Super Soldier in the City
Chapter 1405 - 1454 Suspect

Chapter 1405: Chapter 1454 Suspect

The pause was caused by the woman named Wang Chunmei, so she is the most likely suspect. Lin Qiong immediately arranged personnel to search for Wang Chunmei.

Wang Chunmei’s home address was quickly found. After the divorce, the house belonged to Wang Chunmei, so she has been living here. Because she was rotating shifts, her whereabouts after the night shift were unknown. The police arranged by Lin Qiong went to Wang Chunmei’s house, rang the doorbell for a long time, but no sound came from inside. The police tried calling Wang Chunmei’s mobile phone, only to hear the message that it was switched off.

After reporting the findings to Lin Qiong, Lin Qiong immediately issued an order to forcibly enter Wang Chunmei’s house. After breaking in, the police still couldn’t find Wang Chunmei. The house was tidy, and the bed was very clean. After careful inspection, the officers concluded.

Li Yifei took the phone and asked, "You mean Wang Chunmei might not have come back home these past few days?"

The officer replied, "Yes, that’s the preliminary judgment. One window in the house was left open. Wang family lives on the side facing the street, where traffic is heavy. The tenth floor is in the dust stratum. At this level, if the window is open for one or two days, some dust will gather. Wang Chunmei’s colleagues all say she is a very tidy person. She often says she does house chores like cleaning the floors after returning from work and takes it as a fun activity, joking it’s like exercising. But after we entered, we found a layer of dust on the bedroom floor where the window was open, and walking over it left footprints. Apart from our dusty footprints, there were no other footprints, let alone a woman’s. So we conclude Wang Chunmei might not have been here these past few days."

Missing? Li Yifei furrowed his brow and asked, "How many houses does she have?"

"Just this one, given to her after the divorce by her ex-husband."

"Trace and hold onto this lead, keep investigating."

"Got it, we will pursue this lead. Wang Chunmei’s colleagues also provided some clues, we will expand the search area."

Mile City has invested a lot of police power. Song Zhentao also used his influence, opened many green lights in the provincial city for Lin Qiong and Song Ranmin, even went to record it at the provincial head office, highlighting the importance of the matter. As the provincial head, naturally outside the influence of the Sunx and Song families or any family within the province, he only said the person must be found, but not to cause a huge stir, setting a scope for the case.

That was quite remarkable, considering there were objections within the province. Whoever opposed, Li Yifei didn’t care about him. Right now, all he wanted was to find Meng Xiaofei as soon as possible.

The kidnappers still had no news, and the Sunx family remained compliant. The inspectors hadn’t detected any anomalies.

Wait a bit more, otherwise, I’ll storm into the Sunx family’s home! Li Yifei said to himself inwardly.

After all this trouble, several more hours passed. Meng Xiaofei had been missing for twenty-six to twenty-seven hours, and still no news. If it were someone else, Li Yifei wouldn’t be so impatient. But with his family potentially in dire straits, Li Yifei seemed calm on the surface, but inside, he was anxious.

Having just persuaded Lin Qiong to rest in the car, Li Yifei took over her duties, and nobody had any objections. Li Yifei made a call to his family, briefly explaining the situation. The women were also waiting for news.

As soon as he hung up, Li Yifei received a call from the team investigating Wang Chunmei.

"Reporting to Director Lin... er, Mr. Li, we just contacted several of Wang Chunmei’s friends. They all said they hadn’t been in contact with her recently. One known as Wang Chunmei’s close friend gave us a clue that Wang Chunmei’s ex-husband returned to find her in recent days, and Wang Chunmei even called her friend to curse her ex-husband."

"What kind of person is Wang Chunmei’s ex-husband? Have you investigated him?"

"Yes, he’s a drifter. He used to run an antique shop, always up to no good, was once imprisoned, but showed no reform upon release, ended up running off with another woman. Wang Chunmei got the house in the divorce. This man’s name is Xu Zhiming. We’ve found that Xu Zhiming returned to the provincial city five days ago, took a train, came from Miaojiang, transferred to South Lake Province, then transferred to the provincial city. But his whereabouts after arriving in the provincial city are yet to be found."

Li Yifei immediately realized Wang Chunmei’s ex-husband Xu Zhiming’s high level of suspicion, suddenly returning to find Wang Chunmei... Li Yifei’s mind started forming a network of thoughts. He immediately arranged police power to assist the provincial city’s team in tracking down Xu Zhiming and called Song Ranmin to also allocate some police power to investigate Xu Zhiming.

However, the provincial city is vast, with a large resident population and many transient residents from all over the country. Many temporary residents can’t be traced, and none of the locales requiring ID registration have Xu Zhiming’s identity on record.

Li Yifei also set off to the provincial city. Ever since the conflict with the Sunx and Song families, Li Yifei hadn’t visited the provincial city except accompanying Su Mengxin once. This time, he came with an air of hostility.

Seeing Li Yifei heading to the provincial city, Lin Qiong quickly wanted to follow him. Li Yifei held Lin Qiong back, comforting, "Honey, rest tonight. Tomorrow you take over the investigation. If there’s no news by noon, I’ll use my own methods, and then we’ll act separately."

Lin Qiong’s lips moved as if she wanted to say something but hesitated. Li Yifei understood her meaning and said, "I know what I’m doing, I won’t act recklessly. Until we find out the truth, I’ll restrain myself, but if it turns out to be the Sunx Family, I’ll ensure they are utterly destroyed. The Sunx Family will no longer exist in Mile City."

Lin Qiong nodded vigorously, hugged Li Yifei, then released him, saying, "Yifei, go ahead now and stay safe. I’ll continue to investigate suspicious areas nearby. Regardless of the outcome, I’ll meet you in Mile City at noon tomorrow."

"Alright, so get a good night’s sleep and rest well before coming to help me!"

After speaking, Li Yifei got in the car and sped off, arriving at Mile City to meet with Song Ranmin.

"Yifei, I just got news that Xu Zhiming was seen in the Western District three days ago. We sent people to investigate and obtained footage. After having Wang Chunmei’s friend identify it, it was confirmed that the two people arguing in the footage were Wang Chunmei and Xu Zhiming. Their argument was intense, witnessed by some people, and during it, Xu Zhiming even threatened to kill Wang Chunmei. In the end, Wang Chunmei was dragged away by him. We are currently investigating the Western District."

"Mm, thank you, Director Song. You’re the expert on solving cases, so I’ll follow your lead."

"It’s no trouble. You shouldn’t worry too much. Since they went to such lengths to kidnap Miss Meng, they must have an agenda. I believe the hostage is relatively safe."

Li Yifei nodded and frowned at the darkness, feeling the urge to rush to the Sunx Family now, but he knew doing so might not save Meng Xiaofei and might provoke the Sunx Family to act more recklessly, so he held back his impulse.

In the late night, Li Yifei received another message indicating that the large box truck had previously stopped in the Western District of Mile City. At that time, it was even blocked by locals for obstructing traffic but was eventually driven away. However, those who blocked the truck didn’t have any impression of the driver.

Several clues pointed to the Sunx Family. Xu Zhiming had returned from Miaojiang, and the Sunx Family naturally had the highest suspicion. Disturbing the Li family would benefit the Sunx Family the most.

At three in the morning, Li Yifei, dozing off in the command vehicle seat, was suddenly awakened by the ringing of a phone. Song Ranmin grabbed the phone, a startled expression on his face. Li Yifei noticed the change in his expression and furrowed his brows. Without waiting for Li Yifei to inquire, Song Ranmin said, "We’ve found Xu Zhiming and Wang Chunmei, but they’re both dead."

"How did they die?"

"Based on the scene, it appears to be carbon dioxide poisoning, and they died within the last twelve hours."

Bang! Li Yifei punched the seat. On the surface, it seemed like a crime of passion, but how could it be so coincidental? Wang Chunmei had just helped disrupt traffic, and the next day, she supposedly committed suicide in the rental apartment. There were no signs of struggle before her death, and it seemed she willingly chose to die with her ex-husband, Xu Zhiming. This didn’t add up. Song Ranmin immediately ordered an autopsy, and it concluded that both had passed out, then unconsciously inhaled carbon dioxide, causing blood carbon dioxide levels to rise and leading to brain hypoxia symptoms, eventually triggering respiratory arrest and sudden death. The scene had been cleaned meticulously, but why would they have a brazier during the summer, with incompletely burned carbon no less?

Li Yifei went to the scene for inspection, with Song Ranmin accompanying him. Upon arrival, Li Yifei examined the two deceased—Wang Chunmei and Xu Zhiming. Xu Zhiming was tall and brawny, with two scars on his face, and was shirtless. Wang Chunmei was fully clothed, her body showing signs of livor mortis. She was over thirty but looked like she was twenty-five or six, well-preserved.

It’s said that when they were found, they were embracing as if they were deeply in love.

However, they’d been divorced for so long. Just a few days ago, they were witnessed fiercely arguing, with Xu Zhiming threatening to kill her. How could they have reconciled to the point of cuddling to sleep?

Additionally, the estimated time of death coincided with Wang Chunmei’s rest day after work, a day she didn’t even go home, instead joining Xu Zhiming, then napping in a rental room during the daytime?

The doubts nagged at Li Yifei as he looked over the deceased. Suddenly, his gaze focused sharply. He called over a criminal investigator and asked, "Have the shoes of the two been checked?"

"Are you suggesting...?"

"Here, there’s a clump of soil!" Li Yifei squatted down, used his fingernail to scrape it. The soil was moist underneath. It rained in the capital yesterday, but both Xu Zhiming and Wang Chunmei’s shoes were dry, with no traces of mud—a rarity in the shanty town unless they hadn’t left at all. But normal people can’t go so long without eating, and there’s no sign of cooking here."

The soil was brought in from outside, perhaps by a third person or even more. The perpetrator had evidently cleaned up, removing muddy footprints and such, but left this clump beside the bed, under it. Li Yifei squatted down and lifted the bedsheet to view the soil more clearly.