Chapter 14

I suspect the victim may be from southern Guangdong.

“Oh?” Gu Changzheng asked in surprise.

“From the shoe prints found at the scene, the victim’s footwear turned out to be a pair of flip-flops—the kind commonly worn in southern Guangdong. Of course, that doesn’t prove he’s from there…”

“What? Flip-flops!” Gu Changzheng cut off Hu Jinquan. A thought suddenly flashed through his mind—though unbelievable, he always acted on such impulses.

“What specific features did this flip-flop print have?” Gu Changzheng asked.

Hu Jinquan looked at him, then said: “Just the typical wave pattern of ordinary flip-flops. Also, the victim was quite short—his foot size was only 36, about the same as an average woman’s!”

“What? His foot was size 36? Flip-flop prints?!” Gu Changzheng shot to his feet in an instant!

“Stop eating! Come on! Come on! Take me to see that print!” Gu Changzheng pulled Hu Jinquan, who was still shoving dumplings into his mouth.

Hu Jinquan quickly stuffed two more dumplings in, swallowing as he spoke: “Let me eat one more—I’m only half full!”

Gu Changzheng wouldn’t allow it. He already pulled out fifty yuan and placed it on the table: “Boss, if it’s not enough, I’ll come back tomorrow and make up the difference!”

As he spoke, he dragged Hu Jinquan to the car. Twenty minutes later, they arrived at Shadao Branch. They entered Hu Jinquan’s office, and Hu handed Gu Changzheng the case file for the 6.23 charred corpse case.

Upon reading the description of the extracted shoe print: clear, coarse pattern with a surrounding edge, but blurred edges; the forefoot impression was shallower than the heel, with a distinct pigeon-toed gait… Conclusion: the print belonged to a foam plastic flip-flop; the wearer was approximately 163 cm tall, weighed around 50 kg, male, size 36, with a pronounced pigeon-toed gait.

Hah! What a coincidence? Though the sole patterns differed, the shoe size, gait, and the height and weight estimated by Old Zheng were nearly identical! This was getting interesting.

“Old Hu! The victim in the 6.23 case is very likely connected to the 6.21 case! I have a feeling—there’s definitely a link between 6.21 and 6.23! Maybe we’ve found the key motive—solve one, and we solve both!”

“You mean the same person committed both crimes? We can merge the investigations?” Hu Jinquan exclaimed.

“Wait, wait—let me think this through.” Gu Changzheng leaned back in the chair opposite Hu Jinquan, closed his eyes, and fell into deep thought.

Hu Jinquan didn’t know the details of the 6.21 case, so he could only wait as Gu Changzheng pondered.

“Two cases that seem utterly unrelated, different methods, victims with no apparent connection—the only possibility is that the victim appeared at the 6.21 crime scene. Then why would a stranger, riding a stolen motorcycle, go to an abandoned sand quarry he didn’t know?” Gu Changzheng suddenly opened his eyes and spoke rapidly.

“Bold hypothesis, rigorous reasoning, cautious evidence collection! Old Gu, you haven’t forgotten Master’s advice from back then!” Hu Jinquan said, recalling their former master—the retired chief of the Criminal Investigation Brigade, Lu Haoxuan—when he saw Gu find a plausible link between two seemingly unrelated cases.

Hearing his master’s name, Gu Changzheng’s eyes lit up. He smiled knowingly at Hu Jinquan: “Old Hu, I’m taking the file to study. I’ll apply for a merged investigation ASAP. I feel it—the truth is close.”

Hu Jinquan frowned. Gu Changzheng knew his hesitation and grabbed the file folder: “Come on! Only you and I know—I’ll read it tonight, you pick it up tomorrow morning! That’s settled!” As Hu Jinquan hesitated, Gu snatched the folder and turned to leave.

Hu Jinquan knew his temperament: “Old Gu, you can’t take it! I didn’t give it to you! Old Gu—”

Gu Changzheng grunted, strode out of the office, reached his car, started it, and sped off in a blur.

—————

As Gu Changzheng had predicted, technical comparison confirmed the shoe print from the 6.23 case closely matched the one left at the 6.21 scene—identical except for the sole pattern; it was undoubtedly from the same person.

Gu Changzheng was certain: the 6.23 victim was the owner of the print.

He immediately reported this to Deputy Director Gao Jianjun and requested the municipal bureau merge the two cases.

On July 1, while attending an event at the municipal bureau, Gu Changzheng’s phone buzzed. He glanced surreptitiously at the hall—everyone was focused on Mayor Zhao Xiaodong’s speech. He opened his phone and saw a message from Luo Fei—he’d instructed Luo to alert him immediately if anything urgent arose.

Seeing the message, he immediately crouched and slipped quietly out of the hall.

Outside, he quickly called Luo Fei: “Hello! What’s the emergency?”

“Chief Gu!” Luo Fei’s voice came through. “A household in Fenglinyuan Community was burglarized!”

Gu Changzheng said nothing. He knew Luo Fei, though new, wouldn’t misjudge urgency. Of course.

Luo Fei continued: “The burgled house is directly above 301. The responding officer found it suspicious, so he escalated it to our unit. Chief, we’re at the scene now—you should come over.”

Gu Changzheng hung up, abandoned the event, and drove straight to Fenglinyuan Community.

“What’s the situation? Who reported it?” Gu Changzheng stepped into Apartment 401, above Ge Manli’s unit, wearing shoe covers, and asked Luo Fei directly.

“Chief, the reporter is Ms. Zhang, the neighbor in 402,” Luo Fei said, pointing to a short, stout woman around sixty outside the door.

Gu Changzheng glanced at Ms. Zhang, nodded. The old woman opened her mouth to speak, but seeing Gu turn away with no interest in talking, she swallowed her words—yet her eyes darted, ears perked, as if she cared more about the case than the police inside.

Gu Changzheng spotted Old Zheng examining the scene and asked: “What’s your take, Old Zheng? Not an ordinary burglary?”

Old Zheng didn’t look up: “It’s an ordinary burglary, but the victim’s household is… unusual.”

“How so?” Gu Changzheng walked over, hands behind his back, holding a small bag, swaying slightly.

“Chief, here’s what happened,” Luo Fei said from behind him. “Ms. Zhang went out to buy vegetables this morning. When she returned, she noticed a gap in the door of 401—it was locked before. She thought the owner was home and went to greet them, but when she pushed the door open, the room was in chaos. She assumed a burglary and called the police. The local officers arrived and found this!” Luo Fei pointed to a white object on the living room sofa.