Xiao Chen: ???
He rubbed his eyes in disbelief. Well, his vision was still okay; he wasn't deaf or blind. So why did he miss it?
Xiao Chen was skeptical and replayed the video again.
The result was the same.
It was as if Wang Lin deliberately avoided the cameras. She suddenly sped up and dashed away in a blind spot, leaving the cameras no time to capture her figure.
Xiao Chen refused to accept this. He kept at it. Even after countless failures, he still insisted on watching the video frame by frame.
Actually, Wang Lin was a rather innocent girl.
That was what Xiao Chen thought while watching the surveillance footage.
Judging from her movements and micro - expressions, when she was alone, she seemed quite uneasy about her surroundings. She folded her arms across her chest. From her slender back, one could tell that she walked very carefully, as if afraid of stepping on others.
Xiao Chen stared intently at the screen, scrutinizing every detail. From the first time Wang Lin appeared in the surveillance range that night to the last time she disappeared, Xiao Chen regarded it all as precious.
After all, this might well be the key to solving the case.
However, unexpectedly, there was no sign of anything abnormal about Wang Lin before the incident.
Xiao Chen watched expressionlessly as Wang Lin in the surveillance footage had dinner with her friends, returned to the classroom, and even brought some snacks for her friends on purpose.
This shouldn't be.
Xiao Chen muttered to himself. There must be something wrong, he just hadn't discovered it yet.
"Veteran, these are all the recordings you have, right?" Xiao Chen was still not willing to give up and continued to ask the old man in the monitoring room.
The old man was kind - hearted. He was eager to do something to avenge the school girl.
"If there's anything else..." The old man pondered for a long time, then took out a USB flash drive and handed it to Xiao Chen.
What's this? There was a look of confusion in Xiao Chen's eyes.
Probably noticing the young policeman's confusion, the old man explained, "This is the footage that the leaders asked to delete after the incident. I always felt something was off. Comrade policeman, you can take a look, but please don't tell anyone that I gave it to you."
Xiao Chen took the small USB flash drive and nodded in agreement. The USB flash drive felt heavy in his hand.
When the old man left for home after work, Xiao Chen also left and returned to his unit.
He had a hunch that the content on this USB flash drive might be the key to solving the case.
When he got back to the unit, he saw a bunch of colleagues working overtime.
They were all in the same line of work, so he naturally knew that they never had days off.
Nothing was more important than the case.
Xiao Chen made himself a bowl of instant noodles and sat in front of the computer to watch the content on the USB flash drive.
The content on the USB flash drive was fragmented, but it was certain that the person in it was Wang Lin, and there was also a fleeting glimpse of Tang Tang.
Xiao Chen thought he had found the connection between the two, but it turned out that they just greeted each other coldly but politely, looking very distant.
After watching it for the first time, Xiao Chen didn't find anything wrong. It was just a few girls discussing how to sneak out to play.
Unfortunately, it started to rain.
But it couldn't stop a bunch of teenagers who wanted to have some fun.
Xiao Chen stared at the lively lives on the screen. He wasn't a newbie, but seeing the smiles and expressions of a girl who had already left the world still made him feel sad.
Suddenly, a picture flashed before his eyes.
What was it?
Xiao Chen quickly pressed the pause button. Looking at the frozen frame of the video, he finally showed his first smile in days.
Found it!
This was it!
There was no one in the picture, only an inconspicuous rear - view mirror at the corner of a campus convenience store.
The rear - view mirror might have been for vehicle warnings, but unexpectedly, Xiao Chen saw something in it.
Photo processing was no problem for Xiao Chen.
After some operations with professional software, he finally managed to piece together a complete photo.
It was the rear - view mirror.
The rear - view mirror in the video was blurry, but it was still visible that there was more than one person in it.
Since it was certain that Wang Lin didn't leave alone, who was the other person?
And were the two figures in the rear - view mirror Wang Lin's?
When the processing result came out, Xiao Chen couldn't help but whistle.
It immediately attracted a bunch of curious looks.
"You're in a good mood while working overtime at night." A colleague teased.
Xiao Chen just smiled and didn't respond.
He was too busy to talk. Although the processed photo wasn't 100% clear, it was clear enough to tell who it was.
The familiar clothes, the same hairstyle, and the somewhat blurry facial features after processing. He couldn't say it was 100%, but it was about 80 - 90% certain that the person in it was Wang Lin.
According to eyewitnesses, Wang Lin did leave alone that night.
So what about now?
Xiao Chen curled his lips. In the picture, the man walking shoulder - to - shoulder with Wang Lin was very close to her. The familiarity suggested that they weren't strangers.
The image of the strange man's head was really unclear. After processing, the problem was that he was still wearing a mask. It was hard not to suspect that these people had something to hide.
He endured his impatience, exhausted all his knowledge, and even called in outside help, just to figure out who the other person was.
Xiao Chen wasn't afraid of the mask because he saw more than just this on the videotape. There were other small things that needed his attention.
A colleague in his group wasn't there today, so Xiao Chen put down his work and took a break.
Tomorrow was going to be eventful.
The next day, when the colleagues in his group who were working on the case all arrived, Xiao Chen wasted no time and quickly showed them the results of his hard work.
Seeing Xiao Chen's amazing skills, everyone praised him to the skies. Finally, Xiao Chen felt a bit embarrassed.
"If that's the case, the man in the surveillance footage is very suspicious."
Who said no? If anyone had a stalker on their way home from school, they would be extremely scared. But Wang Lin not only showed no sign of fear but also closely followed that man, as if he was very important.
The photo that Xiao Chen had painstakingly restored could only vaguely show that the man was about 183 cm tall. He was very tall.
The team leader clapped his hands excitedly. "Well, what do you all think?"
"The thought is that this guy is being too deliberate. We can start an investigation to see if we can dig something out."
It was obvious to anyone that something was wrong.
A young man from society being so close to a well - behaved student in school. If someone said they had no ulterior motives, he really wouldn't believe it.
Even better, this photo of the two was the last one to surface, and it was only discovered today. It was hard not to wonder what the connection was.
"Good job, Xiao Chen. The next task is to figure out who this man is." An old detective beside him sighed. "Xiao Chen, you're really good."
Xiao Chen was extremely nervous, afraid that he might say something wrong.