Chapter 151: Nearly Identical Timelines—Coincidence? Or Inevitable?

Traveling abroad at least twice a year.

This was an extremely important clue—possibly the most critical piece of evidence to confirm Rose’s true identity.

According to earlier deductions, Rose had indeed abandoned her original identity and chosen to live under a completely new one to evade possible arrest by the police.

However, due to her inner vanity, she still couldn’t resist updating her old identity’s social media now and then. Those updates almost always centered around travel and life abroad.

Her goal was simple: to make her college friends and classmates envious, to gain their likes and comments, and thus fill the emotional void left by the inferiority and jealousy she felt during her university years.

It had been mentioned earlier too—

To avoid being accused of stealing travel photos online, Rose would go so far as to wear a human-skin mask and actually travel abroad herself, just to take genuine travel pictures and post them to her old identity’s friend circle, all to satisfy her vanity.

This, without a doubt—

Was the key to verifying whether Tang Zhiyun was Rose’s new identity.

…

Gao Chao was well aware of this.

That’s why he had already instructed the tech department officers to collect and extract a detailed record of Tang Zhiyun’s entry and exit records over the past few years.

Now, the series of immigration records was being projected on the screen. Beside it, they pulled up the social media feed of Rose’s original identity, Lan Yujun, which had been sent earlier by the deceased’s boyfriend. Pointing to the most recent travel record, Gao Chao said:

“It’s not just the frequent trips to the U.S. that point to her.”

“By comparing the posting times on Rose’s social media and her actual entry and exit records, we can further confirm our hypothesis.”

“Look closely—according to our country’s immigration records, Tang Zhiyun’s most recent trip to the U.S. was three months ago.”

“She was gone for five days, and the destination was somewhere on the West Coast.”

“Now let’s look at Lan Yujun’s latest post—it’s from three months ago, and it’s geotagged in Los Angeles, on the U.S. West Coast.”

“Both the timing and location clearly overlap.”

“Now look at the second-to-last post.”

“That one was nine months ago, taken on the African savannah. The caption talks about watching the animal migration. There were indeed many great photos, and several of her college friends commented and liked the post in awe.”

“Here’s the crucial part—”

“The owner of Red Rose Beauty Salon—Tang Zhiyun—also bought a ticket to Kenya about nine months ago.”

“As everyone knows, the best place to witness the Great Animal Migration is the Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya.”

“If the first time could be dismissed as coincidence, what about this second time? Can we still call it coincidence?”

“Add to that the fact that all of Tang Zhiyun’s subtle traits match our previous deductions—”

“I believe…”

“We can almost be 100% certain that Tang Zhiyun is the drug trafficking organization member we’ve been searching for—Rose!”

By the end of his statement, even the always cold and stoic Gao Chao couldn’t help the faint trembling of his lips. His fists clenched against the table—clearly, emotion had gotten the better of him.

After all, they’d been searching for five years.

Five whole years.

During that time, Gao Chao had lost count of how many times he’d blamed himself, how many times he’d dreaded picking up calls from the victim’s family due to the utter lack of progress in the case.

And now, they had finally identified the culprit behind the Rose Flower Shop case.

What’s more—

It had led to the uncovering of a massive drug trafficking organization.

How could Gao Chao’s usually calm heart not be stirred? How could someone who detested evil and devoted himself fully to criminal investigation not be moved?

But excitement over identifying the suspect was all it was for now—this wasn’t the time to celebrate just yet.

…

At that moment, the experienced Lin Tian immediately sensed that this arrest wouldn’t be easy. His brow furrowed as he voiced his concerns:

“I noticed in the projected profile that Tang Zhiyun doesn’t own any property. She only has the Red Rose Beauty Salon.”

“So does that mean… Rose actually lives and eats in the salon? Maybe she’s set up a private area inside for daily life and making human-skin masks.”

“If that’s the case, we can’t tail her after work and look for the right opportunity to make the arrest—we’ll have to apprehend her inside the salon.”

“Right now, it’s around 8 p.m.—peak hours for a beauty salon. If we make a move now, it could create serious chaos and danger.”

“My suggestion is this—”

“Since Rose lives in the salon anyway, we should wait until 11 p.m.—that’s the usual closing time. Once all the cosmetic clients leave, we can proceed with the arrest more safely.”

“It’s just a matter of waiting two more hours.”

“And honestly, I’d rather wait a bit longer and make sure the arrest goes off smoothly and without any surprises.”

Clearly, the failed attempt to apprehend Zhou Shirui earlier had made Lin Tian much more cautious. He didn’t want to risk another failed operation.

Because each captured member of the organization brought them exponentially closer to uncovering the full extent of this drug ring—and Rose, in particular, held a very special position.

Sitting nearby, Su Ming quietly organized his thoughts before tapping his finger on the table and speaking slowly and deliberately:

“I currently have two arrest plans in mind.”

“The first is exactly what Director Lin just proposed—wait until the Red Rose Beauty Salon closes at 11 p.m., then break in and make the arrest.”

“This approach has the advantage of minimizing public disruption and reducing the risk of any civilian being taken hostage.”

“But the problem is…”

“The arrest will be tough to pull off cleanly. There’s a high chance that Rose might detect something. She could end up like Zhou Shirui—suicidal, or something else could go wrong.”

“As for the second plan—”

Su Ming paused for a few seconds, glanced at Lin Tian and Gao Chao, then said with full confidence:

“Right now, the drug ring’s leader is focused entirely on the Poison Master in Gusu City, so there’s no way he has time to warn Rose.”

“That’s why I want to bring in a wealthy woman from Liangxi City to help us—preferably one who’s a frequent client at Red Rose Beauty Salon.”

“According to earlier intel—”

“These wealthy women, these lady bosses, always specifically ask for Rose when it comes to cosmetic procedures. So with their help, we could get direct, face-to-face contact with Rose right away.”

“That way, we won’t need a big, noisy break-in at the salon, nor will we have to worry about Rose panicking and killing herself, cutting off yet another lead.”

“More importantly, it allows for a quicker arrest—before anything can change!”