Tokyo: From Lawless Madpolice to Minister
Chapter 95 - 91: The Thing Hidden in the Study’s Ceiling (One More Update)

Chapter 95: Chapter 91: The Thing Hidden in the Study’s Ceiling (One More Update)

Police Headquarters press conference.

After hanging up the phone with Aoyama Xiu Xin, it was just Asai Ayumi’s turn to take the stage. Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, she confidently walked to the podium with her long, elegant legs, wearing a police cap and uniform, exuding a dignified demeanor.

If someone looked closely, they would find thin, hardly noticeable runs in the flesh-colored stockings on her legs, all the work of Aoyama Xiu Xin just moments ago.

Standing in front of the podium, Asai Ayumi first bowed to the reporters below and slowly began, "Good morning, esteemed journalists. I am Asai Ayumi, Chief of the Murder Section 1 at Police Headquarters. The case of the imitation murders falls under our jurisdiction. In just two days, two innocent women were brutally killed; the criminal’s actions are atrocious!"

"Before I took the stage, I was contemplating how to convey to the citizens through you all that we are diligently investigating, how to soothe the public’s emotions. But now, I must announce some news. Just moments ago, we captured the perpetrator of the imitation murders!"

Boom!

The entire room exploded into chaos, even high-ranking officials like Renping Kuniaki from Police Headquarters exchanged looks and finally focused their attention on Police Chief Hattori from Section 1.

Police Chief Hattori showed that he was utterly bewildered!

"Chief Asai, may we have the details of the perpetrator? How was he apprehended?"

"Does the perpetrator have a psychological disorder?"

It was the reporters who recovered first, bombarding Asai Ayumi with a flurry of questions.

"The perpetrator’s name is Beigong Liangxiong, a plumber by profession. For further details, please await a formal announcement from the relevant departments at Police Headquarters," Asai Ayumi replied loudly, then bowed and turned to leave.

Police Chief Hattori, bending over, caught up with Asai Ayumi in the hallway and stopped her. "Chief Asai, how could you not give us a heads-up about such critical news?"

Had we known earlier about the capture of the perpetrator, today’s press conference would have unfolded differently.

"Chief, I, too, received the report just before I took the stage," Asai Ayumi responded helplessly.

It wasn’t her intention to seem so imposing; Aoyama Xiu Xin had just given her this opportunity to shine!

At that moment, Aoyama Xiu Xin was on his way to Zhongshan Minggui’s residence when he arrived at the scene to see several police cars parked and police tape cordoning off the area.

"Captain Du Bian, why is it always your squad?" Upon entering the house, he found that the on-site mobile search team was again Du Bian Zhihe’s 204 squad.

Was this guy a fixed spawn NPC?

Every time he appeared at a scene, if there was a mobile search, it invariably involved the 204 squad.

Du Bian Zhihe was also surprised and shrugged in response to the question, "Guess it’s fate?"

"We must have a drink sometime." Aoyama Xiu Xin patted his shoulder and asked, "What did you find?"

"The victim was strangled to death with a type of thin, resilient wire, likely yesterday afternoon," Du Bian Zhihe explained, leading Aoyama Xiu Xin to the body and then pointing to a chubby young man nearby. "He reported the crime, a subordinate of Chief Zhongshan, who came here because he couldn’t reach Chief Zhongshan, who hadn’t shown up for work this morning."

"He saw Chief Zhongshan’s car outside, but when the doorbell went unanswered, he sensed something wrong, jumped the fence into the yard, and saw through the window Chief Zhongshan with blood on his neck, collapsed on the sofa, and then reported it."

Aoyama Xiu Xin nodded to indicate he was listening.

"Two types of footprints were recovered from the scene, one set belonging to Chief Zhongshan, the other likely the perpetrator’s. No eyewitnesses, but surveillance captured the perpetrator scaling the wall and leaving, though his face was not visible. Additionally, there were signs throughout the house that it had been searched, so we can’t rule out robbery as a motive."

"Moreover, no fingerprints were found; the perpetrator likely wore gloves throughout, very cautious, possibly a seasoned criminal," Du Bian Zhihe stated gravely.

"This thief is daring, targeting a police officer for robbery and murder," Aoyama Xiu Xin said, though he suspected that Jing Shangwei was the killer, and the rummaging for money was merely meant to simulate a robbery gone wrong.

"The economy’s downturn, things are getting more chaotic," Du Bian Zhihe shook his head and sighed, then shouted to his team, "Hand the scene over to Police Headquarters personnel."

"Roger!"

"Police Chief Aoyama, we’ll take our leave now. Best of luck with your investigation," Du Bian Zhihe bid farewell.

Aoyama Xiu Xin nodded, "Please, take care."

After the mobile search team had examined the scene and gathered all possible clues, they would double-check once more; if nothing new was found, they would proceed based on the leads already established by the mobile search.

"Search thoroughly," Aoyama Xiu Xin ordered.

Everyone responded, "Roger!"

Then they spread out within the villa to search.

Aoyama Xiu Xin went to the second-floor study, where every cabinet that could be opened was ajar, the contents chaotically tossed about, and papers scattered all over the floor.

He bent down to pick up the documents but suddenly froze, seeing a faint red dot reflected on the floor tile. Instinctively, he looked up.

The inconspicuous red dot on the colorful chandelier overhead was constantly lit, and if one didn’t look up carefully, it would never be noticed.

Damn!

Someone had actually installed surveillance in his own study.

Aoyama Xiu Xin’s first thought was that the surveillance must have captured the murderer’s face, and his second thought was that since Zhongshan Minggui had installed surveillance in the study, there must be something very important in there.

His gaze first fell on the safe that had been moved out but not opened, but then he shifted it away, because the truly important things are often not kept in safes.

"You guys search upstairs, leave this place to me," Aoyama Xiu Xin shouted to the people outside, then closed the door and began to carefully examine the study.

The room was only so big; if something was hidden, it was either in the walls, the ceiling, or the floor. He checked inch by inch, first the walls, then the floor, and then climbed onto the desk to dismantle the ceiling tiles one by one.

He actually found it. Not only was there a thick file bag in the ceiling, but also the main unit of the surveillance system. After taking the file bag and the hard drive that stored the surveillance video, he restored the ceiling to its original state.

The hard drive was the latest model released last year, with a storage capacity of 1GB and 3.5 inches in size. Compared to later memory cards, it was definitely much larger, but this was already the smallest and highest capacity hard drive available nowadays.

Aoyama Xiu Xin stuffed the hard drive inside his shirt and covered the file bag with his clothes around his waist before walking out of the study.

"Alright, let’s leave if there’s nothing else found."

"Hi!"

...

The news of Zhongshan Minggui’s murder quickly spread throughout the Police Headquarters. The murderer and Chief Miyamoto Ryosuke were terrified. First Jinwei Teng was killed, followed by Zhongshan Minggui. He was certain it was no coincidence.

The murderer had to be Jing Shangwei.

He was taking revenge.

Was the next target himself or Jinwei Yu?

The more Miyamoto Ryosuke thought about it, the more frightened he became, and his first reaction was to rush to the Tokyo District Court to find Jinwei Yu. Driving on the road, he felt as if every car was following him.

Anxious and fearful, he arrived at the local prosecution, went straight to Jinwei Yu’s office, and burst through the door, panicked, "Prosecutor, Zhongshan Minggui is dead."

"What?" Jinwei Yu had not yet reacted.

"Sex Crimes Chief Zhongshan Minggui was killed at home!" Miyamoto Ryosuke shouted in a panicked and agitated voice, "It’s definitely Jing Shangwei! That madman is taking revenge! It’ll be our turn soon, I don’t want to die, I don’t!"

"Calm down!" Even though Jinwei Yu was startled by the news, he quickly regained his composure.

Miyamoto Ryosuke, as if he couldn’t hear him, was utterly terrified and kept saying to himself, "He will definitely not spare me, definitely not, definitely..."

"Slap!" Jinwei Yu raised his hand and fiercely slapped him across the face, then grabbing his collar, pulled him close, and growled, "What’s the use of being scared? Let’s think of a way out together!"

"Right, think of a solution, think of a solution," Miyamoto Ryosuke came to his senses, swallowed a gulp of saliva and muttered to himself, then after a moment asked, "Prosecutor, do you have any ideas?"

"Relying on the Murder Unit Chief to catch Jing Shangwei is simply unrealistic. We can’t put our hopes on others," Jinwei Yu thought rapidly, then continued, "Keep an eye on any discoveries from Asai Ayumi’s team, and think of ways to save ourselves."

"How about this, put up a reward for Jing Shangwei, I’ll offer 70 million yen, and you have your men investigate his whereabouts too, using both legal and illegal means. I refuse to believe we can’t flush him out!"

"In addition, before we catch him, let’s not act alone anymore. No matter what, have someone accompany you to prevent him from having an opportunity."

He was slightly scared himself, after all, Jing Shangwei had nothing to lose, and might well take him down with him.

"Hi!" Listening to Jinwei Yu’s specific action plan, Miyamoto Ryosuke finally calmed down.

On the other hand, after Aoyama Xiu Xin returned to the Police Headquarters, Asai Ayumi immediately called him to her office.

"Was Zhongshan Minggui killed by Jing Shangwei?" Asai Ayumi had also just heard about the incident.

Aoyama Xiu Xin chuckled lightly, "Isn’t this within our expectations? It’s just the beginning. Next are Miyamoto Ryosuke and Jinwei Yu. Four government officials dying in a row will definitely cause an uproar, and the greater the public fermentation, the greater our credit for solving the case."

"But have you considered, what if we can’t catch Jing Shangwei by then? Or if there’s no evidence to convict him?" Asai Ayumi asked worriedly.

Aoyama Xiu Xin took out the hard drive from his chest and said to Asai Ayumi, "This is what I found in Zhongshan Minggui’s study. His study was searched, and it definitely captured Jing Shangwei, which will be enough to convict him."

After he put away the hard drive, he continued, "As for not catching him? You’re worrying over nothing. Just initiate a full-scale arrest the moment he kills the last person. How could he escape?"

Not being able to catch Jing Shangwei now was simply because they hadn’t really tried. Otherwise, they only needed to use this surveillance footage as evidence and apply for a warrant from the higher authorities to make him unable to hide anywhere in Tokyo.

Asai Ayumi sighed upon hearing this, feeling that this wasn’t right, but she couldn’t sway Aoyama Xiu Xin’s thinking, and could only be led even more astray by him.

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