National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 432 - 432 398 A Final Kick Before the Goal

432: Chapter 398: A Final Kick Before the Goal 432: Chapter 398: A Final Kick Before the Goal The conference call ended, and the pitch-black night outside sparkled with stars.

Three o’clock in the morning, went to bed too late, and got up too early.

Jiang Yuan and Mei Fang were flipping corpses in the dissection room, while Liu Jinghui decided to go back to the hotel for a sleep.

The king of spending, Xu Taining, had already fallen into a deep sleep, and the captain of the criminal police brigade Zheng Tianxin woke up the chiefs and deputy chiefs of the municipal bureau along with his political commissar and others, staying up late to discuss plans.

Case 805 had reached the final step, or it could even be said it was at the doorstep—about to deliver the final kick.

This kick would either be delivered by Zheng Tianxin’s criminal police brigade or by the manpower Jiang Yuan brought.

Naturally, Zheng Tianxin and the others hoped it would be them doing the kicking.

Throughout the entire case, the main tasks were completed primarily by Jiang Yuan and his team.

As the local criminal police brigade, they felt somewhat embarrassed.

Most importantly, now that the case had reached this point, Zheng Tianxin and his team truly felt capable of taking over.

It was like a super difficult question—the kind that might even exhaust someone just by reading it.

After step-by-step analysis, the problem of the question became clear, the given conditions were understood, and the necessary formula was found.

The formula began to apply, the units that needed conversion were converted, and all the restrictive conditions were managed…

When everything became clear, the previously confused underachiever, upon revisiting the problem, would suddenly find the solution strategy jumping out at them, and the desire to tackle the problem would arise.

“Call records and text messages can only be obtained by asking the big shots in the technical investigation department, and that’s something only we can ask for,” Zheng Tianxin said with a smile on his face.

He continued, “Whether we inspect WeChat, Alipay, bank transfers, or software like Momo and Tantan, it’s all the same whether it’s us looking into it or someone else.

I suggest that our brigade take initiative and start looking into this now.

Aim to achieve some results by tomorrow morning.”

“Everyone has been running around all day today, and calling them up now would be quite harsh,” the political commissar was actually in on it with Zheng Tianxin beforehand and was now playing along.

Then Zheng Tianxin solemnly said, “Everyone has been busy with Case 805 for years; the hardship isn’t just today.

Now it’s time to reap the rewards.

We can’t let a few years’ worth of achievements be ruined just for an unbroken night’s sleep.”

“That’s true,” the political commissar sighed.

The two resolved any potential issues their superiors might pose right there through their dialogue.

The bureau chief did not care whether the two had coordinated in advance and after a brief contemplation, said, “Let’s do it this way then.

Make the calls to everyone.

Let’s work another shift tonight.”

Waking people up at 3 a.m.

would certainly bring complaints, but at this stage of the work, sleep or complaints no longer mattered.

Zheng Tianxin had actually already called some team leaders, and with approval from this side, he immediately instructed those hurrying to the station to call their subordinates.

He did not plan to summon everyone, but he did intend to pull in the main forces of each team, in other words, those officers who were aged from their late twenties to their forties.

Inspecting Alipay, WeChat, or bank transaction information theoretically should be done by the cybersecurity team, but officers with the necessary permissions could also look into it—it wasn’t particularly difficult.

Chat logs were slightly more valuable because there was just too much data to look through page by page.

Instead, they had to rely on searching with keywords.

As for tasks like map location or data analysis, slightly more specialized officers were needed.

Checking multiple social media accounts, one by one, was not an easy task either.

While ordinary people might use only one or two social apps at most, often sticking to local options, people in the criminal underbelly had a much broader range of choices, including popular ones like Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book), Xianyu, Douban, Tieba, YY, Momo, Tantan, Soul, Mipei, Banquan, Mihuan, Mixiu, Banxin…

Happy or not, the members of the criminal police brigade gradually returned to the station.

Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang stood in the large office, serving tea and water to everyone, speaking warmly and apologizing.

Once a group was gathered, Zheng Tianxin began to assign tasks.

At this moment, Zheng Tianxin’s mood suddenly became anxious again.

Watching Xu Taining spend money, he felt both heartache and helplessness.

But now, as he started to direct the team, the fear of failure crept up on him once more.

They were now following a trail designed by Liu Jinghui, operating under the assumption that the killer, either not very smart or not very cautious, would leave traces behind over a series of long-term solicitations and murders, especially electronic traces.

This type of person was quite common.

Every time they cracked down on solicitation, they could always identify a multitude of clients through the transfer records found on the girls’ cell phones who had fallen into prostitution.

Was it that they didn’t know such investigative techniques existed, or did they not care about being punished by law enforcement?

Of course not, these people simply never did any research or took cautious measures before soliciting.

Could the killer be such a person?

Before an investigation, nobody knew.

And after the investigation, if they were still left with nothing…

Zheng Tianxin took a deep breath and had another sip of tea, pushing the discomfort in his stomach down before saying, “This time, we’re facing a do-or-die situation…”

Casting aside his distracting thoughts, Zheng Tianxin steeled himself internally and began assigning tasks.

To be frank, for him, a captain of the criminal police brigade, organizing a crackdown on solicitation was really a waste of his talents; such a task could easily be taken care of by a mid-level chief like Liu Wenkai.

It was precisely because Case 805 was so critical and challenging that Zheng Tianxin had become extra careful.

Early morning.

It wasn’t yet 7 o’clock when Zhou Yuanqiang came to Zheng Tianxin, clutching several A4 sheets of paper.

Zheng Tianxin immediately stood up and looked at Zhou Yuanqiang.

With a serious expression, Commissar Zhou Yuanqiang reported, “Now, just from the 26 missing persons, we’ve confirmed that there are over 300 prostitution clients, with more than 100 who visited multiple times.

Based on chat and transaction records, we’ve identified 14 individuals who requested overnight services or to take a girl out for more than one day.

The one who requested overnight stays the most had 12 such instances.

The next one had 8 times.”

Zheng Tianxin’s eyes lit up upon hearing this, “12 times, were they all individual instances?

Have you compared them with other prostitution transactions?

No wait, we can check his records ourselves.

What does this person do?”

He asked so many questions in one breath that Zhou Yuanqiang found it somewhat difficult to answer.

After a brief thought, Zhou Yuanqiang said, “Not all of the 12 instances were individual, but we checked his records, and he only has a total of fifteen high-amount transfers, of which 12 were sent to women who disappeared.”

Zheng Tianxin and Zhou Yuanqiang exchanged glances, and couldn’t help but smile.

Zhou Yuanqiang was merely stating the facts, but to Zheng Tianxin and him, it was as if they were hanging a murderer’s tag over the other person’s head.

Then, Zhou Yuanqiang pulled out the printouts he was holding and said, “Zhang Hai, 54 years old, single, and works as a street sweeping driver for the sanitation company.

It’s the kind that cleans the streets with a rotating brush underneath.

His main work area is, coincidentally, the national highway route we’ve been walking these past two days.”

“How coincidental!” Zheng Tianxin remarked as he pinched a cigarette, placing it in his mouth without lighting it.

Checking the time, he said, “Call the team, take two groups, one to his home, the other to his workplace.

Remember to search where he parks his vehicle.

And yes, locate his cell phone, no sirens when the police cars head out, and be resolute when making the arrest.

Be mindful of any weapons he may have, and do your best to find the murder weapon.

Bring the metal detector and the police dogs too.”

Zheng Tianxin gave a long list of instructions, finished his commands, and then finally lit his cigarette, taking in a deep drag.

Zhou Yuanqiang quickly mobilized the personnel, and by the time he returned, Zheng Tianxin had nearly finished his cigarette.

“Notify Doctor Jiang and Director Xu Taining about this.

Should today’s search be called off?” Zhou Yuanqiang asked.

“Let’s talk on the move,” Zheng Tianxin said as he watched the officers gathering downstairs.

He handed a cigarette to Zhou Yuanqiang and continued, “Call forensic doctor Jiang later.

As for Director Xu…

well, we’ve already spent so much money, let’s persist one more day, just in case.

Besides, we haven’t found all the bodies from case 234 yet.

If we can get the location out of the interrogation, great, but if not, we’ll have to keep digging.”

Zhou Yuanqiang actually wanted to say that normal excavation wouldn’t cost that much and the scope didn’t need to be so large, but he fully understood Zheng Tianxin’s concerns.

At this point, anything else was secondary; catching Zhang Hai and confirming his identity was the priority.