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

At midnight, the autopsy finally concluded. The body was re-covered with a white sheet and moved to a refrigerated cabinet for preservation, awaiting further identification. Inside the autopsy room, Zhang Kai and Li Ran were cleaning the autopsy tools and disinfecting the work surface. Under the lights, Zhang Kai's face was etched with exhaustion, but his eyes remained resolute—every autopsy was a "conversation" with the deceased; only by accurately determining the time and cause of death could a solid foundation be laid for subsequent investigations, leaving the murderer nowhere to hide.

"Professor Zhang, you've been working as a forensic doctor for so many years. Don't you feel uncomfortable facing so many decomposed corpses?" Li Ran asked while wiping his scalpel. This was his first time participating in the autopsy of a highly decomposed corpse. He tried to remain calm throughout, but he was still shocked inside.

Zhang Kai put down his tools and looked out at the night sky: "At first, it's nauseating and uncomfortable, but after a while, you realize that the scalpel is the key to uncovering the truth. The dead cannot speak, so our responsibility is to 'speak' for them and bring the murderer to justice. This body has been lying in the warehouse for five days; there must be an untold story behind it. Only by doing a good job of the autopsy and analysis can we pave the way for the investigation and bring justice to the dead as soon as possible."

Li Ran nodded, her eyes gradually hardening: "I understand, Teacher Zhang. I will follow up on the leads and compile reports accordingly, and live up to this responsibility."

The next morning, Zhang Kai and Li Ran took the autopsy report to the Criminal Investigation Detachment's conference room. Lu Chuan and the investigation team were already waiting there. The conference room screen projected a scene investigation diagram and a suspect characteristic analysis. "Based on the autopsy results, we can determine the time and cause of death, and combined with the clues at the scene, we have defined the preliminary scope of the investigation," Zhang Kai pointed to the key content of the report. "The core task at present is to confirm the identity of the deceased as soon as possible, and at the same time, to investigate along the lines of 'familiarity with the perpetrator, familiarity with the logistics park, and wearing blue work clothes,' advancing the case investigation in two ways."

Lu Chuan took the autopsy report, carefully reviewed it, and said, "Immediately deploy according to this direction—one group continues to follow up on the DNA comparison of the deceased and contacts surrounding factories and logistics companies to investigate missing persons; the second group focuses on investigating suspicious persons matching the characteristics of the South Suburb Logistics Park and surrounding areas, especially manual laborers who have recently had abnormal behavior and hoarse voices."

In the conference room, the investigation proceeded smoothly and methodically. Lu Chuan stood to the side, watching his busy team members. He knew that the autopsy report was only the first step in solving the case; more clues and supporting evidence were needed. But he firmly believed that as long as the investigation followed the direction of scientific deduction, the murderer hiding in the darkness would eventually be brought to justice, and justice would not be absent.

As soon as forensic pathologist Zhang Kai's autopsy report was delivered to Lu Chuan, Wang Shuai led his team on a journey to investigate people around the South Suburb Logistics Park. Based on the clue in the autopsy report that "the deceased may have been engaged in manual labor and was wearing blue overalls," Wang Shuai narrowed down the investigation to factories, freight stations, and labor markets within a 3-kilometer radius of the logistics park, focusing on manual laborers who had gone missing in the past 5 days, especially those wearing blue overalls.

“Team Leader Li, we’ll split into three groups. One group will go to Xinyuan Freight Station on the north side, the second group will go to Changsheng Machinery Factory on the east side, and the third group will go to the labor market on the south side. The focus will be on inquiring whether any middle-aged men around 175cm tall wearing blue overalls have gone missing in the past five days, especially forklift drivers and porters.” Wang Shuai stood at the entrance of the logistics park, assigning tasks to his team members, holding a photo of the deceased’s clothing—the details of the dark long-sleeved shirt and blue overalls were clearly visible. “Remember, make sure they look at the photo carefully to confirm if they’ve seen anyone wearing similar clothing. Also, ask if anyone recognizes the brand logo on the clothing; that might narrow down the search.”

The team members acted swiftly, with Wang Shuai leading a group to Xinyuan Freight Station. The freight station was bustling with activity; forklifts weaved between piles of goods, and porters carried cargo between warehouses and trucks. Wang Shuai found the freight station manager, Boss Liu, and handed him a photo of the deceased's clothing: "Boss Liu, could you please take a look? Do any of your employees wear clothes like this? Has anyone gone missing in the last five days?"

Mr. Liu took the photo, looked at it carefully, and frowned: "These blue work pants look familiar. They look like the style of work clothes from the Changsheng Machinery Factory next door, but our freight station's work clothes are red, so they're different. However, I think I saw a forklift driver wearing similar work clothes come here to pick up goods a few days ago, about 5 days ago, and I haven't seen him since."

"Five days ago?" Wang Shuai's eyes lit up. "Do you remember which factory he worked for? What was his name?"

Mr. Liu shook his head: "I don't know which factory it was, I only know that he drives a forklift and was carrying a batch of machine parts, which seemed to be delivered to a hardware market on the outskirts of the city. He also chatted with our forklift driver, Lao Zhang, for a few minutes. Lao Zhang might know him, you can ask Lao Zhang."

Wang Shuai immediately found Lao Zhang, who was operating the forklift, and handed him the photo: "Master Zhang, did you see a forklift driver wearing this kind of clothing 5 days ago? The one you chatted with."

Old Zhang stopped the forklift, took the photo, glanced at it, and said with certainty, "Isn't this Pang Yun? He's a forklift driver from Changsheng Machinery Factory. We participated in forklift skills training together before, so we know each other. Five days ago, he did come here to pick up a batch of parts in the afternoon, and he even told me, 'After this batch is delivered, I'll treat you to drinks tonight.' But when I tried to contact him that night, I couldn't get through. I thought he had something come up, but I didn't expect..." Old Zhang's voice suddenly lowered, and his eyes were full of surprise, "What happened to him? Could it be the clothes in the photo..."

“That’s right,” Wang Shuai said gravely. “We found a body in the logistics park warehouse. The clothing matches his, and we are currently confirming his identity. Do you know any detailed information about Pang Yun? For example, his age, address, his work situation at Changsheng Machinery Factory, and whether he has had any conflicts with anyone recently?”

Old Zhang sighed and slowly said, "Pang Yun is 48 years old and lives in an urban village in the southern suburbs, about 2 kilometers from here. He has worked at Changsheng Machinery Factory for 5 years. He is very good at forklift operation, but he is a bit stubborn and easily gets into arguments. It seems that he had a fight with the factory boss about wages a while ago and even said he wanted to quit. Also, it seems that he has a conflict with a cargo owner called 'Old Hei'. Last time, because of a delivery delay, Old Hei had a fight with him at the factory and almost came to blows."

Wang Shuai quickly jotted down this information: "Do you know the name of the owner of Changsheng Machinery Factory? And what is the real name and contact information of that 'Old Black'?" (End of Chapter)