Chapter 30
As Forensic Doctor Xie took photos, he said, "Don't jump to conclusions yet. Perhaps the murderer simply burned the victim with the lighter and took it away for fear of leaving fingerprints."
Chang Ting did not comment, took two steps back and looked around.
This is an east-west lane in the old city, three meters wide and a hundred meters long. On one side is a wall, and on the other are some old houses, most of which are uninhabited. There are no tall buildings nearby.
Chang Ting saw the camera at the entrance of the alley.
"Let's check the surveillance," he said to Zhou Zhengzheng. "By the way, pay special attention to the maintenance worker in blue-gray clothes."
Zhou Zhengzheng was stunned: "What maintenance worker?"
"Let's find out first."
However, the camera was vandalized.
Chang Ting originally thought that the murderer had premeditated the crime and destroyed it intentionally, but after investigation, he found that not only the cameras at the entrance of the alley, but also the cameras hundreds of meters outside at both ends of the alley had problems. They were either destroyed or blocked by humans.
Did the murderer go to such great lengths to commit the crime? Further investigation revealed that the surveillance system in this area had been problematic for a long time, not just for a day or two.
Chang Ting's blood pressure suddenly rose.
Originally, although Xu Candong was released, he still wanted to find an opportunity to use Xu Candong as a breakthrough point to re-investigate Feng Xumei's case and further find the connection with Qiu Yue's case.
Before the plan was launched, Xu Candong was killed. Not only was the clue lost, but they also had to find another murderer.
He was furious at the chief of the district police station.
The director felt very aggrieved and said that the cameras in this area were always being damaged and he didn't know who did it. They were repaired and smashed again and again, which made him very annoyed.
"It keeps getting sabotaged and you still can't catch anyone. Are you incompetent or is someone letting you down?"
"That can't be the case, that can't be the case." The director's face turned red and blue, and he promised to find out the truth as soon as possible.
"What do you mean as soon as possible? A murder has already happened, don't you understand the seriousness of the matter?" Chang Ting has been frustrated repeatedly recently and has a particularly bad temper.
In terms of rank and seniority, the director was higher than Chang Ting. But he knew that Chang Ting was the eldest disciple of Deputy Director Xiao of the Criminal Investigation Detachment and was famous for his arrogance.
The director himself was in the wrong, so he took off his police hat and wiped the sweat off his face: "I'll arrange for someone to check it out right away!"
The police station's efficiency in handling cases increased dramatically, and they quickly identified the perpetrators of the camera damage. It turned out to be a KTV owner who had instructed his men to do so. The location was just across the alley.
The KTV is ostensibly an entertainment venue, but it's actually an underground casino. Xu Candong is a frequent visitor to the casino, and he walked through the alley that night specifically to gamble.
In order to make the guests feel at ease and have a good time, the boss destroyed all the surrounding surveillance cameras. Therefore, no footage of the incident was captured.
The main road outside the alley is called Linhuai Road, and every few steps there is a fork in the road. The alleys are crisscrossed and the residents are numerous and diverse. Therefore, if the surveillance and screening is carried out from a farther distance, the difficulty will increase dramatically.
Chang Ting requested help and worked tirelessly day and night for several days. They finally found footage of Xu Candong's car passing by. However, there were too many people and vehicles passing by at the same time, making it difficult to identify the suspicious individual.
Chang Ting was furious. The casino had been sabotaging surveillance cameras for a long time, so it was impossible for the police station to have failed to notice. There was only one explanation: dereliction of duty.
He then pursued the matter relentlessly, not only shutting down the casino but also prosecuting a number of individuals at the local police station.
Since we couldn't find any clues from the surveillance, we tried to find another way out.
Zhou Zhengzheng was ordered to check Xu Candong's communication records a few days before the accident. His phone was burned and the data could not be recovered, so he could only check with the telecommunications department.
The results showed that he made the most calls on the night he was released and returned home, all of which were to live streaming platforms requesting the unblocking of his account.
There were also a few incoming calls. Zhou Zhengzheng checked, and they were either customer service or sales calls. They were probably spam calls.
Other than that, no phone calls.
Xu Candong's parents are still alive, but they haven't spoken recently. Preliminary information suggests that Xu Candong is deeply addicted to gambling and has even smashed their house to get money from his parents, leading them to avoid him.
Of course, as the saying goes, "If you sow evil flowers, you will reap evil fruits." Xu Candong has been a good-for-nothing since his student days, and his eventual fate is closely related to his family education.
In short, it can be seen from the communication records that Xu Candong is actually a very lonely person, and he is abandoned by everyone.
Zhou Zhengzheng threw the seemingly worthless communication records aside, but suddenly caught sight of something and picked them up again.
She saw a record of Xu Candong calling back, but the call didn't go through. It was a sales or customer service number starting with 400.
Why did Xu Candong return a sales call? Was it a mistake?
Zhou Zhengzheng dialed the number using his mobile phone.
A sweet yet mechanical female voice rang out from the receiver: "Dear customer, welcome to Xingchang Art Store. This is the perfect intersection of artistic inspiration and life aesthetics. We provide you with professional art customization services..."
It was an electronic voice. Zhou Zhengzheng hung up the phone.
Xu Candong studied fine arts in high school, but later failed to get into art school. He had nothing to do with art at all. It seemed like it was a miscalculation.
She threw the record away again in disappointment.
Chang Tingze pinched his eyebrows with a headache.
Xu Candong deserved to die, but this lynching had a terrible social impact, and the pressure from his superiors was already building. But he couldn't find a way out.
Although a size 44 men's shoe print was found at the scene, it cannot be confirmed that it was the murderer's footprint until more evidence is found. There are other reasonable possibilities.
For example, the murderer deliberately brought a pair of shoes that were a different size from his own, leaving traces at the scene and misleading the police.
Although the probability is low, it is not impossible.
Therefore, the idea of solving the case cannot be limited by this half shoe print.
Since no clues can be found from the deceased's side, we start with the motive for the murder.
There are too many people who want Xu Candong to die.
Because her daughter was hurt, Xu Candong's ex-wife Zou Li hated him to the core.
Qin Xiuzhu, the daughter of Teacher Feng.
Chen He, who does not hide his murderous intentions in the comics.
And the millions of readers who issued death curses in the comment section.
At this time, Chang Ting did not expect that outside of this already boundless range of suspects, there were people who wanted to kill Xu Candong even more strongly.
And more than one.
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