Chapter 520: Linkage

Interrogation room.

The criminal suspect Bao Wenxing had his hands locked to the interrogation chair, and his body was also bound to the back of the chair with restraint straps, but he still provoked the police officers opposite him with his eyes, simply keeping his mouth shut and not saying a word.

The restraints on him were more out of fear that he might become emotionally agitated.

This kind of situation is rarely seen by outsiders, but to the police, it is something frequently encountered. Especially with some habitual offenders, they often attempt to avoid punishment through self-harming behavior.

What the interrogating officers did not expect was that Bao Wenxing's emotions were extremely stable; instead, he provoked the officers with his eyes, maintained his own silence, and was able to withstand the officers' verbal offensive.

"You need to know that even if you don't speak, we can still convict you with zero confessions." The interrogating officer adjusted himself, his expression becoming serious.

What to do when a criminal suspect won't talk? Then reason with him.

Reason with him, present evidence, and one can even intentionally say things to provoke the criminal suspect...

In some countries that place special emphasis on the right to silence, if a criminal suspect requests a lawyer or requests to exercise the right to remain silent, the police are not allowed to continue the interrogation and must wait until the lawyer arrives before proceeding.

But domestically, if a criminal suspect does not speak, while the police certainly cannot force you to speak, the police speaking is not affected.

The interrogating officer simply sat opposite Bao Wenxing and began to slowly lecture him on policy and the law.

Bao Wenxing had no choice but to listen to this one-on-one, or even two-on-one, legal education.

As time passed, the provocation in his eyes gradually turned into bewilderment. It wasn't the kind of bewilderment from sitting through a morning of advanced mathematics, but more like the bewilderment of sitting through a whole day of Marxist philosophy classes.

Upstairs.

Captain Pang Jidong washed his face with a towel, still in a dazed state.

Seeing this, Jiang Yuan stopped his further indoctrination and began to focus on counting pollen under the microscope. This work was extremely dull, even duller than fingerprints, relying entirely on a bit of novelty and a sense of achievement to sustain it.

Originally, tutoring Captain Pang Jidong could be considered a bit of fun in the boredom, but now that Captain Pang Jidong had been "indoctrinated to waste," he could only play with the microscope by himself. Fortunately, the technicians at the Luojin City DNA laboratory were quite capable and could help out on the side.

After a long while, Captain Pang Jidong let out a "huff" of breath, like a winter swimmer surfacing from underwater.

A few seconds later, Captain Pang Jidong glanced at Jiang Yuan with some panic. Seeing that he hadn't noticed him yet, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief, while simultaneously sighing inwardly. He was a veteran criminal police officer, so naturally, he could see that Jiang Yuan was intentionally cultivating him.

Although it seemed a bit ridiculous for the twenty-something Jiang Yuan to be cultivating the 50-year-old him, Captain Pang Jidong felt that the word "cultivate" was absolutely accurate, because that was exactly what Jiang Yuan was doing.

However, Captain Pang Jidong didn't know why.

The life of the past few days made Captain Pang Jidong recall his youth. At that time, he had just become a people's police officer, full of ambition and abundant energy. He had also apprenticed under a good master, accepting new things every day.

That period was when Captain Pang Jidong grew the fastest. He quickly transitioned from the role of a newcomer to that of a working officer, from needing someone to take care of him to being able to handle cases independently, being able to take care of others, and then step by step from a squadron leader to a detachment leader...

In recent years, Captain Pang Jidong himself had been out of touch with growth.

His age had reached the limit, and the possibility of promotion was very low. Even maintaining competitiveness in core positions was difficult for Captain Pang Jidong. He had to exert more effort to cope with daily challenges.

It was the newcomers in the team who occasionally made Captain Pang Jidong feel the breath of "growth." That exciting, upward-striving spirit even aroused jealousy in Captain Pang Jidong's heart.

Captain Pang Jidong had never thought that one day, at 50, he would be subjected to spoon-fed teaching again, "cultivated" again, and forced to grow again.

This time, Captain Pang Jidong felt more than 10 times more tired than when he was young.

But he didn't even dare to ask Jiang Yuan "why." Because he was afraid that if he asked, Jiang Yuan would stop this painful, endless, bottomless, and incredible spoon-fed teaching.

During the time when his brain still had some capacity—while taking a dump—Captain Pang Jidong had already secretly made up his mind that even if Jiang Yuan was just losing a game of Truth or Dare and had to teach an old man new things, he would never give up!

Because Jiang Yuan might be doing it for a game, but what Captain Pang Jidong was harvesting was true growth.

Only at 50 does one know how rare such growth is for a 50-year-old veteran criminal police officer.

"Drink some electrolyte water." Jiang Yuan seemed to have grown tired of the microscope, or perhaps he noticed that Captain Pang Jidong's eyes were starting to become clear again, so he walked over.

He understood postpartum care for sows, and at a Level 4 standard. Although being tired from studying wasn't the same as being tired from giving birth, Jiang Yuan felt there were still commonalities.

Just like the warm multi-vitamin electrolyte water he gave, it could ensure the rapid replenishment of water in the sow's body, restore physical strength quickly, and prepare for nursing the piglets.

The same logic applied: after Captain Pang Jidong drank this bottle of electrolyte water, it could also ensure the rapid replenishment of water in his body, allow his physical strength to recover quickly, and prepare him for the next round of study.

Captain Pang Jidong picked up the thermos cup, drank more than half of it in gulps, wiped his mouth, and a crystalline light appeared in the corners of his eyes.

Thinking back to those years, his master also gave him water like this. At that time, Captain Pang Jidong, who had just started working, had neither experience nor knew how to take care of himself. When he went out to stake out, he didn't know to bring a water bottle. His throat was parched, and he could only swallow his saliva over and over. It was his master who specifically went out to get water for him and handed it to him just like this. And it wasn't just once.

"Finish it." Jiang Yuan urged.

A smile appeared on Captain Pang Jidong's face as he drank the remaining electrolyte water in one gulp.

His body was indeed recovering rapidly.

"En, that's about it. Let's wait for the laboratory report." Jiang Yuan left the remaining biological samples to the technicians and sat directly opposite Captain Pang Jidong.

Captain Pang Jidong's expression tightened. This is...

"At the crime scene investigation at Bao Wenxing's house, no tools for committing the crime were found, nor were there any traces of the vehicle used." Jiang Yuan didn't start lecturing immediately but spoke about the case.

Since it wasn't forensic botany, Captain Pang Jidong's intelligence was still sufficient. Hearing Jiang Yuan mention it, he immediately said, "Indeed, to perfect the chain of evidence, finding the tools and the car is the best."

All four victims had been taken into a car, but they were all blindfolded and didn't know the specific information about the vehicle. However, considering normal thinking, Bao Wenxing should have used his own car. Cars from rental agencies have GPS and other devices, so they are generally not suitable for rape or murder.

Besides the car, the high-voltage electric shock weapon was also something the police were very concerned about.

There were electric shock marks on the victims, so it could be determined that the same electric shock weapon was used in all four cases. If the first two cases were relatively close together, then the fact that the same weapon was used in the last two cases meant the probability of the perpetrator retaining it was very high.

If the vehicle and the weapon were found, they could be considered ironclad evidence. Even if the former had been cleaned, it would be difficult to clean away all traces, and the electric shock marks of the latter could be matched with the traces on the victims.

But none of these things were found in Bao Wenxing's home. There was a sedan parked in Bao Wenxing's garage, which was also registered in his name, but it was a new purchase this year. Although it was towed back, everyone didn't hold much hope.

And considering it from this direction...

"As for the car, it might have already been sold." Captain Pang Jidong said, "Compared to destroying it, selling it as a used car is more covert. The electric shock weapon has probably already been disposed of."

"If the car isn't in his name, it must be in someone else's name." Jiang Yuan said.

"A 'dummy-registered' car?" Captain Pang Jidong was referring to a type of car in used car transactions that cannot be transferred, usually because the owner has debts, causing the vehicle to remain in the original owner's name. This kind of car is a risk for ordinary traders, but for criminals, it belongs to a category of greatly increased safety.

"Selling a car must also leave traces..." Jiang Yuan didn't know much about this area.

Captain Pang Jidong thought about it and said, "We can check through used car dealers, but if it's a dummy-registered car, they are part of a gray industry to begin with and won't cooperate well. Also, the timing is unclear."

Having done many cases, Jiang Yuan actually knew that finding murder weapons and the like in cold cases was extremely difficult.

Even very amateur perpetrators know to dispose of bloody clothes and murder weapons. Jiang Yuan had previously encountered cases where murder weapons were thrown into the Taihe River. For current cases, frogmen could be hired to retrieve evidence, but for cold cases, even if you knew where they were, there was nowhere to look.

Borrowing the intelligence from the electrolyte water he had just drunk, Captain Pang Jidong suggested, "Bao Wenxing looks like a rich kid. Some things he might not necessarily do himself. It would be better to check the people around him. Following interpersonal relationships, maybe someone helped him sell the car or did something else."

The person in charge of the special task force was Deputy Director Xu Tian, followed by the detachment leader and others, but the command authority had been delegated to Jiang Yuan. Captain Pang Jidong, on the other hand, had no authority to make decisions himself.

Jiang Yuan followed the advice and said "Okay," then added, "Another problem is that for most of the past year, Bao Wenxing has been abroad. What was he doing abroad?"

This question actually explained why no similar cases had occurred in Luojin City after the four rapes.

Captain Pang Jidong nodded solemnly, "Cui Xiaohu and the others are already contacting the Malayan police. It might take a few more days."

"If they come quickly, there's a chance." Jiang Yuan said.

Captain Pang Jidong couldn't help but nod. If it were just for help, the foreign police would probably not be very proactive. Conversely, if they also had a need to solve cases, they would likely be very proactive.

Jiang Yuan saw that Captain Pang Jidong's expression was normal, so he said, "Alright. Let's put this aside for now. In fact, with our current evidence, we can already convict Bao Wenxing. He lives in a detached villa and lives alone. The pollen profile evidence is already very solid. In this regard, we can go deeper..."

Captain Pang Jidong stood there as if he had been hit by a freezing spell, stunned on the spot. ===== CHAPTER 521 =====