"The comparison hasn’t been made yet."
"Go compare it, and let know the results."
After he finished speaking, Zhou Ning left. Just as he stepped out of the interrogation room, Xu Dayuan ca out of the next room; it was clear he had finished his own interrogation, and he was looking for Zhou Ning.
"I heard that you found bloodstains in Wang Ligang’s car?"
"Yes, the trunk’s bottom was extrely clean; however, there was a drop of blood on the side, along with wipe marks. Mr. Zhang’s car had changed its interior, I’ve sent people to the car wash that did the change, hoping they could find the replaced items."
Xu Dayuan stared at Zhou Ning for a long while before pulling him back to the office.
"It seems that you also think Wang Ligang couldn’t possibly be the murderer?"
Zhou Ning humd in agreent and then continued,
"I do think so. If the inside of the trunk could be cleaned thoroughly, why leave a drop of blood and wipe marks at the side? Clearly, the killer hoped we would focus our attention on Wang Ligang.
The victim was dismbered, but the head and limbs haven’t been found. This is the crux of the issue. I think we could use a police dog. We take it to sniff the kitchen knife found at the scene and then search the surrounding area. There’s an old saying, ’throw far, bury near,’ and I have a feeling that the killer wouldn’t bury those parts too far away, yet still avoid surveillance."
At this point, Zhou Ning stopped, and Xu Dayuan’s eyes lit up. They exchanged a look, and both simultaneously said two words.
"The park."
Xu Dayuan turned around and pulled out the city map.
"If I rember correctly, the Cultural Park is located 400 ters northeast of the Enbo Residential Area, right across the Haibo River. The riverfront renovation project started in March; it’s already fenced off. As for this side of the river, it seems like they plan to build a plaza, but everything is under construction."
The more he spoke, the more convinced Xu Dayuan beca.
After all, it was too close to the Enbo Residential Area. It wasn’t far even on foot. The vicinity was all fenced off, the other side’s progress was quicker, but the greenery wasn’t finished yet. Such a construction site, not being one for buildings, would be deserted at night.
"I’ll go apply for a police dog. You prepare the knife!"
...
An hour later.
The police dog had arrived, and Xu Dayuan and the others had gotten into the car.
Mr. Zhao hadn’t co back yet, so Zhou Ning asked Yang Xuetong and Sun Gaotie to follow along. Just as the car door was about to close, an Iveco van sped in.
Seeing the van, Xu Dayuan waved his hand; Chen Tao stopped the ignition, and Mr. Zhao ran down from the van, drenched in sweat, dragging a huge plastic bag behind him.
"I found it. I found the items Doctor Zhang had replaced. The car wash got a newbie apprentice. This kid likes to hoard all sorts of odds and ends, intending to sell them later. He picked it up after seeing Doctor Zhang toss it in the trash bin, and stored it in the back yard of the car wash facility.
His mory isn’t bad; after all, only two people had their car interiors changed, and he found the items for quickly. The shop owner also confird that these are Doctor Zhang’s items. Inside, there was also a pair of shoes, all muddied up!"
When Xu Dayuan heard the last words, ’all muddied up,’ he jumped out of the car as well.
He scrutinized the bag thoroughly, and indeed, it contained a mishmash of items: old seat covers, pads with a strong fishy sll, muddy floor mats, and a pair of sports shoes covered in mud.
"It seems our suspicion was not unfounded. Let’s go to the scene."
Mr. Zhao looked sowhat baffled, not understanding why these people’s first reaction to his things was to go to the scene.
"What’s up?"
Zhou Ning didn’t answer, but directly called Cui Lili on her phone and asked her to send soone to collect the items for blood trace analysis and to analyze the mud on the shoes before sending back the samples for comparison.
After speaking, Zhou Ning pulled Mr. Zhao into the car, and as they took off, he explained their analysis.
Mr. Zhao blinked, seemingly pondering.
"But there are no digging tools among these items?"
Xu Dayuan leaned back in his seat, appearing to have found a clue, no longer as anxious as before.
"I know that place. Digging down, it’s quite deep, and the ground is made up of that sticky clay. If you sneak over to bury soone’s head, you wouldn’t dig a hole yourself, especially since many tree holes are pre-dug. Moreover, they’ve installed many lights over there, and there must be an electrical junction box for that, right? We’ll start looking in that direction in a mont."
As they spoke, the car arrived by the Haibo River. They took a while to locate the spot opposite the Cultural Park. Mr. Zhao had sharp eyesight and pointed to a corner,
"Look over there, there’s a gap."
Following the direction of Mr. Zhao’s pointing, everyone looked over and indeed saw a breach in the lower part of the enclosure, almost imperceptible unless looked at closely.
"You’ve got good eyes. Bring the police dog down, and let it sniff the knife."
They got out of the car, and the police dog had been brought over. Yang Xuetong opened the bag containing the knife and presented it to the police dog. After sniffing the knife, led by the handler, the dog entered through the gap and began searching.
The search wasn’t quick. The police dog sniffed the knife several tis over and finally rushed towards a spot, nearly dragging the handler along, and then started barking furiously, digging at the ground now and then, clearly onto sothing.
The crowd rushed over to find a cent board slightly elevated from the ground. Several officers stepped forward, lifted the cent board, and revealed a well underneath, which seed to be empty.
Just then, a man walked briskly toward them. Surprisingly, despite the presence of so many police officers, he didn’t make any critical remarks.
"What’s going on here?"
"Are you from the construction team or the project side?"
"I’m from the construction team. We’re filling earth here to level this piece of land."
"What kind of well is this?"
The man stepped forward to take a look.
"It’s just an electrical well. It’s already been laid out. What’s the matter, exactly?"
"We’re looking for sothing. Do you have an excavator? Could you bring it over for us to use? We suspect a murderer has dumped a body here; the police dog led us here."
The man was taken aback.
It took him a while to comprehend, his fingers trembling slightly as he fumbled for his phone, repeatedly nodding his head.
"Alright, alright, just wait a mont, I’ll call soone."
Minutes later, a small excavator arrived at the scene.
Xu Dayuan asked politely if they could dig up the well, and the other party couldn’t possibly refuse. If there was a body here, the construction project would be indefinitely delayed, and their settlent would co later. Worst case, they would simply have to hire workers to install another well.
The excavator worked swiftly. Within a dozen movents, the entire well was dismantled, veering around the pipes, and the hole was enlarged. Bai Ruixin jumped into the excavator’s bucket to check below but found nothing.
The police dog handler beca anxious. After all, trained police dogs do not raise false alarms indiscernibly, especially with such a strong sll of blood.
As the excavator arm swung, it seed to strike the adjacent soil, causing a large clump to collapse instantly.
The dog handler nearly fell in along with the police dog but was pulled back by Mr. Zhao, who yanked him by the collar. Amidst the collapsing earth, a plastic bag beca visible, and at the sa ti, a putrid stench burst forth.
Slling this odor, Zhou Ning and Xu Dayuan sighed in relief.
"Hurry up, but be careful. Get that bag up here without puncturing it," they urged.
The operator of the excavator began to retch; the sll was overpowering, especially after seeing white bones poking through the plastic bag, causing him to tumble off the excavator.
"I can’t; my legs are weak."
Mr. Zhao sighed and quickly climbed aboard, taking a look at the control lever. After trying a few motions, he deftly hooked the bag and placed it on the ground nearby.
Yang Xuetong had already prepared a large body bag, which he placed to one side. Along with two other officers, they carefully placed the plastic bag into the body bag and were about to zip it up when Zhou Ning stepped closer.
"No rush, let take a look first."
Zhou Ning squatted down to carefully examine the bag, which was double-layered. The decay had generated gases, and the bag had ruptured on the inside. The skin on the skull had also largely peeled off, but this had left the teeth fully exposed. Zhou Ning looked at them, comparing them with the X-ray images of Tan Ran on his phone.
From the arrangent of the teeth, it was clear that this was Tan Ran’s skull. Next to the skull, a clump of long hair lay piled up; Zhou Ning pinched it to find it was shaped in a bun. As for the plastic bag, it was still tied shut with that sa yellow electrical wire.
Zhou Ning stood up, as Yang Xuetong pulled the body bag closed.
"Can you confirm it’s Tan Ran?"
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Judging from the teeth, it’s almost certain to be Tan Ran. She had two tiger teeth, and her upper left first molar was congenitally missing, which matches the condition of the skull," Zhou Ning responded. "Mr. Zhao, please collect so of this soil sample."
Mr. Zhao quickly got to work while Xu Dayuan waved his hand.
"Let’s wrap up. I appreciate your cooperation, comrade, but please console the excavator operator. Also, regarding the discovery of the deceased’s skull, I hope you two keep it confidential. After all, the case hasn’t been solved yet."
The man kept nodding, his whole body conveying absolute compliance with Xu Dayuan’s instructions. Everyone got into their vehicles and departed swiftly, heading back to the police headquarters just like when they arrived.
Sitting in the car, Bai Ruixin stomped his foot. Before Chen Tao could even speak, Mr. Zhao exploded.
"Can you show so decency? Are you moving the mud into the car? You just stomped on the ground where we found the buried body and now you’re getting it all over the vehicle. You’re going to wash the car today!"
Bai Ruixin scratched his head and didn’t dare to talk back. Xu Dayuan fixed his gaze on Zhou Ning.
"Let’s work overti. You’ll handle the sampling and send it for analysis, especially check the victim’s right foot thoroughly to see the extent of the damage. We’ll re-interrogate Zhang Yu, and I also expect to receive updates about the surveillance footage from the boys. No calls yet."
Zhou Ning nodded.
"Let’s see how lucky we are. I wonder if we’ll be able to find fingerprints on the bag."
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