Xu Mo had just been thinking that the mastermind behind the scheme wasn't Zhang Quan, the boss of the insurance company.
But now, seeing the boarding reminder on the phone, Xu Mo changed his mind.
The deceased had purchased a plane ticket before their death.
The boarding time happened to be just a few hours after the insurance company was robbed, which made Xu Mo reconsider whether the deceased could be suspected.
Although the phone couldn't be unlocked, Xu Mo could see the flight number the deceased had booked through the lock screen.
A quick online search revealed that it was an international flight.
As far as Xu Mo knew, the destination of this flight had no extradition treaty with Dragon Country.
Between two countries that haven't signed an extradition treaty, criminals cannot be extradited, which is why criminals often prefer to flee abroad.
The insurance company was robbed, and Zhang Quan had already booked an international flight ticket beforehand... There's something fishy about this!
Han Fei, thinking along the same lines, looked at Xu Mo at the same moment.
They exchanged glances.
It was clear from each other's eyes that they were on the same page: Zhang Quan was likely involved in this theft, and possibly even the mastermind.
He might have been killed due to a dispute over the spoils, or perhaps the theft gang never intended to share the money with Zhang Quan from the start. They probably planned to eliminate him and take everything for themselves.
In the face of absolute profit, anything or anyone is insignificant.
"You're thinking the same thing?" Han Fei said after the glance.
Xu Mo nodded.
Wang Dachuan, looking confused, glanced at Han Fei and then at Xu Mo. He had no idea what these two captains were hinting at.
"Captain Han, Captain Xu... What are you two talking about?"
Eventually, Han Fei explained the situation to Wang Dachuan.
He pointed at the body on the ground.
"We suspect that Zhang Quan might have been involved in this theft. He wasn't a victim; he was one of the masterminds."
"Zhang Quan hatched the plan to empty all the items his insurance company held for clients. He then contacted a theft gang, and together they formulated a plan, executed the theft, and likely found buyers beforehand to convert the stolen goods into cash. After getting the money, they planned to flee Dragon Country."
"Zhang Quan was killed, and I suspect it was due to a dispute over the spoils, or maybe the theft gang never intended to share the money with him. Once they had the goods, they turned around and killed Zhang Quan to take everything for themselves."
As for the injuries on Zhang Quan's body, that was easier to explain.
During the transport of the stolen goods, the theft gang had evil intentions and tied him up, tortured him to get his bank card password, and then left with the bank card and the stolen goods.
Of course, these were just Han Fei and Xu Mo's judgments based on the current clues. They couldn't be sure if this was the truth, just speculations.
After hearing Han Fei's explanation, Wang Dafei nodded, though he still seemed a bit confused.
"So... Captain Xu's initial guess might have been right. Zhang Quan was indeed involved in this case."
"Let's not discuss this for now," Xu Mo suddenly said. "These are just speculations. Once we catch the members of the theft gang, everything will be clear. The priority now is to catch them."
Han Fei nodded slightly, agreeing with Xu Mo's words.
"To catch them... let's split up. Team One and Team Two will follow me to check the surveillance cameras on the roads near this factory. The rest will follow Captain Xu to investigate who Zhang Quan has been in contact with recently, to see if we can find the members of the theft gang."
Xu Mo didn't object to Han Fei's plan, as he had the same idea. Their thoughts aligned.
This was a suburban area, and there wouldn't be many surveillance cameras on the roads. Just checking the cameras might not yield much, so they needed to approach this from two angles.
Since they suspected Zhang Quan's involvement in the case, that was also a lead that deserved investigation.
Without delay, both teams immediately began their investigations.
Han Fei led some officers to examine the tire tracks on the wasteland in front of the abandoned factory and concluded, "The car went in this direction. We'll focus our surveillance search in this area."
On the other side,
Xu Mo led his team directly out of the abandoned factory, heading to the police station. They planned to use the Sky Eye system to check where Zhang Quan had been recently and who he had met. They also intended to investigate Zhang Quan's phone number to see who he had been in contact with.
The three officers who had come to learn naturally chose to follow Xu Mo rather than Han Fei.
The reason was that they had come here specifically to learn from Xu Mo. They had to stay close, afraid of missing any details of the investigation.
Moreover, Han Fei was going to check the surveillance cameras, which was a skill every officer needed to master. There was no need to learn that. Only by following Xu Mo could they potentially learn something new.
At the police station,
Xu Mo first asked the telecom operators to check Zhang Quan's recent call records.
There weren't many call records; Zhang Quan's call records for the past week only filled two pages, mostly food delivery and harassment calls, with a few calls to his wife and brother-in-law.
Only one number was highly suspicious.
In the past week, Zhang Quan had called this number more than five times, with each call lasting quite a while. There were both outgoing and incoming calls, and the most recent call was at noon today, right during the time the insurance company was robbed.
However, after some investigation, Xu Mo found out that this number was a virtual number, making it impossible to trace.
Even though this suspicious phone number was a virtual one and couldn't be traced by the police, Xu Mo still had some gains. That was... he could now confirm that Zhang Quan was suspicious.
Talking so many times with a virtual number, especially during the time the insurance company was robbed, was enough to prove that Zhang Quan had issues. This confirmed that Xu Mo and Han Fei's speculations weren't unfounded.
Since no useful clues were found in the call records, Xu Mo shifted his investigation direction.
He started to look into Zhang Quan's recent whereabouts and who he had met.
This seemed like a huge task, but thanks to the Sky Eye system, everything became much simpler.
The officers didn't have to painstakingly check the surveillance footage; the Sky Eye system could handle that. They just needed to filter the results.
Soon, the query results came out.
The officers printed out everything the Sky Eye system found and handed it to Xu Mo for review.
"Captain Xu, we're done. We've listed and printed out everywhere Zhang Quan has been and everyone he's met recently. Take a look..."