Chapter 303: Surveillance

Shen Yaowei, with his new partner, enlisted a familiar auxiliary police officer from the Public Security Detachment and followed Jiang Yuan's route, systematically searching every alleyway for small inns, homestays, farm stays, and rental apartments.

Upon closer inspection, the number of accommodation options near a single village was surprisingly high. In cities, staying at hotels or homestays required strict registration, but in rural towns, such registration was merely superficial.

Fortunately, for their own safety—and to prevent front desk staff from secretly selling rooms—owners now routinely installed surveillance cameras, making it easier to track people down.

Shen Yaowei primarily followed the investigation led by the borrowed auxiliary officer, Wang Zhibing.

Contrary to public perception, auxiliary police had become an indispensable part of modern law enforcement, especially at the grassroots level, where their positions had grown scarce. Thirty candidates competing for one auxiliary post was once a story; now it was routine.

Many auxiliary officers had served for over a decade or even two decades, and it now seemed likely many would serve until retirement.

Anyone who stayed long enough in any position naturally accumulated experience and insight. The slightly smarter ones mastered unique techniques.

The auxiliary officer Shen Yaowei had brought on, Wang Zhibing, knew every street and every rental apartment or small inn in his assigned area inside and out.

That was a skill in itself—not just familiarity with the streets, but also considerable charm; otherwise, his knowledge would be useless, since keeping tabs on those small inns and rentals required constant personal contact.

"Boss, have you seen this person?" The three, in plain clothes, entered a homestay, summoned the owner, and launched into a barrage of questions.

The questioning was mostly handled by Auxiliary Officer Wang Zhibing—he knew these owners well: the compliant ones were compliant, the uncooperative ones were thoroughly uncooperative—so he requested surveillance footage and reviewed it for the time of the incident.

If the surveillance footage was too short, he called out several staff members for questioning and left his business card. It took nearly half an hour to question one homestay.

Outside, Shen Yaowei sighed: "Our efficiency is way too slow."

"Not slow at all. That place was tricky. If there's surveillance footage, a guest log, or payment records, we can finish checking those in ten minutes. This kind of homestay gets hardly any guests in a whole day." Wang Zhibing was intimately familiar with such investigations.

Shen Yaowei frowned: "With so many homestays, small inns, and second-hand rental apartments, how many days will this take?"

"You don't think we're supposed to check them all ourselves, do you?" Wang Zhibing chuckled, but stopped when he saw Shen Yaowei's serious expression.

Shen Yaowei asked: "No?" Wang Zhibing replied: "Absolutely not."

"Then let's split up—three teams, triple the speed. How many days to finish?"

"Comrade Shen, if we split up, anything you find can't be used as evidence—it breaks the chain of custody. At best, it's a lead. But this is a homicide, and the prosecution will demand thorough questioning. You won't get credit—you'll get scolded."

Shen Yaowei paused, stunned. He wasn't unreasonable: "I hadn't thought of that."

"Exactly. This kind of investigation is meant for three people. In a normal homicide case, you'd assign five. If it's a critical lead with a wide scope, you'd send dozens, even hundreds."

Wang Zhibing had participated in few major cases; in his experience, a hundred personnel was the upper limit.

Of course, that depended on location—in places like Beijing, Shanghai, or Guangzhou, a homicide could trigger an immediate mobilization of thousands.

So the choice of location for a murder was also crucial. Ancient bandits preferred areas where three counties met, two prefectures bordered, or nine provinces converged—all supported by criminology. Modern society has changed, but generally speaking, choosing... yes, offers higher safety and lower difficulty.

Shen Yaowei now understood the implication.

He said: "So this lead I'm following... it's just a general Paicha lead?"

"You... didn't know?" Wang Zhibing stared at Shen Yaowei.

Shen Yaowei sighed: "I've never worked on a cold case before."

More accurately, he had never actually entered the investigative phase of a cold case. In past cold case task forces, once a lead was found, the entire detachment mobilized—even if Yu Wenshu wasn't leading, he'd still personally oversee it.

In especially high-profile cold cases, even deputy directors or the director themselves took charge.

In such high-level task forces, Shen Yaowei's minor connections meant nothing, and no one would allow him to pursue a single lead alone—what if he scared off the suspect?

Scaring off the suspect was the least of it. Most cold cases had only one lead, and even white shirts would be desperate to sniff it out—there was no room for Shen Yaowei.

Only in Jiang Yuan's cold case unit was this different: first, Jiang Yuan's rank was too low and his resources too limited—Yu Wenshu had brought him in precisely for this cost-effectiveness.

Second, Jiang Yuan solved cases too quickly—leaders hadn't even had time to meet and assign tasks before a cold case was already solved.

Later, Jiang Yuan's pace far outstripped the leaders' interest. Plus, he always used detachment-level resources, so there was no need for mass mobilization.

From this perspective, Shen Yaowei had already been given unprecedented responsibility.

"So what now? Keep investigating?" Shen Yaowei asked his partner—a rare question.

His partner replied: "If we go back and ask for more people to check this lead, can we even command them?"

Shen Yaowei had self-awareness: "No way. Even if they're sent, they won't listen to us."

"Then there you go. Work hard, and you get a standalone lead. Don't work hard, and go back to your office."

"Alright... let's keep going." Shen Yaowei finally understood.

His partner wasn't surprised: "At least Jiang Yuan's decent—he doesn't worry we won't work." Shen Yaowei agreed bitterly: "Didn't expect county people to be this ruthless."

"The worst part is Jiang Yuan throws us bones—leftover leads. In other cold case units, people fight over these scraps."

"What you just said..." Shen Yaowei had no rebuttal. After thinking it over, it was true. Even Auxiliary Officer Wang Zhibing was curious: "I've been wondering—what other leads does he have?"

"Comrade Jiang, we've reviewed all surveillance footage on major roads and found no trace of the victim."

Miao Liyuan, who had volunteered to check surveillance footage at the Image Investigation Detachment, delivered the conclusion Jiang Yuan had been waiting for—after a day.

But there was no result.

Jiang Yuan frowned slightly: "The victim never used the main roads?"

"We've reviewed all footage from April 17 to 22, especially April 17—watched it multiple times. No sign of the victim." Miao Liyuan was equally disappointed.

If they could find the victim, his companion—even if not the killer—would provide massive information.

"Then we'll have to expand the search range," Jiang Yuan said after a few seconds of thought. Miao Liyuan replied: "I checked thoroughly."

Jiang Yuan was firm: "I'm not saying you didn't check carefully. But since we didn't find him, they likely took another route—or just happened to avoid cameras. Expand the search. If we still can't find him, we'll reassess."

Tang Jia, in the office, overheard and interjected: "Why assume they accidentally avoided cameras? Why not deliberately?"

"Based on the body's condition, I lean toward accidental death from alcohol intoxication—the victim likely choked on vomit." Jiang Yuan added: "There's no motive for murder."

"Isn't being caught by a 'chicken girl' motive enough?"

"The victim was physically strong, showed no signs of struggle... and assault doesn't require murder. A strong man might commit indecent assault, but not murder." Jiang Yuan paused: "I largely agree with the autopsy conclusion. If it was accidental death, the killer had no reason to avoid cameras when leaving."

Miao Liyuan was convinced and strained his mind. Jiang Yuan didn't rush him.

After a while, Miao Liyuan murmured: "Could they have ridden a motorcycle down side roads?" Jiang Yuan looked at him.

Miao Liyuan continued: "Locals use motorcycles a lot. Maybe they wore helmets—locals rarely do, but some motorcycles avoid main roads and cut through alleys, possibly bypassing cameras entirely."

Jiang Yuan said: "Possible. How do we check for that?"

"We'd have to physically inspect every road—one by one. Some might yield results, others won't."

"Fine. I'll report to Comrade Yu." Jiang Yuan pulled out his phone.

Miao Liyuan suddenly lost confidence: "But we might not find anything."

"Search as thoroughly as possible—especially the hours after the victim left home. Don't worry about resources." Jiang Yuan spoke with certainty.

The original task force had spent massive manpower on the investigation, but focused only locally, assuming the first crime scene was nearby and the time of death was the day the victim disappeared. Naturally, they hadn't devoted much effort to exit routes or video footage.

Jiang Yuan still held high expectations for surveillance.

The surveillance system around Changyang City was relatively complete. If the victim or killer hadn't deliberately avoided cameras, the odds of being captured were high.

Even if extensive efforts yielded no results, it could still prove something indirectly. Besides, Shen Yaowei's and Miao Liyuan's routes weren't the only ones.

The Trace Evidence Lab was also conducting a new round of testing, as Jiang Yuan had requested.