Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

Meanwhile, the team responsible for interviewing residents also reported back. The team members visited 12 residential areas and more than 20 shops within a 500-meter radius of the crime scene, and interviewed nearly 50 people. Among them, Mr. Wang, a resident of a community near Binhe West Road, provided an important clue: "Around 11 p.m. the night before last, when I got up to use the bathroom, I saw a green taxi parked on the side of the road downstairs through the window. It looked like someone got out of the car, but I couldn't see his face clearly. I only saw that it was a man, quite tall, wearing dark clothes, carrying a bag, and he walked south after getting out of the car."

Grandpa Wang's description largely matched the features of the man seen in the surveillance footage, further confirming the man's strong suspicion of committing the crime. Wang Shuai immediately instructed his team to take Grandpa Wang to the Criminal Investigation Detachment for a detailed statement, while also ordering the outreach team to expand their search area, focusing on residents around the intersection of Wanghe South Road and Xingfu Street to see if they had seen a man with those features.

At 4:30 PM, Wang Shuai's team had retrieved footage from 56 surveillance cameras within a 3-kilometer radius of the intersection of Wanghe South Road and Xingfu Street. The team members divided into several groups and continued to review the footage frame by frame. Wang Shuai focused on reviewing the surveillance footage around the intersection of Wanghe South Road and Xingfu Street, where the man disappeared. He discovered that to the south of the intersection was a narrow alley with old residential areas on both sides, where no surveillance equipment was installed; to the west was a demolition area, also without surveillance coverage; to the east was the main road of Wanghe South Road, which had surveillance cameras installed by the traffic police; and to the north was Binhe West Road, which connected to the crime scene.

"The man walked south into the alley from the intersection of Wanghe South Road and Xingfu Street. There were no security cameras in the alley, so we could only check the footage from the alley's exit to see if he came out from there," Wang Shuai said. He then immediately instructed his team to retrieve the security footage from the southern exit of the alley. The team acted quickly, retrieving the footage from the southern exit and beginning to review it frame by frame.

"Team Leader Wang, we found him! At 11:55 PM the night before last, the man came out of the south end of this alley!" Team member Xiao Zhang shouted excitedly at 5:10 PM. Surveillance footage showed that after emerging from the alley, the man looked around before walking east along Xingfu Street. Wang Shuai immediately instructed his team to retrieve surveillance footage from all the intersections extending eastward along Xingfu Street to continue tracking the man's movements.

Surveillance footage showed the man walking east along Xingfu Street for about 200 meters, then turning north onto Changsheng Road at the intersection of Xingfu Street and Changsheng Road. Changsheng Road is a commercial street with many shops and a large supermarket nearby, and its surveillance coverage is relatively dense. The team immediately retrieved surveillance footage along Changsheng Road and closely tracked the man's movements.

"After entering Changsheng Road, the man went into a 24-hour convenience store," said team member Xiao Li. Surveillance footage shows that at 12:05 AM the night before last, the man entered the convenience store, lingered in front of the shelves for about five minutes, then took a bottle of mineral water and a pack of cigarettes to the cashier to pay via WeChat. Because the convenience store's surveillance camera had a good angle, although the man was wearing a baseball cap and had his head down, his profile was still clearly visible, revealing a noticeable scar on his left cheek.

"Great! We finally got his profile image!" Wang Shuai exclaimed excitedly. He immediately instructed his team to print out the screenshot of the man's profile and send it to the technical department for facial recognition. At the same time, he asked his team to contact the convenience store owner to learn more about the man. The team quickly contacted the convenience store owner, who recalled, "I vaguely remember this man. He came to buy something around midnight the night before last. He was wearing a baseball cap, didn't talk much, paid, and left in a hurry without doing anything unusual."

Continuing to review the surveillance footage, the video showed the man leaving the convenience store and walking north along Changsheng Road. Upon reaching the intersection of Changsheng Road and Binhe East Road, he turned west onto Binhe East Road. Wang Shuai immediately retrieved surveillance footage along Binhe East Road; however, when the man reached the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street, he disappeared from the camera's view again. "This is a blind spot for the surveillance cameras!" team member Xiao Zhang said helplessly.

Wang Shuai immediately checked the map of the area and found that west of the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street was an urban village with narrow, intricate roads and no surveillance coverage; to the east was the Chengbei District Sports Park, which only had surveillance cameras at the entrance, with no cameras inside. "Immediately retrieve the surveillance footage from the entrances of the urban village and the sports park, and at the same time, arrange for team members to conduct on-site investigations in the area, questioning nearby residents and park security guards to find out where the man went," Wang Shuai ordered.

The team quickly split into two groups: one went to the urban village and sports park to conduct on-site investigations, while the other continued to review surveillance footage. However, the team conducting on-site investigations spent nearly two hours visiting the urban village and sports park, interviewing dozens of residents and security guards, but none of them had seen anyone with the man's characteristics. The team reviewing surveillance footage also checked the entrances to the urban village and sports park, but by 2 a.m. yesterday, they still hadn't found the man.

"The man has a strong sense of counter-surveillance, deliberately choosing to walk in blind spots of surveillance cameras, which clearly indicates that he came prepared," Wang Shuai analyzed. "After disappearing from the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street, he is likely either hiding in an urban village, leaving through another exit of the sports park, or escaping the area by other means of transportation." Subsequently, Wang Shuai immediately arranged for his team to retrieve taxi and ride-hailing order records from the surrounding area, as well as surveillance footage from bus stops, in an attempt to find the man's whereabouts.

However, after nearly three hours of investigation, the team retrieved order records from nearly 20 taxis and ride-hailing vehicles in the surrounding area, but found no passengers matching the man's characteristics. Surveillance footage from the bus stop also showed no man matching the description boarding the bus during that time period. The technical department also reported that because the man's profile image was incomplete and lacked a frontal view, no valid information could be found in the facial recognition database.

As night fell and darkness descended, Wang Shuai's team's investigation reached a dead end. From 1 PM to 7 PM, a full six hours, they reviewed footage from nearly a hundred surveillance points, examined over 20 hours of surveillance video, and interviewed nearly a hundred people. Although they successfully identified the last passenger in Zhang Tiancheng's car and obtained some of the man's characteristics, the trail went completely cold after reaching the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street. The man seemed to have vanished into thin air, leaving no trace whatsoever. (End of Chapter)