Chapter 68

Although Mingya Lake is large, it has no special attractions. It is far from Xiangcheng and has inconvenient transportation. Therefore, only the southwest corner of the lake, the most scenic section, has some hotels and restaurants in business. Other areas are either deserted or not developed at all.

Luo Hongmin's villa is located on the north side of the lake, on the hillside of a mountain, facing the water. The greenway built uniformly by the lake has to go around the foot of the mountain in front of the house.

During the last survey, Team 2 had already mapped all the surveillance cameras on roads large and small, and marked them on the same map.

Now, Chen Pu is holding this map in his hand.

The weather was clear and the sun was bright. Chen Pu was sweating on his forehead and squinting his eyes as he studied the map. Li Qingyao put on a cap and leaned in beside him. However, although she was smart, her spatial structure ability was average. Looking at this densely packed map, she felt a little annoyed and simply asked Chen Pu directly: "Have you read it? Where do you start?"

Chen Pu was just about to train her again, so he asked, "What do you think?"

Li Qingyao: "Are you the captain or am I the captain?"

Chen Pu lowered his eyes slightly. Normally, Li Qingyao would not remember that he was her captain - unless she really did not know the answer to this question.

He smiled, pressed the map against the car door, held it down with one arm, and tilted his head to look at her: "Call me brother, otherwise why should I teach you? You are not my apprentice."

Li Qingyao sighed and said, "Chen Xiaopu, your ambition is getting bigger and bigger. You even want to be my master. You can say it or not. Just stay here."

Chen Pu: "Can't you just go along with me?"

Li Qingyao crossed his arms over his chest and raised his chin: "Wishful thinking, tell me!"

Chen Pu exhaled heavily, took out a pen from his pocket, and began to explain his thoughts with a shy look: "Now we are investigating Xiang Siling's alibi, and everything is based on the assumption that Xiang Siling is the murderer. On that day, she drove to Yingzhu Mountain at 6:40 pm. The surveillance camera last captured her appearing at the Yingzhu Mountain Inn Bar at 9:20 pm. The waiter said that he saw her in the room at 7:70 in the morning when he delivered food. Yingzhu Mountain is kilometers east of Mingya Lake. If she went to and from Mingya Lake that night, it would not be possible for her to walk. Therefore, she either drove to Mingya Lake or took public transportation such as the night bus."

His voice was dry, like a robot, and he seemed to have lost all hope in life. Li Qingyao found Chen Pu unexpectedly funny. She wanted to laugh, but she had to hold it back, and said coldly, "Continue."

"Now what we need to find out is where she got off the bus."

Li Qingyao's expression became solemn.

Chen Xiaopu's question was a good one. There were probably countless routes from Yingzhu Mountain to Mingya Lake. But at a certain point near Mingya Lake, Xiang Siling had to get off the car away from surveillance. Finding this point was equivalent to mapping out her route.

The mysterious man in the flowered shirt driving the van that was spotted earlier did not avoid surveillance. The van was captured by surveillance cameras on several roads, and he was also captured by the neighbor's peripheral cameras, so the police knew exactly where he was going. In the end, he relied on the natural advantage of the vegetable market to erase his whereabouts.

Despite Xiang Siling's alibi, the police found no problem with their initial investigation. Maybe if they check again today, they may still find nothing, and the murderer is the mysterious man.

But Chen Pu was right. Everything about this mysterious man went so smoothly. It was as if someone had sent this murderer to them. Li Qingyao suspected that this man might be Xiang Siling's accomplice. After all, she had checked before and found that this man had never been to the place before the crime. Moreover, they now believed that Xiang Siling might be Luo Hongmin's lover and the only person who could inherit the group after Luo Hongmin's death. This gave him a motive for murder.

So we have to go on this trip today.

Chen Pu circled a dozen points on the map with a pencil and said, "The first possibility is that Xiang Siling parked the car on the lakeside road and walked into Mingya Lake. This is the closest and most convenient way. The cameras I circled basically cover the periphery of the lake. No matter which road Xiang Siling drove from, he was within the surveillance range.

This possibility can be ruled out now - because my master has already completed this part of the investigation. All cameras did not capture Xiang Siling's car and people, and the identities of all passing vehicles have been verified as unsuspicious. "Li Qingyao smacked his lips: "This amount of work... No wonder Old Ding has so little hair."

Chen Pu said, "This is just the beginning, a drop in the ocean. It's not that easy to solve a case. If it's like what's shown on TV, where we just sit in a room and deduce and catch the murderer, then either the murderer is really stupid or we're really lucky. Wake up, new detective, most of the time, we're just working like slaves. Okay, back to the question, there's another possibility left -"

He drew a larger area on the map with his pen tip: "Xiang Siling parked the car farther away. This location can no longer be determined by checking the surveillance because the area is too large. Then she walked to the edge of Mingya Lake."

Li Qingyao: "How many entrances and exits are there to the lake?"

Chen Pu glanced at her, then turned his gaze to the vast lakeside and said, "If we are serious, we can say that there are countless ways. Apart from a few developed entrances and exits, look at that large area, there are not many people living there. Can you get in through the farmland? Can you get in by climbing over the mountain? Can you get down to the lake by climbing the steep slope beside the road? All are possible, but it's a bit troublesome and hard. But these are not important, and you can't figure them out. What's important is, look at these locations..."

He circled several points on both sides of the villa and the greenway by the lake: "This camera faces the greenway east of the villa, this camera is west of the villa, and this camera can capture the hillside above the villa. Add to that the key camera in the neighbor's yard. These cameras have been checked, and they didn't capture Xiang Siling or any other suspicious people."

Li Qingyao thought for a moment and asked, "Can it be completely covered?" After all, if Xiang Siling came, the entire hillside could be approaching the villa, rather than just a few roads.

"Just go and take a look and you'll find out."

The two walked around the villa again, carefully, and combined the surveillance footage, and finally determined that it could be completely covered. No matter which direction Xiang Siling approached the hillside from, he would be captured by a camera.

Finally, the two stood in the backyard of the villa, on the side facing the lake, with a steep slope below and the lake below. There were no cameras on this side. However, after observation, the two judged that it was impossible for Xiang Siling to come up from this side. First, it was very difficult to climb, and second, even if she came up from this side, she had to pass through the greenway first, and there was no way to bypass the surveillance.

Li Qingyao looked at the sparkling lake water in the setting sun, an idea came to his mind, and he said, "Do you think it's possible for her to swim over here?" This way she could avoid all road surveillance.

Chen Pu raised his eyebrows and thought, my sister is worthy of being my sister. This is an interesting idea. He said, "Let's go and take a look."

The two men went down to the lake and touched the water first. On that June evening, the water in the wild was still icy cold, and it would only get colder at night.

It takes 50 kilometers to walk around Mingya Lake. Chen Pu estimated it in his mind and took Li Qingyao to carefully inspect the 3 kilometers of the lakeside on both sides of the villa.

There are three entrances and exits that have been developed. In addition, as Chen Pu said, there are five sections where normal adults can climb over to the lake.

If Xiang Siling reaches the lake from one of these eight locations and then swims directly to the villa, he can avoid all the surveillance around the villa.

It goes without saying that the three entrances and exits that have been developed are equipped with surveillance cameras. Of the other five road sections, three are within the greenway surveillance range, and two are not monitored.

But Chen Pu and Li Qingyao have one thing in common: when it comes to doing meticulous work, they are both more meticulous than the other. Chen Pu found a surveillance camera at a convenience store across a road section; Li Qingyao was no less impressive, finding a surveillance camera at a gas station facing another road section. The two cameras are far apart, so the images are blurry, but it should be no problem to identify the body shape.

In this way, all eight points were covered. The police had not checked these eight sets of cameras before. Chen Pu immediately summarized the situation and sent it to Ding Guoqiang: [Master, there is work. ]

Ding Guoqiang quickly replied: [Are you the master or am I the master? You think I’m not tired enough, right? ]

Chen Pu glanced at Li Qingyao beside him, touched his nose, and thought that people who keep company with him are often corrupted. However, he flattered him honestly: [After all, old ginger is still spicy! ]

It would take some time to wait for the monitoring results from Lao Ding, but Chen Pu and Li Qingyao both thought that there was no need to investigate further, because the straight-line distance from the farthest monitoring point they had collected to the villa was more than 5 kilometers, and the round trip was 10 kilometers. If they swam, it would be almost impossible for an ordinary person to complete the task, let alone a delicate woman like Xiang Siling. Moreover, there was not enough time.