Colleague asked, “Do we really have to find that criminal first? Where should we look? Should we check all the street surveillance one by one?”

　　The Vault said, “Since Julia Campbell was able to think about the surveillance in the neighborhood and at home, she might also have considered the nearby street cameras. So, in order to buy time, she probably had the other party prepare in advance. The surveillance in the surrounding area might not have captured the suspect’s face clearly, which would make the search area much larger.”

　　The colleague let out a weary sigh. The words “the area is large” were what he feared most, and tears began to well up naturally. He raised his hand to wipe the imaginary tears from the corner of his eye.

　　The Vault said, “When did Julia Campbell start contacting that person? Was it when she mistakenly thought she had killed Michael Wood? Or when she was living alone in the hospital, feeling helpless and isolated? Or perhaps, after being diagnosed with stomach cancer and realizing no one around her cared? Or even earlier, when she found out she was HIV positive and her life fell into darkness?”

　　The colleague turned his head, looking at her expectantly.

　　The Vault said in a low voice, “Humans are fragile. The more vulnerable they are, the more they need the care of others. A man willing to take the blame for her and stage the scene must be very important to her.”

　　Compared to Michael Wood’s death, realizing Michael Wood’s coldness and ruthlessness was what truly broke Julia Campbell’s heart. After accepting this, Michael Wood’s death was no longer something to grieve over; for her, it was actually a kind of relief.

　　Julia Campbell endured the pain alone in the hospital for two days. She was just an ordinary person—during that time, wouldn’t she have wanted to confide in someone?

　　The Vault said, “Let’s go check the hospital.”

　　The colleague nodded immediately. “Okay.”

　　·

　　Julia Campbell received treatment at a private hospital near the villa district. The hospital had good landscaping, comprehensive surveillance equipment, and not many inpatients, so the service was relatively thorough.

　　She stayed on the third floor at the time.

　　The two of them walked through the quiet outpatient building to the inpatient department at the back, and followed the signs directly up to the third floor.

　　In the spacious and bright corridor, a nurse came out of a ward not far away, pushing a cart and checking patients’ temperatures in each room.

　　The Vault went over and called out to her, taking out her credentials to show her identity, and said, “Hello. I’d like to ask if you remember Julia Campbell, who stayed in room 316 a couple of days ago?”

　　The nurse barely hesitated and nodded. “I know. She’s the lady who suffered domestic violence and was diagnosed with stomach cancer, right? We tried to contact her family, but none of them showed up.”

　　The Vault put her credentials back in her chest pocket and asked, “Do you remember if any friends came to visit her?”

　　The nurse shook her head. “I don’t think so. At least, the front desk didn’t register anyone. She was always alone, and we even helped her with the discharge procedures.”

　　The Vault’s partner pursed his lips and said, “Think again. A man, shoe size 44, about 1.83 meters tall.”

　　“Really, no.” The nurse’s tone became firm. “At least, no one came into the inpatient department to see her, otherwise we would know. We all remembered her quite well, especially since something happened at her home recently, right? We all double-checked.”

　　The young officer let out a barely audible sigh.

　　The Vault kept smiling and continued to ask, “When Julia Campbell wasn’t in her room, where would she usually go?”

　　The nurse seemed a bit embarrassed to meet her gaze, her voice lowering. “The patients here all have pretty good family backgrounds. Besides, Ms. Li was in a very bad mood. When she went out for some peace and quiet, she didn’t like us following her. But she definitely didn’t leave the hospital, otherwise we would know.”

　　After a moment’s thought, she added, “Most patients usually go to the garden downstairs to relax. There’s a lawn out back, with nice sunshine and a good view.”

　　The Vault asked, “Is there surveillance over there?”

　　“Yes, quite a lot actually,” the nurse replied. “You can get the footage from our security office.”

　　“Thank you.” The Vault gave her a bright smile. “Thank you for your cooperation.”

　　The nurse blushed slightly. “Glad to help. I’ll get back to work now.” With that, she hurried off, her quick steps almost like a shy escape.

　　The colleague nudged The Vault with his elbow, waggling his eyebrows suggestively. “Wow, boss, you’re quite the charmer.”

　　The Vault: “……” Charmer or not, she didn’t have any tools for committing a crime, so forget it.

　　·

　　Although this was a private hospital, the staff were very cooperative with the police investigation. The administrator quickly provided the surveillance footage from the past two days as requested.

　　However, The Vault didn’t know exactly when Julia Campbell would go out for a walk or where she would meet someone. They could only watch the entrance of the inpatient department to confirm the relevant times, then have the administrator pull up footage from specific locations based on the timeline and Julia Campbell’s movements.

　　The staff in the surveillance room actively helped share the workload, keeping an eye on the screens to spot Julia Campbell.

　　This process felt especially long. The live-streaming administrator even enlarged the surveillance footage to half the screen, letting online viewers experience the “joy” together.

　　After more than two hours, The Vault successfully reconstructed Julia Campbell’s activities in the hospital.

　　On the first day at noon, Julia Campbell sat alone on a bench, staring blankly. She sat there for a while, then buried her face in her hands and started crying. In the end, she kept wiping her tears with the back of her hand, trying to stay calm.

　　That silent footage told the whole story of her loneliness and pain.

　　By evening, she went out again, bought a bowl of porridge at the nearby cafeteria, and ate it in the pavilion in the garden. Then she just sat there, waiting for the nurse to call her back.

　　On the second day, Julia Campbell went to the garden again, sitting in a corner. Not long after, a strong adult man approached and sat beside her. The two talked for a while, seemed to argue, and finally the man stormed off angrily.

　　But the man didn’t actually leave. About forty-five minutes later, the man in the footage returned with a bag of takeout. Julia Campbell leaned on his shoulder and cried.

　　The man hadn’t taken any precautions when coming to the hospital. He was dressed lightly, his face fully visible, clearly captured by the cameras.

　　“This is the guy.” The Vault pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her stinging eyes. “Please give us this segment of the footage. Thank you for your help.”

　　The enthusiastic middle-aged man smiled and said, “No problem, happy to serve the people.”

　　·

　　The Vault hurried back to the police station with the footage, while viewers in the livestream let out a collective sigh of relief.

　　“I’ve been watching surveillance in the livestream until my eyes are about to go blind. Why do I do this to myself?”

　　“If San Yao keeps this up, I won’t love it anymore.”

　　“Even though the camera is high-definition, I still think the footage from that distance is pretty blurry. How did they spot Julia Campbell so quickly?”

　　“I’ll never casually say ‘go check the surveillance’ again. It’s only been two hours and I can’t take it anymore. This is torture, seriously.”

　　“This character was hidden so well, only showing up at the end—really has the vibe of a final boss.”

　　“Every plot twist happens in a way I never expected. Impressive, my friend.”

Chapter 36: Evidence Collection

　　With a clear, high-resolution photo of the suspect’s face, his identity was quickly determined.

　　Spencer Lewis, 32 years old, registered as unemployed, home address: XXX.

　　After obtaining the necessary documents, the police immediately went to make the arrest.

　　When the police showed up, Spencer Lewis barely resisted. He was only surprised for a moment—perhaps he hadn’t expected to be exposed in less than two days. But he quickly accepted the reality, silently followed the police back to the station, and went with them to the lab for a footprint analysis.

　　However, this didn’t mean he was willing to cooperate. Once in the interrogation room, Spencer Lewis didn’t say a word, no matter how the interrogators accused or persuaded him—he refused to reveal any facts.

　　Even when the police showed him the shoe prints found at the scene and told him about the criminal charges he would face once the results came back, he didn’t try to argue.

　　His silent, withdrawn demeanor made it hard to connect him with the brutal act of mutilating a corpse.

　　The Vault asked a friend in another department to check Spencer Lewis’s bank accounts and found that he hadn’t received any large transfers recently. His account had an irregular monthly income from an online platform—he made money by streaming games, but not much.

　　After several hours of stalemate, the footprint analysis came back, confirming a match with the prints found in Michael Wood’s home. This proved The Vault’s suspicions were correct.

　　Unfortunately, this only proved that Spencer Lewis was the one who mutilated the corpse. There was still no direct evidence linking Julia Campbell to the case.

　　One by one, the team members went in to talk to him, trying every method to get him to reveal the mastermind behind the scenes, but all came back empty-handed.