Chapter 345 - 345 312 Surveillance

Words : 2114 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

345: Chapter 312 Surveillance 345: Chapter 312 Surveillance Shen Yaowei, along with his new partner, summoned a familiar auxiliary policeman from the Public Security Brigade and, following the route set by Jiang Yuan, went from alley to alley, checking small hostels, bed and breakfasts, farm stays, and rental rooms. Upon careful search, it turned out that there were surprisingly many places to stay near a village. In the city, staying in a hotel or a B&B requires fairly stringent registration, but in rural towns, this registration process is often just a formality. Fortunately, now, for their own safety and to ensure that the front desk doesn’t privately sell off rooms, owners are always keen to install various surveillance cameras, making it not too difficult to track down people. Shen Yaowei mainly conducted investigations with the auxiliary policeman Wang Zhibing, who was borrowed for the task. Contrary to what most people might think, auxiliary police have become indispensable in contemporary policing activities. Especially at the grassroots level, the positions for auxiliary police have become highly competitive. The prospect of 300 people vying for a single auxiliary police spot used to seem like a tale, but it later became the norm. And those auxiliary policemen who have served for a long time, ten or even twenty years, are certainly not in short supply. These days, many are likely to stay until retirement. The longer one serves in any position, the more experience and insight naturally accumulate. The slightly more intelligent ones can master many unique techniques. For instance, Wang Zhibing, whom Shen Yaowei had brought along, knew the ins and outs of all the rental properties and small hotels in his assigned area like the back of his hand. This was a skill in itself. It wasn’t just about familiarity with the streets gained from walking them; it also required considerable charisma, otherwise, simply updating the information about the small hotels and rental properties would render his knowledge useless. “Boss, have you seen this person?” The three, dressed in plain clothes, entered a guesthouse, called out for the owner, and then went into a flurry of questions. The questioning was mainly done by auxiliary police comrade Wang Zhibing. He knew these owners all too well — those who followed the rules, and those who decidedly did not. Consequently, he also asked for the surveillance footage, setting it to the time of the incident to take a look. Where the surveillance footage was too brief, they called out a few staff members to inquire and also left their business cards with them. It took almost half an hour to finish with a single guesthouse. Once outside, Shen Yaowei couldn’t help but say, “Our efficiency is far too low.” “It’s not slow. The previous one was a bit troublesome. If there’s surveillance video, or a record of payments, or a small ledger, we can finish checking in just about ten minutes. Such guesthouses don’t usually have many guests coming and going throughout the day.” Wang Zhibing was all too familiar with these kinds of investigations. Shen Yaowei, with a stern expression, said, “There are so many guesthouses, small hotels, and these sublet rental properties, how many days will it take to check all of them?” “You’re not thinking of investigating them all by yourself, are you?” Wang Zhibing was amused, but seeing how serious Shen Yaowei’s expression was, his smile faded. Shen Yaowei asked, “I can’t?” Wang Zhibing replied, “Really can’t.” “Then how about we split up to investigate? With triple the speed, how many days will it take us to finish?” “Captain Shen, if we split up, the evidence you find firstly wouldn’t be eligible as evidence because the chain of evidence would be incomplete; at most, it could serve as a clue to crack the case. But such an important clue, especially in a murder case, the prosecutor’s office will definitely inquire thoroughly. By then, it would be unfortunate if we got scolded without having achieved any merit.” Shen Yaowei was taken aback; he wasn’t entirely unreasonable, “I hadn’t thought of that.” “Right. In actuality, this sort of search is a three-man job. For a normal murder case, if you’re going to search like this, you’d dispatch at least five or six teams, right? If it’s an important lead with a broad scope, deploying dozens or even hundreds of people would be more appropriate.” Auxiliary policeman Wang Zhibing had not been involved in many major cases. As for him, the scope involving hundreds of people was the extent of his experience. Naturally, this also depended on the region. In leading cities like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, if there was a murder case that needed investigating, it would only take minutes to organize thousands of people. Hence, choosing the right location for committing a murder is very important. In ancient times, bandits liked to live at tri-junctions of counties, intersections between two prefectures, or thoroughfares that connected nine provinces, all because there was criminological support for such decisions. In modern society, the concept changes somewhat; generally speaking, choosing... right, places with higher safety and lower difficulty. By now, Shen Yaowei also grasped the nature of the situation, “So you’re saying that this lead I’m following is actually a search lead?” “You... didn’t know?” Wang Zhibing looked at Shen Yaowei. Shen Yaowei said helplessly, “I’ve never dealt with murder cold cases before.” To be precise, he had never truly been involved in the investigation phase of a murder cold case. Once a clue was actually found in past special case squads for murder cold cases, it was all-hands-on-deck. Even if Yu Wenshu wasn’t presiding, he would certainly be paying attention. In some murder cold cases that were given high priority, it wasn’t uncommon for deputy chiefs or even the chief to lead the investigation. Within such high-level case teams, the tiny bit of influence behind Shen Yaowei was useless; no one would permit him to track down a lead on his own. What if he alarmed the suspect? Alarming the suspect would be the lesser issue; most murder cold cases hang on that one single lead, which the higher-ups like Yu Wenshu would prefer to pursue personally, much less than leaving it to Shen Yaowei. It was only in Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad that things were different. One reason was that Jiang Yuan’s rank was too low, and the resources he could utilize were too limited — Yu Wenshu had brought him on board for this cost-effectiveness. The other reason was that Jiang Yuan’s rate of cracking cases was so fast that the higher-ups didn’t have time to call meetings and assign tasks before he might have already solved a murder cold case. Moreover, Jiang Yuan solved cases much faster than the heads could take an interest in them. Since he always used resources at the level of a brigade, there was no need for an escalated response. From this perspective, Shen Yaowei was already receiving unprecedented importance. “What do you think? Shall the two of us continue the search?” Shen Yaowei rarely asked his partner for his opinion. His partner said, “Let’s go back now and find Jiang Yuan. Even if we get more people assigned to investigate this lead, can the two of us take command?” Shen Yaowei still had some self-awareness, “That certainly wouldn’t work, even if assigned, no one would listen to us.” “That settles it, then. If we work hard to investigate, we’ll have our own separate lead to follow. If not, we might as well go back to the office.” “Ah... let’s continue the investigation,” Shen Yaowei seemed to have grasped something. His partner, not surprised at all, said, “They have it all figured out; they’re not afraid we won’t work hard.” Shen Yaowei, sharing the same animosity, said, “I didn’t expect it, those who came from the county, to be so ruthless.” “The most ruthless part is Jiang Yuan having an extra lead to toss to us like a bone. In other homicide cold case teams, these kinds of leads are so coveted that everyone fights over them.” “That comment of yours...” Shen Yaowei lacked the strength to refute. On reflection, it really did make sense. Curious, the assistant police officer Wang Zhibing chimed in, “I was wondering too, what other lead does he have?” ... “Captain Jiang, we’ve looked through all the main road surveillance on the Image Investigation side, and we haven’t found the victim.” Miao Liyuan, the officer who volunteered to check the surveillance footage at the Graphic Investigation Brigade, returned after a day with the conclusion to the lead Jiang Yuan was most eager for. But it was fruitless. Jiang Yuan’s brow furrowed slightly, “The victim didn’t take the main roads?” “We’ve watched the surveillance from April 17th to 22nd, especially the footage from the 17th, several times over, and haven’t found the victim,” Miao Liyuan said, equally disappointed. If they could find the victim, his companion, even if not the perpetrator, could certainly provide a lot of information. “In that case... we’ll have to expand the scope,” Jiang Yuan mused for a few seconds before making a decision. Miao Liyuan said, “I’ve been very thorough in my search.” Jiang Yuan stated firmly, “I’m not saying your search wasn’t thorough, but the fact that we haven’t found the victim suggests they might have taken a different route, or just happened to avoid the cameras. Let’s expand the search area and see if we can find anything.” Hearing the two men’s conversation in the office, Tang Jia interjected, “Why do you think it’s just a coincidence that they avoided the cameras and not deliberate?” “From the condition of the body, I’m more inclined to believe it was an accidental death due to drunkenness. The victim seems to have choked on his own vomit,” Jiang Yuan said, adding, “There’s also no reason for the victim to have been murdered.” “Isn’t being the victim of a sexual assault reason enough?” “The victim was physically strong, and there were no signs of struggle... And besides, there was no need for the assailant to commit murder. For sexual assault on a man, at most it would be an indecency crime; there was no need to kill,” Jiang Yuan paused and continued, “I mostly agree with the autopsy findings. If it was an accidental death, then the perpetrator had no need to avoid surveillance when they first left the scene.” Miao Liyuan was persuaded and could only rack his brains to think harder. Jiang Yuan did not rush him. After a while, Miao Liyuan spoke in a low voice, “Could it be that they rode a motorcycle and took small roads?” Jiang Yuan looked at Miao Liyuan. Miao Liyuan explained, “Local people use motorcycles quite often; it’s also possible that they wore helmets. Not many locals wear helmets, but some motorcycles don’t take the main roads, just crossing through smaller paths; they might have just bypassed the cameras that way.” Jiang Yuan said, “It’s possible. In that case, how do we investigate it?” “We’d have to check every single road on the scene, some might be traceable and some might not be.” “Okay, I’ll report to Captain Yu,” said Jiang Yuan as he took out his mobile phone. Suddenly lacking confidence, Miao Liyuan hurriedly said, “But this might not necessarily turn up anything.” “Try to make the search as comprehensive as possible. Especially for the first few hours after the victim left home. Don’t worry about resources,” Jiang Yuan said with conviction. The initial task force, despite spending a lot of manpower on the investigation, focused mainly on the local area. They assumed the primary crime scene was nearby and believed the victim had died on the day he went missing. Naturally, they wouldn’t expend much effort on the route of departure and video evidence. Jiang Yuan still had high expectations for the surveillance footage. The surveillance system around Changyang City was relatively comprehensive. If neither the victim nor the perpetrator intentionally avoided it, the probability of being caught on camera was very high. Even if ultimately a lot of manpower and resources were expended without finding anyone, it could still prove some things in reverse. Moreover, the routes pursued by Shen Yaowei and Miao Liyuan were not the only possibilities. The Trace Evidence Laboratory, at Jiang Yuan’s request, was also conducting a new round of testing. ...

Chapter 345 - 345 312 Surveillance

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