Chapter 527: Chapter 497: Inference_1
"Zhou Xiaozhou’s meaning is that by combining the three known elements, we can determine the direction of the search," said Zhou Ning, with a slight shake of his head.
"There’s more than just three known pieces of information. The victim died within 48 hours, which is a relatively conservative estimate. Of course, it’s possible for the body to reach this state in as little as 24 hours. The time that this netizen named Stoll uploaded the video is..."
Mr. Qu quickly flipped through his notes to find the time of upload.
"The upload time is May 1, 2013, at 2:29 AM."
Zhou Ning nodded in satisfaction.
"We can’t infer the exact time of upload, we can only estimate the earliest possible time the video was shot. If we go back 24 hours from the upload time, that would be April 30, 2013, at 2:29 AM.
Mr. Zhao is now checking the weather conditions before this time to determine which day was overcast or even gloomy at sunset. After all, the visibility outside the window is not high, and it must have been a sudden weather change, given that the Customs Building in the distance is without lights."
Zhou Ning spoke slowly, but his analysis left everyone in a stunned silence. Mr. Zhao had already called the meteorological bureau, since hourly weather data could not be found online.
After hanging up, he received some data moments later. His WeChat notification chimed away for quite a while. Picking it up to check, Mr. Zhao immediately said:
"The Meteorological Bureau sent a message. On April 29, 2013, from 4:34 PM to 5:37 PM, the weather in the coastal regions of Gulou District underwent a sudden change, with short-term rainfall in localized areas, accompanied by cloudy conditions and strong winds. Most of the Qindao City area was overcast, as if engulfed by night."
Zhou Ning let out a small smile, satisfied that their analysis had not been in vain and that they seemed to have pinpointed the time the video was shot.
As he spoke, the alarm at the entrance of the laboratory sounded.
Apparently, someone had decided to ignore the access control and force their way in.
Xu Dayuan slapped his forehead and quickly ran towards the door, where Liang Honggang entered with a grin, swinging his broad shoulders and a teasing demeanor.
"Wow, I searched through so many offices before finding out you guys were here in the lab. But what do you need me for? Have you finished looking at those video clips?"
Zhou Ning glanced over. He had seen Liang Honggang once before, during the time Xia Momo’s student was threatening to jump off a building. Xu Dayuan had given him quite the hard time then, although he looked much leaner than Zhou remembered.
"Cut the chatter. There were too many people over there earlier for me to explain in detail. In the videos you sent, we found something troubling. A female victim in the video had been dead for 24-48 hours, and the male was violating the corpse."
Liang Honggang paused, hurriedly reached into his pocket for his glasses, put them on, and leaned over the computer to let Mr. Qu play it for him. After watching, Liang Honggang kept shaking his head, attracting a glare from Xu Dayuan.
"What are you shaking your head for? Come on, say something. Are you just dropping this case on me?"
Liang Honggang didn’t mind Xu Dayuan’s tone at all and said with a sigh:
"I need to report this to Mr. Hu and suggest that our team be equipped with some computer experts or technicians. With a video like this, not to mention the staff below, even I myself probably wouldn’t have noticed that the woman was dead."
Xu Dayuan waved his hand dismissively.
"Enough with the talk, and don’t beat around the bush with me. I know you too well, you sly fox. Criminal cases are our responsibility; you don’t need to play games with me. However, we’ve analyzed the case and concluded that the clues are too scant; we may need to conduct a comprehensive search of the area. You’ll have to pull in personnel to participate, but that shouldn’t be a problem, should it?"
"No problem at all, of course not. I’ll start rallying the troops right now. But where should we begin the search?"
Xu Dayuan waved his hand again.
"Just gather the manpower, and we’ll discuss it later in the meeting room, where we’ll devise a search plan. I need to consult with the tech team about the video first. Having a defined area will make it easier to search further, right?"
Without wasting another word, Liang Honggang, fully aware of the severity of the situation, quickly left to make arrangements.
Mr. Qu looked at Zhou Ning, seemingly hesitant and unsure about how to speak.
"If you have an idea, just spit it out. Don’t dawdle," said Zhou Ning straightforwardly.
Mr. Qu pointed to a video screenshot and quickly said:
"I think we should ask Mr. Xia to attempt a facial reconstruction for the female victim. If a direct search yields nothing, we could try reconstructing her features using the bone defect method."
Zhou Ning nodded slightly. He had just sent Xia Momo away, mainly to prevent him from feeling awkward, but Mr. Qu’s point was well taken.
"Okay, then go ahead and try to reconstruct it. Also, on the victim’s right wrist, at the carpal area, there’s a birthmark shaped like a petal. I want the exact shape. Later, send a screenshot to Director Xu."
Holding his laptop, Mr. Qu briskly walked away, while Mr. Zhao, at this moment, opened a map.
"I checked, and you can see the spire of the Customs Building from the window. The distance from the building to the video camera wouldn’t be excessively close, but if there are no obstructions in between, then the terrain at this position wouldn’t be very high. As for the plant in the window, I’m not sure how high it can climb."
Peng Shinian, who had not spoken until then, raised his hand. With a gesture from Zhou Ning, he quickly spoke up.
"The Qindao Area is directly regulated by the marine environment and is influenced by the southeast monsoon, ocean currents, and water masses coming across the sea, thus it exhibits distinct maritime climate characteristics. The air is moist, the temperature moderate, and the seasons are clearly defined.
In such a climate, ivy cannot remain evergreen throughout the year, and its growth is somewhat limited. After all, although this plant is good at climbing walls, the clearly defined seasons affect its growth speed."
Mr. Zhao nudged Peng Shinian, interrupting his speech.
"Say, poet, can we skip the specialized vocabulary and the introduction and just state the results and judgment? Look at Director Xu’s fists; they’re already clenched. He would be roaring at you if he wasn’t so unfamiliar with you."
Xu Dayuan glared at Mr. Zhao and then gestured for Peng Shinian to continue.
Peng Shinian shrank back a little, saw Xu Dayuan threatening Mr. Zhao with his gaze, and instinctively moved a step closer to Zhou Ning. He then cautiously organized his thoughts before speaking:
"Based on my understanding these past few days, ivy in the Qindao Area reaching the height of a three-story building is already at its limit. Moreover, for a window to be completely encased like this, it would need over twenty years of growth and coverage. Therefore, this building is not new. The location where the video was shot is at most on the third floor."
Xu Dayuan’s eyes lit up, and he quickly motioned to Mr. Zhao.
"Based on the poet’s statement, filter out the multistory buildings that were built before 1993 where you can see the Customs Building from and which are not very low and unobstructed. See what sort of range we have and how many buildings we’re dealing with."
Mr. Zhao’s hands didn’t stop. Perhaps because he had been in contact with Zhou Xiaozhou often, Zhou Ning noticed that he had become more proficient in using the computer. After a round of filtering, he identified two fan-shaped areas.
"Director Xu, we can see the approximate areas, but we’d need to go to the scene for observation. After all, whether the buildings are covered in ivy cannot be seen on the map. However, this area consists of those old neighborhoods and villa areas built before 1993 with a large distance between buildings, built on the slope of a hill, with no obstructions, and despite being old areas, they are very pricy."
Zhou Ning glanced again at the still frame of the video. Even though the full exterior of the room couldn’t be seen, one could make out the large size of the bed, the carved headboard, as well as the rotatable wall lamps and central control panel above the bedside tables on either side.
"This room seems to have been newly renovated, judging by the wallpaper, lighting fixtures, control panel, bed, curtains, and such details. The interior design must have cost a lot of money.
After all, I’m currently renovating my place, especially that track socket; it’s almost nonexistent domestically, a type of thing that designers in Sapporo particularly favor. It’s easy to disassemble and add to, quite handy. Just as pricy, too—an ordinary socket’s most expensive one is around twenty or thirty yuan, but this kind starts in the thousands."
Xu Dayuan made a note of it, as this was indeed a very important point. Mr. Zhao sighed.
Xu Dayuan looked up at him and urged:
"Don’t make noise, if you have any thoughts, just speak up. I don’t have time for guessing games."
Mr. Zhao coughed and said seriously:
"Promise you won’t hit me before I speak."
"Talk."
"Actually, I’m just lamenting that the guy hummed and hawed all this time without speaking a word. It’s impossible to distinguish his accent. However, watching his posture changes, especially when he was holding the phone, and not forgetting to adjust various angles around the victim, I can tell that this person would neither be too old nor too young."
Xu Dayuan glanced at Mr. Zhao, who defiantly stuck out his neck, saying:
"I’m talking serious business here, don’t hit me. Even the boss can’t hit people, and you can’t go complaining to my parents."
Zhou Ning held back a laugh and nodded along; after all, such fancy posture changes did indeed seem more characteristic of someone not too old but rather familiar with the ways of men and women.
Upon playing the video again in slow motion, Zhou Ning paused and rewound at the key moments, then looked up and said:
"I agree with Mr. Zhao’s assessment. The person probably isn’t too young—between 25-35 years old. He must have watched plenty of adult films to know how to unlock so many positions. His excitement makes me think that the victim was someone he had long sought after but never obtained, although an extremely disturbed individual is also a possibility.
I want to add something else. Based on the proportions of the bed, the female victim was over 165 cm tall, with a slender figure and no extra fat, weighing around 45 kg. The second, third, and fourth toes of both feet had calluses on the joint surfaces, likely from wearing high heels for extended periods. Her age is between twenty and twenty-eight.
Her abdomen was flat with no pregnancy stretch marks or cesarean scars, and her genitals had no episiotomy or tearing scars, which suggests that she had not given birth.
As for the male filmer, he had dense pubic hair, and abundant hair on his fingers, wrists, legs, and chest. He had a slight paunch, particularly the stomach area protruding slightly—not from being overweight, but because of the video angle. It’s just lack of exercise. Comparing his legs to the female’s, the man is estimated to be around 175 cm tall and weight about 68 kg.
Another point is that this person was born without a foreskin, and it was entirely exposed. The percentage of such individuals in Hua Country is not very high, around 0.04-0.08%. Finding this suspect is indeed a significant filtering criterion."
Xu Dayuan summed it up, setting down his pen and no longer frowning deeply.
"Now, let me summarize."
