Chapter 152 152 The system interface suddenly popped up
It was not until it was completely dark at night that Guan Xia and the others finished watching all the surveillance videos they had brought back from the local police station.
The surveillance camera on the path most likely to yield a discovery was destroyed. During the entire afternoon, Guan Xia and the others found nothing except a few more female figures who seemed to be scouting the area.
After stretching her stiff neck, Guan Xia pinched her shoulders and asked Ji An and Jiang Yingyao, "Ji Jie, Jiang Ge, did you find anything?"
Both of them shook their heads with tired expressions.
Lu Tingfeng and Wang Yu were still surrounded by the mountain of case files, still concentrating without raising their heads.
Guan Xia walked to the window and gazed into the distance, relieving her tired eyes while thinking for a moment. After a moment, she said, "Sister Ji, I want to visit the place where the missing person disappeared."
As soon as Guan Xia finished speaking, Ji An readily agreed, "Okay, let's set off now while it's not too late."
Before leaving, Ji An went to the clerk of the Nanping Branch to get a fully charged flashlight, and then called Jiang Yingyao to go out together.
Guan Xia specifically told Lu Tingfeng and Wang Yu about this, but the two were too busy to respond and just casually waved their hands to indicate that they understood.
It was the tail end of the evening rush hour and the car could not speed up. Guan Xia and the others could only follow the car in front and move forward slowly. They simply closed the windows, turned on the air conditioner, and discussed the case.
Guan Xia was the first to speak up, a rare occurrence. "This time, I've finally experienced what it means to be stretched thin. We have quite a few people participating in the investigation, including Captain Zhou and the others, yet it feels like we're shorthanded everywhere."
"That's because the case is so huge, and there are so many clues," Jiang Yingyao said, taking a moment to look at his phone while sitting in the passenger seat. "Also, Xu Nian and his team are tracking the suspect, which is quite labor-intensive. After all, to avoid attracting attention, they have to have several teams working in shifts. Not to mention they made a discovery yesterday, discovering a suspected accomplice through Geng Jingxin, so even more manpower is needed."
"Just bear with it for two more days," Jiang Yingyao added. "Xu Nian has already spoken with Director Ren. Communicating with the Nanping branch will take time, and getting someone from our branch will also take time. Fortunately, there haven't been any major cases in our area recently, so we should be able to spare some people."
Jiang Yingyao had just finished his last word when Ji An couldn't help but said, "Brother Jiang, you..."
Ji An only said the beginning of the sentence, but Jiang Yingyao already understood. He immediately slapped his mouth lightly and made a few "Pooh, pooh, pooh, you crow's mouth, you can't say that."
The previously dull atmosphere in the car suddenly relaxed a bit, and the three of them couldn't help laughing. Ji An suddenly asked, "By the way, Guan Xia, what are your thoughts on this case now? What made you suddenly think of going on a field visit? Do you have any intuition?"
Speaking of intuition, Jiang Yingyao's tired face brightened up a little, and he turned his head to look at Guan Xia.
Guan Xia hesitated for a moment, but nodded slightly. When she was standing at the window looking out, she did have an urge to go to the scene to see it.
"It looks like we can make some progress today," Jiang Yingyao said optimistically. "Maybe if we're lucky, we can walk around the area and run into the suspect."
"I thought about it later," Guan Xia said after a moment's thought. "Just because those people frequently scouted the area, we can't conclude they don't live nearby. In today's society, even if you live in a residential complex for a long time, no one will carefully observe the location of surveillance cameras and blind spots unless there's a special need. I speculate that they probably don't live in that complex, but perhaps live nearby. That would explain why they were so familiar with that gap."
Ji An said, "I have the same suspicion. After we get there, we can also look for nearby cameras after we leave the complex through that gap. That way, we can talk to Captain Zhou and the others tonight and bring up the surveillance footage to see if we can find anything."
Time passed quickly as they were discussing the case. By the time the three of them arrived at the community where Yan Xingyu disappeared, it was almost 10 o'clock in the evening.
The location of this community is closer to the city than where Ning Xin lived before her death, but not that close. It is obviously far away from the commercial area. Just after 10 o'clock, there are few pedestrians on the road, especially when you turn an intersection and park the car at the side door, it feels a bit quiet.
Guan Xia observed from a distance and said without surprise, "It's an old neighborhood again. Look at the streetlights. If not half, at least a third are broken. But there are quite a few people living there."
The street lights were dim and bright at irregular intervals, but the windows representing each household were basically all lit.
"This is the side door," Ji An said. "Of the two open doors, it's the one farthest from the last place the missing person was seen. But parking is hard at the main entrance. There are a lot of mobile food stalls parked there. The police from the local police station have learned that they usually stay open until two or three in the morning. If we finish quickly, we can even buy a midnight snack on the way."
Speaking of midnight snacks, Guan Xia suddenly remembered something. "Oh, Sister Ji made a bet with Pang Le this morning, but there has been no activity in the group chat. It seems we won't be able to have this feast."
After Guan Xia said this, Ji An also remembered, "No wonder I always feel like I forgot something. It seems I can only eat it another day."
After looking around the side door for a while, Guan Xia and the other two chatted as they walked into the community.
After walking and observing as they went, Guan Xia and her team successfully found the surveillance blind spot where the child finally disappeared. It was a corner between two buildings. Due to their location, the two buildings were not completely side by side, but were staggered a little bit, forming an L-shaped road with the path in front of the other building.
Guan Xia took a look and then stood over. She found that the space was quite large and could even accommodate three adults if they stood close together.
"It seems that on the day Yan Xingyu disappeared, at least one or two members of that criminal gang were standing here," Guan Xia said as she walked around the area. "Perhaps they were holding a toy or a snack, which is why they easily attracted the child's attention."
Jiang Yingyao looked up, searching for the location of the surveillance camera, and casually said, "The child had just turned six when he disappeared. Plus, he'd been with his grandparents all year round and often played in the neighborhood. He might have been familiar with the environment, so he was less wary of strangers, which is why he was easily lured there."
While talking, Jiang Yingyao also found the location of the surveillance camera. He kept looking up and studied it for a while before walking to the location of the next camera.
Guan Xia looked at the areas above the unit doors with some curiosity. Before she could figure out what was going on, Ji An suddenly said, "Don't bother looking. These surveillance cameras, which are managed by the property management company, are mostly broken. The police at the local police station have learned that this community is managed by the same property management company as several nearby communities. Because the property management fees are so low, they're very slow to maintain the facilities. They only maintain these facilities when they're in a good mood."
Guan Xia withdrew her gaze upon hearing this. She still remembered what Wang Yu had said before. The police officers from the local police station had investigated and found that the surveillance blind spot was connected to the next surveillance blind spot, which was why the child and the criminal suspect disappeared without a trace.
Guan Xia was puzzled just now. This path was the path in front of the unit door. Even if there was a blind spot for surveillance, the connected path also had surveillance cameras on the unit door to supplement the images. How come there was no clue at all? So that's it.
Since it was already broken, Guan Xia was no longer interested. She strode to catch up with Jiang Yingyao and came to a place that looked familiar.
Guan Xia first looked up in the direction Jiang Yingyao was looking up, then looked around and realized that this was the location of the surveillance camera that had been destroyed by the suspect.
Guan Xia thought about this and walked down the path beside the fence. It didn't take a few minutes for her to see four gaps in the fence connected together.
These fences were obviously built quite a while ago, and some of them were rusty. Except for one where the railings next to the gap were bent and inconvenient for people to pass through, the other three were about the same size.
Guan Xia also tried it specially, and she passed any of the three easily.
Standing in front of one of the gaps, Guan Xia looked ahead and found that about two or three hundred meters away from this community was a larger residential area, but it was built much earlier. Guan Xia could still vaguely see a long section of dirt road.
"How is it? Shall we go over and take a look now?" When Guan Xia was lost in thought, she didn't know when Jiang Yingyao and Ji An came over and asked.
Guan Xia came back to his senses, turned to look at Jiang Yingyao and asked, "How is it, Brother Jiang, what did you find?"
Jiang Yingyao didn't answer immediately. Instead, he looked around for a few moments before saying, "I've observed that the community across the street is even worse than this one. It doesn't even have a proper wall or fence, allowing anyone to pass through freely. I suspect even if there are surveillance cameras, they're most likely not working properly."
Guan Xia had anticipated this, but she couldn't help but sigh. "The fact that they were able to strike in a densely populated residential area like this means their escape route must be very safe. But since they've kidnapped someone, they're bound to have to make a deal with them, so they'll inevitably be exposed to cameras. I just don't know what their complete escape route is."
Ji An understood Guan Xia's intention and said, "Since we've come this far, let's go along this road and take a look around the neighborhood. We can then look for surveillance cameras nearby so we can contact the property management or the local police station to retrieve the footage."
So the three of them rushed through the gap in the fence, stepped onto the dirt road made entirely of loess, and walked towards the community opposite.
The closer you get, the more you can see how old this community is. A lot of the exterior walls have peeled off, and the building numbers nailed to the sides have been completely eroded by wind and rain, and the numbers are almost invisible.
The road surface was barely kept clean, but there was a lot of garbage piled up on both sides of the road. The street lights on the entire road were not on. Only with the flashlight and the light coming through the windows of the residents in the nearby buildings could you vaguely see that the propaganda slogans hanging in the community were also rotten to pieces.
Guan Xia originally held out hope that at least 50% of the cameras would be functioning properly, but her heart sank when she saw this scene. No wonder the suspects chose this road as their retreat route; it was indeed safer than they had imagined.
After walking along the road for seven or eight minutes, Guan Xia felt that they had walked five or six hundred meters. They finally came to a place that looked like the main road of the community. Although the street lights were not bright and there were only a few on, it was at least not so desolate.
Guan Xia stood at the intersection and looked around. He found that there were still people on the road at this time, and there were several shops open that were visible to the naked eye.
Ji An took out his phone and studied the navigation map for a while. He said, "Looking at the map, this residential complex covers quite a large area. There must be hundreds of buildings. We're relatively close to the main entrance. If we go straight for more than a kilometer, there's a main road. If they leave as quickly as possible, this is the shortest way."
Jiang Yingyao leaned over to take a look. "It's a six-lane main road. I see there are two bus stops nearby. There should be a lot of surveillance cameras there. Judging by how cautious that group is, they may not evacuate from here."
Guan Xia listened to their discussion while looking up at the location of the surveillance camera. Before she found it, a clear female voice suddenly caught her attention. "Sister Fan, I'm back. How's business today? Is it busy?"
Guan Xia turned her head in the direction of the sound and saw a girl jump out of the driver's seat of a van, then opened the trunk of the van, picked up two boxes of beer and walked into the small supermarket which was still open.
Because the street lights were too dim, even though the girl was not far away from her, Guan Xia still couldn't see her face clearly from the time she got out of the car to the time she walked to the trunk, but she could see her figure clearly.
Guan Xia took a few more glances, squinted her eyes, and felt that it looked somewhat familiar.
The girl didn't look tall or strong, but she was very strong. She could walk steadily while carrying two boxes of beer.
Guan Xia saw that girl was about a meter or two away from the supermarket when another girl came out. This girl wasn't tall either, but a bit plump. She smiled and lifted the curtain, saying, "It's okay. I guess it's been too hot these past two days. Beer, drinks, and ice cream are selling well. Xiao Gao just left to deliver something to Building 72. He ordered a hundred-yuan ice cream."
The girl holding the beer strode into the door, and the woman called Sister Fan followed her in. Perhaps because of the curtain blocking the view, Guan Xia could vaguely hear some sounds, but could not hear clearly what the two people were saying.
Guan Xia's heart stirred. Just as she was about to turn around and tell Ji An and Jiang Yingyao about her discovery, she heard Jiang Yingyao ask her, "Guan Xia, what are you looking at so intently? Did you spot anyone suspicious?"
Guan Xia heard these very familiar words and suddenly had a premonition in his heart.
Sure enough, as soon as Jiang Yingyao finished speaking, the system interface suddenly popped up.
You were questioned by the police, and you suddenly remembered that at 22:39 on the evening of August 11, you accidentally saw the figures of two young women during your field visit. You vaguely felt that they were familiar. You suddenly remembered that you had seen these two figures when watching the surveillance video that afternoon. Even though they were fully armed in the surveillance video, you still keenly noticed them, and you decided to tell the police.
Guan Xia was suddenly overjoyed. She knew that this decision would be fruitful, but she didn't expect the gains to be so great.
Trying hard to control her expression, Guan Xia calmly pulled Ji An by the arm, moved closer to the two of them, and said in a low voice, "I've found someone who seems to have been scouting the neighborhood where Yan Xingyu disappeared."
Ji An was an old policeman after all, so his expression changed very slightly. He didn't say anything, but looked at Guan Xia and nodded.
Jiang Yingyao's reaction was also very quick. He understood and said, "Sister, we've been walking for so long, I really can't walk anymore. This damn weather is too hot. Let's go buy two bottles of ice water and rest for a while. Then we can continue walking. I swear to you, I will never be lazy and will definitely finish the three kilometers tonight."
Guan Xia took the opportunity to continue the conversation, "Okay, then, brother, you can find a place to rest for a while. I and I will go shopping. Don't go too far. We will come back to find you after we finish shopping."
Jiang Yingyao agreed and pointed to a place across the street. "Okay, I'll wait for you there. I think there's a place to sit. I'll wait there."
The three of them spoke in tacit understanding. After watching Jiang Yingyao walk to the opposite side, Guan Xia took Ji An's arm and walked towards the supermarket which was still open with the lights on.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
