The Same Fate Awaits All Sins Chapter 61

Final Part – 02

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Ring, ring, ring~ At six in the morning, Gu Yanta's phone rang incessantly.

"Who is it?" Gu Yanta answered in a hoarse voice.

"It's me! Boss!" Chen Chen's voice came from the other end of the line. "I've got good news and bad news, which one do you want first?"

"The good one, I guess..."

"Deputy Jiang's support request has been approved by the higher-ups, and it was agreed for you, me, and Consultant Lu to go to Xia County to assist in investigating Captain Li Mingyong's unexpected death!"

"And the bad news?"

"The bad news is that your holiday is ruined again, Director Wu asked us to set off for Xia County today. You and Consultant Lu need to get ready now, I'll be waiting at the entrance of your neighbourhood at eight!"

By the time Gu Yanta hung up, Lu Zheng had already overheard most of the conversation and was about to get up to pack. Gu Yanta pulled him back into bed.

"Let's sleep a bit longer, it's only six. We leave at eight, getting up at seven is plenty of time!"

"Stop being lazy, we still have to pack!" Exasperated, Lu Zheng struggled free from Gu Yanta's grasp and started looking for clothes.

"Fine..." Gu Yanta sat up reluctantly. Watching Lu Zheng rummaging through the closet, he couldn't help but recall last night's passionate moments. A smile tugged at his lips as he once again marvelled at his luck, The sky dropped such a big pie, which just happened to be smashed in my mouth!

By the time they had packed everything, the clock hands pointed precisely to seven-fifty.

Lu Zheng glanced at Gu Yanta, who was still dawdling, and urged him again. "With your slowness, you still wanted to get up at seven? Even getting up at six o'clock, we're only just about ready now!"

"Got it, got it... I'm almost ready!" Gu Yanta had already packed everything when he suddenly realised he'd forgotten something important. He hurried to the bedside table, rummaged through it, and pulled out a small box, quickly stuffing it into his suitcase. Work was work, but he couldn't neglect someone, could he? Otherwise, even if someone didn't say anything, their body would certainly be honest enough...

By the time they met up with Chen Chen, it was already past eight. Chen Chen didn't dare complain too much. He simply opened the back car door, holding a bag of breakfast that had already gone cold.

"Not bad! You've improved!" Gu Yanta took the breakfast pancake and took a big bite.

"Of course! Do you even need to ask who trained me?" Chen Chen waggled his eyebrows at Gu Yanta. "I knew you two must've woken up late today!"

"Cough, cough..." Lu Zheng choked on a mouthful of soy milk upon hearing that.

"Alright, enough nonsense." Gu Yanta finished his breakfast in just a few quick bites. "Let's go!"

The drive from Yuchuan to Xia County took just over three hours. Before long, the three of them arrived at the Xia County Public Security Bureau's criminal investigation team.

Jiang Ziyu had been waiting for them in his office. He had already arranged temporary accommodation and workspace for them in advance. The rest of the police team was warm and welcoming, assuring them they would fully cooperate with the three experts. After all, Li Mingyong had been their captain for over a decade, he had been highly dedicated to his work, earning the nickname "Desperate Li," particularly for his relentless efforts in Xia County's toughest narcotics cases. He had shown no hesitation in taking decisive action, and his work ethic had earned everyone's deep respect.

Now that Captain Li had died unexpectedly under unclear circumstances, many in the team suspected it was retaliation from drug traffickers. However, they had no evidence, not even an idea of what the suspects looked like. Frustration weighed heavily on everyone. So, upon hearing that the provincial authorities had sent a specialist team to conduct a thorough investigation, of course, morale was high. The anticipation for Gu Yanta's group was immense, they were just shy of forming a welcome parade.

Jiang Ziyu introduced the relevant personnel involved in the case in Xia County. The leader in charge of field operations was Chang Le, a man around thirty years old, tall and dark-skinned, with a stern expression and a taciturn nature. The leader of the technical team was Xu Jia, who looked younger than Chang Le but was actually slightly older. He was smooth and tactful in his manner, addressing Chen Chen as "Expert Chen" at every turn, to the point that Chen Chen was dizzy.

After exchanging names, both sides skipped the formalities and got straight to discussing the case.

Chang Le gave a brief overview of the circumstances surrounding Captain Li's death. It turned out that a month before Captain Li Mingyong's incident, they had cracked a major drug trafficking case.

It all started with a violent clash between small-time drug traffickers over an unfair division of profits, resulting in one death and three injuries. During their investigation into the cause of the conflict, the Xia County criminal investigation team followed the trail and uncovered several major drug stash sites within Xia County, successfully taking down an entire network in one sweep. The entire team was elated, and even the provincial authorities took significant notice of Xia County's achievements.

Just as Xia County's anti-narcotics efforts were about to gain full momentum, Captain Li Mingyong was killed in a car explosion on his way home to visit his family, leaving behind no remains.

The higher-ups assigned Jiang Ziyu to take over as head of the criminal investigation team. However, since Jiang Ziyu was unfamiliar with Xia County, he struggled to get things moving, bringing Xia County's anti-narcotics efforts to a standstill.

"I heard that Yuchuan had a similar car explosion case a few months ago," Chang Le remarked. "And the victims were a major suspect and the officers escorting him?"

"Yes," Gu Yanta nodded. "The suspect, two escorting officers, and the driver all died. I was at the scene at the time and was disciplined because of it."

"The reason we suspect these two cases are connected is because we extracted a compound from the remnants of Captain Li's car fuel tank similar to those found in the Yuchuan explosion." Xu Jia, who was at the side, suddenly spoke up.

"Right." Chen Chen flipped through the documents in his hand. "This is a rare, newly developed compound. As we all know, the working principle of a fuel-powered car is that the gasoline engine converts the energy from gasoline into kinetic energy to drive the vehicle. The simplest way to gain kinetic energy is by burning gas inside the engine."

"The combustion process of gasoline consists of four strokes: intake, compression, combustion, and exhaust. Under normal circumstances, this process doesn't lead to unexpected incidents. However, once this compound is added, it significantly increases the reactivity of gasoline molecules. The moment the spark plug ignites the fuel, an immense surge of energy is released. In layman's terms, this is what caused the explosion we witnessed." Chen Chen continued.

"We've gone through all the surveillance footage from Captain Li's residential area and the garage, frame by frame," Chang Le said grimly. "Yet we found no suspicious individuals. Given the timing of Captain Li's death, we strongly suspect this was an act of retaliation by the drug cartel, but we don't have any solid evidence."

"The car explosion in Yuchuan is even more baffling..." Gu Yanta added. "At the time, we initially suspected the suspect, Huang Chufeng, of being involved in drug manufacturing, but we had no concrete proof. We arrested him on charges of murder and planting evidence. But just as we apprehended him, this incident occurred. No one could have approached the bureau's transport vehicle unnoticed, which makes the origin of this compound even more puzzling."

"The only common link between these two cases is this new compound." Lu Zheng concluded after listening to everyone's analysis. "All other leads are practically non-existent, our only way forward is to investigate this compound!"

‿︵‿︵ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ・❉・ ʚ˚̣̣̣͙ɞ‿︵‿︵

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Translator Notes

Please feel free to comment any mistakes I made so I can improve and do better as I go through the book.

Translated: February 16, 2025 by Angel

Edited: February 26, 2025 by Angel