Chapter 41

“The Case 326 disappearance… that was three years ago.” Wei Zhenguo’s tone carried a hint of memory as he spoke slowly: “You know, there are certain requirements to file a disappearance report. So by the time the case reached me, there were already many troubling signs.”

Wei Zhenguo had clearly reviewed the case file; he paused briefly, then continued: “The victim, Ding Lan, was the factory’s accountant. On March 26, she worked overtime until around 10 p.m., then left work to go home. The next day, she didn’t show up for work, but her coworkers assumed she was just late. It wasn’t until the afternoon that they tried to contact her. Ding Lan lived alone, so her family didn’t report her missing until the evening of the 27th—and even then, they didn’t file a formal case immediately. Later, several people searching on their own found Ding Lan’s bicycle behind a municipal flower bed, about seven or eight meters from the road.”

“That’s enough to file a case,” Wu Jun interjected.

“Yes,” Wei Zhenguo sighed. “The abandoned bicycle suggests the disappearance wasn’t accidental. After that, our squad conducted some searches and collected fingerprints from the bicycle—but we made no progress. The case stalled.”

“Let me see those fingerprints.” Jiang Yuan had no other forensic skills to rely on. Fingerprints were his sharpest weapon—far sharper than any skill a pathologist could bring.

Wei Zhenguo had only brought him this case for that reason alone.

He opened the police integrated application platform. A long list of fingerprints linked to Case 326 appeared.

The most important were those collected from the bicycle—dozens in total, belonging to multiple people, scattered across the handlebars, frame, and tires.

You could say the officers who collected them had been thorough.

But similar to the earlier assault case, the cylindrical material of the bike frame had distorted the fingerprints severely, making matching difficult.

Add to that the large number of fingerprints collected from the victim’s home, and the case involved easily dozens more.

Without a clear investigative direction, processing those dozens of fingerprints alone would be a nightmare.

Wei Zhenguo clearly understood this, and explained: “Ding Lan’s bicycle was often lent out to people in the office. Especially the cashier and another finance staff member rode it frequently. Also, Ding Lan was casual about relationships—she had many relatives, friends, girlfriends, and boyfriends. We know of four ex-boyfriends who lived in this county alone…”

“Romantic entanglements?” Wu Jun guessed blindly. The case had no body and wasn’t a major one; two years had passed, and he had no memory of it at all.

Wei Zhenguo shook his head: “All her ex-boyfriends broke up peacefully, no signs of violence… Honestly, after we took their statements, the case just stopped. Almost no resources were allocated for follow-up. If that bicycle hadn’t been so suspicious, this case might never have reached me… But precisely because the abandoned bicycle was so odd, I’ve never forgotten it.”

Wu Jun listened, then remarked: “In China, a perfect murder is just a disappearance case. The time it takes just to file the report alone can waste the golden 72 hours. Without a body, many pieces of evidence vanish. And there’s never much manpower or resources poured into it.”

Wei Zhenguo nodded heavily, locking eyes with Wu Jun: “You felt it too?”

Wu Jun grunted: “It’s impossible to just randomly abandon a bicycle by the roadside. But there are other explanations. The key problem is… there’s no body.”

“Yes,” Wei Zhenguo sighed again.

Jiang Yuan understood, and said in surprise: “Chief Wei, you think this is a murder case?”

Wei Zhenguo said: “Unfortunately, feelings don’t count.”

Jiang Yuan, still young, frowned: “Regardless, the person really disappeared. We have to find her.”

Wei Zhenguo smiled bitterly: “There’s a huge difference between a disappearance case and a murder case.”

Wu Jun added: “There’s such a thing as false disappearance. Maybe she ran off with a boyfriend, fled due to financial problems, got involved in a pyramid scheme or some strange religion, or—like your generation says—went on a spontaneous trip, or fell into a fated love…”

“Right,” Wei Zhenguo said. “Our manpower and energy are limited. Without concrete evidence, we can’t proactively upgrade a disappearance case to a murder case.”

Between Wei Zhenguo and Wu Jun, each speaking a sentence, the situation was laid out clearly for Jiang Yuan.

Jiang Yuan hesitated: “What do you mean by ‘concrete evidence’?”

“A body,” Wei Zhenguo said. “The tradition here is: no body, no case. Without a body, you can’t justify spending millions on an investigation.”

The pressure to solve every murder case was the original driving force behind police spending without restraint. But the ability to spend without limits on murder cases doesn’t mean the police budget is unlimited.

Quite the opposite: because resources must be conserved for murder cases and other major crimes, funding for ordinary cases is even tighter.

And until a body is found, a disappearance case remains an ordinary case.

It can receive only the resources allotted to ordinary cases.

“The victim was an accountant. Any financial issues?” Wu Jun raised a new question.

Wei Zhenguo sighed: “Preliminary investigation showed no major problems, but there were minor issues—extra reimbursements, things like that. Not exactly clean. But the factory didn’t want to dig deeper, and we didn’t have the manpower to investigate further.”

“Social, likes to party, many ex-boyfriends, not careful with money,” Wu Jun shook his head. “Cases like this are hard to turn into murders. She might just pop up one day, laughing and say it was a joke.”

“Three years have passed, and she hasn’t shown up,” Wei Zhenguo’s expression grew heavier.

“So what do you need me to do now?” Jiang Yuan stepped forward, sensing the low mood.

Wei Zhenguo adjusted his emotions, thinking: “Here’s my thinking. Previously, our investigation focused on acquaintances—considering someone close committed the crime, or romantic entanglements. We followed interpersonal connections. Now, let’s set that old path aside. Focus entirely on the bicycle.”

In terms of case-solving, Wei Zhenguo’s mind turned sharply; his brow furrowed deeply: “The only flaw in this case is the bicycle. Without that bicycle lying in the grass, this disappearance might never have been filed. And hiding the bicycle would’ve been easy—ride it away, or abandon it by the roadside, where some passerby might’ve taken it, leaving no trace.”

Jiang Yuan nodded. This kind of case analysis was still fresh to him, a pathologist trained in medical school.

“So this bicycle suggests the crime had some element of spontaneity—possible a crime of passion. If a crime occurred, the bicycle likely holds a bigger clue—like the suspect’s fingerprints,” Wei Zhenguo looked at Jiang Yuan. “To be honest, I considered this three years ago. But back then, fingerprint matching was even harder…”

As Wei Zhenguo spoke, a translucent interface popped up before Jiang Yuan.

Task: Nationwide Match

Task Content: Wei Zhenguo believes clues to the Case 326 Ding Lan disappearance may lie in the bicycle’s fingerprints. Match all fingerprints collected from the bicycle and attempt to solve the case.

Jiang Yuan’s eyelid twitched.

Damn. Matching every single fingerprint on the bicycle—after eliminating the 70–80 percent already matched—the remaining ones were all difficult cases. Only if you assumed a major crime had occurred would anyone have the patience to process them all.