Chapter 509 - 243: Frenzied

Chapter 509: Chapter 243: Frenzied

"Two of the admitting doctors were regulars. One of them, a pediatrician named Li Chaoyun, abruptly resigned a month ago. Their current whereabouts are unknown."

"The director of this hospital has a somewhat complicated background and maintains close ties with some out-of-town medical investment firms. I’ve already assigned people to conduct a priority investigation into this hospital and the resigned doctor, Li Chaoyun."

"As soon as you’re done clearing the scene, return immediately. We need to adjust our deployment."

"Yes, sir!"

...

...

Inside an interrogation room at the Municipal Bureau’s Criminal Investigation Division, the light was a stark, pale white.

The three captured suspects were being held in separate interrogation rooms.

The lean man who had been hiding behind the door, the one personally captured by Yang Qi, was nicknamed "Knife." He was one of the local leaders of this small group, responsible for receiving the abducted children, temporarily holding them, and communicating with peripheral members.

Of the other two who were caught while trying to flee, one was nicknamed "Mouse." He was a gofer and a lookout.

The other was nicknamed "Mute." He supposedly knew a thing or two about bird training and was mainly responsible for feeding and releasing the two crows.

Yao Zhenwei was personally overseeing things from the command center, while Chen Jifeng took part in the primary interrogation.

Yang Qi was given special permission to observe from outside the interrogation room.

Faced with irrefutable evidence—the evaluation forms, the scene, the rescued child—and the police’s intense psychological pressure, "Knife’s" mental defenses finally collapsed after several hours of stubborn resistance.

He confessed that he was just a subordinate, in charge of "warehousing" and "preliminary screening" in the Yuanzhou area.

After the children were lured over by the crows, they would sedate them (using drugs), conduct a physical check-up (with simple equipment), and then perform an initial match based on a "client request form" sent from their superiors.

Those who were a high match would be transferred to a more secluded, professional facility to await further instructions.

Those who were a mediocre match, or for whom there were no current orders, would be held temporarily or sold off to other "colleagues" through secret channels.

"Who are your superiors? How do you contact them?" Chen Jifeng demanded.

"I... I don’t know his real name. We all call him ’Hawk.’"

"Knife’s" eyes darted around, his voice trembling. "It’s a one-way contact. He uses a different encrypted internet call every time. The instructions and request forms are sent via encrypted email to a designated burner account, which I check regularly. The money... the money is cash, left in a designated trash can or behind a public toilet tank..."

"What about the other children? The other six you took—where are they now?!" Chen Jifeng slammed his hand on the table and shot to his feet.

"Knife" flinched, his head sinking low. He stammered, "I... I don’t know exactly where. ’Hawk’ said the heat was on recently, so all the ’high-grade goods’ in Yuanzhou were already shipped out in batches. I think they went south."

"The two remaining ones, the mediocre matches, were being held at the old granary on the west side. But... but yesterday, ’Hawk’ sent an urgent message. He said the cops might have sniffed out this bungalow, so we had to clear out and move immediately. We were told to pull out of the granary, too. He didn’t say where to, just told the three of us to lay low for a while and that he’d be in touch after the heat died down..."

"Shipped out? When were they shipped out? How? Who handled it?" Chen Jifeng’s heart sank.

"J-just in the last three or four days, in two batches. I don’t know how they were transported, I really don’t! ’Hawk’ forbids us from asking about transport, said it was for security. A different crew handles the transfers. We’ve never met them."

With a miserable look on his face, "Knife" pleaded, "Officer, that’s all I know. I just watch the warehouse. I never touched those kids, I swear!"

Meanwhile, there was a breakthrough in the interrogation of "Mute."

The seemingly slow-witted man, under questioning assisted by an avian behavior specialist, admitted that his ancestors had passed down some unique bird-training techniques. "Hawk" had sought him out and, using a combination of a high price and threats against his ailing mother, forced him to train the two crows.

He explained how he used specific frequencies of sound, light, and drugs, combined with conditioned reflexes, to train the crows to identify solitary boys of a certain age range and lure them in a specific direction with food rewards.

As for the parrot, "Hawk" had acquired it later from somewhere unknown. It was smarter and used to attract attention in more complex environments.

But he insisted he didn’t know what the birds were being used for—to abduct children. He claimed he thought it was for theft or just pranks.

Although "Knife’s" and "Mute’s" confessions were clearly holding back, when combined with the evidence found at the bungalow and the old granary, as well as leads uncovered from the hospital’s system, the outline of a clearer criminal network began to emerge.

1. Abduction Layer: Using trained parrots and crows to lure healthy boys aged 8-12.

2. Warehousing and Screening Layer: Multiple temporary bases established in Yuanzhou to initially sedate and perform simple physicals on the abducted children, matching them against client requests!

3. Medical Evaluation Layer: Colluding with certain corrupt private medical institutions or individuals to obtain more professional physical examination data and medical support. This may even involve illegal medical treatments and sources for anesthetic drugs.

The resigned pediatrician, Li Chaoyun, is a prime suspect.

4. Decision and Transport Layer: Middlemen, represented by "Hawk," are responsible for receiving orders, dispatching tasks, evaluating matching results, and arranging for the "matched goods" to be transported out of the country through clandestine channels.

This layer has likely already formed an inter-provincial or even international network.

5. Terminal Implementation Layer: At secret locations abroad or near the border, professional black-market doctors perform live organ harvesting surgeries. The organs are then delivered to clients using forged medical documents or smuggling routes.

And now, the most critical fact was that of the six previously missing children, at least two batches had already been shipped away!