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

“Right here.” Zheng Baohai’s voice suddenly went hoarse. He raised his handcuffed hand and gestured the arc of swinging the steel pipe. “When he turned around to grab me, I grabbed the steel pipe from the trunk and hit him on the leg—he had an old injury on his right leg, and I knew it was vulnerable.” This confession was completely consistent with the forensic report: Sun Qiang’s right femoral internal fixation plate had a fresh fracture mark, and the fracture line matched the diameter of the steel pipe, indicating secondary injury caused by external force.

Li Nana suddenly pointed to the drag marks at the edge of the woods, where the fallen grass stems stretched in a straight line, forming a 90-degree angle with the drag marks in the parking lot. "He was still cursing after he fell, saying he was going to sue us," she said, her fingernails digging into her palms, blood dripping onto the grass. "Zheng Baohai then switched the steel pipe to his left hand and smashed it on his head from behind... I saw blood flowing from his left ear, exactly at the location of the small notch the forensic doctor described." Technicians used a laser rangefinder to measure the length of the drag marks; the 32-meter distance perfectly matched the distribution of abrasions and contusions on Sun Qiang's back, confirming the injuries sustained during the dragging.

The investigation beside the van had been going on for half an hour. When Zheng Baohai was led to the door, his body suddenly went limp. "I pried it open here with a steel pipe," he pointed to the dent below the door lock cylinder. "I couldn't pry it open the first time, but I managed to open it from a different angle, about 37 degrees." The technicians immediately measured it with a protractor, and the value of 37.2 degrees was exactly the same as the previous investigation report. Spectroscopic analysis of the metal shavings in the dent showed that the composition was completely consistent with the steel pipe in Zheng Baohai's toolbox.

“When we were carrying the body, his right elbow got stuck in the car door,” Li Nana suddenly cried out, her gaze falling on the fiber residue at elbow height on the van. “I pulled hard on his arm, and the cloth got caught on the metal and tore—it’s the dark blue fragment with the red cloth strip that you found.” The forensic doctor had recorded an old patch on Sun Qiang’s right elbow, and fiber testing confirmed that the material matched the red cloth strip described by Li Nana, further verifying her confession.

Zheng Baohai stopped beside the pile of scrap metal, pointing to a rusted steel pipe—the very murder weapon he had thrown into the scrap yard and which had later been retrieved by the police. “I threw the pipe here after smashing his head,” he said, running his finger across the pipe’s surface. “It was covered in blood. I tried wiping it with leaves for ages, but it still left traces.” Technicians used ultraviolet light to examine the pipe, and the latent bloodstains revealed on its surface matched Sun Qiang’s genetic profile perfectly in DNA testing. Furthermore, the direction of the wiping marks matched Zheng Baohai’s description of “from left to right.”

When asked why she chose this van to dump the body, Li Nana's gaze drifted to a blind spot in the parking lot's surveillance cameras. "I used to come here with Sun Qiang to collect scrap metal, and I knew this van was abandoned," she said with remorse. "The floor mats in the back seat were torn, and when we carried him in, his hair was tangled in the springs—did you find a few strands of black hair later?" The forensic report did mention that Sun Qiang's hair sample contained fibers from the van's seats, a detail that became a crucial link between the confession and the evidence.

The final identification location was by a ditch, where Sun Qiang's Lavida was still half-submerged. Zheng Baohai looked at the license plate "735," which had turned white from being submerged in water, and suddenly coughed violently: "When I pushed him in, the right front wheel was stuck on a rock. I had to pry it off with a steel pipe three times before it got off," he said, pointing to the scratches on the bottom of the car. "The third time I used too much force, and the steel pipe hit the bumper, chipping off a piece of paint—that's where the blue paint particles you tested came from." This perfectly matched the vehicle inspection report's record that "there were three blunt force impact marks on the right front bumper, and the paint chips contained rust."

The police car bumped along the muddy road on the return trip, and Li Nana and Zheng Baohai's statements were simultaneously transmitted to the command center. Technicians meticulously compared the recordings of the crime scene identification with the forensic report: the angle of the steel pipe impact and the shape of the skull fracture, the dragging distance and the extent of the back contusions, the pry marks on the car door and the tool matching… all 17 key details matched, forming a closed chain of evidence. Outside the car window, the dark clouds gradually dispersed, and sunlight pierced through the clouds, shining on the ditch. The oil slick floating on the water reflected eerie colors, much like the unilluminated reefs deep within human nature.

Less than a week after the Zheng Baohai case concluded, the criminal investigation team received another report. Hikers in the southern suburbs had discovered a highly decomposed body within the scenic area.

The camphor trees in the southern suburbs hiking area were still covered in morning dew. The crisp sound of Lu Chuan's hiking boots snapping through dry branches startled several sparrows. The person who reported the incident, Li Lijun, squatted outside the cordon, repeatedly rubbing the hem of his windbreaker with both hands. The dirt on his fingertips smeared onto the orange-red fleece, leaving dark stains. "It was right behind that thicket," his voice trembled slightly, his Adam's apple bobbing, "I came to take pictures of the sunrise at seven in the morning, heard a strange smell, parted the branches and saw... saw him curled up there, his face so swollen he was unrecognizable."

Yang Lin's survey light swept a fan-shaped area through the bushes, the beam penetrating the gaps in the leaves and casting dappled light spots on the humus. "The body is half-covered by fallen leaves," he said, gently parting the covering with a twig. The fluorescent green of his down jacket was particularly glaring in the dark forest. "The clothing is intact, but the zipper is undone, probably due to swelling from decomposition." Yang Sen was measuring the distance between the body and the nearest tree trunk with a tape measure. "1.8 meters. There are signs of fallen ferns around it, covering an area of ​​about 2 square meters, as if someone dragged it."

Lu Chuan's gaze fell on the backpack beside the body. A broken vine was wrapped around the dark blue strap, and half of an aluminum water bottle protruded from the opening. "Check the contents of the bag," he whispered into the walkie-talkie, his boots grinding shallow ruts into the damp ground. "Look for any identification or electronic devices." The stench of decay mingled with the fresh scent of pine needles in the forest, creating a suffocating atmosphere. The distant sirens were filtered into a muffled buzz by the dense canopy.

Wang Shuai placed the interrogation record book on his lap, the pen pausing over the words "Li Lijun, male, 34 years old, outdoor photographer." "When was the last time you came to this area?" His pen cap was covered in grass seeds. Li Lijun suddenly pointed to the western ridgeline: "Last Saturday, I passed by here while photographing the sea of ​​clouds, and I didn't see anyone camping." His fingers trembled in the morning light. "This morning at 6:30, I came up from Trail No. 3. When I reached this forest, I smelled a strange odor, like rotten meat mixed with fermented wild fruit. I followed the smell..."

Yang Lin's searchlight suddenly stopped to the right of the corpse. A silver carabiner was wedged in a crevice in the tree roots, a torn piece of cloth hanging from the buckle, its fluorescent green fibers shimmering faintly in the light. (End of Chapter)