Chapter 1551 — "Xiaoshu, Tang Yun, Stay Home. I'll Go Alone, No Need to Follow" -- Gu Mengyao Decides to Go by Herself

"Oh, all right." By now even Shen Yushu grasped the gravity of the situation, and she nodded obediently.

As for Tang Yun, she too was at something of a loss. All she could hope was that Wei Zhao was unharmed, yet she was incapable of meeting Qiu Lingshan head-on, backing every sentence with solid reasoning, the way Gu Mengyao did.

So when Gu Mengyao proposed going out alone, Tang Yun hesitated only briefly before agreeing.

Gu Mengyao took the garage keys and got into the police car with Qiu Lingshan and the others, heading for Feng Xiaoxiao's residence.

The Land Rover, which Wei Zhao had specifically washed clean before departing, had been parked in Feng Xiaoxiao's garage. Since both Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu had cars of their own, there was no need to drive Wei Zhao's.

They arrived at the residential compound where Feng Xiaoxiao lived. Qiu Lingshan and the others got out with Gu Mengyao and opened the garage door, and sure enough, a Land Rover sat parked inside.

"Here it is. The car should be right where it was left. Do you still think this is the vehicle the criminal suspect was driving?" Gu Mengyao asked.

"That's hard to judge for now -- we'll need to check the details!" Liu Wangli said, pulling out a camera and taking a full set of photographs of the Land Rover in the garage. However, just as Liu Wangli pointed to a spot of touch-up paint on the Land Rover's body, ready to shoot, Qiu Lingshan's expression shifted ever so slightly.

Because the vehicle photographs taken by that photographer showed an identical scratch mark at precisely the same spot on the Land Rover!

"Captain Song... take a look..." Liu Wangli asked Qiu Lingshan with a wry smile.

"Does this compound have surveillance? See if you can pull any footage from cameras near the garage?" Qiu Lingshan asked, frowning.

"There shouldn't be any. This compound isn't under closed management -- it uses a park-style open layout. I haven't spotted any cameras or the like..." Liu Wangli shook his head.

Hearing Liu Wangli say this, Qiu Lingshan felt a wave of helplessness. The situation was growing more bewildering by the minute. Qiu Lingshan did not believe Wei Zhao had done this, yet all the evidence pointed squarely at him. If Wei Zhao truly wasn't responsible, then only one possibility remained: someone was framing him.

"Miss Gu, take a look -- this is the scratch mark on the vehicle, and here is the car the criminal suspect drove, bearing the identical scratch mark!" Liu Wangli said with a bitter smile, pulling up the photo on his laptop and asking Gu Mengyao to compare it against the touch-up patch on the car's body.

"Ah!" Gu Mengyao started in shock the moment she saw the photo Liu Wangli produced. She had never imagined that the features on the car in the photograph would match Wei Zhao's vehicle perfectly -- even such a minute detail, identical to the letter!

"Miss Gu, although we can't yet confirm whether these two vehicles are one and the same, from all appearances they should be ***almost certainly the same car..." Liu Wangli said with a forced smile. "I'll send the photos to the technical department for analysis shortly, but please brace yourself."

"Could it be that someone is trying to frame Wei Zhao?" Gu Mengyao said suddenly. "Wei Zhao has no shortage of enemies -- could it be one of them?"

"That's hard to say. Everything waits until we find Wei Zhao!" Liu Wangli said. "Thank you for your cooperation. Leave the car here for now, but we may need you to drive it in for examination at any moment."

"Certainly." Gu Mengyao nodded, her mind in turmoil. Though she said nothing, the evidence at hand had already all but locked onto Wei Zhao...

Qiu Lingshan drove Gu Mengyao back to the villa, then took the other three with her to the police station. Qiu Lingshan's mood was equally heavy. Upon returning to the station, she had Liu Wangli hand the evidence over to the technical department, then drove straight to the hospital to compare timelines with Chen Yutian regarding the ancient tomb visit.

Meanwhile, a phone rang at the end of Da Luozi's line -- An Jianwen's number-one enforcer.

"Boss, I've done as you instructed and pushed the suspicion as far toward Wei Zhao as I could, but the police don't seem to believe me -- especially that Qiu Lingshan, she's as stubborn as they come. Should I go over her head and file a complaint with her superiors?" the man on the other end said. "I still carry plenty of weight around here. I believe Qiu Lingshan's superiors will order her to recuse herself!"

"No need. If you have her recused, it'll only raise suspicions!" Da Luozi said. "Over there, you've done your best -- that's enough!"

"Alright, boss!" the man on the phone said. "As for that Land Rover, don't use it anymore -- the police have already found Wei Zhao's car!"

"Understood," Da Luozi replied. "I'll switch vehicles."

"Alright, boss. I'll reach out the moment I have news... though my fee..." The man on the phone finally got around to asking about his payment.

"Rest assured -- five million has already been wired to the account you provided. Once this matter is settled, you'll get the remaining five million!" Da Luozi said. "But you need to keep feeding us information at all times!"

"No problem, boss. You know me -- whoever pays the most, that's who I work for!" the man said quickly.

Da Luozi hung up the phone and turned toward An Jianwen's room. But the moment he pushed the door open, he found An Jianwen sprawled on the floor, howling "Awooo!" at the ceiling light!

"Young Master Wen... you..." Da Luozi jumped in shock, staring at An Jianwen on the floor with a baffled expression, unable to make sense of what he was seeing.

"Awooo-wooo!" Seeing Da Luozi had arrived, An Jianwen climbed to his feet and said with perfect composure, "Oh, I was working out. It's a kind of calisthenics -- no need to make a fuss!"

"Oh..." Da Luozi nodded, not thinking much of it, and got straight to the point: "Young Master Wen, part of our plan has succeeded, but that Qiu Lingshan doesn't seem to be buying it..."

"Hmph. I never expected the police to believe it in the end. If this works, it works; if it doesn't, we lose nothing. We just need to disgust Wei Zhao a bit -- ideally, to bring about his complete ruin." An Jianwen said. "Our real goal is to redirect the floodwaters -- to shift the police's attention squarely onto Wei Zhao while we walk away clean and move on to the next money-making scheme!"

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