Chapter 100: Following the Clues
by xennovelChapter One Hundred: Following the Clues
Boom!
A room door was violently smashed open.
Armed SWAT teams surged in like caged tigers, storming into the living room and charging toward the bedroom…
Five minutes later, Xiao Yu stepped into the residence of suspect Yang Zhichao.
Is no one home?
His sharp gaze fell on the disheveled large bed in the bedroom, his eyes fixed on the rumpled linens.
His uncanny sense – Wangdie’s Nose – revealed that just three or four days ago, the suspect had rested on this very bed.
And there was a woman.
The moment he detected her scent, Xiao Yu’s expression darkened noticeably.
Yu Hongmei!
Who is she?
She was a close friend of Shen Qi, Ma Hexuan’s girlfriend.
Two days ago, she had been brutally tortured, murdered, and her body dumped in the wasteland.
In an instant, a cascade of clues began to surface.
After Ma Hexuan was incarcerated, his girlfriend Shen Qi was coerced by Yu Hongmei into handing over a portable hard drive containing certain software.
A few days later, suspect Yang Zhichao was jailed and went to see Ma Hexuan.
Soon after, Lu Jia approached Ma Hexuan, and then orchestrated an escape.
Following the jailbreak… Yu Hongmei was subsequently ruthlessly murdered.
It turned out that Yu Hongmei not only knew Yang Zhichao but was so intimate with him they’d even shared a bed?
And that wasn’t all…
Xiao Yu’s expression shifted rapidly.
The scent lingering in the room, unmistakably Yang Zhichao’s, was all too familiar.
He had detected Yang Zhichao’s aroma at the scene where Yu Hongmei was killed.
Was Yang Zhichao present when Yu Hongmei was murdered?
Did she die right before someone with whom you once shared a bed?
Or could it be…
A chilling gleam flashed in Xiao Yu’s eyes.
He quickly regained his composure, his mind racing with clear logic.
Time to deduce again!
It appeared that everyone’s aim was the portable hard drive.
If they already had it, why was Ma Hexuan still in the picture?
Could it be… the password?
The portable hard drive was encrypted – you couldn’t access it?
Forced into action, suspect Yang Zhichao went to the Detention Center to confront Ma Hexuan.
According to the Detention Center’s footage, you had been to the restroom twice.
The first time, Ma Hexuan stormed out in fury.
The second time, he emerged in sheer panic.
Had he been threatened?
Did they intend to extract the password from his portable hard drive?
When Ma Hexuan remained silent, Yang Zhichao turned to Lu Jia.
How did Yang Zhichao persuade Lu Jia to help him?
By bribery? Or through threats?
Afterwards, Lu Jia moved closer to Ma Hexuan…
Why stage a jailbreak?
A three-month sentence isn’t long—couldn’t you wait for Ma Hexuan’s release?
Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes.
What transpired between that forced you all to plan this murder and jailbreak?
Couldn’t you even wait three months?
But…
Yang Zhichao left his home at the precise moment the escape unfolded.
Do you really think you can run?
There is no surveillance outside the Detention Center, and none in the mountainous areas.
Yet your residence is in the city – covered by Tianyan Surveillance Cameras.
Wherever Yang Zhichao goes, he leaves behind traces.
Follow those traces… How can you possibly escape?
……
At the City Tianyan Surveillance Command Center.
It wasn’t the sea of technicians one might expect – only a handful, five or six, maintained the entire city’s system.
In today’s age of smart technology, endless manpower is no longer required to watch monitors.
The intelligent system, following preset programs, flawlessly carries out its tasks.
For instance, if a vehicle violates traffic rules, it snaps a picture automatically.
Of course, as smart as it is, it isn’t infallible.
It’s like a driver with bird droppings on the windshield – the system might mistakenly assume he was smoking and dock points.
Similarly, if a bird flies in front of a car, masking the plate, the system might wrongly conclude there’s no valid plate…
So, some technicians remain essential.
Now, to locate someone,
the police must upload the suspect’s photo into the Tianyan system.
Only then can the system scan the entire city based on the suspect’s last known location.
Even then, the search isn’t perfectly accurate – the margin of error is significant…
Watching the technicians comb through the footage in search of suspect Yang Zhichao, Xiao Yu kept his eyes glued to the screen.
Three days ago, at 9:23 AM,
suspect Yang Zhichao and victim Yu Hongmei strolled out of the house together, as if they were a couple.
Strangely, Yang Zhichao had a car but didn’t drive it.
Instead, the pair boarded a bus.
By 9:46 AM, Yang Zhichao and Yu Hongmei appeared at a shopping mall.
They entered the premises.
Reviewing the mall’s surveillance, the pair were seen shopping.
At 11:21 AM, they left the mall and dined at a nearby fast-food restaurant.
0… Requesting Fresh Flowers 00
At 12:31 PM, they returned to the mall for more shopping.
Until 2:15 PM, they took the mall’s elevator down to the underground parking lot…
Xiao Yu smirked.
No car was driven from home, yet they ended up at the mall’s underground parking?
Had a car been pre-arranged?
Or perhaps a vehicle was waiting for them in the lot?
The parking footage was retrieved.
At 2:17 PM, Yang Zhichao and Yu Hongmei were seen wandering the lot after shopping.
They eventually boarded a… container truck and drove out of the parking lot.
Xiao Yu: ???
He appeared dumbfounded.
Why a container truck? It made no sense at all.
Imagine two trendy individuals shopping at a mall, buying a pile of goods…
…………..0
Then, they left in a large container truck…
Does this match their style?
Traffic Tianyan footage was reviewed: the container truck’s route led out of the city!
Xiao Yu was stunned.
No, that can’t be right.
The jailbreak occurred on the same night.
According to the autopsy, victim Yu Hongmei died around dawn.
This means that Yang Zhichao and Yu Hongmei had returned to Bincheng!
How did they return?
There’s no container truck record for a return ride. Could someone from outside the city have assisted?
Or was the container truck merely a decoy?
Soon, the police located the container truck.
It was parked in the wild, about thirty kilometers outside Bincheng.
When Xiao Yu arrived and saw the open door of the container truck along with a slab of iron, a cold smile crossed his face.
Hidden inside the truck were vehicles… like something pulled straight from a spy movie.
So, does this mean you used a different vehicle to return to the city?
Was that the ride to extract the two escapees?
Based on tire tracks left by the visible vehicle, the police deduced:
The suspect abandoned the container truck and returned in an SUV.
Traffic Tianyan records confirmed that during that period, no traces of Yang Zhichao or Yu Hongmei were detected in the SUV or on record with its driver.
Had someone else taken the wheel?
Xiao Yu sneered and issued orders,
“Search for all SUVs that returned to the city during that period and check their travel logs!”
……
PS: Regarding the chapter access issues, you’ll have to wait until the review team manually clears them. Thank you for your understanding, readers! Zero.