On the bus.

Guan Feng cut to the chase: "Wang Hongtao, are you going to confess voluntarily, or wait for us to question you?"

Wang Hongtao glanced at Guan Feng's expression and asked hesitantly, "What's the difference between the two?"

Guan Feng said, "It depends on what you confess to and how deep you are involved in the case! But no matter what, your voluntary confession is a matter of attitude. Even if there are some minor issues, we will try our best to be lenient. So it's up to you to choose."

Upon hearing this, Wang Hongtao immediately said, "Alright, then I'll confess."

Guan Feng nodded and said, "Okay, go ahead and tell us. Our body cameras are already on. I need to remind you that if there is any intentional misrepresentation, you may bear certain legal responsibilities."

Wang Hongtao said, "I understand! I understand!"

He began to confess: "Actually, as soon as you two arrived, I panicked and wanted to be honest with you because the more I thought about it, the more uneasy I felt."

Guan Feng gave him an encouraging look and said, "Go on!"

Wang Hongtao recalled, "It must have been around 6:30 pm the night before last, right? I don't remember the exact time. Can't you adjust the dashcam footage? You can adjust it yourselves later."

"I was driving past Tongshuihe when I didn't notice the streetlights there. It was a bit dark, and I was in a hurry. I didn't realize there was a car parked next to me when I was overtaking. I didn't react in time and scraped my rearview mirror."

"My first thought was that the insurance premium would go up again, so I parked the car on the side of the road, thinking of getting out of the car to apologize to the person and ask if I should go through the insurance."

"The person sitting in the driver's seat looked in the rearview mirror, waved his hand and said it was no problem, it was just a small scratch. I found it a bit strange, but when I heard that I didn't need to pay compensation and could save a few hundred yuan, I offered him a cigarette, apologized a few times and left quickly."

Guan Feng asked, "These dashcams all recorded it, right?"

Wang Hongtao nodded and said, "Yes, I wrote it all down! I thought about it afterward and it felt a bit strange. Were those people bad guys? Were they trying to extort money from me?"

Guan Feng said, "Is this what you've been worried about all along?"

Wang Hongtao said, "Yes, I browsed Douyin (TikTok) when I got back, and there are similar cases everywhere. Some people didn't call the police and settled it privately, but later it was treated as a hit-and-run, and even the insurance wouldn't cover it, so they had to pay out of pocket!"

Guan Feng nodded and said, "Your concerns are valid, but that's unlikely. We came to you mainly because the car owner is involved in a case. How about this, could you tell us in detail what happened at the time, especially the driver? Are there any details?"

Wang Hongtao recalled for a moment and said, "It was quite dark at the time, so I didn't pay much attention. What do you want to ask?"

Guan Feng thought for a moment, then opened his phone, pulled up the message sent by the traffic police, and asked, "Was the driver you saw this person?"

Wang Hongtao looked at Guan Feng's phone, then shook his head after a moment and said, "No."

Guan Feng asked, "Are you sure?"

Wang Hongtao nodded confidently and said, "I can confirm it! The two look completely different. This person has thick eyebrows and big eyes, while the other person has single eyelids and eyes that are so small they are almost invisible. If it were anyone else, I might hesitate, but these two are absolutely unrelated. There's no way I could be wrong."

Hearing Wang Hongtao say this, Guan Feng was about 70-80% convinced and asked, "Then can you describe his appearance in detail?"

Wang Hongtao began to describe it in detail.

However, his descriptive skills were really not good. After he finished describing it, Guan Feng was still unable to establish a rough three-dimensional outline.

Zhao Dong thought for a moment and said, "Let's retrieve the dashcam footage later and see if we can find anything."

Guan Feng looked at the passenger seat and asked, "Does the team have a professional portrait sketch artist?"

Zhao Dong said, "How could that be? It involves criminal investigation and graphic design; it's more likely to be done in the department."

Guan Feng nodded and said no more.

However, I do remember that there is such a skill in the store, but it is a high-level skill and not easy to get. Maybe I should try it next time?

He gathered his thoughts and continued, "Go on! Do you remember how many people were on the bus at the time?"

Wang Hongtao thought for a moment and said definitively, "There was only one person on the bus. But I can't guarantee that the person in the back seat was squatting. I didn't see anyone else. I even looked back to make sure the others wouldn't agree."

"However, there should have been another person in the car who went to the river to relieve themselves. I saw a man standing in the bushes, facing the river, who should also have been in the car."

Guan Feng nodded and continued to ask for more details.

......

Ten minutes later.

Guan Feng has asked almost all his questions.

He looked at the silver sedan next to him and asked, "Is this your car? It would be helpful for us to retrieve the dashcam footage."

Wang Hongtao said, "Easy, easy! You just need internet access. I'll take you to my house to set it up."

Guan Feng shook his head and said, "No need for that. Yours has a memory card, right? We have the equipment. Just take the card out and we'll read it."

Wang Hongtao said, "Alright! Follow me."

He then opened the car door and got out, opened his own car, and pulled the memory card out of the dashcam in front of Guan Feng, indicating that he had not done anything wrong.

Guan Feng had a clear understanding of Wang Hongtao's psychology, and even hoped that the other party would act this way.

Because the more you do this, the more likely you are to clear yourself of suspicion.

He inserted the memory card into the tablet.

The time was adjusted to a little after 6 pm the day before yesterday.

The relevant footage started playing.

A moment later.

Guan Feng saw a slight sound in the video, then the car shook slightly before coming to a stop.

Guan Feng rewound the video and paused it.

The license plate number matched that of the black sedan that had been parked there for eight minutes.

The last four digits of the license plate are 857!

It matches the footage from the surveillance camera.

Unfortunately, the dashcam was only pointed forward and failed to capture the faces of the people involved. The traffic surveillance at the scene also failed to capture details of the driver's face due to the barrier.

He then continued watching, confirming that Wang Hongtao got into the car in about three minutes, drove all the way, and finally stopped at his doorstep.

After reading this, Guan Feng was basically certain that Wang Hongtao was not a suspect.

He copied these images to keep as evidence.

The memory card was then returned to Wang Hongtao.

He said, "As it stands, you are indeed fine. Thank you for your cooperation. If the other party contacts you privately, you can contact me. This is my work number. We will do our best to protect you."

Wang Hongtao quickly thanked him and accepted the gift.