HH Chapter 82

Pei Qinghuai rubbed his messy hair and responded, “Got it, I’ll be back right away.”

Cheng Ye, with one hand in his pocket, leaned against the railing. “No need to rush…”

Before he could finish, he realized the other party had already hung up. He was stunned for three seconds, then his mouth twitched. “That was quick.”

Zhang Yibao spent the entire afternoon slumped over his computer desk without moving. Meanwhile, Fang Yuan went to Team One to get the surveillance footage. The group watched the footage, looking dejected. Jiang Fei scratched his head and patted Zhang Yibao. “Your case is here.”

Zhang Yibao’s lips twitched. “Don’t start with me, just look at the surveillance.”

Jiang Fei made a sound of acknowledgment, turned around, and saw Pei Qinghuai coming in from outside. After greeting him, Jiang Fei sat down. Pei Qinghuai looked at the files on the table and asked, “What case is this?”

Zhang Yibao poked his head out. “It’s a missing persons case, the third one already. The only common points are that all the victims are female and aged sixteen or seventeen.”

Pei Qinghuai pulled over a chair and sat down, looking at the dates on the file. The first disappearance was on June 18, the second on July 4, and the third on July 11. The intervals were one month, two weeks, and one week, respectively. The time gaps were shortening. As he was thinking, a voice came to his ear.

“Seen anything yet?” Cheng Ye asked.

Pei Qinghuai looked up. “No, but I think there will be more disappearances.” He met Cheng Ye’s eyes. “Did you check for disappearances before June 18?”

Cheng Ye sat down. “Yes, we ruled those out. June 18 is the first case of the serial disappearances.” He looked at the two people in the files. “Although Liang Siyu and Wu Xie were both from Yucai, they had no interactions and their social circles didn’t overlap. Team One already checked these out.”

“It seems to be a targeted random act,” Pei Qinghuai said to himself, looking at the photos of the three victims.

Cheng Ye hummed in agreement. “Team One has already reviewed the surveillance footage. The places where the three people disappeared are random, with no discernible patterns, and the culprit chose locations with little to no surveillance.”

“Their target range is actually very clear,” Pei Qinghuai paused. “The victims are all between sixteen and nineteen years old, and there’s another point—they’re all very pretty.”

After speaking, Pei Qinghuai frowned. “But unfortunately, these are the only common points. However…”

Pei Qinghuai stopped and stared at the three dates on the paper. Cheng Ye’s thoughts were running in reverse. “However what?”

“Look, though there are only three people, the intervals between their disappearances are getting shorter…” Pei Qinghuai said softly. “We can rule out human traffickers.”

“Why?”

“Though traffickers do exist, these three cases are different from typical disappearances,” Pei Qinghuai explained. “For most traffickers, the clearer their target, the higher their risk of exposure, so they usually choose inconspicuous targets.”

“But these three are different. Let’s exclude their appearances first.” Pei Qinghuai pointed to the photos. “Liang Siyu is a top student, Zhao Duoduo is sociable, and Wu Xie is the least noticeable.”

Cheng Ye frowned as he listened. “So, instead of being premeditated, it’s more like opportunistic? They find a target that fits their criteria and then act?”

Pei Qinghuai pressed his lips together. “That’s right.”

“That makes it harder.” Cheng Ye said somberly.

Pei Qinghuai closed the file. “Looks like we have to start with the surveillance.”

For three consecutive days, the team barely slept for more than a dozen hours combined. Reviewing random crime surveillance is an immense task. Watching hours of footage often yielded nothing, and the three disappearances seemed to be at a dead end, with no progress after three days.

Fang Yuan, with dark circles under his eyes, leaned back in his chair, his voice lacking its usual energy. “Liang Siyu went into Yongxin Supermarket through the front door and exited through the back, but the footage only shows her leaving the back door, then nothing.”

“Tell me about it. I reviewed Wu Xie’s case. She was less than a kilometer from her home, turned into an alley, and then vanished,” Zhang Yibao sighed.

“What about cars?” Cheng Ye rubbed his temples. “Any recurring vehicles or suspicious ones?”

Zhang Yibao shook his head. “There were some recurring ones, but I checked them out, and they’re clean. As for suspicious ones, we need to keep looking.”

“Then keep looking.” Cheng Ye’s eyes flashed with frustration. They knew that the surveillance footage might not yield much, but it was their only lead. They had already visited the families of the missing persons, but still had no results.

While Cheng Ye was frustrated, he glanced at Pei Qinghuai, who was deep in thought. He walked over and asked, “What’s wrong?”

Pei Qinghuai gently rubbed his thumb against his index finger, his expression complex. “I feel a strange familiarity with this case, like it’s trying to tell me something.”

“Don’t overthink it.” Cheng Ye exhaled and patted Pei Qinghuai on the shoulder.

Staring at the constantly flashing surveillance footage, Pei Qinghuai could only respond with a hum.

Finally, after two more days of stalemate, the fourth disappearance occurred. The victim was Li Yixin, seventeen years old, and like the others, she was very pretty. But unlike the previous three cases, this one was in the New Fifth District, whereas the first three were in Fenghe District.

This case drew significant attention. The sub-bureau in the New Fifth District contacted them immediately upon receiving the report. Li Yixin disappeared on her way home from school. Due to the crowd and the weather at night, the surveillance was still useless.

After obtaining the footage, the team began another round of sleepless reviews. Public pressure on the police department was mounting. Zhang Deli had already spoken to Cheng Ye several times.

On July 27, four days after the latest report, they faced a harsh realization—the perpetrator was not acting hastily but was thoroughly engaging in random crimes, with no fixed times or places, making it impossible to find a pattern.

Early on the morning of July 28, Pei Qinghuai burst into the conference room, looking thrilled. “Cheng Ye, I found something!”

Cheng Ye jumped up, his chair scraping the floor loudly. “What did you find?” The others groggily opened their eyes, hearing news of a new lead, and quickly gathered around.