I Sent You to Take the College Entrance Exam, and You Ended Up Solving a Murder Case?! - Chapter 56

Chen Mo pushed open the door and got out of the car, glancing up at the old residential building.

His gaze swept across the surroundings.

Here, the straight-line distance to the intersection where Chang Lili got out of the taxi, as indicated by the taxi driver, is no more than 100 meters.

He could almost see that night a month ago, the girl named Chang Lili.

How did they, filled with anticipation, step by step walk into this meticulously laid death trap?

She thought she was heading towards love.

Little did she know that what awaited her ahead was a demon whose fangs had already been sharpened.

This “Yanbai” is the murderer.

Chen Mo took out his phone and dialed Guan Yuexing’s number directly.

“How’s the reassurance going on your end?”

Guan Yuexing’s suppressed voice came from the other end of the phone.

“Captain, Mr. and Mrs. Chang have calmed down for now, and we are preparing…”

“No need.” Chen Mo interrupted him directly, “You and Yan Guangxiu, come to No. 134 Huai’an Road immediately.”

“immediately!”

After hanging up the phone, Chen Mo turned to Su Chun.

“Immediately use the police PAD to retrieve all the public surveillance footage in this area.”

“yes!”

Su Chun immediately began operating the machine, but a few minutes later, his expression turned extremely unpleasant.

“Boss, things are not good.”

He handed the PAD to Chen Mo.

“Look, the entire Huai’an Road area is a blind spot in the renovation of the old city.”

“There isn’t a single public security camera at the entrances and exits of the street.”

Chen Mo took the PAD, and the map on the screen was clearly marked.

The green dot representing the camera perfectly avoids this area.

The only security camera is located at the main entrance of the residential complex.

Chen Mo opened the camera’s recording and his heart sank.

Surveillance video recording retention period: 30 days.

Cyclic coverage.

Chang Lili went missing a month ago.

Even if the murderer led her in and out through the main entrance, the video footage has most likely already been overwritten.

This murderer is frighteningly meticulous.

He not only chose a remote location, but also calculated the blind spots of the surveillance and the retention period in detail.

At this moment, Guan Yuexing and Yan Guangxiu arrived, panting heavily.

“team leader!”

Chen Mo pointed to the surrounding buildings, his voice icy.

“Let’s split up and act separately.”

“Guan Yuexing, Yan Guangxu, you two are in charge of the east side, go door to door and ask.”

“No shop or household with a camera facing the street should be overlooked.”

“Su Chun, you’re in charge of the west side.”

“Remember, the key question to ask them is how long the surveillance footage was saved!”

“yes!”

The three men accepted the order and immediately shot off like three sharp arrows, quickly disappearing into the various alleyways.

Chen Mo stood still, closed his eyes, and tried to put himself in the killer’s shoes.

Are there any details he hasn’t discovered yet?

Time passed by, second by second.

Half an hour later, the three returned one after another, each with disappointment written all over their faces.

Guan Yuexing was the first to speak, his voice hoarse.

“Captain, we’ve asked around. There are seven shops on the east side, and three of them have installed security cameras.”

“But they are all covered in a seven-day cycle, and the footage from a month ago is long gone.”

Yan Guangxu added.

“Two households in the community have installed their own surveillance cameras, but they are both facing their own front doors and cannot capture the streets outside.”

Su Chun shook his head in the end, looking helpless.

“The same goes for the west side; it’s all invalid surveillance.”

The trail goes completely cold here.

Chen Mo suddenly opened his eyes.

“Su Chun, get in the car!”

“Go to the Municipal Public Security Bureau’s Technical Investigation Division!”

…

Municipal Public Security Bureau, Technical Investigation Division.

Chen Mo led Su Chun directly to the head of the computer department.

The person in charge was a middle-aged man who simply nodded slightly when he saw Chen Mo.

“Captain Chen, is something the matter?”

“Help me find a Tencent QQ account.”

Chen Mo succinctly revealed “Yan Bai’s” account information.

“I need his last login IP address, as well as all the information about the device he logged into.”

The person in charge didn’t ask any further questions and started typing on the keyboard.

A string of code flashed across the screen.

A few minutes later, he stopped and adjusted his glasses.

“This account was last logged in one month and three days ago.”

“The login location was a public coffee shop near the university town in the south of the city, where public WIFI was used.”

Chen Mo’s heart tightened: “Where’s the equipment?”

The person in charge shook his head.

“It is a domestically produced Android phone that was launched three years ago, with tens of millions of units shipped. It has no distinguishing features and cannot be tracked.”

He paused, then pulled up another document.

“Moreover, this account itself is very problematic.”

“Look,” he said, pointing to a timeline on the screen.

“This account was registered eleven years ago, but only three months ago.”

“It was in an offline dormant state for up to eight years.”

Chen Mo’s pupils suddenly contracted.

“you mean……”

“This is a ‘zombie account’,” the person in charge concluded.

“It was most likely bought on the black market.”

“The original owner may have forgotten the password long ago, and it was stolen by criminals through technical means and then sold in bulk.”

“These accounts are used and discarded, with no personal information linked to them, making them impossible to trace.”

“For the murderer, it was just a disposable tool.”

All the roads were blocked.

This devil, lurking in the shadows, calculates every step with absolute precision, leaving no trace whatsoever.

Chen Mo and Su Chun walked out of the Technical Investigation Department building without saying a word.

Back in the office of the Fifth Criminal Investigation Team, I pushed open the door and found it brightly lit.

Two figures were sitting at the conference table, their expressions serious.

Wu Xiubing, Director of the Municipal Bureau.

And, the head of the task force, Liu Degang.

Upon seeing the two of them, Chen Mo’s heart skipped a beat, and he immediately stood at attention.

“Director Wu, Director Liu.”

Wu Xiubing raised his head, his bloodshot eyes filled with exhaustion.

“Chen Mo, how is the situation?”

Chen Mo took a deep breath and reported all the intelligence he had just obtained in an orderly manner.

From the blind spots of surveillance cameras on Huai’an Road to the worthless tracking results from the technical investigation department.

Finally, he made his own judgment.

“It can be basically concluded that the suspect ‘Yan Bai’ is the serial killer we are looking for.”

“He used online dating to screen victims and gain their trust.”

“They were lured to a pre-selected, secluded location without surveillance, and then the crime was committed.”

After a long silence, Liu Degang, who had been silent all along, slowly nodded and his strong, powerful voice rang out.

“That makes sense. A highly intelligent predator uses the modern internet as its hunting ground.”

However, Chen Mo shook his head.

“Director Liu, I have an even deeper concern.”

Wu Xiubing and Liu Degang both focused their attention on him.

“explain.”

Chen Mo walked to the whiteboard in the office, which was densely covered with information on thirty-five victims.

Thirty-five victims.

“If the murderer used this online dating scam on everyone, the time cost would be too high.”

“Build an online persona, screen targets, chat to cultivate relationships, and gain trust.”

“The process of then meeting in person can take anywhere from a few weeks to several months.”

“This contradicts the evidence we found at the burial site.”