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

Yang Lin, the head of the technical department standing next to him, shook his head: "The unfamiliar fingerprints extracted from the scene did not match any individuals in the database; the DNA from the cigarette butt did not match the deceased's DNA, but no matching information was found in the database; the white synthetic fiber was tested and found to be a common sweatshirt fabric, so its source could not be identified; the memory card of the vehicle's dashcam was damaged, and technicians are working hard to recover the data, but there are no results yet."

"How about Wang Shuai? Any new breakthroughs in the surveillance tracking?" Lu Chuan asked again. Wang Shuai stood up and said helplessly, "We've checked all the surveillance footage and residential areas within a 3-kilometer radius of the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street, focusing on the suspect with the scar on his left cheek. We've also posted reward notices, but no one has provided any useful clues. This man is extremely adept at counter-surveillance; after disappearing from the urban village, he hasn't left any trace. We've retrieved taxi, ride-hailing, and bus surveillance footage from the surrounding area, but we haven't found any trace of him."

Lu Chuan stood up, walked to the window, looked at the bustling traffic outside, and said in a deep voice, "Although the case has reached a stalemate, we cannot give up. Zhang Hui, you continue to dig deeper into Zhang Tiancheng's debt clues, focusing on his recent bank statements, WeChat and Alipay transfer records, and looking for traces of debt collectors; Wang Shuai, you expand the scope of the surveillance investigation, retrieve surveillance footage from all entrances and exits in the Chengbei District, and investigate suspicious persons and vehicles entering and leaving the Chengbei District during the time of the incident, especially the man wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, carrying a black backpack, and with a scar on his left cheek; Technical Department, speed up the recovery of data from the vehicle's dashcam, and at the same time, conduct a second examination of all physical evidence extracted from the scene, and do not overlook any detail."

"Understood!" everyone responded in unison. Night deepened, but the lights in the Criminal Investigation Division remained bright. Zhang Hui rubbed his aching shoulders and opened the investigation record in his hand, filled with detailed notes from the past two days of interviews. Although the lead had temporarily stalled, he knew the truth lay hidden in these details; as long as he persisted, he would surely find a breakthrough. He picked up his pen and began to analyze Zhang Tiancheng's bank statements and transfer records. A new round of investigation had begun.

To thoroughly investigate Zhang Tiancheng's debt situation, Zhang Hui led his team to retrieve his bank statements, WeChat and Alipay transfer records for the past year. After careful review, they discovered that Zhang Tiancheng had made multiple small transfers in the past three months, all to anonymous accounts, mostly in the early morning hours, with amounts ranging from several hundred to several thousand yuan. Simultaneously, his bank card showed multiple cash withdrawals, each around two thousand yuan, from various ATMs in the Chengbei District, but none were captured on surveillance footage.

Zhang Hui then approached Liu Mei to inquire about the transfers and withdrawals. Liu Mei claimed to know nothing about them: "Tiancheng's salary card has always been in his own possession. I never manage his money, and he never talks to me about these things." Zhang Hui speculated that these transfers and withdrawals were likely related to Zhang Tiancheng's gambling debts, and the owner of the anonymous accounts might be the debt collector. He immediately arranged for his team to investigate these anonymous accounts, but due to the concealed account information, the investigation progressed slowly.

Just as Zhang Hui's team reached a stalemate in their investigation of Zhang Tiancheng's interpersonal relationships, Wang Shuai's surveillance and tracking efforts continued unabated. Lu Chuan's deployment at the case analysis meeting served as a guiding light, allowing Wang Shuai to rethink his investigative approach: "Since the suspect completely disappeared at the intersection of Binhe East Road and Jiankang Street, let's trace back in reverse, starting from the point where he intersected with Zhang Tiancheng—that is, the location where he got into the car." Previously, although the team had identified the location where the suspect got out of Zhang Tiancheng's taxi, they had not systematically traced how he got into the car or his movements before getting in. After the meeting, Wang Shuai immediately adjusted the deployment, concentrating all surveillance and investigation resources on the core task of "tracing back the suspect's route to get into the car."

“We know that Zhang Tiancheng last picked up a passenger at 11:30 pm the night before last, with the destination near the intersection of Binhe West Road and Chaoyang North Road. Surveillance footage shows that the suspect got out of the car at the intersection of Binhe West Road and Wanghe South Road at 11:28 pm. According to the normal speed of a taxi, the journey from the pick-up point to the drop-off point should take about 15-20 minutes.” Wang Shuai calculated precisely at the team meeting, “Based on this, the suspect should have gotten into the car at around 11:10 pm. Our investigation scope should be limited to all surveillance points along Zhang Tiancheng’s operating route between 10:30 pm and 11:10 pm the night before last, focusing on finding a man who matches the suspect’s characteristics—178-183 cm tall, medium build, wearing a black hooded sweatshirt, a black baseball cap, and carrying a black backpack.”

Zhang Tiancheng's operational trajectory could be precisely retrieved through the taxi company's GPS positioning system. Technicians quickly extracted the relevant data: from 10:30 PM to 11:10 PM the night before last, Zhang Tiancheng's taxi departed from Beifang Square in the Chengbei District, traveling west along Binhe East Road, passing through Wanghe South Road and Xingfu Street, before finally picking up the suspect near the intersection of Binhe West Road and Wanghe South Road. This trajectory covered surveillance points at 12 major intersections, 23 residential entrances and exits, and 17 shops. Wang Shuai divided the team into 6 groups, each responsible for 4-5 surveillance points, reviewing the footage frame by frame at 0.5x speed to ensure no detail was missed.

The surveillance and investigation work entered a high-intensity phase again. Team members stared intently at their computer screens, their fingers constantly tapping the keyboard to pause and rewind. As the core commercial area of ​​the northern district, Northern Plaza experiences extremely high pedestrian and vehicular traffic; the surveillance footage showed a constant flow of pedestrians and vehicles, making the investigation far more difficult than before. Time ticked by, and it was already 1 a.m. the next day. Most teams still hadn't found any valuable clues. "Team Leader Wang, the surveillance footage at the east gate of Northern Plaza is too blurry. The nighttime lighting is so reflective that we can't see the pedestrians' clothing or faces at all," said Xiao Zhang, the team member responsible for that area, rubbing his red eyes, his voice tinged with exhaustion.

Wang Shuai walked to Xiao Zhang's computer and carefully reviewed the surveillance footage. Because the surveillance equipment at the east gate of Northern Plaza was old and had low resolution, coupled with the reflection of nighttime lights, the image was indeed severely blurry. "Contact the plaza property management and retrieve the private surveillance footage from shops near the east gate. Shop surveillance equipment is usually updated more quickly, and the image clarity is much higher," Wang Shuai decided immediately. The team members immediately took action, contacting shop owners around the east gate of Northern Plaza one by one. After explaining the situation, most shop owners cooperated actively and provided their shop's surveillance footage. (End of Chapter)