Han Bin fell silent for a moment. "Captain Zeng, what if we can't find Sun Qifeng?"
"He left the van behind—he can't have gone far," Zeng Ping replied.
"What if... he's already dead?"
"Dead?" Zeng Ping was taken aback.
Li Hui wiped his mouth. "How's that possible?"
"I'm just talking about a possibility," Han Bin clarified.
"You're suggesting... that Sun Qifeng's accomplice might have killed him?" Zeng Ping guessed.
Han Bin nodded. "Think about it: if you were Sun Qifeng's partner—he's already been exposed, but no one knows about your existence—what would you do?"
Zeng Ping frowned deeply. "Kill Sun Qifeng—end it once and for all."
"And keep the stolen money for yourself," Li Hui added.
"I think Sun Qifeng's accomplice may have planned from the beginning to make him the scapegoat. All the evidence points to him. If they kill him, even if the police launch a massive search, they'll never find him," Han Bin said.
Zeng Ping followed the logic: "And without finding Sun Qifeng, the case becomes a cold case. No one would ever suspect the real mastermind."
"Of course," Han Bin added, "that's just my theory."
"To prove it, we still have to find Sun Qifeng," Li Hui said, sipping water as he returned to eating.
"But we're looking in a different direction now," Han Bin said. "The police are looking for a living Sun Qifeng. We're looking for a dead one."
"Even if it's only a theory, we can't overlook any clue. The search team has enough people. Tian Li and I will hold down the fort here. If you two really find something, our team still gets credit," Zeng Ping said.
"What about Captain Zheng?"
"I'll talk to him—he'll agree for sure."
"Yes, sir."
With Zeng Ping's approval, Han Bin and Li Hui left the search team and began working independently.
"Binzi, where should we start?" Li Hui asked.
"If the others are looking for the living, we'll look for the dead."
"When do you think Sun Qifeng was most likely killed?"
"Two nights ago, around 10 p.m., the surveillance outside Huilongguan neighborhood clearly showed that the van driver was Sun Qifeng. So he was involved in the case, and still alive at that point," Han Bin said.
"Sun Qifeng and his accomplice committed the crime that night. They could've fled immediately. But instead, they waited an extra day and didn't run until the next night. Why?" Li Hui wondered.
"That's easy," Han Bin replied. "They were watching to see if the police would find the van. If not, there'd be no need to flee. And if there was no need to flee, maybe Sun Qifeng wouldn't have been killed."
"So the accomplice did feel some loyalty," Li Hui said.
"Not necessarily. If the police never found the van, and Sun Qifeng was killed anyway, disposing of the van would become a major problem. If they screwed that up, they'd be leaving the police a direct trail. It'd just be unnecessary risk."
"Then based on that logic, Sun Qifeng was probably killed after we issued the wanted notice," Li Hui concluded.
"Exactly. So let's go to the traffic monitoring center—see if any photos of the driver were taken last night."
Li Hui slapped his thigh. "Right! Can't believe I forgot that."
Traffic Monitoring Center
Zhao Ming had stayed behind, reviewing traffic camera footage around the roads near Hengding Line and Dazhang Village, trying to spot suspicious vehicles or trace Sun Qifeng's movements.
Creak—
Han Bin and Li Hui pushed the door open and stepped inside.
"Bin-ge, you're here?" Zhao Ming's face lit up like he was seeing long-lost family.
"Not happy to see us?" Han Bin joked.
"Aren't you supposed to be with the search team on Hengding Line?"
"They have enough people over there—we're following another lead," Han Bin replied.
"What kind of lead?"
"Pull up last night's footage of the van. We want to watch everything from beginning to end."
"You found a new clue?"
"We suspect Sun Qifeng had an accomplice—and it was likely that person who drove the van last night," Han Bin explained.
"Got it." Zhao Ming had become quite adept at operating the system and quickly pulled up the footage of the suspect's van.
Several camera angles captured the front of the vehicle, showing the driver's seat—but not the back seats.
"The driver's wearing a baseball cap and pulled down the sun visor. The footage is kind of blurry—you can't make out the face," Zhao Ming said, pointing at the screen.
Li Hui thought back. "That baseball cap looks like the one we saw on the passenger seat."
"Keep playing," Han Bin said.
The three of them watched the full video, but the driver's face remained obscured.
"Damn it!" Li Hui was frustrated. What he hoped would be a breakthrough turned out to be a dead end. The suspect had clearly prepared for this.
But Han Bin wasn't discouraged—he watched all the surveillance footage a second time.
Then a third time.
After the third round, Han Bin rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"Li Hui, how long did it take us to drive from the intersection of Qiming Road and Kaiping Street to Hengding Line and Dazhang Village?"
"About an hour, give or take. Why?"
"Well, the suspect's van took an hour and a half to make that same trip."
"Maybe the driver's a rookie and not used to the van?" Zhao Ming suggested.
"Very possible. I'm thinking it wasn't Sun Qifeng driving at all. He might've already been subdued by that point," Li Hui guessed.
"I thought the same thing during the second watch," Han Bin said. "But on the third viewing, I noticed something else."
"What did you find?" Li Hui asked.
"There are about ten surveillance cameras along that route, and they're spaced fairly evenly. So the time between each should be roughly the same."
Han Bin pointed to the video timeline. "And that's mostly true—most intervals are 5, 6, or 7 minutes apart. But one stretch of footage has a 40-minute gap between cameras."
"That's plenty of time to kill someone and bury the body," Li Hui said.
"You're saying... Sun Qifeng's dead?" Zhao Ming asked, shocked.
"There's only one way to find out—go to that location and check," Han Bin said.
"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Li Hui urged. Every extra minute spent in the wrong direction was wasted police effort.
"Wait up—I'm coming too!" Zhao Ming shouted as he ran after them. No way he was staying behind to stare at screens.
(End of Chapter)