Chapter 859

The suspect was sent directly to Shi Tingxian, and Jiang Yuan and his team slowly made their way out of the mountains.

Before leaving, Jiang Yuan prepared another meal for the dogs, and considering they would be on the road for the better part of the afternoon, he used his 'Temporary +1' skill on the dog food.

A Level 6 Dog Food skill was likely shining with golden light in the canine world.

Nineteen village dogs and three police dogs, along with several police officers, were all left in a daze, and the police dog handlers had to use their hands to pry the bowls from the police dogs' mouths, feeling as though they had returned to the early days of police dog training.

"We're leaving." Jiang Yuan and his team boarded their vehicles, bidding a reluctant farewell to the pack of dogs.

The affectionate dogs of the village even chased them for two miles before finally returning to the village under their owners' scolding.

The Rottweiler stood on the back of the pickup truck and let out a long howl:

┗|｀O′|┛Awooo~~

Shi Tingxian.

Meng Chengbiao had arrived at the police station early, waiting for the officers to bring the suspect back, and had prepared a large amount of documentation in advance.

The workload of the Jiang Yuan Cold Case Squad was significantly lighter than that of other criminal investigation units. The exhaustion from working on a single case was limited, and with the large number of people in the special squad, ordinary officers could still find time to slack off if they wanted to, unlike some criminal investigation teams that treated borrowed "workhorses" like machines.

Furthermore, the Jiang Yuan Cold Case Squad held significant implicit power. Whenever they were short-handed, they could almost immediately receive reinforcements.

After all, when solving cold cases or major crimes, human labor costs were the lowest costs of all. It wasn't just a renowned expert like Jiang Yuan; even an ordinary special squad leader could apply for a massive number of personnel if they dared to take responsibility. However, as the student Han said 2,200 years ago, "the more the better" came with prerequisites.

"Political Commissar Huang, Captain Jiang, Director Bai..."

While Meng Chengbiao was preparing, he saw Huang Qiangmin and the others walk in with their bellies protruding. Knowing the interrogation was about to begin, his body began to secrete hormones rapidly.

"Right, the suspect has been delivered. I'll leave the interrogation to you now." Jiang Yuan overstepped his bounds and snatched the interrogation work, which he usually left to local officers in the past.

However, a guest bullying the host was just how things went. Shi Tingxian's Criminal Investigation Brigade was much weaker than the district bureaus of Qinghe City or a unit like the Changyang City Criminal Investigation Detachment, let alone compared to a district bureau in the capital.

Jiang Yuan used a bit of emotional intelligence to introduce Meng Chengbiao to Bai Jian: "Meng Chengbiao is the interrogation expert of our Cold Case Squad. The drug case we worked on before coming to Shi Tingxian, in cooperation with the Anti-Drug General Brigade, had its main culprit interrogated by Meng Chengbiao. The interrogation difficulty at the time was extremely high."

The interrogation of the "Drug-Capture Net" by the Anti-Drug General Brigade was primarily led by interrogation expert Sun Fangyuan, but Jiang Yuan embellished it slightly, immediately highlighting Meng Chengbiao's value.

Upon hearing this, Bai Jian nodded repeatedly. "I've worked with Captain Meng before, and now his reputation is rising..."

"You are too kind." Meng Chengbiao was older, but he enjoyed the feeling.

After some polite exchanges, Jiang Yuan added, "I still have a few questions. You can ask them later and see how the suspect answers."

"Please, go ahead." Meng Chengbiao switched to work mode.

"First, the person who collected mountain goods had a vehicle; why didn't he choose to abandon the body?" Jiang Yuan had seen many cases and had his own understanding or intuition regarding a suspect's thought process.

To explain it from a scientific perspective, it was as if the human brain had built various models for different issues; when something happened, it would first apply the major models. The more a situation fit a relevant model, the stronger the intuition.

Based on the people involved in cases Jiang Yuan had encountered, men who ran in the mountains year-round didn't find it difficult to abandon or bury a body if they had a vehicle. Compared to residents who lived in cities year-round, they were more familiar with remote areas in the mountains and had ample experience using hoes and shovels...

Meng Chengbiao nodded and recorded this.

"The motive for the murder can also be questioned further," Jiang Yuan added.

"Understood."

"I'll leave the rest to you." Jiang Yuan didn't say much more; Meng Chengbiao was far more professional than he was when it came to interrogating criminals.

Meng Chengbiao accepted the order and left.

The group sat in the office for a while, and seeing that the time was right, they went into the monitoring room together. A bureau like Shi Tingxian's didn't have high-end command centers; the monitors in the room were 21-inch LCD screens, and the image clarity was merely passable.

The sound coming from the speakers was primarily Meng Chengbiao's voice, while the suspect's answers were extremely brief.

Jiang Yuan and the others, however, were not worried.

As long as the suspect started talking, the interrogation wasn't too difficult. Especially with ironclad evidence, the value of the confession for verification was greater than its actual value. Jiang Yuan and his team cared about it mainly because they wanted to make the case an airtight one, which would make it easier to secure a death sentence.

This was part of a criminal investigator's self-cultivation—a byproduct of their overflowing professional dedication. Although it was the criminal who would lose his life, the interrogation itself wasn't actually about him.

Three hours into the interrogation, the suspect began to confess, tears streaming down his face, leaving his entire face a mess.

Officers familiar with interrogations knew this was the killer lamenting his own fate while secretly blaming the victim and the police.

Meng Chengbiao asked questions one by one according to the established plan, then moved on to Jiang Yuan's questions:

"What were you thinking after you killed her? Why did you leave the body where it was? Did you ever think about disposing of it elsewhere?"

The suspect thought the interrogating officer was trying to "frame him," so he hurriedly said, "No, how could I? I didn't think about disposing of it again. I hadn't even caught my breath after killing her when the dogs rushed in, barking and trying to crawl in. I could only fight them off with a stick and leave in a hurry. I didn't have time to dispose of the body."

"What about later? Did you go back in?"

"No. After I left, I threw away the stick, and I had to go home to change my clothes and shoes and deal with the blood on me. By the time I finished, I was exhausted, and then I heard the body had been found, so there was no point in doing anything else." The suspect's words carried a hint of regret.

"You didn't return to the crime scene?" Meng Chengbiao pressed.

"No."

"Then tell me about the scene when you left..."

The suspect didn't answer immediately but said cautiously, "I heard people say that the dogs ended up gnawing on the body?"

"It wasn't gnawing; it was irrational tearing." Meng Chengbiao corrected the suspect and added, "Tell me, what was your motive?"

"No motive... really, none... I just wanted to flirt a little. She was the one who called me 'low-class' first. To be honest, it's not like I haven't seen women before; what's wrong with flirting a little? Who do you think you are, some kind of chaste jade maiden?" As the suspect spoke, he became more talkative, clearly full of complaints.

His complaints were just that—complaints—and could not erase his crime, but Meng Chengbiao followed his lead, letting him say as much as possible.

This was likely the last happy moment for a man on death row; he could vent his values without restraint, and the police officer provided as much emotional value as possible.

Many suspects might never have chatted so freely in their entire lives, and as he spoke, he went from a suspended death sentence to an immediate one.

Upon hearing this, Bai Jian felt completely relieved. Seeing that Jiang Yuan and Huang Qiangmin's attention had also shifted, he took out his phone to check the time and smiled. "It's this late already. Should we head to Zhengyang Tower?"

"Is the head chef there?" Jiang Yuan still missed the stone frog dish he had eaten at Zhengyang Tower last time and had even had someone buy it specifically for him.

However, it had to be said that even the head chef Jiang's family usually used couldn't match the generations of chefs at Zhengyang Tower who had made a living cooking stone frogs. As for hiring the head chef specifically, that seemed too grand.

Bai Jian laughed. "Wait a moment, I'll make a call and have Chef Shi prepare in advance."

That night, the suspect was handed over to the procuratorate.

The stone frog was tender and resilient.

Both host and guest were delighted.

Over the next two days, in the intervals between meals at Zhengyang Tower, Jiang Yuan completed several more cases, making the Shi Tingxian bureau chiefs so happy they wished they could skin the stone frogs and deliver them to Jiang Yuan's bedside.

Another day passed.

Afternoon.

The county government leaders were hosting a banquet for Jiang Yuan and his team. After five frogs and three rounds of drinks, Jiang Yuan's phone rang.

Jiang Yuan apologized and stood up. "Hello, Uncle Eleven?"

Uncle Eleven's voice was quite hoarse. "Ah Yuan, I think I'm going to die!"