Chapter 623: Everyone Has Weaknesses

A portrait cannot be used directly for facial recognition, but through technical processing, it can incorporate dynamic features and other live-body information to enhance identifiability.

This requires the portrait artist to possess exceptional artistic talent and rich dynamic memory.

And such a master, Officer Hua's team has yet to encounter.

It's not that he's ignorant, but such criminal investigation portrait artists are exceedingly rare.

As they discussed the next investigative direction, the meeting room door was pushed open from outside, and an officer hurried in.

"Live-body identification successful."

The officer walked up to Officer Xu and spoke quickly:

"We've identified the suspect's identity."

Saying this, he handed over a file.

Officer Xu took it and immediately flipped through it on the table.

Lao Si, real name Xie Wei, male, 41 years old, from Xicheng, Province S, unemployed, previously sentenced to two years in prison for theft.

After release, he lived with his parents and remained unemployed.

This dossier is detailed, including the parents' identity information as well.

The elderly couple are retired, both receive pensions, but their monthly income barely covers daily expenses.

Officer Xu quickly spotted something suspicious.

Ren Yupeng had said that Lao Si was very generous—he usually paid for meals, and even returned part of his winnings sometimes.

Yet he was an unemployed vagrant with no income source and poor family conditions.

Where did his money come from?

Without thinking, Xie Wei must have become a human trafficker after prison, and a long-term one at that.

Actually, the human trafficking trade isn't as profitable as imagined.

For example, Yu Huaying, executed in February 2025, trafficked 17 children over ten years, averaging 5,000 yuan profit per child.

That's the normal price.

The real big earners are those who turn it into an art.

For instance, organizing prostitution—trafficking women to specific venues for sex work—can yield substantial daily income.

And the earlier slavery case, exploiting intellectually disabled people as black laborers, also provides long-term profits.

Xie Wei is a low-level trafficker, doing one-off deals with low prices.

So he must keep doing it to sustain his livelihood.

After reading Xie Wei's identity dossier, Officer Xu read it again.

With the suspect's identity confirmed, apprehension becomes much easier.

Officer Xu immediately ordered a detailed investigation into Xie Wei's social connections and dispatched officers to stake out his home.

Officer Hua's team would investigate places Xie Wei frequently visited.

Two days passed in a flash.

Neither task force had found any trace of Xie Wei.

The technical division also found no registration records for Xie Wei.

Recently, Xie Wei had purchased no train tickets, nor checked into any hotels or inns.

The city's surveillance network captured no image of him—he had vanished as if from the face of the earth.

Inside the meeting room.

"This is problematic."

Officer Xu frowned deeply, his face heavy with worry; his gaze crossed the table and landed on Hua Kaiquan:

"Xie Wei is likely hiding."

"According to the school bus driver already arrested, Xie Wei told him to find a safe place to lie low and do nothing for the next year."

His tone grew heavier:

"If he could advise someone else to do this, he himself probably did the same."

Especially a trafficker skilled at disguise—he could truly hide for years.

If financially feasible, this Xie Wei could endure solitude and live quietly in a place where no one knew him.

He would absolutely do it.