Catching Suspects at an Internet Cafe

That bag was in the evidence room next door. Lin Xiaosu went in, but he did not open it. He did not even pick it up. He merely glanced at it, smelled the air around it, and completed the opening phase of his investigation.

Next, they needed to visit the place where the bag had been found.

Miao Ruolan stayed behind to organize the materials needed for their detective agency's opening.

Lin Xiaosu, Zhou Mei, and Officer Sun Yang headed to the place where the bag had been found.

The bag had been found at Yishui Bund.

The Yishui River ran through the city. Shops lined both banks, and people casually dumped household wastewater and garbage into it, turning the river into a stinking ditch. After Secretary Luo Gong took office, he launched a major cleanup effort. Many homes along both banks were demolished, the riverbed was cleared, embankments were built, landscaping trees were planted, and a dam was constructed downstream. Once the water was stored, the Yishui River became a sparkling stretch of water framed by swaying green willows, unexpectedly turning into a park with both water and beaches.

Everyone called it Yishui Bund.

When criticism of Secretary Luo Gong was at its peak, Yishui Bund also became a target.

People said Secretary Luo liked women and often brought female officials to Yishui Bund to "discuss work."

That claim was quickly dismissed. As the county's top official, if he wanted to "discuss work," he could do it anywhere. Why would he specifically choose a place where everyone could see him?

Although the joke about Secretary Luo "discussing work" lost credibility due to its lack of logic, it was an indisputable fact that Yishui Bund was well suited for young couples to date.

It was right in the city center, yet peaceful amid the bustle.

With drooping willows, clear rippling water by day, and cicadas chirping at night, it truly carried a touch of romance.

Since this was a place designed for leisure from the start, there were naturally no cameras installed. The red pavilion where the handbag had been found was a surveillance blind spot.

It was now early May.

The moment they stepped down onto the riverbank, the sun, which had only just begun to grow fierce, became gentle.

Lin Xiaosu took a breath of fresh air, brushed aside two willow branches hanging over the entrance of the red pavilion, and walked inside.

Outside the red pavilion, Officer Sun Yang leaned close to Zhou Mei's ear and lowered his voice. "Sister Zhou, we've checked this place several times already. Could we really have missed something?"

He had only recently started work, and Zhou Mei was practically his training officer. He did not dare question her decision, but that did not mean he was fully convinced.

After all, he had been a top student at the police academy.

He had excelled in criminal investigation and forensic examination alike.

Someone without formal training opening a detective agency in a small county town was already bizarre enough.

For such a person to find a flaw that several elite investigators had missed, then solve this kind of case, was even more far-fetched.

Zhou Mei turned her lovely eyes toward him. "You did check twice, and your eyes were practically bulging out of your heads. But do you know how to smell?"

"Smell? We don't, but we deployed police dogs too. The things inside that bag were sealed too tightly, so the dogs couldn't smell anything before it was opened. And it wasn't opened until after it was sent back to the station..."

His voice abruptly cut off...

Because Lin Xiaosu lightly brushed aside the hanging willow branches at the entrance of the red pavilion and walked out.

He did not look at them. He walked straight toward the flower bed outside, stepped into it, and stopped, a rather surprised expression appearing on his face...

Zhou Mei hurried over to his side. "Did you find something?"

"Look!" Lin Xiaosu pointed lightly at the ground. "There's a footprint here!"

A footprint!

That statement alone meant nothing, because there were footprints everywhere.

This was a public leisure area. Footprints were the one thing it never lacked.

But Zhou Mei immediately became alert. "Is it connected to the scent in the red pavilion?"

"Yes." Lin Xiaosu said, "From yesterday evening until now, two people have left their scents in that red pavilion. After leaving it, those two scents took different routes. One went up those stairs and onto the pedestrian walkway. The other came this way, along the inside of the flower bed... Officer Zhou, assuming one of them lost the bag and the other found it, who do you think took the route inside the flower bed?"

Zhou Mei's heart leaped. "The person who lost the bag!"

"Exactly! The person who found the bag took it to the police station with the mindset of returning lost property. He had nothing to hide, so he took the main road!" Lin Xiaosu said. "Now think about it. Why would the person who lost the bag walk along the inside of the flower bed in the middle of the night? You should know that snakes and insects are common here!"

Zhou Mei and Sun Yang were both startled...

At Yishui Bund, along the inside of the flower beds, with snakes and insects crawling about in this season, what normal person would walk there at night? Wasn't there a Lovers' Walk right outside?

Sun Yang stepped forward. "Unless this lost-bag incident was never an accidental loss in the first place."

"Exactly!" Lin Xiaosu nodded. "This was a very typical drug transaction!"

Drugs were under constant high-pressure suppression in Great Xia.

Therefore, drug transactions were extremely tightly controlled.

Many dealers used a method where the "upstream" and "downstream" parties never met. They agreed on a location, the upstream party placed the "goods" at the designated spot, and the downstream party retrieved them.

The greatest advantage was that it severed the connection between the two. Even if one side was caught, the other would not be implicated.

The fundamental reason this transaction failed was an unexpected accident.

The upstream party placed the bag at the designated location, but before the downstream party could retrieve it, a passerby picked it up.

Normally, when a passerby picked up something, the owner could simply step forward and reclaim it. But the problem was that the contents could not see the light of day. Who would dare claim it?

What if they ran into someone stubborn? You say it's yours, then tell us what's inside. We'll open it and check each item one by one. If you get everything right, the bag is yours!

Wouldn't that be courting death?

So even if the downstream party had been watching nearby, he probably would not have dared step forward.

If the person who found the bag had taken it home, those people would have had ways to get it back. But the problem was that this person had been a good child since childhood and firmly believed in the saying, "If I find a penny on the road, I'll hand it to Uncle Policeman." Once he handed it over, both the upstream and downstream parties were screwed...

One pavilion, two scents.

Two routes.

One took the main road, while the other went through the flower bed.

With just that simple information, all three of them connected the clues to a serious case.

"The question now is whether we can find that upstream dealer in this vast sea of people..." Zhou Mei said.

Lin Xiaosu smiled lightly. "Let's give it a try!"

That attempt took them from the side of the flower bed onto the pedestrian walkway, across the bridge, and to an internet cafe.

It was only a little after eight in the morning. Life moved slowly in the small county town. Many people were still eating breakfast, the air carrying the fragrance of spring flowers, the scent of fried dough sticks and steamed buns, and the smell of everyday life.

But inside the internet cafe, it was another world entirely.

There was a long row of gaming computers and sixty or seventy teenage boys. Some were still gaming after pulling all-nighters, while others lay sleeping in their chairs with their shirts on backward. The air reeked of cigarettes, instant noodles, and some other foul odor no one could identify.

The tables were a mess, and so was the floor.

The cleaning ladies wore expressions of deep disapproval mixed with helplessness. If these boys had been their sons, they would have beaten them senseless. But they were not!

On the contrary, it was precisely because these boys existed that the women had jobs...

They kept their complaints to themselves because they did not dare say anything in front of them.

But when they saw Zhou Mei and the other two walking side by side down the passage toward the private rooms, they could not help sighing inwardly...

Private rooms were the internet cafe's VIP section.

VIP always meant high-end everywhere else, but internet cafe VIP rooms were beyond description.

The women knew perfectly well that these rooms were money-devouring beasts and bottomless mud pits.

Some people entered wearing short sleeves and emerged to find snow covering the sky.

Even worse, some had homes, wives, and children, yet spent years holed up inside. Their wives ran off with other men, their sons became orphans, and they sold off their homes, pouring every last cent into those private rooms...

What was the point?

People their age truly could not understand it.

They could ignore matters that had nothing to do with them, but when they saw three well-dressed young people entering the private rooms, they still felt it was such a waste...

Yes, Zhou Mei and Sun Yang were not wearing police uniforms. They were in plainclothes.

When they reached the door of one private room, Lin Xiaosu stopped.

Light flickered in Zhou Mei's eyes. "Are you sure?"

Lin Xiaosu nodded lightly.

He was absolutely sure. That blond-haired punk had entered this private room and had not come out.

Zhou Mei raised her hand and knocked on the door.

An impatient voice came from inside. "Who is it?"

"Cleaning staff!" Zhou Mei said.

The private room door opened...

The person who opened it was that blond-haired punk.

The moment he saw Zhou Mei, he was a little surprised. Such a young and beautiful woman worked as cleaning staff? Though the economy was slowing and anything was possible, this was a bit too unbelievable, wasn't it?

But Zhou Mei did not look at him. Her gaze locked firmly onto the footprints he had left as he approached the door.

Ordinarily, floors did not retain such obvious footprints. But there was one exception: public places where soup and drinks were spilled everywhere because someone else was responsible for cleaning up...

The footprints on the floor could not have been clearer.

It was him!

Zhou Mei raised her hand, revealing a police ID in her palm...

The blond-haired punk shuddered violently, and his face changed completely...

He suddenly twisted sideways and charged past Zhou Mei.

Just as he was about to get through, Zhou Mei raised her knee. The blond-haired punk's face twisted, and he doubled over like a shrimp.

There were two more people in the private room, and they jumped up at the same time. Sun Yang kicked the one on the left to the ground, while Lin Xiaosu delivered a clean chokehold to the one on the right and pressed his face to the floor.

The internet cafe was alarmed, and so was the owner...

Outside, a police siren sounded briefly before cutting off. Three male officers entered side by side, with Captain Zhang personally leading them, and took the three men to the police car.