Ji Muxian loses his temper in the police office. At this moment, the landline phone rings, and he answers it immediately.

“OK, I’ll be there soon.”

“Any news about her?” Yang Tao asks anxiously.

“Yeah.” Ji Muxian responds in haste and then orders over the intercom, “Lin Jiao hijacked a red Passat taxi. Note down the license number. Everyone goes to the west of the city now.”

“West of the city?” Yang Tao follows him.

“The command center called and said a taxi driver called for police just now. The driver reported that a woman with a kerchief on the head drove away his taxi when he bought cigarettes in a shop, and the taxi headed to the west of the city.” When Ji Muxian is done, he has got into the police car. Yang Tao jumps into it too and puts the siren on it.

They drive at full speed to the west of the city. Then Yang Tao’s phone rings.

Once connecting it, he is shocked, “Dead?”

Ji Muxian slams on the brakes, and the car makes a harsh sound of brake.

“Who is dead?”

“Lin Jiao! Go to Fourth Ring Road.”

“What’s the matter?” Ji Muxian takes a turn quickly.

Yang Tao tells him the information he has got on the phone, “Our teammates reaching the west of the city first found Lin Jiao’s taxi. They didn’t dare to intercept her with force for fear that she would rush wildly, so they just talked to her through a loudspeaker. But she didn’t listen to the dissuasion. Instead, she drove around crazily and crashed an engineering vehicle filled with sand. She died instantly.”

Ji Muxian gasps, “What about the driver of the engineering vehicle?”

“He was hurt and faint. He has been sent to the nearby hospital with an ambulance.”

They drive to Fourth Ring Road rapidly and see from afar the traffic police dispersing vehicles and onlookers. They pull over the car, get off and rush to have a look.

The scene is too horrible to look at.

An engineering vehicle is stopped next to the guard bar and its head has been out of shape seriously. The taxi before the engineering vehicle is squeezed out of the guard bar by the latter. The upper body of the taxi is peeled. Its parts are scattered around. Pieces of black can be seen around the taxi.

When Ji Muxian and Yang Tao get there, they find the pieces of black are dark red bloodstains.

Though there are streetlamps, light isn’t very bright. Maybe if it happens in the daytime, the red will certainly be shocking.

Some places are covered with white tarpaulin. A traffic policeman dealing with the scene tells them Lin Jiao’s body stumps are under the tarpaulin.

“Her head is sliced off from her body. It is very scary.” Even the policeman who has seen many horrible scenes can’t help shaking his head and sighing.

“Is she really Lin Jiao?” Ji Muxian is still suspicious and wants to lift the tarpaulin to check.

“Captain Ji, it’s her.” A policeman responds in a low voice with his head lowered behind Ji Muxian.

Ji Muxian looks over his shoulder and recognizes the person is Zheng Xiang, one of the policemen from whom Lin Jiao escaped on the way.

Then He Menghuai runs over and confirms, “Captain Ji, it’s indeed Lin Jiao! You’d better not look. I just vomited for quite a while.”

Then he shakes the mineral water bottle in his hand.

Ji Muxian’s mind is still not eased. He goes to identify the body, led by the traffic policeman.

Yang Tao wants to go with him but is stopped by He Menghuai, “Captain Yang, if you want to eat again, take my advice. Don’t go to look! Besides, don’t you believe Captain Ji’s identification?”

Yang Tao stops his feet, “Is it really so…?”

He Menghuai nods seriously, “Believe me.”

Soon, Ji Muxian comes back.

Yang Tao goes up, looks at him and waits for him to talk.

Ji Muxian nods slightly and then goes back to the car fast.

“Captain Ji, do you need mineral water?” He Menghuai asks behind him.

Ji Muxian ignores He Menghuai. When Ji Muxian is close to the car, he twists his head and says to Yang Tao, “Leave it to you. I’ll go to the hospital to take a look.”

“OK.” Yang Tao responds and then Ji Muxian drives off.

After Ji Muxian is away, He Menghuai walks to Yang Tao and laughs, “Captain Yang, will Captain Ji vomit secretly in a corner?”

Yang Tao laughs, “Do you think Muxian is as green and inexperienced as you?”

“It has nothing to do with experience! It’s…” While He Menghuai is explaining, Yang Tao walks away, so He Menghuai follows him immediately, “The traffic police just asked me if we had the contact information of the dead person’s family members. We seem to only have the contact information of Li Yin, Lin Jiao’s cousin.”

“Wait!” Yang Tao stops him at once, “Try to contact other family members of Lin Jiao first. Lin Yin has been pregnant for about six, seven months. I heard she had pregnancy discomfort the other day and was just discharged from the hospital. She is close to Lin Jiao, so I’m afraid the news will affect her mood.”

“OK. I’ll see what I can do.” Then He Menghuai walks away.

Yang Tao wants to call Fu Zhengzheng, but looking at the time, he finds it’s already midnight, so he puts the phone back.

*

A ward in the hospital.

The injured driver of the engineering vehicle is named Luo Jiahua. He is lying on the bed with a bandage around his head and some band-aids on his face. He is taking infusion with a needing tubing on his hand.

His mother sits on the edge of the bed, looking at him and weeping.

A doctor glances at Luo Jiahua and whispers to Ji Muxian standing aside, “The patient’s mood is not stable now.”

“I know. I’ll take care.”

After Ji Muxian says that, the doctor goes out.

Seeing Ji Muxian sit down and take out a pen and a notebook, Luo Jiahua asks tentatively, “Sir, is he dead?”

He doesn’t know the taxi driver crashing his vehicle is a woman.

Ji Muxian nods, “Yes.”

Hearing that, Luo Jiahua becomes emotional at once, “Sir, it’s not my fault! He went in the wrong direction and ran the red light. If you don’t believe me, you can check the surveillance video.”

Luo Jiahua’s mother wipes her tears and comforts Luo Jiahua immediately, “Hua, calm down. The policeman just comes to ask you what happened. Speak slowly.”

Ji Muxian rises and pats Luo Jiahua’s shoulder to comfort him, “I know. You just need to tell me the process of the traffic accident.”

It takes some time before Luo Jiahua finally calms down. He organizes the words and begins to tell what happened slowly.

“I was close to the crossing. When I saw the signal lamp displaying there are five seconds left, I stepped on the gas. When the signal lamp just became yellow, I crossed the white line and I was happy about that. But unexpectedly, a red taxi rushed towards me from the opposite direction. Its speed was very fast. It ran along the roadside and the driver possibly planned to turn right. I slammed on the brakes immediately and wanted to turn the steering wheel to dodge it. Sir, you know, it’s a two-way road. The line of cars waiting for the signal lamp on the left was just started, so I couldn’t dodge towards the left, and had to turn the steering wheel to the right. Unexpectedly, I squeezed it to the guard bar on the right. Seeing that scene, I predicted the person in the taxi couldn’t survive, so I was faint from fear.”

“How sinful it is!” Luo Jiahua’s mother begins to cry.

Luo Jiahua continues, “Sir, it’s not my fault. If the driver’s family members demand compensation, you must uphold justice for us.”

“Why did you cover the license plate of your vehicle?”

Ji Muxian’s surprising question makes Luo Jiahua panicky. He smiles awkwardly and explains embarrassedly, “Sir, only if such engineering vehicles run frequently and fast can we make more money, so we often drive at night. There are fewer traffic policemen then and we can take chances to run some red lights to save time. but I swear I didn’t run a red light tonight!”

Ji Muxian asks, “Which company is your vehicle affiliated to?”

“Rongsheng Sand Company.”

Ji Muxian notes it down, then he closes the notebook and stands up.

Luo Jiahua’s mother asks at once, “Sir, will my Hua be imprisoned?”

“The accident center will give you a reply.” Then Ji Muxian goes out.

At 3:00 a.m., Ji Muxian returns to the police office. He comes to the office of Deputy Chief Miao Kangjian. Yang Tao is here too.

The coffer case was always in charge of Chief Xiao Hui. But after more than half a year, the case had no progress. Xiao Hui had too many things to deal with, so Deputy Chief Miao Kangjian offered to take over the case. Then Xiao Hui handed over the coffer case to him.

After Ji Muxian enters, Miao Kangjian pours tea for him in person.

Ji Muxian doesn’t incline Miao Kangjian’s offer. Instead, he takes the tea and drinks it directly. Then he tells them what Luo Jiahua said about the accident process.

Yang Tao nods, “I’ve seen the surveillance video. It’s almost the same as what Luo Jiahua said.”

Miao Kangjian can’t help asking, “Then it is a common traffic accident?”

Ji Muxian makes no comment but asks Yang Tao, “What do you know about Rongsheng Sand Company?”

Knowing what Ji Muxian wants to ask, Yang Tao replies at once, “I only know it’s in the charge of two people. One is named Gu Yang, and the other is named Tong Le’ an. To make more profits, they always ask the fleet of trucks to hit the road at night. For the sake of speed, the drivers often cover the license plates, drive over the speed limit and overload trucks. The traffic police brigade once warned them and fined them much money, but they don’t change. Luo Jiahua is one of their drivers.”

“That’s all?”

Yang Tao smiles, “In fact, in the beginning, I also suspected that Luo Jiahua covered the license plate to run over and kill Lin Jiao and then escape. But after you left, the traffic police intercepted dozens of engineering vehicles of Rongsheng Sand Company. Their license plates were all covered. The vehicles were detained together.”

Miao Kangjian pats Ji Muxian’s shoulder smilingly and says, “Now it’s the special period. It’s right to think more about something.”

Ji Muxian curls his lips, but he fails to force a smile.

“The day nearly breaks. You both worked hard. Go to sleep in the dorm. Let’s talk about it after day breaks.”

Yang Tao and Ji Muxian stand up and leave. They go to the dormitory building behind the office building together.

Finding Ji Muxian is still deep in thought, Yang Tao can’t help asking, “Muxian, do you still think something is wrong?”

“Did you investigate the taxi driver that called the police?”

“Yes. He is a dutiful old driver and has been driving the taxi in B City for about seven years. Nothing abnormal has been found about him.”

Suddenly Ji Muxian stops his steps and asks a series of questions, “Where did Lin Jiao go during the three hours when she was missing? Why did she hijack the taxi until three hours later? Why did she hijack the taxi? Where did she plan to go?”