Chapter 13

Luo Fei sighed and ran out. After about ten minutes, he came back holding a stack of documents and said, “Captain Gu, the DNA analysis of the seminal fluid extracted from Ge Manli’s bra is confirmed—it belongs to Shu Jiaqing! Also, this is what Teacher Zheng asked me to give you.”

He handed the documents to Gu Changzheng. Gu Changzheng saw a crime scene investigation report indicating that the same substance found in Ge Manli’s bathtub had been detected on the grass beneath her bathroom on Building Three! In other words, Gu Changzheng’s theory matched this evidence!

And a set of footprints found at this location, after trace analysis, appeared to have been left by a woman!

Could the killer really be a woman? Did she risk returning downstairs after Shu Jiaqing left to retrieve the towel that had fallen onto the grass?

But so far, these were merely Gu Changzheng’s deductions—no eyewitnesses, no physical evidence, not even a clear motive for the murder!

He thought of Shu Jiaqing detained at the bureau, and of the superiors waiting for his case report; his mind grew restless. He was just an ordinary man, and even he had moments of helplessness and vulnerability!

As he sat with closed eyes, lost in thought, Luo Fei’s voice suddenly came from beside him: “Captain Gu! Guo Hao and the others are back—they say they have important information to report!”

After hearing Guo Hao’s report, Gu Changzheng felt surprised. According to Guo Hao’s findings, Ren Jiahe Company was now in severe financial crisis—but how was this connected to Ge Manli’s death?

Had his suspicions been wrong? Had his investigative direction gone astray?

After thinking for a while, he made a decision.

“Put Ren Jiahe under technical surveillance! There are too many inconsistencies in the time of Ge Manli’s death, and too many coincidences involving people linked to her!”

Guo Hao understood that “technical surveillance” meant monitoring and surveilling Ren Jiahe. He nodded and said, “Captain Gu, I’ll arrange it right away.”

—————

On June 28, one week had passed since Ge Manli’s murder. During this time, her death had been officially classified as homicide. Upon instruction from the municipal bureau, the “6.21” Special Task Force was formed, with Gao Jianjun, Director of the Jiangdong Branch, as team leader and Gu Changzheng, Captain of the Branch Criminal Unit, as deputy leader. The municipal bureau set a 30-day deadline for solving the case—seven days had now passed.

As for Shu Jiaqing’s interrogation, the only evidence against him was proof that he stole the victim’s branded handbag; he had been transferred to detention on charges of burglary.

Meanwhile, Guo Hao’s team monitoring Ren Jiahe reported that all of Ren Jiahe’s behavior and speech were normal; some even began questioning the value of the surveillance!

Gu Changzheng felt trapped in a baffling loop—he knew Ge Manli had been murdered, yet he could not grasp any thread leading to the truth!

On June 29, at 8:30 a.m., Gu Changzheng arrived early at the municipal bureau. With July 1 approaching, the bureau was holding a thematic Party Day event for the Zizhen Public Security System. Gu Changzheng joined other members of the Jiangdong Branch Party Committee to attend the learning session. He arrived punctually at the bureau building when a familiar figure appeared before him.

“Old Hu!” Gu Changzheng called out to Hu Jinquan, Captain of the Criminal Unit at the Shadao Branch, who stood nearby.

He and Hu Jinquan were the same age; Hu Jinquan was two years older. They had worked together for several years when they first joined the police force and had always gotten along well.

Hu Jinquan, walking ahead, heard his name called, turned around, saw it was Gu Changzheng, and immediately stopped to wait for him.

“Old Gu, how’s it going? Any progress on your bathtub drowning case?”

Gu Changzheng shook his head slightly: “Still under investigation. It’s difficult.”

“You’re such a guy! You’ve always loved challenging cases! I remember when we were still under Master’s command—you were the most excited when we got a tough case! What’s wrong now? Got cold feet? Haha!”

They were close friends and hadn’t seen each other in a long time; Hu Jinquan noticed Gu Changzheng’s gloomy expression and teased him deliberately.

Gu Changzheng knew Hu Jinquan was trying to encourage him. He patted Hu Jinquan’s arm and said, “When have I ever backed down? This case is just tough—I’ve hit a wall in my thinking!”

“Sigh! You know, our city’s civilized city bid failed again this year! Your district has a bathtub drowning case, and ours has a sandpit charred corpse case! Water and fire—between the two, our civilized city bid’s gone up in smoke!”

“Oh? When did your sandpit charred corpse case happen?”

Gu Changzheng was a workaholic, especially when it came to criminal cases—he had a special passion for them.

Hu Jinquan had also been stuck in a dead end with his case recently, but he was naturally optimistic. Despite the heavy pressure of a major case, he remained cheerful. He knew Gu Changzheng was skilled at deduction and seized this chance to hear his opinion—perhaps it would spark a new insight for him…

In the evening, the two went to a dumpling restaurant in the old district. One plate of peanuts, two plates of dumplings—they ate and talked.

“On the 23rd, several middle schoolers riding bikes reported the case. Xu Yang and I arrived immediately. The scene was in a long-abandoned sand excavation pit beside Qingjiang River.”

At the scene was a vehicle reduced to a charred skeleton—it turned out to be a 125cc scooter. We traced the chassis number to the owner, who reported the bike stolen ten days earlier. His theft report was checked—no issues.”

The body was also reduced to a skeleton, burned beyond recognition. Besides the tire tracks from the burned scooter and bicycle marks left by the students, there were only scattered footprints.”

Forensic analysis confirmed the victim was a male, aged 35–40, about 163 cm tall, with time of death estimated at June 22. The footprints included those of the students and the victim, plus one additional male footprint.”

But there were no surveillance cameras nearby. Our door-to-door inquiries turned up no witnesses. And because the body was so thoroughly burned—almost completely carbonized—the forensic team failed to extract DNA. We still don’t know the victim’s identity.”

After finishing his summary, Hu Jinquan picked up a dumpling and mumbled through his mouth: “The only lead we have now is the footprints. What do you think?”

Gu Changzheng remained silent, lost in thought. Hu Jinquan knew he was thinking and took the chance to quickly swallow several more dumplings—this was a habit formed from years of work; you never knew when a call would come, so you ate like you were racing against time!

“After examining the scene traces, did you find anything missing from the victim?” Gu Changzheng asked slowly.

“You suspect this was a murder for profit?” Hu Jinquan said.

“Motive matters. No one kills without reason.”

“We’ve considered that possibility. Since the scooter was stolen, we wondered if it was a theft gang dispute over stolen goods—maybe someone suddenly turned violent. But a motorcycle’s fuel tank holds only a few liters—far too little to burn an adult male to this state. So we lean toward a premeditated murder: the killer brought enough gasoline in advance. Also, the victim’s charred skull shows multiple blunt-force trauma marks—we believe he was beaten to death first, then set on fire.”