Chapter 775: Determination

"I wish you all a triumphant start!"

Lei Xin stood in the office, speaking to a group of 24 criminal police officers.

They would be heading to 12 cities to interview more than 40 suspects.

And within Qinghe City, the criminal police team would also have to interview more than 300 suspects separately. And these had already been screened: Haojue motorcycle owners who had added bulk gasoline in Qinghe City over the past three years, as well as individuals with no vehicle records.

The tire marks on the vehicle were original Haojue factory tires. Although it's possible the perpetrator changed the tires on his motorcycle, this line of thinking can be put aside for now. If a suspect cannot be screened out from these 300+ people, then consider whether to expand the scope to 3,000 people.

The 24 criminal police officers filed onto the criminal police team's bus and drove to Changyang City.

Everyone's boarding times were naturally different, but to save on travel expenses, waiting at the airport for a few hours was nothing.

Before this, another group of 36 criminal police officers had already gone to the high-speed railway station multiple times and headed to various places to investigate.

Their task was to find the vehicle owners, film the owners' gait, take footprints, and complete the interviews at the same time.

Lei Xin himself also turned and got into a small car to go to the countryside for screening.

There were only so many gas stations in Qinghe City that allowed the addition of bulk gasoline, but the people who came to refuel were distributed everywhere—some lived in the city, but more lived in counties and townships, and some lived in the surrounding areas.

It was precisely because the suspect committed crimes three times that Xu Taining was able to delineate a radius of activity for the suspect. Otherwise, the randomness of this screening would still be quite large.

Of course, if the suspect had only committed the crime once, it's estimated that Xu Taining's screening wouldn't be needed.

Jiang Yuan, on the other hand, didn't have much work. His task was to provide feedback to the screening officers at any time, mainly on two questions: are the footprints correct, and are the tire marks correct?

These were the main traces left at the scene.

Jiang Yuan had LV3 vehicle trace identification. Although he didn't use it often, it was still expert-level, and his technical level was sufficient to guarantee that, at most, difficult problems would arise, but misjudgments would not.

This was also one of the reasons Xu Taining liked working with Jiang Yuan; Jiang Yuan's technology greatly reduced the difficulty of his screening.

Like in this case, a major difficulty was that the suspect was very likely not at home.

And based on the principle of "calling for small cases, visiting for major cases," the criminal police team could only find the city where these people were located based on the registered name, ID number, and phone number, then ask the local police to cooperate, find the person, film the gait, take the footprints for the team, and then have Jiang Yuan judge whether they matched.

Without the confidence of LV3, it would naturally be very difficult to go through such a screening process for a case like this. Of course, police stations often have cases that cost hundreds of thousands or even millions, only to find that the person doesn't exist, which is exactly what Xu Taining tried his best to avoid.

The screening pressure within Qinghe City was relatively not that great. Although from Liu Jinghui's analysis, the possibility of locals committing the crime could not be ruled out, based on experience, this probability was relatively small.

However, the police still couldn't just make phone calls; they had to visit one by one, and if necessary, rely on technical investigation to determine the location.

Besides this, the most important point was that there were 2 people on the list who were overseas, and they couldn't even visit them. They could only find their homes to see if they could find the motorcycle and then check the tire marks.

Knock, knock.

The knocking was heavy and fast, disturbing people's peace of mind.

"Who are you looking for?"

Inside the door, the old lady didn't open it directly but asked while looking outside.

"Is this Li Jiansheng's home? We are police officers, doing a registration. Sorry to trouble you, please open the door." Wu Junhao outside the door showed his ID.

Li Jiansheng was an engineer working abroad, and the crime time also matched. Wu Junhao came to help, naturally heading for the possibility first.

"I don't know if you are real police or fake police... Li Jiansheng is not at home. It's just me, an old lady. If there's anything, wait until he comes back."

"It's fine if he's not at home. It's the same if you register." The police outside the door stood still.

The old lady said: "How do I know you aren't bad people?"

"You call 110 and say there are police at your door, and ask if it's real." Wu Junhao had seen plenty and didn't care much.

The old lady hesitated for a moment, but didn't actually call, and opened the door.

"What's the matter?" the old lady asked.

"Doing a registration for personnel abroad." Wu Junhao and his colleague entered the room, casually made up a reason, took out a notebook, looked around, and said: "How should I address you?"

"Liu Lan." The old lady stared at the two police officers, her expression a bit worried.

Wu Junhao didn't care, glanced at his phone, and said: "You are Li Jiansheng's mother? Do you usually live here?"

"Yes. My son usually does business outside and comes back two or three months a year. He only comes back around the New Year." The old lady's wariness eased slightly.

The police officer opposite nodded, asked a few more questions, and then asked: "What transportation do you usually use at home? Car? Motorcycle? Electric scooter? Or bicycle?"

"I just walk, take the bus." The old lady shook her head.

"What about your son?"

"About the same as me."

"No vehicle?"

"No."

At this moment, Wu Junhao's vigilance had already been raised.

Many criminals or accomplices, when talking about items related to the crime, will subconsciously deny or cover up. Just like asking a criminal suspect who killed someone with a kitchen knife if they bought the same kitchen knife, most people will give a negative answer.

Although in some people's imagination, it seems they could give an affirmative answer first and then explain the irrelevance of the two, in reality, very few people dare to do so. Because the latter step, explaining the irrelevance of the two, is very difficult to explain clearly.

In comparison, a direct denial is much simpler. In fact, denying the facts is exactly the first reaction many people have when facing fear.

Wu Junhao stared at the old lady and said seriously: "Ms. Liu, we police have records. Think about it carefully."

Liu Lan was a bit frightened, so she really thought about it carefully for a while, and then whispered: "My family really didn't buy a car. My son works abroad; he has no use for a car. By the way, my son once bought a BMW from abroad, and after shipping it back to the country, he sold it. Are you looking for this car?"

Wu Junhao waved his hand and said: "Ms. Liu, our records show that two years ago, your son had a refueling record, and at that time, it was to refuel a motorcycle..."

Liu Lan thought for a while and said cautiously: "Could it be a borrowed car? When he comes back from abroad, he often borrows his uncle's motorcycle to drive."

"What is his uncle's name, and where does he live?" Wu Junhao asked a string of questions.

Xu Taining had already explained that the source of the motorcycle was unclear; the domestic motorcycle market was originally very chaotic, and some people could even equip a motorcycle themselves using purely bulk parts.

However, the refueling channels were limited, and ordinary criminal suspects wouldn't notice this degree.

Liu Lan was even less prepared, and under Wu Junhao's questioning, she obediently told him the information.

Wu Junhao notified the command center while leading his people back.

Li Jiansheng's uncle lived in the countryside, so the Qinghe City Criminal Police Team had to send people over again, while also contacting the local police station for assistance.

Wu Junhao waited for nearly two hours before following Jiang Yuan to get the first-hand news.

"Tire marks, determined not to be the same." Jiang Yuan carefully looked at the photos sent from the front and gave a definitive answer.

Wu Junhao was stunned: "You said it wrong, right? Determined to be the same?"

"Not the same," Jiang Yuan said decisively: "At least not this pair of tires." ===== CHAPTER 776 =====