“Think again, really think it over!”

Chen Xiao said.

His mind was also constantly expanding its thoughts.

What clues can these three ropes lead to?

The most obvious one is where the ropes were purchased!

But this point was documented in Xie Yan’s case files, though the investigation recorded that the ropes were bought by subordinates commissioned by the three.

After investigating the buyers and the sellers, there were ultimately no results.

However, Xie Yan’s direction of investigation was different from Chen Xiao’s.

Xie Yan was investigating whether the three ropes were related to the deaths of the three people.

Chen Xiao was investigating whether the three ropes had any clues.

While they may seem similar, the depths of the investigation directions were completely different.

Chen Xiao searched through old files, as well as the contact details of the buyers and sellers.

He tried calling, but unfortunately, both contacts were no longer valid.

Thinking of this, Chen Xiao asked the police to obtain current contact information through their registration files.

After the police began their inquiry, Chen Xiao started considering a second possibility.

That is, whether these ropes have been used, or are unused?

Lian Da and his two partners primarily dealt in watches, televisions, video recorders, and VCD players.

Especially VCDs, Lian Da and his partners made quite a profit.

However, the smuggling of VCDs didn’t last long.

Looking at the main smuggled items of Lian Da and his partners, Chen Xiao couldn’t help but say:

“Honey, look, Lian Da and his partners are quite passionate about smuggling audiovisual equipment.”

“Not really. Back in those days, most people smuggled these things. As for cars, only those with significant means could smuggle them.”

“That’s true, but I wonder if this could give us a clue? Like whether the three knew how to record audio-visual content on tapes?”

As Chen Xiao said this, his memory inevitably drifted back to many years ago.

He remembered how people used to say “watching a movie” meant watching a videotape!

In his memory, the way movies were watched evolved from those square videotapes, to VCDs after they became popular, then DVDs, and finally to computers and mobile phones.

Of course, he also watched white-screen films.

But at this moment, he was particularly sensitive to the concept of videotapes.

After some thought, Chen Xiao dialed Geng Youfeng’s number.

Even though it was already late.

After a while, Geng Youfeng still picked up the call.

“Advisor Chen, what can I do for you?”

“Lian Da, Zhu Mao, and Chang Guan, do these three have a hobby of collecting videotapes? Or have they ever made their own videotapes, as far as you recall?”

“They certainly do! Zhu Mao loved doing this stuff, and even now, there’s quite a bit left at home!”

Upon hearing this, Chen Xiao was startled: “Have you watched all those videotapes?”

“I used to watch them often, but who watches videotapes after VCDs came in!”

“So you haven’t watched all the videotapes Zhu Mao collected, is that right?”

“Yes. But I suppose they probably can’t be played anymore.”

“Not necessarily, I’ll have the police retrieve them from your house and you can help organize them, and also think back on whether Zhu Mao had any favorites. Lastly, contact Chang Guan’s wife to see if he left anything behind too.”

“Okay, right away. But when it comes to favorites, I can’t recall, except that all the tapes were well-preserved, and later on, I took good care of them.”

As Geng Youfeng spoke, Chen Xiao didn’t want to waste time, handing instructions to the police to find related technical personnel, then headed to Geng Youfeng’s home himself.

Upon arrival, Geng Youfeng was still carefully handling the tapes.

Seeing this, Chen Xiao couldn’t help but feel a bit overwhelmed: “So many?”

“Yeah, he used to love collecting them.”

Chen Xiao was helpless, and Geng Youfeng continued: “He always had a dream of becoming a director in Port City.”

“Alright, I’ll take these back to the police team. We’ll watch the ones that can be played, and have professionals see if the others can be restored.”

“Sure, I’ve categorized them; some are movies and others are things he shot for fun.”

Following the categories pointed out by Geng Youfeng, especially those tapes Zhu Mao shot for fun, Chen Xiao paid particular attention.

“Have you watched those tapes he shot himself?”

Geng Youfeng shook his head: “No, only those bits of our life he filmed, nothing else.”

Chen Xiao nodded, took all the tapes to the car, and as he was leaving, Geng Youfeng earnestly reminded:

“Advisor Chen, please be careful with those tapes, they’re what he left for me.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll handle them with care.”

Without saying more, Chen Xiao drove back to the criminal police team.

Upon seeing so many tapes, Qin Fei rubbed his forehead: “Looks like the whole team has work to do now.”

“Take it easy, treat it as relaxation,” Chen Xiao said with some embarrassment.

Qin Fei shook his head, then went on to gather the team.

Chen Xiao also brought back Xiaoji and Xiaoji Knife Man, knowing that many hands make light work.

As for Liu Dayou, he was still wrestling with the hexagrams, unable to read anything significant yet.

Chen Xiao pinned hopes on him, but wouldn’t bet everything on him alone.

After inserting a tape identified as playable by the technicians into the equipment, Chen Xiao said somewhat apologetically to Lin Xi:

“You came to accompany me, and I should be spending a relaxed holiday with you, but now here we are, stuck watching movies all night.”

“It’s not like we haven’t stayed up all night watching before!”

Chen Xiao chuckled and started watching.

However, with nearly a hundred tapes to sift through, watching each without fast-forwarding wasn’t feasible, as who knows how long that would take. So Chen Xiao kept fast-forwarding.

Luckily, he had the “Power of Capture”, and even though the fast-forwarding resulted in blurred images, he could still discern if there were any issues.

Yet, despite that, even with everyone working together, by the next morning there were still no findings.

Moreover, some police officers couldn’t help but laugh and comment: “I used to think watching movies was enjoyable, but tonight I realized it can also be a torment!”

Everyone shared a laugh.

Though none of the officers shirked or slacked off from their duties.

Chen Xiao finished another tape and was loading a new one when he suddenly heard a familiar-sounding voice!

“Is it all taken care of?”

Just five words, and though the voice sounded much younger than in Chen Xiao’s mind, he instinctively turned toward the source.

It was a videotape being watched by a female officer!

She, too, was sluggish after watching so many tapes, not responding immediately.

Only when Chen Xiao reached her side did she snap to attention, exclaiming:

“It’s actually hidden in the tapes!”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep