Murder Puzzle Code 8

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Chapter 8

Fang Zhishu returned to the police station first with the physical evidence, while most of the remaining people were still searching the community, but so far nothing had been found.

Because this side of the building faces the outside of the community, the patrolling security guards did not pay much attention to this corner and had no idea when a rope would hang down from upstairs.

Moreover, this place was close to the outer street, and there was a surveillance camera across the road. Installing one less could save some money.

Du Zheng went downstairs to see it in person. It was blocked by a tree, how could surveillance possibly capture it? The murderer was definitely prepared.

When the property manager saw that something very catastrophic had happened, he was scared and promised to install surveillance cameras immediately. But they couldn't find any images of what happened before.

Therefore, they could not determine where the murderer took the child based on the climbing route of the water pipe. But at least they now had a target. The murderer was probably the air conditioner repairman who came to the deceased's home for repairs. He came to the deceased's home for the first time to survey the route and prepare for the second arrival.

Therefore, they focused on the route the murderer took when he first came to the deceased's home.

As a cyber detective, Jiang Du tracked and screened the elevator rooms, building halls, and surveillance outside the community. The suspect was seen wearing a mask and a hat from beginning to end, and his appearance could not be clearly seen. 

After he came out of the deceased's home, he pressed the elevator. After the elevator door opened, he was photographed being held by the neighbour's hostess. During the surveillance, the suspect showed a slightly bad attitude, shook off the lady’s hand, and left immediately. After entering the elevator, the lady refused and cursed at him, but the suspect still chose to leave.

He walked out of the elevator and lobby with the toolbox in hand, left directly from the gate of the community and walked towards the main road.

Waiting for them to screen all the surveillance before sending it over was a bit time-consuming. Jiang Du notified the traffic bureau and took his computer with him to rush to the traffic bureau to watch the surveillance on site.

"Hey, how are you going to get there?" Meng Jingyi was right next to the door. He just heard Jiang Du's call and saw him hurriedly going out, so he stood up and asked.

She remembered that Jiang Du was not very good at driving.

"I’ll hitch a taxi!" Jiang Du took out his mobile phone and immediately called for a taxi.

Meng Jingyi picked up the keys on the table and walked out. She raised her eyebrows and said, "Let's go, sister will give you a ride!"

The mobile phone software prompted him to wait in line, but he didn’t see any vacant taxis. When there was no need to take a taxi, there were taxis everywhere, but now when he was in a hurry to go out, no matter what, he couldn’t get a taxi.

Jiang Du gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement.

Unless he had to, he didn't really want to take Meng Jingyi's car.

Standing on the side of the road, Jiang Du's eyes twitched, watching Meng Jingyi move her elderly car out of the parking space, and immediately regretted, "I will try to call a taxi again!"

Meng Jingyi reached out to open the side door and patted the seat cushion, "Why are you so picky? You are already too late and you are still picking and choosing." 

Jiang Du glanced at the time and compromised. He was 1.8 metres tall, holding a laptop and trying to get into the small car, his legs were cramped.

Sitting in the co-pilot seat, he almost rubbed shoulders with Meng Jingyi in the small space.

Meng Jingyi saw that Jiang Du was still reluctant, so she stood up and grabbed his seat belt and buckled it on him, "We have been working together for so long, you have to believe me. My driving skills are second best in the team."

"Concentrate on driving." Jiang Du silently grasped the safety handrail and reminded, "It doesn't matter if you go slower, your life is more important!" 

Indeed, he and Meng Jingyi had been colleagues for so long, so of course they understood each other. This girl was like a tomboy, more decisive than many people in the police station, and extremely reckless.

But she wasn’t a bad person and did things in an orderly manner. The crime squad had high-intensity work every day, and many male police officers were a little overwhelmed, not to mention the girls who were slightly weaker than the opposite gender. There were so many female police officers coming and going, and Meng Jingyi was the one who had stayed the longest.

"Tsk!" Meng Jingyi released the handbrake, turned the steering wheel, and suddenly stepped on the accelerator.

Jiang Du's upper body was pressed tightly against the seat due to inertia. At this moment, he even thought of his last words and wishes. 

"Captain, we searched the neighbourhood and went through the trash cans. We found nothing except the mobile phone." Zhou Xiaoyang and Du Zheng took people back to the scene to report. They searched in the open air for two hours under the bright sun. All the police officers were already a little red, sweaty profusely.

Yu Jing immediately caught the exhausted faces of the police officers, "We will take turns to have lunch, leaving a few to continue guarding the scene, and the rest will cooperate with the trace inspection, forensics, and cyber detectives to carry out the investigation."

"Yes!"

"By the way, where's Lu Yan?" Yu Jing looked around and didn't see Lu Yan or Lin Xiangli. He didn't notice when they left.

The police officer explained: “Forensic doctors Lu and Lin said that the evidence at the scene was almost collected, and they went back to re-examine the bodies. They saw you were busy, so they didn't bother you.”

The police officer said it politely, but the real situation was—

Before Lu Yan left, he glanced at Yu Jing who was squatting under the kitchen table. He packed his things and was about to leave. Before leaving, he casually told the police officer at the door, "We're leaving first. We'll go back and check the bodies again."

Yu Jing didn't need to think too much to know that if the police officer must have helped Lu Yan, how could he be so good-tempered to him?

"Forget it, he left after the case was investigated anyway, just bear with it!" Yu Jing comforted himself and asked the police officers who stayed at the scene to remember to go to eat, and then returned to the police station.

Lin Xiangli was sitting in the co-pilot seat, looking at Lu Yan with a dull expression, and asked tentatively: "Are you really determined to stay?"

Lu Yan responded, "Looking at the director's expression, he should know where Yu Qin's son is, so I have to find a chance to ask again."

When he and Lin Xiangli went to find the director, the director immediately changed his face when he heard that he came back for Yu Qin's son and asked him what he wanted this person for.

Because Fang Zhishu was also present at the time, it was not convenient for him to reveal his identity, but what was certain was that the director knew where Yu Qin's son was and had been protecting him.

After what happened that year, the police were worried that the real culprit behind the scenes would attack the police officer's family. He had been protecting him, and as a family member of the victim, he joined the police.

Although they had met in person, they were in such a rush that they didn't even have time to ask each other's names.

Speaking of which, they also mistakenly took each other's cell phones because they were in a hurry to leave.

Lu Yan looked up at the red light and chuckled. He should be very close to that person now.

Hello, Officer Yu’s son, I’m Lu Yan. I’m back to see you.

When Jiang Du got out of the car, his face turned pale and he almost vomited on the spot, "Finally... we're here!"

Meng Jingyi expressed great disdain for Jiang Du's attitude, "When you go back, you can ride a taxi! Xiao Chu asked me to go back and cooperate with him in a small experiment."

Jiang Du quickly closed the car door and waved obediently, "Meng-jie, please drive slowly."

He waved until Meng Jingyi's car drove away. He breathed a sigh of relief and walked into the transportation department.

"Wearing all black in summer, wearing a hat and a mask. This feature is easy to find!" The traffic bureau police officer adjusted the time to the time period of the tragedy and saw a thin man carrying a tool box walking to the street, and then detoured from a path into an alley.

"It seems that we need to screen several exits of the alley." The police officer frowned. It seemed that the suspect was very familiar with the terrain of Jianglong City. He deliberately went around the old city. It appeared that he had some anti-reconnaissance capabilities.

However, in order to avoid this situation, they monitored all exits of the alley a few years ago. Although there were many twists and turns in the alley, suspects would always be noticed.

All the free police officers in the monitoring hall joined in the screening. Jiang Du turned on his computer and also helped.

"Found him, dressed in black! The suspect came out of Yongle Lane and walked towards the pedestrian street." A police officer immediately reported the situation. 

Switching to the corresponding pedestrian street surveillance on the big screen, the suspect was seen walking into a bar with tools.

"Did he go there for maintenance?" Jiang Du murmured to himself, and then he said to the police officer, "Let's check back and see when he left."

"It's strange. There are only three entrances and exits to this bar, and the suspect didn't come out until closing time." The police officer adjusted the speed and watched the surveillance further. Until the current surveillance situation was synchronised, no one in black was seen coming out.

He raised his head and said to the cyber detective of the Crime Unit, "The portrait of the suspect you provided is too blurry. If he changed clothes in the bar, we wouldn't be able to find him. So as of now, after entering the bar, the suspect dressed in black either has not come out yet or has changed his clothes and left."

The clues provided by the Serious Crime Team only focused on characteristics such as clothing. These things could be put on and taken off, so relying on these clues, once lost, it would be difficult to find them again.

It was best to find physical features, living habits, etc. Things that were difficult to change were easier and more accurate to find if they had characteristics.

Jiang Du adjusted the angle of view back and forth. There were surveillance cameras at the front, rear and side doors of the bar. There was indeed no image of the suspect leaving. He asked again: "Are there any surveillance blind spots?"

The police officer shook his head. This bar was a key observation target of the anti-pornography team. A circle of surveillance was arranged outside, so there would be absolutely no blind spots.

He was wondering just now, even if the people from the anti-pornography team were keeping an eye on Qingyu Bar, why were the people from the crime team also keeping an eye on it? Their traffic police patrolled the area every day, but they never heard of any murder! 

"Thanks anyway!" Jiang Du took away the surveillance backup and immediately rushed back to the crime team.

"Captain Yu, after the suspect first appeared at the crime scene, he went to the Qingyu Bar. But the people from the traffic bureau and I checked all the surveillance records. It seemed that the suspect did not leave after entering the bar, or he changed his clothes in the bar. Anyway, we lost track of him." Jiang Du called Yu Jing and stood on the side of the road to wait for the taxi.

Yu Jing rubbed his chin, replying in a deep voice: "The consumption at Qingyu Bar is not low. If he was going for maintenance, he should come out. But if he went to enjoy and relax, he would also leave a record. Xiao Jiang, come back first."

Then, he said to Zhou Xiaoyang: "Let's go to Qingyu Bar!"

In the autopsy room, Lu Yan, wearing protective clothing, stood in front of the four corpses, bowed in mourning, and lifted off the white cloth on their bodies again. 

The author has something to say: 

Small theatre: 

*17 years old*

Mama Yu: Why didn’t that child come today?

Yu Jing: Does it matter whether he comes or not?

Mama Yu: Son, your dad’s death has nothing to do with him, and it isn’t his family’s fault. There’s no need for you to treat him like this. 

Yu Jing: I know, but…

(Half of his head suddenly popped out of the window sill as Lu Yan secretly placed a basket of peaches by the window and quickly slipped away. Mama Yu urged Yu Jing to come out and get the peaches, and Yu Jing saw a small note in the basket.)

When I was picking peaches, I secretly tasted one. The peach was very sweet. I hope it makes you happy.

Yu Jing raised his head and looked in the direction where Lu Yan left, and saw that he was hiding in the corner and peeking. Seeing that he was discovered, he quickly retreated, but wanted to know Yu Jing's reaction, so he timidly poked his head out again.

He saw no one at the door of the house, and no trace of the basket of peaches.

VV: *sigh* Can these theatres be considered as the background of our cuties? (Next chapter will be a bonus chapter for you so that in future, I can get a kofi… shhh.) 

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