Hmm?

Ren Qiang and Zhang Hui exchanged glances, what's going on?

They hadn't even asked specifics yet, and he's confessing already?

Clang!

Sounds of pots and pans falling to the ground erupted from the kitchen, followed closely by Chen Liu's wife rushing out.

"Officer, Liu really didn't harm the Wang family's boy!"

Chen Liu's wife was sobbing and runny-nosed, so anxious that she blurted out "officer".

"Boohoo... Those heartless people just can't stand to see us doing well... boohoo..."

"Why would Liu kill their child?"

"You must stand up for us!"

Watching Chen Liu's wife collapse to the ground, Ren Qiang and Zhang Hui found themselves in an awkward position, unable to decide whether to help her up or not.

"Chen Liu, get your wife to stand up first."

"Things will be clarified. If you haven't killed anyone, no one can wrongly accuse you."

"Really?"

The expression on Chen Liu's wife's face at the moment couldn't quite be described as a tearful beauty, but it captured the sentiment.

Ren Qiang sighed and replied, "Really!"

Chen Liu also got up to help his wife, "Why are you crying needlessly?"

"Don't you know if I've killed someone or not?"

"Go back inside!"

The woman glanced at Ren Qiang and Zhang Hui, obediently agreed with Chen Liu, and went back inside, turning back every few steps.

Chen Liu awkwardly chuckled, "Sorry, officers, rural folks aren't worldly, please pardon us."

"However, I really didn't kill anyone."

"How did you know we came suspecting you of murder?"

"Because the day the child went missing, the police station had also come."

Chen Liu spread his hands, "They asked around the village, just like you guys."

"Around the New Year, because of a vineyard contract, I nearly got into a fight with people from Old Wang's family."

"They said I had a grudge against Old Wang's family and claimed I hid the child."

"Actually, not only did I want Old Wang's vineyard, but I also wanted Old Tian's on the west end of the village, Elder Zhang's on the east, and I even considered Old Dong's in the middle."

"So if you say that, then there are many families I have grudges with, but you can't just contact me because someone's child is missing, can you?"

"Now that the child is dead and you're here again, asking the same questions as the police station, I just know you're suspecting me of killing the child."

Ren Qiang listened quietly, neither refuting nor asking further questions.

"Chen Liu, people in the village say you're idle and don't engage in proper work."

Ren Qiang pointed to the car in the yard, "But I see your family's conditions are quite good, you even have a car."

"Oh, that? My dad bought it."

"Your wife is quite pretty too."

"Oh, my wife? My dad arranged that too."

"What does your father do?"

"Village Party Secretary."

"So what do you usually rely on to live?"

"On my dad."

...

Whether Chen Liu committed murder or not is another matter, but the villagers' assessment of him as idle and aimless wasn't far off the mark.

Leaving Chen Liu's house, Ren Qiang looked back at the gate.

"What do you think of Chen Liu...?"

Zhang Hui shook his head, "I don't think he's the killer."

"Oh? Why's that?"

Ren Qiang continued, "In rural areas, neighbors have lived together for a long time and know each other well."

"As we made our rounds, many people labeled Chen Liu as suspicious and possible suspect."

Zhang Hui nodded, "I'm aware of that, but for that very reason, I feel Chen Liu is even less likely to be the killer."

"First, Chen Liu's vineyard contract issues have created conflicts with not just Wang's family but with several others, quite tense relations."

"Second, Chen Liu... has no motive to kill, does he? He's just living off his father's support, who's the village party secretary, and lacks for nothing. Why would he kill the Wang family's child... for money? For revenge?"

"None of it seems reliable to me."

"Moreover, Chen Liu appears to be quite shrewd. His near scuffle with Old Wang's family over the land contract is known throughout the village."

"With Wang's child disappearing and dying now, he'd be the top suspect without a doubt."

"Isn't it all just a bit too obvious... too deliberate?"

Ren Qiang nodded in agreement, acknowledging that though Chen Liu was suspicious, there were too many flaws in considering him guilty.

Often, what appears most suspicious is actually the least likely.

Granted, the world is never short of those who fancy themselves very clever, doing the reverse, pursuing deceptively simple paths in the dark—all too common a strategy.

Chen Liu remains the prime suspect in Wang Zihan's disappearance and murder.

It's seven thirty at night, and the sky has turned pitch black.

Crime Scene Investigation Office.

Lu Chuan and the team were processing evidence collected along the route where Wang Zihan disappeared.

Yang Sen had initially taken leave but returned in the afternoon because a murder had occurred.

"So much evidence?"

Seeing the many boxes of collected evidence bags in the lab, Yang Sen felt overwhelmed.

How long will it take to analyze all of this?

"Set aside these boxes for now; let's start with these two."

The first five evidence boxes contained the earliest collected evidence, starting just after leaving Wang Zihan's house, so there was indeed quite a lot.

But after changing our focus to the section of the road past the curve, the evidence diminished considerably.

"Lu, the evidence from the newly turned soil, though minimal, needs your expertise in trace evidence analysis. You handle these while the three of us tackle the other boxes."

"Sure, Master."

Lu Chuan nodded, as Liu Guodong assigned him the task of analyzing skin flakes and fiber-like evidence found near the freshly turned soil.

The evidence was scant, but arguably the most significant find during on-site investigations.

First, running a DNA analysis on the trace skin flakes.

Though Lu Chuan hadn't used the equipment in the trace evidence analysis lab before, he possessed equipment handling experience with intermediate crime scene investigation skills.

Not exactly mastered, but manageable in operation.

Regarding the fibers, Lu Chuan began by isolating a portion for a burn test.

At first glance, fiber products all appear similar, but due to compositional differences, burning behavior varies distinctly.

For instance, plant fibers like cotton and linen, primarily natural cellulose, ignite easily and burn with yellow, blue flames.

During combustion, such fibers also emit a unique scent, similar to burning paper.

However, burning animal fibers like wool or silk chiefly involves protein combustion, releasing a scorched feather odor with ball-shaped ash residue that crushes to powder.

Besides plant cellulose and animal hair fibers, synthetic fibers such as nylon, polyester, and acrylic are most common.

In the course of purifying DNA from the skin flakes, Lu Chuan conducted the burn test.

Results emerged swiftly.

The separated fibers, near the flame, edges shrank and burned but didn't fully combust, extinguishing when drawn away and emitting a chlorine smell.

Lu Chuan realized, so it's this type of fiber material!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.