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

Chapter 1152 Discoveries During the On-Site Investigation

Meanwhile, Xiao Yang and Yangcun were instructed to further expand the scope of the on-site investigation and discover more clues.

Morning light filtered through the sycamore leaves of Beishan Park, casting dappled patterns on the expanded survey area. Xiao Yang moved along the perimeter of the bushes, his survey light beam tracing bright lines on the dew-kissed grass. "Expand the radius to 50 meters," he said into the walkie-talkie, the anti-slip treads of his boots leaving neat diamond-shaped imprints in the wet mud. "Focus on areas of soil disturbance along the direction of the footprints, and look for non-native vegetation debris and metallic reflective spots."

Xiao Sun was squatting on the gravel path leading to the west gate of the park. The blue light of his footprint lamp illuminated a size 43 leather shoe print. He used a scale ruler to measure the forefoot of the print: "Senior, the pressure distribution of this footprint is very special. The pressure on the outer side of the forefoot is 20% greater than that on the inner side. The stride length is 78 centimeters and the stride width is 14 centimeters, which matches the characteristics of an outward-leaning gait." He took out plaster powder and sprinkled it evenly around the footprint: "This three-dimensional footprint is 1.2 centimeters deep, 0.3 centimeters deeper than the one previously found, indicating that the suspect was carrying an increased load—it may have been left when dragging a corpse."

The two followed the footprints towards the west gate. The rose bushes along the roadside showed obvious signs of being trampled, and fresh cuts from broken branches were still oozing sap. "The rose branches broke by shearing," Xiao Yang said, picking up a broken branch with tweezers. "They didn't fall naturally; they were forcibly broken by lateral force. There are pale blue fibers remaining at the break, which initially match the fiber composition of the body's jacket lining." Xiao Sun opened the footprint analysis system and entered the data: "Based on stride length and stride width, the suspect's height is estimated to be between 175-180 centimeters, and his weight approximately 75 kilograms, which is consistent with the analysis of a weighted gait."

Beside the iron fence at the west gate of the park, Xiao Sun's metal detector suddenly beeped. He crouched down and brushed aside the fallen leaves, revealing a rusty keychain in the sunlight, with half a faded police badge hanging on it. "A standard police badge, with fresh wear marks on the edges," Xiao Yang said, bringing a magnet close to the keychain; fine iron filings adhered to the metal surface. "There are two layers of rust, indicating it's been exposed to air for at least six months, but the scratches on the clasp show it's been touched recently." Xiao Sun tested the surrounding soil with pH paper: "The soil pH is 7.0, neutral. The keychain is located 30 meters from where the body was found, not on the main footprint line, so it's possible the suspect dropped it unintentionally."

The two continued towards the artificial hill in the northwest. Suddenly, Xiao Yang stopped in a patch of withered yellow thatch, his searchlight focusing on a clump of black ash. "Isolated ash in the non-combustion zone," he said, measuring the ash with a ruler. "It's 6 centimeters in diameter, irregularly shaped, containing unburned tobacco particles, 0.3-0.5 millimeters in diameter, consistent with the composition of the Zhonghua brand cigarettes found near the body." Xiao Sun used an anemometer to measure the wind speed: "A northeasterly wind of level three. Based on the wind force, this isolated ash must have fallen when the suspect stopped here, indicating he briefly stayed here after committing the crime."

On the back of the artificial hill, there was a fresh scratch mark on the rock wall, with grayish-white stone powder accumulated in the cracks. Xiao Yang shone the scratch mark with a sidelight: "A bidirectional linear scratch mark, 20 centimeters long, 0.5 centimeters deep at the beginning and 0.2 centimeters shallow at the end, consistent with the characteristics of repeated friction by a hard object." He took out a silicone mold and carefully covered the scratch mark: "Extracting three-dimensional traces, it may have been caused by the handcuff key carried by the suspect—this scratch mark shape matches the width of a standard handcuff key." Xiao Sun found a half-burnt cigarette butt next to the rock wall. The lip print on the filter was blurred, but the degree of burning of the tobacco indicated that it had been deliberately extinguished: "It was also a Zhonghua brand cigarette, the cigarette butt was 3.5 centimeters long, the smoking intensity was moderate, the DNA typing on the filter is being tested, and the soil around the cigarette butt was slightly compacted, indicating that the suspect had stood there smoking."

Returning towards the fountain in the center of the park, Xiao Sun's footprint light detected something unusual on a patch of moss and lichen. "There's a faint indentation here," he said, parting the lichen to reveal moss lying flat in the same direction. "It's about 0.3 square meters, oval-shaped, with traces of rotation around the edges, like someone placed a heavy object here." Xiao Yang used a soil hardness meter to measure the center of the indentation: "Hardness value 70, 25 higher than the surrounding soil, consistent with placing an object weighing over 20 kilograms." He suddenly remembered something, "Could it be a toolbox where handcuffs were kept? The suspect might have opened the toolbox here to retrieve the handcuffs."

On the tiles at the edge of the fountain, Xiao Yang found a few light red stains, which tested positive for benzidine. "Suspected bloodstains," he said, dabbing the stains with a sterile cotton swab. "The stains are dripping, about 1.2 meters high, which matches the suspect's estimated height." Xiao Sun immediately expanded the search area and found a four-hole black resin button in the fountain's puddles. The button had wear marks, and its shape was exactly the same as the missing button on the body's jacket: "A silver-white fiber was wrapped around the buttonhole, the same fiber composition found in the rose bushes, so it should have been snagged from the suspect's clothing."

As the two sat on a park bench reviewing their investigation notes, the mountain breeze carried the sweet scent of pine needles. "The clues we've found so far can piece together part of the crime," Xiao Yang said, drawing a path on the ground with a twig. "The suspect was wearing size 43 leather shoes. He entered the park from the west gate, stopped at the artificial hill to smoke, then dragged the body to the bushes, breaking a rose branch in the process, dropping a keychain and a button, before finally returning to the west gate along the same route." Xiao Sun added, "But crucial directional clues are still missing—no traces of the murder weapon were found, no complete fingerprints were discovered, and the connection between the keychain and the button still needs physical evidence."

Xiao Yang suddenly pointed to the fiber test results in the logbook: "The infrared spectral analysis of this light blue fiber shows that it contains wool, belonging to coarse woolen fabric, commonly found in winter coats." He paused, "But it's May now, wearing a woolen coat is inappropriate unless it's for a special profession—like security or police personnel." Xiao Sun immediately opened the electronic map: "There's a surveillance blind spot 300 meters outside the west gate of the park, past which is the national highway. The suspect likely changed modes of transportation there."

The two decided to split up; Xiao Yang went to search the national highway outside the west gate, while Xiao Sun continued searching inside the park. Xiao Yang found several parallel tire tracks in a drainage ditch beside the national highway, spaced 1.3 meters apart and 11 centimeters wide, typical of motorcycle tire treads. "The tire tracks are fresh within 48 hours."