The crackdown on organized crime began with the arrest of the mother-in-law.

Chapter 1180 Dump Truck Driver

Xiao Zhou's attention fell on the key feature of the "watch." The forensic doctor said the watch was severely rusted, but the dial had the words "Shanghai" on it, which might be the breakthrough. "Adjust the search criteria to include 'wearing a Shanghai brand watch' and 'working in the transportation or construction industry,'" he added keywords to the search box. The system's loading progress bar was as slow as a snail. "Refine the disappearance time to September 30th to October 4th to narrow down the range."

The search results dwindled from over two thousand to just over three hundred, and Xiao Wu's eyes lit up instantly, his drowsiness vanishing: "Finally, fewer! Otherwise, I'd be searching until dawn." His fingers flew across the touchpad, switching photos one after another on the screen. "This 'Li Jianguo,' a dump truck driver, 172 cm tall, 42 years old, reported missing on October 2nd. His family said he was wearing an old Shanghai brand watch when he left!" He zoomed in on the photo; the man had a light-colored scar on his right index finger. "Look here, it looks a bit like the 'scratching injury on the right index finger' the forensic doctor described!"

Xiao Zhou leaned close to the screen, his nose almost touching it, and pointed his finger at the man's wrist in the photo: "No, his watch has a black strap, but the forensic doctor said the deceased's watch strap was brown leather. Also, Li Jianguo's family said he was wearing blue overalls when he disappeared, but no clothing was found at the scene, so it doesn't match." He flipped to Li Jianguo's disappearance details, "He had high blood pressure and had to take antihypertensive drugs every day. The autopsy didn't mention any related medical history, so he's ruled out."

The excluded entries piled up like a gray mountain in the system, each one like a spark that had briefly ignited a fleeting hope in everyone's eyes. Old Zhao lit a cigarette in the moonlight streaming through the window. The lighter clicked three times before it lit, the orange flame flickering on his stubble-covered face. "I just find it strange," he said. "This guy has no relatives or friends? He was dead for over ten days before being discovered, and no one reported him missing?" He pointed to the "Zhou Qiang" entry on the screen. "Look at this one, a truck driver, 174 cm tall, 38 years old, missing since October 1st. But he's an only child, both his parents are dead, his wife divorced him last year, nobody cared about him. If we hadn't investigated, nobody would have known he was missing."

At 2:30 a.m., the information system suddenly popped up a notification box, and eighteen suspected matching results flooded in like a swarm of fish, finally stirring the deathly silence in the analysis room. Xiao Wu's fingers slipped on the touchpad, almost dropping the mouse: "The system has weighted the filtering based on height, age, occupation, and watch brand, and the matching rate is over 85%!" His voice was hoarse from staying up all night, "Let's go through them one by one. Better to be wrong than wrong, we can't let one slip through."

The first candidate, "Zheng Wei," is a construction worker; his height matches, but his occupation doesn't. The second candidate, "Qian Ming," is a truck driver; he has a watch, but he disappeared on September 25th. The third candidate, "Deng Yong," is a dump truck driver; all his characteristics match—he is 172cm tall, 43 years old, and disappeared after starting work on the evening of October 1st. When his family reported him missing, they mentioned that he was wearing an old Shanghai brand watch with a brown strap, and that his right index finger had been cut while loading and unloading goods. The man in the photo has a highly similar eyebrow and facial contours to the skull reconstruction provided by the forensic doctor; both have high brow bones, a flat nose, and even the barely noticeable mole on the corner of their mouth is in the same location.

"Wait, this Deng Yong!" Old Zhao suddenly slapped his thigh, almost tipping the chair over. "Look at his pre-employment medical report, blood type A, which matches the deceased's blood type! And this," he pointed to the "Special Marks" section, "there's a 0.4cm diameter black mole on his left scapula. It wasn't mentioned in the forensic report, but the body was highly decomposed during the autopsy, so it might have been covered by tissue liquefaction!"

Xiao Zhou's gaze was fixed on Deng Yong's occupation information—a dump truck driver, working for "Shengda Transportation Company," responsible for clearing construction waste around the Oriental Garden residential area. "His work area just happens to cover the crime scene!" Xiao Zhou's voice suddenly rose. "Check his driving record for October 1st!" Xiao Wu immediately contacted the transportation company, which replied: "Deng Yong left the company at 7 pm on October 1st to clear construction waste from the Oriental Garden construction site. He did not return to the company after 10 pm that night, and the vehicle's GPS signal disappeared near the Oriental Garden construction site."

A more crucial clue came from Deng Yong's family. At four in the morning, Xiao Zhou dialed the phone of Deng Yong's wife, Liu Lan. The snoring on the other end suddenly stopped. "Who is it? In the middle of the night..." Liu Lan's voice was hoarse from a hangover. When she heard the words "Deng Yong" and "corpse," she suddenly burst into tears: "My husband has been missing for eight days! I thought he went on a long-distance trip... His right index finger was cut by sheet metal last month while unloading construction waste. It hasn't fully healed yet. The watch was a Shanghai brand left to him by his father. The strap was brown, and the movement was replaced last year..."

To further confirm, Xiao Zhou asked the technical department to retrieve Deng Yong's DNA file—the sample he left during his onboarding medical examination. While waiting for the results, everyone's exhaustion reached its peak. Xiao Wu dozed off at his desk, drool soaking his notebook; Lao Zhao leaned back in his chair, his snoring unusually loud in the quiet analysis room; Xiao Zhou stood by the window, gazing at the gradually whitening sky, chain-smoking cigarettes until the ashtray was piled high with butts.

At 6:50 a.m., Xiao Wang from the technical department pushed open the door, holding a freshly printed DNA comparison report, the edges of the pages still warm from the printer. "The results are in!" Xiao Wang's voice was filled with excitement after staying up all night. "Deng Yong's DNA perfectly matches the skin tissue under the deceased's fingernails and the biological traces on the polyester fragments on her neck. The probability of parentage is greater than 99.99%. The deceased is indeed Deng Yong!"

Xiao Zhou snatched the report, his fingers tracing the name "Deng Yong" repeatedly, his voice trembling with excitement: "Found it! Finally found it!" He slammed the report on the table, the "thud" waking Xiao Wu and Lao Zhao from their naps. Morning light streamed through the blinds, landing precisely on the words "Confirmed Match," casting a golden glow.

Xiao Wu rubbed his red, swollen eyes and smiled, tears still clinging to the corners of his eyes: "Over a thousand! I stayed up all night, but it wasn't for nothing!" He stretched, his bones cracking. "Now I just want to get a good night's sleep. I don't even want to dream about these missing persons reports." Old Zhao lit his first cigarette of the day, took a deep drag, and the dizziness from the nicotine made him sway: "Don't be too happy yet. We still need to investigate Deng Yong's whereabouts on the night of October 1st and find the last person who contacted him before we can make any progress in this case."

Looking at Deng Yong's photo on the screen, Xiao Zhou saw that the dump truck driver was wearing blue overalls and a Shanghai brand watch with a brown strap on his wrist, smiling somewhat reservedly at the camera.