Chapter 160

Three o'clock in the morning.

The wind was blowing outside the police station, passing through the large pine trees and small shrubs, howling as if a hundred ghosts were knocking on the door.

But the Criminal Police Team wasn't sleeping today; the lights were blazing as if they were keeping a vigil, and the wind would quickly disperse as soon as it reached the courtyard.

Fourth floor.

The lights in the forensic office were also on, the door was open, and no one was there.

Wu Jun had gone to help out in the cafeteria downstairs, while Jiang Yuan was squatting in the imaging office, his eyes staring until they were about to flash red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple.

There are only a few hotels in Ningtai County, but the amount of surveillance footage brought back is truly substantial.

Unlike some places where surveillance footage is often perfunctory, the hotel's surveillance is multi-angled. There might be two cameras pointed at a single front desk; it feels like you've watched it, but you can't afford not to.

Jiang Yuan and several other technicians were drinking goji berry tea and staring at the screens; soon, they didn't even have the mood to chat.

Now that it is judged that the criminal suspect is a debt collector, it means he is very likely an outsider, and the probability of him leaving right after arriving is high.

Especially after seeing someone die, the possibility of leaving directly is very high.

Therefore, to minimize the difficulty of the manhunt, the sooner the suspect is identified, the better.

Of course, this is based on the premise that the suspect can be found.

At this moment, Jiang Yuan and several technicians had multiple forms in front of them, containing the time slots of cash deposits extracted from the bills.

Naturally, everyone first headed toward these time slots to look for people.

However, the imagined single male of medium build, aged between 45 and 49, perhaps wearing "KPMG" brand sneakers, did not appear in these time slots.

For several slightly suspicious targets, later on, even targets in pairs or groups of three, as long as their age and build matched, criminal police went to follow up and inquire.

Hotel stays nowadays require ID cards for check-in, and mobile phone numbers must also be left. With this foundation, following up and inquiring about guests staying at the hotel is not a very difficult task.

However, no exciting news came back.

Jiang Yuan himself became anxious from watching.

"Rest for a while. If it really doesn't work, think of other ways." Wu Junhao brought in a tray of meat sandwiches and, after watching from behind for a while, began to call everyone to eat a late-night snack.

"Many thanks, Captain Wu." Jiang Yuan was also hungry, so he took a meat sandwich and began to wolf it down.

"There's plenty of bread; eat as many as you want. There will be mutton soup in a while." Wu Junhao was even more generous this time since he used public funds to buy the bread.

While speaking, two young men pushed a small cart in, with a stainless steel bucket on it, filled to the brim with mutton soup.

"The cafeteria's meal delivery equipment is quite complete." Jiang Yuan praised after seeing it.

"The cafeteria usually has to deliver food to the prisoners." Wu Junhao tapped the bucket wall with the ladle he was using to scoop the soup, making a crisp sound, which instantly gave people a sense of iron doors and iron windows.

Jiang Yuan laughed: "Used by prisoners during the day, used by police at night. Efficiency maxed out."

"That was in the past. When I was an apprentice, catching people was so satisfying. Unlike now, watching surveillance videos for half the night and finding nothing." Wu Junhao was dissatisfied.

He had been both a bodyguard and a nanny, and the result was that he hadn't waited for anything at all; he was indeed getting a bit impatient.

However, his mood was only unstable for a moment before he immediately began to apologize: "I was just talking nonsense. Sometimes catching people requires a bit of luck. Maybe this person didn't stay in a hotel at all."

As he spoke, Wu Junhao had a flash of inspiration and said: "Could this person have gone somewhere for prostitution? Finding a brothel or a place that offers overnight stays..."

"Captain Liu has already gone to look." A criminal policeman nearby reminded him.

Wu Junhao sighed with regret: "Old Liu is still the one with rich experience!"

Jiang Yuan was too embarrassed to laugh, eating a bite of meat sandwich and a bite of mutton soup.

At three o'clock in the morning, fast carbs and fats are the absolute kings.

No Michelin star, no intangible cultural heritage successor can beat a barbecue stall at three in the morning.

Or, to put it another way, why do some people say that the food at a barbecue stall tastes better than anywhere else? That's because the body is cheering for fast carbs and fats.

If you eat the same food at noon, it won't be as fragrant.

This scientific experiment supports repeated trials to verify it.

Jiang Yuan was also starving; watching videos is quite physically demanding.

After wolfing down a meat sandwich, Jiang Yuan took the time to pull the progress bar, preparing to watch the surveillance while eating bread.

They had already watched the time slots in the record column two or three times.

Jiang Yuan readjusted this time, setting the time to the day of the incident, starting from the afternoon, and put it in the lobby of the Crown Plaza Hotel, the largest in Ningtai County, then played it at double speed.

Watching like this, he was actually still staring at the shoes.

The previously determined strategy was to follow the flow of money and look for guests who used cash to book rooms.

In this era, guests who still use cash transactions are naturally very few. If their age, build, and the like match, they are listed as suspects for further screening.

But after screening and screening, there wasn't even a single person left on the current suspect list.

Searching a third or fourth time wouldn't actually lead to a qualitative change.

Everyone's judgment of the criminal suspect might be fundamentally wrong from the start. Perhaps the other party didn't need to stay in a hotel, perhaps they left Ningtai County directly, perhaps they didn't use cash to stay at the hotel...

Any possibility exists, but deep down, Jiang Yuan believes that the criminal suspect will pursue a more comfortable lifestyle.

Because a criminal suspect who returns to the crime scene must be arrogant and conceited at heart.

He even dared to return to the crime scene and even dared to watch Jiang Yuan wipe evidence for such a long time; would he leave Ningtai County overnight?

Thinking this, Jiang Yuan took a sip of mutton soup and directly fast-forwarded the progress bar to the evening.

If the guess is correct, during that afternoon period, the criminal suspect was watching Jiang Yuan mop the floor.

Therefore, if he wanted to stay at a hotel, he could only come to stay at night.

Theoretically, he wouldn't change his clothes either.

Because taking away and disposing of the clothes worn at the crime scene is safer and more arrogant.

Jiang Yuan tried to guess the other party's thoughts, chewing on the meat sandwich, when a pair of gray and white sneakers appeared in the crowd in the video.

Jiang Yuan didn't even see the person's face in the video, but he recognized those shoes at a glance without needing to fix or zoom in.

In such a short time since joining the police force, Jiang Yuan had already received one commendation, one second-class merit, and now another merit award... it was truly hard not to envy him.

A pair of unrefined shoes.

An unrefined naming method, an unrefined aesthetic design...

For the past few days, what has been constantly hanging in Jiang Yuan's mind is this pair of shoes, and now seeing them again—

Jiang Yuan dropped the meat sandwich in his hand, pressed pause first, and then put the video into normal mode to watch.

Others noticed Jiang Yuan's movements and also gathered around.

"A tour group? That's right, tour groups register as a group." In the imaging office, Gao Jiansheng, who was watching the video with Jiang Yuan, slapped his thigh, both excited and in pain.

"This person. Height, weight, age, all match. Looks like he's single. He's wearing KPMG on his feet, and his clothes and pants were also bought at that discount store." Jiang Yuan pointed out the criminal suspect in the video.

This is an ordinary-looking middle-aged man. His face looks a bit old-fashioned, small eyes, small mouth, short hair; at first glance, he looks like a security guard uncle from an old residential area who has finished his shift, changed his clothes, and is heading home.

His appearance looks quite calm. After entering the hotel lobby with the tour group, he handed his ID card to the tour guide, stood in the crowd listening to everyone talk, and even spoke once in between.

"He came all the way with the tour group." When Wu Junhao said this, he felt a chill down his spine. This was an entry and exit method that no one had expected. If Jiang Yuan hadn't found the other party's shoes, it would have been impossible to identify the person at all.

"This is the video from the day of the incident. The tour group should have already left Ningtai County." Wu Jun reminded in a deep voice.

Ningtai County is not a tourist city; it is mainly used as a transit point during travel. Some tour groups still play in Changyang City during the day and then take the group members to Ningtai County at night to stay, in order to save on the huge accommodation price difference between the two places.

For this reason, Ningtai County has also developed several artificial and semi-artificial attractions, occasionally gaining the favor of some tour groups.

But no matter how good the service is, no tour group will stay in Ningtai County for two days.

They must have left the next day, and by the third day, who knows where they went to play.

"Jiang Yuan, you call Captain Huang. Everyone else, secure the evidence, pull out the suspect's ID card, and check the itinerary of this tour group..." Wu Junhao pointed at one person and gave an order, allowing the imaging office to quickly enter a working state.