Lu Linjiang rested one hand on the windowsill, watching the vehicle slowly roll out of sight. "Pull all available surveillance footage from the day Martina died. See if this car appears anywhere else." He looked at the team members who had immediately begun the search and added, "Also, look into Cheng Hao. Check what kind of overseas connections his company, MicroBig, has. Don't overlook a single lead."
Hands behind his back, Chu Juxian listened to Lu Linjiang’s instructions. Seeing the room full of people working with such fervor, he said in a low voice, "The same as before—be careful in everything you do."
"I understand," Lu Linjiang replied quietly.
Chu Juxian knew that while Lu Linjiang was a slippery customer who was hard to pin down, he had one great virtue: he didn't cause unnecessary trouble. Seeing that the captain understood his meaning, the Bureau Chief strolled away.
Lu Linjiang returned to his seat. He had intended to chat with the traffic police captain, but a text from Wang Ling popped up: *Check the files in your inbox.*
Lu Linjiang opened his email immediately, and Wang Ling’s call followed a second later. "There really wasn't much left to salvage from that memory card. I did my absolute best and could only extract about five seconds. I’ve sent it over."
"Didn't you say it would take two days?"
"Two days for the whole thing, but the internal damage was actually quite thorough. I managed to fish out those five seconds thanks to my superior skills. The two-day estimate was mainly for audio restoration, but how much did you actually have?" Wang Ling let out a yawn. "Five seconds is short, but it should be enough for you to run a voiceprint comparison. It might not be useful, but it's better than nothing."
"Alright, thanks." Lu Linjiang hung up and opened the downloaded file. Inside, a slightly distorted male voice said: "What’s the deal with Roma Salazar? You’re not joking with me, are you!"
Lu Linjiang played the short sentence back and forth several times. Perhaps because the voice had been recorded through a translator and the memory card was damaged, he couldn't be certain whether the voice leaned more toward Jiang Langmin or Cheng Hao.
He forwarded the file to Sun Wen. "Try a voiceprint comparison using the voice data we have for Jiang Langmin and Cheng Hao."
Sun Wen adjusted her glasses. "Just so we're clear, voiceprint comparison isn't as reliable as fingerprinting."
"I know. It's just for screening. Just do it first. How long will it take?"
Sun Wen checked the time. "I can have it for you before the end of the day."
Lu Linjiang and his team spent the afternoon scouring surveillance footage. Starting from the camera closest to MicroBig and tracing all the way to the vicinity of the shopping center hotel, the black SUV never appeared. The lead they had finally grasped seemed to have snapped again, leaving the team members—who had been staring at videos for days—feeling somewhat discouraged.
After hearing the report, Lu Linjiang noted, "If I remember correctly, Martina left the hotel at noon that day, went straight to the shopping center, and didn't leave until she was carried into the ambulance."
"Yes." Xu Sichen rubbed her eyes. "I've already asked the shopping center to send over all the surveillance from that afternoon. Tang Hua is re-watching it to see if we missed anything."
"Any findings?"
Tang Hua’s eyes were glued to the screen. "I’ve been watching her shop for nearly an hour. Her stamina is incredible; she wanders into every single store. She went through them one by one, all five floors of the shopping area—it's like she didn't miss a single one. She shopped for two hours before finally heading to the restroom." As he spoke, Tang Hua suddenly stopped, his body shifting from a slouch to sitting bolt upright.
"What is it? Did you find something?"
"Yes, a person." Lu Linjiang moved behind Tang Hua, watching the video where Tang Hua’s mouse had clicked pause. "This person... I saw him a few times when I watched the footage earlier."
The person on the screen was dressed in light-colored clothing, wearing a baseball cap and a light-colored mask that obscured most of his face.
"Does this person's build look like Cheng Hao's?" Tang Hua asked, looking around at the others. "I noticed him before. He crossed paths with Martina at a jewelry store, but he walked straight past. After that, he didn't encounter Martina under any cameras again, so I overlooked him." Tang Hua pointed at the screen. "Aside from that one time in front of the jewelry store, this is the second."
Tang Hua pressed play. About ten minutes after Martina entered the restroom, she walked out. Half a minute later, the heavily bundled-up man also emerged. This time, Tang Hua followed the man through various camera angles, watching him leave the shopping center and hail a taxi.
"Find that taxi!"
Xu Sichen and Yang Bo moved into action immediately. The internal line on Lu Linjiang’s desk rang. "This is Sun Wen. Captain Lu, the voiceprint comparison results are in. Between the parameter corrections and the low clarity of the sample, I can only say that the voice in the five-second audio is quite close to Cheng Hao. There's an 85% match rate. It almost doesn't match Jiang Langmin's voice at all."
Lu Linjiang hung up and turned to the three of them. "The voice is very likely Cheng Hao's." He paused in thought for a moment. "Tang Hua, rewind the video to the part where Martina just came out of the restroom."
Tang Hua found the clip as requested. Lu Linjiang said, "Right here. Pause. Enlarge the hem of her skirt." On the magnified left side of the hem, there was a clearly visible wet patch.
Lu Linjiang rubbed his chin, feeling a headache coming on. "What do you think? Is this related or not?"
Yang Bo propped his head on his hand. "It's hard to say. It's possible she just got it wet while washing her hands. But if Cheng Hao really did it... honestly, with him sitting on a treasure trove like MicroBig, if he splashed some kind of virus or something on her, you'd never be able to prove it."
"Captain Lu, we found the taxi." Xu Sichen, who had been on the phone non-stop, spoke with a hint of excitement. "The driver said he's just about to change shifts and can come over right away."
"Whether we get something decisive depends on what surprises the taxi driver can bring us."
Ma Yang looked at the photo Lu Linjiang handed him and thought for a moment. "I have some impression of this. This guy..." Seeing Xu Sichen hand him a glass of water, he stood up sheepishly. "Oh, thank you." Ma Yang took the glass with both hands, sat back down, and said, "This person probably got in the car at the shopping center over by Donghe Bay."
"It's been nearly a week. Could you be remembering it wrong?"
Ma Yang blinked and shook his head. "No. It's not that my memory is particularly good, but this guy was a bit strange. To be honest, which young person nowadays doesn't use their phone to pay? Except for the elderly, basically everyone just scans a code. But this guy gave me cash. And as luck would have it that day, I didn't have enough change. I asked if he could pay by phone, but he didn't even acknowledge me. Later, I said I could find a small shop to break the bill and give him his change, but he just said forget it, he didn't want it. I ended up owing him eight yuan."
"Then do you remember where he got off?"
"I remember," Ma Yang said with certainty. "Sunshine Street, that high-end residential complex."
As Ma Yang’s words fell, Xu Sichen handed over a document. She had circled a line in red ink; it listed one of Cheng Hao's properties, located in the Osmanthus Garden on Sunshine Street.
Once Xu Sichen had seen Ma Yang out, Yang Bo and Tang Hua looked at Lu Linjiang eagerly. "Captain Lu, should we go have a talk with Cheng Hao now?"
Lu Linjiang seemed preoccupied. Yang Bo and Tang Hua waited for a moment before they saw him slowly nod.
"What is it, Captain? Is there still a problem?"
Lu Linjiang looked at them. "I just have a slight suspicion. Suddenly, all the evidence points directly to Cheng Hao."
The three looked at each other. "Isn't that a good thing?"
There wasn't a trace of joy on Lu Linjiang’s face. "I just feel like something is off... but regardless, with so much evidence pointing at Cheng Hao, we have to bring him in for questioning no matter what."
***
When Jiang Cheng’s thesis was placed before the new professor, Baker Stanley, the man froze after reading the opening report. He scrutinized Jiang Cheng with an expression of disbelief. "You presented this thesis and were still rejected by Hughes?" Seeing Jiang Cheng nod, Stanley sat in a daze for a while before slowly saying, "Well, let's assume for now that personnel changes at Hughes led to this... hm, very unique decision."
Stanley looked at Jiang Cheng and put on the glasses resting on his desk. "But regardless, we first need to ensure there are no issues with your thesis. Once you pass your defense, young man, believe me—there is nowhere in this world you won't be able to go."
