The Eerie Surveillance

Police Officer Han slumped back against the chair.

He'd been on the force for so many years, seen countless murder cases and all sorts of bizarre, peculiar cases.

No matter how strange or unusual a case seemed on the surface, when you meticulously peeled back the layers to uncover the truth, it always conformed to scientific logic.

But what had happened today? Not a single thing made any sense.

No amount of rigorous logic could explain:

Why a patient in an ICU in a deep coma could suddenly spring to life, pry open a hospital room window, and jump from the eighteenth floor without leaving a single drop of blood, only to vanish mysteriously;

Why a perfectly healthy person would suddenly age twenty to thirty years?

Even with a hundred thousand whys, Officer Han couldn't untangle the chaotic thoughts swirling in his mind.

Officer Han even let his imagination run wild, thinking about biological warfare, wondering if the patient had turned into a bloodthirsty zombie. In movies and TV shows, zombies certainly had that kind of ability.

But zombies were the most bloodthirsty; faced with so many fresh, living people, shouldn't they have gorged themselves and had a feast? Why would they disappear so strangely?

Of course, that was just his imagination. His scientific approach to casework told him zombies didn't exist.

The fall from the building and the aging incident, at first glance, seemed to have no connection.

But his intuition kept reminding Officer Han that bizarre events often had a high probability of being intrinsically linked.

"Xiao Jiang, what do you think..."

"I'll say it again: investigate those details first. Create a timeline. If you can find locations where they appeared together, the clues will definitely become much clearer."

"Mm, we've already gone to retrieve the surveillance footage. We should have a preliminary set of clues compiled soon."

"Xiao Jiang, before that, I might have to trouble you to stay a while longer. But don't misunderstand, this isn't mandatory, it's a request for your assistance in the investigation."

These words placed Jiang Yue in a very high position, and his tone was extremely polite.

Jiang Yue always returned a smile with a smile.

What's more, the officer's actions had legal basis, and expressing it in such a considerate way showed genuine respect.

No matter when, respect was always appreciated.

Jiang Yue wouldn't comment on Officer Han's professional abilities, but the man's style of speaking and handling matters was quite personable.

To pass the time, the two chatted for a long while.

Officer Han didn't shy away from discussing daily happenings at the police station, chatting and laughing with Jiang Yue, creating a very harmonious atmosphere.

Hearing Jiang Yue mention his hometown was Panshi Ridge, Officer Han couldn't help but bring up Mount Dajin, the landslide, and the buried bus.

The two couldn't help but sigh.

A knock came at the door, and a police officer entered with a stack of documents. He glanced at Jiang Yue, clearly quite surprised, wondering why the usually meticulous Captain Han was chatting so congenially with a young man today.

"Captain Han, these are the preliminary investigation results. We've compiled a timeline. There are also some surveillance screenshots. Please take a look."

Officer Han solemnly took the documents. "Xiao Lu, you can go back to your work now."

There weren't many pages, barely a dozen, and more than half were surveillance video screenshots, but Officer Han spent a full fifteen minutes looking through them.

"Xiao Jiang, why don't you help me take a look?" Officer Han actually pushed the entire folder over.

Jiang Yue's efficiency in reading documents was much higher. His photographic memory meant he didn't need to flip back and forth to compare.

A very clear timeline emerged.

10:50 AM: The nurse from Star City Second Hospital left the ICU ward.

10:53 AM: Sister He took the stairs from the seventeenth floor to the eighteenth floor and used the restroom on the eighteenth floor.

11:11 AM: The 78-year-old patient, Ke Yunshan, in the ICU broke the window and fell.

11:28 AM: Traffic control was implemented.

The report stated that according to the ICU ward surveillance, the nurse's actions while in the ICU were routine nursing duties, and no suspicious activity occurred.

"How is it?" Officer Han asked.

"The report doesn't mention the taxi driver at all? Did he not approach the ICU ward?"

"If he went there, the surveillance would have captured it. And the ICU is a separate floor; ordinary people wouldn't go up there. As for your neighbor, Ms. He, why she went to the ICU restroom, that's also a point of suspicion."

"There's not much to be suspicious about. Maybe she's just a germaphobe and felt the restroom on the seventeenth floor wasn't clean. The restrooms on the ICU floor are used less, so they're cleaner. Based on my understanding of her, this possibility is quite high."

"Officer Han, the suspicion is quite obvious."

"How so?"

"The taxi driver didn't go to the ICU floor, yet he experienced the same situation as those two. What does that tell you? Do you really need me to spell it out, Officer Han?"

"You mean?" Officer Han's expression was incredibly complex. "That patient left in that taxi?"

"You'll still need to check the surveillance to see when that car appeared at the hospital entrance. I'm guessing it was between 11:11 and 11:28 AM, roughly around 11:20 AM."

"And I, as the passenger after that fare, got into his car around 11:50 AM. The driver mentioned the traffic control then, and also that he had just picked up a fare at the Second Hospital."

Since traffic surveillance was managed by the police department, Officer Han easily retrieved the footage.

As expected, the taxi appeared on the hospital entrance surveillance footage, picking up a passenger at 11:22 AM.

On the monitor, the passenger was hunched over, their face completely blurred as if pixelated, impossible to make out. Their entire figure was indistinct and hazy, like a wisp of smoke, only a general outline visible. It was nothing like what normal surveillance footage should look like.

If it weren't for the fact that everyone else in the footage was perfectly normal, Officer Han would have suspected a equipment malfunction.

What kind of trickery is this?

To have such advanced technology nowadays that can make oneself appear as a blurry cloud in surveillance footage?

"Xiao Jiang... isn't this a bit too bizarre?"

For the first time, Officer Han felt that handling a case was so taxing, so helpless. He sadly realized his worldview was shattering.

"It is bizarre, but there's still a logical path to follow."

"Such as?"

"Such as the timeline. It matches perfectly. So, following the timeline, we can track where the taxi took them, where they got off, and where they're hiding..."

Speaking this much was already saying too much.

To continue would be like teaching the police how to do their job.

He wouldn't reveal anything deeper unless Officer Han asked directly. Jiang Yue certainly wouldn't volunteer information that the world wasn't reliable and that demons and monsters existed!

Officer Han suddenly sat up straight, looking at Jiang Yue in surprise. Once again, Jiang Yue's thoughts had coincided with his own.

His first thought had also been to track down the strange patient, Ke Yunshan.

Sitting in his chair, Officer Han hesitated.

Everything so far was a conclusion reached between him and Jiang Yue in private. Although there was video and material evidence, none of it constituted direct proof.

For one thing, the surveillance footage hadn't captured Ke Yunshan's face directly. The existing evidence couldn't prove that the passenger the taxi picked up was Ke Yunshan.

Would pursuing this rashly lead the investigation astray? Or even ruin it?

This was the most difficult situation Officer Han had encountered in his entire career.

Jiang Yue also had no intention of lingering. Thinking of San Gou's uncleaned pants and the strange, misty figure in the surveillance video, Jiang Yue couldn't say he wasn't worried.

They exchanged contact information, and Officer Han politely saw Jiang Yue to the door.

"Oh, right." As he was leaving, Jiang Yue remembered something.

"I have another piece of evidence at my home that might help Officer Han clarify the clues."

"Oh?" Officer Han's eyes lit up.

"Before I give you this evidence, I need to give you another warning. This matter is truly bizarre, and conventional thinking will likely put you at a disadvantage."

Officer Han pondered this, offering no immediate response. He started his car and gestured for Jiang Yue to get in.