering bag, skillfully entered the interior of the tunnel from the maintenance entrance above the tunnel.

Inside the dimly lit tunnel, the young man stood next to the stairs, turning his head to look at the exits on both sides. Suddenly, many memories flashed through his mind.

It was a hot summer day, a group of workers were squatting outside the construction area, eating boxed lunches and watermelon scooped out of an ice bucket.

In a mountain area that had not yet been tunneled through, a middle-aged man shouted, "To do this job, you must be rigorous! You can't say 'almost' or 'let's try'! If you use the wrong amount or have incorrect data, you will kill many people, do you understand?!"

A young man in his twenties lowered his head without arguing.

"Remesure!" the middle-aged man instructed, "Finish it before eating."

"Okay." The young man left in a huff.

Nearby, a foreman softly persuaded, "Hey, alright, don't scold your own child so harshly."

The middle-aged man smiled and did not respond, only bending down to pick up the boxed lunch covered with a thin layer of dust.

"Buzz!"

A speeding SUV pulled the young man back from his memories. He looked at the dimly lit tunnel and walked towards the most important load-bearing pillar at the north entrance, the one in his memory.