Super Soldier in the City-Chapter 1404 - 1453: Found the Car

Jiang Ningxiang’s eyes were also red. She bit her lip and shook her head, saying, "Husband, I’m fine, I’m trained. You should let the two sisters go back to see the children. I’ll stay here. In case something happens, I can help out."

Li Yifei saw her insist and didn’t force her. He called a nanny to send Xiao Ling’er and Song Lianyao back. The remaining women hadn’t been resting well these days. They hadn’t eaten since morning and were all focused on this issue. At this moment, their faces looked a bit tired. Seeing this made Li Yifei feel heartache. He was the only man in the house, and at times like this, there had to be someone to take charge, no matter how capable the women were.

Li Yifei called the nanny, instructed her to cook, and told everyone, "Find a place to sit or lie down. Worrying won’t help in this situation. Lin Qiong is already investigating, and I’ll be heading over soon. You guys can worry if you want, but you should eat and rest; don’t wear yourselves out."

Xu Shanshan held Li Yifei’s hand, gently massaging it as she leaned against him, softly saying, "Husband, don’t worry about us. We’re alright!"

The respite was short, and under Li Yifei’s firm insistence, the women ate some food to replenish their nutrition. Li Yifei also made himself eat something. Since coming out from the mountains, he hadn’t eaten much. The women were all in low spirits, and no one talked while eating.

Time was passing. By 3:30 in the afternoon, news finally came from Lin Qiong!

"After meeting with Director Song, we’ve split into two teams. The provincial capital is also coordinating now. I’m looking into the van issue, and Director Song is tracking vehicles in the provincial capital. Additionally, I’ve dispatched a skilled team from our home security to set up surveillance near the Sunx Family. We don’t have concrete evidence to prove it’s them, so we can’t force our way in to investigate. Besides, even if they did kidnap someone, I believe they wouldn’t bring the person home."

"We do have some leads now. During that period, 97 large trucks departed from the provincial capital toll station, and 54 of them ended up in Mile City. The remaining 43 are distributed in other counties and cities. We’ve already cleared over half of these trucks; all have cargo and certification. The rest are under follow-up investigation, and I believe we’ll soon have them all sorted out."

"Also, Director Song has found some clues. Husband, you can call to inquire. I have some matters to attend to here, so I’ll hang up first." Lin Qiong finished her report and was about to hang up when Li Yifei said, "Hey," prompting Lin Qiong to ask quickly, "What’s the matter?"

Li Yifei opened his mouth but still asked, "Have you eaten?"

Lin Qiong, who had maintained a cold expression, showed a trace of gentleness upon hearing this. But it quickly faded, and she replied, "Not yet. I’ll eat after arranging everything. Don’t worry, husband!"

"Take care of yourself. I’ll come over later!" Li Yifei said.

After Lin Qiong hung up, she paused for half a minute before taking the contact phone from a subordinate, listening for updates and issuing orders.

Lin Qiong was no longer the Officer Lin who joined the police squad a few years ago, rushing headlong into everything. After a long time polishing her skills as a Deputy Director, she became more capable, meticulous, and composed. When it came to matters concerning Meng Xiaofei, she handled everything with even greater caution.

Li Yifei hung up, checked the time, arranged a car, and called Xie Yuanshan, a newly recruited security guard and a retired veteran with outstanding personal qualities. Among security personnel, he was also one of the best. So, once at the Li family’s place, upon confirming his loyalty, Li Yifei promoted him with better remuneration.

Xie Yuanshan was responsible for monitoring the Sunx Family, observing their movements.

Upon connecting the call, Xie Yuanshan directly said, "The Sunx Family is acting very strange. The gate is closed tight, and no one is seen coming out. I had someone climb up to use binoculars and sound waves to gather information. It seems the Sunx Family is quite composed; the elderly and children are at home, but there’s no sign of the family’s head. It’s said he has returned home from the hospital, and we also haven’t spotted the main personnel of the Sunx Family."

Li Yifei ordered, "Continue the surveillance. If any of the Sunx Family members leave, make sure to follow. Do you have enough manpower?"

Xie Yuanshan replied, "For now, it’s enough. The brothers are well-hidden, and the Sunx Family hasn’t noticed us yet!"

Li Yifei acknowledged, saying, "Stay safe. Report any updates immediately!"

Continuous communication between the parties led to comprehensive analysis by everyone involved.

The Sunx Family appeared normal, which became a point of suspicion. Li Yifei didn’t plan to confront them directly for now. Whether or not the Sunx Family was behind it, they might not admit to anything. Only by tracing leads can they proceed.

After another hour, Li Yifei gave some final instructions, got into a car, and left. The security level at the Li family’s place had been raised to the highest. Li Yifei met up with Lin Qiong at the highway entrance, sitting in the back seat.

As Li Yifei opened his mouth, Lin Qiong nodded and said, "I just had bread and sausage and drank a bottle of water. I’m not hungry anymore. Now we’re heading to Zhao County. When we were investigating there, we found a large van missing. We couldn’t find its shipment list. After leaving the highway, there was no news of it, while the other vehicles have all been cleared and are not suspected."

"Alright, let’s go to Zhao County!" Li Yifei nodded, holding Lin Qiong’s hand. The two had little exchange in the car; most of the time, Lin Qiong was on the phone, continuously communicating with her subordinates.

Zhao County is a town situated between Mile City and the provincial capital with a prime geographic location. It has developed well over the years. The van that had exited the highway here had no registration. As the two arrived in Zhao County, the returned information indicated that the van still bore a fake license plate. Its true license plate belonged to a city in the South, while the one it displayed was from a city in the Southwest. The van had been sold to the provincial capital and was almost regarded as scrap, yet somehow managed to be on the road.

With this information, more doubts arose. The van had mysteriously disappeared, but the Zhao County police were very cooperative, searching high and low. Finally, after two hours and as nightfall approached, they located the van.

At the same time, Meng Xiaofei’s car was also found, just as Li Yifei had suspected, packed inside the van. The perpetrators had done it with remarkable skill. After kidnapping the person, they drove here, transferred her, and then drove the vehicle to a reservoir. At a section of cliff road, they drove it into the water. If not for the fuel leak causing extensive water pollution, it might not have been discovered so swiftly.

After all, in the countryside, there are no cameras; finding it there wasn’t easy.

Standing by the water, watching a crane drag the van up along with Meng Xiaofei’s car in it, Li Yifei’s face was expressionless, but his fists were clenched. Lin Qiong also had a stern face.

Professional investigators had already begun checking, and it wasn’t long before a preliminary conclusion emerged: Meng Xiaofei’s car had many collisions in the van, and both front tires were blown. It was assessed that sharp objects punctured the tires, and there were several such instances, seemingly caused by metal grids. However, daytime investigations found no tire-spike strips along the way.

Meng Xiaofei’s car had a dashboard camera, and although it had been submerged, technicians quickly restored the footage. Everything was normal from the time the car left the airport, bought things, and got on the highway. Only about halfway through the journey, a large truck was seen parked ahead, forcing Meng Xiaofei to slow down. Then, two masked men dressed in black sprang out from the roadside. They quickly set up spike strips, blocking Meng Xiaofei’s path. Meng Xiaofei didn’t have time to brake; her car ran over the spike strips, and both front tires blew out instantly. Her car jolted violently, despite her already trying to slow down...

After the violent jolt of the vehicle, two more men opened the van’s doors and placed two tracks at the tailgate. Meng Xiaofei realized something was amiss, but with blown front tires, her car almost hit the barriers. It was impossible for her to escape. The dashboard camera only had a limited recording range. Outside that range, Meng Xiaofei’s car windows were smashed, and she was subdued by the people who had set up the spike strips earlier. Half a minute later, her car was driven into the van, the van doors were closed, and the screen turned black. A minute later, the car’s engine turned off, marking the end of the footage.

At least four people were involved in this kidnapping, exhibiting slick teamwork. The whole process didn’t take more than a minute and a half. In that brief time window, there were surprisingly no other cars on that side of the highway, which demonstrated how meticulously the culprits had planned.

Li Yifei immediately instructed Lin Qiong to send people to investigate the staff on duty at the highway toll station during that time the previous night. On the highway from Mile City to the provincial capital, it might have been possible to have no cars passing by for a minute and a half at night, but the time when Meng Xiaofei hit the road was a period of heavy traffic flow. How could there be no other cars in a minute and a half?

Over here, the technical team continued their investigation, extracting fingerprints and searching for suspicious evidence from the van, though they found very little. Fingerprints were extracted but would need time to process. Li Yifei did not rush them, understanding that these technicians were already working at their limits.

Meanwhile, on the highway side, it only took a few minutes to identify the staff on duty during that time the previous night. Half an hour later, after a simple check, a woman named Wang Chunmei was pinpointed. She was thirty-two years old, single, divorced, with no children. Li Yifei immediately directed people to find Wang Chunmei.

The previous night during her shift, she had reported a sudden malfunction with the barrier, and colleagues from the neighboring toll booth had come to help check. Thus, there were two to three minutes during which the provincial capital toll station was temporarily paused. Based on timing estimations, it seems that this pause matched the time when Meng Xiaofei encountered danger, and at that moment, there were no cars following her. Otherwise, those kidnappers probably wouldn’t have dared to be so brazen, while the direction from Mile City to the provincial capital remained normal.

Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om