CHAPTER 222: CHAPTER 158: WHERE DID THE ERROR OCCUR?

Wan said, "Before setting off, we saw the surveillance footage, and the last position was near the Chuan Bear Restaurant."

Li Jian nodded. "Let’s go!"

"We’ll follow the walking path of Chen Minghao from the footage, and check for any suspicious places along the way."

minutes later.

The two arrived at the entrance of Chuan Bear Restaurant on foot.

It was 10:10 in the morning.

The young clerk had just opened the door of the tavern.

Li Jian and Wan approached.

Wan showed his police badge in front of him.

"Hello, we are officers from the Jiangcheng Police Team."

"There’s a case we need your assistance with."

The clerk opening the door looked surprised.

He said, "Officers, coming to inspect public order so early?"

"There’s currently no one in the shop."

Wan leaned in to look inside; the tables and chairs were neatly arranged, and it was evidently not yet open for business.

"Don’t misunderstand."

"We’re not here to check on customers, we’re here to see you."

Upon hearing this, the young guy at the door looked even more terrified.

He raised his hand and pointed at himself, "Me?"

"What do you want with me?"

"I haven’t done anything illegal."

"If something happened in the store, you should talk to the boss, I’m just a worker."

Wan’s mouth formed a slight smile, "Selling out the boss in just 2 minutes?"

He immediately took out a photo of Chen Minghao from his briefcase.

"Do you know this man?"

The young man opposite took a closer look and then said, "Isn’t this the customer from the night before last?"

"You know him?"

Li Jian asked.

"Not really familiar, but he drank here the night before last. There was a fight, so I remember him vividly."

"A fight? When did that happen?"

Li Jian raised an eyebrow, urgently asking.

"About the night before last, around 12:30 a.m., I think."

"Tell us the details of what happened then."

Standing by, Wan immediately took out a notebook and began jotting down notes.

"The night before last, I happened to be on duty, around 12:30 a.m., this man and another couple had an altercation and were pushing each other."

"Luckily, security arrived in time to pull them apart."

After a slight recollection, the young clerk said, "At that time, the couple seemed to be accusing the man of being trash and a thug."

"However, I don’t know the specific reason, and later they all left one after another."

After contemplating for a moment, Li Jian asked, "Does your shop have any surveillance records?"

"Yes! Absolutely!"

"According to regulations, such places must have surveillance footage."

"Let’s go check it out."

minutes later, the three of them arrived at the cramped surveillance room.

About 4 square meters, with two monitors on a simple table.

Wan sat down, moved the mouse, and quickly found the footage from around 10:00 the night before last.

At 10:30, Chen Minghao pushed open the tavern door and walked in alone.

After entering, he went straight to a table near the northeast corner.

The table was already surrounded by four men.

Li Jian watched the surveillance record and said, "Are these four people his friends?"

The young clerk thought for a moment and said, "They should be friends, I guess."

Then the video surveillance played at double speed until 1:40 a.m.

It was only then that Chen Minghao and the other four left the tavern together.

However, the surveillance coverage was narrow, and after the five walked out of the tavern door, there were no further recordings.

Li Jian turned and asked, "Is there a high-definition camera outside your tavern?"

The clerk shook his head, "Our shop doesn’t have any outdoor cameras installed."

Next, Wan opened another folder and clicked on a surveillance video file.

Compared to the previous playback speed, this video played very slowly, and they weren’t sure when the couple entered the tavern.

minutes later, Wan finally pinpointed when they entered the tavern.

At 9:10 p.m., the couple entered the tavern.

At 12:15 a.m., the couple had a verbal altercation with Chen Minghao.

However, the altercation happened at the restroom entrance.

At 12:50 a.m., the couple left the tavern.

Seeing this, Li Jian said, "These surveillance videos don’t have sound, so there’s no way to tell what they were saying."

"Back then, you were quite close to them, do you know why they argued?"

The young clerk tried to recall.

"I remember that couple was really angry, the woman kept calling him a scumbag."

"And in the scuffle, the man in the photo got the worse end."

"I remember when the couple was leaving, they said, ’I’ll beat you every time I see you.’"

After a slight pause, the male clerk said, "However, it was quite strange."

"At that time, I remember the man in the photo was only defending and didn’t retaliate."

Hearing this, Jiang An fell into thought.

From the surveillance earlier, it could be seen that Chen Minghao indeed had a drink after entering the tavern.

However, his condition appeared quite normal on the surveillance.

He went alone to the restroom, walking normally.

In such a situation, why didn’t he strongly resist when attacked?

Suddenly, Li Jian recalled a clue Chen He mentioned in today’s meeting.

Could it be that this woman was the employee who was bullied back in the day?

At this moment.

Jiang An and Zhang Yean were not idle either.

During the morning meeting, Li Jian assigned a new task to Jiang An.

After all, Jiang An was the leader of the Homicide Task Force, and his future role wasn’t just limited to forensic work.