Chapter 5 - 5 5 Kidnapping Case in the County Town

Words : 2233 Updated : Sep 10th, 2025

5: Chapter 5 Kidnapping Case in the County Town 5: Chapter 5 Kidnapping Case in the County Town Hu Ya pulled out her phone and connected the call. Her expression suddenly changed, “He came out of the Martial Arts Hall, but didn’t go home... Your house is just a few steps away, how come he hasn’t arrived in half an hour?... Okay, wait there, I’ll come right now!” “What happened?” Lin Xiaosu, who was halfway stepping into her own courtyard, stopped. Hu Ya said, “There’s a little student from the Martial Arts Hall. He left the hall but didn’t go home, now he’s missing.” The Martial Arts Hall she mentioned, was the one she co-founded with others. Why open this? Hu Ya just loves to fight, she can’t really do anything else. “How old?” “Ten!” “A ten-year-old child isn’t small, knows how to go home. Maybe he went shopping?” “I hope so, but the county town has been quite strange recently. Last week a child also went missing, couldn’t be found for a whole week. Parents are making a fuss every day at the school, which is now at its wits end. I need to go and see...” “I’ll come with you!” said Lin Xiaosu. “Let’s go!” Hu Ya ran into her yard, rode out on a mini electric bike, Lin Xiaosu sat behind her, and the electric bike zoomed out of the village, heading towards Fengcheng. Fengcheng is just a small eight-line county town, theoretically just separated by a mountain from Old Tashan Village, but this mountain is somewhat high and large; therefore, from this little village, the county town seems thousands of miles away. Going from this small mountain village to the county town involves a detour through Shilipu, which is quite far. Fortunately, over the years, the rural road construction project has been launched. Even in remote villages, the roads are hardened and smooth, making the ride on the small electric bike quite enjoyable. Hu Ya was very anxious, driving fast. Lin Xiaosu wasn’t in a hurry, seated behind Hu Ya, embracing her waist, admiring the scenery along the way. It was now the sunny March. The grass along the road turned green, willows became tender, and below the willows, the Yichuan River glistened, reflecting Tashan. Passing Tashan Lake, we entered the southern part of the county town. The south of the town, in Lin Xiaosu’s childhood, was very desolate, just a suburban village, but now it has actually become part of the county town’s map, becoming more bustling and prosperous by the day. This piece of land was the grand work of the former county committee secretary, Luo Gong, known as “Luo Fengzi”, very arrogant, forceful in action, under great pressure, he expanded the city by threefold, how? His classic saying was: “Turn mud into gold, swap paper for silver.” What does it mean? Turn mud into gold by selling land. Swap paper for silver by issuing IOUs. Regardless of the difficulties faced, just get the things done first. This aggressive and forceful action received a lot of criticism, complaints flew everywhere. Some said he ran a one-man show, some said he messed around with women, and some said he took red envelopes from developers, one envelope per apartment, but as the southern map expanded, as the small county town changed rapidly, many people began to properly appreciate Luo Fengzi, especially after he stepped down. People walking on the broad avenues of the south could occasionally sigh: Luo Fengzi indeed did something great. Yes, the common folk can’t expect every official to be morally perfect, as long as he gets things done, achieves results, and genuinely benefits the people, a bit of sideline cash, a few under-the-table deals; people talk, laugh, and feel like it’s not such a big deal... The Martial Arts Hall co-founded by Hu Ya is located in the south, no choice, the south was just built, and rents were cheap. If it were in the old commercial area, the rent would be prohibitively expensive, beyond her investment capacity. Upon reaching the Martial Arts Hall, a crowd had gathered. Martial Arts Hall’s owner, Hu Ya’s partner, Old Zhou, paced around smoking, next to him two police officers were gathering information, a young woman was sweating profusely, restless. Seeing Hu Ya approaching, she rushed over: “Teacher Li, I sent my child here trusting your reputation, and now my child is missing, you need to think of something quickly...” “Don’t panic, little Wang, aren’t the police here? We are looking...” Old Zhou threw away his cigarette butt and took over. “What’s the situation?” Hu Ya stared at Old Zhou... “It’s really bizarre, just finished a class, her child was still here, left the door like usual, but then, just disappeared into thin air...” Old Zhou wiped the sweat off his forehead and recounted the situation. Two other police officers came over from another side: “Captain Zhang, all the intersections around here have cameras, we checked separately, indeed, we didn’t see the child pass by.” “What about vehicles?” The middle-aged police captain’s face darkened. This was the most feared scenario in missing person cases: the child being carried into a vehicle in this surveillance blind spot and taken away. Vehicles are highly mobile, any delay, and they might be lost in the sea of people. “We already tallied all the license plates that passed through this area during that time, but to precisely track their destinations takes time.” “Check! No matter how long it takes, check!” Ms. Wang, the young mother, grabbed Captain Zhang’s hand: “Officer, you must help me find my son; if I lose him, I... I can’t go on, I...” Suddenly, in the commotion... Lin Xiaosu gently patted Hu Ya’s shoulder: “Doesn’t your Martial Arts Hall have a camera at the entrance? Show me the footage.” “That... that can only capture up to ten meters from the entrance, can’t reach here.” “No worries, just open it up for me to look...” Hu Ya unlocked her phone, accessed the recording system, and rewound it to an hour ago. Lin Xiaosu saw the boy she mentioned, wearing a blue hoodie, chubby and adorable. Knowing this child, the rest of the matter would be easier to handle... Lin Xiaosu’s eyes lightly shifted, entering Reverse Time... His heart slightly jumped; he saw... Over at Captain Zhang’s side, the scene was chaotic; Ms. Wang had knelt down before Captain Zhang, weeping uncontrollably, visibly breaking down. Captain Zhang, too angered to act, repeatedly assured, “Ms. Wang, we understand what position children hold in parents’ hearts, rest assured, we will do everything possible if there is the slightest hope. For now, you should go home and wait...” Ms. Wang cried, “Without Jiang Yang, how can I go home? If I do, my husband will kill me, I... I deserve to die, why didn’t I stay at the door? I...” Another female officer recording the incident embraced her: “Sister Wang, don’t be like this, we’re already checking past vehicles, we’ll let you know as soon as we have news...” Suddenly, a voice spoke up: “Captain Zhang, you might have gotten the direction wrong.” This is Lin Xiaosu’s voice. He is now standing in the gap between two buildings. Everyone’s gaze suddenly fell on his face, and numerous brows furrowed at the same time. Who is this? Lin Xiaosu said, “This is a blind spot for surveillance cameras. A child could be carried onto a vehicle here, but it’s also possible that he didn’t get on a vehicle and instead went down this gap.” He pointed with his hand toward the gap behind him. The gap was very narrow, with a tree in front and a huge billboard. “What nonsense are you talking about?” the policewoman said, “This isn’t an alleyway at all, just a gap that’s not even one meter wide, covered with garbage. Who would walk through there?” “Under normal circumstances, of course not, but are we in a normal situation now?” Lin Xiaosu said. Hu Ya took a step forward: “What have you noticed?” “There are fresh footprints here, just as the officer said. Under normal circumstances, who would walk through here? Thus, the footprints themselves are abnormal!” Lin Xiaosu said. The policemen looked at each other, and Captain Zhang stepped forward, staring in the direction Lin Xiaosu was pointing. Indeed, there was a partial footprint, “This is an adult’s footprint, not a child’s!” “What if the child was being carried in his arms?” Captain Zhang was stunned. “Cough... Not to hide it from Captain Zhang, I come from the mountains, and I have a unique skill to smell scents, and I’m sure that the child was taken through this gap.” The policewoman frowned, “Smell scents? What are you, a dog?” Hu Ya looked bewildered, you have this skill? Why didn’t I know about it? Ms. Wang was inspired: “Officer, he’s right. Why don’t you bring a police dog to try it out, aren’t police dogs the best at tracking?” “Sister Wang, you... you’re mythologizing police dogs. In the city, police dogs are useless unless your child has a unique scent on him, like drugs or something...” Lin Xiaosu had already entered the gap and was walking briskly. The gap soon led to another street, and Hu Ya crawled out from behind, “What are you up to? Since when can you smell scents?” Lin Xiaosu had no answer. He clearly saw where the child went, but getting others to accept it was quite challenging. Breaking the Widow Feng’s bathing case, he could still use footprints and activity traces to hide it, but how to cover it here? The man directly got into the vehicle and the process was incredibly secretive. A broken van just happened to stop at the mouth of this gap. The door opened from that side, the child was stuffed into the car and it drove off. Even if there were cameras on the opposite side, they wouldn’t have caught that action... Traces, footprints in the city don’t hold up the chain of tracking. Only a fleeting and elusive scent could serve as a cover now. If a dog can do it, why can’t a human? For a family’s sky not to fall, for Hu Ya’s Martial Arts Hall to keep running, I’ll fight! I’ll play the role of a police dog! “Hu Ya, bring your car over, let’s follow this scent!” “Sure!” Hu Ya turned around to crawl through the gap again. Suddenly, a voice came from the other side: “Get in the car, let’s go together!” It was a police car. The policewoman poked her head out of the window. “You... you didn’t believe me, did you?” Lin Xiaosu said. “I didn’t say I believed you, but the biggest virtue of being a cop is not to overlook any possibility...” the policewoman said, “Get in!” The police car sped away, Lin Xiaosu retracing the route... “Left!” “Right!” “Straight ahead...” Ahead was a construction site, half-done, stopped for some unknown reason. After a spring, the grass had grown tall. Lin Xiaosu raised his hand: “Stop!” The policewoman stopped the car, and the three got out, standing at the entrance of the construction site. Hu Ya’s eyes sparkled: “There are tire tracks here, and they are quite fresh.” “Where?” the policewoman scoured the ground. Hu Ya raised her hand, pointing to the ground: “This construction site has been stopped for half a year, no one’s come here, who would drive their car in here? Except a thief with a guilty conscience...” Let’s go! Let’s see... The three tiptoed through the lushly vegetated construction site, ahead were several warehouses. At the entrance of the warehouses, policewoman Zhou Mei’s eyes lit up, she spotted a minivan at a glance. This minivan was in bad shape, left by the roadside no one would want it, driving into a halted construction site was suspicious in itself, and it was even more suspicious as it didn’t stop outside a warehouse but was instead driven inside the warehouse. Could it be that we are really about to crack a major case? Her palms were sweaty. The three walked past the minivan, no one was inside. It was very dark behind, the hustle and bustle of the county town seemed completely isolated. Their footsteps were pressed very low, turning around several pillars, ahead was a long corridor that was already very dark. Suddenly, from a compartment next to the corridor, a figure flashed out. As soon as this figure appeared, Lin Xiaosu’s gaze was tightly locked on it; he clearly saw that this person was the one who had kidnapped the boy, but this person’s movements were highly unusual, in just a blink, he had crossed five meters of space to come in front of them. In his hand, there was a knife! A black knife! “Watch out!” Lin Xiaosu shouted loudly, his eyesight surpassing others, but his limbs were just ordinary, what his eyes saw turned into slow motion, but his own ability to move his limbs was even slower...

Chapter 5 - 5 5 Kidnapping Case in the County Town

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