"When was the last time he visited?" I asked.
The old manager recalled, but still couldn't remember. He checked his phone before saying, "It was this past weekend. He was with a woman then, and they seemed to be discussing some business!"
"Is that so? Is the surveillance footage from then still available?"
"It should be, it's only been a few days. Our videos are usually reset weekly!"
"Alright, show us the surveillance footage then!"
The old manager gestured for us to follow. Soon, he led us to the duty room. With the help of a security guard, we saw the footage of Kang Xingqing in the restaurant.
He was seated by the window on the left wall, facing a woman in a red sweater. She was smoking and happily discussing a document with Kang Xingqing, occasionally swirling her wine glass.
They appeared to be engrossed in an excited conversation. Just then, a man accidentally spilled some ink on their table as he walked by.
Kang Xingqing instantly became furious. "What do you think you're doing?"
The surrounding city's surveillance cameras now have audio recording functions, so we could distinguish both the image and sound.
"I apologize, sir. I was in a hurry while walking and accidentally..."
"Hmph, don't waste my time. I have a lot to discuss with this lady!"
The man looked up and glanced at the woman in red. Kang Xingqing grew even angrier. "What are you looking at? Look again and I'll gouge your eyes out! Don't you even know who you are? I despise people like you the most, with your pathetic, impoverished appearance!"
Although the woman remained silent, her face was filled with disdain and contempt, which seemed to provoke the strange man further.
I could see the man was quite angry, but he dared not speak. Kang Xingqing berated him from head to toe. The manager had to pull the man away, otherwise Kang Xingqing would have continued to curse.
Kang Xingqing spat on the ground to further insult the man. The man never looked up, so we couldn't identify his appearance.
However, based on his height and weight, he didn't seem to match Yi Chengwen.
Could Yi Chengwen's appearance have been a coincidence?
I turned back and asked the old manager, "Do you remember that man?"
"I do. That fellow seemed to like eating here, but he was always alone and always reading a book."
"Hmm? Can you describe him?"
"Him? He always wore a mask, and was very careful even when eating. I found him quite peculiar, but since he could afford to pay, I didn't bother him."
"You never saw his face?"
"I didn't pay attention."
Speechless, we could only hope that the surveillance footage here would capture the man's likeness.
We reviewed the surveillance footage on the spot. After careful examination, we discovered that the strange man visited Venice Restaurant almost every weekend, but his confrontation with Kang Xingqing only happened last weekend.
Normally, they had no interaction whatsoever.
Even though he wasn't Yi Chengwen, I still felt that the man knew Yi Chengwen. What was their connection?
If I were to question Yi Chengwen now, would he deny knowing him?
A look of distress appeared on my face. Liu Yuning sighed, "You've found a new lead, and now you're unhappy again?"
"No, the situation is much more serious than I imagined. This case wasn't committed by one person! At least two, possibly more!"
"Perhaps. After all, to carry out such a series of actions, from selecting targets, killing, mutilating the bodies, and finally disposing of them with Song lyrics as a hint – these processes would be difficult for one person to complete, unless they were a seasoned killer. But such people usually don't dabble in literature."
"Indeed, I feel the same. Why was that man so cautious? Was he planning this crime for a long time?"
I said, looking at the surveillance footage.
"It's impossible that he had been targeting Kang Xingqing for a long time, right?"
"No, if that were the case, he wouldn't have been cursed at later. He would have acted long ago. That insult must have been the catalyst for this case. This is bad! That woman is likely in danger too!"
As soon as I finished speaking, Liu Yuning's eyes widened, and we immediately headed back to the police station.
We took screenshots of the woman who was talking to Kang Xingqing that day and sent them to He Xin, asking her to investigate the woman's identity and determine her location.
He Xin, seeing a task at hand, sprang into action excitedly. As she typed on her keyboard, she complained, "I knew we should have brought more people to this case, at least Yuan Hezhi. Now I have to investigate everything alone!"
"Can't the other technical police officers help? This isn't like the 'Death Live Stream' case."
"Don't mention that rotten website. Every time I think of that death trap of a website, I get so angry. It's the first time I encountered a hacker who could outsmart me!"
I quickly shut my mouth, knowing that was He Xin's long-standing sore spot. It always brought back painful memories. As her father, I wouldn't be foolish enough to constantly tread on such embarrassing memories.
This kind of thing might not mean much to me, but for a master hacker like her, it was a psychological insult.
However, no matter how angry she got, it wouldn't delay her work. Sure enough, two minutes later, she excitedly announced, "This woman is the CEO of Fudu Property Management! Her name is Fei Qitong, she's 36 years old, but looks only in her early twenties. She's very well-preserved. I found out she was planning a big deal with Kang Xingqing recently, but since Kang Xingqing met with an accident, she's been terrified and has gone into hiding."
"Did you find her current location?"
"There's a record of her leaving at the train station. She seems to have returned to her hometown, Hunan."
"Returned to her hometown? Does she know someone is trying to harm her?"
"You should hurry over there! Contact the local police first."
Liu Yuning and I exchanged glances, fearing that Fei Qitong might have already met with misfortune. We left the police station immediately and contacted Captain Guo. Together, we set off for Hunan.
Fortunately, Captain Guo was familiar with some of the local police officers. He made a call ahead, and soon, an officer found Fei Qitong's home.
By the time we arrived, Fei Qitong was already under the protection of some local police officers.
It was fortunate she hadn't met with any harm. We arrived at her house at nine o'clock in the evening on the 20th.
I spoke with Fei Qitong about the dinner they had that day. The woman said anxiously, "Could it be true?"
"Did you say anything insulting to that person at the time?"
"No, I dislike people like that, but I don't like to curse at strangers. What's wrong with that man? Is he a lunatic? Did Kang Xingqing kill him?"