As we advanced, Li Fan asked me how I found this place. I gave a confident smile. "Because my eyes are different from yours!"
Li Fan said nothing more. As we entered the canyon, we discovered a huge secret chamber. I looked at the ground and found many shoe prints. Recalling Du Qitai's height and weight, I quickly concluded they were his!
He Xin and Xiahou, like me, realized it too. We followed me into a corridor within the secret chamber, guns in hand. Facing the darkness ahead, I shouted, "Du Qitai, get out here! I know you're here! If you don't come out, we'll open fire!"
*Bang!*
As soon as I finished speaking, a bullet whizzed past. A SWAT officer reacted immediately, raising his shield to block it. Fortunately, it was made of steel, and the bullet caused no significant damage.
Xiao Yuande immediately lunged towards the direction of the shot, his movement like a lion lurking on the savanna, suddenly erupting to tear apart its prey!
There was no response from the darkness. We pressed on, until we surrounded a person. We immediately recognized him as Du Qitai. He raised his hands and looked at us warily. "Don't be rash!"
"Hmph, Du Qitai, I didn't expect you to be cowardly. Was it fun before? Have you run out of things to say now!"
Xiao Yuande cursed, cuffing him with one hand. Du Qitai said nothing at that moment, merely allowing us to apprehend him and put him in the police car.
After so much trouble, we finally nabbed the scoundrel. Back at the police station, Xiao Yuande and I were responsible for his interrogation. At first, he said to us, "I know you want clues about the organization, thinking I'm a leader, and even believing I caused this case!"
"You've said so much without me even asking," I inquired.
"Isn't this what you wanted to know? I'll be honest with you. I really don't know much about the organization's inner workings. I'm just a very insignificant role within it. Even though they found a way to get me out this time, they were just using me intentionally. I didn't believe it at first, but when they only left a few people for me in the village this time, I knew."
"You have some self-awareness. Was someone instructing you to kidnap? The person doing the live stream?"
"Yes. After I got out, they dumped me at a shipyard, gave me money and women, and let me have fun for a few days. On the fourth day, someone suddenly sent me a message saying someone would come to find me. Since I had cooperated with people from the organization before—oh right, I'm not exactly a member of the organization. Theoretically, I just cooperate with them, complete the tasks they give, and get paid. Each time it's tens of millions. If it were you, you probably couldn't resist cooperating with them either!"
"We wouldn't. Don't think everyone is like you, abandoning righteousness for profit. Forget it, let's not talk about these useless things. Tell me immediately, who is behind the live streaming?" I said sternly.
Du Qitai shifted his handcuffs, gesturing for me to take out his phone. The phone had been found with him when we arrested him and was now on the interrogation table. I took it out and asked him, "What now?"
"That person contacts me through an app called Soul on the phone. It's always like this, using it to assign tasks and bonuses. However, he always registers a new account and never uses the same account again. Don't think about using this to find his IP address, it's useless."
As Du Qitai spoke, I was already investigating the Soul app. Upon opening it, I found that Du Qitai had indeed mentioned many place names and some incomprehensible numbers with some people on it.
"fjCAfALfALfjAfj, hotel, mountain road weather, rooftop..."
These were locations where previous incidents had occurred, along with some strange English. Xiao Yuande and I studied them, and suddenly I slapped the table. "The sequence of the 26 English letters corresponds exactly to the times of these incidents!"
"That's right, 'f' refers to the time of the first victim's death at dusk, 6 o'clock. 'j' indicates nine in the evening, which was the time of the ransom exchange last time..." Xiao Yuande quickly understood as well.
It seemed these pieces of information all matched up.
"Did you participate in these incidents?" I asked.
"Yes. Why don't you ask me why I confessed so quickly? According to my situation, it should be a dead end. I escaped from prison!"
"If I say you had a change of heart, would it sound too fake?"
"Haha, Detective He, that's impossible. Because those things are on the phone, you would have found out even if I didn't say anything. Might as well say it directly. I've hidden a lot of things over the years, I didn't even dare to be honest with my family. If I don't say it today, these things will probably rot in my belly forever!"
Xiao Yuande said coldly, "Consider it a bit of conscience, Du Qitai. The first time I saw you at the Silent Tourist Area, I knew something was off about you!"
"Haha, really? I actually thought I was doomed last time. I don't know what possessed the organization to come and rescue me, hahaha!"
"They just wanted to use you. They knew you had resources. I took a look at your phone, you know quite a few people. These tasks were handed over to them!" I turned his phone screen towards him, pointing out a few.
"Yes, I used to be a boss, and I had quite a few tourist areas, but I failed later, which is why I—haha—ended up cooperating with those people from the organization. You say my life has been ruined by them, ah, hahaha!"
Du Qitai laughed hysterically, tears streaming down his face. He recalled the mistakes he had made over the years and became extremely agitated, stomping his feet and trembling with his hands, causing his handcuffs to clatter incessantly against the table.
"Don't get too excited. If you can reveal more information about the organization, perhaps I can get you a few more months of probation?" I tried to probe.
Du Qitai, however, paid no attention. He continued to laugh madly to himself. Xiao Yuande and I couldn't bear to watch any longer, so we sighed and walked out of the interrogation room. Outside, Xiao Yuande said to me, "Do you think this guy is hiding something?"
"Perhaps, perhaps not. Let's check the phone first. Don't trust what he says, we won't find anyone!"
"I understand. His confession was a bit unexpected. Maybe it was deliberate."
"Don't spend all your time on the phone!"