National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 690 - 633: The Next One

Chapter 690: Chapter 633: The Next One

Jiang Yuan really did go back and take a long sleep.

In Changyang City, there were more unsolved murder cases; it wasn’t necessary for everyone to be worn out here, waiting for a case that wasn’t a "locked-room murder" to conclude.

The small apartment in Changyang City hadn’t been lived in for a while. Today, he had asked a familiar housekeeper to clean it up; all the bedding had been freshly changed, emitting a scent as if basking in the sun had killed all the mites, fragrant like sleeping in a barbecue nest.

In the early morning, Jiang Yuan got up and made himself a bowl of salty soy milk.

Salty soy milk is a bowl of soy milk with extra ingredients. Although there are many different recipes, the basic principle of salty soy milk is to add some savory items into the soy milk and soak fried dough sticks in it. For instance, seaweed, dried shrimp, pickled mustard plant, and other such ingredients are placed in the bowl, then seasoned with soy sauce and other condiments before pouring in steaming hot soy milk, into which diced fried dough sticks are then added to soak and be eaten.

Compared to traditional soy milk, salty soy milk doesn’t require a high standard of soy milk; the addition of salty and savory ingredients gives it a unique taste.

Jiang Yuan filled his stomach before heading out, walking to the Criminal Police Detachment, where he indeed encountered a bunch of overworked dogs who had been busy the entire night.

In the office, a small mountain of messy takeout bags and food containers indicated that the progress of the investigation was quite good yesterday; otherwise, the quality of the takeout ordered by the leadership would have been a lot lower.

"Captain Jiang," Team Leader Zhou greeted, rubbing his eyes.

"Morning. How’s the case?"

"Almost there. Tang Weili has basically confessed. He used someone else’s ID to register a Taobao account and bought two bottles of carbon monoxide to an address nearby, and then intercepted the delivery by phone," Team Leader Zhou paused, then said, "It’s outrageous that these things can be bought so easily online."

"Knives can also be bought online," Jiang Yuan mildly countered the old detective’s notion.

Team Leader Zhou laughed it off and turned back, saying, "Tang Weili was waiting at the entrance of the residential area early in the morning. Alas, we anticipated many scenarios and monitored near the parking spots, but we didn’t expect him to be one step ahead. A whole stretch of the road outside the residential area has no surveillance."

Jiang Yuan caught on: "His preparation for the crime was quite thorough."

"Or it might have been a fluke. People park their cars there because there are no cameras," Team Leader Zhou, not willing to credit the killer, said before continuing, "In any case, Tang Weili waited for the victim to leave her house and then produced an encounter. One walked, the other pushed a bicycle towards Yue Ling’s car. After Yue Ling got into her car, Tang Weili claimed he had a gift for her. He opened the trunk and, from a red cloth bag, unscrewed a small steel bottle of carbon monoxide and dropped it into the trunk..."

Jiang Yuan suddenly realized that a high concentration of carbon monoxide could cause an almost instantaneous death, but even just placed in a trunk, it was enough to cause acute death.

Since carbon monoxide is colorless and odorless, Yue Ling might not have even known how she really died.

"Did Tang Weili take the steel bottle away while pretending to help with the rescue?"

"Yes, he was the second to come forward, saying he’d check the trunk for a blanket to cover the victim. The person who called the police was busy on the phone by the driver’s seat and didn’t notice."

Jiang Yuan recalled all the evidence he had seen at the crime scene, after a bit of deduction, he asked, "How did Tang Weili deal with the fingerprint issue?"

"Cycling gloves," Team Leader Zhou said bluntly.

Jiang Yuan sighed, "What about the motive for the crime?"

"This is where it gets complicated..." Team Leader Zhou gathered his thoughts and said, "Yue Ling had secretly lent Tang Weili a sum of money, about 300,000 yuan, which also had something to do with Tang Weili. It was her personal savings. At the time, Tang Weili was starting his business and doing quite well. But when the hotpot restaurant’s business suddenly plummeted, Yue Ling asked for the money back..."

Team Leader Zhou glanced at Jiang Yuan, then continued, "Yue Ling did not want her husband to know she was in touch with her ex-boyfriend, so she didn’t use phones or WeChat; she just went to the hotpot restaurant to find Tang Weili. The two hadn’t been in touch for the past two years, but Yue Ling’s demand for the money was a big blow to Tang Weili. He didn’t want to admit he couldn’t come up with the money, so..."

Jiang Yuan remained silent for a few seconds, then asked, "Have you found the steel bottle?"

"We have. On his way back riding the bike, he threw it under a pedestrian overpass, and someone picked it up to sell as scrap."

"He really did plan it out," Jiang Yuan had to admit that the guy had some tricks up his sleeve. Nonetheless, there is no such thing as a perfect crime; mere planning can’t uphold an entire operation.

Pursuing acquittal in a murder case and special operations by the military are actually quite similar, specifically, you have to... right?

"This way, Tang Weili won’t really need to repay the debt," Jiang Yuan changed the subject, saying, "It also solves an imminent problem for him."

Exactly, for this kind of murder that involved long-term premeditation and planning, with deep subjective malice, the chances of being sentenced to death with a two-year suspension are very low. Even if Tang Weili eagerly compensates and the victim’s family issues a letter of forgiveness, it’s unlikely to make a difference.

When you’re going to die, continuing the business clearly becomes unimportant.

Perhaps Tang Weili has this mindset as well, the idea of reneging on debts if things don’t work out.

"Let’s go. Next case."

Jiang Yuan no longer wished to see what Tang Weili looked like.

Physical appearances are dime a dozen, it’s what’s inside that’s truly evil.

Men like Tang Weili, slightly overweight with round face, round eyes, and a round belly, could be said to be the standard crowd found in a hotpot restaurant. But his method of killing was truly one in a million.

A city like Changyang City, with a population of several millions, also took years to foster such an anomaly.

"Who would have thought that borrowing money could involve risking your life."

Once outside, Wang Chuanxing felt a sense of unease.

"I had a relative who recently asked to borrow money from me. I was still hesitating whether to lend it or not." Tang Jia hugged her notebook, starting to self-reflect.

If you could say that the elimination of a murderer has any social value, it would be to remind everyone, even if only the more significant part of our nature.

When it comes to borrowing money, everyone has plenty to complain about, hence the vigorous discussion.

Arriving at the meeting room, everyone was still chatting merrily. The suspect was caught, the evidence chain was established, and Jiang Yuan’s Cold Case Squad didn’t need to work on cases at the moment, comfortably relaxed, it was indeed a time for happiness.

Even Jiang Yuan opened Dianping, picking out a restaurant for dinner, and asked Mu Zhiyang to call for reservations.

Soon, Yu Wenshu arrived at the meeting room with another head of the Criminal Police.

"Here’s another case for you," Yu Wenshu was forthright, his tone carrying the authority of a client as he said, "Huang has already looked over the case. It’s a missing person case, but you know."

Jiang Yuan nodded in understanding, guessing that the police’s initial assessment had already determined it to be a murder case, just not upgraded yet.

"The case is being handled by Qian, let Qian explain it to you," Yu Wenshu introduced.

Qian Tongyi was a team leader in his forties, wearing glasses and looking somewhat scholarly.

Qian Tongyi nodded to Jiang Yuan and others, saying, "The victim of the missing person case, Shang Geyong, is a young entrepreneur from Changyang City, who had started a business overseas and had returned to work on ancillary products for the photovoltaic industry, attracting the attention of provincial and city leaders."

He paused, then continued, "As of today, Shang Geyong has been missing for a month. The last sighting of him was on the evening of the 7th last month, dining with his girlfriend. After dinner, he said he was going back to his office to work on the project, but he never appeared at the office. His business partner thought he was accompanying his girlfriend, so the police were not alerted until the 9th."

Qian Tongyi swiftly briefed them on the case details, then sighed, adding, "This case was quite urgent at the beginning. According to our investigation, after dinner, Shang Geyong went to a poker game with friends. They played Texas Hold’em, and he turned off his mobile phone before entering the game, which hasn’t been turned on since."

"That evening, Shang Geyong lost more than 30,000 yuan, which he paid in cash from his car. The remaining cash was likely over 20,000 yuan, but it’s nowhere to be found."

"And the car is missing too."