Investigation and Screening

Not far south of Tong'an Bridge is National Highway 307, forming a T-junction with the bridge, while north of Tong'an Bridge lies a county road that leads all the way north to Baichang County.

Between Tong'an Bridge and Baichang County, several villages are scattered along the surrounding county road.

There is a Skynet surveillance camera right at the T-junction south of Tong'an Bridge. Because it is very close to the bridge, determining the timing of vehicles passing through the southern surveillance point is relatively easy.

Three kilometers north of Tong'an Bridge along the county road, there is another Skynet surveillance point. By tracking vehicles passing through both of these Skynet cameras, the travel time over this distance can be accurately calculated.

However, along this three-kilometer stretch of the county road, there are three village paths that lack Skynet surveillance. Vehicles merging from these village paths onto the county road present a significantly greater challenge for investigation.

There are commercial shops on both sides of the county road north of Tong'an Bridge. The cameras installed by these shops can capture cars merging from the village paths onto the county road, but most of this footage has already been overwritten.

After working busily past eight o'clock in the evening without making much progress, Zheng Kaixuan told everyone to go home and rest, instructing them to reassemble at the special investigation team's office at seven o'clock tomorrow morning.

......

At nine o'clock in the evening, Han Bin returned to his parents' home, where Wang Huifang had saved some food for him.

There were three dishes and one soup: braised beancurd skin with beef in casserole, spinach with cellophane noodles, stir-fried mantis shrimp, wonton soup, and flatbread as the staple food.

"Whoa, this is such a feast." Han Bin was somewhat surprised to see meat, vegetables, and seafood all present.

"Your dad called me this afternoon, saying you might be quite tired these past few days and asking me to cook something nice to nourish you," Wang Huifang said.

Han Weiwei pointed at the casserole with his finger: "Son, try this. The beancurd skin has absorbed even more flavor than the beef."

Han Bin took a bite of the beancurd skin, and it indeed tasted wonderful. He tore off a piece of flatbread and put it into the casserole; the flatbread soaked up the savory broth, making it even more delicious.

"Dad, did you know about me joining the 9.19 Special Investigation Team?"

"I haven't spent all those years in the police system for nothing," Han Weiwei smiled and said.

"Look at you bragging, aren't you just a little station chief," Wang Huifang chimed in to cut him down a peg.

"Being a station chief isn't something just anyone can do. The last time they wanted to promote me to the sub-bureau, I turned it down myself. I'm not making that up."

"If you ask me, you'd have been better off going to the sub-bureau as a deputy head. It wouldn't be any more relaxing than being a chief at the grassroots level." Wang Huifang untied her apron and sat down at the dining table.

"Long hair and short insight."

It wasn't that Han Weiwei didn't want a promotion; the key was getting a suitable position. He certainly didn't want to go to the sub-bureau to hold some idle title and merely enjoy a higher rank and benefits.

Although a police station is a grassroots unit, it touches upon every aspect, and as the station chief, he was the top authority whose word carried weight.

"Son, this case is creating quite a stir. If you perform well, you might really manage to win a Third-Class Merit," Han Weiwei said solemnly.

"What news have you heard?"

"Pictures of this case were posted online, and everyone at our station was discussing it this afternoon. Quite a few people know about it."

"Tsk tsk, then it really has blown up." Han Bin took out his phone and searched online for keywords like 'Moon River' and 'headless corpse', but did not find any related news.

"I saw the picture; it was indeed a bit terrifying. The website has probably taken it down by now," Han Weiwei said.

"Alright, I'd better hurry up and eat so I can get to rest early. Tomorrow is likely to be busy." Han Bin accelerated his eating pace.

He needed to get a good night's sleep tonight, as there was no telling when he would get to sleep next...

The next morning.

At fifty minutes past six in the morning, Han Bin and Li Hui arrived at the special investigation team's office on time.

Neither Zheng Kaixuan nor Li Zhankun had arrived yet, and the others were busy with their respective tasks. Han Bin sat down in front of his computer to continue reviewing surveillance footage.

At seven o'clock in the morning, the office door was pushed open from the outside, and Dai Minghan, Li Zhankun, and Zheng Kaixuan walked in.

"Director Dai."

"Director Dai." Everyone hurriedly stood up to greet them.

"Sit."

Dai Minghan waved his hand, pulled over a chair for himself, and sat down, sweeping his gaze across everyone:

"Those present here are the elites of the Yuhua Sub-bureau, so I'll keep it brief. Transferring you to the 9.19 Special Investigation Team is a demonstration of the sub-bureau's trust in you. I won't elaborate much on the importance of this case; I will emphasize only one thing: we must crack the case within ten days."

"Director Dai, is ten days a bit too short?" Li Zhankun showed a look of astonishment, apparently unaware of this stipulation beforehand.

"This is an order issued by the municipal bureau. If any of you say it can't be done, we can swap people right now; if the entire Yuhua Sub-bureau can't do it, the municipal bureau will send people to take over the case," Dai Minghan said with a stern expression.

"Director Dai, does the higher-ups attach such great importance to this case?" Zheng Kaixuan probed cautiously.

"I don't need to spell out what day is coming in ten days, do I?" Dai Minghan implied with his tone.

A sudden look of realization dawned on everyone. The National Day golden week in early October was the peak period for tourism.

Qingdao was a tourist city, and a headless corpse case would undoubtedly bring negative impacts. Solving the case as quickly as possible was the only way to minimize those effects.

"As the leader of the special investigation team, the pressure on me is no less than yours. If you need anything, just speak up. Whatever procedures are required, as long as they comply with regulations, they will be processed immediately. If you need manpower, you can draw personnel from various squads. In short, everything takes solving the case as the top priority," Dai Minghan stated.

"Understood," everyone responded.

"As for the task arrangement, I've already heard from Captain Li and Captain Zheng. Squad One is responsible for tracing the source of the corpse, and Squad Three is responsible for finding the body-dumping site. Since everyone is here right now, let's discuss the investigation progress of each squad and pool our clues together," Dai Minghan said.

"Director Dai, our Squad One is investigating mainly from three directions: first, checking missing persons; second, investigating the victim's clothes and shoes; and third, investigating the rope used to bind the victim," Li Zhankun said.

"Any progress so far?"

"We have visited dozens of clothing stores in Qingdao, but haven't found any leads yet. We've compared against the missing persons database; two individuals went missing around August 30th, but their ages do not match."

"What about the DNA and fingerprint comparisons?"

"DNA comparison is still ongoing, and nothing has been found yet; because the victim is severely decomposed, the technical team is still processing the fingerprints and cannot run comparisons just yet."

Dai Minghan frowned: "In other words, there is still no progress in finding the source of the corpse."

"Director Dai, I believe the search for the body's origin will soon have a breakthrough," Li Zhankun vowed with certainty.

"I'll wait for your good news," Dai Minghan said, leaving behind that remark before looking over at Zheng Kaixuan: "What about Squad Three?"

"After some analysis, our Squad Three believes the body-dumping site is very likely near Tong'an Bridge. We have already retrieved surveillance footage from around Tong'an Bridge and are currently searching for suspected vehicles involved in dumping the body," Zheng Kaixuan reported.

"How confident are you?" Dai Minghan pressed further.

"Because some time has passed since the body was dumped, a lot of surveillance storage has been overwritten, which greatly increases the difficulty of the screening process," Zheng Kaixuan answered truthfully.

Dai Minghan nodded. After pondering for a moment, he said:

"I am already aware of the investigation's progress. The general direction is correct, and now it all depends on your performance. I hope you will keep up the good work and solve the case soon; I will host a celebration banquet for you then."

"Thank you, Director Dai." Anticipation lit up everyone's faces.

This was a chance to shine.

After offering a few more words of encouragement, Dai Minghan left the office.

His presence here would only distract everyone instead.

Zheng Kaixuan issued a few instructions, and the members of Squad Three resumed screening the surveillance footage.

At nine o'clock in the morning, Lu Wen came by and delivered some restored surveillance video files to the special investigation team's office.

Part of the surveillance footage had been recovered, though the clarity was somewhat compromised.

With five members of Squad Three screening the footage together, the review speed increased significantly. Three hundred meters north of Tong'an Bridge was a restaurant with a security camera installed at the entrance. Thanks to the technical department's restoration work, the video footage from August 30th was recovered.

The nearest village path to the north side of Tong'an Bridge was five hundred meters away.

This meant that no vehicles could slip through the stretch between the T-junction and the restaurant's surveillance camera. As long as they calculated the approximate travel time for cars passing through during different time periods, any vehicle exceeding that expected travel time would be deemed suspicious.

(Morning, evening, peak hours, traffic jams, and commuting hours all belong to different time periods, and the standard travel time varies for each period.)

Shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon, Han Bin and the others completed the screening work and identified three suspicious vehicles...