Chapter 18: The Most Likely Suspect

The Sun Xiaoyu case was, in every sense, far more complex than Cen Lian had initially imagined.

He quickly realized that he had somewhat underestimated the district’s criminal investigation team. Everything he could think of had already been investigated while the case was still active; however, according to the various records from that time, every lead had turned into a dead end. Although he wasn't certain what the investigators at the time might have overlooked, he was sure that this was not something he could solve by mere brainpower alone.

Cen Lian began watching the hospital's surveillance footage at triple speed. The workload was immense, and by evening, he had found nothing. Fortunately, the members of the Third Squadron were busy with the follow-up work of their previous case, and aside from a residential robbery, there were no new cases assigned to them.

The robbery was handled by Qi Yan and Wang Yuanteng. The perpetrator’s methods were amateurish; he had left behind an abundance of DNA and fingerprints at the scene, and even a few strands of hair. As a released convict, his home address, complete with the unit number, was quickly tracked down. Within three days, the case was concluded and handed over to the prosecutor's office.

It was then that Cen Lian made a new discovery. In the footage from the day before Sun Xiaoyu’s death, he found the person he was looking for. The moment the text bubble appeared, he finally felt a sense of relief. Thank goodness—no matter how cautious this person had been, he was still caught on camera.

The location where he was caught, however, made it nearly impossible for anyone to suspect him: he was spotted in the outpatient lobby, a building away from the inpatient ward. In the vast sea of people in the outpatient hall, even the most astute criminal investigator, without the aid of a "cheat," would be unlikely to notice a man in his prime walking by. Especially since he had never appeared in the inpatient ward, nor was he on the patient list for the three days before or after the incident.

Cen Lian broke down the two seconds of footage showing the man’s face into individual frames and began processing the clarity on his computer. The hospital's cameras had decent resolution, but Cen Lian’s image enhancement skills were only just sufficient, so the resulting images only barely allowed for the distinction of facial features. Even so, it reached the minimum requirement for facial recognition.

Although he already knew who this person was from the criminal record, he needed to explain to others how he had identified him from a blurry surveillance photo. He couldn't exactly say he had calculated it by divination. Feeling that he was slowly turning into a charlatan, Cen Lian looked at the information returned by the facial recognition software and clicked on the residential registration information based on the name.

[Name: Lin Xiangyuan]
[Gender: Male]
[Age: 36]
[Criminal Record: Killed Sun Xiaoyu in Kang'an City 2,386 days ago]
[Incarceration Record: None]

This was the text bubble Cen Lian saw in the surveillance footage. All the information matched Lin Xiangyuan’s official registration. Six years ago, this Lin Xiangyuan would have been around 30; why would he kill Sun Xiaoyu?

Cen Lian flipped through Lin Xiangyuan’s records and discovered he was married. His instinct was to consider a crime of passion, but he quickly dismissed it. After Sun Xiaoyu’s death, the police had investigated her chat logs across all major platforms; they wouldn't have overlooked an ex-boyfriend who had appeared in the hospital’s surveillance. It was even possible that this person didn't exist in her contact list at all.

Qi Yan had been observing Cen Lian from afar, watching him perform image enhancement and then watching him match a file in the facial recognition database. When Cen Lian’s expression turned pensive, Qi Yan walked over silently.

"Found a lead?" he asked softly.

Cen Lian looked at the registration information for Lin Xiangyuan. "I felt this person was highly suspicious while scanning the footage, so I pulled him up to take a look." Cen Lian had grown accustomed to using his "sixth sense" as an excuse.

Although Qi Yan was still skeptical about Cen Lian’s intuition, his reason told him that trusting him wouldn't be a mistake. He looked at Lin Xiangyuan’s information and also fell into deep thought. Based on his experience, this person truly seemed beyond suspicion.

"If it’s just a suspicion without evidence, it will be hard for us to launch an investigation and gather proof," Qi Yan said, frowning.

"I’ll look at the earlier surveillance footage," Cen Lian said. After a moment of thought, he pulled up the footage of areas Sun Xiaoyu had visited within the fifteen days leading up to her death. The scope of those cameras was limited, likely used at the time to confirm whether Sun Xiaoyu had been in any altercations.

Qi Yan proactively began to help him monitor the feeds. Tang Hua and Wang Yuanteng returned from their errands, and after understanding the situation, they joined in to assist.

Driven by their blind trust in Cen Lian, the three of them spent days scanning through the footage, until finally, Tang Hua shouted, jolting everyone out of their drowsiness.

"I found him!" Tang Hua nearly jumped out of his office chair.

Cen Lian immediately perked up and went over to Tang Hua’s desk. On the magnified screen, a familiar face appeared before them.

"It really is him," Cen Lian said, zooming in. "How many days before the incident was this?"

"Four days before. I checked; Sun Xiaoyu was likely helping her classmate in the gynecology department that day," Tang Hua said, pointing to the case file on his desk.

"And who is the girl talking to Sun Xiaoyu? They look like they know each other," Wang Yuanteng and Qi Yan appeared silently behind them.

Cen Lian looked at the girl. There was no criminal record bubble above her head, meaning she was not involved in Sun Xiaoyu’s death, at least not legally. Qi Yan and Tang Hua were already searching through the previous files regarding Sun Xiaoyu’s social connections.

"Her name is Tian Wenwen, a high school classmate of Sun Xiaoyu," Qi Yan quickly identified the woman.

"Lin Xiangyuan and Tian Wenwen are husband and wife," Cen Lian added, having found what he needed.

The four of them looked at each other, all clearly aware that Lin Xiangyuan was indeed worth investigating.

"Let’s report to Captain Tan first," Cen Lian said, feeling it was necessary to conduct a supplementary investigation into Lin Xiangyuan. A man in his prime who had direct contact with Sun Xiaoyu days before her death, and who appeared in the hospital lobby on the very day she died, was by far the most significant suspect in the case.

Yuan Chenxi had been listening to their progress. Once she confirmed they had enough of a lead to reopen the case, she stood up and walked over.

"You guys continue your investigation; I’ll help you write the report," she said after glancing at the case files and the computer screen. "I trust the senior's intuition, too."

Cen Lian felt he wasn't far from becoming a mystic of the police force.