Criminal Investigation Files
Criminal Investigation Files: Chapter 87

Chapter 87

Captain Wang rebuked his two subordinates displeasingly, “How did you handle this job? If it wasn’t for Captain Song coming over, we wouldn’t have known about your negligence before, causing such a mess!”

Hearing his words, the assistant police officer Xiao Zeng, who was specifically responsible for the matter, started sweating.

Captain Wang continued, “I admit that we may have been negligent regarding whether the perpetrator was dead… But as for the accident, the various materials and surveillance videos we have on hand are ironclad evidence. How could they be fake?”

Song Wen glanced at the employment contract provided by the company, which was dated six months before the incident. “This contract is forged. They only found the terminally ill patient Chen Yanqiu early that morning, probably to frame the real culprit. The so-called delivery of costumes and such was unnecessary in the middle of the night. Simply put, the investigation results of this accident that are now being presented are what the other party hopes you will find. The information you have may all be flawed.”

A traffic accident, framing Chen Yanqiu as the culprit, and a week later, Chen Yanqiu found a deceased roommate to replace himself. If Chen Yanqiu had not been registered as deceased at the time, he would have faced imprisonment afterwards.

As Song Wen’s narrative became increasingly bizarre, Li Yi seemed to be hearing a fairy tale. “Captain Song, I’ve been a traffic officer for many years and I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

Song Wen nodded. “I understand. It’s not that you lack experience, but that the criminals are too cunning.”

Li Yi glanced at Captain Wang again and stuttered, “Captain Song, what you’re saying… this matter is too strange, we need evidence…”

Captain Wang intervened to mediate, “Captain Song, perhaps we didn’t do a thorough job in the subsequent arrest process, allowing the perpetrator to escape. However, you’re saying that Chen Yanqiu is not the real culprit of this traffic accident, but a scapegoat. That changes the nature of this case. After this traffic accident occurred, we have been actively investigating and coordinating. The company involved compensated the victim’s family a total of 1.2 million yuan, and the victim’s family had no objections to how the matter was handled. The bureau has already archived the case. If you want to reopen the investigation, you’ll need some concrete evidence. Otherwise, we won’t be able to explain to the various parties involved.”

Song Wen pondered for a moment and then asked, “What about the vehicle involved in the accident? Did you notice anything unusual?”

Li Yi shook his head. “The driver fled the scene, and by the time we traced the vehicle to the company using the license plate number several days later, the vehicle’s condition matched the traces left at the scene of the accident. Chen Yanqiu’s fingerprints and some hair follicle traces were found in the Zhongtai vehicle. There were bloodstains from the victim, Zhao Youlan, on the underside and tires of the car.”

“Two days were enough time to stage it,” Song Wen said, looking at Lu Siyu. Lu Siyu’s face was pale, and he lowered his brows, biting his finger without speaking.

He was trying hard to think about how he would handle this if he were in charge.

He could easily imagine the scene at that time: Christmas night had passed, and Christmas was approaching. The shops had closed, and the couples on dates had dispersed. The empty streets were still adorned with various decorations, and Christmas paper featuring Santa Claus littered the ground. The air was cold. In such early hours, Zhao Youlan, the sanitation worker who got up early, began her work. She yawned and rode her cleaning cart. It was at this moment that a flash of car lights passed by, and blood splattered…

The driver panicked at the crash, but then calmed down. This was a secluded road with no pedestrians around. He didn’t choose to call the police but called someone else for help…

Later, those people temporarily found a scapegoat through Fish Goddess’s agency. They brought in Chen Yanqiu. The body was severely damaged, making it difficult to determine the time of death…

However, how to explain the issue of the footage? Lu Siyu paused for thought and looked at Song Wen. They had only inquired with Zha Zha and learned about the “employment” matter. All of this would be difficult to use as testimony. If they wanted evidence, they needed to see the surveillance footage from the time.

Song Wen also thought of this point and raised an eyebrow, saying, “This requires Captain Wang to allow us to access the footage of the accident at that time. We’ll go back and investigate.”

This matter involved many departments, and there would likely be some buck-passing later on. They didn’t need to meddle in others’ affairs or care about how this side handled things. However, this traffic accident was related to the case they were handling, related to Chen Yanqiu’s death, so they needed to clarify everything that followed.

Captain Wang glared at Li Yi and Xiao Zeng, then turned to instruct his subordinates, “Why aren’t you cooperating with Captain Song to find out the truth of the accident? The priority now is to reconstruct the facts.” As he spoke, he gestured subtly.

A female police officer who seemed to manage video archives whispered, “But… Captain Wang, to retrieve the records, we need to submit an application… The Commissioner is not in the office today, so…”

Captain Wang turned to look at Song Wen, his face showing a hint of embarrassment. “Ah, I forgot about this procedure in my haste. How about you return first, Captain Song? We’ll organize the data for you when the process is complete.”

“We can wait here, can’t we?” Song Wen was not in a hurry, smiling lightly as he asked.

Captain Wang’s expression stiffened. “Well, okay. Get chairs for Captain Song to sit down, and let’s take a look at the video footage first.”

Captain Wang had initially wanted to temporarily suppress the video data, conduct an internal investigation to see if there were any issues, but he couldn’t stop Song Wen from viewing the footage here.

Song Wen replied, “Okay, we don’t need to rush to retrieve the records until we confirm there’s a problem.” It seemed that they had to find some evidence from the footage today, or else this case might get stuck at the Traffic Bureau.

Captain Wang’s subordinates quickly retrieved the video recordings from that day and began playing them on the monitor.

The main evidence consisted of three video clips captured by different cameras. In the first clip, at a deserted intersection at night, a car drove past, maintaining its speed, and the license plate number was clearly visible. It was also clear that Chen Yanqiu was driving.

In the subsequent second clip, immediately following the first, from a higher angle, a car sped along the empty road and collided with the tricycle ridden by Zhao Youlan. Then the vehicle disappeared from the screen, dragging Zhao Youlan along.

In the third clip, Chen Yanqiu was seen driving again, but this time from a different angle, and he drove out of view.

The video was replayed several times. Captain Wang paused it and pointed at the screen, saying, “The main evidence is these three clips. The timeline is completely coherent. We analyzed the screenshots, and it’s Chen Yanqiu driving, and the person being dragged is confirmed to be the deceased, Zhao Youlan.”

Song Wen had been watching intently the whole time, his expression extremely focused. Now he turned and said, “Captain Wang, I feel there are some issues with these videos.”

Captain Wang asked, “Oh? What issues do you see?”
How sharp were Song Wen’s eyes? Just by watching it once, he discovered the problem: “Chen Yanqiu hit someone with his car, why didn’t his expression change at all, and why didn’t he slow down, just kept driving forward?” By now, he was becoming increasingly certain that Chen Yanqiu was not the real culprit who killed Zhao Youlan.

Captain Wang replied, “Well… maybe he didn’t realize he hit someone at first?”

“Then did you find any related footage of the body?” Song Wen asked again.

Captain Wang shook his head, “The body was dragged for a long time and then entered a blind spot in the surveillance. There’s no relevant footage. The body was ultimately found on the side of the road.”

Song Wen continued, “In the first and third clips, Chen Yanqiu can be clearly seen, and even the license plate is visible in the first clip. But in the second clip where the collision occurred, Chen Yanqiu’s face and the license plate are unclear. I suspect these are two similar but different vehicles.”

Captain Wang shook his head, “But the timestamps on these surveillance videos are perfectly synchronized. We judged based on the distance between the second and third cameras and the driving speed. The times the vehicles appear in the footage of each camera match the timing of their passage.”

Song Wen nodded, “Indeed, surveillance can help us solve cases and reconstruct accident scenes, but if we completely trust the surveillance, we might be deceived by the images.”

“So… what do you mean?” Captain Wang frowned.

“My point is, these video clips are not real-time footage. The timestamps on the surveillance may have been tampered with or the videos may have been edited and spliced,” Song Wen said, causing a commotion among the traffic police at the scene.

Captain Wang even exclaimed, “That’s impossible!”

Song Wen continued, “The streets were originally deserted, and it was night, with poor lighting, making it easy to get away with. But fortunately, I have a knack for drawing, so my observational skills are better than average. I noticed some differences.”

Captain Wang snorted, his attitude becoming noticeably worse, “So Captain Song means we’re all blind and can’t see the differences, only you can?”

Song Wen remained calm, “I remember last year, there was a large-scale upgrade of surveillance cameras in Nancheng, and the resolution should be high enough. To prove what I’m saying is true, it’s simple. You put the first and third clips into the software and increase the contrast to the maximum.”

The female traffic police in charge of the data responded, and as he said, she began to operate. After increasing the contrast, the originally dark images became even darker, with some white dots appearing on the screen.

“Yes, that’s it. Then play it,” Song Wen said, and the policewoman pressed the play button.

On the big screen, suddenly there was movement in the image, and it was visible to the naked eye that the position of the white dots on the screen had changed. Then, Chen Yanqiu appeared driving the car.

“Huh…” Li Yi couldn’t believe what he was seeing and rubbed his eyes. Captain Wang also wore an expression of disbelief.

Continuing to play, similar situations occurred before and after in the first and third video clips.

Song Wen explained, “At night, there will be dust and flying insects in the air, forming noise dots in front of the camera. The movement of these noise dots has a trajectory. Someone edited the video, but couldn’t fully integrate these noise dots. These noise dots are very small, not prominent in the darkness, and usually not noticeable, but with sufficiently high resolution and increased contrast, frame skipping occurs.” Then he looked at the people from the Traffic Bureau, “This way, even people with less keen observation skills can distinguish it with the naked eye.”

Captain Wang’s hands trembled, “This… this is impossible…”

But Song Wen’s words were logical and well-founded. Faced with such evidence, he could no longer say that this car accident was without problems.

Song Wen shrugged, “I think those who staged the car accident first found a similar car, then found a scapegoat, drove the car along the route again, and then hacked into your system using hacker techniques, replacing the relevant videos, causing your misjudgment.”

In other words, Chen Yanqiu may have received instructions to drive along the route again from that side. He didn’t notice anything unusual, but after receiving the money, he realized that there had been a serious accident on the relevant section of road that day, and inexplicably, he became a hit-and-run driver.

At that time, Zhang Rui happened to be critically ill and died. Chen Yanqiu came up with the idea of borrowing a corpse to resurrect his soul and escaped.

“We think there are indeed some issues with this traffic accident. We hope Captain Wang can cooperate more. All the information will be submitted to us,” Song Wen said, looking at Captain Wang, and added politely, “It’s okay if there’s a need for procedures, we can wait.”

“Are you suggesting that these images have been tampered with? How could our system be hacked? Maybe… those noise dots are just coincidental…” Li Yi still refused to accept this fact, stubbornly.

Lu Siyu, who was rubbing his temples on the side, suddenly raised his head, sighed, and interjected: “Although the lighting is unclear, you can still see from the video that the car in the second segment is a Porsche. The first and third segments are similar models, but they’re counterfeit Porsches, actually Zotye cars. None of the vehicles in these segments are the same.”

He added another point, making the situation crystal clear.

“Based on what grounds do you make your judgment?” Xiao Zeng asked.

“The tires, door handles, streamline, and this exterior decoration.” Lu Siyu pointed to the cars on the screen.

The technicians on the side hurriedly enlarged the images, and it could be seen that there was a black exterior decoration on the car in the second segment of the video.

“The car used for substitution, the one you inspected, is a counterfeit Porsche called Zotye. Although the two models are almost identical, the details of the Porsche are irreplicable.” Lu Siyu paused for a moment, “And this decoration is a special custom-made for the Porsche commemorative edition, with imported materials. In the other two segments of the video, this part of the car’s decoration is counterfeited with a similar black decoration, but the reflectivity and shape are obviously different… So… could you please retrieve a copy of the registration information for this Porsche model from our city as well?”

The staff retrieving the footage enlarged the video and indeed found some subtle differences in the shapes of the two decorations.

Captain Wang looked at the two in front of him as if they were monsters, “How did you discover this?” These two detectives’ eyes might be different from ordinary people’s, perhaps there were hidden cameras inside?

Lu Siyu casually spoke, “I understand these things just because, coincidentally, I also had the same model of car.” Then he took out a photo from his phone and handed it over, “If you still don’t trust it, you can ask technical experts to authenticate these video segments.”

At this point, Captain Wang finally sensed that something was amiss, frowned, and turned back, saying, “Quickly contact the person in charge of that company at the time and ask about the situation.”

After a while, a subordinate answered, “That company has already been deregistered.”

Captain Wang asked, “What about the legal representative?”

The subordinate replied somewhat timidly, “We can’t reach them by phone. We are trying to find other contact methods…” The company on the other side was simply a shell company used temporarily to handle accidents.

Captain Wang took a deep breath, “Investigate all the information related to this car accident!”

The air momentarily solidified again. Song Wen cleared his throat, “Um, the information we need…”

Captain Wang quickly interjected, “Ah, what Captain Song said. We originally thought the issue wasn’t too serious, so we mentioned following procedures. But now it seems there are significant problems. Naturally, we must handle it with urgency. I’ll explain to higher-ups later. If the vehicle involved is indeed a Porsche, even in a city like Nancheng, there wouldn’t be too many of such luxury cars. We can pull up a list and conduct a thorough investigation one by one, narrowing down the scope of the search for the real culprit. Later, we’ll cooperate with you to search the old vehicle yards to find the real vehicle involved in the accident. We must uncover who truly killed Zhao Youlan.”

Captain Wang gestured, and his subordinates hurriedly went to retrieve more information.

The office fell silent for a moment as the traffic police in the accident department busied themselves with preparing the data.

Lu Siyu and Song Wen exchanged a glance but remained silent. This case of scapegoating wasn’t ordinary; it was premeditated, well-planned, and swiftly executed.

Such a coordination, to find the scapegoat, locate the disguised accident vehicle, even infiltrate the Traffic Bureau’s internal systems for vital information, and then have a shell company step forward, paying hefty sums to hush things up, was almost an impossible task.

Yet, against all odds, it happened.

The scapegoat was chosen to be a terminally ill patient on the brink of death. With the evidence from surveillance footage, even if the scapegoat recanted, they wouldn’t be able to clarify the whole truth. And once they passed away, everything would become a secret, sealed forever.

So who was the true culprit behind the accident that night?

Had Chen Yanqiu’s resurrection from the dead shattered the perfect plan?

Was the employer of that individual related to Chen Yanqiu’s death?

As the investigation progressed, more mysteries emerged.

EuphoriaT[Translator]

Certified member of the IIO(International Introverts Organization), PhD holder in Overthinking and Ghosting, Spokesperson for BOBAH(Benefits of Being a Homebody), Founder of SFA(Salted Fish Association), Brand Ambassador for Couch Potato fall line Pajama set.

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