Chapter 62: Do Not Sweat the Details

Three days later.

Early in the morning, Yu Dachang arrived at the precinct. Spotting Lü Zhongxin through the window, he immediately went downstairs.

"Master, before we go in, I need to talk to you about something."

Finding a secluded spot outside, Yu Dachang lowered his voice and said to Lü Zhongxin, "I've received a tip. Today at Xiuyuan Residential Area, someone is going to kidnap a young man named Liu Wenfu."

Fearing his master wouldn't believe him, he quickly added, "The information is completely accurate!"

"Where did you get this news?" Lü Zhongxin asked.

It wasn't that he doubted his apprentice, but rather that he was concerned about whether the source channel was compliant.

Yu Dachang had already prepared his answer and replied directly, "Provided by a special informant."

Such individuals usually had normal social professions and only reported information periodically. The "informant fee" they received was priced according to the importance of the information.

The reason Yu Dachang said this was because special informants had a distinct characteristic: a high level of confidentiality. As long as he refused to speak, no one could force him to reveal the informant's identity.

"You've already developed your own special informant?" Lü Zhongxin asked in astonishment.

It seemed he didn't even have one yet; where on earth had his apprentice recruited this person?

"Master, that's not important," Yu Dachang said quickly. "Between nine-thirty and ten o'clock this morning, that young man named Liu Wenfu will be in danger. We must take action beforehand."

Lü Zhongxin nodded.

His apprentice's daily work currently consisted of taking reports and recording cases, so developing an informant during this period was entirely normal.

The timeframe was narrowed down to within half an hour, and the location and target were clear; information this specific shouldn't be false.

"Then I'll go have a word with the team first," Lü Zhongxin said, making to turn back.

"Wait!" Yu Dachang stopped his master, looking distressed. "Don't tell the team too many details; I'm afraid the news might leak."

Actually, he didn't want to tell the team at all, but knowing Lü Zhongxin's character, his master would never act without authorization. Therefore, he could only ask his master to reveal as little information to the team as possible.

Having waited for so many days, Yu Dachang didn't want any mistakes to happen.

"Alright, I understand," Lü Zhongxin agreed, then walked quickly into the building.

Fearing a sudden change of plans, Yu Dachang immediately followed closely behind him.

Upon seeing Wei Qian, Lü Zhongxin merely mentioned that he had a tip that needed verification, saying nothing else.

Within the system, he was already a seasoned veteran. Many things didn't require lies or concealment; by simply phrasing things differently, the other party would naturally understand. An unverified tip was not worth questioning further.

Wei Qian agreed without the slightest hesitation. He knew that veteran criminal investigators like Lü Zhongxin always exercised the utmost discretion, so there was nothing to worry about.

Nine-thirty in the morning.

Inside a black sedan parked directly opposite the main gate of Xiuyuan Residential Area.

"You're saying that the young man named Liu Wenfu was dragged away right at the main gate?" asked Lü Zhongxin, sitting in the driver's seat.

Yu Dachang, sitting in the back seat behind Lü Zhongxin, kept his eyes fixed firmly on the opposite gate and replied with certainty, "That's right, the information provided by the informant says precisely that."

"This doesn't quite sound like a tip," Lü Zhongxin said, sensing something was amiss. After a moment of thought, he added, "It sounds more like a prophecy. Who on earth can know the exact method of a kidnapping in advance?"

In truth, a moment of careful analysis revealed the glaring loopholes in his apprentice's story—it was simply too obvious. Lü Zhongxin couldn't even bring himself to play dumb.

He was dragged away, of all things? Couldn't he have been knocked unconscious and carried off? Couldn't a group of people have rushed him and hauled him away? Your informant is entirely too formidable; the tip is actually detailed to this degree. Burning paper offerings at a grave... are you trying to fool a ghost?

Yu Dachang also realized he had let slip a crucial detail. In his past-life case files, the investigation results for this missing person case had been written precisely like that; he had merely recited it verbatim.

Had he known, he would have applied some artistic embellishment... Now, Yu Dachang could only bite the bullet and appease him: "Don't worry about those little details; the informant probably just included their own speculation in the tip."

How could Lü Zhongxin possibly believe such nonsense? Who speculates like that? Besides, the informant lacked brains, and you went along with lacking brains too!

Suppressing the urge to discipline his apprentice, Lü Zhongxin pulled out his phone and glanced at the time.

Nine-thirty-five.

It was already within the predicted window. He cast his gaze toward the residential area's main gate as well: "How many perpetrators are there supposed to be?"

"The tip says two," Yu Dachang replied without missing a beat.

Lü Zhongxin felt like cursing. Had modern intelligence tips really become this accurate? Since they were this accurate, why were the two of them staking out this spot instead of going straight in to make arrests? And yet, he couldn't ask. If he did, he'd undoubtedly be told: don't worry about the details.

Nine-fifty.

The atmosphere inside the car grew increasingly tense. The two men even quieted their breathing, their eyes wide as they stared fixedly at the residential area gate.

Nine-fifty-five.

Lü Zhongxin unclipped his holster and placed his hand firmly on the grip of his handgun.

"He's coming out!" Yu Dachang's eyes suddenly widened as he spoke in a low voice, "The one in the light blue hoodie is Liu Wenfu."

There were several photographs of Liu Wenfu in the case files from his past life, and coupled with his extraordinary vision in this life, Yu Dachang recognized him at a single glance.

Liu Wenfu could be seen emerging from the residential complex, standing near the main gate and looking around left and right as if waiting for someone.

The hands of master and apprentice moved simultaneously to the interior door handles of their respective doors, ready to open them and get out at any moment.

After another moment, Liu Wenfu showed an impatient expression and pulled out his phone to make a call.

"It's ten o'clock," Lü Zhongxin reminded him.

Yu Dachang remained silent, simply staring quietly at Liu Wenfu. He, too, was beginning to feel that something was wrong.

Could the criminal investigators who investigated this case in his past life have gotten Liu Wenfu's specific disappearance time wrong?

Unlikely. Since they were able to narrow the time down to a thirty-minute window, it meant the investigators had found at least two eyewitnesses. Because different witnesses' memories varied slightly, they could only arrive at an approximate time.

Generally speaking, investigators would expand that approximate time even further. For instance, an incident between nine-forty and nine-fifty would be expanded to a half-hour window to effectively avoid minor discrepancies in details. Sometimes, pursuing absolute temporal accuracy was counterproductive and easily led to missing the actual time of the incident.

If the time wasn't wrong, then where had the error occurred? Why hadn't the perpetrators appeared?

Just as Yu Dachang was thoroughly baffled, a private car pulled up right in front of Liu Wenfu.

It's here!

Just as he was about to get out of the car, he heard Lü Zhongxin bark in a low voice, "Hold your position."

Hearing this, Yu Dachang immediately released his grip on the door handle while casting his gaze toward the private car.

As the car door opened, a young woman in her early twenties stepped out from the driver's seat.

A woman?

It's a good thing I brought Master along... Yu Dachang thought to himself with a silent sense of relief.

Lü Zhongxin had been observing the changing surroundings with a mindset of uncertainty. Therefore, when a car approached Liu Wenfu, he didn't take immediate action, preferring first to determine whether the person in the car posed any threat to Liu Wenfu.

Yu Dachang, on the other hand, had been convinced that Liu Wenfu would be abducted, so at the first sign of activity, his instinctive reaction was to get out and intervene.

Such was the outcome produced by their differing mentalities.

"The two of them seem to know each other," Lü Zhongxin observed.

"It's not 'seem'," Yu Dachang stated with absolute certainty. "That woman is here to pick him up."

His senses were not merely confined to extraordinary vision; his hearing was equally exceptional. Inside the car, Lü Zhongxin could only tell that the woman had gotten out and spoken to Liu Wenfu, but he couldn't make out a single specific word.

Yu Dachang, however, heard every word clearly. Liu Wenfu was complaining because the woman was late, and the woman had been offering explanations ever since she stepped out of the vehicle.

Yu Dachang glanced at the time.

Ten-o'-nine.