Chapter 269: Ghost in the Urban Village, Su Ming’s Outstanding Clues and Deductive Method

Inside the Yangliu Criminal Investigation Detachment of Jiahe City.

Su Ming and his team were still in the Criminal Investigation Technology Section, meticulously reviewing the Sky Eye Surveillance footage.

Earlier, they had already identified Ghost, who had disguised himself as a hotel staff member, through the Sky Eye Surveillance. The most crucial task now was undoubtedly to continue uncovering his current hiding place.

Chen Sheng patted the back of a young officer in the tech section, urging him.

“Xiao Li, keep tracking him. Find out where Ghost is hiding as soon as possible.”

Now that they had found Ghost and had a preliminary grasp of his movements, they had to quickly follow this lead and continue the investigation to have a chance of capturing the cunning and cautious Ghost.

At this moment, the young officer in the Criminal Investigation Technology Section was retrieving footage from numerous surrounding Sky Eye Surveillance cameras to determine the direction in which Ghost had fled.

Without Su Ming’s prior reminder, they might have subconsciously overlooked those wearing Saisi Hotel uniforms. This is a classic pitfall of rigid thinking caused by extensive criminal investigation experience.

After carefully comparing the Sky Eye Surveillance footage for several minutes, Xiao Li from the Criminal Investigation Technology Section turned to Su Ming and the others with a serious expression.

“Team Leader Su, Captain Xu, Chief Chen, we can’t precisely confirm Ghost’s exact hiding place. Based on the surveillance footage, we can only determine that Ghost last entered this Urban Village.”

“But the roads in this Urban Village are extremely complex, and we don’t have much official surveillance set up there. Relying solely on the Sky Eye Surveillance, it’s… very difficult to pinpoint Ghost’s exact location.”

Hearing this, Chen Sheng frowned and explained in a low voice, “Jiahe City is a city with a net population loss. Every year, many migrant workers come to work here, and the low-rent Urban Village naturally becomes their first choice.”

“Rough estimates suggest that this Urban Village houses at least fifty to sixty thousand workers. The government once considered demolishing the Urban Village because the complex population, including many hidden illegal activities, has significantly tarnished the city’s image.”

“However, implementing such a plan is extremely challenging. First, there’s the issue of relocating tens of thousands of people, which is a huge problem. The government can’t just decide to demolish and ignore these workers who contribute to Jiahe City’s development.”

“Secondly, there’s the issue of demolition compensation. With the cooling of the real estate market in recent years, the compensation for large-scale demolitions and the return on subsequent commercial housing developments have become a headache for many companies, making them hesitant to proceed.”

“So this Urban Village has remained until now, with no good solution in sight. Finding Ghost among the many residential buildings here is indeed a daunting task, and it’s unrealistic to search each building one by one.”

Clearly, as the head of the Yangliu Criminal Investigation Brigade, Chen Sheng was extremely familiar with the various special situations and details of Jiahe City’s jurisdiction. Hearing that Ghost was hiding in this Urban Village left him at a loss for how to decisively extract Ghost.

However, compared to Chen Sheng’s concern and seriousness, Su Ming’s expression remained calm as he spoke.

“That’s not right, Chief Chen. Although Ghost is hiding in the Urban Village, the difficulty of finding him isn’t as high as you think. Your investigative direction is wrong.”

“You started from the Urban Village, thinking that extracting Ghost from such a chaotic, winding, and closely spaced area would be unimaginably difficult. But actually, we should focus on Ghost himself. Whether it’s the Urban Village or a newly built apartment, Ghost is our primary target.”

“Currently, one thing we can confirm is that Ghost’s previous disguise was very successful. He doesn’t believe there’s a chance of exposure. This means that after the Lan Cai’er case, Ghost wouldn’t have taken special precautions or prepared an escape route.”

“So if Ghost is hiding in the Urban Village, it indicates that he only became concerned in the past few days, after the Drug Trafficking Organization was exposed. Ghost would worry that we might trace the leads back to him through other members, prompting him to rent a room.”

“While the Urban Village has many cheap inns and family hostels, if I’m not mistaken, to prevent frequent incidents, Chief Chen, your team must require these substandard inns to register IDs, right?”

This question made Chen Sheng pause before nodding quickly. “Yes, we do. A few years ago, due to the difficulty in managing the Urban Village and the frequent security incidents like theft and disorder, we strongly required all cheap inns, youth hostels, and internet cafes to register IDs.”

“If found not registering, the first offense results in a fine of five thousand, and the second leads to the revocation of the business license. So far, around five businesses have had their licenses revoked, so other owners are definitely not taking any chances.”

With Chen Sheng’s confirmation, Su Ming nodded, tapping his right hand on his left as he continued.

“So now we can rule out the possibility of Ghost temporarily staying at cheap inns or internet cafes. Ghost wouldn’t dare use the Skin Mask made by Qiang Wei, so naturally, the ID prepared by K for him can’t be used.”

“Ghost would have to use his own ID to stay at cheap inns or internet cafes. But these ID registrations are connected to our police network, and I don’t think Ghost would make such a foolish mistake.”

“Now there’s only one possibility left. After we exposed Zhou Shirui, Ghost took the opportunity to come to this Urban Village and rented a room from a landlord.”

“Inns require ID registration, but renting doesn’t seem to. Landlords usually just check the ID and take a photo. At that time, Qiang Wei hadn’t been exposed, so Ghost could wear a Skin Mask in public and use the fake identity created by K to rent a long-term room.”

“Moreover, renting in the Urban Village is very basic. Some don’t even sign rental contracts; landlords just need to receive the rent on time each month.”

“All this information suggests that starting with the landlords to find Ghost would be the best approach.”

Su Ming paused for a couple of seconds, then continued confidently.

“This Urban Village has its own ecosystem. At least eighty percent of the landlords aren’t the original owners but secondary landlords profiting from the rent difference.”

“These secondary landlords have a group where they expose destructive or unhygienic tenants and control the rental market.”

“In other words, if they want to raise rents, they do it together, so no one raises rent while another doesn’t.”

“So our current direction should be to find these secondary landlords in the Urban Village and have them immediately inform us who has rented from them in the past few days.”

“Since Ghost’s original identity is very secretive, he wouldn’t maintain the fake identity associated with the Skin Mask.”

“By obtaining a list of recent renters from the landlords and using social traces to search, judge, and identify the building where Ghost is hiding, we can truly uncover the hidden Ghost!”