Chapter 51: What Did You Say? The County Vocational High School Was Completely Shut Down

"Principal Liang... Are you all right?"

Liang Guofa struggled to his feet. "Ah... I'm... I'm fine. I just tripped over something a second ago..."

Liang Kai looked at him, then turned to Qin Chuan. "Captain Qin, what did you just say... is underneath here?"

Instead of repeating his words, Qin Chuan brought up a cold case.

"Director Liang, if I remember correctly, three years ago, a teacher went missing from the vocational high school, didn't they?"

Three years ago? Missing?

Liang Kai looked at Qin Chuan with a perplexed expression.

Of course he remembered this case—not just vaguely, but vividly.

After all, the disappearance of a tenured teacher was treated with the utmost seriousness by the Zhulin County Public Security Bureau at the time.

Back then, Liang Kai was only the director of the urban police station and had not yet entered the bureau's party committee.

"Is Captain Qin referring to the disappearance case of Zhao Yongzhi?"

"Yes, exactly that Zhao Yongzhi."

"I was involved in the investigation of Zhao Yongzhi's disappearance three years ago. The missing person report was filed by his wife."

"His disappearance was extremely bizarre. He was working normally at the school during the day, but vanished right when it was time to clock out, and hasn't been found since."

Zhulin County was not economically developed, and there were barely any surveillance cameras on the streets, let alone three years ago.

At that time, Liang Kai had led a team to search the entire vocational high school from top to bottom, but found no trace of him.

After working on it for over a month, the investigation ultimately yielded no clues.

Eventually, the case had to be shelved as an unsolved mystery.

"Director Liang," Qin Chuan said, though his eyes remained fixed on Liang Guofa, "today, this cold case might just be solved."

Liang Kai was no fool.

Qin Chuan was speaking to him, yet his gaze was locked entirely on Liang Guofa.

Combined with the fact that Liang Guofa's legs were trembling and his face was drained of color—a textbook display of a guilty conscience—could it be that the old case was somehow tied to this man?

Truth be told, Lu Zhiguo's operational efficiency was indeed remarkably high.

While they were speaking, an excavator drove in from outside the school gates.

"Captain Qin, the excavator is here. If one isn't enough, I'll have two more brought over."

Qin Chuan was thoroughly satisfied with Lu Zhiguo's promptness; this was the kind of subordinate he appreciated.

"Bring as many as are available. Start from the edge of the playground and dig up the whole thing!"

"Understood!"

Lu Zhiguo didn't ask questions; whatever Qin Chuan told him to do, he executed.

However, someone else strongly objected.

"Stop right there!"

Liang Guofa, who had been trembling with fear moments earlier, suddenly found a surge of inexplicable strength. He scrambled and crawled his way to block the path of the excavator. "Qin Chuan! What do you think you're doing?"

By this point, Liang Guofa realized that Qin Chuan was coming directly for him.

Though he had no idea how Qin Chuan had gotten wind of what happened three years ago, he absolutely could not let Qin Chuan succeed. Otherwise, a firing squad awaited him.

"What right do you have to dig up the vocational high school's playground? This was funded and built by the county! What you're doing... is destroying public property!"

Qin Chuan glanced at him dismissively, completely unbothered.

The Eye of Evil could not be wrong.

Zhao Yongzhi's corpse was buried beneath this very playground.

The only problem was that Qin Chuan didn't know the exact coordinates, so digging up the entire area was the only option.

"Lu Zhiguo, cuff him."

"Yes!"

With that, Lu Zhiguo motioned to two criminal police officers from the First Squad, preparing to arrest Liang Guofa.

Seeing that Qin Chuan meant business, Liang Guofa lunged forward, threw his arms tightly around the excavator's bucket arm, and screamed for help from Liang Kai. "Director Liang! Qin Chuan is abusing his power and breaking the law! You can't just stand by and do nothing!"

Liang Kai furrowed his brow, staring at Liang Guofa.

Logically speaking, Liang Guofa held the rank of a section chief, putting him half a rank higher than Liang Kai himself.

For Qin Chuan to act so aggressively and openly deploy an excavator to tear up the school playground—if he failed to unearth what he was looking for...

When Liang Guofa reported him to the county authorities, Liang Kai would undoubtedly be dragged into the fallout.

After all, he was standing right here at the scene.

If he hadn't been present...

To hell with all of it.

Besides, Qin Chuan had a way of pulling off the impossible.

Liang Kai's first encounter with him had been at the Red Pavilion.

Back then, Qin Chuan was merely a lowly neighborhood beat cop, yet he had managed to bring down the county party secretary's secretary and the former captain of the criminal investigation detachment.

The man was bold yet meticulous. Some of his actions might have seemed reckless on the surface, but the moment he made a move, his targets had nowhere to run.

Weren't Cheng Liang and Qiu Guozheng living proof of that just moments ago?

Therefore, choosing to ignore Liang Guofa's pleas, Liang Kai walked over to Qin Chuan.

"Captain Qin, regarding this... how certain are you?"

Though Qin Chuan wasn't intimately familiar with Liang Kai, the Eye of Evil indicated that the man was not a bad person.

And if he wasn't a bad person, he wasn't Qin Chuan's enemy.

"Director Liang, rest assured. I stake the honor of the police badge on my head—there is definitely something buried under here!"

Liang Kai stared intently into Qin Chuan's eyes, finding nothing in them but utter frankness and sincerity.

"Alright!"

Ordinarily, Liang Kai preferred to keep his distance from Qin Chuan.

Yet the young man's hatred of evil and his lightning-fast, resolute work ethic commanded deep respect.

What touched Liang Kai the most was the moment earlier when Qin Chuan had flung himself off the roof to save Jiang Xue.

He had truly cast aside thoughts of life and death.

That was the sense of duty and calling a police officer ought to possess.

Qin Chuan's actions had reignited the dormant passion and fierce loyalty that had long lain quiet in Liang Kai's blood.

Moreover, the Zhao Yongzhi case was a thorn that had festered in his heart for years.

No one knew that he and Zhao Yongzhi had been elementary school classmates, neighbors, and childhood friends who grew up together.

Seeing that Liang Kai had decisively sided with Qin Chuan, Liang Guofa's eyes darted around frantically before he turned his desperate gaze toward the gathered teachers and students.

"Teachers and students of the vocational high school, come quick! The police are trying to murder people!"

The surrounding teachers and students exchanged glances with one another.

Yet not a single person stepped forward.

The vocational high school faculty knew all too well what kind of person Liang Guofa was.

He was a thoroughly vile scoundrel.

Teachers who brought him gifts were given lighter teaching loads and granted leave whenever they wished.

Those who didn't give gifts shouldered the heaviest teaching workloads while receiving the smallest bonuses.

Several female teachers had even been subjected to his sexual harassment.

And as for the students...

Everyone had witnessed with their own eyes how this principal had behaved when Jiang Xue was threatening to jump earlier.

How could anyone possibly step up to help him?

Realizing his cries for help were entirely useless, Liang Guofa clung desperately to the excavator's metal arm.

"Qin Chuan! Just you wait, I'm going to report you to the County Party Committee!"

"You just wait!"

Lu Zhiguo stepped forward, gripped Liang Guofa's wrist, and with the help of several other officers, pinned and handcuffed him in a flash.

Thud!

A stealthy, brutal elbow strike landed squarely in Liang Guofa's lower abdomen.

The agonizing pain made his vision swim with stars, instantly cutting off his ability to cry out.

"So noisy. Drag him to the side. Operators, fire up the excavators!"

While Qin Chuan's crew tore into the playground, news of his arrest of Cheng Liang, Qiu Guozheng, and their associates spread rapidly.

At the entrance of the Xing'an Municipal Public Security Bureau:

"Secretary Gao, I told you that you had to come personally. If it were just me, this collective Second-Class Merit award probably would've fallen through."

Zou Mingyi lit a cigarette for Gao Qingshan, tossing in a layer of smooth flattery.

Gao Qingshan waved a hand dismissively. "Qin Chuan... though young, impulsive, and immature, he certainly has a knack for cracking cases. Let's head back—"

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

As Gao Qingshan spoke, his phone rang.

Checking the caller ID, he saw it was his office director.

"Hello, speaking... Hmm? What did you say?"

A moment later, Gao Qingshan hung up with a face as dark as iron. Zou Mingyi, sensing something was amiss, asked, "Secretary... what happened?"

"Qin Chuan... just rounded up the entire leadership of the vocational high school in one fell swoop."

Zou Mingyi: "..."