The footage continued.
The unidentified man stood in the back alley for about seven minutes. During that time, he pulled out his phone to check it several times and paced back and forth in the alley, as if deliberating over something.
10:35 PM—the employee passage's iron door opened.
Chen Wan walked out.
Yin Wuwang stared at Chen Wan in the footage. The black-and-white image didn't show facial expressions, but his body language was clear—quick steps, relaxed posture. He walked toward the man, and the two stood together exchanging a few words.
The conversation wasn't long—about two minutes.
Then Chen Wan turned and went back through the iron door. The man stood in place for another moment. His expression was impossible to read, but from his body language—his shoulders slumped, hands shoved forcefully back into his pockets, and he turned to leave the back alley with quick steps.
"Looks like he was rejected." Yin Wuwang said.
Xie Qingyan gave a slight nod. "Chen Wan's attitude was polite but firm. The answer that man received wasn't what he wanted."
Yin Wuwang turned his head slightly to glance at Xie Qingyan. Both of them had read the same conclusion from two minutes of silent footage.
Three thousand years of cultivated understanding—not just anyone could have that.
Continue watching.
10:52 PM—Zhang Yunxiang exited through the main entrance. His gait was even more unsteady than when he'd gone in—he'd drunk quite a bit more. He didn't leave via the main entrance direction but circled around to the side alley, heading toward the back.
10:54 PM—Zhang Yunxiang appeared in the back alley footage.
He shoved open the employee passage's iron door.
The footage couldn't show what happened inside the door—the camera angle only captured the back alley, not the passage interior.
11:03 PM—Zhang Yunxiang came running out of the iron door. Running frantically, stumbling, crashing into a garbage can in the alley. He didn't stop, just charged out through the alley entrance and disappeared from the footage.
Yin Wuwang mentally calculated: Zhang Yunxiang had gone in for nine minutes before running out.
Nine minutes. Enough time to knock someone unconscious with a bottle. But if you wanted to strangle someone to death...
Mechanical asphyxiation. Xie Qingyan's autopsy report had stated that strangulation required sustained pressure for at least three to five minutes. Zhang Yunxiang technically had enough time.
But the problem was—when Zhang Yunxiang ran out, he was panicked, not calm.
He looked like someone who'd just done something he couldn't believe himself, not a killer who'd completed his plan.
This matched the observations from interrogation. Zhang Yunxiang was forthcoming when saying "hit" but evasive when saying "killed." He knew he'd struck someone, but he wasn't sure if he'd actually killed anyone.
Because—he wasn't the one who killed.
Yin Wuwang looked at the next timestamp in the back alley footage.
After 11:03 PM, the back alley was empty.
11:07 PM, 11:12 PM, 11:15 PM—still no one.
11:18 PM.
A figure emerged from the shadows deeper in the back alley.
Yin Wuwang's eyes instantly narrowed.
That figure had been in the back alley the entire time. Not entering from the alley mouth, but hiding in the camera's blind spot all along—only emerging after Zhang Yunxiang left.
The figure walked to the employee passage's iron door and paused for a few seconds.
Then pushed the door open and went inside.
Yin Wuwang and Xie Qingyan spoke simultaneously.
Yin Wuwang said: "A third person."
Xie Qingyan said: "She was there the whole time."
Their voices overlapped. The technician jumped, nearly knocking the mouse off the table.
Yin Wuwang froze for a second—not because of the technician's reaction, but because Xie Qingyan had said "she."
"How do you know it's a woman?" He asked.
"Body proportions." Xie Qingyan said, gaze not leaving the screen. "The ratio of shoulder width to pelvis. Also, her stride is shorter, but the rhythm is very steady. She's not hurrying—she's deliberately controlling her movements."
Yin Wuwang rewatched that segment of footage.
Indeed. The figure's build was slender, steps measured, carrying a sense of suppressed restraint.
Fuguang's observational skills were as precise as ever. But now wasn't the time for admiration—who exactly was this figure hiding in the shadows?
"Replay that." Xie Qingyan told the technician. "10:28 to 10:35, enlarge the lower left."
The technician operated the controls. The man who'd been waiting in the back alley earlier reappeared on screen.
"This person," Xie Qingyan tapped the man on the screen with his finger, "is not the same as the figure who appeared at 11:18."
Yin Wuwang looked. Indeed not. The 10:28 man had a tall build with an impatient quality to his movements; the 11:18 figure was slender and small, with suppressed steadiness in her actions. Completely different body types.
"So on the night of the incident, at least three people appeared in the back alley." Yin Wuwang counted on his fingers. "Zhang Yunxiang, this man who came to talk to Chen Wan and was rejected, and that woman who was hiding in the shadows the whole time."
"Correct." Xie Qingyan leaned back in his chair, tilting his head slightly toward Yin Wuwang. "After Zhang Yunxiang knocked Chen Wan unconscious, he fled. This man had left even earlier. Only that woman—she was there from start to finish."
Yin Wuwang braced his hand on the table surface, body leaning forward, staring at the frozen image on screen. His arm happened to rest right next to Xie Qingyan's hand—their little fingers nearly touching.
"Look here." Yin Wuwang pointed to a detail on the screen with his other hand. "When she steps out of the shadows, there's no hesitation in her footsteps."
His voice was very close to Xie Qingyan's ear. Close enough that he could see the fine vellus hairs at the edge of Xie Qingyan's ear.
"Not a spur-of-the-moment decision," Yin Wuwang continued, voice dropping lower. "She waited for Zhang Yunxiang to leave before making her move—she'd been waiting for this opportunity all along."
Xie Qingyan turned his head slightly, his gaze colliding with Yin Wuwang's.
Too close. Yin Wuwang could see his own reflection in Xie Qingyan's eyes.
One second. Two seconds.
Xie Qingyan looked away first, refocusing on the screen.
"You're right." His voice was steady, as if nothing had happened. "Her behavioral pattern is premeditated. Scouting the location beforehand, observing the target, waiting for the right moment."
Yin Wuwang straightened up and stepped back half a pace.
His heart was beating a little fast. This had nothing to do with the case.
The technician beside them pretended he was air.
[End of V2_Chapter 23]
Next: A business registration, a name called "Long Wei Trading," and a former partner with a criminal record.