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

“Only your black Volkswagen sedan matches this year and model. You said you waited for half an hour and then left, but the surveillance footage shows you didn’t leave the fertilizer plant direction until 7:30. This completely contradicts your claim of ‘waiting for half an hour.’ How do you explain that?”

Zhao Weiguo's face paled instantly. He stared at the screenshot for a few seconds, then suddenly raised his hand to rub his eyes, as if he couldn't see clearly: "This...this might not be my car. There are plenty of cars like this. You can't just assume it's mine based on a blurry screenshot!" His voice tightened, and his fingers unconsciously dug into the armrests of the interrogation chair, leaving a few faint white marks.

Wang Shuai was not interrupted by his sophistry and continued to produce a second piece of evidence—a transparent evidence bag containing a "Hongtashan" cigarette butt found in the grass in the abandoned fertilizer plant area. "We found this cigarette butt at the place you said you were 'waiting for Pang Yun.' The teeth marks on the filter match perfectly with the cigarette butt teeth marks you left when you were questioned at the machinery factory. In addition, the DNA on the cigarette butt, after technical comparison, has a 99.99% match with your DNA. Didn't you say you 'waited for half an hour'? How could you leave a cigarette butt there? And based on the moisture level of the cigarette butt, it had been there for at least an hour."

Zhao Weiguo's breathing suddenly quickened. He slammed his water glass down, the bottom hitting the table hard, spilling a few drops of water onto his trousers. "This...this is from when I went there to smoke! Not five days ago!" His explanation grew increasingly weak, fine beads of sweat forming on his forehead and trickling down his temples. "It's true that Pang Yun and I had a conflict, but at most I just didn't want to pay him his wages. How could I possibly kill someone? You can't wrong an innocent person!"

"You're being framed?" Wang Shuai produced a third piece of evidence—a supplementary report issued by forensic doctor Zhang Kai. "The pathological section of Pang Yun's neck muscle tissue shows that when he was strangled, the assailant had a small, old injury on the second joint of his right index finger. Due to the force of the pressure, the wound remained in Pang Yun's neck skin tissue. We examined your right hand, and there's a recently healed scar on the second joint of your index finger, from when you were repairing a machine at the machinery factory about two weeks ago, was it?"

These words struck Zhao Weiguo like a hammer blow, completely shattering his first line of psychological defense. He abruptly raised his right hand, trying to hide it behind his back, but Wang Shuai's gaze was fixed on him. "I... I got that scar from repairing the machine, but it has nothing to do with Pang Yun!" His voice trembled with tears, his eyes filled with panic, his previous composure completely gone. "Did I kill Pang Yun? No... it wasn't me, I didn't kill anyone!"

Seeing his reaction, Wang Shuai knew the time was ripe. He softened his tone but remained sharp: "Zhao Weiguo, we have a complete chain of evidence—your car was near the crime scene, the cigarette butt proves you stayed there for a long time, the scars on your hands match the killer's characteristics, and Pang Yun's wife said 'Pang Yun wants to talk to you about wages,' and the convenience store owner overheard 'Meet at the usual place tonight to talk about wages.' All this evidence points to you. Now we're giving you one last chance. Confess to your crimes and try to get leniency. Otherwise, you will only face more severe legal sanctions."

A brief silence fell over the interrogation room, broken only by Zhao Weiguo's heavy breathing. His head was bowed, his shoulders trembling violently, his hands clenched into fists, his nails digging deep into his palms. After about five minutes, he suddenly raised his head, his eyes red, tears streaming down his cheeks: "I...I didn't mean to kill him! He forced me!"

Wang Shuai and Xiao Li exchanged a glance, and Xiao Li immediately sped up his note-taking. "Take your time and explain what happened clearly," Wang Shuai said, his tone softening as he handed Zhao Weiguo a tissue.

Zhao Weiguo took the tissue, wiped his face haphazardly, and choked out, "Pang Yun demanded three months' wages from me, and said he'd report me to the labor department and force my factory to close down if I didn't pay. I'm currently short of funds and can't come up with the money, so I wanted to arrange a meeting with him at the abandoned fertilizer plant site to see if we could ease things off. Five days ago, at 8 pm, I arrived at the site, and Pang Yun was already waiting there. As soon as he saw me, he started cursing, calling me a heartless boss, and even pushed me. I got angry and started arguing with him, and his insults got worse and worse, saying he'd ruin my reputation..."

He paused, covered his face with his hands, and said in a voice filled with despair, “In a moment of impulse, I rushed up and grabbed his neck to stop him from cursing. He struggled violently and even tried to hit me with a rock, so I grabbed him even harder… By the time I realized what was happening, he was already dead. I was terrified and didn’t know what to do, so I just thought about hiding the body so that no one would find it.”

"Then you used a handcart to move the body to warehouse number 13 in the logistics park?" Wang Shuai pressed for details.

Zhao Weiguo nodded, tears seeping through his fingers: "I knew that warehouse number 13 in the logistics park was vacant and the surveillance cameras were broken, so I secretly pushed a handcart from the factory, loaded Pang Yun's body onto it, and pushed it through a gap in the wall, hiding it in the warehouse. I also took his black canvas bag, which contained his ID card and pay slips. I was afraid of being discovered, so I threw the bag into the river on the outskirts of the city..."

"Why did you cover up the license plate number?" Wang Shuai continued to ask, to ensure that the details of the case were complete.

“I was afraid of being caught on camera on the road, so I covered the license plate with tape. When I got back, I tore off the tape and threw it away. The cigarette butt was from when I was waiting for Pang Yun there. I didn’t expect it to leave evidence…” Zhao Weiguo’s voice trailed off, like a deflated balloon. “I know I was wrong. I shouldn’t have killed someone in a moment of impulse. It’s too late to say all this now…”

Looking at Zhao Weiguo, who was breaking down and confessing, Wang Shuai felt no relief. He picked up the record sheet and handed it to Zhao Weiguo: "Read what you just said carefully. If it's true, sign and put your fingerprint on it."

Zhao Weiguo took the record sheet, his fingers trembling as he read it line by line, each word feeling like a hammer blow to his conscience. After finishing, he picked up a pen and wrote his name in the signature area, the pen tip tearing through the paper and leaving a deep ink mark. Then, he pressed his bright red fingerprint on the stark white paper, the imprint starkly glaring.

The interrogation ended at 1 a.m. Zhao Weiguo was led out of the interrogation room by the police; his back was hunched, a far cry from the confident and high-spirited man he once was as the factory owner. Wang Shuai stood in the interrogation room, looking at the evidence on the table and Zhao Weiguo's confession, and let out a long sigh of relief—the case surrounding Pang Yun's death had finally found its key answer in the interrogation. (End of Chapter)