Crazy Detective
chapter-34

"Bribery!" on the car ride to Li Village, Li Beini blurted out to Zhao Yu, followed by her own reasoning, "someone might have bribed the girl prodigy, gave her a huge sum of money, and got her to withdraw from the competition! Without her as a strong competitor, the whoever paid her would be able to place!"

"Interesting!" Zhao Yu said while driving, "Or it could be that someone did not get into the finals and only got eleventh place, so he bribed Li Dan, got her to withdraw so that he himself could get into the finals by filling in the position! So, the pregnant woman was tenth place, could she be…"

"No!" Li Beini said, "The sequence of getting into the finals does not determine one’s final placement. The tenth competitor who got into the finals could theoretically be the champion too!"

"Oh, that means we have to check who was the lucky one who got into the finals from eleventh place by exception?" Zhao Yu wondered.

"No, Senior, we could be wrong!" Li Beini quickly negated her own speculation, "It’s not bribery! Think about it, the girl prodigy was after the top three position. Her destiny could only be changed if she got into top three, and no amount of money could buy that! If I were her parents, I would never let others win, regardless of the amount of money someone offered me. After all, it was a once in a lifetime opportunity!"

"That’s true. Then...could it be because of a threat?" Zhao Yu clenched his fist, "Someone threatened the girl prodigy to withdraw from the competition. If she didn’t then her whole family would be killed!?"

"Ugh!" Li Beini pouted, "You make them sound like gangsters. Kids who learned piano during that time, could they be so evil?"

"To sum it up, something must have happened during that piano competition! Or else, it would not be possible that all of the victims were in the final competitors list!" Zhao Yu said seriously. He drove the car at high speed, eager to make a thorough investigation.

However, Zhao Yu was depressed once again by what happened next. He spent the whole morning visiting Li Village with Li Beini, but found little evidence. According to the village secretary and old neighbors, the family of the girl prodigy, Li Dan, had sold away their ancestral house more than twenty years ago and left Li Village. Although they had a few relatives, they had little contact, and they had not been seen ever since that piano competition. Nobody knew where the whole family had gone.

Prior to this, Li Beini had checked on the family in the police station, but there was also no record. She had thought that the village visit would be fruitful, but the result had been very disappointing. The girl prodigy’s family seemed to have vanished from the Earth. Zhao Yu and Li Beini even suspected that the family had met their end. Before the Lost Hand Case was solved, would a murder case be discovered?

Not being able to find Li Dan’s family meant that the clues were lost once again! This made Zhao Yu extremely depressed. He felt like a spring that had been stretched repeatedly and was about to break.

"Holy Sh*t! Why!? Why is it so difficult to investigate this case?" Zhao Yu thought in frustration. Every time after they had gone through tremendous effort to find a small clue, they ended up being stopped and had to give up halfway! Zhao Yu hit the steering wheel furiously, while Li Beini tried to console him. They could not delay anymore. They hurried back to protect Li Xinhua! Today was the 26th! They could not let the culprit chop off her hand!

"But we can’t place all our bets on this!" After a brief moment of despondence, Zhao Yu had not given up. "If left with no other options, I’ll go and see the three victims. They did not know that this is linked to piano. If I ask them to think, they might be able to recall something!"

"That works too! Let’s split up the work, " Li Beini seemed to have thought of something and said hastily, "Oh yeah! I suddenly thought of this, we can continue searching for Li Dan. Maybe we can ask ‘that person’ for help!"

"Which person?" Zhao Yu did not understand.

"Don’t you know? We have an expert at finding people in our police station? If he is willing to help, we might be able to find something!"

"There’s such a person?" Zhao Yu was surprised, "Why didn’t you say so earlier?

"Ugh! This person is weak in case investigation, but a top-notch expert in finding people. I’ve heard that he has a secret formula for finding people! Anyone who’s been missing for years, he can find them fast!"

"Oh? Such a talent exists?" Zhao Yu scratched his head, "So, he’s in the Missing Persons Unit?"

"Come on! Stop pretending, don’t you know?" Li Beini said, "It’s Zhang Jingfeng! The one seated beside you in the office!"

"What!?" Zhao Yu was a little confused, "How could it be him? Isn’t he…"

"Yes! The one on the Cold Case Investigation Team with Liu Huan, the weirdo team made up of weirdos!" Li Beini continued, "Zhang Jingfeng has a bad reputation in the Missing Persons Unit. Whenever a colleague would ask him for help to find a person, he would ask for something in return. If there wasn’t anything, he would make excuses, and not do his work properly. He has been given the nickname, Mudfish! His colleagues in the Missing Persons Unit could not put up with him anymore and reported him! So the higher-ups sent him to the Cold Case Investigation Team! Although it’s affiliated with Team A, if you want his help you’ve gotta be prepared to spend some money!"

"Interesting!" Zhao Yu did not expect Zhang Jingfeng to be such a person. He had thought that he was a slacker with no aspirations. He never would have imagined that he had such talent.

Zhao Yu gave Zhang Jingfeng a call before returning to the police station and explained the situation. Unexpectedly, Zhang Jingfeng did not give any excuses and gladly agreed to help Zhao Yu. He cheerfully asked Zhao Yu to send the information to him fast, and he would help him check in the office.

After hanging up, Zhao Yu shrugged at Li Beini, "Did you get it right? Didn’t he immediately agree to help?"

"Well!" Li Beini sighed knowingly, "That’s his usual tactic, agreeing to help you on the surface, but not doing anything until you’re desperate. He will state his conditions, and if you don’t agree, he will never help!"

"Really?" Zhao Yu was still doubtful. Why was there such a deceitful person in the police force? It’s no different from untrustworthy ruffians!

When the two returned to the police station, Zhang Jingfeng was not there. When Zhao Yu called him, Zhang Jingfeng said he was having diarrhoea. He said that he would be a little late, and asked Zhao Yu to wait for him in the office.

Zhao Yu urged him, saying that this was an important matter. It was the key to solving the case, so it must be done properly. Again, Zhang Jingfeng cheekily agreed and said he would make it quick. But twenty minutes later, he was still nowhere in sight. Zhao Yu made another call and he did not even pick up!

"What did I say?" Li Beini smiled smugly, "I detest such people, if you don’t give him any benefit, he will never help you check!"

"Hahaha…" Zhao Yu laughed instead. He tapped Li Beini on the shoulder and said with confidence, "When I first became a man in society, my forte was dealing with weasels like this! Just wait and see, I’m not gonna spend a single cent, but he will behave himself and help me check!"