Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

The full version of Fang Dayou's autopsy report was released four days after the incident.

In the report, Lao Zheng highlighted a supplementary conclusion in bold, size 3 font—

"The skin tissue extracted from the nail fragments on the deceased's right hand, after DNA testing, showed a high degree of consistency with the genotype of Tan Jingsong, a fugitive in the provincial department's database, with a matching probability greater than 99.99%."

A brief profile of Tan Jingsong was attached to the report:

Tan Jingsong, male, 37 years old, a local of Yi'an, served in a reconnaissance company of a border defense force. After retiring from the military, he worked in private security and cross-border freight escort.

He was wanted by Yunnan police three years ago for allegedly being involved in a cross-border drug trafficking case and has been on the run ever since.

His arrest warrant is still posted on the internal network of the public security bureau. The man in the photo has a buzz cut, a square face, cold eyes, and an old scar on his left eyebrow.

The document specifically highlighted a line in red: "This person has a military background, is proficient in combat, reconnaissance, and counter-reconnaissance skills, and may be armed. High vigilance is required during the arrest."

Jiang Ruolan read the report twice, and then projected Tan Jingsong's photo onto the big screen at the special task force meeting.

"The skin tissue under Fang Dayou's fingernails came from Tan Jingsong, indicating that Fang Dayou grabbed the executioner's arm at least once during the torture. Tan Jingsong was not wearing gloves during the execution."

The location where Fang Dayou is being held, the gray trucks of Suda Logistics, and the cross-border drug trafficking route—these three clues now converge on Tan Jingsong alone.

She opened her notebook and continued, "Fang Dayou's auto repair shop is located on the side of the national highway in Chengguan Town, Shiqiao County. If you go south on the national highway from Shiqiao, you can reach Yi'an Chengdong Logistics Park in less than two hours. Suda Logistics' warehouse is there."

The abandoned textile factory in the east of the city—where Fang Dayou disposed of his body—is less than three kilometers away from the Suda Logistics warehouse.

"In other words, Fang Dayou is likely being held in the vicinity of the logistics park."

Lu Zheng continued, "Besides the logistics warehouse, that area also has many abandoned factories and houses. It's a large area with few people and weak supervision, making it very suitable for holding hostages."

"Fang Dayou's case is not an isolated murder case. He is an uncut tail left over from Zhou Haipeng's drug trafficking case, and belongs to a larger system along with the cross-border criminal network that Shen Wangshan and Nie Shichang have been building for many years."

Tan Jingsong was a key node in this system—he connected the Suda Logistics transportation platform, the drug trafficking routes across the Yunnan border, and the criminal dens in Yi'an that provided cover and logistics.

Jiang Ruolan closed her notebook, her gaze sweeping over everyone present. "From now on, the investigation into the remaining fugitives in the Fang Dayou and Zhou Haipeng cases will be combined. The two main objectives are: to locate Fang Dayou's detention location and to apprehend Tan Jingsong."

After the meeting, Lu Zheng stayed behind and placed a document he had just received in front of Jiang Ruolan.

In the past six months, a total of six trailer trucks from Suda Logistics have been frequently traveling between Yi'an and Xishuangbanna, Yunnan. The customs declaration for each truck states "daily necessities" and "hardware accessories".

However, the GPS track of one of the gray Jiefang brand trailers—license plate number Yi A·7H832—perfectly matched the movement trajectory of Fang Dayou's mobile phone signal on the day he went missing.

The registered driver of this vehicle is named Tan Jingsong.

"The truck is still in Yi'an. It just returned from Yunnan this afternoon and is currently unloading goods at the Suda Logistics warehouse in the Chengdong Logistics Park."

Lu Zheng said, "The technical department checked the vehicle's driving trajectory and discovered a very unusual pattern."

Every time this vehicle returns from Yunnan, it doesn't go directly back to the logistics park. Instead, it first detours to the abandoned area in the Chengdong Industrial Zone, stops for about one to two hours on a secluded road near the textile factory, and then returns to the warehouse.

The most recent stop was on the night Fang Dayou's body was dumped.

During Fang Dayou's detention, the vehicle spent unusually long periods in Yi'an, failing to return to the logistics park for several nights; dashcam records show it was parked near a textile factory.

"Have you found out the exact location of that detour route?"

Lu Zheng circled a point on the map:

"There's an old road in the Chengdong Industrial Zone that's been abandoned for many years—the former Industrial North Road. Both sides are lined with closed factories and warehouses, and hardly anyone ever passes by. The GPS signal shows that the car always stops near the intersection of this road and a small alley. I've already sent Zhao Rui and his team to investigate that area."

That evening, news came from Zhao Rui's side.

He and several police officers searched the abandoned factory area on Gongye North Road, and found a two-story building that was almost inconspicuous from the outside.

The building used to be the warehouse management office of a state-owned enterprise. The outside was piled with construction waste, and the doors and windows were sealed with sheet metal.

But there was a hidden little door on the sheet metal, and the lock was new.

After Zhao Rui and his men broke down the door, they found a room in the basement that had been converted into a private prison.

The basement is less than ten square meters, has no windows, and only one ventilation duct.

Iron rings and chains were nailed to the wall, and a blackened old mattress was laid on the floor, covered with a lot of dark red bloodstains and human oil.

Several empty mineral water bottles and instant noodle packaging bags were piled up in the corner.

On a worn-out folding table were a few things: an electric soldering iron with charred skin tissue still stuck to its tip; a pair of rusty nail pullers with dried blood on the jaws; and a cut wire whose specifications matched perfectly the strangulation marks on Fang Dayou's neck.

When Jiang Ruolan arrived at the scene, the technical staff were in the basement extracting traces.

The air was filled with a pungent smell of rust, sweat, and rotting food.

She stood at the basement door, looking at the chains and rings on the wall, the blackened bloodstains on the bed, and the charred tip of the soldering iron on the table.

Fang Dayou spent the last few dozen days of his life here.

He's been repairing cars for twenty years. Every day after get off work, he goes home for dinner, occasionally bickering with his wife. His biggest worries are that his shop's business is getting worse and worse, and he still hasn't raised enough money for his son's college tuition.

Then a phone call summoned him out, locked him in this basement, where he was burned with a soldering iron in twenty-three places, had ten fingernails pulled out with nail pullers, and was finally strangled with an electric wire and dumped in a cubicle in an abandoned workshop three hundred meters away.

"Find out the original unit and property owner of this warehouse management office. This building has been abandoned for so many years, who changed the locks? Who converted the basement into a prison?"

Furthermore, surveillance footage from all sections of Industrial North Road should be retrieved, with a focus on vehicles that entered or exited this road during Fang Dayou's detention.

She turned around and looked at the darkening sky outside. "Fang Dayou's wife is still waiting for him to come home for the New Year. Her New Year is over, and we need to let her know how it ended."

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