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

“I’ve had bad luck these past two years. The projects I’ve contracted keep having problems, and I’m drowning in debt. I can barely even pay my workers’ wages. I owe Zhang Hao for his car repairs for almost three months. Every time I see him, he keeps urging me to pay. Last Wednesday afternoon, I went to his place to get my van repaired, and he came back to ask me for the money. He said if I didn’t pay, he would sue me in court and make it impossible for me to keep the construction site running.”

“I panicked. If he really sued me, I would definitely lose my construction site and then I would have nothing.” Wang Hu’s voice was filled with resentment, and a hint of ferocity flashed in his eyes. “I thought, why not find an opportunity to talk to him properly? If he is willing to give me a few more months, I will try to raise money to pay him back; if he is not willing, I will… I just want to scare him and make him stop pressuring me.”

“Last Wednesday night, I called Zhang Hao and said, ‘I’ll bring the car repair money to him tonight and have him wait for me at the shop.’ He didn’t suspect anything and was quite happy, saying, ‘Wait for me at the shop at 9 pm.’” Wang Hu’s voice began to choke. “I took an old towel from home and put it in the car, thinking that if we couldn’t reach an agreement, I would tie his hands with the towel to scare him and make him agree to postpone the payment. Then I drove my van to his auto repair shop.”

“When we got to the auto repair shop, I told him, ‘I don’t have enough money with me, can I postpone it for another month?’ He disagreed, saying, ‘You’ve postponed it several times already, this time you have to pay.’ He even grabbed my arm and wouldn’t let me leave, saying, ‘You’re not leaving today if you don’t pay.’” Wang Hu’s tears flowed more and more, his voice filled with fear. “I panicked then and started arguing with him. He pushed me, and I almost fell. My mind went blank, and all I could think was, ‘I can’t let him sue me,’ so I took a towel from the car, went behind him, and strangled him with the towel.”

“He struggled violently, grabbing my arm and biting my hand, his nails even scratching my arm.” Wang Hu raised his left arm, revealing several shallow scars. “I didn’t care about anything at the time, I just tightened the towel until he stopped moving, then I let go. I checked his breathing and found that he was no longer breathing. I was terrified and quickly dragged his body to the car, wrapped it in a black plastic bag, thinking of finding a place to throw it away.”

“I drove around for a long time, not knowing where to dump the body. Then I thought there were few people at the garbage dump, and the surveillance cameras were broken, so I drove there.” Wang Hu’s voice trailed off, filled with remorse. “When I got to the garbage dump, I dragged the body out of the car and threw it in the waste area on the west side. I even covered it with the garbage next to it, and then I drove away. I didn’t dare go home, afraid that you would find me, so I thought I would go to my sister Wang Lan’s house to hide for a few days and think of a way after things calmed down. I didn’t expect that you would still catch me.”

"Why didn't you bury Zhang Hao's body directly? Why did you throw it in the garbage dump?" Wang Shuai's voice was heavy, his gaze fixed on Wang Hu, not missing a single subtle expression.

Wang Hu's head drooped even lower, his chin almost touching his chest. His hands were unconsciously twisting together on his knees, his knuckles turning white from the force. His shoulders trembled slightly, and a muffled sob escaped his throat. After a long while, he spoke in a voice so soft it was almost inaudible: "I... I was so nervous at the time, my mind went blank, I just wanted to dispose of the body as quickly as possible so no one would find out..."

He paused, as if recalling the chaotic scene, his voice filled with barely concealed fear: "I drove around with his body for almost an hour, my heart pounding, my hands shaking so badly I could barely hold the steering wheel. At first, I thought about finding a secluded place to bury him, like a forest or riverbank in the suburbs, but I was afraid... afraid that someone would see me digging, and afraid that the hole wouldn't be deep enough, and that animals would dig it out later, or that it would be washed out by the rain, and that you would find it then."

Wang Hu raised his head, his eyes bloodshot, tears welling up again: "When I was hauling materials for the construction site, I passed by that garbage dump. I know that a lot of garbage is brought in there every day, it's a mess, and no one will look closely at what's inside. Besides, I heard that the garbage dump's surveillance cameras have been broken for a long time. Even if I dumped the body there, no one would know who did it. I also think... I think that the garbage dump will pile up a lot of new garbage every day, and in a few days, the new garbage will cover his body. Even if you want to find him, you won't be able to, or it will take a long time before you find out. By then, I'll have long since run away, and you won't be able to trace it back to me."

His voice grew increasingly urgent, as if he were justifying his decision at the time, or as if he were trying to convince himself: "And...and burying a body takes too much time. I didn't bring any tools with me. I can't just dig with my hands, can I? Even if I found the tools, it would take several hours to dig a hole big enough to bury a person. If someone sees me while I'm digging, then it's all over. It's so much easier to just dump it in the landfill. I can drive in, dump the body, and leave. It won't take more than ten minutes, and no one will suspect anything."

Wang Hu swallowed hard and continued, "When I dragged him out of the car, I made sure to look around. When I didn't see anyone, I quickly dumped him in the waste area to the west, which was full of cardboard boxes and plastic bottles. I also covered him with some large pieces of trash nearby, thinking that it would cover him up a little. After doing that, I drove off as fast as I could, without even looking back, for fear that someone would chase after me."

He paused, then added, "I also took his phone and wallet and threw them in a trash can on the way to my sister's house. I was afraid that after you found his body, you would find his family through his phone records or the ID card in his wallet, and then follow the clues to find me. I thought that if I threw these things away, you wouldn't know who he was or be able to find me, but I didn't expect... I didn't expect you to find out so quickly."

After Wang Hu finished speaking, he buried his head again, covered his face with his hands, and suppressed sobs escaped from between his fingers: "I was just too scared at the time, which is why I came up with such a stupid idea. Now that I think about it, I really regret it... If I hadn't been so impulsive, if I had discussed it with him properly, maybe this wouldn't have happened..."

Seeing Wang Hu's distraught state, Wang Shuai remained silent, simply taking notes of his confession in his notebook. Every word Wang Hu uttered confirmed his panicked and opportunistic state of mind at the time, making the entire body disposal process clearer and more complete, and providing crucial support for closing the chain of evidence later.

"After you strangled Zhang Hao, did you ever think about turning yourself in?" (End of Chapter)