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

Every three minutes, the fluorescent lights in the information center emitted a buzzing sound. Zhang Hui stared at the scrolling missing persons information on the screen, his eyes dry as if they were filled with sandpaper. The 2378th record flashed by, the words "male, 45 years old, 175cm tall, construction worker" leaving a lingering image on his retina. He rubbed his temples, pressing his fingertips against his throbbing temples—the team had been comparing records continuously for seven hours since 2 p.m.

"Brother Hui, can you optimize the filtering criteria for this system?" Technician Xiao Li slammed the mouse on the table, the plastic casing hitting the edge of the keyboard, and the cigarette ash that popped out landed on the information "Zhao Wei, 46 years old, self-employed." "I'm looking for men with 'choking marks on their necks,' but it comes up with a bunch of 'mole on the neck.' Was this algorithm written with feet?" He took a swig of iced coffee, water droplets from the bottle dripping into the keyboard through his fingers. "Now every name looks the same: Wang Jianguo, Li Jianguo, Zhang Jianguo... If I keep looking like this, I'll have to go see an ophthalmologist."

Xiao Zhang next door was sighing at the printer. A4 paper slowly emerged from the output tray, containing a supplementary autopsy report just sent by forensic pathologist Zhang Kai. "The print quality is terrible," she said, holding the paper up to the light. "'Subperiosteal hemorrhage of the greater horn of the hyoid bone' is printed as 'fracture of the greater horn of the hyoid bone.' I almost accidentally selected 'cervical fracture' in the search, wasting over thirty comparisons." The printer suddenly clicked, and she yanked hard, half a sheet of paper stuck in the roller. "Oh well, I have to take the machine apart again. This piece of junk is harder to handle than a corpse."

Zhang Hui's gaze lingered on the words "mechanical asphyxiation," his fingertips tapping lightly on the table. The forensic examiner estimated the time of death to be between midnight and 1 a.m., and the victim's height to be 172-175cm and weight to be 65-70kg. These characteristics, like a rusty thumbtack, pinned the search to the framework of "male, 40-50 years old, recently missing, and exhibiting asphyxiation-related characteristics." "Single-list missing persons with debt disputes in the past three months," he nudged Xiao Li's shoulder, "The deceased's stomach contents included rice and braised pork, possibly a family dinner."

Xiao Li scrolled through the information on the screen like murky river water: "I checked, and most of the debt disputes involve small loans. The registration information is incomplete; many don't even have recent photos." He clicked on a record for "Qian Ming, 44 years old, truck driver." The man in the photo was wearing blue overalls and had a mole on the corner of his mouth. "Look at this one, his height and weight match, but the date of disappearance is six months ago, and the time of death doesn't match."

Xiao Zhang suddenly jumped up from beside the printer, holding up a crumpled piece of paper: "I found someone similar!" She slammed the paper down in front of Zhang Hui. "Liu Zhiqiang, 45 years old, company manager, went missing two weeks ago, 173cm tall, 68kg, 80% match with the deceased's characteristics." In the photo on the paper, the man was wearing a gray suit and had a mole on his left eyebrow—but the deceased's left eyebrow was smooth, without even a acne scar.

“Excluded,” Zhang Hui drew a thick line on the paper with his pen. “The brow bone features don’t match. Besides, this person was on a business trip in Hainan before he disappeared; the flight records can be found. It’s impossible for him to have died in a garage in our city.” He pulled up Liu Zhiqiang’s social security records. “The paying unit is ‘Hengtong Trading,’ which has nothing to do with the deceased’s ‘Shengda Trading,’ and their business scopes don’t overlap.”

The clock in the information center struck 11 p.m., the fluorescent lights began to flicker, and everyone's faces looked exhausted in the dim light. Xiao Li's fingers tapped slower and slower on the keyboard, the screen displaying a seemingly endless flood of "45-year-old male" information: "3129th entry, Brother Hui," he yawned, tears blurring his vision, "This 'Zhou Jianming,' self-employed, owed high-interest loans, disappeared three days ago, 174cm tall, 67kg." He zoomed in on the photo; the man's jawline bore some resemblance to the deceased, but there was a birthmark behind his left ear. "The deceased's left ear was clean; this one has to be ruled out too."

Xiao Zhang suddenly exclaimed "Ah!" and pointed to the screen at "Wu Weidong, 45 years old, engineer": "Look! His disappearance location is Unit 3, Building 12, which is the same as the community where the body was found!" She pulled up the detailed information: "Height 175cm, weight 69kg, disappeared after going out to take out the trash last Wednesday night, and his family said he was wearing gray pajamas—exactly the same as the deceased's clothes!"

Zhang Hui's heart skipped a beat. He grabbed the mouse and zoomed in on the photo; the man's features closely resembled the deceased's. "Check his medical report," his voice trembled almost imperceptibly. "Any history of neck injury? Any debt disputes?" Xiao Li typed rapidly on the keyboard, and Wu Weidong's medical record appeared on the screen: "Last year's medical checkup showed high blood pressure and cervical spondylosis, but no history of neck injury." Social security records showed he worked at "Qiming Technology" and had no business dealings with "Shengda Trading."

“The most crucial thing is this,” Xiao Zhang pointed to the surveillance screenshot from when he went missing. “Wu Weidong was wearing gray striped pajamas when he left home, while the deceased was wearing plain gray ones, and the style of the buttons on the cuffs is also different.” She compared the details of the clothing. “Moreover, his right foot had six toes, a feature not mentioned in the forensic report, so we can rule that out.”

The printer in the information center suddenly started with a "buzz," spitting out a new comparison list. Xiao Li glanced at it and cursed, "This system is acting up again! It identified '45 years old' as '54 years old,' producing a bunch of old men's information. I'm speechless." He crumpled the paper into a ball and threw it into the trash can, the metal can making a dull thud. "I should never have studied computers in the first place. Coming to this crappy place as a technician, I might as well have gone to a construction site to carry bricks."

Zhang Hui's gaze fell on the deceased's professional information—"General Manager of Shengda Trading." He asked Xiao Li to filter missing persons in the "trading industry," and 287 records instantly appeared on the screen. "Look at them one by one," he said, picking up his cold coffee, the bitter liquid sliding down his throat, "focusing on whether there are any company owners who are competitors of 'Shengda'."

At 1 a.m., the 4012th record flashed by. Xiao Li was so sleepy that he kept nodding, only waking up when his head hit the keyboard: "Brother Hui, this 'Zheng Haitao,' the boss of 'Hongye Trading,' had competed with 'Shengda' for business. He disappeared two months ago. He's 173cm tall and weighs 68kg." He pulled up the business registration records, and the two companies did indeed have a lawsuit over a building materials project. "But he's bald, while the deceased had hair, and it wasn't short either. That doesn't make sense."

Xiao Zhang rubbed her aching shoulders and stuffed the last comparison list into the folder: "There are seven similar cases, but either the characteristics don't match, or they have alibis, or the disappearance times don't match." Looking at the screen full of information, she suddenly felt a wave of helplessness. "This database alone has over 5000 missing men around 45 years old. Screening them one by one like this is like looking for a needle in a haystack." (End of Chapter)