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

Wang Shuai returned to Li Jianshe's side and continued to ask, "Brother, what shape was the black bag on the back seat of the black motorcycle you saw yesterday? Was it square, round, or long?" Li Jianshe's eyes lit up: "It was long, about a meter long, tied to the back seat with a rope. It looked like it contained a steel pipe or some other long thing."

This information startled Wang Shuai. He immediately ordered his team to search the small path west of the grassland, while contacting the transportation department to retrieve surveillance footage from the surrounding roads in search of the black motorcycle. Yang Lin and Yang Sen continued their on-site investigation, collecting shoe print models, motorcycle tire print samples, black fabric, nylon rope, and silver buttons in evidence bags, preparing to take them back to the brigade for further testing.

As the sun rose higher, the mist over the grassland dissipated, and a number of herders who had rushed to the scene gathered outside the cordon, their voices rising and falling in discussion. Li Jianshe stood in the open space, watching the police officers' busy figures, still feeling lingering fear: "How could such a thing happen on such a beautiful grassland... I hope you find the murderer soon, so we can feel more at ease."

Wang Shuai patted him on the shoulder: "Thank you for the clue. It's very helpful to us. We may need your cooperation to verify some details later." After saying that, he turned and walked towards the earthen slope to meet up with Yang Lin and Yang Sen. Although the identity of the deceased is still unknown, the clues of the black motorcycle and the long black bag have provided an initial direction for solving the case.

Standing beside the cordon, Lu Chuan looked at the grassland before him, knowing full well that the investigation into this grassland murder case had only just begun. Who was the victim? Why was he in this remote grassland? Who owned the black motorcycle? These questions needed to be answered by examining the traces at the scene and conducting further investigations. But he firmly believed that with meticulous examination and patient investigation, the truth would eventually be revealed, and justice would prevail.

As the sun rose high in the sky, the dew on the grassland gradually evaporated. Lu Chuan looked at the preliminary findings of Yang Lin and Yang Sen, his brows furrowing slightly: "We can't just focus on the area around the body. Expand the search area to 500 meters outside the grassland, including the abandoned sheepfold to the west, the irrigation canal to the north, and the herder's path to the east. The suspect will definitely leave more traces when entering and leaving the grassland. Investigate carefully and don't overlook any details."

Yang Lin and Yang Sen immediately shouldered their survey bags and split into two groups—Yang Lin was responsible for the abandoned sheepfolds and irrigation ditches, while Yang Sen searched the herders' paths and the surrounding wasteland. The wind on the grassland gradually picked up, rustling the grass, and the shouts of herders driving their flocks could be heard in the distance, but it did not affect the two men's concentration at all.

Yang Lin first headed towards the abandoned sheepfold to the west. The sheepfold, built of stone and planks, had long been unused; vines climbed the fence, and the ground was covered with a thick layer of sheep dung and hay. He took out his footprint lamp, the beam piercing the dim light of the sheepfold and slowly moving across the layer of hay. "There are new footprints here!" Reaching a corner of the sheepfold, Yang Lin suddenly stopped—a depression in the hay revealed the faint outline of a size 44 leather shoe, with a stride length of 88 centimeters, a stride width of 21 centimeters, and a 4-degree outward slant—a feature perfectly matching the shoe print found to the east of the corpse.

“The suspect must have been here,” Yang Lin squatted down and used tweezers to part the dry grass. There was a small amount of black soil on the edge of the shoe print, and the soil composition was the same as the black soil on the grassland slope. “Maybe he observed the environment here before committing the crime, or he hid here to avoid being seen after committing the crime.” Following the direction of the footprints, after about 15 meters, the footprints disappeared into the grass outside the sheepfold—the grass was so thick that no clear trace could be left, and only a few scattered marks of fallen dry grass could be seen.

On the stone wall west of the sheepfold, Yang Lin made another discovery: there were fresh friction marks on the wall, and a small amount of black fiber residue on the edge of the stone. The fiber was coarse and similar in texture to the black cloth clutched in the right hand of the corpse. "Extract fiber samples and mark the location." He put the fiber into an evidence bag. "This fiber was probably left by the suspect when he rubbed against the wall, and it might be related to the cloth on the corpse."

On the other side, Yang Sen also made a discovery by the irrigation canal to the north. The canal had long since dried up, and the bottom was covered with gravel and weeds. He found a set of tire tracks at the bottom of the canal. The tires were about 30 centimeters wide, which is the size of a common agricultural tricycle, and the tire treads were horizontal stripes—completely different from the motorcycle tire tracks found earlier to the west of the body.

“The wheel track is about 1.2 meters, which is consistent with the wheel track of a farm tricycle,” Yang Sen measured the distance between the wheel tracks with a ruler. “The edges of the wheel tracks are covered with black soil from the grassland, and the marks are fresh and the edges are clear, so they should have been left recently. They are likely traces of the suspect’s transportation vehicle being replenished—could it be that in addition to the motorcycle, a tricycle was also involved in the crime?” He followed the wheel tracks to the north and south. The wheel tracks on the south side extended deep into the grassland and did not connect with the traces around the body; the tracks on the north side led to the road outside the grassland, but the traces were covered by passing vehicles and could not be traced further.

In the pile of rubble next to the tire tracks, Yang Sen also found a metal bottle cap. The bottle cap was branded "mineral water," the same brand as the empty mineral water bottle next to the body. "There are teeth marks on the edge of the bottle cap, as if it had been bitten open," he said, putting the bottle cap into an evidence bag. "There are no obvious fingerprints on it, and it's a bit blurred from being exposed to the wind and sun, but it at least proves that the suspect or the deceased had stayed here and drunk the same brand of mineral water."

After the two met up, they searched the herder's path to the east together. The path, about two meters wide, was made by herders driving sheep, and was mostly made of mud and gravel. In the middle of the path, Yang Lin found half a size 42 women's cloth shoe print. The edge of the print had a small amount of black soil on it. The stride length was 65 centimeters, the stride width was 17 centimeters, and the stride angle was 2 degrees inward. He estimated the height to be 160-165 centimeters.

"Women's shoe print? Could a woman have been involved in the crime?" Yang Sen frowned. "But the previous shoe prints and tire tracks were male. Was this woman's shoe print left by an accomplice or a passing herdsman?" Yang Lin shook his head: "It's hard to tell right now. The freshness of the shoe print is similar to the other traces, so we can't rule out a connection for the time being. Let's take a sample back for comparison."

Under an elm tree at the end of the path, the two found half a "Liqun" cigarette butt, the same brand as the cigarette butts found near the body. The filter also had bite marks, but the pattern was slightly different from the previous cigarette butts. "The bite marks on this cigarette butt are shallower; it might have been left by someone else," Yang Lin carefully examined the cigarette butt. "Could there be more than one suspect? Or did someone else come here before or after the incident?"

Yang Sen took out his investigation logbook and meticulously reviewed each of the newly discovered clues: "A size 44 leather shoe print matches the one next to the body; tire tracks from a farm tricycle; black fibers similar to the fabric used on the body; a mineral water bottle cap; a size 42 women's cloth shoe print; half a 'Liqun' cigarette butt—there are quite a few clues, but they're all too fragmented and lack direction." (End of Chapter)