Reborn Cat Sheriff

Chapter 251 The Power of the Collective

About three hours later, Liu Shengyou led a group of elite officers from Baimiao Police Station to the Best Hotel, where he detained four suspects.

Nie Guoqiang was surprisingly free, so he took the initiative to receive the group.

"You've all come out together! This time, the trouble you've caused is quite serious! Old Nie, how serious is it?"

Liu Shengyou didn't waste time on pleasantries, and simply pointed back at the group of supporters with his thumb, saying, "We've caught them all, not one of them escaped. However, one of them tried to escape, and one of my men hit him on the leg with a stick. We need to interrogate him first and then get him to the hospital."

"Good job!"

Nie Guoqiang didn't mention any humanitarian topics, because the existing intelligence was truly shocking.

According to Li Yiduo and the technical investigation team's analysis of the discovered cameras, the longest-running one had been in operation for over 7,000 hours. If we consider it to be operating 24/7, this means it may have been secretly filming for over 300 days! Even if the hotel rooms aren't always full, based on the hotel's existing guest check-in records, that camera recorded video of at least 100 people staying there.

One camera for one hundred people, seventeen cameras...

"Is it really that outrageous? No wonder you're trying to block the news! This case, in terms of both the scope of privacy involved and the number of people involved, is big enough to be a national sensation."

Liu Shengyou smacked his lips.

"So no matter what, we must stop all the videos as soon as possible. Lao Liu, I don't have enough manpower, you have to give me more support this time."

Nie Guoqiang looked exhausted and had no energy to talk about saving face. You see, hotel guests often come from all over the country. Even if this matter is resolved, whether or not to notify every victim will remain a major problem that even the municipal bureau struggles to decide. Even if the most likely outcome is that it will simply remain quietly in the files, there's no doubt that reporting to higher authorities will be necessary, putting immense pressure on the entire Zhangzhou city.

"Let's arrest them first! By taking control of all possibilities, the video will have to stay obediently in the storage device and won't be able to get out."

Liu Shengyou suggested that they first eliminate the possibility of the video being leaked before considering anything else.

"You guys are really unlucky! Such a big thing happened in the Zhanghe area."

He didn't forget to gloat and mock Nie Guoqiang.

Not long after, support from the municipal bureau arrived.

More than forty police officers arrived, partly to alleviate the workload of the Zhanghe Police Station, and partly to assist with the surveillance footage review. Nie Guoqiang had already obtained all the remaining surveillance videos from the hotel, which would be handed over to the city bureau's support team for observation and analysis to identify any potential suspects. The hotel's corridor surveillance footage, in particular, was likely to have captured unusual activity involving the suspect entering and leaving rooms. Even if Feng Hesong remained defiant and refused to speak, this could be used to trace his accomplices. In short, all the work now was focused on saving time and preventing the videos from leaking out.

"There must be more than a hundred police officers working in this hotel, right? And who knows how many more are working in the office."

Lin Ge squatted on the head of a decorative statue, quietly watching countless police officers bustling about in the hotel. He had only ever seen such a large-scale operation before, during the murder and dismemberment case in Zhuzhou City. He never expected to encounter it again back in his own hometown.

Moreover, unlike the previous major case led by the Zhuzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, this case is mainly handled by the Zhanghe Police Station, since the nature of the case does not yet meet the requirements for supervision by the Municipal Public Security Bureau.

The police station requested this support because the preliminary work required a lot of manpower, thus reducing their workload.

Among these police officers, Lin Ge didn't recognize many of them, but surprisingly, almost everyone knew him. Occasionally, someone would rush over and not forget to greet the police cat before hurrying back to work as if being chased.

Soon, clues from all directions converged in Nie Guoqiang's hands.

First, Feng Hesong's mistress, an unemployed young woman who had been out of work for two years after graduating from university, honestly provided the police with a clue. Feng Hesong had a relative's child helping him with chores, but his mistress had never seen him show up.

Working? What kind of work? Does a mere photographer really need someone to work for him?

There was no doubt that this so-called 'relative's child' was a prime suspect. Furthermore, the kinship tracing method was the easiest to establish, so police officers immediately set out to search for suspicious individuals from this angle.

Following closely behind, the guy who had been caught by Liu Shengyou and had been hit on the leg finally couldn't bear the pain in his shinbone and confessed, howling, that he was a member of Feng Hesong's team that secretly recorded videos.

He seemed to think that he had only committed a minor crime, and even felt that it was not serious enough to warrant imprisonment. Therefore, he confessed in detail to the crimes of editing some of the videos and adding subtitles and advertising intros to them.

Upon hearing this clue, the police officers' faces darkened. Undoubtedly, this meant that at least some of the explicit videos had already been leaked online.

The reason why public opinion hasn't exploded yet is probably because this type of video is a niche phenomenon even among those with a penchant for sex, and few people would pay attention to the face of the person being filmed. Generally, unless someone happens to run into someone they know, it won't cause a major uproar.

But... if the victims can gamble, would the police dare to gamble?
Can the police turn a blind eye to something just because it hasn't escalated to a serious level?
impossible!

Nie Guoqiang waved his hand, and two more policemen rushed to the workplace that the suspect had given him, to bring back all the equipment he had left there, especially the computer and storage hard drive.

Regrettably, the other two people brought by Liu Shengyou were ultimately found innocent.

One of the men turned out to be an insurance salesman, specializing in those children's insurance policies that combine retirement, medical care, savings, and investment, with payouts after ten or twenty years. It's unclear why Feng Hesong, a guy who's never even married, would be interested in this kind of insurance. According to the insurance agent, he and Feng Hesong had a pleasant conversation, and he thought he was about to close a big deal, but unexpectedly, he was arrested by the police at his most anticipated moment.

"Heh, this guy's got some brains. Hiding large sums of money is difficult; whether you deposit it in a bank or buy physical goods, it's easy to expose. But if you hide it in an insurance policy, the chances of it being discovered are much lower, since the level of regulation is different." Liu Shengyou quickly guessed Feng Hesong's reason for contacting the insurance agent. In other words, he probably had some money that couldn't be made public and needed a way to hide it.

"Where did the money come from? Extortion? Or the sale of videos?"

Nie Guoqiang raised a new question.

Upon hearing this, both Liu Shengyou and Yu Zhengwei frowned. The fact that the videos were being sold was the most reassuring reality, since the deed was already done. But what if, as initially predicted, someone had been blackmailed…

If things go wrong, this could turn into a major case that requires the intervention of the disciplinary committee.

"Haven't you found any suspicious individuals on the surveillance footage yet?"

Even though Yu Zhengwei was sitting quite steadily, his hands were starting to itch. Seeing half a pack of cigarettes on the table next to Liu Shengyou, he picked one up and handed one to Nie Guoqiang, who was on the phone again, and continued to ask about the situation.

“The hotel has more than forty surveillance cameras, eight of which are in the parking lot alone, and the oldest of them has been stored for more than six months. There are only five of us watching them, how can we possibly find anything unusual in such a short time?”

Nie Guoqiang shook his head.

"Actually, it would be best to hand this case over to the Municipal Public Security Bureau. After all, at this stage, the issue of video theft is basically settled. And when it comes to officials, we can't handle it."

Liu Shengyou sighed, took out a lighter, and lit a cigarette.

"Director Yang has his reasons."

Yu Zhengwei neither confirmed nor denied the statement.

Time passed slowly, and soon it was past midnight. At this point, not only did the guests in the conference room become even more agitated, but even the hotel staff began to feel dissatisfied with their unusual situation of being confined and unable to go home, and they started to stir up trouble.

The police officers understood; after all, they were all just working to earn a living and had families to support. Being forbidden from contacting the outside world at this time undoubtedly made them suspicious and anxious.

But how do I put it?
This is the pressure the police should bear; they can't really say that they'll keep so many people detained until the case is solved.

Of course, the reason the police are working so hard without rest is to clear these people of suspicion as soon as possible so they can go home. Otherwise, no matter how serious the case is, isn't it safer to just put these people in jail?
Even with support from Zhanghe Police Station, Baimiao Police Station, and the Municipal Public Security Bureau, the majority of the staff's primary objective was to clear the suspects at the scene. Interrogating each person separately and taking statements was the main task of the support team. Those truly responsible for dealing with Feng Hesong and the video footage were mostly still working through the night in the field and busy at the station in front of their computers. The actual investigators didn't need that many people.

"Ouch~~"

Lin Ge yawned and realized that his two underlings had wandered off at some point, leaving only Bei Bei loyally protecting their boss.

From this perspective, police dogs are indeed a better choice than police cats.

"Hehe... I've adopted this guy!"

Hu Zhengping chuckled, grabbing the Baka cat by the scruff of its neck and refusing to let go despite the cat's struggles. After all, liking cats was politically correct within the bureau; although he preferred dogs, he could follow the trend and get a cat that wasn't so unpleasant to keep.

"Can't you see they're unhappy?"

Zhao Zhigang glanced at Hu Zhengping.

Although he is now a full-fledged police officer, while Hu Zhengping is still just a veteran auxiliary police officer, Zhao Zhigang still respects this senior officer and has not shown any hostility because of his promotion.

Although this guy is lazy and not very capable, the fact that he's managed to stay at the Zhanghe Police Station means he has some skills to back him up.

Zhao Zhigang's task remained goalkeeper, but now his partner was Hu Zhengping instead of Feng Yi. Since Zhao was getting older and couldn't stay up as late as younger people, Nie Guoqiang transferred Feng Yi away, giving Hu Zhengping a chance to rest.

"hiss……"

Just as Hu Zhengping was about to say that it was easy to handle a cat, he was accidentally scratched by the Baka cat, which made him release it in pain.

Seeing that Baka Cat turned and ran away after landing, he chased after it for a couple of steps with a gloomy face, but unfortunately he couldn't catch up.

"Old Hu, you should just stick to liking dogs."

Zhao Zhigang walked out gloatingly, and seeing that Hu Zhengping's wrist only had white marks and no blood, he breathed a slight sigh of relief. A stray cat is not like one's own feline master; if it scratches you until you bleed, you definitely need to get vaccinated and have the wound cleaned immediately.

"Zhao Zhigang, do you see someone over there?"

Hu Zhengping suddenly looked towards the parking lot and whispered without pointing, "It's over there by the guard post, next to the flower bed. See if there's a head hiding there? Don't just stare like an idiot. Light a cigarette and pretend you're taking a break. Use your peripheral vision to avoid being spotted!"

(End of this chapter)