“What happened to Tang Feng?” Han Siqi stops his feet immediately to stare at Zhen Chao and asks after he hangs up the phone.
“Let’s talk later. We need to go to Yuetian Hotel now.” Zhen Chao rushes out. His men follow him.
With a sense of foreboding, Han Siqi dashes out too and gets into their commercial vehicle parked in the dark.
After the car is started, Zhen Chao tells him in detail, “When our men rushed into Yuetian Hotel, Xiao Jinchong and Wu Zhenxing were gone…”
Han Siqi interrupts at once, “They booked a private room in Glamour Restaurant tonight.”
“Yes, they did, but Xiao Jinchong and Wu Zhenxing didn’t show up in Glamour Restaurant. Those having fun there are just some heads of small groups in Brotherhood. Tang Feng went there at about 8:00 and then went to Yuetian Hotel from there at about 9:00. Then at about 9:50, Wu Zhenxing returned to Yuetian Hotel. We thought Xiao Jinchong was in Yuetian Hotel. Our men entered to round them up at about 10:00 only to find all three of them gone.”
A thrill runs through Han Siqi, “Was Tang Feng…”
“Our men just entered Yuetian Hotel and reported that they were gone. I’m not clear about anything else. Anyway, we have spread a net from which there is no escape.”
Han Siqi doesn’t ask more. He turns around to look forward at the vehicle overtaking cars at a fast speed.
After about ten minutes, the vehicle stops outside Yuetian Hotel.
The hotel has been surrounded ring upon ring by armed police. A military officer who stands outside sees Zhen Chao and his men come out of the vehicle. He runs over immediately, salutes, and then walks inside with them while introducing the situation.
“All guys here have been controlled except Xiao Jinchong, Wu Zhenxing and Tang Feng. I can’t contact Tang Feng. We saw him and Wu Zhenxing enter Yuetian Hotel but didn’t see them come out. I just checked the surveillance video and found there was a small door at the back of Yuetian Hotel. They went out through it. Some guys have been sent to chase them.”
Hearing that Tang Feng went out with Xiao Jinchong, Zhen Chao sighs with relief. He was afraid that Tang Feng might have been killed. He glares at the military officer, “Didn’t you notice such an important thing?”
The military officer wipes sweat, “When we investigated the environment, the small door was barred, so I didn’t take it seriously.”
Zhen Chao glances at him coldly and asks, “How many of them went out together?”
“Two. Wu Zhenxing and Tang Feng.”
“You didn’t see Zhu Ting?”
“No. We didn’t see Zhu Ting show up in Glamour Restaurant or Yuetian Hotel. She didn’t stay with them probably. We tried to call her, but her cellphone was switched off.”
“Their cellphones both have GPS. Didn’t you look for their whereabouts by means of it?”
“I did. Tang Feng’s cellphone is left in the hotel. Zhu Ting’s cellphone has been found in a garbage bin not far away from Central Street.”
Zhen Chao’s heart misses a beat again. He orders, “Send someone to the city surveillance center to check the surveillance videos of all road sections around Yuetian Hotel twenty minutes ago.”
The military officer wipes sweat again, “Commander, there is no surveillance on the alley out of the small door. Only the large crossing after a turn has surveillance. The alley is flanked by resident buildings. Many cars have gone into and out of it. It’s difficult for us to judge immediately which car they took to leave here.”
Zhen Chao’s face becomes pale in anger.
Han Siqi asks some waitresses who are frightened and look pale. Then he runs to tell Zhen Chao, “We should check the surveillance video inside Yuetian Hotel to see whether Tang Feng was forced to leave with them or left actively. It can help us guess their whereabouts.”
Zhen Chao nods and then looks at the military officer who is standing aside and sweating.
The military office points instantly to a room on the left of the first floor, “Commander, the surveillance room is over there.”
Zhen Chao and Han Siqi stride to the surveillance room to check the video. The stair entrance on the first floor of Yuetian Hotel is shown in the video. Over twenty minutes ago, two persons went downstairs and entered a small room aside.
After that, nothing can be seen.
Zhen Chao asks, “Which room did they come out of?”
Li who is in charge of surveillance shows them another video, “They came out of Room 1108, took the lift to the second floor, walked downstairs to the small room, opened the small door,
and went out.”
“Wait!” Zhen Chao fixes his eyes on the video and shouts suddenly, “Back it. Stop. Here. Slow down.”
The freeze-frame of the video is when they entered the small room. The door of the small room could be closed automatically after it’s swung open. After Wu Zhenxing entered first, Tang Feng touched his left earlobe and then pushed against the door with his right hand to steady the swinging door slowly and then entered the room.
Zhen Chao explains, “Tang Feng touched his left earlobe. It means the situation changes. It’s our agreement. Wait, what did he throw on the ground?”
Han Siqi also notices Tang Feng throw a tiny thing on the ground and step on it in the video, “It looks like a piece of folded paper! He wrote some information on it?”
The military has run out. Soon he runs back and shows something to Zhen Chao, “Commander, it’s a small folded banknote, but nothing is written on it.”
Zhen Chao takes the paper and observes it carefully, “Tang Feng wouldn’t throw a banknote on the ground without reason. He must want to convey information to us in this way, because the situation changed unexpectedly and he didn’t have the chance to contact us. But what’s the meaning of throwing a banknote on the ground and stepping on it?”
Han Siqi stares at the cash for quite a while as if deep in thought and then asks tentatively, “Does the banknote means a bank? Perhaps they have gone to a bank?”
Zhen Chao’s eyes light up, “Bank? It’s possible. But there are so many banks in this city. The information is too sweeping.”
“Step on the ground…ground…ground is covered with dust and mud? Is it the agricultural bank?”
Zhen Chao still stares at the surveillance video and replays what Tang Feng did. Hearing what Han Siqi says, he becomes excited, “The door would rebound, and he was supposed to watch out for the door ahead, but he cast his eyes to the right. There was a wall on the right and nothing was worth watching. The right side is the north. He might be telling us that they were going to the north? Around an agricultural bank in the north? Investigate how many agricultural banks there are in the north of the city.”
“Yes.” The military strikes out to call.
Li interrupts suddenly, “Commander, go westward along the road for one hundred meters and turn right. Then it’s Jiefang Avenue leading to the north of the city. We can guess the approximate time when Xiao Jinchong and others left the hotel. If they really go to the north of the city, I think we can find the suspected car.”
Zhen Chao calls Xiao Hui right away, “Old Xiao, we’ve got the crime evidence of the gang headed by Xiao Jinchong. When we went to Yuetian Hotel to arrest them, they escaped, so I need all license plate records of cars from Yuetian Avenue around Yuetian Hotel to Jiefang Avenue during 10:00 and 10:20 this evening.”
The military officer comes in at this moment. Seeing Zhen Chao talking on the phone, he signals by raising his fingers.
Zhen Chao takes the hint and continues talking with Xiao Hui, “There are five agricultural banks in the north of the city. Check which cars ran past the five ones. If a car stopped around an agricultural bank, please record its license plate number. The sooner, the better.”
“OK.” Xiao Hui, who has always waited at the office for Zhen Chao’s instruction, calls the monitoring management center of the city and conveys the instruction without delay.
Then Zhen Chao and Han Siqi go out and walk to the crossing along the alley behind the small door. Zhen Chao’s watchman drives the car over. They get into it and signal the watchman to drive towards the north of the city along Jiefang Avenue.
On the way, Han Siqi says, “Tang Feng might go with Xiao Jinchong actively.”
Zhen Chao nods, “Tang Feng is skilled at Kung Fu and agile. If Xiao Jinchong and his men wanted to control him, it’s not easy. According to the surveillance video, he seemed to be calm. It means Xiao Jinchong was not suspicious of him. He was willing to go with Xiao Jinchong, possibly because he wanted to see Xiao Jinchong with Wu Zhenxing.”
“Perhaps Xiao Jinchong had a premonition, so he hid before that.”
Zhen Chao’s phone rings. The call is from Xiao Hui.
“During that period, fifty vehicles headed towards the north of the city. Thirty of them ran past agricultural banks, including twenty taxies, which left after passengers got out in the north of the city. But Xiao Jinchong and Wu Zhenxing haven’t been found yet. The suspicion against the taxies can be excluded. The remaining ten ones are private cars. Five of them went out of the city while four entered into the nearby residential area. We’ve recorded the license plate numbers. I’ve sent someone to rush to the residential area to investigate the four cars.”
“Thank you. Well, in order to save time, please tell me the license plate numbers of two ones. I’ll send my men to investigate. The suspects have guns. If you find their whereabouts, don’t alert them. Tell me in time, and I will send armed police to solve it.”
“OK.”
Then Xiao Hui tells Zhen Chao the license plate numbers, vehicle types and colors of two cars as well as the names of the communities they entered.
Zhen Chao sends his men to the communities to look for the two cars.
After twenty minutes, they drive to one of the communities and begin to search for the car carefully.
While Han Siqi and Zhen Chao are analyzing the whereabouts of Tang Feng, Xiao Jinchong and Wu Zhenxing, they are in a three-bedroom apartment of a community.
The curtains in the sitting room are drawn completely. Xiao Jinchong is sitting there with a sullen face. Tang Feng and Wu Zhenxing are sitting on his two sides.
“Boss, what happened?” Tang Feng looks confusedly at Xiao Jinchong who looks strange.
Xiao Jinchong smokes his cigar and doesn’t reply.
Wu Zhenxing asks first, “Tang Feng, frankly speaking, how has our boss treated you since you joined Brotherhood?”
“I’m grateful for the help and encouragement from our boss. Without our boss, I can’t be what I’m like today.”
“Then if our boss is in trouble, what will you do?”
“I’m sure to try my best to protect our boss – but, Brotherhood is so influential in the circle. Who dares to provoke us?”
“Of course. They…”
“Zhenxing!” Xiao Jinchong waves to signal Wu Zhenxing. He shuts himself up obediently. Then Xiao Jinchong looks at Tang Feng, “Tang Feng, I have something to talk with you.”
It’s the first time for Tang Feng to hear Xiao Jinchong speak so softly. He isn’t accustomed to it and asks at once, “Boss, I’m all ears.”