Hearing the sound, several people ran over, Mr. Zhao went to take photos and collect samples, and Mr. Yang’s face was full of guilt.
Tao Zhenshan patted Mr. Yang on the shoulder and comforted him:
"I saw that you conducted a thorough examination inside and out. It’s indeed easy to overlook such a small bloodstain, don’t bla yourself."
Zhou Ning stood up and glanced at Mr. Yang.
"You didn’t participate in the autopsy, so you don’t know the condition of the deceased. The victim was sitting in the car when the killer stabbed him in the heart, pushed the blade sideways, cutting through both lungs as well as the esophagus and trachea, causing the victim to instantly lose the ability to move. Then, the killer partially pulled out the blade and thrust it upward at an angle, severing the aorta.
The killer understands human anatomy not just superficially but appears to be frequently involved in such acts, skilled in execution, resulting in minimal blood loss. Also, Tao Da has said that there was a small amount of fresh blood on the passenger side of the Wuling Hongguang. Although the killer was adept, blood loss was unavoidable during the removal process.
It is possible that the blood flowed down the handle of the knife onto his gloves. If they were made of latex, he wouldn’t have felt the wetness. While he was positioning the body and closing the car door, a drop of blood could have fallen. The shape of the droplets leads to believe they fell on his shoes or onto his body, splattering and causing the marks."
Mr. Yang and Mr. Zhao both squatted down to examine the marks more closely.
"Agreed, I, too, think they’re marks left by splatters on shoes. We’ll know for sure after we conduct a Luminol test on the door handle of the vehicle’s passenger side later."
Zhou Ning turned around and looked at the intersection. It was one of those small side intersections without a street light, pitch black, let alone surveillance caras, there wasn’t even lighting. Clearly, the killer had scouted the location well in advance.
"Zhang Chunping went to the bathroom around 18:10. The boss and other staff mbers didn’t ntion his phone ringing, right?"
Tao Zhenshan shook his head.
"I specifically inquired about that. His phone was on the table, silent. But in the backyard, it seed like a cat was in heat, making several squealing noises. After a laborer went out and threw a rock, the noise stopped, and right after, Zhang Chunping went to the restroom. I think the noise must have been made by the killer."
Zhou Ning nodded his head.
"Analyzing based on height, build, and behavioral habits, this killer is likely the sa person who attempted to stab . From that recording, we can confirm that this person goes by the code na ’hunter.’ It’s hard for a professional killer to leave any traces. Tao Da, let’s withdraw."
Tao Zhenshan sighed and waved to everyone.
"Let’s go, let’s see how Director Xu’s progress is. I think prying their mouths open as quickly as possible works better than anything. Their eagerness to find soone to poison and the killer’s silence are just because they fear Bai Qishan and the others might expose them."
Mr. Zhao took off his gloves and waved his hand nonchalantly.
"Bai Qishan never would have imagined that he’d et his downfall in such a way, not foreseeing that Cao Wenyu had already tied him to the case, let alone that Cao Wenyu had long wanted to hamr him to death, which has let us get ahead by one step. Let’s not waste any words and hurry back. We won’t sleep tonight; we’ll fight this battle to the end."
Tao Zhenshan was amused by his comnt. They packed their equipnt and hurried back to the courtyard of the Public Security Bureau. As they approached the gate, lights shone on them. Mr. Zhao looked up and waved.
The personnel above seed to confirm their identities before turning off the lights, evidently raising the level of security around them. Before they reached the small two-story building, they saw lights on in the kitchen direction, emitting the delicious aroma of rice and stew. Peering through the window, they could see Master Liang and several auxiliary police-like figures, all busy plucking vegetables with aprons tied around them. Mr. Zhao grinned.
"It’s clear now that Mr. Fang is also fired up. Before, because dinner ti wasn’t consistent and the number of people varied, he simply had boxed als delivered to us. Now, it looks like it’s more reliable to have Master Liang put in the extra work."
The group didn’t waste any words. Tao Zhenshan went first to the criminal police team, while Zhou Ning headed to the small two-story building. Qu Heping, Peng Shinian, and Zou Jialong were all busy. Seeing Zhou Ning return, they quickly gathered around. Mr. Zhao left a bunch of items to be sent for inspection and then waved to them.
"That’s enough, everyone go rest now. We’ll attend the interrogation. If you can’t get up tomorrow, you several will have to be on it. When the test reports co out, compile them with the case files instantly and send them over."
They nodded in agreent. Zou Jialong, looking apologetic, waved his hand.
"I’m not tired. I’ll stay and work. You should attend the interrogation. Afterwards, soone has to organize the records too, and I can do that."
Zhou Ning understood that Zou Jialong felt guilty, thinking that he was responsible for nearly getting everyone killed, and was hoping to do sothing to make ands.
"Go rest and stop overthinking. No one blas you and there’s no reason for you to bla yourself. We are depending on you tomorrow morning; you don’t want us to work without a break, do you?"
Zou Jialong tried to say more, but Peng Shinian covered his mouth abruptly.
"No more nonsense, let’s go rest."
A few people left with pushing and pulling. Mr. Zhao folded his arms and bumped into Zhou Ning. At that mont, only the two of them were left in the room.
"Zhou Xiaozhou, do you think it could be that hyena, knowing the situation here, wasn’t actually trying to rescue anyone but rather hoping to take this opportunity to have the hunter silence Bai Qishan? After all, just by the way Bai Qishan talked about the hyena, it’s clear they didn’t get along and definitely had conflicts," Zhou Ning said, shaking his head.
"I don’t know, what I really want is the truth about what happened back then. Co on, let’s go see what the forensic doctor has to say. When he saw , didn’t he think I resembled my father?"
Mr. Zhao waved his hand, slung his arm around Zhou Ning’s shoulder, but he wasn’t tall enough and had to tiptoe to do so.
"Let’s go listen. Stop overthinking, we’re from Qindao, he won’t connect us to an event from so many years ago. Besides, in their eyes, they might think, just like the report says, that the whole family is gone. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely be able to clear this up, especially about that Sun Pengfei. He’s the one I’m most interested in," Mr. Zhao said as they left the small building. On their way out, Zhou Ning took a careful look at the office building across from them. He didn’t feel like they were being watched anymore. In fact, people were always present at the main building and the top of the small building, day and night, although they seed to be watching the area, that feeling wasn’t there.
Just as they were about to enter the main building, Mr. Liang from the canteen called out to Zhou Ning:
"Director Zhou, please let everyone know that the food will be ready at eleven thirty, and they can co to eat. I’m not leaving tonight; they can co anyti they’re hungry."
Mr. Zhao quickly responded.
"Got it, thanks for the hard work, Master Liang."
As they entered the main building and approached the interrogation room, they spent a while trying to figure out where Xu Dayuan was. Just about to make a call, the observation room door opened, Mr. Qu signaled them, and Liu Yufei was standing inside.
"The corridor surveillance saw you guys. Co and listen to Director Xu’s interrogation. Liu Da’s voice is hoarse from talking, Director Xu let her co out and rest a bit."
Liu Yufei nodded at them while sipping water, and Mr. Zhao rummaged through his pockets for a while, finding a box of loquat candy lozenges.
"Here you go, Mrs. Fei, suck on one of these for so relief. How’s the progress?" Mr. Qu ca closer, looking excited.
"Let tell you, Director Xu went all in. Boy, he frightened Doctor Zhang so much. At first, Doctor Zhang was stubborn, but Director Xu said this isn’t so other province, finding a decent job here is too hard.
Your son is about to graduate from university and will be job hunting soon. Without asking, we know he plans to beco a civil servant. But with a father with a record, do you think he’d pass the political screening?
And your family also has a second child in their third year of high school, right? Seems like many schools would be off-limits for the Gaokao. To ruin the future of both your children in one go, is that really what you want? We believe you weren’t willing back then. As long as you tell the truth, there’s still a chance for leniency. Think it over for yourself."
Just a few words like that and Zhang Guocheng started crying. Then he said, "Ask anything. For many years, I’ve been hanging in there at the unit but not going to work. I’m also getting older," and he went on about a lot of things. Director Xu then said, "Just tell us about the annihilation case at the People’s Hospital family quarters on January 1, 1995."
Zhang Guocheng was startled and hesitated for a while before saying that it was the first ti he visited the scene, and it was Director An Liwei who arranged for them to follow Sun Pengfei. There were six people in total, two recently transferred soldiers and two newcors who had been there for a year. Clearly, he and Sun Pengfei were ant to take the fall.
After inspecting the scene, they wrote a standard investigation report, and an autopsy was perford, but there were only two bodies. He asked about that, and Sun Pengfei said the child might have been taken by the murderer, and it was fine just to report the death.
Actually, he had a good impression of Vice Captain Zhou Xiangrong, a man who got things done. But Sun Pengfei did not get along with him. Ever since Zhou Xiangrong solved two major cases, Sun Pengfei started taking sick leave, claiming his leg was injured and needed multiple surgeries to recover.
The related materials were handed in three days after the incident, and the archive room also received a copy. A month later, Director An Liwei called us, saying it wasn’t good this way. The scene was described too ticulously in the original report; they had to remove the child’s details and a large part of the scene description, and they were instructed to rewrite it overnight.
Then they kept Sun Pengfei behind. Afraid that Sun Pengfei might harm him, he eavesdropped at the door for a while. The general content was to cremate the bodies that night without issuing a cremation certificate, and to note in the files that the suspect was suspected to be a transient criminal.
Zhang Guocheng was shocked. He hadn’t expected Mr. An to side with Sun Pengfei. From then on, he dared not eavesdrop anymore. It was obvious that both of them had issues with the Zhou Xiangrong couple. He didn’t contact his hotown folks. As just a forensic doctor, he dared not ask further and quickly went back to rewrite the report as instructed.
Which version was kept in the archive, he wasn’t sure, as both had been submitted. Zhou Xiangrong’s ashes were initially stored in the evidence room. Around the Spring Festival, when he went to deliver samples, he found the ashes were gone too. That was all."
Mr. Zhao blinked and looked towards the neighboring interrogation room, clearly not completely satisfied with this content.
"What then? What else did Sun Pengfei do? Zhang Guocheng didn’t ntion anything else?"
Mr. Qu spread his hands.
"They’re still asking inside. He had said so much before. It looks like Director Xu is questioning Zhang Guocheng about that Director’s affairs. After all, according to the information we previously obtained, that Director An has already passed away."
Zhou Ning squinted, gazing toward the interrogation room and said with uncertainty:
"I’ve encountered quite a few people surnad An lately. There’s An Jianhua from the Luo Family, and now this An Liwei has co up. I rember there was a signature on the previous investigation report that also had the surna An. What was the na again?"
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