CHAPTER 306: CHAPTER 194: FROM CASTING A WIDE NET TO TARGETED ELIMINATION

Then he began searching for Zhang Biao’s vehicle on each road one by one.

After observing for 15 minutes, Zhang Yean suddenly brightened up.

He said, "Junior brother, doesn’t this license plate look somewhat similar?"

Jiang An took a closer look at the surveillance footage; the license plate was somewhat blurry.

"It does look quite similar!"

Immediately, Jiang An moved the mouse and selected the further sharpening function.

Instantly, the license plate became much clearer.

"It’s Zhang Biao’s car!"

After finding the trajectory of the sedan, Jiang An focused on extending his observation along this road.

To ensure more comprehensive observation, Jiang An deliberately slowed down the playback speed.

After 30 minutes, there was still no sign of the black-clad motorcyclist.

Wan rubbed his eyes and asked, "Do you think it’s possible that this person wasn’t riding a motorcycle?"

"It’s been 30 minutes, and we haven’t seen anyone matching the description."

"If they really were following the deceased Li Lan, they should’ve shown up in the footage."

Jiang An nodded, "This is indeed a long time."

Zhang Yean also curiously asked, "Is it possible they changed clothes?"

"That possibility is unlikely!"

Then he said, "There’s no need to watch more of the later footage from this surveillance camera."

Immediately, Jiang An brought up the floor plan again.

He said, "Look here, seniors!"

"From the pedestrian street, there are two main roads and three side roads, all five roads are almost parallel."

"We didn’t find any suspicious motorcycles on this main road."

"But is it possible there’s a suspect on the side roads?"

Zhang Yean thought for a while, "Indeed!"

She pointed at the screen, "These side roads are parallel to the main road."

"If the suspect was riding a motorcycle parallel to the car, they could’ve seen the car’s movement."

While speaking, Jiang An zoomed in on the map, searching for surveillance cameras along the way.

After 2 minutes, he found a camera.

Quickly!

Jiang An opened the surveillance video file and located the footage from that day.

Wan chuckled, "We’re a bit lucky today."

"General surveillance cameras don’t necessarily preserve footage for so long."

Jiang An replied, "Civilian cameras might not keep footage for so long."

"But these public traffic cameras generally keep video for at least three months."

This time, to observe more carefully without missing any suspicious vehicles.

Jiang An specifically adjusted the playback speed to 0.5.

Only by lowering the playback speed can you see clearly.

After 10 minutes, a black motorcycle appeared on the computer screen.

The driver wore a helmet and black clothes.

Zhang Yean excitedly pointed, "Here! Here!"

Wan laughed, "Junior sister, we both saw it too."

"Though this person is wearing a helmet, I think their build and clothes look very much like the follower."

Jiang An took a careful look.

"Though the body is curled up on the motorcycle, my first impression is very similar."

"However, this is just a preliminary guess."

"We can still verify it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, both Zhang Yean and Wan looked at Jiang An.

"How do we verify it?"

Then, Jiang An sketched on the plan again, extending it along this road.

Sure enough, corresponding to the parallel main road, there was another traffic camera.

Immediately, he opened the footage from both traffic cameras simultaneously.

After 10 minutes, they made an important discovery on both screens.

Zhang Biao’s vehicle passed the main road camera at nearly the same time the black motorcycle passed a side road camera.

The time difference was less than 10 seconds!

Next, using the same approach, Jiang An searched for the next pair of corresponding traffic cameras.

The result was the same.

The sedan and the black motorcycle passed the cameras at almost the same time.

Jiang An was completely convinced it was not a coincidence but intentional tracking.

However, the follower chose a different path, making the two nearly parallel in forward movement.

After thinking for a while, Jiang An said deeply, "Such close timing, I don’t believe it’s a coincidence."

"Junior brother, if it was for tracking, why didn’t the black-clad person follow directly?"

"Direct tracking has a high possibility of exposure."

"Especially for a motorcycle, it easily attracts attention."

"Analyzing the suspect’s psychology, this person has strong counter-surveillance abilities."

"Initially, they were extremely cautious in tracking, maintaining a long distance."

After a moment of silence, Jiang An turned and said, "Senior and junior, I believe this black-clad person is likely the stalker."

Both Zhang Yean and Wan nodded in agreement.

After all, the timing they appeared in the surveillance footage was extremely close.

In their view, it was not just a coincidence anymore.

A single overlap might be explained by coincidence.

But two or three times is deliberate.

Immediately, Jiang An took out his phone and dialed Mr. Zhang’s number.

At the moment.

Mr. Zhang looked anxious, holding a cigarette while gazing out the window.

When he heard the phone ring, he turned and extinguished the cigarette butt.

Glancing at the screen, the caller ID showed Jiang An.

Then Mr. Zhang swiped the screen and answered the call.

"Hello!"

"Mr. Zhang, I have good news to report."

"Good news?"

"What good news?"

Mr. Zhang asked in surprise.

"Weren’t you guys out shopping?"

"Shopping?"

"No, not at all!"

Then Jiang An said, "Mr. Zhang, at the critical stage of solving the case, how could we have the mood to go shopping?"

"I just returned to the office and didn’t see you guys at the team."

"Where are you now?"

"I forgot to report to Mr. Zhang, we’re at the traffic management bureau."

"Traffic management bureau?"

"What are you doing there?"

Mr. Zhang was very puzzled, utterly unaware of why the three suddenly went to the traffic management bureau.

Jiang An replied, "We’re investigating the trajectory of Zhang Biao’s vehicle."

"Trajectory?"

"Is there any significance in investigating that car?"

Jiang An said, "Mr. Zhang, through our investigation, we found that during the process of Zhang Biao’s vehicle taking Li Lan back to the campus area, a black-clad motorcyclist was tailing."

Instantly, Mr. Zhang froze in place.

"Black-clad person"—those three words gave him a jolt.

"She was riding a motorcycle?"

"Yes! We observed the figure and clothing matched completely."

After thinking for a long time, Mr. Zhang asked deeply, "Are you sure it’s that black-clad person?"

Jiang An replied, "After sorting through multiple surveillance camera videos, we found that Zhang Biao’s vehicle and this motorcycle passed the cameras at very consistent times."

On the phone, Mr. Zhang instantly fell into thought.

There was tracking behavior all the way from the pedestrian street to the campus.

Jiang An’s recent findings also made logical sense.

After a long moment, Zhang Feng nodded.

"Looking at it this way, that black-clad motorcyclist should indeed be the follower."

Suddenly, Zhang Feng’s eyes lit up, and he said, "There aren’t many women who ride motorcycles."

"If we confirm that the suspect is a female and rides a motorcycle."

"This will become crucial evidence for our suspect screening going forward."

Jiang An also stated, "Chief, I was thinking the same."

"After all, there are many motorcyclists, but not many female motorcyclists."

"Adding to that, we’ve already narrowed down the suspect pool. I think we should focus on investigating women with a history of working in office buildings who might enjoy riding motorcycles."

Hearing this, Zhang Feng instantly brightened up.

He had just been worried about the large-scale personnel screening, but didn’t expect Jiang An’s call to be so enlightening.

"Jiang An, what you say makes a lot of sense."

"I’ll immediately inform Mr. He about this good news."

Finally, an excited Zhang Feng said, "Switching from a broad-net investigation to targeted investigation indeed saves a lot of police resources."