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

At 3 p.m., the technical staff arrived at the scene and packed the evidence collected by Yang Lin and Yang Sen into boxes. Sunlight streamed through the glass doors of the parking lot entrance, casting dappled shadows on the ground, illuminating tire tracks and bloodstains, but failing to penetrate the fog surrounding the case. Yang Lin watched the boxes of evidence being carried away, knowing that although the expanded investigation had uncovered many clues, solving the mystery of the deceased's identity and identifying the suspects would still require precise laboratory testing and subsequent interviews and investigations.

Yang Sen put away his investigation tools and said to Yang Lin, "I hope the lab can produce results as soon as possible, especially the bloodstains on the utility knife and the DNA from the cigarette butt. If they match, it will greatly shorten the investigation time." Yang Lin nodded, "And the investigation of Li Wei and the black car. If we can make a breakthrough on these two leads, the case will move forward by a big step."

The two stood silently in a corner of level B2, gazing at the traces left after the body was removed. The underground parking garage's ventilation system continued its humming, as if whispering tales of the evil hidden there. They knew that although the case remained shrouded in mystery, with persistent, meticulous investigation and patient examination, they would eventually piece together the truth from these scattered clues, allowing the deceased to rest in peace.

Inside the property management office of Haotian Building, the air conditioner hummed, but it couldn't dispel the tension in the air. Wang Shuai sat at his desk, a map of the building's surveillance cameras spread out in front of him. Property manager Zhang Jianjun gripped his water glass tightly, his knuckles turning white from the force—since the discovery of the male corpse in the underground parking lot, the entire building's residents had been gripped by panic, and as the property manager, he was under immense pressure.

"Manager Zhang, could you please retrieve the surveillance footage from the B1 and B2 levels of the underground parking lot for the past 48 hours, especially the footage from the evening of August 22nd to the early morning of August 23rd?" Wang Shuai's finger swept across the distribution map. "Focus on the footage from the renovation area, the elevator entrance, and the parking lot entrances and exits. In addition, the surveillance footage from the main entrance and side entrances of the building also needs to be retrieved completely, without any omissions."

Zhang Jianjun nodded quickly and asked security captain Li Dahai to operate the computer: "Officer Wang, don't worry, we will cooperate fully. However, the surveillance camera in the corner of B2 has been broken for almost a week and has not been repaired yet, so we can only see part of the area; and the surveillance camera in the B1 renovation area suddenly lost signal yesterday afternoon, I don't know if it was accidentally touched by the construction workers."

"When exactly did the signal go down? Did you send anyone to check?" Wang Shuai pressed. Li Dahai pulled up the monitoring log: "The signal went down at 4:15 pm yesterday. We were planning to send someone to fix it this morning, but then this happened..." His voice trailed off, his eyes filled with guilt.

Wang Shuai instructed his team member Xiao Chen to check the surveillance footage that was playing normally, while he himself followed Zhang Jianjun and Li Dahai to visit the building's property management staff and security guards. The first stop was the security booth at the main entrance of the building, where the security guard on duty, Zhao Gang, was sitting inside, watching people coming and going with a vigilant eye.

“Brother Zhao, when you were on duty on the night of August 22nd, did you see any suspicious people or vehicles coming in or out? Especially those carrying large items or looking flustered.” Wang Shuai offered Zhao Gang a cigarette, trying to ease his tension. Zhao Gang took the cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag: “I was on duty from 8 pm on the 22nd to 8 am on the 23rd. I didn’t see anyone unusual. It was just around 2 am that I saw Li Zhiguo come back from outside. He’s the security guard responsible for patrolling the B2 level parking lot. He usually comes back to relieve us around this time, but that day he didn’t stay at the security booth and went straight to the underground parking lot. I haven’t seen him since.”

“Li Zhiguo? Does he usually stop at the security booth when he changes shifts? Was there anything unusual that day?” Wang Shuai immediately pressed for an answer. Zhao Gang recalled, “He usually comes in for a drink of water and a chat when he changes shifts. That day, he didn’t look well, and he was looking down, as if he had something on his mind. I greeted him, and he just grunted and left in a hurry.” He paused and added, “Oh, and when he left, he was carrying a heavy black plastic bag. I wonder what was in it.”

This information startled Wang Shuai. He immediately asked Zhao Gang to describe Li Zhiguo's physical characteristics and clothing: "Li Zhiguo is about 180cm tall, around 35 years old, with short hair, and a faint scar on his left cheek. He usually wears a security guard uniform to work, but that day he seemed to be not wearing a uniform; he was wearing a black T-shirt and jeans." Zhao Gang's description initially matched the physical characteristics of the male corpse in the underground parking lot.

Next, Wang Shuai visited Liu Fang, the property management staff member in charge of the B1 floor renovation area. "Sister Liu, why did the surveillance camera signal drop in the B1 floor renovation area on the afternoon of August 22? Did the construction workers report any abnormalities?" Liu Fang sat at her desk, holding a construction record in her hand: "Around 4 pm yesterday, Li Wei from the construction team said he wanted to move the surveillance camera to facilitate the construction. I agreed without thinking much about it. As a result, the signal dropped not long after. I called him, and he said it might be that the wires were loose and that he would fix it the next day, so I didn't pursue it any further."

"Where is Li Wei now? Can we get in touch with him?" Wang Shuai asked. Liu Fang tried to dial Li Wei's number, but it said "the phone is switched off." "He has always been very cooperative with his work and has never switched off his phone before. Could something have happened to him?" Her tone was worried.

Wang Shuai instructed his team to record Li Wei's information and continue interviewing other property management staff. During the interviews, security captain Li Dahai suddenly mentioned, "By the way, Officer Wang, Li Zhiguo didn't come during roll call this morning. I tried calling him, but his phone was off. At first, I thought he had taken leave and didn't think much of it. Now that I think about it, could it be related to the parking lot incident?"

"Where's Li Zhiguo's dormitory? Let's go take a look." Wang Shuai immediately got up and followed Li Dahai to the security guard dormitory on the top floor of the building. The door to Li Zhiguo's dormitory was ajar. Pushing it open, a pungent musty smell hit them. The items in the dormitory were neatly arranged; the blankets on the bed were folded squarely, and several security guard uniforms hung in the wardrobe, but there was no black T-shirt or jeans—the same as what Zhao Gang described Li Zhiguo wearing that night. In the bedside table drawer, Wang Shuai found a silver cufflink engraved with the letter "L," exactly the same as the cufflink found next to the male corpse in the underground parking lot!
"Is this cufflink Li Zhiguo's?" Wang Shuai asked Li Dahai, holding up the cufflink. Li Dahai nodded, "It's his. His girlfriend gave it to him for his birthday last year. He treasures it and wears it often, saying it's his favorite gift." (End of Chapter)