Chapter 605: Chapter 575 Surveillance_1
He Shancun was just biting into a zongzi when he heard Zhou Ning ask such a question, clearly taken aback.
Chewing the zongzi, He Shancun also mulled over the meaning of Zhou Ning’s words. After a moment, he slowly said,
"Actually, Xu Qingquan’s head injury was not severe, unlike the driver Qiu Chunbo, who had a skull fracture and intracranial hemorrhage, along with hematoma compression. For him to be able to recover his speech system was quite fortunate. His memory of that night is very fuzzy, which I feel is related to his fatigue. During a moment of inattention, the accident happened.
As for Xu Qingquan, his symptoms were mild; he only experienced nausea and vomiting once on the day he was admitted for surgery. The intracranial pressure increase triggered by vitamin A was quickly brought under control. In theory, his amnesia shouldn’t be the most serious, but sometimes medical science can’t explain things.
You should know this—some people might die instantly from a fall off a chair, while others might suffer only scratches after a fall from seven or eight floors. These things are beyond the realm of medicine. However, I reviewed Xu Qingquan’s CT report from yesterday and I believe he’s recovering quite well; he’ll be able to be discharged in a couple of days."
Zhou Ning narrowed his eyes, recalling what Xu Qingshu had said at the detective squad yesterday.
She said that Xu Qingquan’s memory had not recovered and that he remembered nothing of the past two years, including his engagement and Li Li’s group. Moreover, he didn’t like to interact with anyone other than his sister, which sounded very plausible.
But what if Xu Qingquan hadn’t lost his memory?
Zhou Ning halted his movements, and He Shancun looked at him, puzzled.
"What’s the matter with you? Did you think of some problem?"
Zhou Ning stared at He Shancun.
"What if, I’m just speculating, Xu Qingquan woke up without any memory loss and remembered everything that had happened before. After hearing from his sister about Li Li’s incident and combining it with what he had witnessed, Xu Qingquan might be able to guess who the murderer is, right?"
He Shancun spread his hands, but before he could speak, Zhou Ning pressed his hand on top of He Shancun’s. He Shancun knew that Zhou Ning wasn’t really engaging in a discussion with him, he was just analyzing aloud.
Under normal circumstances, He Shancun would have a lot to say, and he’d even retort a couple of times. But seeing the deep sockets of Zhou Ning’s eyes and his pale face, He Shancun swallowed all the words he had wanted to say.
He knew Zhou Ning was under a lot of pressure.
Although not fully aware of the specifics of the case, he knew four police officers were hospitalized, one nearly became foolish, and one suspect was involved in both a car accident and poisoning, entangling numerous issues. He understood the complexity of what he knew, which made him realize how difficult the case must be. It seemed there was also the implication that another person might be at risk of being murdered.
After thinking it over, He Shancun put down his chopsticks.
"Why don’t you come with me to the hospital? They installed surveillance in Xu Qingquan’s ICU room about half a month ago, and just this week, they finally completed the network connection. If you suspect that he’s pretending to have amnesia, then we should check the surveillance. Oh, and by the way, this surveillance includes audio."
Zhou Ning looked up at He Shancun, a look of surprise on his face.
"There’s surveillance? Why didn’t you mention it earlier?"
Taken aback, He Shancun was just about to get angry when his aunt walked over and he sighed.
"Ah, the misfortune of poor company - how did I end up with a friend like you? Hurry up and eat, I’ll drop my wife off at work, then I’ll take you to check it out right away. Call your colleague Mr. Qu as well."
Zhou Ning quickly dialed the number, one call to Mr. Qu, asking him to rush to the emergency entrance of the Central Hospital in half an hour, and then he called Xia Momo, asking her to bring Zhou Xiaoyu with her.
Hearing these arrangements, He Shancun rolled his eyes, then quickly finished his zongzi.
"You, always causing trouble for everyone—does it make your heart ache not to? Fine, I’ll get my bag; meet me downstairs in five minutes. Is that satisfactory?"
Zhou Ning got up quickly, nodding his head with a smile.
"I’ll go brush my teeth, and I’ll need to borrow your car. Mr. Zhao took mine last night."
"It’s what I owe you, so no more talk. Go brush your teeth. You never run out of favors to ask, but never a word of thanks!"
...
7:04
Zhou Ning and He Shancun arrived at the Central Hospital.
Getting out of the car, they could already see Mr. Qu waving his hands from afar at the emergency entrance.
"Mr. Qu!"
Hearing the call, Mr. Qu quickly ran over, carrying two notebooks with a man and a woman following him. Zhou Ning found them familiar and remembered they were probably from the technical division—after all, they were managed by Mr. Pang. Zhou Ning seldom interacted with them, so Mr. Qu quickly introduced them.
"They are Wang Chunyan and Xing Xiangrong from the technical division. They are new faces, so I thought if they changed into intern clothes here, they could pass by without raising suspicions. This way, they won’t attract attention even if they get close."
Zhou Ning nodded; Mr. Qu had thought things through. Zhou Ning always liked to delegate authority and didn’t hesitate to gesture everyone to follow Xu Dayuan’s lead.
The group quickly made their way to the doctors’ office, changed into white coats, and fully suited up with hats and masks. Once they had the slippers on, they looked just like they had come straight from surgery.
He Shancun pointed in the direction of the north side and whispered lowly,
"We need to go to the nurse station, and then to that little room to copy the footage. You three, come with me. I’ve already spoken with the nurse station. You don’t need to talk, just do what you need to do directly because the suspect’s ward is right across from the nurse station."
They nodded. Zhou Ning didn’t move, but gestured to his ear to Mr. Qu and then glanced toward Xu Qingquan’s room. Mr. Qu looked puzzled at first, and then, as if he had realized something, made an OK gesture and patted his backpack before they all followed out.
Zhou Ning hid at the door of the doctor’s office and peeked through the gap as they strolled over and then entered the back part of the nurse station.
At that moment, Zhou Ning saw a familiar figure carrying a big bag full of lunch boxes, obviously with a variety of foods. It was not Xu Qingshu but Kong Wanshan. To think that after everything that had happened, this brother-in-law was still bringing food to his brother-in-law.
Zhou Ning frowned deeply. Truth be told, he couldn’t understand how such a family with complicated relationships got along. He quickly stepped back to let Kong Wanshan pass, then looked out the window again.
Not much time passed before the others quickly returned to the doctor’s office. Mr. Qu squatted down eagerly in front of the desk, organizing the footage they had just copied.
"Boss, I’ve checked the ICU surveillance. It seems they’ve arranged it to keep away from privacy concerns, so the camera angle is only partially pointed at the head of the bed. You can see various equipment, but Xu Qingquan’s face is not fully visible, only a corner. His face only becomes visible when he sits up."
He Shancun glanced over.
"There are a few people dressed in clothes inside the ICU. If the camera were pointed at the beds while nursing care is happening, laypeople might think it’s shameless and feel like their privacy has been breached. But the setup is to record the resuscitation process and monitor data at any time, so we’ve positioned it towards the right side of the bed head, where we can also see the patient’s respirator status."
Zhou Ning nodded, understanding that this setup tried to strike a balance. After all, many hospitals still didn’t have such surveillance to avoid disputes. This was the best proof of that.
Mr. Qu tapped away rapidly on the keyboard, soon finishing the organization.
"Boss, I have organized it. I found all the footage from the past few days. Let’s go back and filter through it. If I have any questions, I’ll ask Mr. He."
Zhou Ning nodded, patted He Shancun on the shoulder, grateful that He Shancun had not shown him a cold shoulder while others were around.
"Should I give you the car keys?"
"No need. I’ll ride with Mr. Qu and the others. Later, when Momo has dropped off Xiaoyu, she’ll also go to the station. We can all head back together tonight. I’ll head back first. Let the nurses keep a close eye out. If they find out that Xu Qingquan is faking it, let me know right away. Of course, if Kong Wanshan says something special, also inform me immediately."
He Shancun waved his hand, and Zhou Ning and his team left swiftly.
At the technical department, Mr. Qu led several people to analyze the surveillance footage. After all, hospital surveillance was different from the norm, with sounds of resuscitation mixed with Xu Qingquan’s own, making it hard to distinguish.
As they were parting ways, Zhou Ning raised his hand, and Mr. Qu hurried over.
"Boss, do you have any other instructions?"
"Did you leave any listening devices in Xu Qingquan’s room?"
Mr. Qu looked a bit embarrassed, nodded slightly, and said:
"I asked a nurse to go to Xu Qingquan’s ward and attach a listening device under the bed. I placed the receiver in the back room of the nurse station. I can listen to what’s happening in the room in real time on my computer."
Zhou Ning breathed a sigh of relief.
"First, check the surveillance. As for the live recording, just make sure it’s running. I suspect that Xu Qingquan isn’t suffering from amnesia and that everything he’s doing is an act to let the real killer lower their guard. And with Kong Wanshan caring for him, perhaps the two of them will say something.
Also, when we were in Qifeng City, I thought of something. When Li Li had the incident, Kong Wanshan left early and went to an alley behind Mailetian. I want to know what that place is. Can you look into the relevant road surveillance?"
Mr. Qu gave an OK gesture and replied with a smile:
"Rest assured, boss. I’ll look into the surveillance now, search for Kong Wanshan’s past footage, then monitor the hospital’s listening devices. If there’s any news, I’ll contact you immediately. Aren’t they interrogating Zhang Fangfang today?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Mrs. Fei and the others are on the night flight. Given her nature, Mrs. Fei won’t let Zhang Fangfang rest once she lands. After all, it was hard enough getting her back, and she’s been so uncooperative before. They’ll definitely start the interrogation right away, considering she’s the only survivor left. The more we know, the easier it will be to identify Shi Yun."
Mr. Qu struggled to hold back laughter, knowing that even though Liu Yufei was absent, his ingrained fear of her prevented any reckless behavior.
"That’s just how Mrs. Fei is. Well boss, we’re off to get busy now. We’ll keep in touch via WeChat."
Zhou Ning waved his hand, hesitating whether to go upstairs or not when his phone in his pocket buzzed twice. He took it out and saw it was a WeChat message from Xu Dayuan.
Xu Dayuan: [What are you up to?]
Zhou Ning paused, turned to look toward the Criminal Police Brigade, and saw someone waving from a window. He sighed.
[Leader, aren’t you interrogating Zhang Fangfang? Do you need me to come over?]
[You’re free anyway, come over and listen. Mr. Zhao and your master are here!]
Upon hearing this, Zhou Ning had no objections, two hostages in hand gave him no choice. Without wasting any words, he turned briskly toward the Criminal Police Brigade and went straight to the interrogation room next door. Passing by the interrogation room, he could hear sharp roars from inside.
Zhou Ning shuddered. If Xu Dayuan could peer out the window to see him, that meant Liu Yufei was conducting the interrogation. Was she going hard on a woman?
