Attending ex-girlfriend's wedding, arresting the groom's officer on the spot

Zhang Hui asked: "Ladies and gentlemen, have you noticed anything unusual in the village recently? For example, has anyone suddenly disappeared, or have you seen strange people near the reservoir?"

A woman in red clothes frowned and said, "I haven't heard of anyone missing. But over at the reservoir, I heard from my husband that he saw an iron cage by the water a few days ago. At the time, he thought someone had accidentally fallen in and didn't take it seriously."

Wang Shuai's eyes lit up: "When did your eldest brother see the iron cage? Can you tell me in detail what happened at that time?"

The woman thought for a moment and said, "About four days ago. He said the cage looked heavy and there were some footprints next to it, as if someone had just moved it to the water's edge. He wanted to go down and take a look, but he was busy working in the fields and didn't bother."

Zhang Hui quickly wrote down the information in his notebook and asked, "Do you know if there were any people or cars nearby when your eldest brother saw the iron cage?"

The woman shook her head. "I don't know about that. Why don't you just ask him? He should be in the fields right now."

Under the guidance of the woman, Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai found the elder brother who was working in the field. When the elder brother saw the police coming, he stopped his work and wiped the sweat from his face.

Wang Shuai said, "Hello, brother. We heard that you saw an iron cage by the reservoir four days ago. Can you tell us the details?"

The eldest brother nodded and said, "Yes, I passed by the reservoir on my way to the fields that day and saw an iron cage by the water. I was wondering who threw it here. There were some footprints around, but they were all muddy and I couldn't tell anything. I thought it might be someone using it to catch fish, so I didn't pay much attention to it."

Zhang Hui asked: "When you saw the iron cage, did you hear any noise or see any vehicles nearby?"

The eldest brother scratched his head and said, "I didn't hear any special sound. As for the car... there seemed to be a motorcycle parked on the side of the road not far away, but I'm not sure if it has anything to do with the iron cage. The car was black and looked quite old."

Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai looked at each other and felt that this clue was very important. They continued to ask the eldest brother about the details of the motorcycle, but the eldest brother could not say more.

After leaving the farmland, Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai continued to visit other villagers in the village, and even went to the village store, hoping to get more clues from the villagers who often gathered there. In the store, several villagers were playing cards. Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai walked in and explained their purpose. One of the young men said, "I saw a man near the reservoir a few days ago, and he felt a little strange. The man was wearing a mask and a hat, and he was wearing long sleeves in the hot weather. He was carrying a backpack and was wandering around the reservoir. I didn't know what he was doing. I told my friend at the time that this man didn't look like a good person."

Wang Shuai asked quickly, "When did you see him? What was his height and build?" The young man recalled, "About a week ago. He looked quite thin, and about the same height as me, about 1.7 meters. He also limped when he walked."

Zhang Hui carefully recorded the information and asked, "Did you see anything around him, such as an iron cage or a vehicle?"

The young man shook his head and said, "I didn't notice it. I just looked at it from a distance at the time. I thought it was strange so I looked at it for a while longer. Then he walked to the other side of the reservoir and I didn't care."

Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai continued to visit the village until the evening. Although they obtained a lot of clues, there was still no substantial progress in confirming the identity of the deceased. However, they did not lose heart. These clues may become the key to solving the case later. When they left Houwa Village, the sky was gradually getting dark. Zhang Hui looked at the notebook in his hand, which was densely recorded with various information. He said to Wang Shuai: "Although we didn't find direct clues to confirm the identity of the deceased today, this information about suspicious persons and vehicles is very important. Let's go back and report to Team Lu. Maybe we can find a breakthrough from these clues."

While Zhang Hui and Wang Shuai were conducting their investigation and analysis, forensic doctor Zhang Kai had already transported the body back to the Criminal Investigation Brigade.

Zhang Kai was wearing surgical gowns and a surgical cap, with a mask covering his face, revealing only a pair of focused and sharp eyes. He stood in front of the dissection table in the forensic dissection room of the Criminal Investigation Brigade. The corpse in front of him was in a highly decomposed state due to being soaked in the Beishan Reservoir for a long time, emitting a disgusting stench, but Zhang Kai had long been accustomed to such scenes. There was no retreat in his eyes, only a persistent pursuit of the truth.

The lights in the autopsy room were as bright as day, and various professional equipment was neatly arranged. Zhang Kai first conducted a comprehensive appearance inspection of the corpse. He gently touched the skin of the corpse with his gloved hands, feeling the texture and elasticity of the skin. "The skin of the corpse is dirty green, which is a typical manifestation of corruption. The corrupt vein network is widely distributed, indicating that the corpse has been corrupted for some time." Zhang Kai said to the assistant beside him while inspecting, and the assistant quickly wrote down the relevant information on the recording board.

Zhang Kai carefully observed the hair of the corpse and found that it was sparse and fragile, and would fall off with a slight tug. "From the condition of the hair, the nutritional status of the deceased may not be very good, which may provide some clues for us to infer the living environment of the deceased." He collected the fallen hair and prepared for subsequent testing.

Then, Zhang Kai began to measure the height and weight of the corpse. Because the corpse was swollen and deformed, the measurement process required extra caution. He used professional measuring tools to first lay the corpse flat on the dissection table, adjusted the angle, and carefully measured the length from the top of the head to the soles of the feet. "The length of the corpse is about 175 cm, but considering that the corpse may be stretched to a certain extent when immersed in water, the actual height may be slightly lower than this value." Zhang Kai carefully recorded the measurement results.

When measuring the weight, Zhang Kai carefully placed the corpse on the electronic scale, read the value and said: "The corpse weighs about 70 kilograms, but the corpse has absorbed a lot of water due to soaking, so its weight before death should be lower than this value. The preliminary estimate is about 65 kilograms." These data are crucial to determining the identity of the deceased. Zhang Kai knows that every detail may become the key to solving the mystery of the case.

Zhang Kai then picked up a scalpel and prepared to perform the autopsy. He first used the scalpel to accurately make a long incision along the center of the corpse's chest, with his movements being skilled and steady.

This time, Zhang Kai used a Y-shaped incision to dissect the body. The clavicles on both sides began to converge to the chest, and then he cut open the chest with one knife. (End of this chapter)