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

Li Qiang's Adam's apple bobbed violently, his hand trembled so badly as he held the water glass that water spilled onto the front of his prison uniform, leaving dark stains. "I...I did argue with him." His voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, his fingertips unconsciously digging into the wood grain of the chair. "At the entrance of Unit 2, Building 3, he asked me for the delivery fee after delivering the goods. I told him I'd pay him in a few days, but he wouldn't agree." He suddenly looked up, his eyes bloodshot. "He said he'd complain about me on the platform and that he'd come to my shop and make a scene, preventing me from doing business!"

The surveillance cameras in the interrogation room faithfully recorded every detail. Li Qiang's body language betrayed his nervousness—his legs kept shaking, and his left hand repeatedly rubbed the ring on his right hand. "He took out his phone to take a picture of my business license, saying he wanted to keep evidence," Li Qiang's voice suddenly rose, trembling with tears, "I panicked and tried to grab his phone. We started fighting, and he pinned me to the ground, punching me in the face..."

Zhang Hui flipped through the photos of the scene. There was a faint red bloodstain on the cement ground at the entrance of Unit 2, Building 3, which, after testing, matched Zhang Guojun's DNA. "And then?" His pen hovered over the notebook. Li Qiang's breathing suddenly became rapid, his chest heaving violently: "I panicked, grabbed a brick from the ground to scare him. When he saw the brick, he lunged at it to grab it. In the struggle, I tripped him, and the back of his head hit the steps. He didn't move at all..."

“No,” Zhang Hui suddenly interrupted him, pointing to a photo of the finger marks on the deceased’s neck, “The forensic examination shows that Zhang Guojun’s cause of death was mechanical asphyxiation, not traumatic brain injury.” Li Qiang’s face instantly turned deathly pale, his lips trembling as he couldn’t speak. Silence spread through the interrogation room, the ticking of the quartz clock on the wall particularly jarring. After a full three minutes, he slumped back in his chair like a deflated balloon.

“I strangled him to death…” Li Qiang’s voice was barely audible, tears and snot streaming down his face. “After he fell to the ground, he was still cursing me, saying that even if I let him go today, he would file a complaint tomorrow. I got scared, so I pounced on him, straddled him, and strangled his neck with both hands…” He gestured the action, his hands crossed on either side of his neck, the ring on his right hand gleaming coldly in the light. “I closed my eyes and strangled him with all my might. He struggled, grabbing my arms, his nails digging painfully into my skin, until his body went limp and he made no sound…”

While confessing to the murder, Li Qiang's body trembled uncontrollably. He said he was so scared that his whole body went limp, and he lay on the ground for more than ten minutes before daring to touch Zhang Guojun's nose to check his breathing. "When I found that he was no longer breathing, my first thought was to run," he said, his fingernails digging deeply into his palms. "But then I thought that the body would be discovered sooner or later if it was left here, so I thought of the water tank in the community—no one usually goes there, and it can cover up the crime."

Li Qiang confessed that his heart was pounding in his throat when he went home to get his tools. "My wife went to her parents' house, and no one was home," he said, his gaze drifting out the window as if recalling that terrifying night. "I borrowed the wrench from the property management, saying the water pipes were broken. The chain was for securing goods in my shop, and I thought I'd use it to tie up the body to prevent it from being dragged away by wild dogs." He had specifically taken a silver suitcase from the garage to pack his tools and bloodstained clothes, but unexpectedly, it attracted the attention of the surveillance cameras.

Dragging the body was more difficult than expected. "Zhang Guojun was stronger than me, and I had to rest after dragging him for a few steps," Li Qiang said wearily. "His head was hitting the stairs with a loud thud, and I was so scared that I wanted to abandon him and run away several times." He walked down the fire escape, feeling like someone was watching him with every step. When he reached the third-floor platform, he was almost spotted by a patrolling security guard and hid in the stairwell, barely daring to breathe.

“When I got to the water tank, I was exhausted,” Li Qiang said, his voice trembling with tears. “It took me ten minutes to pry open the lock on the access hatch with a wrench, and my arms were aching. The hardest part was stuffing him in; his shoulder was stuck in the opening, and I had to kick him in with my feet. I heard a ‘plop’ as he fell into the water.” Fearing the body would float to the surface and be discovered, he found a rag to block the overflow pipe and threw an iron chain into the water tank to wrap around the body’s legs.

After disposing of the body, Li Qiang threw the blood-stained brick into the drainage ditch of the underground parking garage, hiding the wrench and chain there as well. "I took the clothes and gloves from the suitcase home and burned them, then dumped the ashes in the community's trash cans," he confessed, explaining that the hiding place perfectly matched the previous investigation. "I wiped the bloodstains on the ring several times with alcohol, thinking I could wash them off, but they still left traces." He thought he had done everything perfectly, but the police found him in just three days.

The next morning, Li Qiang was escorted to Anju Residential Area to identify the crime scene. As soon as the police car entered the area, he began to tremble and his face turned as white as paper. At the entrance of Unit 2, Building 3, he pointed to the bloodstains on the steps: "He was strangled here. His head hit the third step." Technicians immediately tested the bloodstains with luminol reagent, and a pale blue fluorescence appeared on the ground, confirming his confession.

As they reached the fire escape, Li Qiang's legs buckled and he nearly collapsed to his knees, but the officers caught him in time. "I dragged him down from here," he said, his voice trembling with tears. "We had to stop and catch our breath at every turn, because his hands left marks on the wall." Sure enough, there was a faint scratch on the wall of the fire escape, and fiber testing showed it to be blue polyester, consistent with the composition of Zhang Guojun's work clothes.

Standing in front of the water tank, Li Qiang dared not look directly at the stainless steel container, keeping his head very low. "I threw him in through this opening," he pointed to the access port, "I also threw an iron chain into the water to wrap around his legs, so he wouldn't float to the surface." The technicians opened the access port, and sure enough, there was a corpse wrapped in an iron chain underwater, which perfectly matched Li Qiang's confession.

In the underground parking garage's drainage ditch, technicians retrieved a bloodstained wrench and half a chain. The bloodstains on the wrench's blade matched Zhang Guojun's DNA, and the scratches on the chain links perfectly matched the chain found in the water tank. Meanwhile, in Li Qiang's trash can, forensic experts found unburnt clothing fibers, the composition of which was identical to the blue polyester found at the scene.

As the scene identification concluded, the setting sun cast long shadows across the residential area. As Li Qiang was being led to the police car, he suddenly glanced back towards Building 3, his lips moving as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately only let out a heavy sigh. Zhang Hui stood before the water tank, watching the technicians pack all the evidence into boxes. His notebook was already five pages full of interrogation records, each word imbued with the tragedy of two families.

The investigation has finally come to a close. Li Qiang has been formally arrested on charges of intentional homicide and will face the full force of the law. (End of Chapter)