Volume 1 Chapter 9 The Captain Returns

  The next morning, Lan Xinlin didn't go to the hospital as usual. Instead, she went to the criminal police team to ask if there was any latest news about Jin Tianhang. The person who knew the most in the police station was Li Gang, nicknamed "bao datou".

  Here is the translation:

  Lan Xinglin still had a good impression of him, but this kid's smooth talk was annoying. "Li Gang, didn't Captain Han say he'd be back in two days? It's been several 'two days' already, why hasn't he come back?" "Captain Han isn't coming back, do I dare ask why? If you want to know, just call him directly." Xing Yong, who was sitting across from Li Gang and also one of Lan Xinglin's pursuers, chimed in, "Do we need to call him? It's obvious that Captain Han must have made a major discovery, or he wouldn't be willing to come back." Li Gang felt like someone had stolen the spotlight from him in front of Lan Xinglin, making it hard for him to save face. To regain his composure, he retorted, "Do you know why the new house of Jin Tianhang caught fire?" Xing Yong sneered, "Wasn't it an electrical short circuit? It's written clearly on the fax." Li Gang mocked, "Your information is outdated. Captain Han sent back a new investigation report last night, and it doesn't say that." Lan Xinglin was curious, "What did Captain Han write? How did the fire at Jin Tianhang's house start?" "Captain Han hasn't let us talk about it yet." Lan Xinglin turned around to leave the office, but Li Gang chased after her, grabbing her arm. "My little auntie, your temper is getting worse and worse. If Captain Han finds out I leaked the information, he'll skin me alive when he gets back." Lan Xinglin ignored him, turning her head away and counting under her breath, "1, 2..." Li Gang begged for mercy, "Don't count anymore, I'll tell you. But you can't tell anyone else." "If you're going to say it, say it quickly. If not, I'm leaving." Li Gang pulled Lan Xinglin into a quiet corner and whispered, "Captain Han found traces of accelerants in Jin Tianhang's new house. The method was very professional, but Captain Han still found signs of human involvement. He suspects that someone intentionally set the fire to destroy evidence." Lan Xinglin returned to the hospital and relayed the message to Jin Tianhang. Captain Han had already made up his mind that Jin Tianhang was a bad person and wouldn't rest until he uncovered some evil record. Lan Xinglin gloated, "Our Captain Han's detective skills are not ordinary. If you've done even a little bit of bad things, he'll find out. You just wait to be caught." Jin Tianhang was on the verge of tears, filled with resentment and injustice. "Am I wronged or what? I haven't even seen Captain Han before, but in his eyes, I'm already a wicked villain." Lan Xinglin smiled, "Don't worry about Captain Han's business for now. You should think carefully about whether you've done anything bad or offended anyone, and if someone would be so angry that they'd set fire to your house." Jin Tianhang racked his brains but couldn't think of who would hate him so much. "I haven't wronged anyone, nor do I have any enemies. It's not like I've stolen someone's rice bowl, and even if I had, my competitors wouldn't dare to set fire to my house." Lan Xinglin suggested, "Maybe it was a business competitor who burned your house?" Jin Tianhang scoffed, "Those few competitors of mine? They're more timid than mice. Forget about setting fire to my house; they'd think twice before even breaking my windows." Lan Xinglin said, "Then don't think about it anymore. Just wait patiently, and Captain Han will find out who did it for you." Jin Tianhang could only resign himself to his fate.

  Time flies, Jin Tianxing's physical condition gradually improved. After the doctor finished checking his body, he told him that he could remove the stitches tomorrow.

  Jin Tianxing's mood improved a lot, "Finally can move around, lying in bed for so long my bones are almost rusty, must celebrate properly. Lan Xinlin, what do you want to eat? I'll treat you to lunch." Lan Xinlin's phone suddenly rang, and she saw that it was Captain Han's office calling. She quickly made a silencing gesture. "Captain Han, you're back." "I just arrived. How's Jin Xiaozi doing? Has he been behaving himself these days?" From the tone of Captain Han's voice on the phone, Jin Tianxing could sense his surging anger, definitely something unpleasant had happened.

  "His condition is pretty good, the doctor just checked his body and he can remove the stitches tomorrow. He'll be able to leave the hospital this week." "I've sent someone to replace you, go back to the team and give me a detailed report of what's happened over the past few days." Lan Xinlin answered neatly, "Yes!" Jin Tianhang had honed his ability to read people's expressions through years of wheeling and dealing in business. His intuition told him that Captain Han was very unhappy, and he was in for it. "Lan Xinlin, don't worry about anything happening." "You haven't done anything wrong, what are you afraid of?" "Your Captain Han has already decided I'm a bad egg without even meeting me, casting a shadow over my young heart. He's come back with a belly full of anger, and I'll be the one to bear the brunt of it. How can I not be afraid?" As they spoke, two police officers arrived at the door of the hospital room, expressionless, and urged, "Officer Lan, Captain Han is waiting for you in the team to report on your work. Please hurry." Lan Xinlin patted Jin Tianhang's shoulder, "Don't worry about it, just rest in bed." Jin Tianhang watched her leave the hospital room, wanting to chase after her, but the police officer at the door stretched out his arm, "Sir, please rest well." Jin Tianhang looked at the two officers standing like gatekeepers and reluctantly returned to the hospital room.

  At the entrance of the Criminal Police Brigade, she felt a rare serious atmosphere. The usually bustling office was very quiet, and everyone was silently doing their work. As she walked to the captain's office, Xing Yong happened to come out with a document in his hand. When he saw Lan Xinlin, his expression seemed a bit flustered, as if he had done something wrong. Lan Xinlin didn't mind, asking, "What's going on today? It's so quiet." Xing Yong whispered, "Keep your voice down, Captain is back and you're new here, don't know how fierce he can be when he's in a bad mood. His face is blacker than the bottom of a pot now. Whoever gets in his way will definitely get scolded to death." "Do you know what made Captain so angry? I'll be careful too." Xing Yong scratched his head, feeling embarrassed, "I'm not very clear either. You should go ask Li Gang, he knows you're interested in the Jin Tianhang case. As soon as Old Sun and Captain came back, he was chatting with Old Sun for half a day." A hoarse voice came from inside the room, "Is that Little Blue outside? I've been waiting for you for half a day." Xing Yong pushed Lan Xinlin forward, "Then go in quickly, don't make Captain angry." "See you later." Lan Xinlin pushed open the door and entered. The room was filled with smoke, and there was a strong smell of cigarettes. She gave a standard military salute, "Reporting to Captain, Police Officer Lan Xinlin is here to report." "Little Blue, sit down first." After Lan Xinlin sat down, she noticed that Captain Han's face was iron-green, and the ashtray on his desk was full of cigarette butts. Captain Han took out a cigarette and was about to light it when Lan Xinlin spoke loudly, "Reporting to Captain, smoking is harmful to health, second-hand smoke harms people around you even more. Please smoke less for your own health and that of your family and colleagues." Captain Han looked at the cigarette in his hand, then at Lan Xinlin, and extinguished the lit cigarette in the ashtray. "You've been with Jin Tianhang for a while now, what do you think of him?" "From my interactions with him these days, I feel that Jin Tianhang is not a bad person. He doesn't seem to have any connection with the Zongtian Group; it's probably the Zongtian Group trying to get close to him for some reason." Lan Xinlin hesitated in her heart, wondering whether she should tell Captain about Long San visiting Jin Tianhang.

  Here is the translation:

  "Through my investigation of Jin Tianhang, I agree with what you said. I also heard that you and he have been getting close recently." Lan Xinlin hastily said, "Captain, don't listen to rumors, my judgment of Jin Tianhang is purely based on rational reasoning, without any personal emotional factors."

  "I was just asking, no other meaning, don't get agitated, it's just related to the task," Captain Han said. Lan Xinlin was somewhat puzzled, "Task? What task?"

  "I think that the Zongtian Group will have further contact with Jin Tianhang, and I plan to persuade Jin Tianhang to infiltrate the Zongtian Group as a mole, to investigate what plans the Zongtian Group has. You've been in the police force for the shortest time, you'll work together with him, responsible for protecting Jin Tianhang's safety, can we find an opportunity to take down the Zongtian Group?"

  Lan Xinlin didn't expect Captain Han to entrust her with such an important task, she had only been in the team for a short while and had only done some miscellaneous tasks. This was her first time handling a big case, she excitedly stood up and saluted again, "I guarantee I will complete the task."

  Captain Han's eyebrows furrowed, "Sit down, sit down, young people are always like this, always saluting." Lan Xinlin suddenly became bolder, "Captain, can I ask, what did you discover in the investigation of Jin Tianhang's new house fire case? It made you come back late for several days and also made you so angry."

  Captain Han's expression froze for a moment, his eyes tightly staring at Lan Xinlin, his sharp gaze like a sword wanting to pierce through her. After half a minute, Captain Han finally spoke up, "After arriving at Jin Tianhang's new home, we carefully investigated the scene, and found that the doors and windows had no signs of being forced open. The perpetrator entered through the door. The arsonist had sprinkled accelerant around the electrical circuit beforehand, then set all the electrical appliances to start at the same time, causing a huge overload, which led to a short circuit, and sparks ignited the accelerant, burning down the entire house.

  At that time, I felt that this was not something an ordinary person could do. Later, I checked the surveillance footage of the residential area and found that someone had hacked into the system, erasing the footage before the fire. I thought things were not simple. Coincidentally, on that day, there was a wedding in the residential area, and we found an old friend in the wedding video - Long San from the Zongtian Group.

  Then I contacted the local police, set up checkpoints at the highway, railway, and airport, but he still managed to escape." Lan Xinlin couldn't help but exclaim, "Long San! Impossible!" Considering the timeline, Long San had first hijacked a police car, then went to burn down Jin Tianhang's new house, and afterwards returned here to meet with Jin Tianhang. The time interval was very short. Long San's appearance made him unforgettable, how could a nationally wanted fugitive move about so freely?

  Here is the translation:

  Captain Han was startled, "What's impossible?" Blue Heart Lin didn't mention the matter of Long San and the $100 million to him, it was more suitable for him to say it himself. "I mean, he's a Class A fugitive, how can he escape from your dragnet?" Captain Han sighed, "This isn't the first time he's escaped from my hands, in my career as a police officer, no suspect has ever escaped from me as many times as he has, he's my shame, if I don't catch him, I won't be able to sleep or eat. Sometimes I wonder, am I incompetent, can't even handle a small-time thug like Long San, how can I deal with the Zhongtian Group?" Blue Heart Lin had never seen Captain Han show weakness before, in her eyes, he was an iron-like man, fearless and tireless, until he brought the criminals to justice. Only now did she realize that Captain Han was also a human being with flesh and blood.

  She comforted him, "Captain, I believe that good will triumph over evil, one day you will personally put them behind bars." Captain Han quickly regained his composure, "I believe your words, the Zhongtian Group won't be able to act recklessly for much longer."

  Blue Heart Lin asked curiously, "Captain, can I ask, what did Long San do last time he escaped from your hands? And why is the Zhongtian Group's activity frequency in our province so much higher than other provinces?" Captain Han said, "This story is a long one, it started about three years ago. A farmer was digging for lotus roots by the side of Poyang Lake and accidentally dug up some cultural relics. Before we arrived, the tomb had been looted by grave robbers, and when we got there, the tomb had almost been emptied, and the ancient corpse in the stone coffin had also disappeared.

  At that time, there were still some antique fragments left at the scene, three experts who came with me had different opinions about the age of the tomb. I wasn't interested in antiques, so I didn't listen carefully. Soon after, we received orders from our superiors to retrieve all the cultural relics from the tomb without exception. I vaguely felt that this tomb was not simple, there was something strange about it.

  The Zhongtian Group suddenly became interested in the antiques in the tomb and changed their usual low-key behavior, competing with us for the relics. Zhong Kuo and Long San appeared in our city at the same time, using high prices to buy them back, intimidation, and coercion to get most of the relics, we only recovered a small part.

  During transportation, this small part was robbed by armed robbers, five police officers were killed or injured, they also shot one of the robbers, through blood tests, it was found that the injured robber was Long San. To show off, they even blew up the tomb and escaped under our noses.

  The ancient corpse in the tomb has not been found to this day, and the lost relics have never appeared on the market, becoming a major unsolved case. The incident had a very bad impact on the public at that time, almost simultaneously with the China Southern Airlines Flight 519 crash, which diverted the attention of the masses.

  This matter became a shame for the police force, and no one wanted to mention it again. Blue Heart Lin had a feeling, "Captain, if I'm not mistaken, the tomb was located near the Lao Ye Miao waters in Poyang Lake?" Captain Han was surprised, "How did you know?"

  Blue Heart Lin tried her best to remain calm, not letting Captain Han see the huge emotional turmoil inside her, and said briefly, "A woman's intuition." In her heart, there was a stormy sea, again it was the Zhongtian Group, what connection did they have with Lao Ye Miao waters? With Zhong Kuo's cunning, he wouldn't dare to clash with the government for just a few ordinary antiques.

  "Captain, I understand," said Blue Heartlin. The captain looked at his watch and said, "Time is almost up, you go back first and ask for his opinion. If he agrees, I will report to the superior immediately. In order not to arouse suspicion from the head of the Zongtian Group, after cutting off the line, Jin Xiaozi will still come to our police station for two days, just going through the motions, making it more realistic."

  As she was about to leave, the captain added, "Be careful." Lan Xinlin's heart warmed up a bit as she walked out of the captain's office and ran into Li Gang. "What did you tell the captain about me?" Li Gang cried out in injustice, "Little lady, what's wrong with you? The captain just got back, I haven't even talked to him yet." Lan Xinlin didn't believe him, "I don't care if it was you or not, let me tell you, your meal is gone." Li Gang looked at Lan Xinlin with a mournful face, completely bewildered.