Yin Feng stood downstairs with several people, remaining still for a moment before saying, "Chen Feng, go check that apartment and see if anyone is living there now. Guan Jun, find a way to review the nearby surveillance footage. Xiao Yan, take a walk around and see if there are any other places nearby where someone could hide."
That apartment.
That shabby rental unit where Yin Chen had lived twenty years ago. At that time, Yin Chen was at the lowest point of his life—hounded by debt collectors due to fraud, he had hidden away here, living a dark, insignificant existence like an ant.
Though Yin Feng didn’t have detailed records of You Ruixue from back then, he had managed to uncover that she had worked on several cases in the area that year. One of those cases had taken place near this very location.
It was highly likely that the two had met and become acquainted here, their paths beginning to intertwine.
Yin Feng’s mind flashed back to the look in Yin Chen’s eyes when he stood in You Mingxu’s home, staring at the camera—or perhaps not at the camera at all, but at the portrait of You Ruixue.
The most cherished home…
This place, with its countless abandoned houses, seemed like an excellent choice for hiding someone.
A powerful intuition surged within Yin Feng; he felt as though he already sensed what was coming.
—
Xu Mengshan and You Mingxu returned to the police station.
On the way, You Mingxu repeatedly watched the surveillance video on her phone.
Car wash, shoe soles, foul odor… She felt she was one step closer to the answer. The characteristics of that place were so distinctive that even Yin Chen had to take special measures to conceal them.
She tapped the screen, pausing the video at a specific moment.
Yin Chen tilted his head slightly and rubbed his ear.
This small gesture had appeared at least three times across all the surveillance footage.
Another unusual detail.
As her thoughts wandered, her phone rang. It was a colleague from the station: "Teacher Yin was right! Yin Chen really sent a video! Xu Mengshan’s parents, Xing Jifu, and Teacher Yin’s parents are all in it!"
—
A group of police officers gathered around a computer.
Half an hour earlier, the station’s official email had received an anonymous message with a one-minute video attached.
Xu Mengshan and You Mingxu rushed back, and Ding Xiongwei arrived as well.
The video began to play.
The screen showed a gray space—gray walls, gray floor, gray ceiling, all made of rough concrete. The space appeared large, with no boundaries visible in the frame.
Five people were lined up against the wall, tied in place like five bundles of firewood about to fall apart. Their clothes were stained with blood, their heads hung low, faces deathly pale. Yet the officers could still recognize them: Xu Mengshan’s parents, Xing Jifu, and Yin Feng’s parents.
Above their heads, two exhaust fans whirred "whoosh-whoosh," casting shifting patterns of light and shadow on the ground from the bright light outside.
Xu Mengshan slammed his fist hard on the table, his face flushed red as he roared, "Dad! Mom!"
You Mingxu gripped his shoulder firmly.
An officer shouted, "Water! There’s water!"
Only then did everyone notice a stream of water gushing from one corner of the screen, slowly spreading across the floor with no sign of draining or seeping away. The flow was slow but unstoppable.
The video ended abruptly.
Ding Xiongwei spoke almost immediately, "Have we traced the IP address? Has anyone been dispatched?"
The officer at the computer stood up and replied, "We traced it! Officers from the local precinct arrived 15 minutes ago. It was an internet café, but the person had already fled. They’re checking the surveillance now."No one spoke.
You Mingxu's mind raced. The video was received half an hour ago. If the water had been continuously flowing, how high was it now? Had it reached the ankles of those five people? Or was it already up to their waists?
So this was the fate Yin Chen had prepared for those parents: to be slowly drowned alive, second by second? And to let the police know yet remain powerless to stop it? As both children and police officers, could there be any punishment more cruel than this?
What should they do now?
Find the location shown in the footage.
There was no time to search the city inch by inch—they had to identify this place immediately.
But how?
As You Mingxu was pondering, the experienced Ding Xiongwei had already issued a series of decisive commands: "Xiao Zhou, immediately call in the elite support from the Information Technology Department. Separate every frame, every corner, every sound from this video. I refuse to believe there isn't a single clue! You Mingxu, Xu Mengshan!" His eyes seemed to blaze with fierce fire. "You two! Keep your eyes on this video too. Deduce, use your reasoning! Yin Chen has appeared in so many videos, leaving so many traces—there must be some connection! How could he leave nothing behind? There's no such thing as a perfect crime. Search with everything you've got, meticulously!"
His words aligned perfectly with You Mingxu's thoughts. Both replied: "Yes!"
Ding Xiongwei went to coordinate and arrange police forces, intensifying the search around the internet cafe. You Mingxu, Xu Mengshan, and several other detectives remained in the room, each with a computer, their eyes wide and intense, as if trying to bore holes through the video footage.
"What kind of place would have such an exhaust fan?" Xu Mengshan asked.
You Mingxu turned to look at him. His eyes were still red, and his entire body was taut like a drawn bow, but his gaze had regained its sharpness and calm. This reassured You Mingxu slightly.
A nearby officer answered: "A warehouse?"
Everyone nodded. The cement-gray floor, the exhaust fan, the dusty light and shadows—it did resemble a warehouse. But even if it was a warehouse, they had no leads.
At this point, You Mingxu added: "We checked. Yesterday, before the crime, Yin Chen specifically went to wash his car. I think there must have been some unusual traces on the car or the wheels that made him go out of his way to wash it. Once such traces were seen, they could help deduce where he was hiding."
Everyone fell silent, frowning in thought.
You Mingxu said: "There were similar traces on the soles of his shoes."
Xu Mengshan added: "A foul odor. The clerk said he had a peculiar smell on him."
Unusual traces?
A peculiar smell?
What kind of place could it be?
One officer spoke up clearly: "A garbage dump? Could it be a garbage dump?"
Someone's eyes lit up: Exactly! The city's garbage dumps were all in the suburbs. If someone were hiding there, it would be nearly impossible to find.
You Mingxu thought for a moment but shook his head: "Not a garbage dump. Garbage is everywhere. Even if something got stuck in the wheels, it would be normal—there's no specific indication. He wouldn't have gone out of his way to wash it off. Besides, Xiangcheng's large garbage dumps are public, with lots of people and vehicles, and they're well-regulated. It would be hard for him to bring five hostages in and control a warehouse without alerting anyone. And smaller, abandoned garbage dumps wouldn't have such a spacious, bright, and clean warehouse."
His logic was clear, refuting every point.
Everyone couldn't help but nod in agreement.The possibility of the garbage dump was ruled out.
Xu Mengshan pondered, "Could it be a basement or underground passage?" He glanced at You Mingxu, who immediately understood—he was thinking of Chen Zhaoci's case. No one could have imagined hiding someone in the abandoned air-raid shelter from around the founding of Huaicheng.
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