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

"It is 12 centimeters long and has a relatively stiff texture, which matches the hair characteristics of Li Jianfeng." At the bottom of the toolbox, half of a 6205 model bearing gleamed in the shadows, and the scratches on the raceway could be perfectly pieced together with the gap in the trekking pole found at the scene.

The dark blue work clothes hung prominently in the wardrobe, the diesel stains on the cuffs already hardened. When the technician shone them with a UV lamp, a pale blue fluorescence appeared at the hem—bloodstains. "This bloodstain has a wiped-like pattern," Zhang Hui measured the area, "8 x 10 cm. If the DNA test shows it's Li Jianfeng's, it'll be irrefutable proof." In a cardboard box in the corner of the wardrobe, there was a smartphone that was switched off. When turned on, the WeChat account displayed was "Mountain Eagle." The chat history with Li Jianfeng hadn't been deleted; the last message was from 5 PM on July 18th: "I'll wait for you in the firebreak. Wearing fluorescent green clothes will make you easy to spot."

The arrest operation took place in the repair shop of Tongda Freight Company. Wang Baokai was squatting under a truck changing the oil, the oil in the drain reaching his ankles, his trouser legs still stained with fresh oil. "Wang Baokai, come with us." Zhang Hui's voice echoed in the workshop. The wrench in Wang Baokai's hand clattered to the ground, splashing oil all over his face. He tried to hide behind the truck, but was blocked by officers who had been lying in wait. As the cold handcuffs locked his wrists, he suddenly struggled violently, his fingernails scratching three bloody marks on the officer's arm: "Why are you arresting me? I haven't broken the law!"

As they escorted him downstairs, Wang Baokai's eyes were fixed on the police car parked at the entrance, and he made strange hoarse noises. Passing his Jiefang truck, he suddenly broke free from the officers' restraints and rammed his head into the front of the truck. He was quickly restrained, but his forehead was already bleeding. "That's my truck! You can't touch it!" his roar echoed in the parking lot, attracting the attention of other drivers. When the officers lifted the floor mat in the truck's cab, a Li Jianfeng ID card slipped out from the gap; the smile on the photo was particularly glaring in the sunlight.

The incandescent light in the interrogation room was blinding, casting Wang Baokai's long shadow against the wall like a twisted rag. Zhang Hui placed the wrench he had found under the bed on the table; the crisp clinking of metal made Wang Baokai's shoulders tremble. "Do you recognize this?" Zhang Hui's pen tapped rhythmically on the notebook, the nib hovering above the date "July 18th."

Wang Baokai's gaze lingered on the wrench for three seconds before he suddenly lowered his head, his bangs falling to cover his eyes, revealing only the slight twitching of his tightly pursed lips. "It's for car repair," his voice was like sandpaper, his right index finger unconsciously digging into the plastic armrest of the interrogation chair, the engine oil under his fingernail smearing a dark mark on the white surface. "I use it every day, what's wrong with that?"

Zhang Hui pushed over a printed copy of the WeChat chat history. The conversation between "Mountain Eagle" and Li Jianfeng was exceptionally clear in black and white. "You used this account to lure Li Jianfeng to the southern suburbs just to kill him, right?" He pointed to the words "fluorescent bacteria" with the nib of his pen. "You don't even know what fluorescent bacteria are; you just made up an excuse to lure him to a secluded forest." Wang Baokai's Adam's apple bobbed violently. He suddenly raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, like a wild beast trapped in a cage: "I just wanted to talk to him, who knew he would attack first!"

"Let's talk about why you needed a wrench and hiking poles?" Zhang Hui pulled up a screenshot from the surveillance footage. In the image, Wang Baokai, carrying a black backpack, was barely visible in the twilight as he walked into the woods. "At 5:30 PM on July 18th, your truck appeared on the southern suburban firebreak road, entered the woods at 6:10 PM, and left at 7:40 PM. That's enough time for you to commit the crime and dispose of the body." He paused, then suddenly raised his voice, "Why was Li Jianfeng's ID card under the floor mat of your truck? Is the blood on the wrench his? Do you dare to do a DNA comparison?"

Wang Baokai's shoulders suddenly slumped, and he covered his face with his hands, sobs seeping through his fingers. "He stole my job first!" His voice was choked with sobs, a mixture of anger and fear. "That green channel trip could earn two thousand yuan, enough for my daughter's tuition. How dare he take it? I punctured his tires as a warning, but he was ungrateful and dared to arrange to meet me in the woods. I only wanted to scare him..."

"To scare him, you need to strike him squarely in the chest?" Zhang Hui's gaze pierced his lies like a sharp sword. "The forensic report shows that Li Jianfeng's left ventricle was punctured by the broken end of a rib, with 300 milliliters of blood in the pericardium. From the injury to death, no more than 10 minutes had passed. This was a fatal wound, not a bluff." He pushed over a composite photo of the hiking stick. "This stick was the one you brought with you. It was broken during the struggle, and there's Li Jianfeng's skin tissue on it. Are you still trying to deny it?"

Wang Baokai's defenses completely crumbled, tears and snot streaming down his face, leaving a small damp patch on the interrogation record. "I arranged to meet him in the woods, hoping he would return the freight payment to me," his voice was broken, like a tape recorder stuck in malfunction. "When he arrived, he berated me for being incompetent, saying it was only right for him to take my job. I couldn't stand it, so I argued with him. He shoved me, and I grabbed a wrench and smashed it against him..."

"Where did he hit you?" Zhang Hui pressed, his pen flying across the paper. Wang Baokai gestured in the air to indicate his chest: "Right here. He collapsed, clutching his chest, his eyes wide open. I was terrified, so I dragged him deeper into the woods, trying to make it look like an accident..." He suddenly trembled violently, "I really didn't mean to kill him, I was just so angry. He shouldn't have taken my job, and he definitely shouldn't have cursed at me..."

According to Wang Baokai's confession, he dragged Li Jianfeng into the bushes, wiped the blood off his wrench, but forgot to clean the blood and hair off the soles of his boots. "I thought if I hid his ID card in the truck, you wouldn't be able to find his identity," he whispered, "and I threw his phone and wallet into the river, thinking that would be foolproof..." He suddenly looked up, a hint of despair flashing in his eyes, "I didn't expect you to even find the fragments of the hiking stick. I confess, murder is punishable by death, I have nothing to say."

The interrogation continued late into the night, and Wang Baokai's confession matched the details of the crime scene investigation and forensic examination point by point: from the excuse for meeting Li Jianfeng to the wrench used in the crime, from the route of dragging the body to the location of the hidden documents, every link was perfectly aligned, like gears working together. When he finally signed the arrest warrant, his hand trembled so much that he could barely hold the pen, and it took him three tries to sign his name at the end of the "suspect" column.

As Zhang Hui stepped out of the interrogation room, the sky was already beginning to lighten. He took out his phone and sent a text message to Li Jianfeng's wife: "The murderer has been apprehended; the case is solved." (End of Chapter)