When Matina’s ex-boyfriend Marco was brought to the Criminal Police Brigade, he was only a little flustered.
He had been in China for several years, knew what China’s policies were like, and besides, this wasn’t his first visit to a police station—even years weren’t enough for him to understand the difference between a police station and the Criminal Police Brigade.
ng Chengbiao was in charge of interrogating Marco, accompanied by a grassroots police officer who scored 110 on the TOEFL.
As expected, despite understanding Chinese, Marco soon began explaining how as a "pure Arican," he didn’t understand the specialized Chinese terminology.
At this point, the young grassroots officer beside him started translating fluently in an Arican accent.
Standing outside the interrogation room, looking through the one-way glass, Liu Jinghui couldn’t help rolling his eyes: "The talent at the Beijing Bureau is truly exceptional, speaking English so fluently and as a second-level superintendent."
"Graduating with a master’s degree and directly becoming a second-level superintendent isn’t sothing we can control," Cui Qishan watched and turned to say, "However, generally, such talent can go to popular units, and even the First and Second Brigades are eager to have them at the Criminal Police Brigade."
"Still quite useful," Liu Jinghui pouted.
"Useful ones are few," Cui Qishan, the least experienced captain of the Fourth Brigade, ntioned, which is why the less desirable talents like Xiao Si were sent to him. It’s normal to complain when you can’t have what you want.
After a brief chat, sothing began to erge from the interrogation room.
Despite foreigners habitually claiming the right to silence, few suspects truly manage it; if they could, lawyers wouldn’t have to warn their clients every ti: "Don’t say anything until I arrive."
Although Marco had been in the navy and knew a bit about counter-reconnaissance, overall, he was still a young man with Arican arrogance and naivety. Without these traits, he wouldn’t have chosen such an extre and technically challenging way to express his emotions.
ng Chengbiao, a skilled interrogation expert, rely threatened him a bit and then lied that there would be a way out if he confessed, citing differences in nationality. Marco, though skeptical, gradually began to confess.
When Marco, tears streaming, started describing his love and depicted Matina’s death as an accident during intimacy, Cui Qishan burst into laughter.
ng Chengbiao waited until Marco finished explaining how he rode his bike to Avi’s Apartnt overnight, chose a climbing route, knocked to enter Matina’s room, and then left, before making him sign. Only then did he suddenly shout: "Matina was strangled to death, not from erotic asphyxiation!"
Marco was, of course, unwilling to admit and repeatedly denied it.
Even if he was sowhat naive, he knew that in China, murder could potentially lead to a death penalty.
At this point, ng Chengbiao wouldn’t play along anymore; one piece of evidence after another was presented, the pressure was imnse.
He actually had ti constraints, but ng Chengbiao showed no sign of it, leaving Marco unaware of how much longer he needed to persist or how much ti had actually passed.
This is also a small technique in interrogation, akin to not putting a clock in a casino; the excitent of gambling makes it easy for one to lose track of ti, feeling as if only a short period has passed when actually a long ti has gone by. In contrast, suspects in interrogation feel threatened and tortured, making them exaggerate the passage of ti.
The only thing Marco could hope for was his foreign identity, but it was clear that as a re small fry, he wouldn’t receive imdiate "rescue."
"That’s basically it," Liu Jinghui lost interest and turned to Jiang Yuandao, "The motive and thod are clear, and we know his travel ans and route. If we check later, the surveillance should reveal the ti of the cri. What’s left is finding the murder weapon and the clothes and shoes worn at the ti... what’s your take?"
Jiang Yuan touched the one-way glass with his hand, saying, "This thing is quite good. Often saw it on television before."
Liu Jinghui also touched it, "It certainly is good. They can’t see us in the interrogation room, nor hear us speaking, but we can see them clearly, even if a leader wants to listen to the interrogation content, it’s easy to show off."
"Indeed," Jiang Yuan nodded in agreent.
Beside them, Xiao Si quietly nudged Cui Qishan.
Cui Qishan turned his head, gave Xiao Si a glare, and mouthed quietly, "What does it have to do with us!"
Xiao Si rolled his eyes at Cui Qishan and directly said, "Captain Jiang, could you help us with another case?"
Cui Qishan was initially taken aback, then imdiately realized it actually did concern him. From what he knew about Jiang Yuan, whenever Jiang Yuan ca, he would solve a few more cases before leaving, albeit mostly Zhengguang Bureau cases, not necessarily all from the Fourth Brigade.
Cui Qishan hurriedly added, "Captain Jiang, we do have a few interesting cases lately."
"Let’s hear them," Jiang Yuan didn’t hesitate, asking directly.
Cui Qishan blinked, a string of cases flashing in his mind, montarily hesitating on which one to discuss.
Xiao Si chid in, "I’ve been working on a case recently with not much progress, a university girl went missing, and we still don’t know where she went..."
"How long has she been missing?" Jiang Yuan asked.
"When the report was filed, it was two days; if we count now, it’s almost been a week," Xiao Si said, adding, "We checked the surveillance, and I even got an expert I’m familiar with to look at it and only found her going to Jingshan on the last day. But at Jingshan’s ticket office and entrance, no trace was found of her. However, we only went through the video once."
With a single sentence, Xiao Si inadvertently exposed the various disadvantages of image investigation.
Though surveillance is excellent and AI can assist in viewing, it can still miss things when there are a lot of people. Plus, ti is a factor; places like ticket offices and tourist entrances with large crowds need repeated viewing to confidently state soone hasn’t passed through, which requires considerable ti and manpower.
As for places like airports and train stations using gait and facial recognition systems for monitoring, it follows a "hit or miss" approach, not aiming to recognize everyone but to find suspects or potential criminals within recognizable individuals. There’s no pressure to provide a definite "yes" or "no" answer, so the pressure is naturally much less.
Jiang Yuan pondered, looking at Cui Qishan and Liu Jinghui.
Missing persons cases are hard to define as the victim returning after a few days is not unheard of. However, seven days missing is quite long indeed...
Cui Qishan naturally knew of this case and, seeing Xiao Si would already bring it up, continued, "This girl’s disappearance does seem like a case. We checked at the school, and her study and life there were pretty normal, average grades, good relations with roommates, and a cheerful and outgoing personality. She liked participating in various activities. Similar weekend hiking trips had happened several tis before..."
Cui Qishan: "The girl’s parents are ordinary people, her father is a state-owned enterprise employee in Shanyuan Province, a technical position, earning around a hundred thousand a year. Her mother sells insurance and doesn’t always make money, sotis even incurring debts. Their previous generation exists in similar conditions. From what we simply know, there are no particularly acute conflicts."
Indeed, cases specifically brought to attention by officers are often noteworthy.
Especially detectives like Xiao Si, despite his foul mouth, his capabilities are undeniable. Working in the Criminal Police Brigade of the Beijing Division, he’s among the higher-level detectives. Ordinary cases, not saying he can break them easily, he usually has an idea of whether he can solve them after going through them once.
For a missing person case only seven days old to be brought to Jiang Yuan does suggest it has unexpected aspects.
Jiang Yuan then looked at Liu Jinghui, saying, "Director Liu, could you follow up first? I’ll talk to Commissioner Huang later."
There are procedures for taking cases, especially in Beijing; rules must be strictly observed. Given Liu Jinghui’s background from the provincial departnt and expertise in reasoning, he’s an advanced inspector not responsible for leading teams, making him suitable for initial probing.
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