Chapter 782: Chapter 782: Playing with Fire
“You underestimate the strength of the police force.” Zhang Ting was somewhat unconvinced; she might have misunderstood what Ye Shikai meant. The efficiency of the police force in Yanjing was not low, but the murderer was not even a local from Yanjing, and might not even be from Huaxia. Tracking down a foreign hacker’s ID is not that easy. To deal with such people, it’s still about having specialized skills. Ye Shikai, confident in his methods, only needed a money transfer record for the hacker known as Worm to turn the source of the information upside down.
“Let’s wait and see then,” Zhang Ting said coldly.
“By the way, what do you plan to do about Song Rong?” Ye Shikai asked.
“This… trafficking in personal information is a serious crime that can lead to a prison sentence,” Zhang Ting said with difficulty. Although Song Rong admitted to taking “dirty money,” she nonetheless did not participate in the killing of Chen Xietian, nor was she aware of it, so there was some hesitation about how to handle the situation.
“I think we should just let it go. The public opinion has already been disrupted; if it becomes the killer’s support, it would be adding insult to injury,” Ye Shikai heaved a sigh, “You decide how to handle it.”
“Hmm, okay, then leave Song Rong to the other police officers to deal with. Let’s focus on resolving the case first,” Zhang Ting nodded.
“We’re here. I have a new development,” Tianjing said as she walked out of the office and happened to encounter the two, “Follow me to the office; there’s a video that might help us.”
The three of them stared intently at the projected screen, which showed a somewhat blurry video, roughly filmed from a window looking out at cityscape, but their attention was focused on the lower right corner of the video — a black-clad man holding binoculars.
“This is a short video shot by a citizen,” Tianjing explained to the two.
“So, do you think that person in black is the killer?” Zhang Ting asked somewhat puzzled.
“Yes,” Tianjing nodded, turning her gaze to Ye Shikai.
“I agree,” Ye Shikai started. First, the binoculars the murderer was holding were specialized for foreign military forces and also equipped with thermal imaging, costing no less than seventy thousand. Such professional gear was rare, and from the angle, the position where the murderer was looking was exactly Zhang Xiuli’s window.
“But… isn’t this judgment a bit too hasty?” Zhang Ting was half-convinced, half-doubtful.
“Intuition, I guess. No absolute evidence, but it’s so hot, and he’s still in a leather jacket. I find it very suspicious,” Ye Shikai continued, not to mention the sunglasses and hoodie he was wearing, obviously not wanting anyone to see his face.
Suddenly, Ye Shikai seemed to have noticed something. His expression changed, and he immediately went over to the computer and zoomed in on the black-clothed man’s wrist.
“Zoom in, more zoom, even more zoom,” Ye Shikai murmured, “Make this area clear.”
“Okay,” said a technician nearby, who promptly processed the area mentioned by Ye Shikai clearly within minutes.
“This is it,” Ye Shikai’s eyes brightened, on the man’s wrist was a tattoo. Ye Shikai was impressed with the police’s image processing equipment; a long shirt, hoodie, it looked like a person.
“Priest,” Ye Shikai murmured as if subconsciously speaking out, perhaps because he analytically deduced the murderer was a Christian and thus subconsciously said “Priest.”
“Priest,” Tianjing was initially startled, looked at the image on the screen, indeed, the more she looked, the more it resembled a priest, especially since it seemed that a cross had been left empty in the middle of the tattoo.
“Which tattoo parlor is this from?”
“There are too many that could produce this image, any shop could do it,” Tianjing said helplessly, shaking her head.
“I think this is a very good characteristic,” Ye Shikai suddenly exclaimed loudly.
“But you have no evidence that proves this is the killer,” Zhang Ting was still tangled up with the matter of evidence. Indeed, Ye Shikai had no evidence, but isn’t that how searching for a murderer goes?
“I didn’t say I wanted to arrest anyone,” Ye Shikai said indifferently, “Also, notify the cyber police to keep an eye on those posts that crazily spread the murderer’s public opinion. I think if the killer wanted to create public opinion, they must have hired quite a few sockpuppets.”
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“You really are cut out to be a police officer,” Tianjing suddenly said to Ye Shikai during lunch.
“Why does everyone say that,” Ye Shikai suddenly laughed, “This is just basic reasoning. Criminal psychology has listed many of the characteristics of criminals’ minds. I just followed that logic.”
“I think the killer will soon look for their next target,” Ye Shikai continued, “So I told the cyber police to pay special attention to any new ‘social scum’ news online and to notify the special case team immediately.”
“Right, the killer’s targets are those ‘unscrupulous’ people from the trending news, right? If we block all those messages, won’t the killer be without a target?” Zhang Ting, too, came over with her tray, excitedly telling the two.
“Lady, Yanjing is so big, you can’t block everything. Besides, it’s about freedom of speech; we can’t cover up all the ‘bad deeds,'” Ye Shikai rolled his eyes.
“Pfft, I was just saying,” Zhang Ting retorted.
“Ting, it’s not good. There’s more news,” At this moment, a female officer ran over. Ye Shikai recognized her as Zhang Ting’s junior from the police academy, the officer known as Chen.
“What news?” The three of them felt a sudden dread.
“Come quickly and take a look.”
“Let’s go.” Ye Shikai immediately set his tray down and ran into the office.
“It’s about a bullying incident at a university, and it’s at Yanjing University,” the officer named Chen briefed the three. Ye Shikai’s expression became solemn; the incident had happened again at Yanjing University. It really was a case of what one fears, one runs into. Ye Shikai had felt the killer knew Yanjing University very well.
The incident occurred in a club at Yanjing University. What was initially just an ordinary meeting notice turned into humiliation and verbal abuse by the club president towards a new member because of a minor misunderstanding, even to the point of threats. More perplexing was that the other executives leaned towards the president, joining the “threatening army,” and the chat record was eventually screenshotted and posted online, predictably sparking another round of heated discussions.
“Damn it,” Ye Shikai slammed his hand hard on the table, sighed heavily, “This really is adding fuel to the fire.”
“What should we do now, the internet is exploding again,” Zhang Ting turned her gaze to Ye Shikai.
“What else can we do, let’s drive to Yanjing University.”