Chapter 11: Guess How I Found Out You Were a Fugitive?

The number of surveillance cameras in the industrial park was limited; they had already obtained all the footage yesterday. Today’s task was to investigate, by group, the people who stayed in the factory dormitories on the night of the incident.

Cen Lian’s assigned factory was called Yuanxin Industrial, primarily producing mechanical parts. Those who said they were going to screw bolts often ended up at this factory.

Tang Hua floored the accelerator and pulled up outside the entrance of Yuanxin Industrial. After showing their credentials, they drove inside.

As soon as Cen Lian entered the dormitory building within the factory area, he felt overwhelmed, as if he was about to lose his way.

A flood of text bubbles surged toward him, resembling eager prison inmates desperate to report to the government in hopes of earning leniency.

Feigning dizziness from waking up too early, Cen Lian squinted and quickly noted down all the text bubbles from left to right, then hurried a few steps to catch up with the others.

“Didn’t have breakfast?” Wang Yuanteng asked.

“Stayed up too late last night, left as soon as I opened my eyes,” Cen Lian said, pulling out a few pieces of chocolate from his pocket. “Want some?”

For police officers, it’s quite normal to wake up with low blood sugar after working overtime all night.

Tang Hua and Wang Yuanteng didn’t hesitate to accept.

“Let’s scan the IDs as we go. Even if we don’t find anyone, we might still get some useful info,” Wang Yuanteng said, finishing a whole piece of chocolate quickly before heading upstairs, full of energy.

“You two aren’t rookies anymore. I’ve called three auxiliary officers over; they’ll be here soon. The three of us will each take an auxiliary officer and check quickly,” Wang Yuanteng glanced at the time. “If we hurry, we can finish on time today.”

The three auxiliary officers arrived by car soon. Cen Lian was paired with an experienced-looking man in his forties.

“Qian Ge, you stick with Xiao Cen,” Wang Yuanteng delegated swiftly, then led the youngest auxiliary officer up to the third floor.

There were four dormitory buildings in the factory area, each with three floors. Cen Lian and Qian Ge entered the first building and went straight to the second floor.

“Are you the one who handed over the fugitive to the other department?” Qian Ge’s first words made Cen Lian break out in a nervous sweat.

“How do you guys all know about that?” Cen Lian scratched his head. “I feel like even if I jumped into the Yellow River now, I couldn’t clear my name.”

Having satisfied his gossip curiosity, Qian Ge expertly took the police handheld terminal, ready to help Cen Lian check IDs.

As they reached the corridor on the second floor, a few lines of text bubbles floated out from the farthest dorm room.

Name: Wang Jia
Gender: Male
Age: 21
Criminal Record: Robbed Lin Xiuyah in Kang’an City 182 days ago; Burglary in Linshan City 457 days ago; Burglary in Anping City 761 days ago.
Prison Record: None; Level B fugitive wanted by the Ministry of Public Security.

Cen Lian’s eyes lit up.

“Let’s start from the beginning,” he said calmly, not worried that Wang Jia would run.

The Yuanxin Industrial factory dorms were eight-person rooms with bunk beds. The smell inside was unbearable—a mixture of smoke, sweat, and foot odor—reminiscent of the grimy hotel room Cen Lian had collapsed in after seven days of stakeout.

Fortunately, Cen Lian was used to it.

“Everyone, take out your IDs,” he said. Having worked in community policing for years, he was very skilled at ID checks.

The men rummaged around and handed their IDs to Cen Lian one by one.

He examined each carefully until he picked up one belonging to a man named Zhang Yuan.

“Are you Zhang Yuan?” Cen Lian asked Wang Jia, whose text bubble hovered above his head.

The ID seemed genuine; the photo bore about a 40-50% resemblance to Wang Jia.

“Yes, I’m Zhang Yuan,” Wang Jia replied calmly, evidently accustomed to ID checks.

Cen Lian chuckled politely, took back the police terminal from Qian Ge, and showed Wang Jia a photo from a wanted notice.

“Come with us, Wang Jia.”

Qian Xinwei was momentarily stunned. He couldn’t fathom how Officer Cen immediately recognized this man as a wanted fugitive.

Realizing his true identity had been exposed, Wang Jia tried to shove Cen Lian aside and dash out.

Qian Xinwei readied himself to block the escape but only saw a figure being violently thrown to the ground from midair.

Cen Lian effortlessly pinned down the disoriented Wang Jia while Qian Xinwei quickly cuffed him.

“Xiao Cen, your moves are impressive,” Qian Xinwei said with a thumbs-up as they hauled the man up.

“I learned a bit in police academy,” Cen Lian smiled politely, hardly looking like someone capable of a direct takedown on a man over a hundred kilos.

The commotion had drawn the attention of Wang Yuanteng and Tang Hua. When they arrived upstairs with their auxiliary officers, they saw Wang Jia bruised and swollen, and Cen Lian cross-referencing the wanted notice.

“What’s going on?” Tang Hua asked, puzzled.

“Nothing major, just a Level B fugitive,” Cen Lian said, eyeing Wang Jia who dared not move. “We need to continue the checks. Let’s get someone to take him away.”

Wang Yuanteng peeked at the wanted photo, then at Wang Jia—who bore about 70-80% resemblance—and gave Cen Lian a thumbs-up.

Half an hour later, Wang Jia was taken away by Yuan Chenxi and two auxiliary officers who had come to assist.

“That’s a good start,” Wang Yuanteng rubbed his hands. “Let’s keep going. Call us if anything comes up.”

Cen Lian nodded silently at the last known thief on this floor.

By noon, they had taken three away from this building, all petty criminals except for the first. They would probably serve a few years before being released.

“Not bad efficiency,” Wang Yuanteng said at lunch. “I’ve been thinking about those cases you found yesterday. I suspect the culprit in case 1022 isn’t local, like you said. I wonder if Lao Qi and the others had any luck checking hotel footage.”

“If they had, we wouldn’t be eating here,” Tang Hua replied, eating the factory cafeteria’s fast food. “Where do you think the killer changed clothes? We watched the footage for so long, and suddenly the person just vanished.”

“That’s the hard part,” Wang Yuanteng leaned on a plastic chair. “There are several factories nearby with wasteland around them, supposedly for phase two development, but nothing’s happened yet. The areas are full of construction and household waste.”

Tang Hua looked up.

“At our current pace, I’m afraid a full search for the figure in black clothing isn’t far off,” he said, despair written all over his face.

Wang Yuanteng thought about it and agreed that they’d likely have to deal with the wasteland soon.

“Don’t be so pessimistic,” Cen Lian said after finishing the free factory soup. “Let’s check out the bus company.”