At eight o 'clock in the evening, Ran Tao, who had been busy for the past two days, was giving a report in front of the big screen in his office.
"This is the last video that Qiu Jinna appeared in." He pointed at the video on the big screen and said, "On January 29th, which is seven days ago, at half past one in the afternoon, she walked out of the shop on the commercial street and walked north out of the commercial street!"
"Qiu Jinna didn't have a driver's license, so she didn't buy a car. She usually took a taxi when she went out."
"But, we checked all the surveillance cameras at the intersection, but we didn't find any trace of her!"
"Everyone, take a look." He switched the image on the big screen, and a clear satellite map appeared on it. "There is only such a small blind spot from the surveillance cameras when you come out of the north street of the commercial street!
"But, Qiu Jinna disappeared from this small blind spot," he said, pointing at a spot on the map. "The commercial street extends in all directions, and there are many nooks and crannies. There are no walls on either side of the street. If she disappeared from the blind spot, the murderer had several ways to avoid the surveillance cameras and leave the commercial street!"
"We checked and registered all the cars that passed by, but there is a large new building complex on the south side of the commercial street. They are all unfinished buildings. If Qiu Jinna was taken away from there, I'm afraid it would be difficult to trace her!"
"Which means … The murderer is very familiar with the situation around the commercial street!"
"Maybe he is familiar with it, or maybe he did some in-depth research!" Ran Tao said seriously. "But, I think the latter is more likely, because not only does the murderer know the commercial street well, but the investigation around the crime scene also showed similar results!"
As he spoke, Ran Tao opened a new map.
"This is the map of Plum Hexing Town. This is the place where Qiu Jinna was killed," Ran Tao said. "This place is seventeen kilometers away from Qiu Jinna's home in the commercial street.
"I have to say, the murderer was very careful. We tracked down all the suspicious cars, but they were all eliminated. This means that the murderer actually avoided all the surveillance cameras in the vicinity. That's incredible!"
"Also," Ran Tao said, "we increased the police force and asked almost all the villages around Plum Hexing Town, but no one claimed to have found any suspicious people.
"We also asked the children playing on the river. They also said that they had never seen anyone pulling a sled across the river …
"What's more," Ran Tao continued, "we even explored the river on both sides of the river several times. Below the bridge in Mei Hexing Town is a tributary of the Shulacis River. Less than a kilometer to the east, there is a small waterfall.
"Therefore, we concluded that the murderer didn't come from the east.
"The west side was clear all the way until we reached the main channel of the Shuracis River. We passed by a total of four villages, but none of them had surveillance cameras …
"Also, we brought along a few senior police officers who specialize in snow traceology. They carefully examined the traces on the ice surface of the river." Ran Tao switched the big screen and continued, "Indeed, on the west side of the Plum Blossom Bridge, they found a relatively fresh plow trace.
"However, when we passed by the first village, there were too many traces on the river, so it was difficult to continue tracking …"
After Ran Tao finished his report, Miao Ying expressed her opinion. "I remember that we discussed it before. The murderer shouldn't have just pulled the sleigh and carried the victim under the bridge!
"He must have a car, and it must not be too small, it must be big enough to take the sled!" he said.
"So," Miao Ying said, pointing to the map. "Did you see a place on both sides of the river that could be reached by a car?"
"There are too many," Ran Tao said helplessly. "Along the west side of the river, although there are no asphalt roads, all of them can be used by cars!
Originally, we wanted to use the snow to see if there were any traces of a car passing by, but unfortunately, it took too long!
Because of the heavy snow, we couldn't find them anymore … "
"Well, Tao, thank you for your hard work!" Zhao Yu said. "Have a good rest today, and we'll continue tomorrow!"
"We are now investigating the scenes of several other cases," Ran Tao said. "Fortunately, there are so many additional police officers. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to finish all of them!
"Boss," Ran Tao said bluntly, "This murderer is definitely not an ordinary person. He is familiar with the geographical environment, and he knows how to avoid detection and tracking. I'm not trying to boost his morale, but I always feel that the possibility of finding clues from the scene is not high!
"I think the most direct and effective way is to start with the relationship between the victims!"
"That's easy for you to say." Cui Lizhu rolled her eyes. "Don't think that you're the only one working in the world, okay?
"My face is swollen because of the investigation!" Cui Lizhu said. "Of the four foreign women who were killed, except for the dancer, the other three seemed to be deliberately concealing their identities!
I can't find any direct contact between them from their contact records or online accounts … "Cui Lizhu said.
"This case …" Ran Tao scratched his head and said, "It's really strange!"
"Okay, you guys take a break. Mister Wu …" Zhao Yu said to Wu Xiumin. "How's your investigation going?"
Wu Xiumin had been investigating the case at the third oil production plant. Now, with the conclusive evidence, Zhao Yu and the others had decided to exclude this case from the Female Corpses Under the Bridge Case.
"We found shoe prints at the scene, but there were no fingerprints, and there was no obvious identification of the non-victim." Wu Xiumin gestured to Zeng Ke, who immediately showed her a map of the vicinity of the third oil production plant. "I went to the victim Chi Meixin's dormitory today. Everything was normal there, and there were no signs of a struggle …"
She then added, "Plus, the workers often work in shifts, so there are people in the dormitory 24 hours a day. I think the murderer wouldn't dare to attack Chi Meixin from the dormitory!
"I checked," Wu Xiumin said regretfully. "There wasn't a single camera in the entire dormitory in Hongqi Town, which brought some inconvenience to our investigation!"
She then added, "I asked the female workers in the dormitory, and they all said that the last time they saw Chi Meixin was after work at 6 pm!
At that time, Chi Meixin had dinner with her workmates, who had gotten off work at the same time. Then, they crossed the ice lake and returned to the dormitory in Hongqi Town. "
She then added, "At that time, there were six of them, but none of them lived in the same dormitory as Chi Meixin. So, no one knew what happened after Chi Meixin returned to the dormitory!"
"I focused on Chi Meixin's phone records," Wu Xiumin said. "During that period of time, she didn't receive any calls!"
She then added, "I also checked her WeChat, but she didn't communicate with anyone."
Wu Xiumin then added, "But, I checked her previous records. Other than working the night shift, she would video call her child almost every night," Wu Xiumin said. "But, on the day of the incident, she didn't do anything!"
She then added, "I also looked at her bedding, which was basically untouched."
Wu Xiumin then said, "So, I suspect that Chi Meixin was taken away by the murderer not long after she returned to the dormitory!"
"That's strange," Cui Lizhu said. "Since it didn't happen in the dormitory, it must have happened outside the dormitory. Could it be that Chi Meixin walked out of the dormitory by herself? "
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