Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

The next morning, the search team expanded the search area.

This time, the resources mobilized were even greater than the previous day—three search teams from the provincial department, two professional cadaver dogs, and two sets of the latest ground-penetrating radar equipment were all deployed for a comprehensive search of the back mountain and surrounding areas of Qingshipu.

Jiang Ruolan did not stay in the municipal bureau office to listen to the report. Instead, she put on a pair of rain boots and went into the mountains with the search team.

Lu Zheng advised her to stay at the command post, but she only said, "This is what I owe them," before getting into the SUV.

At 10 a.m., the search dogs began barking urgently from the other side of the north slope of Qingshipu, about 300 meters from Meng Zhaoyang's remains, under a pile of rocks.

Ground-penetrating radar scans confirmed that there were traces of artificial filling about two meters below the pile of rocks.

After the excavator carefully cleared away the surface gravel and loose soil, a bluestone slab almost identical to that of Meng Zhaoyang's tomb was revealed.

The moment the stone slab was lifted, even the most experienced search team members were silent for several seconds before they could recover.

There were not one set of remains under the stone slab, but two.

Two skeletons were found huddled side by side in the same tomb, their postures contorted, clearly having been forcibly stuffed in.

One of the remains had obvious bullet holes in its skull, while the other had a broken cervical vertebra, as if its neck had been broken by a blunt object.

Preliminary forensic examination indicates that both sets of remains were male, approximately 1.7 meters tall, and died between ten and fifteen years ago, close to the time of Meng Zhaoyang's death.

Jiang Ruolan stood by the tomb, looking at the two skeletons buried side by side under the same stone slab, her mind rapidly connecting all the clues.

Tang Yuanqing was a man who specialized in handling "dirty work" for Shen Wangshan. His method of burying people was almost identical: a stone slab to the top, a pile of rubble to cover it, and the location he chose was a barren slope next to an abandoned quarry, a place rarely visited by people. Even the old lady who herded sheep had only heard a few screams from afar.

The highly consistent modus operandi suggests that these murders were committed by the same person or group, and that a fixed "operational process" has been established.

Who are these two people?

Lu Zheng asked the question that was on everyone's mind.

Jiang Ruolan did not answer immediately. She squatted down and watched as the forensic doctor gently brushed away the dirt from the surface of the bones with a soft brush, revealing the remaining fragments of clothing and burial items on the deceased's body.

The wrist bone of the first skeleton was wrapped with a piece of leather rope that was already rotten and about to break. A metal pendant was hanging from the rope—it was a Guanyin statue covered in rust.

In the pocket of the second body's shirt, the forensic doctor carefully pulled out an ID card that was soaked in mud and so brittle that it would crumble at the slightest touch.

The photo on the ID card is no longer legible, but the name and number are still faintly discernible.

"Liu...what country..."

Lu Zheng leaned closer to look, barely able to make out the blurry handwriting on the ID card. "Liu Xingguo? No, Liu—Liu Zhenguo?"

"Liu Zhenguo".

Jiang Ruolan repeated the name, and stood up faster than usual. "Go check the missing persons records of Yi'an between 2009 and 2011. Is there a person named Liu Zhenguo?"

In addition, retrieve all the interrogation records of Ren Pengfei and Qian Shouyi and check if they mentioned this name.

Two hours later, the results came back.

Liu Zhenguo, male, born in 1972, is from Shiqiao County, Yi'an City. He went missing in 2010. Before his disappearance, he was a safety officer at Fengmao Sand and Gravel Plant.

His family reported him missing in August 2010. At that time, the Shiqiao County Police Station registered him as "missing while working away from home," but there has been no further news since.

The identity of the other victim was quickly discovered—based on the characteristics of the Guanyin pendant and the bullet hole in the skull, combined with Ren Pengfei's confession during interrogation, it was confirmed that he was a truck driver at Fengmao Sand and Gravel Plant named He Dayong, who disappeared in the same year as Liu Zhenguo.

Ren Pengfei had provided information about the two individuals during previous interrogations, but at the time, the task force did not have enough manpower to verify their identities one by one.

Ren Pengfei said that Liu Zhenguo and He Dayong were partners—Liu Zhenguo was the safety officer of the sand and gravel plant, and He Dayong was the truck driver who transported sand and gravel.

In the summer of 2010, the two men inadvertently discovered that Fengmao Sand and Gravel Plant was illegally mining rare earth minerals, which are prohibited by the state, and was dumping tailings containing radioactive materials directly near the water source in Shiqiao County without any treatment.

After discussing it privately, the two decided to file a joint report, but before they could even send the letter, they were reported to the authorities.

Ren Pengfei said that the order to handle the matter was personally given by Shen Wangshan, and Tang Yuanqing was responsible for carrying it out.

"It's Tang Yuanqing again."

Lu Zheng looked at the interrogation transcript and gasped. "So Meng Zhaoyang, Liu Zhenguo, and He Dayong were all silenced because they had abundant evidence of the crimes. Sun Guangli was a witness, and he was also silenced."

In other words, Tang Yuanqing has at least four lives on his hands—three bodies buried behind Qingshipu Mountain, and one body thrown into the Qinglong River.

"more than."

Jiang Ruolan's voice was cold and hard, "Tang Yuanqing is the sharpest knife in Shen Wangshan's hand. He couldn't have only killed these four people."

Ren Pengfei stated in his confession that he couldn't even remember how many things Shen Wangshan had "handled" at the mines in Shiqiao County. The search continues.

The search lasted for three full days.

On the barren slope behind Qingshipu Mountain, ground-penetrating radar has successively detected multiple underground anomalies.

After excavating one by one, the search team found a total of three tombs—the first tomb contained the remains of Meng Zhaoyang, the second tomb contained the remains of Liu Zhenguo and He Dayong, and the third tomb contained the remains of a woman whose identity is yet to be determined. She died approximately twelve years ago, and there were marks on her skull from blunt force trauma.

The forensic examiner extracted a gold necklace from her remaining clothing. Inside the necklace pendant was a small photograph, the head of a three- or four-year-old boy.

After comparing the missing persons database and DNA, it was confirmed that the woman's name was Lin Xiaomei, who went missing in 2011. She was a waitress at the Golden Coast Club, a subsidiary of Fengmao Group.

Her family reported her missing, but the police officer who handled the case wrote in the record that she "suspected of eloping with someone".

Jiang Ruolan read through Lin Xiaomei's information page by page, closed the file, and shut her eyes.

Lin Xiaomei was only 24 years old when she went missing, and she had a three-year-old son.

She worked as a waitress at the Golden Coast Club. Perhaps she saw something she shouldn't have seen, perhaps she learned something she shouldn't have known, or perhaps she rejected someone she shouldn't have rejected.

Her son should be fifteen years old this year, probably in junior high school somewhere, and still has the memory of the last photo his mother left him...

............