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

“I think Zhao Lei is a prime suspect,” Xiao Li broke the silence. “He was familiar with the warehouse environment, had the means to commit the crime, and his sudden resignation after the incident was unusual. That anonymous remittance might have been his ‘hush money’ or ‘reward’.”

"But what was his motive?" Xiao Wang questioned. "If he was the murderer, why would he leave the body in the warehouse he was in charge of? Wouldn't that be asking for trouble?"

“It could also be a frame-up,” Yang Lin speculated. “They used the victim’s shoe prints and traces in the warehouse to stage the scene, making us believe that it was an inside job, thus covering up the real murderer.”

Zhang Kai adjusted his glasses and added, "Judging from the autopsy, the murderer's methods were professional. The strangulation was even, and the blunt instrument was used precisely, which doesn't seem like a first-time offense. If Zhao Lei were just a warehouse manager, he might not have had such psychological qualities and the ability to commit a crime."

Lu Chuan tapped his fingers lightly on the table, lost in thought. All eyes were on him, waiting for him to make a decision.

“The fibers in the ventilation ducts, the electronic components, Zhao Lei’s anonymous remittances, the fake-plated van… these clues seem scattered, but they all point in one direction.” Lu Chuan slowly began, “Sunshine Technology. Whether it’s Ren Tao, Zhang Baohua, or the current victim, they all have intricate connections with this company.”

He paused, then continued, "Zhang Kai, you should focus your investigation on people around 39 years old who have had hip replacement surgery, especially those who have had connections with Sunshine Technology. Expand the scope of the comparison, don't limit it to local missing persons."

“Yang Lin,” Lu Chuan turned to Yang Lin, “Once the spectral analysis results of the ventilation fiber are available, immediately compare them with the work clothes of all employees of Sunshine Technology, especially those who left around 2015. For the electronic components in the warehouse, find out their source and destination, and see if they match Sunshine Technology’s purchase list.”

“Wang Shuai,” Lu Chuan looked at Wang Shuai again, “We must find out the whereabouts of Zhao Lei thoroughly. We can’t let go of his social circle, his communication records, or even the slightest clue. As for that van with the fake license plate, we should follow the clues in the urban village, interview the surrounding residents, and see if anyone remembers the characteristics of the vehicle or the appearance of the driver.”

“Zhang Hui,” Lu Chuan said, turning to Zhang Hui last, “we need to thoroughly investigate the business dealings between Sunshine Technology and Sunshine Technology, find out the projects and people in charge from back then, and see if there were any conflicts of interest or irregularities. In addition, we need to continue investigating the missing persons, focusing on those who have had dealings with Sunshine Technology.”

Lu Chuan emphasized, "Everyone must be on high alert. We cannot let our guard down. We must carefully analyze every clue and strive to find a breakthrough as soon as possible."

The night deepened outside the meeting room, moonlight streaming through the window and casting a silvery glow on the piled-up files. The group packed up and left the meeting room one after another, their faces weary, yet their eyes held a renewed determination. Although the case was complex and the clues scattered, they knew that as long as they persevered and followed these leads, they would one day uncover the truth. Lu Chuan watched their departing figures, picked up the enamel mug on the table, and took a sip of the now-cold tea. The bitterness of the tea spread across his tongue, much like the feeling this case evoked. But he didn't back down. He knew that as the team leader, he had to withstand the pressure and lead everyone step by step toward the truth. The starlight outside the window twinkled, as if cheering them on.

As Wang Shuai pinned Zhao Lei's household registration photo to the center of the whiteboard, rain streamed down the window of the Criminal Investigation Division, leaving blurry watermarks on the photo. The young man in the photo was wearing blue overalls, with a timid air about him, completely different from the figure pacing around the warehouse in the surveillance footage.

"Check his ticket purchase record first." Wang Shuai kicked the instant noodle bucket under the table, the scraping sound of the plastic startling the old cat lying on the case file, which raised its tail. Technician Xiao Zhang's fingers flew across the keyboard, and a string of dense code appeared on the screen: "At 10:17 a.m. on the day of the incident, he bought a green train ticket to a neighboring city, hard seat, no checked luggage."

The surveillance footage at the train station glowed with an eerie green light. Wang Shuai stared at the back of the figure carrying a canvas bag on the screen. The bag's strap was worn shiny, and there were specks of silver-gray powder on the edges—later identified as solder residue from electronic components. "He sat in the waiting room for a full two hours," Xiao Zhang fast-forwarded the footage, "just staring blankly at the electronic screen at the ticket gate, without saying a word to anyone."

When they tracked down to the bus station in the neighboring city, the trail suddenly went cold. The surveillance cameras in the waiting hall had broken down three days earlier. The station manager on duty, with a cigarette in his mouth, said, "This damn camera should have been replaced a long time ago. Last time we caught a thief, it didn't even capture his face." Wang Shuai squatted in the dispatch room, flipping through the handwritten ledger. His fingertips stopped abruptly when they reached the page for "October 23rd." The hastily written words read, "Zhao Lei, heading towards Nanping Town."

The soil in Nanping Town smelled of decaying leaves. Wang Shuai trudged through the ankle-deep mud to find the "Welcome Inn." The landlady was weaving baskets with bamboo strips, the sound of the strips scraping against her palms like a saw: "A young man in blue overalls stayed here, saying he was looking for his distant cousin." She suddenly lowered her voice, "I heard him crying in his room in the middle of the night, saying something like 'I didn't do it.'"

Under the bed in the room Zhao Lei had stayed in, Wang Shuai found Zhang's crumpled medical report. Bloodstains were on the edges of the pages, and the diagnosis read "severe depression, accompanied by moderate anxiety." The doctor's advice, "avoid mental stimulation," was scratched black by fingernails. "He also had antidepressants under his pillow," Xiao Zhang said, carefully putting the bottle away in an evidence bag. "The dosage was high, indicating the condition was quite serious."

While checking Zhao Lei's social media accounts, Wang Shuai's patience was wearing thin. Of the more than three thousand chat records, besides work reports, there were only mechanical "uh-huh" and "okay" replies. The only anomaly was a message he sent to someone labeled "Brother Li" a week before the incident: "I really can't do that." The other person replied with a cold laugh emoji and then nothing more.

“Investigate this Brother Li.” Wang Shuai stubbed out his cigarette in the ashtray, sparks landing on Zhao Lei’s bank statement. The statement showed that the anonymous monthly remittances had suddenly increased to 30,000 yuan before the case broke, with the account opened at a branch downstairs in Hongtu Technology Building. “The withdrawals were all at ATMs,” Xiao Zhang zoomed in on the surveillance screenshot, “He wore a baseball cap, so you couldn’t see his face, but he had a heart-shaped birthmark on his left wrist.”

Zhao Lei's adoptive parents lived in an old bungalow on the outskirts of the city, with morning glories climbing over rusty wire mesh on the courtyard wall. His adoptive mother's portrait sat on the altar, the frame wrapped in black cloth. (End of Chapter)