Chapter 309: Surveillance Tracking the Suspect

The investigations conducted by national security and the police were entirely different.

National security prioritized efficiency. All inspections, inquiries, and pursuits were driven by the need for speed. Rules and regulations became laughable in the face of such urgency.

Within an hour, the blind girl’s past travel routes had been thoroughly mapped out.

Since she was blind, she rarely went out.

Just like the plot of Fang Shuoxin’s novel described, she said the world wasn’t kind to blind people, and she was afraid to face this dark world. Even when she did leave her home, it was mostly to familiar locations. From her residential area to the bus stop, from the bus to the subway station, and finally, to the school for the blind.

Were schools for the blind?

Not only did they exist, but there were quite a few of them.

These schools taught blind individuals how to adapt to the world. They taught skills for living without sight and helped students develop abilities suited to their circumstances.

The girl’s route wasn’t long, making it simple to examine.

However, finding a specific person along that route was incredibly challenging. There were far too many individuals who could have interacted with her, making it impossible to list everyone as a suspect. Additionally, much of the surveillance footage obtained covered only the past one or two months.

Surveillance recordings typically weren’t stored for long.

But one or two months of footage was enough.

How to identify a suspicious person?

The simplest approach was to review all surveillance footage to find individuals who appeared around the blind girl multiple times.

As Xiao Yu often said: Coincidences like that don’t just happen.

Anyone who showed up repeatedly near the blind girl’s route had to be considered a key suspect.

Didn’t she and the so-called Dark Dragon fall in love?

Couldn’t they investigate that directly?

National security and the police had already looked into this angle. The suspect wasn’t foolish—in fact, he was quite clever.

Every time he met with her, it was in locations outside the range of surveillance.

If he didn’t have this level of intelligence, they would have caught him long ago.

Over the course of eleven hours, Xiao Yu, Wang Dong, ten members of the second team, and dozens of local police officers, all worked to analyze and compare surveillance footage of the blind girl’s past outings.

Finally…

A suspect appeared on video.

“In the past two months, the blind girl left home 31 times,” Wang Dong reported while watching surveillance footage. “Out of those, 22 times she couldn’t be tracked. But on 9 occasions, she went to the school for the blind. During three of those trips, the same suspect appeared twice near her. He’s suspicious, but it could also be a coincidence.”

Twice.

Xiao Yu frowned, staring at the man on the surveillance footage.

Twice could be a coincidence. It fell within the realm of plausibility.

More than twice, however? That was unlikely to be a coincidence.

The man in the footage wore a baseball cap, his face partially obscured. He appeared to be over 180 cm tall, with a lean build. His shoe size couldn’t be determined, as the surveillance angle didn’t capture his legs.

The footage came from a bus door camera.

The blind girl got off at her stop, and the man followed her off the bus.

The footage from the second surveillance video was from inside a subway car.

The suspect’s entire body was visible. He stood around 180 cm tall, wearing loose clothing that obscured his physique. His shoes were basketball sneakers, and his shoe size seemed larger than 44.

For someone 180 cm tall, a size 44 shoe was within the normal range. However, basketball sneakers were typically bulkier than regular shoes. Subtracting two sizes for the shoe’s bulk, his actual shoe size might be closer to 42.

Xiao Yu’s heart skipped a beat.

He recalled the previous case– the murder at the brothel hideout in C City.

Three victims had been killed using ancient methods. At that crime scene, Xiao Yu had examined footprints and gathered witness statements, estimating the suspect’s build: over 180 cm tall, lean, single eyelid, cold, intimidating eyes, shoe size between 40 and 42, left-handed.

The man’s height matched, but his physique couldn’t be confirmed.

The cap obscured his face, making it impossible to check for single eyelids.

What about the shoe size? The earlier case pointed to a size 40–42, but the suspect in the footage wore basketball shoes.

The two matched.

Why?

Basketball shoes aren’t practical for climbing buildings or breaking into rooftops. The killer from the ancient methods case likely wore lightweight, standard-sized shoes—size 42. Now, the suspect’s height, shoe size, and overall build matched.

Fixing his gaze on the man in the surveillance footage, Xiao Yu issued a command, “Find him!”

With national security’s resources, finding someone in a city usually took about an hour.

But an hour later…

“It’s probably him,” Wang Dong reported, his expression grim. “We can’t find him.”

Hearing this, Xiao Yu laughed softly and exhaled deeply.

If even national security couldn’t find him immediately, it meant he was deliberately hiding.

If he hadn’t committed any crimes, why would he hide?

If not him, who else could it be?

The target was confirmed. Now the task was to locate and capture him. Unfortunately, the surveillance footage didn’t provide a clear view of his face. Without that, they couldn’t match him to the database.

No identity? Can’t find him?

No.

They could rebuild the surveillance timeline.

This time, instead of tracking the blind girl, they focused on the suspect.

Whether he got on a bus or entered a subway, he would’ve appeared on surveillance somewhere.

Using the timeline and the city’s surveillance system, they began reverse-tracing his movements.

Important locations, such as bus stops and subway stations, were guaranteed to be covered by surveillance. Reverse tracing meant rewinding footage step by step, retracing the suspect’s movements to where he first appeared.

And one more thing.

The suspect’s two appearances suggested he was observing and investigating the blind girl. He was looking for an opportunity to approach her, to create a chance to meet, connect, and develop a relationship.

If you’re following someone, where’s the best place to observe them?

Wouldn’t it be near where they live?

“The blind girl’s residential complex?”

Xiao Yu narrowed his eyes.

“Does he have the guts?”

‘He does.’