Chapter 200: Chapter 148: Mage of Liberation

“Then we sent a cooperation notice to the Public Security Bureau of Nanhua City, but so far, there’s no news.”

All the intelligence Xue Jiang and his team have gathered, they have laid out. It means they only know that Shao Han went to Nanhua City, and nothing else is clear.

“Shao Han has never been to Nanhua City before, why did she suddenly leave without telling anyone and go there?”

Cai Yongqing furrowed his brow as well, not understanding why his niece would suddenly go there.

“Okay, I understand the situation. Thank you, Director Lin. I’d like to make a copy of Shao Han’s file and take it with me. If you have any new information, please let us know immediately. Thank you!”

“No problem.”

After Li Xiang and the others thanked Director Lin, they left the office.

“Deputy Director Cai, you should head back first. I’ll go discuss with everyone and inform you if there’s any news.”

“Li Xiang, I owe you one.”

Cai Yongqing said sincerely. He really had no other options. If he waited for the South Street Police Station to follow procedures, who knows when that would be. With so many missing persons across the nation, how many are eventually found?

He couldn’t afford to wait, and neither could Shao Han.

He had no choice but to think of Li Xiang.

Now that Li Xiang has achieved great success but still cherishes old friendships and is willing to help, it’s more than welcome.

Taking out his phone, the system had already published the mission for this case:

[Mission Name: Missing Person Case]

[Mission Description: Considering your experience in investigating missing person cases and your current position as squad leader, Deputy Director Cai hopes you can help find his niece Shao Han, who has been missing for a month. The existing intel suggests this case isn’t simple, and the victim might be in grave danger.]

[Mission Requirement: Find her alive or see her corpse.]

[Mission Reward: Experience +400, Diamonds +2000]

After returning from the South Street Police Station, Li Xiang gathered everyone.

“Captain Li, what’s the matter?”

“There’s a missing person case. I suspect the victim has already met with an accident, but since we haven’t found the victim’s body, it’s not feasible to open a homicide investigation through usual procedures. We need to find more circumstantial evidence first.”

Li Xiang took out Shao Han’s case file and briefed everyone on the situation.

Sun Zhidong and Mao Ji were somewhat familiar with the case, as they had been involved when the missing person report was filed.

“This case is very similar to a missing person case from the beginning of the year. Was she deceived by an online acquaintance?”

“It’s highly possible. The data shows she has never left Jinghai; going to Nanhua City now means she must be meeting someone from online.”

Li Xiang thought the same, so he asked, “Brother Mao, can you track her social media accounts?”

“I’ll give it a try.”

Mao Ji also felt the pressure. Nowadays, chat software data is stored locally on mobile phones. To access chat records, they would first need to find Shao Han’s phone.

But finding Shao Han’s phone means finding her as well, which presents a paradox.

Thus, Mao Ji wasn’t confident. What he could do for now was to investigate what social media accounts Shao Han had under her name and see if any clues could be found.

“Let’s give it a try. I’ll contact Nanhua Public Security to see if they have found anything.”

The South Street Police Station had sent them a cooperation notice. Three days had passed without any updates on the situation.

In reality, after receiving the cooperation notice from the South Street Police Station of Jinghai City, the Nanhua police merely conducted a symbolic investigation. With no results, they quickly filed a report and closed the case.

They wouldn’t expend significant police resources over a small matter unless the victim’s body was found.

So, when they received Li Xiang’s call, they were surprised. Wasn’t this just a missing person case?

Why was the criminal investigation squad of Jinghai City inquiring about it?

Could it actually be a homicide?

This made them pay more attention and allocate additional resources to investigate Shao Han’s movements in Nanhua City.

“Li Xiang, what did they say in Nanhua?”

Sun Zhidong asked as Li Xiang returned. “If you rely on others, you’re bound to be disappointed. Since it’s not their case, they don’t have much interest, but they agreed to continue the investigation. For now, we can only continue to wait for updates.”

It’s not entirely Nanhua’s fault for not being proactive. They already have plenty of their own business, and they typically wouldn’t divert police resources to seriously investigate a missing person case in a neighboring city. It’s a common practice everywhere.

It’s rare to find dedicated and persistent officers who cling doggedly to a case and never let go.

While such people do exist, they are very few in number.

However, with countless cases, there aren’t enough such dedicated officers.

Now that Li Xiang has urged them over the phone, Nanhua should take this matter more seriously and conduct a renewed investigation.

At this moment, Mao Ji suddenly exclaimed, “Captain Li, come quickly, there’s a discovery.”

“On my way.”

Li Xiang hurried to Mao Ji’s computer.

“Using Shao Han’s ID number, I tracked down several of her accounts on social platforms. I didn’t find any leads on platforms called Certain Messenger and Penguin, but on one platform called Certain Blog, I found something.

Look, from two and a half months ago, Shao Han’s posts on Certain Blog became increasingly gloomy, expressing disappointment with life and frequently expressing suicidal thoughts.

The most critical point is that there’s a user named ’Mage of Liberation’ who interacts with and likes her every post.”

“Two and a half months ago, which coincides with her parents’ passing.”

“Could Shao Han have joined a suicide pact group or something?” Sun Zhidong speculated after seeing this information, linking it to recent news reports about people arranging suicides at various tourist spots.

“Given the current situation, it’s very likely. With so much time having passed, Shao Han is probably in grave danger!”

The grim fact that everyone dreaded was laid bare.

Even though Li Xiang had sensed this earlier, the closer he got to the truth, the worse he felt inside.

“It’s not a suicide pact group; the ’Mage of Liberation’ account is still active. This past week, he’s been closely interacting with another girl.”

“This ’Mage of Liberation’ is highly suspicious. Shao Han’s disappearance is closely related to him. Brother Mao, can we locate ’Mage of Liberation’s’ real address through the account?”

“That’s a bit difficult; it requires collaboration with cyber police. Currently, there’s no conclusive evidence linking Shao Han’s disappearance directly to him, so the cyber police won’t assist in the investigation.”

Upon hearing Mao Ji’s explanation, Sun Zhidong grew anxious: “Then what do we do? Are we just going to watch the perpetrator slip through our fingers?”

“Actually, it’s not that complicated; we can take a roundabout approach.”

“What roundabout approach?”

“Currently, that ’Mage of Liberation’ has a new target. We can contact this girl in advance, persuade her to abandon suicidal thoughts, and have her cooperate to lure out the ’Mage of Liberation.’”

“That’s a good idea.”

The current online contact of ’Mage of Liberation’ goes by the handle ’Broken-winged Angel.’ Mao Ji sent her a private message identifying himself as a police officer, hoping to establish contact.

“I’ve messaged her, but she’s not online at the moment.”

“Alright, Brother Mao, this task falls to you.”

“No problem.”

The case advanced significantly. Once they’ve established contact with Broken-winged Angel, finding the Mage of Liberation would be much easier.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep