Chapter 329: Departing by Air

Chapter 329: Departing by Air

Can we still access surveillance footage from five years ago?

Yes, we can!

All the surveillance recordings related to the case were backed up.

In modern criminal investigations, all footage linked to a case is sealed.

If a case remains unsolved, its footage is preserved with the case files.

There’s no need to worry about video corruption.

They are all copied in triplicate.

If one copy is damaged, the other two can be used to recreate it perfectly.

Scenes in movies where deleted footage means lost evidence are actually laughable.

That kind of plot insults the intelligence of both the police and the audience.

As if the police only know how to use an old flip phone when it comes to computers!

“At that time, we extracted three copies of the surveillance footage,”

“each corresponding to the timeline of three cases from five years ago…”

“On the day the three victims disappeared, the police used the Tianyan Surveillance Camera to extract footage covering five days before and after; each case had ten days of recordings.”

“Each case involved at least six Tianyan cameras, and in some instances, as many as eleven.”

“The common factor was that all three victims vanished within surveillance blind spots.”

“This clearly indicates that the perpetrator knew the camera layout and angles, deliberately choosing the blind spots as crime scenes…”

Standing before the projection screen, Xiao Yu finished outlining the case details and emphasized the surveillance facts.

Silence finally broke in the meeting room as murmurs began to stir.

Apart from breathing, the occasional sound of a cigarette being lit could be heard.

For a moment, the smoke in the Criminal Investigation Team’s room grew even denser and almost suffocating.

Everyone present—except forensic expert He Li—were seasoned detectives.

After listening to Xiao Yu’s account, their minds raced as they considered every possibility.

In the end, they all agreed on one thing: no human could perform such a feat.

Why?

Just as Xiao Yu suspected.

After entering a surveillance blind spot, the victims simply vanished.

Then, within two or three days, the victims experienced their final ordeals.

Eventually, the perpetrator abandoned them in an area without surveillance.

This abandoned zone was several kilometers away from the disappearance site.

How was this possible?

How could a living person vanish from a blind spot as if by magic?

If not, the perpetrator would have had to escort the victim out of the blind area, wouldn’t he?

Could it be that he activated a ‘teleportation portal’ and vanished instantly?

Supernatural or paranormal?

No.

The last person to suggest such a thing is already history!

Everyone knew it wasn’t about supernatural or paranormal forces.

Instead, it meant the perpetrator had some method unknown to them so far.

Their current task was to crack this method and uncover the truth.

Pure analysis alone wouldn’t suffice…

“I’m heading to the disappearance site of the first case,”

Xiao Yu turned to Zhao Changshan and said, “Boss, take a team to the second case scene. And you—don’t just stand around; use your experience and check out the third scene.”

“Alright!”

Zhao Changshan and Zhou Tinghu stood up, and soon the members of the Criminal Investigation Team dispersed…

……

Inside the vehicle at the previous case scene.

“Why not search directly for clues on that Red-Dressed Woman?”

Sitting in the back, He Li glanced at Xiao Yu.

“And how do you propose we do that?”

With a thoughtful smile, Xiao Yu replied, “Relying solely on a three-year-old video and body shape analysis isn’t realistic. Besides, the surveillance footage from that residential area was long deleted—it’s impossible to recover.”

Surveillance from ordinary places isn’t preserved like the police-sealed footage.

Most recordings get deleted or replaced after only a month or two.

Not to mention footage from three years ago…it’s simply unreachable.

Though He Li was a police officer, she had spent so long as a forensic specialist

that it was normal for her not to be well-versed in active case investigations.

“I see,”

He Li nodded and frowned, asking, “Can’t we find a breakthrough by examining the murder methods of the Red-Dressed Woman and her connection with the victims?”

Most ordinary women lack the capability and strength of the Red-Dressed Woman.

The fact that she could enter a victim’s home to commit the murder

shows she was intimately familiar with the surveillance setup.

It strongly indicates that she was likely acquainted with the victims.

“It’s pointless,”

Xiao Yu shook his head. “If you were in her position, would you leave behind such obvious clues?”

“Sure thing,”

He Li sighed and shook her head, remarking, “I’m hopeless—after all, a forensic expert like me just can’t match you professionals.”

“Everyone excels in their own field,”

Guo Qiang joked from the driver’s seat, “We detectives could never hold a candle to you in autopsy work.”

He Li couldn’t help but be pleased with Guo Qiang’s compliment.

But as she glanced at Xiao Yu beside her, her frustration only deepened.

Who said detectives can’t perform autopsies?

The police halted as they reached the case scene.

Everyone disembarked and headed toward a back alley outside a residential area, approaching the rear of some apartment buildings.

Five years later.

Comparing this with the Tianyan footage from five years ago, not much has changed.

And that’s normal.

Many residential areas remain virtually unchanged for decades.

For one, ordinary residents wouldn’t alter things.

And urban development rarely warrants maintenance in such areas.

Though called a back alley, it’s really just a narrow path between two adjacent residential complexes.

One side is lined with a wall, the other with a railing.

And this very spot is a blind zone for the city’s Tianyan Surveillance…

On the night of March 14, five years ago,

a woman vanished after entering this narrow alley on her way home…

The alley was short—less than thirty meters.

It takes 20 to 35 seconds to walk across, or 6 to 10 seconds if running… that’s all it took.

Step by step along the path, Xiao Yu’s eyes scanned the surroundings while his mind analyzed every possibility.

He weighed every scenario in his thoughts.

Could the perpetrator have scaled the wall to access the two complexes?

No, because both complexes had surveillance back then.

Maybe he escaped through a sewage tunnel?

Again, no—this possibility had already been ruled out by the police.

After pacing back and forth twice, Xiao Yu found no clue.

Could it be that the perpetrator really activated some kind of teleportation portal?

A chill shot up his spine, from his back straight to his head.

He rolled his eyes, thinking, ‘Humans do tend to overthink…’

He felt his thoughts gradually turning absurd.

Then, one possibility remained… Xiao Yu looked up and eyed the sky.

Only by leaving from the sky could one bypass the surveillance.

Why?

Common sense—how many cameras are aimed high up?

Five years ago, unlike now, there were hardly any cameras specifically monitoring the skies.

Back then, cameras pointed upward were very few.

So the only option was to leave via the air.

Fly away?

Leaving from the sky doesn’t necessarily mean flying.

There are countless methods!