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

Chapter 1053 Case Analysis and Speculation

Li Ming's police cap was placed neatly at the head of the conference table. The sound of his index finger tapping the table startled the sparrows outside the window: "Twenty hours have passed since the incident. We now need to string together the scattered clues. Let's start with the on-site investigation."

Xiao Yang pointed the laser pointer at the projector, and the 3D model of the irrigation ditch slowly rotated on the screen. Each evidence point was marked with a conspicuous red circle: "The body disposal points are distributed in a triangle, with the garbage station as the central vertex and the culvert on the east side and the boiler room on the north side as the fulcrums." He zoomed in on the bloodstain pattern in the sorting pool, "The parabolic angle of the passively dripping bloodstains shows that the murderer was 173-178cm tall when he disposed of the body. His gait was disordered when he was carrying a load, and there were slight drag marks on his left leg."

Xiao Sun added, referring to the electronic scan image of his fingertip tracing the tire tracks: "The tires of the Wuling Rongguang mini-truck have uneven wear, with abnormal wear on the inside of the right rear tire. I suggest checking the four-wheel alignment records of all auto repair shops in the city." He pulled up a photo of the metal box found in the boiler room, "Coal tar was detected inside the box, consistent with the fuel in the abandoned boiler room, but three different fingerprints were extracted from the edge of the box lid, two of which matched Sun Bingfang's building materials store employee database."

Zhang Lin's autopsy report seemed to chill the air. He lifted the photograph from the body bag, his tweezers virtually tracing the victim's skull: "The occipital bone fracture has a stepped edge, consistent with a cylindrical weapon like a steel pipe, 4.2cm in diameter." The projector switched to an image of the chest cavity, the dark red congestion in the lungs starkly visible under the cold light. "Mechanical asphyxiation was the primary cause of death. There were bilateral fractures of the thyroid cartilage, but the victim had resisted violently before death—" He held up a fiber sample from under his fingernails, "The fibers of the blue workwear fabric are exactly the same as those found in the buttons at the garbage dump, and this type of fabric has only been purchased in bulk by Yuanfang Building Materials Co., Ltd. in the entire city."

Xiao Zhou slammed a stack of crumpled documents onto the table, with fragments of investigation pens and video recordings fluttering between the pages: "The missing persons system screened 1876 records, ruling out all 37 individuals who met the criteria. However, during a visit to Yuanfang Building Materials, the accountant revealed that Sun Bingfang had been frequently visiting the Chengxi Hardware Market over the past three months." He pulled up a surveillance screenshot, showing a man wearing a baseball cap carrying cardboard boxes. "On the evening of November 11th, the day before the incident, Sun Bingfang's truck had loaded three wooden crates labeled 'industrial-grade chainsaws.'"

"Wait a minute." Li Ming suddenly interrupted, his laser pointer slamming into the tattoo remnants on the anatomical diagram. "Zhang Lin, what are the results of the tattoo ink composition analysis?"

"It contains iron oxide red and carbon black, and is an industrial pigment from the 'Black Panther' brand that was discontinued in 2015." Zhang Lin flipped through the test report. "What's more unusual is that the pigment contains turpentine thinner. This kind of mixing method would never be seen in a professional tattoo shop, indicating that the tattoo shop lacks ventilation equipment—it may be a space like a garage or basement."

The meeting room fell into a deathly silence, broken only by the increasingly jarring hum of the air conditioner unit. Suddenly, veteran detective Li slammed his fist on the table: "There's an unfinished building in the hardware market in the west of the city. Three years ago, rumors circulated that someone was doing underground tattooing in the basement!" His pipe tapped rapidly against the ashtray. "I remember that place belonged to Yuanfang Building Materials Management; they said they were going to convert it into a warehouse!"

Li Ming immediately drew three circles on the whiteboard: "First, thoroughly investigate all properties of Yuanfang Building Materials, focusing on basements and warehouses. Second," he pointed to Xiao Zhou, "recompare Sun Bingfang's communication records, especially calls related to the hardware market and tattoos. Third," the laser pointer swept across the deceased's work clothes buttons, "contact the garment factory to find out the final destination of this batch of fabric."

In the criminal investigation team's archives, the rustling of documents turning and the hum of the printer created a monotonous background sound. Xiao Wang stood before a whiteboard covered with clues, his brow furrowed. Sun Bingfang's photo was circled repeatedly in red pen, surrounded by dense annotations related to Yuanfang Building Materials. "Keep digging deeper," he said to his team members, "From Sun Bingfang's daily schedule to every transaction of Yuanfang Building Materials, any detail could be a breakthrough."

Over the next two days, Xiao Wang and his team embarked on a high-intensity investigation. They traversed various departments of the distant building materials company, sifting through mountains of documents. In the warehouse, dust filled the air. Wearing masks, Xiao Wang and his team meticulously reviewed the goods entry and exit records, sweat streaming down their faces, leaving dark stains on the dusty ledgers. "We've retrieved all the quality inspection reports for these cements," Xiao Wang said, carefully comparing each data point, trying to find any clues of falsification.

The conversation with employees of Yuanfang Building Materials didn't go smoothly. Most of them seemed very nervous when questioned by the police, either stammering or downplaying the issues. "General Manager Sun is usually a very nice person and very meticulous at work," a department head said, wiping sweat from his brow. "I really can't imagine what case he could be involved in." Xiao Wang keenly noticed the evasive look in the other person's eyes but didn't immediately expose him, instead patiently continuing his questioning.

They then visited various construction sites that had business dealings with Yuanfang Building Materials. At a construction site in the west of the city, the project manager confidently assured them: "Yuanfang's building materials have always been of reliable quality. Over the years of cooperation, there have never been any problems." Looking at the piles of building materials on the site, Xiao Wang was filled with doubt. He arranged for his team to collect samples and send them to a professional institution for testing.

Investigating Sun Bingfang's daily whereabouts was equally difficult. They retrieved a large amount of surveillance video, reviewing it frame by frame. In the monitoring room, the glaring screen light made the team members' eyes sore and strained, and maintaining one posture for a long time caused their bodies to become stiff and numb. "On the evening of November 12th, Sun Bingfang appeared at a restaurant," team member Xiao Zhang said, pointing to the screen, "and didn't leave until the early hours of the morning. After dinner, he went to a KTV." Xiao Wang immediately arranged for people to go to the restaurant and KTV to verify the situation.

A restaurant waiter recalled, "Mr. Sun did come that day, along with several friends. They ate and drank in the private room the whole time and didn't leave." KTV staff also confirmed this, providing payment records and CCTV footage. Looking at this evidence, Xiao Wang's doubts deepened. Sun Bingfang had a strong alibi for the time of the incident, which contradicted their previous assumptions.

While analyzing the financial data of Yuanfang Building Materials, several suspicious transactions involving large sums were discovered. However, after further investigation, these transactions all had reasonable explanations and were unrelated to the case. "These transactions were all normal business dealings," the financial expert told Xiao Wang, "and we found no signs of illegality or crime."

After two days of intensive investigation, Xiao Wang and his team members were exhausted.