Chapter 9: The Investigation Is Taking a Wrong Turn
The good news is that my "cheat" works even through a screen. The bad news is that the figure emitting speech bubbles in the surveillance footage is as blurry as the shadowy culprits from Detective Conan.
"Could you copy the surveillance footage for us?" Cen Lian asked.
The shop assistant quickly copied the footage and handed it to them.
"What did you see?" Tang Hua noticed that Cen Lian had been staring at the screen, seemingly having discovered something.
"There’s a figure. I feel the timing matches up. We’ll take it back and look at it more closely later." Cen Lian thought about the speech bubble he had just seen, beginning to ponder how to reverse-engineer the "correct answer" provided by the system.
Once he finished reviewing all the surveillance from his assigned area and returned to the Third Squadron’s office for a detailed examination, he saw several more speech bubbles drifting out from behind the screen in multiple video clips.
[Name: Yang Xu]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 63]
[Criminal Record: 1 day ago, assaulted and murdered Chu Yulin in Kang'an City. 246 days ago, assaulted and caused grievous bodily harm to Wang Xiaoyu in Qichuan City. 675 days ago, assaulted and murdered Yang Xuexue in Gaoming City. 1,023 days ago, assaulted and murdered Ren Gui in Duli City. 1,107–9,236 days ago, molested multiple minors.]
[Incarceration Record: None]
Four major criminal records without a single prison term—based on his understanding of the system, this was likely every major felony Yang Xu had committed to date. As for the final entry, it proved he had likely engaged in molestation repeatedly over the past several decades.
"This figure seems to have appeared in several surveillance clips," Tang Hua observed after watching all the footage. "But he’s wrapped up so tightly—never mind his face, it’s hard to even tell if it’s a man or a woman."
"It’s a man," Cen Lian said nonchalantly. "You can tell from his gait; there is a distinct difference between the way men and women walk."
He didn't need the system to notice that.
"I’ve studied a bit of that too, but you can tell from footage this blurry?" Tang Hua was quite shocked.
Cen Lian didn't explain, simply zooming in on the figure.
"I wonder if this person shows up in other footage. Being out on the street in the middle of the night and wrapped up that tightly—something’s not right about this guy." He successfully steered the topic toward the shadowy figure. "Let’s go find Captain Tan."
Tan Tonghui was still in his office. Although it was past closing time, the entire criminal investigation office was brightly lit, and it was clear everyone was still busy. There was no such thing as "pointless overtime" in the Criminal Investigation Brigade; the only reason a swarm of detectives would stay awake past ten at night was an unsolved case.
Cen Lian went to find Tan Tonghui, clutching his laptop.
"Captain Tan, we’ve found this shadow in several surveillance clips. The time he appears matches the window of the victims' deaths mentioned in the forensic report." Cen Lian got straight to the point, placing the blurry shadow in front of Tan Tonghui. Tang Hua marked the locations of the surveillance cameras where the figure appeared on a map.
"This figure has appeared in your area as well," Tan Tonghui said, clearly not seeing the figure for the first time. "Have Yuan Chenxi call everyone in for a meeting."
Soon, a dozen detectives, including Cen Lian and Tang Hua, appeared in the conference room. After Tan Tonghui briefly introduced the two new recruits, he continued discussing the case.
"This figure has currently appeared in surveillance footage across three different areas," Tan Tonghui said as Yuan Chenxi projected all the photos of the shadow. "His area of activity is currently near the factories of Heiyuan Electronics, Fangteng Automotive, and Yuanxin Industrial."
"The image analysis team tried to process the footage, but this suspect is extremely experienced in avoiding surveillance. None of the cameras that caught him recorded his face. His clothes have no logos, and he’s wearing plain, unbranded cloth shoes," said Liang Xuan, the deputy captain of the Third Squadron. She was a woman in her early thirties with a square jaw, a tall frame, and a very sharp gaze.
"Then continue the investigation in those factory areas," Tan Tonghui said, the pressure of a time-limited case making his hairline seem to recede even further. "If he’s active in the park at two in the morning, the suspect likely lives in the factory dormitories."
The logic was sound, but based on the information Cen Lian had seen, Yang Xu’s history of repeatedly molesting minors suggested he was more likely a teacher. A 63-year-old retired teacher would likely not be living in a factory park.
However, he had no evidence and couldn't make people believe him with empty words. He would have to find another way.
During the meeting, Cen Lian and Tang Hua were assigned to conduct inquiries at Yuanxin Industrial. They were paired with two other detectives, Wang Yuanteng and Qi Yan.
"So you’re Cen Lian," Wang Yuanteng said after the meeting dispersed. "We’ve all heard about your heroic feat of handing a Grade B fugitive over to a brother unit."
"That’s not exactly a good reputation," Cen Lian said, feeling his professional image had been tarnished. "We just happened to be in their jurisdiction, and who knew if that fugitive would run?"
Wang Yuanteng chuckled twice and then turned the conversation to the Gao Tong case. "That cold case you dug up was timely. Our district had dropped to ninth on the Hero List this year, but once that case was solved, we jumped back into the top five." Wang Yuanteng was still curious about Cen Lian. "I heard Gao Tong has already confessed and they’re filling out the chain of evidence now. With the bloody clothes and the murder weapon in hand, that case is ironclad."
Tang Hua leaned in upon hearing this. "So he really committed robbery and murder to support his mistress's child?" He was very keen to know the ins and outs of the case.
"Yeah. According to Gao Tong’s confession, his ex-wife was infertile, so he wanted to find someone to bear his children and carry on the family line. He met Yao Shuwen later. Her family was very poor at the time, and Gao Tong was relatively generous with his money, so even though she knew she was becoming a mistress, she agreed to have his child," Wang Yuanteng explained as they walked. This case had been transferred from the Xinhe Police Station to their Third Squadron, so he was very familiar with the details.
"So when the mistress's child was about to be born, he was out of money and decided to rob someone?" Cen Lian asked.
"Exactly. He had practically emptied his savings to convince Yao Shuwen to have his child. Later, when she was over eight months pregnant and had health issues requiring hospitalization to prevent a miscarriage, he couldn't come up with the money, so he got a twisted idea," Wang Yuanteng said. The case wasn't actually complicated. "Their factory wasn't big, and too many people knew when the cashier went to withdraw money. According to him, he only intended to rob the money, so he tricked the cashier, Wu Hao, into Hu Shuangquan’s noodle shop to 'hide from the rain and eat lunch.' Wu Hao wouldn't give him the money, so he meant to knock him out, but accidentally killed him instead."
"And then Hu Shuangquan helped Gao Tong drag Wu Hao to the side of the road to make it look like he was robbed by a passerby, then dragged the body to the wasteland," Cen Lian concluded, having grasped the sequence of events.
"Right. The case wasn't complex; the main issue was that a heavy rainstorm lasted for over a dozen hours, destroying almost the entire scene. By the time someone found Wu Hao’s body, nearly twenty-four hours had passed. Hu Shuangquan and Gao Tong had already cleaned the blood from the noodle shop. Technical resources were poor back then, and with everything combined, the case sat until now," Wang Yuanteng said as they reached the office door.
The office was brightly lit—it was time to work overtime again.