Chapter 97: The Lost Contact Case (8)

  The key evidence was found. According to the confession, the old man who received the broken wallet wanted to keep the school bag for his own grandson. In addition, business had been good these past two days and he hadn't had time to clean out the things inside the bag. When they heard this news, all the police present let out a sigh of relief.

  Everyone rushed back to the main team at the first time. Tian Miao put down Liu Laosix at the door and said: "Liu Laosix, thank you this time. No more words, contact later." This guy didn't pretend either. He patted his chest and promised that he wouldn't go anywhere recently, and would come whenever called.

  On the way, Chen Gang was checking his backpack. As soon as he returned to the team, he hastily took out his backpack and rushed into the technical department. From the material of the backpack to the type of stains, they extracted substances that could be used for DNA identification. Finally, even the turtle drawn by Chen Yu Meng on the backpack was photographed. Tian Miao Miao, who was waiting outside for the results, got angry. She pounded on the door and scolded, "You idiot! Can't you just open the backpack and see what's inside?"

  Chen Gangqiang blushed and took the school bag back to the task force office. Tian Miao put on gloves and opened the school bag. The little girl's school bag was quite tidy. The books were arranged in a very regular manner. With a flashlight, Tian Miao carefully observed it. The corners of the books hadn't been curled up. She took out her notebook and recorded it down.

  Zhang Wei's eyes were fixed on her. Seeing this, she asked: "Miao Miao, what does recording this prove?"

  "Zhang sister, I still remember when I was in elementary school. Our deceased head teacher was particularly abnormal. If the corners of your books and homework were curled up, she would tear them off. Homework was fine, but if a book was torn, it was a big deal back then because there wasn't anywhere to buy new ones. At least three points can be inferred from this situation:..."

  She loves books very much;

  She has obsessive-compulsive disorder;

  Their class teacher is also perverted."

  Everyone nodded in agreement. Tian Miao's analysis still made sense, though. The first point can basically be ruled out. Nowadays, even if young girls love their books dearly, they won't go to great lengths like Tian Miao and her friends did when they were kids to find wrapping paper to cover their books. After all, textbooks for the nine-year compulsory education are available everywhere; if they get old, you can just buy a new one.

  The next task was handed over to Chen Gangqiang. Chen Gangqiang carefully took out all the books from the school bag one by one. Tian Miao quickly flipped through them and found that most of them were sixth-grade textbooks, including Chinese, mathematics, biology, and English.

  She put the books and exercise books in order, one by one, on the table. Tian Miao quickly made a discovery. One of the exercise books caught her attention. This exercise book was different from the others. There were obvious signs of folding. And other textbooks were placed together. Quite eye-catching.

  She took a glance at the cover. Language homework book. Tian Miao Miao carefully opened the homework book. Found the page with fold marks. It turned out to be an essay. In the upper right corner of the essay, a big circle was drawn in red ink. 0 points. Chen Yu Meng's essay actually got 0 points.

  She didn't believe it, so Tian Miao Miao flipped through her previous assignments one by one. The first thing she updated was Chen Yu Meng's language score, which seemed to be not very good. Because of this or that small mistake, points were deducted. The big cross marked with a red pen on the assignment book was very eye-catching. After flipping through several pages, Tian Miao Miao found that sometimes there were also some comments written. The tone was extremely impolite: Didn't you bring your ears to class? This text has been taught three times and still got it wrong. For example: What's always on your mind? Asking parents to sign such annoying comments.

  Tian Miao Miao had some ideas and reopened the composition. The title of the composition was "Secret Base". After reading it word by word, she found that the composition was about Chen Yu Meng and another girl discovering a cave that both of them could enter during an outing to Wohu Mountain. The composition stated that the space inside the cave was very large, with sandy ground everywhere. The two girls even deliberately covered up the entrance to the cave, treating it as their secret base.

  Tian Miao excitedly slapped the table. Sleeping Tiger Mountain. No wonder the school bag was picked up by an old man who rummaged through trash in Dunhua New Village. Another girl in Chen Yu Meng's composition might be Zhou Li. Let's share this discovery with everyone. The special case team burst into cheers. Gong Qian was so excited that she pulled over her jacket and wanted to run out...

  It was not easy to get Gong Qian back. Tian Miao Miao asked Chen Gang to print out the composition first. Everyone got a copy and took a look, analyzing it to see if there were any omissions. Before long, Luo Lin, Zhang Hua and several other old detectives had also received their copies and were reading them with great interest.

  Zhang Wei's mind was meticulous. While reading the composition, she took out a white paper and drew a route map on it; Tian Miao Miao walked over with a calm face and looked at it, and it turned out to be a route map. Tian Miao Miao pointed and said: "Sister Zhang, is this the direction of the secret base of the two girls?"

  "I'm not sure either," Zhang Wei said with a serious expression. "The area of Wohu Mountain is vast, and Chen Yu Meng's description was not very detailed. There are many similar landforms inside the mountain. The workload will be huge."

  Made up my mind. Tian Miao Miao clapped her hands twice and said to everyone: "Check. This is our only clue. There are not enough people, call the ones from Xinghua Ridge and the Dong Street Police Station who can move to come up the mountain. Make a report to the big team and branch team again. We need police dogs, thermal imaging instruments, and it's best if we can get support from 180 special police and armed police. I don't believe that Wohu Mountain is so big, and we won't be able to find such an obvious cave."

  Mobilization is complete. Saw Luo Lin with a thoughtful face, wondering what he was thinking about. Tian Miao Miao called out softly and said: "Luo Ge, do you have a different opinion? Luo Ge, Luo Ge..."

  "Ah, sorry about that. Oh, searching the mountain. We must search the mountain. Do you believe me? As long as we have the current evidence, we can submit a report to the branch team and they will provide all the necessary support. The branch team can even get things that you can't think of. Our special police force has drones, didn't you know? But... there's something I haven't figured out yet. So I'm thinking, should we not make such a big fuss about it for now?"

  "What's going on now. Don't waste any more time. We finally have a lead. We should be racing against the clock. The two female students might just be there. Update at the first opportunity." Unexpectedly, Gong Qian suddenly flared up. Her emotions were clearly agitated. The veins on her face were bulging. Tian Miao Miao grabbed hold of her and shouted: "Calm down a bit! What's been going on with you lately? Are you too tired? I'll explain the situation to the captain tomorrow. You withdraw for now and take a rest."

  Gong Qian became even more anxious. In a fit of anger, she pushed Tian Miao Miao away. Just as the two were about to clash, Zhang Wei suddenly stood up and blocked their way. She gently helped Gong Qian adjust her clothes and said, "Gong Qian, I think this is your first case. You must want to crack it, right?" Gong Qian looked at Zhang Wei in surprise. Zhang Wei smiled and continued, "Looking at the situation, we haven't made any progress. We've gained nothing. You're anxious, aren't you?" Both points hit the mark. Everyone suddenly understood why Gong Qian was acting so strangely. Luo Lin and the others were too experienced with this kind of situation. Working together with Zhang Wei, they quickly coaxed Gong Qian into going to sleep. Only after Gong Qian left did everyone realize that the pressure to crack the case had also been weighing on each member of the special task force's mind.

  Luo Lin coughed twice and said to Tian Miao: "Let's continue our previous conversation. Let's change our thinking and look for it again; we'll focus on this composition first. Since this composition got 0 points, is there any evaluation?"

  The teacher flipped to the last page and said, "There are. Four big words: A pack of nonsense." Then he continued to complain, "Nowadays, teachers still have this kind of attitude. Society is developing. The times are progressing. Only these educators who never change can teach students who really can adapt to a rapidly developing society?"

  "Stop complaining," Luo Lin interrupted her. "Since there's a comment, let's boldly assume: based on your previous judgment, Chen Yu Meng is a girl with obsessive-compulsive disorder. So her personality should be the type that wants to do everything perfectly, right? Then, because she got 0 points on the essay, would she feel ashamed and want to escape, for example, escape from her parents' criticism or even beating? That's why she ran into the mountain and went to their so-called secret base."

  After analyzing the latest developments in the case until noon, Tian Miao Miao stopped the discussion and took out her phone, saying: "Order some boxed lunches for today. Quickly say what you want to eat." As a result, except for Gong Qian who was still entangled in the case, no one else agreed. Gao Xiang even scolded her, saying: "What's good about that little flavor? The braised pork is just scraps, not as good as meat buns; the red-cooked pork has less than 10 pieces of meat; and the chicken leg rice doesn't even have kimchi. Let's go to the cafeteria instead. With our team here, do we still need to order takeout? I'll make a few dishes and let Uncle Zeng cook some soup. We can eat at Uncle Zeng's place, it's clean and delicious."

  Zhang Hua and Wang Hongtao, two foodies, immediately echoed in agreement. Tian Miao Miao said with a mixture of tears and laughter: "You're not thinking about how hard everyone has worked on the case this time. I'll improve your meals for you. But instead, you all blame me."

  Zhang Wei smiled and said, "Alright, let's do it as Gao Xiang said. A little bit of flavor in the boxed meal is not enough for people like Gao Xiang to eat their fill. They'll still have to go to the cafeteria to scrounge around for food; this afternoon Zhou will see that the boxed lunch costs 15 yuan each and will scold you again for being extravagant..."

  Look, this is our team's housekeeper. See how she pinches... Zhang Wei was so angry that she rolled up her sleeves and was about to fix her. Luo Lin smiled and interrupted, "Tian Niu Niu, this is where you're wrong. Who doesn't know? Our team's real housekeeper is you. This family needs a woman. Ever since you took office, life has been better than before, not just a little bit. I've always wanted to ask you, what do you think about your future husband? There are many unmarried people in our team. How about Gao Xiang?"

  Tian Miao's face turned red with anger. Gao Xiang, who had a guilty conscience, didn't dare to tease her further. He laughed awkwardly and quickly ran off to the cafeteria. Gong Qian let out a disdainful "humph" and picked up her jacket, trying to act nonchalant. But as soon as she brought it close to her nose, a strange smell wafted into her nostrils. She carefully sniffed it and let out a loud "ahh!" before throwing the jacket far away from her. The other girls saw this and immediately lifted their hands to smell themselves. As expected, they all felt nauseous. Zhang Wei, feeling uncomfortable all over, said: "Luo Lin, you guys go ahead first. Tell Gao Xiang to slow down a bit, it's okay. We need to go back to the dorm to take a shower and change our clothes."