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

As the narrative progressed, Li Biao's voice gradually trembled. He pointed to the ventilation duct in the southeast corner: "Wang Qiang and I hid there beforehand. When he turned his back, Wang Qiang grabbed an iron bar and started hitting him—" He suddenly raised his hand to gesture, the shackles drawing a half-arc, "The first blow hit the back of his head, and he fell forward without even screaming. Tian Feng was so scared that he collapsed to the ground, and the smell of urine could be smelled from a great distance."

Rainwater trickled down the grooves in the server room wall, but Li Biao remained oblivious, lost in his memories: "Li Jianguo struggled to his feet, his face covered in blood, grabbing Tian Feng's collar and trying to bite his throat. Wang Qiang added two more blows, this time hitting his temple, blood splattering onto the ventilation ducts; you can still see the dark red marks." He suddenly lunged at the ducts, and when the SWAT officers grabbed him, his forehead slammed heavily against the metal railing. "Look! Right here! His eyeballs almost popped out!"

As the identification process neared its end, Li Biao suddenly fell silent. He stared at the reflection in the puddles on the ground, muttering to himself, "The rain was just as heavy that night, and the blood flowed down the drain for a long time. Tian Feng was so scared he was talking nonsense, so I taped his mouth shut and dragged him to the fire escape before untapping him." The wind whipped up the corner of his clothes, revealing his soaked prison uniform underneath, the three red characters "Detention Center" on the back appearing and disappearing in the rain.

Lu Chuan put away the recorder, raindrops dripping from his hat brim onto his notebook: "Take him back." As the SWAT officer turned to escort Li Biao, a muffled rumble of thunder came from afar. The glass curtain wall of the Haorui Building reflected countless distorted images in the lightning, like countless eyes witnessing the final identification of this bloody crime.

Less than a week after the Haorui Building incident, the administrative branch received another report.

The report was received in the afternoon, and the autumn wind swept withered yellow leaves across the dam of Xingfu Reservoir. The police car from Luchuan drove over the gravel road and saw several reservoir workers gathered around the exposed riverbed in the distance. Their shadows were long in the slanting sunlight and swayed around the rusty iron cages.

"Captain Lu, this is too strange!" Old Zhou, the reservoir manager, was pale as he pointed at the iron cage. "We only discovered this thing when the water level dropped during the reservoir's major maintenance and water release. There were even iron chains wrapped around the iron bars." The iron cage was half-buried in the silt, its surface covered with moss, and a few bones were stuck in the gaps, gleaming white in the cold wind.

Yang Lin and Yang Sen, already dressed in waterproof suits, waded through knee-deep mud towards the iron cage. Yang Sen turned on a portable searchlight; the bright light pierced the murky water, illuminating the contorted posture of the skeleton inside—skulls pressed against the iron bars, finger bones gripping the gaps tightly, as if making a final struggle. "The obvious resistance posture at the time of death," Yang Sen said into the recorder, "means they were still alive when they were locked up."

Yang Lin crouched down and carefully scraped away the residue from the surface of the iron cage with tweezers. "The iron railings have a high carbon content and obvious signs of hand forging," he said, holding up a sample under the surveying light. "The rust layer is in three layers, the outermost layer is loose, and the middle layer is dense, suggesting that it has been soaked for more than five years." He suddenly used a magnifying glass to examine the iron joints closely. "Look at this weld point; it's characteristic of an acetylene flame. This technique has been rarely used since 2010."

To retrieve the iron cage intact, firefighters brought in a crane. As the rusty cage was slowly lifted, the water at the bottom poured down, revealing a silver wedding ring. "4.75 grams, PT950 platinum," Yang Sen measured with calipers, "the inner band is engraved with 'J&L 2015.5.20'." As he placed the ring into the evidence bag, he noticed clear signs of wearing on the bones of the skeleton's left ring finger.

During an X-ray scan of the cage, startling details emerged. Tissue sections attached to the inside of the cage wall revealed that the deceased had suffered blunt force trauma—the depressed skull fracture and broken ribs both exhibited irregular wound patterns. “It wasn’t an accidental trapping,” Yang Lin pointed to the scan images, “These injuries indicate that the deceased was subjected to violence and torture while imprisoned.”

The most crucial discovery came from a soil sample at the bottom of the iron cage. While observing it under a microscope, Yang Sen suddenly raised his voice: "There are cement particles! These particles, 0.3 millimeters in diameter, are exactly the same as the cement used in the 2014 reinforcement project of Xingfu Reservoir." He pulled up the project file and pressed his finger heavily on the construction date on the drawing—November 2014, which coincided exactly with the year the iron cage rusted.

As dusk fell, the skeleton was carefully removed from the iron cage. Forensic pathologist Zhang Kai conducted a preliminary examination on the spot. He gently touched the pubic symphysis with a probe: "The degree of fossilization of the bones indicates that the time of death is more than seven years. The deceased was male, about 178 centimeters tall." When he opened the mandible, he suddenly gestured for everyone to look: "Look at this, the third molar is impacted, and the dental characteristics are exactly the same as those of the victim in the Ren Tao case."

Lu Chuan stared at the crisscrossing chains on the iron cage. Rain had begun to fall, pattering against the bars. He recalled the encrypted engineering files on Ren Tao's computer, and Wang Bingchen's mention of "missing people" during the interrogation. This seven-year-old injustice might only be the tip of the iceberg. "Notify the technical department," his voice mingled with the rain, "to thoroughly investigate every scratch and fingerprint on the iron cage. Re-examine everyone involved in the reservoir project back then!"

That afternoon, the remains were sent to the Criminal Investigation Division.

The operating lights in the autopsy room illuminated the stainless steel workbench with meticulous detail. Zhang Kai, wearing goggles and latex gloves, stood before the skeleton retrieved from Xingfu Reservoir. Black silt and moss still clung to the surface of the bones, giving them an eerie sheen under the cold white light. This silent dialogue with the remains was about to unveil secrets buried by time.

Zhang Kai first conducted a general morphological examination of the skeleton. The skull was relatively well-preserved, but there was a significant depressed fracture in the right parietal bone, with the fracture line extending radially and having sharp, irregular edges, indicating that it was caused by blunt force trauma before death. "This fracture morphology suggests that the object of injury was a blunt object with a relatively large mass and a small contact area, such as a hammer or a stone," he recorded on a voice recorder, while simultaneously signaling his assistant to take photos from multiple angles.

While measuring various skull measurements, Zhang Kai observed a robust brow ridge, a broad nasal bone, and a mandibular angle approaching 120 degrees—all characteristics pointing to a male individual. Height was estimated using bone length: the left femur was 43.2 cm long. Using the Trotter-Gleser formula, the deceased's height was approximately 177.8 ± 2 cm. "Observe the pubic symphysis carefully," Zhang Kai said, lifting the pubic bone, revealing distinct ridges and grooves on its surface. "These features are consistent with skeletal changes typical of individuals aged 35-45."

To accurately determine the deceased's age, Zhang Kai employed a multi-dimensional analysis method. (End of Chapter)