Wu Peng returned to his office and sat at his desk, trying to sort out the clues of the case.

If the police found valid evidence that someone boarded the boat in the middle of the night, Jia Wenjun's criminal suspicion would be reduced. Although it wouldn't completely clear her name, it would at least add a new angle, improving her current situation.

He had been following this case from the beginning, watching it slowly shift from a dead end towards a glimmer of hope. Jia Wenjun's plan had played a significant role in this. He admired the woman's calmness and composure. The more he interacted with and understood her, the more he felt that she was incapable of pushing Zhao Di into the sea over a romantic dispute.

Who was it that wanted her dead?

Wu Peng rubbed his face with both hands, his mind racing through the clues and people involved in the case. Jia Wenjun had insisted from the start that the video of her pushing Zhao Di into the sea was fake, that the woman in the video was not her.

In Wu Peng's view, this boat approaching the Seashell in the middle of the night, at a time so close to when Zhao Di was pushed into the sea, suggested that Zhao Di's death was likely not as simple as the video evidence showed. The woman impersonating Jia Wenjun was likely from that boat. As long as Zhang Lin found that boat and followed the clues, Jia Wenjun would have a chance to clear her name.

"What are you thinking about so intently?" Qingzi asked, having approached unnoticed and placed a cup of coffee in front of Wu Peng.

"Thanks," Wu Peng said with a smile, accepting the coffee. He needed something to refresh his mind.

"You seem to be in a good mood. Is there progress in Jia Wenjun's case?" Qingzi asked.

"There is indeed some progress. There are new witnesses and clues. Before, we focused all our attention on the owners of the Seashell, but we didn't expect another boat to have approached the Seashell."

Qingzi was surprised. "Another boat?"

Wu Peng took a sip of coffee. "I was also surprised when I first heard about it."

"Has that boat been found yet?"

"I don't know how the police are doing with the search. It should be soon," Wu Peng said, with a hint of excitement in his voice. "Enough talk, I need to help with the search too."

"Where are you going to look?" Qingzi asked.

"I'm on my own, so I can't stake out the beaches like the police. But I can check the online fishing forums."

Qingzi shook her head speechlessly as she watched him, oblivious to the end of the workday, immersed in his work, and walked away.

Meanwhile, Zhang Lin circled the seaside. He was wearing plainclothes and photographed any boats of a suitable size, paying particular attention to the bow and edges of the hull for scratches or paint chips.

He looked around and touched things, so much that anyone who didn't know him would have thought he was just a tourist visiting the seaside city.

The phone rang. Zhang Lin answered, and Wu Peng's nonchalant voice came through. "It's me."

"Get to the point."

"Is this crossing the river and demolishing the bridge? I just helped you catch Brother Qian, and you're already turning your back on me?"

Realizing that Wu Peng had indeed been a great help in this matter, Zhang Lin's tone softened. "Do you have something to say or not?"

Wu Peng immediately changed his tone and lowered his voice. "Yes, is there any progress on the boat?"

Zhang Lin frowned. "Don't ask about things you shouldn't."

"Why shouldn't I ask? If it weren't for me, Teacher Lin wouldn't have provided you with this clue. Don't be so wary of me. Maybe if you tell me more, I can help you more."

Zhang Lin hesitated for a few seconds, thinking that cats have cat ways and dogs have dog ways, and told him about not finding the wooden boat at the fisheries administration.

"How can you investigate this kind of boat openly? People who use this kind of boat mostly have some illegal fishing income, commonly known as casting a small net. Even if you find them, they will refuse to cooperate because they themselves are not clean. You have to investigate this kind of thing secretly. Otherwise, tell me more, and I'll help you investigate."

Wu Peng's words suddenly reminded Zhang Lin, giving him an idea.

"I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm busy." He hung up the phone and drove to the police station.

Wu Peng was stunned, holding the phone with the dial tone and thinking: Zhang Lin's reaction, did he find something new?

Back at the office, Zhang Lin first learned about the horsepower of Anna's Seashell, and through the Maritime Safety Administration's ship GPS positioning data, found the last location and time of Anna's Seashell before it lost signal.

Then, through the Maritime Safety Administration's data analysis of distance, and based on the assessment of professionals, he investigated the ship engine suitable for this type of small boat, and then determined the amount of fuel needed for the boat following the Seashell, and searched for people who purchased the corresponding liters of gasoline at various gas stations.

Before it got dark, Zhang Lin took his men to the shipyard warehouse where the Seashell was stored again to check the hull and confirm his speculation.

"Captain, why are we looking at the stern?" Zhang Lin's team member felt strange watching Zhang Lin search around the stern of Anna's boat.

"Come here and take a picture of this," Zhang Lin said, pointing to a collision point on the edge of the stern.

"And here." The camera recorded some friction marks on the rear bolt of the Seashell.

"These are rope marks." Zhang Lin put on his gloves and looked at the rust that had been obviously wiped off on the inner wall of the bolt. Zhang Lin took out tweezers and evidence plastic bags from his bag, and used the tweezers to take some fibers from the gaps in the bolt.

Anna's boat has bolt anchor points on both sides of the rear, possibly designed to easily tie up things like jet skis with ropes to prevent them from being carried away by the waves when docking at sea for fun.

Anna's boat's bolt design is quite innovative, and the bolts can be hidden by pressing them down.

It was in the edge gap of this bolt that Zhang Lin still found rope fibers that had been soaked in seawater.

"Take this to the lab to see what kind of fiber it is." Zhang Lin handed the evidence bag in his hand to the policeman next to him.

In Zhang Lin's initial view, this fiber looked like a nylon rope fiber, very new, different from the ropes commonly used by fishermen, and this rope is generally not durable, so it is not chosen by fishermen, which shows that this person is not a real fisherman, at least he doesn't know the nature of this rope.

Furthermore, the friction marks on the bolt are very new, and it takes a certain amount of force to rub such a thick nylon braided rope. The appearance of strong friction inside the bolt at the stern of the boat can only be caused by the Seashell dragging something.

This verified Zhang Lin's speculation that Anna's boat is a relatively expensive imported yacht, and it is unlikely to use this bolt on weekdays. The wear on the bolt should be that the person in the middle of the night used a braided rope to套在拉栓上(tao zai la shuan shang - loop around the bolt), with the purpose of tying his wooden boat, but he was not very professional, and got too close to the Seashell and formed a collision injury at the stern.

If his calculation is correct, the person driving the wooden boat should have been chasing the Seashell in the dark, and after boarding the boat and doing what he wanted to do, he used a cable to tow his boat behind the Seashell, until the Seashell ran aground, and then the other party drove back to the port.

According to this calculation, the wooden boat can save almost half of the fuel. Because the wooden boat has a small hull, it can only carry a small fuel tank, and the reason for using a wooden boat is likely because the wooden boat has a lighter hull. Zhang Lin had also suspected that such a small wooden boat could really catch up with the Seashell, but he suddenly thought of a documentary he had seen about Somali pirates, where the pirates were driving such small wooden boats to劫持船只 (jie chi chuan zhi - hijack ships).

How many people were on this wooden boat, what did they do after boarding the boat, and does Zhao Di being pushed into the water have anything to do with the other party? Does this person driving the wooden boat have anything to do with Jia Wenjun? Could they be accomplices?

With a series of questions, the route of the wooden boat has formed in Zhang Lin's mind. Now the whole event seems to be stuck on this suddenly appearing wooden boat. To solve the mystery, it is necessary to find the wooden boat and the person who drove the boat.