Detective: From the Police Academy

Chapter 187 Grab the time!
[If you dare to call the police, I will cut your daughter into pieces and throw her into the Linjiang River so that you will never find her body! ]

The words on the white cardboard made Song Changming's body freeze immediately, but his mind became a little clearer.

He didn't know the kidnappers' demands yet. If he rashly called the police, who knows what would happen!
The video was still playing, and a white cardboard appeared in front of the camera, with the following words written on it:

[If you want your daughter to be alive, take the other video I gave you off the TV! ]

Although the white cardboard blocked the camera, he could still see his daughter's desperate and frightened eyes, and Song Changming's heart was trembling.

Then, the camera switches to the third white cardboard:

[The candle burns for six to eight hours. After that, I can't see the video on the TV news, and the venomous snake will bite your daughter to death! ]

Finally, the white cardboard was removed, and the camera showed the full scene of the daughter being tied up.

The cobra, the candles, the glass and the daughter's pale face.

The video lasts less than two minutes. During these two minutes, Song Mingchang feels as if he has fallen into an ice cellar, shaking all over.

He quickly replayed the video. This time, he suppressed his panic, calmed himself, and watched the video carefully.

The second video the kidnapper mentioned?
Where is the second video?

Song Changming hurriedly picked up the second USB flash drive on the desktop and tremblingly inserted it into the card slot of the host computer. After finding the video in the computer folder, he clicked it with the mouse and immediately moved away from the screen, fearing that he would see something terrifying.

After watching for less than two minutes, Song Changming realized the seriousness of the problem.

This video was of the police arrest operation. He saw the halos of countless flashlights and a dilapidated classroom.

He saw the special police breaking the window, rushing into the classroom and rescuing the hostages, and he also saw a familiar figure.

Luo Rui!

He ran in from outside the classroom, turned off the oil lamp, picked up the cell phone, and as soon as he answered the call, he immediately shouted something to the crowd.

But suddenly, a large cloud of blood mist spurted out from the victim's abdomen, just like a watermelon falling from a high place to the ground, and the red flesh splattered everywhere!
The surrounding detectives were horrified and stepped aside, staring at what was happening in front of them in a daze.

Song Changming saw clearly what caused the victim to die suddenly!
His stomach churned and he dry-heaved twice.

The gear saw blade is used to saw wood, but the murderer used it to saw people!

It was not until this point that he finally understood what the kidnappers were trying to do. He ordered himself to broadcast the video so that everyone could see the police's mistakes and incompetence.

Song Changming's brain was working rapidly. He looked at the clock hanging on the wall of the study. The current time was 10:30 in the evening. The evening news on TV was at 11:30, which was half an hour away.

After midnight, TV programs become early morning theaters and no longer broadcast news programs.

However, the content of the evening news has been arranged long ago. Even if there is breaking news, a series of procedures such as filing and approval must be followed. Even if you want to broadcast the video earlier, you have to wait until the morning news at the latest.

If I use my power to force the broadcast, not only will my career be over, but the TV station will also be over. How many people will suffer as a result!

This kidnapper is totally trying to destroy himself!
But if I don’t report it, my daughter will…

When Song Changming was in a dilemma, he heard a knock on the study door.

The wife shouted from outside: "Lao Song, the hot water is ready for you, come out and take a bath!"

Song Changming swallowed his saliva and his palms were full of sweat.

He calmed himself down and decided to call the police!
No matter what, he couldn't gamble and ruin the career he had worked so hard for his whole life.

My daughter can only rely on the police to rescue her!

Even though she might die, at least she wouldn't destroy the family!

Thinking of this, he picked up his phone and dialed the number.

……

At the Haijiang Branch, a police officer stood up from his chair immediately after receiving the call.

She left her seat and walked hurriedly towards the office of the criminal police captain.

She did not find Du Feng in the office, but met Cai Xiaojing coming out of the bathroom in the corridor.

"Captain Cai, Huafeng International Community, someone called the police and said that his daughter was kidnapped. The kidnapper sent him a video and threatened him to broadcast the video of the police rescuing the hostages!"

Although she didn't quite understand what she heard, Cai Xiaojing immediately realized the seriousness of the problem.

"What's the name of the person who called the police?"

"Song Changming, he said he was the deputy director of the TV station!"

Cai Xiaojing stopped talking and turned and ran towards Wei Qunshan's office.

Ten minutes later, five police cars drove out from the Haijiang Branch and sped towards Huafeng International Community.

Luo Rui, Cai Xiaojing, Du Feng and Wei Qunshan were sitting in the same car.

What they worried about finally happened.

As Du Feng drove, he asked, "Why did the murderer insist on having Deputy Director Song report it?"

Everyone is a little confused about this question.

Wei Qunshan has asked the police officers in the Information Department to work overtime and pay close attention to videos that discredit the police on the Internet. If they appear, they will be immediately deleted by the video websites!

But in the past two days, that video has not appeared on the Internet.

What no one expected was that the murderer would kidnap the daughter of the deputy director of the TV station and let her broadcast the video.

This is puzzling.

Luo Rui had just seen Song Fanghua this morning, and it was she who sent Mo Wanqiu to school. Unexpectedly, she was kidnapped by the murderer.

The kidnapper turned out to be the murderer he had been pursuing.

Is this a coincidence? Or is it intentional?
Luo Rui exhaled a breath of turbid air and replied: "What is the relationship between Song Fanghua and Peng Li, Qiao Jun, and Qiao Dahai?

It is obvious that she and the three victims are not from the same class. How did the murderer know her?

Is it really just a simple threat to Song Changming?"

Du Feng nodded in agreement. Luo Rui's analysis made sense.

Although they were all from the police system, they were more or less aware of the TV station's rules. If they wanted to release the video, it would be subject to strict censorship. It was not so easy to just report it.

Even though Song Changming was in a high position and had great power, he did not have this right unless he did it secretly.

Wei Qunshan rubbed his eyelids and pondered, "Then we overestimated the murderer. He doesn't understand the news broadcasting mechanism of the TV station at all! Or, the murderer has a grudge against Song Changming, just like killing Qiao Jun, he is just playing a trick on us. But this Song Changming needs to be investigated. There must be a reason behind this."

What he said was exactly what Luo Rui thought.

Whether Song Changming has a clean background or not can be seen at a glance just by looking at the large flat in his house.

But if he hadn't committed something serious, no one would pursue the matter and everyone would tacitly choose to remain silent.

Besides, although Wei Qunshan just said he would investigate, the power of investigation will not be in the hands of the police.

Luo Rui analyzed: "I feel that the murderer is very anxious. We just found some clues in the investigation, and he took action again! Most criminals, after committing a crime, either hide or run away. It is rare to see a criminal like him who is so blatant and dares to go against the police."

Du Feng agreed, "That's right. In the 1990s, many criminals were like this. They were not afraid of the police at all! At that time, some criminals were so arrogant that they dared to fight with the police on the street!"

Wei Qunshan said: "This murderer must not have committed a crime for the first time. How can he be so omnipotent? He must have committed other crimes."

Everyone agreed with this statement. If the murderer was a novice, he would not have such strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities and would not be so courageous.

Unless, he is a born criminal.

But it is impossible for such a person to appear on this land.

Huafeng International Community is fifteen kilometers away from the Haijiang Branch. It was already after eleven o'clock in the evening when we arrived there.

Song Changming is Luo Rui's next-door neighbor, so it was like he was returning to his own home.

In order to facilitate the investigation by his comrades in the branch, Luo Rui opened the door of his home and provided it for the technical investigation officers to work.

Anyway, the house is big and the living room is more than enough to seat more than a dozen people.

They had heard that Team Leader Luo bought a big house at a young age. The criminal police saw that it was indeed a good deal. The appliances and furniture in the house alone were worth millions. It would be difficult for ordinary police officers to live in such a house in their entire lives.

Song Changming had been waiting for a long time, but while waiting for the police to arrive, he put away all the valuables in the house.

For example, he remembered that the famous watch on his wrist and the jade Buddha on his wife's neck seemed to be given by a businessman in Yunzhou, who wanted to allow advertisements for his own health products to be broadcast during prime time on TV programs.

The people who came were experts in solving murder cases, and no matter how hard he tried to cover it up, it was still discovered.

Just as Luo Rui thought, this house is not something a comrade with clean hands should own.

Although they were confused, the detectives didn't say much.

Wei Qunshan, in particular, didn't even look around, he just asked about the case.

When Song Changming saw that the person who came was a criminal police from the branch, he couldn't say he was happy, but he wasn't unhappy either.

However, he was still shocked that even the head of the bureau came.

"Director Wei, please follow me!"

Song Changming brought them into the study, and then handed the USB flash drive to Wei Qunshan: "I received two USB flash drives, one is the video of the kidnapping of my daughter, and the other is your police arrest operation. The kidnappers asked me to broadcast your video on TV, but I still chose to call the police! You must rescue my daughter!"

Song Changming described his choice as noble and fearless, and Wei Qunshan snorted in his heart.

"Don't worry, it's my police's responsibility to rescue the hostages."

After saying that, he handed the video to Zhao Ming next to him. The latter quickly took it, placed two laptops on the desk, and inserted the two USB flash drives into the computer card slots.

Soon, two videos were played at the same time.

There were more than a dozen criminal police officers standing in the study, all holding their breath with frowns on their faces.

Luo Rui focused on watching the video of Song Fanghua being kidnapped. The more he watched, the more frightened he became!
[The candle burns for six to eight hours. After that, I can't see the video on the TV news, and the venomous snake will bite your daughter to death! ]

After reading this text on the whiteboard, the detectives gnashed their teeth.

They had just experienced something like this in the early morning of the previous day. They had to find the victim within the stipulated time. If they missed the deadline, the guillotine would fall and the victim's head and body would be separated. But in the end, the police were fooled by the murderer and made a major mistake.

It's only been one day and the same thing happened again!
And in less time!

In six to eight hours, the candle will burn out, and the cobra in the glass container will slide into the glass tube and drill into Song Fanghua's mouth.

Cobras are extremely poisonous. If you are bitten and don't get timely treatment, you will die from the poison!

Wei Qunshan's heart sank to the bottom.

"Where do snakes come from in winter? Can anyone tell me who this murderer is and where he found snakes? He keeps confronting us, what on earth does he want to do?!"

The leader was obviously angry, and the detectives didn't dare to say a word. However, Zhao Ming pushed his glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, "Cobras also need to spend the winter. When the candle goes out, they may not bite the victim immediately. They may slide directly into the esophagus to seek a warm place."

When these words were spoken, everyone shuddered. Listen, is this what a human being would say?

Song Changming was so frightened that his face turned pale. He wanted his daughter to be alive, but he also wanted to keep his official position.

He had placed his hopes on the police, but when the detective saw the video, he felt that his daughter seemed to be dead for sure.

He immediately grabbed Luo Rui's arm and begged, "Luo Rui, I beg you, you must save my daughter!"

Although Luo Rui was also panicked, he was still calm. He immediately asked, "When did you receive the USB drive? Our community is monitored by surveillance cameras. Even near the mailbox, the property management has installed surveillance cameras! Now, the most important thing is, who sent the letter? How much time does your daughter have left?"

Wei Qunshan, who was in a hurry, immediately came to his senses. He ordered two criminal police officers to go to the property to retrieve the surveillance footage.

Then, Zhao Ming and his two apprentices began to analyze the video. Like last time, they enhanced the video, cut out the pictures, and searched for it frame by frame.

Zhao Ming's image detection skills are better than those of the technical detectives at the Municipal Bureau!
The traffic police brigade usually asks him for help when they have videos they can’t handle.

In order to keep quiet and at the same time as he didn't have time to rush back to the bureau to deal with it, he used Luo Rui's home as his office.

The performance of the laptop was too poor, so Luo Rui quickly woke up his father-in-law and asked him to move two desktop computers up.

The computer is used by Mo Liguo to trade stocks. It has the highest configuration and Zhao Ming can destroy it however he wants.

He Chunhua and Mo Wanqiu also woke up. The family was frightened to see a large group of criminal police and asked what had happened. However, due to discipline, Luo Rui did not dare to tell them.

Mo Liguo was sharp-eyed. When he saw Wei Qunshan and several senior police chiefs from the provincial department, he knew that the case was not small. Then he looked at Deputy Director Song, who usually looked like a decent man and whose face was more bitter than a bitter gourd, and he knew that something must have happened in his family.

Luo Rui originally wanted Mo Liguo to go back and have a rest, but he didn't know that his father-in-law was so smart and started serving him.

He bought drinks for a group of criminal police, ordered midnight snacks, and served tea and water.

It made Luo Rui feel heartbroken.

At this time, Du Feng was still in the mood to joke and pushed Luo Rui: "Your father-in-law is not bad. He is so good at handling things. He must be doing well in business."

"Drink your milk tea!"

Luo Rui rolled his eyes at him and helped pass the milk tea to the criminal police officer next to him.

The two criminal policemen who had retrieved the surveillance video came back. They hurried out of the elevator and handed several hard drives to Zhao Ming.

Zhao Ming immediately copied the video and watched it on his computer.

The time on the surveillance video was 9:30 in the evening. A man wearing a black hoodie and a baseball cap put an envelope into the mailbox of Song Changming's home.

This time, he did not find someone to replace him, nor did he avoid surveillance. He appeared calm and composed, and did not care at all that he would be captured on camera.

Moreover, before leaving, he slightly raised his face towards the surveillance camera. His chin could be seen in the video, but his eyes could not be seen.

Du Feng pinched the milk tea cup and cursed fiercely: "How crazy! This is a provocation to us!"

Wei Qunshan gnashed his teeth and told Zhao Ming: "Analyze the video quickly and rescue the victim successfully! We can't be fooled this time!"

Luo Rui stared at the surveillance video without blinking.

As the video was about to end, he hurriedly said, "Rewind!"

Zhao Ming hurriedly pulled the video back...

Luo Rui shouted: "Stop, move forward a little bit, yes, right here!"

The video stopped playing and froze on the murderer's back, with his left foot raised and taking a step forward.

Du Feng and Wei Qunshan spoke at the same time: "What's wrong?"

Luo Rui ignored them and said to Zhao Ming: "Brother Zhao, look at the sole of his left foot."

The murderer was wearing a pair of white sneakers, but they were dirty.

Luo Rui pointed to the screen: "It seems like there is something stuck to the sole of his left shoe."

Zhao Ming quickly cut the video footage and then used Photoshop software to enhance the image effect.

Next, zoom in on the image.

What appeared in front of everyone was a flat object the size of a fingernail attached to the sole of the shoe. In addition, you could see that the side of the shoe was very dirty, as if it had been stained by something.

Du Feng asked in confusion: "What is this? It's slightly reflective."

The detectives in the room looked through it but couldn't figure out what it was.

Zhao Ming frowned and said, "It should be something like a button. The surface of the button is smooth and will reflect light."

As he spoke, he operated the computer and searched on the search engine, but he could not find any shape that matched this thing.

At this time, Luo Rui said: "This is fish scales!"

"Fish scales?!"

Everyone looked at him blankly. Zhao Ming quickly searched for the fish scales and found that the picture on the computer was exactly the same as the thing stuck on the soles of the murderer's feet.

Du Feng blinked: "Luo Rui, how do you know this is fish scales?"

"My family used to run a small restaurant. My father would kill fish and I would stand by and watch. When I cleaned, fish scales would stick to the soles of my feet."

Du Feng asked again: "So the murderer is the one who killed the fish?"

Luo Rui shook his head and replied: "It is very likely that the murderer passed by the place where the fish were killed, or it is possible that he lived in such a place.

Where would they kill fish and scrape their scales? Only in the market! The scales on his feet must have been stuck there accidentally.

Moreover, his shoes were very dirty, as it had rained in the past few days, which was very consistent with the environment of a vegetable market!"

After hearing Luo Rui's analysis, Wei Qunshan looked at him approvingly.

Cai Xiaojing immediately operated the computer to search for a nearby vegetable market. Zhao Ming also opened Song Fanghua's video again to analyze where she was trapped.

But this time, the video has no specific background at all. All we can see is Song Fanghua tied in an armchair with a concrete wall behind her.

Apart from this, there are no other clues to follow.

Soon, Cai Xiaojing looked up from the computer screen and reported, "There are a total of 53 vegetable markets, big and small, in Guangxing City, and every one of them has a fish stall!"

Indeed, Guangxing City is a provincial capital with a population of over 10 million, so there must be quite a few vegetable markets.

Moreover, this does not count supermarkets, but the fish stalls in supermarkets are more standardized, and the fish are killed behind the counter.

Hearing this, everyone felt overwhelmed. There were only more than 300 police officers in the Haijiang Branch. Even if it was a municipal bureau, the number of people who could be deployed for control and search was not large, not to mention that it was still late at night.

Wei Qunshan asked Zhao Ming, "How many hours will it take for that damn candle to burn out?"

"The murderer delivered the letter at 9:30. It would take six to eight hours for the candle to burn out. Now it's 11:30 at night. Conservatively speaking, we only have two to three hours, maybe even less!"

Hearing this, everyone's heart sank. To rescue Song Fanghua in such a short time would probably be harder than climbing to the sky!

The murderer is extremely cunning. Who knows if he will set up some new trap to put the police in trouble.

In fact, the safest approach is to conduct the investigation step by step. At least there will be no mistakes like last time, and the police will not be fooled by the murderer.

But Wei Qunshan's conscience would not allow him to do this. Rescuing the hostages was the police's first responsibility.

From beginning to end, several senior police chiefs from the provincial department remained silent, because when the task force was first established, they invited the criminal expert Li Mubai, who was determined to solve this major case. But in the end, Li Mubai's psychological portrait of the murderer was nonsense, and he himself got away with it.

The faces of those people from the provincial department became even uglier. Their enthusiasm for handling the case had long been extinguished. Now they were just waiting for the Haijiang Branch to handle it.

Who made you guys more awesome than the Municipal Bureau?
If you don’t do it, who will?
Wei Qunshan understood their thoughts and was too lazy to pay attention to them. He said to several police officers from the information department: "Work harder, watch the road surveillance carefully and quickly!"

Now we can only hope to find the murderer through road surveillance so as to narrow the scope of investigation.

At the same time, Cai Xiaojing had printed out more than a dozen copies of the addresses of fifty-three vegetable markets.

Luo Rui hurriedly took one, then picked up a pen from the table. He sat aside and read it with his head down.

As we all know, now is the time to race against time and every second is precious.

The criminal police from Haijiang Branch immediately took action!
Zhao Ming's hands were like octopus tentacles, constantly tapping the keyboard and clicking the mouse to enhance and edit the following video images...

Du Feng stood behind the information department police officer, staring at the computer screen, looking for traces of the murderer under the surveillance...

Cai Xiaojing kept making phone calls, following Wei Qunshan's orders, calling for support from the special police and the local police station, especially ambulances and doctors, who had to be on standby at all times...

Luo Rui carefully checked the vegetable markets, and crossed out those that were far away...

Time passes minute by minute...

Everyone was busy and intensely focused on the time.

By half past twelve in the night, everyone had slowed down.

Zhao Ming just said that there were only two to three hours left for the candle to burn out, and now half of the time has passed.

Everyone understood that with more than an hour left, it was impossible to rescue the hostages!

Hope is slowly fading away...

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(End of this chapter)