"Why don't we try investigating the victim's social relationships to see if he had offended anyone? The killer and the victim must have had some previous grievance. The killer's purpose was too clear, and the murder was obviously planned in advance. It's very likely to be a revenge killing," Xu Mo suggested.
After hearing Xu Mo's words, Han Fei nodded.
"I thought the same, so I already arranged for Xiao Zhang to look into the victim's social relationships."
Of course, Han Fei could think of anything this newcomer Xu Mo could come up with. That's why he had already sent someone to investigate.
After a pause, Han Fei continued.
"But we still need to check the surveillance footage. Let's pursue both avenues - investigate the victim's social relationships while also examining the surveillance. This way, we'll save the most time."
After speaking, Han Fei called over the technical team.
He instructed them to retrieve all surveillance footage within a one-kilometer radius of the TV station building.
As Xu Mo had mentioned, there was a square in front of the TV station's main entrance with no surveillance cameras, so the killer temporarily disappeared from view after leaving through the main door.
But the police weren't entirely without options.
While there were no cameras in the square, other areas had surveillance!
Was it possible that there wasn't a single camera within a one-kilometer radius of the TV station? With so many cameras, how could they not capture the killer?
By examining all the surveillance footage within a one-kilometer range of the building, they were bound to discover the killer's trail.
Once found, they could dispatch officers to make an arrest.
Of course, this needle-in-a-haystack search was troublesome and would require some time and police resources.
But there was no other choice.
The killer had never shown his face on camera, so the police had no idea who he was and couldn't use Skynet.
They could only rely on human eyes to search manually.
...
The technical team quickly retrieved all the surveillance footage within a one-kilometer radius of the TV station building.
Han Fei immediately assigned all available officers to screen through all the surveillance footage in this range.
Xu Mo also joined in.
Unlike the other officers who could watch at most four surveillance feeds simultaneously, Xu Mo, with his extraordinary vision and superior mental capacity, could handle forty at once without any problem!
A one-kilometer radius around the building wasn't actually that large.
But the number of surveillance cameras within this range was enormous.
As a result, all the officers in the police station had been staring at computer screens for over half an hour without finding the killer in the janitor's uniform.
Just then, Xiao Zhang, who had been sent by Han Fei to investigate the victim's social relationships, returned.
"Captain Han."
Seeing Xiao Zhang back, Han Fei paused his work and rubbed his temples.
"Did you find anything?"
Xiao Zhang nodded and briefly reported.
"The deceased, Zhang Guodong, was a minor leader in their unit. I briefly interviewed his colleagues, family, friends, neighbors... This Zhang Guodong hadn't made enemies with anyone, but his reputation wasn't very good. He was lecherous and often harassed or molested his subordinates. It's said that he frequently seduced his subordinates into having relations with him."
"But the killer is a man," Xu Mo suddenly interjected. "Wait, Zhang Guodong liked men?"
Xiao Zhang was taken aback.
"I don't think so. All the subordinates he harassed were women. I didn't hear about any men being harassed by him."
"If he didn't like men, then it's likely this scoundrel slept with someone's wife... When it was discovered, the husband, unable to control his anger, took his life," Xu Mo continued to analyze. "No wonder we couldn't find anyone he had made enemies with. Being cuckolded is too embarrassing - no man would want such a thing to be known publicly."
Han Fei: "..."
The other officers: "..."
Although his train of thought was peculiar, Han Fei had to admit that Xu Mo's analysis made a lot of sense!
The victim, Zhang Guodong, had no enemies, so revenge killing seemed out of the question.
But the killer's method was swift and decisive, and it was clearly premeditated, strongly suggesting a revenge killing.
This was contradictory.
Unless there was some hidden story!
For instance, if Zhang Guodong had slept with someone else's wife...
Then upon learning this, the husband, overcome with rage, decided to kill him.
Sleeping with another man's wife - that's a blood feud!
This way, the revenge killing theory holds up.
As for why Xiao Zhang couldn't find any evidence of Zhang Guodong having enemies, that could be easily explained.
The killer and the victim didn't know each other at all. The connection between them was a woman, so they had no direct relationship. It's normal that a short investigation wouldn't uncover this.
Moreover, being cuckolded... what man would openly talk about such a thing?
The person involved might know about it, but outsiders would certainly be unaware of the circumstances!
Thinking this through, Han Fei glanced at Xiao Zhang.
"Did you find out about the subordinates who had relations with Zhang Guodong?"
Xiao Zhang quickly nodded and produced a list.
"Yes, I found seven in total... five of them are single, and two are married."
"We can ignore the five single ones. Which two are married?"
"These two."
"..."
After some discussion, Han Fei focused the investigation on these two married individuals.
The husbands of these two women were the prime suspects!
They both had a potential motive for murder.
Han Fei decided to summon these two men to the police station for questioning.
"Xiao Zhang, go now and summon the husbands of these two women to the station. The rest of you, continue checking the surveillance footage with me."
"Yes, sir!"
...
After another half hour of examining the surveillance footage, they still had no leads.
There were simply too many cameras in the area, and they were clearly short-staffed.
Even with Xu Mo's help, they couldn't go through all the footage in such a short time.
Just then, Xiao Zhang returned with the two suspects.
Han Fei immediately stood up, temporarily setting aside the surveillance footage review, and prepared to question these two men.
Before the interrogation, he called for Xu Mo.
"Xu Mo, take a break from the footage for now. Let the other officers continue with that. Come with me to the interrogation room."
Xu Mo got up and followed Han Fei to the interrogation room.
Chen Ke, Li Chen, Wang Dachuan, and the others suddenly felt as if they had "fallen out of favor."
They knew that before Xu Mo arrived, Han Fei always had them accompany him when questioning suspects!
Everything had changed since Xu Mo came...
The reason Han Fei called for Xu Mo was that he felt Xu Mo had a real talent for interrogation, perhaps even surpassing his own skills.
Having Xu Mo present might prove helpful during the questioning.
Interrogation Room One.
"Where were you today at around 5:40 PM?" Han Fei asked.
"At 5:40, I was still at work, in the office."
"Is there anyone who can vouch for you?"
"Yes, my colleagues were all there."
"..."
After a series of questions and verifications, this person's suspicion was cleared.
At the time of the incident, he was at work and didn't leave until 6 PM. His colleagues could vouch for him, and there was also surveillance footage at his workplace, all of which provided a solid alibi.
"You can go now. Thank you for your cooperation," Han Fei said, dismissing him as the suspicion had been cleared.
Next, Han Fei took Xu Mo to the adjacent Interrogation Room Two.
Here sat the other suspect.
"Where were you today at around 5:40 PM?"
Unlike the previous suspect, this one answered questions with obvious discomfort, stuttering and unable to look Han Fei in the eye, his gaze shifting nervously.
"At 5:40... I was... I was at home..."