Chapter 150: Pig teammates.
Liwu nearly laughed. If her husband thought that this would make the reporters shut up, he was wrong. They were just going to escalate. Indeed, their voices continued to rise, carrying accusation after accusation, each one designed to pierce the PR machine behind her husband.
"Mayor Weijun, how do you respond to citizens who say that this scandal proves your administration is out of touch with ordinary people?"
Weijun’s eyes swept the crowd of vultures with microphones, meeting their cameras head-on. "I respond with action. Our policies, our budgets, our projects--they serve the people. One necklace does not erase the roads we’ve built, the schools we’ve founded, the hospitals we’ve expanded or the lives we’ve improved."
"One one billion yuan necklace." A reporter responded with a sneer. "Not one thousand yuan, one billion. Aren’t you ashamed to be diminishing this as if it is a ridiculous expense."
Weijun shrugged. "Would you buy a necklace worth that much for any woman in your life? The most expensive gift I have given my wife so far is a house worth worth three hundred twenty thousand yuan. And that was because it is the scene of a crime which she wishes to preserve for as long as possible to catch the criminal and bring him or her to justice. If I gave that woman a necklace worth that much, she would cuff me and every everyone involved in the purchase."
Liwu’s colleagues laughed.
The press conference stretched on, a battle of words and perception. Slowly by slowly, with a mix of humor and logic, Weijun wore the reporters down.
Finally, a reporter that from one of the country’s biggest media houses raised a question. She had been silent while the others had gone on and on about the necklace. "Mayor Weijun, I have a different question that is unrelated to the necklace affair. Are you aware that two gang leaders have been killed in your city? One within two weeks of the other. From my investigation into the deaths, the suspect is thought to be a system host but the police has not handed the case over to the SOB because they are relived. I have two officers on record at the last crime scene saying, ’one more dead scum is a win for law enforcement in the fight against gangs.’ Is that why the investigations have stalled and nobody cares?"
Voices rose in curiosity. Some branched away to make calls to their higher ups and follow up on the story.
Liwu and team members groaned. This was not something Weijun and his people had prepared for.
Weijun’s smile didn’t falter. "Miss Cui, I assure you that my office and the detectives I know personally do not celebrate death by murder. Every citizen deserves protection under the law. I am aware of the cases you have mentioned just as I am aware that since the fall of systems, there has been an increase in gang activity all over the world.
In this country, on record, we have 1808 active gangs with at least three hundred thousand known members. In this city alone, we have five hundred ten of those gangs. This is not because the dedicated law enforcement officers of this city are not doing there job, its because sometimes, there are circumstances that are uncontrollable. But to answer your question, yes, we are aware the bureau was made aware this morning. These cases are being handled with utmost seriousness."
At the precinct, Liwu faced the screen with her team. She didn’t smile. She knew her husband was lying. If the case had been reported to the bureau, they would know. But the reporter’s question had forced her husband’s hand. Now, the case would be reassigned, and if Weijun wanted results, her team would be pushed out to handle the case.
Just ten minutes later, as Weijun was concluding his press conference, the orders came down. Everyone on the team groaned.
"I am ahead of everyone," Xuanji declared, waving his phone with a hologram that already had the case file the local police had compiled. "Two gang leaders dead, both in broad daylight. No suspects and no leads. The files are so thin that there is hardly any information other than the names of the victims, the gangs they led and what they dealt in. The crime scenes have already been cleaned up, so we have no leads. And now, it’s our mess to clean up."
Liwu’s voice was steady, though her eyes betrayed irritation. "We don’t get to choose our cases because we are bureau beasts of burden. If a system host, is involved, we must follow the trail and investigate, no matter how thin the files are."
Linlin sighed tiredly, "Trail? There is no trail. Just a lot of uncooperative witnesses who are going to say nonsense like ’snitches get stitches.’"
"I know nothing and I saw nothing." Xuanji added dramatically.
He Xiao Yi shook his head. "Not completely. An old woman from the building across the first crime scene said she saw a shadowy figure and then a weapon assembling out of thin air and the sound of a hiss. The victim collapsed two minutes later. The people around him did not realize he was dying until he suddenly bent over and spat blood from his mouth."
The others were confused. He Xiao Yi was looking at the same hologram as them. The same file. But, they did not see the information he was reading.
He smirked and raised his phone. "I also started doing research the moment your good husband claimed that the case was under investigation. The statement was made by an EMT who happened to overhear the old woman talking about it the next day. He had returned to the scene of the crime because he dropped his wedding ring there while trying to rescue the victim. He went to the police and told them the story but when they visited the building, the old woman was found dead. She slipped while square dancing and hit her head on the ground so hard that death was immediate."
"Shouldn’t that be in here?" Xuanji questioned, in a confused voice.
"Like the mayor said, the cops who got the case were not too bothered about the death of a scumbag." He Xiao Yi shrugged. "I sent a text to someone I know at that station to share anything they knew. That is what they shared."
With the exception of He Xiao Yi, everyone else groaned. Cases where they had to clash with other officers were not loved. The last time they had such a case, Xuanji had punched someone and broken their nose. The rest of the team had been summoned by IA and received warnings.
As they walked to the operation room, Linlin looked at the others and asked, "So what are we thinking? A gun that came out of thin air and assembled itself, sounds to me like we will be chasing a weapons summoner. We have never investigated such a case before. What are we supposed to do--ask the gang members if they’ve seen knives appear out of thin air?"
Liwu didn’t answer. She was already thinking ahead. That was not the biggest problem they had, if this was a hired assassin, it was possible that the killer had long left the city.
The detectives settled in the room at different desks and the screen, which had different views of the city came to life. The algorithm started running, pulling details from the autopsy report and matching them to any similar deaths around the country.
At the same time, it searched for any other sightings of murders with weapons that were reported to have appeared out of nowhere.
An hour later, when Chief Abby showed up, the algorithm was still running and half of the team was sleeping at the desks. Xuanji was even snoring as if his night had been a restless.
"Is there any reason why nobody has gone to question anyone on this case?"
Walking in behind the chief, Weijun had the same question. He had just claimed to the whole country that the bureau was investigating seriously, and here they were, fast asleep.
A man in a grey suit walked in after Weijun and he cleared his throat. Behind him were at least eight agents. This man was the vice president of the country. Whatever had brought him to the precinct had to be serious business.
Chief Abby stiffened his shoulders and hissed, "Wake up you idiots."
He Xiao Yi went around, waking up the others. And when they saw who was in the operating room, they woke up rather quickly.
"Sleeping on the job, detectives." The vice president spoke slowly with a smile. "The bureau sure has a funny way of working."
Chief Abby glared at his detectives, who he considered to be pig teammates today. Even if they wanted to sleep on the job, couldn’t they do it in the break room?
The Vice president snapped his fingers and one of the guards stepped forward with a file. "Forget the gang case, President Alix is having it reassigned."
The detectives were kind of relieved.
Weijun was not. "No...absolutely not." He bellowed, a little too close to the face of the Vice President!