National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1260 - 1187: Calm and Confident

Chapter 1260: Chapter 1187: Calm and Confident

As Li Hong walked out of the mall, she remained calm and confident.

She estimated that it wouldn’t be long before the shops she had entered would be thoroughly searched. Truly sorry for those high-end boutiques (^v^)

Lost in thought, Li Hong slipped into a food court.

This place didn’t match her spending habits but she would come here occasionally because of its high foot traffic, complex routes, and numerous hidden exits.

The saying goes, "One minute on stage, ten years of practice offstage," and Li Hong’s confidence didn’t come freely.

She leisurely passed a stall selling braised dishes, then three lemon chicken rice stalls, turned into a dimly lit corridor where the signs on both sides offered hamburgers, barbecue, rice bowls, and stir fry, all targeting takeout.

Following a few delivery personnel, Li Hong slipped into a shop, walked straight through, and reached another stall inside the food court. Only then did she quickly pull out her phone and glance through it.

A junk message came into view. It was a pre-arranged signal, indicating extreme urgency.

Tears welled up in Li Hong’s eyes, her companions were using their last moments to warn her.

Li Hong took a deep breath, not changing her plans because of it.

With her companions warning her, she was even more compelled to delay her opponents as much as possible to give her companions more time to escape. Besides, she wasn’t necessarily exposed yet.

Li Hong believed she was, at most, only suspected. The worst-case scenario was getting caught by the police, which meant the incident hadn’t escalated to the level of an espionage case, and that time lag was her opportunity.

Entering a milk tea shop again, Li Hong casually ordered a smoothie, then walked out, pretending to sip it.

Before leaving the food court, Li Hong entered a snack shop she had scoped out in advance, took a casual loop, and picked up only a pack of gum. But while at the cashier, she squatted down and secretly stuffed a sock into her shoe.

Standing up again, Li Hong popped three or four pieces of gum into her mouth, chewed them, and bit them into the area of her molars.

Then, she draped a scarf over her shoulders, put on a hat, and left the food court with ease.

Putting a sock in her shoe could change her gait, something she had practiced during training, as the current domestic gait recognition systems were generally ineffective.

Chewing gum interfered with facial recognition systems, and Li Hong further used the smoothie to cool her skin before tossing it into a trash can.

Having completed the entire process, Li Hong could already envision the chaos her pursuers must be experiencing.

This would buy her and her companions a precious few hours, maybe even more.

...

Command Center.

Jiang Yuan sipped the green tea brewed by Wei Shikan, routinely watching the big screen of the Image Investigation, occasionally offering some guidance when the image was lost.

"East side."

"Entrance."

"Move forward a bit, this one..."

In the vicinity of the mall in downtown Changyang City, there are numerous cameras. The city only recently developed its image investigation technology. Although the technology is average, the conditions for image investigation are excellent.

A few image technicians deployed listened to Jiang Yuan’s orders, operating with ease and elegance. Primarily because Jiang Yuan’s orders were clear and required little adjustment from them.

In the eyes of the several outside leaders present, the image investigation seemed to be steadily tracking the suspect, Li Hong. Whenever she disappeared from one screen, she would reappear on the big screen after a few brief switches, just like in the movies, following Jiang Yuan’s command.

"Image investigation is really useful."

"Clear and precise tracking, beneficial for writing reports, and the evidence is ample."

"After returning, there’s really a need to vigorously develop image investigation."

Several out-of-town white-collar workers quietly murmured on-site.

The Chief of Image Investigation, standing beside them, hesitated to speak. He wanted to say they were witnessing an exceptional case, only possible when Jiang Yuan was at the core of the image investigation. But hearing them talk about vigorously developing image investigation, the chief found himself at a loss for words.

"Captain Jiang, would you like some chocolate? You’ve been watching for a long time, it can strain your brain, and you haven’t had much breakfast." Wei Shikan opportunistically offered a cup of rich dark chocolate, looking expectantly at Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan cooperatively took a sip and said, "Not bad."

"Right, right, it’s from Belgium, a famous brand." Wei Shikan, in front of so many people on-site, didn’t say much, just boasting, "I learned to mix this myself, practiced with several tubs of chocolate back then."

Jiang Yuan took another sip and said, "We used to marinate beef in chocolate, rarely drank it directly..."

Just then, Li Hong disappeared from the big screen.

The image technicians beside him immediately sought her out, several smaller screens frantically switching.

Jiang Yuan put down the hot chocolate and said, "Screen 3 just now; she backtracked, wearing her clothes inside out."

Jiang Yuan directly pointed out the person with a laser pen, and the image technician immediately re-locked the target.

The series of frantic keyboard clicking and mouse clicking noises gradually calmed and reverted to an unruffled state of "tap," "tapping," as if the operators had suddenly transformed from young men into middle-aged ones.

"Hiss..."

Yu Wenshu took a sip of tea, only to scald his mouth, grimacing as he couldn’t find anyone to blame. With many leaders present, the helpful subordinates became scarce.

But Yu Wenshu couldn’t afford to worry about such minor issues now. For a moment, he thought Li Hong might escape. Although he trusted Jiang Yuan’s judgment, the density of the surveillance was gradually decreasing, and there would ultimately be times when they couldn’t follow.

After hesitating, Yu Wenshu approached Jiang Yuan and said, "Let the monitoring team get a bit closer. Even if we lose sight, we can quickly find her again."

"Getting a little closer is fine, but it’s hardly necessary," Jiang Yuan responded easily, adding a touch of emotional intelligence because there were leaders around, and simply explained, "If Li Hong wants to run, she would need some form of transport. She can’t get far on foot. Even if we temporarily lose sight, it won’t matter much."

"A private car might not work, but she may use public transportation. Alright, let’s keep watching for a while." Yu Wenshu’s concerns were from a decision-maker’s perspective. For instance, how long would losing sight be considered lost? Ten seconds was clearly a short loss, thirty seconds probably as well, but what about three minutes?

In routine image surveillance, it’s common to lose track for several minutes, only when it comes to Jiang Yuan does surveillance resemble a movie in Changyang.

However, for Yu Wenshu, several minutes would be enough time for the suspect to take a taxi or catch a bus that happened to arrive, moving several kilometers away from the center point.

Moreover, if it were more movie-like, the suspect could take the opportunity to use multiple transport methods in combination, potentially getting a few kilometers out of the encirclement.

The most crucial point is that Li Hong had already adopted various measures to evade gait and face scans, meaning even if she appeared at a facial recognition checkpoint, the system wouldn’t trigger an alert.

The more Yu Wenshu thought about it, the more anxious he felt, mentally chanting: It’s so difficult, it’s really difficult for me.

Only Jiang Yuan, and Wei Shikan, who stayed by Jiang Yuan’s side, found everything exceptionally easy.

Watching Jiang Yuan give commands, Wei Shikan even felt a bit moved.

While DNA and such technology might indeed be impressive, for style and instant feedback, only image investigation prevailed.

Internally, Wei Shikan enthusiastically recommended to himself: I’ll learn this, I’ll definitely learn this!