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

Wang Shuai entered the main room and saw Zhang Jianguo lying on the bed, covered with a thick quilt, his face pale and his breathing rapid. Hearing the noise, he slowly opened his eyes and asked weakly, "Who...are you?"

“We’re from the Criminal Investigation Division. We’re here to find out what’s going on. You haven’t been to work since last Thursday and haven’t asked for leave. We thought something had happened to you.” Wang Shuai spoke gently, trying not to upset him.

Zhang Jianguo coughed twice and said, "Last Thursday morning I had an asthma attack and wanted to call in sick, but my phone was dead and no one was home. I passed out and was found by my neighbor who took me to the hospital. I only got back yesterday and haven't had a chance to tell the factory yet."

Wang Shuai asked Xiao Li to contact the ambulance that took Zhang Jianguo to the hospital and the attending physician to confirm that he was indeed hospitalized last Thursday night due to an acute asthma attack and was not discharged until yesterday afternoon. During that time, he was always accompanied by someone, so he had no time to commit the crime and could not have been the victim in the attic.

"Have you made any enemies at the factory? Or do you know if Li Dahai has any enemies?" Wang Shuai asked.

Zhang Jianguo shook his head: "I rarely interact with people. I only know that Li Dahai owes usurious loans and people often come to the factory to cause trouble. I don't know anything else. The people in the factory are all quite honest, and I haven't heard of anyone having any deep-seated hatred for anyone else."

After leaving Zhang Jianguo's home, Wang Shuai visited several villagers in Jianguo Village and Zhang Jianguo's colleagues. The information he received was similar: Zhang Jianguo was honest, in poor health, and had never made enemies; Li Dahai, although in debt to loan sharks, was only hiding from his debts and had not been discovered to have been murdered.

At 5 p.m., Wang Shuai returned to the fertilizer plant with his team. By then, Yang Lin and Yang Sen had also basically finished their on-site investigation. "Wang Shuai, how's the search going? Have you found Li Dahai and Zhang Jianguo?" Lu Chuan greeted him and asked.

“We found them. Li Dahai went to hide from loan sharks, and Zhang Jianguo was hospitalized with asthma. Neither of them are the deceased, nor are they suspects.” Wang Shuai handed over the investigation records. “We questioned Li Dahai’s neighbors, the shop owner, and Brother Long, the loan shark, and confirmed that Li Dahai left the factory area last Wednesday to hide from his debts in Guangzhou; Zhang Jianguo was hospitalized last Thursday and was discharged yesterday. We have a hospital certificate, so he is not a suspect.”

Yang Lin took the investigation record and added: "The on-site investigation revealed that the body in the attic was male, between 40 and 50 years old, about 175 centimeters tall. He had no identification on him, and only an old employee badge from a fertilizer factory in his pocket, the name on it worn away and illegible. The body was covered with a canvas, and there were a few scattered cigarette butts around it, which were 'Double Happiness' brand. There was a size 42 leather shoe footprint on the ground, which was not Li Dahai's or Zhang Jianguo's size. The wooden planks of the attic window had been pried open, suggesting that the suspect entered through the window and left through the front door after committing the crime."

"An old employee badge?" Wang Shuai frowned. "Could the deceased have been a former employee of the fertilizer plant?"

“That’s possible,” Lu Chuan nodded. “We’ve contacted the fertilizer plant’s HR department and retrieved the list of departing and retired employees from the past ten years. We’ll start checking them one by one tomorrow. Also, the technical department is testing cigarette butts and footprints, hoping to find the suspect’s DNA or identity information.” Wang Shuai looked at Dormitory Building No. 3 in the distance, his heart heavy. After a whole day of investigation, they had ruled out the two missing employees, but hadn’t found any clues related to the deceased. The guy in the black jacket, Brother Long, had an alibi, although he was in the factory area; the old employee badge in the attic, the “Double Happiness” cigarette butt, and the size 42 footprints were all scattered clues, not forming a complete chain.

"Captain Lu, I'd like to visit the factory area again tomorrow, focusing on former employees who left within the last ten years, as well as the cleaning staff responsible for cleaning the dormitory buildings, to see if anyone knows the deceased or has seen any suspicious persons," Wang Shuai said.

“Okay. Also, expand the scope of the surveillance investigation and retrieve nearly a month's worth of surveillance footage from the entrance of the fertilizer plant and the area around Building 3, especially the nighttime footage. We must find the suspect’s trail.” Lu Chuan patted Wang Shuai on the shoulder. “The clues are definitely hidden in the details. Don’t rush, we’ll take it one step at a time.”

The evening glow cast long shadows on the fertilizer plant's chimneys. Wang Shuai stood in front of dormitory building number 3, gazing towards the attic, a silent resolve forming in his mind—no matter who the deceased was, no matter how deeply the suspect hid, he would find the truth. The body in the attic awaited identification, and he would carry this responsibility, continuing his search through the complex clues until the murderer surfaced, bringing closure to the deceased.

At 7 p.m., Wang Shuai returned to the Criminal Investigation Detachment, organized the day's investigation records, and communicated with his colleagues in the Technical Section about the progress of the cigarette butt and footprint testing. "Part of the DNA has been extracted from the cigarette butt and is being compared with the database; the sole pattern of the footprint is a common style of work shoes, many employees of the fertilizer plant wear this type of shoes, so we cannot identify them yet," said the head of the Technical Section.

Wang Shuai rubbed his throbbing temples and flipped through the fertilizer plant's list of departed employees; the densely packed names filled several pages. He knew the investigation would be even more difficult, but he didn't back down in the slightest—every name might hold a clue, every visit might bring him closer to the truth, and this was precisely his mission and responsibility as a criminal investigation police officer.

At the same time, Yang Lin and Yang Sen were crouching in the attic of dormitory building number 3, the beam of their investigation lights slowly moving across the dusty floor. Following Lu Chuan's request to "expand the investigation area," the two abandoned the repeated examination of the area around the body and instead focused their attention on the mountain of old debris on the west side of the attic and the broken window area on the east side. "We were only focusing on the area around the body before; maybe crucial clues are hidden in these untouched places," Yang Lin said, gently parting a hanging cobweb with his gloved hand, the dust clinging to it falling away.

The clutter in the attic was piled up to a person's height, mostly old tables and chairs discarded by the fertilizer plant, damaged work safety equipment, and shredded old canvas, all covered with a thick layer of dust, clearly untouched for years. Yang Sen climbed to the top of the pile using a folding ladder and gently tapped the wooden crate on top with his survey hammer. The dull thud indicated that the crate was empty. As he reached out to move the crate, his fingers suddenly stopped. "Old Yang, come and take a look. There are marks under the crate."

Yang Lin immediately climbed up, and the two carefully moved the wooden crate. On the ground where the crate had been hidden, several shallow marks were exposed under the beam of the investigation lamp. It was a series of incomplete footprints; the edges of the prints were somewhat blurred, but the tread pattern of size 42 work shoes was clearly discernible, consistent with the footprints found earlier near the body. (End of Chapter)