Chapter 749 — Trouble Again

"Qiu Lingshan?" Chen Yutian saw Qiu Lingshan gazing blankly at Wei Zhao's departing back and felt a pang of bitterness in his heart. "Hm?" Qiu Lingshan started, then came back to her senses. "What is it?"

"Nothing. Mr. Lin has already gone far off." Chen Yutian smiled.

"Ah, I see." Qiu Lingshan sighed. "I'll head back to the station first. Are you staying here?"

"I'd better hold the fort here." Chen Yutian pondered for a moment and said, "I don't know whether the Red Pagoda tomb-raiding gang will send anyone else after Liu Bojia. I've already gotten in touch with the local armed police, and they'll be sending men to assist me."

Qiu Lingshan nodded and set off back to the police station first. On the way, however, she received another call from Director Chen.

And the contents of that call left Qiu Lingshan thoroughly exasperated! City leaders had been making an unannounced inspection of vegetable prices at the produce market that day—and a pickpocket had walked off with both their phone and their wallet! These thieves had grown brazen beyond all measure!

Ordinarily, petty thieves were not the criminal investigation division's business—that was left to the local police stations to crack down on. But this time the city leaders themselves had been rattled, and Director Chen had further pointed out that the thieves of Songshan City had now organized themselves into a theft ring, carrying out disciplined, coordinated criminal activity—and that called for the CID to investigate and handle it!

No deadline for solving the case had been handed down, but with city leaders leaning on the case, how could one possibly fail to crack it as quickly as possible?

Qiu Lingshan felt herself the unluckiest woman alive: one trouble had barely settled when the next arose, and the troubles of each day seemed simply never-ending! She had only just taken up her post as head of the CID—had she seen this many cases back when she was merely deputy?

Besides, this theft ring must have been formed long ago. They could have stamped down on it earlier or later—why did it have to land squarely on her now? Still, Director Chen had said so personally; what could Qiu Lingshan do? She could only obey orders without question!

Yet this thief ring observed iron discipline. Snatching up a few petty thieves at random would never cripple the whole ring—it might even startle the snake by beating the grass!

Qiu Lingshan drove along in a black mood, turning over in her mind how to take on the theft ring.

She thought for a long while and found no thread to pull. Ordinary pickpockets had always been handled by the police stations, and no records of them were kept at the CID; for the time being, even if she wanted to devise a plan, it was impossible—she could only go back and sort through the files first.

Without thinking, Qiu Lingshan took out her phone. But the moment it was in her hand, she gave a bitter smile. How had she grown so dependent—whenever trouble arose, her first thought was to call Wei Zhao?

In the past she had called Wei Zhao only when a problem was truly beyond her. But now, whatever the matter, Wei Zhao was the first person she thought of.

Never mind that—she would call and try her luck!

Qiu Lingshan's reasoning was simple enough: asking was better than not asking. By now, troubling Wei Zhao had become a habit; she figured that once you owed someone enough favors, the pressure of owing them eased off altogether.

Wei Zhao had not long left the hospital when Qiu Lingshan's call came through.

"What is it now?" Wei Zhao answered, somewhat baffled that she was ringing him again after so short a time.

"Wei Zhao, do you know anyone in a theft ring?" Qiu Lingshan asked, in the spirit of giving it a try.

"A theft ring? No." Wei Zhao's reply was blunt.

Though this was the answer she had expected, Qiu Lingshan was still a little disappointed.

"You really don't know anyone?" Qiu Lingshan was loath to give up; she had come to think of Wei Zhao as omnipotent—whenever she had gone to him in the past, things always ended in a perfect solution.

"I don't. Why on earth would I know them?" Wei Zhao's patience began to wear thin. "Is there anything else, or not?"

"There is, there is! Please don't be cross..." Qiu Lingshan jumped, her voice going soft and woefully pitiful. "Then could you do your little silly girl a favor and keep an eye out? You know—the thief ring..."

"Oh. If I see them, I'll tell you." Wei Zhao hung up on the spot, inwardly rather amused: had Qiu Lingshan really come to him with absolutely everything now?

Qiu Lingshan hung up in a huff. Tell me if I see them? That was the same as saying nothing at all! Who in the world was going to just happen upon a theft ring out of thin air? She was still fuming when suddenly her gaze sharpened and fell on a spot not far down the road...

A sweetly dressed young girl was at that very moment extending her wicked hand into the pocket of a pot-bellied, wealthy-looking man!

In a trice the girl had her prize: she fished out a fat wallet and, beaming from ear to ear, stepped aside to count the loot.

Qiu Lingshan laughed coldly to herself: iron shoes worn out in the search, and it drops into your lap for nothing! This girl was a habitual offender—she had crossed paths with her several times before and never managed to lay a hand on her! Now was the very chance she needed to squeeze the girl's mouth open and see whether any information about the theft ring could be dragged out of her!

Qiu Lingshan pulled the car over to the roadside, got out, and crept toward the girl...

Yu Xiaoke was in absolutely splendid spirits today. Earlier she had spotted a fat rascal grown rich by foul means who, because a little flower-selling girl kept blocking his way, got out of his BMW and kicked the child right onto the curb. Without so much as glancing at the girl's wailing, he parked the car, turned on his heel, and strolled off.

Passersby dared to seethe but not to speak a word, so Yu Xiaoke locked her target squarely on this hard-hearted fat man!

The fat man's vigilance was dreadful, and Yu Xiaoke had the goods in hand with embarrassing ease. She opened the wallet: the man really did carry a fair amount of cash! A quick count came to some seven or eight thousand yuan!

Yu Xiaoke had never dreamed her luck would be this good—two fat sheep in as many days! True, yesterday a formidable character had robbed her of her hard-earned takings, but all in all she had been very lucky indeed!

Still, delighted as she was, Yu Xiaoke had not relaxed her guard. Yesterday's business with Wei Zhao had taught her a lesson: she must not take things lightly. So the instant Qiu Lingshan closed in, Yu Xiaoke noticed!

With perfect composure, Yu Xiaoke tucked the money from the fat wallet into her own, then tossed the big wallet casually into a trash can. The very instant Qiu Lingshan was about to reach her, Yu Xiaoke bolted!

"Yu Xiaoke, you stop right there!" Qiu Lingshan was fit to be tied. She had thought she could finally snag the girl off her guard this time, only to discover that Yu Xiaoke was this alert—she had barely crept close before the girl was running!

"Bye-bye, Sister Lingshan!" Yu Xiaoke threw her a face over her shoulder and vanished around the corner in a flash.

Qiu Lingshan did not even give chase, for she knew she could never have caught her. She had chased her twice before, and both times had nearly given herself a stitch without laying a finger on her.

"Yu Xiaoke! You just wait!" Qiu Lingshan glared after the direction in which the girl had vanished, with no way at all to vent her fury...

Qiu Lingshan had now learned firsthand just how extraordinary Yu Xiaoke's qinggong was. Even though she herself had just advanced to the late stage of the Yellow Tier, catching Yu Xiaoke would be straight out of the Arabian Nights!

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