I'm not a genius detective

Chapter 111 Suspect Identified

The investigation officially began the following day.

The local police station is mainly responsible for visiting residents around the community, while Han Ling and Tong Feng are responsible for monitoring.

More than a month has passed since Dai Bin frequently went out to find seclusion locations, exceeding the retention period of most surveillance footage. However, it is still necessary to ask questions to avoid missing any special circumstances.

The key focus is still on merchant surveillance footage that can be stored for more than two months.

For example, high-risk business locations, or merchants with relatively large scale and high profits.

High-risk business locations include jewelry stores, gold shops, and luxury goods stores. These places require long-term surveillance to track theft and customer disputes, thereby increasing the margin for error in operations.

[The suspect stalked the victim] This direction is only one possibility, and it's like finding a needle in a haystack. There's no other way but to rely on traditional criminal investigation methods to keep trying and failing until we finally find the only answer.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

At a jewelry store near Daibin Residential Area, Han Ling and Tong Feng received prompt cooperation after showing their identification. They were reviewing video surveillance footage from a month ago.

The two were not investigating without a purpose. Dai Bin's mode of transportation was a private car, and the community had an underground parking garage. If the suspects were following him, they would definitely have obtained Dai Bin's license plate number information.

Therefore, the focus should be on investigating the time points before and after Daibin's vehicle appeared.

During the review of the surveillance footage, Tong Feng chatted casually: "Han Ling, let's assume that the suspect knows Dai Bin's address. If this assumption is true, how do you think he knows it? This matter is not simple, is it?"

This is on the premise that the two parties have not communicated by phone, text message, or online.

Han Ling: "There are too many possibilities. Let's not consider this for now... You take your time to think about it. I'm busy."

Tong Feng turned his head and saw that Han Ling was still reading a novel. He couldn't help but feel annoyed: "Why are you reading a novel while I'm watching the surveillance footage? That's a bit unfair."

Han Ling read intently, turning the pages slowly, and said without looking up, "Didn't Captain Ji say that we should take some time to read Dai Bin's novel? Maybe the clues are in the novel."

Tong Feng: "I've found it increasingly difficult to communicate with you lately. You're giving irrelevant answers. What I'm trying to express is why you read novels while I watch surveillance footage, not why I read novels."

Han Ling: "My literary skills are better than yours, and your eyesight is better than mine. I'm afraid I might miss something when I'm watching the surveillance footage."

Tong Feng: "..."

This kid always has some kind of twisted logic.

Oh well, I might as well watch it; it's all about investigating cases anyway.

The surveillance footage review continued until 4 p.m., from jewelry stores to gold shops, and from gold shops to banks, but no findings were found so far.

The police station's investigation yielded no results.

After the merchants' surveillance footage is checked, the two will continue to check the road surveillance footage of accident-prone sections. The surveillance footage of accident-prone intersections will be kept for a longer period of time.

Han Ling was so engrossed in the novel that he couldn't tear himself away. Tong Feng suspected that he might be addicted and had forgotten his original purpose of investigating the case.

"Did you figure anything out?" Tong Feng asked as they walked out of the bank. "The Meizu flagship phone I bought you is for reading novels, right?"

At this moment, Han Ling finally put away his phone, took out a cigarette, lit it, and said, "I can see that the female supporting character in Dai Bin's book is based on Xiao Yuxuan, and... he exaggerated Xiao Yuxuan's shortcomings."

"Hmm?" Tong Feng perked up, his resentment towards Han Ling for slacking off vanishing completely. "Based on Xiao Yuxuan? What do you mean? Are you sure?"

Han Ling nodded: "It's basically confirmed. The female supporting character's name is Xiao Yu. The names sound similar, and her appearance, figure, personality, and lifestyle are also very similar to Xiao Yuxuan."

Tong Feng: "For example?"

Han Ling: "For example, she is an alcoholic, loves to have fun, has tattoos, likes to go to bars and nightclubs, has extremely high dance skills, and is naturally charming enough to attract men."

Tong Feng: "Xiao Yuxuan doesn't drink excessively."

Han Ling: "That's why I said it was an exaggeration."

Tong Feng wondered, "Why would a girl like this become a supporting character, and why is she so popular with readers? I think very few men genuinely like girls who go to nightclubs, right?"

Han Ling slowly exhaled a puff of smoke and explained, "Dai Bin's character is characterized by contrast. Although she loves to play around, she is virtuous and self-disciplined. This kind of girl perfectly satisfies a man's desire for both sexes."

They're practically impossible to find in real life; they only exist in novels.

Certain qualities cannot coexist in one girl.

Girls who are virtuous and have good moral character are generally honest and well-mannered.

Tattooed women who frequent nightclubs are hard to associate with the phrase "self-disciplined and virtuous".

If a passionate and lively dance queen appears in real life, with a charming smile and a mastery of all bar games, capable of drinking from night until dawn, while also being conservative and keeping her distance from all men, she is more likely to be a lesbian.

It's not that it never happened, but Han Ling has never encountered it in either his past or present life.

This is unscientific and defies common sense.

"That's utter nonsense." Tong Feng commented with three words.

How could there possibly be a girl like that? Only novels would dare to write about her.

No wonder readers like it.

Han Ling: "When Dai Bin killed Xiao Yu, it was around the time of his argument with Xiao Yuxuan. I think his original outline was not like this; it was imbued with subjective emotions that were strongly connected to reality."

Tong Feng asked curiously, "How did you die?"

Han Ling: "Suicide. Xiao Yu only loved the protagonist, and when the protagonist married someone else, she ultimately chose to jump into the river and commit suicide."

Tong Feng complained: "What kind of nonsense is this? It deserves to be criticized. It's a novel, isn't it normal to have multiple wives and concubines?"

Wait a minute, you said the main character gets married to someone else? Could the character be based on Wang Mengqi?

Han Ling shook his head: "No, the female lead and Wang Mengqi are very different in every way, they have nothing to do with each other."

Tong Feng hummed in agreement: "And then? What does all this have to do with the case?"

Han Ling: "I don't know yet."

Tong Feng was speechless: "Fine, we've wasted a whole day watching. Let's go check the road surveillance footage instead." The two drove to the traffic police station.

For investigations into surveillance footage of the city's main roads, criminal investigators from the branch bureau need to bring the necessary documents to the traffic police command center or the municipal bureau's science and technology department to retrieve the footage. Currently, the branch bureau does not support direct access to the footage.

It's very troublesome, and many criminal police officers have complained about it countless times, since surveillance is a common method for investigating criminal offenses.

"I wonder when we'll be able to watch the surveillance footage directly at the station," Tong Feng said on the way.

Han Ling replied, "Let's wait a few years. It should be about right in a few more years."

The surveillance footage retrieval in TV dramas looks very simple. This is not just a simplification required for artistic creation. With the development of technology, public security bureaus in various cities will establish command and service centers with high data integration, breaking down the barriers of authority between departments.

Once authorized, each criminal investigator will be able to access the city's unified video surveillance platform remotely from their office via the public security intranet.

Investigation efficiency has been greatly improved.

In 2010, the technology was not yet advanced enough, and the Skynet system had only just begun to be deployed.

"I hope so," Tong Feng said casually, unaware of what he would look like a few years later.

Upon arriving at the traffic police detachment, the two submitted their paperwork and began reviewing video surveillance footage from fixed time points. This time, Han Ling stopped reading her novel and joined the investigation.

The possibility of vehicle tracking is still quite high.

It was 8:05 PM.

Tong Feng's expression changed at that moment. Without hesitation, he immediately paused the monitoring and started drawing. Then, he pointed to the screen and said to Han Ling, "Look here."

Han Ling turned her head.

The car in the video is Dai Bin's, and a taxi is following behind it.

"If I remember correctly, this is the fourth time?" Han Ling said.

Tong Feng nodded: "Yes, this is the fourth time. Within two days, at the same intersection, the taxi has followed us four times. Is there something wrong with this?"

Han Ling leaned closer: "The front passenger seat is still empty; the passengers are sitting in the back."

All four taxis were carrying passengers.

Tong Feng said, "If we find these four taxis near the urban village, then it means..."

Han Ling continued, "This suggests that the hypothesis is likely correct: the suspect followed Dai Bin by taking a taxi and eventually obtained the exact location where Dai Bin was in seclusion creating his work."

Tong Feng was somewhat excited: "Do we feel like we've found the suspect? We need to call all four taxi drivers to the branch office. If it's confirmed that the four passengers were all picked up by the same person, it's definitely stalking."

Han Ling had no objections: "Let's do it this way. Report it to the special task force command center, leave the matter of contacting the taxi company to them, and we'll continue to check the surveillance footage in the urban village."

Tong Feng: "Okay."

10 PM.

The two quickly left the traffic police detachment and drove back to the branch office.

After reviewing the surveillance footage near the urban village, they were lucky enough to find a spot where the surveillance camera had been stored for a relatively long time and captured Dai Bin's car.

Behind Daibin's vehicle, taxis followed at a distance, and all four of them did so.

The investigation is about to make a major breakthrough, and the golden period for solving the case has not yet passed.

In the interrogation room of the branch office, four taxi drivers had already arrived. With their colleagues by their side, they were not nervous, guessing that they might have picked up a suspect in a case.

There's nothing we can do about it. Taxis stop when you wave them down, and drivers treat all passengers equally. They can't have the word "criminal" written on their faces.

Unfortunately, there were no security cameras in the taxi.

Although taxi companies have completed the installation of GPS, the monitoring equipment is expensive and has not yet been widely adopted.

The only way is to ask.

Ji Bowei showed the four people the surveillance video.

"Do you remember?" he asked.

The four men looked at it carefully, and after a moment's recollection, one of them nodded.

"I remember, I remember. A man told me to follow this car, and it ended up in... Fuk'an Lane?"

"Yes, yes, it's Fukuanri. I remember now, that's right, it was also a car ride."

"Yeah, me too, just like the other two."

"I'm just like the three of them."

Fu'anli is the name of the community, which includes the urban village where Daibin's rental house is located.

Ji Bowei saw a glimmer of hope in solving the case: "Can you provide their age, height, and appearance?"

The four discussed it for a long time and finally came up with a simple portrait of the person:

Male, around fifty years old, with medium-length hair, 1.75 to 1.80 meters tall, and a beard that he hasn't shaved for a few days.

Their appearance is rather vague; they have average faces. They don't usually pay much attention to passengers' looks unless they are exceptional, such as beautiful women.

1.75 to 1.80 meters tall.

The unfamiliar footprints found in the room where Daibin died indicate that the owner of the footprints was about 1.78 meters tall, with an error margin of within 3 centimeters.

Based on all the clues, this person is highly suspected of poisoning Dai Bin.

Determining the identity is a problem, and large-scale screening and surveillance may need to continue.

At the same time, we sought the assistance of the city bureau's portrait artist.

(End of this chapter)