Chapter 432

Qu'an County spending a lot of money to invest in surveillance, buying equipment, and setting up systems started eight years ago—it was a case of "learning from one's mistakes," and "it's not too late to mend the fold."

In other words, when they had the station bombing case 8 years ago, surveillance was sparse.

It wasn't that it wasn't installed, but it probably wasn't used much.

The surveillance inside the station was barely usable, but once you left the bus station, the area 30 meters from the exit was a pure blind spot. By comparison, surveillance in places like small shops and small supermarkets was a bit more useful. But that was also only relative.

Qiu Yue and the others had also counted on surveillance video, and it was only when they had no hope left that they turned to other directions.

Liu Liu Jinghui found a computer by himself and asked the technician to play the videos organized previously for him; naturally, there were no results.

After tossing and turning for over an hour, Liu Liu Jinghui was tired of watching, and Qiu Yue was tired of standing; only Jiang Yuan was still there, looking at the footprints without stopping.

The footprints at the scene were not only numerous but also of very poor quality.

Even for the special task force, the footprints actually collected that day—the ones lifted using the electrostatic method—only numbered in the dozens.

The remaining footprints were all in the state of being photographed for evidence. Ordinary trace examiners wouldn't look at these footprints carefully—if forced to analyze them, they would spend some time, otherwise, everyone would choose a more comfortable way of working...

Jiang Yuan wanted to do screening, but he had to identify as many footprints as possible, and this process was very difficult and tedious.

It was just that he had just attained level 5 footprint analysis, and Jiang Yuan was in the middle of the novelty, doing footprint work quite excitedly.

Liu Liu Jinghui, on the other hand, had his eyes focused, thinking and worrying at the same time.

Jiang Yuan had finally provided a new lead, but it could neither be confirmed nor excluded, making Liu Liu Jinghui feel uncomfortable all over.

Tracking a lead to the end and finally discovering it's a dead end, or failing to find the killer, that doesn't matter. But having a lead interrupted is the hardest thing for criminal police to endure.

Liu Liu Jinghui paced to the other end of the conference room, aimlessly flipping through a notebook.

Qiu Yue was sitting nearby and soon felt bored. Looking at Liu Liu Jinghui's expression, he said, "Can I say something?"

"Please do." Liu Liu Jinghui quickly sat up straight. In the police force, there is still quite a bit of respect for elders, especially the previous generation of police officers, who were basically brought up through the master-apprentice system.

"No need to be so polite." Qiu Yue sighed and said, "I see you want to follow the footprint information Jiang Yuan found to investigate further. Which aspect do you want to investigate? Actually, we did create some lists back then that weren't put into the case files, especially the less formal ones."

Liu Liu Jinghui's eyes lit up when he heard this. Indeed, he wouldn't compile various lists and materials like he was writing a report when working on a case.

The final case files submitted naturally had to be like a report, standing up to scrutiny, but during the process of solving a case, there was naturally no need to be so rigorous. And if a case couldn't be solved, the things finally submitted naturally couldn't be exhaustive.

"Did you ever create a list from the perspective of the beneficiaries?" Liu Liu Jinghui didn't ask how many lists Qiu Yue and the others had, but directly asked for what he wanted.

Qiu Yue first nodded, then recalled and said, "The beneficiary theory, right? We definitely considered it at the time, but back then we were considering it as a bombing case targeting an unspecified crowd... You all have the hard drives from back then, right? Search for the 'SYZ' folder and see if the materials inside are still there?"

"Good." Liu Liu Jinghui immediately made a call. The Qu'an Station bombing was a major case; the case files submitted when it couldn't be successfully closed back then were case files, the reports were reports, and the remaining hard drives and notes were all sealed away.

For cases like this that the provincial bureau participated in, the county bureau can usually keep them for a relatively long time.

Very quickly, the hard drive containing the "SYZ" folder was sent over along with its hard drive case.

Liu Liu Jinghui found an IT person to help copy and organize it onto his own computer, then opened it to read carefully.

The so-called beneficiary theory isn't anything new. To use the widely circulated saying: whoever benefits the most is the killer.

But if it's a social-defying case, like a bombing targeting an unspecified crowd, the beneficiary theory doesn't quite hold water.

Although the special task force at the time had discussed and argued about the possibility of a murder case, it ultimately wasn't the main direction of the investigation, so the beneficiary list was made very crudely.

Even so, the special task force from 8 years ago still organized a list of over a hundred people.

In it, there were private bus owners, shop owners and operators at the station's side entrance, competitors of the motorcycle shop, and station managers who had risen to power because of it...

The list was made very crudely, wasn't sorted, and couldn't explain who the biggest beneficiary was. Fortunately, the information of the relevant people was recorded very completely: names, ID numbers, workplaces, reasons, etc., were all clearly visible.

Liu Liu Jinghui looked at it for a while, stopped looking at the information behind it, and first screened it by age. According to the information Jiang Yuan provided later, he first pulled out the people who were around 34 years old back then and are around 42 now.

With this pull, there were only two people left in the entire list. Liu Liu Jinghui called them separately and found that their heights didn't match.

Frowning, Liu Liu Jinghui beckoned two criminal police officers over and said, "You all call the people on this list. For the women, ask for their husband's height or their ex-husband's height. For the young ones, ask for their father's; for the old ones, ask for their son's. For the men, ask for their height, their father's, their brother's, their son's height. For those in business, ask for their partner's height. Create another table for men around 1.6 meters tall."

Liu Liu Jinghui wanted to compare this table with the footprints Jiang Yuan provided, so he simply aimed at asking about height. No matter how weight, age, or appearance changes, height can never change.

The two criminal police officers didn't ask much and busily began operating.

Qiu Yue watched the gradually heating atmosphere and couldn't help but feel stable and nostalgic, but looking at Jiang Yuan's back, he still felt like he was looking at "The Emperor's New Clothes."

At this very moment, Qiu Yue felt that he had sensed his true self: a simple youth who, after years of turmoil, had not changed his original intention and still held the kindest ideals...

"Section Chief Liu, there's one here." The criminal police officer sent over a slip of paper.

"Hou Hou Tianlong." Liu Liu Jinghui glanced at it and looked toward Qiu Yue: "Any impression?"

"No, who is he?"

"8 years ago, he opened an auto repair shop, with the shop in front and the yard in back; the wife was in charge of the front, and the husband was in charge of the mechanical repair part..." Liu Liu Jinghui looked a bit more serious. Knowing mechanical repair meant the foundation for making a bomb was there.

In these few years, Qiu Yue had truly recalled too many details about this case. He frowned and thought for a while, then said, "I remember his auto repair shop was on the other side of the city, and the business itself didn't conflict with the victim's. Why was he on the list?"

"His wife was on the list. His wife was a strong woman, and she and the victim's motorcycle repair shop were agents for the same brand of motor oil. Both wanted to be the agent for Qu'an County, and the two had even met and argued in front of the oil manufacturer's people." Liu Liu Jinghui paused, stared at the computer screen, and said: "Height 1.6 meters. 8 years ago, he was exactly 34 years old. He divorced his wife four years ago and is now a relatively large motor oil agent in the county..."

As Liu Liu Jinghui read, he shouted: "Old Han, come take a look at this person. Invite him over and ask him a few questions."

"Can do." Captain Han first agreed. After looking at this person's information, he felt his brain nerves suddenly connect: "This person matches the relevant information of the suspect... I think we can investigate on the side first."

"Fine, I agree." Liu Liu Jinghui said.

For a case from 8 years ago, the validity of evidence in all aspects was gone. At this time, the police's greatest advantage lay in the fact that the enemy was exposed while they were hidden.

Having had no action for such a long time, the killer must have relaxed. Someone who had been tense for 8 years in a row should have long since developed anxiety and been sent to a mental hospital.

Therefore, a side investigation at this time was the most advantageous.