Chapter 16: Finding the Human Trafficker at the Source (4)

At that moment, Zhang Heng continued, “Thanks to Liang Lahua’s reminder, I now have the contact information for her husband that she gave me…”

“What?” Liang Song asked in surprise.

“She wrote down all her husband’s contact details for me—phone numbers, WeChat, QQ…”

Zhang Heng said as he opened his phone and brought up the notes app, passing it to Liang Song.

After Liang Song took the phone, Zhang Heng continued, “Liang, to be honest, just a few hours before picking you up, I called her husband’s number. To my surprise, the call went through. The person on the other end actually spoke.”

“What did they say?”

“I told them I was with the Beijing Public Security Bureau and that we were investigating… but before I could finish, the person shouted at me, calling me crazy, and then hung up.”

Liang Song laughed. Then he looked at Zhang Heng and said, “You called the number on here, 15964750823, right?”

“Yes.”

“Zhang, you’re still too young. Here, watch and learn from me.”

“Okay, Liang.”

Liang Song took Zhang Heng’s phone and dialed the number. The call connected and rang several times, but no one answered. Eventually, the standard voicemail message played: “Hello, the number you have dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later.”

Seeing that it wasn’t answered, Liang Song immediately called their bureau’s technical information center from his own phone.

Once connected, Liang Song said, “Hello, could you help me check some information on this number? I want to know its precise GPS location, the call records for the past week, and any linked accounts. Once you have the data, please send it to my email.”

“Sure, no problem,” the person on the other end replied before hanging up.

“Liang, what’s this about?” Zhang Heng asked, puzzled.

“Zhang, you’ve been with our team at the police station for a few days now. Do you know how to reach the information and technical departments here?”

“Ah, no, I don’t.”

“Then how do you get help from the leader?”

“I usually call Brother Li. He told me to ask him if I have any questions during the investigation.”

Liang Song laughed without hesitation upon hearing this. “Ah, Zhang Heng, you’re still not mature. Brother Li doesn’t fully trust you yet.”

“What do you mean, Liang? What does Brother Li’s distrust mean?”

“Think about it—Brother Li is the head of our team, like the team leader. There are eleven of us total, which means ten people take instructions from him. If every little thing that happens, nine people run to Brother Li, he’d be exhausted and annoyed.”

“But Liang, Brother Li never told me about the contacts for the information and technical departments.”

“Let me ask you, before you came here, did Brother Li call you?”

“Yes, he called. He officially confirmed that I’m now a full-time staff member. From now on, I get social insurance and benefits, and a formal salary. He also said you’d come to assist me.”

“Good. Now, do you understand why Brother Li assigned me to assist you, even though this case was assigned to you by higher-ups?”

Zhang shook his head. “No, I don’t. Could you explain?”

“See? You don’t understand. Brother Li wants to see if you’re capable of handling big cases, and he hopes you learn quickly so you can take on major responsibilities and eventually replace someone on this team.”

“What? Liang, you mean I need to step up and replace someone? What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing. Another investigator on our team is stepping down for health reasons. Brother Li’s idea is for you to learn quickly so you can take that spot. This is your opportunity.”

“Oh, I understand.”

Just then, Liang Song’s phone rang. He checked it and saw it was a call from their bureau’s technical division. He answered on speaker.

“Officer Liang, we’ve sent all the requested information on that number to your email. Do you need anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

“All right, call us if you need further assistance.”

Liang Song ended the call and saw a new email arrive in his inbox.

Nearby, Liang Lahua pointed toward the restroom. Zhang Heng said to Liang Song, “She probably needs to use the restroom.”

“Okay, tell her to go back to her room after she’s done and not come out again. We’ll call her if we need her.”

“Got it,” Zhang Heng said.

Liang Lahua nodded, went to the restroom, then returned to her room and closed the door.

Seeing this, Liang Song said to Zhang Heng, “Come sit next to me. Let’s review this together.”

Zhang complied, sitting beside Liang Song as he opened the email.

First, they saw the GPS location linked to the phone number Liang Lahua provided—her husband’s number. The GPS showed a spot in the capital of the province, Taiyuan, specifically pinpointed to a remote hospital on the outskirts of the city.

Seeing the location was a distant hospital, both felt a sense of unease. After a brief reflection, Liang Song’s face paled with horror. In his experience, if a suspect’s number shows up in an isolated place, it usually indicates danger. If it’s an abandoned factory, it might be a drug production base. But if it’s a hospital, it suggests something far more sinister—illegal organ harvesting.

Clearly, this number appearing at a remote hospital suggested the latter.

Liang Song quickly explained this to Zhang Heng, who was deeply unsettled. Such knowledge wasn’t taught at the police academy.

Zhang, panicked, asked, “What do we do now?”

“Don’t panic. Stay calm. We’ll proceed carefully,” Liang Song replied.

Together, they reviewed the other information sent by the tech department—the call records for the past week.

Sure enough, within today’s records was the call Zhang Heng made, which had connected and lasted less than a minute. Zhang smiled upon seeing this.

They continued examining the other phone numbers in the chat logs.

Suddenly, they noticed an IP address from Laibin, Guangxi. This number had frequent communication with the suspect’s number over the past week, except for two calls to other out-of-town numbers.

Laibin, Guangxi, is notorious as a hotspot for telecom fraud.

Both Liang Song and Zhang Heng were well aware of this.

Liang Song instructed Zhang Heng to note down the Laibin number.

After that, they checked the third piece of information in the email—accounts linked to the number.

They found no significant or crucial accounts linked, which made sense given that most accounts now require real-name verification, and a phone number alone doesn’t reveal much.

After reviewing all the information, Liang Song asked Zhang Heng, “What do you think we should do next?”

Without hesitation, Zhang replied, “I think we should verify the information.”

Liang Song shook his head and smiled. “Watch my next move and learn.”

Zhang nodded.

Liang Song exited the email and opened the phone dialer. He called the suspect’s number registered at the remote hospital.

The call rang for a full minute before someone answered.

“Hello, who’s this?” the voice asked.

Liang Song calmly started recording the call and gestured for Zhang not to speak. Zhang nodded in agreement.

“Who are you? If you don’t talk, I’m hanging up,” the voice warned impatiently.

“Hello, are you able to talk now?” Liang Song asked.

“Who are you? Why do you care if I’m free to talk?” the voice snapped.

“I have a business opportunity that makes money. If now’s not a good time, I won’t bother you.”

The voice immediately perked up. “I’m available, boss. Speak.”

Seeing the interest, Liang Song asked, “May I know your full name?”

“Boss, my surname is Liu, full name Liu Zhiran.”

“And you can just call me Boss Chen.”

“Okay, Boss Chen. What’s this money-making business you mentioned?”

“Ha, if I found you and your number, I know you’ll be okay with this opportunity. No need to ask more.”

“Wow, boss, really? Great! When can we meet to discuss?”

Liang Song took control of the conversation: “Mr. Liu, are you free tomorrow? If not, we’ll go with your schedule.”

“Sure, Boss Chen. Where shall we meet?”

“To show sincerity, Mr. Liu, you decide the place.”

“Really? You’re generous, Boss Chen. Let’s meet in my hometown, Taiyuan, Shanxi.”

“Good.”

“Boss Chen, I hope it’s just you coming.”

“Of course.”

“Mr. Liu, please send me the exact address of your hometown and the meeting place.”

“Okay.”

Shortly after, Zhang Heng received a text message: “Dear Boss Chen, our meeting location tomorrow is at…”

“Received. Please confirm,” Liang Song said, then texted back: “Okay, got it,” and sent it.

Later, Liang Song reported everything to Brother Li—about the suspect’s invitation to meet at the hospital, his GPS location in the remote hospital, and his suspicions.

He also requested Brother Li coordinate with higher-ups to dispatch undercover officers to that location to set up an ambush.

Liang Song planned that this meeting was the key to capturing and controlling the main suspect—the trafficker himself.

Once captured, they could interrogate him to catch bigger targets and then crack the entire case wide open.

Zhang Heng was amazed by Liang Song’s strategy. Indeed, this move could almost solve the case outright.