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

Chapter 1061 Expanding the Scope of Exploration

While examining the deceased's belongings, the two discovered a strange phenomenon. The deceased's backpack contained professional mountaineering equipment, but the climbing axe was missing. "Normally, mountaineers wouldn't leave this behind, especially on such steep mountain trails," Xiao Yang said, frowning. "Either the murderer took it, or..." His gaze swept across the surroundings, "the murderer deliberately left it behind to mislead us into thinking it was an accidental fall."

As the investigation deepened, darkness fell. Xiao Sun turned on his portable ultraviolet light and shone it on the ground and vegetation, hoping to find traces that were difficult to detect with the naked eye. Suddenly, his light stopped on a patch of grass, where a few leaves were faintly fluorescent. "A fluorescent reaction, it might be bloodstains." He carefully wiped them with a cotton swab and put them into the evidence tube. "I need to take them back for luminol testing to confirm."

During their inspection of the surrounding trees, Xiao Yang discovered several parallel scratches on the trunk of a pine tree, with spacing similar to those Xiao Sun had previously found on the rock face. "These marks look like they were made by a knife or metal object," he said, showing a forensic tag. "And the height is about 1.7 meters, which is about the height of an adult's outstretched arm." However, when they tried to find more relevant clues, they came up empty-handed.

Six hours passed, and the fog in the mountains grew thicker. Xiao Yang and Xiao Sun meticulously registered all the collected evidence before returning wearily to the cliff top. "Although we found quite a bit, it's not enough to pinpoint the killer," Xiao Sun said, wiping the sweat from his brow. "Bloodstains, footprints, personal belongings... all need further analysis and comparison." Xiao Yang nodded, looking at the flashing police lights in the distance: "At least we know this wasn't an accident, and the killer is lurking in the shadows."

Li Ming took the two investigators' records, his brow furrowed as he flipped through the densely packed notes and photos. This seemingly ordinary fall from the cliff, after meticulous investigation, revealed a complex truth about murder. The collected clues, like scattered puzzle pieces, awaited further in-depth investigation and analysis to piece together the complete picture.

Meanwhile, Xiao Wang was also gathering information. The police car's hazard lights flickered in the twilight, casting Xiao Wang's shadow long and short. He squatted in front of the two hikers who had reported the incident, his notebook lying on his lap, the pen nib hovering over the paper—the young man in front of him was still incoherent from shock, the mud on his jacket mixed with rainwater leaving dark stains on the grass.

"Don't rush, tell me slowly." Xiao Wang handed over two bottles of warm water, the caps making a soft "pop" sound as they were unscrewed. The boy with glasses was named Chen Mo, a geology student at a university. The girl with a ponytail was his classmate, Lin Xi. The two had come to hike in the wild mountains over the weekend, but unexpectedly stumbled upon this murder.

Chen Mo's hands were still trembling as he held the water glass, water droplets trickling down his fingers: "We were originally on the regular route, but around 3 p.m., Lin Xi said she wanted to take a shortcut to see the sunset, so we turned into this side road." His voice suddenly rose and then fell sharply, "Around 5:30 p.m., we heard a muffled 'bang' from the other side of the cliff, like something heavy hitting a tree."

Lin Xi picked up the conversation, her fingers unconsciously twisting the zipper of her windbreaker: "We thought it was just a rock that had rolled down, so we didn't pay much attention. But after walking a few steps, Chen Mo looked back through his binoculars and suddenly froze." She shivered, and bits of grass fell from her ponytail. "He said... he said he thought he saw someone hanging from a tree branch. I didn't believe him, so I grabbed the binoculars and looked—" The girl suddenly covered her mouth, a suppressed sob escaping her throat, "The person was face down, arms hanging down, blood dripping down the tree trunk, staining the stones below red."

Xiao Wang's pen moved quickly across the paper: "When you heard the sound, were there any other people around? For example, voices, footsteps, or other noises?"

Chen Mo tried hard to recall, his brows furrowed: "The wind was very strong, and there were birds chirping... I think... I think I heard a few words of arguing, but it was too far away to hear clearly. At the time, I thought it was other hikers arguing, and I didn't think much of it." He suddenly slapped his thigh, "That's right! When we turned into the side road, we saw a man in a black jacket carrying a large hiking backpack walking towards the cliff. At the time, I thought it was strange, because that road didn't lead to any viewing platform at all."

"Could you describe the man's features?" Xiao Wang pressed, his pen pausing on the paper.

Lin Xi bit her lip and thought, "He's about 1.75 meters tall, of medium build, with very short hair, and walks with his toes pointing slightly outwards." She suddenly remembered something, "He was wearing a large watch on his left wrist, with a metal band that reflected the sunlight very strongly. When we passed by him, I smelled a strong odor of gasoline on him."

Chen Mo added, "There seemed to be a black thing sticking out from the side of his backpack, it looked like...like a knife handle? I didn't think much of it at the time, but now it's terrifying." His voice trembled. "After we found the body, we immediately called the police. We didn't dare to go close and just waited up there. We didn't see anyone leave during that time. That side road is a one-way street, so unless he came down the mountain from somewhere else."

Xiao Wang asked the two to identify the photos from the scene. When they came to the deceased's hiking boots, Chen Mo suddenly pointed to the heel: "Many people in our department wear these Vibram-soled hiking boots, but his boots have a special wear mark on the heel—it looks like he often hits rocks with the heel. The shoes of that man in the black jacket just now seem to have similar wear."

Lin Xi shook her head: "No, the deceased was wearing a blue windbreaker, while the man was wearing a black jacket. The colors don't match." She suddenly pointed to the deceased's tightly clenched right hand in the photo, "Isn't that a climbing rope he's holding? The man we saw did have a roll of orange climbing rope hanging on his backpack, the color is exactly the same."

The interrogation lasted nearly two hours, until it was completely dark. Xiao Wang closed his notebook, which was filled with densely packed clues: a black jacket, the smell of gasoline, a metal watch, a suspicious backpack, unusually worn hiking boots... but these fragmented pieces of information couldn't piece together a complete picture. The details provided by the two young men seemed important, yet lacked a decisive clue—the mysterious man could be the murderer, or he could simply be a hiker who happened to be passing by.

As the police car engine restarted, Lin Xi suddenly knocked on the window: "Officer, we just found this at the intersection." She handed over a silver button with a small chip on the edge. "At the time, we thought it was just ordinary trash, but now that I think about it, it might have been dropped by that man."