Animal Detective

Chapter 266 Major Suspect in the Crime
A few minutes later, Chen Chao and his group, who were probably visiting the area, rushed over.

After meeting them and confirming that Shen Xin and the others had not taken any action, they were relieved.

We definitely have to wait for Zhang Hancheng to arrive before we can talk about it.

He pulled Shen Xin aside and carefully inquired about the details from beginning to end.

As soon as Shen Xin finished speaking, Zhang Hancheng rushed over in a great hurry.

"There's a chance."

Chen Chao winked at Shen Xin and quickly went to meet him.

The group consisted of more than ten people, led by Zhang Hancheng.

I didn't see Liu Baoqing or Ren Haiguang. They must have gone to investigate somewhere else and didn't have time to come over.

"Explain the situation."

Zhang Hancheng's expression was stern, but his eyes betrayed an barely suppressed excitement.

He was the deputy head of the task force, and the pressure of solving the case within three days was immense.

How can we not be excited about this discovery?

Shen Xin explained his speculation, which was about the route taken to track the suspect at the time.

Zhang Hancheng stood on the high ground and looked down at the highway and the construction site in the distance.

He turned his head to look at Shitang Mountain behind him and took out his phone to check the map.

He looked up at Du Yong and then said, "Isn't there something wrong with your motive? After killing Huang Weili, why did you kill Xu Ruilin?"

Clearly, these seasoned veterans immediately thought of the same problem.

Du Yong was probably thinking about this issue as well, and said, "We can only say that there is indeed a relationship between Xu Ruilin and Huang Weili that we haven't yet investigated."

"Or there's another possibility: Xu Ruilin lied. He witnessed something but didn't tell us. He might have chosen to blackmail Hu Yueqin instead."

Zhang Hancheng thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "No, do you remember? It says in the statement that Zhao Cunyong was the last person to leave. We've also confirmed that Xu Ruilin couldn't have witnessed the incident."

"Unless he returned, or witnessed something before the incident, and then gradually figured it out after the incident, which led to his death."

"That's not right either."

He continued to shake his head, saying, "You see, Hu Yueqin hired someone to kill, but from Xu Ruilin's perspective, he didn't know about this situation, and we have never released any details of the case to the public."

"Therefore, he had no reason to suspect that Hu Yueqin hired someone to kill him and then tried to blackmail him, which led to her being killed."

Du Yong nodded, his eyebrows furrowing even more tightly.

It doesn't make logical sense.

"Let's find someone first." Zhang Hancheng waved his hand, indicating that he didn't want to think about it anymore.

Once the person is apprehended and confirmed as a suspect, it's not too late to ask why.

After saying that, he patted Shen Xin on the shoulder and said with a smile, "Kid, you're a lucky charm."

In his view, the person who was able to solve the long-standing cold case must have had a bit of luck.

Without saying much, he led his men straight to the project site.

There are people in the project team.

A large group of plainclothes police officers suddenly entered, startling everyone.

Upon investigation, it was found that there was indeed a person named Fan Lei.

I arrived at the construction site more than a month ago through a labor service company.

That is, right after the Chinese New Year, when construction had just started.

He worked as a laborer on the construction site.

Zhang Hancheng asked, "Don't you all have access control systems now? You have to scan your face to enter the construction site. Check if he's on the construction site right now."

The project manager immediately called someone to investigate.

The result is not available.

There was no facial recognition information for Fan Lei's entry and exit today.

And then yesterday, when the case occurred, nothing happened.

Further investigation revealed that his facial recognition information was also missing on the 19th and 20th.

These days are not the weekend, and even if they were, the construction site wouldn't be closed.

I can only ask for leave to do my own thing.

Zhang Hancheng clenched his fists silently; the suspicion surrounding Fan Lei was still growing.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Hancheng said, "Contact the person in charge of your dorms and have him go find Fan Lei. Tell him there's a problem with the attendance record and ask him to come and check it out."

After saying that, he waved to Chen Chao.

Chen Chao understood and immediately led Shen Xin and the others downstairs to wait.

Shen Xin and Zhao Tianxing stood together.

Zhao Tianxing muttered to himself, saying that the best murderer was Fan Lei.

He had almost 30,000 steps on WeChat yesterday, and when he got back he just collapsed and wouldn't wake up no matter what I did.

Unexpectedly, a few minutes later, Fan Lei didn't show up; Zhang Hancheng and the others came downstairs instead.

The person is not in the dormitory.

I asked the foreman, and he said he had taken the last two days off.

Zhang Hancheng led the group towards the dormitory in a large group. When they were almost at the door, he remembered something and hurriedly asked Shen Xin to fetch Odin.

Using smell to identify someone is probably the best way to confirm Fan Lei's suspicion at present.

Shen Xin quickly led Odin over and followed the others into the dormitory.

Fan Lei lives in row F, room 109 on the first floor.

A room for six people.

The workers are all at work now, and there's no one inside.

The dormitory manager pointed to the double bed on the right-hand side by the window at the very back and said that this was Fan Lei's bed.

There were six double beds in the room, with a two-meter-wide space between them.

People sleep on the bottom, things are placed on top, and there are things everywhere beside and under the bed.

It has a strong smell.

Zhang Hancheng entered the room, looked around, and then brought out the bedding from the bed.

The scent is strongest in the blankets.

"Odin."

Shen Xin pulled Odin aside and explained to him what he needed to do.

【Know】

After hearing his thoughts, Shen Xin led him forward and let him smell Fan Lei's blanket.

Everyone watched nervously.

The smell was really strong. Odin took a quick sniff, then seemed to think for a moment before barking at Shen Xinwang.

Zhang Hancheng asked anxiously what it meant.

Shen Xin nodded excitedly to Zhang Hancheng: "It's him."

Odin's innermost thought was, "It's the same."

That means the smell is the same.

The murderer is Fan Lei.

"YES!"

Zhang Hancheng excitedly clenched his fist.

Everyone present was excited.

The deadline for solving the case put immense pressure on everyone. Even though the suspect hasn't been apprehended yet, once he's identified, the case is practically solved.

"Xiao Shen, you've done a great job!"

Zhang Hancheng pointed at Shen Xin, shouted excitedly, and immediately took out his phone to make a call to contact someone to come to the scene for investigation.

Du Yong immediately instructed Chen Chao to lead a group to find the dormitory manager and foreman to inquire about Fan Lei's whereabouts and who he usually associates with.

Of course, we also need to arrange for someone to find Yao Qian and Fan Shunxi.

Shen Xin was equally excited, giving Odin's head a good pat and praising him profusely.

Zhang Hancheng strode out, pointing at Odin as he went and shouting, "Buy Odin some food, something delicious!"

Everyone was invigorated, feeling as if dawn was breaking through the darkness.

When Liu Baoqing arrived, he immediately hugged Odin and kissed him several times.

From now on, Odin will be the treasure of the new district branch.

Once the suspect is identified, things become much easier.

Police cars arrived one after another.

Kong Lingzhi and Zhao Hongjie both came.

This scene really startled the workers on site and the project team.

Shen Xin became the biggest contributor, and no one could get a chance to help. Just as Zhao Hongjie and the others finished praising him, Ren Haiguang took advantage of Chen Chao's inattention to pull Shen Xin aside and try to build a relationship with him, saying that he would definitely ask Shen Xin to train some useful police dogs for their New Taipei Branch.

They even said that Shen Xin is from New Taipei City, which makes it even more likely.

Fishing box and fishing rod were found under Fan Lei's bed.

I asked his roommates, and they said that Fan Lei moved in about a month ago. He's a pretty honest guy and doesn't talk much.

Then I like to go fishing after get off work.

I asked, and they said it's the Shitang Reservoir.

That would most likely mean they were scouting the location.

Then, on the night of the 25th, he came back very late, almost 2 a.m. One of his roommates, who was scrolling through his phone and hadn't slept, casually asked him how many fish he had caught that made him come back so late.

Similarly, on the 19th, he returned very late as well.

His electric scooter was also found; it was a black, pedal-type electric scooter.

Compare it with the surveillance video, and it's this car.

They even found the motorcycle helmet.

At this point, it can be basically confirmed that Fan Lei is a prime suspect in the crime.

Zhang Hancheng and his team have already begun to devise a capture plan.

They had already found Yao Qian and Fan Shunxi, but neither of them knew Fan Lei's whereabouts.

Because Fan Lei lives on the construction site and rarely goes home, the couple doesn't keep in touch much.

Most importantly, Fan Lei's phone number shows that it is switched off; it was switched off yesterday.

Zhang Hancheng had reason to suspect that Fan Lei might be planning to flee.

They have now contacted railway and other public transportation to check Fan Lei's ticket purchase information.

It's all based on real-name registration; as long as he buys a ticket, he'll definitely know.

They also checked his WeChat account, his usage history, and his payment information.

If you take a taxi to leave, there will definitely be a charge record.

You can also check road network surveillance footage.

He took leave yesterday and today, and the last time anyone saw him was yesterday morning around 10 a.m.

From this point in time, we can check the surveillance footage. With the Skynet system, we can quickly pinpoint his whereabouts.

In modern society, it's safe to say that once you know who the suspect is, there's almost no chance of them not being caught.

Everyone was busy, but Shen Xin was left with nothing to do.

In Zhang Hancheng's words, Shen Xin had only one task: to keep an eye on Odin, this meritorious official.

After the technical team finished their survey, Shen Xin took the opportunity to enter Fan Lei's dormitory to check on him.

Fan Lei's belongings have been thoroughly searched.

His bed was very simple, just a bedding and a quilt.

The duvet cover probably hasn't been washed; it's quite dirty.

Especially his pillow, the white pillowcase with the head area almost entirely black.

Looking around, Shen Xin's gaze fell on the half-box of Jinshuang instant noodles on the upper bunk.

This must be the cheapest instant noodles ever.

He didn't have many clothes, a small rice cooker, some toiletries, and two basins.

This should be all of Fan Lei's belongings.

According to his roommate, Fan Lei is extremely frugal.

For example, there's a cafeteria in the dormitory, where a meal costs 8 yuan.

The food was bad; chicken legs were made from duck wings, and the vegetables were the cheapest ones.

Eight yuan a meal, in this day and age, you can't ask for too much.

Because the food was so bad, many workers bought food from outside.

Fan Lei is reluctant to spend 8 yuan on a meal. He usually just eats two packs of instant noodles or some rice with pickled vegetables.

Someone asked him why he was so frugal, saying that at his age, he should eat something better.

He said that his child is not married yet, and there will be many expenses in the future. He doesn't earn much himself, so he wants to save money for his child.

Looking at all this, Shen Xin could imagine how frugal Fan Lei was in his daily life.

Thinking of Fan Shunxi's lack of education and his aimless wandering in society, Shen Xin couldn't help but feel a pang of regret.

At this moment, Shen Xin's gaze fell upon Fan Lei's small bag on the bed.

It probably usually holds some handy items, but now it's been turned over, and there are two white plastic medicine bottles.

Shen Xin leaned closer to take a look.

One bottle contains sodium bicarbonate tablets, and the other contains ibuprofen.

They're all cheap, the kind that comes in bottles of 100 tablets.

Shen Xin searched on his phone and found that sodium bicarbonate tablets mainly neutralize stomach acid and relieve stomach pain.

In addition to painkillers, and considering that Fan Lei has been eating poorly for a long time, he probably has some stomach problems.

Just then, someone outside called his name.

It's Geng Ke.

Hurriedly arriving outside the dormitory, Zhang Hancheng waved to Shen Xin, then said with a serious expression, "Xiao Shen, we checked the nearby surveillance footage, but we didn't find any trace of Fan Lei."

“He wasn’t riding an electric scooter, and the nearest bus stop is 300 meters away. We also checked all the bus surveillance footage from that time yesterday, but we didn’t find him.”

This is a dead-end road leading up the mountain, and there are no surveillance cameras at the intersection.

There is a T-junction not far away.

"And the surveillance footage at the dormitory entrance did indeed capture him leaving at 10:17 a.m. yesterday, carrying a bag."

"During the investigation, we found that someone saw Fan Lei carrying a bag and heading up the mountain."

"So he may still have escaped by walking over the mountain. Shen Xin, it's been more than 24 hours since yesterday. Do you think it's possible to track his escape route over the mountain using police dogs?"

If we review all the surveillance footage around Shitang Mountain, we should find something, but it will take time.

Currently, the most convenient way to confirm routes is still through police dogs.

(End of this chapter)