Free Web NovelChapter 837: Chapter 442: This May Be Why They Were Chosen
After a long while, Jiang An furrowed his brows tightly and said gravely, "Something’s not right."
"We must immediately conduct an online investigation on these three women, focusing on tracing their activities over the past one or two years—any travel, accommodation, or social records cannot be overlooked."
Soon, Wan hurried back to his workstation and logged into the internal police network system. frёeωebɳovel.com
Five minutes later, Wan abruptly stood up from his seat, holding the freshly printed search results, and quickly walked towards Captain Zhang and Jiang An.
"Mr. Jiang," his voice was slightly urgent, "the system shows that in the past year, the three of them seem to have vanished into thin air—no accommodation registration, no travel records, not even a single record of scanning a real-name code."
Upon hearing this, Jiang An’s heart sank heavily.
His hands clenched unconsciously as a variety of possibilities quickly flashed through his mind.
In this age of highly interconnected information, it’s impossible for a member of society to have no digital footprint at all.
Even the most cautious individuals inevitably leave traces when taking transport, staying in lodgings, or using electronic payments.
Moreover, individuals in such professions are often more likely to attract the attention of law enforcement investigations.
Now, the three have left no trace!
The only explanation is that they have long lost the ability to move independently—or possibly, they are no longer alive.
Standing nearby, Shu Ning involuntarily widened her eyes.
She has been in criminal investigation for five years and has helped solve numerous major cases, including heinous crimes with more than two or three deaths.
But this was her first encounter with a serial murder case possibly involving the deaths of five people.
In her past experience, situations involving multiple deaths were mostly concentrated in traffic accidents or workplace safety accidents. Although those cases were tragic, their nature was entirely different from criminal cases.
Once confirmed to be a criminal case resulting in the deaths of more than five people, it would mean—this would become a sensational nationwide case.
According to investigative procedures, not only would the provincial office dispatch specialists for supervision, but the Ministry of Public Security would likely intervene directly to guide the investigation.
Thinking of this, Shu Ning felt a chill run down her spine.
At this moment, the air in the office seemed to be frozen.
The officers shook their heads unanimously, each with a gloomy shadow cast over their faces, so grave that it seemed as though you could wring water from their expressions.
After a long time, Wan slowly turned his head, his gaze landing on the silent Jiang An.
"Mr. Jiang, this case... is likely beyond our jurisdiction."
"According to the procedure, cases of this nature must be reported and directly taken over by higher authorities."
"To be honest, we might not even be qualified to participate in the investigation."
Jiang An nodded slightly, his fingertips unconsciously tapping on the table, producing a rhythmic gentle sound.
He surveyed his colleagues seated around him, and slowly spoke, "The scale of this case indeed exceeds our past experiences."
"Five lives, this is not an ordinary criminal case. But..."
He paused briefly and suddenly his tone became firm, "We cannot just sit and wait for death."
"The discovery of the first two bodies has already opened a breakthrough for us."
"Although on the surface it doesn’t appear to be a typical serial murder case, precisely because of this, it requires our in-depth investigation even more."
He picked up the dossier on the table and gently patted it, "I suggest we temporarily keep the information internal to buy some investigation time."
"This case may seem complex, but as long as we find the right entry point, we may well make a breakthrough."
After speaking, he immediately picked up his phone and dialed Mr Li’s number.
"Hello..."
On the other end of the line, Mr Li’s slightly hoarse voice came through, evidently shaken awake by the ringing phone.
"Mr Li, I’m sorry to disturb you so early."
Jiang An’s tone contained an apology, but more so a sense of urgency.
"It’s okay, go ahead."
Mr Li’s voice quickly regained its usual steadiness.
"Here’s the situation,"
Jiang An took a deep breath, "The body we found in the dry well, after several days of investigation, we have preliminarily identified the deceased."
"More importantly, we successfully linked this case with the body found in the dry well five years ago."
"Oh? That’s a significant breakthrough."
Mr Li’s voice clearly sounded more alert, "Linking cases can often open up new directions for investigation."
But Jiang An suddenly shifted his tone, becoming even more severe: "However, when we combed through the missing persons files of the past five years, we discovered an even more serious situation."
"The foot massage shop where the first two deceased had worked, three more female employees have gone missing in succession."
"Moreover, based on existing clues, these three women are likely also in danger."
Hearing this, Mr Li suddenly sprang upright from his bed, sleep instantly vanishing without a trace.
It was as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over him from head to toe, leaving him fully awake.
He almost blurted out, with a tone of uncontainable shock, "What? Five people?"
Before his words finished, his face had visibly turned ashen, and the fingers holding the phone unconsciously tightened.
It should be known that during his tenure as head of criminal investigation, the most severe death case he had handled involved no more than three people.
This sudden five-death incident was like a heavy blow hammered right at his heart.
He took a deep breath, striving to calm the inner turmoil, and after a while, found his voice again, asking gravely, "Are we certain that those three are also victims?"
