Chapter 798: Chapter 425: The Bottleneck Moment in Solving the Case
After another 40 minutes, Wan finally got up from his chair, stretched his back broadly, and it seemed as if all his joints were crackling.
As he punched his already stiff lower back, he grimaced and said to Qin Feng, "I think we’re going to make our eyes bleed today, yet we’re not going to find any more precious clues."
"How about this, let’s copy all the surveillance videos from the past two days and watch them repeatedly at home."
Qin Feng nodded upon hearing that, "I think that’s feasible."
"As long as we have these videos, it’s equivalent to ’freezing’ this period of time."
"Whenever we need to replay it, we can pull it out and examine it thoroughly."
Wan, however, gave a bitter smile and waved his hand, saying, "Honestly, don’t hold out too much hope."
"I’ve run through it in my mind over and over again—during that time frame, not even a stray cat slipped out."
"Suspicious vehicles? Even less likely."
"The recent entry and exit records are concentrated at dawn, completely mismatching the crime time."
His tone gradually dulled as he rubbed his swollen temples, muttering to himself, "I’m even starting to wonder if we were misled by that footprint from the beginning..."
Qin Feng didn’t respond immediately.
He crossed his arms, furrowed his brows, and stared intently at the screen that hadn’t been turned off.
Even though he was the one who first pointed out the unusual footprint, the longer he worked in criminal investigation, the more he understood.
No matter how accurate intuition is, evidence must speak out.
Soon, the couple collaborated to compress, transfer, and tidy up the equipment involving a large quantity of video data.
At exactly 2 PM, Qin Feng, Wan, and Zhang Yean pushed open Jiang An’s office door.
Jiang An lifted his head from a pile of documents, his eyes clearly bloodshot, evidence of prolonged, relentless work.
He hurriedly stood up and greeted them, "Please come in, you’ve worked hard!"
"Staring at those surveillance videos is particularly draining and eye-straining."
"Oh, what’s the big deal."
Wan slumped into the reception chair, vigorously rubbing his aching neck, his voice laced with obvious frustration.
"The hardship isn’t the issue, the key is... We worked for most of the day, yet found absolutely nothing! Isn’t that odd?"
He leaned forward, speaking more rapidly, "We expanded the monitoring nearly twelve hours before and after the crime—equivalent to an entire two-day span—eyes almost bleeding out, yet didn’t see a single sneaky shadow."
Qin Feng’s mouth twitched imperceptibly beside him, as if wanting to say something but swallowing it back.
He took a deep breath and chimed in, "The same goes for the vehicles."
"Based on your inferred time of death, it’s about two o’clock in the morning; we checked all the possible vehicle records three hours before and after."
"But that place is so remote that not even birds are around at night; there were absolutely no cars that match the timeframe."
Jiang An slowly leaned back into the chair, his fingers unconsciously tapping the desk.
"If the killer came ashore from here..."
"According to the psychological prediction post-crime, he would crawl up from the river, soaked from head to toe, terrified... What would he want most?"
"Certainly to immediately and quickly get away from the scene, right?"
"How could he have the nerve to linger at the original spot?"
He suddenly lifted his gaze, scanning the three people, "In two days, did you really catch no suspicious shadows at all? Not even one?"
Wan answered, "There’s an old man who appeared in the outer surveillance around ten o’clock at night, but he quickly disappeared, and the time completely mismatches."
"His appearance was too early, it’s practically ruled out."
The office fell silent briefly, only the low hum of the air conditioning persisted.
"That’s really strange..."
Jiang An murmured, his fingers pausing on the desk, "A living person, can they really fly with wings?"
Zhang Yean stepped forward, tentatively suggesting, "Mr. Jiang, should we broaden the search area a bit more?"
"For example, check if there are any other possible paths leading ashore nearby."
"Perhaps the killer didn’t take the route we anticipated. Exploring a few more directions might open up new ideas."
As soon as Zhang Yean finished speaking, Qin Feng and Wan simultaneously looked at Jiang An.
Jiang An turned around and said in a deep voice, "The situation at the scene, on the surface, seems very clear."
"Although I dare not guarantee 100% that it’s the primary scene, those footsteps, dragging marks, and residue in the mud... Each points to that place."
"Our previous analysis wasn’t baseless; every step we took was considered many times."
Even before he finished speaking, Wan couldn’t help but interject, his tone a bit anxious: "If the killer really walked out drenched, which driver would dare let him hitch a ride?"
"Unless there was a prearranged contact—or a shady car?"
"There were zero cars moving in the main road surveillance during the three hours before and after the crime."
"There were plenty of cars before 10 PM the previous night, but the case hadn’t happened yet."
"After 6 AM, there was some marketplace and app-based car activity, but it was too late by then."
At this moment, Jiang An suddenly looked up sharply at Wan, "Did you bring back all the surveillance after midnight?"
"Yes, yes, we burned everything onto disks categorized by timeframe, not one missed!"
Wan quickly replied, turning to search the file bag.
"Play it now," Jiang An stated firmly, "Let’s watch it together."
"I don’t believe he walked out on foot—although there aren’t many monitors around here, all the exits are covered."
