Chapter 51 The Witness

Click, click.

In the corner of the living room of Apartment 2084, cameras mounted on tripods flickered with light. Technicians from the Forensic Science Division bustled about collecting evidence.

There was scarcely any room to set foot indoors, and Officer Wang Fengnian stood in the corridor talking to his colleagues about the case with an iron complexion.

"According to the surveillance records from the elevator and hallway cameras, a man dressed in a yellow and black delivery uniform arrived on the 20th floor at 15:43, first knocked on the door of Apartment 2082, and after talking with a young man for a dozen seconds, proceeded to Apartment 2084. Under the guise of delivering food, he had Zeng Weiming open the security door,"

a young operative reported. "After the security door was opened, the man quickly covered Zeng Weiming's mouth, entered the apartment, and closed the door. Until 19:24, when you, Officer Wang, opened the security door, no one else had entered or exited Apartment 2084.

The forensic team's onsite identification results indicate that the suspect likely committed the murders between 16:00 and 17:00. Around 18:30, he descended from the 20th floor using the water pipes on the side of the balcony, and left through the community gate at 18:48.

There was no record of an order for Apartment 2084 in the delivery system, and it's difficult to identify the suspect in the surveillance footage since he wore a fake license plate motorcycle helmet and a mask. We have contacted the traffic management department to see if they can find the motorcycle the suspect rode."

"As for the family of the victims, we are trying to contact them as quickly as possible."

Officer Wang nodded, glanced at his own door number, and felt a shiver of fear.

The suspect had prepared a fake motorcycle license plate in advance, printed fake food delivery order notes—his methods were brutal and efficient, silent, and he even took anti-surveillance precautions.

It looked like a premeditated crime of vengeance. But before the suspect knocked on the door of Officer Wang's Apartment 2082, he specifically glanced at the delivery note—which meant the suspect was likely ready to harm anyone he could, warming up with 2082 before targeting Zeng Weiming and Wang Fangni in Apartment 2084.

Just by a hair's breadth, the extremely brutal suspect almost murdered his daughter...

"The only person who saw the suspect face-to-face was your daughter's classmate, Officer Wang," the young operative said. "The forensic artist is working with him now to sketch a portrait of the suspect."

Wang Fengnian nodded, "Let's go have a look."

Officer Wang opened his own security door and saw his wife and daughter huddled in the bedroom, whispering to each other for comfort—just the day before they had walked their dog together, and now that neighbor was gone. The reality was hard to accept.

Li Ang sat in the living room, wearing a grey-brown hunting cap on his head, with a bottle of yogurt in his mouth and Wang Congshan's painting easel, which he had somehow found, in front of him. He pondered while rapidly sketching with a pencil on the easel's drawing board.

The young technician who was supposed to be sketching sat beside him, watching Li Ang's drawing with curiosity.

Wang Fengnian's eyes twitched, "Xiao Zhang! What are you doing?!"

The technician jumped with fright, "I'm sorry, Chief Wang, this young man can also sketch, and he's really good at it. I just let him do it."

"You know how to sketch, too?" Wang Fengnian looked at him skeptically.

"A little bit," Li Ang slurped his yogurt and turned the easel with a smile. Even if Wang Fengnian had no knowledge of sketching, he could tell the portrait lines were clear, highly structured, and perfectly detailed—not seeming like a quick sketch, but more like an art piece one would find in a gallery.

"This drawing is in the ACADEMIC style. I once studied sketch portraits for a while based on the works of the French etching artist Bernard Romain Julien,"

Li Ang casually explained. "Given enough time, I could also attempt a colored oil painting in the hyperrealism style like Leng Jun."

Look how capable you are.

Wang Fengnian took the sketch. The masked man depicted was large in build, with deep furrows between his brows, thick and long fingers on his gloved hands, and was wearing black boots caked with mud.

Next to the depiction of the helmet, clothes, gloves, pants, and boots, a long line pointed towards the names of some Taobao products.

"The criminal suspect planned the crime, acted swiftly and efficiently, and has extremely high psychological fortitude. It's highly likely he's not a delivery worker. His uniform, gloves, and boots all seem quite new, possibly purchased from an online shopping platform. The sales volume for delivery worker uniforms on online platforms wouldn't be too high. By collecting order numbers from the past six months, and cross-referencing them with orders for similar gloves and boots, we can significantly narrow down the range of suspects."

Li Ang said, "If the suspect has a counter-surveillance mindset and really did join a delivery service beforehand, then we can also compare the travel patterns of Yin City delivery workers on the day, to identify all personnel with the means to commit the crime. We can even look up lists of delivery workers who have been fired over a long period and find co-renters who match the profile.

Of course, if the suspect is very conscious about counter-surveillance, it's also possible that he bought the gloves and boots on different online platforms using different accounts, and had them shipped to various addresses outside the city before sending them to Yin City— that would make the search much more difficult."

Officer Wang Fengnian was taken aback, "Where did you learn all this?"

"It's a hobby," replied Li Ang earnestly. "Back in elementary school, our school used to hold various promotional conferences, like having the ghosts of drowning victims give speeches at drowning prevention conferences, or having embalmed cadavers of executed prisoners give speeches at criminal law conferences,

Since then, I've wanted to become a glorious detective."

You're telling me your school had ghosts and cadaver specimens giving lectures, was it actually Laoshan Taoist Temple in disguise?

Wang Fengnian, feeling a mix of pain and tension, was beginning to get used to Li Ang's strange thought processes and simply nodded without saying much.

Li Ang sighed inwardly. Despite the slogan that all murder cases must be solved, he was still pessimistic about Officer Wang Fengnian's chances of apprehending the criminal suspect.

Whether the killer was a Monster Beast, a Ghost, or a player, their movements were so elusive and their methods so varied, they were beyond what Officer Wang could handle—if the killer was a player, his counter-surveillance skills would be maxed out too. Player forums even have threads dedicated to teaching counter-surveillance techniques, helping players learn to hide their identities and erase their tracks.

All he could hope for was that Officer Wang made good use of official resources and uncovered more clues.

Li Ang thought to himself, looking intensely at Wang Fengnian, causing the latter to shiver.

"...Let's go record your statement," instructed Officer Wang, having his subordinate pack up the sketch.

After driving Li Ang to the police station to complete his statement, Wang Fengnian drove him back home. Upon learning that he lived alone, Wang particularly cautioned him to be mindful of his safety in the coming days, noting that police officers would be covertly protecting him to prevent the deranged suspect from harming a witness.

Li Ang nodded compliantly, entered his house, and before he even turned on the light, saw a long-haired head dangling from the ceiling.

Chai Cuiqiao, hanging upside down from the ceiling, stretched out her hand, her voice ethereal and wistful, "Didn't you say you'd come back right away? Give me—the—phone—"

"I'll give you a phone, alright." Li Ang took out his smartphone and waved it in front of Chai Cuiqiao, speaking firmly, "Come out with me tonight, I have something to do. Once it's done, I'll buy you a new one."

"A new phone?" Chai Cuiqiao floated down from the ceiling, her cheeks reddening as she fidgeted with the hem of her skirt, "I don't have experience, well, not that I mind, as long as you don't mind the cold."

"What is on your mind all the time?" Li Ang said with a stern face, "We're going to catch a criminal."