An Alternative Path

"A logical closed loop? What does that mean?" Zhou Mei asked.

Lin Xiaosu said, "My assessment is completely different from yours! Qi Hongzhong isn't Ghost Eye Lao Qi. And the flaws he deliberately left behind before his escape weren't flaws at all, but rather deliberate smoke bombs!"

"Explain your reasoning!" Zhou Mei's heart pounded...

She had just had a flash of inspiration, believing she had tapped into years of accumulated intuition, and even she was excited after speaking.

But her excitement lasted less than three seconds before Lin Xiaosu doused it with cold water.

Lin Xiaosu held up his fingers. "I'll give you two points! Firstly, as a big shot who can control Fengcheng's underground syndicate with an iron fist, he has a hundred ways to eliminate someone who threatens them while staying out of it. There's no way he'd force himself into a position where he could never enter Great Xia again, just for a nobody like me!"

Zhou Mei frowned. His words left her speechless.

That's right, this operation was essentially an exchange: Lin Xiaosu's death for his lifelong ban from Great Xia.

If he were truly Ghost Eye Lao Qi, would he have the guts to make a one-for-one trade with a nobody?

"Secondly, the drug trade is inherently a sensitive industry. Anyone who can operate in it is a shrewd individual. If they wanted to hide themselves, they wouldn't leave so many obvious flaws that we two police officers could uncover in just two hours."

The two reasons were very persuasive.

However, no one knew that these weren't the real reasons.

The real reason was that the sentence Lin Xiaosu heard through lip-reading technique formed a logical closed loop here.

The man with glasses he tracked in the car using Time Reversal was indeed Qi Hongzhong. He had told the assassin an unbelievable thing: "If you get caught, pin it on me!"

At first, he was confused by this statement.

Now, he understood completely.

It was deliberate!

He intentionally left flaws, deliberately misled them, and deliberately drew the police's attention to himself so he could flee abroad under the guise of "Ghost Eye Lao Qi," thereby resolving the crisis for Fengcheng's drug syndicate.

Captain Zhang's eyes lit up...

He had also thought of another suspicious point. When they interrogated the two suspects, they had extracted the name "Ghost Eye Lao Qi" from them with almost no effort, which was suspiciously smooth.

If this was all orchestrated by the other party, it would make sense.

Zhou Mei asked, "Then why do you think he did it?"

"It's very simple. He used himself to draw our attention, in exchange for the temporary safety of Fengcheng's underground syndicate. It's like 'sacrificing a chariot to save the king' in chess!"

Captain Zhang's heart pounded...

He understood Lin Xiaosu's second question just now.

If the police identified Qi Hongzhong as Ghost Eye Lao Qi, and Qi Hongzhong had already left the country, all operations targeting Fengcheng would have to be halted.

That's exactly what they wanted: for the police to stop.

They might have sensed danger, so they used Qi Hongzhong to buy themselves time to relocate.

If Lin Xiaosu hadn't warned him, he would have fallen right into this trap.

Even his superiors would have fallen for it.

Because this was a fundamental rule of case investigation.

Captain Zhang's eyes flickered. "Tell us everything you want to say!"

Lin Xiaosu said, "If we consider solving this case as a war, we must break free from the opponent's predetermined track and control the rhythm and direction of the war ourselves! I suggest you focus your efforts on another angle."

"Which angle?"

"The flow of funds!"

The flow of funds?

All illicit transactions in the world ultimately lead to money, because money is their objective. Therefore, the flow of funds is the most accurate chain...

"Of course, we've been monitoring the flow of funds!" Zhou Mei said. "Previously, the visible flow of funds led to these Five Tiger Generals. Their rapid wealth accumulation alerted us. But since we realized that these Five Tiger Generals weren't the actual leaders of the syndicate, we believed there had to be another, more hidden and larger financial chain. Unfortunately, we searched for a long time but couldn't find such a chain."

This was common knowledge about criminal syndicates.

Criminal syndicates weren't formed out of "philanthropy."

They were formed for profit!

If the Five Tiger Generals were the actual controllers of the syndicate, the financial chain would end with them, completing the loop.

However, they weren't!

There was a real mastermind!

That person should be receiving greater benefits.

How that person received the benefits, and who received them, was the police's most troublesome problem...

Lin Xiaosu picked up his teacup, his eyes flickering slightly. "Let's follow the visible lines for now. The funds of the Five Tiger Generals also moved. Where did these funds go?"

"Squandered!" Sun Yang interjected. "All five of them are paragons of extravagance. They used the immense wealth they acquired through means both righteous and unrighteous to spend lavishly."

"How did they squander it?"

Sun Yang replied, "This… if I were to explain it in detail, it would take three days and three nights. In short, they squandered money in every way you can imagine: keeping mistresses, indulging in lavish lifestyles, buying luxury cars, renovating mansions, and so on…"

"A general summary won't do!" Lin Xiaosu said. "Perhaps you can create a list: who did what, how much money they spent, where it went, what specifically they bought, who they kept as mistresses? How much money was given during the arrangements, how the kept person spent the money… organize it all into a table."

Sun Yang was stunned. "This… this isn't a simple task."

"Do you think it's simple to outwit and battle a criminal organization, Officer Sun?" Lin Xiaosu asked.

"Of course, it's not simple, but this matter itself isn't the main focus of the case… Is it really necessary?"

"It is necessary!"

The conference room fell silent.

Zhou Mei and Sun Yang exchanged glances, seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.

This kid was getting a bit too arrogant.

Relying on Captain Zhang's trust, he was starting to assign tasks to his subordinates.

And this task, did they think it was that simple?

Five people, squandering money every day, and he wanted a detailed list of their extravagance? These five individuals had sensitive identities; the police could barely get close to them. Where was he supposed to find these specifics?

He even wanted them to identify the people they were keeping as mistresses. Heaven knows, regardless of who kept whom, it was already a secretive matter. You also wanted to investigate how much money the kept person received from him and what they did with that money. Do you realize the sheer amount of work involved if we were to investigate all of this?

Captain Zhang slowly looked up. "Xiaosu, why do you think it's necessary to do this?"

"Because I once saw a case that had similarities to this one. There's nothing new under the sun; many crimes are actually repetitions."

This was the truth. The case he had seen was recorded in the 101 Case Files.

That case file wasn't a physical book but an electronic version. Just knowing its file size would tell you how terrifying it was. It totaled 8000GB, containing almost all representative criminal cases.

It included cases not only from the founding of the nation but also from ancient and modern times, both in China and abroad.

The average person would take years to finish reading this case file. Even though he possessed the Humanity Orchid Heart and had a photographic memory, it still took him a full two days and two nights to finish.

This was probably his real trump card for daring to open a detective agency; this was his data reserve.

"There's nothing new under the sun; many things are repetitions! I like hearing that!" Captain Zhang raised his hand and dialed a number. "Come here!"

About five minutes later, the elevator chimed, and a thin police officer with slightly graying hair walked in.

His name was Wang Donghe. He was once a vibrant member of the criminal investigation team. Later, during an operation, he was stabbed three times, injuring his lungs, which led to his semi-retirement.

However, tonight, with just one call from Captain Zhang, he appeared in less than five minutes. What did that signify?

It meant he was actually working overtime in this very building!

He wasn't as leisurely as everyone perceived.

"Donghe, the task you voluntarily applied for three years ago when you were moved off the front lines due to injury and illness, it might be meaningful!" Captain Zhang said. "Because this Fengcheng detective has proposed the same idea as you!"

A faint blush appeared on Wang Donghe's pale face. "Captain Zhang, do you want to know the full situation?"

"Come, present your achievements from the past three years."

"Yes!"

Wang Donghe walked over to the computer…

He took out his phone case, revealing a very small USB drive.

He plugged the USB drive into the computer, and various documents appeared on the screen.

Brother Hu's financial flow…

Brother He's financial flow…

Sister Feng's financial flow…

Below the financial flow were lists, photos, amounts, and the names of the bribe-takers. Of course, the photos of the bribe-takers were blank, replaced by codenames.

The photos of the women they kept were also blank, with codenames below them.

Zhou Mei's eyes lit up…

Sun Yang's expression shifted dramatically…

He was a top student from the police academy. He had just thought Lin Xiaosu's suggestion was foolish, but in the blink of an eye, an old detective arrived and presented the results of his three years of work, which perfectly matched Lin Xiaosu's proposal.

What did this signify?

At the very least, it meant Lin Xiaosu's proposal wasn't foolish.

Because this old detective, who had been in the trenches of criminal investigation for a full thirty years, used his injury as a cover three years ago to feign retirement while secretly continuing his work, doing something that perfectly aligned with Lin Xiaosu's suggestion.

Only Captain Zhang in the criminal investigation team knew about this matter.

Could you still call Lin Xiaosu foolish? Could you say that his thirty years of criminal investigation experience were worthless?

If he was willing to dedicate three years to this matter, how could it possibly be without value?

"Impressive!" Lin Xiaosu said. "So Captain Zhang had already made arrangements."

Captain Zhang said, "These Five Tiger Generals have sensitive identities. If the police get too close, it will alert them. Therefore, on the surface, we haven't approached them too closely, but that doesn't mean we haven't investigated them thoroughly. This information is of great importance and involves many people. You don't need to know the specific individuals; just understand the general flow of the funds."

"This information is already quite specific!" Lin Xiaosu said.

"That's good, what did you figure out?"

Lin Xiaosu said, "One conclusion, one point of doubt!"

"Oh? Tell me!"

Lin Xiaosu said, "The conclusion is: The Five Tiger Generals are definitely involved in underground dealings!"

"How did you reach that conclusion?"

"Their primary income is far from keeping pace with the growth of their actual wealth. In other words, their primary income alone is not enough to support their extravagant spending."

"They must have another source of income."

"And the doubt?"

"The doubt is about this Sister Feng!" Lin Xiaosu said. "The wealth she squandered far exceeds that of the other four tigers. Does she hold a higher position in the organization? Does she receive more illicit income?"

This Sister Feng alone spent forty million on jewelry at the Fengcheng Jewelry Store. As for the other four tigers, even though luxury cars and houses were everywhere, in a small place like Fengcheng, luxury cars and houses aren't actually worth that much. Their combined value might not even reach forty million.