138 Newcomer

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The relay station had been built on the mountain, so naturally no one lived in the surrounding area.

If they wanted to make inquiries, they would have to visit the places within the station’s coverage range.

Han Bin and the others descended the mountain. At its foot stood several farm restaurants, and farther ahead was an antique street.

The farm restaurants were situated on both sides of the highway. Some of them even had surveillance cameras installed. Han Bin planned to make inquiries at the nearest ones and copy a set of the surveillance footage while he was there.

Tian Li and Zhao Ming split up from Han Bin and the others, heading elsewhere to ask around.

Han Bin and Li Hui first went to a farm restaurant called Fat Auntie’s. It was already past mealtime, and there were no customers in sight. A few employees were cleaning up.

“What would you two like to eat?” asked a stout woman in her forties, wearing an apron.

“We’re police officers. We’d like to ask you a few questions.” Han Bin showed her his badge.

At his words, the stout woman froze for a moment, and the other employees also stopped what they were doing.

The woman looked Han Bin and Li Hui over. “Officer, what’s this about?”

“A nearby relay station was robbed. Did you know that?” Han Bin asked.

“No, I didn’t. What does that have to do with us?” the stout woman asked indifferently.

“Mom, how can it not have anything to do with us? None of our phones have a signal anymore, and it’s because the relay station was robbed,” a young man of seventeen or eighteen reminded her.

“Oh, so that’s what happened. I was wondering why I couldn’t get through on the phone.” The woman looked as though she had suddenly understood.

“We’re investigating the case so we can catch the thief and restore communications at the station as soon as possible,” Han Bin explained.

Human beings were highly advanced creatures, but their subjective consciousness was exceptionally strong. If they were willing to cooperate with your work, things could go twice as smoothly with half the effort. If they were unwilling, forget about providing useful information—if they did not hinder you, that alone was fortunate.

Once matters were explained clearly and people understood how they were connected to their own interests, they would naturally cooperate.

“Then go ahead and ask. We’re willing to cooperate,” the woman said readily.

The lack of phone service would affect the farm restaurant’s business as well, so she naturally hoped the relay station would be restored as soon as possible.

“Do you know exactly when the phones lost their signal?” Han Bin asked.

“I remember that I still had a signal when I made a call sometime after ten last night. It wasn’t until around eight this morning that I realized I couldn’t get through. As for the exact time the signal disappeared, I’m not sure,” the woman replied.

“I know the exact time,” the young man said.

“What time?”

“12:25 a.m.” The young man recalled it clearly.

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“How do you remember it so precisely?” Han Bin asked, somewhat surprised.

“I like playing King of Glory. That game absolutely cannot tolerate lag. Our Internet connection isn’t very good and often freezes, so I use mobile data when I play.” As he spoke, the young man cast a sidelong glance at the stout woman and, emboldened, continued, “I couldn’t sleep last night, so I played King of Glory for a while. I was doing really well, and under my leadership we were just about to reach the enemy’s high ground when the game suddenly froze and disconnected. My mobile data had stopped working. When I switched to the wireless network, I glanced at the time. It was 12:25, so I remember it quite clearly.”

“Did you win or lose?” Li Hui asked with a smile.

The young man grinned. “Won. I got a Legendary streak and MVP.”

“Not bad.” Li Hui gave him a thumbs-up.

The stout woman, however, was displeased. “Why were you playing so late again? Didn’t I tell you to go to bed earlier?”

“I had a little insomnia last night,” the young man said timidly.

“You stay up late and then can’t get up in the morning. Go ahead and keep this up,” the woman snorted.

“Between midnight and one this morning, did any of you see a suspicious vehicle driving up the mountain?” Han Bin pressed.

“Don’t joke around, Officer. It was that late. Why would we still be going outside? We were already asleep,” the woman replied.

“Do you have surveillance cameras here?”

“There’s one in the courtyard.”

“Can it capture the road outside?” Han Bin asked.

“Of course not. We installed it to keep thieves from entering the courtyard. Its angle is limited. If it were pointed at the road, there would be blind spots in the yard,” the woman explained.

Han Bin asked a few more questions before taking his leave.

After leaving the farm restaurant, he questioned several more nearby households, hoping to verify the exact time the phones had lost their signal.

A loss of phone service meant that the relay station had been stolen, allowing them to estimate the approximate time of the crime.

After making inquiries in the area, Han Bin failed to find anyone who could state the exact time as confidently as the young man. Not everyone paid such close attention to their phone signal, and many had noticed the problem only much later.

However, after asking around further, Han Bin discovered that none of them had used their phones after midnight the previous night, while all of them had noticed the loss of signal after two in the morning.

Indirectly, this corroborated the young man’s account. It was highly likely that the phone signal had been cut off at 12:25.

From this, they could infer that the relay station had probably been stolen sometime between midnight and one in the morning. The surveillance footage would therefore be examined with particular attention to the period immediately before and after that time.

…

By the time Han Bin and Li Hui had finished making their rounds, it was already after three in the afternoon. Six other theft cases still required fresh investigations, and the workload facing Han Bin and the others was enormous.

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The police car parked near the farm restaurant became the meeting point for Zeng Ping, Han Bin, Tian Li, and the others.

“Captain Zeng, what are we doing now?” Li Hui asked.

“We’ll summarize the clues we’ve collected, then investigate the relay station at Golden Sand Beach. It’s relatively close to here.” Zeng Ping opened the car door and took out a cigarette.

He was a lifelong smoker. Since he had been unable to smoke at the crime scene, he had nearly gone crazy holding it in.

Han Bin, Li Hui, and Zhao Ming followed his example and pulled cigarettes from their pockets.

“Captain Zeng, Brother Bin, Brother Hui, have one of mine.” Zhao Ming took out a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes and handed them around.

Han Bin produced a lighter, lit one for Zeng Ping, then lit his own and took a drag.

Han Bin was no stranger to Zhonghua cigarettes. People often gave them as gifts during holidays, but Han Weidong felt that smoking them looked bad and did not particularly care for them, so he had stopped accepting them.

“Hey, Zhao Ming, give me one.” Tian Li held out her hand.

“Sis Tian, what do you want a cigarette for?” Zhao Ming asked, puzzled.

“I want to try it too. Is this thing really that addictive?”

Zeng Ping waved her off and scolded her. “Don’t give her one. What kind of woman smokes? Do you still want to get married?”

“Captain Zeng, you’re stuck in the past. There are plenty of women who smoke on the streets these days.” Tian Li shook her head.

“What are you comparing yourself to them for? Every one of those smoking women has tattoos. Go get yourself a tattoo, then.” Zeng Ping snorted.

Tian Li pulled a face. As a police officer, she obviously could not go and get a tattoo.

“Captain Zeng, have you reported to Captain Zheng? Did he send anyone to reinforce us? There are still six crime scenes we haven’t examined.” Li Hui made a counting gesture with his fingers.

“Group One has a case of its own and can’t spare anyone to help us. Captain Zheng is coordinating with Teams One and Two, but the chances don’t look good. Don’t get your hopes up. We’ll still have to rely on ourselves,” Zeng Ping said.

“Well, looks like we’re in for a busy time,” Tian Li said helplessly.

“Don’t look so miserable. If a criminal investigator is afraid of hard work, what good are they?” Zeng Ping scolded her, then abruptly changed the subject. “By the way, I have some good news for you. Group Two is getting a new member.”

The Wonderful Book House

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