Chapter 132 Geographical Portrait: Yan City has a very large urban area.
The "Lijing Garden" residential community in the western suburbs.
As dusk settled, the newly built buildings cast long shadows under the sparse lights, and the empty streets appeared exceptionally quiet.
Lei Xiao led his team and, under the cover of night, headed toward Unit 2 of Building 7.
However, room 503 was empty.
Lei Xiao slammed his fist against the cold doorframe of Zhou Mingyuan's rented apartment, his knuckles instantly turning white. He had finally tracked down Zhou Mingyuan's hideout, only to find it empty!
The neighbor, a sleepy old lady, was woken up by the police commotion late at night. Through the security door, she muttered, "Why is it so noisy? Oh, it's the police. Stop knocking. Nobody's been home since last night. Little Zhou took his new cousin out last night with a big bag. They were in a hurry, and I don't know where they went."
"Little cousin?" Lei Xiao asked anxiously, "What does little cousin look like?"
The old lady thought for a moment and said, "Long hair, quite a pretty young girl."
Fan Wei took out a photo of Sun Wei and asked the old lady to identify her: "Is this her?"
The old lady squinted at her for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes! It's this little girl."
Lei Xiao and Fan Wei exchanged a glance, their expressions grave.
Zhou Mingyuan was indeed with Sun Wei, proving that the clues provided by the data center were correct. However, in the end, it still couldn't keep up with that bastard Zhou Mingyuan's speed; he actually left last night.
Fan Wei asked the elderly neighbor, "Do you know where Zhou Mingyuan and his little cousin went?"
The old lady shook her head: "Who knows? Xiao Zhou doesn't usually talk to people much. When we bump into each other, he just nods. If I weren't old and didn't mind being asked a few more questions, I wouldn't even know that was his cousin."
The most promising lead, Lijing Garden, has drifted away like a kite with a broken string, blown far away by the wind.
Suppressing his surging anxiety, Lei Xiaoqiang turned to his team and ordered, "Investigate carefully, don't overlook any trace. Xiao Chen, contact the landlord immediately, I need all of Zhou Mingyuan's rental information and payment records. The rest of you, continue your inquiries, see if anyone notices the direction they left in or their mode of transportation!"
At 3 a.m., the chill in the air was even more intense in the Lijing Garden residential area.
In the middle of the night, the landlord wasn't answering his phone, so someone had to go there in person and drag the landlord, who was still half asleep, out of bed.
The landlord's family was terrified. They cursed Zhou Mingyuan, the tenant, for harming them, while handing over the rental agreement and payment records to the police.
Before dawn, door-to-door visits and investigations could not be carried out, so they could only sit in the command vehicle and wait.
Lei Xiao stood alone at the entrance of the building, the cold night wind unable to dispel the heaviness in his heart. Time ticked by, and Sun Wei's danger level was soaring. He took a deep breath, returned to his car, and connected to the data center by phone.
"Director Jiang, it's confirmed that Zhou Mingyuan took Sun Wei away, but she's not in Lijing Garden now; she ran away last night. We need directions for our investigation, please provide assistance from the data center. Okay, I'll send over all the interviews and information I have now."
The data center lights shone like daylight, burning all night. When Lei Xiao's concise yet somber report came through, the atmosphere in the entire server room immediately became heavy.
"Received!" Jiang Ling's voice was calm and composed, without the slightest hint of panic. "Team Leader Lei, please rest assured, we will immediately begin geographic profiling and analyzing the possible hideouts Zhou Mingyuan may have relocated to. Maintain contact at all times."
After hanging up the phone, Jiang Ling looked at Li Bin, who was engrossed in checking the surveillance footage: "Old Li, do you have any spare manpower?"
Li Bin shook his head repeatedly: "There's no one here. The technical team has all been working on the new algorithm. We are currently connecting all the surveillance cameras to the network, and the time frame is from 9:30 pm the night before last to early this morning. As soon as Sun Wei is seen on the camera, an alarm will be triggered immediately."
Jiang Ling could only call Liang Jiushan, who was far away in Kyoto, again: "Jiushan, Zhou Mingyuan has moved Sun Wei to a new location, but no one knows where it is. We need to create a geographical profile, but the area is large and there are few clues. We can't do it with just a few people. I need your support."
Liang Jiushan and his team had worked through the night, and he had just dozed off at his desk when he received a new task. Without a hint of frustration, he wiped his face and tried to make his voice sound clear and cheerful: "No problem! Sister Ling, what do you need us to do?"
Jiang Ling could tell he was tired, but the case was at a critical juncture, and no one could sleep soundly until Sun Wei was found: "I'll send you Zhou Mingyuan's relevant information. Enter the key information first, and then I'll tell you what to do."
"Okay!" Liang Jiushan's voice was a little hoarse, but he was full of energy.
Liu Haoran entered the scanned copy of the rental agreement sent by Lei Xiao, the landlord's verbal account of several payment records, a bus card number, and Zhou Mingyuan's multiple rental records into the data center's analysis system.
Jiang Ling walked up to the huge map of Yan City, and Zhou Wei and Li Zhenliang immediately gathered around her.
On the whiteboard, Sun Wei's photo and key information were still prominently displayed, and next to it, a blurry screenshot of Zhou Mingyuan's ID photo and the materials he had just received were quickly pasted.
Jiang Ling looked at Zhou Wei: "We need to analyze where Zhou Mingyuan might move to. Dawei, we'll have to rely on you for the geographical profiling."
Zhou Wei nodded emphatically: "No problem! Director, please tell me the principles of profiling first, and I will mark them on the map."
Jiang Ling scanned the information on the whiteboard and analyzed it rapidly: "Zhou Mingyuan's core needs are a sense of control and security. His kidnapping of Sun Wei was essentially to create an isolated island that he completely controlled. Based on this psychology, his choice of hiding place must have followed several principles."
"The first principle is isolation. To ensure that Sun Wei is not discovered, Zhou Mingyuan needs this location to be far away from his circle of acquaintances, areas with dense surveillance, and key areas for routine police checks. He was probably worried that the Lijing Garden location would be exposed, which is why he quickly left. He will never choose a location that is introduced by acquaintances or a regular rental area again."
Zhou Wei was very familiar with the Yancheng area and had been focusing on geographic profiling in recent years. Upon hearing Jiang Ling's words, he immediately circled the Lijing Garden on the map and began searching along the road.
Jiang Ling continued, "The second principle is secrecy. He wants to find places with loose management, high staff turnover, and low risk of attracting attention, such as remote small hotels, self-built houses in the urban-rural fringe, or dilapidated old houses that have been uninhabited for a long time."
Zhou Wei frowned deeply.
"The third principle is privacy. He requires a relatively enclosed and private space where he can have complete control over the internal environment and isolate himself from external interference. Newly built apartments in low-occupancy communities meet the requirements. In addition, he prefers cash payments, his bank card has not been used for large transactions recently, and his public transport card is used at various locations. We need to quickly determine the general direction of where he will stay so that Lei's team can find him."
Zhou Wei stared at the marked Lijing Garden and muttered, "Isolation, seclusion, privacy... There are quite a few houses like this in the western suburbs. If he buys enough supplies and hides himself away, he'll be hard to find."
Even with the search criteria in place, Yan City's urban area is vast, and with the suburbs, the search area is even larger. Finding Zhou Mingyuan quickly would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.
For a moment, everyone held their breath and focused their attention on Zhou Wei.
Zhou Wei felt the pressure, his eyebrows furrowing into a deep frown. Using Lijing Garden as the center, he used a red pen to mark possible routes, quickly searching for suitable places to stay. He circled any that met his criteria in red.
However, the map was so big that after half an hour, seven or eight red circles were marked on it. If we checked them one by one, the area was still too large.
The phone rang. It was Liang Jiushan calling: "Sister Ling, the data entry is complete, and the Yancheng City map has been initially digitized. Please tell me your search criteria."
Jiang Ling told Liang Jiushan the conclusions of the analysis she had just drawn, and instructed him: "Focus on checking the records of where he withdrew cash at bank branches, BP messages, communication base station connection points, and public transport card swiping points, and then overlay the city's hotel and rental housing registration information to create a geographic profile."
"Understood!" Liang Jiushan's voice was tense with complete focus.
On the screen, countless tiny dots of light began to flicker and connect.
Jiang Ling continued, "Taking Sun Wei's school as the starting point and Lijing Garden as the midpoint, and combining the public transportation he might choose, we simulated the most likely route he would take Sun Wei to move."
Liang Jiushan quickly typed in the command.
On the map, virtual path lines began to be generated, with the shades of color representing the probability of occurrence. At the same time, Zhou Mingyuan's recent activity areas were also overlaid, forming a highlighted area in the eastern district, while a few scattered but relatively concentrated points in the western suburbs were highlighted by the algorithm.
Computers are indeed faster than the human brain. Zhou Wei put down his pen and stood in front of the screen, excitedly joining in the analysis and guidance: "Analyze the area around the transportation hubs. The long-distance bus station and the west train station are both in the western suburbs! Could he be planning to move out of the city?"
“It’s possible, but not very likely.” Li Zhenliang shook his head. He had just spoken with Lei Xiao on the phone. “Team Leader Lei questioned the night patrol officers and taxi drivers near the long-distance bus station and the West Railway Station, but they haven’t found anyone highly suspected yet. Taking public transportation with a missing girl who is on the police’s high-priority watch list is very risky. I’m more inclined to believe that he’s still in the city and that we can find a temporary place to stay to keep Sun Wei safe.”
Jiang Ling nodded in agreement: "Yes, the controller needs a stable environment to continue his brainwashing. A hasty relocation would only increase the risk of exposure and does not meet his need for security. Jiushan, filter out areas with dense transportation hubs and focus on purely residential areas."
Liang Jiushan quickly adjusted the parameters.
The chaotic lines and dots on the screen began to converge and focus. The geographic profiling analysis model was processing data at high speed, eliminating distracting elements.
Time dragged on agonizingly amidst the clatter of keyboards and the low hum of machines.
"Found a spot! Chenxi Garden!" Liang Jiushan's voice suddenly rose on the phone, revealing the excitement of finally finding a target. He zoomed in on a new residential complex on the western edge of the city. It was a community built less than a year ago, marketed as mid-range, but its location was slightly out of the way, its amenities were incomplete, and the occupancy rate was estimated to be less than 30%.
"Reason?" Jiang Ling asked.
"First, it is located on the western edge of the suburbs, forming a clear isolation zone from Zhou Mingyuan's daily activity area in the eastern district. Transportation is relatively inconvenient, but it meets the principle of staying away from the area."
Secondly, the terminus of a night bus route is about a 15-minute walk from the community. Zhou Mingyuan's bus card records show that he swiped his card and got off at a stop near Chenxiyuan on that route the day before yesterday afternoon.
Third, within the past two weeks, Zhou Mingyuan's pager messages were sent three times to communication base station connections located in the area adjacent to Chenxi Garden, all during the afternoon or evening, outside of his normal commuting hours.
Zhou Wei leaned close to the map and drew a large red circle around the location of Chenxi Garden. His eyes shone brightly with excitement: "Director! This location does indeed meet the principles you just mentioned."
Just then, an alarm beeped on Li Bin's end. He leaned closer to the screen and jumped up: "Found her! Found her! We found Sun Wei! At 7:23 last night, she passed through Sanyang Road, and the bank's surveillance cameras caught her from behind! Look!"
Everyone rushed to Li Bin's computer screen, discussing and calling for Su Xinwan and Zhuang Jianbai to come over for comparison with the portrait.
"It looks a lot like her!"
"That's right, this plaid coat is the one she wore when she left school."
"There was a man of medium height next to her, wearing a light-colored jacket, who should be Zhou Mingyuan."
Su Xinwan and Zhuang Jianbai carefully compared the photos of Sun Wei and Zhou Mingyuan with the surveillance footage.
"Play it back, let me check the gait."
"The figure and clothing match perfectly; it must be Sun Wei!"
"Take a look at that man. He's of medium height, slightly overweight, and walks with a severe pigeon-toed gait... That's right, it's Zhou Mingyuan!"
After confirming that it was Sun Wei and Zhou Mingyuan, Li Bin returned to the map to check it again. He slammed his hand on the table, his voice almost cracking with excitement: "Director! Chenxi Garden is on Sanyang Road. The coordinates provided by Jiushan are correct!"
Jiang Ling immediately picked up the phone: "Team Leader Lei, it's me. Zhou Mingyuan and Sun Wei are most likely staying at Chenxi Garden on Sanyang Road!"
Lei Xiao didn't hesitate at all: "Received! Depart immediately."
As dawn broke, the Morning Light Garden was shrouded in a thin, gray mist.
This is a newly built residential area. It is quite large, but the location is relatively remote. The trees haven't grown tall yet, the occupancy rate is very low, and it feels somewhat desolate.
Lei Xiao, accompanied by several criminal police officers, stood in the simple property management office with grim faces.
The property manager, a middle-aged, overweight man with thinning hair, was flipping through a thin register with a troubled expression, muttering to himself, "Officer, it's not that I'm not cooperating. Look, in this register, only two new tenants have signed leases in the last three months, and they're both listed here. Zhou Mingyuan? Sun Wei? No, definitely not! We have strict regulations here; all rentals must be registered!"
"Strict management?" Fan Wei couldn't help but retort, pointing to the sparse lights outside the window and the unobstructed building entrance. "Where are the surveillance cameras? Where are the security guards patrolling? Is this what you call strict management?" The property manager awkwardly rubbed his hands, speechless.
Lei Xiao irritably wiped his face, the morning chill and his current predicament fueling his anger.
He suppressed his anger and ordered Fan Wei: "Old Fan! Check all the owner lists and registered contact information, and call each house one by one. Find out which houses are vacant, and if there has been any unusual activity recently, especially those owners who have been difficult to contact for a long time. You must find a way to contact them."
Fan Wei responded and immediately led his men into action.
Lei Xiao then turned to Zheng Yu: "You and the property manager go door-to-door. If he lives here, there's no reason he wouldn't show his face!"
"Yes!" Zheng Yu said to the property manager without hesitation, "Let's go."
The property manager looked frustrated, but he could only follow along, muttering to himself, "Over a thousand households, knocking on each door, how long will this take..."
Although the task had been assigned, looking at the thick stack of names and the few usable phone numbers, Lei Xiao knew that this method of investigation, whether by phone or by visiting people in person, was far too inefficient. Moreover, phone calls might not go unanswered, and doors might not be opened; these two clumsy methods, while the only viable options at the moment, were hardly effective.
He walked to the window, took out his phone, and dialed the data center's dedicated line. His voice was filled with suppressed anxiety: "Director Jiang, we're stuck here at Chenxi Garden. The property management says there haven't been any new rental records recently. There are too many empty houses in this godforsaken place. We can only check one by one now, but we're worried about the time it will take. Can you think of any other way to get a more precise direction from the data?"
Data center.
Jiang Ling hung up the phone with Lei Xiao, her brows furrowed.
The situation at Chenxi Garden was more complicated than she had anticipated. Its emptiness, chaotic management, and lack of information made it an ideal hiding place for people like Zhou Mingyuan.
The screen flashed the planning floor plan, building structure diagram, owner list, and sparse rental information of Chenxi Garden that Lei Xiao had just sent. With this information, it was impossible to pinpoint the exact location of each household.
"No rental record? He probably didn't go through the proper channels at all!" Liu Haoran, who was standing to the side, suddenly slammed his hand on the table, stood up, and his eyes lit up.
Jiang Ling looked at him: "Tell me in detail?"
Liu Haoran eagerly replied, "Director, I have an idea! Didn't Zhou Mingyuan work as a decorator? He knows all about house structures and plumbing. He doesn't need to rent a renovated house at all. He can just find a long-term vacant unfinished house, break in, and connect the water and electricity. Chenxi Garden is poorly managed. The property management probably doesn't even know there's someone in such an empty house."
“That makes sense,” Zhou Wei immediately chimed in. “When holding hostages, water and electricity are basic necessities. Of course, to avoid disturbing others, Zhou Mingyuan might not turn on the lights or use electricity, but water is definitely necessary. They were moved at night, and before that, they had been living in Lijing Garden. This means that Chenxi Garden suddenly started using water and electricity last night, while before that, the water and electricity meters might have only been running single digits for months. This abnormal use of water and electricity is a clue!”
Li Zhenliang's eyes lit up: "That's right, checking the water and electricity meters is much more reliable than checking rental records! Abnormal water and electricity in vacant houses is evidence that someone is active in them."
But Su Xinwan frowned: "The idea is good, but Chenxi Garden has more than a thousand households. Even if we screen out the vacant houses, and then check their recent water and electricity readings, especially the changes from last night to this morning... This amount of data, how can we rely on manpower to go to the water bureau and power bureau to retrieve files, flip through records, and compare them? By the time the results come out, it will be too late! It might not be as fast as Team Leader Lei knocking on doors one by one!"
A brief silence fell over the server room.
Just then, images from her previous life's big data era flashed through Jiang Ling's mind. Those efficient city management platforms, smart energy monitoring systems, and real-time analysis based on massive amounts of data gave her a sudden insight.
Although we haven't reached the level of the smart city system of the past, with the current conditions, data centers may be able to take the lead.
Jiang Ling looked at everyone, her gaze intense: "No! We don't need to be so slow. We won't do manual screening; we'll let the computer do the data screening!"
Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately picked up the dedicated phone line and dialed Liang Jiushan's number, speaking quickly and clearly: "Jiushan, the target community is Chenxi Garden. We need to immediately screen all residents' water and electricity usage data for the past 48 hours, especially the period from 8 PM last night to 6 AM this morning. Focus on finding units where water and electricity meter readings remained extremely low or zero for an extended period, and then suddenly showed significant jumps last night. Especially water meters! Unfinished apartments may use very little electricity, but people still need to use water when they're inside. Can you... do it?"
On the other end of the phone, Liang Jiushan's voice hesitated: "Sister Ling, I understand what you mean. But now the water and electricity meters are only checked once a month, and they're indoors. To find the room this way, unless the water and electricity company builds a database that synchronizes water and electricity usage in real time, otherwise..."
Jiang Ling felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over her head.
Yes, it will take another twenty years for the big data era to arrive.
If the big data approach doesn't work, then mobilize the masses and use a massive human wave tactic!
Jiang Ling put down the phone and looked at Liu Haoran: "Haoran, immediately coordinate with the bureau to open connections with the municipal water and power companies and retrieve the water and electricity payment records for Chenxiyuan. Ask them to provide a list of those who have been in arrears for several consecutive months. Be quick!"
If you rent an unfurnished apartment and connect your own water and electricity, the water and electricity companies will definitely have records. If you've used water and electricity, but no one is home when they come to check the meters, and they ignore payment requests, such a resident will definitely be blacklisted. After all, the companies that collect payments are most sensitive to such situations.
"Yes!" Liu Haoran knew the situation was urgent and immediately rushed to the communications station.
The coordination between the municipal bureau and the water and electricity departments is proceeding smoothly under the command of the entire data center.
Liu Haoran, Zhou Wei, and the others held their breath, their eyes fixed on the phone.
Chenxi Garden, Property Management Office.
Time seemed to stand still as Lei Xiao paced anxiously in the cramped office, awaiting the outcome of his team's actions.
Progress with Fan Wei was slow; either no one answered the phone or the homeowners said the houses had been vacant for a long time. Zheng Yu, who had been knocking on doors with the property manager, had checked all the occupied apartments, but either no one was home, or the residents rolled their eyes in annoyance, complaining that the property management was disturbing the peace. There was no news about Sun Wei or Zhou Mingyuan.
Suddenly, Lei Xiao's phone vibrated rapidly; it was Jiang Ling.
"Team Leader Lei! Target locked, Building 9, Unit 1, Chenxi Garden." Jiang Ling's voice was filled with excitement. "Unit 1 has a main water and electricity meter, and the water and electricity bills haven't been matching for the past few months. Although we don't know which specific household it is, after excluding those who pay on time, we're left with seven households: 201, 202, 301, 401, 501, 601, and 602. You just need to focus your investigation on these seven households."
More than a thousand households were narrowed down to just seven!
Lei Xiao immediately perked up: "Okay, thank you! We'll investigate right away." If they couldn't find anyone after narrowing down the search to this extent, he'd be ashamed of his name!
"Attention all units! Two police officers are to be stationed in each of the following apartments in Unit 1, Building 9: 201, 202, 301, 401, 501, 601, and 602. Keep a close watch on them. Report any unusual activity immediately!" Lei Xiao shouted into the walkie-talkie, his voice echoing throughout the property management office.
A reply came quickly.
"Report: 201 is uninhabited."
"Report: 202 is uninhabited."
...
"Report! We've detected footsteps and conversations in room 601! Repeat, there's someone in room 601!"
"Attention all! Target confirmed! Building 9, Unit 1, Room 601! Repeat, Building 9, Unit 1, Room 601! Vacant, unfinished apartment! Suspect and hostage inside! Assault team, immediately seal off the unit entrance and rear! Snipers, find high ground! Technical team, prepare to monitor! Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!"
Before the roar had even faded, Lei Xiao had already shot out of the property management office like an arrow, swiftly rushing towards Building 9 not far away. The criminal police officers behind him seemed to have been injected with a stimulant, instantly bursting forth with astonishing speed, closely following behind.
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