Chapter 33: The Auto Repair Shop

At the Tianhai neighborhood under Tang Wenhai’s apartment building.

“Uncle Tang, why call me over if you’re not going to invite me in to sit?”

Du Qiu had planned to find Li Qiang today to introduce him to a part-time accountant to handle some paperwork for his company and quickly register his company.

However, he was summoned to the Tianhai neighborhood by a phone call from Tang Wenhai.

So, he simply built a small caution net at his home first, monitoring only within a 50-meter range.

The server remained turned on, and Du Qiu could connect to it through the internet to check on the inside and outside of the house at any time.

No need to worry about someone breaking in again.

After finishing this, Du Qiu rushed to Tang Wenhai’s place, only to be hurried downstairs by Tang Wenhai who was coming out of the house.

“I originally wanted to discuss something with you at the headquarters, but since there was a matter to deal with in the industrial park nearby, I called you over here instead,” Tang Wenhai explained.

Du Qiu was puzzled, “Uncle Tang, why do we need to go to headquarters to talk about something?”

“Let’s talk in the car,” Tang Wenhai gestured to Du Qiu’s car.

The two got into the car and Tang Wenhai began, “The ‘Wolf Kiss’ mercenaries case has been transferred to our Criminal Police Brigade, and Su Jianming is in charge now. Officer Ning must have informed you, right?”

Du Qiu nodded, “Officer Ning only told me that her people were withdrawing, and I thought the case was over. Why has it been passed to the Criminal Police Brigade?

If it’s not over, why would Officer Ning, as security personnel, give up on the case?”

Seeing that Du Qiu was aware of Ning Shuangshuang’s identity, Tang Wenhai did not conceal the truth.

“You think security personnel are idle? They are responsible for national security-related cases. This case has been determined to be an ordinary criminal case, so it was transferred to us, preparing to close it as a criminal case.

But as you know, Su Jianming is not someone who gives up easily. It’s evident that ‘Wolf Kiss’ might send someone over again, and he certainly doesn’t want the case to be closed just yet.

Moreover, the principals involved are all families of our police force. It’s just that he’s recently swamped with a major case and lacks the manpower to provide the 24-hour protection that security personnel used to offer. He’s quite troubled about it.”

“Su Squad isn’t thinking of enlisting me as a volunteer again, is he? That’s why he had you come to talk to me?”

Among the captains of the Criminal Police Brigade, Du Qiu got along best with Su Jianming and the two had a strong relationship. Du Qiu had often helped Su Jianming by offering ideas.

However, it seemed that Su Jianming always had to take a small loss to resolve issues satisfactorily, which made him have mixed feelings about Du Qiu.

“You are not part of the police force; why would we order you around? Besides, I bet Su got scared off by you.”

“When did I ever trick him?” Du Qiu immediately cried foul, “When have my ideas not worked? It’s Su’s own bad luck, okay?”

He couldn’t help but laugh, “Let’s not talk about him. I’m not fond of being constantly monitored anyway. If he’s short on people, it’s good; there’s no need to keep an eye on me.”

“Don’t get cocky, kid. The ‘Wolf Kiss’ mercenaries may have fallen, but they are still a bunch of desperadoes.

Besides, even if you can fight, can Zhang Shangqing’s wife and sister? ” Tang Wenhai warned.

Du Qiu smiled enigmatically, “Uncle Tang, I haven’t been idle these past days. I’ve already made a few alarm devices that I plan to give to Zhang Mingliu and the others to use.

If they encounter any emergency, they can trigger it immediately, and it will send a fixed alarm message to the 110 emergency center and notify me as well.”

Tang Wenhai looked at Du Qiu skeptically, replying, “Really? Are those devices that impressive?”

Du Qiu pointed around and asked, “Look around the city, aren’t there mobile network signals everywhere?”

“Yes, but some places have poor signals.”

Du Qiu explained, “My alarm device is connected to the mobile wireless network. Once triggered, the signal will be transmitted via the mobile network.

The moment the 110 emergency number connects, a pre-set SOS voice message will play, including the location where it was triggered.”

Tang Wenhai was surprised, “It can transmit even where mobile signals are weak?”

Du Qiu said with a hint of pride, “At the moment the alarm is triggered, the signal is instantly boosted. As long as there is a base station within a kilometer, the message is guaranteed to be sent.”

In fact, the signal boosting method used by Du Qiu is frequently employed in spy equipment for eavesdropping, which allows listening in from hundreds of meters away with high clarity.

“You didn’t get that doctorate for nothing,” Tang Wenhai patted Du Qiu’s shoulder approvingly. “If we have such alarm devices, Su Jianming indeed has less to worry about.

But do you know why ‘Wolf Kiss’ mercenaries came after Zhang Shangqing and your father’s family?”

Du Qiu replied, “Officer Ning mentioned it was a crystal product. I searched at home and only found a crystal cube.

It was a gift my dad brought back before the Spring Festival, said to be a relic of the Maya civilization, capable of curing headaches.

You know, he always brings back some strange stuff from anywhere, claiming it can cure my headaches.

I didn’t even unwrap it. Only when Officer Ning asked did I take it out, took a photo for her, but she didn’t say anything.”

Tang Wenhai asked excitedly, “Didn’t you try to see if it could cure your headaches? What if it’s a treasure?”

“Come on, Uncle Tang. I’ve checked online; the Maya civilization has no such crystal things, that crystal skull is a modern replica. I’ve tried these past days; it’s useless for my headaches.”

Of course, Du Qiu couldn’t tell Tang Wenhai the truth, even though Tang Wenhai has always been good to him.

“Send me that photo too, so at least our police department knows what these ‘Wolf Kiss’ guys are looking for.”

“Wait a second, I have it on my phone. I’ll send it to you now.”

Soon, Tang Wenhai examined the photo on his phone, stroking his chin, “This thing doesn’t look anything special, just like a modern craft.

Whoever hired ‘Wolf Kiss’ to find this must think of it as some kind of incredible treasure.”

“Exactly, they’re probably duped by a rumor or hoax.”

“Alright, that’s enough talk. You can drive me to the nearby industrial park; I have an appointment with someone there—it might even benefit you.”

Under Tang Wenhai’s guidance, Du Qiu drove him to an industrial park less than two kilometers from the Tianhai neighborhood.

The Tianhai neighborhood was initially constructed by the police collective investment on the outskirts of Magic City, with an industrial park already here back then.

With stricter environmental policies, many factories not meeting standards have moved out over the years.

Now, some of the original workshops are either leased to pollution-free manufacturers or transformed into various venues by companies.

There are gymnasiums, startup offices, restaurants…

Tang Wenhai led Du Qiu to stop the car in front of a roadside five-story building.

The street side featured a row of shutter doors resembling storefronts.

But Du Qiu noticed that above this row of store fronts was a common sign.

“Da Hua Auto Repair Shop”!

The sign—white background with red lettering—was obviously old and dim, showing its age.

In the open space in front of the building, a group of people surrounded a few others, highly agitated, but there was no sign of a physical altercation.

Such scenes are common in Magic City, though in the north they would have turned into a brawl by now.

“Uncle Tang, you didn’t come on police duty, did you? Seems a bit high-level for that,” Du Qiu teased.

“What nonsense are you spouting? The seal here was just removed this morning after a murder case happened,” Tang Wenhai said plainly.

“Oh, what brings a deputy brigade commander here, then?” Du Qiu was puzzled.

Tang Wenhai didn’t rush to get out of the car and started explaining to Du Qiu, “The case isn’t complicated. The murderer was a worker at the auto repair shop who killed the boss during an argument over wages.

Chu Feng from the first division led the team to the murderer’s hometown to arrest him, but who would have thought that guy died heroically saving a drowning child, and that’s how this case ended. You see, people have different sides.

After such an event, the boss’s family didn’t want to keep the repair shop running, so the park was planning to take back the premises and re-rent them.

Just now, Park Director Shao told me that the workers of the auto repair shop blocked him from visiting the premises, arguing that the park pressured the boss’s family to close down, so they can rent it out to someone else to open a KTV.”

With interest, Du Qiu asked, “Uncle Tang, what does this have to do with you?”