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

Reaching the willow tree, Zhang Lei's breathing quickened. Pointing to the ground, he said, "I was waiting for him under this tree. I even smoked a cigarette, and threw the butt in the grass over there." Following his directions, technicians indeed found a Yuxi brand cigarette butt in the grass. Preliminary testing showed that the saliva stains on the filter matched Zhang Lei's DNA profile. "When Qin Yanming drove over, his headlights were extremely bright, and I even dodged," Zhang Lei added. "After he got out of the car, he rushed straight at me, hurling nasty insults."

Wang Shuai followed him to the previously marked "fighting point," where faint blue traces of luminol reagent remained on the ground. "Is this where you two had your argument?" Wang Shuai asked. Zhang Lei nodded, squatted down, and gestured on the ground with his finger: "I was standing here when he came over and pushed me. I lost my balance and took two steps back, and then we started fighting." He pointed to a shallow pit, "He pushed me into this pit and punched me in the face. I panicked and grabbed his neck." Technicians found several short black hairs at the bottom of the pit, which were confirmed to match Qin Yanming's hair.

"What was his reaction after you grabbed his neck?" Wang Shuai pressed, his eyes fixed on Zhang Lei's movements. Zhang Lei's body trembled even more violently, his hands unconsciously rising to form a clenching grip: "At first, he struggled fiercely, grabbing my arm and scratching my hand with his nails," he showed the wound on his right index finger, "This is where he scratched it open. Later, his strength weakened, and his head tilted to one side, only then did I dare to let go." He pointed to a rock nearby, "His head hit this rock with a 'thud,' and I thought the rock had killed him, but later I found out I had strangled him."

The distance from the point of the struggle to the location where the body was dumped was over fifty meters, and intermittent drag marks could still be seen on the ground. Zhang Lei followed the marks, each step arduous, as if reliving that terrifying night. "I can't drag him; I have to rest after a few steps," he said, pointing to a scratch mark on the ground. "His shoulder scraped against a stone here, and his clothes had a small tear; the black fibers must have come from that time." Technicians extracted black polyester fibers from the scratch mark, which matched the composition of Qin Yanming's jacket perfectly.

Reaching the water's edge, Zhang Lei stopped, hesitant to approach further, and pointed to the surface: "I pushed him in here. I first tied his legs with chains and also attached a rock to prevent him from floating." He pointed towards the opposite bank, "The rock was moved from the pile of rubble over there, it weighed about ten pounds. The chains were from my truck, the kind I use to tie up building materials." Based on his directions, the technicians found a rock in the pile of rubble on the opposite bank that matched his description, with traces of chain friction still visible on it.

"What did you do after you pushed him in?" Wang Shuai asked. Zhang Lei's gaze fell on the water, as if he could see the scene before him: "I stood here for about ten minutes, until I could no longer see his body, before I dared to leave. Then I threw the other end of the chain into the sand quarry over there, thinking no one would find it." He also confessed that, fearing Qin Yanming's phone might give off a signal, he specifically took the phone out of his pocket, turned it off, and threw it into the water, "near that whirlpool, where the water is about two meters deep. The phone should still be there."

Zhang Lei was then taken to an abandoned sand quarry upstream to identify the location where Qin Yanming's taxi was hidden. In a dense grove of trees, Qin Yanming's blue taxi was covered in branches and weeds, with fresh mud still clinging to its body. "I covered the car with these branches," Zhang Lei said, pointing to the surrounding branches. "I even covered the license plate with mud to prevent it from being seen." Technicians opened the car door and found a small amount of dark red blood on the passenger seat, which tested and matched Qin Yanming's DNA. In the trunk, they also found a half-chain of the same type as the one found at the scene, and the rust on the links perfectly matched Zhang Lei's description.

During the identification process, Zhang Lei broke down in tears several times, especially when he saw Qin Yanming's taxi. He squatted down, covered his face, and cried: "I'm sorry to Qin Yanming and his family. I was just too scared at the time, which is why I did this..." His cries echoed in the empty sand quarry, filled with endless regret.

By the time the identification was finished, the mist had dissipated, and the sunlight shone brightly on the Beihe River. As Zhang Lei was being led to the police car, he glanced back at the riverbank and the sand quarry, his eyes filled with guilt and fear. Wang Shuai stood by the river, watching the technicians pack the collected evidence into boxes one by one. From cigarette butts and fibers to stones and chains, each piece of evidence corroborated Zhang Lei's confession, forming a complete chain of evidence.

Back at the Criminal Investigation Division, Wang Shuai organized the records of the crime scene identification and the newly collected evidence, adding them to the case file. Lu Chuan, looking at the complete chain of evidence, nodded in satisfaction: "Now the evidence is conclusive. Zhang Lei's confession is completely consistent with the crime scene investigation and physical evidence testing results. This case can now be formally transferred to the procuratorate for review and prosecution." He picked up Qin Yanming's portrait and said softly, "Master Qin, you can rest in peace now. The murderer will definitely be severely punished by law."

Zhang Lei's identification not only completed the evidence chain in the Beihe body dumping case but also brought belated solace to Qin Yanming's family. Although the case has been solved, the pain left to the two families is difficult to heal. Wang Shuai knows that as police officers, all they can do is comfort the deceased with the truth, uphold justice with the law, ensure that every case is solved, and that every crime receives its due punishment.

A week after Zhang Lei's case was closed, the administrative department received another report that a broken finger had been found in the garbage room of a furniture factory.

The garbage room in the backyard of the furniture factory reeked of sawdust and rot. Jia Qingwu slumped on the cement ground in front of the garbage room, his dusty work clothes cuffs rubbing against the ground. His right hand was still clutching half a rusty iron hook. Ten minutes earlier, when he was using this hook to search for recyclable waste wood, the tip of the hook suddenly snagged a piece of flesh and blood. Upon closer inspection, he found it was a severed finger. Terrified, he immediately dropped the hook and scrambled out to call the police.

As soon as Lu Chuan's police car pulled up at the factory's back gate, police tape was already set up around the garbage room. As he approached, stepping over the scattered sawdust, a pungent odor assaulted his nostrils. The garbage room was a makeshift brick-and-mortar structure with a rusty tin roof. Piles of scrap wood, shredded sponges, and paint buckets, reaching half a person's height, lay at the entrance. A severed finger lay on the pile of scrap wood inside the garbage room, its cut uneven, with bits of white paint still clinging to the knuckles. (End of Chapter)