Chapter 1 Clues from a Fishing Forum

Zhang Lin was about to leave the shipyard when his phone rang. Seeing it was a colleague from the police station, he answered.

"Captain, we found some clues on a fishing forum frequently used by Jia Wenjun. There's a group specifically discussing illegal fishing with bottom cages in the sea. Most of them have small wooden boats they built themselves. We heard they also have a hideout, but they don't reveal the location. I'm comparing the background of the pictures they posted online, and I estimate I'll be able to figure it out soon."

"Good, find the location as soon as possible. We'll go pay them a visit."

The next day, based on the clues that the technical department colleagues had worked on all night to find, Zhang Lin arrived at a tidal flat on the back of Peninsula Mountain.

He and the female police officer, Xiao Xia, disguised themselves as a tourist couple and took out their cameras to photograph the scenery.

This place was quite hidden, as it was around a bend and blocked by a peninsula, but if you looked carefully, you could see the yachts docked at the pier in the distance. Anna's yacht was at that pier.

At this time, the tide had receded, and wooden boats of all sizes were stranded on the shore. Some of the boats were already black and rotten, obviously repaired from retired and abandoned boats. Several fishermen were idle, sitting on the bows of the boats, smoking and chatting. Zhang Lin pretended to take pictures of Xiao Xia, slowly approaching the boats.

The fishermen didn't know what was so special about these broken boats that was worth photographing. Zhang Lin slowly walked past the boats, stopping to photograph details of the boats that matched the description. Just as he walked to the next boat, a scratch on the hull made Zhang Lin's heart jump. He moved closer with his camera to observe carefully. The scratch was new, and it had traces of white paint on it.

The fishermen watched him. Zhang Lin smiled and greeted them, "Hey, are you guys taking these boats out to sea to fish?"

"Yeah, are you guys tourists from out of town? What's so special about this boat?" The fisherman heard Zhang Lin speak in Mandarin and subconsciously thought he was from out of town.

"We're here on vacation. These boats have a sense of history. They're great for taking pictures," Xiao Xia said.

The fishermen laughed. They didn't know what "sense of history" meant; they just thought the two were crazy.

"The scenery is better at the yacht harbor. Go check it out there," someone told them.

Zhang Lin glanced at the fisherman's boat and said, "Hey, can your boat take us for a spin on the sea?"

One of the fishermen, who was tidying up the cabin, laughed and said, "How far? Our boats can't go far; we don't have permits."

"If you want to take a boat, go to that pier. They have yachts there," another fisherman said, throwing away his cigarette and also getting on the boat to sort his fishing nets.

This man had just walked to the boat where Zhang Lin had found the collision marks and immediately cursed, "Damn it, which son of a bitch scratched my boat?"

When the other fishermen heard this, they also started complaining.

A slightly younger man pointed to the boat behind him, "My boat was also scratched. Seriously, who's so sick in the head that they won't even let these broken boats go? If I find out who did it, I'll make them pay."

Zhang Lin quickly walked over to look. There were indeed many new scratches on the boat, and even the marks of collision and wear were roughly in the same location as the one he had just seen.

Another fisherman said, "It's not just those two; several others have also been ruined."... Listening to the fishermen's cursing, Xiao Xia approached Zhang Lin and whispered, "Brother Lin, do you think someone is trying to hide the real boat by doing this?"

Zhang Lin looked at all the boats with scratches one by one. The shapes and sizes of those boats were similar to the wooden boat he had speculated about, so the meaning of this cover-up was very obvious.

Although the other party wanted to make it difficult for them to identify the boat, it was also because of this move that Zhang Lin confirmed that the boat should be among these boats.

The other party had obviously anticipated that they would investigate the wooden boats, so they had made these preparations in advance.

Someone who could consider things so thoroughly was not easy to deal with.

Who exactly was behind this boat, and was it related to Zhao Di being pushed into the water?

At this time, Zhang Lin felt that this matter was increasingly strange. Thinking that Jia Wenjun would rather die than admit that she pushed Zhao Di, Zhang Lin frowned. Perhaps things were not as clear as they seemed on the surface. https:/

Zhang Lin and Xiao Xia slowly walked towards the beach, with the messy wooden boats lined up beside them.

The two carefully took photos, recording all the evidence. The boats were uneven, each with a wooden hull, and the scratches on the hulls were in different positions, some on the side, some on the stern and bow. Zhang Lin squatted down to examine the similar boats, and found that each scratch on these boats was sprayed with white paint.

This made Zhang Lin even more certain that it was the person who had been on the *Beike Hao* (Shellfish) who had done it, because only that person would know that after the wooden boat collided with the *Beike Hao*, it would leave the white paint of the *Beike Hao* on the wooden boat's hull.

He carefully observed the waterline on the side of the hulls of these boats. The height from the waterline to the impact point should be the height from the white paint to the waterline on these boats. Only those with approximately the same height were suspect boats. When inspecting the *Beike Hao*, Zhang Lin had taken photos, and Xiao Xia was also standing in the photos at the time. In the photos, the height from the waterline to the impact point was almost the length of her arm.

Zhang Lin signaled Xiao Xia to come over for comparison. Through a general observation, it was obvious that two of them could be eliminated. For the remaining three boats, Zhang Lin asked his female colleague to make a gesture of spreading her wings like an airplane at each scratch, keeping her arm as close as possible to the white paint on the hull and keeping it vertical.

The fishermen, seeing that they hadn't left yet, frequently looked at them.

Xiao Xia winked at Zhang Lin and smiled as she struck a pose.

"Okay, great, one, two, three, cheese," Zhang Lin said deliberately loudly, and pressed the shutter.

"Take two pictures for me," Zhang Lin wanted to observe more closely.

When handing over the camera, Xiao Xia whispered to him, "Look at the bow of this boat."

Zhang Lin got on the boat. The moment he glanced at the bow cabin, he immediately understood what Xiao Xia meant.

There was a nylon braided rope in the bow cabin, and what excited Zhang Lin the most was that one end of the rope was frayed.

Zhang Lin got off the boat and said to the fishermen not far away, "Hey, is this boat yours?"

Several fishermen shook their heads, "No, what's the matter?"

"This boat is newer. We want to find the owner and take us out sea fishing together. Is that possible?"

Someone said, "That person isn't here. If you want to fish, my boat is also available."

"My wife just likes this one," Zhang Lin smiled and said softly to the person who wanted to steal the business, "She's newly pregnant and has a bad temper. I'll just go along with whatever she says."

"Oh, I understand." The fisherman also chuckled and said, "Then it depends on your luck. This person doesn't come often; we haven't seen them."

Zhang Lin asked, "Has anyone seen them? Do you have the owner's phone number?"

One of them said, "Old Jiang Tou seems to have seen him. I don't know if he has the owner's phone number."

Zhang Lin looked regretful, but made a show of wanting to try harder, "Is Old Jiang Tou coming today? Do you have his phone number?"

"Old Jiang Tou has gone out to sea. That old man is very strange; he doesn't take his phone with him when he goes out to sea. If you want to find him, you can come here tomorrow morning at five or six o'clock."

Zhang Lin thought to himself, *Old Jiang Tou, you have to give it your all*, but on the surface, he remained calm, smiled and said, "Okay, thank you. I'll come earlier tomorrow and buy some fresh seafood while I'm at it."

Niu Ying reminds you: Remember to save it after reading