Chapter 366

"Officer Guan, Officer Huang, Team Leader Jiang, the suspect is on the fourth floor above."

Standing beneath a four-story building, police had sealed off all surrounding intersections, including the adjacent handshake building, barely meters from the guesthouse, with officers hidden in every corridor.

After witnessing the killer's exceptional balance, to fail to recognize this building as his escape route would be foolish.

Guan Xi, director of the Ningtai County Public Security Bureau, stared intently at the four-story building and calmly ordered: "First, ensure the safety of the public. Evacuate nearby residents before anything else. Secure safety before apprehending the suspect!"

"Understood." Officers standing beside Guan Xi responded in unison.

"Alright, from now on, Commander Huang and Team Leader Huang take command—I won't interfere." Even the director, swept up by the tense atmosphere, dared not deliver a long speech and immediately handed over command to Huang Qiangmin.

Huang Qiangmin thanked him, then immediately began issuing low-voiced orders.

No matter how clever the suspect's tricks, once exposed, they lose all their flair.

After confirming the suspect's departure location and time, under Ningtai County's comprehensive surveillance, he was nothing more than a thirty-something young man—taking taxis, staying in guesthouses, alone, spending lonely nights on high-speed trains heading home.

Wu Junhao's First Platoon silently donned stab-proof vests and picked up steel forks, lassos, and steel nets.

According to the information they had, this suspect was clearly a hardened criminal.

But even Wu Junhao's push team didn't need to resort to brute force against hardened criminals.

Soft weapons were the better tool for such targets.

Just like the heroes in Seven Heroes and Five Gallants—no matter how tough their weapons, a few fishing nets thrown down, and they'd be helpless, surrendering on the spot.

The police's lassos and steel nets worked similarly: in open areas, with coordinated teamwork, a single toss could pin down even the strongest, most agile, or most skilled man under the weight of several officers, cuffing him instantly.

Behind Wu Junhao's First Platoon, two other platoons waited, ready to enter via the fire escape and the opposite side of the corridor, as backup.

Jiang Yuan stood calmly behind the senior officers, watching the detectives file in one by one.

This case was slightly complex, but it had finally settled into standard procedure—now, all that remained was to apprehend the suspect.

Bang!

A loud crash—first a chair thrown from the fourth floor, then a figure leapt out the window.

Thud.

A dull, heavy sound followed immediately.

The officers below froze for a moment, then rushed forward.

Huang Qiangmin frowned tightly: "Is this a desperate man jumping the wall?"

"Headfirst." Jiang Yuan recalled the suspect's posture: "That position—he couldn't have survived."

"Suicide?" Huang Qiangmin was stunned. Though their goal was to deliver the suspect to the execution ground, it was rare for a suspect to choose self-destruction during arrest.

As for homicide—recalling the sequence: first the chair thrown, then the leap… within such a short time, to complete all that, subdue a physically strong man, and throw him out the window—it is highly unlikely.

Soon, Wu Junhao, who had stormed the room, called in: "The suspect jumped on his own. No one else is in the room."

"Secure the scene." Huang Qiangmin hung up, turned to Jiang Yuan, and asked: "Will you examine it?" Jiang Yuan nodded: "I'll check the body first, then the room."

"Good." Huang Qiangmin felt somewhat reassured.

Director Guan Xi let out a long breath—he had hoped today to see this murder case end perfectly. Had everything gone smoothly, everyone could have gone home peacefully for the New Year.

But the suspect's suicide didn't imply any flaw in the investigation.

A murderer making another frustrating choice wasn't surprising.

Jiang Yuan put on his mask and hood, then, while slipping on gloves, walked over to the corpse—the former suspect.

The impact from four stories was enough to kill instantly; the head-first fall amplified the force far beyond what a four-story drop would normally produce.

"Help me take fingerprints," Jiang Yuan said once photography was nearly done, asking Mu Zhiyang to assist in pressing all ten fingertips.

Without needing help, Jiang Yuan himself marked feature points on his tablet and matched the victim's identity.

"Li Yunhu. Male, 35, two prior prison terms, grievous bodily harm, extortion…"

Jiang Yuan read aloud a few key points from the tablet.

Mu Zhiyang continued taking notes, waited a moment, then asked when Jiang Yuan fell silent: "So, does this close the previous case?"

"Not necessarily." Jiang Yuan's answer surprised Mu Zhiyang.

Mu Zhiyang: "The killer's dead—does he have an accomplice?"

"It's not about accomplices," Jiang Yuan shook his head. "Two outsiders, near the New Year, traveling to Ningtai County to kill each other—what's the motive?"

Motive had always been the core problem in this case. The three pillars of solving a crime: motive, method, timeline.

The victim in the bar was initially thought to be a hired killing; now, with the killer's suicide, even that motive had become uncertain.

In hired murder cases, the court treats them as joint crimes—the employer as principal offender, the killer as accessory.

From that perspective, the killer had a much higher chance of avoiding the death penalty.

As a man with two prior prison terms, he surely understood the law—he knew being hired to kill meant he'd likely escape execution. So why leap to his death?

Jiang Yuan performed a quick external examination, then went upstairs to inspect the room.

Soon, Wu Jun arrived with the body transport vehicle.

Jiang Yuan also came back downstairs to help load the body onto the vehicle; as the door closed, he whispered: "Master, take off the corpse's pants and check."

Wu Jun had just removed his gloves to do something discreet, but upon hearing this, he put them back on, unfastening the corpse's belt as he asked: "What are you looking for?"

Jiang Yuan said: "I saw adult diapers in the suspect's guesthouse room."

Wu Jun paused, then instantly understood: "Bladder atrophy? This guy did drugs?"

Bladder atrophy is a common side effect of certain drugs—severe cases can shrink it by 90%. For a bladder with a normal capacity of around 500 milliliters, 90% atrophy renders it unusable, forcing reliance on diapers.

From a detective's perspective, seeing diapers immediately raises suspicion of a suspect's drug use and prompts human interaction.

"That's my guess," Jiang Yuan said, pressing the corpse's bladder area—no response.

Wu Jun carefully scanned the arms and legs, taking multiple samples. "Doesn't look like injection use—this guy used K?" Wu Jun muttered.

Jiang Yuan couldn't answer, but from another angle—a suspect with a drug history had even less reason to jump to his death.