Trafford's Trading Club

Volume 8 – Chapter 47: Surrender

... You haven’t found it yet?” Ma Houde was in contact with Lin Feng, “You guys come back first. There was not enough manpower just now, so I had to ask Zi Ling to help. Now that backup is here, let them start the search.”

After speaking, Officer Ma turned off the phone, then glanced at Ah Li. Ah Li didn’t say anything, which meant that she had no opinion on Ma Houde’s arrangement.

The ranking of these two had undergone tremendous changes. From a professional standpoint, Ma Houde naturally understood that everything must be based on Ah Li’s wish.

This place was temporarily cleared out. It was dedicated as a command room. Of course, this was the small room for the Baiyu crew to use as a meeting room.

Xiao Bao, from the issuance of the certificate, was also sitting here. Of course, he was just sitting in the seating area under the podium, watching Officer Ma and the strange woman in front of him discussing something while quietly slacking and playing a recently popular internet game – “Emerald Fantasy.”

On the floor next to Xiao Bao, there was a man named Fei Ying lying. Xiao Bao glanced at him again... What the hell happened to this man?

Fei Ying was curled up on the ground as if the men on the ship had a discourse.

With Xiao Bao’s professional gaze, it was not difficult to see that Fei Ying had tears on his eyes’ corners, and he looked sorrowful. En... it’s kind of like those women who were hurt in the assault case.

In addition, Fei Ying’s mouth was sealed with black tape.

The door of the temporary command room had the sound of knocking. Ma Houde stopped whatever he was doing and made a gesture to Xiao Bao.

Xiao Bao nodded immediately. Ma Houde had instructed beforehand. As soon as Xiao Bao saw this gesture, he would need to hide the man named Fei Ying under the table. Of course, Fei Ying wouldn’t be able to escape the fate of getting stuck by the electroshock baton provided by Mu Zi (Xiao Bao was told that Ah Li’s name was Mu Zi).

“I’m sorry, but don’t make any noise. I don’t know how strong the voltage of this thing is. It seems to be modified...” Xiao Bao whispered in Fei Ying’s ear, “Elder brother, you have to cooperate.”

Fei Ying... Fei Ying stared at the floor blankly, like a zombie, letting Xiao Bao fiddle with his body.

Ma Houde opened the door at this time, “Deputy Captain Mu, you’re here?”

Mu Qinghai nodded, walked in, and glanced at this place. He saw a woman beside Ma Houde, and another sitting at the side... He remembered that the person sitting at the side seemed to be an appraisal officer who came by helicopter later on.

Mu Qinghai asked calmly, “Officer Ma, is there a reason that you’re looking for me?”

Ma Houde said calmly, “Deputy Captain, we have something we want you to see... Xiao Bao!”

Xiao Bao nodded quickly, and then promptly paused the game. After ditching his fellow members participating in a dungeon, he turned on the projector on the table without any pressure and played a video.

“This is...” Mu Qinghai frowned, “This is a surveillance video? Police Officer Ma, why are you showing me this?”

Ma Houde smiled and said, “Don’t worry, you watch first and see what’s wrong.”

Mu Qinghai didn’t speak, but stood in front of the projection board and watched silently. After a while, Mu Qinghai shook his head and said, “Sorry, Police Officer Ma. I don’t see any problems with it.”

Ma Houde said calmly, “Deputy Captain, we got this video from the surveillance room. It was from three o’clock last night to six o’clock in the morning. After our technicians’ appraisal, there are traces that this video has been covered, that is to say...”

Ma Houde looked at Mu Qinghai with a stern look in his eyes, “Someone has deleted the original video material!”

Mu Qinghai looked at Ma Houde in silence for a few seconds before frowning and said, “Police Officer Ma, what are you trying to say? Do you suspect that I changed the video data?”

Ma Houde said calmly, “Deputy Captain, I just asked, but I didn’t say that you replaced it... You seem to be in a hurry to explain something?”

Mu Qinghai said, “Police Officer Ma, the context of questioning like yours will make people think like that, am I wrong?”

Ma Houde squinted at Mu Qinghai for several seconds, nodded abruptly, and pressed a phone button, “Bring him here.”

There was still ample time after Officer Ma issued his command. He pushed on with his question, “Deputy Captain, there seems to be some commotion on this ship, right? I think many of your security and crew have been dispatched.”

Mu Qinghai said calmly, “It’s nothing, a thief was found. The security said that after chasing to the small theater, they couldn’t find him. Series of loud noises were heard... seemingly the sound of an explosion. Many guests were terrified, so it’s quite nerve-racking.”

Ah Li... Ah Li lowered her head to play with her nails.

Ma Houde coughed slightly. At this time, the small meeting room door opened, and a police officer in uniform pushed in, bringing in a crew member.

Mu Qinghai glanced, and his brows furrowed slightly.

Ma Houde pointed to the crew member and said, “Deputy Captain, this crew member should be the one who was on duty in the surveillance room last night? Am I right?”

“Yes.” Mu Qinghai nodded.

Ma Houde pointed to the crew member and said, “You will tell me in detail what happened last night.”

The crew member looked at everyone nervously and said, “I was on duty last night... Then there was a sudden power outage... Then, the Deputy Captain called me to go to the electric room to take a look. Later...”

“What happened then?” Ma Houde asked in a deep voice.

The crew hurriedly glanced at Mu Qinghai and avoided his gaze, “Later, when we arrived at the electric room, we realize that we didn’t bring the key. The Deputy Captain requested me to stay put while he made his return trip back to the surveillance room.”

“How long he took?”

“Probably... about seven or eight minutes? Anyway, the Deputy Captain came back soon.”

“In other words, you didn’t stay together all the time, did you?”

“Yes... yes.”

“You can go out first.” Ma Houde waved his hands.

The police officer led the crew directly out of the room. Ma Houde looked at Mu Qinghai and calmly said, “Deputy Captain, may I ask you that you just went to take the key in this short time that you went back?”

Mu Qinghai said calmly, “Besides taking the key, what else can I do?”

Ma Houde snorted coldly, “I’ve learned that only you and the Captain have the key to the database storage where the information was stored. After Xiao Bao’s appraisal, this video’s coverage is at least not within these seven days. In other words, this data... was stored seven days ago.”

“It doesn’t prove anything.”

Mu Qinghai shook his head and said, “The database storage lock is not a special electronic lock. People who want to open it probably have a way to open it. It’s like the electric room that just happened to be locked, it was locked but it was still opened. Sir, if it is just because I have the key, isn’t it too arbitrary to conclude that it is me who did it? Of course, if you want to say that I am suspicious, I can understand and I am quite willing to cooperate with your investigation. But If there is no substantive evidence, I can reserve the right to pursue it, right?”

Ma Houde suddenly said, “Deputy Captain, we also got a recorded conversation, please listen to it... Xiao Bao.”

Xiao Bao took out a voice recorder, plugged it into the laptop, and a recording began to play... It was a complete recording.

After the recording was finished, Ma Houde said solemnly, “Mu Qinghai! It’s obvious now! You killed Qian Guoliang and took things from him! Do you still want to quibble!?”

This kind of thunder-like shouting and questioning carried Officer Ma’s righteousness as a police officer for decades, and the momentum was scary. When ordinary people were frightened, they would immediately panic and tremble. They would be shaken at the very least.

Unexpectedly, Mu Qinghai still calmly said at this time, “Sir, this recording of yours was given to you by a man with a straw hat, right? It just so happened that he was the person we were looking for. This guy secretly sneaked into the Captain’s bedroom and used some weird words to attack me with bad intentions.”

“Mu Qinghai, this conversation is already obvious, you really dare to quibble!”

“Police Officer Ma, the origin of this man is unknown. If I hadn’t used this method to hold him down, I wouldn’t be able to wait for security to come.” Mu Qinghai shook his head and said, “According to the “Several Provisions of the Supreme People’s Court on... Article 68”, Evidence obtained by infringing the lawful rights and interests of others or violating the prohibition of the law cannot be used as the basis for determining the facts of the case. The method that violates the prohibition of the law generally refers to the private use of eavesdropping equipment, threatening others, trespassing others’ houses illegally, etc...”

After speaking, Mu Qinghai looked at Ma Houde with sharp eyes, “... Someone can prove that this man broke into the Captain’s bedroom. In addition, can this recording still become an effective evidence?”

Mu Qinghai looked at Ma Houde’s gaze that seemed as if he wanted to eat people, and finally said seriously, “Sir, the deceased was found on the deck... At that time, the Captain and I were shooting a documentary, this could at least prove that the captain and I have an alibi, right?”

...

“Fuck! The people I hate the most are such intellectuals!!” Ma Houde angrily hit the table with his fist.

Xiao Bao, who had just started slacking again, was so frightened that he immediately stopped playing again. After scapegoating the team members, he quietly closed the notebook.

Of course Xiao Bao knew that Ma Houde was very angry... but there was no other way even when he was angry. Officer Ma could only temporarily hold the Deputy Captain in custody in another room next to it with the excuse of suspicion.

“Old Ma, come out.” Ah Li suddenly opened the door at this moment.

Both of them went out, Ah Li leaned against the wall, frowned and said, “Old Ma, usually it is difficult for ordinary people to calm down in this situation... However, isn’t this Mu Qinghai too calm?”

Ma Houde nodded, “Those things he said are actually correct. I was only planning to scare him, and the information sent to the court must not be written like this... but this guy really isn’t falling for it.”

“Mu Enli and Qian Guoliang have had two contacts... but Mu Qinghai is so calm.” Ah Li bit her lip and muttered, “Of these two people, who is the code name King?”

“Ah Li, in this case... Are both of them directly arrested and none of them will be let go?” Ma Houde suddenly asked quietly at this time.

Ah Li sighed and shook her head silently, “I’m not used to this approach... But there is no other way since national interest comes first. But in fact, no matter which one is King, the other one is implicated. Even if they are just father and son through adoption, their relationship is good, but... but at least secretly they have to be like this.”

The phone rang suddenly.

Ma Houde glanced at the caller ID, then suddenly looked up at Ah Li, “It’s Mu Enli!”

“Pick it up.”

Ma Houde nodded and turned on the speakerphone, “Hello, Captain?”

“Police Officer Ma, come over, I’m here in the control room... There’s no need to look anymore. I will explain everything.”

After speaking, the phone call was disconnected.

Ma Houde and Ah Li looked at each other, and both frowned at the same time.