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

Zhang Kai smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "The technical team is working through the night to test the case, and we should have preliminary results by tomorrow morning. But we can't let our guard down. Tomorrow we'll combine the test results to further refine our case analysis and work with Captain Lu to develop the next steps in the investigation."

The two walked into the corridor of the Criminal Investigation Division and saw that many offices were still lit up—technical staff were busily testing samples, Wang Shuai and his team were organizing interview records, and Lu Chuan was studying case materials. Everyone was working hard to solve the case, using their dedication and professionalism to safeguard the justice and peace of this city.

"Xiao Chen, go back and get some rest. There's a tough battle ahead tomorrow," Zhang Kai said, stopping in his tracks. Xiao Chen nodded and turned to walk towards the break room. Zhang Kai returned to his office, took out the autopsy report, and began carefully reviewing today's findings—cause of asphyxiation, time of death 24-36 hours prior, fasting state, no obvious signs of resistance. These crucial pieces of information, like puzzle pieces, were slowly piecing together the outline of the case. He knew that as long as he continued to follow these clues, cooperating with technical testing and interviews, he would eventually find the killer hiding in the shadows and give the deceased justice.

At 2 a.m., Zhang Kai finally finished compiling the autopsy report. He placed the report on the table, leaned back wearily in his chair, and kept replaying the details of the autopsy in his mind, considering all the possibilities of the case. The night outside the window was still dark, but his heart was filled with hope—he believed that with everyone's efforts, the truth would soon come to light, and justice would eventually prevail.

Meanwhile, the verification of the deceased's identity is also underway.

At 2:30 a.m., the lights in the Criminal Investigation Detachment's information verification room were still as bright as day. Zhang Hui and three team members sat around a long table pieced together, their computer screens filled with entries from the missing persons database. Having just finished interviewing people around the unfinished building during the day, without even a moment's rest, he volunteered to lead the team in verifying missing persons information—the identity of the deceased was crucial to solving the case; every minute earlier they confirmed it meant a minute earlier they could find the suspect through social connections. This was the core direction he had identified from the case analysis meeting.

"Everyone, let's put in a little more effort and try to find people who match the deceased's characteristics from this information as soon as possible." Zhang Hui rubbed his bloodshot eyes, his knuckles turning white from holding the mouse for so long. He clicked the screen to refresh the page, and a new missing persons entry popped up: "The deceased was male, 40-50 years old, about 175 cm tall, of medium build, and had been engaged in manual labor for a long time. He had old scars on his body. Focus on those reported within the last 3 days, especially those whose occupations and physical characteristics match. Don't miss any entries."

Team member Xiao Li yawned deeply, rubbed his stiff shoulders, and said with barely concealed exhaustion, "Brother Hui, this is the 800th one, and we still haven't found a suitable one. We have to check the age, height, and occupation of each one, and some of the information is incomplete. Just reading the text description takes us a long time to figure it out. My eyes are almost crossed. It's so exhausting."

Another team member, Xiao Wang, nodded in agreement, his fingers weakly tapping on the keyboard: "That's right! Most of them are either too far apart in age or their occupations are students or office workers, which have nothing to do with the deceased's 'manual labor' characteristics. At this rate, we might not finish checking before dawn, and we're almost at our breaking point."

Zhang Hui stood up and poured everyone a cup of steaming water, water droplets sliding down his fingers from the cup. "I know you're all tired. You haven't even had a proper hot meal since we started our interviews this afternoon." He handed the cups to his team members, his voice steady yet reassuring. "But we have to understand that as long as the victim's identity remains uncertain, the investigation is like walking in the dark, and the killer might take the opportunity to hide even further. Let's grit our teeth and persevere a little longer. We'll divide the work among ourselves, each person taking charge of a specific age group, focusing on the three key points of 'occupation,' 'scars,' and 'clothing.' Mark any suspicious cases in red, and then we'll check them together at the end. That will be more efficient."

Taking the hot water, Xiao Li took a big gulp, the warmth sliding down his throat, and his fatigue seemed to dissipate a bit: "Okay, Brother Hui, I'll continue checking those aged 40-45, and carefully review all those whose jobs involve physical labor." Xiao Wang also sat up straight again, staring at the screen, and said: "I'm in charge of those aged 46-50. Just filter out those with scars in the wrong place to save time."

Time slipped away silently in the quiet verification room, the clock on the wall slowly ticking past 4 a.m. The sounds of keyboard typing and mouse clicking mingled, occasionally interspersed with suppressed yawns from the team members. Zhang Hui's gaze remained fixed on the screen, his fingers rapidly scrolling the mouse wheel. Suddenly, he stopped, his brow furrowing slightly: "Look at this one. The missing person is named Li Jianguo, male, 47 years old, 174 cm tall, medium build, a construction worker. He was reported missing three days ago and has several work-related scars."

Xiao Li and Xiao Wang immediately huddled together in front of Zhang Hui's computer, their heads almost touching. Xiao Wang compared the information with the victim's characteristics he had prepared beforehand and shook his head: "The height, build, and occupation are quite similar, but the police report was filed on Monday, while the victim died between Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. The times don't match. Also, Li Jianguo's scars are on his back and legs, while the victim's scars are on his torso. The locations are too far apart; it shouldn't be him."

Zhang Hui nodded and clicked the mouse to mark the message as "excluded": "That's right, the time and the location of the scar don't match. We can't make a hasty decision. Let's continue investigating."

More than an hour later, at 5:2 a.m., a faint dawn broke outside the window. The morning light shone through the gaps in the curtains into the room, casting long, thin patches of light on the floor. Team member Xiao Zhang rubbed his sore eyes and suddenly pointed at the screen, exclaiming, "Brother Hui! This one looks a bit like him! The missing person's name is Wang Zhiqiang, male, 45 years old, 176 cm tall, medium build. He's a porter. He was reported missing two days ago. He has an old scar on his right arm, which he said was from being cut by sheet metal while moving things."

Zhang Hui immediately leaned over and pointed at the screen, checking each word: "The height, build, and occupation match. The report was filed on Tuesday, which is close to the time of the victim's death. But there are two problems. First, Wang Zhiqiang's scar is on his right arm, while the victim's is on his torso. Second, the report didn't mention that he was wearing a gray coat, which doesn't match the victim's key clothing characteristics. Mark it as 'suspicious' for now, and then look for something that matches better."

At 6:10 AM, just as everyone's eyelids were drooping and they were about to give up, a new missing person notice popped up on Zhang Hui's computer screen. His eyes instantly lit up, and he sat bolt upright, his voice carrying a barely perceptible excitement. (End of Chapter)