In the business car of the National Bureau of Statistics, the front desk waiter of the Fuer Tea House recognized He Yan's photo and shouted hurriedly: "I remember! I remember this person!"
Guo Zhengdao asked hurriedly: "What kind of impression? Tell me!"
The waiter touched the back of his head and said, "I remember this person came here two or three times."
The boss reminded him, "Xiao Li, think carefully and make sure you don't make any mistakes. These are all officers from the National Bureau of Investigation... They are investigating a very important case."
The waiter thought for a moment and said in a positive tone, "Yes, it's him. The main thing is that every time he comes, he will meet someone. That person always likes to wear a baseball cap and cover it tightly, making it quite mysterious. Our teahouse is of high quality. The guests who come here are all distinguished guests, and they are all dressed very decently. There are very few people like this, so I am deeply impressed."
Guo Zhengdao's eyes lit up, and he asked again: "What does that person look like? Can you still remember it?"
The waiter tried to recall and finally shook his head: "I have never seen his specific appearance. He always covers his face tightly every time he comes, and we don't need to fill water during the meal. Besides, our teahouse is very crowded every day. Apart from regular customers, I don't have much impression of the faces of other customers."
Hearing this, Guo Zhengdao thought for a moment and said to the waiter, "You have to go back with us to cooperate with the investigation, but you don't have to be afraid. It's just normal work and we won't make things difficult for you."
As he said that, he turned his head, looked at the boss and said, "Also, you have to retrieve all the surveillance videos in the teahouse within the past three or four months."
"Our teahouse has never been involved in any illegal or criminal activities, and the customers who come here are relatively high-end, so the surveillance footage is generally not kept for too long." The boss said cooperatively: "But don't worry, I will go back and check the background for you. I will try my best to get you the surveillance footage at the door, in the lobby, and in the parking lot!"
Guo Zhengdao nodded and reminded him, "Okay, then you all come with me first. Also, this matter must be kept strictly confidential, you can't tell anyone. Otherwise, you will be in trouble."
"Don't worry, we guarantee our cooperation!"
"Yes, sir, look, I'll turn off my phone now."
The owners of this store are obviously worldly-wise. They are very cooperative and have "heartfelt" respect for the people from the National Bureau of Statistics.
Guo Zhengdao turned his head and glanced at Brother Qiu who was sitting next to him: "I'm almost done here, do you have anything else to ask?"
"That's all, go back." Brother Qiu waved his hand.
"Okay, drive!"
Guo Zhengdao gave an order, the driver started the car, and the group quickly returned to the Quantong Bureau.
…
Half an hour later, everyone returned to the bureau and found Gu Baishun and Liu Hongxu waiting in the conference room.
Guo Zhengdao stood in front of the two and reported truthfully: "Director Gu, according to our investigation, this He Yan went to the teahouse twice and met people there twice. It is suspected that he was in contact with his superiors."
Hearing this, Gu Baishun waved his hand without thinking, and said, "Check it out. We'll work overtime tonight. Inform the brothers below to have an extra meal tonight. Order whatever you want. It's my treat."
"I understand! Thank you, Director Gu!" Guo Zhengdao left the office immediately.
Gu Baishun glanced at Liu Hongxu and said, "Director Liu, do you want to go back and rest first, or wait here?"
Liu Hongxu smiled and said, "We finally found a breakthrough, I'll stay here for now."
"Okay, then I'll go back to the office first. If you have any problems, just come to me directly." Gu Baishun nodded, then stood up and left the meeting room.
…
Soon, the people from the Security Department and the National Bureau of Statistics arranged a work plan.
A large number of intelligence personnel from the Security Department entered the National Bureau of Statistics and began to look through the surveillance videos, watching them frame by frame.
Although there is a specific date range for monitoring over several months, it requires very careful checking and the workload is huge.
Five or six hours later, Brother Qiu stared at a surveillance video, his eyes were bloodshot and his head began to feel dizzy.
He took a big gulp of coffee, but his intense sleepiness did not subside at all. He could hardly open his eyelids and his heart was beating wildly.
He stood up and glanced at the other people in the office area. Many of them also had their eyes wide open and looked confused.
Brother Qiu thought for a moment, pushed his chair away, went to the office to find Guo Zhengdao, and said to him: "Director Guo, our people have not slept for the past few days and they can't stand it anymore..."
Guo Zhengdao said to Brother Qiu with great understanding: "It's okay, it's okay. You guys go back and have a rest. Let our people do the rest of the work."
"Okay, we'll take over when you're tired."
The two parties quickly handed over their work. The people from the Security Department went back to rest first, while the people from the Investigation Section of the National Bureau of Statistics continued to check the surveillance.
…
Another two hours passed.
The entire office area was very quiet. No one spoke. Everyone stared at the screen intently, with only the clicking sound of the mouse.
Guo Zhengdao took a sip of coffee to refresh himself and continued watching the surveillance video.
At this moment, a clerk nearby shouted, "Director, we have found something."
"Let me see!" Guo Zhengdao was shocked and immediately stood up and walked to the clerk.
The clerk flipped through the video footage and saw He Yan's figure.
"Who is he meeting?"
"Here."
The officer continued to drag the timeline to freeze the picture on one frame. A man wearing a black windbreaker and a peaked cap appeared in the camera.
But the other person's figure was very blurry, and he was covered very tightly, so it was difficult to identify him. But judging from his general shape, he should be a man.
"Keep pulling it forward." Guo Zhengdao frowned and gave the order.
The clerk dragged the mouse, and in the screen, the contact man came in from the side door of the teahouse and went straight up the stairs without facing the camera the whole time.
Another hour later, another officer discovered the scene of the two men's first meeting, but the man also came in from the side door and flashed by in the scene.
Guo Zhengdao was frowning. He asked the people from the investigation department to check the reservation records of the teahouse according to the date of surveillance.
But when the records were sent over, it was discovered that the bookers had all used aliases, and no clues could be found at all.
The chief of the investigation department smoked a cigarette and said to Guo Zhengdao with a headache: "It's not easy. This guy has strong anti-reconnaissance capabilities."
Guo Zhengdao took a sip of coffee, thought for a moment, and said based on his experience: "Let's check the car. Look through the surveillance video of the parking lot for those two days. If there's no information in the parking lot, check the surveillance video of the nearby streets."
"Okay!" The chief of the investigation section stamped out his cigarette butt and went to look through the surveillance footage of that day himself.
…
At the same time, people from the Information Department also went to the traffic unit near the For Tea House and the Police Department. They did not tell the other party the reason, but only retrieved a large amount of surveillance archives from the two meetings on the grounds of cooperating with the work, and asked everyone in the other party's unit to sign a confidentiality agreement.
In this way, I stayed up for half a night, until the early morning of the next day, when I finally got news.
The mysterious man wearing a black windbreaker and a baseball cap was spotted in the surveillance footage at the intersection of the two streets.
The National Bureau of Statistics immediately retrieved all nearby footage according to the timeline, and the man’s movements began to be discovered in large numbers.
Some shots including him driving and walking were captured, but he kept his face covered with a baseball cap, so his appearance could not be seen clearly.
Guo Zhengdao sat in front of the computer, looking at the other person's figure. For some reason, he always felt that he was somewhat familiar.
He took a look at the car the man was driving and found it was a very ordinary SUV.
He had someone check the license plate number, and it was also fake.
Guo Zhengdao thought for a long time, and his eyes suddenly fell on the lower left corner of the car window in the picture, and he was attracted by a small blue object.
"Zoom in here and take a look!"
"yes!"
After zooming in, you can vaguely see that this blue object looks like a pass, but the graininess is too strong to tell what unit it is.
Guo Zhengdao thought for a moment, then turned around and ordered, "Tell the Information Department to find a way to restore this pass for me! Go now!"