National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 674 - 617: Missing Population

Chapter 674: Chapter 617: Missing Population

"An Zhiqiang, that kid, never learned his lesson. He dyed his hair blond a while ago and got into fights; later on, things got so bad that the police station got involved. His mother was so anxious, pulling strings and spending money..."

"His mom has it tough too, a single woman raising a child. The man she found is a slob, just idling his days away playing Mahjong. He even uses Zhang Yi’s money for gambling. They had hoped their son would turn out better, but he’s just as useless, a lost cause."

"Zhang Yi used to be quite feisty herself. Her husband’s family had a factory, and when she talked she carried herself with an air of superiority. ’Our factory is this and that,’ she would say. But then the factory went bust, and with it, so did their lives."

Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang listened while taking notes.

Mu Zhiyang was mainly responsible for the note-taking, while Jiang Yuan observed.

Note-taking is pretty exhausting; new police officers wonder about the meaning of life after a year of doing it. So, when people ask what’s the use of copying down texts when studying? It’s to make sure you don’t just quit your job when it’s time to work!

Mu Zhiyang had already moved past the stage of finding note-taking tiring because there were tasks in his job that were much more exhausting than that.

The elders downstairs, seeing how serious Mu Zhiyang was, couldn’t help but join in.

They were all retired workers from state-owned enterprises, truly fearing nothing. Their main problem was just being bored all day long.

Seeing that Mu Zhiyang wanted to hear about the lives of "Zhang Yi and An Zhiqiang," the mother and son, everyone started chipping in, each adding their piece to the story.

Jiang Yuan, listening from the sidelines, gradually came to understand Zhang Yi’s situation from six years ago.

Afternoon.

After filling a notebook with notes, Mu Zhiyang followed Jiang Yuan back to the police station.

A few people sat down in the conference room again to discuss.

Of course, it was mainly about providing information to Liu Jinghui, who would then process it and feed it back to the group.

If you call in the king of deduction and still exhaust the group’s brains, that’s disrespectful to Director Liu.

Liu Jinghui’s job was precisely that, and he processed information very quickly.

He reviewed the notes from the elders that Jiang Yuan and Mu Zhiyang had collected, as well as the notes from several of Zhang Yi’s colleagues, and even the notes from Zhang Yi’s lover Li Gan’s Mahjong partners...

Quickly, Liu Jinghui began writing and explained:

"From the information we’ve gathered, six years ago, at the time of the crime, Zhang Yi was pretty much at the end of her rope. On one hand, her son was showing more and more that he was good for nothing, and on the other hand, she herself was failing at everything she did, without money and with many expenses. She was depending on a man who did nothing but play Mahjong all day long."

"At the time, Zhang Yi was desperately looking for a way out. But her boyfriend, Li Gan, was thinking about just scraping by day by day."

"Her son, An Zhiqiang, was messing around with the wrong crowd, hoping to make a name for himself one day. But in Zhang Yi’s eyes, this was probably also part of her despair."

"Zhang Yi herself was desperately looking for work and had started trying jobs she had never done before, like a cashier at the supermarket, which she did for a week before quitting. She also tried setting up a street stall, but hardly sold anything. She also worked as a waitress in a restaurant, a job she didn’t like doing much, and lasted only half a month."

"Similarly, when analyzed chronologically, Zhang Yi’s demeanor notably changed after the crime."

"She wasn’t looking for jobs as frequently and started to look for work again in sales or the beauty and hairdressing sector."

"Li Gan also became a bit more generous when playing Mahjong during that period. Some neighbors mentioned that Li Gan used to be stingy about treating people to meals. He treated his Mahjong friends to dinner twice during that time, although it was always after winning, which was a rare occurrence that stuck in their memory."

"From these details, we can initially confirm that Zhang Yi and Li Gan likely benefited economically from this case."

Having said this, Liu Jinghui picked up his cup and gently sipped his tea twice.

The tea was high-quality Longjing tea brought by Jiang Yuan, seemingly authentic, which involuntarily smoothed Liu Jinghui’s frown. Brain-draining activities do require some additional sustenance.

Jiang Yuan and the others received Liu Jinghui’s analysis and nodded gently to themselves.

Liu Jinghui’s reasoning was very clear. As long as the foundation of evidence was solid, his deduction could be considered "obvious."

Of course, normal people rarely grasped it on their own before Liu Jinghui voiced it.

Liu Wenkai also took a sip of water and continued, "I have an idea, that is... Actually, the total expenses of Zhang Yi and Li Gan haven’t increased much. At least, the information we received indicates that they only spent a few thousand more each month over those months. Of course, it’s not a small amount, but after committing such a serious crime as murder and dismemberment, might their view on spending have changed and thus they dipped into their savings?"

"There is no record of withdrawals," Liu Jinghui said. "We’ve already checked the bank records of Zhang Yi, Li Gan, and An Zhiqiang, and there are no large withdrawals or transfers. This means they had another channel for getting a sum of money. Maybe not much, ten thousand, twenty thousand? In any case, they have spread this sum of money over several months’ income. This sum is very likely to have been carried by the victim."

No one spoke. Compared to the previous reasoning, this one seemed a bit more tenuous.

But it had to be said that if the case was really as Liu Jinghui had deduced, the case was indeed becoming clearer.

"Disappearance cases where the victim carried tens of thousands in cash must also be rare." Wang Chuanxing immediately went to look through the files.

Liu Jinghui said from behind him, "It’s not necessarily someone from Ningtai County."

There were few disappearance cases in Ningtai County, and based on the timeline, there were only so many, all of which Liu Jinghui had reviewed.

Wang Chuanxing, getting the hint, immediately expanded the search to the entire province.

The number now was much larger. It was impossible to sift through them using only the date, but by adding the criterion of carrying money at the time of disappearance, one could at least rule out the majority of cases involving missing youth.

Liu Jinghui then flipped through the interrogation records and encouraged everyone to speak freely.

Everyone relaxed a bit, chatting casually...

It was only when Wang Chuanxing returned that the group resumed the appearance of diligently working.

Wang Chuanxing, rubbing his eyes and looking exhausted, said, "I’ve found six missing persons who fit the criteria..."

"Let’s see," Liu Jinghui immediately asked for the list.

Jiang Yuan also looked at the list together with Liu Jinghui.

The list and profiles were quite thorough. The two of them read side by side, and upon reaching the second one, they nodded to each other almost in unison.

"From Jianjiang City, deals in buying old clothes, and this business requires door-to-door visits carrying cash. Zhang Yi used to do a similar business, didn’t she? She didn’t stick with it?" Liu Jinghui asked with a tone of inquiry, but he actually remembered the specifics.

Buying and selling old clothes was a relatively covert business. Nowadays, people have more clothes, often going through decluttering phases, and those buying old clothes can usually acquire them cheaply from "clothes collection bins" in residential areas or from janitors. They would then sell the clothes at a price of several hundred yuan per ton.

Some of these sold clothes are sent to third-world countries for resale as second-hand, but most are used for fiber recycling or pulping.

Because of the large difference in price from the acquisition to the selling point, this business is essentially risk-free with a guaranteed profit. However, due to the large volume and weight of the clothes, the business is physically demanding, requiring door-to-door visits and interaction with many people, making it a fairly arduous job.

Zhang Yi originally counted on Li Gan to work with her in this, but Li Gan was unwilling. After quarreling to no avail, Zhang Yi also had to give up in the end.

However, it was still possible that she had some exposure to it.

Especially compared to the other disappearances, the likelihood of Number 2 was obviously higher.

Jiang Yuan checked the time and said, "Then we’ll start the investigation from this person. It will take at least a day, right? What should we do with Zhang Yi?"

Liu Jinghui looked at Tan Jing.

Tan Jing coughed twice and said, "I asked her to wait in the waiting room and took away her cell phone, but we can’t hold her for much longer."

"Then let her go," Jiang Yuan decisively decided, then added, "If we can’t confirm it on this end, then this case is pretty much dead in the water."