075 Entering the Village

At the entrance of the hotel, the surveillance footage showed Xiao Kai dragging a suitcase as he left, walking along the roadside for a while before disappearing from the hotel cameras. Han Bin and his companion found Xiao Kai’s figure again in footage copied from a nearby barbecue restaurant. He could be seen hauling the heavy suitcase and placing it on an electric tricycle.

The electric tricycle was covered with a canopy, so once Xiao Kai got in, neither he nor the suitcase could be seen any longer.

Having identified the suspect’s means of transportation, their task became simpler.

Han Bin took a screenshot of the tricycle from the video and sent it to Tian Li at the traffic police monitoring center, asking them to track the tricycle’s movements through the city’s Skynet surveillance system.

Before long, Tian Li called back, saying that the suspect vehicle had appeared at a nearby intersection, heading south, seemingly out of town.

The three of them drove their SUV, following Tian Li’s directions to track the path of the tricycle.

The footage was from 24 hours earlier; Han Bin didn’t expect to catch the suspect just by tracking the cameras, but there was still a chance they might find He Yan.

They followed the tricycle’s trail, which led them out of Qindao’s city limits along Zhongshan Road.

Soon, Tian Li called again. “Captain Zeng, after the suspect vehicle passed the intersection of Zhongshan Road and Hongqi Street, it didn’t appear at the next surveillance point.”

“Understood,” Zeng Ping replied. He turned to Han Bin and Li Hui. “The suspect probably abandoned the vehicle after crossing Zhongshan Road and Hongqi Street.”

“Captain Zeng, it’s already past one in the morning, and the area around Zhongshan Road and Hongqi Street is all farmland. At this hour, it’ll be pitch dark, and even if we get there, searching for the vehicle won’t be easy,” Han Bin said.

“Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll park near the intersection, sleep in the car, and once it’s light, we’ll search the area for the suspect vehicle,” Zeng Ping decided.

“Yes, sir.”

Three grown men squeezed into one car—it was uncomfortable, but after a long day’s work, exhaustion quickly took over.

Before long, the sound of snoring filled the car.

…

By a little after five in the morning, daylight broke.

The three men woke up one after another and washed their faces with bottled water.

Nearby, at the intersection, there was a breakfast stall.

They ordered three fried dough sticks, three baskets of steamed buns, three tea eggs, and three servings of soy milk. With their hunger sated, their spirits improved considerably.

“Captain Zeng, this whole area is farmland—wide open, with no surveillance. I doubt we’ll easily find the electric tricycle. Should we ask the local police station for help?” Li Hui suggested.

Zeng Ping checked his watch. “It’s only six o’clock. Besides the officers on night duty, there probably aren’t many at the station. Let’s search the area ourselves first and report to Captain Zheng later if we need more support.”

They drove around the area, but found no sign of the tricycle on either side of the road.

“It’s been over thirty hours—this won’t be easy,” Li Hui remarked as he drove.

“If it were easy, they wouldn’t need us detectives,” Zeng Ping snorted.

“Do you think the suspect could be a local villager who took both the vehicle and He Yan home?” Li Hui speculated.

“That’s possible, but they might have simply abandoned the tricycle,” Han Bin analyzed.

“With the area this open, if the suspect dumped the vehicle nearby, it should be easy to spot,” Li Hui said.

“It’s already been thirty hours. If it was that easy to find, a villager would have taken it home long ago,” Han Bin replied.

They circled the area again without discovering any trace of the tricycle but did notice several small roads leading to nearby villages.

“There are a lot of dirt roads in the villages. If we spot tire tracks, maybe we can follow them to the tricycle,” Zeng Ping suggested.

“These tricycles are cheap and practical—sheltering from wind and rain. They’re everywhere in the countryside; many elderly people use them to transport kids. That method probably won’t work,” said Li Hui, who grew up in a rural area and knew the local realities.

Han Bin considered for a moment. “I think the power of the people is greatest. If the suspect really abandoned the tricycle nearby, the villagers would have found it before us.”

“Han Bin makes sense. It’s been thirty hours—if there were an unattended tricycle by the road, someone would have driven it home by now,” Zeng Ping agreed.

“I suggest we take the tricycle’s photo and ask around in the villages. Someone might know something,” Han Bin proposed.

“That’s a good idea. If the suspect isn’t local but just abandoned the vehicle, villagers would know. If he lives here, they’ll be even more familiar with the tricycle,” Li Hui added.

“For now, that’s our main line of investigation. I’ll report to Captain Zheng and have him coordinate with the local police,” Zeng Ping said, stepping out of the SUV to call Zheng Kaixuan.

Li Hui yawned. “Binzi, do you think Captain Zheng’s stakeout last night caught the suspect?”

“No idea.” Han Bin leaned back in his seat. “Let’s nap a bit more. We’ll be busy soon enough.”

Half an hour later, Tian Li and Zhao Ming arrived to join them.

An hour after that, local officers came to support the search.

The local station’s deputy director, Zhao, led the team; Han Bin met him for the first time, but Zeng Ping and Li Hui already knew him.

The main road was flanked by four villages: Beisu, Han Village, Lou Shang, and Guozhuang. These villages were the most likely locations.

Zeng Ping took two officers to investigate Beisu Village.

Deputy Director Zhao led two officers to Han Village.

Han Bin and Li Hui headed for Lou Shang Village.

Tian Li and Zhao Ming, with another officer, went to Guozhuang Village.

This sort of canvassing was tedious, but standard fare for detectives—not just a matter of luck, but also of skill.

Li Hui and Han Bin bought four packs of Hardeman cigarettes before entering Lou Shang Village. Whenever they saw idle men, they offered a cigarette and struck up a conversation.

Then they would show the photo of the tricycle, asking if anyone had seen it.

The tricycle Xiao Kai rode was blue, with a green canopy and a cracked window on the right side—easy to recognize.

When they spoke to women, they complimented their youth, beauty, or clothing, then found a chance to ask about the tricycle.

After wandering the village and asking dozens of people, they finally got a lead from a bald old man who’d seen a similar tricycle.

Han Bin pressed for the identity of the tricycle’s owner, but the old man was reluctant, not wanting to upset a fellow villager.

Only when Han Bin slipped two packs of Hardeman into his hand did the old man finally smile and agree to help…