Chapter 6: The Golden Cicada Sheds Its Shell

  Never underestimate the intelligence of the police, this is the creed of all those who walk on the dark path, the police can use every means to deal with any criminal individual, although Peng Haoming and Zhao Gongyu are safe for now, but no one can guarantee what problems will arise in these few hundred kilometers across the border.

  However, at least for now, Peng Haoming has gained the upper hand. The police in G City who were following Zhao Gongyu now need some time to go through the procedures of issuing a wanted notice.

  "Boss, I've arrived at Rui Ning..." Peng Haoming brought Zhao Gongfu to Rui Ning and checked into a small express hotel on the outskirts of the city, calling his boss to report.

  "Hmm? It's going smoothly after all......" The boss had imagined it would be more thrilling, but it seems that the preparations they made won't be needed now.

  "It's going smoothly." Peng Haoming said: "Is everything I need ready?"

  "Everything is ready, I'll send someone over with it."

  "Alright, send it to the car rental company for me." Peng Haoming hung up the phone.

  "Who are you?" Zhao Gong followed him all the way, and still didn't know Peng Haoming's name, but seeing his professional demeanor made him feel a lot more at ease.

  "Peng Haoming, Mei Jie's friend." Peng Haoming simply introduced himself.

  "What's next?" Zhao Gong asked bluntly, as this concerned his future wealth and fortune...

  "...then join a tourist group and walk out openly..." Peng Haoming said.

  "Is this really fair and just?!" Zhao Gong's eyes widened in surprise, this was completely different from what he had imagined.

  "Yeah..." Peng Haoming shrugged and didn't want to explain too much, saying to him: "You wait for me in the room, by the way, don't have any contact with the outside world, I'm going out for a trip."

  "Alright." Things had come to this, and although Zhao Gongfu still had a thousand question marks in his heart, he could only trust Peng Haoming.

  When Peng Haoming was driving with Zhao Gongyu on the highway to Rening, the police in G City were also on the highway, but they were chasing a wrong signal.

  The police in G City discovered that Zhao Gongrui's phone signal was moving outside the city of Liunan after he went missing, and immediately reported to the Liunan Public Security Department. The two police forces urgently linked up and chased onto the highway, and after driving 300 kilometers, they intercepted a sedan at a service area on the highway. However, there were only two young lovers in the car. The police found Zhao Gongrui's phone in the man's bag, but the man was completely bewildered and had no idea that Peng Haoming had stuffed the phone into his bag when he bent down to wash his face in the restroom at Peace Square.

  "Damn it! He's pulled off a perfect Golden Cicada Shell!" The G City police officer in charge of surveillance cursed, having mobilized so much manpower only to be deceived by a single cell phone signal.

  Two self-driving tourists had to temporarily suspend their trip and accept police investigation until they proved that they had nothing to do with Zhao Gonghui before they could leave.

  Peng Haoming drove an off-road vehicle. The car rental company's cross-city return service brought great convenience to Peng Haoming, who only needed to return the car to a chain car rental company in Guiying and then disappear into the crowd. The police couldn't find any clues - of course, the police would definitely investigate the license plate number, but Peng Haoming had already thought of this point before returning the car. He removed the fake license plate and threw it into the Gui River.

  Peng Sizhe arrived at the Criminal Investigation Brigade early to find Li Yunxiang. He told him about the whole thing, and Li Yunxiang also felt that something was off, but where's the evidence? Li Yunxiang immediately retrieved the surveillance footage from the past two days, however, finding clues from the surveillance footage would take a lot of time...

  The pursuer is always one step slower than the prey, unless he can find a shortcut to get ahead of the prey. But a cunning prey will consider things from the pursuer's point of view and take the initiative everywhere. Peng Si Zhe was squatting in the dark room, searching through the vast video records, when he finally found the trail of that Mitsubishi off-road vehicle. It was already afternoon by then. The video showed that this off-road vehicle had entered Rongning from the Beining North Highway toll station at around 10 o'clock that night. The reality of the toll station was that this car came from Liunan City.

  On this side, Peng Sizhe stared at the surveillance video, and on the other side, the criminal investigation team was also intensifying the search for the license plate information of this car. However, the news was frustrating - the license plate hanging on this car was fake! In all vehicle records, there is no existence of this license plate!

  This was within Peng Sizhe's expectations. For high-IQ crimes, whatever the police could think of, the other side would also think of, and even think more meticulously! Now Peng Sizhe hoped to find some clues from the surveillance video.

  What if the driver of this off-road vehicle was actually his brother, Peng Sixian? Peng Sizhe hadn't even considered this question; all his attention was focused on how to prove that the driver of the vehicle was indeed Peng Sixian.

  But this car was pasted with reflective film, in all the video surveillance, the driver is just a blurry figure, completely unable to see his appearance, not even able to tell his build!

  Peng Haoming tried to investigate from the route of the off-road vehicle, but there was still no progress. After this off-road vehicle entered Rongning, it first circled around Rongning City and then stopped outside the gate of Peng Sizhe's residential area for a night. After shaking off Peng Sizhe, the off-road vehicle disappeared from the surveillance of the Skynet system for a period of time. In the afternoon, at more than 4 o'clock, it reappeared at the school gate of Luo Jingqi, and later stopped under the building of Luo Jingqi's house, but the driver did not get out of the car. The Skynet system did not capture any image of him! Peng Haoming sorted out the route of this off-road vehicle, and by now he was somewhat annoyed! No matter whether he was Peng Sixian or not, he must be hiding from something! Later, this off-road vehicle and Xiao Bin had a chase, Xiao Bin lost, and the off-road vehicle left Rongning through the Rongning North Highway Toll Station...

  Li Yunxiang issued a joint investigation notice to Liu Nan City, requesting an investigation into the origin of this Mitsubishi off-road vehicle, but the inter-city cooperation will take time, usually at least three days.

  The clue that finally appeared was broken again, Li Yunxiang comforted Peng Sizhe: "It's normal to have such a situation in handling cases..."

  "I think he is just like my brother..." Peng Si Zhe said.

  Li Yunxiang smiled: "Peng Sixhe, intuition can't replace evidence. I believe he is Peng Sixian, but where's the evidence? We need evidence! To get evidence, we must first find this driver..."

  Li Yunxiang is right, but how can we find this driver?

  Peng Haoming returned the car to the rental company, and the person sent by the boss had been waiting there, giving him what he needed and instructing: "Go find a tour guide with the surname Chen, everything has already been arranged."

  Peng Haoming took a taxi to the travel agency, found the tour guide with the surname Chen, arranged everything, and when he returned to the express hotel, he put a fake ID in front of Zhao Gongfu: "Everything is done, we will leave tomorrow."

  Zhao Gongfu picked up the ID card, the name on the ID card was Li Jiemin, and the photo didn't look like him at all. He asked suspiciously: "This... is this okay?"

  "Of course, some minor processing is also required." Peng Haoming opened a small handbag he brought back, inside were some fake hair and other makeup tools.

  More than half an hour later, Zhao Gongfu was exactly the same as the ID photo. Zhao Gongfu almost kowtowed to Peng Haoming, but still couldn't help asking: "How do we get out tomorrow?"

  "I've said it before, just join a tourist group and go out openly." Peng Haoming didn't want to explain too much about one issue: "You just need to listen to the command and that's all."

  "Alright..." Zhao Gongyu had no choice but to swallow his doubts and comforted himself: "Even if I get caught, the police won't find any evidence on me, at most it's just using a fake ID..."

  The anti-drug police in G City were shocked to learn that Zhao Gongrui had disappeared under the noses of the surveillance personnel. They urgently informed the Liu Nan Municipal Public Security Bureau of the situation and demanded that they find Zhao Gongrui. However, the Liu Nan Municipal Public Security Bureau was completely unaware of the case and did not know how Zhao Gongrui had disappeared from under the noses of the surveillance personnel. Just as the police handling the case were at a loss for what to do, the Gui Ning Municipal Public Security Bureau also issued a notice to assist in the investigation, looking for an off-road vehicle that was suspected of being involved. The investigators from G City, relying on their experience, felt that this off-road vehicle must be connected to Zhao Gongrui - as an outsider, Zhao Gongrui could not have disappeared into thin air without someone's assistance!

  The police in Liunan City and G City immediately sent a request for assistance to the Gongning Public Security Bureau, judging that Zhao Gongfu was going to cross the border, hoping that Gongning would increase its inspection efforts at the exit.

  Li Yunxiang handed over the joint investigation report when it was already evening, Peng Sizhe was still in the dark room struggling with the video, racking his brains to find any clues. Li Yunxiang put the joint investigation report in front of him: "Peng Sizhe, don't look at the video anymore, take a look at this."

  "Hmm?" Peng Sizhe finished reading the brief introduction on the joint investigation notice, seeming to think of something, but couldn't say it no matter what.

  Li Yunxiang saw through Peng Sizhe's idea and said: "Zhao Gong, a 51-year-old man from G City, was originally a researcher at the G City Chemical Reagent Factory. He was sentenced to 8 years in prison for arson and burning down the laboratory."

  "What does this have to do with my brother?" Peng Sizhe asked.

  "After being released from prison, Zhao Gongfu was fired by the chemical plant and had to make a living by doing odd jobs. However, the anti-drug police in City G believed that he might be connected with foreign drug trafficking groups, so they put him on the list of B-class monitored individuals. Half a month ago, he arrived in Liunan City, possibly intending to escape, and was placed under 24-hour all-around surveillance by monitoring personnel..."

  "What's next?" Peng Siche seemed to understand something.

  Li Yunxiang glanced at him: "Then, just after 10 o'clock this morning, he disappeared from under the noses of the surveillance personnel in Hepping Square, Liunan City..."

  "How did it disappear?" Peng Sizhe asked.

  "I don't know..." Li Yunxiang spread his hands and continued: "It just so happens that we investigated the off-road vehicle and sent a request for cooperation to Liusnan City. Liusnan City provided surveillance footage from the exit toll booth, which showed that around 12 o'clock, the off-road vehicle we were looking for left the toll station in Liusnan. At 1:30 pm, this car entered Rongning from the north toll station, and video surveillance shows that there were two people in the car..."

  "Two people? Is there a clear video?" Peng Sizhe became excited.

  "The problem is, the other party was very cunning and had applied a reflective film, so in the video, we only saw blurry figures. I'm now looking for colleagues from the technical department to see if they can adjust the image to make it clearer." Li Yunxiang said.

  "Do you think my brother... went to pick up this person named Zhao Gongfu?"

  "It can't be proven yet that the off-road driver is your brother, but it's 100% certain now that Zhao Gong has contacted a transnational drug trafficking group and will find a way to cross the border."

  "I find it strange, since Zhao Gongfu didn't commit a crime, why did he run away?"

  "From the notice of G city, Zhao Gongfu has recently received a large sum of money through foreign exchange. He doesn't have any relatives or friends abroad, so it's unclear why such a large amount of money was transferred in. We can only ask him about it later." Li Yunxiang said that finding someone is easy to say but not easy to do, and he thinks the possibility of finding Zhao Gongfu is small.

  "How can we find it?" Peng Sizhe asked.

  "How to find... how can we find, Peng Sizhe? The border is hundreds of kilometers long, with so many people coming and going every day for tourism, business, and smuggling. We police are not gods, after all. We can only try our best." Li Yunxiang said helplessly.

  "If it were you, how would you want to leave?" Peng Si Zhe brought up another idea.

  "How do I know... All I know now is that this suspect is not an ordinary person, he is very familiar with the police procedures and methods, and he is very cautious, always one step ahead of us. I estimate that if he rushes to leave the country quickly, he should have left by now."

  It seems that they can't get any more information from the criminal investigation team. Peng Siche thought for a moment and felt that it would be better to go find Xiao Bin, so he bid farewell to Li Yunxiang, walked out of the gate of the criminal investigation team, and called Xiao Bin.

  Xiao Bin was originally idle, competing in online games. Now he has been killed several times, but the advantage of the game is that you can revive infinitely. Peng Si Zhe roughly explained the situation over the phone, and Xiao Bin threw down his mouse: "Wait a minute, I'll be right there..."

  Xiao Bin drove over to pick up Peng Si Zhe, who looked at him and changed cars again. He sized Xiao Bin up and down incredulously and said: "Wang Xiao Bin, I wouldn't have thought you were a nouveau riche..."

  "Where is it? My old man's car, haha, he does business and has some savings... Ah, right, leader, you mentioned that Zhao Gonghui, do you know where he is?"

  "I don't know..." The three words immediately extinguished Xiao Bin's excitement, and he anxiously asked: "Brother! You don't even know why you called me out, I thought you had a lead..."

  "I wonder... with someone assisting him, where would he run from?" Peng Si Zhe sat in the passenger seat, lost in thought.

  "You'd better think quickly, I've come out on an empty stomach." Xiaobin said in a bad temper.

  Peng Sizhe carefully pieced together all the details, seeming to have gotten a lead. He thought for a moment and then called Luo Jingjuan: "Jingjuan, I'm going to the border tonight."

  "Is there any news about Si Cheng?" Luo Jingjuan's heart was racing, she hoped Peng Sicheng would give her a positive response, but was also afraid that this response would extinguish the last hope in her heart.

  "It's still unclear, but I think it will be clear," said Peng Sizhe. Before Luo Jingjuan could respond, he hung up the phone and turned to Xiao Bin saying: "Let's go to De Bao."

  "De Bao?!" Xiao Bin was shocked.

  "Yes, De Bao!" Peng Si Zhe replied very affirmatively.

  "Are you sure?!" Xiaobin asked again, unwilling to give up.

  "Let's drive..."

  Xiao Bin muttered a sentence, Peng Si Zhe didn't hear clearly, Xiao Bin started the engine and drove directly out of town.