Chapter 41: So Solving the Case All Comes Down to Lu Xingzhou Subjecting the Drug Dealers to Surprise Inspections, Does It?

With the handgun mastery skill now integrated into his system, Lu Xingzhou looked at the modified Type 92 pistol on the table with an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as if the weapon were inherently a part of his own body.

Lu Xingzhou picked up the noise-canceling headphones and protective goggles hanging from the rack, walked over to the shooting lane, and looked toward the target paper.

The total size of the target paper was roughly equivalent to two smartphones placed side by side.

The bullseye at the center, the ten-ring, was no larger than the cap of a carbon ink pen.

At a distance of thirty meters, attempting to shoot the cap of a carbon ink pen with a handgun—the difficulty was self-evident.

Such a challenge might have still seemed as difficult as reaching the heavens for the Lu Xingzhou of yesterday, but for the Lu Xingzhou of today, it was effortless.

Scanning his gaze from right to left, there were fifteen targets in total, and exactly fifteen rounds in the magazine...

Lu Xingzhou inserted the magazine into the firearm, disengaged the safety, pulled back the slide to chamber a round, lowered the hammer, and re-engaged the safety to return the hammer to its resting position, leaving the modified Type 92 in a state of constant readiness.

Lowering the muzzle into a low-ready stance, he then drew his elbows back toward his waist, pushed the safety off with his thumb, aligned the muzzle with the rightmost target, and tightened the thenar muscles of his palms and the web of his thumbs to counteract the recoil of the firearm.

Instead of adopting a standard two-handed shooting stance, Lu Xingzhou executed an unaimed instinctive point-shooting from the hip.

He was fully aware that if he ever found himself in a scenario requiring him to draw and fire, the assailant would never afford him the luxury of taking aim; he would have to raise and fire instantly.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!..."

Continuously pulling the trigger, the semi-automatic handgun in Lu Xingzhou's hands seemed to transform into a fully automatic weapon, the gunshots merging into a continuous stream as if he were laying down suppression fire.

Yet, every single bullet that flew forth accurately struck the ten-ring bullseye of its respective target.

The sound of the rounds leaving the muzzle, interwoven with the sound of them piercing through the target paper, created a remarkably harmonious symphony.

A flash of astonishment flickered in Lu Jiang影's eyes.

She had originally assumed that if Lu Xingzhou managed to hit the human silhouette target at thirty meters during today's training, it would already count as a success.

She never expected that the kid's very first time firing a live weapon would result in fifteen rounds, fifteen targets, and every single shot hitting the bullseye dead center.

And this was achieved entirely through hip-shooting.

Hitting one target might be chalked up to coincidence, but hitting fifteen bullseyes in a row could only mean one thing: fifteen bullseyes represented the capacity limit of the magazine, not the limit of Lu Xingzhou's abilities.

After all, criminal investigators were not tactical SWAT officers; they did not spend much of their routine time handling firearms, focusing their primary energies instead on forensic technology, such as trace evidence analysis, physical and chemical testing, forensic pathology, and criminal psychological profiling.

Lu Xingzhou turned his head with a beaming smile, "Sis, how was that?"

Lu Jiangying's expression returned to calm. "Not bad. Since you're already able to hit every target, let's call it a day for training. I'll be taking the gun back now."

A jolt of panic surged through Lu Xingzhou's heart.

Oh no, caught up in showing off just now, he had completely forgotten that his older sister intended to take the firearm away afterward.

Lu Xingzhou hurriedly cradled the modified Type 92 in his arms, a flattering smile spreading across his face, "Sis, we've already applied for the ammunition. At least let me finish shooting these fifty rounds scheduled for today. Besides, it's hard for you to explain taking it back so soon, isn't it?"

The corners of Lu Jiangying's lips twitched slightly upward before her expression settled back into its usual deadpan composure. "Go change the target paper yourself!"

"You got it!"

Lu Xingzhou happily busied himself with changing targets down in the basement.

Back at the police precinct, however, the atmosphere in the third-floor large conference room was anything but happy.

Song Xiangchen was reporting on the details of the recent operation to eradicate the drug manufacturing plant.

"These drug traffickers utilized print shops, neon sign makers, and billboard shops as covers to purchase chemical agents and other related supplies.

We successfully confiscated a total of 374 kilograms of drug bricks with a purity of 65% inside the plant, along with a large quantity of tools used for diluting the narcotics, as well as batches of drug bricks already diluted to a purity of 25%.

It can be confirmed that this is a secondary-level drug manufacturing facility, though it remains uncertain whether it is the only secondary-level production site within this drug trafficking syndicate."

Miao Hui, the municipal bureau chief, did not speak immediately. Instead, she glanced at Xu Shengwen, the head of the provincial public security department's anti-narcotics brigade, who was seated beside her.

Due to the massive quantity of drugs seized and the immense scale of the case, Xu Shengwen was representing the provincial department in personally overseeing the investigation of this drug manufacturing and trafficking case.

Xu Shengwen rested his chin on his crossed hands. "What about the detained traffickers? Have they confessed to anything?"

Song Xiangchen wore a look of disappointment. "Just as we estimated beforehand, the six drug traffickers who accidentally ingested massive quantities of narcotics have suffered complete brain damage; they have each been reduced to a vegetative, demented state. Only one man, known as Erhu, remains conscious.

However, Erhu was merely a muscle-bound enforcer within the entire secondary-level manufacturing plant and knows absolutely nothing about drug transactions or production.

According to Erhu's confession, their division of labor was meticulously compartmentalized: those who picked up the goods had no knowledge of the delivery channels; those who delivered them had no idea where they were sourced from; the drug cookers knew neither channel; and those who knew the channels did not manufacture the drugs. As for himself—the security guard—he knew nothing at all."

Xu Shengwen covered his forehead with his hand. "In other words, up to this point, the lead has been completely cut off yet again!"

Though somewhat reluctant to admit it, Song Xiangchen nodded. "At present, that is indeed the case. All leads are severed.

We have no way to trace upwards from the secondary-level channels to unearth the primary-level sources.

Furthermore, we are unable to question them regarding their distribution channels down to the tertiary-level distributors. We will have to investigate everything all over again from scratch."

The police officers in the conference room wore expressions of deep vexation as well.

They had to admit that their opponents this time were cautious, cunning, and possessed formidable anti-surveillance capabilities, maintaining meticulous control over every single link in the chain so that a failure in one area would not bring down the entire trafficking syndicate.

Yet, their luck this time had also been utterly wretched; every single time they managed to fortuitously net a big fish and seize a massive quantity of narcotics during a case, an unexpected event would inevitably occur, severing all subsequent leads.

Could this be the legendary law of conservation of luck?

While unexpectedly solving major cases, one simultaneously lost the threads needed to dig deeper into the investigation?

Xu Shengwen let out a silent sigh in his heart as well. Such a magnificent opportunity—capturing every single drug dealer inside a manufacturing plant—yet failing to extract a single piece of useful intelligence. What a wasted opportunity!

However, Xu Shengwen's emotions quickly settled.

Solving real cases was not like reading a detective novel, where the culprit conveniently left behind clues for the detective to find in a game of cat-and-mouse.

Real-world criminal suspects would go to extreme lengths to conceal their identities, wiping away every trace that could possibly be erased to ensure the police could never find them.

Seeing the drooping, dejected expressions on the faces of the officers, Xu Shengwen clapped his hands to boost their morale.

"Regardless of everything, we haven't walked away empty-handed this time. We've seized a massive quantity of drugs and arrested a large number of traffickers. That in itself is a major meritorious service."

As soon as Xu Shengwen finished speaking, the officers present felt even more depressed.

Sure, it was a meritorious service—technically. But the lion's share of the credit belonged entirely to Lu Xingzhou, while they had merely served as backup to assist with the arrests.

Noticing the even gloomier looks on the officers' faces, Xu Shengwen asked in puzzlement, "What's wrong with everyone?"

Miao Hui, seated to the side, leaned over and quietly filled Xu Shengwen in on the entire sequence of events leading up to this case.

Upon hearing the full story, the corners of Xu Shengwen's mouth kept twitching uncontrollably.

So it turned out that everything—from the accidental discovery of the drug syndicate to the massive seizure of 99.9% pure Double Lion Globe drug bricks, and right down to this latest raid on the secondary drug manufacturing plant—was entirely the result of that kid Lu Xingzhou stumbling blindly into them by sheer coincidence?

No wonder the officers had zero leads! It turned out they hadn't relied on tracking clues or digging step-by-step to uncover the traffickers' stash houses and production facilities at all.

They had simply relied on Lu Xingzhou bursting in on the criminals with unannounced, direct spot-checks, hadn't they?