Chapter 1090: Chapter 310: Restrictions
Chen Ming was piloting the shuttle boat.
He headed toward the police station mentioned in the message he had just received, where Cheng Xinghe was currently being held.
His mind was fully occupied with thinking about his next move.
Things had become about half clear at this point.
Because although so far only Cheng Xinghe had truly been dragged into this.
In reality, the person who engineered this incident absolutely did not have Cheng Xinghe as their true target.
The simplest reasoning.
If the real goal was to take down Cheng Xinghe, there shouldnāt have been so many posts circulating on the school network, and he shouldnāt have been paraded off to the confinement room like a public shaming.
These blatant, unrestrained actions, clearly meant to let the story ferment, revealed one thing.
That all this information had been deliberately released.
And Chen Ming also believed that even if he werenāt here, even if he stayed completely out of it, Cheng Xinghe would still be able to walk out of the police station unharmed.
Someone was using Cheng Xinghe as a target to attack, then trying to take the opportunity to draw someone elseās attention.
That "someone else" could be people from the Bai Quan faction, or it could be Chen Ming himself.
It was most likely himself.
Chen Ming thought so.
Because the timing right now was simply too coincidental.
But what was the point of doing this? Why lure him over here? What was the purpose?
Where was the mastermind hiding? What exactly was he trying to do?
On the surface it looked like targeting Cheng Xinghe, but in fact it was targeting Chen Ming. Yet after targeting him, no one came to actually confront himāwhat were they targeting, exactly?
No one starts something only to quit halfway; there should be a next move very soon.
For now, Chen Ming would still go to the police station and meet with Cheng Xinghe first.
On the way there in the shuttle boat.
Chen Ming took out his terminal and called He Gu, telling him that he wouldnāt be able to go to the Spiritual Ability Research Institute headquarters until at least tomorrow.
Originally, He Gu should have been able to meet him today, but that was obviously no longer possible.
After hanging up.
Chen Ming noticed that Cheng Xinghai, sitting beside him, had her head slightly lowered, her expression still somewhat tense and worried.
Although she had been on the battlefield, for mid- and low-ranking officers there, what they had to face was only the simplest kind of life-or-death struggle.
What was happening here was clearly more complicated.
Chen Ming didnāt have much he could say; he could only offer comfort: "Donāt worry, Cheng Xinghe will be fine."
"Mm."
The shuttle boat soon arrived outside the police station.
Chen Ming strode quickly into the station lobby.
The female receptionist at the front desk, seeing how Chen Ming was dressed, immediately greeted him with some enthusiasm and asked, "Hello, what can I help you with?"
Chen Ming also sized up the receptionist, confirming that she didnāt know him and wasnāt involved in this matter.
So Chen Ming didnāt do anything extra; he simply said, "Iām here to see someone."
"May I ask if you canāt reach them, or..."
"Itās not that I canāt reach him; he should have been brought in here."
The receptionistās hands froze over the keyboard as she was registering information. She looked up at Chen Ming, a little unsure, and asked, "Iām sorry, what did you say?"
"He was brought in here. His name is Cheng Xinghe. We want to see him, as family."
The receptionist instantly became somewhat flustered.
But a police officer quickly came out from behind the front desk and motioned for the receptionist to handle something else.
This new officer gave Chen Ming an apologetic look and said, "Iām sorry, but itās temporarily inconvenient for you to meet with this Cheng Xinghe. Heās a key suspect in a serious bodily harm case, so we canāt disclose too much else."
Since he couldnāt punch a smiling face, Chen Ming didnāt come on too aggressively; instead, he followed the usual line of questioning: "Heās a suspect? What did he do?"
"Right now itās only classified as assault causing grievous bodily harm. The injured party is still being resuscitated in the hospital. Itās not convenient for us to say more about specifics."
"Do you have evidence? Surveillance footage or something?"
"Of course we have evidence, but we canāt tell you the specifics either."
"You canāt disclose anything even to family?"
"Even with family we can at most explain the general situation. Anything more, we really canāt say."
"So we canāt even look at the surveillance footage?"
"No."
The repeated questioning made the officer a bit impatient: "The evidence we have really isnāt convenient to show anyone else. Even if we did have it, we couldnāt possibly let you see it."
"Got it."
Having finally gotten a clear answer, Chen Ming nodded calmly and turned to take a phone call.
On the other end were people from the Bai Quan faction, who had just been helping Chen Ming.
Relying on insiders in the police system, and based on a certain legal provision, they had obtained for Chen Ming temporary authorization to be involved in the investigation of this case.
Specifically, for all criminal cases involving military family members and reservists.
The relevant military departments could apply for an access privilege to supervise the progress of the investigation, to prevent things like fabricated evidence and ensure there were no issues.
This privilege was generally not very high, but it was enough to grasp the overall picture of the case.
Under normal circumstances, this privilege wouldnāt be given to someone with a close family relationship to the party concerned.
But Cheng Xinghai was indeed the family member, and Chen Ming was not.
At least before marriage, in the eyes of the law Chen Ming was an outsider and could fully take on this role.
The faction members also told Chen Ming which hospital Liao Hongsheng was currently in.
They were maintaining constant surveillance.
After Chen Ming finished his call.
The officer in front of him also quickly answered a phone call. As he listened, the look he gave Chen Ming gradually turned into one of uneasy surprise.
A few moments later, he put down the phone and asked Chen Ming, "What exactly are you trying to do?"