latelenovela Chapter 1066: New Clues Discovered
Chapter 1066: New Clues Discovered
At the current pace of the investigation, even working around the clock, it would be impossible to complete all the verifications within the stipulated time. Moreover, as time goes on, evidence may be destroyed, and clues may gradually disappear.
"How about we split into groups and investigate simultaneously?" Xiao Li suggested. "That would improve efficiency." Xiao Wang shook his head: "These vehicles are scattered throughout the city. Investigating in groups would lead to a dispersion of resources and we might miss important clues. We must concentrate our efforts and check each vehicle one by one to ensure we don't miss anything."
Just when everyone was at a loss, the investigation into the 101st vehicle took a turn for the better. It was a white van, and surveillance footage showed that it drove away from the vicinity shortly after the incident, but its route was very strange—it circled the area several times before suddenly accelerating towards the outskirts of the city. Xiao Wang immediately led his team to find the owner, but the owner insisted that he was just delivering goods. "What goods? Why is the route so strange?" Xiao Wang stared intently into the owner's eyes, trying to find a clue in his expression.
The car owner stammered, unable to give a coherent explanation for a long time. The team members carefully inspected the vehicle but found no bloodstains or suspicious items. "Check his call records and phone location!" Xiao Wang decisively ordered. However, the investigation results once again put them in a bind: the car owner's call records and location information showed nothing unusual.
"Is it all for nothing again?" Xiao Li said disappointedly. Xiao Wang didn't answer. He stood in front of the whiteboard and listed the information of 128 vehicles one by one, trying to find a hidden clue from the complex data. Time passed second by second. With each passing minute, they were one step further away from the truth. But Xiao Wang knew that no matter how difficult it was, they couldn't give up, because perhaps the key to solving the mystery was hidden among these 128 vehicles.
The case took a turn for the better with Xiao Zhou's investigation.
A light autumn drizzle carried a chill. Xiao Zhou clutched the crumpled club membership list, his knuckles white from the pressure. The name "Ren Tao" was heavily circled in red, with the note "Last activity: October 15th, hiking trip." He pushed open the glass door of the "Mountain Walker" club; the doorbell rang crisply, but failed to dispel the stagnant air inside.
“Ren Tao? He said last Wednesday that he was going hiking at Eagle's Beak Cliff on the outskirts of the city.” The club owner’s hand, which was wiping a coffee cup, suddenly stopped. The water stains on the cup snaked into eerie patterns under the light. “He originally invited three hiking buddies, but we couldn’t reach him on the day of departure. We thought he canceled at the last minute.” The owner turned around and pulled out a notebook from a drawer. Among the densely packed records of travel companions, the page for October 15th was marked with a striking mark in highlighter: Ren Tao, leader, Eagle's Beak Cliff loop, 7:00 AM meeting time.
Xiao Zhou immediately contacted Ren Tao's emergency contact. The moment the call connected, a mechanical female voice came through the receiver: "The number you dialed is currently switched off." His heart sank. He immediately checked the missing persons system, but found no record of a missing person report for Ren Tao. "This doesn't make sense," Xiao Zhou muttered to himself, his fingers rapidly typing on the keyboard, pulling up Ren Tao's personal information—38 years old, an engineer at a construction company, single, parents deceased, his last post on WeChat Moments was on October 14th, featuring a picture of a brand-new set of mountaineering gear with the caption "Challenging Eagle's Beak Cliff tomorrow."
During interviews with Ren Tao's neighbors, the clues gradually became clear. Aunt Li, who lived across the hall, stood in front of her security door, her expression uneasy: "That morning around six o'clock, I heard him dragging his hiking backpack out the door and greeting people in the hallway. Later that night, around ten o'clock, when I got up to use the bathroom, I noticed his door was dark; usually he'd be watching a mountaineering documentary around that time." She suddenly lowered her voice, "Officer, I have something to tell you—a few days ago, a man wearing sunglasses knocked on my door and asked if Ren Tao was home. I said no, and he left, but his eyes...it was creepy."
By reviewing the community's surveillance footage, Xiao Zhou discovered that Ren Tao, as Aunt Li had stated, did indeed leave the building at 6:23 AM on October 15th, carrying a hiking backpack. However, strangely, he wasn't carrying his phone—Ren Tao is someone who's always on his phone; there were even photos of him using a satellite phone to post updates on his WeChat Moments from Everest Base Camp. Even more puzzling, the surveillance footage showed Ren Tao lingering at the community entrance for seven minutes, repeatedly glancing at his wrist, seemingly waiting for someone.
The investigation took a major turn when they found the hiking companions Ren Tao had arranged to meet. Three young people huddled in a corner of a café, their faces pale. “We waited at the meeting point until 7:30, but Brother Ren still hadn’t shown up,” said the bespectacled boy, clutching his iced Americano, the water droplets on the cup soaking the tablecloth. “We called him, but it rang a few times and then he hung up. His phone was off. We thought something had happened to him, so we went hiking on our own.” Another girl suddenly spoke up: “Wait, I remember Brother Ren saying he’s been investigating some kind of project lately, and that if something happened to him, we should…” Her voice trailed off, her eyes meeting her companion’s with fear.
Xiao Zhou immediately applied for a search warrant and led a team to Ren Tao's residence. The moment they pushed open the door, a musty smell of coffee wafted out. The bookshelves were neatly arranged with "The Mountaineering Bible" and "The Wilderness Survival Manual." A USB drive, locked in a desk drawer, contained a testing report for a construction project; many data points were marked in red, and the annotations were filled with words like "falsified" and "dangerous." Even more shocking, hidden in a safe under the bed, was an audio recording—Ren Tao's trembling voice came through the earphones: "If you see this recording, it means I've already been murdered. Li Chaoyang and Wang Mingshan... they used substandard cement to build the building. I have the evidence; they won't let me go..."
Meanwhile, forensic pathologist Zhang Lin brought crucial evidence. A comparison of Ren Tao's dental X-rays taken before his death with the deceased's teeth revealed a perfect match; the burn scar on Ren Tao's right shoulder matched the marks on the body flawlessly; even the DNA extracted from the deceased's fingernails matched the fingerprints Ren Tao left on a locker at the club. When Xiao Zhou presented this evidence to Ren Tao's friend, the girl suddenly burst into tears: "It was him... that cufflink, I remember he bought it last week, saying he wanted to take pictures while hiking..."
As the investigation deepened, Ren Tao's social media chat history was recovered. At 10:17 PM on October 14, a person nicknamed "The Silent One" sent a message: "Don't be stubborn. Hand over the evidence obediently tomorrow, otherwise..." Ren Tao's reply was short and firm: "I will not let you succeed."
Li Ming stood in front of the whiteboard of the Criminal Investigation Detachment and circled the names "Li Chaoyang" and "Wang Mingshan" heavily with a red pen.