Dude, something's really wrong with your abilities.

Chapter 39 Two Li Qians

That afternoon, Sun Tiemei reported the decision to merge the cases for investigation to the bureau leadership. Old Zheng requested assistance from the intelligence and technical departments in the investigation.

Sun Du and his team spent half a day thoroughly investigating the identity of the newly deceased: Zhu Dahai, 47 years old, unemployed, making a living by scavenging, and his usual activity area was the old industrial zone in the east of the city. He had no criminal record, no enemies, no interpersonal conflicts, and there was no overlap in social relationships between him and Li Qian. The technical department also pointed out that the two hadn't even had their cell phone base stations overlapping in the same area.

The investigation into the source of the resin is also underway. Su Xiaohe led the patrol team to search through all the building materials markets, chemical stores, and handicraft workshops in the city. They found that this epoxy resin has a wide range of applications, including handicraft molding, furniture repair, and industrial molds.

I pulled up thousands of purchase records and spent a whole day filtering them, but I didn't find any unusual transaction records.

Zhuang Wen explained that the resin's formulation is generic, and the chemical markers are not specific, making it impossible to trace the buyer and seller through batch traceability.

The surveillance cameras in the central square are even more of a headache. The square's cameras are all quite old, and they're the kind that can't be rotated.

The security cameras near the scene of the crime only captured one side of the bench; how Zhu Dahai got onto the bench was not captured by the surveillance cameras.

Zhuang Wen reviewed all the surveillance footage along the surrounding streets and discovered that Zhu Dahai was last seen on camera the previous evening, when he sold a bag of plastic bottles at a scrap metal recycling station two kilometers away from the square. After that, he disappeared from all the footage. He reappeared the following morning when sanitation worker Zhang Xiumei reported him missing.

For over ten hours, no surveillance footage captured how he got to the bench. The surveillance cameras weren't broken; it's just that the road in front of the square was undergoing pipe renovations, and most of the cameras along the way were removed. It seems the killer didn't choose the central square as a dumping ground on a whim, but rather after careful observation.

In the fifth group's office, Chang Biao, as usual, took out hand cream. "Now, the leads in both cases are stuck. The person in the square case is even cleaner than Li Qian; he has no enemies and no friends. His social relationships are very simple. Who would be so cruel as to kill him?"

Su Xiaohe also said that tracing the resin distribution channel was like finding a needle in a haystack.

As the fat man stuffed food into his mouth, he said, "A living person sealed in resin must weigh at least a hundred pounds. The murderer couldn't have just walked by carrying the sculpture without anyone seeing him, could he? If you ask me, we should check the surveillance footage along the square first. Since he was able to evade the square's cameras, the murderer must have scouted the area beforehand and is familiar with the blind spots of that old city redevelopment zone. As long as he's captured on any of the cameras along the way, we can trace the transportation route."

Sun Tiemei pointed out: "But at present, the only clue that can be used to identify the suspect group is Li Qian. The fact that she has an art background, knows surgical suturing, and has had contact with Li Qian, when these three conditions are combined, narrows the scope much more than that of the scavengers. We still need to investigate Li Qian's social relationships first, and then trace his whereabouts after identifying the suspect."

Chen Shi leaned back in his chair, staring at the flickering fluorescent light on the ceiling. After listening to their discussion for a long time, he shared his thoughts: "What you're talking about, ordinary patrol officers can investigate, and the intelligence department can investigate too. But what is our Fifth Team's role? I think it should be the most crucial and mysterious clue. What do you think is the most mysterious part of these two cases?"

Sun Tiemei said, "It's a locked room. All the doors and windows of the art room were locked from the inside. The surveillance footage only showed Li Qian entering, and no one else entered or left after that. How did the murderer get in and out of the locked room? How did the arm disappear from the locked room? As long as we can solve this core problem of the locked room, the other problems will become simple."

Chen Shi: "Team leader, what you just said reminds me of an old saying: 'A train's speed depends entirely on its locomotive.'"

Sun Tiemei didn't react to the flattery. Su Xiaohe and Chang Biao were both pretending to organize documents, but Fatty and Wang Jianlou looked at Chen Shi with disdain.

Chen Shi felt a little embarrassed. When did he become so greasy? It must be the fat man who corrupted him.

"Shall we go back to the school and take a look at the scene?" Chen Shi suggested to ease the awkward atmosphere.

Standing under the art room's exhaust vent, the fat man pointed to the ceiling and asked, "This vent is only a dozen centimeters in diameter. Forget about a murderer, it would be difficult for even an arm to get out from here, right?"

Su Xiaohe said, "Brother Daqiang, the technical department has conducted a comprehensive inspection of the exhaust port and internal pipes, and there are no abnormalities."

Chang Biao leaned against the windowsill, took out a tube of hand cream from his pocket, and slowly applied it.

The fat man was getting annoyed and complained, "Biaozi, we're investigating a case, can't you be a little more serious? Besides, didn't you just wipe it off in the office? Why are you wiping it off everywhere you go?"

Chang Biao was a little embarrassed. It was a habitual action of his; when his mind was a complete mess, he would always unconsciously take out hand cream.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm used to it." Chang Biao hurriedly screwed the cap on and put it in his bag, then explained to the fat man, "Daqiang, the one I used in the office before was moisturizing, this one is whitening, the effects are different."

The fat man scoffed, "You're being too picky. Besides, these two look exactly the same. Who can tell them apart?"

Chang Biao looked down at the hand cream in his hand and said, "Then you don't understand. Although they look similar, they are actually different. This one has niacinamide, and that one doesn't. Same brand, same packaging, but completely different functions. Similar packaging doesn't mean they are the same product."

Hearing their incoherent chatter, Sun Tiemei was about to explode with anger, but before she could even speak, Chen Shi suddenly stood up from his chair, knocking his cane to the ground.

He paced back and forth in the art room, repeatedly saying, "Same packaging doesn't mean it's the same thing."

The others were confused and about to ask when Chen Shi picked up his cane: "The surveillance system. Let's go to the surveillance room."

Everyone followed Chen Shi to the monitoring room. Chen Shi asked the security guard to find the video of Li Qian's last appearance. The police had watched this video many times, so the security guard remembered it very clearly and found it in less than a minute.

In the video, on the evening of the 22nd, Li Qian appeared in the corridor wearing a light blue floral dress, then stood at the door of the art room, took out her key, opened the door, went in, and closed the door.

No one knew what Chen Shi had discovered. Just as Fatty was about to ask, Chen Shi suddenly said, "Master, go through even earlier videos, um, start from the afternoon of the 21st."

Although no one knew what Chen Shi was looking for, no one spoke. Everyone stared at the screen, and as time passed, nothing in the video seemed out of the ordinary.

Just as Chen Shi was feeling a bit down, a figure in a light blue floral dress appeared in the video. As usual, she walked to the end of the corridor, opened the door, and entered the art room. The time shown on the video was 6 p.m. on the 21st.

"Is this Li Qian?" Su Xiaohe exclaimed. "So she went to the art studio the day before."

The security guard stared at her carefully for a while and confirmed that it was indeed Teacher Li Qian.

"Continue playing, Master. You can speed up the playback." Chen Shi continued to stare at the screen.

The video played at a fast pace from the moment Li Qian entered the art room, during which some art students went in and out of the room. The video continued until the lights were turned off, and Li Qian, the teacher who had entered the art room, never came out again. The video continued until the afternoon of the 22nd, when Li Qian's figure reappeared in the corridor.

"Two Li Qians!" the crowd exclaimed.

"Everyone, don't worry, sir. We'll need you to adjust the surveillance footage back to the morning of the 23rd."

The security guard did as instructed. In the video, a large group of students are gathered at the entrance of the art room.

Chen used a finger in the video: "Xiao He, can you help me count how many students are here?"

Su Xiaohe looked very carefully, pausing several times before she could count them all: 21 students.

Chen Shi then asked the security guard to fast-forward the video to the scene of a large group of students running out of the art room.

"Xiao He, count again."

At this moment, everyone in the five groups was busy counting.

"19...20...21..., 22?"

"Holy crap, how come there's an extra one?"