Chapter 1062: Hide-and-Seek

"The killer is still hiding at the crime scene?"

Everyone understood Liu Jinghui's words, but most people still found it hard to believe.

Liu Jinghui did not answer this question directly, only saying: "We have now discovered that there is a high probability of two killers. One of them is very likely the prop master; he is already in the interrogation room, still refusing to confess for the time being. The footprints of this other killer do not match the characteristics of the crew members, which means there was an extra person at the scene. After killing someone, if he didn't have a chance to leave, where could he be?"

"The imitation Ming Dynasty courtyard at the crime scene is very large, and the architecture is complex; it is indeed possible to hide a person," Wang Chuanxing said.

Jiang Yuan also agreed with Liu Jinghui's words. It wasn't his first time seeing a killer return to the scene, so he nodded and said: "Wang Yuxian, who is suspected of being a killer, is also a prop master; he should have a way to keep his accomplice well-hidden."

"Looking at it this way, the people who caused trouble last night... or rather, early this morning, can also be explained? If they had succeeded in causing trouble, or if a new crew had moved in, the killer hiding at the scene could have taken the opportunity to come out," Wang Chuanxing also sorted out his thoughts.

Liu Jinghui curled his lips and said: "It's even more ingenious than the design you mentioned. If a new crew moves in, the director will definitely be impatient to start filming. If they are affected by surveillance, they will definitely order it to be turned off. By then, the killer can sneak out again. Laymen won't understand what's going on at all; it can be said to be completely undetectable."

Mu Zhiyang said: "Watching the surveillance footage, you would notice a gap in time, right?"

"That depends on how the person checking the surveillance is. If there are few people, or if the person doing the work isn't serious and isn't watching at a constant speed from beginning to end, they might not necessarily realize it. Or, if this situation happens frequently, realizing it is useless. Short-term surveillance shutdowns aren't strange things. Without evidence, the image investigation police can't say anything new either." Liu Jinghui was too familiar with the details of handling cases and was even more accustomed to seeing mistakes.

The carelessness and stupidity of some case investigators can even be described as ridiculous. Some of these cases were reconstructed and summarized afterward, and even written into papers and published publicly. To use a popular expression: How big a mess have you made at work?

Police officers are human too.

To put it more seriously, not only do employees of private companies slack off, but civil servants also slack off.

Compared to believing a group of people, Liu Jinghui trusted his own reasoning more.

The motorcade turned around and headed toward the film and television city.

By the time Jiang Yuan, Liu Jinghui, and the others rushed back to the imitation Ming Dynasty courtyard of the film and television city, the police officers sent by Dai Mingsheng had already surrounded the courtyard layer by layer.

This time it was a real encirclement, unlike before, when they still had fantasies about the high walls and iron nets.

Even so, Liu Jinghui's first order upon arriving at the scene was to call Liu Wenkai to go to the surveillance room in person and get all the latest surveillance footage.

According to Deputy Detachment Leader Lin Xunlei, this surveillance system had been operating normally since the crew left, and no one should have come out of it again.

Liu Wenkai collected the surveillance footage and took a few people to watch it in reverse first. If the killer was a nimble guy and took this time to jump out of the courtyard, that would really be a problem.

Soon, Dai Mingsheng rushed over and said: "I heard from Old Lin, how are you planning to do this? A big search or something else? If too many people go in, I'm afraid the scene will be destroyed."

He already knew the case-solving mode of Jiang Yuan and the others. In the case of more than 60 suspects, whether using a video camera or directly taking footprints, it was impossible to copy all the footprints in such a large venue, especially those overlapping footprints. Existing technology could at most take pictures, and extracting footprints afterward would be meaningless.

In this way, if too many people entered the scene, it would be difficult for Jiang Yuan to continue this investigation mode later.

On the other hand, the scene was very well protected at this time, with transparent acrylic board bridges throughout, fully reflecting the financial resources of the Lanyue City Bureau. But if you want to go in and conduct a search, it's impossible for everyone to walk on a single-plank bridge, right?

Of course, one could also say that catching the second person would be solving the case, so there would be no need to preserve the scene, but this would have to be judged and decided by Jiang Yuan. Because the second person still lingering at the crime scene was Liu Jinghui's inference, and there was no solid evidence to prove it. Then, if they were to catch the person and solve the case because of this, it would be amazing courage. If they didn't catch the person, or caught them but couldn't convict them, that would be a desperate gamble.

Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui looked at each other, then said to Dai Mingsheng: "Even if the scene is destroyed, it's not a big problem. We have already surveyed what needs to be surveyed. If there is a follow-up, we will probably have to look for other clues. However, a big search is not necessary. Call the police dogs over."

"Police dogs? Okay. I'm just worried that the police dogs running around on the ground will cause more damage to the scene," Dai Mingsheng explained.

Jiang Yuan waved his hand and said: "Dog paws and human footprints are easy to distinguish, don't worry."

"Okay. I'll call the police dog detachment over now." Dai Mingsheng went out and made a loud phone call.

A while later, three police dogs arrived at the scene in a minibus.

The minibus was modified and had the same base as the minibus Jiang Yuan and the others had taken earlier. When they arrived, the total number of people and dogs that walked out was about the same. The three police dogs were two German Shepherds and one Labrador, equipped with trainers, as well as the captain and political commissar of the police dog detachment.

The three dogs were lectured for a few sentences, then immediately led into the imitation Ming Dynasty courtyard. Amidst a few barks, they began their day's work.

Mu Zhiyang was wearing a bulletproof vest and a bulletproof helmet, with a Type 79 hanging directly in front of his chest. He followed Jiang Yuan closely, looking at the dogs from afar, and said: "These police dogs aren't easy either. On such a hot day, the floor is scorched by the sun, and they still have to run around."

Wen Ming was dressed exactly the same as Mu Zhiyang, except he didn't carry a Type 79, but had a Type 92 pistol tucked in his waist, and an extra stun baton. Wen Ming listened to Mu Zhiyang's words, his lips couldn't help but move, and he said: "Police dogs aren't easy, they rest once an hour, have special people to take care of them, and don't have to worry about food and drink..."

"Then you should also take a bottle of salt soda to drink," Mu Zhiyang said, unmoved, while observing the surroundings.

"Not thirsty yet. However, we really need to maintain our state." Wen Ming's expression was quite serious at this time, and he said: "If the killer pounces out, it will be a matter of an instant, don't fail to react."

Mu Zhiyang was stunned and couldn't help but wipe his sweat: "You're stealing my lines."

Wen Ming chuckled: "I've heard everything you said, I'll say it for you."

"What you said also makes sense." Mu Zhiyang nodded, then pointed to the front and said: "Then you walk in front, do you want to bring a shield?"

"Forget it, if he really pounces out, a small shield is useless. I am the shield." Wen Ming didn't talk nonsense, pulled out his telescopic baton, and added: "You better watch me from behind."

"Don't worry," Mu Zhiyang said, gripping the handle of the Type 79 solemnly.

The two of them talked, but they also appropriately allocated the work content. Wen Ming hadn't had many opportunities to shoot, and had even less experience being shot at. Letting him hold the gun in the back, at the most dangerous moment, might instead lead to misjudgment of the situation due to nervousness.

Conversely, Wen Ming in front, facing danger directly, would have no problem subconsciously making some protective moves. The killer was also highly unlikely to be armed with a gun. In this case, even if he had a knife, the danger was controllable.

Besides Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming, several other criminal police officers spread out to protect the flanks of Jiang Yuan and Liu Jinghui. This imitation Ming Dynasty architecture was very spacious for living or filming, but it was still difficult for a large group of people to move around.

The ones truly standing beside Jiang Yuan were still Mu Zhiyang and Wen Ming.

And Jiang Yuan began to try to enter the rooms one by one.

Most of the rooms in this imitation Ming Dynasty courtyard were fake, often only having doors and windows, and at most a section of space when entering the door. Even so, the few square meters inside the door and the furniture inside were enough to hide a person.

Jiang Yuan and the others hadn't paid much attention to these small rooms before. Except for the few rooms set aside as dressing rooms, most of the small rooms had nothing to do with the crew's work, and even less to do with the victim.

But when it came to the hide-and-seek segment, the situation was reversed.

"How is it?" Dai Mingsheng coordinated the situation of various units and immediately rushed to Jiang Yuan's side.

"No discoveries for now." Jiang Yuan then asked: "How are things on the police dog side?"

"No discoveries for now either," Dai Mingsheng replied.

Mu Zhiyang couldn't help but smile: "Our progress is the same as the police dogs."

The few people nearby couldn't help but smile.

Dai Mingsheng didn't understand what was so comparable to a dog, only saying: "The three dogs have already sniffed the whole courtyard, and so far, nothing has been found."

"The dogs' progress is faster than ours?" Mu Zhiyang translated.

Dai Mingsheng said helplessly: "Under normal circumstances, in such a large space, three dogs looking for a person, there's no way they wouldn't find them. Among these three dogs, one German Shepherd is professionally trained to find people."

Jiang Yuan nodded slowly and asked again: "Have all parts of the courtyard been sniffed?"

"Yes, all sniffed once."

"Then let's focus the search on the west side." Jiang Yuan suddenly made a decision. Without waiting for Dai Mingsheng to ask, he explained: "The No. 3 room, which is the outermost in the west side courtyard, clearly has traces of reorganization, and the ground has been pried open. Other rooms also have similar situations in a few, but judging from the time, the time for Room No. 3 is the most recent, done within this week or two."

Dai Mingsheng immediately understood: "Only by creating a relatively closed space underground is it possible to avoid the sniffing of police dogs."

"I can only say that doing it underground is the easiest." As Jiang Yuan spoke, he began to move west.

Mu Zhiyang hurriedly used the walkie-talkie to contact people, and Dai Mingsheng did the same.

Soon, the area in front of Room No. 3 in the west side courtyard was surrounded by a group of police, and then someone brought construction machinery to the scene.

"Are there any footprints?" Liu Jinghui asked in a low voice, standing beside Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan shook his head slightly: "Cleaned."

"It might have been to clean the floor or something, and the footprints were cleaned up along the way," Liu Jinghui quickly analyzed a result, then added: "Looking at it this way, this place really has suspicious points. Team Leader Mu, you also need to be careful."

"If he dares to pounce out, I'll give him a burst," Mu Zhiyang's hand rested beside the submachine gun.

"One, two, three..."

Two workers shouted a slogan, and the fake blue bricks on the ground were lifted up in a large area, revealing a manhole cover underneath. ===== CHAPTER 1063 =====