sonovelo Chapter 395 Breakthrough
Chapter 395 Breakthrough
Chapter 397 Breakthrough
The detective's complaint was clearly unfounded.
He's not the only one in the world who could come up with the trick of burying traps on the ground. Rather than saying that the Plasma Group's bomber got his inspiration from the Qibao City Museum incident, it's more likely that this method is exactly the same as the rock cone murder case caused by the Sun Coral six months ago—the possibility that they learned it from the Naval Aviation Team is much greater.
"Two distinguished guests of the alliance, Mr. Khaki is looking for you."
Just as they turned the corner of the hospital corridor, a nurse with Miss Skirt hurriedly stopped Hugo and Lianwu. Miss Skirt was holding a stack of medical records with a rattan whip, and upon hearing this, she gently shook the flowers on her head.
"That gentleman is currently with police officers in a temporary data analysis center in the basement of the hospital ward, where they have reportedly made a significant discovery."
"Understood, we'll head over now." Hugo nodded slightly.
As a hospital directly under the alliance headquarters, its coordination efficiency is quite high. The temporary command center is located in the basement of the floor where the witnesses are located, eliminating a large number of intermediate links in information transmission.
When the two pushed open the door to the underground conference room, they were greeted by a bustling scene—police officers were moving back and forth, and the electronic sounds of communicators were constantly going off.
In the crowd, a familiar figure stood out. "Hugo, it's been a long time." Officer Jenny, dressed in a crisp uniform, strode over and extended her hand to Hugo. "This must be Champion Hugo, right? I'm Officer Jenny from the Alliance Investigation Bureau's Hostage Rescue Division. Nice to meet you."
"You must be Deputy Director Officer Jenny. I've heard so much about you."
Just as Hugo was about to shake hands, Mr. Khaki suddenly pushed his way out of the crowd, holding a data terminal in his hand.
"Mr. Champion! The call records between the kidnapper and the victim have been fully recovered!"
"That's exactly why we're here." Hugo took the tablet but didn't check it immediately. Instead, he looked at Officer Jenny and asked, "Can you trace the source of the call? What about the voiceprint?"
"It's a pity." The deputy director shook his head. "We've tried all the electronic tracking methods, but the other side's methods of concealing their tracks are extremely thorough. We've just started matching voiceprint data, but the chances are slim."
Even the Heavenly King of Martial Arts frowned deeply: "So what should we do now?"
The champion, however, remained unhurried: "Have the investigation bureau and the police investigated the location where the mother and daughter disappeared?"
"The location is confirmed to be near Morikawa's detached apartment in Ssangyu City, but there's something strange about that," Officer Jenny said.
"Moriko Morikawa's wife, Ryoko, was a part-time housewife who occasionally taught craft classes as a side job. On the day of the incident, she and her daughter, Sayuri, were both at home, and logically, they should have been kidnapped at the same time. However, according to the recording, it seems that her daughter was abducted while she was out alone."
Are there security cameras near the apartment? When was the last time people saw the mother and daughter?
"The only public security camera in the vicinity had its wires cut before the incident, and the last time that camera was checked was a week ago. The kidnappers may have been targeting the Morikawa family since then."
Officer Jenny picked up a document from the table next to her: "The police are still interviewing relevant witnesses at this stage. Morikawa's son last saw his mother and sister this morning before going to school and did not notice anything unusual."
"How is that son doing now?"
Lian Wu inadvertently revealed a thoughtfulness that was inconsistent with his rugged appearance.
"He's completely unaware of the situation and is currently under police protection," Officer Jenny said calmly, not surprised by the King's question. "However, the detective who spoke with the child has sent a report saying that her mother mentioned last night that she planned to go out shopping today."
However, police visited nearby shops and supermarkets and reviewed surveillance footage along the route, but were unable to track down the mother and daughter.
"It seems the kidnappers didn't give themselves away in a place like this," Hugo sighed regretfully.
"The perpetrators may have taken advantage of the mother and daughter going out together to create an opportunity to lure them away, then separately abducted the mother by force, while using persuasive language to deceive the daughter. Destroying the security cameras beforehand was for this purpose."
"A hostage situation should leave traces, right? Was there any Pokémon battle? Can you deduce where the mother and daughter went?" Lian Wu asked.
"There were no signs of a fight." Deputy Director Officer Jenny turned a page of the file in her hand. "According to the League's registration information, Mrs. Morikawa's Pokémon partners are Flyke and Bumblebee, and her daughter Sayuri has not adopted any Pokémon. The forensic personnel at the scene conducted a special search, but found no fresh fur of these two Pokémon in the vicinity, so they most likely did not use their Poké Balls to battle."
"It seems the trail has gone cold for the time being." Hugo shook his head in frustration. "Even if we find traces left by the perpetrator, it will be difficult to deduce the hostage's current location. The police can continue searching the scene to find possible eyewitnesses, but it's best not to have too high hopes—we must be prepared that the perpetrator has a very high level of counter-surveillance awareness."
"We've never let our guard down," the deputy director said sternly, handing Hugo and Lian Wu each a listening earpiece. "I guess you two probably need these more right now."
"Have you checked the call recordings?" Under Lian Wu's bewildered gaze, the detective smoothly navigated the Bluetooth settings, connecting the headset to the tablet. "Any findings?"
Officer Jenny spread her hands: "The data has just been extracted. Although some agents have begun analyzing the audio information, like the voiceprint data, no results have been reached yet."
"Alright, let's not delay, I'll listen too."
Hugo held the large headphones close to his ears, his fingers hovering above the play button.
The Fighting King frantically fiddled with the equipment, only to find that the champion had already opened the decisive recording. The recording was roughly the same as Morikawa's description. The speaker's gender was unclear, and although the sound of an electronic synthesizer could not be heard, it had obviously been specially processed.
Judging from the background noise, there was little background noise in the speaker's location, which was completely different from the noisy environment at the airport bombing site. This further supports the possibility of remote-controlled crime. The recording of Mrs. Morikawa and her daughter Sayuri was clearly played on a different device, with consistent noise frequencies and roughly the same volume.
It is noteworthy that although the mother Ryoko's screams were heartbreaking, they were not the mournful cries of someone being subjected to violence, but rather the terrified screams of someone facing mortal danger.
Presumably because the kidnappers needed to record the conversation, her voice wasn't interrupted; Ryoko seemed to be pleading for something.
However, the audio, having been selected by the criminal, abruptly cut off just as the mother was about to utter the key words.
In addition, although the kidnappers played two audio recordings of Morikawa's daughter, there were obvious gaps in Sayuri's emotions, indicating that they were recorded at different times.
Hugo speculated that the reason the other party didn't record an entire segment of Sayuri's screams or cries as they had with Mrs. Morikawa was because the girl had suffered too much of a shock and thus fell into a state of self-isolation in the unfamiliar environment.
To make the threatening phone call clearly demonstrate that he had a second hostage, the perpetrator added a recording of himself luring the girl before he started sobbing.
Therefore, although the two hostages in the hands of the kidnappers are in a state of extreme fear, they may not have actually suffered physical torture yet—this may be considered good news, but based on this information alone, it is still impossible to determine the whereabouts of the two hostages.
Just as Hugo was about to take off his headphones and discuss his deductions with Officer Jenny, his train of thought was suddenly interrupted by the excited actions of King Wu.
"I heard it!" The fighter ripped off his listening earpiece, stood up, and shouted, "There's the same echo in the second recording of the mother and daughter!"
"An echo!" he emphasized again. "They might be in a cave!"