"When did you lose your phone?"
"Last night," Zhang Heng said.
"Well, which building do you live in?"
Zhang Heng told the young man in charge of the surveillance room the number of the college student's building.
"Unit 2, Building 5?" The young man in charge of the surveillance room was a little surprised.
"What's wrong?"
"Ah, no … nothing." The young man opened his mouth, but in the end, he swallowed his words.
Zhang Heng guessed that the young man might have secretly filmed someone in Unit 2, Building 5, and he had some impression of the building's residents. However, he did not dare to say such a thing.
Zhang Heng pretended not to hear the young man's implied meaning. The young man in charge of the surveillance room played last night's video. The latter hesitated and said, "Actually, this video is useless."
"Why do you say that?"
"Do you know the mentally ill college student who lives in this building? This morning, they reported to the police that there was a thief in their house. The police came to check the video."
"Did they find anything?"
"No, the police guessed that the thief went to the blind spot of the side camera and climbed up from there. Fortunately, nothing was lost in the end, so the police stopped investigating."
Zhang Heng raised his eyebrows and did not comment. He clicked on the fast forward button and played the video. Before 12 o 'clock, there were still some people going in and out of Unit 2, Building 5, but after 12 o' clock, most people were asleep. Only a man who was socializing outside walked into the building drunkenly at 1 o 'clock. No one else came out until dawn.
"What about the video of the entrance and exit?" Zhang Heng asked again.
"Do you want the video of the entrance and exit too? You won't be able to tell who picked up your phone and stuffed it in his pocket. " The young man muttered, looking a little reluctant, but the situation was against him. When he saw Zhang Heng looking at him, he had no choice but to look for the folder of the entrance and exit.
Zhang Heng spent another ten minutes fast-forwarding through the video of the entrance and exit. Unlike the camera outside the unit, people like Zhang Heng who climbed over the wall would not be recorded by the camera outside the unit. As for the video of the entrance and exit, as long as there was a vehicle entering or leaving, it would be recorded.
However, Zhang Heng did not find the college student's red Fit.
Could it be that the three of them just disappeared from the face of the earth overnight?
Zhang Heng thought about it and asked the young man, "Before the police came to find you, did anyone else come to the surveillance room?"
"No … I don't think so." The young man scratched his head.
Zhang Heng heard a hint of hesitation in his words. "What do you mean by no?"
"Oh, now that you mention it, I remember that before the police came looking for me, I received a call from my superior. He asked me to deliver something to him. I left the surveillance room for about ten minutes, but I locked the door before I left. Wait, what does this have to do with you losing your phone? Are you here to ask about the student's family or to look for a phone? "
"…"
It seemed like he was one step too late. The surveillance footage in the surveillance room had most likely been digitally manipulated. As long as the other party was skilled enough, it would be difficult to detect such a thing with the naked eye. Since the college student's family had already stated that nothing was missing, the police probably wouldn't bother to verify its authenticity.
Zhang Heng realized that his call to the police this morning might have been a little hasty. Not only did he fail to force the college student's family to reveal their true colors, but he also suspected that he had alerted them. At that time, he was still unclear about the situation with the college student's family, and he didn't expect them to have an expert in manipulating the surveillance footage. After all, it shouldn't have taken too long for the police to arrive at the surveillance room to check the footage.
To be able to manipulate the footage so quickly showed that the other party was very skilled.
Although Zhang Heng also had a Level 2 Hacker skill, he had never been trained in this area. He knew that he could not do it. However, it was not completely useless. At least he now knew that the leader of the young people was most likely the same as the college student's family. They had all been replaced without anyone knowing.
Zhang Heng asked the young man for the name of his superior and copied the two edited videos with a USB flash drive. After that, he warned the young man, "Don't tell anyone else about me coming to the surveillance room."
"Don't worry. I don't mind working too long. If anyone finds out that you came to the surveillance room, I'll be the one who loses my job." The young man patted his chest. After that, an awkward smile appeared on his face. "Also, I've been very cooperative. About the video …"
"I won't tell anyone about the video, but you'd better not do it again. Also, remember, watch your mouth when you drink," Zhang Heng warned again.
…
Although it was a bad start, Zhang Heng wasn't too discouraged.
He knew that the thing he had to deal with this time wasn't simple. From what happened to the college student, he could also tell that they had been in the human world for some time. They were very familiar with the various rules of the human world, and they were even more proficient in using them than humans. Previously, the college student was sent to a mental hospital.
Zhang Heng could imagine how desperate the college student must have been. He found out that his family had been swapped, and no one believed him at all. Everyone around him would only think that his mental illness had worsened, and no one would believe him anymore. What's more, he had to eat and sleep with these creatures that came from nowhere, living under the same roof every day.
Even a normal person would probably get depressed after some time.
However, Zhang Heng was able to figure out something from it. No matter what method the other party used to replace a living person, it was obviously not an easy process for them. Otherwise, they wouldn't have sent the college student to a mental hospital and waited until now to completely solve this hidden danger.
There were also the three children in the news. Now, it seemed that the accidental drowning must have something to do with these creatures.
The question was, why did they kill the three children?
If it was just because his identity was exposed, there was no reason for them to go to this extent. Since they could send the college student, an adult, to a mental hospital, they must have other means to control the three children.
It could also be seen from their behavior that they had always been cautious. After the swap, they lived under the identity of the original owner, trying their best to integrate into the human world, and trying not to attract attention.
What happened on the riverbank had become the hottest news recently, and it obviously didn't conform to their behavior pattern. Since the college student was so afraid of these things, why did he take such a big risk to run out of his house and come to the riverbank?
What was he doing there the night they met?
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