The initial investigation into Wang Feng’s call records from that night had already identified the delivery person who had brought him takeout.

Zhang Hui discovered the surveillance footage showing the delivery guy entering the neighborhood through the front gate.

The time was eleven twenty-eight, and the delivery guy left through the front gate at eleven thirty-two.

The information from the surveillance video matched the information provided by the delivery guy.

After 11 p.m., not many people were coming in and out of the neighborhood, which made Zhang Hui’s investigation much easier.

"Check the back gate surveillance."

After the delivery guy left, Zhang Hui continued to review about an hour of footage from the front gate but did not spot Wang Feng.

He asked security to open the back gate footage: "Start playing from eleven thirty-two onward."

"Okay, hold on a moment. Our equipment here is over a decade old, so it takes a bit of time to access."

The security was cooperative, but unfortunately, the computer was slow.

It took about ten minutes of fiddling for a blurry image to finally appear on the computer screen.

Compared to the high-definition footage from the front gate, the back gate footage was much blurrier, possibly due to dust covering the camera, making the image very unclear.

"Do you want to fast-forward?"

"No, just play it at the original speed."

If Wang Feng really left through the back gate, the time it took him to enter and exit the camera’s view might be just a few seconds, and fast-forwarding could make it easy to miss him.

Brrring.

Zhang Hui glanced at the caller ID; it was Lu Chuan.

"Lu Chuan, are you done on your end? Have you found anything?"

"Brother Hui, I’m done over here, and I’ve found the item. Where are you? I’ll come find you."

Zhang Hui felt invigorated upon hearing that Lu Chuan had found the item.

He knew the item Lu Chuan referred to was the phone Qin Yong had mentioned.

Finding the phone suggested that Wang Feng was likely unharmed.

Unharmed... would be best!

"I’m over at the security office checking the surveillance from that night; you should come over too."

After hanging up, Lu Chuan and Yang Lin locked their door and headed straight to the security office.

"Stop!"

As soon as Lu Chuan walked in, he heard Zhang Hui’s voice telling them to pause.

The security froze the frame, revealing two somewhat blurry figures on the computer screen.

The two were walking side by side, both with cigarettes in their mouths, and one of them faced the camera, capturing a clear frontal shot.

Yang Lin’s eyes widened: "It’s Wang Feng!"

Even though the footage was blurry, Yang Lin couldn’t possibly fail to recognize Wang Feng.

"Are you sure?"

Zhang Hui had seen Wang Feng’s photo, but the blurry surveillance video didn’t provide a clear view.

The reason Zhang Hui had just asked the security to pause the video wasn’t because he was sure it was Wang Feng on camera.

It was because he paused every time someone exited, especially if it was a man.

After 11:30 p.m., most people were already at rest; some entered the neighborhood, but very few left.

Lu Chuan and Yang Lin arrived just in time to see the footage of Wang Feng leaving the neighborhood.

Lu Chuan stepped forward and nodded earnestly: "Yes, it’s Wang Feng."

He checked the time again: twelve-oh-eight at night.

This was the last time Wang Feng appeared in the surveillance footage.

After the security copied the video, the three left the neighborhood.

In the car.

"Brother Hui, what do we do next?"

The car hadn’t started; the three of them were discussing their next steps.

"First, there are surveillance cameras outside the neighborhood. In a bit, I’ll go check where these cameras are and who manages them, then see if we can find out how Zhang Wangfeng left the neighborhood that night. If we can find the car he got into, that would be ideal."

Wang Feng left the neighborhood at 12:08 a.m. Since there were no buses at that hour, he most likely left by car. If there was a car, it might be possible to trace him through its trails.

"Another thing, when we were watching the footage just now, did you notice Wang Feng and the other person not turning their heads were both smoking?"

Lu Chuan and Yang Lin nodded; they had noticed this too.

Thinking back, Wang Feng turning to look at the camera might have been an intentional clue, while the other person with him didn’t turn his head, leaving only a back view in the surveillance.

"In a bit, let’s go check the back gate. Three days ago, the cigarettes they were smoking might have been tossed nearby. Let’s see if we can find them."

Yang Lin’s eyes lit up; Zhang Hui suggesting finding cigarette butts implied they wanted to identify the person with Wang Feng through the saliva on them.

"Also, we can’t just boldly go over there. Later, let’s find some sanitation worker uniforms, put them on, and then head over there to search."

Zhang Hui’s plan was thorough; the three split up to carry out their tasks!

Zhang Hui went to check the surveillance, while Lu Chuan took the evidence found at Wang Feng’s home back to the Criminal Investigation Team for analysis and identification.

Yang Lin returned to the police station to find someone and got a sanitation worker’s uniform to pick up cigarette butts at the neighborhood’s back gate.

Yang Lin had formal training, having studied forensic science for four years in college, so collecting evidence was easy for him.

In his two years working at the police station, he’d dealt with all sorts of people from different backgrounds, so he made sure his disguise had no flaws by changing his shoes as well.

The reason for not immediately going for the cigarette butts was to avoid blowing their cover.

For a missing person case, it was standard protocol for the police to inspect the scene and review surveillance footage, but picking up cigarette butts could arouse suspicion among those with ulterior motives.

Zhang Hui, Lu Chuan, and the others aimed to locate Wang Feng through the regular investigation of a missing person case.

But using excessive measures or methods not typical of the police should not be risked to put Wang Feng in danger.

Forensic Laboratory.

Fingerprint extraction from the water cup and the ice cream wrapper went smoothly.

Although slightly distorted, Lu Chuan didn’t face much difficulty in conducting analysis and identification.

The lip print on the cup, due to the lapse of time, had lost the saliva secretions, providing no effective DNA genetic material for collection.

Yang Lin had picked up over thirty cigarette butts outside the main gate, which were handed over to Yang Sen for processing.

"Check the fingerprints. If we can confirm the identity through fingerprint analysis, then DNA identification won’t be absolutely necessary."

The cigarette butts were a backup plan, if fingerprint analysis couldn’t identify the person, then the saliva residue in the cigarette butts, in most cases, could reveal DNA information.

Relying on two methods is always better than one.

It turned out Lu Chuan had somewhat overestimated the opponent.

The other person wasn’t as cautious as expected. The fingerprints left behind quickly matched a target’s identity in the fingerprint database.

Wu Lei, male, 26 years old, from Haizhou City.

On the night Wang Feng disappeared, it was Wu Lei who last saw him. The two left Wang Feng’s residential neighborhood through the back gate at midnight and a half; after that, Wang Feng went missing.