Chapter 78: Arrest

Xiao Yu felt as if he had swallowed a dead rat, struggling to articulate his emotions at that moment.

He had two pressing questions.

First: Would it be convenient to send my regards to the entire family of the person controlling the birds, especially the women?

Second: How on earth did you do it?

First of all, getting a bird to carry objects without dropping them was no trivial feat.

Secondly, directing the bird to a specific location to drop items precisely required extraordinary control.

Thirdly, having the bird to peck at the glass to draw attention and coordinate its actions with others.

This unscientific feeling was just like when you were in school, studying and suddenly realizing that God had closed the window of English for you, simultaneously shut the door of math, blocked the drain of physics, and even bricked up the doghole of Chinese.

‘No, I can’t shoulder all this alone.’

Xiao Yu turned to look at Wang Dong. The look on his counterpart’s face wasn’t much better.

Wang Dong, who had remained silent, looked exceptionally grim, his expression one of utter shock. Even as a veteran of the National Security, he felt bewildered, as if the world had shifted into the realm of fantasy.

What else could explain how someone managed to control five birds to perform such extraordinary acts?

Swallowing hard, Wang Dong regained his composure and looked at Xiao Yu, “Is it possible?”

“In theory…” Xiao Yu nodded slowly, “it’s feasible.”

Just because someone couldn’t do something, it didn’t mean others couldn’t.

Xiao Yu recalled a video he had seen of a crow using a tool it crafted to extract insects from a tree hollow. At the time, his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

Of course, all this was possible only in theory. As depicted in the surveillance footage, it was a first for both Xiao Yu and Wang Dong.

“Let’s find this person,” Xiao Yu declared as he stepped out of the ward.

With a stern face, Wang Dong followed closely behind.

Indeed, they needed to find someone. Given that wireless headphones typically use Bluetooth with a range mostly within ten meters, they had a starting point.

“It was clear someone was lurking within the hospital, manipulating the birds and using a Bluetooth headset to commit crimes. Catching him now was impossible. He would have fled by now.

But it didn’t matter. If he appeared, it was bound to leave traces.

The hospital was equipped with surveillance throughout.

How could anyone hope to evade detection with the National Security Bureau conducting a thorough search?

It was wishful thinking.

---

An hour and a half later.

“Boss, I’ve arrived,” a National Security officer reported to Wang Dong.

The hospital had a control room filled with backup recordings.

There were mainly four types of people who could access the ward area: medical staff, patients, family members, and sanitation workers. Eliminating these four groups made identifying suspicious individuals easy.

The suspect was a young man wearing a baseball cap, who had deliberately obscured his face with the hat, sporting large glasses and a mask. His build was distinct. Approximately 1.8 meters tall, slender, with a slight stoop.

Holding the suspect’s photograph, Xiao Yu stood by a window in the hospital corridor.

This was the third floor. The fifth floor was where Lu Quanyan’s ward corridor was located.

It was winter, and typically in a hospital, windows weren’t opened. However, this particular window showed signs of having been opened.

Xiao Yu set down the photo, picked up the tablet, and played a surveillance video. In the video, the young man stood by the window, opened it, and then pulled a small box from his pocket, releasing a few birds and making gestures at them.

Then, he took out a Bluetooth headset.

No, not just one headset, but two.

Was the other item also a headset?

No, it was a mini camera. The young man attached the camera around a bird’s neck.

Xiao Yu had an epiphany.

So, that was it. You could observe the movements inside the ward this way.

Then, the young man let one of the birds carry the headset, waved, and the five birds flew away. He waited with a mobile phone in his hand.

A sudden flash of insight struck Xiao Yu like lightning. He remembered his ten hypothetical deductions back at the K City Hotel.

Firstly, traces of drugs were found in the bodies of the past five victims. Yet, no one had approached them, nor could anyone determine how the drugs were administered to them. Xiao Yu finally understood. Feeding didn’t necessarily require human intervention, it could be done by birds. The birds could carry the drugs, seizing the moment when the victim was distracted. Then use live streaming for hypnosis.

All the clues came together, laying out the complete process of the crime.

“So, the final question arises,” Xiao Yu murmured to himself, “What exactly is your motive for going to such lengths to kill?”

Everything is done with a purpose. This is a timeless truth. People eat when hungry, drink when thirsty, and sleep when tired. Every day, every action, big or small, serves a purpose.

Except, perhaps, for those deemed neurotic or some with mental illnesses.

Is murder just committed on a whim?

In order to kill, they devoted immense time and effort and employed various cunning means. Is it plausible they had no motive?

If Xiao Yu could think of this. How could the National Security Bureau not?

Not five deceased, but now five victims.

The National Security’s investigation revealed that these individuals had not known each other prior, had no connections that could have fostered hatred or offense, nor any interactions that could have provoked someone to harm them.

A crime of passion?

Xiao Yu was baffled.

“We found the target,” Wang Dong announced after hanging up the phone.

“That quickly?” Xiao Yu’s eyes sparkled with anticipation.

The two left the hospital and entered a police car, heading toward a specific shopping mall.

Where there was a presence, there must be traces. With traces, one could unravel the mystery.

City-wide Sky Eye surveillance had proven invaluable yet again.

Sky Eye surveillance had become an essential tool for modern cities. The system was applicable for security monitoring and remote surveillance, establishing a systematic management approach. It enabled users to perform relevant management tasks through video monitoring and recording of video images.

For instance, the Sky Eye system could monitor an entire city to search for a person. This search method involved only portrait scanning. The monitoring system could be used for track scanning, itinerary scanning, and full-range scanning to swiftly pinpoint specific targets.

Take, for example, a suspect wearing a baseball cap. After exiting the hospital, he was quickly tracked by the National Security Bureau using Sky Eye’s surveillance capabilities.

He was entering a shopping mall.

Time for the arrest.