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

Chapter 1127 The bearing factory reports the case.

The investigation record shows that the bloodstains on the base of the floor lamp match Zhang Lei's blood type, and after processing, the fingerprints on the lamp post were extracted to identify Zhao Gang's left index finger fingerprint – which matches the way he gripped the steel pipe.

When Xiao Zhou produced the forensic diagram of the death location, Chen Mei's defenses completely crumbled. The posture of the body, marked in red on the diagram, perfectly matched her description of "head facing the balcony, feet facing the living room," and Zhao Gang's mention of "Zhang Lei clutching half a contract in his right hand" also perfectly matched the paper fragments extracted by the forensic doctor from the deceased's palm. "You didn't move the body," Xiao Zhou said, putting away the diagram, "but the cotton fibers used to wipe away the bloodstains, the distribution of the shoe prints, and even the direction of force on the cracked light bulb, all form a complete chain of evidence with your confession."

As Chen Mei descended the stairs, the sound of her slippers scraping against the steps overlapped with the dragging sound from the scene of the crime. Zhao Gang stared at the security camera in the corner of the stairwell—at 8:17 PM on July 3rd, this camera had captured his hasty escape, his right hand still clutching the blood-stained steel pipe. The morning mist gradually dissipated, and sunlight streamed through the stairwell windows onto the blood-stained floor. Those overlooked details now clearly emerged, piecing together the most authentic picture of the night of the incident.

When Li Zhifeng unlocked the iron gate of the bearing factory warehouse, the creaking sound of rust against rust was particularly jarring in the empty factory area. Li Ming's rubber boots trod on the dusty cement floor, their footprints clearly outlined in the morning light. In the shadows deep within the warehouse, a human-shaped figure was huddled beside a pile of bearings, the skin exposed at the cuffs of his dark blue overalls already turning bluish. "Protect the scene, notify the technical team," Li Ming said, pressing down on Li Zhifeng, who was trying to approach. The other man's fingers trembled. "When was the last time you came to this warehouse?"

Xiao Yang, carrying a multi-band light source, was the first to enter the warehouse. The beam swept across the shelves, illuminating the dust suspended in the air. "Xiao Sun, measure the ground humidity," he said, crouching three meters away from the body, his fingertip hovering above the dripping bloodstains on the ground. "Relative humidity 62%, the bloodstains are semi-solidified, and the edges are shrinking. It must have formed more than 8 hours ago." When the light source switched to the 450nm band, a pale blue fluorescent trail appeared on the ground, extending from the warehouse entrance to the body. "These are drag marks, 25cm wide, which is within the range of force an adult's shoulder can withstand."

Xiao Sun was inspecting the warehouse's iron door. The copper shavings inside the lock cylinder gleamed metallically under a magnifying glass. "The pins are neatly arranged, with no signs of tampering," he said, probing the bolt with a probe. "But there are fresh wear marks on the inner wall of the lock cylinder, indicating it was opened with the original key or a professionally duplicated key." He suddenly pointed to a hook behind the door, on which hung a bunch of keys. The teeth of one of the keys perfectly matched the wear marks on the lock cylinder. "This is the warehouse manager's spare key. Li Zhifeng said he didn't touch it last night."

Xiao Wang's notebook lay open on the greasy table in the warehouse office. Li Zhifeng's fingers trembled as he traced the date "July 15th." "I locked the warehouse door at 8 pm last night," he said, his enamel mug still half-full of strong tea, tea stains forming brown circles at the bottom. "I was counting the third shelf when I heard a motorcycle starting outside. I thought it was a security guard on patrol and didn't pay attention." He suddenly remembered something. "I came to restock at 7 am this morning, and as soon as I opened the door, I saw… I saw Old Zhang lying there, his face purple!"

Xiao Yang's light source created a fan-shaped illumination area around the body. The deceased's right hand was clutching half a bearing, his knuckles white from the force. "The deceased was wearing work clothes from the bearing factory, and his work ID, protruding from his left breast pocket, read 'Zhang Jianguo'," he said, measuring the distance between the body and the shelf with a ruler. "His head was facing inwards from the warehouse, his legs were bent, in a defensive posture, and three bearings, each 5cm in diameter, were scattered around him, one of which had fresh impact marks on its raceway." The bloodstains on the ground showed two forms under the light: dripping bloodstains and several splattered bloodstains, the largest of which was 40x30cm with jagged edges.

“Xiao Sun, extract this footprint,” Xiao Yang pointed to the size 43 shoe print next to the body. The sole pattern was diamond-shaped. “The center of pressure on the forefoot was slightly to the left, and the stride width was 11cm. It should be a male footprint, completely different from Li Zhifeng’s size 42 rubber shoes.” He asked the technicians to place a scale next to the shoe print and take a picture. “Pay attention to preserving the wear characteristics of the sole. The wear on the left forefoot is 20% more severe than that on the right forefoot, indicating that this person may have used the left leg more.”

Xiao Wang was checking Zhang Jianguo's attendance record, and the signature on the form was dated July 14th. "Li Zhifeng said that Zhang Jianguo has been having conflicts with someone recently," he said, pointing to a sticky note next to the attendance sheet, which read "argued with Li Jun" in pencil. "Li Jun is a maintenance worker in the workshop. He argued with Zhang Jianguo last week about the requisition of bearings, saying he would 'make him pay'." The warehouse requisition records showed that on July 14th, Zhang Jianguo refused to issue a batch of bearings to Li Jun, citing "failure to follow the approval process."

Xiao Sun climbed onto the shelf to inspect the ventilation opening. There was a clear wipe mark on the dust on the iron fence. "The fence spacing is 15cm, which is too narrow for an adult to pass through," he said, measuring the height of the ventilation opening from the ground with a tape measure. "It's 2.8 meters. Climbing it would require tools, but there were no signs of trampling around." He suddenly found a brown fiber on the inside of the fence. "This is polyester fiber, with a warp and weft density of 120x80 threads/inch. It's different from the material of the deceased's work pants, so it may have come from the suspect."

The light from Xiao Yang shone on Zhang Jianguo's hand, revealing dark red stains on the raceway of the half-bearing. "This bearing is model 6205," he said, pulling out the warehouse ledger. "The ledger shows 120 in stock on July 14th, but we only counted 117. Three are missing; only two were found at the scene, and one is still missing." He instructed the technicians to extract biological samples from the bearing. "The impact marks on the raceway match the blunt force trauma to the victim's head; it's very likely the murder weapon."

Xiao Wang's questioning turned to the warehouse surveillance cameras, and Li Zhifeng's Adam's apple bobbed violently. "The cameras have been broken for three days," he said, picking at the crack in the corner of the table. "Last week's heavy rain damaged the wiring, and the security department said they can only fix it this week." But Xiao Wang found a cut power cord next to the monitoring host, the cut clean, clearly sabotage. "The person who cut the power cord knew the location of the cameras very well; it must have been someone from the factory."

Xiao Sun found a cigarette butt in a corner of the warehouse, the tobacco clumps together on the damp ground. "Zhongnanhai brand, 8mg tar," he carefully put it away in an evidence bag. "The saliva stains on the cigarette butt are still fresh; DNA testing should yield results." There was a shallow indentation on the ground next to the cigarette butt, which matched the size 43 shoe print Xiao Sun had previously found perfectly in terms of forefoot pressure distribution. "The suspect lingered here, smoked at least two cigarettes, and waited for his chance to strike."