Chapter 24: Clues and Traces

The atmosphere inside the police car was heavy.

Two auxiliary officers were conducting a thorough search for suspicious clues at the hospital, while Captain Guo, Fu Yuan, and two other officers sat in the police vehicle, their eyes fixed on the body camera footage.

From the moment the man approached until he left...

The group watched the clip three times, but they could not make sense of it.

The video slowly rewound. During that timeframe, three civilian vehicles had entered the hospital one after another, all leaving before 6:40 AM.

Captain Guo rubbed his temples, his expression weary. Leaning back in his seat, he asked Fu Yuan, "Did this Wu Ping come to the hospital alone?"

Fu Yuan recalled the scene. After a moment of thought, she nodded slightly and said to the captain, "I met her in the car yesterday. She appeared to be alone at the time, and there was no one she knew with her."

"In other words," Captain Guo stroked his chin, "besides yourself, only she knew she was hospitalized at the Central Hospital and which room she was in?"

Seeing his expression, Fu Yuan’s heart skipped a beat. Was he suspecting her? Even though she hadn't done anything wrong, the question made her feel uneasy.

She hesitated and said, "I suppose so. Perhaps her family knows? She told me yesterday that her parents and brother would be coming this afternoon."

"You make a good point, though they might not know yet." Captain Guo nodded without refuting her and continued to press, "Think again—was there anyone else?"

Fu Yuan pondered for a moment, opened the map app on her phone, and said, "She has a three- or four-year-old daughter from her late husband’s previous marriage. She mentioned she left the girl in the care of her eldest brother. Maybe they know; after all, this is the only hospital in the vicinity. The First People’s Hospital is 28 kilometers away."

The woman sitting next to Fu Yuan in the back interjected, "Based on the description, that leaves one person and three cars. While that man’s actions were strange, he doesn't seem to have any connection to this case."

The man added, "What about the report on the sabotaged hospital surveillance? We should be able to get something out of that."

Captain Guo remained noncommittal, leaning back in the passenger seat with his eyes closed, seemingly lost in thought.

Fu Yuan tried calling the woman. She had asked the front desk nurse for the number earlier, but because she had assumed it wouldn't go through, she hadn't bothered to try until now.

"The number you have dialed is switched off. Please try again later."

The automated voice played twice before the call hung up. It was as expected.

Fu Yuan sighed and turned off her screen.

"Wee-woo, wee-woo—"

A sharp siren wailed at the entrance. An ambulance sped past on the road and pulled into the hospital grounds.

Captain Guo snapped his eyes open and dragged the video timeline to 6:01, where a white ambulance was shown driving out of the hospital gate.

He pointed at the screen, his tone steady and resolute. "Perhaps our focus has been misplaced. The suspect might not be one of those three cars, but this ambulance."

"Verify the license plates of the patients' families who arrived during this period. Once confirmed, their suspicion can be ruled out." He scanned the two officers beside him. "Contact the relevant departments and check the logs for this ambulance."

The two officers acted without hesitation, clearly trusting their captain’s judgment implicitly as they opened their laptops to coordinate with other departments.

Fu Yuan suddenly recalled the black sedan from the morning and frowned.

"What is it?" Captain Guo watched her through the rearview mirror, noticing her shift in demeanor. "Do you have other clues?"

Fu Yuan hesitated before telling the truth. "It’s just that at 6:35 this morning, I encountered a black sedan at the hospital gate. It was moving very fast."

Captain Guo rewound the video to 6:30.

At 6:33, Fu Yuan appeared on screen.

At 6:34, a black sedan roared past, nearly brushing against her. The driver rolled down his window, swearing.

At 6:35, Fu Yuan watched the car drive away, then looked down at her phone and walked toward the hospital.

Captain Guo did not immediately dismiss the lead, saying only, "It is indeed worth noting."

He paused the video and zoomed in, but the license plate was blurry and illegible.

"You all are too cautious," Captain Guo remarked after a moment of silence.

Fu Yuan looked at him and spoke at the right moment. "The plate is Lin A4448."

Captain Guo raised an eyebrow, a hint of surprise in his eyes. "You have a good memory."

Fu Yuan looked away, not answering directly, and added, "I’m not sure if that driver is the one. He looked quite clean, with no signs of a struggle. Actually, I’ve been trying to figure out how they could have taken someone if it was a kidnapping."

The group fell into a brief silence.

After a long while, Captain Guo stretched. "Qiu Siyuan wouldn't orchestrate this, and neither would Wu Ping. Sometimes you have to prepare for the worst to get a result that is at least acceptable."

His gaze sharpened as he made the final decision. "Do as she says. Apply to our superiors for an emergency procedure to track and locate Lin A4448 in real-time. Coordinate with the hospital to investigate."

Just then, the female officer in the car made a new discovery.

Looking at the results sent to her, she said, "The nearby surveillance equipment has all gone black. It looks like they used something like an electromagnetic pulse emitter to overload and burn out the electronic components. Now, I am finally convinced this was an intentional kidnapping."

*

Whether the culprit was too arrogant, certain that no one would notice him, or if he had intentionally left a trail to lead the police to him—or perhaps he had simply been in too much of a hurry to prepare properly—it remained unclear.

They reached the highway.

Fu Yuan sat in the police car, watching the solemn faces of Captain Guo and his team.

There were few cars on the highway in the morning, and the police vehicle cruised in the leftmost lane with its lights flashing.

Fu Yuan looked out the window as the cars and scenery on the roadside blurred by. She subconsciously glanced at the dashboard; the speed had already hit 129 km/h.

The male officer from the couple was driving, his expression focused, a headset over his right ear.

"What did the hospital say?" Captain Guo asked, leaning against the passenger seat.

The female officer’s long fingers tapped rapidly on her keyboard as she replied without looking up, "I’ve contacted them. All the license plates of the families have been verified. For now, they can be ruled out."

"Also, news from Xiao Yang: besides Wu Ping, another patient named Xu Yajun checked out this morning. Should we be paying attention to that?"

Captain Guo rubbed his brow and looked out the window, worried. "Not for now."