Anti-gang campaign: Female bureau chief

Lu Zheng drove the car out of the parking lot and turned onto the expressway leading to the east of the city. "I also checked his file. Sun Zhengyang, 47 years old, a native of New Jersey, has been a police officer for 24 years."

Three years ago, when he was the deputy head of the criminal investigation branch of the Xinzhou Municipal Public Security Bureau, Fang Zhiqing's case was put on hold in his hands.

After the Su Nian case was solved last year, the Provincial Department of Public Security's Inspection Office interviewed him. He admitted that he had not handled the case carefully enough, but denied that he had deliberately neglected his duties. He said that there were no conditions for linking the Fang Zhiqing case at the time, and that the backlog of murder cases in Xinzhou was serious, which is why the decision to postpone the case was made.

The Inspectorate ultimately gave him a demerit and transferred him from the front line of criminal investigation to the General Affairs Department of the headquarters.

"What is the General Affairs Department responsible for?"

"Responsibilities include file management, case statistics, and information reporting. They do not have direct contact with frontline investigations and lack case-handling authority."

Lu Zheng paused for a moment, "But this time he came to Yi'an before the survey of the demolition site in the east of the city was even finished."

A deputy director of a general affairs department, instead of taking a holiday in the provincial capital, came to Yi'an and "just happened to pass by" a crime scene—I don't believe in such a coincidence.

Jiang Ruolan didn't speak, but tapped her fingers lightly on her knee.

She had already investigated the relationship between Sun Zhengyang and Fang Zhiqing's case. At that time, the joint investigation of Fang Zhiqing's case and Su Nian's case had made a decisive breakthrough. Ding Hai confessed to the fact that he killed Fang Zhiqing, and Zhou Haipeng also admitted to putting the plastic bag over Fang Zhiqing's head. Therefore, the task force did not pursue the "suspension" of Fang Zhiqing's case further.

But now that I think about it, Fang Zhiqing's case was just one of the cases that Sun Zhengyang handled.

He spent seven years in the New Jersey Criminal Investigation Division, in charge of homicide and serious assault cases. It's impossible that Fang Zhiqing was the only case he handled.

Lin Xiaomei works for Fengmao Group. Fengmao originated in Shiqiao and its core sphere of influence is in Yi'an. However, Fengmao's reach extends to New South Wales as well. Many of the clients of the Golden Coast Club are from New South Wales. The permits, land, and issues that cannot be resolved in New South Wales often turn around after a meal and drinks at Shen Wangshan's Golden Coast Club.

If there is some connection between Sun Zhengyang and Feng Mao, then it is no longer a coincidence that Lin Xiaomei's work ID appeared next to another set of remains five years later.

"Lu Zheng, where did Lin Xiaomei keep her work ID when she worked as a waitress at the Golden Coast Club? Did she carry it with her or keep it in her locker?"

"According to the investigation at the time, after Lin Xiaomei disappeared, the personnel department of the Golden Coast Club emptied her locker, and her personal belongings were packed in a cardboard box and handed over to the local police station."

Inside the cardboard box were a work uniform, a pair of high heels, a makeup bag, half a pack of tissues, and a few coins.

The work ID was not in the cardboard box. The police officers handling the case at the time judged that she always carried her work ID with her, so it was on her when she went missing.

When we found Lin Xiaomei's remains on the hill behind Qingshipu, there was no work ID on her body, only the gold necklace around her neck.

"So the work permit should have been missing when Lin Xiaomei was murdered twelve years ago, but no one paid attention to it - because everyone thought it was buried underground with the body."

Now this work permit has surfaced next to another set of remains, five years later. At least seven years have passed. The person who received the work permit kept it until five years ago when they placed it in another woman's shroud.

Jiang Ruolan looked out the car window at the hazy horizon in the distance, her voice lowered, "He knows Lin Xiaomei is dead, and he's not afraid of people knowing that these two things are related."

You could even say—he wanted everyone to know. This work pass didn't just accidentally fall into the shroud; he deliberately put it there.

Lu Zheng parked his car outside the cordon of the demolition site in the east of the city.

This demolition area is even more dilapidated than it was a year ago. Most of the old buildings on both sides have been demolished, and there are piles of broken bricks and twisted steel bars everywhere. Several excavators are quietly parked next to a pile of rubble, with mud still hanging on their buckets.

Construction has been completely halted, with multiple layers of cordon tape in place. More than a dozen police officers and technicians are busy working in a dug-out foundation pit.

The searchlights shone a stark white light onto the muddy ground, and two water pumps roared as they continuously pumped out the mud that had accumulated at the bottom of the tunnel.

Jiang Ruolan put on her rain boots and waded through the mud and water into the tunnel.

The forensic team dispatched by the provincial department was cleaning the soil around the second set of remains. Their movements were extremely light and slow, and everyone's expression looked particularly serious under the bright spotlight.

The first set of remains has been completely removed and laid flat on the ground next to it, which is covered with a white cloth.

The remains were curled up, the bones were mostly intact, and there was a noticeable depressed fracture on the back of the skull—just like the victims who were killed by blunt force on the back of Qingshipu Mountain.

The old cotton quilt used to wrap the body had been unfolded by technicians. A work ID card was placed in one corner of the quilt. The transparent plastic film had turned yellow and brittle. The paper inside was blurred by the dampness from the ground, but the three characters "Lin Xiaomei" and the red logo of Fengmao Group were still faintly discernible.

Forensic pathologist Lao Zheng squatted beside the remains, his gloves covered in wet mud.

Seeing Jiang Ruolan squat down, he took the initiative to say:

"The first set of remains was female, aged between 25 and 35, about 1.62 meters tall, and the time of death was initially estimated to be between three and five years ago."

The cause of death was traumatic brain injury—multiple blunt force trauma to the back of the head, a pattern highly consistent with the injuries found in several other remains on the hill behind Qingshipu. No other fatal injuries were found on the skeleton.

The pelvic bone structure indicates she had a history of childbirth. We have taken a DNA sample for comparison, but her record may not be in the missing persons database, and the comparison may take time.

"What about the physical evidence on the quilt?"

"The quilt itself is a very ordinary quilt on the market, without any brand label. But we found a small piece of paper in the quilt's lining."

Old Zheng picked up an evidence bag from the side, inside which was a piece of paper the size of a fingernail. "The piece of paper has part of the printed text on it, and the preliminary judgment is that it is a fragment of some kind of document. It has been sent for document examination."

Jiang Ruolan stood up and walked to the excavation site of the second set of remains.

The second set of remains is still half-buried in the soil, and forensic doctors are carefully cleaning the mud around her with soft brushes.

Judging from the exposed parts, the preservation of this skeleton is slightly worse than the first one, with darker bones and obvious signs of soil erosion.

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