SFTD -Chapter 222 The Incomplete Password (Part 6)

Zhou Hai suddenly grew anxious and quickened his pace, rushing toward the vehicle.

“Stop! Police!”

His shout drew the attention of Hu’s task force team. No explanation was needed—everyone immediately rushed toward the scene. Xu Biao and Zhou Hai tried their best to sprint as well, but one lacked stamina and the other lacked speed due to his weight. After only a few steps, they both slowed down. The car was about to enter the next intersection.

Yu Yongliang, tall with long strides, was the fastest. He dashed straight to the intersection where a taxi was waiting at a red light. The car was just about to move when he suddenly blocked its path. The driver slammed the brakes instantly, the entire vehicle pitching forward. In the blink of an eye, the car was surrounded by police officers.

The driver’s door and rear door were yanked open at once, and the people inside were dragged out.

The driver wore a blue work uniform—around forty or fifty years old, looking honest and plain. He stood beside the car, completely stunned, but still instinctively raised his hands high.

Even Zhou Hai was startled by this reaction.

Inside the back seat, a man was struggling and shouting, extremely uncooperative. During the scuffle, the windbreaker draped over him got caught on a police officer’s sleeve. A rose-gold Apple phone slipped from the inner pocket of his suit and fell to the ground with a sharp “crack,” the screen instantly shattering.

Zhou Hai froze when he saw the phone.

Why was the phone on him?

“Whose phone is this?”

The man looked furious and shouted in broken Mandarin:

“What are you people doing?! Stopping our car and grabbing us like this—and breaking my phone! Who the hell are you?!”

His aggressive attitude made everyone pause.

Captain Hu quickly stepped forward, showed his badge, and picked up the phone from the ground.

“We are police. What’s your name? Where are you from? Why were you stopped here?”

Seeing the badge, the man’s anger faded slightly.

“I’m from Fujian. I came to Miguo to do business. I got lost, alright? The address I was given is here, but there’s no Kaijin Tower here. So annoying. I called the person I was meeting, asked them to pick me up, but they kept their phone busy and couldn’t be reached. I didn’t dare leave, so I waited. I was just planning to make a U-turn at the intersection and park on the other side.”

Captain Hu looked at the driver.

“You don’t know Kaijin Tower?”

The driver looked blank and nervously coughed several times.

“I… I’ve lived here for over forty years and I’ve never heard of any Kaijin Tower. He said he was going to Huizhou Middle Road 182—that’s exactly here.”

Following the driver’s finger, everyone indeed saw an old iron gate courtyard near where they had stopped, with the number “182” on the sign.

The address was correct after all.

The driver’s fingers kept trembling in a rhythmic way—an involuntary sign of extreme nervousness. This was not an act like “Zhao Si’s twitch,” something performative; it was genuine physiological shaking.

The passenger in the back seat had already picked up his phone. Although the screen was shattered, it still worked.

He opened a photo and showed it to everyone.

“Look, isn’t this the address? Huizhou Road East, No. 82—Kaijin Tower.”

Yu Yongliang, standing right beside him, leaned over to look, then patted the man’s shoulder.

“Brother, next time you take a taxi, please straighten out your tongue. Also, show the driver the picture properly. You’re so confident in your Mandarin, and now you’ve made a fool of yourself. What you have here is Huizhou East Road 82—Kaili Jin Hotel. This place is Huizhou Middle Road 182. Of course there’s no Kaijin Tower here.”

The driver slapped his thigh.

“I told you it was Kaili Jin Hotel! He insisted I was taking a detour and overcharging him. He told me to wait for someone to come pick him up. Officer, you’ve got to judge fairly for me—I’ve already been delayed for half an hour!”

Hearing the mention of money, the driver’s trembling eased noticeably.

Zhou Hai tugged at Yu Yongliang’s sleeve and whispered behind him: “Check the driver’s license.”

Yu Yongliang, tall and broad-shouldered, blocked Zhou Hai completely from the view of Captain Hu and the others. He stepped forward and said: “Which taxi company are you with? Show me your driver’s license.”

The driver took it out and handed it over. Yu Yongliang took a photo, verified the identity information, then turned back and gave Zhou Hai a slight shake of his head.

Xu Biao also searched the back seat thoroughly—seat covers and even between the gaps—but found nothing.

Zhou Hai realized he had been overly presumptuous. This case had almost been built entirely on his own assumptions that it involved a taxi. Now that lead had been broken.

Captain Hu waved them off. The man didn’t care much about the broken phone anymore; he picked up his windbreaker, got back into the car, and continued calling the person coordinating the pickup while urging the driver to turn around and head toward Huizhou East Road.

Watching the taxi drive away, Captain Hu called for the vehicles and then walked up to Zhou Hai.

“Let’s go back to the criminal police team first. We’ve already sent people to retrieve surveillance footage from the crime scene and surrounding streets. We’ll have to analyze everything after we get back.”

Zhou Hai nodded. Xu Biao exchanged a few polite words with Captain Hu. The forensic doctor standing nearby watched Zhou Hai and Xu Biao with a faint, indifferent smile on his lips. Xu Biao wanted to snap back at him, but seeing Zhou Hai deep in thought, he held himself back.

They all got into the car.

Inside, Zhou Hai kept replaying the search just now in his mind.

Why did the phone signal disappear the moment they arrived at Huizhou Road?

Was the killer testing police investigation capabilities?

Or had the killer returned to the scene to admire his own work?

All officers in today’s operation were in plain clothes to avoid public panic. Apart from the two command vehicles they were in, none of the others were police cars. Could that still have alerted the killer?

Or worse—the killer had already retrieved the phone and was now probing police response?

It seemed he needed to revisit the autopsy findings. Even though this lead was broken, they still had the body.

By the time he finished thinking, the car had already entered the criminal police compound. The forensic autopsy room in Miguo was located in the same facility as the police station; he had been there during a previous case.

As soon as the car stopped, Zhou Hai jumped out.

Seeing Captain Hu also get out, he said after a moment of thought:

“I’m going to check the autopsy. You said all surveillance footage has been collected, so focus on analyzing that. I personally think the taxi is highly suspicious—ordinary vehicles wouldn’t keep circling the city.”

Captain Hu nodded.

At that moment, the forensic doctor behind them stepped forward.

“Dr. Zhou, didn’t you find the phone signal just now? Has it disappeared again?”

He added lightly, “I’m afraid you may have alerted the enemy. If the killer is now hiding, we’ll really have no leads left.”

Zhou Hai glanced at him coldly.

“Please trouble Dr. Chu to bring out the detailed autopsy reports from the four cases.”

“Aren’t those reports already sent to you?”

Xu Biao froze.

“My goodness—those two pages of paper are what you call detailed reports? Are you kidding me, or is this the level of your Miguo task force?”

The forensic doctor instantly flared up.

“What do you mean only two pages?! This serial murder case is extremely complex. Gathering this much information was already difficult enough. What else do you expect?!”

Xu Biao snorted.

“Since you know it wasn’t easy, then shut up and watch Xu Biao and Master Fa Hai exorcise the demon for you!”