National Forensic Doctor
Chapter 736 - 679: Return to Where We Came From

Chapter 736: Chapter 679: Return to Where We Came From

Mei Gangzou wore a blue, striped suit, a demanding choice of attire that, coupled with his middle-aged wrinkles, gave him an air of defiant vigor.

The semi-open balcony, enclosed by a ring of transparent glass, fully showcased Mei Gangzou’s figure.

If the wailing sirens from the surrounding police cars could be considered a kind of background music, then Mei Gangzou at this moment appeared as though he was performing a stage play.

He looked down with a disdainful gaze, as if he were looking down on mere ants.

"Mei Gangzou, we are the police, you are now surrounded..." The shouting officer used a very cliché line, but in this situation, there was never a need to be original.

Life is your own, so is freedom, and when they are lost, you won’t care what took them, whether it’s a scumbag, whether there were any gifts, or where it happened. In the end, it all comes down to the same old tricks.

Mei Gangzou glanced in the direction of the yelling, pulled his hand from his pocket, waved, and revealed a mild smile, just like a chef greeting his patrons.

"Mei Gangzou, is the person inside the house still alive? If alive, nod your head; if dead, shake your head." The calling officer tried to find out the situation inside the room.

At times like this, it’s definitely most important to preserve life—first the lives of others, then that of Mei Gangzou.

Mei Gangzou then nodded his head, and then shook it.

The calling officer was a bit confused for a moment and, after a pause, asked, "Are you trying to say that you don’t know whether they are dead or alive?"

Mei Gangzou gave a disdainful curl of his lip, looking arrogantly into the distance.

Inside the car.

Liu Jinghui watched this scene and immediately said, "Check the mistress’s social relations, check her WeChat, see if there are any deleted chat records, see if she has any secondary accounts."

Wang Chuanxing and the others, carrying their notebooks, got busy on the spot.

A piece of common knowledge that many people are aware of is that deleting WeChat chat records only removes them from the local device; the server still retains the full chat history.

Furthermore, one taboo that police friends should all be aware of is that checking a resident’s records without the proper credentials is illegal.

"What are you trying to check?" Jiang Yuan asked Liu Jinghui from the side.

Liu Jinghui shrugged, "I don’t know, but Mei Gangzou had a chance to leave, and he purposely came here, there must be some reason."

"Saying goodbye to a lover?" Tang Jia came over from another car, wearing a stab-resistant vest, with an electric baton at her waist.

"Maybe, but if it were a goodbye, shouldn’t he be holding his lover and talking, or kissing goodbye right now?" Liu Jinghui had seen such scenes before; he even witnessed people killing their lovers as a farewell, but such a possibility was something the detectives present could all think of, and there was no need for him to speak alarmingly.

"Maybe it’s to disclose bank passwords, or to hand over a treasure map," suggested Tang Jia.

"Fuck!"

Wang Chuanxing suddenly cursed out loud.

Everyone looked at Wang Chuanxing.

The mature and steady Meng Chengbiao even walked over, saying, "Mind the impact, we are in Beijing."

Wang Chuanxing simply said, "Mei Gangzou’s mistress, Tang Lijing, was threatened and harassed by her ex-husband asking for money. She transferred amounts of 8000 and 15000 yuan on two occasions; after being threatened again, she blocked him but later unblocked him, seeming to do so because the ex-husband had gone to her workplace..."

"What’s the surprise?" Meng Chengbiao inquired.

"Two hours ago, Tang Lijing unblocked her ex-husband from the blacklist, arranged to meet him under Tang Lijing’s apartment... then, the call log was deleted, and the person was blocked again..." As Wang Chuanxing said this, he found the phone number of Tang Lijing’s ex-husband and looked at Jiang Yuan, asking, "Should we call to check?"

"Wait a moment," Liu Jinghui hurriedly interjected, "Mei Gangzou probably doesn’t know we’ve found out this much. If there’s any negotiation later, this can also be a bargaining chip; let’s not alert him prematurely."

"Just worried about his safety," Wang Chuanxing said.

"The complex, unit, and room have all been sealed off. If he’s in danger, it would be inside the room; otherwise, it doesn’t matter," said Liu Jinghui, pausing a moment before asking, "Have we confirmed how many people are inside the room?"

This required the use of a thermal imager. Jiang Yuan made a call to Tao Lu, and soon replied, "Just two people."

Liu Jinghui took the phone, relayed Wang Chuanxing’s findings, and added, "Tao, I suggest we start with phone tracking to see if we can find the person. If we can confirm their safety, then we don’t need to worry about this lead. If the phone tracking leads us to this neighborhood... we could send a cadaver dog to search."

"I understand," Tao Lu responded, his emotions showing little fluctuation.

The fact that a serial killer’s master was a serial killer wasn’t exactly news to Tao Lu. He knew exactly the kind of situation he and his team were facing and didn’t expect any rosy bubbles to fall from the sky, painting the world in beauty and peace. Of course, fairness was impossible—In even the most beautiful world, as long as there are princesses, there will inevitably be those who are exploited.

Liu Jinghui looked up at Mei Gangzou. This guy was about the same age as him, both men in their forties—middle-aged with still adequate physical functions but no longer at their peak. Although their skills had reached the pinnacle, there was an underlying sense of them being past their prime.

As for differences, his esteemed deductive abilities still had room for growth, while it seemed Mei Gangzou was about to get his "boxed lunch." Nonetheless, Mei Gangzou had a mistress who brought her own provisions, and by the looks of him now, he still had quite a bit of charm...

Two somewhat handsome police dogs, muzzled, quietly made their way from the balcony into the building.

Soon, panting sounds could be heard from their throats.

Jiang Yuan received the message immediately and rushed over quickly.

Also arriving was the forensic doctor from the Zhengguang Bureau, Zhan Kan.

"Does it look like strangulation?" Zhan Kan, seeing Jiang Yuan there, spoke with a bit more casualness.

Jiang Yuan nodded and said, "It’s similar to Han Xu’s method of killing."

The victim lying on the ground was Tang Lijing’s ex-husband—a tall and burly man who looked a bit fierce and whose stature was evident even as he lay on the ground.

Zhan Kan compared the information on his phone and then sighed, "It looks like Mei Gangzou is trying to finish off his victims before being imprisoned or worse..."

Cui Qishan, who had come along, curled his lip and said, "Nobody has hindsight that perfect; at best, it’s just a bureaucrat making error-free decisions."

Xiao Si followed up, "That’s still better than those who get every decision wrong."

Cui Qishan glanced at Xiao Si sidelong, not particularly feeling that Xiao Si was backing him up due to their past experiences.

Jiang Yuan bent down to inspect the corpse’s body chart.

Thinking about it, it had been a while since he last performed an autopsy on a fresh body, and there was a trivial sense of guilt for finding the process too easy.

"The time of death was about an hour ago." Jiang Yuan first quietly reported the body’s surface features to Zhan Kan, checked a few key points, then took out a thermometer to probe for rectal temperature, calculating the time of death.

This timing coincided with Mei Gangzou’s return, which essentially confirmed that he was the murderer.

When Jiang Yuan called Tao Lu, he could feel the chilling atmosphere through the phone.

"I’m ready to send in the SWAT," Tao Lu said, pausing as if to seek Jiang Yuan’s opinion. After waiting and seeing no objection from Jiang Yuan, he continued, "Captain Jiang, this case is essentially closed. I know you’re used to taking a break, but this time I have an unusual request. I’d like you to help me follow up on another case."

Jiang Yuan asked, "What case?"

"You can choose, but it’s better if it’s a significant one," Tao Lu exhaled and said, "The conclusion of this case is quite unsightly, but it doesn’t overshadow the merits. The resolution of the ’Six Bodies’—now ’Seven Bodies’—case is still impressive. I think we should capitalize on our momentum and add another well-executed case to our record."

Jiang Yuan had no objections, so he replied, "I’ll pick a case when I get back today. Give the team a half-day off first; we’ll start on the new case tomorrow."

"Okay, great," Tao Lu sounded relieved.

The pressure on him that day had definitely been intense.

Thud!

Upstairs, several SWAT team members rappelled onto a balcony and broke through the door along with the officers at the main entrance, subduing Mei Gangzou and his mistress.

In front of Jiang Yuan, a mission completion notification popped up:

Mission Completed: Return Home

Mission Content: The murderer used social media to commit crimes, causing many families to fall into sorrow and confusion. Find the bodies of the victims, determine their origins, and bring the killer to justice.

Mission Reward: "Skull Restoration Skill" level +1