Chapter 1 Breakfast Shop

Inside the breakfast shop.

Uncle Jiu’s daughter looked at Su Tianyu with red and swollen eyes, suddenly asking, "Brother Xiaoyu, why… why are you asking about this?"

Su Tianyu didn't want to tell Uncle Jiu's daughter the real reason. He paused slightly and replied, "It's a bit complicated to explain, and I can't explain it to you clearly in a short time, but this matter is very important to the mine disaster case. Think back, do you remember where your father and brother worked? Especially those places where they had to travel and work for a long time."

Uncle Jiu's daughter thought for a long time and replied, "My brother always worked with my father, but… but they rarely told me about work. And I used to live at school a lot, so I really don't know where they went to work."

"Not even one location?" Su Tianyu asked anxiously.

Uncle Jiu's daughter shook her head and fell silent.

Looking at her expression, Su Tianyu felt a little desperate in his heart for some reason. He had only just found a lead, but who knew the girl's information would be so limited.

While everyone was thinking, Uncle Jiu's daughter suddenly looked up, "Oh, I remember, my brother has a work notebook at home!"

Su Tianyu was stunned, "He has a work notebook?"

"Yes, although my brother doesn't have a high level of education, he is quite eager to learn. He wanted to study architecture before, but… but our family's conditions were not good, and my mother was always sick. He spent most of his time working and had no chance to study systematically," Uncle Jiu's daughter said with her head lowered, "He has a habit of taking work notes, recording some professional engineers' working methods, and drawing some diagrams."

"Good, good, can you take me back to have a look?" Su Tianyu asked.

"I can," Uncle Jiu's daughter got up immediately.

"Let's go, let's go now," Su Tianyu got up and called out.

…

Inside the task force office of the Police Department, Fei Zizheng, who hadn't slept all night, looked at the large information board, rubbing his chin, his thoughts gradually becoming clear.

Why did the bandits blow up the tunnel, and specifically use a "no passage" sign to remind passing vehicles?

The bandits chose a very tricky bombing point, the most important load-bearing beam on the north side of the entrance. Would the average person know the tunnel so well?

The amount of explosives used in both bombings was not low. Where did the bandits get this stuff?

The details of the case all converged in Fei Zizheng's mind at this moment. He felt he had found the key.

"Team leader!" Just then, a member of the task force ran in from outside.

"What's wrong?" Fei Zizheng turned around.

"Baolong Company called and said that Yang Decheng, the deputy general manager of the mining company, and two senior executives of the mining company, have all disappeared."

"When did this happen?" Fei Zizheng asked excitedly.

"It should have been on the night of the mining company explosion, the specific time is not yet determined. But… roughly estimated, it should have been after the explosion, because he had several call records before then."

"It's been almost two days since they disappeared, why are we only being notified now?" Fei Zizheng roared, his eyes wide, "Such important clues, and you're only telling us now?"

The task force member immediately replied, "I also asked Baolong Mining, but their senior management said that after the mining company's accident, Yang Decheng was originally planning to leave Dragon City to avoid the limelight. He had also talked to Miao Ziwei before, so no one in the group noticed him. But last night and today, the senior management called Yang Decheng several times, but he didn't answer, which aroused attention. After inquiring, the people who left with him that night also disappeared."

After listening to the other party's narration, Fei Zizheng suddenly turned back to look at the information board, "If Yang Decheng is also missing, then all the clues are clear. The first explosion was revenge, killing all the heads of the project department in the mine disaster work area. Then the bandits kidnapped Yang Decheng and his entourage as hostages."

"Then what was the purpose of the second explosion? The tunnel doesn't seem to have anything to do with these things?" the task force member asked, puzzled.

Fei Zizheng was silent for a while before replying, "The second explosion was a demonstration. He wants to attract widespread social attention."

The task force member was stunned.

"The tunnel is a public place, with a lot of passing vehicles. Once the explosion happened, the news couldn't be suppressed," Fei Zizheng reached out and grabbed his coat, immediately shouting, "Group One, assemble, and come with me to the disaster mine area, now!"

Five minutes later.

Fei Zizheng led more than thirty people and stepped into the hall of the Police Department, but when he looked up, he saw that all kinds of media had blocked the main entrance. As soon as they saw Fei Zizheng coming out, they immediately surrounded him.

"Team Leader Fei, I would like to ask, is there a connection between the Baolong Mining explosion case and the 403 tunnel explosion case?"

"Why did the bandits destroy the tunnel, but not hurt anyone?"

"What is the progress of the task force? Team Leader Fei, please reveal some news to us!"

"…!"

The reporters, holding their cameras, surrounded Fei Zizheng and bombarded him with questions.

It was unknown whether these media were brought in by the Li family, or whether the free media in society had already paid close attention to this matter. In short, after the tunnel explosion last night, it caused quite a stir.

The Dragon City Propaganda Department suppressed the news several times, but couldn't suppress it anymore, because a lot of passing vehicles gathered around the tunnel last night. These people were stuck there, and took pictures of the scene with their mobile phones, and sent them to multiple self-media platforms and social software groups in District One, Dragon City, causing a strong reaction.

Fei Zizheng had no time to deal with the media at all, only took a few steps back, and had the security guards stop them, while he quickly slipped away from the back door.

Near noon, Fei Zizheng rushed to the mine area with his men, found the people from the city rescue team, and senior executives from Baolong Company's aftermath department.

In the office, Fei Zizheng looked at everyone with his hands in his pockets, and said seriously, "Time is tight, so let's skip the formalities. I'm here to ask one thing, what stage has the cleanup of the mine disaster area reached? Have all the bodies of the miners who died been found? And, is there any possibility that the miners survived?"

Everyone looked at each other upon hearing this.

"Let me say a few words," a cadre from the rescue team said with a slight frown, "Sixty-five bodies have been cleaned up so far, and the rest have not been found. Because the underground river broke through the mine tunnel, and part of the rock layers in the caves, connecting the underground space, so it is reasonable for the bodies of the miners who died to appear anywhere. Currently, the difficulty of our search is also very high. I personally judge that finding all the bodies is unrealistic."

"Is there any possibility of survivors?" Fei Zizheng asked.

"This… this is hard to say. Because we conducted three surveys, which indeed proved that due to the impact of heavy rain, the underground river rose on a large scale, and also broke through the rock layers and mine tunnels. We also discovered rising water in a natural lake three kilometers outside the mine area. Theoretically, there is a link between the underground space and the outdoor space," the other party paused and replied, "But for one person, or several people… without a light source, without a clear direction, without professional positioning equipment, etc., wanting to get out of a cave with extremely complex terrain… the probability is definitely extremely low. This requires strong psychological quality, a very outstanding sense of direction, and absolute luck."

"In other words, it's not completely impossible?"

"Of course, nothing in this world is absolute," the rescue team member frowned and said, "Wasn't there a report before the Age of Chronicle? A worker on a construction site was pierced through his entire throat by a steel bar, and he survived in the end."

Fei Zizheng immediately got up and shouted, "Screen out all the personnel who can use explosives and are on record among the miners who died, please!"

…

At Uncle Jiu's house, Su Tianyu was looking at Uncle Jiu's son's work notes.