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Chapter 11 Tracking
Ai Liang tampered with the water pipes, so that Wang Zi's house didn't have water even in the middle of the night, to prevent him from continuing to burn the gloves and using the sewer to burn them into ashes and flush them away.

Thanks to him, the Wang family ate out and took a bath tonight.

Since gloves are made of cotton, throwing them directly into a public restroom could easily cause a blockage, and there are surveillance cameras nearby, so it's better to find another place to dispose of the gloves.

Wang Zi tiptoed to the living room, pressed his head against his parents' bedroom door, and only after hearing their even breathing did he turn on the small lamp by the door, change into his sneakers, and gently open the security door to leave.

He didn't dare to go through the main gate of the residential area, and clumsily climbed out through the side railing.

Perhaps because he was doing something bad, Wang Zi would look back every hundred or two meters, as if someone was following him.

They kept turning back every few steps, and even startled a homeless man who was sleeping on a bench. To be precise, the two of them startled each other.

After dawdling for nearly two hours, he finally arrived at a scrap metal recycling station.

He was smart enough not to just throw the gloves away near his home, but instead ran here.

If the police suspect him, they will definitely check the surrounding surveillance footage and search the trash cans.

Even though the garbage cans are emptied by garbage trucks every morning, the police can still trace the garbage dump back to its source.

Moreover, to prevent residents from littering, most trash cans are equipped with surveillance cameras. His furtive act of taking a black plastic bag out of his pocket and throwing it in was clearly a way of telling the police that he had something going on.

In contrast, although the recycling station is not big, it is often visited by scavengers. He only needs to throw his gloves there, and they will be used by scavengers the next morning. It is reasonable for scavengers to wear gloves, right?
Who would have thought that those gloves would be the murder weapon?

Another point is that the gloves were secretly taken from his own supermarket warehouse, and there was no record of them being purchased. This makes it even more difficult to identify the murderer by screening people who recently bought gloves.

Putting all that aside, it's uncertain whether Glasses can be cleared of suspicion. Who knows, the detectives might just convict him because they can't find any other suspects.

Thinking of this, Wang Zi felt much more at ease. After throwing the garbage bag through the iron gate, he left.

What Wang Zi didn't know was that Glasses wasn't actually at school last night; the police had already identified him through Gao Jiajia's connections.

After Wang Zi left, Ai Liang walked to the entrance of the waste recycling center, but he didn't go in to pick up the bag.

All of Wang Zi's counter-surveillance abilities come from the details in that novel. Apart from the details described in the book, he's just an impulsive idiot who commits crimes.

Didn't you ever think about leaving fingerprints on the trash bag?

They didn't even bother to wipe it with their clothes before throwing it away.

Ai Liang shook her head as she watched his departing figure.

Based on Ai Liang's previous assessment, the perpetrator knew to wear gloves; knew to cut off the power to the surveillance system; and knew to direct the chain of evidence, including the tools used in the crime, to a scavenger on campus.

Ai Liang was initially worried that Wang Zi was the kind of high-IQ criminal who would take the opportunity to destroy evidence, making it impossible for the police to convict him even if they knew he was the murderer.

After meeting Wang Zi and reading his brain, they discovered that he was just an ordinary teenager, and all those details came from the novel.

Thinking about this, Ai Liang didn't care much anymore. In Ai Liang's opinion, as long as the police used a little interrogation, they could make him confess. He had underestimated the police by telling Xia Qinian that they would catch the murderer within a week. Since it was an acquaintance's crime, there were clues to follow. At most, he would be caught by the end of this weekend.

Even so, Ai Liang did not leave; he planned to stay there for the night.

The only surveillance cameras in the recycling station are in the office and warehouse areas, so it wouldn't matter if Wang Zi climbed over the wall. Even a fool can have a moment of inspiration, but he was worried that if Wang Zi realized what was happening, he might bring a lighter and burn the gloves right there, which would be bad news.

It's the middle of the night, and most of the criminal police are resting. Calling the police just because someone went to a recycling station to throw away a bag of trash in the middle of the night seems like making a mountain out of a molehill.

After all, no one else knew that the bag contained tools for committing the crime, and Ai Liang had no evidence to prove it, so she decided to wait until dawn to discuss it further.

Ai Liang took out his phone, which had been on standby all day yesterday and was almost out of power. He found a phone charging station nearby, scanned the code to pay, and placed his phone on the charging pad.

Too lazy to pick a spot, I simply sat on a chair near the charging station and quietly waited for the morning to arrive.

As dawn broke, the criminal investigation team...

"I brought you breakfast. Have some tea to perk you up first."

"Thank you."

"That's what Officer Wang, who brought Xia Qinian to the criminal investigation team yesterday, said without even looking up."

"They have to check the surveillance footage first thing in the morning. The technical department really has a tough job."

Another detective sighed, put the steamed buns on the table, and stood behind Officer Wang with a cup of tea in his hand.

“It’s not early morning. I haven’t slept all night. Captain Shi gave me a strict order: he must see the relevant video of the suspect when he comes to the station today.”

Officer Wang's eyes were bloodshot, and his right hand was manipulating the mouse to zoom in and out on certain details of the video.

"Who told you to bring Xia Qinian in yesterday? Of all people, you just happened to run into Captain Shi. If I don't deal with you, who will I deal with?"

Hearing the gloating voices behind him, Officer Wang's face fell, and he had no words to express his suffering.

"Alright, what key evidence did Captain Shi find yesterday? It's impossible for him to let you check the surveillance footage when there are no clues at all, right?" His colleague, who was standing behind him, sat down next to him.

"Old Zhang extracted two kinds of textiles, red and white, from the victim's fingernails. One matched the gloves the perpetrator was wearing, while the other could only be inferred to be some kind of ornament worn on the hand. The victim may have grabbed the murderer during the struggle, but perhaps the grip was too weak or there was no skin tissue cell extracted through the clothing."

Officer Wang left the computer, put two drops of eye drops in his eyes, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes to rest.

"On such a hot day, most students take off their school uniforms, so it's not hard to find someone with bare arms, right?"

"It's easy to find, but looking at nearly a thousand students and teachers one by one is almost blinding. Why don't you come and help? With two more people, it would only take a few hours to get it done."

His colleague looked at Officer Wang with disdain, as if he were a jinx: "Come on, who would dare to help you at this time? That would be openly going against Captain Shi. You can finish this job by yourself."

"The entire technical department has been dragged down by you. I heard that Captain Shi gave everyone a good scolding yesterday. Luckily, I took the day off yesterday."

The colleague was extremely relieved that he had escaped a disaster by taking leave, and was now filled with a sense of superiority, completely unaware that Officer Wang next to him was biting his lip as if he was trying his best to endure something.

"Oh? So you feel you're very lucky?"

"Of course! I'm known as Lucky Star."

A colleague, holding a teacup and about to mock Officer Wang, the unlucky fellow, suddenly realized that the voice was coming from behind him, and that the voice sounded somewhat familiar.

He jumped up from his chair and stood at attention.

"Gao Bin, you seem to have a lot of free time. You're here early in the morning, holding a teacup and sipping tea. I thought some leader had come to inspect the place."

A cold voice came from behind, startling Gao Bin so much that he broke out in a cold sweat and didn't even dare to turn around. Officer Wang next to him tried his best to suppress his laughter.

"Wang Xun, are you done with the comparison?"

Compared to Captain Gao Binshi, who had just returned, he was more concerned about the results of the surveillance comparison here.

"Yes! The target has been identified based on the victim's interpersonal relationships!"

Officer Wang immediately stopped laughing and answered loudly.

"That's it."

Buzz, buzz.

The vibration of the phone interrupted Captain Shi's words.

He frowned, picked up his phone, saw Xia Qinian's name, and hung up without thinking.

Buzz, buzz.

"Take your steamed buns out to eat, so you don't make the whole house smell."

Wang Xun and Gao Bin were immediately relieved and slipped out with the steamed buns in hand.

After sending the two away, Captain Shi picked up his phone again, this time to an unfamiliar number.

"I am Shi Feng, who is this?"

"Captain Shi, this is Ai Liang. I think I've found the gloves used in the crime. Could you please bring some men over?"

The scene returns to the waste recycling station.

Unlike the other scavengers around her dressed in tattered, dirty clothes, Ai Liang stood out conspicuously at the entrance of the recycling station.

His neat and clean clothes, and his handsome face, made him stand out from the other scavengers around him.

The people around him kept their distance from Ai Liang with wary eyes, fearing that he was the kind of pervert who would take pleasure in bullying scavengers.

An elderly, hunchbacked man carrying a woven bag walked over and, keeping a distance of two or three meters, asked, "Young man, why are you here so early in the morning instead of going to school?"

"Looking for something."

Ai Liang looked at the hunchbacked old man, his eyes narrowing slightly. He felt that the man looked somewhat familiar.

"This is a recycling center, full of junk. What good stuff could you possibly find here? Are you here to conduct some kind of happiness survey again? Why are you students looking for us old folks instead of those big bosses? Get out of here, we can't read a word, don't get in our way while we're picking things up."

The hunchbacked old man noticed Ai Liang's gaze and assumed he was being looked down upon, so he immediately gave a rather unfriendly, wicked smile that looked extremely lewd.

Ai Liang didn't speak. After seeing that lewd smile, he remembered who this person was. This lewd old man was the beggar who harassed Gao Jiajia in Wang Zi's memory.

But remembering it wouldn't do any good, because he was looking at the old man with narrowed eyes, and the scavengers around them quietly gathered together, as if they were worried that Ai Liang would get angry and make a move.

Ai Liang didn't intend to get entangled with them, but they seemed determined to chase her away.

Just then, the voice of the person wearing glasses suddenly came.

"Ai Liang, what are you doing here?"

Looking in the direction of the sound, a group of scavengers burst into laughter.

"Xiao Xu!"

"It's Zhihai back!"

"Were you alright when the police took you away yesterday?"

"That's right. If anything happens, just tell us. Our lives may not be worth much, but we can't let them take the blame!"

The scavengers, who were initially hostile to Ai Liang, regardless of age or gender, gathered around him and bombarded him with questions.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. Someone died at the school where I collect recyclables. They just asked me to go there to cooperate with the investigation."

Xu Zhihai scratched the back of his head and smiled憨厚ly at everyone.

"Hmph! None of them are any good! They never give us any good opportunities, but when something bad happens, they immediately think of us!" an elderly woman said sarcastically.

"Grandma Liu, that's not how it is. Someone used the tattered rope I picked up to kill someone, so they asked me to go and investigate. I'm back safe and sound, aren't I?"

Xu Zhihai held the old lady's hand and patiently explained to her.

"Luckily you didn't have time to go back yesterday because you were helping me sort through the cardboard, otherwise they would definitely have blamed you for this!"

"No, Grandma Liu, we must believe that the police did the right thing by inviting me over. Don't be misled by those with ulterior motives. They even treated me to a meal at the criminal investigation team yesterday, and it was all meat dishes."

Xu Zhihai patiently explained to those around him, so that they would not have any unnecessary misunderstandings.

"Zhihai, do you know that kid?"

The hunchbacked old man who had initially struck up a conversation with Ai Liang seemed to have found his pillar of support and pointed at Ai Liang without any politeness, asking her a question.

"Get to know him, he's the student I told you about who brings me pancakes every day."

Xu Zhihai quickly spoke up to defuse the hostility the crowd had towards Ai Liang.

Upon hearing this, the people looked at Ai Liang with less wariness and more approval.

These days, there are plenty of people willing to buy cakes for people like them, but to consistently buy them for two years is something they've only ever heard of from Xu Zhihai.

"Hey, it turns out we're all acquaintances. Young man, I heard from Zhihai that you really enjoy reading? If I ever find a book, I'll have Zhihai deliver it to you."

Grandma Liu was the first to speak up and try to build a closer relationship.

"Remember to pick up the intact ones, don't give away the broken and tattered ones."

A disheveled middle-aged man spoke up to offer a reminder.

Grandma Liu glared at him, annoyed.

Just as everyone was chatting around Xu Zhihai, the owner of the scrap metal recycling station arrived.

"Make way, make way! Don't crowd together, are you even letting people walk?"

A sharp and arrogant voice pierced through the crowd.

Once everyone had positioned themselves on either side to create a path, the person who had spoken nodded in satisfaction and walked through the middle as if on an imperial tour.

The familiar middle parting, the familiar mustache, and the black leather bag.

The person who came was none other than Old Sun, whom Ai Liang had met at the breakfast shop before.

He was stunned when he saw Ai Liang, and subconsciously touched his pocket, only to breathe a sigh of relief when he found his phone was still there.

(End of this chapter)