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

"How did you strangle him? Why didn't you just dump him at the construction site? Why did you have to transport him to the drainage ditch?" Zhang Hui caught the key details and further confirmed the crime.

Zhou Ming's tears flowed again, his voice filled with remorse: "After I hit him, he was still a little angry, groaning. I was afraid he would wake up and call the police, so I took off my work jacket and used the sleeve to strangle his neck, strangling him hard for several minutes until he stopped moving completely. I didn't dare leave him at the construction site. Zhao Gang knew I had been there, and if he was discovered, he would definitely suspect me. So I thought of taking him to the drainage ditch, where no one usually goes, and the body wouldn't be easily discovered."

He added, “I drove the body to the upstream of the drainage ditch, found a secluded spot, dragged him out of the car, wrapped him in a pre-prepared canvas bag, tied it with nylon rope, and threw it into the ditch. After that, I threw my tool bag and bricks into the construction site's garbage dump, took my blood-stained jacket home, and hid it in the kitchen cabinet, thinking I'd deal with it after things calmed down. The next day, fearing the police would find me, I transferred 2 yuan to my cousin who lived far away, asking him to keep it for me, so that my family would have some money if I got arrested…”

"Didn't you ever think that Li Shengli's family would worry about him? Didn't you ever think that your actions would ruin two families?" Zhang Hui's tone was tinged with regret.

Zhou Ming shook his head, tears dripping onto the back of his hand: "My mind went blank at the time. I was only thinking about how to cover up my crime and how not to get caught by the police. I didn't think about anything else. I've been having nightmares every day for the past few days, dreaming that Li Shengli is coming to find me. I can't eat or sleep. Every time I see the police passing by the restaurant, my heart races with fear. Now that you've caught me, I actually feel relieved. I don't have to live in fear every day anymore."

The interrogation lasted for more than four hours. Zhou Ming fully confessed to the entire process, from his feud with Li Shengli over unpaid wages, to luring Li Shengli to the demolition site with lies, to injuring Li Shengli with a brick, strangling him with his coat sleeve, and finally transporting the body to a drainage ditch in a van to dispose of it and hide the murder weapons. Every detail perfectly matched the results of the crime scene investigation and forensic autopsy—the shape of the brick matched the injury to Li Shengli's temple, the fibers of the coat matched the coarse fibers found at the scene, the location where the body was disposed of matched the location where the body was found, and even the detail that he "took the wrench and screwdriver" perfectly matched the missing items found in the tool bag by the police.

When Zhang Hui asked him to sign the interrogation record, Zhou Ming's hand trembled violently, the pen tip leaving crooked marks on the paper, almost tearing it several times. After signing, he suddenly bowed deeply to Zhang Hui, his voice choked with emotion: "I'm sorry to Li Shengli, and I'm sorry to his family. I know I've committed an unforgivable crime. I'm willing to accept the punishment of the law, just to give them an explanation, and I hope it can make them feel a little better."

Looking at Zhou Ming's remorseful expression, Zhang Hui knew that no amount of repentance could bring Li Shengli back to life. He put away the interrogation records and said to the police officer at the door, "Take him away."

As Zhang Hui stepped out of the interrogation room, dawn had broken. Standing in the corridor, gazing at the morning light outside the window, he knew in his heart that the truth behind the case of the decomposing corpse found in the drainage ditch had finally come to light. Li Shengli's soul could finally rest in peace, and his family would finally receive a just outcome. As for Zhou Ming, in order to cover up his wage arrears and for a moment of侥幸 (a sense of luck or chance), he chose to take another's life, and would ultimately pay the price for his cruelty, spending the rest of his life in prison to atone for his crimes.

At this moment, news came from the technical department that, based on Zhou Ming's confession, Li Shengli's mobile phone, along with a discarded wrench and screwdriver, had been found in the silt upstream of the drainage ditch. The call records on the phone were completely consistent with Zhou Ming's confession, further strengthening the chain of evidence. This investigation surrounding Li Shengli's murder case finally came to a just end in the face of irrefutable evidence and confessions.

The morning after Zhou Ming's arrest, the sky was overcast with occasional light rain. Two police cars stood ready outside the Criminal Investigation Division, their lights flashing but sirens silent, trying to avoid attracting unnecessary attention. Zhou Ming, dressed in an orange prison uniform, handcuffed and with restraints around his waist, was escorted slowly out of the office building by two officers. His hair was more disheveled than the day before, his eyes were vacant, and his face was expressionless. Only when he saw the police cars did his body tremble slightly—perhaps he remembered the night of the incident, when he had driven his black van to transport Li Shengli's body to the drainage ditch.

"Let's go, proceed along the designated route." Zhang Hui, sitting in the passenger seat of the lead police car, issued the order via walkie-talkie. The convoy slowly drove out of the Criminal Investigation Detachment, with its first stop being a demolition site in the south of the city—the "first crime scene" Zhou Ming confessed to, and the place where he injured Li Shengli with a brick.

Half an hour later, the police car stopped at a temporary parking lot outside the demolition site. After getting out of the car, Zhang Hui met up with Yang Lin and the technical staff who were already waiting there: "How is the site protected? Have any unauthorized personnel entered?" Yang Lin nodded: "We arranged for police officers to be on duty as soon as we received the notice yesterday. The site has been sealed off. Apart from the investigation personnel, no one has approached. The traces in key areas have been marked to ensure that they are not destroyed during the identification process."

Zhou Ming was then escorted out of the police car and paused briefly outside the police cordon. Zhang Hui walked up to him and said in a serious tone, "Zhou Ming, we'll take you to the crime scene you described in a bit. You need to identify it truthfully, clearly stating every detail, including where you picked up the brick, where you injured Li Shengli, and where you took the tool bag. Understand?" Zhou Ming nodded slowly, his voice hoarse, "Understood."

Escorted by police officers, Zhou Ming entered the demolition site. Construction debris was everywhere, red bricks scattered across the ground, and several excavators sat in a corner, covered in a thin layer of dust. Zhou Ming walked slowly, his eyes occasionally scanning his surroundings, as if recalling the scene from the night of the incident. Reaching a pile of construction debris on the west side of the site, he suddenly stopped, his body stiffening as he turned to a pile of red bricks: "It's here… the bricks I picked up."

Yang Lin immediately stepped forward and shone his survey light on the area Zhou Ming pointed to. There was a mark on the ground circled in white chalk—the very spot where the blood-stained bricks had been found during the previous re-survey. "How did you pick up those bricks? How many did you pick up? What did they look like?" Zhang Hui pressed, while simultaneously signaling to the technical staff to record every detail with a camera. (End of Chapter)