126: Chapter 123: The Same World_2 126: Chapter 123: The Same World_2 Entering prison like this wouldn’t be too humiliating.

Moreover, learning new knowledge in prison also requires time; a short sentence wouldn’t be interesting at all.

Of course, one couldn’t really get trapped there; doing several years’ time for nothing would be utterly not worth it.

Wei Zhenguo didn’t do the interrogating himself.

He just walked around the case center, seeing which team needed an extra hand, and would help out for the duration it took to poop.

As he wandered around, Wei Zhenguo stopped at Guo Jingbao’s interrogation room.

“I really haven’t done anything wrong recently.

It’s too much the way you’re arresting people.”

“No, I understand you want me to confess, that you have your tasks, but I really haven’t committed any crime recently.

What could I even confess to?”

“You ask the police station’s folks; haven’t I been showing up less lately?”

Guo, with his assured arguments, brought the interrogation room to a standstill.

Wei Zhenguo grew a little curious.

Guo Jingbao was a person whose name made a memorable impression for its plainness; he said his mother wanted him to always be clean and well-fed, so she named him Guo Jingbao.

He managed to stay clean daily, then made himself well-fed by stealing.

He had been caught a few times already.

Probably during the era when Jin Yong’s martial arts novels were all the rage, he claimed the name Guo Jing, leaving out the character for ‘full,’ but every time he stole something, he was incredibly stupid, with the police solving the case usually within four hours.

Thus, he had the nickname Stupid Guo.

This clumsy thief who couldn’t even leave Ningtai County was now making the case officers speechless with his retorts.

Had he gone for training?

Wei Zhenguo was somewhat astonished.

Thinking this over, he made a call to an acquaintance at the train station police station, like Stupid Guo had mentioned.

After some customary pleasantries, Wei Zhenguo got the confirmation that Stupid Guo had indeed rarely been seen at the bus station recently.

Wei Zhenguo thought it over and made calls to two other acquaintances.

One advantage of having fewer pickpockets was that the few left on the market were well-known to everybody.

After some inquiries, Wei Zhenguo was surprised to discover that Stupid Guo had indeed not been active as a pickpocket recently.

A pickpocket with thirty years’ experience was starting to slack off?

Wei Zhenguo found it hard to believe.

As the saying goes, a dog can’t stop eating shit, and for a Labrador, there’s never enough shit.

A thief of Stupid Guo’s age would be at a critical time for saving for retirement; how could he possibly take a break?

His home setup didn’t look like one that was short on money.

Wei Zhenguo thus was certain that Stupid Guo had another case on his hands.

He knocked on the door, then entered.

Wei Zhenguo nodded to the two officers conducting the interrogation and immediately asked Stupid Guo, “Have you really not committed any crimes recently?”

“I really haven’t,” Stupid Guo insisted.

“Show him the video,” Wei Zhenguo signaled the interrogation officer.

“Now you’re showing it?” the interrogation officer was puzzled.

Normally, this kind of evidence is withheld, to pressure the suspect into confessing, unless they happen to confess to this particular case; otherwise, it’s considered an insincere confession.

An insincere confession, or a partial one, means that previous confessions wouldn’t even count as voluntary, naturally having a significant impact on the possibility of a reduced sentence.

This model forces you to keep confessing, non-stop, until you have nothing left to spit out, and only then do they give you a break, forcing you to resume confessing.

Many petty thieves end up falling into this trap, trying to take a little advantage only to suffer a bigger loss.

Even worse is when some interrogation officers create a bizarre atmosphere in the interrogation room, with offers like “two cases for an eighty percent confession, three for seventy, and free shipping with ten or more,” enticing the suspect to confess to more cases.

However, Wei Zhenguo had his own ideas and nodded again.

The interrogation officer then played the captured video footage.

It showed Stupid Guo stealing luggage at the bus station.

“This…

I just took it without thinking,” Stupid Guo didn’t even seem to think he was stealing.

“What was inside?”

“Nothing valuable, just clothes, shoes, stuff like that.

These days, people’s luggage isn’t interesting.”

“There was a pair of headphones inside, wasn’t there?” Wei Zhenguo had done his homework in advance.

The victim had reported the theft, and one phone call made everything clear.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Stupid Guo said, “I just took a pair of headphones.”

Wei Zhenguo asked, “Besides that, what other cases have you committed recently?”

Stupid Guo lowered his head.

“None.”

Wei Zhenguo’s hackles rose with his detective’s instincts; if he couldn’t tell there was a case here, his decades on the force would have been in vain.

Wei Zhenguo gave a snort and directly asked, “If you haven’t been committing crimes, where does your income come from?”

“I haven’t… haven’t committed any crimes.”

“If you haven’t committed any crimes, where do you get the money for food and drink, for everything you use?” Wei Zhenguo asked again.

The two young officers in charge of the interrogation understood and couldn’t help but feel a jolt of energy.

“I…

I’ve been saving money,” Stupid Guo said.

“From before?”

“Yes.”

“Where is it saved?

In Alipay, WeChat, or in a bank account…?”

“No…

it’s, you know, cash.”

“You saved it in cash?”

“Yes.”

“When did you save it, and how did you earn this money?” Wei Zhenguo asked calmly, unafraid that he wouldn’t get to the bottom of it.

After all, the majority of Stupid Guo’s income came from pickpocketing, and he would be caught once every two or three years; in faster times, he would end up inside once a year or two, a cycle of about four to five years.

When he was younger, his relatives would help out, but at his age, no one bothered anymore.

Therefore, saving money was a possibility for Stupid Guo.

However, the influx of a large sum of money, or the source of an unexpected windfall, was certainly worth investigating.

Stupid Guo tried to explain further, but when he couldn’t make it clear, he simply stopped talking, ready to deny everything obstinately.

Wei Zhenguo, sitting opposite, fiddled with his fingers and after about ten minutes said leisurely, “Guo, we’ve known each other for over 20 years, haven’t we?”

Stupid Guo still didn’t make a sound.

Usually, for small-time thieves like him, cooperation with the detectives was the norm; strong confrontation was out of the question.

Especially since the officers were already playing good cop, if a small-time thief like himself didn’t play along, even Stupid Guo felt it was inappropriate.

Wei Zhenguo chuckled and said, “When I started out, you were already a thief.

Now you’re getting older, and you’ve pulled such a big stunt.

Seeing you’re not talking, I’m guessing someone’s life is in your hands, right?”

“No, Brother Wei, there’s no need, is there?” Not completely foolish, Stupid Guo finally spoke up, “If you really need a brother to take the fall for a case, find someone plausible.

Can you really justify a murder case?”

Wei Zhenguo observed Stupid Guo’s demeanor and felt it was unusual compared to the past.

Given Stupid Guo’s age and history, it was clear he couldn’t have suddenly developed a higher criminal acumen.

What did this imply?

It implied someone had taught him.

Wei Zhenguo’s interest was piqued; he asked a few more questions, confirmed his thoughts, and then left the room.

The three people left in the interrogation room were perplexed, but Wei Zhenguo didn’t say to stop, so the two detectives continued their conversation game with Stupid Guo.

Wei Zhenguo first found the image analysis office and then took them to find Jiang Yuan.

What he needed to do was facial reconstruction.

The two video segments already cut were both of Stupid Guo and another person.

Young Gao Jiansheng took out the videos, still a bit embarrassed, and spoke quietly, “We’re still doing facial reconstructions, but we followed the method you showed us before.

It seems a little clearer, but the face is still not visible, and we don’t know how to adjust it.”

“The image is a bit more complicated, the conditions of the camera itself are quite poor,” Jiang Yuan explained as he looked at it.

“There are many reasons why an image can’t be produced.

Many are caused by the surveillance system itself, such as the sampling resolution, frame rate, compression quality, and camera angle control…”

“Can’t you produce the image?” asked Wei Zhenguo, startled.

Jiang Yuan made a sound of acknowledgment and said, “No, it’s not impossible, just a bit challenging.”

Jiang Yuan began working with a new algorithm, quickly typing commands.

In a short time, a semi-clear photograph with a visible face appeared in front of everyone.

“Damn!” Zhuang Wei, the original image analysis expert, couldn’t help but curse.

It seemed like everyone was doing the same work, yet it felt like they weren’t in the same world.

The eyes had managed it, but the hands, where should they go…

where should they be placed?