National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 1049 - 982: I Want Your Boss

Chapter 1049: Chapter 982: I Want Your Boss

The wind rises.

The dark clouds in the sky move swiftly, like an accelerated scene from a movie, heralding the departure of bad weather and the imminent return of a once clear and endless sky.

On the streets, vehicles too unconsciously speed up, as if responding to the sky above.

Only by lowering one’s gaze, looking towards the lower echelons, can one see the frowns on pedestrians’ faces, their expressions of annoyance, sighs of resignation, and the silhouettes dashing against the wind, who, despite their skirts being lifted, can’t run far.

A Ford Transit prison van, sturdily parked in front of the police station.

"Get off the bus slowly, no noise, hey, don’t make trouble for me, don’t add to your sentence!" the officer in the passenger seat jumped down from the vehicle, speaking in an unpleasant tone.

Several handcuffed criminal suspects were escorted off the bus. Leading them was a man with grizzled whiskers and well-developed muscles, whose expression remained tranquil as he walked forward two steps and stood still, then began to inspect the red banner on the building ahead:

"Solidly advance the summer security crackdown and rectification campaign!"

The man’s eyelids twitched: "So early this year."

"No talking, line up and follow me." The transporting detective ignored him.

The grizzled-bearded man chuckled and obediently followed.

All the way to the detention area, passing through the iron gate, it was only after entering that the man with grizzled whiskers resumed the conversation, "The last time I passed by here, that red banner wasn’t there yet, newly hung?"

"Yeah." The detective had relaxed after delivering the suspects to the interrogation center, rubbing their fingers in the inkpad and casually replying, "Lao Pu, just settle in peace now that you’re here, don’t cause trouble."

"Is Jiang Yuan planning to stay too?" Lao Pu, the man with grizzled whiskers, sighed, "Didn’t they arrest everyone already?"

"Is Jiang Yuan a name for you to casually call?" a policeman at the side scolded him.

A fellow suspect that was caught alongside shouted, "Aren’t names meant to be called by others?"

"Xiao Tian!" Lao Pu called out to the youngster, saying, "It is proper to call him God Jiang."

"Your little brother is named Roaring? Like Roaring Heavenly Dog? What a dog’s name," another officer preparing for the interrogation had already started to get into character, firing a taunt.

Lao Pu once again calmed his youngster with his eyes, smiled gently, and said, "Indeed, it is a dog’s name, but not Roaring Heavenly Dog. It’s because he’s often fooled by bitches, acting like a lapdog for others, that’s why he’s called Xiao Tian."

Xiao Tian, with his prominent pectoral muscles, remained expressionless, as if spit on his face dried by itself.

Even the detective ready to be the ’bad cop’ nearly lost his composure, "With such a name in the underworld, don’t others laugh at you?"

Xiao Tian calmly glanced at him, "In the vast world of the underworld, I am true to women, loyal to my brothers, who dares to laugh at me."

Lao Pu nodded: "Xiao Tian is indeed a good man, and a good brother of mine, Lao Pu, it’s just that he’s not kind to himself."

How could the detective let them reveal their feelings to each other here? He interrupted directly, "Well then, tell me about your brothers, and I’ll have them brought over so you can meet in prison."

"They must have all come in already." Lao Pu’s smile remained serene: "I don’t have much else to say."

The detective sneered, "Coming in and being inside are not the same."

Lao Pu calmly said, "The more that go in, the more it’s all the same."

"Really? Then shall I ask Captain Jiang to go through your dossier? To dig up those accumulated cases from your early years and sort them out?" The detective in charge of the interrogation had planned to apply more pressure once inside the interrogation room, but sometimes interrogation isn’t the goal, getting results is. Right here, right now, this is a good opportunity.

Standing before his men, underworld figures, and detectives, Lao Pu—who was just putting on airs—suddenly lost his cool out of nowhere.

Lao Pu knew, and he knew that the police knew, that when he started out over twenty years ago, his hands weren’t clean. How could someone make a name for himself in the underworld without having done some dirty work?

But that was all twenty years ago. Already ten years ago, Lao Pu had started to go legitimate. Now, not only was he running a legitimate business, his boys were doing the same, only preferring industries with a bit more controversy: like car rental, selling dismantled car parts, seafood markets, and acting as landlords for second-hand properties, amongst other things.

Their operations were still shady, but on a completely different level.

Now, even when Lao Pu looks back on his past, he feels as if his aggressively violent days were just a dream. By comparison, the reason for his recent arrest—being reported for involvement in a mass brawl, acquiring and selling stolen goods, contract fraud, and other minor offenses—pales in significance to his experiences from twenty years ago.

So, Lao Pu was calm when he got out of the car, but not anymore.

Past cases... some are really better left untouched!

"Zhang Weili, didn’t I already give everything to you guys? Clinging onto it is a bit much, don’t you think?" The calm facade on Lao Pu’s face disappeared, he looked somewhat angry - after all, he did have a criminal past.

The detective in charge of the interrogation asked, "Did you give it to us?"

"What a low-level question. Who would admit that they gave it?"

The detective sneered, "You’re still trying to bargain. Do you think God Jiang is here to negotiate with you?"

"Then what will make you stop?" Lao Pu tried to stay as calm as possible.

"You want to negotiate with the police?" The detective laughed: "Who can you represent? Whom do you want to represent?"

Lao Pu was rendered speechless. Cracking down on organized crime isn’t a joke. If he speaks out of turn now, he could be utterly doomed.

"Come on." The detective leading the interrogation smiled as he ushered Lao Pu into the interrogation room.

Going through all the usual procedures, the interrogating officer leisurely took a sip of water and said, "Lao Pu, do you know why we brought you in this time?"

Lao Pu was prepared: "There was a fight at the seafood market, and you think it was my doing. To be honest, I’m already 50 years old, can I still fight? I’ve always advised them to value peace... As the saying goes, ’it takes two to tango.’ Those people ate the seafood, found it expensive, suspected we used dead fish. If you suspect something, say it earlier! After eating everything, all that’s left is fish bones then you complain the fish isn’t right, after you finished eating..."

The interrogating officer shook his head: "18 years ago, in Tongli Community, a shopkeeper was exercising around the neighborhood in the evening and was stabbed to death with a sharp knife. Do you remember this?"

Lao Pu felt a shock at the mention of ’Tongli Community’ and tried to appear indifferent, saying, "What, now you’re starting to frame people and shift the blame?"

"Captain Jiang has confirmed, by comparing the knife wounds on the body, that the wounds from this case match the wounds of another case exactly." The interrogating officer smiled faintly and continued, "In fact, through this clue, we’ve established that at least four cases are related to you."

He was referring to the knife marks that Jiang Yuan had identified using a Level 6 toolkit trace comparison. Unlike fingerprints or DNA, tool mark trace evidence is difficult to automatically match systematically, so the process is almost entirely manual. Jiang Yuan needs to first record certain tool marks before considering them in other cases.

So, this was a niche forensic technique, but Lao Pu understood.

Most importantly, he did indeed take out a shopkeeper in Tongli Community.

"I don’t know what you’re talking about," Lao Pu immediately denied.

The interrogating officer chuckled, "Back then, your boss made a fortune subleasing shops in Tongli Community... Don’t be too quick to make excuses. As for you, I’ve got you pegged. It’s not you I want. I’m after your boss!"