Diary of a Criminal Investigator

If the kidnapper left Beidou Village right after abducting the child in the morning, they might have already escaped Haizhou City by now even if they fled by car.

Therefore, Lu Chuan didn’t have the police search house by house for footage but instead mobilized the power of the populace.

This way, they could find some potential clues in the shortest amount of time.

"Alright, I’ll arrange it right away!"

"You guys, head outside to the yard."

The road in front of Chen Jiawang’s house is the main village road, extending to the left and right.

"This road to the north leads to a former gate with no road since it’s been demolished, so if they left, they would have chosen the south gate."

"Let’s split into two groups, one heading south and the other heading north, and personally check all households along the way that have surveillance."

"Understood?"

"Pay particular attention to slow-moving vehicles, especially vans with opaque windows."

If someone was abducting a child, they couldn’t have walked; there must have been a quick transport vehicle.

Moreover, if the perpetrator hadn’t planned and suddenly acted, they must have been looking for a target.

In such a case, the vehicle wouldn’t have been moving too fast.

Lu Chuan called the Criminal Investigation Team again, sending over a dozen detectives.

The child has been missing for less than a day, making time incredibly precious.

If they could quickly identify the suspect’s vehicle, the hope of finding the child would be greatly increased.

"Village Chief Wang, take me to the village entrance."

One-third of the northern part of Beidou Village has already been leveled, with all relocation finished; power and water are cut, houses are demolished, and there’s no road.

Now, it’s a wasteland strewn with bricks and debris.

Everyone and every vehicle must enter and exit through the south gate.

Starting from the village entrance, Lu Chuan meticulously observed everything around.

Finally, he stopped in front of a small supermarket.

This small supermarket is only 40 meters away from the south gate.

Lu Chuan noticed it because there was a surveillance camera at the supermarket’s entrance.

The angle was oblique, facing some vegetables, fruits, milk, and bananas displayed at the supermarket entrance.

"Village Chief Wang, have the supermarket boss pull up this morning’s surveillance footage."

"Okay, no problem!"

Before long, Lu Chuan had the surveillance footage in hand.

Due to the camera angle, only half of the main road in front of the supermarket was within the camera’s view.

Lu Chuan reviewed the footage starting from 9 a.m.

After abducting the child, the suspect must have used a vehicle, as walking or carrying the child would have been too conspicuous.

With so many people in Beidou Village, someone would’ve noticed if they walked off with the child, and the child might have made noise.

But the villagers had searched all day from morning until now, saying they hadn’t seen the child, confirming the child was taken away in a vehicle.

So, what Lu Chuan needed to find now was suspicious vehicles.

While Lu Chuan searched for clues, villagers with surveillance footage went home to check their own cameras.

Soon, a lot of messages came in.

Lu Chuan had his subordinates check surveillance while he reviewed each clue provided by the villagers.

However, there was nothing particularly valuable.

Although they found a few vans similar to the one Lu Chuan described, inquiries revealed they were local vehicles.

Or vehicles delivering goods to local shops.

It wasn’t until after 10 p.m. that Lu Chuan finally found a valuable clue.

At the village entrance, Lu Chuan was there, working outdoors, reviewing videos brought in by villagers.

The original residents of Beidou Village were very enthusiastic; having lived there for many years, they were familiar with each other.

Knowing that Chen Jiawang’s child might have been lost, everyone was attentive and started bringing in footage if they had cameras.

But most of the day passed, and most footage was reviewed without any leads.

"Comrade police, take a look at this video of mine..."

The one bringing footage was a young girl.

"I rent the house opposite Chen Jiawang’s. I have a pot of night-blooming cereus, and since it was about to bloom, I set up a camera to record the blooming process."

"As a result... this is what was captured."

Lu Chuan took the girl’s phone; the footage was retrieved from a cloud platform, showing a timestamp of 9:31 a.m.

Since the girl’s night-blooming cereus was on the balcony, the footage faced the road downstairs, with Chen Jiawang’s house entrance at the bottom left of the frame.

The footage played, showing a white van entering from the south and stopping to the left of Chen Jiawang’s front gate.

A man wearing a hood and a mask opened the car door.

He glanced left and right, then paused at Chen Jiawang’s entrance.

Suddenly, he dashed into the yard and returned in less than two seconds.

At the same time, he had a child tucked under his arm.

He hurriedly got into the van.

The vehicle quickly headed north, leaving the surveillance frame!

Finally, found!

The video provided by the girl confirmed the child had indeed been abducted.

Moreover, since the white van had pulled right up to Chen Jiawang’s entrance, it was clear the perpetrator had premeditated, having scoped the place beforehand.

The footage suggested the man likely used some form of anesthetic to incapacitate the child before taking them.

Unfortunately, the van’s license plates had been removed.

"Everyone! Track down this white van!"

After confirming the vehicle, Lu Chuan searched the supermarket’s surveillance once more.

Since the supermarket’s cameras only covered half of the road, just the exit path, without capturing the road leading into the village,

Lu Chuan focused the search on footage after 9:30.

Indeed, at 9:35 a.m., the unmarked white van briefly appeared in the footage, leaving Beidou Village.

Exiting Beidou Village led onto the main road.

"Go, to the Traffic Police Department!"

Given the current situation, the only option was to use the Traffic Police Department’s monitoring system to trace the white van’s path.

After exiting Beidou Village’s south gate, the road runs east-west.

Heading east takes the vehicle into the city center.

Heading west, the vehicle leaves the city center, entering the suburbs.

After passing through the suburbs, it could directly reach the highway or national road, leaving Haizhou City.

Today, the priority is swiftly determining whether the vehicle left Haizhou City or entered the city center.

The road running east-west at Beidou Village’s entrance is called Construction Road.

This road is a major thoroughfare in the urban area.

There are many surveillance and violation camera systems.

As long as the vehicle enters this road, its trace can be found.

To save time, Lu Chuan called the Traffic Police Department while on the road.

When he arrived, the related footage of the unmarked white van had already been located.