Chapter 30

Jiang Xuzhou lightly tapped Ruan Mingxi’s arm, signaling him to bring out another photo.

Ruan Mingxi understood and switched the image. “Have you seen this person?”

The two elders squinted, their eyesight not very good. “Looks familiar. Wait a moment, let me get my glasses.”

The old man pulled reading glasses from his pocket, put them on, and carefully examined the photo.

“Yes, I know him. He is Gao Hai’s father.” The old man insisted firmly.

Ruan Mingxi was startled. “Are you certain it is him?”

“I am certain. I have seen him several times.” The old man’s tone was resolute. “Oh right, our video doorbell has been repaired. Anyone who comes gets recorded. If you don’t believe me, take a look.”

As he spoke, the old man pulled out his elderly‑friendly smartphone with enlarged text and opened the doorbell’s app.

Whether it was the poor resolution of the doorbell or the phone’s screen, the video only showed a shadowy figure. It was impossible to tell gender.

But one thing was clear: the man the elders called Gao Hai’s father was definitely not Gao Xiang.

Gao Xiang was about 1.7 meters tall, overweight, with a noticeably protruding belly.

The figure in the video stood taller than the peephole, clearly more than 1.7 meters in height.

“You just said the video doorbell was repaired. Was it broken before?” Jiang Xuzhou asked.

The old woman nodded, speaking with a tone of complaint. “Yes, it had been broken for a long time. I kept telling this old man to find someone to fix it, but he insisted on saving money and tried to repair it himself. In the end, he broke it even worse. It was only when we went traveling that I got worried about burglars, so I asked our son to find someone to fix it.”

Scolded by his wife, the old man looked embarrassed, “You’re just wasting money. The security in this complex is so good, how could there be thieves?”

“Wasting money? Look at what happened across the hall.” The old woman’s face was full of worry. “How terrible. A perfectly good home, and someone died right across from us. Whoever did this is truly heartless.”

Ruan Mingxi requested a backup copy of the video doorbell footage, and the old man quickly agreed.

While Ying Shi went inside to copy the footage, Ruan Mingxi and Jiang Xuzhou waited at the door.

“We got the video. Should we head back now?” Ying Shi asked.

Ruan Mingxi glanced back at the house sealed off with police tape and let out a breath.

Before they could get in the car, Ruan Mingxi received a call from Chu Liyang.

“The local police station just called. Liang Sheng’s wife reported that he has been kidnapped.”

“Kidnapped?” Ruan Mingxi was so shocked his voice rose involuntarily.

Jiang Xuzhou and Ying Shi immediately turned to look at him.

“Wait, what is going on? How could someone suddenly say he was kidnapped?”

Chu Liyang explained, “According to Liang Sheng’s wife, Qin Zhen, he left for work this morning as usual, nothing unusual. But an hour later, the hospital called asking why he hadn’t shown up.”

“When she went down to the garage, she found a pool of blood next to their car, and a bloody handprint on the vehicle. Qin Zhen immediately reported it. The police checked, and confirmed that both the blood on the car and the bloodstains on the ground belonged to Liang Sheng.”

On the other end of the line, something suddenly happened and the atmosphere grew chaotic.

“Hello? Chu Liyang?”

Ruan Mingxi called out twice but received no response. Then came the sound of a woman crying, the scene in turmoil.

Jiang Xuzhou saw his brows knit tightly. “What happened?”

“Liang Sheng has been kidnapped. The details are still unclear. Chu Liyang’s side is in chaos too. Let’s go check it out.”

Jiang Xuzhou helped Ruan Mingxi into the back seat. “Alright, get in the car first.”

The three of them got in and immediately headed for the district police station that oversaw Guangming Residential Complex.

During the drive, Ruan Mingxi tried several times to call Chu Liyang and Ren Xian, but none of the calls were answered.

When they arrived at the police station, they saw Chu Liyang and Ren Xian speaking with fellow officers.

“Captain, you came too?” Ren Xian quickly walked over when he saw them.

“The call cut off halfway, and no one answered afterward. How could I not come?”

The officer in charge of coordinating with them also came forward. “Captain Ruan, I’ve heard a lot about you. What happened to your leg? Is it serious?”

Ruan Mingxi immediately smiled and replied, “Just a small accident, nothing serious.”

“You should take care of that.” The officer said politely.

“What happened with you? The call suddenly cut off.” Ruan Mingxi asked.

Chu Liyang looked helpless. He hadn’t meant for it to happen, but the situation had been too sudden.

In the chaos, his phone was dropped to the ground, the screen cracked, and he couldn’t slide to answer calls.

Ren Xian’s phone had run out of battery without him noticing. It had shut down, and only just now had he borrowed a colleague’s charger to power it back up.

Chu Liyang explained. “The kidnappers called demanding ransom. Liang Sheng’s wife, Qin Zhen, became so agitated that her asthma flared up. The child was terrified, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Both of them have already been sent to the hospital.”

Ren Xian added, “I called the hospital. Our people there are already investigating Liang Sheng, Liang Lin, and Liu Hui’s medical history. Since they are keeping an eye on things, we didn’t go ourselves.”

Once inside the police station, they were shown surveillance footage captured in the parking lot.

A tall man in a black trench coat held a metal pipe and swung it directly at Liang Sheng’s head.

Struck, Liang Sheng staggered a few steps, instinctively reaching up to touch his head.

Blood seeped from the wound, staining his palm. Dizzy and weak, he pressed his hand against the car door.

Immediately, the man in the black trench coat raised the pipe again and smashed it down heavily.

After the second blow, Liang Sheng completely lost the ability to resist, collapsing to the ground as bright red blood spread quickly, forming a pool.

Unconscious, Liang Sheng was dragged away easily, treated like discarded trash.

Before leaving, the man paused for three seconds, staring directly toward the surveillance camera, as if deliberately acknowledging it.

Soon, a black sedan drove up and stopped in front of them.

Liang Sheng was thrown into the car, which then disappeared from the camera’s view, ending the footage.

“The license plate is blurry. Is there a clearer angle?”

The police officer replied, “We’ve already collected footage from all angles. The plate can be seen, but it’s partially obscured.”

“What about road surveillance? Can we track the vehicle?” Ying Shi pressed.

“No. After leaving the parking lot, there’s a stretch without surveillance. They used that section to remove the license plate. Unfortunately, it was also rush hour, so once the car entered the main road, it became nearly impossible to identify which one it was.”

The kidnappers’ car was a very common model, practically everywhere, making identification through the vehicle alone extremely difficult.

Just as they were at a loss, Jiang Xuzhou said, “Take a screenshot of that man and send it to the bureau. Have them show it to Ke Jiafei.”

Ruan Mingxi instantly understood his meaning and ordered the screenshot.

“You suspect this kidnapper is the same man who had the stolen phone?” Ruan Mingxi’s words were phrased as a question, but his tone carried no doubt.

Jiang Xuzhou nodded, “Yes. The clothing matches, and more importantly, his purpose.”

“What do you mean?” Ruan Mingxi struggled to follow his quick reasoning.

Jiang Xuzhou turned his gaze from the screen, “The posts on the social account, while they may seem like attempts to stir public attention, are also pointing the police in a direction.”

“In all three cases where bodies were discovered, that man was involved. And his current actions seem almost as if he is ‘helping’ the investigation.”

But the way he was “helping” was something they could not agree with.

“If he was helping us, then today’s kidnapping cannot be explained.” Ruan Mingxi stated his view.

Jiang Xuzhou took a deep breath. “Aside from that, another possibility is that he had a personal grudge against Liang Sheng.”

At present, there were far too few clues about the man in the trench coat. Whether he was truly the same person who had the stolen phone was still uncertain.

The photo was sent back to the bureau. Yao Panpan took the screenshot to Ke Jiafei, who immediately recognized it as the man who had taken the phone from him.

At the same time, the bureau provided feedback: information on Liang Sheng and Liang Lin had been investigated.

“Panpan reports that Liang Lin did not die of illness, but from severe immune system damage caused by ingesting pesticide.”

Ying Shi lowered his voice so only their small group could hear.

Although they were all colleagues in the public security system, it was not appropriate to discuss case details with those outside the task force.

“They also found that before Liang Lin’s death, he developed large patches of red rashes. Not long after, he resigned from the hospital.”

Ruan Mingxi immediately asked, “Was there any medical record of the rash?”

“No. But they said Liang Lin’s father died of porphyria complicated by liver cancer.”

Hearing this, Ren Xian quickly added, “When we canvassed the neighborhood, we learned that Liang Sheng’s wife buys animal blood every day to make soup. The butcher said it was because their son was anemic.”

“Animal blood soup can supplement trace elements, but eating it three meals a day is excessive.” Ren Xian continued. “I asked a colleague at the hospital to look into this. Once they finish the tests, we should get results.”

Ruan Mingxi nodded. Everyone in their team had years of investigative experience. They might not be called veteran detectives, but they were seasoned enough that he trusted their work completely.

Ying Shi unconsciously swallowed, his gaze toward Jiang Xuzhou complicated, “Consultant Jiang’s sketch is, unsurprisingly, very accurate. The killer is highly likely to be Liang Sheng.”

Ruan Mingxi drew a deep breath, his face darkening.

Originally, once they had investigated this far, all they needed was to arrest Liang Sheng and the case would soon be solved. They had not expected kidnappers to suddenly interfere and take him away.

“Back up everything that needs copying and hand it over to the officers at the local station. The Liang Sheng kidnapping case is now under our jurisdiction. The rest we’ll discuss back at the bureau.”