Chapter 847: Searching for Lin Dongxue

It was already 10:30 PM. Lin Qiupu sat in his car, incessantly making and receiving calls, his anxiety palpable as he tapped his fingers against the steering wheel. The police had scoured the towns and villages surrounding Xiao Yu Town, but there was still no sign of Lin Dongxue.

Putting down the phone, Lin Qiupu stepped out of the car to smoke a cigarette, only to find Chen Shi standing nearby. Seeing Chen, his irritation flared up again. “Why aren’t you out looking for her? What are you doing here?”

“Why did Chu Wei kidnap Lin Dongxue? Revenge? Blackmail? I can’t think of a reason. Is there something you’re not telling me?” Chen asked.

“That’s none of your business!”

“How is it not my business? I need all the information to make an informed decision!” Chen shouted back with equal intensity.

Lin Qiupu glared at him for a few seconds, then threw down his cigarette and stomped it out, spitefully saying, “You should go back. There are plenty of police here; we don’t need you.”

It seemed Lin Qiupu wasn’t going to disclose anything. Chen sighed, pulling out a USB drive. “I’ve just copied all the surveillance footage I could find from around here. If Chu Wei kidnapped Lin Dongxue deliberately, how did he know she would be here? I think he had help.”

“He’s still got help?”

“He’s been around this area for ten years. How could he not have any connections?”

Lin Qiupu took the USB drive, “Let’s go to the town’s police station to check it out.”

At the station, they used two computers. Chen and Lin Dongxue had been at the hotpot restaurant around 3 PM, so they focused on surveillance from that time.

A camera directly across from the hotpot restaurant captured Chu Wei dragging an unconscious Lin Dongxue downstairs. Seeing this, Lin Qiupu clenched his teeth, anger coursing through him, tempted to smash something.

He watched the footage repeatedly, hoping to find a clue.

Chen noticed what was on Lin Qiupu’s screen and said, “When we entered the restaurant, that truck wasn’t downstairs. Chu Wei is wanted everywhere; I know his license plate by heart. If I had seen it, I wouldn’t have missed it. And if not me, Dongxue would have noticed.”

“It must have been after you guys went in that he drove it there…” Lin Qiupu followed his logic.

Chen nodded. “That’s the only possibility. But here’s the question: how did he know we were there? Was someone on the ground tracking us, or did Chu Wei track us while his helper moved the truck?”

Chen scanned all the available cameras and finally found one at the right angle. It clearly showed at 3 PM, Chu Wei’s truck stealthily parked across from the restaurant with someone else inside—clearly not Chu Wei, as he was committing the crime at that moment.

This confirmed the existence of a helper, but they couldn’t find any footage clearly showing the helper’s face. Lin Qiupu asked, “Why did you go to Xiao Yu Town this afternoon?”

“To check out a warehouse Chu Wei had rented.”

“That was unnecessary. We’d already checked that warehouse; there were no leads.”

“But we did find a clue. This afternoon, we ran into a few kids smoking marijuana, they were at—” Chen paused, pondering. “Marijuana? People Chu Wei might know… Let’s ask the station to check if anyone has been detained here for smoking marijuana!”

Without further questions, Lin Qiupu asked a police officer to check. A quick search revealed that two young people, one named Achang and one named Arin, from another town had been detained two years ago. They didn’t have proper jobs and it wasn’t clear how they made a living.

Two years ago, they were detained for violating traffic laws. The police noted their unusually happy demeanor and suspected something was off, leading to their detention.

Achang, trying to ingratiate himself with the police, offered a cigarette, which looked odd. When the police unwrapped it, they found it was mostly marijuana, leading to a three-month mandatory detox for the pair, who were likely still living nearby.

Chen suggested, “Let’s go check their place!”

With nothing else to go on, Lin Qiupu agreed.

Meanwhile, Lin Dongxue was tirelessly trying to saw through the ropes binding her hands, but soon realized that, given the numbness from the binding and the effects of the drug, it was virtually impossible to free herself by strength alone.

Chu Wei was out, and the drug-addicted couple was next door getting high—this was her chance. Gritting her teeth, she continued to struggle.

Footsteps approached.

Lin Dongxue tensuated up as the drug-addicted man pushed the door open. His face bore a mindless grin, indicative of his recent indulgence in marijuana. He held a lit joint between his fingers, bending down to blow smoke directly into Lin Dongxue’s face.

Lin Dongxue held her breath, disgust creasing her brow.

The man’s behavior soon became inappropriate as he began to caress Lin Dongxue’s legs with a sleazy touch that turned her stomach. Lin clenched her teeth in anger, aware of the heightened sexual aggression often prompted by drug use. She had heard of a drugged-up individual who, in a high stupor, had acted obscenely outside a lingerie store before falling asleep and getting arrested the next day.

The man chuckled, saliva dripping from the corner of his mouth as his hand moved up to unbuckle her belt.

“Get off! Stay away from me!” Lin Dongxue twisted and turned, struggling fiercely. The inappropriate touch was revolting beyond words.

Her resistance was futile in loosening the ropes, but her shouts alerted the drug-addicted woman, who stormed into the room, hands on hips. The man, startled by her appearance, shuddered and hurriedly refastened the belt he had just undone.

However, the woman was not about to let the incident slide. She shoved the man to the ground and began to beat him, while he rolled on the floor trying to shield his head with a plastic basin. The couple’s movements were silent, absurdly reminiscent of a silent film.

Amidst the chaos, Lin Dongxue noticed something critical—the struggle had dislodged the crossbeam securing her ropes from its socket.

This did not mean she was free yet; she needed to maneuver her hands from behind her back to the front. The process required nearly rotating her shoulders 360 degrees, a painful but physically feasible maneuver given human anatomy.

The drug-addicted man eventually fled the scene, and the woman closed the door behind him, bending down to stare directly into Lin Dongxue’s eyes, her pale face inching closer, which Lin recoiled from to avoid the foul smell of her breath.

The woman then placed her hand on Lin’s leg, repeating the man’s earlier actions. Lin’s anxiety spiked—not only because of the touch but also because she couldn’t predict the woman’s next move.

Then the woman slapped Lin Dongxue hard across the face, turning her head away with the force of the blow. As the woman laughed breathlessly, she grabbed Lin’s chin, forcing her to face her again with a vicious glare.

“How many men did you sleep with to become a cop, you whore?” the woman hissed.

Lin Dongxue glared back furiously, and as the woman raised her hand to strike again, Lin twisted her hands forward, enduring the pain in her joints, and grabbed the woman’s neck. She then headbutted the woman squarely on the forehead. The woman collapsed to the floor, stunned.

Seizing the moment, Lin bent to untie her legs, her heart pounding as she urged herself to hurry.