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

“We’re getting more and more clues: death by mechanical asphyxiation, the murder weapon was a wide cloth strip, the suspect was wearing clothing containing dark gray cotton and linen fibers, the time of the incident coincides with the time Brother Long went to the fertilizer plant, and the deceased may be related to Li Dahai.” He turned to Wang Shuai and said, “Tomorrow you split into two groups. One group will continue to investigate the former employees of the fertilizer plant, focusing on those with a history of right-hand fractures; the other group will go to Li Dahai’s rented house and search it carefully again to see if there are any items related to the deceased.”

"Understood." Wang Shuai nodded, his thoughts gradually becoming clearer. Although the case was not yet solved, the forensic autopsy report provided them with a clear direction for the investigation. The time of death, cause of death, and characteristics of the deceased were like lighthouses in the darkness, guiding them step by step closer to the truth.

At 1 a.m., Zhang Kai and Xiao Lin finally finished all their work. When they walked out of the autopsy room, most of the lights in the corridor were off, with only a few offices still lit. "Professor Zhang, do you think we can find the suspect?" Xiao Lin asked wearily, rubbing his swollen eyes.

“As long as we interpret every clue left by the body, we will definitely find it.” Zhang Kai’s voice remained calm. “The body doesn’t lie. Every injury and every feature is evidence pointing to the truth. What we need to do is to accurately pass on this evidence to the investigators, and leave the rest to them.”

Xiao Lin nodded, watching Zhang Kai's retreating figure, his heart filled with admiration. He knew that although forensic work was tedious, arduous, and even somewhat bloody, it was an indispensable part of solving cases. Every precise autopsy, every detailed report, could be the key to bringing the murderer to justice.

The next morning, Wang Shuai and his team went to the fertilizer plant's personnel department. Using the deceased's information, they compared the details with the list of departing employees. When they came across a ten-year-old employee file, Wang Shuai suddenly stopped. The man in the file was named Zhao Jianjun, 48 years old, from Henan. He had left the company ten years prior due to a work injury. The man's right ring finger in the file photo was noticeably deformed, and the note stated, "Fractured right ring finger due to a work injury in 1998." Furthermore, his address information indicated that he was Li Dahai's distant cousin.

"Found it!" Wang Shuai shouted excitedly. "The deceased is very likely Zhao Jianjun!" He immediately took the file photo to the forensic room and asked Zhang Kai to compare it.

Zhang Kai carefully compared the file photos with the deceased's facial features and examined the fracture site of the deceased's right ring finger. "There's no mistake, it's him. Look at the shape of his brow bone, the height of his nose bridge, and the location of the cavities in his teeth, they all match the deceased perfectly."

The victim's identity was finally confirmed, marking a new breakthrough in the case. Wang Shuai immediately led his team to Li Dahai's rented apartment for a second search. This time, they found a dark gray cotton-linen sweater in a hidden compartment of the wardrobe. The sweater had a worn area on the cuff, which perfectly matched the fibers extracted from the victim's neck.

"It seems that Zhao Jianjun's death is inextricably linked to Li Dahai." Wang Shuai held the sweater, his heart filled with excitement. Although Li Dahai was still hiding from debt collectors in Guangcheng, as long as they found him, they could uncover the truth behind Zhao Jianjun's death.

In the forensic lab, Zhang Kai was conducting further tests on the fibrous tissue in Zhao Jianjun's neck. He believed that as long as more evidence was found, they would be able to identify the real killer of Zhao Jianjun and bring long-overdue justice to the deceased and his family. The operating lights on the autopsy table remained on, just like the forensic doctors' conviction: no matter how complex the case, no matter how cunning the murderer, they could decipher the warm truth from the cold corpse.

Although Zhao Jianjun's identity had been confirmed and his cousin relationship with Li Dahai had been clarified, the matching results of the dark gray cotton and linen fibers only proved that the two had been in contact, and could not definitively convict Li Dahai of the murder—after all, Li Dahai's alibi was irrefutable. What bothered him even more was the vague statement behind Zhao Jianjun's resignation due to a work injury ten years ago, that he was "threatened by his superiors," which pierced his heart like a thorn.

"Go check all of Tang Hu's records, from workshop supervisor ten years ago to his current position as deputy factory director. Every job change and every factory accident must be investigated thoroughly." Zhang Hui slammed Zhao Jianjun's file on the table and ordered his team. He felt that Zhao Jianjun's sudden arrival from Henan to join Li Dahai three months ago was not simply a "family visit." Combined with the "safety hazards" mentioned by Li Dahai, it seemed more like a belated confrontation.

When the old accountant in the fertilizer plant's archives saw Zhang Hui come again, he couldn't help but sigh: "Director Tang is a hero of our plant. He revived the almost bankrupt synthesis workshop back then. He's just too stubborn and has offended a lot of people." He pulled out the accident file from 2014. "I remember Zhao Jianjun's incident. The reactor exploded, and he injured his hand. Supervisor Tang said it was because he violated regulations. He was fined and reported it as a work injury. Later, Zhao Jianjun left."

The investigation report in the case file was meticulously written, including eyewitness testimonies from two employees and Tang Hu's signed disciplinary opinion. But Zhang Hui stared at the signature on one of the testimonies and suddenly frowned—the signatory, "Zhou Ming," was the same maintenance worker who had been dismissed five years ago for theft and whose whereabouts were currently unknown. "Are these two people still at the factory?" he asked, pointing to another signature.

“Wang Erzhu resigned and went to the south a long time ago, and Zhou Ming…” The old accountant paused, “I heard he came back last year. It seems that Director Tang helped him find a temporary job in the maintenance workshop, but he left again last month. Nobody knows where he went.”

This clue caught Zhang Hui's eye. He immediately retrieved the maintenance workshop's attendance records and discovered that Zhou Ming's start date was exactly three days after Zhao Jianjun arrived in the area, and his departure date was the day after Zhao Jianjun's murder. Even more coincidentally, Zhou Ming's safety shoes were registered as size 42, perfectly matching the footprints found at the scene.

"Investigate Tang Hu and Zhou Ming's financial transactions!" Zhang Hui led his team straight to the bank. As expected, the day before Zhou Ming resigned, an anonymous bank card transferred 50,000 yuan into his account, and the cardholder information pointed to Tang Hu's distant nephew. More importantly, Tang Hu's driver had been at the bank branch on the day the card was opened.

When the evidence was presented to Tang Hu, he maintained the composure of a deputy factory director: "Zhou Ming is a long-time employee. What's wrong with me helping him out if he's having financial difficulties? I know nothing about Zhao Jianjun's matter; the case from ten years ago has long been closed." His fingers unconsciously rubbed his pen, but his eyes avoided Zhang Hui's gaze. (End of Chapter)