「Around 5 PM, at the District Police Department.」

“Xue Jisheng? The national chip guy?”

Yan Feifan, a model citizen who had come to the department, was exceptionally surprised to hear Zheng Libin ask for his help in investigating this fugitive boss.

Xue Jisheng was a renowned chip development expert and a Ph.D. who had graduated from a prestigious foreign university.

He had become quite famous and active over the past few years.

Even Yan Feifan, who, aside from medical matters, paid little attention to the outside world, had heard of him.

Zheng Libin sighed softly. “Yes, that’s him.”

“His project for domestically-developed proprietary chips raised a massive amount of capital and loans, but there was never any concrete R&D progress.”

“A few days ago, he suddenly disappeared.”

Zheng Libin said with a grave expression, “After our emergency all-night investigation, we discovered he most likely left the country on May 6th, 7th, or 8th using a fake foreign passport.”

“He secretly underwent plastic surgery, completely changing his appearance.”

“We could only pull the footage of men with roughly similar ages and builds who left the country on those three days. We hope you can identify him by his gait and posture.”

Yan Feifan asked doubtfully, “Didn’t Dr. Qu tell you what he was altered to look like?”

Zheng Libin shook his head. “He’s worried his wife and children abroad will face retaliation, so he’s refusing to talk.”

Hearing this, Yan Feifan began to understand.

He now knew why Dr. Qu would risk his career, his future, and even jail time to perform plastic surgery for that man.

The man had likely threatened Dr. Qu’s family.

Yan Feifan sighed to himself and asked, “How many people’s footage did you collect in total?”

“Four hundred eighty-seven people!”

Yan Feifan let out a soft “oh.” “Let me first see some everyday footage of this Xue Jisheng guy.”

Zheng Libin immediately handed over the tablet in his hands.

The tablet was playing a compilation of video clips showing Xue Jisheng attending various events over the past year or two.

In the footage, the forty-five-year-old Xue Jisheng was impeccably dressed, moving through various settings with vigor and confidence.

After watching the five-minute-and-ten-second video, Yan Feifan had already constructed a mental model of Xue Jisheng’s gait.

He handed the tablet back to Zheng Libin and said, “To compare the footage of those other men, I’m going to need a bigger, clearer screen.”

Zheng Libin smiled. “We can definitely accommodate you. Mr. Yan, please follow me.”

Yan Feifan followed Mr. Zheng to a room on the second floor and was stunned to see just how big the screen inside was.

An entire wall, about thirty square meters, was one giant, composite screen.

In front of the massive screen, to the left, were two rows of desks where six staff members were busy at their computers.

Zheng Libin explained, “Mr. Yan, this is our integrated information processing center.”

“The chief said that to make it easier for you to see clearly and make an identification, this place is all yours for the night.”

As he spoke, Zheng Libin waved his hand.

The giant screen in front of Yan Feifan immediately lit up, and the image of a man, even larger than life-size, appeared.

The man was dragging a large suitcase, walking forward with his head down.

“Not him!”

Yan Feifan immediately added, “Playing them one by one like this is too inefficient. Put ten videos up at once.”

“Mr. Yan, are you sure?” Zheng Libin was skeptical.

Yan Feifan nodded. “We can try it and see.”

Zheng Libin immediately turned to the staff in the room and said, “Play ten at a time.”

After Yan Feifan heard a CLATTER of frantic keyboard typing, the giant screen before him split into ten separate feeds.

After watching for about ten seconds, he spoke again. “None of them.”

He added, “Play twenty at a time.”

This time, without even needing Zheng Libin to relay the command, the giant screen split directly into twenty frames.

At that moment, in Yan Feifan’s mind, the gait of the person in each video feed was being extracted and fitted into the model he had created earlier.

If it was judged not to be a match, that video feed would turn gray in his mind’s eye.

When all the feeds had turned gray, Yan Feifan would have the technicians switch to the next batch.

When they got to the eleventh batch, thirty seconds passed, and in Yan Feifan’s mind, nineteen of the feeds had turned gray. Only one remained bright.

Yan Feifan’s attention was now completely focused on that one frame.

“Third from the left, second from the top. Zoom in on that one!”

This different command jolted Zheng Libin to attention. He raised his voice and shouted, “Third from the left, second row! Magnify it! Full screen!”

Before his voice had even faded, that single image took over the entire giant screen.

The person in the video was wearing a sun hat and sunglasses. His build was slightly thinner, and his complexion was much darker than the average for his countrymen.

This person wasn’t pulling a suitcase, just carrying a large, overstuffed backpack.

He looked just like a humble backpacker.

“Do you have a clear, front-facing photo of this person’s face?”

“Yes, yes!”

Zheng Libin quickly responded, then explained, “When going through customs, everyone has to take off their hat and glasses to have their facial data captured and compared against their passport photo.”

He hadn’t even finished speaking when an image resembling a headshot was projected onto the giant screen.

The person’s facial features suddenly became so enormous that Yan Feifan instinctively took half a step back in surprise.

Yan Feifan composed himself and fixed his gaze on the giant screen once more.

He had to admit, the resolution was incredibly high.

The face on the screen was taller than Yan Feifan himself, yet it was still remarkably clear; the fine hairs and texture of the skin were plainly visible.

The clarity of the image made Yan Feifan’s judgment even easier.

“It’s him. Not only is his gait a perfect match, but there are also traces of plastic surgery in a dozen or two places on his face.”

Zheng Libin pumped his fist in excitement and shouted, “Send this guy’s information to the task force immediately!”

He then looked at Yan Feifan and said gratefully, “Mr. Yan, thank you so much.”

“We originally thought it would take at least all night to get a comparison, and we might not have even found the answer we were looking for.”

“I never expected we’d get a result in just a few minutes.”

Yan Feifan said modestly, “I have a bit of a knack for recognizing people. It’s one of those things that’s easy once you know how.”

Zheng Libin said, half-testing the waters, “Mr. Yan, if you weren’t the genius doctor of the Affiliated Hospital, I’d immediately apply to my superiors to recruit you into our detective squad as a special talent.”

Yan Feifan quickly waved his hands in dismissal. “Oh no, don’t do that. I much prefer being a doctor.”

Zheng Libin said with a look of regret, “That’s a real shame.”

“Still, whether you’re a police officer or a doctor, we’re all serving the people. With your medical skills, Mr. Yan, you can certainly make an even greater contribution.”

Zheng Libin then changed the subject. “Once this case is closed and it’s time to reward those who contributed, your part in this, Mr. Yan, will definitely not be forgotten.”

He glanced at his watch and continued, “Mr. Yan, the chief isn’t here today, so I’ll have to be the one to treat you to dinner on behalf of the District Police Department, just as a small token of our gratitude for now.”

Yan Feifan declined again. “Mr. Zheng, that’s really not necessary.”

“I already have an appointment with someone to visit a company in the High-Tech District and discuss a project collaboration.”

After some polite back-and-forth, Zheng Libin saw that Yan Feifan really did have important plans for the evening, so he had to drop the matter.

“Well, we’ll put a pin in it for today. We’ll make it up to you in a few days.”

Zheng Libin made a welcoming gesture. “Mr. Yan, how about this, I’ll drive you back to the hospital!”

As Yan Feifan followed Zheng Libin out of the information center, he saw a middle-aged man in a police uniform walking toward them. The man’s waist was bent to the left by about twenty degrees, and his steps were somewhat slow.

After Zheng Libin exchanged greetings with the man and they passed each other, Yan Feifan asked curiously, “Is there something wrong with his lumbar spine?”

Zheng Libin sighed softly. “During an operation to apprehend a criminal, a bullet went through his abdomen and got lodged in his lumbar spine.”

“The doctors said they don’t dare to remove the bullet, for fear of the risks…”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep