Traces

Chapter 5/8

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Looking at the guy standing in front of him who was a head taller, Yang Chen implicitly stepped back. “Officer, I’m a friend of Ms. Tang, I’m not a bad guy,” Yang Chen said in a polite manner.

Tang Wan who was standing behind stepped up. “Officer Gao, Yang Chen is my friend. He might be able to help out with the case, so if you would, please let him enter?”

The police officer with the surname ‘Gao’ clearly did not buy it. Locking his eyebrows, he spoke resolutely, “Chairman Tang, forgive me for being straight forward. The criminal police unit isn’t a part of your company. We are here to investigate the homicide case involving a well-known international scholar, which I might say, cause conflicts between countries. We have been more than generous as we promised not to disclose any information about the case to the public. If you insist on letting any Tom, Dick and Harry into our investigation and hinder the process, I swear on behalf as the captain of this unit, will not allow such a behaviour.”

Just when Captain Gao Xin finished his sentence and was about to throw Yang Chen out of the room, Yang Chen who was initially standing in front of him had vanished.

Gao Xin looked around as he wondered. When he turned around, he saw that Yang Chen had slipped into the room.

Yang Chen ignored Gao Xin as he wandered around the room occasionally taking mental notes of the things he saw. The other criminal police officers were looking at Yang Chen with a discontented look.

“Hey you! I warned you not to come into the room. It is a criminal offense to obstruct an ongoing investigation.” Gao Xin yelled.

Yang Chen had somewhat taken a liking to the big and tall police officer. The man was clearly an inflexible and stubborn workaholic, proven by his ability to obtain the rank of captain at a relatively young age.

“Captain Gao, please calm down. Come and have a look at this window. There’s something weird on it,” Yang Chen pointed to the big window in the middle of the room.

“Stop acting dumb. Can’t you hear that I’m asking you to leave the room?” Gao Xin groaned.

Yang Chen shook his head and sighed. Pointing at the bright and transparent window, he said, “Have a look at this. Do you see some sort of half-transparent glue by the crack at the left side of the window?”

“Are you testing me?”

Looking at Yang Chen who was ignoring him, Gao Xin burst into anger as he walked straight to him. He stretched out his pillar-like hand and tried to drag Yang Chen out of the room.

However, Yang Chen dodged it before Gao Xin managed to touch his shirt collar. Yang Chen appeared behind Gao Xin in a flash, causing everyone to be dazzled by his skill.

A hand from behind held onto Gao Xin’s shoulder. Gao Xin was dumbfounded at the unexpected turn of events. Yang Chen applied a little pressure on his shoulder, causing his body to tilt uncontrollably before falling on the ground!

Yang Chen clicked his tongue and took a look at Gao Xin. “Look, Officer Gao, I admire you for being an earnest police officer. But please carel your recklessness. You can’t possibly go up against everyone you dislike. You have to know who you’re picking on.”

Finishing his words, Yang Chen turned and walked to the window before stretching his hand outside and reaching into the tiny crack by the window side.

All the police officers who were in the room, including Gao Xin on the floor, were frozen into speechlessness. They knew Yang Chen who had revealed his skill was no ordinary man.

All of the police officers had received professional training before. Gao Xin who had more than ten years of experience dealing with criminals had met various highly-skilled individuals before. However, that was his first time meeting someone who could suppress him to the floor. Furthermore, Gao Xin was no slouch himself having obtained a black belt in judo.

Tang Wan who was standing by the door chuckled. The look of annoyance on her face that was caused by the stubbornness of Gao Xin had completely vanished.

Everyone was watching Yang Chen in a dumbfounded way as he peeled off the glue from the edge of the outer window. The turbid white glue was roughly ten centimetres long.

“I think the crux of the case is related to this glue,” Yang Chen said with a smile.

The other police officers couldn’t care less about how their captain fell to the ground. One of them asked, “What is that? Isn’t that the glue used for immobilizing the window glass?”

“Of course not. Didn’t you guys find out that the glue here is black in colour for some reason? Why would something like this be out here for no good reason?” Yang Chen said.

“There’s nothing strange about it. Just ordinary construction garbage.” Annoyed, Gao Xin’s face was bright red. He got up from the ground and patted his backside.

Gao Xin was a little stubborn but he wasn’t a fool. He knew that he couldn’t deal with Yang Chen and could only watch as he did what he wanted.

Yang Chen waved his hand. “Officer Gao, if that’s true, let’s have your comrades from the research department identify it.”

Gao Xin frowned. He signalled two of his subordinates to analyze the glue Yang Chen was holding. Looking at his eyes, he obviously didn’t believe that there was something weird about the glue.

Two police officers stepped forward and received the item from Yang Chen. After examining the glue in detail, they found out something special about the glue. They immediately took a pair of scissors and cut open the glue. “What is this?”

The two police officers cried out. Even the rest of the police officers could tell that something was off with the thing.

Astonished Gao Xin asked, “What happened? What is in the glue?”

One of the police officers gave Yang Chen a strange look and then immediately took the smaller part of the glue that he cut open to Gao Xin.

Gao Xin took a closer look and discovered that the inconspicuous glue strip contained a slender silver-colored object with a metallic luster.

“What is this thing?” Gao Xin asked as he had never seen such a thing.

The other police officers shook their heads. Although they knew that the object was somehow as related as it was unusual, they didn’t know what it was.

“If I’m not mistaken,” Yang Chen took over the question and answered, “This should be a leading-edge technology pocket-based bug. This will allow its owner to listen to the conversations taking place nearby up to a certain area through the vibration of the objects around it. According to this model, this looks a bit like the MLK 760 used by the US military. This stuff isn’t obtainable by just anyone. Not even the black market has their hands on one of these. Not even the FBI has got anything close to this leading-edge technology. However, MLK 760 is a listening device exclusively used by the US military. I find it hard to believe that it’s appearing in such a place. It seems like that this bug has an upgraded placement method which can be used for eavesdropping in the rubber through the vibrations, making it easier to hide. I bet this is an upgraded version of MLK 760.”

Gao Xin was shocked by Yang Chen’s words. After a short while, Gao Xin snorted. “Are you certain of your words? A pocket-based bug? US military? Even the FBI? Are you saying that you know all these?”

“Haha. Of course I’m not a hundred percent sure of it. However, Officer Gao, you can check it out.” Yang Chen said with a smile.

“Captain, it seems to be like a listening device.”

One of the police officers brought over a long eavesdropping device searcher and scanned the silver-colored object. As expected, a subtle signal was transmitted from the device searcher.

Yang Chen clapped his hand and laughed. “This can basically be concluded that it’s a listening device. However, the MLK model is invented a year ago whereas your device searcher is made five years back. This would have made it next to impossible for you to have found it.”

Gao Xin snorted with his face flushing and turning pale alternately. “ You guessed it right, though I believe you were blindly guessing. If there’s nothing else, kindly don’t interrupt. We will deal with the crime scene. Regarding the listening device, the police officers will be investigating it.”

Yang Chen didn’t bother listening to him. Giving in some thoughts, he said. “The biggest advantage of the listening device used by the military is its small surface area which allows it to be easily hidden. However, the disadvantages are also very obvious—its limited signal transmission range, which is only a kilometer for the MLK 760. I guess even the modified version wouldn’t have a range that exceeded two kilometers. In addition to this sanatorium, there aren’t very many places that would constitute good hiding spots. I think if you search within two square kilometers, you might be able to find the equipment used to receive these signals. The people eavesdropping and their equipment could very well even be within this building.”

Gao Xin got inspired after hearing what Yang Chen said. He ordered a police officer in a low voice. “Get a few men and conduct a blanket search within a two-kilometer radius.”

Upon receiving his superior’s ordered, the police officer ran out quickly.

Gao Xin calmed down a little and gave Yang Chen a weird look. He was no longer trying to drive Yang Chen out of the room.

Yang Chen looked around again and did not find anything suspicious. He left the room and walked towards Tang Wan. Concerned, he asked. “You aren’t harmed, are you?”

Tang Wan shook her head and smiled. “I’m fine. I got a few bodyguards protecting me in secret. What should we do for now? Or do we have to wait for the culprit to be apprehended?

“We have to wait for the time being. There aren’t many clues we have in hand. However, judging by the type of listening device that he is using, he mustn’t be any ordinary man. I foresee large amounts of trouble headed your way,” Yang Chen said.

Tang Wan laughed bitterly. Just when she was about to say something, there was a loud cry from the other end of the corridor. “Oh no, Elder Sister!”

A clear female voice with a strong sense of urgency came from the other end.

Yang Chen turned and had a glance. It was a young lady wearing a bright yellow dress with a shawl hair up on her oval-shape face. Her appearance was quite similar to that of Tang Wan, except that she had no makeup on and looked a little immature. However, she was considered to be quite a pretty young woman.

“Tang Xin, what happened? Did something happen to Grandpa?” Tang Wan asked anxiously.

The girl with the name Tang Xin should be Tang Wan’s sister. Her breath was coming in gasps as she was running to Tang Wan. Her watery eyes were gleaming in tears while she said, “Elder Sister, Tang Huang is here. He visited Grandpa in his courtyard. Grandpa seems to have been stimulated by him and he is trying to smash his head into the wall again. He wanted to strangle me too, I’m scared.”

Tang Wan’s face turned pale. “Tang Huang? Isn’t he in Beijing? Why is he doing here in Zhonghai? How’s Grandpa’s condition right now?”

“I don’t know the reason for his visit. By the time I reached, the doctors and nurses were trying to protect Grandpa. If Tang Huang doesn’t leave, Grandpa would never calm down, so I came running for you,” Tang Xin said helplessly.

Yang Chen was confused. Who’s Tang Huang?

Tang Wan tightened her eyebrows and glanced at Yang Chen with a weak look. “I know you have a lot of questions. Let’s go together, I will tell you in detail.”

Yang Chen naturally didn’t reject her request. After all, he had gotten himself involved in the case already and had to take care of the trouble till the end. “Sure. I might be able to find some new clues by meeting the old man too.”

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