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

“It’s made of the same material as the deceased’s jacket,” he carefully removed the fabric with tweezers. “There are tear marks on the edges, as if it was caught on something.” Yang Sen found half a blurry shoe print nearby, with the serrated pattern on the sole deeply embedded in the mud. “Size 44, with the pressure zone on the forefoot slightly outward, probably someone who habitually walks with their toes pointing outwards.”

“These shoe prints don’t look like outdoor hiking shoes,” Yang Lin squatted down and measured with a ruler. “The spacing between the treads is wide, more like work boots, and there are drag marks—look at this scratch, it extends from the shoe print to the body, about 30 centimeters wide, it should be left by dragging a heavy object.” He suddenly pointed to a rock not far away, there was a dark red stain on the grayish-white rock surface, “Take this out and see if it’s blood.”

Wang Shuai's questioning turned to the details of when Li Lijun discovered the body. "His down jacket zipper was undone," Li Lijun gestured to his chest. "The quick-drying shirt underneath was blue. I didn't dare touch him, but I saw that he seemed to be wearing a black watch on his wrist, with the strap broken in half." He suddenly remembered something. "There was a broken GPS navigator next to the bag. The screen was still lit up, and the coordinates it showed were in this forest."

Yang Sen rummaged through his backpack and found a waterproof bag. Inside, an ID card was wrinkled from being soaked in dew. The man in the photo was wearing a suit, which seemed out of place with his outdoor gear. "The deceased was named Zhao Wei, 41 years old, and his registered address was in the city." He put the ID card into the evidence bag. "The bag also contained energy bars, a first-aid kit, and mosquito repellent. It seemed like a well-prepared hiker, but the first-aid kit was unopened, and most of the mosquito repellent had been used."

“Something’s not right,” Yang Lin suddenly straightened up, his searchlight sweeping across the treetops. “This forest isn’t on the usual hiking trails. Unless you’re an experienced hiker, it’s hard to find.” He pointed to the layer of fallen leaves on the ground. “Look, apart from the footprints of the person who reported the crime and that half-boot print, there are no other fresh footprints. This means the deceased was either brought in by someone or came with the murderer.”

Wang Shuai noticed that Li Lijun's hiking boots were professional hiking models, and the tread pattern on the soles was completely different from the suspicious shoe prints at the scene. "Do you know Zhao Wei?" He handed over a photo of his ID card, and Li Lijun's brows immediately furrowed: "He looks familiar. I think I've seen him on an outdoor forum. I heard he just completed the Aotai trek last month. How could he..." His voice lowered, "His equipment is very professional. He doesn't seem like the kind of person who would have an accident on such a beginner route."

Yang Sen found the memory card among the fragments of the GPS navigator, and technicians were using equipment to read the data. "The last location record was at 3:17 pm yesterday," he read, staring at the screen. "The coordinates were at a fork in the road three kilometers away, and it has been showing up here ever since. It must have been brought to this forest yesterday afternoon." In the navigator's call log, the last call came from a number ending in 6789, lasting 1 minute and 23 seconds, and occurred at 2:58 pm yesterday.

Yang Lin's survey light stopped on the tree trunk. About 1.5 meters from the ground, there was a fresh scratch, revealing tender green wood beneath the peeling bark. "This scratch is 5 centimeters wide, like it was rubbed by a backpack strap," he measured the height of the scratch, "which matches the estimated backpack position based on the deceased's height of 178 centimeters." In the nearby bushes, several broken branches were covered with dark blue fibers, the same material as Zhao Wei's hiking backpack.

As Wang Shuai closed the notebook, Li Lijun was still talking about Zhao Wei's gear. "His sun hat was a Swedish brand, it cost over two thousand yuan," he said with regret. "How could someone kill him? People in the outdoor community are usually quite friendly; at most, they'd argue about campsites." Wang Shuai noticed that the tips of his trekking poles were covered in fresh soil, consistent with the soil composition at the scene, but the shoe print didn't match the half-boot print, temporarily ruling him out as a suspect.

As the technicians announced that the stains on the rock were indeed bloodstains, Lu Chuan's walkie-talkie suddenly crackled to life. "Team Leader Lu, while expanding the search area, we found the remains of a bonfire 200 meters to the east," Yang Lin's voice was breathless. "There's a piece of burnt cloth in the ashes, also fluorescent green." Yang Sen added, "There are three cigarette butts next to the bonfire, all from Hongtashan cigarettes, and the tobacco residue indicates they were left within the last 24 hours."

Sunlight pierced through the tree canopy, illuminating Zhao Wei's body; his decaying skin gleamed eerily in the light. An unopened first-aid kit, a shattered GPS device, torn fabric, drag marks, unfamiliar work boot prints, bloodstained rocks, a cigarette butt beside the fire… these fragments couldn't yet form a complete picture, but in Yang Lin and Yang Sen's investigation log, the conclusion that "homicide is highly probable" was gradually becoming clearer. Lu Chuan watched the helicopter circling outside the forest, knowing that identifying Zhao Wei's social connections and the owner of the helicopter he last spoke to would be key to solving this crime in the wilderness.

As the static crackled from Lu Chuan's walkie-talkie, Yang Lin was crouching on the humus soil adjusting camera settings. "Expand the search area to a radius of 500 meters, focusing on drag marks and suspicious footprints," Lu Chuan's voice mingled with birdsong in the forest. Yang Lin gestured to Yang Sen, and the two, carrying their search bags, moved towards the eastern ridgeline, their searchlight beams tracing two parallel lines through the dense canopy.

Yang Sen's metal detector beeped intermittently thirty meters from the body. He parted the waist-high ferns to reveal a grayish-white rock with half-dried dark red stains on its surface, the edges of which were covered with dark scabs. "This bloodstain is irregular in shape," he said, taking a sample with a sterile cotton swab, which instantly turned brownish-red. "It's splattered, with wiping marks at the edges, probably left by the murderer when cleaning the scene." Yang Lin was measuring with a scale. "The longest splatter is 23 centimeters at a 15-degree angle, indicating the bleeding point is about 80 centimeters high, possibly an arm injury to the deceased or the murderer."

As the two searched along the ridgeline, Yang Sen's hiking boots kicked something hard. Looking down, he found it was a broken trekking pole, the aluminum tip covered in fresh dirt. "There were markings on the pole, but they're worn away," he said, carefully putting it away in an evidence bag. "The tip is moderately worn, probably about a year old, similar to the condition of the deceased's backpack." Yang Lin suddenly pointed to the bushes on the steep slope. "The branches here show signs of breakage, and the cuts are still oozing sap. It must have been broken within the last 24 hours." A dark blue nylon thread, the same material as the strap of the deceased's backpack, hung from the broken branch.

“The footprint pressure analysis is complete,” Yang Lin said, squatting beside a shallow pit, his survey light focused on a size 44 shoe print in the mud. “The pressure on the outer forefoot is 30% greater than on the inner forefoot, the stride width is 18 centimeters, a typical pigeon-toed gait. The tread pattern spacing is 1.2 centimeters, and the depth is 0.3 centimeters, characteristics of work boots—not an outdoor brand, more like the kind worn by construction workers.” (End of Chapter)