Chapter 259: Strange Disappearance
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Tang Zhaolong had been working in Tongyang since forever, and he was born and bred in Tongyang itself. He was born to a big family, and had six aunts. Gong Xiuzhen was his fifth aunt! This was such a coincidence! Tang Zhaolong had never guessed that the corpse hidden in the safe deposit box would be his fifth aunt!
At that moment, there people were weeping in the post-mortem room of the Forensics Department. Besides the elderly relatives that had difficulty walking, most of Bureau Chief Tang’s other relatives rushed over. Bureau Chief Tang himself was wailing and crying his eyes out.
This was the first time the police detectives had come across this kind of situation. They did not know what to say. In the end, Bureau Chief Luan, who was comparatively thoughtful and steady, offered her sincere condolences to Bureau Chief Tang and his family. Then she assured them that the police force would do their very best to put the murderer behind bars. Then, under Bureau Chief Luan’s instructions, various police officers started talking to the victim’s relatives in order to gather more information.
Bureau Chief Tang was really upset. Even after he got back to his office, he was still in tears. He cried to Bureau Chief Luan and Miao Ying, saying that his fifth aunt had had a tough life. She had been alone all these years with no children, and her financial situation was not great either. At first, she had a faithful partner, which was Bureau Chief Tang’s fifth uncle. But the uncle disappeared seven years ago and was still missing.
What?! Hearing this, Miao Ying shook her head. "What was going on? Why was there another missing person? Gong Xiuzhen, Tong Yun, and Gong Xiuzhen’s partner, what…what was it?" she wondered.
"Bureau Chief Tang, do you know someone named Tong Yun?" Miao Ying could not help but ask. "The safety deposit box that they found the corpse in was under this name. Do you recall anything? It was a female who stayed in the hostel at a cotton mill."
"Mm…I don’t know her." Tang Zhaolong shook his head, but he was mumbling as though he was hesitating.
"Bureau Chief Tang, this person is a suspect, try to think harder." Miao Ying seemed as though she had found a clue and quickly lead the conversation.
"I really can’t recall anything." Tang Zhaolong looked up and said, "How about this, ask my cousins, they may be able to recall something."
"Okay! So," Miao Ying changed the topic and continued, "tell me about your fifth uncle. How did he go missing?"
"Sigh! That’s unfortunate!" Bureau Chief Tang thought about the tragedy and weeped. "My fifth aunt and uncle were both honest people! I was poor when I was young, but they treated me like their own. Whenever there was something nice, they would always save it for me! Sigh…why did this happen? Which cold-hearted bastard harmed her? Boo…."
Tang Zhaolong cried his heart out and then remembered Miao Ying’s question. He answered, "Both my fifth aunt and uncle were janitors in the County Sanitation Station. Both were honest people with no children, no money, and no power. Who could they offend?
"Seven years ago, my fifth uncle went to repair his bicycle and never returned!" Tang Zhaolong took a trip down the memory lane and explained, "I wasn’t a bureau chief then, but I flipped the province upside down to look for him, but I couldn’t find him. My fifth uncle just mysteriously disappeared and nobody heard anything since!
"When my uncle went missing, my aunt broke down and got worse day after day. At first, I wanted to bring her over to my place, but she was afraid that my wife would give her the cold shoulder. So she moved back to her old house!
"Sigh! It was all my fault! It’d be great if I made her stay with me back then! In the end, three years ago, she went missing too! It was quite odd. Her neighbors said that she brought her basket to the market early in the morning, still in her slippers, but she just vanished after that.
"That time, our family went crazy trying to look for her. But in the end, just like my fifth uncle, there was no news and we couldn’t find her! But who would’ve guessed that…it would…be like this… Boo…" Tang Zhaolong was in tears again. After a while, he recalled something and asked Miao Ying suspiciously, "Hey, Team Leader Miao, has my aunt’s body been autopsied? How…how did she die? Mm…her organs…were they taken?"
"What?" Bureau Chief Luan was stunned.
"Sigh!" Tang Zhaolong sighed and explained, "My aunt was poor and old with no children. Why would the robber kill her? Besides selling her organs, what other reason could it be? Hmph, although my aunt was old, she was very healthy!"
"No," Miao Ying replied instantly. "Department Chief Wang said that her corpse was intact, and the reason of her death is still under investigation!"
"Huh? Didn’t sell her organs? Then…what else could it be? Revenge?" Tang Zhaolong was thinking out loud. "How could she offend them to the point where they would do that to an old woman? It doesn’t make sense! Aiya…if my aunt was like this, then…my uncle. Did my uncle…"
"Bureau Chief Tang, please calm down!" Luan Xiaoxiao advised. "It is still too early to make a statement. We’ll have to wait until we find more evidence. Don’t worry, we will try our best to solve the case!"
"Mm!" Tang Zhaolong pleaded, "Bureau Chief Luan, Team Leader Miao, please! My aunt can’t just die like this!"
Bureau Chief Luan and Miao Ying nodded, but they were shocked. Who knew a simple bank robbery would lead to so many other insights. It was only the beginning, and there were already three missing people. The real bank robbers were nowhere in sight.
The most surprising part was that when Miao Ying left the bureau chief’s office, Zhang Jingfeng came to report his findings about Tong Yun. She had gone missing five years ago when she was twenty-three-years-old. Her family ran a mini mart. She disappeared in the early morning. Her family thought she went to open the store, but she was gone. She vanished strangely as well, just like Bureau Chief Tang’s fifth uncle and aunt.
But Zhang Jingfeng noticed something unusual. Tong Yun’s hometown was in Tongyang as well. Gong Xiuzheng was from Tongyang too. Was there some connection?
Miao Ying felt that there was something behind this and quickly found Gong Xiuzhen’s family to further question them. In the end, one of Gong Xiuzhen’s nieces said that she went to the same school as Tong Yun when she was young, and that Tong Yun’s family were all from Tongyang as well. But Tong Yun’s father found a job in Qinshan, so she moved to the city with her parents then. Although they knew each other, they barely kept in touch. The niece was sure that Tong Yun and Gong Xiuzhen were not related in any way!
This gave Miao Ying a headache. Who knew Tong Yun had such a history? Gong Xiuzhen and her husband, Tong Yun and the Qinshan Bank Robbery Case, what…was the connection?
At that moment, Miao Ying was confused and had no idea where to start. Whenever Miao Ying was faced with difficulty, the first person that she thought about was Zhao Yu. That b*stard would always think outside the box. She really wanted to know what Zhao Yu thought about this. But when Miao Ying returned to the office, Zhao Yu was not there. She only saw Li Beini staring at her computer seriously.
"Li Beini," Miao Ying asked, "where did the b*stard go?"
"Zhao Yu?!" Li Beini turned around and scanned the room. She replied confusedly, "I have no idea. He was just here! That’s weird. Where did he go in the blink of an eye?"