hotmtlnovel Chapter 651 is a bit difficult.
Chapter 651 is a bit difficult.
Seeing this, He Feng didn't press Jiang Hu's evasive explanations any further. He simply picked up the enamel teacup on the table, gently blew on the tea leaves floating on the surface, and took a sip of the warm tea. As he swallowed, a barely perceptible coldness flashed in his eyes—a direct confrontation with a cunning old fox like Jiang Hu would only make him more wary. He knew that this kind of complex case couldn't be rushed; it had to be handled slowly, like peeling an onion, layer by layer.
Jiang Hu has been lingering in the mining area for so many years, and the case can't possibly involve only him alone; there must be bigger fish lurking behind him. As long as we can pry open the mouths of those workers he has coerced and threatened, get them to speak up and testify, and then match the accounts, witnesses, and physical evidence one by one to weave a complete chain of evidence, then we can rightfully bring Jiang Hu and the people behind him to justice, and no one can protect them no matter what.
Just as He Feng was lightly tapping his fingers on the table, pondering his next move—should he start by investigating the mine's chaotic accounts and tracing the flow of funds to find the accomplices? Or should he focus on breaking through the old workers whose legs had been broken by Jiang Hu and who were still shaken, extracting more inside information from them? As he was thinking this, the office door was gently pushed open, and Zhao Lei walked in, his face showing some apology and his voice tinged with helplessness: "Director, I'm sorry, we couldn't find Zhang Jie and the others. That residential area is too chaotic, with all sorts of people coming and going. Small restaurants, grocery stores, and low-ceilinged rental houses are crammed together like a maze. It's too easy to hide a few people there. We dare not search house to house, for fear of alerting them. It's really difficult."
He Feng looked up at him, his gaze calm, and nodded slightly. "I know. That area is the old city, and the situation is very complicated. It's normal that we can't find it." He stood up, walked to the window, and looked at the pedestrians coming and going on the street outside. The sounds of bicycle bells and vendors' shouts could be faintly heard, a scene of ordinary, everyday life. "Okay, there's no rush. We'll search slowly. As long as they're still in this area, they'll leave traces. But there's one thing you must remember," he turned to Zhao Lei, his tone becoming more serious, "No matter what, we must not disturb the people. That's the bottom line. We're investigating this case to protect them, not to let them be frightened and have their livelihoods ruined."
"Yes, Director, I understand!" Zhao Lei stood at attention and replied solemnly. The guilt he felt for failing to complete the task dissipated somewhat—He Feng always managed to remind him of his original intention in handling cases with the simplest words at times like these, preventing him from losing his way in the complex clues.
Zhao Lei looked at He Feng and asked, "Director, now that Jiang Hu has been arrested and the evidence against him has been collected, shouldn't we proceed with the trial as soon as possible? I never expected him to have done so many heinous things. Just the fact that he concealed the deaths in the mine accident is enough to give him a hard time."
He Feng shook his head, his brows furrowing slightly: "This matter can't be rushed. Jiang Hu's case involves too many people. We must wait until Ma Xin has sorted out all the evidence, especially his dealings with those higher up. Every single transaction must be thoroughly investigated. He's been able to run rampant in the mining area for so long; he must have a lot of dirt on people. His power shouldn't be underestimated. We need to lay all the evidence out in the open, leaving him and those behind him with no way to refute it, so that we can completely bring them to justice."
As Zhao Lei listened to these complex details, he scratched his head—this kind of meticulously pieced-together chain of evidence was definitely not his forte. He was better at tasks that required action, such as pursuing fugitives and staking out, so he said, "Chief, then I'll continue to be in charge of finding Zhang Jie and his group. These guys are Jiang Hu's henchmen, and they're definitely involved in a lot of trouble. Keeping them around will only cause more problems; we need to catch them as soon as possible."
He Feng knew Zhao Lei's temperament and was also aware that he wasn't good at this kind of meticulous document verification work, so he nodded, his tone filled with concern: "Okay, Zhang Jie and the others must be arrested, but remember, be extremely careful. These people are desperate criminals, and they might have weapons. Tell the brothers to be extremely careful, don't fight head-on. We need to capture them alive, but more importantly, we need to protect our own lives, understand?"
"Understood!" Zhao Lei responded with a thunderous voice, his chest puffed out like an iron plate. As he turned and walked out, his steps were as light as the wind. Being able to leave behind those tedious documents in the office to carry out arrest missions—that was his forte. When it came to knowing the terrain and tracking tracks, no one in the team was better than him. The thought of running through the streets and alleys, following the slightest clues to find the target, made him feel quite at ease, unlike the restlessness he felt sitting in the office facing dense text, feeling like all his energy was wasted.
He Feng watched his retreating figure disappear quickly down the corridor, his gaze darkening before he slowly turned to look out the window. The night was already as thick as ink, the distant neon lights shrouded by heavy clouds, only a few blurry patches of light appearing like dusty, broken diamonds. His brow remained furrowed, showing no sign of relaxing. Jiang Hu's capture had merely opened a crack in this murky water; the people lurking in the shadows, the intricate web of relationships, were still like underwater reefs, their true forms yet to be revealed. This battle was clearly far from over.
With something on his mind, Zhao Lei didn't hesitate for a moment, heading straight for the area where Zhang Jie might be hiding. That guy was secretly carrying weapons; he slipped through the net like an eel during the last search, and now he was like a ticking time bomb hanging over his head. If he wasn't brought under control soon, he might explode at any time and cause even bigger trouble. Thinking of this, he quickened his pace even more.
He Feng had originally planned to go to the interrogation room to question Jiang Hu again, hoping to pry some useful information out of him while he was exhausted. But when he glanced at the wall clock, the hour hand had already passed one in the morning, and the sky outside was as black as ink, so thick it was impossible to see clearly. The brothers had been working non-stop all day, their eyelids were probably drooping, it was time to give them a breather.
He raised his hand to rub his throbbing temples, his fingertips pressing on the throbbing veins. He was about to go back to his dorm for a nap when he caught a glimpse of the light still on in the technical department—Ma Xin's office. That girl must have stayed up all night again. A thought struck He Feng, and his feet involuntarily moved towards that spot.
Gently pushing open the door, I saw Ma Xin hunched over a table piled high with documents, holding a magnifying glass in her hand, flipping through the ledgers she had taken from the mine.