flstandardbreds Chapter 917 The gangster eats the gangster
Chapter 917 The gangster eats the gangster
With the clues provided by Agu, Li Ming and his team have shifted their focus of investigation to Ba Lian, whose real name is Song Jianchao.
However, three days have passed, and the clues are still very limited.
On the whiteboard of the Dongchuan City Criminal Investigation Detachment, Song Jianchao's photo, nicknamed "Long Scar," was circled repeatedly in red pen, surrounded by photos documenting his activities in Dongchuan, Beichuan, and other places—KTV rooms, underground casinos, and the brutality of logistics.
Li Ming stared at the scarred face in the photo, recalling Ah Hu's confession: "He's like a ghost; wherever there's cargo, he's there, but nobody knows where he lives."
“We’ve received news from the Beichuan police,” Wang Fang said, slamming a stack of documents on the table. “Three years ago, Long Scar ran an arcade in Beichuan, and his henchmen are still collecting protection money for him. But we’ve interviewed more than a dozen informants, and they all say he’s recently ‘retired from the business.’”
Li Ming rubbed his temples, his gaze falling on the "Ship Market Corpse Case" timeline in the lower right corner of the whiteboard. From Liu Weiguo's drug trafficking network to the disappearance of the long-scarred man, all the clues seemed to have sunk into a quagmire, until the technical team delivered that exciting news—a USB drive was found in Liu Weiguo's old television.
It was an old-fashioned black-and-white television, its picture tube long since damaged, which Liu Weiguo had kept under his bed as a storage box. When the investigators pried open the back cover, the USB drive was firmly stuck to the back of the circuit board with insulating tape, its surface covered in dust, but the interface showed no signs of oxidation. "The data inside is encrypted," said Xiao Wang from the technical team, holding up the USB drive, "but we found the encryption software key on Liu Weiguo's phone."
In fact, the key to the encryption software was discovered first, and only then did the thorough search of Liu Weiguo's home begin. The police didn't normally know what the encryption software was; they simply opened some files on the USB drive.
In the monitoring room, Li Ming, Wang Fang, and Director Qin Chuan stared intently at the screen. The video file was created at 23:17 on December 31st; the footage was shaky, as if filmed secretly with a mobile phone. The camera cut in through a crack in a rusty iron door. The warehouse was dimly lit, and two figures were making a transaction—Liu Weiguo on the left, and the one on the right wearing a black mask and hat, but a scar on his left cheek was clearly visible.
"Where's the goods?" The long-scarred man's voice was hoarse and threatening.
Liu Weiguo held up the black plastic bag in his hand: "As you said, 500 grams, cash on delivery."
Long Scar took the bag, slit the seal with his dagger, dipped his fingertip in the powder, and licked it: "Good purity. But you've been getting close to Wu Hailong lately, and he's no good."
Liu Weiguo's voice trembled slightly: "I just get some toys from him to sell at my stall, it has nothing to do with goods... My son is seriously ill, I want to wash my hands."
Long Scarface suddenly sneered, pressing the dagger against Liu Weiguo's throat: "Wash your hands? You know too much. Besides, do you really think Wu Hailong is asking you for money? He's been eyeing your goods for a while now."
The scene suddenly shook violently, accompanied by sounds of struggle and impact. Amidst Liu Weiguo's screams, his hat, bearing a long scar, was ripped off, revealing an old wound on his forehead—a gunshot wound sustained three years prior during a shootout with a rival. The camera finally focused on the emergency exit sign on the warehouse wall, which read "Beichuan Scrap Material Warehouse B-07".
"Contact the Beichuan police immediately and seal off warehouse B-07!" Qin Chuan slammed his fist on the table. "Notify the forensic team and the trace evidence department to prepare to go to the scene!"
The abandoned warehouses on the outskirts of Beichuan were shrouded in a thin mist. A rusty padlock hung on the iron door of warehouse B-07, yet the lock cylinder was spotless. Li Ming put on gloves and gently pushed the door open; it creaked open, releasing a stench of decay and rust. Scattered inside were several Transformers toys, one of which had its chest cavity open, revealing a hidden compartment for narcotics—a layout identical to that of Liu Wei's national warehouse.
"Look here!" Forensic investigator Xiao Zhang pointed a laser pointer at the ground, where several dark stains fluoresced under luminol. "These are splattered bloodstains. There are at least two pools of blood, indicating that someone was injured or died here." He crouched down and picked up half a bloody fingernail with tweezers—after comparison, it matched Liu Weiguo's DNA perfectly.
Forensic pathologist Zhang Lin squatted under the emergency exit sign, examining the wall with a magnifying glass: "There are friction marks here, and the fiber composition is similar to the deceased's clothing. Combined with the struggling sounds in the video, it is speculated that Liu Weiguo was pressed against the wall and beaten, and the murderer strangled him with a rope, causing him to suffocate, before moving the body to the seafood market."
“The transfer tool has been found.” Wang Fang pointed to a tricycle in the corner of the warehouse, with fish scales and water stains remaining on the bottom of the vehicle. “The seafood market’s surveillance footage shows that a tricycle of the same model was seen entering and leaving the area on the night of the incident. The driver was wearing a mask and his build matched that of the man with the long scar.”
Looking at the bloody fingerprints on the warehouse wall, Li Ming suddenly remembered what Ah Hu had mentioned: "The man with the long scar wanted to kill Liu Weiguo to silence him." He took out his phone and dialed the technical team: "Import the facial features of the man with the long scar from the video into the facial recognition system, focusing on comparing him with individuals with prior convictions for gunshot wounds. Also, check the purchase records of this tricycle; it's very likely that the murderer purchased it recently."
The last rays of the setting sun shone through the holes in the warehouse, casting a long shadow of Li Ming. He stepped over scattered toys, his shoe crushing a fallen ecstasy pill—this abandoned warehouse, once a witness to death, had now become a crucial piece of the puzzle to uncover the truth. Liu Weiguo may have desperately begged for mercy here, or tried to appeal to the killer's emotions with his son's illness, but ultimately he became a victim of the drug trafficking network.
But the surveillance video showed that Liu Weiguo had already been murdered. Who filmed it and who put the item on the TV in Liu Weiguo's house? Li Ming could only think of one person: Wu Hailong. It was Liu Weiguo's brother-in-law who could enter his house and hide the item; it could only be him.
The police reminded Wu Hailong again.
The interrogation room lights were colder than yesterday. Wu Hailong huddled in the iron chair, his eyes fixed on the USB drive on the table. When Li Ming pushed the video screenshots in front of him, his right eyelid suddenly twitched violently, and his fingernails dug deeply into his palm.
"Is that you in the surveillance footage?" Li Ming's voice was like an icicle. "On December 31st, you followed Liu Weiguo to the abandoned warehouse and filmed his transaction with Long Scarface."
Wu Hailong's Adam's apple bobbed, his chapped lips opened and closed as if an invisible hand were gripping his throat. Wang Fang suddenly turned on the interrogation room's sound system, and Liu Weiguo's screams from the video echoed in the small space. Wu Hailong trembled violently, his body almost bouncing off the chair.
"Stop pretending," Li Ming pressed the pause button, freezing the image on the moment the long-scarred man swung his knife. "You want to take Liu Weiguo's place, so you're following him to find suppliers, right?"