027 New Clues

The location where the suspect vehicle lingered for an unusually long time was near Hengding Line, close to Gaoyang Village. Between the two surveillance cameras, there was a stretch of several kilometers, yet the suspect vehicle took a full forty minutes to traverse it—clearly suspicious. When Han Bin and his two colleagues drove between the same cameras, they took only six minutes.

To the east of the road lay farmland, while to the west stretched a dense forest. Han Bin surmised that if the perpetrators had buried a corpse, they would have chosen the woods to the west, where it was less likely to be discovered. The three drove slowly back along the road, hazard lights flashing, deliberately keeping their speed down to closely observe the woods for anything out of the ordinary.

Remembering where the van had previously stopped, Han Bin reminded them, “Pay attention to the ground near the roadside—see if there are any fresh tire tracks.” He reduced the car’s speed further to facilitate a meticulous inspection.

As they reached the stretch between the two cameras, they spotted a set of diagonal tire marks. The three immediately exited the vehicle to investigate.

“These tracks look about right—could they be from the van?” Li Hui muttered, stroking his chin.

Han Bin examined them carefully. “Judging by the angle, the vehicle must have parked against the flow of traffic, just like the abandoned van.”

“Shall we search the area then?” Zhao Ming suggested.

“Forty minutes is just enough time to commit murder and bury the body, but it’s still tight. I expect the burial site might yield clues,” Han Bin replied.

Li Hui pulled shoe covers from his pocket and put them on. “Alright, let’s get started.”

Han Bin surveyed the surroundings, but found no obvious footprints. They could only use the tire marks as the center point, searching outward in all directions.

The three split up, each searching a different sector. Han Bin was especially thorough, wary of missing any detail. After some time, he found nothing noteworthy, but Li Hui called out, “Bin, I’ve found something over here!”

Han Bin hurried over. Li Hui was standing on a patch of open, soft mud, where there were clear drag marks nearby.

“Could it be that after Sun Qifeng was killed, his accomplice dragged him here?” Li Hui ventured.

Han Bin nodded. It was possible—if the body was dragged feet-first, the accomplice’s own footprints would be obscured by the drag mark.

They followed the trace for about a dozen meters before it vanished, but the ground in that area was now dotted with scattered shoe prints, not in any particular order.

Han Bin singled out two of the clearer prints and studied them, delighted. “Yes, these are the footprints of Sun Qifeng’s accomplice.”

“Bin, look at this patch of earth—it seems newly turned,” Li Hui pointed out.

The area of fresh soil was nearly seventy centimeters wide and over a meter long.

“Zhao Ming,” Han Bin called.

“What did you two find?” Zhao Ming shouted back.

“Go to the car and fetch the shovels.”

“On it.” Zhao Ming ran to the car and returned with two shovels.

Li Hui took one, ready to dig with Zhao Ming, but Han Bin reached for it. “You rest—let me handle this.”

Li Hui didn’t protest; after searching the mountain all morning, he was indeed exhausted.

The soil was loose and easy to dig. After about twenty centimeters, Han Bin’s shovel hit something resistant—not quite as hard as stone, but unyielding. Brushing away the dirt, a human hand emerged from the pit.

“It really is a body,” Zhao Ming exclaimed in shock.

They cleared the soil from the head, revealing a pale male face.

“Sun Qifeng!” Li Hui cried.

“That’s him—matches the photo,” Zhao Ming confirmed.

“Bin, we should report to Captain Zeng,” Li Hui suggested.

Han Bin nodded, took out his phone, and called Zeng Ping.

Sun Qifeng was dead; the trail had gone cold. There was no point in continuing the search of the mountain.

...

Twenty minutes later, Zheng Kaixuan and Zeng Ping arrived at the burial site in a police car. After examining the corpse, both men wore grim expressions.

All the clues had originally pointed to Sun Qifeng. Only by finding him alive could they have clarified the case. Now that he was dead, the investigation was at an impasse.

“Bin, well done,” Zheng Kaixuan said, clapping Han Bin on the shoulder.

Han Bin’s timely discovery of the body had saved considerable police resources.

The forensic and technical teams soon arrived and exhumed the corpse. Forensic examiner Wu Xia inspected the body and announced, “Estimated time of death is between midnight and three in the morning.”

“The cause of death?”

“Strangulation—the same method used to kill Xing Jianbin,” Wu Xia replied.

“Any other findings?” Han Bin asked.

“There are skin fragments under the victim’s fingernails, likely from a struggle.”

“So, the skin fragments could belong to the suspect?” Zheng Kaixuan inquired.

“You’ll have to confirm that yourselves,” Wu Xia answered.

“Can you extract DNA?” Zeng Ping asked.

“I’ll do my best,” Wu Xia assured him.

...

By the time they returned to the precinct, it was after five in the afternoon.

In the office of Task Force Two, everyone was gathered—Zheng Kaixuan at the head, the team beneath him, all with dark circles under their eyes. Not a soul had slept since the case began.

Zheng Kaixuan scanned the room. “You’re all aware of the current situation. Sun Qifeng is dead. We need to redefine our investigation’s direction.”

“If Forensic Wu can extract the suspect’s DNA from under the fingernails, this case will be much easier to solve,” Tian Li said.

“Don’t place all your hopes on DNA analysis. If the suspect has no prior record, even with a sample, there’ll be nothing to match,” Zheng Kaixuan cautioned.

“You’re right, Captain. We should conduct a fresh review of Sun Qifeng’s associates,” Zeng Ping agreed.

“Zhao Ming, go to the telecom company and look into Sun Qifeng’s phone records. See whom he contacted most frequently before his death,” Zheng Kaixuan ordered.

“Tian Li, your task is to investigate the pyramid scheme members. Find out who was recently close to Sun Qifeng and could be a suspect.”

“Li Hui, you’re responsible for checking Sun Qifeng’s friends and family.”

“Han Bin, Sun Qifeng’s parents are coming to identify the body. You’ll receive them.”

“Yes, sir,” everyone responded.

After assigning the tasks, Zheng Kaixuan yawned. “Any other leads to add?”

“Captain Zheng, based on my analysis, the suspect is male, approximately 1.8 meters tall, around thirty-five years old, and physically strong,” Han Bin said.

Zheng Kaixuan looked surprised. “How can you be so specific?”

“I mentioned before, Han Bin is an expert in footprint analysis,” Zeng Ping interjected.

Zheng Kaixuan nodded, though still a bit skeptical. “Very well, consider this additional lead and refer to it during the investigation.”

Zhao Ming yawned, glanced at his watch, and noted, “Captain, the telecom company is probably already closed for the day.”

Zheng Kaixuan smiled. “Then let’s call it a day—all members of Task Force Two, go home and get some proper sleep.”

“Yes, sir,” the team answered with relief.

After over thirty hours on the case, even iron men would be exhausted.