frightfiction Chapter 916 New Clues, Liu Weiguo's Big Business
Chapter 916 New Clues, Liu Weiguo's Big Business
This detail flashed through Li Ming's mind like an electric current—Liu Weiguo's autopsy report showed no fresh injuries to his lower limbs, but he had suffered a fracture of his right tibia and fibula during a fight when he was imprisoned three years ago, and although he had received treatment, he still had a slight limp. Zhang Fakui, who was arguing with Liu Weiguo in the surveillance footage, had an abnormal gait due to a burn on his right leg, and the two men's "limping" characteristics could be confused.
“Keep making things up.” Li Ming opened Liu Weiguo’s bank statements. “His monthly income is less than three thousand. Where did he get the money to buy goods?”
“He buys on credit!” Wu Hailong rolled his eyes. “He gets the drugs from the dealers first, then pays them after he sells them, making a profit from the price difference. Last month he even told me that he had a batch of ‘good stuff’ and was planning to use it for his son’s bone marrow transplant.”
Wang Fang suddenly looked up: "What good stuff?"
"How would I know!" Wu Hailong shrugged. "Anyway, it wasn't stationery. Later, I borrowed money from him, and he said he'd pay me back once the goods were sold, but he died a couple of days later. You should investigate his supplier; maybe it was a case of double-crossing."
Wang Fang slammed a stack of documents on the table: "Stop beating around the bush! You were sentenced to two years for selling ecstasy, and now you're involved in the toy factory's drug trafficking case. You can't escape responsibility for Liu Weiguo's death!"
"I'm innocent!" Wu Hailong spread his hands exaggeratedly. "I'm just a bouncer, occasionally helping my brother-in-law sell some toys—besides, Liu Weiguo is the real 'seller.' After he got out of prison, he's been selling goods in bars. The girls at the 'Nightfall' slow rock bar all know him. His nickname is 'Ribs' because he's as skinny as a rib and loves to act rich."
Upon hearing this, Li Ming's heart skipped a beat. He calmly wrote "ribs + night" in his notebook and continued to ask, "You said Liu Weiguo has 'goods,' where's the evidence?"
“Last week I went to ‘Nightshade’ to visit a friend and saw him making a deal with his henchmen,” Wu Hailong told the reporter. “I know that henchman, his name is Ah Hu, and he’s missing a piece of his left ear. They stayed in the toilet stall for ten minutes, and when they came out, Liu Weiguo had a black plastic bag in his hand.”
At this moment, the technical team reported that Old Zhang, the gatekeeper of the "Golden Bay" electronics factory mentioned by Wu Hailong, confirmed that Wu Hailong was indeed patrolling the factory area from 18:00 PM to 20:00 PM on the night of the incident, but the surveillance footage showed that he left the guardhouse at 19:15 PM and returned ten minutes later. "The surveillance camera at the back gate of the factory area is broken," Old Zhang's voice trembled, "I... I dozed off and didn't see him go out to do anything."
“Ten minutes is enough time to kill someone and come back.” Wang Fang stared at Wu Hailong on the interrogation room monitor. He was fixing his hair in front of the one-way glass, as if admiring his own “handsomeness.”
Li Ming shook his head: "It takes 25 minutes to drive from the factory to the seafood market; ten minutes isn't even enough for a one-way trip. But why would he hide the fact that he left the factory?"
A phone call from forensic pathologist Zhang Lin interrupted his thoughts: "Liu Weiguo's hair tested positive for amphetamine-type stimulants, consistent with long-term drug exposure. In addition, although the skin tissue under his fingernails was not Wu Hailong's, we found rubber microparticles in it, the composition of which is consistent with the injection molding raw materials used in toy factories."
“Toy factory…” Li Ming muttered to himself, suddenly remembering Wu Hailong’s brother-in-law’s “Hailong Toy Wholesale Department”. He quickly retrieved the department’s logistics records and found that three days before the incident, a truck had transported a batch of “Transformers toys” to a warehouse near the seafood market, and the lessee of that warehouse was Liu Weiguo.
When the investigators opened the warehouse door, they weren't greeted by the smell of plastic toys, but rather a strong odor of chemicals. The chests of the Transformers toys neatly stacked on the shelves were opened to reveal hidden compartments—each compartment could hold three small packets of ecstasy, matching the quantity of "goods" Wu Hailong had confessed to. In a notebook in the corner of the warehouse, transaction dates and amounts were recorded in pencil; the latest entry was "12.30 Long Scar 500g," signed "Spare Ribs."
"It seems Liu Weiguo really is involved in drug trafficking." Wang Fang put on gloves and flipped through her notebook. "But why would he use a street stall as a cover?"
“Because the most dangerous place is the safest place.” Li Ming pointed to the children’s clothes on the shelf. “His son’s leukemia diagnosis certificate is real, and the money he is raising is real. Maybe at first he just wanted to earn some hard-earned money, until he discovered that his brother-in-law’s toys could hide drugs—which could both save his son and make quick money, and he got caught up in it.”
With the information provided by Wu Hailong, Li Ming immediately launched an investigation into the Nightshade Bar.
That night.
As night falls in Dongchuan City, the neon lights of the "Night Scene" slow-rock bar are flashing wildly.
Li Ming led the criminal investigation team across the dance floor. Amidst the deafening electronic music and the swaying of the crowd under the lights, no one noticed the group of discreetly dressed intruders. It wasn't until Li Ming showed his police ID that the bartender behind the counter turned deathly pale, and the bottle in his hand slammed to the ground with a thud.
"Find Ah Hu!" Li Ming yelled at the bartender. The bartender, trembling, pointed to the VIP room on the second floor. Wang Fang had already led two team members up the stairs. Inside the room, amidst swirling smoke, several men and women were circling a coffee table inhaling an unknown powder. A man with a missing corner of his left ear hurriedly stuffed a plastic bag into a gap in the sofa—it was Ah Hu, the man Wu Hailong had mentioned.
"Don't move! Police!" Wang Fang kicked open the door to the private room, pointing her gun at Ah Hu. Ah Hu's pupils contracted sharply. Suddenly, he grabbed a bottle from the table and smashed it against the window. Amidst the sound of shattering glass, he leaped out, only to be pinned to the ground by Xiao Zhang, who was guarding downstairs. He struggled and roared, "I didn't kill anyone!"
In the interrogation room, Ah Hu's hands were handcuffed to an iron table, and the scar on his left ear gleamed bluish-white under the fluorescent light. Li Ming tossed a bag of ecstasy pills in front of him: "This was found in the crack of your sofa, weighing 23 grams. Enough for more than ten years."
Ah Hu licked his chapped lips: "I don't know whose it is, I'm just a bouncer—"
"Keep watch?" Wang Fang pulled up the bar's security footage. "At 10:17 PM on December 30th, you and Liu Weiguo were in the second-floor restroom for 10 minutes. When you came out, he had a black plastic bag in his hand. What, were you having a philosophical discussion in the restroom?"
Ah Hu's Adam's apple bobbed violently as he stared intently at the monitor screen. Li Ming noticed that he repeatedly rubbed the inside of his thumb with his right index finger—a habitual action left over from long-term handling of powdery substances.
"Liu Weiguo's nickname is 'Spare Ribs.' You got your ecstasy from him and sold it, right?" Li Ming suddenly slammed his hand on the table. "He's dead. Do you think we'd believe you were just 'keeping watch'?"
"I didn't kill him!" Ah Hu finally spoke up. "I'm just a small-time dealer. I get my goods from here and then resell them to bar patrons at a higher price. That day, he was just delivering 500 grams of ecstasy to me, cash on delivery!"
"Where did the goods come from?" Wang Fang took a step closer. "Don't tell me they fell from the sky."
Ah Hu remained silent for a long time, staring down at the tips of his shoes: "I don't know. My superior is 'Long Scar,' who told me to call Liu Weiguo 'Ribs,' saying that this guy had just been released from prison and needed money to treat his son's illness. He was bold and dared to take on odd jobs."