spy on

At around eight o'clock in the morning, the Criminal Investigation Office of the City Bureau was already overcrowded.
Together with Zhao Zifeng, the technical department analyzed and disassembled the junk MMS message non-stop.
Not long after, Liu Wei grabbed the car keys and ran up from downstairs.
"Boss, I'm back."

He sat down at the conference table and slapped his phone on the table.
He casually touched the sweat on his head before reporting.
"When I went, Xu Ting's parents just came back from the morning market to buy vegetables.
I asked them to call and video call Xu Ting in front of me.
I recorded it all, and the video content is here.”

Zhao Yue connected his mobile phone to the projector and projected the picture on the big screen.
"But Boss, I think Xu Ting is in good condition.
Smiling, radiant, and relaxed in tone.
While telling her parents about the places she has been to and what she has eaten in the past few days, she is still asking her parents how they are doing these days.
We can chat for almost 10 minutes."

A police officer from the technical department raised his hand aside.
"During the call, we located the location of Xu Ting's WeChat, and the signal was indeed in country Y.
However, Zhao Yue received this text message from a local mobile phone number, and the IP address it sent was in China."

Liu Wei was a little confused for a moment.
"No, what do you mean?
Does that mean that the person who sent the message to Zhao Yue was not Xu Ting.
Lost her cell phone?
No, didn't you say that she ran away at the transit airport?
Why are people abroad again?"

Zhao Zifeng shook his head, typed a few lines of code on the keyboard, and then pressed Enter.
"Look."

He pointed to the video call being played on the screen.
"In the picture, the space she is in should be a hotel room.
The curtains behind him were closed, and the lights were brightly lit.
At first glance, it may be because it is very early, Xu Ting has just woken up, and has not had time to open the curtains.
But based on the transcripts I visited at the boss’s side and the copied phone call records, I sorted out all the conversations with Xu Ting’s parents after she left home and reported her safety.
Although the time is not very regular, but there is something very strange."

Zhao Yue yelled.
"Don't be a lunatic, say it quickly."

Zhao Zifeng nodded.
"Among them, all the video calls are surprisingly regular.
早上五点到06:30之间，晚上09:30到10:30之间.”

Liu Wei and Zhao Yue still didn't understand what it meant.
"What are you talking about, it's not normal.
Xu Ting's parents are both retired teachers, and their daily work and rest are very regular.
Xu Ting has been living with her parents since she graduated, and she also knows the routine of her parents, so what's wrong with calling to report her safety sooner or later?"

Fang Ning on the side suddenly blinked.
"You want to say that Xu Ting is almost always in the hotel when making video calls.
And the curtains were closed and the lights were bright.
Maybe she deliberately chose such a time and environment to make a video call with her parents?"

Zhao Zifeng hurriedly nodded to Fangning.
"That's right, look at Xu Ting in the video again.
Although at first glance, she behaves normally and speaks fluently.
The dialogue with the parents is also very tacit.
But don't you think her expression is a bit too single?"

Everyone present raised their heads almost at the same time, looking at Xu Ting in the video.
Zhao Yue tilted her head, looked at it for a long time, and murmured.
"You mean, the person in the video is not Xu Ting?
Was it someone who looked exactly like her pretending to be her?
What a fool, madman, how is it possible.
Xu Ting is an only child, in this world it is so easy to find two unrelated people who look so similar."

Zhao Zifeng shook his head again.
"You're only half right.
What I want to say is that the person in the video is indeed not Xu Ting.
But not someone who looks exactly like her.
This is a picture that has been processed with fine technology.
To put it simply, it is AI face changing.”

There was an uproar among the people present.
Zhao Yueteng stood up from the chair suddenly, pointed at the screen and hesitated for a long time.
"Is this a picture synthesized by a computer?"

She ran to the screen and watched it closely for a long time.
Another police officer from the technical department explained aloud.
"Not exactly synthetic.
It can be determined that the person is indeed a real person, only the face has been replaced.
Of course, this kind of method, which is often used in telecom fraud, is not so proficient.
If you simply record video, it may be better processed later.
But if it is a direct video call like this, two relative conditions need to be met.
First, the space where the person is located must have sufficient lighting conditions, but it cannot be an outdoor environment with an overly complex background and complex natural light reflections.
In this way, it is difficult to ensure the stability of the setting parameters when processing the picture.
Second, to ensure the flexibility of the facial muscles of the person in the picture, a large number of Xu Ting's own facial images must be collected in advance."

Fang Ning also understood.
"That is to say, what is certain now is that Xu Ting has been controlled with a high probability.
Even forced to record facial information.
The content of this multimedia message was sent quietly without the other party's knowledge.
Maybe it’s asking for help, maybe it’s sending out some special information.”

Lu Lingyou raised his hand and knocked on the table twice, calling the people who were in a daze back to their senses, and he turned to look at Zhao Zifeng.
"From now on, we will officially monitor Xu Ting's parents' mobile phones in real time.
Has the location of the local mobile phone number for sending MMS been confirmed?"

Zhao Zifeng nodded.
"It's at a seaside resort hotel where her flight was transiting.
But that's just where the signal is when an MMS is sent.
Because the phone is turned off again after the transmission, there is no guarantee that the signal will always be there.”

Lu Lingyou frowned and thought for a moment.
"Contact the people from the local task force, and first go quietly in other names to find out who will be staying recently, and remember not to startle the snake."

After speaking, he looked at Liu Wei again.
"You send two people to squat near Xu Ting's parents' house and watch out for any suspicious people around.
Don't restrict the activities of Xu Ting's parents, keep a distance, be natural.
But keep both of you safe."

Liu Wei nodded, picked up the phone and walked out.
"Zhao Zifeng and colleagues from the technical department continued to decipher the MMS content.
Before noon today, I want to know the conclusion.
Xu Ting took such a big risk not to send such a message, the content here must be very important.
Maybe it's her life-saving talisman, maybe it's a very crucial clue."

Zhao Zifeng nodded vigorously.
"Understood boss."

As soon as the voice fell, the landline behind everyone suddenly rang.
Zhao Yue walked over to pick up the phone, hummed twice, and suddenly became more and more unhappy.
After hanging up the phone, she looked towards the conference table with a bitter face.
"Boss, I just received a notice from the district police station.
At around 07:30 this morning, a male body was found in the middle of the Xishui River in the south of the city.
It was the uncle who was fishing by the river at that time who first reported the case.
Because the fishhook hooked the belt on the corpse entangled in aquatic plants, several people worked together to pull out a pile of garbage.
The identity of the deceased has just been confirmed over there."

After a pause, she continued with difficulty.
"The deceased was the staff member who signed an organ donation agreement with Cheng Che's mother and son.
Jin Youwei."