Diary of a Criminal Investigator

Although the person was caught, Sun Jun did not get the result he most desired.

The person who tampered with Ren Qiang’s police car is named Wang Yisan, a student at Feilong Vocational and Technical College.

According to Wang Yisan’s confession, he was playing a game on the morning of the crime.

The person who instructed him to do this was a friend he met in the game.

Wang Yisan’s mother was sick and needed surgery, urgently requiring a large sum of money, so he agreed to the request.

"Where’s the money? How did the other party give you the money? Is there any transfer record?"

No matter who arranged for Wang Yisan to tamper with Ren Qiang’s police car, they certainly weren’t in Liangzhou City at the time.

Although the other party never showed up and remotely controlled the operation, if a transfer record could be found, it would lead to discovering the real identity of the other party, making it impossible for them to escape.

"Equipment. They promised me 50,000 yuan but didn’t transfer it to me. Instead, they gave me a piece of game equipment."

"Game equipment?"

"Yes, in the game we play, some rare game equipment is particularly valuable. The equipment he gave me is a cloak, worth about 50,000 to nearly 60,000 yuan on the market."

"Damn it!"

Sun Jun was somewhat exasperated.

If there were transfer records, it would still be possible to trace some clues through them, but game equipment...

Sun Jun had heard about this method from friends in economic investigation, considering it a new form of bribery.

Nowadays, many people have become savvy and no longer directly give money, cigarettes, or alcohol as bribes, not to mention cars and houses.

No matter how many hands these things pass through, or how they are laundered, transaction records can trace them, locking down evidence.

However, over time, some new covert methods have developed, such as through game equipment.

Some extremely popular games have items that can be sold for hundreds of thousands, even millions.

And these items don’t even require a transaction; the other party just drops them on the ground, someone picks them up, and it’s done.

Even if one checks the game backend data, there’s no way to pin down evidence of the other party.

It’s as simple as dropping something and someone picking it up.

Of course, some items are unique; there might only be one in the entire game, which increases their value.

But it doesn’t mean the item can only be used once just because there’s only one of it.

The other party drops the item, someone picks it up, and then they trade it back through buying and selling.

The money is sent, and the item returns to the original owner, making it usable for further transactions.

The ridiculous thing is that this method can even be used to pay taxes, turning it into legitimate income.

Besides games, live streaming rewards are also a novel approach.

The other party assigns a specific person to casually start a live stream. Rewards of 100,000 to 1 million make the money flow in.

Of course, this kind of streaming doesn’t go through large platforms because they take a cut of the rewards, sometimes more than half.

So, whoever pays just creates a small streaming platform, deciding if and how much to cut.

The streamer can even pay taxes normally, making it another form of legitimate income.

Clearly, the other party is adept at these tricks, executing them flawlessly without leaving any handle.

"Can you still contact the person in the game now?"

"No, after they gave me the equipment, we deleted our friend connection, and they changed their name. I can’t find them."

Sun Jun was exasperated: "Even if you can’t contact them, taking the equipment and running would have been enough. Why still do the job for them?"

"Daring to tamper with a police car, didn’t you know the serious implications involved?"

"I... I wanted to sell the equipment and run away but was too scared."

"The person not only knew my real name when giving me the equipment but also was clear about my family situation and my mother’s address. If I took the item and didn’t fulfill the requirements... they said they would silence me."

Outside the interrogation room.

"Brother Sun, what do we do now?"

Although the interrogation is over and Wang Yisan cooperated, stating everything he knows.

He detailed the process of tampering with Ren Qiang’s police car that day, leaving no stone unturned.

But confessing is useless; he only admitted his crime process, offering no clues about the person who instructed him.

The main reason Sun Jun came to Liangzhou City was to uncover the mastermind behind the entire case by investigating the tampering with Ren Qiang’s police car.

Looking at it now, the results are far from satisfactory.

The opponent was much more cunning than Sun Jun imagined, leaving no trace.

"There’s no alternative here now. Detain Wang Yisan first, and we need to return to Haizhou City."

"I’ll call Captain Qin to report and check how the investigation on the tow truck driver is going."

Cheng Zihao has already confirmed with the traffic police that after Ren Qiang’s police car left Liangzhou City and got on the highway, no vehicle followed behind.

After remotely instructing Wang Yisan to tamper with the police car, the opponent didn’t follow or track from behind.

So, the timing of the tow truck driver’s appearance is crucial.

Ren Qiang’s crash occurred at North Mountain, which is already part of Haizhou City, nearing the city area.

After the police car flipped down the ravine, Ren Qiang called the police himself.

The traffic police arrived at the scene and rescued Ren Qiang, sending him to the hospital.

The tow truck came later because the car was in a ravine, so it wasn’t dealt with immediately. The tow truck driver managed the subsequent events.

This highlights a problem.

The opponent didn’t follow Ren Qiang’s police car from the start at Liangzhou City, so they must have received the crash news when Ren Qiang was at North Mountain and then went to the scene.

If they hadn’t constantly tracked Ren Qiang, how did they know about the crash?

After all, Ren Qiang called the police for rescue.

This is frightening upon deeper consideration.

The investigation in Liangzhou City did not achieve the expected results. Now the most crucial figure is the tow truck driver, characterized by small eyes, a hoarse voice, and a fishy smell.

Based on current clues, this driver is a key character; finding them may lead to uncovering the person behind them.

After parting with Cheng Zihao, Sun Jun rushed back to Haizhou City without delay.

Meanwhile, Lu Chuan’s search beneath the Lion Mountain Bridge also yielded new findings.