The Mystery of the Inner Demon

Chapter 185 Bird's Fanatic Fan
"I ended up getting angry and hanging up the phone. After I got over the jet lag, I felt sorry for my luggage and checked it. I hadn't taken the wrong one at all. But he called me again two days later, insisting that he had checked the surveillance at the airport and that I must have taken the wrong one. I asked him what was in the lost luggage, but he was hesitant and couldn't tell me. Doesn't this make people even more suspicious? So when you called me today, I thought he was pestering me again, but who knew he was dead?" Lu Ying folded her arms over her chest, looking unhappy. "I don't know where this unlucky guy came from, and he's still causing me trouble even after his death!"

Qi Fei and Wu Shanqiu looked at each other in surprise. The Chen Hao that Lu Ying mentioned was completely different from the one they knew from his colleagues.

After Lu Ying left, Wu Shanqiu couldn't help but doubt herself: "Was this quarrel just a coincidence? Have we found ourselves in a dead end?"

"No, there are many things that don't make sense here. Let's talk about it later. By the way, how is the progress of the on-site evidence collection and testing?" Qi Fei asked.

"We asked the Nancheng Zoo, and they told us that every cage is cleaned after closing at 5:30 every day, and the Bird House is no exception. This is very helpful in helping us trace the timeline of the traces.

In other words, the bird droppings in the cages we saw that morning were from that night, and any marks of bird droppings were made after the park closed.

However, so far, the fingerprints and footprints collected in the Bird House are from the cleaning staff, security guard, and Chen Hao, and there is no fourth person.

We investigated the cleaning lady, and the clock-in records and the zoo's surveillance confirmed that she left at 6:30 that day.

According to Xiao Tao's theory, Chen Hao died around midnight, which wouldn't have been possible for the cleaner to have committed the crime. As for the old security guard, there's surveillance inside the booth. Aside from the time Xiao Hei flew in and he returned the bird to the aviary, he was inside checking his phone the rest of the time and never left. However, even though the surveillance at the aviary has been replaced, the surveillance outside the park is still working. I checked it before interrogating Lü Ying, and there's something odd about it.

Wu Shanqiu said this, pulled Qi Fei to the computer, and turned on the surveillance video.

"This is the afternoon surveillance footage from Nancheng Zoo. After Chen Hao entered the park, he went straight to the Bird Pavilion, just like the previous two days."

Qi Fei stroked his chin, looking at Chen Hao on the surveillance camera, and thought: "He is different from other tourists."

"Yes, people usually just rush through the zoo, looking at one area for a while before moving on to the next. But this Chen Hao always goes to the Bird Pavilion and stares at the birds there for two hours straight. It's just that he left after just two days, but this time he didn't leave the zoo, but went to this place instead." Wu Shanqiu said, switching to the surveillance camera in another direction. "I followed the direction he was going, and what happened, Brother Fei, look!"

Qi Fei frowned as he saw Chen Hao's figure on the surveillance video, turning into a place that was obviously not open to the public. The location marked on the surveillance screen explained everything: "Monitoring room?"

"Well, before, I only watched the surveillance footage at the gate and the Aviary, and I took it for granted that Chen Hao had left the Aviary and headed towards the gate, meaning he had left the zoo.

I reviewed the surveillance footage from the past two days, and every time he did, he turned and went to the monitoring room near the exit. "The first two times..." Wu Shanqiu said, opening the previous footage, "he would linger outside the monitoring room for a while before leaving through the exit."

Qi Fei stared at the screen and said, "He's observing the habits of the security guards in the monitoring room." "That's right. Every day at 4 p.m., the security guards are called to the door for training. For at least half an hour, no one is in the monitoring room."

"On the third day, Chen Hao, Chen Hao simply went in. So... the looping playback mode of the surveillance footage in the Hundred Birds Pavilion was most likely modified by Chen Hao himself?" Qi Fei was a little surprised. "What is this person's obsession with the Hundred Birds Pavilion?"

"Brother Fei, it's not very likely. It's basically confirmed because I've watched all the videos at the entrance to the surveillance room on the day Chen Hao was murdered. Since the camera hasn't been tampered with, I can confirm that no one else has entered except the zoo's security guard and Chen Hao. Furthermore, the most powerful evidence is that the Bai Niao Yuan surveillance footage was switched to loop playback mode at the exact time Chen Hao entered."

"He spent three days preparing to sneak into the Bird Park at night."

"Yes."

"Let's take a look at the video outside the Bird Park." Qi Fei said. In the surveillance video, Chen Hao's figure, who always showed anxiety, appeared in the picture again. Especially among a group of happy tourists in the zoo, his hurried pace seemed particularly abrupt.

He hurried to the front of the Bird Pavilion, squeezed through the crowd and stood in the front row, holding the railing with both hands, looking forward with his body tense.

"Wait!" Qi Fei said as he snatched the mouse from Wu Shanqiu's hand and pressed the pause button.

In the picture, a black bird appeared in front of Chen Hao. It seemed to be the mynah bird Xiao Hei who could curse people. Opposite him stood Liu Binjie with a mobile phone, and it seemed that he was broadcasting live.

Wu Shanqiu also noticed: "No wonder there are so many people outside the Bird Pavilion, it must be the celebrity Xiao Hei."

"It seems that our Manager Chen doesn't look at all kinds of people." Qi Fei said.

"But when Xiao Hei came out, you saw that everyone's cell phones were pointed at Xiao Hei. Chen Hao wasn't the only one staring at it." Wu Shanqiu expressed a different opinion.

Qi Fei pulled the progress bar of the monitoring and said, "For the past three days, he has been standing at the Birch Pavilion for exactly two hours each time. I think you'd better check Xiao Hei's Douyin account to see if the time coincides perfectly with his live broadcast."

Wu Shanqiu opened her phone doubtfully and quickly found Xiao Hei's livestreaming history. Her eyes widened. "Ah, it's true. Xiao Hei's livestreams are always between 1:00 and 3:00 PM, which is exactly when Chen Hao shows up. Hmm..." She looked at the frozen frame of the surveillance camera, which showed Chen Hao craning his neck to gaze at Xiao Hei. She was puzzled. "A ticket salesperson who calls the airport his home suddenly develops a strong interest in a starling. This is too strange. Is it true that the world is so big that there are so many strange things? Not only do famous people have fanatical fans, but famous birds also have stalker fans sneaking into the aviary in the middle of the night to chase their idol? This is too outrageous."

"The main thing is, isn't this enthusiasm coming a little too suddenly?" Qi Fei smiled helplessly.