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

Only fifteen results remained after the initial screening, and the name "Qin Yanming" immediately caught everyone's attention. "Qin Yanming, 41 years old, taxi driver for the city company," Xiao Lin read the information, his voice trembling slightly with excitement. "Height 178cm, ID photo shows single eyelids, habitually wears a ballpoint pen and notebook on his left chest, with obvious indentations. He went missing after starting his shift on the evening of June 13th and hasn't returned. His family reported him missing saying he was wearing a black polyester work jacket."

He placed Qin Yanming's ID photo and the skull reconstruction provided by the forensic doctor side by side, splitting the screen in two. The two faces had strikingly similar features: high brow bones, flat noses, and even the barely noticeable mole at the corner of their mouths was in the same spot. Li Bing suddenly slapped his thigh, nearly tipping the chair over: "That's him! Look at those brow bones, both with prominent brow peaks, and those protruding ears!"

Zhang Hui frowned, staring at the close-up of the hand in the photo, zooming in on the details on the screen: "The system says he has an old scar on his right index finger, but the deceased's finger was freshly severed. Furthermore, Qin Yanming disappeared on the evening of June 13th, and our estimated time of death is between 10 PM on June 13th and 2 AM on June 14th. The timing matches perfectly, but we need to see more detailed characteristics." He pulled up Qin Yanming's pre-employment medical examination report. "Blood type A, consistent with the deceased's blood type; and this," he pointed to the "Special Marks" section in the personal information, "There's a 0.6cm diameter black mole on his left scapula, not mentioned in the forensic report, but it might have been covered by clothing during the autopsy."

This discovery sent a jolt through his weary nerves. Xiao Lin immediately contacted the city's taxi company: "Check Qin Yanming's driving record for June 13th!" Li Bing flipped through Qin Yanming's attendance record. His last shift on June 12th was 9:15 PM, and his work uniform was registered as "black polyester work clothes, number 089," perfectly matching the color and style of the deceased's clothing. "And this," he pointed to a work accident record, "last year, while carrying passengers, he was bitten on his right index finger by a passenger's dog, leaving a scar—this perfectly matches the location of the deceased's broken right index fingernail!"

Just then, the taxi company called back: "Qin Yanming's dispatch log for June 13th shows that his last fare was to Wanghai Community near Beihe, with an agreed delivery time of 8:30 PM. He hasn't accepted any new fares since then, and his GPS location disappeared near the Beihe River embankment at 10:15 PM on June 13th." Zhang Hui's gaze fell on Qin Yanming's vehicle information: "His blue taxi hasn't been found yet. The last location where the GPS signal disappeared was two kilometers upstream from where the body was found!"

Xiao Lin suddenly discovered that Qin Yanming's emergency contact was his wife, Liu Min, and the phone number's location was within the city. At 2:50 AM, Zhang Hui dialed Liu Min's number, and the snoring on the other end suddenly stopped. "Who is it? In the middle of the night..." Liu Min's voice was hoarse from a hangover, mixed with the breathy sounds of yawning. When she heard the words "Qin Yanming" and "corpse," she suddenly burst into tears: "My husband has been missing for three days! I thought he went to drive long-distance taxis... He had a scar on his right index finger from a dog bite, and he always carried a pen and a business notebook in his left breast pocket. Last week he said his jacket pocket was worn out and he needed to replace it..."

The chain of events was closing slowly in the darkness before dawn. Zhang Hui instructed the technical department to retrieve Qin Yanming's DNA file, which he had kept when he joined the company, for urgent comparison with the deceased's biological samples. Li Bing stared intently at Qin Yanming's driving route map: "On the night of June 13th, he was walking back after his last delivery. He must have had an accident near the Beihe River embankment," he pointed to a red dot on the route map, "From Wanghai Residential Area to the taxi company, the Beihe River embankment is the only route." Xiao Lin was already investigating Qin Yanming's social connections. "He's recently been chasing a passenger for fare. The other party is a building materials store owner named Zhao Gang. The two of them had an argument on the phone last week."

At exactly three in the morning, the sky outside the window was still pitch black, with only a few stars flickering through the clouds. Xiao Wang from the technical department pushed open the door, holding a freshly printed report, the edges of the pages still warm from the printer. "The comparison results are in," he handed the report to Zhang Hui, his voice weary from staying up all night, "The probability of parentage is greater than 99.99%, the deceased is Qin Yanming." Zhang Hui slammed the report on the table with a "thud," startling Xiao Lin awake. The light from the desk lamp fell directly on the three characters "Qin Yanming," casting golden stripes, as if gilding the name with a halo.

Xiao Lin rubbed his red, swollen eyes and smiled, tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes: "Over a thousand! Finally found them! My eyes are almost blind from looking." He stretched, his bones cracking, the chair legs scraping against the floor with a harsh sound. Li Bing lit his first cigarette of the day, the smoke dissipating in the lamplight. He took a deep drag, the dizziness from the nicotine making him sway: "Don't be too happy yet. Zhao Gang, who owes him fare, is a prime suspect. We need to immediately investigate his whereabouts on the night of June 13th."

The computer screen in the analysis room was still lit, hundreds of excluded names lying silently in the gray list, like countless fates brushing past each other. Zhang Hui gazed at the pitch-black night sky outside the window, the distant streetlights casting a dim yellow glow in the mist. Qin Yanming's ID photo was still smiling on the screen, wearing a black taxi uniform, his left breast pocket bulging, as if silently telling the story of that night of June 13th, how an ordinary taxi driver walked towards that cold Beihe River while picking up passengers.

Zhang Hui picked up the DNA report, his fingertips lightly tracing the name "Qin Yanming," the rough texture of the paper seeping through his skin. He knew this was just the beginning. Zhao Gang's fare dispute, the passenger information for Qin Yanming's last fare, the lost operations book in his black jacket pocket… countless mysteries awaited unraveling, but at least, this soul hidden in the river finally had a name. The wind outside blew in through the half-open window, carrying the coolness of a summer night, as if sighing for this belated confirmation.

Early the next morning.

The blinds in the Criminal Investigation Division's conference room were only a third open, letting in the slanting morning light that cast interplay of light and shadow on the long conference table. Lu Chuan slammed his enamel mug down on the table, the tea stems swirling in the murky tea with a loud clatter that startled Xiao Zhang, who was sitting opposite him, into straightening up. The quartz clock on the wall pointed to exactly nine in the morning, the ticking of the second hand particularly clear in the silent room, like a countdown to the analysis meeting.

"Everyone's here, let's begin." Lu Chuan tapped his fingers lightly on the table, his gaze sweeping over everyone present. (End of Chapter)