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

Lu Chuan frowned as he looked at the faint bloodstains on the wall. "And then?" Lü Shan stood up and staggered to the entrance. "He was lying here, his eyes still open... I panicked and didn't know what to do." His eyes were filled with fear and regret. "I sat in the house for a long time until dawn before I thought of disposing of the body."

The group followed Lü Shan downstairs, where he pointed to an abandoned flatbed cart: "I used this to transport his body onto the cart." He struggled to lift the flatbed cart, demonstrating the action he had taken. "His body was very heavy, and it took me a lot of effort to squeeze him in." Recalling that scene, Lü Shan's face turned pale, and his forehead was covered in cold sweat.

The escort team walked deeper into the demolition site, the rubble and debris crunching under their feet. Lü Shan stopped in front of a huge pit, where the foundation had once been, now filled in. "This is it," he said, his voice barely audible. "I buried him here under cover of darkness." He crouched down, his handcuffed hands digging at the ground, as if he could still feel the damp earth from that night. "I found some cement slabs to weigh it down, and then shoveled two truckloads of construction debris to cover it."

Just then, a gust of cold wind blew by, stirring up dust. Lu Shan suddenly broke down in tears, his sobs echoing across the empty demolition site: "I was wrong! I was really wrong!" His body slumped to the ground, and the police officers rushed forward to help him up. Looking at Lu Shan's despairing state, Lu Chuan felt a mix of emotions: "Take him away."

On the way back, Lü Shan kept his head down and remained silent. The police car slowly drove out of Dongguan Village, and the rising sun pierced through the thin mist, casting its first rays. But for Lü Shan, darkness had completely swallowed him up, and what awaited him was the severe punishment of the law. And this demolition site, once filled with crime, would gradually be forgotten as the case was solved, leaving only this bloody past, forever etched in the city's memory.

Three days later, the Criminal Investigation Division reported the case to the street again.

The early autumn mist had not yet dissipated, and the police tape along the suburban irrigation ditches fluttered in the cold wind. Lu Chuan stepped through the dew-covered weeds, his police boots sinking into the soft mud. The stench of rotting flesh mingled with the rusty smell of the ditch water. In the distance, he heard the intermittent sobs of sanitation worker Li Guifang, huddled beside the police car, her orange work clothes splattered with brown stains.

"The deceased was an adult male, his right lower limb severed at the hip joint." Yang Lin, wearing latex gloves, picked up a piece of bone still attached to the skin with tweezers. "The cut is clean, showing signs of being cut by a chainsaw." The white beam of the investigation light swept across the bottom of the canal, revealing dark red bloodstains winding through the moss like eerie vines. Yang Sen knelt in the mud, using a laser rangefinder to measure: "The body dumping site is 327 meters in a straight line from the nearest road, and there's an abandoned factory 500 meters upstream in the canal."

Wang Shuai squatted down in front of Li Guifang, handing her a still-steaming paper cup: "Sister, please tell me slowly, how did you find it?" Li Guifang held the paper cup with both hands, her knuckles white: "I was scooping out trash as usual, and the hook caught something heavy." She suddenly trembled violently, oblivious to the hot water spilling onto her hands, "I recognize those pants! They were issued by the sanitation station last month, the same style as the ones I'm wearing!"

Lu Chuan bent down to examine the edge of the ditch. Fresh drag marks were visible on the damp soil, footprints of varying depths extending into the reeds. "Take footprint samples, paying close attention to distinguish between the sanitation worker's and the suspect's shoe prints." His fingers traced dark red spots on the reeds. "Contact the salvage team, focusing on the upstream waters." Before he finished speaking, Yang Sen suddenly held up an evidence bag: "Captain Lu, we found metal fragments in the reeds, with bloodstains on the surface!"

As dusk settled, the beams of searchlights pierced the deepening darkness, weaving a crisscrossing network of light along the banks of the irrigation ditch. Lu Chuan whispered instructions into the walkie-talkie, then turned to Yang Lin and Yang Sen: "Expand the search area. Don't overlook any clues within a 500-meter radius, especially any other body parts." The two nodded in agreement, their figures quickly disappearing into the overgrown riverbank.

“Let’s start with the drag marks.” Yang Lin squatted down, adjusted his DSLR camera to macro mode, and the shutter clicked continuously. “Look at these drag marks. The intervals are irregular, which means the murderer was in a hurry when moving the body.” He used a laser pointer to project along the marks, and the beam flickered in the reeds. “Moreover, the dragging direction changed significantly, so it must have encountered an obstacle.”

Holding a 3D laser scanner, Yang Sen's red grid beam covered the entire area: "The scan results show that the traces stopped 12 meters away from the body disposal point, below which is a pit." He brushed aside the dead branches and leaves covering the pit, and the soil at the bottom of the pit showed an unnatural churning. "There are traces of digging here, which is very likely the original burial point of the murderer."

“Take soil samples back for testing.” Yang Lin took out a sealed bag and filled it with soil from the bottom of the pit in layers. “Pay attention to the color and humidity changes at different depths.” He suddenly stopped, the beam of his flashlight falling on half a shoe print on the edge of the pit. “Size 42, rubber sole, diamond pattern, matches the footprint we found before.” The two exchanged a glance and began to extract the shoe print by injecting plaster with it.

“Let’s go upstream and take a look.” Yang Sen pointed to the direction of the water flow. “If the body was dumped from an abandoned factory, it should have been washed downstream, but the murderer might have also discarded other body parts along the way.” The two stepped on the moss-covered stones and went upstream. The halo of their investigation lights swayed on the water’s surface, startling a few night herons.

"Stop!" Yang Lin's flashlight suddenly shone on the bushes on the bank, where several dark red stains stood out on the leaves. "It's blood, not completely dry yet." He carefully picked up the bloodstained branches and leaves with tweezers and put them into the evidence bag. "Follow the bloodstains." Following the dark red trail, they found an object wrapped in a black plastic bag in a hollow of a dead tree twenty meters away.

Yang Sen put on protective gloves and slowly opened the plastic bag. A strong stench of decay hit him: "It's the right hand. There are obvious binding marks on the wrist." He laid the severed hand flat on the white cloth and carefully shone it with an investigation light. "There is skin tissue residue under the fingernails, which should be left from scratching during the struggle with the murderer."

“Contact Zhang Kai and tell him to prepare to receive the new body parts.” Yang Lin quickly took photos to record the information. “Continue searching; the torso and head might be hidden in a more concealed place.” The two continued searching along the riverbank when suddenly, Yang Sen’s metal detector emitted a sharp beep. Five meters below the ditch, the instrument detected metallic activity underground. (End of Chapter)